Hi lovely readers! This is my first FanFic (Hope that didn't just make you want to use the back button). It's truthfully been awhile since I have written anything and I thought this would be good practice! This is my telling of Dream Drop Distance. There is some twists and things that never actually happened (Or there will be once I get farther along in the story). I hope you enjoy ^.^

The story takes place after the battle with Ursula. (If you recall, its basically the tutorial so i didnt include it) If anything is confusing, let me know. I do NOT own Kingdom Hearts or Sora or Riku. (I wish I did though)

I completely enjoy critisism as much as compliments. Both make you grow as a person! So R&R how ya feel. Enjoy :D

You know, for once," Sora said as he picked himself up off the ground and dusted his new clothes clean again, "I would like to visit this town without waking up from a coma."

Traverse Town. Always seemed to be the first world he encountered on the start of his journeys. The same soft music could be heard in the distance only this time it seemed to be… slower. Almost like a lullaby with a smooth sax in the background.

Riku should be around here somewhere…

But in the meantime Sora observed his surroundings. He had awoken in the entrance area of the town. Every street and alleyway was made of cobblestone. There was a dining area that was just to his right, and the only plant life was two small circular flower beds with light posts in the center of each. The rest of the place was brick everywhere you looked. It all seemed… he couldn't put words to it. Nothing was out of the ordinary yet something was up.

"Hey, there you are," a voice behind Sora startled him. Riku walked down the stairs to him. He must've landed in a different part of Traverse Town after the battle with Ursula.

"This place seems… different to you?" Sora asked him. Riku took a moment to give the area a sweep.

"No, although there's no sign of Heartless. At least I haven't seen any yet. Have you?" Riku said.

"No." Sora noticed how brightly lit Traverse Town was. Usually a few street lamps here and there were lit. It was adequate enough light to get around. But it seemed that this time there was many lights everywhere.

"Well the keyhole has got to be around here somewhere. Might as well start looking," Riku suggested.

"Did you say… 'keyhole'?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

Riku and Sora both started looking around till Riku spoke up. "Who said that?"

"Up here guys."

Riku saw him first, crouched on top of a building. He was young, probably about 16. Long, wavy, blond hair framed his face. He wore a blue button down shirt with a fairly exposed neck and collar and black jeans. "The name's Joshua."

"Hi. I'm Sora," he put a hand on his chest then looked at his friend, "and this is Riku."

"Pleased to meet you." Joshua jumped down from his perch on the building and landed effortlessly in front of the boys. "Now you said something about a keyhole?"

"Uhh, yeah," Sora said, quite shocked at how agile he was.

"It's kind of big, really shiny, you can't miss it," Riku explained. "Have you seen it?"

"Hmmm… Can't say that I have." Joshua put his fist under his chin.

Both boys were slightly deflated.

"But if you plan to look for it, I suggest you go armed. You don't want them to get you." He said.

"Them?" Sora asked. "Oh, you mean the Heartless."

"Heartless? No. I mean the Dream Eaters. They're everywhere." Joshua played with a curl of his hair that always bothered him. "You can summon some Spirits to protect you if you don't have-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Riku interrupted Joshua. "First, what are Dream Eaters?"

"Yeah and what's a Spirit?" Sora chimed in.

Joshua looked at them skeptically for a second. They were searching for a giant, glowing keyhole and didn't know what Dream Eaters or Spirits were? Where had they come from?

"Dream Eaters are true to there name. They eat dreams, good ones. They are similar to Heartless in the way they try to distinguish anyone or anything that uses the power of light. Spirits are somewhat like Dream Eaters only they eat bad dreams," He finished explaining and noticed the confused look on Sora's face. Joshua crossed his arms. "I'm guessing you still don't understand?"

"Nope!" Sora said in an ironically cheerful voice.

Suddenly a commotion came from behind them. Three creatures appeared out of thin air. The first was a small, yet stout, cat-like creature… or maybe a dog. At that point it was hard to tell. The other two had the likeness of a bat only slightly bigger and covered with soft hair. They screeched and flew erratically around. The Dream Eater insignia was clearly marked on them in dark colors.

"Perfect timing," Joshua sounded amused and undaunted by the appearance of the strange beings. "Those are Dream Eaters, Sora"

"Yeah, I kind of figured that out." Sora crouched into an attack position and summoned his keyblade. With a flash of light, a long weapon formed in his hand. Riku followed suit and willed his keyblade to appear.

