Hello folks. Here is the next chapter for Kingdom Hearts - Awakened Fate.

I know I am a day late but I lost two days due to writers block over how to start this chapter and a genuine lack of desire to write another interlude chapter right now. I also lost my entire Sunday due to four things:

a) waking up very early to spend several hours driving to Whistler Mountain

b) spending the rest of my morning to an hour past noon skiing on said mountain

c) spending the next few hours driving back home through heavy traffic

d) getting pulled into a short movie marathon by the family

e) being so tired by the end of the day's events that I just crashed without having any time to proof read this chapter

Anyway, like I said, this is another interlude chapter. As promised, we get cameos from a certain trio of Final Fantasy characters and our first look at a certain big bad. Hope I did his first meeting with Sora justice. Also, I removed the the two wooden towers and the golden star in the second section of the Destiny Islands. They will not be appearing here in my story due to having no relevance to the plot.

Disclaimer: I do not own the any characters or other creations that are a part of the Final Fantasy franchise, the Kingdom Hearts franchise, the Disney Franchise, or the Fire Emblem franchise. This story was created solely for the express purpose of providing entertainment for fun and the chance to improve my abilities as a writer.


Kingdom Hearts – Awakened Fate

Chapter 06 – An Ominous Stranger

The Next Day,

The Destiny Islands, Early Morning

Heaving from the slight effort it took to complete the action, Sora finished turning his rowboat in a full circle on the ocean's shimmering surface. Repeatedly leaning forward and back at a casual pace, the spiky haired teen moved his arms in tandem with the motion and rowed towards the larger play island's small dock. The flat rectangular-shaped heads of the two wooden paddles Sora was holding onto were constantly vanishing beneath the waves, only to resurface a few moments after they had done so every time.

Looking over his right shoulder after striking the ocean's surface seven times with the long oars, the red and black clothed boy discovered that he was about to reach his destination. He noticed that there were currently five rowboats already hooked to the small pier. The current positioning of the five vessels caused them to form a slightly broken line against the dock's western facing flank, the tips of their noses almost pressed up against the small legs of the larger wooden structure. Three of them were resting side by side, with the first boat positioned directly against the dock's far right corner. There was an empty space big enough for Sora's vessel to slip in between the last one in this short line and the fourth rowboat already attached to the dock. The fifth rowboat was directly past the fourth, their flanks nearly pressed against each other.

The small crafts were all kept in place through the usage of a single light brown rope. Possessing rather short lengths, one end of each rope was tied around a small iron cap located between the driver's seat and the nose of each vessel. Meanwhile, the second end of each coil of rope was tightly wrapped around one of the dock's wooden legs. Sora could also see the tips of two paddles poking over the driver seats of each vessel, their heads likely resting in front of the sole passenger seat located at the very back of each boat.

Rather than attempt to fill the empty space dividing the line of small boats in two, Sora instead pushed his rowboat directly to the head of the pier. He felt it would easier to stop there. Bringing an end to his rowing as soon as he reached his destination, the red and black clothed boy released the wooden paddles he was using and left them in their rowlocks. The rectangular heads of both objects soon vanished underneath the water as his vessel came to a slow stop before the wooden dock.

Ignoring this, Sora twisted slightly in his seat and reached behind it with his right hand. Feeling but not seeing his fingers wrap themselves around the loose end of his own coil of rope, the spiky haired teen carefully climbed out of his seat. He dropped down to his left knee directly in front of the square shaped chair, tugging the coil of rope towards himself as he did so. Facing the pier and the island behind it, Sora leaned forward and used both hands to tie the length of rope to the wooden post directly beneath the dock's far left corner. He made sure the noose felt nice and tight before finally letting go of the cord. Just to be safe though, Sora tugged on both ends of the line with his right hand, one after the other to make sure the rope was secure.

Not finding any issues with the thick cord, the spiky haired teen let loose a soft grunt of approval before leaning towards the paddle directly in front of him. Collecting the thing by grasping its wooden shaft with both hands, Sora slowly pulled it out of its rowlock and set it down inside the boat. Placing the large head of the oar against the base of rowboat's only passenger seat, Sora allowed the item to diagonally rest over his own chair. Keeping himself in a crouch stance the entire time, the red and black clothed boy slowly turned himself around and used both hands to pull the second paddle out of its rowlock. He set it down in the exact same manner as the first one, only placing it on the opposite side of his body and pushing it closer to the boat's flank so he would have a bit more room to move. Once he let go of this one, Sora decided to nudge the other paddle closer to its own flank and turned around slightly to perform the act with his left hand alone.

His work done after that, the spiky haired teen thought to himself, 'Now to go find Riku and Kairi.'

Slowing pulling himself up to his full height, Sora came to stand directly in the middle of his rowboat. As with his previous movements, he was extra slow and careful, wanting to avoid rocking the small boat too much while he straightened his posture. The spiky haired teen had no desire to accidentally fall off the edge of the vessel and take a swim in the ocean today. If he had any desire to come into physical contact with salt water, Sora would have brought swimming trunks instead of his usual attire.

After placing both hands on his hips while pushing his shoulders towards the dock, Sora closed his eyes and threw his head back as a loud yawn erupted from his mouth. He silently told himself, 'The sooner we get started on it, the sooner we are done looking for supplies.'

Truthfully, there were so many other things Sora would rather be doing today instead of scavenging for food to eat during the upcoming voyage across the ocean. The young islander couldn't help but feel like this was a waste of time, despite acknowledging the necessity of bringing supplies with them. He wasn't fond of the idea of starving to death before he and his friends reached a new island, wherever it may be located. Hopefully they will collect enough food today to ensure they will make it there without issue. There was an unfortunate limit to the amount of baggage the raft could carry after all, which constrained just how much food and water the three friends were going to be able to bring along with them on their voyage.

"In the end, our journey is going to boil down to whether we will run out food first or reach a new world before then," was how Riku had once succinctly summarized their trip into the unknown. While a rather depressing thought that threatened to destroy the novelty of going on a voyage across the ocean, neither Sora nor Kairi could come up with a good reproach for that pessimistic statement.

Opening his eyes while setting his head and shoulders back to their normal positions, Sora took a moment to look out at the ocean before him and the sky looming over top of it. Much like how it was during the previous day, the weather was bright and sunny now. There actually seemed to be even fewer clouds in the sky today when compared to yesterday in Sora's humble opinion. The water seemed to shimmer under the bright sunlight and its blue coloring looked very similar to the cerulean hue adorning the sky right now. Another yawn broke out of Sora's mouth as he looked at the familiar but still beautiful sight, the red and black clothed teen instinctively covering his open mouth with his left hand during the exhalation of air.

It was only after the yawn had faded away that Sora pulled his hand away from his face. He then carefully turned himself around and faced the pier. Since the wooden platform was a little too high for him to just start walking across it right away, the spiky haired teen carefully crouched down before leaping through the air. The sudden motion caused the young islander's rowboat to shake rather violently in the water but the rope binding it to the pier held firm and kept it from wandering too far away from its resting spot. Not paying any attention to this, Sora landed in a slight crouch with both his feet pressed down on the dock alongside his left hand. After pulling himself back to his full height, the spiky haired teen immediately started walking down the length of the small dock. He moved at a casual pace but did not spare his rowboat a single backwards glance while it moved listlessly in the ocean.

Turning his head so he could look to the right while he moved, Sora's right eyebrow climbed up his forehead slightly when he soon caught sight of Selphie talking to a rather tall young man with orange colored hair. The two islanders were only a short distance away from Sora's current location. Instead of standing directly on the sands, the two of them had placed themselves on the slightly raised ground that acted as a borderline between the southern beach and the rest of the larger play island. The large hill connected to the smaller play island through a wooden bridge was a part of that borderline. The earthen juncture also doubled as a natural blockade, one that kept the warm grains of sand on the beach from coming into contact with the island's small lake. There was only one lake on this entire island and it was positioned directly past Selphie's current location. A rather thin looking waterfall was located on the other side of that circular body of water, constantly bringing the lake a small amount of fresh water as it ran down the island's sole mountain.

The mountain itself was a large slab of dark brown rock that covered much of the island. Its sides were far too steep to climb and it almost divided the entire island in two due to its great width, separating north from south. The wooden wall and located past the nearby cliff and the bridge attached to it acted as a more fragile extension of the mountain, completing the divide. Large shrubs composed of giant leaves made of differing shades of green covered the top of the mountain, obscuring its full shape from view. There was currently only one thing on the island that surpassed the mountain it height. Standing directly to the right of the lake was an utterly massive tree whose roots alone dwarfed Sora in size. Its wide trunk was a healthy shade of brown and its large leaves were bright green in color.

