Of Fantasy and Reality!

[Shiro Misaki]

Oh! If you're reading this, welcome to my little mess of an attempt of a story. It's not great, I know. However I have this itch I need to scratch so if you enjoy it, please tell me! I'll keep me on writing this and tell me how I can become better. After all, no one does unless someone can point things out.

Great? Great! Anyway, enjoy! ^^

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You know, life as I currently have known it, wasn't always easy. So many curveballs and dead end stops. Surprises, regrets, hopes, and dreams...failures. He told me life is what you make of it but I didn't ask for anything like this. I don't know how one would ask for anything like this. I feel like, maybe just maybe, there's just some things even I am not meant to understand.

What do I mean? Well, I'll tell you. What we consume, what we thought as fantasy is real and it all started when I found a rather ordinary looking cellphone. Something one would have 10 years ago. In pristine condition, something I honestly didn't think were made anymore. After all, at this point, it was ancient. I wish the current me could tell the old me not to mess with it. Put it down and forget about it.

However, curiosity it seems is something that is way too common in the world we live in and not enough sense to know when something is a bad idea. At the time, to me, it was just a normal cell phone. A Motorola Razor, to be exact. More than a decade old model. Discovered it one day just walking back home, it looked as if someone had just dropped it and moved on or forgotten it.

I thought it would've been cool to have another of the first phones I bought for myself. Everything on it was par the course for a 2006 model. And the menus, while primitive, was normal too. Everything was there and a quick search through the menus didn't have anything out of place. I didn't find any phone numbers, pictures, music or anything else. However, it did have one call log. Just one.

However, it didn't have an area code and the numbers were more than a simple 10 digit phone number. A check of it had what looked to be a random assortment of numbers in a long string at a length that should've been impossible for this type as I remember only allowed up to 32 random numbers in any single call. Although this string was 96, give or take but that wasn't all.

I quickly learned that the numbers, even though it looked like it wasn't a random string of numbers but rather a puzzle. An crudely put together alphanumeric puzzle. Back then, I didn't know why it was there and on a random older model phone, but there it was and at the time I had nothing else to do so I attempted to solve it. I thought it'd be a rather funny puzzle to tell a friend the next day.

Unfortunately for me, it didn't have a cypher in which I could use to solve it and it wasn't like I could look it up in order to find out exactly how to do that. However, I wasn't discouraged on that. I gave it a rather simple cypher, supposing all of the numbers were a letter of the alphabet and these dashes were spaces indicating a line break. Not to mention within these numbers had a distinct pattern.

Each line, had its own self contained word. A random assortment of numbers beginning and ending with some prime and odd numbers, these numbers would be the same with beginning and end but the numbers in the middle of the line were random but a quick look would tell you that they were supposed to be broken up into columns.

It almost seemed like some sort of word search puzzle. Another look at the last string of numbers of each column had a special character. Such as quotation marks, question marks, and exclamation marks too. Honestly, the more I looked at it, the more I started to think that someone did this on purpose and I just happened to take it home with me.

Mentally scolding myself because now I thought that now I may be a target of someone and I didn't like that. Although there was no way I was just going to leave it like this, I wanted to know what it said if it said anything so I got to work. A lot of adding and subtracting, long division and multiplication. I was able to narrow it down.

After it took me all night and part of the morning to solve it but it only had a single word. For all that hard work with a lot of them leading to incorrectly spelled words, only one did stick out but not many more did. However the word in question threw me in a loop. All it said to me was...

Welcome...

Was all it said to me, I really didn't think nothing of it at the time. Maybe I figured it was just some dumb prank or something of that nature. Something somewhat elaborate that one would go through and ultimately lead to something insignificant. It was the only reason I could guess but I was glad I solved it at least.

I put that phone down and I went to bed, didn't even bother going to work that day. If I had, maybe I could've prevented what happened next. Even though I didn't see what happened to the phone, I woke up to my room being completely different to what I had slept in. Not to mention, nothing was the same at all. I figured I may have been half asleep.

Didn't really think anything of it until something crashed through the ceiling startling me half to death. I thought I was gonna have a heart attack since it was so sudden. But that shook me awake and I was now aware of my surroundings. I wasn't in my own house anymore. Where this was, I didn't know and I began to panic internally.

Well, tried to. Everytime I did, my head would rationalize and keep my feelings from going out of control. Sitting there, on this random bed in the middle of who knows where. Next to me, the pile of wood began to animate and made me fall out of bed in surprise but I quickly got on my feet and hid behind the bed, making sure to slow my breathing, to keep quiet.