"Ah," Joshua admired them in awe. "So you do have weapons."

"Stay behind us," Riku instructed him.

The Dream Eaters didn't make any move to attack. They stared at the humans in front of them, sizing up their opponent.

"Hey," Sora let his guard down, "You know, they are kind of cute."

The cat-like Dream Eater launched itself at Sora, biting the blade of the keyblade. He let out a girlish scream of surprise and, out of reflex, kicked the creature away from him and rolled until there was a safer distance between him and it. Sora tried to get control of his breathing again.

"Yeah," Riku tried his hardest not to laugh at Sora, "They're adorable."

Riku wasted no time and closed the distance between him and the Dream Eaters. With one swing he knocked one bat into the other, causing them to fall to the ground. They lingered there for a second before disappearing. He turned his attention to the last Dream Eater, but much to his surprise, Sora had already taken care of it.

"That was too easy," Riku said.

"Oh trust me," Joshua, who had been watching the whole time, began to speak, "There's a lot worse Dream Eaters out there."

"How come they didn't try to attack you?" Sora almost sounded jealous.

"Dunno. They never do." Joshua was looking around for something as he answered Sora's question. He looked up at the roof of the building he had been sitting on earlier. "Must have left it up there…"

"What is it?" Riku asked.

"You'll see. I'll be right back." Joshua took a running start at the wall.

"Wait, what are you…" Riku trailed off.

About three feet away from one of the buildings, Joshua jumped. As soon as his feet made contact with the wall, time seemed to slow ever so slightly. A bright purple essence seemed to cover and illuminate his whole body. He launched himself to the lamp post and grabbed a hold of it. He swung around it twice, maybe even three times, building up momentum. He was moving so fast that all that could be seen was a blur. When he let go, he rocketed off into an alleyway. Joshua ricocheted between the two sides until he made it to the roof of the building.

Sora's jaw dropped at what had just happened before him. Riku reached over and closed Sora's mouth who swatted his hand away. Riku only chuckled.

Joshua landed right back in front of them again, this time with a small pack slung over one shoulder and no special effects. He opened his mouth to say something but Sora filled the air with his words instead.

"How… in the world… did you do that?" Sora asked.

"Do what?" Joshua truly had no idea what Sora was referring to.

"All the… You know the lights and the glowing and zipping around all over the place like crazy!" Sora's blue eyes lit up.

"Are you talking about Flowmotion?" Joshua asked.

"Uhm, I guess so, if that's what you call it," Sora said.

"Well you're in the sleeping worlds so Flowmotion is very possible." Joshua tried to explain to Sora.

"Sleeping worlds?" Riku asked.

"Yes. This world is asleep. It is currently disconnected from all the other worlds. If you hadn't noticed, there are no Heartless here. Only Dream Eaters really inhabit this town." Joshua took the pack off his shoulder and set it down on the ground. "I had a feeling when I came across you two that something was up, especially when you were discussing a keyhole. I actually knew exactly what you were talking about all along but I wanted to make sure your intentions were pure."

"Wait. So you summoned those Dream Eaters to attack us?" Sora's tone of voice hinted to annoyance.

"No," Joshua laughed, "That was completely coincidental. And funny."

Sora blushed with embarrassment.

"So if this world is asleep," Riku had been thinking about what Joshua was saying, "Finding and unlocking the world's keyhole would awaken this world and would connect it to the other worlds?"

"Right." Joshua fished in his pack for awhile before pulling out several glowing orbs. "Here, take these."

Riku and Sora took the glowing orbs from him.

"Those will help you create and summon Spirits. It might come in handy on your quest." Joshua slung the pack over his shoulder. "Well I really must be going-"

"Wait! How do you create them?" Sora held them up and looked at them from underneath.

"Oh, you two seem pretty bright. You can figure it out." Joshua said. Sora's grip on one of the orbs slipped and he danced around trying to catch it before it hit the ground. When he finally had a hold of it again, Sora breathed a sigh of relief. "Well… maybe you can figure it out, Riku, and then help Sora."

"Hey!" Sora shouted, somewhat offended.

"Haha, I'm kidding." Joshua started walking up the stairs away from them. "See ya!"