The Second Keyblade Master, Part 1

By: Nicoru-san

Author's Note: not all the characters included in the story are mine. Donald, Goofy, etc. are from Disney...along with Leon, Riku, Sora, Kairi, Cloud, Aerith, and Yuffie are from Square Enix.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

It was a bright sunny summer day on the beach of Destiny Islands. A 14-year-old girl with long dirty-blonde hair sat on the sand, she wore baggy Capri pants, with a white tank top, and a red jacket wrapped around her waist. School had just got out and she had just finished junior high. She would be attending the local high school with her friends. She sat there quietly singing as she stared at the wide beautiful blue ocean in front of her:

"Flying above the ocean free,

all the beautiful worlds to see,

Just me and you…

and all the things we could do…"

She sat there with a sketchbook in her lap. It had a red cover and was wide open, revealing an unfinished picture of a boy standing in front of the ocean. She sighed and said, "They said they'd be here by now, what the heck could be taking them so long?"

Just then, she heard a cry from behind her: "Nicoru!"

She turned her head just in time to see a boy and a girl running up towards her. The boy had silver white hair and gorgeous blue eyes, wore a yellow and black top with no sleeves with blue-violet pants, being of 15 years of age. The girl had short brown hair and blue eyes and was sporting a white blouse with a pink skirt, and was 14 years old as well. Hurriedly, she closed the book and put it away in her bag along with her art supplies.

Nicoru looked at the other girl running towards her. She thought to herself: that skirt looks really skimpy on Kairi, but it works for her. Why can't I look like that in a skirt? Nicoru had always been more of a tomboy and wearing things she felt comfortable in, while Kairi liked wearing more girly things. They use to have a lot of things in common, but as the years passed on, they grew farther and farther apart in tastes.

"Sorry, we're late, Sora wasn't even up yet when we got to his house, and then we had to wait for him to get dressed," said the boy shaking his head sadly. Nicoru laughed "that's okay Riku, don't worry about it, I wasn't waiting that long." Riku smiled at her, which made her turn a bright red. She really liked Riku a lot, and even though she tried to act cool and calm around him it didn't always work.

There was a yell from behind them, and while Riku turned to see who it was, the other girl whispered to Nicoru saying "you're really red, you need to relax", she said with a big smile and elbowing Nicoru in the arm. "Shhh!" said Nicoru as Riku started yelling at another boy that was running down to the shore towards them "Hurry up Sora!", Riku said as the boy came up panting and wheezing.

The boy finally reached them. He was still hunched over, panting from exhaustion. "Took you long enough," said Riku with an annoyed look on his face. The boy finally stood up straight, he had messy spiky brown hair and blue eyes and was 14 years old too. "Shut up my alarm clock didn't go off this morning!" his face was a bright red as he spoke. "Did you forget to set it again last night Sora?" asked Nicoru with a frown. Sora looked down at the floor with a beet-red face and quietly mumbled "No…I'm pretty sure I…I mean…I think I did …"

Riku was getting pretty irritated, and Nicoru could tell he was about to really tell Sora off, just from looking at him, with Sora looking like he was about to cry, so she tried to change the subject. "Hey you guys, what are our plans for today?" Riku's face softened up a little bit as he grew less tense, Sora wiped his eyes and looked up, Kairi just smiled.

"Well today we were going to work on our raft remember?" said Riku as he pointed to a pile of wood, cloth, and rope. "Let's do it then!" said Sora, and so they all split up in order to gather the materials. Nicoru went with Sora to gather materials, Kairi want off to go and find her own things, and Riku went to go work on the raft. "Nicoru, so have you told Riku how you feel about him yet?" asked Sora as they walked. Nicoru looked at the ground sadly. Then she replied:

"I want to tell him how I feel but I just can't get the words to come out. I really like him a lot…at least I think I do. Maybe the problem is that I don't love him enough. What if Riku and I are only meant to be friends?"

Sora sighed and then said, "Maybe you guys are only meant to be friends if you can't even tell him how you feel. I mean, at least try talking to him to see how he feel about you. That's really all you can do. Just do your best."

