Disclaimer: I only own Telary. The rest is the sole property of Disney and Square-Enix.

Chapter 1: A (Comparatively) Normal Day

Oh, young reader, do not let the title of this chapter mislead you. This is a day that many, if not all, may not see as normal. Well, faithful reader... You are correct.

This story does not start at the beginning of the whole story of Telary Cri's life. No, we plop down right into the middle of his story. But even though we're starting in the middle of the story, we're just getting to the good stuff...

Ouch! Telary thought as he was hit by another wooden crate. This was the third object thrown in his way by his perps, but the only one he hadn't dodged so far. He'd be bruised in the morning, but he'd felt that sensation many a time.

Telary hated Nobodies. They were much smarter than Heartless, capable of planning out ways to keep free from his blade. Give him a good straight-out fight with ten dozen Neoshadows. That would certainly be better than chasing four Nobodies that threw boxes at you.

But they were Dusks, and as soon as he caught up with them, it would be an easy fight. He hoped.

The chase continued, weaving through streets and back alleys of Twilight Town. The Dusks still managed to hurl objects, making Telary have to dodge them. Finally, they slipped into the Twilight Woods. Telary stayed alert and ready for an ambush from any direction.

"Gee, you're smart," The wristwatch on his well, wrist, chuckled sarcastically, "You just followed the enemy into the perfect ambush spot. Way to go."

"Hey, I thought I turned you off!" Telary snapped at K.A.T.E, his smarmy personal

computer.

"Eh, I overrode it," K.A.T.E Replied, "You really need to put more encryption."

Telary was about to comment when Three Dusks came flying from behind the trees, two on one side, one on the other. Telary back flipped, and the Nobodies harmlessly drifted through the air.

"Told ya," K.A.T.E snickered.

"Yeah, yeah." Wham! Telary was blindsided, knocked to the ground. Angered, he jumped up and swung his sword, producing a large swath of yellow light that cut through a tree, exposing four Dusks. Left with no other options, the Nobodies headed in for a suicidal charge.

Telary ducked to avoid the move, then quickly sprung up and simultaneously turning around to cast a Thundaga spell, obliterating the group in one go. Concentrating his last bit of magic, he used Warp to appear behind another tree not far away, appearing behind another small group of Dusks.

He slashed one in half, the dodged a thrust by two others, slicing down with both his swords, killing the creatures. A kick in the back sent him lurching forward, and he spun quickly, swinging the Moon sword, but the creature did a backflip and dodged the move. It kicked, but Telary ducked and came up, swinging the Star sword, slicing the creature in half.

Seeing that no more Nobodies were present, Telary dismissed his swords in a flash of yellow stars and moons. "That was a good warm up for the day," Telary commented. He felt his MP fully restore, and began to leave the woods.

Maybe a bit of background on Telary, and why he considers fighting about a dozen Dusks a warm up exercise.

Telary Cri, at the age of nineteen, was what was known by only a select few as the "Star Seeker". He was a paid agent of the great wizard Yen Sid, one of the most powerful known magicians in the universe. Since he was fourteen, Telary has been performing various odds and ends across the universe, as directed by Yen Sid.

Physically speaking, Telary was about 6'2, 160 pounds. He had the toned body of an athlete, but he wasn't overly muscled. He had deep brown eyes, and bright red hair. He wore a sleeveless blue shirt, with a blue cape-like garment going about a foot down his back, held in place by a golden star. He wore blue pants, with a small pouch on the left leg, fastened shut by three small emblems: a sun, a moon, and a star.

His normal weapons, as the standard Star Seeker design, were modeled after a star and moon. In his case, they were two swords. The Moon sword was a normal curved sword, a smaller blade jutting out the bottom. The Star sword was basically a very sharp five bladed pinwheel rod.

As for K.A.T.E, which stood for Knowledge And Tid-bit Expertise, she was Telary's wrist-watch computer. She was fully knowledgeable about various worlds' culture and languages, and also had history on many important figures in universal history.

Unfortunately, that knowledge came with a personality, dormant until Telary had been struck by lightning while scaling a Deep Jungle cliff two years ago. After that, she'd been a perfectly annoying piece of machinery. She believed her knowledge overpowered even Yen Sid's wisdom. But, hey, what are you gonna do? They had tried switching off the personality more times than they could count, but she always found a way around it.

