Chapter One:

New Dawn

The smell of salt hung in the air around the beaches, tossed up by the power of the gentle waves crashing at Sora's feet. The scent was almost like an old friend by now, a constant companion that he cherished daily after his long absence from Destiny Islands. It was almost as dear to him as the feel of cool water lapping at his ankles, or the way the sea turned to liquid fire as the sun set. Almost as dear a friend as Riku or Kairi.

He stood amidst the tide with his school jacket slung over one shoulder, the top buttons of his shirt opened so he could feel the sweet, cooling breeze. His tousled brown hair hung low in his face, damped slightly with the sweat and water that were part of a good game of Bliztball.

It had been almost a year since Sora, the great Keyblade Master (well, one of four, really), had come home from his battle against Organization XIII. A year since he and Riku had at last rended the shell of Xemnas open, and left the last part of Xehanort to vanish. A year since he had received a letter from the King.

That last bottled letter had held a short message, just a few scrawled lines on the pure white parchment.

"Something is happening. Wait for news."

And that was it. So he had waited, day after day, for something new to happen. But nothing had yet. A year.

"Something on your mind, Sora?"

Sore didn't even have to turn to see who it was. It was Riku, of course, Riku who always joined him in waiting, even if he stayed longer to do his duties as Class President. Sora had run against him but, as always, Riku won out in the end. Well, almost always.

Silently, his best friend moved up next to him, the soft thud the followed most likely his school bag. Sora had already ditched his at home, of course.

"Just watching the sunset," Sora had said softly, the sky blue of his eyes never wavering from the crimson-slashed sky.

"Just the sunset?" Riku asked, sounding a tad skeptical. He tilted his head to look at Sora's eyes, and saw an intensity in his eyes that was made it clear that what he had said was far from the truth.

But, regardless, Sora just muttered a quiet, "Yeah," and kept staring.

"Aw, you too are so romantic"

Sora barely had time to turn his head before Kairi had launched towards them, slinging an arm around each boy's shoulders. She planted a quick kiss on both of their cheeks, and pulled back with a playful grin on her face. Riku shot her a dry look, but Sora merely turned back to the horizon.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked, concern showing on her face.

"Nothing," Sora replied simply, and quite honestly. Nothing was wrong, as far as he knew. At least, not on Destiny Islands. But he could feel in his bones that things hadn't settled down elsewhere. Now he just had to keep waiting.

"Sora..."

"Listen, Sora," Riku began sternly. "We all saw the message from the King. But you can't keep waiting for something to hit. You've got to have faith that he can handle it."

"I know," Sora sighed. "I'm just nervous something is gonna happen and...I won't be able to help this time."

Riku just chuckled and stood up tall, ruffling Sora's already messy hair. "Don't be such a punk. If the King needs help, he knows exactly who to call. Now, come on, hero: let's get some training in, if you're so worried."

Sora turned and flashed Riku a broad grin. "Only if you're ready to lose."

Riku smirked in turn and stood up straight, rolling out his shoulders as a preliminary stretch. "You wish. Come on, bust out that Keyblade."

In a flash, each boy had summoned up their weapon. Riku held his Soul Eater aloft in one hand, while Sora stood with Kingdom Key clutched in both hands, crouched low to the ground. Before either could begin, however, a third Keyblade entered their field of vision.

"Sorry, boys, but this time, I'm taking the crown," Kairi said, sun glittering off of Oathkeeper. Sora had returned her lucky charm after the battle with Organization XIII and, by extension, passed Oathkeeper onto her. In her other hand, however, the Pure Light that Riku had given her appeared as well.

"Aw, now that's just cheating," Riku said, grin never faltering.

"It'll give you an excuse when I beat you," Kairi cried, jumping into the air and lashing out towards the taller boy.

