Kingdom Hearts: A New World, A New Way

by gfr091702

Interrogations

Chapter 3: Interrogations

Sora was now detained in an interrogation room at the police station of the area and he was just walking around it in circles as he wasn't allowed to leave yet, the cops just told him to wait here but it's been quite a while since that.

There was a metal table and two pairs of chairs on both sides of the table and there was of course a window that looked like a mirror but if his knowledge of police forces was right then on the other side it was transparent and most likely there must be officers watching to make sure he wouldn't do anything weird. The room was gray in color with no way to look outside.

"Well I guess I don't have to worry about finding somewhere to spend the night anymore, but I didn't think it would be while being under arrest" Sora said to himself as he took a seat in a chair and simply looked at his hands over the table. "What am I gonna do now?”

—-------------

His suspicions were correct, though he himself didn't know it. Standing outside the room were ponies and Pokemon watching him as he sat there staring back at them.

"What do you make of it, Detective?" a pony asked a short, chubby rodent Pokémon, who was observing the boy. It was covered in yellow fur with two horizontal brown stripes on its back. It had a small mouth, long, pointed ears with black tips, and brown eyes. Each cheek was a red circle that contained a pouch for electricity storage. It had short forearms with five fingers on each paw, and its feet each had three toes. At the base of its lightning bolt-shaped tail is a patch of brown fur. On top of its head was a small detective’s hat.

"For one thing, he was very polite and calm during his arrest." the detective replied, "He willingly put himself in chains after defeating that giant mass of shadow creatures. He was cooperative with the officers while he was arrested, though he was reluctant in giving up some of the items on his person. One of which was the key-shaped sword he summoned."

"What should we do with him, sir? Putting him behind bars is a bit much considering what he has done."

"I'll admit that he did protect the citizens, but he still has to be questioned like every other pony. Not to mention that he has an apparent history with the creatures that showed up today. He knows what they are, and what threat they pose, so I plan to figure out as much as I can from him. Who knows when they could show up again."

"Go easy on him, though. He's just a kid," one of the officers replied.

"A human kid," another officer countered.

“But he still knows what exactly we were up against that day, or at the very least, he acted like he did. Whether or not it is an act, I intend to figure it out today." the detective said firmly, shutting both of them up.

The detective signaled to the officers at the door to open it, and he walked into the room where the young boy was sitting. He had stopped staring at the wall at the sound of the door opening, and looked a bit nervous when he saw the detective.

"Hello, kid." the detective said, jumping onto the table in front of Sora, "My name is Henry Goodman. I work here in the Police Force for Ponyville,". Sora nodded quietly. "Can I have your name, please?"

"Sora," the boy replied, "My name is Sora, Mr. Goodman."

"Okay, Sora…" the detective wrote the name down in his notes, “Last I checked, all humans that were transported here were turned into Pokemon, and yet you didn’t.”

At that, Sora looked away, looking even more nervous.

"Can you tell me why that is?" Henry asked him.

Sora didn't know what to say. His words seemed to stop at his throat. He had made up the story of being an islander from an isolated island to his friends, but something told him that the story wouldn't convince the detective in front of him. But even if he told the truth, they probably wouldn't believe him. What was he supposed to do?

"It's alright if you don't wish to answer, kiddo. Rest assured, you are in good hands, but your silence will be noted when we question you again," Henry told him kindly.

Sora only nodded.

"Can you tell me about your power?”

Sora relaxed, "Yes. I can summon things, mainly elemental objects like fire, ice, and lightning, and I've also been able to summon that weapon you guys tried to get confiscated."

"That key-shaped sword?"

"Yes," Sora nodded, as the detective continued to write down notes, "I can summon and unsummon that weapon at will. Only drawback is that I can get hurt by whatever I summon if I use it too much."

"So if you summon a lot of fire, it could end up burning you, correct?" Henry theorized.

"Something like that."

"Can you tell me how your power manifested?" Henry asked him.

"I can." Sora said solemnly, "But it wasn't under good circumstances…"

"I assume it had something to do with those creatures?"

"Yeah." Sora replied, "They're called Heartless. Creatures created by a mad scientist from where I'm from named Ansem. They're the darkness created from a person's heart."

"When you say darkness and heart, what do you mean?"

"It's not like the physical heart that we know. What I do know is that according to Ansem through his research reports, hearts consist of light and darkness, and they're connected to our emotions. They grow with every new experience,"

"So a heart is like a manifestation of one's emotional self. One's happiness and positivity could be considered their light, and anger and sadness could be considered a person's darkness." Detective Goodman concluded.

"Yeah. If a person yields to that darkness, they'll lose their form and become a Heartless, and they can rip the hearts out of other people to make more of themselves. Not the physical hearts," Sora added as the detective looked stricken, "I'm really sorry if you're confused."

"No, don't be. Given further thought, it matches with what witnesses say about them." The Pikachu said, "Those creatures plunged their hands into the victim's chest, and pulled out a heart-shaped glowing object, which is what I'm assuming is what you are talking about, yes?"

"Right…" Sora looked down with a sigh. He had seen this happen too many times.

"And then they crushed that heart, causing the victim's body to disappear, and in their place another of these Heartless appeared. Does that sound familiar, Sora?"

"Yes." Sora nodded, "That's exactly what happened to the people from my home. The Heartless attacked and demolished it, destroying everyone in their path, and just when they were about to get me, something… snapped. And then out of nowhere, I summoned the Keyblade and kept them away from me, and I've had it ever since. Me, and two of my best friends… are probably the only survivors from my home."

"I see… so it manifested from that experience." Henry said solemnly, "I am sorry for your loss, Sora,"

"It's alright." Sora replied, and Henry simply looked at him. From what he could make out, the boy was mostly telling the truth… at least, everything up to the summoning part. Something about how he said it seemed off. There was more to this than he let on.

But when Sora spoke about the Heartless and what they did to his home, there was nothing but truth in his words. Not a single ounce of deception was in his voice. Sora knew that what he said about them was fact, and this only concerned Henry even more.