'I wonder what those two are doing here today,' Sora thought to himself, silently observing Selphie and her friend. Or rather, their friend because Sora was also on good terms with the other boy, who he recognized as Wakka. The spiky haired teen continued looking towards the pair after he had walked up the small ramp on the rear end of the dock and took his first step onto solid ground.

Seeing as how his current path would ultimately take him towards his fellow islanders, the red and black clothed boy saw nothing wrong with taking a moment to have a quick chat with the two of them before he met up with Riku and Kairi. His closest friends likely wouldn't mind the delay as long as he didn't take up too much time. With that in mind, Sora moved towards Selphie and Wakka with a small smile on his face.

Since Selphie's back was currently facing him, it was Wakka who first saw the spiky haired teen coming towards the two of them. Lifting his head slightly and looking over the top of Selphie's head, a wide smile appeared on the taller teen's face as soon as he spotted the red and black clothed boy. With a rather large white and blue ball currently tucked under his left arm, the orange haired young man waved his right arm in greeting. The action clearly startled Selphie because she flinched slightly in place and took a step back, moving slightly away from Wakka and closer to Sora. Before she had a chance to say anything to her companion, the young man opened his mouth to say something himself.

"Hey, what's happening, man?" the orange haired boy loudly called out to Sora, sounding rather happy as he did so. Wakka's voice had a slight accent that wasn't very common amongst the populace of Destiny Islands and it would occasionally cause some people to have difficulties understanding what he was saying. Fortunately for Sora, he was never one of those people.

Blinking up at their mutual friend, Selphie turned around and looked back at Sora over her right shoulder. A wide beaming smile broke out on the brown haired girl's face as soon as her eyes found the spiky haired teen, who was currently returning the taller boy's wave with his own right arm. Lowering the limb to the side of his body a moment later, Sora soon came to stand directly before his fellow islanders. Just before the spiky haired teen came to a stop, Selphie quickly took several steps back in order to avoid getting stuck between the two boys.

Seemingly unaware of this act on her part, said boys looked towards one another with matching grins on their faces. They briefly exchanged a fist bump with their rights. It was only once they were done with that did Sora speak up.

"Hey, Wakka. Still carrying your favorite ball I see," Sora greeted his friend, nodding his head towards the large sphere tucked under the fifteen year old teen's left arm. Primarily white in color, it was designed to have a large spread of dark blue paint running across its width in a wild and unorganized manner. It almost looked like a splash of water trying to curl around and then consume the whole sphere. "You ever get tired of doing that?"

His innocent question brought a cocky smirk to the older boy's face. Slightly taller than Riku in terms of height, Wakka was in possession of a similarly strong build, tanned skin, and small brown eyes. He had a blue headband wrapped around his forehead, with the cloth tied into a small knot at the back of his head. His bright orange hair was rather short, with two small bangs falling in front of his ears. The hair strands on the back of his head were longer than most of those on top and their tips nearly reached his shoulder line as they crawled down the back of Wakka's neck. Multiple hair strands directly above his forehead were nearly three times the length of those surrounding them. These formed a rather fragile looking backwards curling horn shape on top of the taller teen's head.

Alongside his bandana, Wakka currently wore a sleeveless pale yellow, almost white, tank top and baggy dark yellow pants. His shirt was decorated with thin black outlines on its edges and collar. White laces were attached to the front section of the collar, which stressed halfway down Wakka's chest, and they were currently left undone. The tips of both cords were decorated with two small beads, the first bead on each pair being light green in color while the second one was bright yellow. Wakka's pants had two small pockets, with one on each side of his waist. The pants legs stopped descending halfway down Wakka's lower legs instead of extending all the way to his ankles. Both of his pants legs were stylized on the front with two black straps crossing over each other to form a large X. The ends of each strap housed a dark blue arrowhead with a white pin in the center holding them in place on the pants leg. If Wakka was wearing any sort of belt, it was currently hidden from view behind the lower rim of his top, which was not tucked into his leggings at the moment.

Wakka's footwear consisted of simple green sandals with the straps designed to loosely resemble folded green leaves. One each foot, two of these straps ran over the middle of his feet while a small one was curling around the base of his big toes. The taller boy also wore blue wristbands on his arms and their coloring was the exact same shade of blue as his headband. Unlike most people Sora knew, the older boy had earrings. Wakka's resembled small round beads resembling oyster pearls and he had one attached to both of his earlobes.

After tilting his head back slightly while a playful scoff burst out of his mouth, Wakka lightly shook his head from side to side. Focusing his gaze back on Sora once he was done with the motion, the taller boy said, "Nah, man. I need to be ready in case someone decides they wanna have some fun. Speaking of which, ya'h up for a round?"

The orange haired boy put extra emphasis on this question by lifting up his ball and holding it directly before his stomach while he spoke. As soon as he was done speaking, Wakka leaned towards Sora and slammed his right palm against the sphere. It almost looked like the taller teen was trying to see if he could make the ball pop between his hands while he pressed both appendages against opposite sides of the round item. A wide challenging smirk was locked on Wakka's face as he looked Sora in the eyes, completing the look. Standing next to the two boys, Selphie rolled her eyes in exasperation and then placed her right hand against her forehead while she lowered her head forward by a small margin.

His right eyebrow climbing slightly up his forehead before he spoke, Sora had a confused tone when he asked the taller boy, "You want to play blitzball, right?"

It was a popular ball game on the Destiny Islands and Wakka's favorite sport. Tidus was the only person Sora knew who liked blitzball just as much as the orange haired boy. The game involved two teams of players facing off against each other while competing for control of a single ball. Physical contact of any sort between opposing players, especially violence, was strictly prohibited. Each team had a goal on opposite ends of the playing field and the objective of the game was to get the blitzball into the opposing team's goal. Doing so awarded your team with score points and whichever group had the most score points when time ran out would win the game. Generally, blitzball was supposed to be between teams consisting of four or six people, but one on one matches were still possible.

"Nah, man," Wakka told Sora, an almost feral grin appearing on his face as he bared his teeth at Sora. "I meant the other thing we do around here. What do ya say?"

'Oh, a fight,' Sora thought to himself, finally understanding where Wakka was going. The spiky haired teen felt a wide grin take shape on his face. He liked the idea of facing off against the older boy.

It had been a while since Sora and Wakka last went at each other so the spiky haired teen felt he could be excused for forgetting the older boy preferred to fight using a blitzball instead of a toy sword like most of the other kids on the Destiny Islands. It was a bit of an odd fighting style but Wakka had a pretty good throwing arm, decent reflexes, quick feet, and some skill in grappling and wrestling respectively so he was able to make it work. The orange haired boy didn't have the best winning streak compared to Riku and even Sora but he was still a decent challenge for the spiky haired teen all the same.

Of course, unlike Sora and Riku, Wakka had a pretty big weakness that practically every boy on the Destiny Islands knew about now. Despite his current physical appearance, the orange haired teen was born with a fairly soft skull. Sora recalled that during one of his matches with Riku, the first thing Wakka did at the start of the fight was throw his blitzball towards his opponent as hard as he could. The silver haired teen had simply whacked it in mid-air with his toy sword and sent the round object flying back at his opponent. Wakka had been unable to catch it in time and the blitzball had struck him right on the forehead. The orange haired teen was completely out of it before his body had even finished falling onto its back, bringing the match to an end while generating much laughter amongst the fight's small audience.

When he finally woke up a short time later, Wakka took the loss with good grace. However, his relatively happy mood vanished after the now fifteen year old boy had discovered that Tidus decided to doodle on his face with a black marker while he was out of it. The fact that none of the other boys, Sora and Riku included, had even halfheartedly tried to stop him only made it worse. Since that day, everyone Wakka fought with tried to repeat Riku's feat and score an easy win. It gave the orange haired teen plenty of chances to practice dodging and catching a flying blitzball. So far, only a few people had been able to succeed because Wakka had been on his guard ever since that day. Sora was one of them though he had only managed to do it three times so far.

"Really, Wakka?" Selphie called out to the taller boy before the spiky haired teen could give him any sort of verbal response. Both boys turned to look at her, cocking their heads to the side in an almost identical manner while she lowered her hand from her face. Lifting her gaze to look Wakka straight in the eye, the brown haired girl said, "It's been almost a week since we last saw him and the first thing you do is ask Sora if he is up for a fight? What is wrong with you?"

Wakka raised his right hand into the air beside him and simultaneously tucked his blitzball back underneath his left arm. With only a faint hint of exasperation in his voice, the orange haired boy looked back at the brown haired girl and said, "Come on, Selphie. Y'know that's how we do things around here, y'ah."