He stepped back, raising Soul Eater defensively, and both of her weapons struck it harmlessly. Sora took the advantage to rush forward, rolling to the side and sweeping Riku's feet out from beneath him. Riku fell back onto the sand but quickly rolled into a crouch. Kairi, in the meanwhile, turned her attention to the brunette, throwing fierce blows from left and right.

If anything, the uneventful year had provided an excellent opportunity for Kairi to get a grasp of Keyblade fighting. And with two Keyblade Masters as her teachers, she quickly learned all their tricks and made quite a few of her own. She had decided to take on two Keyblades to further differentiate herself, and Sora had to admit that she was no slouch in battle these days.

In a flash, Riku had rejoined the fray, evidently on the side of Kairi. Now with three blades flashing at his head and slowly decreasing room to back towards, he was pressed for options.

"Come on, Sora!" Riku yelled, stepping back after a blocked stab to the torso. "I thought you were the true Keyblade master!"

"I am!" he shot back, lifting his Key-less arm to block Kairi's downward slash and just narrowly missing the blade in the process. He swung out with his blade and managed to strike Riku in the chest with the blunt end.

Seizing the opportunity, he pushed up with his arm and sent Kairi staggering back. As soon as he was completely free, he launched himself forward at the momentarily off-guard Riku and tackled him to the ground. There was a brief struggle that ended with Sora's Kingdom Key pressing down on Riku's collarbone.

"Yield," Sora said smugly.

"When'd you learn a big word like that," Riku shot back, eyes narrowed.

"Sh-Shut up!" Sora yelled defensively, and kneed Riku sharply in the ribs.

Riku winced and glared up at Sora. "Fine, I yield!"

"I don't!" Kairi shouted suddenly, and Sora felt the cold metal of two Keyblades on his throat. Kairi's breath was hot by his ear, and he could smell the perfume she'd put on this morning mixed with sweat. "What about you?"

"I...I yield," he said weakly, trying to pull his throat back away from the glittering weapons.

"Good!" Kairi cooed cheerfully, and then her weapons were gone in a flash of light. She helped Sora to his feet, and he helped up Riku in turn.

The relative silence, however, was shattered by a slow clap.

"Good show, good show!"

The trio turned sharply, and Sora's eyes widened as he took in the sight of the man in the black hood who stood down the beach. There was a plain black mask on his face, and although the coat looked different in design from those of Organization XIII, he couldn't help remembering them.

"Who are you?" Sora snarled, pointing the tip of Kingdom Key at the mysterious man.

"My name is not important, Sora the Keyblade Master," the man said smoothly. "But if you insist, you can simply call me the Master."

Riku snorted quietly. "The Master?"

"Indeed. And I think my subordinates would back me up on that."

In a flash, portals of energy began to open around the man in black. Sora could only watch in awe as more black-clad people stepped forth, each wearing a mask and a hood. At last, thirteen stood atop the beach.

"So, this is the legendary trio?" drawled the man to the Master's left. His mask was black as well, but slashed with silver. "They don't seem so tough."

"Yeah, hardly a challenge at all," laughed another, standing further down. His mask was streaked with dark green.

"What do you want?" Riku shouted, raising Soul Eater much as Sora had done.

"Many things," the Master said simply. "Much more valuable things than you can even comprehend, little mortal."

"Mortal?" asked Sora, eyebrows knitting together.

"Aye, mortal," the tallest of the men growled, the gold on his mask shining in the fading light.

"We are beyond the trappings of mortality, Keyblade Master," the Master said raising a gloved hand. "For we are Endless, beings neither of light or dark!" Energy crackled in his hand, streaks of what looked like white and black electricity coiling around his fingers. "Without mortal shells to tie us down, we are invincible!"

"No one is invincible," Kairi scoffed, crossing her arms and looking stern.

"And we'll prove it!" Sora yelled, sliding into a battle ready stance.

He was only met with laughter, however.

"You'll prove it?" the Master jeered. "Oh, Keyblade Master, you slay me with your wit alone! Come, come, show me your power!"