Anyway, back to the present situation. Telary exited the forest, heading towards Yen Sid's tower. But, he was not alone. As soon as the Star Seeker had left, a figure in a dark hooded cloak dropped down from a tree, two wicked looking black swords strapped to his back.

SS-SS-SS-SS

Telary yawned as he climbed the stairs to the top of Yen Sid's tower. He knew that the building design as purposed towards testing those seeking entry for the first time, but could he have included less stairways.

Anyone else might have stopped and tried to figure out exactly how the stair cases stay afloat, or how the doors leading to nothing took you to the Sorcerer's loft.

Not Telary. He'd been up these steps so many times, the mysteries surrounding this tower not interesting him any longer. For him, this was normal daily routine.

He knocked on the door to the Sorcerer's Loft, and heard Yen Sid gesture for him to enter. When Telary did, the wizard was seated behind his desk, reading. "Ah, Telary," the wizard greeted, "I trust your training mission was, oh, how do the kids say it these days, out of sight?"

"Umm, it was good, if that's what you mean," Telary said, trying to keep in an amused chuckle. You'd think he'd be used to Yen Sid's attempts to be 'with it' by now.

"Oh, sorry," Yen Sid apologized, "I'm just trying to keep it real, um, uh, homey."

"Yeeeah," Telary said, "keep working on that, Master." With that closing comment, Telary went into the Wardrobe to greet the Three Good Fairies.

He was immediately nearly blasted with a green magic spark. Then he had to duck a blue one, and finally a pink. He sighed. More creative feuds. "Ladies, ladies. What's this fight about this time, hmm?"

"I think this new robe for the master would look better in pink," Flora, the pink fairy, explained, "but Merryweather demanded it be in blue!"

"It was a simple suggestion!" Merryweather countered.

"I was just in it for fun," Fauna admitted. Telary sighed.

"Now Flora," he reasoned, "I'm sure this garment would look lovely in pink, but you know Master Yen Sid prefers blue. And Fauna…"

"Yes?"

"Don't join in fights for fun, eh?" Telary suggested.

"Unless, of course, money is involved," K.A.T.E chimed in, earning a glare from Telary.

"Say, Telary," Flora said stepping forward, "would you like to help us with the fitting?"

"Guys, after that whole dress incident," Telary said, "count me out." Last year, the girls had made a dress for their favorite princess Aurora. However, when Telary tried it on, his clothes blew out the window of the tower. So, he was left with no choice but to return him in a pink, over-ribboned dress.

"Oh, please," Merryweather said, waving her hand, "That dress made you look six pounds thinner. What's the big deal?"

"This big deal is," Telary replied, but he could think of anything, "NO."

"Oh, fine," Flora said, turning back to a workbench, "Go then!" Telary rolled his eyes, and left the room. Fairies could be so temperamental sometimes.

"Master," Telary said as he walked through the loft, "I'm gonna go poke around the shopping district for a while. That okay with you?"

"Sure, dog," Yen Sid replied, trying to be hip again, "I'll just be, oh, what is it? Not freezing, not hardening, not icing over… Ah! I'll just be chillin'!"

"Good to know," Telary said, rolling his eyes as he stepped out the front door. Sometimes the tower could be such a madhouse.

SS-SS-SS-SS

Telary wandered among the shops, looking at various odds and ends. It wasn't a calm afternoon, people bustling to and fro, couples buying each other gifts, vendors shouting for attention, and grandmothers spoiling their grandkids.

"You, sir, look like a man who enjoy the finer things in life," one particular salesperson said, "come into my shop. I have things I am sure you will like. Come with me, eh?"

"Umm, no thanks," Telary said, "I'm just passing through."

"Well, why not pass through my shop on your way, huh?" The shopkeep urged, adamant.

"I said no, buddy," Telary repeated, shoving the merchant away.

"I gave you choice," the merchant said, stepping forward, "but I guess you don't want any of your wildest dreams to come true." The man walked away, and in the alley behind him, Telary spotted something he'd fervently hoped he wouldn't see.

Several Neoshadows rifled through a trashcan in an alley. Then they looked up at Telary, sensing his strong heart, looking hungry.

This is the first chapter of the first book of the new series I've started. Review. Seriously, I'm not kidding. Review.