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Here it is, the final version, it will culminate all my ideas for the future and also will have a bit of my personal life put into it. I even researched as much as possible to find the real names of several weapons, it was kinda hard to find them.


Dimension Defenders
Book 1
The Heart's Challenge

Prologue
The Way It Is

This is a tale that began long before it's telling, mankind has been living unaware that there is a great battle being waged across many worlds.

These worlds are all on different plains of existence but are connected by invisible Ties, I created those Ties so that the nexus world, True Earth, can become prepared for anything that may happen. Yet no one on True Earth knows that it is happening, writers, animators, and game designers alike have been the outlet into their world. They give my warriors the knowledge they need of the dimensions so that they can stop my nemesis.

My nemesis is an entity of great corruptive power, at first he was the one who placed evil into the worlds, but over time his indirect methods were thwarted by those that were not affected by his power. Eventually he intervened; he returned to the critical moments of the dimensions and initiated a far more direct method to destroy all that I created.

I had no choice but to create the Ties, and the two powers that would use them, the Voyager power and the Mender power. These two powers are similar in just about every way, but there are two main differences between these. The Voyager is one of a kind -- at least in the sense that there are no two alive at the same time-- and has the ability to open the Ties. The Menders, however, are one in many, but there is only one per world, they are given the power to repair the rifts the Voyager creates.

There have been many generations of Voyagers from True Earth; some of them are heroes of history, even dating back to the mighty Hercules. All of these heroes have faithfully defended the worlds alongside their partners; they have stopped my nemesis wherever he went.

But now he has made his final desperate move, if the next and last generation can place the Sealing Spell in the remaining worlds they will be free of him forever. This will be the end of eons of struggle, and the fate of all the worlds rests squarely on the shoulders of one unsuspecting boy.

Kenny's first hurtle, my nemesis' first attempt to destroy him.

Kenny, he is a fifteen year old boy with a destiny beyond anyone's imagination. He has always felt like he was different, always being the odd one out. He only had a handful of friends at school, some he could barely even call friends, but he always found a sanctuary on the Internet. There he made friends who had interests like his, asked for his opinion, and even waited attentively as he made a story that would prepare him for his destiny.

About three years ago he began to daydream of random adventures in the world of video games, and eventually it began to develop into a potentially epic story. This idea was given to him by me, this will be the most difficult adventure yet and he needed a head-start in the ways of his adventures.

This is a journal of his adventure recorded over years; this once isolated child is now a grown warrior and is ready to tell the world the truth.




Chapter 1
My Old Life, Shattered



Hello, my name is Kenny; I'm a normal, 15 year old boy that loves to dream. At least, that was the way it used to be, now I'm trapped in a struggle that I only barely imagined. You see, I was always the odd one out in life, and because of that I spent a lot of time delving into my own mind. One day I just started imagining pointless adventures in the world of video games. Over time I began adding rules to it, building my own villains and allies, all sorts of stuff until it formed the basics of a great fan-fiction. This story only scratched the surface of what I would eventually face, but it prepared me in a way for what has happened. But that is enough about my history, now I'll tell you how it all started.

It was a normal Friday; I got up, put on a black shirt and jeans, and combed my brown hair by parting it down the middle and smoothing down all the parts that stuck out. I went out to the curb to wait for the bus, and on the bus I once again delved into my personal abyss and thought up ideas for my fan-fiction, when I got out I went into school, ate breakfast, and went through my classes.

When lunch came around I went out into the field just outside of the cafeteria, which is odd since I usually head for the library for some quiet. Once I was outside I wandered the edge of the fence for several minutes, I looked over near the parking lot and saw three motorcycles roar by.

Jackasses, I thought towards the reckless individuals, but in the back of my mind I lightly acknowledged something familiar about the bikes.

After two more minutes of wandering the fence I saw her, the girl I have had a crush on since before I can even remember, Kenzi Rush. She was walking along into the field alone, looking around as if searching for someone. Since I was always shy and never knew what to say around any girl I liked I just leaned against the fence and delved again into my mind. I was planning on staying like that until the lunch bell rang, but after about five minutes I heard someone walking up to me through the field.