I heard what sounded like a groan and soon a figure popped out of the broken boards. It was quite a young woman, maybe a whole head shorter than me. Long light lilac hair, two distinct hair clips that reminded of something I used to know long ago even the style in which she had her hair was familiar.

"O-Owie...that really smarts! Usually that doesn't hurt, what is this wood made of?!" the woman exclaimed loudly and she kicked it in frustration.

I didn't get a good look at her, I was trying to stay out of sight. I heard what was dusting off and ani quizzical look around the room, sounded like she might've been looking for something or someone and was about to walk in my direction until a second voice spoke up. No mistaking it, this one was a man.

"Oh, there you are! Not that I'm doubting your methods but...why not use the door like a normal person?" the man quietly said. His voice sounded regal as if he was royalty but I didn't really get a good look at him either as I wanted to keep all of me out of sight.

"Me? Use a door? But that's so boring! I think the element of surprise is much greater from above, yes?" she said.

"Who...are we trying to catch by surprise?" the man asked, understandably confused.

"You don't sense it?!" she asked him actually surprisingly shocked.

"Sense it? What? It doesn't feel like the air is any more different than any other inn in town which you shattered a hole in..." he carefully said looking at the person sized hole in the ceiling.

"My, oh my. You're so untrained! Here, in this very room!" she started. "My special protagonist senses are tingling!" she pressed two of her fingers to her temples leaving the man thoroughly confused.

"Special protagonist? What do you mean?" he asked again, more warily this time.

"Oh my gosh, is everyone just as thickheaded as you?! I can't believe you don't feel that! Someone special is here!" she said looking around, darting. Looking in small places in this huge room.

Watching her antics, the man was somewhat amused but he couldn't feel anything apart from the drafty air coming in from the hole. However, the man could hear someone quickly come up the stairs, undoubtedly the owner. A quick grab of the woman's coat pulled her away from the bed she was about to check.

"Sorry but we got to go! Come on, I don't want to have to pay for the damage you caused again!" he said before quickly throwing her over his shoulder and jumping out of an open window. Just then, a quick entrance of the room of another person and from the sound of their voice it appeared to be another man, gruff and deep.

"A hole, in my roof? Where did that come from?! Who did this! I didn't book anyone to be in this room!" he clinched his fists. "Bah, I got no time for this, I need to fix this quick before the guests show up!" a quick sprint out of the room and down the stairs, he was gone too.

I come out of my hiding spot slowly. "W-What is going on..." I could only say before moving to a mirror to look at myself wondering if I have suffered some kind of physical trauma to my head or body. A quick look and I seen that, no, I didn't. However, I looked at my hands and these weren't my hands. Another look in the mirror and it wasn't even my body!

"W-What is...Who is this?!" I ran up, touched my face and the rest of my body. I could feel and then I pinched myself hard and only met with pain. I didn't wake up or rather I was already awake. I had short black hair now, straight and not as curly at all, just a bit more spiky in the back. I was wearing glasses, they were sort of thick. I was taller, my muscles were more defined especially my calf muscles and arms. I lifted up my shirt, I had the makings of a six pack but wasn't quite there yet.

Despite what I was wearing, this was more professional casual than what I was wearing before and a lot more vibrant colors too. My eye color had a deep amber color to them. A somewhat futuristic wrist mounted computer was there on my right arm and in the center was that phone and it displayed a different message in the form of a free floating hologram.

'Feeling disorientated? No worries, it will make sense in time. Again, welcome to a world thought to be a fantasy. A universe that exists due to the creation of others, no matter what form it was made. Make no mistake, what you see, what you feel, and what your experience in this world is real. Real as your world is and now, you live here. That phone you picked up was not by chance, you were meant to find it. You aren't the only one who came in this way but this phone is now yours. Protect it as it is your only way back. Your adventure starts here. Welcome to The Land of Beginnings, your name is now Saren. However don't forget your real name and don't use your real name in this world, if you want to go back you must remember both of these rules. Don't dawdle and get moving!'

I literally had no words. What could I say to something like that? How could you? I was stuck here, for the time being. I had no idea how long I was going to be gone from my world, how much time will be passed or how time flowed here. None of it. I was alone. I wasn't scared, something wasn't allowing me to be. I exploited this newfound calmness to asset my situation but first I needed to leave. I took off, hopping out of the window too. Luckily, the inn wasn't that high off the ground and I landed before running off into the center of town.