"Tell me more about these Heartless." Henry replied, "You seem to be the only one who knows what we just faced, let alone how to fight them."

"That's the issue," Sora shook his head, "They are incredibly tenacious. Since there's always darkness in people's hearts, the Heartless will continue to show up. They also have very strong regenerative abilities, so even if we take them out by normal means, they'll just show up again somewhere else given time. The only way to truly be rid of them is if everyone's hearts were pure light and devoid of darkness."

"Which is impossible. Taking one away would make the other disappear." Henry concluded, putting his paw on his temples, "So we're stuck with them?"

"I think so…" Sora replied, "But don't worry. It's not like we can't stop them. We can at least prevent them from being a worldwide threat. Remember the Keyblade I summoned"

(Play Kingdom Hearts II Magical Mystery)

"That's what it's called?"

"That's what I call it," Sora nodded, "Apparently, Ansem was trying to experiment with the Heartless, to see what would happen if he unleashed them on the world, and he sent them to my home as a test." He looked down when he said this, "And my power manifested as a result. I was able to summon something that could take them down for good. That's how I was able to deal with them."

"And you dealt with them? On your own?"

"I had help." Sora explained, and stopped there. It was clear he didn't want to say anything more, so Henry kept it at that.

"And how long have you dealt with them?"

"Two years," Sora said, "Up until now, I thought the Heartless were contained when Ansem was defeated."

"I see…" Henry nodded, writing down in his notebook once again, hiding a smile. He also noted that Sora had a slightly sorrowful look on his face as he said it. He must have been in this situation of inaction many times before, so Henry couldn't blame him for stepping in.

"Anything else we should know about the Heartless?" he asked Sora.

"There are two types. Pureblood, and Emblem." Sora explained, "From what I learned from Ansem's research, he said that Purebloods are the result of a person yielding to their darkness. It comes out as a Heartless. Emblem Heartless… well…" Sora paused at this. Now that he was about to explain it, the thought of it somehow made him sick.

"Sora?" Henry asked concerned, "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Yeah, I am. It's just," Sora took a deep breath, "It's pretty disturbing. Emblem Heartless were the results of Ansem's research… using human experimentation."

Henry stared at him for a couple seconds, probably to ensure that he wasn't lying, before taking a deep breath of his own, "So Emblem Heartless were… people?"

"Yes. They were," Sora sighed, "Ansem wanted to study the heart, to learn its secrets and harness it. It was all harmless at first… normal research and surveying, but…"

"He started to use human lab rats… and began to divulge in the dark side of the heart," Henry said, now realizing why Sora had said that Ansem sent the Heartless to his home to perform "tests."

"...Yeah." Sora said sadly, "Emblem Heartless are the hearts of people given form by their darkness, while Purebloods are just pure darkness."

"I see… how can we tell the two apart?"

"There's one difference," Sora replied, "Emblem Heartless have an insignia on their bodies to mark them, hence their name. Pureblood Heartless don't have it."

"What does it look like?"

"A black heart-like symbol outlined in red markings, crossed in an 'X'. I would show you a picture, but I don't have my phone with me," Sora explained, "You can tell they're Heartless because they have yellow eyes with no pupils. And they might have the symbol I described to you before."

"Alright," Henry finished writing down his notes, before looking up to Sora, "Anything else we should know?"

"...No. Nothing else, Mr. Goodman,"

"Okay." Henry got to his feet, "That will be all, Sora."

"Wait, I can go, now?" Sora asked dumbfoundedly.

"No. We need to make sure that what you say is true." Henry replied sternly, "So what happens now is up to my superiors. It'll take some time, but you might be stuck here for a while until we patch things up, Sora."

"Well… could I have my arms to move around, at least?" Sora asked.

"No. We can't guarantee by your word alone that you won't try and break out of here, so that will have to wait," Henry said, "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

At that, they heard a loud growling sound from the room.

"Heh heh… Could I get something to eat? I think I'm kinda hungry, sir." Sora said sheepishly.

"I'll get you something to eat when I return then." Henry smiled.

"Thanks, Mr. Goodman."

Henry nodded before jumping off the table and walked up to the door, with a pony opening it and closing it shut. Sora heard the door being bolted and locked, and sighed.

He hoped they would let him out soon.

As the detective exited the room, the others who were listening had troubled looks on their faces. They had heard the entire conversation between the two.

"Detective Goodman. Is what he said true?" one of the officers asked the detective.

"Most of what he said, yes. I couldn't detect a lie when he was explaining the Heartless," Henry informed them, "But I could tell that there's a bit more to the story."

"It's honestly tragic, if he is one of the only survivors," another pony said, "Though this Ansem person… I've never heard of him."

"None of us have. But apparently, he does exist. Sora wasn't lying." Henry said, "But if what he said is true, then he is either out of reach or long gone. But some of the things he said doesn't add up. He faltered when I gave out my assumption." he noted, "That time he looked pretty nervous. I didn't see him like that when he was explaining the Heartless,"

"You believe he has another motive?"

"No. I think he doesn't." Henry replied, "But you can never be too certain."

"So these 'Heartless’, what do we do about them?"

"Sora said that he could keep them at bay. At least, with his Keyblade he could." Henry replied, "If it were any other person, I'd say that this would be too convenient. But I checked, and he was speaking the truth… to an extent."

"There are other methods?"

“Actually, there is.” Henry said, before sighing. "She's not gonna like this."

More than an hour later…

Sora had been sleeping with his head on the table when the door opened up once again. There was Henry Goodman, with a bag and two drinks in front of him.

"Fallen asleep, haven't we, Sora?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Sora yawned, stretching his body and legs, since his arms were restrained, "How long was I out, Mr. Goodman?"

"Over an hour,"

(Play Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Innocent Times)

"Seriously?" Sora's jaw dropped.

"And here's some food, as requested. Hold on." The detective went over and released the restraints from Sora's arms, allowing him to use them freely, as Sora received a sandwich from Henry, "Help yourself."