Then I heard a soft voice, “Hi,” I looked up and Kenzi was standing right in front of me, looking at me with her beautiful brown eyes. Her hair was brown with blond highlights, which hung down to the back of her neck. She was the girl I loved and she was actually talking to me.

“Oh, uh, um...hi,” I managed to blurt out, my face was most likely beet red, she chuckled, she must have just realized how much I liked her.

I wish I could have enjoyed that moment, but that was when it all changed, just as I was about to say something the air was filled with the roar of an explosion that shook the ground we stood on.

I stumbled for a second as the earth shook beneath me, I heard Kenzi let out a short yell as she started to fall over and I caught her before she could hit the ground. Just as I caught her I looked for the source of the explosion and saw the cafeteria door hurtling straight at us.

I had no control over my body, I quickly dropped Kenzi (Her being inches off the ground.) and did what only a complete fool would do, I jumped in front of the door and raised my hands. I have no idea what I was thinking as this happened, thoughts raced through my head, my mind kept trying to make me move.

But there was no time to move, and just as it was about to hit I gave in to the impulse and braced myself for the impact. I felt a warm energy move through my hands and it erupted from my palms, fire washed over the door and stopped it in its tracks. I forced my hands down and the fire stopped, molten metal and glass fell to the ground, burning immense holes in the earth.

“What... the..,” I said, raising my hands to stare at my palms, and my eyes were suddenly flared shut by a bright light that surrounded my body.

I opened my eyes to see my hands covered with tight, black leather gloves and a red and black watch on my left wrist. Just past them I saw black shoes like you see businessmen wear, but these were more comfortable and solidly built. I had on a red t-shirt with a black vest over it, and smooth black jeans, much more comfortable than the ones I was wearing. Last but not least I felt something brush against my arm; I grabbed hold of it and looked to see I had a black cape with red on the inside. To summarize it, I was one step short of a pimp.

After I was done appreciating my new wardrobe I heard footsteps through the smoke of the explosion in the cafeteria. I looked into the smog and saw two figures walking towards me, and as they got closer and the smoke cleared the identities of the two figures hit me like a semi-truck going 60 miles an hour. It was Yazoo and Loz, two of the villains from Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children.

Yazoo, heartless and cruel, he had long silver hair that hung straight below his shoulders, and a very calm air about him. His soft air cloaked the savage nature I knew was in him, his slit, green eyes were all that showed of his malevolent intent. He wore a formfitting, black leather, biker suit, and hanging from the left side of his waist was a gun called Velvet Nightmare, with a blade running from the bottom of the barrel to ring around the trigger.

Loz, on the other hand, was entirely different, his savage nature sprouted from him like a smoking volcano. He too had slit, green eyes and silver hair, but his was spiked up like you see on some surf jocks, and he constantly had a smirk of anticipation on his face. He wore the same kind of suit as Yazoo, and even had the same weapon strapped on his left waist, but his weapon of choice was a mechanical gauntlet named Dual Hound on his left forearm. It had a special grip with a trigger that activated two pistons in the back of the weapon. When he released the trigger it would spring the energy loaded in the pistons and send the two large spikes on the front of the gauntlet forward and into whatever the monster felt like destroying.

I took a few steps backward, too stunned to speak, and I bumped into Kenzi who had probably gotten up a moment ago. I quickly turned to her and she hit me with a barrage of very reasonable questions, “What's happening? How did you do that? Who are they? What's with the wardrobe change?”

I looked around for a second, half expecting the answers to be just written somewhere for me, and then I thought of my fan-fiction. Everything fit in, it all made sense at that moment and I spoke to Kenzi with a confidence I had never had around her before, “Kenzi, I don't know how, but what I do know about this is it's going to be incredibly dangerous. I want you to run, if anything happened to you I wouldn't be able to live with myself.”