He stepped forward slowly, the rest of the cloaked men stepping back. Sora glared and charged forward, ignoring a protesting shout from Riku and Kairi, and jumped high into the air, bringing his weapon down through the Master. There was a rush of inky darkness around him and then he was on the beach again. He whirled to watch the Master fade out of existence, a smoky break through his middle...

...but then he reformed, almost instantly, and turned to face Sora. The boy could see pitiless golden eyes shining in the eye slots.

"Simply pathetic, Keyblade Master," he drawled, lifting his hand again.

Sora felt the wind burst forth from his lungs as a bolt of energy struck his chest. He didn't remember flying through the air, or even hitting the ground, but it must have happened, for the next thing he knew, he was lying in the sand, Kingdom Key sitting beside him. The Master slowly stepped above him, pressing a boot onto his chest.

"I should slay you know and save myself the trouble..."

"Stop!"

The Master whirled, and suddenly Riku was there, Soul Eater flickering has Riku slashed forward at the cloaked man. A cut nearly passed through his neck, but he disappeared before it hit, reappearing behind the Keyblade Master.

"...But you three aren't worth the effort. The Flux should be enough to deal with you."

And then, the thirteen vanished, one after the other. The last two were the silver-masked man, and a blue-masked person who leaned against him. They vanished in unison, in a flash of energy.

But as quickly as they left, new beings arrived.

The entities resembled Dusks, but only from the fact that they were always moving, and had a roughly humanoid shape and stance. These things, however, were an indigo color, with streaks of white and black fluctuating on their bodies. They had glowing golden eyes, no mouths, and the only other identifying marks seemed to be the bright white circles on their chests, which had a stylized "X" through the middle. Their limbs were constantly changing, growing and reforming without rhyme or reason.

"What...what are these things?" Sora cried, grabbing Kingdom Key and getting to his feet.

No one had time to answer before one of the things launched itself at him, arms stretching out like taffy towards his face. He swung his Keyblade up and it severed the limbs easily enough, so he set to work hacking through the main body. It fell to gooey peaces, rather than disappearing into darkness, which was mildly perturbing.

"And...What's that emblem?" he asked, pointing to the undamaged symbol on a piece of the creature.

"Hell if I know," Riku grunted, pushing his Soul Eater through one of the monsters. It burst into black smoke as he cut through its abdomen, which caused Sora to blink.

"Hey, why did yours vanish?" Sora whined. "Mine is still...gooey!"

"And alive!" Kairi shouted. "Sora, watch out!"

He twisted just in time to raise his Keyblade to block the attack it launched against him. It looked undamaged yet again, but he slashed forward again, this time cutting right through the center. As his blade hit the symbol in its chest, it vanished just like the one Riku had slain.

"It...It's the symbol!" Sora shouted.

"Already figured...nng...that out!" Riku growled, fighting off two of the things at once. Sora cut through one on his back, and saw Kairi charged through the monsters out of the corner of his eye.

But no matter how many the three seemed to cut down, more kept appearing. The indigo things lashed out with unnaturally long limbs, flying through the air, grappling Keyblades and limbs, and generally making it harder to fight the rest. At last, the trio stood back to back, seemingly surrounded.

"Just...too many," Sora panted.

"What are we...gonna do?" Kairi gasped, slashing through one as it advanced.

"Keep fighting, that's what," Riku said coolly.

The monsters began to advance again, but never got very far. For before they could even get within striking range, a loud voice rang out.

"Thundaga!"

A flash of lighting, and suddenly the monsters were reduced to smoke. The loud roar of an engine filled the air, and Sora threw his eyes up to the sky just in time to see a ship descending.

"The Gummi ship!" he cheered.

From out of the window, he could see Donald leaning down, staff in hand.

"Hold on!" he quacked. "We're gonna beam you outta here!"

"Roger!" Sora called back.

There was a sudden flash of light, and the world around them slowly began to dissolve.

A new adventure was beginning.