The other islander just looked him dead in the eyes with a very unimpressed expression locked on her face. Now that he was taking a good look at her, Sora could see that Selphie was currently wearing a rather short yellow dress with overall straps going over her shoulders and a large pocket on the front. She still had her favorite blue bead bracelet on her left wrist and she was wearing sandals instead of shoes on her feet. Her sandals were tan in color at the base and they possessed large dark brown belt-like straps that were wrapped over top of her feet.

After a few seconds of silently glaring at Wakka, Selphie turned her green eyes towards Sora. The red and black clothed boy flinched slightly at the sudden action and he expected their friend to start reprimanding him as well. To Sora's surprise, Selphie spoke to him with a much gentler tone of voice. She asked him, "We barely seem to see you, Riku, and Kairi these days, Sora. What are you guys up to?"

Caught off guard by the sudden change in topic, the spiky haired teen could not stop himself from taking an involuntary step back with his left foot. Noticing out of the corner of his eye that Wakka had also turn his gaze toward him with a curious look now planted on the older boy's face, Sora could only smile sheepishly at Selphie's innocent enquiry and scratch the back of his head with his left hand.

"Yeah, sorry about that Selphie. We've been rather busy working on a little project of ours," he told them, looking Selphie in the eyes as he spoke. He inwardly winced slightly at the slip up, not liking the fact that he had told the pair he was building something with his closest friends. He could only thank whatever higher power existed that neither Riku nor Kairi overheard what he just said.

Lowering his left hand back to his side, the spiky haired teen hoped the duo would not decide to further press the issue. While he agreed with Riku that the raft need to be kept a secret, mostly because their parents would definitely try to stop them from leaving the Destiny Islands, Sora didn't like the thought of lying to his friends and adoptive mother. He also had a very long way to go before he became a gifted fibber in his best friend's humble opinion. It was better for Sora and everyone involved if the subject just never came up during a conversation. It couldn't be a lie if nobody spoke about it after all.

Sadly, the spiky haired teen didn't get his wish this time. He resisted the urge to grimace when he saw Selphie frown again. It wasn't as bad as the frown she sent Wakka a moment ago but it was still a frown and it was clearly directed at Sora this time. There was a small mixture of confusion and frustration present in her emerald eyed gaze while she looked the spiky haired teen straight in the eye.

Wakka beat her to the punch though, reminding both of them that he was still present when he asked Sora, "Secret project? What sort of secret project?"

Wincing slightly at the openly curious tone in the older boy's voice, the spiky haired teen turned his head to the right and looked up at Wakka. As he met the other boy's brown eyes, Sora frantically tried to come up with a suitable cover story for what he and his friends were actually doing. He didn't want to tell either Selphie or Wakka about the raft. The orange haired boy was a bit of a blabber mouth who would probably be unable to stop himself from telling Tidus at the very least, given how close the two boys were. He would also likely insist on being allowed to accompany the trio on their journey. Sadly, Sora didn't think the raft had enough room for him too. Much less Wakka and Tidus both if the latter boy also decided he wanted to come along. On the other hand, Selphie would probably run back to town as soon as Sora's back was turned and tell his mother, along with the town mayor and Riku's parents, just what the red and black clothed boy and his two closest friends were up to. That would destroy any chance the three of them had of leaving the Destiny Islands any time soon.

'Why didn't we bother to come up with some sort of cover story?' was Sora's only thought at the moment. He couldn't recall ever discussing with Riku or Kairi what they should say if someone noticed that the three friends kept on disappearing and said person grew curious enough to enquire about what they were up to. Privately, the spiky haired boy blamed Riku for this. Contingency plans were supposed to be his specialty but he never bothered at any point to make any suggestions on what to say if something like this happened. Not that the spiky haired teen would probably remember them with how frantically his mind was racing right now. 'Think fast, Sora. Think fast. And say something before they get suspicious.'

"Kairi's… aunt…," Sora started, trying not to sound too hesitant or scared while he spoke. It was extremely difficult and the spiky haired teen would not be surprised if he was sweating right now. If either Wakka or Selphie saw that he was they did not say anything. They simply stood in place, awaiting his answer to the older boy's question. "Her birthday is coming up… in a few weeks. So you see, Kairi… she wanted to get her a good present. She asked me and Riku for help because she couldn't decide what to buy. We decided it would be better if she built something herself… me and Riku have been helping her, pitching in when we can."

'There. That should do it,' Sora thought to himself, barely suppressing the sigh of relief that wanted to erupt from his chest. He didn't think it was a good idea to keep talking right then. The spiky haired teen was slightly worried he would sound like he was rambling if he kept at it. 'Hopefully they bought what I said.'

Focusing his gaze on Selphie, the red and black clothed boy was pleased to see his words were getting through to her. The notion that Kairi was making some sort of birthday gift for her adoptive aunt was met with silent approval from the brown haired girl, whose suspicious expression had turned into one of admiration. While not a romantic gesture since it wasn't being made for a boy, such a gift was still a sign that Kairi greatly cared for her adoptive aunt and the idea of giving someone a handmade gift for their birthday was something Selphie would definitely approve of. Just looking at how much the brown haired girl was resisting the urge to jump up and down in excitement was doing wonders for Sora's nerves.

Sadly, the spiky haired teen tensed up again when he looked up at Wakka's face. The orange haired teen didn't seem quite ready to accept the fabricated story himself just yet, as shown by how he was frowning slightly while he looked down at his red and black clothed friend. Catching Sora's gaze on him, Wakka started rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand while turning his gaze to the side.

"The birthday is a few weeks away, right? Why do it so early, man?" he pressed Sora, unable to look at the shorter teen as he did so. The red and black clothed boy had to fight the urge to take a fearful step back at the question. He knew such an act would give everything away.

"Well, you see…" Sora thought, twisting his eyes to the left while his mind raced inside his head. The spiky haired teen felt like he would panic if he looked at either Selphie or Wakka right now. He frantically searched for something to say while his mouth moved mostly on autopilot, speaking words he himself barely heard. "Starting early was actually… Riku's idea… He was worried that… if we waited too long we wouldn't be able to finish in time. We've never done… anything like this before… and we wanted to make sure we got it right… since it's a gift for Kairi's aunt."

Lowering his right hand back to the side of his torso, Wakka hummed in thought as he looked down at the shorter boy. He was no longer frowning but neither was he smiling at the moment. That only made the spiky haired teen think the taller boy was looking for holes in what he had just said. Honestly though, there was a small kernel of truth to what Sora had said. He, Riku, and Kairi hadn't actually been sure how long it was going to take them to complete the raft when they first started working on it and they had never tried building one before. Fortunately, their construction project went by a lot faster than any of them expected it would.

"What are you guys making?" Selphie suddenly asked Sora, sounding rather excited as she did so.

Turning to look at her location, Sora saw that she was leaning forward and holding her hands slightly below her chin. Her fingers curled slightly, almost causing her hands to turn into fists. The spiky haired boy found it easier to come up with an answer that particular question, which caused him to feel a small amount of relief.

Before the red and black clothed boy could respond to Selphie's question however, Wakka spoke up. Tossing his blitzball into his right hand, the orange haired boy asked Sora, "You guys need some more help with it, Sora?"

"Oh, I can help too," Selphie called out, sounding rather eager to do so. She was even standing on her left foot and leaning forward slightly while holding right hand up in the air. If he wasn't busy twitching slightly at Wakka's offer, the spiky haired teen might have found the sight of her like that rather funny. Either way, Sora ignored what Wakka said for now and forced himself to smile while looking at the brown haired girl.

"Sorry, can't tell you what we're working on," he told her honestly, his tone genuinely apologetic. Seeing the shorter girl pout at him after lowering her right arm and foot, the brown haired boy said, "It's supposed to be a surprise birthday present, after all. Kairi made me and Riku swear we wouldn't say anything to anybody the moment we started working on it. She doesn't want to run the risk of ruining the surprise."

'I'm not even supposed to be talking about this with you two right now,' Sora thought, privately regretting the decision to approach the pair. He didn't let the thought show on his face, much less say it aloud, and kept on smiling at Selphie. 'What am I going to tell Riku and Kairi?' the spiky haired teen asked himself, knowing he had to tell them about this at some point and dreading how they would react.