"He's right; all I can do is try my best. I have to talk to Riku and see how he feels about me. I'm just worried about how he is going to react." "Actually I really lo…" he stopped himself and gave her a smile.Nicoru just smiled back and said, "I'm going to go find Riku, I'll see you later", and with that, Nicoru ran off.

Sora waved goodbye and then realized and yelled out after her "HEY, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE HELPING ME!" However, Nicoru was already gone. Sora groaned and returned his attention to gathering materials. "Jeez, she could have at least stayed and finished this with me first," he huffed as he began working again.

I really like Riku too, but you don't see me going out of MY way just to be around him. I mean, at least I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. It must be nice… I wish I could tell him how I feel too…but I'm not too sure if he likes guys. I really don't think someone like Riku could be gay. Aaargh! This really sucks! I wish someone would give me advice too…he has such a nice ass…

"I really need to get some counseling" he sighed, before rubbing his face "god how I hate being bi sometimes..."

Nicoru ran down the shore towards the area where they kept their raft. She was nervous but excited, had a big smile on her face. I'm really doing this; I'm really going to tell Riku how I feel."

She stopped short and quietly snuck behind the beach house. She saw Riku and Kairi talking and laughing together. Then they just stopped and stared at each other. Riku then turned away from Kairi and continued working, still talking to her with his back turned, tying the posts together.

Nicoru stared as Kairi snuck behind him. She called out to him and he turned around. She held onto him and slowly touched his lips with her fingers and then while he was busy pulling them away from his face she kissed him.

Nicoru stood there horrified. How could Kairi do this to her? She had told Kairi so many times how she felt about Riku…she thought Kairi understood…

I thought she was my friend…how could she do something like this? Riku, my Riku...I…

With that, Nicoru turned and ran away.

Riku pulled Kairi away from him. "Why did you do that Kairi? I can't believe you! I told you I loved…" just then, he spotted Nicoru running away from the shore towards her house.

Oh, no…she saw that…she really saw that…shit, what do I do now? With that, Riku ran after Nicoru, hoping to catch up to her in order to explain everything. He ran on, ignoring Kairi as she kept calling after him repeatedly.

As Riku ran off, Kairi turned away. Facing the ocean, she scowled "he was almost mine! I had him right where I wanted him!" Then an evil smile spread across her face "…at least I did what I was supposed to." She turned to face a hooded figure standing behind her "right?" The person just nodded.

Nicoru's home wasn't that far away from the shore. It wasn't anything special just had one floor, and was painted a sky-blue, with white windows and a matching door, with a brown roof. She got to her house in no time at all. Nicoru went inside her house and rushed to her room, where she plopped down onto her nice, comfortable bed. She lay on her bed sobbing. Just then, she heard a knock at the door, she heard her mother answer the door. "Oh come in!" she heard her mother exclaim.

Riku's voice was heard from the end of the hallway "Hi, is Nicoru home?" Nicoru could hear her mother's footsteps coming towards her room, her mother came to her room saying "Riku's here" Nicoru just put her face in her pillow "Just tell him to go away!"

Her mother returned to the front door where Riku stood waiting. "I'm sorry Riku, but Nicoru isn't feeling well right now, she'll see you later." Then Nicoru heard a crackling sound, as though someone had pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Would you mind giving this to her then?"

Then the door creaked as her mother closed it. Her mom returned and handed her a piece of paper and then walked away saying, "When you are feeling better maybe you could try eating something", and then she left. Nicoru with her face in her pillow wept until she fell asleep.

Chapter 2: Riku

When Nicoru finally awoke, she sat up and looked around. On her bed beside her, was Riku's letter. She slowly unfolded the letter and began to read:

Nicoru-

We need to talk. Meet me over at the paopu tree. I really need to see you. I have to explain to you what really happened between Kairi and me. That's all I can say for now…so please come soon.

Riku

Nicoru didn't move for a minute. Maybe he just wants to explain that he likes Kairi and that he doesn't want me to tell anyone. I really can't tell Sora…I guess I had better get this over with. She stood up and started walking to the front door. Just then, she heard a growling noise coming from her stomach. "Hmm…maybe I should eat first.

