High in the stars, where the magic kept it aloft, Yen Sid's tower cut haphazardly across the stars. In the highest room, there the powerful wizard had just sent the keyblade wielders on their necessary mark of mastery, he straightened suddenly in alarm. King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy too watched him with interest as he stood up, the heavy chair creaking as it slid to allow the retired master out from the table. He strolled to the star shaped and crescent shaped windows, staring grimly out at the dark sky.
"What's the matter, master?" King Mickey asked.
"Around the time Sora first began his quest to protect the worlds to the Realm of Light, a new star appeared, one that was not connected to any world."
"Huh?" Goofy scratched his head as he shared an equally confused look with Donald. "But I thought new hearts formed all the time."
"No. This one was a fully formed heart. And I've watched it to see what role it played in the cosmos, and what it intended. But at no point has it done anything of significance, keeping to itself, and being careful not to disturb the events unfolding."
"So what's the problem?" Donald asked.
The old wizard's face was grim. "The moment I just sent Sora and Riku back to, to attempt to awaken the sleeping worlds," he pointed to the star in question. "Is the exact moment that this star arrived."
The trio gasped fearfully, glancing at each other worriedly as they realized the gravity of what he had said.
Deep in a sleeping world, past the curtains of darkness in the heart of a desperately created dream, a small heart levitated weakly in a once hidden alcove. A game coliseum invited people for the promise of fun and games, and a large ornate door opened to another district. Near the opening where the moogles directed the popular Flick Rush, a small girl approached the wayward heart curiously.
"Hello there," she cheerfully greeted the heart. "I'm Rhyme. Who are you?"
She was a tiny thing, at least half the size of an average man. She had chopped flaxen hair and gray eyes, with a ribbed black cap, and over sized rust orange shirt. It was clear she was a cheerful and possibly a sweet little thing, but the image was ruined by the skull on her cap, and the cross bones on her shirt. The heart, which did seem to glow for a moment in acknowledgment, ultimately did not respond, simply spinning slowly at her eye level.
She tilted her head curiously. "Do you not have one?"
But their conversation had attracted attention, and behind the young girl, a horde of brightly colored creatures burst into existence. They roared and snarled, startling Rhyme and making her lose her cheer. The massive bears over twice her size reeled it's arm back to wind up for it's strike, and the heart behind her shot forward. Around the heart formed a leaping young boy, one with a matching black stocking cap, a white tank, and baggy khaki capris and large stylish tennis shoes. The form solidified just in time to grab Rhyme's shoulder to yank her back, and for the bear to strike a blow against the male teen's raised forearm. It struck and he fell to the ground with a pained shout, grunting from the stinging scrapes against his arms and knees. One would think that after such a sudden blow one would feel pain, or fear, but the first thing that registered to him was the burning prickle of humiliation.
Then rage.
"Stay back!" he warned Rhyme as he hurried upright.
Rhyme pushed herself up from the ground to look in stunned amazement, whereas the teen jumped up and dashed forward into the fray, starting with reeling back and hitting the blue panda bear as hard as he could with his uninjured left hand. It was a scramble of both violence and desperation. The pain in his right forearm burned, so he kept it low, focusing on left jabs, and a kick if he could manage. His strikes were clumsy from both pain, and surprise, but the rage and pride fueled him, wanting to, at the very least, take down the things that had managed to hurt him. 'You want to hit me?' His strikes said. 'Fine! I'll take you down!'
His kicks managed to knock back the prickly purple puffballs first(what were they called again?), only to be hit repeatedly by the brightly colored bats using their sonic attacks against him. While he didn't want to use his arm, he still had to bring up his arms to try to block the worst of attacks. He kept himself alive, but was struggling to see the dream eaters attacking from the side and behind, getting hit and struck down once again.
'I've got to get out of the middle,' he thought to himself as he pushed up. 'Stupid, you can't get surrounded! Ugh, I wish I could just make myself have powers!'
"Use flow motion!" Rhyme's voice called out.
He winced as he stood. "It won't work!"
"Why not?"
He ran to avoid a tackle, and came up and around the side of the hostile dream eaters. "I'm not good at it, and I can't force it in a dream anyway!"
"Then use the barrels!" She suggested.
"The what?" He glanced behind to her, and then followed her pointing finger to the hexagonal wood structure she was pointing to. There was something that looked like a geometric arrow target, brightly glowing pink and yellow to beckon him. It jogged his memory, and then he dashed forward, leaping for it with his left palm out. His body shot into a flip, diving into the stone like water and going outside the realm of time.
'Right, I forgot about this thing!' he said to himself as his dream self pulled back the barrel with his good arm, feeling the tension like a slingshot. 'All I remembered was flow motion. Hope this does something good!'
After a moment of struggling with the resistance, he managed to aim the expected target area to hit as many of the dream eaters as possible. He let it fly, watching the barrel arc high into the sky threateningly, and then land in the middle of the horde, instantly exploding three. The flood of dark satisfaction filled him as he jumped back into the plane.
"Yes!" He pumped his arms, then shouted with pain, as the motion jabbingly reminded him of the bruise.
He wasted no time diving for the second slapping his palm against the barrel. This time when he dove between the fabrics of reality, he was ready. He hit the remaining three spirits further away, and finally gave himself some breathing room. Excitement filled him at the thought of pummeling the last ones unencumbered.
"Okay," he said to himself, bringing his fist and hand up again, respectively. "I can handle this!"
Then he finally went for the last of the komory bats- only to find out he could not handle this. He came close to try to punch it, but it was just out of range, flying a few inches above his swinging fist. He brought his arms up in time to block the sonic attack coming at him, but it pushed him back out of reach.
'C-, I can't reach! How am I supposed to get to it?'
"Jump!"
He brought his fist up, wondering if maybe he had to wait for a diving attack. "But I can't jump that-"
And then it hit him. Right! He wasn't awake! He was dreaming he was in Kingdom Hearts! Even if he couldn't fly, he could definitely make himself jump high, right?
It came for a tackle, and he managed to get his arms up to block off the worst of it. Then he took a breath to brace himself, and leaped into the air. He came level with the dream eater, then brought his left fist down to strike it. It vanished, leaving a dream figment behind. It swirled into him instantly, and he dropped down in relief. Mostly he was marveling how slowly he landed. Right, both dream, and Kingdom Hearts physics.
But his relief was short lived, for behind him another group of dream eaters appeared.
"S-!" He shouted by accident, then brought his hands up for another fight-ready stance. This might have been fun if his arm wasn't hurting so bad. Great. Now he could feel physical pain in his dreams, just what he needed.
Oh well. Time for round two.