If she didn't know I loved her before, she sure knew now, she gave me a look of love and admiration that I never thought I would receive from her. Then her face firmed, she gave me a nod of understanding, and ran off in a direction that would lead her far away from this place.

I on the other hand, had to turn and face the threat; Yazoo and Loz were already halfway across the field and getting closer. I stepped forward and gathered up all the courage I knew how to muster, but I only took a few steps before another horrible realization came to me. Yazoo and Loz were here, so that meant...

I heard Kenzi scream again, along with the ring of a sword leaving its sheath, I was forced to divert my attention once again and was staring eye to eye with Kadaj, a sudden burst of pain erupted in my right leg that brought me down on my knee.

“Thank you, brother,” Kadaj said with a smirk of delight, holding his double bladed katana to Kenzi's throat, “Thank you for telling me what your weakness is.”






Chapter 2
And So It All Begins


Kadaj, the last in the Jenova Spawn Trio, is the leader of the group and by far the most ambitious of all. He never gave up on what he wanted till the last moments of his life and was by far strong enough to get whatever it was. I know it is getting old, but he also had slit, green eyes and silver hair, his hair hung down in bangs that occasionally covered his eyes in front and reached down to his neck in the back. His weapon of choice was a double bladed katana called Souba.

“I have to admit brother,” Kadaj sneered as I clutched at my knee, “I thought that your only weakness was going to be the stigma you received from your father. I never would have expected that you had such an emotional weakness too.”

“What about my father?!” I shouted back at him, even though I felt I already knew the answer.

“I'm not going to tell you, I won't give you the satisfaction of knowing what your destiny could have been. Now, if you don't surrender your life, you will be surrendering hers,” he pulled Souba closer to Kenzi's throat, “It's up to you.”

I could see no way out of this, I felt like all my strength left me and my head hung down.

“Please, just don't hurt her,” I whispered, I heard two guns lock, Yazoo and Loz were on either side of me holding their Velvet Nightmares a few feet from my head.

“Hahahaha, you fool!”

My head bolted up to see Kadaj throw Kenzi off to the side, and his hand began to charge with a light blue energy that gave off white vapors.. There was a flash out of the corner of my right eye as Yazoo flicked his gun over and brought it to face Kenzi.

“NO!”

He pulled the trigger, hitting Kenzi in her stomach, she fell to the ground. Rage beyond anything I had ever felt boiled from the depths of my heart. I faced Kadaj just as he was bringing his hand back by his head, preparing to release the magic trapped in it. A scream tore from my lips unbidden.

“KENZI!”

Suddenly all I could hear was the roar of a powerful engine, the next moment I felt a strong arm wrap around my waist and I was ripped away from the blast a split second before it hit. Tires squealed as whoever grabbed me banked their bike and brought it to a halt, I landed on my feet as the person let go of me.

The anger within me was becoming unbearable, I started to run back the 100 yards to where the three of them were, ready to kick some a**, but the mysterious rescuer grabbed hold of my cape and nearly yanked my over onto my rear.

I whirled on the man ready to give him a piece of my mind, “HEY! What's the bi...?”

I was stopped short when I saw who the man was, Cloud Strife atop his sleek motorcycle Fenrir.

Cloud is the most bad-a** hero in the history of Final Fantasy; he defeated the infamous Sephiroth and his space-alien mother Jenova. He keeps his cool in even the toughest of times and never lets anybody get to him, although that does make it hard getting to be his friend. Behind his motorcycle goggles he had deep blue eyes with a mako-green tint rimming his pupils; his spiky blond hair blew in the wind making him look even cooler.

He wore a loose, black, cloak-like outfit held securely by a belt, shoulder guards, and a crest on his left shoulder with a wolf holding a ring in its mouth, and he had cut off the sleeve on his right arm while leaving the one on his left arm. His weapon however was nowhere to be seen until he pulled on triggers on both handlebars of his bike; the sides of metal next to the front wheel opened up and revealed two compartments. All of them were empty but one, it held his most trusted weapon, his Buster Blade: First Sword.

