Chapter one: New Keyblade
(Disney Castle)
Inside the Gummi hanger located just underneath Disney Castle, two small chipmunks waved as a ship flew out of the hanger and out of the castle. Inside this Gummi ship were Donald and Goofy, whom King Mickey was sending to Destiny Islands to pick up Sora.
It had been almost half a year since Sora and Riku dealt the finishing blow to Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII. King Mickey had thought that the worlds would finally be at peace, but recently the good king had found out that the worlds were in danger yet again, and this time it felt like there was even more. Although he wasn't sure if Sora, Donald and Goofy could handle going to this many worlds, King Mickey knew he had to do something fast. Thus, he sent a letter to Sora, telling him to await Donald and Goofy, whom would be coming to pick him up soon.
"Well, there they go." Chip said. "Off on another adventure."
"Say, Chip? You remember the good old days when we went on adventures ourselves?" Dale asked.
"Don't remind me." Chip sighed. "You know that after the Heartless invaded our world, we lost contact with Monty and Gadget. The last thing I need right now is to be reminded about that."
The red-nosed chipmunk looked at the ground. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, Chip."
"Ah, it's okay." Chip assured.
Suddenly, the two best friends heard a loud beeping coming from a nearby computer. Chip and Dale looked at the computer with wonder.
"What the heck is that?" Dale asked. "That computer's never made that noise before."
"Wait…Yeah it has. It's just bee so long since we've heard it." Chip replied.
"Oh, yeah! But the last time we heard that beeping was-"
Dale stopped himself when he suddenly remembered what the beeping was for. Apparently, Chip had realized that same thing, as both chipmunks' eyes were wide open.
"We gotta tell someone about this!" Chip said.
"But who?" Dale asked.
"The professor! He can determine where the radar will point us!"
The two chipmunks promptly scurried out of the Gummi hanger. It took Chip and Dale a while to get to the lab, as it was on the other side of the castle and the two were small enough as it was, and they almost ran into four of the walking brooms, but they finally arrived at the door. Because they were too small to open the door, Chip and Dale had to crawl underneath it to get into the lab.
"Professor! Professor!" Chip called out.
A figure wearing a welding mask looked up from a desk of countless vials and potions to see the two chipmunks running in. The figure lifted the mask, revealing a balding duck with gray hair and glasses.
"Ah, boys!" The duck said with an accent. "Vat brings you here?"
"Professor Von Drake!" Chip said as he and Dale arrived at the professor's side. "The radar in the hanger is going crazy!"
"It hasn't gone off since we located Sora!" Dale added.
"Really? Vell, let's go see, then!" Prof. Von Drake said as he took off his mask.
The two chipmunks led the aging duck, also Donald's uncle, back through the castle and eventually back to the Gummi hanger, where the computer was still giving off a loud beep every second. Prof. Von Drake walked over to the computer and examined it. After a few seconds, he brightened.
"Boys, this is amazing!" The professor exclaimed.
"Why? What is it?" Chip asked.
"This radar has picked up what appears to be a new Keyblade bearer!"
"A NEW Keyblade bearer!" Dale asked. "Who is it?"
(Twilight Town)
Seifer collapsed to one knee and dropped the Struggle Bat he was holding. After taking a beating like that, his head was really spinning. He struggled to look up at his opponent. Hayner lowered his bat. "Had enough, Seifer?" He challenged.
"You'd better enjoy your temporary win while you can!" Seifer growled. "I can whoop you sorry behind anytime!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where have I heard THAT before?" Hayner said with a smirk. "That's what you always say."
Seifer didn't bother to make a comeback he simply stood up, turned around and walked away, Rai and Fuu following him like dogs.
After Sora defeated Xemnas and saved the worlds, another Struggle competition arose, where Hayner surprised everyone by defeating Seifer in the final round by a score of 180 to 20. Since then, every time Seifer challenged Hayner, he always lost.
Other than that, nothing really changed that much in Twilight Town. Hayner, Pence and Olette still hung out on a daily basis and Seifer still thought he was better than everyone else, even after Hayner defeats him. The only other thing that happened was that Vivi had recently disappeared. Where he had gone to was anyone's guess, although Seifer never really felt too worried.