To Sora's immense relief, the words he just said to her seemed to mollify Selphie somewhat because her pout slowly faded away. The brown haired girl still wore a rather disappointed expression on her face however. Lowering her gaze towards the ground, she clenched her hands into soft fists and petulantly kicked at a non-existent rock with her right foot. Her actions didn't surprise Sora in the slightest. He knew that Selphie hated secrets and mysteries more than anything else on the Destiny Islands. It was probably only respect for Kairi's feelings that caused her to abstain from digging any further right now. The red and black clothed boy suspected the knowledge that she would still eventually learn what Kairi and her best friends were working on helped somewhat. Too bad the surprise wasn't going to be anything like what she probably suspected it was going to be.

Turning to Wakka so he could answer the taller boy's question now, Sora slightly raised his right hand into the air beside him with the palm turned towards the sky. He said, "We're actually almost done with it, Wakka. We should be finished by tomorrow. A few more adjustments and all that's left for us to do is wrap it up and put it somewhere safe. Thanks for the offer though."

The orange haired teen continued to look down at Sora without any expression on his face for a few moments. The silence lasted long enough for Sora to start wondering if the older boy was actually buying what he saw saying. He wondered if he let something slip but didn't know what or how. To the spiky haired teen's relief, Wakka broke the silence with a loud snort while he rolled his eyes in dismissal a moment.

"All right. If you're sure, man. Ya'h just let me know if ya'h change your mind," Wakka casually told him, turning his gaze towards the large tree looming above the three of them. As he did so, he tucked his blitzball under his right arm. Tapping the large sphere with the forefinger of his left hand, he looked down at Sora again. Grinning as he continued to tap the blitzball, Wakka set a condition for his silence. "But ya'h owe me a round when you're done. Understand?"

Sora barely managed to hold in a sigh of relief when he heard those words. He did however burst out laughing at the idea, finding the condition something Wakka would definitely make. "You're on," the red and black clothed boy told his friend, a smile forming on his face as he spoke.

He was still smiling when the two boys bumped fists again, with Wakka using his left hand instead of his right this time. The action caused Selphie to sigh loudly and shake her head in dismay where she stood. Unknown to either of his friends, Sora was mentally apologizing to Wakka at that very moment. The spiky haired teen was well aware that he would not be able to keep this particular promise, given his current plans. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a little relieved that the orange haired boy had bought his cover story.

'See, Riku, I actually can be a smooth talker when I need to be,' Sora thought to himself, feeling rather proud of what he pulled off despite its rather despicable nature. He recalled how the silver haired teen had once told him that he couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it. Given the string of losses Sora had been suffering against Riku lately, the red and black clothed boy was glad he had just proved his best friend wrong.

Deciding it was time to change the subject and bring this entire chat to a close, the red and black clothed boy put his left hand on his hip and said, "By the way, what are you guys doing today anyway?"

Selphie, having regained her usual cheerful nature at some point without Sora noticing, just shrugged her shoulders softly at the question. Waving her right hand in clear dismissal a moment later, she simply said, "Oh, I'm not staying here for much longer, Sora. I just came to get out of town and enjoy the fresh air for a bit. I think I might waste some time trying to see if I can find some nice seashells down at the beach while I'm here."

"Nice, good luck with that," Sora told her, nodding his head. Though his words caused Selphie to beam at him, the spiky haired teen knew that collecting things like sea shells wasn't one of his hobbies. He wasn't going to begrudge Selphie for occasionally indulging in it though. It wasn't his place or polite to do such a thing. Besides, the red and black clothed boy didn't like it when people mocked his own hobbies either.

Sora turned his gaze towards Wakka next. Before the spiky haired teen could even open his mouth, the older boy smirked down at him and said, "Me and Tidus, we're gonna do a little exploring today."

'Exploring? Here?' the spiky haired teen thought to himself, more than a little surprised by what the orange haired boy had just said to him. This time he didn't bother trying to keep the surprise off his face and the expression he was making made Wakka laugh out loud. Even Selphie was giggling slightly, her shoulders shaking as she covered her mouth with the back of her right hand. Ignoring the noise his friends were making, Sora simply stared at Wakka in confusion while thinking, 'But we've already seen everything there is to see on these islands. What's left for you guys to explore?'

For a split second, the spiky haired teen wondered if the two of them were planning on going to the northern side of the island. If they did that, they would definitely discover the raft and the possibility of such an event scared Sora. He instinctively clenched his hands into fists but didn't get the chance to press Wakka for answers just yet. His friend distracted him by raising his left hand and pointing it at something past Selphie with the attached forefinger fully outstretched. Both Sora and Selphie followed the direction of the limb and saw that Wakka was pointing towards a small hole in the mountain's steep cliff face. It was located directly between the main body of the massive tree and the small lake, with one of the latter's smaller roots reaching over top the hole to take a dip in the water. Large green flowers sprouted all over the upper edges of the hole, partially obscuring the opening and causing it seem smaller than it actually was.

"You know, to the secret place at the base of that tree," Wakka spoke up, drawing Sora's gaze back to him. The brown haired boy noticeably relaxed, unclenching his fists now that he better under stood Wakka's intentions. Neither Selphie nor Wakka noticed the change in his bearing since they weren't currently looking at the red and black clothed boy. "There's gotta be something there, ya?"

'Honestly, Wakka… not much,' Sora thought to himself, turning his gaze back towards the opening. He had known what was back there since he was very little, having explored it for the first time alongside Riku shortly after Kairi had arrived on the Destiny Islands. 'I guess we never did getting around to showing it to you and Tidus.'

Not that the two boys ever had any intention of doing so. When they were younger, the cave Wakka was pointing towards became their secret hideout. Except for one large object they had never been able to remove, it consisted of nothing more than rocks, dirt, and small roots. Kairi was the only other person Sora and Riku ever had shared the place with. Sora had invited Kairi inside one day without asking for Riku's opinion first and while the other boy never exploded in Sora's face over it, Riku hadn't talked to him for over a week when he first found out. The silver haired teen eventually came around and the three islanders were nearly inseparable ever since.

A small frown found its way onto Sora's face as he looked at the sight of that familiar opening. He couldn't help but wonder, 'When was the last time we spent any time there anyway?'

The spiky haired teen didn't have a definite answer to the silent question but it definitely felt like a long time had passed since Sora last set foot in his old hideout. Maybe even several years had passed without him noticing because he kept finding other things to do with his time. He had a feeling that Kairi and Riku were in the same boat as him in this instance. At the same time, the red and black clothed boy wasn't nearly as upset by the thought of Wakka and Tidus intruding on his old hideout as he expected himself to be. Perhaps Sora had simply outgrown that small cave at some point without realizing it

On a slightly unrelated not, Sora wondered if Wakka could even get through that opening given how tall he was now. The possibility of witnessing a truly comedic sight almost made the red and black clothed boy want to stick around and witness it. However, he knew he had to get going. Sora still had to meet up with Riku and Kairi so they could start collecting supplies for tomorrow's journey. If he kept wasting time, they might end up having to delay the trip by another day. That was unacceptable to the spiky haired teen so he decided to end his conversations with Wakka and Selphie here.

"Well… good luck with that, Wakka. I need to get going," Sora spoke up, lightly clapping the taller boy on the shoulder with his right hand. Lowering his left arm back to his side, Wakka just turned his head towards Sora and grinned back at him in response.

"I guess we'll see you later then," said Selphie, her voice sounding somewhat despondent after she had turned around to look at Sora. The brown haired boy threw an apologetic look her way but she merely smiled in response to that expression. With a little more cheer in her voice, she added, "Don't be a stranger, all right."

To put extra emphasis on that last sentence, she crossed the distance between her and spiky haired teen. Leaning forward, she pressed her right forefinger against his chest and pinned his silver crown pendant in place with the small appendage. For some reason, the sight of her performing such an action caused Wakka to burst out laughing. A noticeable blush adorned Selphie's cheeks as she turned her head to give the older boy a rather cross look. Sora, for his part, couldn't stop himself from grinning at her.

"Don't worry, I won't," Sora told her, taking a couple of backwards steps as he spoke. Not bothering to watch Selphie lower her arm back to her side, the spiky haired teen turned around. He forced down the guilt he felt at telling the brown haired girl another lie.

Given what he was planning to do with Riku and Kairi tomorrow, it would probably be a long time before the spiky haired teen ever saw Selphie again. Or anyone from the Destiny Islands for that matter, his adoptive mother included. It wasn't until this moment that Sora realized he never bothered to think what going on a voyage would do to the friends and family he would be leaving behind. He found himself wondering if they would be angry and sad. Fortunately, the sudden thought process did not make the red and black clothed boy start to reconsider if going out to sea on the raft was a good idea, regardless of how guilty it made him feel inside. His thirst for adventure was simply too strong for him to suppress and Sora was convinced he could find his way back to the Destiny Islands whenever he had the urge to return.

