Krillin strode impatiently through traverse town wondering where to look next. Gohan followed close behind, admiring the town. No one seemed to know where this "Leon" was at the moment.
"There's a Gizmo shop in the second district" he suggested.
Krillin sighed. "Fine."
As the walked toward the second district Gohan pointed to the sky.
"Look!" He hissed "A star is fading!"
Krillin looked up and saw that some celestial body was indeed fading from sight.
"Let's Hurry." He said and they were off.
They didn't even notice the unconscious boy in the alley.
Sora opened his eyes slowly.
"What a dream." He muttered.
His eyes bulged and he jumped to his feet.
"This isn't a dream!" He gasped.
He ran out of the alley and gazed at the town before him.
"This is awesome…I'm in another world!" He exclaimed to himself.
No familiar faces though, no sign of Riku or Kairi. Sora turned around to notice the Accessory shop behind him. He entered the shop and turned his attention to the man at the counter. The man was middle-aged with spiky blond hair. The man looked up from the newspaper he was reading.
"How can I help…Aw just a kid!"
"I'm not a kid!" Sora countered. "An' the name's Sora!"
"Okay, simmer down." The man said lazily. "Nice to meet ya, Sora."
"So, Gramps have I…"
"Gramps? I ain't that old!" The man growled. "The name's Cid."
"Okay, Cid." Sora said "So have I really made it to another world?"
Sora took a minute to explain what happened to him.
"Well, that's quite a story, but this sure ain't yer island." Cid said. "Traverse Town is where lots of folks come when their worlds are lost. Take a look around, you might even find those friends of your's."
Sora took Cid's advice and went behind the shop. He went through some double doors to the second district, there was a plaza with an old fountain and a Gizmo shop. As Sora was making his way toward it he saw something that made his insides freeze. A man was being chased by one of those Shadows, He lost his balance and fell on his side, he rolled over on his back and put his arms up in a feeble attempt to protect his chest. The Shadow's once solid body seemed to turn spectral, it dove into the man's body and emerged, holding the man's heart on its claws. The man vanished into thin air, then his heart turned black and before Sora's very eyes, it morphed into a second Shadow identical to the first. They both leapt toward and he slew them with a single-spin attack. To Sora's amazement, slaying these creatures did not feel bad or wrong, like killing a living being might have felt. Putting it behind him, Sora entered the Gizmo shop. It was full of gears and contraptions but they did not seem to be running.
Having had no success, Sora returned to the Accessory shop and told Cid about the Shadows. It was no surprise to Cid.
"Damn Heartless." He grumbled.
"Heartless…that's what their called."
"The Heartless are monsters that multiply by stealin' folks' hearts." Cid said plainly. "No one really knows why."
Sora left the shop and set his sights on the doors to the second district. He only took a few steps away from the shop when he heard someone speak.
"They'll come at you from out of nowhere…" Said a youthful, yet stern voice.
Sora turned to see an older boy, maybe nineteen or twenty. He had long brown hair and a deep scar across his face. He wore black jeans and a leather jacket.
"...and they'll keep on coming, as long as you hold on to the Keyblade. But why, why would it choose a kid like you?" He wondered aloud.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora demanded.
"Never mind. Now, let's see that Keyblade." He said menacingly.
"Wha…there's no way you're getting this!" Sora swore.
The young man lifted his weapon over his shoulder, It was a long broad sword with what looked like a gun barrel in it.
"Have it your way." He said.
He leapt foreword and Sora leapt back so the man brought his blade down on the ground. The two of them charged toward each other, exchanged several strikes and parries, then leapt back. The older boy pulled the trigger on his gun-sword, a short stream of fire came out of the barrel and coiled around the blade. It formed into a ball at the tip of the blade and when he released the trigger it shot toward Sora, who knocked it away with his own blade. It was all the boy needed. Before Sora could swing his Keyblade to block, the boy dashed over to him and struck him in the back of the head with the strange weapon. Sora fell to his knees and almost fell face-first onto the ground, but the Man caught the unconscious Sora and picked him up.
Elsewhere…
Krillin and Gohan were walking down the back alley, still looking for answers.
"There's no one here." Gohan stated. "Kind of spooky, huh?"
"I'm not scared." Krillin proclaimed.
Krillin felt a tap on his shoulder and let out a yelp. He grabbed a hold of Gohan and two of them whirled around to see a young lady about nineteen. She had very long brown hair and green eyes.
"Welcome, did the king send you guys?" She inquired in a soft, feminine voice.
Gohan nodded. "I'm Gohan and this is Krillin." He said.
"My name is Aerith." She said warmly. "Please follow me, we have much to discuss."
Sora slowly opened his eyes and saw a familiar looking face, though his vision was a little blurry in this dimly lit room.
"K…Kairi?" He whispered.
"Kairi? Who's that?" Asked an unfamiliar voice.
Sora slowly sat up and his vision cleared. Before him stood a tall girl with a bob of black hair, wearing a green tube top, kaki shorts, and white leggings.
"I'm the great ninja Yuffie!" She announced. Sora noticed the boy with long brown hair who introduced himself simply as "Leon."
"The Heartless were chasing you cuz you wield the Keyblade but what they really want is your heart cuz you wield the Keyblade!" Yuffie explained. She spoke in an energetic voice. Sora noticed the Keyblade at the foot of the bed.
"The Key…blade….?" Sora asked, still a little confused.
"Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off the Heartless. That's how they were keeping track of you." Yuffie went on.
"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them, but it won't work for long." The one called Leon said. "Still, hard to believe that you of all people are the one. I guess beggars can't be choosers."
"Why don't you start making sense?" Sora suggested, making no effort to hide his irritation. "What's happened?"
Next door, Aerith was explaining the same thing to Krillin and Gohan.