I swear that if I wasn't worried about keeping some ounce of dignity left in front of my favorite hero I would have gone insane. With all of this stuff happening, my head was reeling with thoughts of anger, astonishment, and all the emotions on the list, but with Cloud right there I managed to hold it together.

Cloud looked at me and answered my unfinished question with the most obvious answer, “Don't go into battle without a weapon.”

I smacked my palm into my forehead, How could I face these guys without a weapon? I looked around and thought of what I could use as a weapon, and just as I was about to ask Cloud for part of his blade he answered another unasked question, “Just speak the name of the weapon you wish to use.”

Huh? Well, I guess I'll give it a try, I thought skeptically.

I threw my right hand into the air and called out the name of the first weapon that came to my mind, “First Sword!”

All of the sudden the watch I had obtained flashed white uncontrollably and from its screen sprouted tendrils of white energy. These tendrils quickly worked their way to my back, and wrapped around my waist as more extended to my outstretched hand. With a flare of light I was holding aloft the base blade of the First Sword, oddly light for its size, and the cape on my back was replaced with an elaborate sheath, which held the rest of the swords.

The First Sword is a set of blades that can be combined into one giant Buster Blade; it is Cloud's best weapon. The swords come in many forms, for example the largest piece, the base blade on which all the others are placed, is about four feet long and about two thirds of a foot wide at the base, slowly the edges come together at the point. But, when you flip a switch at the bottom of the hand-guard, the blade opens up on a faint seam and it enters battle mode, it becomes a foot wide from top to bottom, from there you can combine the blades.

I looked back over to Cloud and he cocked his eyebrow at my First Sword, obviously questioning my choice of weapons. I just shrugged my shoulders and replied, “Hey, the best weapon isn't always something original.”

I then broke eye contact and turned to face the three silver-haired villains.

Kadaj and Yazoo were both walking towards us, near half of the way across, and Loz stayed back where we were before. I didn't know why he stayed back there until Kadaj saw that I had faced them, he twirled his finger in the air for a second. I saw Loz's indistinct figure nod, I could practically see the cocky grin on his face, and he then turned to walk over to where Kenzi lay. I realized what he was doing in a second, Kenzi was still alive and Kadaj wanted me to watch helplessly as she was finished off.

The rage I had forgotten surged through me again; it fueled my willpower, which caused my watch to go crazy again. Pale yellow light shot out of the screen like a spotlight, I held it in front of me and some of the light within the band began to focus together, it grew larger and larger and began to glow red. With another flash of light (I was going to have to get used to that.) there was red, crystal orb floating within the beam.

I couldn't believe it, I didn't even try to and I had created the Dragoon Spirit of the Red-Eye Dragon, but I realized there was something different about it when I picked it up. The moment I lifted it the beam disappeared, and the Spirit turned once more into a ball of red light. It wasn't glowing with a radiant light, it was a radiant light, and it began to sink into my skin.

I flinched, expecting it to hurt, but instead I felt power course into my veins, the light spread under my skin and it became a part of me. When the light faded beneath my skin Cloud walked up next to me, keeping his focus straight ahead, he said to me, “I can only help you so much, this is your fight.”

I nodded my head and gave a grunt of understanding, and then I ran forward towards Yazoo and Kadaj, calling the power of the Dragoon Spirit out from me. As I neared them the villains broke into a run as well, and I could hear Cloud keeping pace behind me. Moments before I reached the two the transformation activated, I was lifted off the ground while still going forward, and my body began to shine with a deep crimson light. I then became a solid beam of light just as I reached the two, but my focus wasn't on them, I exploded out behind the brothers in full dragoon form, hurtling straight for Loz.

Now, for those of you who don't know, a dragoon is an entity created when a dragon's soul is crystallized and the power within that crystal is extracted by another being. The being is then equipped with a powerful armor, in the color that represents their elemental control, for example my fire Dragoon Spirit created a red armor. The weapon often goes through a change too, but my First Sword was merely given a red tint. And last, wings sprout from the back, magical wings of incredible strength that allow Dragoons to perform complex aerial maneuvers through magical propulsion. But despite all that you don't choose the Spirit, it chooses you, and boy was I glad that it chose me.