Riku stood against the trunk of the tree waiting. He and Sora had finished working on the raft once he had returned from Nicoru's house. Now he was waiting for her to come. He crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and tilted his head towards the sky. If she comes, is what I should say, he thought.

Just then, he heard a low rumble from behind him. He turned around towards the ocean and saw a huge dark cloud coming towards their island. For a second he just stared. Maybe I should just go home. It looks like storm is coming. There's no telling if she's even going to come. The he said aloud "I'll just wait for a bit longer, a little rain won't hurt.

Once Nicoru had finally finished eating she changed her clothes and started heading for the door. However, her mom blocked her exit. "You're not going out right now there's a storm coming," said her mom sternly. "But I…" Nicoru started. Her father came from behind her and said, "No buts, or else you won't be able to hang out with your friends for a long time."

So Nicoru reluctantly walked back to her room. Then she walked over and opened her window, "I wont give up that easily" she said and climbed out, letting go of the windowsill and landing on the ground just four feet below her.

Then she began running toward the spot that Riku asked her to meet him at. As she ran, she noticed another figure running in the same direction, she ran toward him calling out "Sora! Sora!" He stopped and waited for her to catch up.

"Where are you going?" she asked. "I'm going to go check on the raft. What about you?" he said. Nicoru replied, "I'm looking for Riku, he asked me to meet him at the paopu tree so I want to make sure he's ok" Sora blinked, "but he wouldn't be out here now would he?" Nicoru sighed and said, "I'm not sure...but I need to find him." So together they ran.

All the while, it got darker and darker. The storm had reached the island now. For miles, it was nothing but clouds, and the wind was blowing hard. Strange creatures with black bodies, wiggling antennae and big bright yellow eyes, came up from out of the ground and began attacking them. Sora picked up a couple of sticks off the ground and handed one to Nicoru.

They had finally reached the spot where Riku had told Nicoru to meet him. It was a small cliff with a large tree growing on its side. "Riku! Riku! Where are you Riku?" they called. Nicoru scanned the area and then noticed something at the other end of the cliff. "Sora, look it's Riku!" Nicoru cried out as she pointed to the edge. Sure enough, there stood Riku at the edge of the cliff.

"Riku we have to get out of here right now!" Sora yelled. Riku just looked at them and smiled. Nicoru stared at him. Something is wrong. Why is he just smiling at us? What is with that smile anyway? The look on his face is really starting to scare me…What has happened to you Riku? Nicoru walked closer to him. She was almost beside him when she stopped. A black mass was around his feet. It looked like black flames. Sora noticed too. "Nicoru get away!" he cried as he ran towards both of them.

Just then, Riku spoke and held out his hand: "Sora…Nicoru… Come with me…don't be afraid of the darkness.

The black flames grew and began to cover Riku's body. "Riku!" Nicoru and Sora cried out after him. Once again, he repeated: "don't be afraid of the darkness." Nicoru tried to grab his arm but it was no use, Riku disappeared. Then, before they could say or do another thing, the flames came towards them and engulfed them as well.

While being swallowed up by the flames Nicoru thought to herself:

Riku? Riku? Where are you? What's happened to you? What about you Kairi? How could you do that to me? I…I thought you were my friend. How could you, you backstabbing little-. Sora where did you go? Don't leave me. I don't want to be alone. Riku, Sora, don't leave me alone.

The only thing Sora really could think of at the time was:

Riku? Nicoru? Kairi? Where…where are you?

For a moment, they were floating in complete darkness when all of a sudden they landed on a round, flat platform. They looked at each other and then scoped out the area. For a minute, they just stood there, and then they felt something drop into their hands. They looked at the objects. They were two large identical keys. "A keyblade? Sora said looking at his. Nicoru looked at Sora saying, "What is this supposed to be? What do we use these for?"