"Whoa… thanks, Mr. Goodman," Sora said, before taking a bite out of it, "Wow! This is good! Where's this from?"

"If I'm not mistaken, I think it might be that cafe in town." Henry explained.

"Wow. Gotta try it out sometime," Sora said, letting the food dissolve into his stomach. This felt like eating something at the Bistro! Then again, he hadn't eaten a good meal besides water in days. Maybe that was why it tasted so good.

"Here's a drink. I got you water in case you didn't drink soda." Henry asked, before drinking out of his own cup.

After the boy had finished his food and water, Sora asked Henry, "That was good. Thanks for that, Mr. Goodman sir."

"It's no trouble."

"So… are you going to ask me more questions about the Heartless?"

"Actually… I have a different topic in mind," Goodman admitted, rubbing his mouth with a napkin and clearing his throat, "There's someone I'd like you to meet."

(End Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Innocent Times)

Sora looked at him confused, "Someone's here?"

"Yes. Wait here," Henry told him, and walked up to the door, "You can come in now."

Confused, Sora stood up, wondering who the newcomer was, and was surprised when they entered the room.

It was the woman that he saved from the Demon Tide. She appeared to be uninjured, though it was clear she was having some trouble walking.

"This is…" Sora replied.

"Yes. The woman that you rescued and nearly died for." the Pikachu replied.

"Oh." Sora said. Putting it like that sounds very weird. He thought, but shook the thought away and waved, "Hi there."

"Hello, yourself." she replied kindly, before bowing, "Thank you for saving me."

"It's no problem. I'm just glad you're okay," Sora smiled at her, "If I hadn't done what I did, the Heartless would've taken your heart."

The woman shivered a bit, but Henry reassured her with a pat on her side.

‘I don't like this, but this is the only way, I hope he can forgive us later. Usually it's not much of a problem when it comes to criminals, but it feels wrong to do it to an innocent kid, to think we had to call in Belle to extract the information directly from his memories using her power…’ He thought as he watched the woman ask Sora his name and how he is.

Belle’s eyes started to glow bright blue as she mentally reached towards him.

"I can't wait for tomorrow. Once we set sail, it will be great."

"The Keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last Princess of Heart still sleeps."

“I know now, without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts... is light!"

"Take care of her."

“You make a good other.”

“Thank you, Sora, for keeping me safe.”

"KAIRI!"

Her eyes stopped glowing as she returned to the confines of her mind having gathered the information she needed with a gasp and a shocked face.

"Are you okay, miss?" Sora asked him a bit concerned but the Pokemon didn't reply to him, only stare at him with a shocked face as Henry looked at her intrigued knowing that whatever she saw must be really important. Belle approached the detective and whispered something to him and he nodded in response.

"Sora, we need to talk about something in private, can you please wait a bit?" He asked him.

"Um, okay" He complied not knowing what was happening as Henry nodded in gratitude as he and Belle left the room leaving him alone again. ‘I hope they let me go soon,’ he thought, hoping for this to end already.

—-------------

"No way!" Henry shouted, not believing what he just heard. Now he was in a meeting room with Belle and another pokemon to discuss the situation at hand.

The other Pokemon was a white, bipedal Pokémon. Its lower body consisted of rounded hips with strong legs. It had a thin green torso with sharp, red horns sticking out of its chest and back. Its arms were shaped like tonfas with extendable blades in its elbows. Its head resembled a gladiator's helmet with a white face, red eyes, and a teal head crest. It had spikes on the sides of its face. On top of its head was a red cap, customized for his species.

"Memories don't lie, Detective Goodman,” Belle said to him, having a serious face.

"You can't be talking seriously" He said, still not believing it one single bit.

"So Sora's not from the Pokemon World?" the other pokemon.

"It's… complicated, Gene." Belle said. “Sora does not belong to this world nor his powers. He possesses magical powers even rare for his world in which no Pokemon ever exist." Belle explained having seen most of Sora's memories so she learned everything from his homeland, his magical powers and even how his universe works as a whole which was still hard to believe even if she witnessed it herself.

"Magical powers, eh? To think such a thing exists even more a world where Pokemon never existed" Henry said, still having a hard time assimilating the new information, however it made sense as Pokemon had such abilities and none of Sora's are tied to his body and from the extent of these, as odd as it sounded, it could only be magic what he actually has.

"Not only that, but in his universe there exists a myriad of worlds that are nothing more than fragments of one bigger world that due to a catastrophe ended up scattered. His magical powers come from his sword known as a 'Keyblade', it is as it sounds, a sword with the shape of a key that grants the user superhuman abilities, not just the ones you witnessed, the boy can even jump twice in the air and even glide. It also grants him the usage of 'spells' that range from elemental to non-elemental and he has plenty as his disposal, these could go to simply casting a fireball to even nullified gravity on a small range or stop the movement of time on an opponent" She explained to everyone in the room. "Like I said, these powerful weapons and abilities that come with them are rare in their own universe, only a handful of 'keyblade wielders' exists in the entire universe, due to the weapon choosing the wielder based on their strength of heart and will and those with extraordinarily strong hearts are worthy of earning acquiring a keyblade of their own. However, being worthy of wielding a keyblade is independent of good and evil as Sora have fought against enemies with these same blades making them tremendously powerful and a threat to their worlds thus, these heroes of light rose to stop them time and time again" She added.

"Keyblade wielders like him, who fights to protect the light, have a huge responsibility to protect the worlds' balance between light and darkness and preserve its peace, it also includes mantien each world's order thus cannot disclose the true nature of the universe to those who are not aware of it, that's why he didn't talk before. The boy carries a burden as heavy if not more than the legendaries, having to fight in an endless cycle of light and darkness until the end of his days and yet he not only accepts his fate but keeps living his life with joy and optimism, he's a hero in any means who has saved many people, many worlds and the universe more than once, always being followed by his friends that aid him on his quest. The boy sure has a will of titanium, pure of heart with huge courage and yet he maintains a bit of his childhood innocence despite that he went through experiences that someone should never go though, but he faced each challenge head on and keep that same grew in strength as he grew as a person, becoming very powerful by now and still having enormous potential. I dare to say that he's even as strong as the legendaries and can become even stronger" She explained as everyone kept listening to her.

