Chapter Text
chapter 3: the first steps
“talking”
‘thinking, writing or the council of Katarina's’
*echo*
—
To say that Maleficent was angry was an understatement. Nobody insulted her without paying the price, but outsmarting her and using her own powers to do so was humiliating. As soon as she laid her hands on her, Maleficent would break her into a void puppet that could wield the Keyblade for her, and if she failed in the process, then she would get a powerful Heartless out of the experiment. She was about to summon a portal to return to Hollow Bastion. Katarina's familiar had used her portal to transport them as far from each other as possible, making finding her troublesome. Maleficent couldn't afford to have a Keyblade wielder go unchecked, especially one with as much potential as Katarina, but all her resources were focused on finding the Princesses of Heart. Going to Katarina's world was a mistake, as the light user of that world was still too weak to qualify as a princess. As she was about to summon a portal to return to Hollow Bastion and think of her next move, something interrupted her. She finally started to notice her current location: a simple prairie that contrasted with the colorful caravan with a lot of advertising posters around it, all centered around destiny and fortune.
After looking at the pitiful attempt at a business, Maleficent let out a smile. "What a coincidence. I was in dire need of a scammer.”
—
Katarina looked around, trying to determine if her current location was a fancy one. It almost seemed as if it had been hastily put together just for her after waking up. Pocchi had decided to remain in bed while Katarina explored. Besides the bed, there was just a small table with a box on top. Upon closer inspection, the box had a little note on it that read ‘open me.’ As much as she wanted to open it, she noticed a window. It was noon outside, and she could see a giant clock tower in the middle of the town and a train passing by. With that, she definitely knew she wasn't at home. Her world resembled the typical medieval fantasy novel. This place seemed way more advanced, although not as much as Japan. They seemed to have electricity down since a couple of shops had some neon signs.
She then focused on the box. Upon opening it, there was a purse inside along with a train ticket. inside the purse there was another note
‘I can explain to you what is happening. Come to the last stop of the train. DO NOT ARRIVE LATE.’ It was a little too complicated for Katarina's liking, so she began thinking about what to do.
Katarina Claes, post-doom meeting, sponsored by Maria's Sweets.
‘EVERYTHING IS OVER! WE ARE DOOMED!’ a Katarina with glasses screamed at the top of her lungs while she hid under the table, which was currently on fire. Another Katarina was trying to put out the flames while stomping on the floor. ‘WHO WAS THAT OLD HAG AND WHY WERE WE FIGHTING A FINAL BOSS ALONE?’
‘STOP SCREAMING, YOU ARE SCARING SHY,’ the normally happy part of her said, trying to coax her shy part out of the corner of the room. Soon, the sound of a hammer hitting made everybody stop.
‘ORDER IN THE ROOM!’ a Katarina dressed like a judge demanded. Soon, without her tantrum, the brave part of her was able to put out the flames on the table, and all the Katarinas took their normal seats.
‘Let's start the first post-doom meeting,’ as everybody wanted to suggest something. The truth was the council was stuck. ‘Honestly, what can we do now? We don't even know how we escaped that witch.’
It was the first time she felt like this. Katarina had done everything right; she had avoided the doom flags only for something to come out of nowhere and take everything from her again. It was frustrating. The chairwoman could only do one thing: ‘those in favor of finding out what this note is about?’
‘Yeah,’ right now it was better to focus on a short-term goal while she figured out what to do next. After deciding this, Katarina looked for the exit door. When she opened it, Pocchi jumped out of the bed and into her shadow. With nothing else to do, Katarina stepped out of the apartment into this unknown city.
—
Katarina wandered around the town; the ticket indicated she had at least a couple of hours before her train arrived. She wanted to find something to eat, but unfortunately, she was penniless. As she walked down a street, she saw a board that said ‘help wanted’. She looked to the clock tower, confirming if she had the time. After looking at them for a while, she decided to do the closest one. Apparently, one of the stores, a restaurant. gave you money if you managed to keep a ball in the air as a publicity stunt. After practicing a little, she realized that she could still use her dream-like abilities, like high jumping and the weird sword thingy so she armed herself with valor and went to the restaurant.
As she overcame the weird look of the little girl who was in charge of managing the event, as her parents were too busy cooking, she noticed that her burned dress attracted a lot of attention, though she could still wear it just fine. After an awkward talk, the crowd was gathered.
