Chapter 2
Looking out the window, Yoko was surprised by how quickly the storm clouds blanketed the sun. She thought that clouds such as those would take a while to arrive. But it looked like the storm would start sooner than she expected. But that wasn't the only thing that was off. Yoko saw strange figures running around the schoolyard. One of them she was sure was a man, but the others... she couldn't tell what they were. To her, they sort of looked like shadowy giant ants. Yoko then heard the sound of something crashing against her desk, startling her. Yelping, she turned to see that it was a textbook.
"Yoko," said her teacher. "Please try to pay attention. This lesson is crucial to completing your homwork."
"S-Sorry." said Yoko sheepishly, who then quickly came up with an excuse to go outside. "Uh, do you think I can go to the nurse's office? I'm not feeling well."
The teacher sighed.
"Alright, but you better not be trying to skip school again."
"That was only two times..." mumbled Yoko as she got up from her desk and left the classroom.
Instead of going to the nurse's office though, Yoko headed right outside of the middle school building, curious to see what was going on. The creatures Yoko saw made her hairs stand on end and fear began to loom over her. The man she saw from the window was wearing a strange black coat and wielding a rather unique sword. Or at least, she thought it was a sword. He seemed exhausted. Had he been fighting the shadowy creatures? As she watched from a distance, one of the shadow creatures noticed her and began scurrying in her direction. Yoko started to back away from it.
"S-Stay back!" she shouted. "Don't come any closer!"
But the creature still persisted. When it came close enough to her, it leaped, trying to attack. Yoko flinched, bracing herself for any pain that was to come her way. But it didn't come. Yoko opened her eyes to see that the man in the black coat was standing in front of her with his blade out... and there was no sign of the monster that tried to attack her. The man panted as if exhausted. He then dropped his "sword" and fell to his knees. He was grasping his side, but Yoko didn't know why. When she peered a bit closer, she realized that the man was bleeding.
"About..." said the man, panting. "About time I found you."
"Wha..." asked Yoko. "Who are you?"
"Heh, no wonder you don't remember me. I haven't seen you since you were a baby."
The man looked up at her.
"It's been a while... Yoko."
"How do you know my name?" demanded a startled Yoko.
"I'll explain later. For now, we need to get out of here," replied the man. "Where's your mother?"
"You know mo-" started Yoko.
"I said where's your mother?" interrupted the man.
Yoko flinched from the man's tone of voice when he asked again. He didn't shout, but he was still sharp. After a pause, Yoko answered.
"She's running the shop at home." said Yoko.
"Alright." said the man, slowly standing up.
"Wait, I don't think you should-" said Yoko.
"I'm fine," insisted the man, cutting the brunette off. "It's been a while since I've been home, so you're going to have to show me the way."
"What about school?"
"There's no time to be thinking about that. We have to move."
"...This way." said Yoko sprinting off towards the bridge, the man following her close behind.
Destiny Islands was in chaos. The citizens were running around panicking at the sight of the Heartless. Some managed to fight them off. Others weren't so lucky.
As the two advanced their way to the main island, Riku struggled to keep the Heartless away from Yoko as he followed her. Whenever a Heartless came at her, he would dash over to where she was and slice at them, causing them to disappear. This continued while crossing the two bridges that connected to the main He was exhausted; he had been fighting all day. And the wound he received on his side wasn't making it any better. He just hoped he could last long enough to get Yoko and Kairi off the islands. He had to. Riku wished he could save all of the residents of Destiny Islands, but he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to save them all. So he would do what he could. But for the time being, his main focus was saving Kairi and Yoko. Once Riku and Yoko arrived on the main island, they immediately found Kairi within the midst of the chaos.
"Mom!" cried Yoko.
"Yoko!" Kairi responded, running over to the two and embracing her child. "Thank goodness you're alright."
"It's been some time, Kairi." said Riku, pulling back his hood to reveal his long silver-white hair and stern facial features.
"...Riku?" asked Kairi.
"Riku?" asked a confused Yoko.
Riku nodded.
"We don't have much time. The two of you need to leave this place before it's too late."
Kairi noticed the wound on his side.
"But you're hurt! Come on, let's get you to a doctor first."
"Not now Kairi! I need to get you both out of here."
He took Kairi by the hand and dragged her along with Yoko following behind.
"Hey! Wait up!" shouted Yoko.
They ran across yet another bridge leading to the island where all of the children played. As soon as they arrived there, a large tremor ensued, Yoko tripped and her face soon met the soft sand. After a small groan and flipping over on her back, she saw a shadow creature that was more massive than the other ones. This one was a humanoid giant and had a huge gaping hole in it in the shape of a heart. Yoko felt panic take her as she struggled to scoot away from it. She shook with fear and beads of sweat poured down her face. The monster then made its advance towards her. Yoko closed her eyes.
"Wake up..." she muttered. "Wake up... this is all just a bad dream... please let it be a bad dream..."
"Yoko!" cried a familiar voice.
Yoko opened her eyes to see Kairi standing in front of her, facing the huge beast... and holding a beautifully colored key-shaped sword, just like Riku's, only different in design.
"...Mom?" asked Yoko.
"Yoko, get up!" ordered Kairi.
Yoko did as she was told, but that didn't ease her fears.
"Kairi!" called Riku. "Get you and your kid out of here! We can't fight them all at once."
Kairi reluctantly dropped her guard. She grabbed Yoko's hand and ran off with her towards Riku, who was nearly surrounded by Heartless, save for an opening in their circle. Much to Yoko's surprise, Kairi cut down any of the shadow creatures that launched themselves at them. The girl never expected her mother to be gifted in the ways of the sword... if that thing she was holding was a sword, anyway. But it only got stranger when three winged shadow creatures tried to attack them from mid-air. In response, Kairi shot spheres of fire from the tip of her weapon. When the two arrived where Riku was, the circle was closed off, trapping everyone that was inside it. After knocking a couple of Heartless back with his weapon, he waved his hand, summoning a portal of darkness.
"Go," he said. "I'll hold them off."
"What about you?" asked Kairi. "What about everyone else."
"I'll be fine... and I'll do what I can." replied Riku. "Now get out of here!"
Yoko saw that, although her mother was reluctant, she nodded, as if agreeing to something. Kairi then pulled Yoko with her in the portal.