"Sora's sure a wonder as going through those experiences changes people, but through his journey he was the one that inspired to change the people around him. He's special even among the other keyblade wielders, that interesting enough most of them are teens around his age, all of them his friends. Hopefully they may maintain peace in his absence as it is inevitable the return of darkness upon their worlds. The boy sure does remind me of someone I know." She said as she looked at Gene, who blushed in embarrassment.

"So what do you think, sir?" Gene asked Henry, expressing his concern for Sora.

—-------------

(Play Kingdom Hearts III Lost Masters)

Meanwhile, at the Keyblade Graveyard, Xehanort's Keyblade fell from the sky and joined its other fallen Keybalde's. Just then, it was picked up by a man in a hooded black coat with a mysterious Black Box. The man held and observed the blade, "Finally, back where it belongs."

Just then, from the distance, four robed figures entered the world from all sides. The one with the unicorn mask was Ira, the one with the bear mask was Aced, the one with the snake mask was Invi, and the one with the white leopard mask was Gula. They were the Foretellers and they all joined the cloaked figure. Ira observed the figure and asked, "Did you summon us back?"

"Yep." the cloaked man nodded.

Ira recognized his Keyblade, but his face was different, so he had to ask, "Is that you, Luxu? You look different."

The man removed his hood revealing the face of Xehanort's former right-hand man, "Haven't heard that name in a long while." He smirked as he continued, "These days they call me, Xigbar, but hey, whatever suits you."

"Is it... really you?" Invi asked, slightly shocked.

Luxu nodded, "Yeah, but some time ago, I had cast my old form away. Been through plenty more semblances sense, but it still me underneath it all."

"What happened? Why are we here? You tell me!" Aced demanded.

Luxu explained, "I had a role to play. And after all these years, it's done."

"What role?" Invi wondered.

Meanwhile, Pete and Maleficent watched these events from a distance before turning away to continue their plans. Luxu looked around to realize one of them was missing, "I guess Ava didn't make it after all."

"Meaning what?" Gula asked, concerned what happened to her.

Luxu turned to him, "I told her, clear as day, what I had to do."

"And is that why you decided to exclude her?" Gula glared at him.

Luxu shook his head, "As if! Ava had her own mission, and she carried it out."

"I heard enough! Luxu! What was your role?!" Aced demanded.

Luxu turned to the box and smirked, "Hope you like long stories..."

(End Kingdom Hearts III Lost Masters)

—-------------

"So, who should be the one to tell him?" The Pikachu Detective asked Gene and Belle as the three of them were looking at Sora through the window of the interrogation room.

By now they left under the orders of not divulging Sora's status nor the information of the Heartless for the moment, all that was left to do for now was informing Sora of the situation and then relocate him to a place where he can stay.

"I'd say it will be better for the three of us to explain the situation to him, but with care as the information would surely shock him and going off from his memories he could respond impulsively, he follows his heart and therefor acts on his feelings rather than on logic, which surprisingly never led him wrong" The Gardevoir explained to them.

"Sounds good to me" Gene said agreeing with her and the three of them walked to the door.

Sora was still in his seat looking bored while waiting for Detective Goodman or anyone, sure if he wanted he could have broken free, but it would only cause more trouble for him and that is the last thing he needed right now, so this was his only way even if it also put him against a hard place and the tip of a sword.

‘I bet it's dark outside. It's been a while since the Detective left, I hope they didn't forget I'm here’ Sora thought, trying his best trying not to fall asleep again out of boredom.

It was then that the door opened revealing Henry, the woman from before and someone that looked similar to the woman.

"Hey kid." The man greeted him kindly.

"Um, hi" Sora greeted back, feeling something was off. "Mr. Goodman, what's going on?" He asked the detective.

"Don't worry Sora, everything is alright" Henry said to him with a serene voice, but Sora was sure something was not right. "Just listen to what he has to say," He added.

"You're Sora, correct?" The Gallade asked him and Sora replied nodding. "Nice to meet you, my name is Gene. I'm Belle’s husband." He introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you too, Gene," Sora replied.

"Okay, Sora. We want you to know that you're off the hook." Henry said calmly to him. "You're exonerated," He added.

"So, I'm forgiven?" Sora asked back smiling and the chief replied nodding in confirmation. "Thank you!" He thanked him, smiling brightly. "That means I can go now, right?" He said happy to know he was no longer in trouble or so he thought.

"Actually no" Henry said to him, much to Sora's confusion. "You see, that's not everything you need to know" He continued having to be really careful with the next statements.

The Gardevoir then cleared her throat to call Sora's attention. "Beforehand, Sora. I want to say that I'm really sorry for what I have to do to get to this point" She began with an expression of regret on her face.

"Sorry for what?" Sora asked, confused, his instincts were telling him that he might not like what he would hear.

"For using my power on you. To put it simply, it allows me to connect with the brains and read their mindwaves by making contact with the head of the target" She explained and Sora's eyes widened in realization.

"Wait, that's what you did before so… You read my memory?!" He said putting the pieces together feeling both panic and violated.

"That's right, Sora," Henry said, feeling bad for Sora and understanding his reaction.

"As you can see, I'm not part of the police force, but I owed Henry a favor, so I came in to help with your case" Belle explained to the distressed boy that was starting to calm down. "Take note that I had no pleasure in prying into your privacy, however the situation demanded for it" She continued as Sora seemed rather understanding.

"We're really sorry, Sora," Henry apologized to him. "We just had no other choice"

Sora sighed, seeing no point in keeping his secret if they already knew it. "I see. So you know everything, huh?" He said, sounding comprehensive and the three Pokemon nodded in response. "Then you get why I couldn't talk before, sorry if I didn't do it before, either way you might not believe in me" Sora continued rubbing the back of his neck.