“Ready, go!” the girl gave her the sign. Katarina summoned her weapon, and at first, hitting the ball was easy. It was lighter than it seemed, and aside from a few hits that sent the ball a little too far, forcing her to run, nothing had happened, causing people to lose interest. This made Katarina lose her concentration and accidentally hit the ball too hard, causing it to go out of her reach.
“NO!” Katarina yelled as she tried to reach the ball, accidentally using her magic, creating an earth spike that made the ball explode like miniature fireworks. Katarina then stopped in her tracks, wondering if people were going to freak out. She didn't know if magic was a thing here. What if they formed a mob and chased her out of town or worse? But instead, she heard a round of cheers. Noticing Katarina's concern and confusion, the little girl spoke again.
“Magic is allowed, Miss. The only thing that matters is that you give a good show.” After hearing this, Katarina started to get more daring with her attempts, jumping to hit it in the air. She also began to truly see the new extent of her physical abilities. Soon, cartwheels, backflips, and frontflips were added along with her new magic moves that she used as a platform to reach even higher. By then, the crowd was at least five times their initial size, all cheering for her. With one last hit in the middle of the air, Katarina was able to break the ball, triggering even bigger fireworks. She then landed, striking a pose with her weapon, making the crowd go wild.
“That was amazing, Miss,” the little girl managing the event was really excited as she gave her what apparently was the coin of the town, a couple of yellow crystals with different sizes. Most of them were big and as she opened the purse, the crystals floated inside while they became smaller in the process. She also could see a number two thousand appear in the back of the purse.
“But this is way more than the amounts said.” While she didn't know how the money worked here, she didn't want to take advantage of a little girl. but she only met the girl's eyes of admiration that kinda reminded her of sofia. “It isn't a problem. The restaurant of my family already caught more clients thanks to you. It's the least we can do.”
While Katarina still wanted to object, soon her body betrayed her, and her stomach began to growl, making the little girl surprised but also forming a smile.
“Are you hungry, miss? We can give you a free meal for your troubles.” Not waiting for an answer, the little girl dragged Katarina towards the restaurant where they gave her a free meal while the little girl bombarded her with questions about who she was and how she could do all that amazing stuff and why her dress was burned. The excuse she could come up with was that she was a traveler passing through the town, which she learned was called Twilight Town, had an accident with her magic, lost her money, and got her clothes burned by it. Upon hearing it, the little girl recommended a store in the market that sold magic-resistant clothes, managed by a Moguri?. With that info, she thanked the little girl and her family and directed herself to this Moguri shop.
—
Well, Katarina wasn't surprised that her magic didn't surprise the crowd much. In front of her, there was a small, round creature resembling a plush toy brought to life. Its body was compact and chubby, with soft and fluffy fur covering it. It had small, rounded ears atop its head and a short, stubby tail often topped with a fluffy pom-pom, with large eyes.
“Welcome, what can I do for you today?” Katarina resisted the urge to hug the little thing as she looked around at the many dresses in the shop. “Erm, I was told you sold magic-resistant clothes. Can you show them to me?”
“Oh sure, just give me a minute.” The creature floated away to the back of the store and then returned with a couple of outfits. Katarina knew beggars couldn't be choosers, but she wondered what happened with all these belts and zippers; most of them didn't even have pockets to justify it. But among them, one caught her attention. “I want to try this one.” After choosing the moguri, pointed her to a place where she could change.
Seeing her reflection in the mirror was yet another surreal experience for Katarina. Despite still resembling Katarina Claes, she couldn't completely dismiss the slim possibility of reincarnation. However, dwelling on such thoughts was unproductive, and she preferred not to entertain them. With a sigh, Katarina decided to focus on the present and began to change.
Katarina emerged wearing a dress with delicate pink and white hues. The outfit included matching accessories such as gloves, stockings, and shoes, all designed to complement the overall aesthetic. She loved how fluffy it was. Katarina had opted to take off most of her jewelry, such as her earrings and bracelets; she even replaced her hair brooch to not stand out that much. “I will take this one, please.”
The moguri then smiled. “It's going to be five thousand munny.” Katarina's face then turned pale. She couldn't really afford that price, so she tried to negotiate. “I can give you my jewelry to complete.” As she nervously searched for them in her pockets, the moguri interrupted her. “You come from another world, right? It isn't a big problem if you can't afford the full price.”