"You know there are many worlds besides your castle and this town, right?" She asked, just wanting to make sure.
"Yeah." Krillin answered, trying not to sound impatient.
"But aren't they supposed to be secret?" Gohan inquired.
"They've been secret because they've never been connected before. At least, as far as I know." She said honestly. "But then the Heartless came and changed everything."
"Heartless?" Gohan questioned.
"Those without hearts." Leon explained to Sora.
"The darkness in people's hearts is what attracts them…" Yuffie explained.
"…and there is darkness in every heart." Leon added.
"There was once a scientist named Ansem." Yuffie said.
"Ansem had been studying the heart and the Heartless." Aerith continued. "He supposedly wrote all his findings and his research in a very detailed report. It was never actually found, though."
"Then maybe the king went looking for it." Krillin suggested.
"Then we need to find him!" Gohan concluded.
"But first we need that…key." Krillin reminded him.
"That's right, the Keyblade." Aerith added.
"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade." Leon said "That's why they'll keep coming after you, no matter what."
"Well, I didn't ask for this." Sora said truthfully.
"The Keyblade chooses it's wielder." Yuffie said.
"…and it chose you." Leon added.
"But how did all this happen?" Sora wondered aloud. "I remember being in my room…that's right…what happened to my home?"
"You know what…I really don't know." Leon said with whole-hearted honesty.
After a few moments of silence, Leon spoke again.
"I expect the Heartless will be back soon. No matter where you go, they'll find you. You ready to fight for your life?" He asked in the most serious voice Sora had ever heard.
Sora nearly scoffed. "Like I have a choice?" He asked, Leon's pessimism was starting to rub off on him.
"Let's go join Aerith, she should be next door with the other visitors." Leon suggested.
"Look out!" Yuffie warned as a Soldier Heartless appeared.
"Go, get Aerith!" Leon ordered and Yuffie ran out the door.
Leon knocked the Soldier out the window and turned to Sora. "Follow me." He said and then he jumped out the window, followed by Sora. They ran down the back alley together, hacking and and slashing Soldiers that appeared. They entered a door leading to the plaza where Aerith and Yuffie were waiting.
"Where are the others?" Leon asked.
"They went to the third district." Aerith answered.
"They said they could handle it." Yuffie added.
Sora sprinted left toward another alley.
"Wow! Look at em' go!" Yuffie exclaimed enthusiastically.
Sora made a right, entered a doorway and climbed a short stair way. He passed a vacant house and jumped down into the third district. At that moment, two guys landed on him. One was a short, bald mage and the other was a young man about sixteen. Krillin and Gohan noticed Sora under them, still clutching the Keyblade.
"The key!" They both exclaimed.
They got to their feet and helped Sora up but before they could introduce themselves six Soldiers appeared and surrounded them.
"We've got your back." Gohan said boldly to Sora.
Two Soldiers twirled gracefully through the air toward Gohan, who countered by flinging his shield, it spun through the air, severing the Soldiers' heads and returned to Gohan.
Sora waved the Keyblade in an arc and took out the two Soldiers that leapt at him.
Krillin discharged a bolt of lightning called from his staff which fried the two Soldiers that were sliding toward him. Without warning an enormous bell-shaped torso topped with a helmet appeared above them. They leapt out of the way just before it hit the ground, followed by two boots and two gauntlets. The body parts assembled to form Guard Armor. It wasted no time and slammed it's gauntlets into the ground. Gohan and krillin retreated, however Sora dodged the right gauntlet and hacked it apart with two slashes of the Keyblade. The left gauntlet rocketed toward Krillin but Gohan dove in front of it and managed to block it with his shield. Krillin pointed his staff at fired a searing ball of flame. It hit the gauntlet, shattering it. Guard Armor began stomping toward Sora when a whistle could be heard. It was Cid, he had whistled to get Guard Armor's attention and he was holding some sort of machine gun. As Guard Armor stomped toward Cid, he opened fire. The gun shot beams of energy (rather than bullets) that left deep burns in the Armor. Sora took advantage of this by scrambling up Guard Armor's torso and knocking the helmet off. The helmet seemed to fade from existence before it even hit the ground. The torso, the boots, and the broken gauntlets faded away as well.
At that very moment…
In a dingy chapel, a group of villains were gathered around a conference table and watching the whole thing by means of a magical glyph. There was a man with long silver hair and a crescent symbol on his forehead, a chalky white man with a long nose and dressed in a tattered cape and a wide-brimmed hat, and an aged vampire in a black cape.
"How extraordinary for such a small boy." The man with long silver hair commented. His voice was low and masculine.
"Perhaps he can be turned into a Heartless." The aged vampire suggested. He spoke in a deep voice with a thick accent.
"But he and that key of his might be useful." The man in the wide-brimmed hat hissed.
"I agree." The counsel's shadowed leader said. "For now...we will watch him closely, then we will decide what action to take.
Everyone had gathered in the third district.
"So you guys were looking for me!" Sora concluded.
"Yep, our king sent us to find the wielder of the Keyblade." Krillin said simply.
"Why don't you come with us?" Gohan proposed. "We can travel to other worlds with our vessel."
"I wonder if I can find some friends of mine." Sora said pensively.
"Sure!" Krillin said.
"Are you sure?" Gohan whispered.
"Who knows? But we need him in order to find the king." Krillin whispered back.
"Sora, Go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends." Leon suggested.
"All right then." Sora decided. "Count me in!"
Aerith stepped forward and handed Sora a necklace.
"This is a protect chain." She said. "It's magic will protect you from damage, for a while anyway."
Sora thanked her and ran outside the gates to join Krillin and Gohan. They were standing next to their Gummiship.
"You fly to other worlds in a space ship made of candy?"
He climbed in the ship with them. It blasted out of the atmosphere and into deep blue space.