"Great job, Hayner!" Pence said as he and Olette came over.
"For some reason, the fights with Seifer don't really seem that hard anymore." Hayner said.
"That just means that you're getting better." Olette said with a smile.
"Yeah…You're right." Hayner nodded.
"Well, let's go." Pence said. "Our parents gave us errands to do and I don't want to disappoint them."
Hayner and Olette nodded as the three friends started walking through the streets of the town to start shopping.
Suddenly, Hayner started to feel a little dizzy. He stopped walking and held his head. His two friends noticed this and stopped. "Hayner? You alright?" Pence asked.
Hayner didn't reply. He simply collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Pence and Olette ran over.
(Subconscious)
Hayner opened his eyes, expecting to see Pence and Oletter standing over him with worried expressions. However, that's not what he saw. What he saw instead was a huge void of darkness. He slowly stood up and looked around, wondering where he was.
"H-How do I get out of here?" Hayner asked himself. "Pence! Olette!"
Hayner suddenly noticed that he was standing on something. Looking down, his eyes widened in awe. What he was standing on was a huge mural. On it was a picture of five people. The one in the middle was Sora, brandishing his Keyblade. He noticed that Kairi was at Sora's right, also wielding a Keyblade. At Sora's other side was a tall boy with longer hair (which Hayner guessed was probably this 'Riku' Sora kept talking about) holding a Keyblade of his own. On the far left of the group was Donald and the far right was Goofy, each of them holding their respective weapons. Going around the entire mural were thirteen circles, each one containing the head and shoulders of someone in a black hood.
"Well, so YOU'RE the new chosen one?"
Hayner looked up in surprise and looked around for the owner of the voice. He suddenly saw a short figure in a black cloak standing at the edge of the mural, his face covered by the cloak's hood.
"Hey! You're from this 'Organization XIII', aren't you?" Hayner asked.
"Nope. Can't say that I am." The mysterious figure shrugged. He then pointed at Hayner's right hand.
Curiously, Hayner looked at his hand and stepped back in surprise. He saw that he was holding a silver weapon that looked remarkably like a real key. He long blade of the weapon had several jagged marks in it, making it look like a key that much more.
"A…Keyblade?" Hayner asked.
"Of course." The mysterious person said. "You should consider yourself extremely lucky. Not everyone has a chance to be the wielder of a powerful weapon such as a Keyblade."
Hayner didn't respond. He simply looked at his new weapon in awe.
The mysterious man chuckled. "Look, this is probably too much for you to handle all at once, so why don't you just sleep on it, okay?" He suggested. "Hey, you take care of yourself. I'll be seeing you soon enough."
Before Hayner got a chance to respond, everything went white.
(Twilight Town)
"Hey! He's waking up!" Were the first words Hayner heard. They had come from Pence.
"That's a relief." Olette sighed. "I was afraid I'd have to do CPR."
"I'm sure he'd LOVE that." Pence joked.
Olette's response was to slug the chunkier boy in the arm, although Hayner couldn't see, as everything was a blur.
"Gah. Man, what happened?" Hayner asked as he pushed himself into a sitting position.
"You just collapsed to the ground!" Olette replied. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I think so." Hayner said. "Don't know how that happened there."
"Well, let's keep going." Pence said. "We've got those errands to take care of."
The rest of the day went by casually for Hayner. Even though he, Pence and Olette completed the errands their parents had sent them to do, Hayner's main thoughts were directed at the strange dream he had while he was unconscious. He would occasionally glance down at his hand, as if expecting the Keyblade to be there. He still wondered what everything that had happened in the strange dream meant.
(Disney Castle)
"Another Keyblade bearer?" King Mickey asked from his throne.
Prof. Von Drake nodded. "That's right, your majesty." He took the time to pat Chip and Dale on their heads. "These two little geniuses here discovered on their radar a HUGE energy reading."
"The computer they have in the Gummi hanger?" Queen Minnie asked from the throne beside Mickey. "Didn't you design that thing to locate high sources of energy found in Keyblades?"
Von Drake nodded. "Again, correct. The reading isn't as strong as it was when we first located Sora, but it's still pretty strong."