I wasn't too thrilled of being ripped from the place I have ever known but who said I had to focus on that? If what that said was true, I had a new life here. I can let it swallow me or I can make it back home in one piece. I guess, for myself and whoever this body belongs to, I'll see what I am made of and take care of him and me. I know if I go back, no one would believe me but it doesn't matter. I could maybe do some things I never dreamed of. Maybe we'll see...For now, it's time I found out who crashed through that roof, maybe they know more.

[Shiro Misaki]

It didn't take long for me to see where I needed to go. Although I know this whole area pretty much was the 'Beginner' area and made a mental note to myself that it sounded like I was in an RPG but without all the elements of one. Maybe I would encroach on that later. I wouldn't take too much time thinking on it now.

I took this moment while I was on a huge hill looking down at the part of the town that looked like it belonged to a huge, bustling market. This hill...while it was basically flat at the top, the only thing that stood out was the one lone tree that look like it had been planted not too long ago, maybe a few years. It was just a small sapling still. I stood under it out of the light of the sun.

My eyes were now drawn to the wrist computer on my arm and I held it up. I recognized this device. It was something I wrote into existence for a character of mine but never fully developed. I don't know why but when I look at this thing, I get the sense of nostalgia even though that shouldn't be. I only had it all of almost an hour.

"...I must be going crazy if I'm already getting sentimental over a piece of technology..." I say to myself.

"I resent that. I have feelings too, I find it extremely rude that you'd say that." the 'machine' whirled to life after speaking that sentence as if it was waking up.

The sudden voice set me off balance and I nearly fall to the ground but instead hitting my back against the tree behind me, shaking it. An small acorn falls off the tree and hits me in the head which he instinctively held the top of my head where it landed. It didn't really hurt but it surprised me and after a few moments, I put my arms down and looked down at the device once again.

"Er...sorry? Its not like I knew you were...um, alive. What's your name?" I asked, not wanting to make the same mistake again.

"My name is Arius, sir. An all purpose tool, from the mundane to the most critical and a computer with hyper intelligence. I can do it all! It was what I was created for, by who? I haven't the slightest clue and I found myself on you so that makes you my new and only master. May I know your name please and I'll log it to my memory banks!" it said in a strangely upbeat, however monotoned voice.

I thought about it for a moment when he asked. I was told not to use my real name. I wasn't sure why but the phone that was sitting in the middle of the computer wasn't coming back on anymore. I was sure it had the answers I needed too. However, I'd worry about that later, first thing was first.

"My name's Saren and it's nice to meet you Arius. I...don't have a last name, if I did, I don't remember. Maybe one of these very kind people in this town will adopt me, eh?" I tried to joke but Arius just didn't get it.

"You're an orphan? I'm terribly sorry! I excuse my rudeness for earlier about calling you out about my feelings. My personality drive inside me is quite complex and I blurted that out without thinking. I knew you didn't know anything about my core features and..." he continued before I stopped it.

"Forget about it, not your fault. And it's not like I'm a legit orphan, I'm just...misplaced, I guess you can say." it was the best I could think of. I'm not sure if it was a good idea telling others I wasn't part of this world, I mean considering where I come from we were responsible for creating all of them, knowing all of them didn't have the greatest backstories. Might be some animosity...

"Misplaced? You come from a very far away land? I did too. In fact, what I am on your arm is only a small piece of what I belong to. The rest of it is a huge dreadnought, a starship capable of interstellar travel. I feel incomplete like this...if you can find this ship, I can be myself again and you'd get to be captain of this ship. It's name is Nexus. I'll point it out on your map!" he enthusiastically said.

A large map of the map of this world appeared in the air as a large hologram screen. It had our location, the Town of Beginnings. The forest that was just ahead of the town named The Arcane Forest. Which looked like it spanned a huge part of the map. If I had to give a size for it, it'd be the same distance and width of Hyrule Field, the whole field just flat with a lot of trees.

Beyond that was a kingdom named Astoria. It appeared to be one of the largest provinces around and covered a lot of the map to the west up to the snowy covered mountains which its name was the Alps Mountains. Oh, that's right. This thing had the current weather displayed in each of these places just for context as well as other topographic information, points of interests, and even information on population. Next was a ice covered sea beyond that named The Lanza Channel which used to be part of The Great Sea.

This sea I could see as I asked Arius to zoom on it and asked him was there any information on it apart from it being frozen over. He happily provided the information and began to talk as the screen indeed zoomed in. The view now gave a ground visual as well giving temperature to different parts of the ice. Some places were colder than others, those places were marked with a question mark.

