{James} Stranger in a Strange Land

[attr="class","healingimg"]

[attr="class","healingpost"]

Riku was slightly alarmed as the door seemingly opened on its own, even unlocking itself. "Someone must be messing with me." The young Keyblade Master whispered, taking a step inside. Immediately, the alluring smell of food hit his nostrils. It came at a bad time too. Riku was going to get lunch after training, but of course, he was brought here before he could do so. His stomach let out a low rumble, but he wasn't about to touch anything. This whole place didn't sit right with him, and if Riku learned one thing from Sora, it was to trust his heart. He was about to call out again when suddenly, a laugh echoed throughout the the room.

The boy immediately tensed up, taking a step backwards. Ominous disembodied laughter was never a good sign. Just as he was about to call for the source of the laughter to identify itself, an elderly man appeared in front of him, causing Riku to flinch and hold his hand back. His fingers twitched instinctively, ready to call forth his Keyblade. He refrained for the time being, however. He didn't feel like it would come to that just yet. At the man's attempt to frighten him, Riku simply narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Next thing he knew, the man vanished again, reappearing at the head of the table with the food on it. Then he stated that Riku was expected.

That was a strange thing to say. The young man didn't even know where he was. It clicked in his mind at that moment. This man must have been the one to bring him here! Before he could even ask if his suspicions were correct, the old man snapped his fingers, the room turning pitch black. If the random teleporting didn't confirm it already, this was clearly no ordinary man. Once the lights came on, however, it would become quite clear that this was no ordinary mansion, either. The ghosts parading around more than unnerved Riku, who himself did not believe in anything of the sort. At this point, he called Way to the Dawn to his hand just in case. He wouldn't be caught off guard.

That was when Riku realized he had moved as well; to the ceiling. Somehow, he wasn't falling, though. It was exactly as if he was standing on the floor. The old man addressed him from below this time, on the floor. "Who are you? Why are you doing this?" There was a bit of aggression in Riku's voice. He didn't like being toyed with in this manner. As the man stated that he was messing with him, whatever force was holding the boy to the ceiling faded, causing Riku to fall. He let out a gasp of surprise, but didn't hit the cold, hard floor as he expected. Instead, he landed on a big, soft mattress that suddenly appeared there.

Riku grumbled under his breath and stood to his feet, darkness enveloping the room again soon after. 'This is really getting old...' Riku thought, annoyed. His grip tightened on his blade, ready for battle at a moment's notice. The lights returned again, the man sitting back at the table. "You'd better start explaining. Where am I?" At that point, the man bothered to tell Riku where he was, even introducing himself. One thing he said just served to make Riku even more apprehensive. He called himself an immortal being of darkness, like a Heartless, but still much different. The young man was even more suspicious of the man now. "Why have you brought me here?" He said simply.

[attr="class","healingimg"]

[attr="class","healingpost"]

Riku raised an eyebrow, slightly intrigued by what Vicra said. Destroy another version of himself? What could that possibly mean? It was at least an intriguing enough mission to keep Riku listening. As soon as he gave Riku the basics of his mission, the old man summoned a book out of thin air. As Vicra explained the contents of the book, Riku opened it up and began to flip through the pages, skimming the material as Vicra explained the overall point of the story, about the chosen ones, Victor and Nesra. Those were the same two names he had given him when they first met. So they were the same person then? This suspicion was confirmed shortly after it pieced together in his mind.

Still, this man reeked of darkness, so Riku had a difficult time trusting him. He wouldn't allow himself to be manipulated again by someone like that. Finally taking a seat at the table, the young Keyblade Master crossed his arms. Vicra offered him food, though it was a creation by magic meant to look, feel, and taste like real food. The silver-haired youth eyed the food briefly, but shook his head. "No thanks. I'm not hungry." He said, though it was a lie. Vicra bringing up Nobodies was very strange. They weren't really a common sort of creature. How would he know them by name? He had to figure that out. "Normally, I would tell you that i'm no mercenary and leave."

He paused, staring at the man on the other side of the table. "But you bring up a good point. Nobodies are dangerous creatures." He leaned over the table. "If he really is Nesra's Nobody, that would make him dangerous on a whole different level." Riku seemed to be mulling over the choice in his mind. If what this man said was true, this Nobody did need to be taken down. However, Riku had reason to be suspect of Vicra's story. Looking back up at the man, he spoke again. "Why do you need me to do it? You seem plenty powerful in your own right. For that matter, how do you even know i'm strong enough to accomplish it? You pluck an island boy from his home and bring him here to kill a powerful creature... why?"

[attr="class","healingimg"]

[attr="class","healingpost"]

Riku listened as Vicra explained why he couldn't destroy the Nobody himself. He crossed his arms, thinking over his choices some more. This whole place just gave him a bad feeling. Here he was, in a haunted mansion, speaking to a phantom of great power. While he had been in stranger situations, this definitely made it near the top of the list. That whole thing about Vicra becoming more powerful upon the successful completion of this quest was also a point that made Riku uncomfortable. Then Vicra said something that caught the silver-haired teen's attention; he knew about the Realm of Darkness, the existence of other worlds, and even who he was.