"Well, this could prove to be extremely helpful, then." King Mickey nodded. "If we can get this new Keyblade bearer's help, Sora and the others won't be put through so much work."
"Oh, Mickey! That's a splendid idea!" Queen Minnie said. Her smile then faded. "But this bearer will most likely need help, and we can't send Donald and Goofy."
"I aware of that, Minnie." Mickey nodded. "And I know just the people to send."
(Twilight Town)
Early the next day, Hayner yawned as he slowly woke up. He scratched his head, stood up and stretched before sighing. "I hate Mondays." He lamented as he turned his alarm clock off.
Hayner knew that school wouldn't wait for anyone, and reluctantly got dressed. After getting ready, Hayner grabbed his books and left his house, where Pence and Olette were waiting outside.
Pence gave off a chuckle. "Took you long enough."
"Hardy har har." Hayner mocked.
"Well, school starts soon, so we'd better hurry." Olette said as the three friends started walking.
"Man. I can't believe that the weekend's already gone." Hayner complained.
"I guess it just seems so much shorter compared to summer vacation." Pence shrugged.
"You know what I think?" Olette asked. "I think that-"
The three friends were cut off when they heard many loud screams coming from the Sandlot. But they didn't sound like screams of excitement like they were used to hearing.
Hayner was the first to react, turning in place and staring suspiciously down at the Sandlot. His two friends followed suit.
"Those screams…" Hayner said suspiciously.
"Those sound like…Screams of terror…" Olette said, her eyes widening.
"We'd better go check it out." Pence suggested. "Something's up."
Although hesitant, the three friends raced towards the Sandlot, wondering what was up. However, when they finally arrived, they looked around in shock.
Several of the town residents, including Seifer, Rai and Fuu, were fighting against a swarm of black creatures. Hayner figured that these were the Heartless that Sora talked about.
What surprised Hayner the most is the number of people fighting with Struggle bats. There were very few other weapons being used other that people like Rai and Fuu attacking with their hands.
"I need to help them!" Hayner said, looking around for a weapon. Not finding any spare
Struggle bats around, Hayner clenched his right hand and wished that he had some sort of weapon.
Suddenly, Hayner heard a strange noise, followed directly by Pence and Olette gasping. Suddenly feeling himself holding onto something, Hayner looked at his hand and almost jumped in surprise. In his hand was the same Keyblade from his dream.
"A…A Keyblade?" Olette asked. "But…How?"
"I'm not sure, but I've got a weapon now!" Hayner said. "Now I can get rid of these things!"
With that, Hayner ran into battle as Pence and Olette watched from the sidelines. Hayner's first action was to take out a couple of Shadow Heartless surrounding Seifer. Seeing Hayner helping him, Seifer sneered. "I could have taken them, you know."
"Your welcome, you ungrateful…" Hayner said, not bothering to finish his sentence.
"Where'd you get that?" Seifer asked, pointing at Hayner's Keyblade.
"I…Don't know. It just appeared in my hand." Hayner said. "Look, as much as I'd LOVE to continue talking to someone like you, I have better things to do. Like defeat these things and save the people."
Hayner ran further into the battle and destroyed several more Heartless with just a few swings of his new Keyblade.
"Man! Sora has it SO good! This is awesome!" Hayner said, surprised at the amount of fun he was having.
As Hayner continued fighting off the Heartless with his Keyblade, Rai slammed his oversized fist into the face of another Heartless, destroying it. He then grabbed another one, spun around a couple of times and threw it into several more, destroying them all.
Rai was known to be one of the stronger people in the town, despite his simple-minded nature. Because of this, he was one of the few that wasn't using a weapon to fight, relying solely on his fists to get the job done.
"Heh! These things are easy to beat, y'know!" Rai said. "Isn't that right, Fuu?"
Rai turned around to see what Fuu thought and his eyes widened. Fuu was fighting off several Heartless easily, but she wasn't aware of a separate Heartless, a Neo Shadow, sneaking up behind her.
Knowing that there was no way for Fuu to avoid it, Rai did something either very brave or very stupid: He ran directly and Fuu.
"Fuu! LOOK OUT!" Rai said, shoving Fuu out of the way just as the Neo Shadow swung its claws. Unfortunately, Rai was now standing in Fuu's place.
