Everything was dark. Kristen's surroundings, her thoughts, even the air she breathed lacked any light or essence. Slowly she began to gain conscious thought.

Am I dead? Her first thought was a glum one. Guess TV really does kill. She smiled at her own joke, turning to look around in the darkness. She was floating, for she felt nothing beneath her feet, and the feeling was dizzying.

It's too dark to be heaven, Kristen finally thought, bringing her mother's beliefs into account. She began to wonder about other religious beliefs, humoring herself with the idea that she already knew or found out, but would have no one to tell.

She began to worry about her sister and friends, hoping that they had not fallen into the same fate as herself. They had touched her at the same time as she had vanished, or so she remembered, so where were they?

There was a faint glow of light ahead. Kristen took a step toward it, noting how it got a bit bigger the closer she moved toward it. She hesitated, remembering how everyone always said "don't go toward the light", and turned to look back. No other paths appeared, and there was nowhere to turn back to. She walked toward the light, engulfed in it more and more as she continued closer.

She found herself falling through the air. Closing her eyes tightly, she tried to focus on other things besides dying when she would hit the floor. The air wisping her hair and clothes didn't really help her with that. She was frightened, and unaware that she was screaming.

Suddenly she felt a thump as she hit the floor. It didn't make sense to her, since she would be dead, and the soreness wouldn't be limited to her mid-back and the back of her knees.

Thinking quickly, she concluded that she was caught. Her worries began to increase, since she had read about Heartless and how they ripped your heart away from you. She swallowed and opened her eyes, and was filled with relief when she saw that it was nothing completely dangerous. It was Riku, the boy in Kingdom Hearts, and the one that she had called 'dibs' on.

"My–" Kristen began, stopping herself before saying something she would regret.

"Your. . .?" Riku asked, an eyebrow raised. Kristen smiled, pretending that she hadn't heard the question, and stood to look for her friends. Stella was standing next to Sora, another boy from the game, and Melissa was standing next to Leon, arguing with him. Kristen could hear a bit of their argument, and sighed as she remembered the fact that Melissa didn't like Leon much.

"The tree would have been much better than you." Melissa growled, folding her arms.

"I'll take that as a thank you." Leon replied, also folding his arms.

"Well, don't!"

"I guess then next time I wont save you from a four-story fall!"

"Death from extreme heights would be better than being saved by you!"

"What did you just say?!"

Kristen sighed; Melissa had the ability to go on for hours, but she supposed Leon did too.

Stella appeared from behind Kristen. "Hey." She looked over at Melissa and Leon, sighing and shaking her head. She often found it entertaining, and nodded as Kristen told her the predicament. She smiled, the same smile she often wore when she had an evil plan.

"If you'll excuse me, you two lovebirds," Stella said, grabbing Melissa's arm, "we need her for a second."

"What's wrong?" Melissa asked, noticing how glum Kristen was.

"We're in Traverse Town, one of the first worlds in Kingdom Hearts, Amanda's nowhere to be seen, and I can't find the guide she gave me. I'm certain I had it when we were sucked through the TV."

Something suddenly hit Kristen from above.

"Found it." Stella said, pointing at the book where it had fallen after hitting Kristen on the head. Riku walked over and picked up the book.

"What's so important about a crummy book, anyway?" He asked, looking over the cover. "Kingdom Hearts: owners manual. Honestly, what's the big deal?" He flipped through the pages, stopping at a certain one. "Leon, Sora, come here!"

"Hey Riku, this guy looks like you. See? He even has your cocky smile." Sora said, pointing at a picture in the book.

"You idiot, it is me." Riku rolled his eyes, then pointed to a picture. "And here's you, and here's Leon."

Leon looked oddly at us. "How old are you guys? Fifteen?" They all nodded at his question. He sighed and looked back at Sora and Riku, who nodded. He then looked beck at them again.

"So you guys are Heartless." He concluded, taking out his gunblade.

"WHAT?!" The girls yelled in disbelief.

"You guys are pathetic liars. Anyone your age would have a weapon, and any person that comes in is attacked by Heartless, but none have approached you. You also have data on every person and Heartless in this area, and you fell from a black hole in the sky. If that doesn't prove you're Heartless, I don't know what will."

"What? You're expecting us to change into our Heartless forms now?" Melissa growled.

"Sarcasm not helping here." Stella said, clasping a hand over Melissa's mouth.

Weapons appeared in Sora and Riku's hands, and the girls flinched. Leon came at them, swinging his sword. The girls dodged quickly, and while he was regaining his balance, they ran down an alleyway.

