Chaos Hearts
Chapter 1 - Keyblade
World - GeneX Prime

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.
Kingdom Hearts is (c) Disney & Square Enix. Related elements belong to their respective companies.


"And who knows:
Starting a new journey may not be so hard,
or maybe it has already begun." - Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II


Falling... Falling... He found himself falling upside down. Where was he falling from? He seemed to have been high in the sky. Too high. Was this a dream? Still falling, he suddenly hit a body of water. Now falling more slowly. He was sure to drown. Or was he? Strangely, he had no difficulty breathing underwater. Could this be a dream? He found himself flipping, and soon he was right side up. Perhaps this was reality. He couldn't remember anything. He had the strange feeling that there was nothing to remember. He fell a bit further, and suddenly hit the bottom. What bottom? All he could see was darkness. Suddenly, light! A great burst of light! When he opened his eyes again, there were birds flying all around. What kind of birds were they? He wasn't even sure how he knew they were birds. The birds flew into the darkness. Down, he sees an image. The platform he was standing on was made of glass. Stained glass. A figure was standing amid darkness. Somehow he knew the image was of himself, but it occurred to him that he didn't even know what he looked like. Suddenly, a voice... who's voice? An unknown voice called to him. "How do you like the darkness?" the voice said. He looked around, but could not see the owner of the voice. "Darkness is all you know. You must find security in it. Stay here, in the darkness. I will take care of everything." the voice suggested. He shook his head. This voice... it was familiar. Was this... his own voice? He felt it was, yet it was also something to fear. He scrambled across the stained glass floor, looking for an exit. "You refuse the darkness? Then you refuse me. In that case, I will have to be rid of you." As if at the voice's command, hordes of black creatures rose from out of the floor! The floor became covered in darkness, and dark creatures surrounded him. A figure rose out of the darkness. It looked just like him, but different somehow. Darker. This was the voice's form. "If you refuse the darkness, the darkness will swallow you!" He shook his head, but it was no use. The darkness began to cover him, pulling him in. He struggled. There had to be a way out. "Don't be afraid!" What was this? Another voice? He decided to heed the voice. Suddenly, a brilliant light erupted from him! The light cut through the darkness, banishing it. When he opened his eyes again, the creatures and figure were gone. The image of the stained glass beneath his feet had changed. It now showed him bathed in light. "Well done! Your heart is quite strong." That voice! The second voice. "Never forget. You hold the mightiest weapon of all..." He felt something in his hand. Was this what the voice spoke of? Not likely, he thought, but it did feel mighty. It was some sort of blade... or was it a key? "It is time to awaken now. Keep a strong heart..."

"His heart is racing! Are we losing him?" "No, wait, he's stabilizing!" "Aw, bummer, I wanted to use him for target practice..." These voices came from all directions. The creature they were speaking of could barely make them out. He slowly started to open his eyes. He appeared to be submerged in some sort of fluid. Outside were four strangers. A black Chameleon with two horns on his head, a grey Rhino with a yellow bowler hat, a red hornet wearing a helmet with a blacked out visor obscuring his eyes, and a brown rat in a lab coat. The liquid around the creature began to drain somewhere. The creature was in some sort of tube, with wires and sensors stuck to his body. The tube slid open after the fluid was drained. "Welcome to our world, my son. I am your creator, Bucky." the rat said. The creature looked himself over. He was a black cat, with white chest fur. He had a black tail that ended with a tuft of white fur. He could not see his own face on any surface in the room, but recalling his time in the tube, he did recall seeing green eyes, which none of the creatures in front of him had. "As you may have guessed, you are no ordinary cat. You're the thirteenth of my GeneX Experiments, beings created here in my laboratory. Experiment 13... I think it only fitting that you should be called 'Lucky.'" Bucky explained. "You mean ironic." the hornet muttered. Bucky shrugged. "Whatever. Now, Lucky, let's get you all prepared. There is much work to be done..."