They felt a huge vibration under their feet and a loud rumbling noise. A creature similar to the creatures they had met on Destiny Islands rose out of the floor, except this one was much larger. It's large body loomed over them. Sora and Nicoru looked at each other before they rushed toward the creature. What seemed like forever had passed when they finally defeated it. They looked at each other, grinning and gave each other the thumbs up. Just then, the floor gave way and they began falling…

After that they, they both lost consciousness.

Chapter 3: Traverse Town

Nicoru groaned from exhaustion. She sat up and opened her eyes. She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times, and then she looked around. She stood up. The buildings of some strange new town surrounded her. "Where the heck am I?" she said aloud. "Why, you're in Traverse Town!" Nicoru turned around to see a strange little creature floating in the air in front of her. It had a large head, a big red nose, a small plump body, and small black bat wings. "What are you supposed to be, a flying pig?" Nicoru asked raising her eyebrow at it. "I'm not a pig! I'm a Moogle!" it said crossly and then it flew away. "Okay! Jeez…sorry!"

Just then, a familiar voice called out to her. She turned to see a boy running toward her. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. "Tidus!" she said surprised as he ran up to her. "You're here too?" he asked her. "Well yeah. I am kind of standing right in front of you…" she said with a laugh and then she stopped short, "hey have you seen Sora and Riku around here?" Tidus' face fell, "nah I'm sorry I haven't seen them" but then he said "but they're sure to be here somewhere!" "Ok thanks, I'll see you later!" and with that Nicoru left Tidus in order to go find Riku and Sora.

Nearby in a dark alley a yellow dog was sniffing about looking for something. Not too far off you could hear two other voices as well. One voice was deep and sounded like a complete idiot. The second was harder to understand and almost squawked like a chicken. "We're never going to find the masters of the keyblades!" squawked the chicken voice. "Then the other voice replied: "Don't worry Donald; I'm sure that we'll find them both soon! And we'll find Leon as well!" "Humph, whatever you say Goofy!" the other voice replied. Then they began calling out "Pluto, where are you?"

Pluto was sitting right in front of Sora when they called him. He turned to the direction that they were calling from and then looked at Sora. Pluto then gave him a big, wet, slobbery kiss, which woke up Sora, and then ran off after Goofy and Donald.

Nicoru was running around in search of Sora and Riku. People she had asked hadn't seen any sign of neither of them. She spotted Goofy and Donald and ran over too them. "Hey Mister Duck, I was hoping you and your friend could help me?" Donald got so pissed, his face was red "who are you calling Mister Duck?" he began to say when Goofy grabbed him and trying to control the struggling Donald until he would relax. Donald finally relaxed and Goofy sat him down. "What do your friends look like?" Goofy asked.

Nicoru began: "my friend Sora has messy brown hair and blue eyes. My other friend Riku has white hair, almost like a silver color, and blue eyes. Have you seen them?" Donald and Goofy shook their heads. "Oh…well thanks anyway…" she said. She was so upset she could barely speak, she could feel the tears forming in her eyes. "Don't give up, you're bound to find them." Goofy said. Nicoru looked and them and smiled. "Thanks" she said and ran off.

Goofy asked Donald as they walked away: "do you suppose she could've been one of the key bearers?" "No way! She was a girl! How could one of the keyblade masters be a girl?" said Donald.

Nicoru continued her search, heading in the direction that Donald and Goofy had come from. I have been searching for so long now. I think I've checked the entire town now. What happens if I can't find them? She stopped in the alleyway beside the crosswalk and sat on a wooden crate. "Where could they have gone?" she cried, with tears running down her face. She pictured Riku and Sora's faces in her mind. Riku…Sora…where are you?

Sora still sat behind the box. He was sitting there trying to figure out where he was when he heard a familiar voice calling his name. Their voice cracked and sounded like a girl's. He stood up. Her back was turned to him, but he was sure he knew who it was. "Nicoru is that you?" he asked.

Nicoru's turned her head to see who was talking to her. When she saw that it was Sora's face staring at her, she cried out "Sora!" hopped off the box, and hugged him. "I'm glad to see you too," he said laughing. "Sora have you found Riku?" she asked hopefully. "Nah I haven't seen him or Kairi" he said sadly. Just hearing Kairi's name reminded her of the incident that had happened not too long ago. She didn't worry about that though, for all she could think about, was Riku.