“How did you know that?” Katarina said, surprised at the creature. “We moguri's are able to feel that kind of stuff, and with the current problems with the Heartless messing around all worlds makes it easy to spot lost people like you.”
“The Heartless?” Katarina remembered hearing the old witch calling those monsters like that. “Yeah, Heartless. You know, dark creatures with yellow eyes obsessed with dragging things into darkness. They have been out of control lately, so you can have the dress for two thousand. It's the best we can do in these rough times.” As Katarina thanked the moguri left the shop, three lights—one red, one blue, and one green—began to follow her..
—
"Do you really think this is a good idea? She hasn't done anything dangerous," a voice said, unsure of the plan. "Anything dangerous YET. If that girl has anything to do with Maleficent, then I assure you, a couple of enchanted objects will be the least of Twilight Town's problems," the second voice had a more firm tone. "We can't rush into conclusions yet. Master Yen Sid told us to keep an eye on her and test her if we were still unsure. Now, is everything ready?" The third voice had a calm tone while trying to get the other two to coordinate.
"Everything is ready. Those kids training for the Struggle Tournament should be enough," the second voice replied. "Then let's begin.” The three lights entered the tunnels connecting the city with the underground tunnels. One could see red, green, and blue sparkles, along with flashes of light coming out of the entrance.
—
Katarina began walking towards the clock tower in the center of the city. She had heard from inquiries at the train station that it was located on the first floor of the tower. Despite suggestions of using tunnels as a shortcut, she knew she would likely become lost. The town, stuck in an eternal twilight, aptly named "Twilight Town," held a unique charm. She pondered what her friends would think of this place, worried about the witch returning to harm them. Knowing that she wasn't as strong to even try to protect them, she recalled her confrontation with the witch's lackey and wondered if her friends were prepared to face a final boss like that witch.
Suddenly, a scream pierced the air, snapping Katarina to attention. She spotted a young child—was it?—wearing a large pointed hat with two patches and a zipper in the middle resembling a face. He also wore a blue sky coat, with striking yellow eyes. Startled, Katarina instinctively summoned her weapon, mistaking the child for a Heartless wearing clothes. Upon realizing her mistake, she relaxed as the child approached her.
"Miss, please help us! My friends and I were practicing for a tournament when a strange light appeared, causing our bats to attack us. Now they're trapped, and we need help," the child pleaded desperately. Uncertain of what to do, but moved by the child's distress, Katarina made her decision. "Where are they?"
—
‘Why are we doing this? were going to miss the train’ Smart Katarina said while put her hand on the table ‘we’re are stronger now and maybe we take care of this' Brave Katarina said also hitting the table ‘the last time we took care of something we got our butt kicked by a gorilla with a living dog shield’ Smart Katarina responded ‘that exactly why we need to do this we need to get stronger if we ever found another of those and the only way to level up to complete quests’ brave Katarina argued ‘THIS ISN'T AN RPG’ Smart Katarina screamed ‘girls we are already here’ Happy Katarina pointed at the screen.
instead of arguing with herself Katarina now focused in the tunnel in front of her. She could see all the pibes that formed the town water system. Who knew maybe she could bring this kind of thing if she ever found her way back home. Suddenly she could feel a hand grabbing her sleeve to stop her. “there! those are my friends” the little kid pulled Katarina into the conner and slowly peaked with his head to watch soon followed by Katarina
Both saw how the toy bats were hovering over some unconscious kids “See those are Seifer, Raijin and Fujin, we have to save them please” Katarina saw the toys float around in a weird way. it almost seemed like they were being holded by a marching soldier. while looking around she found a similar bat to ones they were currently guarding over the kids only that this looked like a magic wand with a mouse head as its tip. she was beginning to wonder that shape was important considering how frequently she saw it. Regardless, she took the wand and gave it to the kid.
“here you might need to defend yourself erm” as she handed over the wand, Katarina tried to remember if this kid had told her his name, the kid a little unsure took the wand “I am Vivi” looking again at the unconscious kids Katarina thought of something “alright here is the plan first i go there and get the attention of the toy swords then you go there and rescue your friends one by one once all of them are safe you give me a signal and we get out of here” simple and quick Vivi gave a quick nod and Katarina charged towards the floating bats after summoning her weapon.