Just as I came out of my transformation Loz lifted Kenzi partway up by her shirt, and the grip on his gauntlet popped out into his hand. I surged my wings with energy and shot forward at an incredible speed. Loz pulled back his hand and prepared to strike, but then he caught sight of me out of the corner of his eye; he turned and swung his gauntlet just in time to stop my blade from cutting him to ribbons. Nevertheless, he was struck with such force that he was shot back several yards and skidded across the field, tearing up the earth beneath him.

I flared my wings to stop and landed softly on the ground. I turned to Kenzi, she was moaning in pain as her strength was leaving her. I leaned over next to her and picked her up; I took off with a single flap of my wings, tears streaming from my eyes.

GREEAAT this is just perfect, I lost the third chapter of my story, the file crashed and all the work was lost. But the worst part is that it isn't the first time, my little cousin caused a similar incident not long ago.

It was perfect! And now I have to start all over again!

Chapter 4
Two Dreams Come, One Dream Goes


I had a dream then.



At least, that was what I had hoped that it was: I stood in a small box canyon filled with floating stalagmites of crystal and waterfalls falling inward from all sides. The floor of this gorge was the surface of the water which accumulated from the waterfalls, I had no idea how I was standing on it. I looked down and saw I was wearing a raggedy, black cloak, this wasn't my body.

I looked up, my view partially obstructed by the shadow of a black hood over my head, and saw a great castle reared against the sky, a testament to great power. Emblazoned upon the walls of the castle was a four piece symbol in the shape of a heart, the Heartless' symbol, formed by machinations of clockwork and several magical devices. It was Hollow Bastion.

I let out an involuntary sigh, and jumped up onto one of the crystals. I continued to jump from one crystal to another, with no control over my body, until I reached a bizarre prism device. With a single twist of the top-most point of the prism an elevator-like platform appeared, I was teleported onto the platform and it rose up to the palace.

I was teleported from the platform as it reached the lowest balcony leading to two immense double doors. Several Heartless appeared from the shadows, but quickly retreated from a glowering look of malevolence. I walked over to the double doors, pulled a battered claymore from beneath the black robes I was wearing, and struck it three times, steel upon steel.

I waited there for several minutes and then stepped back as the doors began to open, the screeching of the hinges barely being within the limits of tolerability. Out from the dark chamber within stepped a green-faced woman in black robes, she held a wooden staff with a green stone held within gnarled fingers. Maleficent.

“May I help you?” she said, obviously thinking that someone with such rough attire wasn't worth her time, especially when she couldn't see my face.

“It's been awhile hasn't it?” I said, but it wasn't my voice, it was a soft, malicious, and yet very persuasive voice.

Maleficent took a step back in astonishment, quickly regained her calm, and spoke with utmost respect towards me, “Why... yes it has, and we had not expected you to ever return. To what do we owe the pleasure of your arrival K--”

“--Don't speak my name,” I snapped, I then lifted back the hood shadowing my face, “We wouldn't want anyone unwelcome to have that kind of information, would we?”

When my face was revealed Maleficent instantly pulled her staff around in a lousy attempt at protection, “What form of treachery is this?!”

I merely laughed at her gesture, a cold laugh of evil humor, “It is no treachery, it is a glorious achievement on my part, I am really quite amazed I did it.” I grabbed hold of Maleficent's arm, just below the shoulder, and pulled her into the castle, “Come, I'll tell you how it all happened,”



Everything went black, I could see nothing around me. I was no longer in any unknown body. I could no longer remember anything that had happened to me, I was merely a consciousness within the abyss.

“Kenny!”

What was that? I felt around within the darkness and found nothing.

“Kenny! Wake up!”

Wake up? I'm asleep? I thought, completely disoriented and barely able to keep my thoughts straight.