Months later, Lucky the Cat found himself walking through the familiar section of jungle leading to where Shadow Arcangel often was. He was now wearing slightly baggy red pants with triangular blue sections on the bottom, bright yellow shoes, and a red collar with an odd symbol attached to it. He had left on a journey to explore his world. He saw much, but one sight stood out in his mind. On the coast of Station Square, looking out over the ocean, he had a feeling. Like his world was smaller than it seemed, and there was much more to see. The thought of exploring it all had made him strangely homesick, so he set out for the closest thing he had to a home. He had left without getting Bucky's permission, but he hoped his creator would understand. He soon found the flying fortress, disguised as an old, dark temple as it had been before Bucky found it. In no time he'd found his way back to the lab, where Bucky was typing away at a computer, most likely taking notes about his latest experiments. Vortex the Chameleon, Zipp the Hornet, Crash the Rhino, and Zeke the Dragon were hanging around, talking amongst themselves. They glanced at Lucky as he entered the room, approaching Bucky's chair. Zeke, an orange dragon with wings that were red on the front and black behind, wore a particularly amused grin when he saw Lucky. "Hey... uh... father. I'm back!" Lucky said, grinning somewhat stupidly. Bucky raised his hand to his forehead, although suddenly struck with a headache. "Someone inform him of why I am not speaking to him." he grumbled. Crash stepped forward to do the honors. "You had some nerve, abandoning us like that. And without a single word. If you don't care about us, you might as well go and live with Copter and Punchy!" he said. Lucky was taken aback, and tried to explain himself. "I... I wasn't abandoning you! I just... needed to go. To see our world. To learn about the world you brought me into!" he said. Bucky turned his chair around, a furious look on his face. "What do you care! Our world doesn't want you! It doesn't want any of us! It hates and fears us! But go, go on and 'find yourself' or whatever nonsense you decided to do. But don't let me catch you in MY laboratory again!" he shouted. "B-but..." Lucky started to say, but Bucky had turned back to his work. "Sssscram." Vortex hissed. "It's gettin' crowded around here anyway!" Zipp added. Feeling quite rejected, Lucky turned and exited the lab. "Ehhh, don't let it get you down." Lucky glanced back and saw Zeke following him. The dragon put a hand on his shoulder and grinned. "He's just a crabby old man. Who even cares about him?" he said. Lucky looked uncertain. "Well... He IS my father, right?" he muttered. Zeke shook his head. "Noooo, he's your creator. Big difference. A creator doesn't have the same feelings a father would have." he insisted. He then turned to re-enter the lab. "Later, runt!" he chuckled. Lucky stood there for a moment, pondering the situation. "If he's not my family... Do I even have one?" he wondered.

Confused and saddened, Lucky wandered outside to think. As he paced around in front of Shadow Arc, some familiar faces approached him. They were Copter the black fox, Punchy the green echidna, and Rainbow, a yellow echidna with colorful quills. "He threw ya out, didn't he?" Punchy said expectantly. Lucky nodded. "I don't understand... Why would he reject me?" he wondered. Copter crossed his arms and shook his head. "Forget him. Bucky's one messed up old guy. If he can't control you, he doesn't want you." he said. Lucky stared at the ground uncertainly. "Well... Maybe..." he muttered. Rainbow glared at her friends. "What's wrong with you! One, Two, you're both so immature sometimes! Don't listen to them, Thirteen! Binky is your father, and deep down he loves you! Don't give up on him!" she shouted. Lucky looked up at her in surprise. "Y-you think so?" he asked. Rainbow nodded. "I know it!" she said. Copter and Punchy glanced around uneasily. "Yeah... Our father..." Copter muttered sarcastically. "Gimme a break..." Punchy groaned. Rainbow smacked them both in the head. "Quit it, you two!" she growled. Lucky chuckled nervously. "You know... Maybe I'd better sleep on this. It might be hard to get through to him, but Rainbow's right. Bucky's my dad." he said, "Thanks, guys." Lucky headed back into Shadow Arcangel, and Copter and Punchy turned to leave. "Well, we tried to warn him..." Copter muttered. "His funeral." Punchy added. Rainbow grabbed them both by the ears and started dragging them into Shadow Arc. "I've had enough! You two are gonna make peace with Binky if I have to force all three of you!" she shouted.


Meanwhile, Zeke wandered to one of the many dark, unused rooms of Shadow Arcangel. This room seemed blacker than the others, as though the walls and floor were made of darkness. "Is it almost time yet?" he asked the darkness. Suddenly, a figure in a black robe emerged. His face was covered by the shadows cast by his hood. "Yes... The time is near. The door will soon be opened..." the shadowy man said. "Then we can go to the other worlds?" Zeke asked eagerly. The shadowy figure nodded. "Countless worlds. Worlds bathed in light. Worlds wrapped in shadows. Worlds lingering between. Each home to a multitude of hearts. Each world sustained by its own, greater heart. But remember, the greatest heart of all... Kingdom Hearts!" the figure bellowed. Zeke chuckled softly. "I love how you say that. KING-DOM HEARTS! RAWR!! I can't wait!" he roared. Suddenly, the room was covered with hundreds of yellow lights. The walls were pulsing with darkness, and the yellow lights blinked like eyes. "The time is near... Let us... open the door!" the mysterious figure said.