"Don't worry, Sora. Your secret is safe with us" Henry assured him, smiling.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Sora thanked them, smiling at them.

"I also want to personally thank you for dispatching those flees, the Heartless. Thanks to you all victims will be restored back to normal soon enough," Henry thanked him, bowing down making Sora chuckled and rubbing his nose.

"No worries, I did what I had to. I'm glad that I could help" Sora said back at him, smiling.

‘He's sure humble’ Gene thought smiling, but the smile then vanished knowing what comes next. ‘Here comes the hardest part’ He thought with a serious look. "Sora, Belle informed us that after your last journey you ended up here stranded, right?"

"It was because of the misuse of the so-called 'Power of Waking', correct?" Belle said to him.

"Yeah, that's what happened," He confirmed, nodding feeling a bit uncomfortable that they know everything from his adventures, the Heartless, his powers and the world's order, “But it'll be alright. My friends must be looking for me right now and when they find me I'll go home and I won't give you more troubles" Sora said smiling but the three Pokemon glared at each other with serious faces, they did expect him to think like that given his optimistic attitude.

"No doubt that they must be looking for you, but the problem is far more complicated than you think" Henry began with a concerned face, Sora seemed confused so Henry decided to continue. "This is not as simple as you ending up in a different world for your friends to come and pick you up quickly"

"I'm not following you" Sora replied not understanding at all.

"Tell me Sora, I'm sure you heard the concept of worldlines, correct?" the detective said to him.

"Um, yeah. Pretty much it's just another word for alternative realities, timeline, dimension or universe. Why?" He replied and when he finished talking it drew upon the heavy realization. "Wait… you don't mean…?" Sora's eyes widened with shock and his face paled now understanding, but hoping in vain that it wasn't true.

"...I'm afraid so, Sora," Henry said to him with a sad expression. "You're not just stranded in another world, you were exiled from your own reality into ours, a different worldline. That's the consequence of interfering so much with time-space in your universe to save your friends from death." He explained as he saw Sora just sat in his seat frozen as if time stopped for him.

Then Sora suddenly returned to reality quickly standing up again with a frown on his face. "Then I'm going back!" He said in an exasperated tone as he turned around and summoned his Keyblade, the three Pokemon expected him to react like this and so they were quick to react.

"Sora don't!" the Pikachu shouted at him, as Gene and Belle grabbed him by both arms trying to hold him back.

"But if my power brought me here, then it can take me back, right!?" Sora said desperately as he was struggling to break free from the two Pokemon holding back.

"In theory it's correct, but you'll just be using it wrong again!" Belle warned him. "You know it's not for following hearts around. If you use it like that you don't know what could happen!"

"There's no guarantee it will return you back home, you could end up in another worldline or even worse, dead!" Gene warned him as the two of them kept trying to hold the boy back with all of their strength, but Sora stopped as if all of his strength vanished from his body, and just stood there breathing raspily.

"But…! But…" Sora weakly uttered in a broken tone as he shivered and then he dropped his Keyblade later to vanish and fell to his knees with his head hanging low. "But, I have to go back…" He said as tears started to fall from his eyes. "I can't stay here… my friends need me… and I need them." He continued as he sniffed. The three saw the boy break down in front of them. "Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Ven, Donald, Goofy, the king and all of my friends that I just met… all of those I helped save…" He said as more tears fell to the ground as he clenched a fist on his shirt. His heart aches so much of the thought of not seeing them again, despite saying prior that he would accept this as his fate, it still hurts like no other thing. Sora let himself fall to the ground holding on his free hand as he kept crying out of pain and despair, it was so overwhelming the feeling that he thought that his heart would break, it might be already broken. "I don't wanna be alone again…" He weakly says as the feeling of emptiness and loneliness overwhelmed his mind and already damaged heart.

Ït was then that Gene quickly got to his side and held him by his left shoulder and helped him straight himself. "Sora, you're not alone and you know that" Gene consoled him as he slowly looked back at him with watery and red eyes with a face stained in tears that kept falling. "Your friends are right here, and they always will. No matter when or where they are part of your heart just as much as you're part of theirs" He continued pointing at Sora's heart. Sora's eyes just looked still sniffing.

Belle then kneeled at Sora's other side putting a hand on his back. "You did the right thing Sora, despite knowing that it might have repercussions for you. Not many people in this world are willing to do the same" She said to the boy as he glared at her still with the same broken expression. "All heroes must be ready to give up everything in the moment of truth for the greater good and you did just that, you made a noble sacrifice for the sake of your friends just as any hero would do" She continued. "However, that doesn't mean it's the end of your journey"

"Huh?" Sora stared at her with hopeful eyes.

"That's right." Henry said to him in a sincere tone. “No matter how long it will take, we'll find a way to get you back home. It's a promise" He added with a determined face.

"Well… that's something" Sora replied, recovering his color as he now knows he can still return home. "If there's anything that I can help you with, I'll do it!" He said, smiling brightly again.

"Heh. That's the spirit" The Detective said to him smiling as well.

"It's alright Sora, you don't need to worry about it" Gene said to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "For once let the adults resolve this" He added with a gentle smile.

"Then, what do you want me to do?" Sora asked, crossing his arms. "You don't really expect me to just be lying around here, right?" He said mostly jokingly.

"Now that you say it, there is a problem that you can help us deal with," Henry said to him. "It has to do with those Heartless monsters," He added.

"Oh" Sora uttered knowing what this was about.

"Apparently when you crossed over, the Heartless somehow followed you and might cause havoc around the town, even worse the whole world if not dealt with as soon as possible" Henry explained to him.

"I see" Sora said with his eyes looking slightly down. "Guess popping up here just causes troubles for you all, I'm sorry" Sora apologized feeling guilty.