Lifting his head up and looking straight ahead, Sora came to a stop on the edge of the upraised earth when he caught sight of a small figure off in the distance. This person, whoever they were, was currently standing on the smaller of the two play islands, positioned almost directly between the wooden bridge and the curved trunk of the paopu fruit bearing tree. They were rather close to the edge of the island's ceiling and seemed to be swinging some sort of long stick up and down repeatedly. The person was too far away for Sora to have the ability to discern if they were male or female but they appeared to have sandy brown hair on top of their head and they were wearing a short white top and black shorts.

Having a suspicion in regards to that person's identity, Sora lifted up his left hand and casually pointed his left forefinger in the figure's direction. Without looking over his shoulder, he asked Wakka and Selphie, "Is that Tidus over there, guys? Wakka said he was coming here earlier."

"Yeah, man. That's him," the orange haired teen answered, a faint undertone of amusement to his voice. Sora heard a loud sigh erupt from Selphie's mouth and he turned his head to look at the pair of them over his left shoulder. Wakka was looking in Tidus' direction with a wry smirk on his face. He said, "He's just getting some practice in before we go exploring."

"Practice? You mean training, right?" Sora asked the taller boy, turning his gaze back to Tidus' distant form. If that really was Tidus over there than that stick he was currently swinging was actually a thin wooded pole he had custom painted red. It was the slightly shorter boy's personal weapon. Sora had a feeling he used it precisely because he wanted to fight with something unique rather than constantly use one of the common toy swords available on the island. Well aware of how confident the other boy was in his skills, the spiky haired teen couldn't help but say, "That's rather unusual for him. He always seemed convinced that he is the best fighter on the Destiny Islands despite never beating Riku. He definitely thinks training is for losers. What brought this on?"

"Riku did, y'ah. Me and Tidus got here around the same time he did," Wakka told him. The orange haired boy didn't really need to say anymore after that, Sora having a good idea where he was going, but he kept at it. "Tidus challenged him to another fight as soon as he saw him, y'ah."

"Don't tell me. He lost," Sora deadpanned, his voice completely flat as he continued to look at the distant figure. Had he looked behind him in that moment, he would have seen Selphie turning her head slightly to the right while she rubbed the side of her neck with her right hand. Beside her, Wakka nodded his head several times.

"Yeah. He lost both the fight and the two rematches he requested after that," said the orange haired teen. Unable to help himself, Sora turned his upper body to the left and threw a flat stare at Wakka. The older boy just closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders in a manner that silently asked Sora, "What can you do?"

'Really, Tidus? Three beat downs in one day. What is wrong with you?' the red and black clothed boy thought to himself, turning his gaze to look back at the shorter teen once more. If the other islander had any idea that Sora was looking at him right now, he was too busy swinging his small pole to bother and say hello with a wave of his hand. Rubbing the back of his head with his right hand, Sora decided it didn't matter. He thought to himself, 'Whatever, man. I've wasted enough time here.'

Once again determined to go find Riku and Kairi, both of whom were most likely on the northern side of the island right now, Sora took a moment to say farewell to Wakka and Selphie one more time. Turning his torso slightly to the right so he could look at them over his shoulder, the spiky haired teen waved his right hand slightly and said, "See you guys later. Riku and Kairi are going to get annoyed with me if I keep them waiting much longer."

Sora just caught Selphie reaching up to cover his mouth with her right hand as he turned himself to face forward again. He definitely heard her giggling at him though, even when Wakka said, "See ya'h later, man."

Their small conversation effectively brought to an end for good this time, Sora jumped onto the larger play island's southern beach. He could not help but sigh in contentment when his bare feet came into contact with the warm sands, finding the sensation such physical contact brought him quite soothing. It was one of the main reasons why he preferred to walk around bare foot. Not bothering to look back at Selphie and Wakka, he started on his way and walked across the beach.

He did raise his right arm in farewell again when he heard Selphie call out to him and said, "Take care, Sora. Say hi to Kairi for me."

After momentarily giving her a thumbs up with his upraised right hand, Sora brought that hand back to his side as he walked across the beach. He soon started to jog across the sands, wanting to feel the wind in his hair but not too motivated to go into a full run just yet. Besides, he only had to cover a short distance in order to reach the wooden door leading to the northern side of the island. The warm sands turned almost annoyingly cool to his bare feet when he crossed the section of the beach covered by the wooden bridge's shadow. Fortunately, it only took him a few steps to get out of that place. Turning to the left as soon as he had jogged past the steep cliff holding up half the bridge, Sora slowed his pace back to a casual walk once he had climbed up the small wooden ramp leading back to solid ground. Taking several steps forward, he reached the man-made wooden wall on the far eastern side of the island.

Stepping up to the windowless door set in said wall, Sora gently pushed it open with his right hand and stepped through the threshold without slowing down his space. His footsteps did come to a stop once he was through the doorway however and the spiky haired teen closed the door behind him with a backwards swish of his left hand. Taking in his current surroundings, the red and black clothed boy found himself standing on a small outcropping of solid earth with steep sides and a curved edge, the latter of which was outlined with grass and small flowers. The majority of the ground consisted of plain gravel.

Looking straight ahead, Sora could see a fairly tall cliff poking out of the mountain a good distance ahead of him. It had steep sides consisted solely of light grey stone and a rather rectangular shape, the earthen juncture pulling away from the nearby mountain in a manner reminiscent of a fully outstretched arm. Its top was slanted slightly due to its farthest edge being locked at a slightly higher elevation than the one closest to Sora. Its far edge also descended slightly while it reached out towards the sea, as if the further the hill pulled itself away from the mountain the more it was unable to bear its own weight. Much like the ground he was currently standing on, the top of that cliff consisted mostly of pale granite while its edges were outlined by green glass, with a loose scattering of bushes and flowers mixed in.

A wide wooden bridge once connected the two hills together but it had fallen into an extreme state of disrepair a long time ago. The adults on Destiny Islands had yet to bother to come and fix it. Sora wondered if any of them even knew what state it was currently in because of how rarely people bothered to come here nowadays. He certainly had never told his adoptive mother about it, having never seen a reason to bring it up during a conversation. Of the once pristine structure, only three disconnected segments of differing sizes presently remained standing in the rather shallow ocean water between the island's two earthen junctures. One piece was connected to each of the two hills while the third was standing in between them.

"There you are," a familiar voice called out to Sora as he looked at the first segment of the broken bridge, which happened to have a greater overall length than both of its counterparts put together. Turning his gaze to the left, the spiky haired teen saw Riku standing near the northern most edge of the small hill he was currently standing on. The older boy's arms were crossed over his chest and he was looking at Sora over his right shoulder. "About time you got here. I was beginning to think you weren't going to come today."

Sora simply shrugged his shoulders while lightly throwing his hands out to either side of his torso. He said, "Sorry about that, Riku. I got held up helping my mom with some stuff around our house. Is Kairi nearby?"

'I'll tell him about Wakka and Selphie later,' Sora thought, silently swearing to himself he would do just that. Riku and Kairi did need to know about the cover story he just told the other two teens after all.

After nodding slightly in acceptance of Sora's apology, Riku turned his gaze back to the ocean. Sounding completely disinterested while he spoke, the silver haired boy told Sora, "She's was over by the raft the last time I saw her. Probably still there, waiting for us. It looked like she was working on some sort of trinket by herself."

"A trinket? What kind?" Sora asked, sounding slightly more curious than his best friend as he walked towards Riku. He soon came to stand directly beside the taller boy's left shoulder, only a single step remaining between the two of them as they looked out over the azure water together. Both of them were silently thinking about what lay beyond the horizon as they did so.

Riku just shrugged his shoulders at the question. The silver haired boy then uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on his hips. Still not taking his eyes away from the ocean, he said, "I'm not sure. I think it's supposed to be some sort of good luck charm. I think she is getting cold feet."

"Cold feet? Wait… you mean she's getting nervous?" Sora asked him, turning his head to look at Riku. The red and black clothed boy wore a slightly surprised expression on his face as he looked at his friend.

Nervous wasn't ordinarily a word he would use to describe Kairi after all. Despite her disinterest in fighting and other sort of competition, Sora was pretty sure she was one of the bravest people he had ever seen. One of the bravest and kindest, if he was being honest.

"A little bit," Riku admitted, finally turning his head in order to look Sora in the eyes. Catching the expression on the other boy's face, he closed his eyes and started shaking his head from side to side. Waving his left hand slightly between them, Riku said, "Relax Sora. It's nothing to be concerned about. She's not second guessing our decision to go on this journey."