That night, Lucky slept in one of several rooms Bucky had prepared for his experiments. It was a peaceful, content sleep. Despite everything, Shadow Arc still felt like home to him. His peaceful sleep was short lived, as the ship shook violently, as though from an impact! Lucky woke with a start. "Meee-yow!! What was that!?" he yelped, startled. He hopped out of his bed, and noticed that the ship appeared to be moving. "Huh? Where are we going?" he wondered. He ran out of his room, eager to investigate, and was shocked to find the halls teeming with dark creatures! They were black creatures, with glowing yellow eyes and twitching antennae. Some appeared to melt into the shadows, and then jump out again elsewhere! Lucky dashed back into his room and looked around. "There's gotta be something I can defend myself with!" he thought, frightened. He soon found a wooden sword, something he'd left behind when he went on his journey. "Aha! Just what I need! Now I'll see if Bucky needs my help!" he said, rushing out into the hall again. The shadowy creatures took note of him and his weapon, and began swarming in his direction! He swiped his sword at them, but it did little more than irritate them further. "No good... Well, I can't stay here!!" he shouted, dashing through the horde of creatures. Luckily, the shadows were relatively slow, so it was easy enough to escape them.

Lucky made his way through the ship, and soon arrived at the containment room, a central area that led to many other parts of the ship. There, he found Copter, Punchy, and Rainbow. They were fighting off the creatures as best they could, and Copter even managed to defeat some of them using his Chaos Tailband. Punchy and Rainbow were having more trouble, though, so Lucky ran over to help. "Get back, monsters! Leave my friends alone!" he shouted. "What are they, anyway? And why don't my punches have any effect!?" Punchy shouted. "Maybe a new breed of Lost One?" Copter suggested. Rainbow backed away from the creatures, trying to remain out of danger as much as possible. "M-maybe we should just get out of here... These things are scary..." she stuttered. Copter and Punchy were busily fending them off, but Lucky noticed that some were heading away from them. "Huh? Hey, look out!" he shouted. Some of the creatures had dropped into their shadows and emerged near Rainbow, ready to strike! Lucky moved faster than he'd ever moved before, and raised his wooden sword to defend Rainbow! "Eeeek!!" Rainbow screamed, but before the creatures could hurt them, a bright light covered them both! The creatures fell backward and vanished upon hitting Lucky's sword, and when the light faded, he saw that he was no longer holding a wooden sword. He now held a blade shaped sort of like a key, with a blue handle and a tooth resembling the symbol attached to his collar. A keychain was attached to the handle, which resembled a blue hedgehog. Lucky could hear a voice in his head, repeating the word "Keyblade" a few times before fading. "Mee-yow!! Wh-where did this thing come from?" he wondered. Rainbow looked at the "Keyblade" in awe. "Whatever it is, I think it saved us somehow!" she observed. Suddenly, a loud, banging sound came from the experiment containment cell. Copter, Punchy, and Lucky approached the cell as the shadowy creatures fled the area. Rainbow stood behind them, and they waited tensely to see what was trying to get out.

A massive creature burst out of the containment cell. It was black, much like the other creatures, but this one was more human-shaped. Not that it looked at all human. Its fingers were long and thin, almost like claws, its feet were oddly shaped, like curly-toed shoes, its "hair" was a black mess, and its eyes glowed yellow, just like the other creatures. Strangest of all, there was a hole in its chest shaped like a heart. It was a creature called a Darkside. Copter looked at the creature and quickly jumped to a conclusion. "Bucky's latest experiment must've gone haywire or something! It's a monster!" he shouted. "Those smaller creatures must have come from this one!" Punchy added. Rainbow was shaking with fear. "A-all right... I say we go back to my house. Follow me!!" she shouted, leading the way as she, Copter, and Punchy fled the room. Lucky was about to join them, but hesitated. "Wait... If I leave it alone, what will that thing do? It might go after Bucky! But... This 'Keyblade' scared away the other creatures... I think. Maybe it'll work on this thing!" he reasoned, turning to face the Darkside. He clutched the Keyblade tightly, waiting for the creature to make the first move. The Darkside started off strong by pulling back its fist and unleashing a mighty punch in Lucky's direction! Lucky scrambled out of the way, letting the Darkside's fist crash into the ground. The creature remained in this pose for a time, so Lucky ran over and slashed at its arm with the Keyblade, causing the Darkside to recoil in pain! "Ha! I don't know where this key came from, but it sure works! Now, take this!" Lucky shouted, slashing at the creature's legs. This seemed to have much less effect, however, and the Darkside retaliated by firing several balls of energy, seemingly from the hole in its heart. Lucky jumped back and attempted to dodge these blasts as they rained down on him, but he wasn't fast enough! They hurt a bit, but Lucky wasn't ready to give up. "That all you got, monster?" he growled. The Darkside responded by motioning as if to hurl another punch. Lucky scoffed and backed away, and sure enough, the punch missed him. However, the Darkside's fist didn't stop at the floor. It seemed to be reaching into the darkness itself, and out of the puddle of darkness it was reaching into, several of the shadowy creatures from before emerged! "Well, that's a... scarier trick..." Lucky whimpered.