"Don't worry Sora, it's not your fault" Gene reassured him with a smile. "You know that's how those sneaky things work"

"Yeah, I know," He replied. "Still, I can't go home knowing this, so before that I'll gladly take care of the Heartless, it won't be that hard" He added with a smile on his face.

"Just as expected from you," Belle said to him, smiling.

"Now, all you need is a place where you can stay," Gene said to him.

"Oh right!" Sora said in realization. "Where would I stay?" He asked.

"You can stay with us in our house," Belle said to him with a smile.

"Um. Are you sure?" He asked the Gardevoir. "I don't want to be a bother"

“It’s true that things might get complicated, but we also owe you our lives, especially mine.” Belle smiled. “We should count our blessings, no?”

Sora smiled, seeing that she wasn’t gonna take no for an answer. "Thank you, Belle."

—-------------

After saying their goodbyes Sora, Gene, and Belle left to their house in Ponyville, which wasn’t about a twenty minute walk. On their way home, Gene and Belle explained to Sora what Pokemon were and how important they were.

Apparently Pokemon weren't just simple animals, but rather friends and companions that you would befriend and have adventures with. Pokemon Trainers, as they were called, would care for Pokemon and help them grow stronger; in return, the Pokemon would help protect their trainer and grow alongside them. Sora was very much about making new friends and building bonds wherever he could, so he immediately understood and latched onto the idea of Pokemon companions. Pokemon also came in all shapes and sizes, the tiniest being the size of a small tick and the largest being the size of a whale. They were also categorized into eighteen different "typings", each of which had its own strengths and weaknesses.

Pokemon also apparently were important in society. Pokemon battles, which at first Sora hated the idea of, put Pokemon and their trainers against each other in combat. Ash was quick to elaborate and explain that these battles were not meant to encourage violence, but instead were framed more like friendly contests of strength and ingenuity. They were meant to allow both trainer and Pokemon to grow stronger together.

By the time they reached the machine shop, Sora was about as caught up as he was going to get when it came to this strange world and its Pokemon.

"It sure is a big house" Sora said, noting that it was indeed too big for just two Pokemon.

"Well, we do have quite a bit of friends that come by for the holidays, that's why we have this big house" Gene explained. "You can take one of the visitor rooms upstairs, I’ll show you,"

"'Kay" He nodded in understanding and he proceeded to go upstairs. Sora entered the first door on the right and he was met with a room with only a bed and desk as furniture. The bed was right in front of the window that was at the right wall and desk was at the left wall aligning with the bed. A pair of centimeters from the bed was a closet perfect for Sora to save the stuff he would receive later.

Sora scanned the room that funnily enough kinda reminded him of his room back on Destiny Islands and Roxas's room in the digital Twilight Town, mostly for the bed against the window and the room as just slightly bigger than his room back home.

"Hey, could I ask you something?" She asked Gene, who averted his attention to him.

"Sure. What's up?" He replied.

"This may sound random, but I've noticed something special about your right eye. It’s different from the left one.”

Gene froze, as he turned to the boy in shock, “You noticed?”

“Kind of hard not to?” Sora teased.

Gene chuckled. “I guess not.” He then walked up to a mirror, seeing a blue light envelop his right eye, in the shape of a serpent-like ring. “Born with it. Doctors can’t determine what it is, where it came from, or how to remove it.” He sighed, thinking of his childhood. “When I was still human, kids at my school used to make fun of me, or call me a freak. I had to hide it my whole life.” He smiled, then thinking of that fateful day, “But then, on the day I set out on my journey, I met her.”

—-------------

Gene’s alarm clock went off and the boy groaned, he rolled over and fumbled for the sleep button. After a few more moments he managed to turn off the alarm and he almost went back to bed but after a few seconds he jolted up. “Today’s the day.”

He jumped out of bed and rushed to his closet, quickly changing into a white jacket and pants before throwing on his hat and putting an eyepatch over his right eye. After checking himself in the mirror he ran downstairs. His mother, cooking breakfast in the kitchen, heard him and stuck her head into the front room as he rushed for the door.

“Gene,” she called. “I know you’re excited, but could you at least come have some breakfast first?”

“No time, Mom, the boat leaves soon and I’ve gotta catch it.” Gene grabbed his bag from by the door. “Bye.”

“Just one more thing honey,” She said as he opened the door and started outside. He stopped and looked back at her. “Happy birthday.”

Gene smiled. “Thanks, Mom.”

Gene closed the door and rushed out into Mossdeep City, he quickly made his way to the dock where two other kids, a boy from Pacifidlog Town and a girl all the way from Dewford Town waited, both of whom had come for the same reason as Gene, to get their first Pokémon.

“Hey,” The girl greeted him. “I’m Sue.”

“Zachary.” The boy introduced himself.

“I’m Gene.” He said.

The three explained where they had come from and talked about their plans and hopes. It wasn’t long before a boat pulled up to the docks, two people, both dressed in blue with dark black hair, stood on the deck, facing the prospective trainers, anyone could’ve figured out they were twins after a few minutes in their company. The boy, Tate, had a Lunatone floating by his side, while his sister, Liza, had a Solrock at her side.

“Greetings.” They said together.

“And welcome to the first day of the rest of your life.” Tate finished.

His sister smiled.

“Forgive my brother,” She said. “He can be a bit melodramatic.”

“My point still stands.” He defended himself. “Now come on,” He waved the three ten year old's onto the boat. “We have a long way to go.”

The excited teenagers onto the boat and his sister signaled the captain. As the boat started on its trip to its destination the twin Gym leaders gave a speech they had given many times before but always looked forward to. “Now I’ll skip the part about being ten and getting your Pokémon, you already know that.” Tate explained. “What I want to talk about are the specifics of how we give out Pokémon.” The trio leaned in, not wanting to miss even one detail. “We don’t.”