"Allow me to explain. The Lanza Channel, once part of the Great Sea is now currently frozen to a standstill with many species of marine life trapped in ice. Even though this ice seems natural, it isn't. From what local information says about the Channel, a terrible curse was placed not allowing anyone to travel by sea to get across The Great Sea, at least from this side of the world. Didn't allow anyone to get through either. All that tried...well..." he said before the map turned into live photographs.

There were countless ships frozen in the ice, capsized one would say but the raging snow not only snowed it over but froze it as well. My eyes widened as I never seen so many ships frozen in place like that. A lot of them were toward the middle of the Channel. That was when Arius started up again, clearing its throat to speak.

"That which you can see, Master Saren, is the ships that were leaving Astoria but was caught in this ice that some believed was a curse that came out of nowhere." he finished.

"Local superstition or was there an actual cause? Was there any records of anyone trying to figure out where it came from?" I wasn't going to lie to myself, I was interested now. Honestly, I shouldn't be but nothing like this happens in the real world, I kind of wanted to know if no one did know.

"About 2 years ago, a investigation was launched to see if there was some way to melt the ice but unfortunately, according to records, no one has actually come back from that. No one did happen to find out what happened. This happened at the same time as other places having succumbed to their own problems. Nothing has been heard about the other places because no one on the outside can get to them and no one from the outside can get to us. We're stuck on this landmass until we can find out the nature of that ice." Arius said to me.

"I see..." I said to myself, I was trying to absorb this information as best I could until Arius spoke up again.

"Funny enough, after everything was said and done, a lot of others were teleported to this place through no fault of their own. How? I'm not sure. You said you were temporarily misplaced, can I guess is you too were sent here?" he asked me which was a fair guess and a correct one.

"Yeah, pretty much. Wait, how do you know all of this?" I asked him which the computer chirped happily.

"I told you, I'm an all purpose tool. One of my many functions is information gathering! Every piece of information I could get my hands on on this landmass I have added to my memory banks. That includes monster logs as well both benign and malevolent. Some are very, very dangerous either way good or evil. I more or less have logs on every sort of adventurer that has not tried to leave this landmass yet too. I don't have a great deal on them however, I can tell you everything I have on them should you need to know!" he said to me.

This was a lot to take in, I'd have to ask him to read it all back to me later but I knew we were getting sidetracked. "You mentioned the starship you belong to. Where is it exactly?" I asked him which he brought up another screen right beside the other.

"Here it is, Master Saren. In a place in the north of the world called Starborn Valley, it sits upon a high mountain even though the ship is easily large enough to eclipse it and the village of where it sits on. However, the weight of the ship surprisingly has no outer bearings to the mountain and is holding it easily. It's rather...unusual." he said in a quizzical tone.

"How so?" I asked.

"Well, Nexus easily weighs more than the mountain itself, not to mention Nimbasa Drive inside the ship that powers the whole ship is offline due to a energy contamination within the core itself. Coming from the valley that it's currently resting at. So it can't engage with none of its many functions nor can I signal it to turn on until the contamination has been dealt with. It, being a starship, weighs a lot heavier due to the metals used to make it none of which can be found on this world eventually I fear the mountain will give way and crush that poor village." he said in a hushed, worried tone.

"Hmm...I guess our end goal should be to reach that ship. But with the Channel is frozen like it is...we're going to need to think of something. Alright, first things first. Let's reach the market. Seems there's a lot of adventuring type people down there. Maybe I could party up with them." I say to myself just as the screens turn off.

"Of course, it would be the first thing to do. Something to mention, these adventurers don't come from this world either. I don't know a lot about them but it seems they have real power in their own world they brought here, much like yourself which I'm keeping yours suppressed until you can control it via memory link but you're going to need something to fight with which I have a whole armament of weapons, armors, and other equipment for you to use provided you had training with these, if not, I have to train you to use them efficiently before I can clear you to use them." he said in a serious tone.

I nod. He was right, no sense in getting myself killed because I couldn't use anything it had. So on that note, I went ahead and set off down the dirt road and heading toward the market. If what he said was true, I'm in for a surprise when I meet who these adventurers might be. I have my suspicion as to who they are but I can't be certain. I just have to play it cool just in case I see anyone familiar and not try to act like a ravenous fanboy. Heh, easier said than done though.