At first, only one of the toys showed interest in Katarina, mainly attempting to lure the toy far enough so Vivi could grab his friends. It honestly reminded her of training sessions with a dummy while she and Keith practiced sword fighting. It wasn't difficult, really just time-consuming. They were kids, but did they really get knocked by these things? Something wasn't adding up for her.
Meanwhile, Vivi had already started to drag his friends out; it was only at this moment he really wished that Katarina had left Raijin for last; he was arguably the tallest of the group, meaning he was the heaviest and twice as big as Vivi. The poor kid did his best to get him out of there. Meanwhile, for Katarina, things were not getting better as Vivi managed to get his friends out; more objects started attacking her. First, they were other toy swords, then they were brooms, buckets, and even some old furniture that was laying around started attacking her, forcing her to become aggressive and start destroying them. Here she noticed something: her weapon, despite looking more like a bat, had the ability to properly cut stuff like any blade would. As there were fewer and fewer of these cursed objects, Vivi had managed to get his friend Fujin out, leaving only Seifer. Unfortunately, Vivi tripped over some of the remnants of the cursed objects that Katarina destroyed. The objects attacking Katarina stopped and then turned towards Vivi. The objects began to charge towards him. Katarina reacted quickly and managed to destroy two of them, but the last one was still charging towards Vivi. The boy froze in place, shaking while trying to keep hold of the wand and summon a little courage. He looked at Seifer, who was slowly getting up, and Katarina, who was trying to stop the cursed object charging towards him. He couldn't give up just yet. Closing his eyes, Vivi raised his wand and swung it in front of him; a red light then appeared from the tip of the wand as a fireball appeared and destroyed the object.
Katarina looked surprised as she approached Vivi, who was dumbfounded by what had just happened. "Way to go, Vivi! You should have told me you could use magic," she exclaimed as she celebrated their victory. However, Katarina suddenly remembered something. "THE TRAIN. I HAVE TO GO. SEE YOU LATER, VIVI.”
—
Katarina arrived at the train station, but unfortunately, upon entering, she saw that she was late, with no more trains in sight. She gave a deep sigh and proceeded to sit on a staircase.
‘Now what?’ Chairman Katarina asked. ‘We did the right thing, but we lost our only clue on what actually happened to us,’ Shy Katarina commented, disappointed. ‘Maybe we should go back to that apartment where we were left. Whoever left us there might have come back,’ Smart Katarina said, defeated. As she pondered what to do next, she noticed Vivi approaching her. "Did something happen, Miss?" the kid asked, worried at her expression. "I just missed my train," Katarina replied, taking out her ticket and handing it to Vivi, who proceeded to take a seat while looking at it. "I'm sorry if I had been stronger, I could have saved them myself and not gotten you involved," Vivi apologized, looking down. "Don't say that. You managed to take the last one out and helped your friends get away from there," Katarina responded, patting the boy on the back. "By the way, how are your friends? Are they okay?" Vivi's face wasn't very expressive, but she could tell he was also feeling down. "Seifer sprained his ankle. Raijin and Fujin took him to his home so he can rest," he said, still with a guilty tone in his voice as he looked at the ticket. "Who gave you this ticket, Miss?" Vivi suddenly asked Katarina, who then realized she hadn't told him her name. "I'm Katarina, and I don't really know, to be honest."
Vivi kept looking at the ticket, spotting a detail and pointing it out to Katarina. "Whoever did this must be pulling a prank on you, Katarina," Vivi said, getting up and pointing towards the gates. "The blue train is a rumor; nobody has seen it actually arrive at the station before." He gave Katarina the ticket back and guided her towards the stop. "So it was just a prank. Well, I don't know what I was expecting, to be honest."
However, once Katarina held the ticket in front of the stop, it began glowing until it disappeared from her hands. Then, the gates to the station opened, and the rails started glowing, forcing both Katarina and Vivi to look away. When they were able to see again, a blue and yellow wagon adorned with a magician's hat on top appeared, its doors opened for them. Neither Katarina nor Vivi resisted their curiosity and went inside. Besides a couple of seats, it was surprisingly empty; there wasn't even a conductor's seat or controls for it. They kept investigating until suddenly they heard something.
"What was that?" Katarina looked at Vivi. "It sounded like a door closing," Vivi slowly responded until the realization hit them. They also heard the wheels of the train slowly beginning to move. "I think you're going to have to come with me," Katarina awkwardly laughed as Vivi began to wonder what kind of mess he had gotten into.