The shocked and horrified expressions of the group’s faces sent Tate into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. His Lunatone snickered along with him. Liza rolled her eyes. “What my brother means is that you don’t just get to choose a Pokémon,” She looked to the horizon and continued. “We’re taking you to a special island that’s populated mainly by Psychic-type Pokémon: Cerea Island. There you’ll each have until sunset to find and capture your own Pokémon.” She turned back to the group. “You can befriend them, or trick them, or bait them, but you’ll each only get one Pokéball and a container of Pokémon food to work with, otherwise-”

“Otherwise you’ll never be a Pokémon Trainer!” Her brother finished, once again provoking startled responses from the assembled teenagers.

“No,” Liza corrected. “You’ll either have to go to wait a month before trying again or get a Pokémon from somewhere else.” The group nodded in understanding.

“Now, the Pokémon on this island are actually pretty social, although they’re not going to just jump into your arms. If you want their trust, you’ll have to earn it.” Tate said, finally becoming serious. “But it could be well worth it, there are a lot of different species on this island, and not only from Hoenn, there are Kanto and Johto Pokémon as well, and even a few rarer ones from Sinnoh, Unova and even Kalos.”

This got the group excited, getting their first Pokémon was good enough, but getting a rare Pokémon from a region like Unova would be a dream come true. After a few smaller directions the Gym Leaders retired below deck, leaving the hopefully future trainers alone.

“I hope I can find something cute,” Sue said with a smile. “Like a Chimecho or a Spoink.”

Zachary smirked. “I want something powerful, maybe an Abra or a Beldum as a start.”

Gene smiled and stared in the direction the boat was headed. “I just want someone who I can call my partner.”

“Aww.” Sue cried. Zachary just rolled his eyes.

It wasn’t long until an island came into view and, as if sensing that the destination had been reached, Liza and Tate ascended to the deck just as the boat pulled into the small dock.

“Alright, you three,” Liza said as they disembarked. “Remember what we said and be back before sundown, with or without your Pokémon.”

The group nodded and walked down the path that led to the forest, soon they came to a three way fork in the road. The one on the right led down to a craggy crevice surrounded by forest, the middle one led into dense woodland and upwards to a large plateau and the leftmost path led down to a pleasant lake by a waterfall.

“I’m heading up there.” Zachary pointed towards the plateau. “Bet I can find a Beldum up there.” He headed down the path leading into the woods.

“Then I’m going that way.” Sue ran down toward the lake, where she hoped to find some cute Pokémon near the calm waters. “See you back at the boat!” She cried to Gene as she left.

Gene, now alone, looked down the final path leading into crevice. “Perfect place for Solrock, Lunatone, Beldum,” He smiled. “Or Bronzor, if I get lucky.”

About an hour later, Gene was walking through one of the little craggy crevices that made up the valley. He had seen no Pokémon save for a few Flying-types that had fled at the sight of him.

“And not even a Natu,” He sighed. “This might be harder than I thought. “ He walked for a few minutes more and would’ve continued had something not caught his attention. Above his head and spanning the length of the crevice was a fallen tree, the kind Pokémon used for crossing. And walking across that tree was a tiny green and white figure that Gene recognized as a Ralts.

He smiled at the little Pokémon as it crossed the tree bridge, arms held out in either direction to help keep its balance. Gene watched the little Pokémon for a moment before continuing, it was too high up to risk getting its attention, he didn’t want to startle the little creature and make it fall. However as Gene neared the underside of the bridge and the Ralts reached the center a strong gust swept through the crevice, it was only a mild annoyance to Gene but it was a major problem for the Ralts.

Unable to keep her balance in the sudden wind the Psychic-type began to fall, she flailed wildly, trying to keep her balance, but ultimately toppled over and fell into the crevice below.

Gene witnessed the entire thing and gasped as he watched the little Pokémon fall. “No!” Gene dove for the Ralts and intercepted her before she reached the ground. “Gotcha!”

“Ralts?” The tiny Psychic-type looked up at her rescuer.

“You alright?” He asked, placing the Feeling Pokémon on the ground.

“R-Ralts.” She answered nervously.

Gene heard the fear in her voice and sighed. “Don’t worry,” He said, rooting through his bag. “I’m not gonna catch you, not if you don’t want me to.” He pulled out a cylindrical container and uncapped it. “Hungry?’ He asked, holding the food canister.

“Ralts.” She answered, she still wasn’t entirely sure about the human, but she was hungry. She grabbed the canister and began eating, Gene smiled as she did and decided, since it was almost noon, that he would have his own lunch. He unpacked and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while the Ralts watched his every move.

“Well,” He said after finishing his lunch. “I gotta get going, I only have until sundown to find a Pokémon who’ll be my partner.” He stood up and looked down at the little Psychic-type. “Unless you’d like to join me.”

When the Ralts looked away from the human, Gene sighed. “I understand,” He began walking further down into the valley. “You can keep that, by the way.”

Ralts just watched as the human walked away, confused by the way he acted. Some of the other Pokémon who had been here longer said that a lot of humans just wanted to catch Pokémon, but this one seemed nice. Ralts just shrugged and continued to eat the Pokémon food, unaware of the shadowy figure creeping up behind her.

Meanwhile, further down the path, Gene was still looking for any Pokémon. “Maybe I should’ve tried harder with the Ralts.” He said to himself, he would be beyond disappointed if he had to return him without a Pokémon. He was considering scaling the walls of the crevice so he could search the forest, but was interrupted when a childlike cry came from behind him.

“RALTS!” Gene immediately turned around and began to run in the opposite direction.

“Hang on!” He ran until he reached the same bridge he passed previously, and there he saw the same Ralts from before. She was slowly backing away from a Hypno who was advancing on the little Pokémon.

“Hypno.” It said threateningly.

“R-Ralts.” Gene had no idea what was going on, but he didn’t care, he could see that Ralts was scared and he intended to do something about the Hypno threatening her. Neither of the Pokémon had noticed Gene yet, and the boy decided to take advantage of this. Grabbing a branch that had fallen from a tree hanging over the crevice, Gene ran over to the Hypno just as it had backed Ralts into a corner.

“Hypno!” The Hypnosis Pokémon loomed threateningly over Ralts and prepared to strike.