Alright, with that out of the way. Next stop, the town's market. I don't have any money but I'm sure they have something like bounties I can clear for that. Seems the original inhabitants surely must need help. Funny thing is, if this world belongs to all those we've created...I can say for certain that everything must be connected somehow...not going to be good for some but very beneficial to others. Only time will tell on that note.

[Shiro Misaki]

Town of Beginnings

It was here it begins with a rather young looking woman with a suspiciously black bow on top of her head, one would call out her rather...feline actions but this wasn't most places or rather they didn't care. She was currently in front desk of a beginner guild called Steeldawn.

"Wha-" she started out. "What do you mean I'm not qualified to take on solo missions?? You told me if I worked my way all the way to C ranked quests, I could set out on my own!" she state angrily.

The maiden behind the counter whose name was Miriam, her real identity which she had hidden due to it's...dubious background, she was taking on the name of April in the presence of others. However, she was a fighter, not a clerk and she wasn't sure how she came to be at this position but it did earn her some good money until she had enough to ride to the next town over.

April taking out a rather large book of everyone who's ever checked in with the guild. "What is your name?" she began in a polite voice.

"My name is Blake Belladonna, I was recently assigned to shadow a couple of high profile people in town that I was asked to do because of my skills. I was in this group consisting of 3 other people Kakashi, Jin, and Saki. One of them was a ninja and the two others were samurai." she spoke in a more normal voice now but one could tell she was getting increasingly agitated.

There were quite a number of notable famous people, in their respected universes of course. They were all either off to the side talking to their squad mates, looking over bounties, missions, or collecting payment. There were a lot of chatter, merrily laughing, and yelling too. All of which bothered the young faunus but tried to tune it out long enough to see what the hold up was.

April eventually found her name, adjusting her glasses and began to read the information that the guild has provided. Once she was done, she looked back at her, placing her hands down in front of her in a gesture of supplication. She had on a rather typical guild outfit, more on the richer side though sporting a Valkyrie silk dress with gold, black, and white colors.

"I see. I found your name, Miss Belladonna. However, I regret to inform you after a incident of a rather high ranking monster stalking the Arcane Forest. We cannot allow single adventurer missions until it is dealt with. We've already had reports of people not coming back and the ones that do, its in pieces. Your skills are more suited to stealth missions but it isn't enough to keep you alive when facing this foe. If you get caught and done in, no one would be able to save you in time." she said in a rather somber tone.

Blake's words got caught in her throat, she had to think of the implications of that. She was fast, cunning, quick thinking, and silent. However in a battle of absolute power, she didn't have anything too crazy at her disposal. While the mobs in the area went down just fine with bullets. She didn't know what would happen if she could one that were resistant to slashing or gun attacks. She didn't have any dust infused bullets just the normal ones. She couldn't absorb damage like her partner could...it was no telling where the rest of her team were if at all. She had a rather grim looking expression on her face.

April sensing that, she reached over and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder with a light smile. "Don't worry, I still can give you a mission. I know you want to move on to the next town but you're going to need to find at least two other people and maybe a fourth if you think you need it. Make sure to get them registered with the guild if they haven't already and I'll work something out for you." she had a motherly tone to that voice. Blake nods quietly and exits the guild a second after. Taking a small bit of money, she went to the cafe in order to have some tea.

She now had to think about finding two others, at the very least, to come with her to the next town.

Saren enters the town, and it's bustling just like he thought. Trying to take up as little space as possible, he began to walk through it looking for the guild in this town. He was so busy in his inner musings that he didn't notice someone walking in his direction until he bumped into them. His body taking a few steps back, rubbing his head a second before snapping out of it. He looked at who he bumped into. It was a rather tall girl. Slender, with a sporty frame to her, somewhat long aqua like hair, and she had on a rather strange battlesuit but the most noticeable thing she had on her was a giant key.

Recovering quickly, he stepped over to her. "Sorry, sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

The young Keyblade wielder smiled as she stood straight somewhat eclipsing Saren's height by an inch. "That I am. I've been hit worse...Well, taken bigger scrapes than a bump on the head." she reassured him.

Instead of standing there looking awkward, he offered his hand. "My name's Saren. Kind of looking for the guild, do you happen to know where it is?" he asked, he realized he had a computer for that however in order to have, and hoping, to have some chance encounters with said adventurers would be better if he didn't know anything.