The alleyway was dark, and one end was blocked by boxes. Stella looked around quickly and pointed to a box. The girls jumped on top of it, onto a ledge, and onto a low roof. They held their breath and pressed themselves against the wall as the Keyblade bearers and Leon ran down the alleyway to look for them. When the footsteps faded away, the girls relaxed their guard.

"It was nice knowing you guys." Stella whispered glumly. Kristen wanted to say how it wasn't over, how they still had a chance, but she knew that it was impossible. Without weapons they would be killed by Heartless, and with the Keyblade bearers hating them, they would have no way to get out of Traverse Town. She sighed glumly.

"Hey, don't give up!" Melissa said, lightly banging Kristen and Stella's heads together. "We can't lose and we can't give up! We have to find Amanda, remember?"

"I bet she's doing better than us." Stella smiled weakly.

"That girl has probably found a stick and is wiping the floor with the Heartless and whoever opposes her." Melissa added.

"Hey, has anybody else noticed that our clothes have changed?" Kristen asked, looking down at her outfit. Instead of her normal long sleeve shirt, she was wearing two tank-tops, the top one having one strap on her right shoulder, and the bottom one having two thin straps. A small flower came from the bottom of her shirt, matching the color of the flower pattern that seemed to extend up her pant legs. Across her shoulders was a small strap that held a bag that was big enough to hold her guidebook.

"Anybody else notice that our midriffs are showing?" Stella said, looking at her folded over tank-top that had a thick ribbon that tied at her back. Under the shirt was a three-quarter sleeve shirt that matched the color of her cargo pants.

"That's male designers for you." Melissa shrugged, smiling as she noticed that she wore a hooded t-shirt that did not expose her midriff, but was wearing a layered skirt that was much shorter than she would have liked.

"Jokes aside, maybe we should think of a way to get out of here." Stella suggested.

Each girl closed their eyes, trying to come up with a plan.

"Guys. . .?" Kristen and Stella opened their eyes in response to Melissa's silent whisper. Both gasped when they saw what she had. There were two swords in her hands, both shaped as feathers and razor-sharp.

"How did you do that?" Kristen asked.

"I dunno. I just thought about how much I would like to beat up Leon for thinking we're Heartless, and how much I want to help Amanda. And then these appeared."

Stella and Kristen looked at eachother and shrugged. Both closed their eyes, and when they opened, a staff appeared in both Kristen's and Stella's hands.

Kristen smiled, "Thunder," She whispered, making a lightning bolt hit near Leon's feet.

Stella tried the same thing. "Thunder! . . . blizzard . . . fire?" Nothing worked, irritating her. "Why wont this stupid thing work?" She banged the staff against the roof, cutting it. "Ooh, this is way better than your magiky staff."

The girls smiled at eachother, now ready to fight. They jumped off the roof and faced the guys, noticing how eager Leon was to dice them to pieces.

Kristen smiled and yelled "Thunder!" making a distraction big enough which gave Melissa and Stella enough time to do a whole chain of combos. In a matter of minutes, the three boys fell to the floor, exhausted. Leon growled, and glared at Kristen as she pointed her staff at him after taking back her book.

"Cure." She said, healing them instantly. Sora and Riku rose without hesitation and smiled, while Leon rose cautiously, acting as if a poison spell had been cast upon him.

Riku tapped Kristen on the shoulder, grinning. "You did really well for a person that was clueless moments ago. I've never actually seen a girl fight like that."

"Hey!" A girl yelled from behind him. "I remember some girl kicking your butt!" They turned to see a young girl crossing her arms angrily. It took only moments to recognize who it was, for it was Yuffie, the adorable ninja-girl.

"I hear you know all about us." Yuffie said, addressing the three girls. "Can I see it?" Yuffie grinned as Kristen handed her the book, and squealed in enjoyment after flipping to a certain page. "That is like the best picture of me ever! This thing is so cool!" She smiled, handing back the book before Leon grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her a bit.

"Don't you think it's weird that they know so much about us?" Leon asked.

"Squall. . . stop being such a tightwad." Yuffie said, prying his fingers off of her shoulders. "Everything always has a reason for being here, and these guys are no different. Honestly." She smiled, wagging a finger at him.

"But they fell from four stories high. No building is that tall in all of Traverse Town."

"So they fell out of a portal, big deal. They're probably from another world that got attacked. Besides, if they were Heartless, they would have already attacked us. Heartless aren't smart, right?" She turned to face the girls, who nodded in return.

"Or. . ." Melissa said, putting on her fake scary face, "we're just Heartless waiting for the right moment to strike and steal your hearts."

"See? See?" Leon said, pointing at them. "They just admitted it!"

"Get over it."

Leon growled in frustration. As soon as Yuffie said that, he stormed off toward the accessory shop.