He looked at the sad look on her face and said "why don't we look for them together? Any ideas where to check first?" Nicoru's eyes lit up, "maybe we could go to the town square and see if anyone has spotted him yet!" Nicoru suggested. Sora smiled and nodded and together they walked back to the square.

As they walked away, they didn't even notice the girl standing on the roof above them. Kairi started laughing. "What a bunch of idiots, they are so oblivious to what's going on around them." Then she said huffily "so why did they get keyblades and I didn't?"

Chapter 4:Leon

They were in front of a couple of shops in front of the square, searching for someone that could help them. They sat down on the steps in front of a couple of shops Suddenly, Sora cried out in surprise. Nicoru and Sora turned to see a boy with dark eyes and brown hair about 19 years old, wearing black pants, a white shirt and a black leather jacket with short sleeves and fluff on the collar. He stood there examining Sora's keyblade. Then he spoke: "Why did the keyblades choose you two?"

The keyblade vanished from the boy's hand and returned to Sora. "Who are you?" Nicoru asked, staring at the boy. "We talk later, someplace more private would be better" he began, then he pulled out a sword with a blade resembling somewhat like a gun and aimed it at them "but first I need to make sure you are worthy of those blades" he said and then rushed at them.

Nicoru was a natural with the keyblade. Even though she only had it for such a short period, she fought very well. She would gracefully dodge all of Leon's attacks, jumping out of the way, as he aimed another blast at her. She smacked him a couple of times, and then said, "Is that the best you could do? It would be really pathetic if you couldn't beat just one girl by yourself…" Leon became even angrier and took another swing at her. She dodged again, sticking her tongue out at him as she passed.

Fighting with her is getting me nowhere… he spotted Sora as he started running towards Leon, I'll just take this kid out first, he said as he pointed his blade and shot at Sora. Sora got the full blast of the attack. He was surrounded by thick smoke and couldn't see what came next. Sora stood there watching for Leon to appear. The smoke finally cleared and Sora scanned the area around him. "Sora!" Nicoru screamed. Sora looked up, and saw Leon falling from the sky toward him, before Sora could react; Leon smacked him hard in the head with the flat part of the blade, making Sora fall to the ground unconscious.

"Sora!" Leon looked up to see a very pissed off Nicoru running strait at him. He aimed another shot at her, but she jumped at of the way and moved closer, attempting to hit him with her sword. Leon barely managed to raise his sword up and block her attack. She moved her keyblade underneath his, moving the blades in a circle, and knocking Leon's blade out of his hand and onto the ground a few feet away from him.

She then knocked Leon off his feet, and pointed her keyblade at his face. "I had better not see you ever hit Sora like that again!" Nicoru said glaring at Leon and began walking over to Sora. She sat down beside him and examined him. Leon gave her a weird look, "exactly what does that Sora kid mean to you?" he asked. "What does it matter to you?" she asked.

"Because he thinks that you're cute. He just wants to know if Sora is your boyfriend." Nicoru looked up to see a girl with shiny black hair and dark eyes wearing shorts and a small shirt with boots with legs that practically went up to her knees. She stood on top of the roof of a small building, as she looked down and laughed. She hopped off and smiled at Nicoru "he's just dying to go out with you!" she said.

"I didn't say…" Leon began but the girl interrupted, "that's the only reason why you took it easy on her Leon. At least it wasn't because she's a girl…" then she got up into his face, "AM I RIGHT?" Leon just sighed and replied "yeah…" his face became a bright red.

Nicoru stared at the older boy and thought to herself, if guys like Leon are actually crushing on me then…HAHAHA! In your face Kairi! A triumphant grin spread across her face as she thought about the advantage she had against her rival. Leon and the girl just stared at her, and then Leon said, "We should get going before any heartless show up." Nicoru just looked at him questioningly "heartless?" The girl grabbed her hand, and Leon picked up Sora and carried him on his shoulder. "We'll explain later" he told her, and with that they quickly started walking off.