Ralts closed her eyes and covered her head with her tiny hands. “Psy-”

CRACK!

The Hypno’s move was interrupted as a club like branch was broken over his head. The Psychic-type crumpled to the ground and Ralts opened her eyes, seeing the same human from before standing over the unconscious Pokémon holding a broken tree branch.

“You alright?” He asked, worried for the little Pokémon.

“Ralts, Ralts, Ralts, Ralts?” She asked him, gesturing at the Hypno.

Gene took a moment to try and figure out what she was asking. “If you’re asking why, I wasn’t going to let you get hurt.”

He pulled the Pokéball he had been given earlier and looked down at the unconscious Hypno. It was already unconscious, and Liza and Tate had said to use whatever means necessary. Plus starting out with a fully evolved Pokémon would probably give him an advantage.

But as he looked down at the Ralts who were now looking up at him in curiosity he couldn’t forget how it had scared the little Pokémon. He kneeled down and looked her right in the eyes, before seeing something that caught his attention. A serpent-like shaped ring glowing a yellow light in her left eye. “I thought I was the only one.” He said in shock, before getting an idea and a grin. “Hey, Ralts?”

Ralts looked up at him quizzically. “Ralts?”

“I know I kinda already asked, but I’m gonna do it officially this time.”“Ralts, will you be my Pokémon partner?”

At first the little Psychic type was going to refuse, but she paused in her rejection, she thought about how nice Gene had been to her. “I don’t really know what’s gonna happen,” he said, noticing her contemplation. “But I can promise you that we’ll go to a lot of new places, meet people and Pokémon,” He looked her directly in the eyes. “And that I’ll never leave you behind.”

Ralts couldn’t help but smile, she could sense that he was being sincere. She looked up at him, Gene was smiling and was holding the Pokéball out to her, while removing his eyepatch and pointed to his right eye. “What do ya say?”

Ralts gasped in shock, seeing that he had the same kind of eye she did. She thought for a moment then smiled again. “Ralts!” She ran forward and hugged him.

“I’m guessing that’s a yes then?” He asked with a smile.

“Ralts.” The little Psychic-Type took a few steps back, she scrunched her nose as she looked at the Pokéball.

Noticing her discomfort Gene smiled and explained. “Don’t worry, I won’t keep you in there, it’s just so no one else can catch you.” Gene had no idea how a Pokéball worked, but he was a little uncomfortable with keeping a living creature in a capsule no bigger than a baseball.

“Ralts.” Ralts sensed that he was telling the truth and decided to get the unpleasant part over with, she tapped the white button in the center and was engulfed in red light. For a moment she couldn’t sense her surroundings in any way, like she was half asleep, but soon a bright white light engulfed her and she was again standing in front of the human.

He smiled and picked her up. “Welcome aboard.” He said, placing her on his shoulder. “I’m Gene by the way.”

“Ralts.” She cried happily. Gene smiled.

“You know,” He said as he began walking back to the dock. “I want all my Pokémon to stand apart from others, so I’ve been thinking of giving you a name.” he looked over to her. “But first off, are you a boy or a girl?”

“Ralts!” She cried indignantly.

“Uhhh, girl then?” Gene asked, taking a shot in the dark.

She nodded and crossed her arms, pouting slightly. Gene chuckled. “Alright then, how about Melody?”

“Ralts.” She shook her head.

“Um, Emma?”

She stuck out her tongue. “Alright,” Gene tapped his chin. “I know!” he grabbed her and held her in front of him. “I’ll call you Belle!”

She considered the name for a moment, then smiled. “Ralts!” Belle cried happily as Gene put her back on his shoulder.

—-------------

“Wow.” Sora said in amazement, surprised that’s how Gene met Belle.

“Ever since then, I finally knew that I wasn't the only one anymore." Gene smiled. “When I became a Gallade, it became less noticeable.” The Gallade chuckled, realizing something. “You know, you're the first one who's noticed my eye ever since we came to Equestria.”

“Really?” Sora asked, surprised as Gene nodded. Sora then yawned out of tiredness as he rubbed his eyes. "Sorry, I'm kinda sleepy" He apologized.

"I bet you are, rough day, huh?" Gene replied to him with a smile. "You should go up and get some sleep."

“Yeah,” Sora said as Gene was about to leave the room.

"Hey," He said, getting Sora's attention. "About what you did to save Kairi, I... can't say I'd done any different." Gene admitted, shocking Sora. "I'd take it to the Grave if I have to." He then exited the room, leaving Sora alone for the night.

As Sora removed his gauntlets from his hands and his jacket to lay them on the desk, he let himself fall on the bed back first. The bed was really comfortable and the pillow was really soft, then again maybe he's just too used to sleeping either on grass, sand or the Gummi Ship bunks.

Sora was facing the ceiling reflecting on his current situation: He was now trapped in a world in which there was no Kingdom Hearts, no X-Blade, and as such no Keyblade War that would cause the division of the world into a myriad of worlds. To think that Sora's life took an extreme turn two years ago on that fateful night, this is another big turn in his life, he'll dare to say the biggest one since that one night.

"Hmm. Welp, if I'm gonna be staying here for a while, I might as well get used to it, I think it will be pretty easy" Sora said to himself, putting his hands behind his head, already feeling like home in such a crazy world. "Everyone… I'm working my way back, I hope you manage without me until then…" Sora thought of his friends and loved ones, hoping they will be fine in his absence. "May my heart be my guiding key…" Sora said the ancient keyblade wielder motto before closing his eyes and letting himself fall asleep.

Author's Note:

Crossover Vote:

https://www.streem.tech/poll/770

https://www.streem.tech/poll/783

To vote, click or enter the links above.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Why didn't you reply to my comment?

[gfr091702]

11444559
Sorry. I forgot to. To answer your question, no there won't be.

[nightshroud96]

I wonder how the MLP cast will react too?

[empourer]

spoiler alert, sora drags ferrum, alola, gallar, and paldea with him to equestria