She takes it then nods. "Aqua." she quickly introduced herself " And I was just on my way over to get registered. I'm guessing you're new here too?" he confirmed it with a nod. She smiled. "Great. I am too. I'm not sure how things are done here but if need be we can register together and be on a team together. As I heard its oriented that way. Follow me." she got pulled up and the two of them were on their way on doing just that. Despite not knowing they were being followed by someone already.

It didn't take them long to get there. In fact, they found it rather easily because of the really long line that was coming out of the guild itself. Aqua and Saren resigned themselves to be at the back of the line. It was in this time, Saren thought it'd be a good idea to ask about her weapon.

"Hey Aqua, mind if I ask you a question?" he quietly said.

"Hm?" She looked back at him, she nods curtly. "Of course, go ahead. What is it?" she asked the young man.

"Well...that weapon you had, it looked like a giant key...what was it? Never seen anything like it really. Is it a weapon? I could feel some really unusual vibes coming from it." he said staring intensely at it.

She put it over to her left hand. "This? This weapon is called a Keyblade."

"Keyblade?" he asked confused, it didn't look sharp to him at all and wondered how anything like that could be a blade.

"Mm" she quickly answered before heading into an explanation. "The Keyblade's signature ability is the power to open or close any lock or door, be it to a physical object, to the heart of a person or world, or to a gate or pathway between worlds. For objects like treasure chests, this merely requires tapping the chest, while for more magical locks, the Keyblade generally operates by emitting a bright, thin beam of light from its tip, or by being thrust directly into the keyhole or person's chest. In combat, Keyblades are wielded in the same way as swords, with the specific style varying with the wielder. Despite many Keyblades' apparent frailty or lack of a cutting edge, Keyblades are able to serve as both excellent blunt weapons and supernaturally precise cutting tools seemingly directed by the wielder's intent. Keyblades are especially effective against creatures connected to hearts or darkness." she gave it a quick slash with it, Saren indeed could feel the wind implying it had weight despite looking frail.

Aqua continued. "Keyblades are natural conduits for magic; even Keyblade wielders without formal training are able to perform magic with power rivaling that of expert mages. Skilled wielders may imbue their Keyblade with magic for a variety of effects, including allowing the wielder to inflict greater damage or deal elemental damage to enemies. Keyblades can also be used to channel the powers of light or darkness. And when you don't need to use it..." she lets it go and it disappears in a flash of light. "It just deactivates until you need to summon it again." she looked at Saren who seemed to be wholly impressed by the blade. She just smiles. "I take it that it caught your attention?" she teased which Saren glowed a bright red.

He had to mutter an apology. "Sorry, I don't often hear about otherworldly weapons. That one is quite fascinating. Does it have a will of its own or did you manifested it out of your own will?" he asked.

Aqua gave him a rather coy look, giggling a bit. "Fancy having one yourself, do you? I'm sorry to say that Keyblades do have a will of its own somewhat. I was given the mark by my master, Eraqus. Keyblade masters are the only ones who can give you the mark in order for you to manifest your own. There is a chance for you to just get one but it's extremely low now that the rules of changed." she said as a matter of fact.

Saren had to cross out that idea in the beginning. Looks like he wasn't getting one anytime soon, it was a bit of a bummer but he understood. He already knew that but he didn't want to seem suspicious by having known about it already. Right behind them, however, was Blake who had been listening to their conversation. While she wasn't too sure about the man in front of her, Aqua seemed pretty strong to carry around a weapon like that. She seemed like the friendly sort so maybe she wouldn't mind.

"Hm, thanks for indulging me, Aqua. You seem pretty strong in your own right. A frame like yours does speak you have some combat experience outside of using the keyblade too." Saren mused which promptly had Aqua open her hand and close it before giving a nod. Which Saren laughs a little. "Looks like my deduction skills are still good enough. I don't have anything close to supernatural like yours but I use a very high assortment of weapons. I do have the skill, the strength, speed, and intelligence to use them all with great proficiency...however while the muscle memory never forgets I'm going to have to get used to these weapons again." he said which Aqua nods.

"I understand. When I came to this world, I was way weaker than before. I had to fight hard to relearn my techniques and magic. I'm still not done yet. Maybe we can help train each other. You learn how to fight against magic and I learn how to counter different weapons I never had the pleasure of fighting against. The more we learn, the better chance we have. What do you say?" she held out a hand to him which he promptly shook it with a firm nod. "Deal. Better than rocking it solo." Aqua gave a short laugh at that.

That little trade did much to paint a better picture of the two. These two would be perfect for her, if nothing else to help her get to the next town. Just as the line was now getting short, she decided to introduce herself before they got registered.