The spiky haired teen couldn't help but let loose a small sigh of relief at those words from his best friend, the exhalation prompting a short bark of laughter to escape the older boy's throat. Slightly annoyed, Sora nudged him in the arm with his right elbow. Riku didn't even flinch, not that Sora expected him to with how little effort he had put into the sudden jab.

Crouching down slightly, Sora rested his elbows on his knees while he looked out at the ocean. He said, "I suppose I can understand that feeling. I guess a part of me can't help but question if this is all some sort of dream."

Humming to himself lightly, Riku proceeded to reach towards Sora's face with his left hand and give him a solid pinch on the right cheek. A small cry of pain erupted from the younger boy, drawn out of him by the unexpected action. Sora immediately swatted at Riku's arm with his right hand in response and the silver haired teen withdrew the offending appendage after getting struck three times in rapid succession.

Smirking down at his best friend, Riku decided to further tease him. "You still think this is some sort of dream, Sora?"

"Oh, be quiet," Sora barked back at him. There was no real heat in the red and black clothed boy's tone and his eyes were closed right now. He was also lightly rubbing his right hand against his abused cheek as he spoke. Pulling his hand slightly away from his face as a sudden smirk blossomed on his face, Sora opened his eyes and looked up at Riku. He said, "What about you, Riku? Feeling scared?"

Riku took the jest in good humor, a loud scoff bursting out of his mouth as he threw his head back. When he looked back down at Sora, there was a wide smirk resting on his face.

"Heh, you wish. If I'm feeling anything right now, its excitement," the silver haired boy told his best friend, sounding really confidant as he spoke. His expression turned serious a short moment later and the shift startled Sora slightly. With a more serious tone of voice, Riku said, "Anyway, enough about that for now. There is something else we need to talk about, Sora."

"Oh?" Sora asked him, sounding curious as he pulled himself back to his full height. Pivoting on his left foot, the red and black clothed boy turned himself around to fully face the silver haired teen. Lightly crossing his arms over his chest while looking his best friend straight in the eyes, Sora requested further information. "Something like…?"

"The raft," Riku told him, turning around to fully face Sora himself as he spoke. Seeing the younger boy adopt a slightly confused expression on his face, Riku clarified what he meant. The silver haired boy raised his right hand slightly, the palm turned towards the sky. At the same time, he said, "I think it needs a name. What about you?"

After blinking a few times once he had heard that question, Sora looked down at his feet and hummed to himself, wondering what to say. Riku just remained silent and he patiently waited for his friend to answer the question. The spiky haired teen did not keep him waiting for long.

"…I honestly never thought about it," Sora honestly admitted. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Riku smirk at him, a faint shimmer of amusement in his green eyes. A little annoyed by that expression, Sora uncrossed his arms and shoved Riku's left shoulder back with his right hand. The smirk on the silver haired boy's face only grew in size. Shaking his head, Sora let loose a loud sigh before looking back at his friend. He said, "But you might be right. I also think the raft could use a name."

"Nice to see we're on the same page here," the slightly taller boy told his friend. He was still smirking.

Smirking slightly himself now, Sora crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Yeah, yeah. I'm guessing you've already got a suggestion for me. Let's hear it then."

The slightly taller boy just shrugged his shoulders, neither confirming nor denying Sora's words while he tilted his head to his right slightly. Both his eyes were closed when he performed the action. Placing his left hand back on his hip, Riku opened his eyes and lifted his right hand into the empty space between him and Sora. He simply said, "I was thinking about calling it Highwind. What about you, Sora? Got any ideas?"

'Highwind, huh. You make it sound like our raft can fly,' Sora thought, mentally snorting at the name. Outwardly, he leaned back slightly while crossing both of his arms behind his head, silently watching Riku pull his arm back to his side. Looking towards the sky, the red and black clothed boy said, "I don't know. There's so many to choose from… Normandy… Enterprise… Daedalus… Pegasus… Hyperion… Prometheus-"

"You're just spouting off random names," Riku interrupted Sora. The silver haired teen sounded like he was barely able to keep himself from laughing out loud. Sora looked back at his friend with a small pout on his face. That action seemed to seal the deal for the older boy. Riku threw his head back and covered his eyes with his right hand as he burst out laughing.

"It's not that funny, Riku," Sora told him, a little annoyance lacing his tone. There was even a small frown on the spiky haired teen's face now. Watching Riku's laughter come to an end, Sora lowered his hands from where they rested at the back of his head. He said, "Besides, I kind of like that last name. Prometheus. It sounds powerful."

"It's a raft, Sora. Not some sort of superhero," Riku told him, lowering his hand from his face and leaning so far forward their foreheads were almost touching. With a teasing smirk locked on his face, the older boy asked him, "What are you, eight years old? Seven?"

Rolling his eyes, the spiky haired teen merely shoved his friend's face away from his own with his right hand. The action only caused another round of laughter to burst out of Riku's mouth as he took a single step back with his left foot. Sighing, Sora decided he had enough of this conversation. The red and black clothed boy turned away from his best friend and started walking towards the broken down bridge, intending to go looking for Kairi. As he did so, his hands found themselves once again tucked back behind his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Riku," the spiky haired teen called out over his shoulder, not bothering to look back at the older boy as he moved away. Sora could hear Riku regain control of himself behind him but he just kept on walking. The older boy called out to Sora as he reached the base of the wooden bridge.

"Is that still your choice? You're really going with Prometheus?" Riku loudly asked him. Coming to a stop, Sora lowered his hands back to their usual spots beside his abdominal region before turning to look past his right shoulder. Gazing back at the silver haired teen, he saw that Riku was just standing where the spiky haired teen had left him. The other islander looked completely calm and his left hand was resting on his hip as he met Sora's gaze.

"… Yeah, I think I am. You got a problem with that?" Sora responded after a moment, his tone laced with a strong helping of disinterest. During his second sentence, he pivoted on his left foot and turned around to fully face the older teen.

Riku simply shrugged his shoulder, another smirk forming on his face as he did so, and said, "No problem really. I'm just rather attached to Highwind and we only got one raft. It doesn't seem right to give it two different names."

"Your point being?" Sora pressed him lightly, momentarily pointing his right hand toward his friend as he spoke. The attached palm was turned to face the sky and his fingers were evenly spread out as he performed the physical action.

Though the red and black clothed boy didn't say it out loud, he already had an idea where his best friend was going with this. If he was honest with himself, Sora didn't mind using some sort of competition to decide what they were going to call the raft. If he had one caveat it was that Kairi should be allowed to make a suggestion as well before he and Riku went at it. It only seemed fair to the spiky haired teen. She did after all play a part in the raft's construction.

Humming softly to himself in mock thought, Riku closed his eyes and gently rubbed his chin with the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. Opening his eyes a moment later, the silver haired teen looked Sora in the eyes and said, "How about-"

"There you guys are!"

Riku lowered his hand slightly from his face, his eyelids blinking in surprise at being cut off by a loud voice. One that sounded a lot like Kairi's to both his and Sora's ears. Knowing that the sudden shout came from the nearby hill, both teens turned their heads in order to look toward it. They saw Kairi standing on top of the broken segment of the bridge still connected to the larger, and more rectangular shaped, slab of land. Her fists were planted squarely on her hips and the smallest of scowls was present on her face as she looked down at the two boys.

'Uh oh,' Sora thought to himself, not liking the look of this. 'She seems mad.'

"I've been waiting for you guys for what feels like forever. What are you two doing down there?" the redhead demanded to know, leaning forward as she did so. Feeling slightly nervous now, Sora rubbed the back of his head with his left hand and threw a glance at Riku. The silver haired teen didn't seem to notice because his green eyes were locked on to Kairi.

Sora's actions must have given Kairi an idea about what she had just interrupted. Stomping her left foot, the auburn haired girl yelled, "Really?! You guys were about to go at it again?!"

Sora flinched slightly were he stood, not liking how Kairi sounded like she was accusing them of committing some sort of crime. Pulling his left hand out of his hair, Sora threw another glance in Riku's direction. The spiky haired teen wasn't entirely sure what to say in response to this sudden outburst and hoped his best friend had some sort of idea instead. Unfortunately, the older boy didn't seem interested in talking right now. If anything, Riku just looked rather unimpressed, even bored, with Kairi right now. He just stood where Sora had left him, a blank expression on his face and arms crossed over his chest while he watched the red haired girl.

The silence seemed to help Kairi calm down. However, she was clearly still not in the mood for their shenanigans right now. Pulling herself up to her full height, Kairi said, "Settle whatever this is about later, you two. We still need to collect supplies for our trip. So if you still want to head out tomorrow, I suggest we go discuss what we need over by the raft."

