So splitting up across the worlds was exactly what they did.
The first day when they struck out, Sora, Donald, Goofy and Kairi split off in one direction in the Gummi Ship. Dream Eaters, White the electric snake and Jewel the flying ice whale, would be accompanying them as personal body guards to Kairi. Jewel swam through the air like it was water. White could fly by spreading his giant cobra hood and using it like wings. They seemed the best choice for her to get away in case the need arose. Jewel was much faster so she could escape with Kairi. White was stronger than Jewel so he would do good as a stall tactic that fought back to buy his Spirit partner more time to escape. Riku, Lea and King Mickey were dropped off on another world from the Sky King. Rachel and Bryan, along with their remaining Dream Eater Spirits, Seger the fire wolf and Fantasia the unicorn went to yet another world.
Several days of this passed. However, apart from a lot of Heartless and a few Nobodies to eliminate, no one could sense much else happening that might be a clue to what Xehanort could be doing. Master Yen Sid had the most experienced ears and senses for what happens among the stars but even he couldn't sense anything definite.
Trying to sense Xehanort was like standing in a large clearing knowing there was a wolf nearby in a thick forest in the dead of night just outside the visual range. You knew it was there. You could see it. Or could feel it in your skin when it moved and panicked if it was in a place it wasn't before. The only thing you didn't know was how hungry it was, when it planned to attack or if it even intended to attack at all. And for all they knew this was part of the plan, to keep them all on edge, guessing and expecting something to happen until they let their guard down.
And of course, Xehanort knew a thing or three about plotting and laying traps. They could be walking headlong into something even though they saw nothing that would suggest such a thing. The possibility was still in the air that they might not know what the next move would be until Xehanort was ready to reveal it. Another aggravating possibility was that there wasn't an actual move to be made on behalf of Xehanort at all. At least not yet. And, as tempting as it was, nobody asked Rachel where the magic book that contained the Princesses of Heart was hidden.
In the meantime, they had to make sure the dangers on other worlds were kept under control. Every friend they had was alerted to the threat. Each visit came with a warning as well as a call to arms. Yeah, it wasn't like they were supposed to let everybody across the cosmos know but this was an emergency. It had all the feeling of, whatever was about to happen, good or bad, would in fact be the final showdown. Xehanort would of course stoop so low as to target a friend of an enemy in order to bring them down so they had to prepare themselves for that too. For a while Sora was the only annoying thorn in his side that kept him from achieving his insane goals. Now there were seven active key bearers fighting against him; five of whom were Masters. This fact might lead to a change of tactics. What that might be was of course still a frustrating mystery.
The city security system of Radiant Garden got an emergency upgrade the second the first Heartless stepped within the city's limits. Queen Elsa, guided by her soon-to-be brother-in-law Kristoff went on daily patrols throughout the territories of Arendelle, destroying any Heartless they came upon with her magic. And the places she couldn't be, Marshmallow and other snow beasts like him were also on patrols to keep the boarders safe. King Triton used his considerable power to make sure no Heartless could come near the palace. Strict rules were enforced when it came to coming and going and no one was permitted to go anywhere alone. Bryan felt really bad having to tell the ringmaster at The Big Top to possibly expect Heartless. It had been years since he and Rachel had saved the circus and Dumbo believed in himself and took to the sky. The ringmaster was forever grateful for their service and especially when they volunteered to do magic in the show once in a while. But this time they wouldn't be able to rush to the rescue like they had before if Xehanort decided to pull something.
Jack Skellington was quite huffy at the news Heartless could start showing up in Halloween Town any time. He had great ideas for the celebration of the century and some of those ideas tied into his newest plan to 'help' Santa with Christmas. Sora could only shake his head but didn't say anything to this. They did manage to convince Lock, Shock and Barrel to help rather than hinder this time. The trick-or-treaters reasoned pulling pranks or throwing things that went boom at the Heartless would not only keep their home safe but also keep them in good practice for even better pranks once the threat was gone.
For many days this went on. Friends across the skies were prepared to fight back to defend their home worlds and the key bearers thinned the Heartless as best they could wherever they found them. But as productive as it all felt, it still gave no clues of where to go or what to do next.
That is…until the fifth day.