Lucky tried to fight the creatures, but the Darkside proved too powerful. Its fists crashed down around Lucky, cutting off his escape as the other creatures surrounded him. Realizing he was in trouble, Lucky swiped his Keyblade around to make the creatures back away, and then ran for the path to Shadow Arcangel's control room. "Gotta warn Bucky. Maybe he'll know what to do!" he thought. Shadowy creatures were all over the ship, but Lucky's Keyblade gave him all the protection he needed as he made his way to the control room. Once there, he felt a surge of heat as fire and lightning blasted through the room! "Whoa! What's going on?" Lucky wondered. The source of the lightning was Bucky, and the source of the flames was Zeke's fiery breath! Bucky was fighting with his own creation! Lucky watched as fire and electricity was thrown between the two, injuring both combatants little by little. He quickly grew fed up with it. "Stop!!" he shouted, running between the blasts and striking them away with his Keyblade! "How can you fight each other! Don't you know there are creatures on this ship!? You should be working together to stop them!" he shouted. Bucky caught his breath, having apparently been fighting for a while, and then pointed at Zeke. "He's gone insane, Thirteen! He's become a danger to our world! I have to put a stop to him!" he shouted. Lucky glanced at Zeke, who scoffed at Bucky's accusation. "Me? He's the one who's lost his mind! Trust him, and you'll end up like his cronies. Where do you suppose they could be? Monster chow? Kee hee hee hee hee!" he laughed. Lucky glanced back at Bucky. "What's he saying?" he asked. Bucky scowled and shot a bolt of lighting at Lucky, forcing him to back away! "That's enough nonsense! Stay out of my business, cat! I'll handle this mess myself!" he yelled. Lucky stood in front of Zeke, determined to stop the senseless fighting. "You created Zeke! Even if he is dangerous, you should be trying to reason with him, not destroy him!" he said. Zeke growled at Lucky. "Hey! I don't need reasoning with! Come on, you're tired of putting up with Bucky's attitude, right? Let's put an end to it!" he growled. Lucky shook his head. "Both of you need to listen to me!!" he cried.

Suddenly, shadowy creatures emerged from every corner of the control room! The monsters quickly started swarming all over the place, forcing Bucky to turn his attention to them! Lucky held up his Keyblade, ready to fight. "Come on, Zeke! Together, we can save the ship!" he said. Zeke rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You're hopeless... And useless!" he growled, shoving him forward! As Lucky stumbled, a shadowy hole opened up in front of him! "Whoa!! Wait! What's happening!? Meee-YOOOOOW!!!" he shouted as the dark hole seemed to swallow him up! The dark hole vanished, taking Lucky with it, and Zeke jumped into the air. "It's been a pleasure, dad, but I must be going. The worlds await! RAWR!!" Zeke flew over the creatures and crashed through the window, leaving Bucky alone with a swarm of dark creatures. Desperate to stop them, Bucky ran to the ship's control panel. He quickly pressed a few buttons, and in an instant, a brilliant light flashed, covering the entire room! When the light faded, the creatures were gone as well. Bucky panted heavily. The battle with Zeke had taken a lot out of him. Suddenly, Vortex, Zipp, and Crash ran into the room. "That was nuts! How did you get rid of all those... things?" Zipp asked. "And what were they, anyway?" Crash added. Bucky glanced at the hole in the window left by Zeke, saying nothing. "Massster?" Vortex hissed, concerned. Bucky had a distant look on his face, as though he were lost in another world. One thing was certain, something quite significant had happened on the ship that night...

Lucky found himself in darkness. He could see nothing, and there appeared to be nothing to see. The very floor he stood on seemed to be made of pure darkness. "Where am I...? What... What am I... doing..." Lucky suddenly found himself feeling very sleepy. He struggled to stand, he felt like the darkness was smothering him. Forcing his eyes to stay open, Lucky could see a figure approaching him. Someone in a black coat, the person's face hidden by a hood. Lucky could no longer stay awake. He fell forward, but the stranger in black caught him. The stranger lifted Lucky up, and a hole similar to the one that had sent Lucky to this place appeared. "No fading into darkness yet. There is a much greater purpose ahead of you..." With that, the stranger carried Lucky through the dark hole, and a step closer to his destiny...

To be continued...