Her piece said, the auburn haired girl promptly turned around and started walking away. She carelessly waved her right arm in dismissal during her first few steps. Not bothering to send her friends even a side glance, she calmly walked towards the far edge of the hill before turning to her left. Still not looking back towards her friends, Kairi walked down the hidden slope on the other side of the hill, her red hair the last thing to disappear from Sora's sight. Wondering what was going on with her, Sora looked to Riku once more. This time the older boy looked back at him and he simply shrugged his shoulders when he saw the questioning look on Sora's face.

"You see? It's just like I said. She's getting a little bit nervous but doesn't want to admit it," Riku told him, not sounding very concerned with the sudden change in Kairi's attitude today. His words only caused Sora to frown slightly as he watched the older boy uncross his arms and start walking towards him. As he moved closer to the spiky haired teen, Riku said, "Come on. Let's go have our team meeting. I don't think we want Kairi to come back here again."

After blinking slightly at Riku's term for their little get together with Kairi, Sora let loose a loud exhale through his nose and simply decided to go with the flow. It was his usual course of action when his friends start acting a little weird, according to his personal opinion. Turning around, the red and black clothed boy started to walk across broken down bridge. The wood creaked rather loudly beneath his bare feet in clear protest towards his presence but Sora paid the noise no mind. A glance over his right shoulder showed the spiky haired teen that Riku was only a single step behind him. The older boy didn't seem interested in trying to overtake his friend right now.

"Race you there?" Sora offered, holding up his left hand before his torso as he did so. The palm was turned towards the sky while he continued looking at Riku over his right shoulder.

To the spiky haired teen's slight surprise, Riku merely shook his head from side to side, silently dismissing the offer. When he was done with that motion, Riku said, "Nah, I've lost interest."

Despite wondering what was up with his best friend, Sora merely faced forward again and said, "If you say so."

The older boy did not reply as Sora led him halfway across the first section of the broken bridge. A few of the wooden planks had fallen off at some point, creating an opening in the middle of the bridge that was just wide enough for either boy to fall through it if they weren't careful. Were it not for the wooden posts still jammed into the sea – their upper tips visible through the opening - this segment would have been perfectly divided into two separate pieces right now. Well aware of its presence, Sora and Riku merely jumped over the divide. The spiky haired teen went first and the silver haired boy was only two seconds behind him. Continuing on their way in silence, the two boys soon reached the end of this segment.

Almost as soon as he had stepped on them with his right foot, the last four planks on this portion of the bridge suddenly gave way beneath Sora's weight. With a loud crack, they detached themselves from their compatriots and fell down to the shallow waters lurking below. Despite coming into contact with nothing but soft sands and salt water when they reached the end of their descent, the dark brown pieces of wood shattered into several smaller fragments after landing.

Caught off guard by the sudden loss of his footing, Sora nearly fell after the now further broken planks. Leaning forward, he cried out slightly and swung his arms to the sides in a desperate attempt to keep himself from going over the edge. It was Riku's actions that ultimately saved him. The older boy quickly reached out with his left hand and took hold of Sora's hood before he leaned out to far. With a sharp tug, Riku pulled the red and black clothed boy away from the newly made edge. He pulled a little too hard however, which caused Sora to fall on his hands and rear beside him.

"Ow," Sora childishly whined at the impact. Lifting up his arms, the brown haired boy lightly shook his hands to get rid of the faint stinging pain he currently felt in his palms. Ignoring this, Riku let go of his Sora's hood and moved past his best friend.

"Be a bit more careful, Sora," Riku told the shorter boy, looking down at the spiky haired teen as he walked past him. "You know this old bridge has seen better days."

His piece said, Riku crouched down slightly and leaped onto the next segment of the bridge. Despite its recent increase in size, the divide between the two wooden constructs was still small enough for the two boys to easily jump across it. Landing on both feet atop the other segment, Riku swiped his left hand on his pants leg as he straightened his posture. Without looking back at his best friend, he continued on his way. Frowning slightly as he looked at Riku's shrinking back, Sora pushed himself back up to his feet.

"Yeah, yeah," the spiky haired boy said in response to Riku's reprimand, well aware the other boy likely couldn't hear him right now. Looking up from his feet, he saw that the silver haired teen had already leaped on to the final segment of the broken bridge. Putting his left hand beside his mouth, Sora loudly called out to him and said, "Hey, wait for me."

Riku just shook his head slightly as he started walking up the rectangular hill, heading for its opposite edge. Raising his right hand, he waved the arm in a clear hurry up gesture. The taller boy lowered the arm back to the side of his torso just before he proceeded to jump off the far edge of the hill, standing far closer to the island's mountain than Kairi had before she disappeared. The silver haired teen quickly vanished from sight as well once he finally jumped. His hair was the last thing to be obscured by the tall earthen juncture.

"Jerk," Sora whispered to himself, lightly shaking his head from side to side. A moment later, he crouched down and leaped onto the middle section of the broken bridge.

Swiftly walking across its flat surface, Sora proceeded to leap onto the final segment of the broken bridge without delay. Soon coming to walk across the hill itself, the spiky haired teen decided not to follow Riku's example. Instead, he turned to the right and took the same route as Kairi. After walking to the farthest edge of the rectangular hill, the spiky haired teen turned to his left just before he set foot on the grass outline. Walking down the small pathway located there, the red and black clothed boy's feet soon came into contact with the island's northern beach.

Continuing on his way, Sora saw the raft dead ahead. Almost half of its body was in the shallow water, which was causing the construction's underbelly to take on a darker shade of brown. Not being half the size of the southern beach, the northern beach was almost completely covered by tall palm trees with long thin grey trunks. It didn't exactly leave the three friends with much space to house their raft, which was almost three times the size of any single one of their rowboats. It was currently turned to face the ocean and a few large rocks had been set in the water directly in front of the raft. Those stones had been placed there by Sora and Riku during the early days of their project. Since the raft lacked any sort of anchor, it was the only way the three friends had to keep it from being dragged out into the open water by the tide when their backs were turned. Once they removed those rocks, all it would take was a simple push through the shallow waters and the raft would then be sailing across the ocean while taking the three friends to a currently unknown destination.

At this moment, Sora couldn't see Kairi anywhere while he approached the wooden construct he had helped build. The spiky haired teen did catch sight of Riku, who was currently standing on the back of the raft. He was turned towards the sail and seemed to be speaking to Kairi while holding his right hand slightly before his torso. The corners of the sail did curl backwards slightly, obstructing Sora's view of the wooden mast. Noticing the red and black clothed boy's approach, Riku lowered his right arm back to his side and nodded towards him. Kairi popped out from where she was hiding behind the sail a moment later. She looked towards Sora while clutching something in her left hand.

'Are those seashells?' Sora thought to himself, noticing how the object looked like it was comprised of several sea shells. They were all roughly the same size and Kairi seemed to be trying to put them into a star shaped formation. She tied them together with small pieces of blue strings. Each sea shell represented a single arm of the star and Kairi was missing only one to complete the formation right now.

'I guess she really is making herself a good luck charm,' Sora silently told himself. A small smile appeared on his face at the sight and he wasn't entirely convinced the auburn haired girl was doing it out of nervousness. Continuing his approach towards the raft, the spiky haired teen thought, 'That is just like Kairi.'

"Good, you're here," Kairi called out to him, pulling the spiky haired teen away from his thoughts. She turned her gaze towards Riku as Sora came to a stop right before the raft's right flank. The redhead said, "As you both know, we need to decide what we are going to take with us on our trip. We also need to decide who is going to go and collect what too."

Sora and Riku both nodded their heads, neither protesting against how she just took charge of this whole get-together. Smiling kindly at them now, Kairi turned slightly in place and swung her left hand, along with the four sea shells she was currently holding, towards the raft's mast. "Having said that, I've already made some sandwiches for the trip. They should last a few days at least… although I can't make any guarantees about how fresh they'll taste tomorrow."

Turning his head to look towards the raft's mast, Sora saw a brown bag resting against the base of the wooden post. The bag was about half the size of Sora's torso. It also had a slightly lumpy appearance, which caused the spiky haired teen to wonder just how many sandwiches Kairi had actually made for the three of them. Still, the fact that she even did so was touching to Sora.

"That's fine," the red and black clothed boy told her, waving away Kairi's concerns with several casual swings of his left hand. He saw Riku cross his arms and nod his head in agreement out of the corner of his eye.

"Nice to see you're thinking ahead. A certain someone could learn something from you," Riku spoke next, directing his words towards Kairi. The red haired girl giggled slightly while Sora's head snapped sharply towards his left.

The brown haired boy's gaze quickly settled on Riku and he demanded to know, "Just what do you mean by that?"