"Man. Ever since he was attacked and almost beaten by two Heartless leaders, he hasn't been the same." Yuffie held her head in her palm. "It was kinda similar conditions, but. . . never mind that. Can I ask you guys a favor?"

"What is it?" Stella asked.

***

They arrived at the Third District in a matter of minutes. Yuffie had told them that two men of the King were having troubles with this monster, and needed help badly. Just one look showed that her statement was an understatement.

While Riku and Sora dragged the Kings men, who the girls quickly realized was Donald and Goofy, the girls began fighting Guard Armor.

"Kristen! What's the stats on this guy?" Melissa yelled as she dodged a mighty blow from its legs.

Kristen ran back a little distance away so she could read without getting hurt. Quickly she opened the book and flipped open the page with the data on it. "He's one of the first bosses in the game, so he should be simple. His HP is relatively low, and the strategy is to destroy his legs and arms before going for the torso so you don't receive as much damage. Avoid him when he starts spinning."

Melissa and Stella nodded as they charged at him.

"I call the legs!" Melissa yelled.

"I get the arms!" Stella called back.

Kristen put her book into the bag and took her staff from the ground. "Fine then, the torso's all mine!"

After about ten minutes, only an arm had been demolished by Stella, a leg destroyed by Melissa, and half of the torso's HP had been depleted by Kristen.

"How come everything is always harder in real life than in a game?" Stella asked, breathing heavily.

"Wait, that's it!" Melissa said, smiling gleefully.

"What is?" Kristen and Stella asked in unison, confused looks on their faces.

"Watch and see." She walked over to the giant suit of armor, the swords gripped tightly in her hands. It bent down to look at her, then swung its arm to strike her. She jumped on it, and ran up the arm to its head and struck it full force. While it was confused and recovering from the hit, the girls attacked with all their might and destroyed the Guard Armor.

"Thanks." Sora said. He jumped down from where he was standing, Donald and Goofy right behind him. They fell on top of him, just like what should have happened in the cut scene before fighting guard armor. Riku rolled his eyes and shook his head, and Donald and Goofy noticed how both Sora and Riku carried a Keyblade. They told them about their King, and what they must do.

Kristen smiled. She knew that they would be told about their search for the King, their destiny to defeat the Heartless, and how they could work together on the trip to find Sora and Riku's friend, Kairi. She didn't pay much attention, and looked at the book glumly. She didn't understand why Riku was there, when he should be working with the Heartless, or where her sister was, what had happened, or what she would do now.

"Kristen." Stella said, nudging her shoulder. "They asked if they could return the favor for helping them."

"I'm sure we could come up with something, right?" Melissa asked, smiling softly.

Kristen looked down to think, but Yuffie interrupted her thoughts.

"Hey guys! I guess you handled it well, huh?" She smiled, waving eagerly. Leon was right behind her, saying 'hello' in a way that men normally do.

"Yuffie. . ." Kristen began, biting her lip, "you haven't seen my sister, have you?"

"Mmm, you'd have to tell me what she looks like."

Melissa smiled. "In the easiest and most accurate way to describe it, she looks exactly like Kristen, except maybe with a scowl on her face."

"Can't say I've seen her." Yuffie said. "Sorry."

Kristen turned to Sora, who was talking to Riku. " I thought of how you could repay us." She said, catching their attention. "We want to join you on your trip."

"Wait a sec." Stella said, turning Kristen around. "Why exactly would we join them?"

"Listen, I have a feeling that our only way out is by going through the worlds and making it to the end of the game." Krsiten whispered. "And I really need to find Amanda. She has to be somewhere out there."

"True." Melissa replied, then turned to face the group of guys that were curiously looking at them. "Yup, that's what we want."

Donald automatically said 'no', Sora and Riku said 'yes', and Goofy asked 'why'.

"We're looking for someone." Stella said confidently.

"Then of course you can join!" Goofy said. "We're all looking for someone as well!"

"WHAAAT?" Donald quacked. "We don't have enough room in our Gummi Ship!"

"Not a problem." Stella said, quickly looking at their Gummi Ship, making a new design that would work with all the blocks they had, and giving the blueprint to the two mini captains, Chip and Dale. Once it was done it was a sight to behold, for it was large and amazing, and impressive enough that even Cid, the Gummi engineer, would be proud.

"Now is there a problem with room?" Stella asked sarcastically. "I've also added triple cannons, improved your armor to the most advanced mode, increased your rate of hyper-speed, and mixed your portal settings so you can avoid more Heartless."

Everyone looked at eachother and nodded, now a newly formed team. They left Traverse Town, a new place ahead of them, and a new adventure to look forward to. They were now prepared for anything that came their way.