Kingdom Hearts: Dream Team

Chapter 4: Here Comes Shiki 💜

Thankfully, since I was raised in Jackson, I knew the town like the back of my hand. After Neku described the area where they had woken up, I had narrowed it down to Eddie Jones Park. Joshua actually had a good sense of direction; he actually slowed down when he noticed the speed limit and listened when I gave the cue to turn.

Finally, we reached Eddie Jones. It's a small park with old playground equipment made of wood and rusty metal and a bike trail that led you on a magical trip deep into the forest. The serenity of it, however, comes to an abrupt stop when you realize you are walking down a long path that doesn't really go anywhere. My parents always brought me there to play when I was little, but I didn't have time to reminisce. I had serious business to attend to.

"Where did you guys wake up exactly," I asked. Neku gestured to the area across the bridge wear most of the playground equipment was located; he said that they had woken up on the ground in the middle of the night with no recollection of what happened in Shibuya. The portal that they had probably used to get here was still open when they left. But as far as I could see, nothing looked out of the ordinary.

"If there was a portal," I said, "it's probably closed by now." I sat down on one of the picnic tables, put on my headphones, and turned on the music, drowning out the world around me. Although I didn't show it on the outside, my heart was going to explode. I told my mom I'd only be gone for a couple of minutes. She had probably called the police by now. I needed something to help me relax, and this was it.

After a round of that, I decided to call Mom. I dialed the number as if the buttons on the screen were lava burning my fingers. Mom answered almost immediately. "Hi, Mom," I said, "It's me." On the other end, she was slightly screaming, partly out of anger and partly out of worry. "Where were you?! You've been gone for over an hour!"

I froze; what was I going to say to her? There's no way I could tell her the truth! That would be a fun conversation: "Hey Mom, I've been abducted by a couple of videogame characters who are actually real." That story sounds too far fetched even for me. So, I came up with an excuse as close to the truth as I could muster.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I was gonna come straight back, but I ran into some... friends. We started hanging out and I guess the time just got away from me."

Of course, Mom was still mad at me. She started going on this rant, saying that I should call her for approval. Again, I apologized and told her I would be home in time for dinner. With that, I hung up. Glad that's out of the way, I thought. Now back to the matter at hand.

When I looked up, I saw that Joshua was using his phone to scan the area. Joshua's phone may be a low-tech flip phone, but thanks to some major upgrades, it can detect anomalies and spikes in energy levels. "Eureka!" he cried out. "Just as I thought. The portal might have closed some time ago, but there's a large amount of background radiation from where it was open. Neku, get out your phone."

Neku's phone also has a scanner, but he doesn't use it as often as Joshua. Confused, I asked,"All of this is important because?"

"Well, Aislynn," Joshua began, "while I was scanning, another source of radiation was detected. My theory is that a second portal probably opened. That's why I want Neku to help me find the source."

I felt sort of envious. "If only my phone had a scanner like that and it's got an app for everything."

That's how it was for the next couple minutes. Joshua scanned the area in one direction, Neku scanned in the opposite direction. All the while, I was sitting at the picnic table, reviewing the situation. These two seemed to be managing the problem fine, so why was I still here? Wait, I forgot they're not from this world and I've lived here all my life.