They reached a building with the sign saying HOTEL in bold letters. They got inside and walked over to a green door. "In here" the girl said, Nicoru followed her in, with Leon behind her carrying Sora. Leon placed Sora on one of the beds in the room. "First before we explain anything," Leon began "she needs to introduce herself". "Alright already! Jeez…" then with a smile she looked at Nicoru "my name is Yuffie, and that guy over there is called Squall." He looked at Yuffie and rolled his eyes as he leaned his back against the wall, "the name is Leon" he said irritatedly. Yuffie only sighed and said "whatever" and then whispered to Nicoru "he seems to be acting even more macho right now, he just wants to look cool to impress you, probably because he likes you so much!" she said. "WHAT!?" he exclaimed.

His yell was so loud that Sora began to stir from his slumber. Nicoru sat on end of the bed beside his feet. However, Yuffie stood right in front of his head, her face a couple of feet away from his, inspecting him closely.

He slowly opened his eyes. They were barely open when he quietly asked her "Kairi?" Yuffie just looked at him and answered "Kairi? Who's is Kairi?" then she faced Leon, "I think you might have hit him a bit too hard Squall," she said. "I told you its Leon", his voice strained, as though he were trying to control himself from screaming at Yuffie.

Sora sat up and groaned as he grabbed his head. Nicoru looked at him with a concerned face. He noticed her and smiled "don't worry, I'll live." She sighed relieved, and gave him a hug. After Leon and Yuffie introduced themselves again to Sora, Nicoru said, "Now can you tell us what exactly is going on, why did you knock out Sora and try to do the same to me?" Leon looked at Sora "I tried to conceal your hearts so the heartless wouldn't find you." Nicoru and Sora were still confused "try making some sense, what is going on here?"

Chapter 5: The Heartless

And so Yuffie and Leon's tale began:

There are many worlds. Paths that had been sealed for some time until now connect them all to each other. Each world is one light in the sky. One by one, all the worlds are going out. The cause of this is the heartless. Heartless are living things that have lost their hearts to the dark. They are transformed into the heartless.

The heartless are the creatures you have seen. They terrorize the worlds, stealing people's hearts. They steal the hearts of the worlds, thus destroying them. The heartless come in many different shapes and sizes.

They keyblades you have are special weapons used to defeat the heartless. They are also used for another purpose. They seal the worlds by locking them with the keyblade. Sealing up a keyhole in any world, keeps heartless from going there.

It is your job to seal these worlds, to defeat the heartless and restore peace to the worlds. This is your responsibility, and if you fail, everyone and everything is doomed, and all hope will be lost.

…and that's all you need to know for now.

Nicoru and Sora just stood there dumbstruck. "We can't do this though," Sora started, "we have to look for our friends Riku and Kairi." Leon replied 'you don't have a choice, you have to do this or…" and Yuffie interrupted "perhaps your friends are on one of the worlds, while searching for the keyholes, you can also search for your friends." "That's a great idea!" Sora and Nicoru exclaimed.

Just then, a loud pounding sound came from the other side of the door. "They found us so fast…" Leon murmured, and then Yuffie exclaimed "Leon!" Leon turned to her "Yuffie, go!" He turned to Nicoru and Sora, "follow me," he told them. They ran out of the room and on to the balcony. Swarms of heartless filled the alleyway. Leon hopped off the balcony, followed closely by Sora and Nicoru. "Don't bother with the weaker ones just keep running he yelled, fighting off a large group around him. Nicoru grabbed Sora's hand by thee wrist "let's go Sora; we have to get out of here!" With that, they began running.

They ran down a set of stairs and into a large, empty area, it looks almost like an arena…Nicoru thought as she stared. Just then, a cry rang out from above Sora and Nicoru. They looked above to see what was going on. Two figures right above them were fighting a group of heartless.

"Hey it's Mister Duck!" Nicoru exclaimed. Donald turned his head toward her and began "I told you it's not-" but was stopped short because him and Goofy fell over the wall and… right onto Sora below. "Sora!" Nicoru cried. He looked up at her and said "don't worry I'm fine." Donald and Goofy looked at Nicoru and Sora and then gasped, for they had finally noticed their keyblades. "We found them!" Donald said.