It would make sense if he only knew about the former two, but the fact that this phantom knew his name was strange. That uncomfortable feeling in his gut grew. Still, he couldn't deny that Nobodies were dangerous. The Nobody of one like Nesra would be especially so. For that reason, he couldn't deny this mission. After narrowing his eyes even further at the mention of his name, he gave the phantom a long pause. After a few seconds, he spoke. "I don't trust you. You reek of darkness and it's starting to make me sick. You know a bunch of things you honestly shouldn't know and you have powers that i've never seen before and that makes me wary. Still, I agree that a Nobody like that is better off not being around."

It seemed like he was preparing to reject the man's proposal, but after a few moments, he let out an exasperated sight and finally stood from his seat. "I'll do it. Where should I begin, then?"

[attr="class","healingimg"]

[attr="class","healingpost"]

Before the two parted ways, Vicra gave his instructions, telling Riku about who he called the Chosen of Light. Apparently, he was nice, but a little too trusting. "Yeah, that reminds me of someone." He joked, referring of course to his friend, Sora. Not only was this so-called "Chosen of Light" nice and trusting, but he was also a good chef apparently, better than what a royal would have. Forming a mental picture in his head with the details Vicra provided, Riku prepared to go off and find the boy. However, the old man was kind enough to prepare a bag of supplies for him, which he caught deftly when it was tossed to him. At first, he was about to turn down the gift. Surely he could find food from someone that didn't make him feel so uncomfortable.

However, Vicra stated that the food was pre-packaged. Almost like he knew of Riku's suspicions. The silver-haired teen looked inside briefly, truly making sure everything was as he said before sealing it up and slinging it over his shoulder, taking the map and holding it at his side as he listened to the rest of the old man's instructions before everything went black once more. Next thing he knew, he was outside near the stable the old man mentioned, a carriage and a horse ready to go. Riku boarded the carriage and took out a snack bar from the bag. He was still hungry after all. After that, he tossed his supplies into the back. Once he got comfortable, Riku took a look at the map, seeing where this village was in relation to him.

It was a fair distance away. Good thing the old man had given him supplies. His path set, the young Keyblade master took up the reins and snapped them once, the horse pulling the carriage forward towards his destination.

[attr="class","healingimg"]

[attr="class","healingpost"]

Riku very much enjoyed the carriage ride. He had only been on such a vehicle once before in his life, but it wasn't quite as enjoyable as this one. Now, he could simply kick back and enjoy the sights... once he was out of that creepy forest, that is. It wasn't too long before the young Keyblade Master found himself in a grand city. Looking at his map, this appeared to be the capital city, Hykan. Cherrywood Village, his destination, was just slightly south. However, the map showed various points of interest that he would have liked to check out first. This cathedral looked interesting, and the white flame on the map caught his attention.

Telling the driver to stop and wait for him, the silver-haired teen grabbing his supplies and hopping out of the carriage, heading into town. The cathedral was quite easy to find, as many pilgrims were heading in that direction. Simply asking for directions easily led him to the grand building. Stepping inside, he caught the wondrous sight of the artifact the townspeople called "Koa's Candle." It was truly a sight to behold; a flame that was white as the pure driven snow and shone brightly like a star in the night sky. Once he felt like he marveled at the sight long enough, the boy moved on. He had a mission to accomplish after all.

As they moved down the dirt road, the village slowly began to come into view on the horizon. It was a simple place, but then again, Riku was used to simple places. Leaving the carriage right outside and giving the driver a few coins for his trouble, Riku took his bag of supplies and traveled on foot towards the village. He saw the home of the person he was looking for, but decided to first head to the general store to restock his supplies for the journey ahead. Opening the door, he gave the shopkeeper a slight wave as he approached the counter. Once Riku gave the person at the counter his order of dried meats and berries, as well as some rope, he decided to ask about who he was looking for.

"Do you know of a James Cabuelo? I'm supposed to be looking for him."

[attr="class","healingimg"]

[attr="class","healingpost"]

Riku blinked once it was revealed that the chosen one he was looking for was this shopkeeper's son. She asked Riku why he was looking for him, to which Riku simply smiled and shrugged. "As you said, i'm a... big fan. I heard he's a really good cook. I was just wondering if he'd give me some pointers." After paying for his supplies and putting them in his bag, he was about to follow up on the woman's response when she informed him that her son was gone, but that Riku could catch him when he returned. He was going to ask a few further questions, but the shopkeeper seemed a little annoyed. Not wanting to overstay his welcome, he simply smiled once more and nodded.

"Thanks for your help." With that, he left the store and boarded the carriage again. After another long ride, he found himself going over a sea of sand before the carriage stopped one final time. Once the boy was told that was as far as the driver could take him, even giving him a brief rundown on the strange vehicles he saw moving around the sand. It was apparently called "sand surfing" and the whole idea of it intrigued Riku. Surprisingly, despite growing up on an island, he had never even done regular surfing before. Waving goodbye to the driver, Riku took his advice and headed up to the rental place to rent one of those boat-looking things.

After paying the hefty price to do so, Riku was on his way, surfing over the sands at great speeds. A stupid grin was on his face as he did. Finally arriving in Rubai, Riku placed his boat near the others before hopping off, heading to the city. Based on the promotional material all around, Riku surmised that a tournament was coming up. 'Hm. I guess there would be no harm in testing my skill. I haven't had a good fight in awhile.' After asking for directions to the coliseum, he headed up the steps. Once there, he headed up to the main counter, speaking to the person who was there. "Hey. Who do I talk to about signing up for the tournament?"