Sora got out of his boat and zipped around the island, toward the bent paopu tree that he and Riku would sit on. It was bent down so far that people could sit on it and get a perfect view of the ocean. The two would sit there when the sun set to plan what to do the next day. Or they would just sit and chat about "stupid things" as Riku described it. If Sora's instinct was right, Riku was definitely there.

Rrrrr….

Sora skidded to a halt. There was some kind of strange sound coming from his left. He turned around, and followed the sound. It led him to a rocky wall with a bunch of plants in the way. Sora peered through them and noticed a small hole that was concealed by the plants in the rocky wall. The sound was coming from in there! Curiosity getting the best of him, Sora removed the plants in front of the hole and peered inside. It was too dark to see anything, but there was a large shadow in there, really big too. Maybe if he traveled deeper…

Sora stopped himself. The sound in there could be coming from a monster. Like the ones he dreamt about. Instead of the fear he felt the night before, there was only determination. But he knew he probably wouldn't stand a chance alone. Maybe if he teamed up with Riku, the two could take it out.

Forgetting that he was gonna tell Riku about Kairi, he ran to the bent Paopu tree to inform him of the monster. Sora climbed a ladder ran across the bridge that led to the small isle. As expected, his friend Riku was sitting on the tree and staring into the horizon.

"Riku! Rikuuu!" Sora shouted, still running. Riku turned around to greet the young boy. "Sora, what took you so long?"

Panting, Sora said, "Monster…In hole…"

Riku stared at him in confusion. "What're you talking about?"

Sora took a deep breath before explaining hastily, "I heard a noise inside this hole and I think there's a monster in there! I can't do it alone so I came here to ask you for help."

Riku's confusion turned into incredulity. "Were you daydreaming again? Before you said you heard an 'unversed'-or whatever you call it-scratching against the bridge, but it turned out to be a leaf."

Despite Riku being skeptical about this, he found himself following Sora to where he heard the noise anyway. At least he could entertain him.

"It's true! I saw it with my own eyes!" Sora protested.

"You sure you didn't just hear it this time?"

"What difference does it make? There's a huge monster in there, I tell you!"

"Alright. Suppose there really is a monster…Think we can beat it by ourselves, Sora?"

The two finally made it off of the bridge and were now facing the small hole. Sora got excited since Riku sounded a little less skeptical than before. "No problem. Let's do it!" He said confidently.

The two got quiet so they could hear the sound Sora was talking about. "Listen! There! Can you hear it growling?"

"Shh, quiet." Riku was starting to believe Sora. He could definitely hear some kind of sinister sound. Maybe it really was a monster. "We've gotta be careful…Come on, let's go check it out." He bravely started walking through the hole with Sora close behind him. It was so dark, Riku had to feel his way through the hole. But it wasn't so narrow that they had to start crawling at least. Plus, it was getting cooler the deeper they traveled.

Finally, they made there way through the end of the tunnel and found that a cave yawned before them. Riku scanned it quickly. It was sort of medium-sized with rocky walls that had some water trickling off of them. A few mushrooms stuck out of moss where the water fell. And above them, over there heads was a window-like hole that showed a view of the outside, providing a bit of light so they could see. Riku could feel wind come out of it and bounce across the walls of the cave, making an eerie hollow growling sound. THAT must've been what Sora heard.

"See that? It was only the wind making that noise." Riku told Sora.

"Aw, man. I wish it was a monster!" Sora stomped and his foot in frustration before clasping his hands behind his head in a sheepish manner. Riku rolled his eyes-not because his friend was being childish, but because he actually agreed. Nothing much happened on these islands. It would've been nice for a little adventure.

"Hold on! What's that over there?" Riku turned to what Sora was pointing at. Near the end of the cave, colored light and stretching up so that it was nearly touching the roof was a strange door. He ran over to inspect it.

"A window, or maybe a door? It won't open." He sighed in disappointment. There wasn't any door knob or lever that could make it open.

"Jeez, is that really all that's in here? What do you expect in a boring place like this?" Sora voiced Riku's thoughts.

"Hey, Sora."

"Hm?"

"When we grow up, let's get off this island. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!" Riku declared.

"Sure." Sora shrugged. He was feeling a little neutral about it right now, but it sounded like a fun idea to him. "But isn't there anything fun to do, now?" He pointed out. Suddenly remembering why he came here in the first place, he said, "Hey, you know the new girl at the mayor's house? She arrived on the night of the meteor shower! You see, I found her lying on the beach…"

As the two started to exit the cave, Sora kept explaining to Riku about the weird phenomenon that happened last night. Riku had never heard Sora sound any more excited than he was now-and THAT was a shock.

Riku would never be able to figure out what caused him to turn around and stare back at the door. Maybe it was instinct or curiosity-he didn't care. On the door, against it like a painted master-piece was a keyhole. It looked like any other keyhole Riku saw on doorknobs or gates, yet there something different about this. Just staring gave Riku feelings of warmth and light mixed the terrifying dark of the night. It whispered promises of knowledge. Strength. That there was more than this prison surrounded by water. Thousands of questions gathered in the boy's mind as he continued to stare at the keyhole like he was in a trance. How could he open it? What did this mean? Where did it come from?

What was beyond the door?

"Riku?" Riku was so fascinated by it that he nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Sora call him. "What are you still doing in here?" Sora asked as he got back in.

"Sora, look!" Riku pointed to the door, feeling uncharacteristically ecstatic. "There's a keyhole on the door. All we need to do is find the key for it, and maybe we could leave-,"

"What are you talking about?" Sora eyed his friend in confusion. "There isn't a keyhole on there…"

Now it was Riku's turn to be confused. To make sure he wasn't seeing anything, he turned back to the door. Sure enough, it was still right there. How could Sora not see it? "But it really is there. Are you blind?"

Sora got a somewhat angry look on his face. Great. Now he got him angry. "There isn't anything there, Riku. You're just seeing things or something."

Riku had never been so embarrassed or angry in his life. He was angry that Sora didn't believe him or see the keyhole when it was CLEARLY right in front of them, and he was embarrassed because Sora had suggested he was "seeing things". SEEING THINGS!

"I am not-!" For a second, though, Riku thought it was best to keep it a secret. If Sora knew there was a way off the island, what would he do? Leave without him? Yeah. He should keep it a secret, then. At least he alone knew a way off.

Riku swallowed his pride and said, "Sorry. I guess the sun was getting to me."

As if the whole event never happened, Sora smiled and said, "S'okay. Anyway her name is Kairi…" He got back to explaining what happened again.

The two exited again, but not before Riku turned backed to look at the keyhole one more time...