The ground suddenly began shaking. "WHOA!" they all cried out. Out of the sky a giant creature fell. It resembled a large, purple suit of armor and had an unusual symbol on it. "A heartless!" everyone exclaimed. It didn't hesitate, it attacked them right away. Nicoru was able to get out of the way, but Sora wasn't so lucky. He took the full blow of one of it's arms, which sent him flying into the wall.

Donald raised his wand and yelled aloud "Cure!" a green light engulfed Sora, and in seconds, he had fully recovered. "All of us have to attack it together!" Nicoru cried out to the others. They all came at it with full force, Sora and Nicoru with their keyblades, Donald with his staff, and Goofy with his shield. Yuffie ad Leon finally showed up. They watched from above, staring in amazement. "They're really good…,"said Leon

They were finally able to defeat the heartless. It fell to the ground in a heap of pieces, its heart rising out of its body and into the air. Leon and Yuffie met them down below. They were finally able to have some time to talk.

Donald and Goofy explained that they had been searching for wielders of the keyblades. Goofy turned to Donald and said "but I thought you said that one of the Keyblade Masters couldn't be a girl!" Nicoru and Yuffie glared at Donald. Nicoru then said, "Hey lets make some roast duck, I'm starved!" "Sounds like a great idea!" Yuffie piped up. Donald frantically began apologizing, saying that of course a girl might possibly have been one of the keyblade wielders.

Goofy and Donald then said, "why not come with us? We have a ship that can travel to other worlds!" Nicoru's eyes grew watery as she reminisced about Riku, Sora looked at her and then turned and asked "and Riku and Kairi?" Donald smiled and said "Of course!" "Really?" asked Goofy. "Who knows? But we need them to find the king!" Donald whispered. Leon looked at Nicoru and Sora. "You guys should go with them; they could help you find your friends." Sora replied with an "okay", while Nicoru just looked at the ground. "You can't come looking like that! Cheer up, because I don't want to see any sad faces, okay? Smile! Our ship runs on happy faces!" Donald said. Nicoru looked up; Sora replied "happy faces?" "Yup, you gotta look goofy like us!" said Goofy cheerfully. Sora gave the biggest smile that he could. "Like this?" he asked. For a moment, everyone was silent. Nicoru was speechless, I have never even seen Sora smile like that before…Then everyone started laughing. "All right, I'll go," replied Sora. "Yeah me too" answered Nicoru with another laugh and a smile.

Then they introduced themselves:

"Donald Duck here!" squawked Donald.

"Uh, name's Goofy!" said Goofy.

"I'm Nicoru!" she answered.

"And my name is Sora!" he replied.

Nicoru and Sora turned to look at Yuffie and Leon when they noticed yet another girl with long brown hair in a braid with a pink bow, wearing a pink dress, a small short-sleeved red jacket and large brown boots. "Aerith, what are you doing here?" asked Yuffie. "I wanted to meet the key bearers for myself," she said calmly "it's a pleasure to meet you," she said faintly.

"Goodbye..." they began, but Yuffie cut them off "aww you'll see us again! You're welcome back anytime!" Then she whispered to Nicoru with a grin, "Leon might get really upset if he didn't get to see you again!" Leon's face once again turned a deep shade of red as he stammered out "I…I...I," but his sentence was cut short. Nicoru went up to him and put her arms around him "don't worry, we'll see each other again soon, I promise to come back, Leon…" standing on her toes, she closed her eyes and gave Leon a slight peck on the cheek. Yuffie busted out laughing, even Aerith giggled slightly. Leon turned away, his face burning, touching his cheek, he looked out of the corner of his eye at Nicoru's smiling face. "All of you, be careful…" Aerith said faintly.

On a roof overlooking the area, stood Kairi and the black-hooded figure. Nicoru…is it Riku you truly love or will you betray him in order to be with someone else? "They truly are fools…" said her companion with a deep manly voice. "That they are," she replied with a smirk.

And so their journey began…

End of Part 1