Fuu landed on her side and looked in Rai's direction. Her eyes snapped open when she saw the Neo Shadow, the one that would have attacked her, diggings its claws into Rai's chest. Fuu could only watch it terror as a pink heart rose from within Rai's body and floated into the air, vanishing from sight. Its job done, the Neo Shadow let go of the tall youth's body as Rai fell flat on his back, unmoving.
"RAI!" Fuu screamed as she jumped to her feet and rushed to Rai's side. On her way over, she clobbered the Neo Shadow responsible in the face, destroying it instantly. By the time she had arrived at Rai's side, his body was already vanishing. "NO!"
As much as Fuu tried to prevent it, there was nothing she could do. Rai's body vanished, and in his place appeared a Solder Heartless.
During her life, Fuu never cried that much. She had always shown everyone how tough she was by not letting her emotions get the best of her. But now that Rai, whom had sacrificed himself to save her, had been turned into one of these…These…These things, Fuu was quickly reduced to tears, sobbing loudly and openly.
Fuu could have stood up and destroyed the rest of the Heartless out of rage, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She refused to leave Rai's side, even though he was now a Heartless. And the strangest thing? Rai's Heartless wasn't attacking like the others did. It was almost as if it didn't want to attack Fuu.
Hayner, whom had seen this happen, was only too glad to do what Fuu couldn't: Destroy the rest of the Heartless out of rage.
Within a matter of minutes, the remaining Heartless were destroyed. The only one left standing was Rai's, and Fuu refused to let anyone attack it.
"What WERE those things?" A man with a Struggle bat asked.
"Heartless." Hayner explained, getting out of his stance. "Did we lose anyone?"
The man counted heads. "Just that Rai fellow. Poor kid. He was just protecting his friend."
Hayner sighed. "I wish there was a way to bring him back."
"Maybe there is. We just don't know it, yet."
"HAYNER!"
Hayner spun around in the direction of the voice and saw Pence and Olette sinking into a puddle of darkness. Without thinking of the consequences, Hayner rushed over to aid them.
By the time he arrived at the puddle, Pence had already gone under. Hayner dove at the puddle, landed beside it and grasped Olette's hand, trying to pull her out.
Unfortunately, the force from the puddle was too strong, and Hayner felt himself getting dragged towards it as well.
Tears started rolling down Olette's face, realizing that she was pulling Hayner in with her. "I'm sorry, Hayner." She apologized before her head vanished beneath the puddle.
There was nothing Hayner could do to prevent himself from getting pulled in after Olette. Hayner fell through the puddle headfirst, and once his feet had gone under, the puddle of darkness closed up completely.
(Disney Castle)
"So do you two understand your mission?" Mickey asked the two figures he had summoned.
The first figure scratched his head. "I think so. You want us to go find this new Keyblade bearer and help him save the worlds."
Mickey nodded. "That's right. Donald and Goofy have already gone to help Sora, but I need you two to focus on helping this new guy."
The second figure raised her hand. "Uh…Your majesty?"
"Yes?"
"I can understand why you're sending him." The figure pointed at the first. "He's Goofy's second-in-command, after all. But why are you sending ME? I'm just the castle librarian!"
"I can answer that." Queen Minnie replied. "You may be the librarian, but I've seen you study those books on magic extremely closely. You may not be as experienced as Donald, but your skills in magic are absolutely nothing to be ashamed of." She smiled at the second figure. "To aid you, I'm allowing you to take the biggest and most powerful book on magic that we have."
The second figure bowed. "Thank you, your majesty. I-I'll try my hardest not to let you down."
"So…Where're we headin'?" The first figure asked.
"According to recent updates on the radar, the new Keyblade bearer is on a one-way trip to Radiant Garden." King Mickey explained. "You're to take a Gummi ship there to meet up with him. Good luck to the both of you."
The two figures stood at attention. "Thank you, your majesty!" They said as one.
With that, the two turned around and walked off, starting their trek towards the Gummi hanger.
"You think they'll be able to do this, Mickey?" Minnie asked once the two newcomers had left the Audience Chamber.
Mickey nodded. "I am extremely confident in their abilities, Minnie. I know for a fact that they won't let me down."