I felt a violent shaking along my consciousness, the darkness around me wavered and began to form images. My thoughts suddenly started to come together, all the events of the fight and everything else washed over my mind like a raging torrent, I jolted upright in a cold sweat.

“Kenny!” I felt a sudden weight on my shoulder, and I turned to see Kenzi holding on to me, tears falling gently from her cheeks.

“Kenzi,” I murmured softly, “I'm so glad you're okay.”

“All thanks to you.”

“It was nothing,” I blushed, I looked at my hand to see my normal, black gloves. “Huh? What happened the Dragoon Spirit?” I looked over my body to see that the armor, wings, and everything else was gone.

“You mean that armor? It disappeared, a red light formed in your hand and then it disappeared,” she sniffed, then suddenly hugged me, bawling against my chest, “But I'm so glad you're alive! For a moment I thought....” she stopped, the thought to painful for her to speak aloud.

I looked over into the field and saw Cloud standing there alone, there was a strange device in his hand with an image hovering over it. I could barely make out the image or the words that passed between Cloud and the image.

“The mission is completed, was there anything else you wanted me to do?” Cloud asked.

No, that will be all, you know you haven't changed a bit Cloud,” the man responded, a glistening white cloak hiding his body and face.

“So? You have a problem with the way I am?”

The man laughed at this, “No, you know that I don't. Besides, change isn't always seen right away,” he held up one of his hands, pure white scales covered it all the way to the sleeves and further. “But I guess I'm one of the exceptions,” he laughed again.

“Yeah,” Cloud grinned, “So, when can you get me out of here?”

“It'll be open in just a minute, meanwhile, see how it was handled,” the image flickered and then disappeared.

Kenzi pulled out of the hug and met my eyes, something I had only dreamed of till now, “I love you, I always have, at least for as long as I can remember.”

Wow. I never thought I would hear those words come from her. I sat there, stunned, I gingerly put my hands pulled her shoulders, pulled her to me, and kissed her. It was a long, and passionate kiss that met and exceeded all my wildest dreams. I could feel all her passion pour into the kiss, just as much as mine was. When we broke we just sat there staring into each other's eyes; but it wasn't meant to be.

Cloud walked up and put a hand on my shoulder, “You alright?”

“Yeah,” I shrugged his shoulder off and stood, holding Kenzi's hand the whole time.

“I'm guessing you know what has to happen?”

“Yeah.”

“Good,” a flash of green lit the air and a whirling, green vortex formed behind Cloud, he looked back and muttered, “My ride is here, take care of yourself.” He turned and walked through the vortex, there was a flash, and he was gone, the vortex slowly closed and vanished.

“Was that Cloud?” Kenzi gaped.

The question was so out of place and unexpected that it forced a tired laugh out of me, “Yep, that's him. Wait, I didn't know you were a gamer.”

“There is a lot you don't know about me,” she smiled, “But now we can get to know each other, we can be together forever.”

The tears returned to my eyes. As I had said, I knew what had to happen, but it didn't make it any easier. I clasped her hands in mine, “Kenzi, I'm afraid that that can't happen, I have to go.”

The look on her face tore me apart, she looked as heartbroken as I felt and it only made it worse for me, “Why? Why do you have to go? Where do you have to go?”

“I have to go because it is the only way to protect you, if I don't go it would only bring more pain upon you. I love you Kenzi, and that is why I have to go,” I blinked back the tears as best I could, but they fell anyway. “I can only hope that you will see the good I will do, see how hard I will fight for you.” I turned away from her. “This world's fate rests in my hands, but that chapter has yet to come, I must be stronger to save it all.”

I clenched my fist and held it before my face, then I twisted it around, straightened my fingers, and plunged them into the air, “Kingdom Hearts, Traverse Town!” The air inverted and opened up like I was passing my hand through gelatin, and the same green gate opened.

“My dreams are leading me there,” I kept my face forward, I didn't want to see the pain in her eyes, “I'll always be thinking of you, please do the same for me.”

I walked through the portal, and I always wished that I had looked back.