A small smirk blossomed on the other boy's face in response to his question. Cocking his head to his left, Riku closed his eyes and gave a slightly exaggerated shrug his shoulders. Opening his eyes, the silver haired teen threw his head back slightly and turned his gaze towards the sky. While he gazed at the clouds above, the silver haired boy said, "You'll figure it out someday… I hope."

"Why you-" Sora began, feeling honestly annoyed by the humor in his best friend's tone. He took a step towards the other teen as he spoke but his movements and speech came to a stop when Kairi decided to speak her peace.

"All right, all right. That's enough of that. Can we focus here for a few minutes, please?" Kairi called out to them, holding up her right hand as she spoke. Lowering her hand back to her side, Kairi saw Riku and Sora both turn to look at her without saying another word to each other. Nodding slightly in thanks, the auburn haired girl focused her gaze on Riku's blank face. "I've got some ideas for some other stuff we could bring. What about you? What do you think we can take, Riku?"

'Why is she asking him and not me,' Sora thought, a small frown appearing on his face as he looked towards the red haired girl. He couldn't help but feel a little hurt or jealous that she went to the older boy first. Perhaps he was still feeling a little annoyed by the silver haired teen's last taunt.

Unaware of what Sora was thinking, Riku hummed to himself in thought while he stood with arms crossed. After a moment, he said, "Well, fresh water is definitely a must here. I don't like the idea of taking it from the ocean while we're in the middle of our trip."

Both of his friends blanched at the idea of drinking the salty water. Kairi and Sora silently agreed with that idea but chose not to say anything just yet, wanting to hear what else Riku was going to say.

"Coconuts and berries wouldn't be bad either," the silver haired continued, ignoring or failing to notice what expressions his friends currently had on their faces. "There are edible mushrooms on this island too so we might as well grab some of those. A few bananas wouldn't be a bad idea either."

Wanting to start contributing to the discussion, Sora raised his left hand slightly above his head and asked, "What about some eggs and fish? They would be pretty good too."

To the spiky haired teen's surprise, Riku shook his head in the negative at his suggestion. Looking straight at Sora when he spoke next, the silver haired teen said, "We would have to cook them in order to ear and that means starting a fire. Probably not a good idea when we're stuck on a wooden raft in the middle of the ocean."

Wincing slightly, Sora lowered his arm and conceded the point. The red and black clothed boy silently admonished himself for momentarily forgetting that little detail. He definitely didn't want to burn down the raft before their journey was over. An act that would likely leave the three friends stranded in the middle of the ocean. Sora saw Kairi try to give him an encouraging smile out of the corner of his eyes but the spiky haired teen gave away no sign that he had noticed the expression on her face. Fully focusing his gaze back on Riku, Sora saw that the taller boy had uncrossed his arms and was now rubbing the back of his head with his right hand.

"Some grapes might be nice as well," Riku said after a moment, sounding unsure. Shrugging his shoulders after a short pause, the silver haired teen lowered his arm and said, "That's all I got, Kairi."

"That's more than enough, Riku," Kairi told him. There was a small smile on her face as she spoke. Lifting her gaze to the heavens, the redhead said, "I can head back into town and take care of the fruit. No one is going to pay me much attention if they see me going around looking for some in the market."

"All right then, we'll leave the berries, the grapes, and the bananas to you," Sora told her, looking straight at the redhead as he threw his right hand slightly to the side. Ignoring how Kairi turned her head to look at him, the spiky haired teen turned to regard Riku himself. "I guess that leaves us with the water, the coconuts, and the mushrooms."

"Kairi can probably take care of the water too once she gets back into town," Riku told him. Pointing at himself with his right thumb, Riku added, "I'll take care of the coconuts. You take care of the mushrooms."

"All right, sure," Sora spoke, shrugging lightly. He did feel a little irritated at being ordered around by Riku just now but it was an extremely weak feeling, one he was able to easily suppress. Hearing Kairi sigh loudly, Sora turned to look at her.

With her head resting against her upraised right hand, the auburn haired girl softly told herself, "Why do I feel like I am doing most of the work today?"

"Seems fair," Riku told her, sounding unbothered by the idea. Turning to look at him, Sora saw his friend was crouching down and reaching towards something with his left hand. Lowering his gaze, the spiky haired teen saw that a couple of wooden swords had been casually dropped onto the raft at some point.

'When did those get there?' Sora wondered to himself, placing his right hand on his hip while he watched Riku take hold of one of the makeshift weapon by the handle. The red and black clothed boy turned his gaze towards Riku's face when he heard the silver haired boy speak up.

"Think of it as payback for making the two of us do most of the heavy lifting," Riku told Kairi, straightening his posture as he did so. Out of the corner of his eye, Sora saw him wave his right arm in Sora's general direction while he stood up.

"Fine, whatever," Kairi told him offhandedly. Turning his gaze back to her, Sora saw that the auburn haired girl was kneeling down slightly. He watched her place the small formation of sea shells she was carrying on top of a small lightly yellow cloth resting on the raft. Another sea shell was already down there, resting alongside a pair of scissors with light blue handles and some discarded blue strings.

Straightening her posture, Kairi held up her right hand and smiled cheekily at her friends. "You two just make sure you do your part of the work today. And play nice now," she told them.

"What does she think we are? Little kids?" Sora asked himself. He didn't realize he had said that out loud until both of his friends turned to him. Riku's right eyebrow was slightly climbing up his forehead while Kairi covered her mouth with her right hand as she started giggling again. Rolling his eyes, Sora waved his right arm in dismissal. "Knock it off, Kairi."

"Sora. Here," Riku called out to him as Kairi's giggles died down. Turning to face his best friend, the red and black clothed boy saw the older teen throw a small white ball at him with his right hand. Catching it with his left hand, Sora realized from the feel of its texture that it was actually white paper bag. As he started to unfurl it, he heard Riku say, "Use that to carry the mushrooms you collect. Fill it up as much as you can and then come back."

"Got it. Thanks," Sora told him, not taking his eyes off of the bag he was currently unfolding. Once it was fully unfurled, he waved both hands up and down in front of him to straighten it a little more. Hearing the taller boy scoff at him, the spiky haired teen turned his head slightly and watched Riku walk towards the nearby trees.

Since he was holding the toy sword he just picked up with his right hand now, Riku waved his left hand in farewell. Without looking over his shoulder, the silver haired boy said, "I figured you wouldn't bother to bring one for yourself."

"And just what's that supposed to mean?" Sora demanded, taking a step forward. Kairi stepped into his line of sight, a warning look in her eyes as she silently told him not to start something. Huffing to himself, the spiky haired teen decided to acquiesce to her demand. However, he couldn't resist throwing a taunt back at Riku. Calling out to the slightly older boy, he said, "And just why are you carrying that sword? How is that supposed to help you collect the coconuts?"

Stopping by the base of a tree, Riku threw a confidant smile towards Sora over his right shoulder. The sight of it actually caused Sora's irritation to be replaced by confusion. Before he had a chance to say anything, Riku turned his focus back towards the tree in front of him. The taller boy proceeded to start whacking the thin grey trunk as hard as he could, hitting it over and over again. He was mostly swinging his makeshift weapon with one arm but occasionally held it with both hands when he attacked. The tree slightly shook in place under the fury of Riku's assault and several coconuts soon fell from its head. Bringing his assault to an end as soon as he saw the first one land in the sands, Riku took a step back and casually caught one of the falling coconuts with his left hand. He grinned triumphantly at Sora from where he stood.

The spiky haired teen could only deadpan at the sight. Ignoring the sound of Kairi lightly slapping herself in the face with her right hand, Sora thought to himself, 'Why do I suddenly get the feeling Riku picked the easy job today?'

Throwing his head back, Sora banished the thought as a loud sigh erupted from his mouth. Turning around and showing his back towards Riku, the spiky haired teen thought to himself, 'It doesn't matter. I've got my own stuff to deal with right now.'

Glancing down at the white paper bag he was now holding with his left hand alone, Sora took off to begin his search for mushrooms. While far from the most glamorous job he could be doing right now, it was still a job Sora agreed to do. And it needed to get done today, if Sora and his friends wanted to set sail tomorrow morning. If he hurried, the red and black clothed boy might be able to finish before his silver haired friend. That would be perfect.

As he walked away from the raft, ignoring Kairi as she casually followed him from a short distance, only one question resounded in Sora's mind.

'How hard can this be?'


Sometime Later,

After About An Hour Had Passed,

'I am feeling very frustrated right now,' Sora admitted to himself.

The spiky haired teen was currently walking across the flat wooden bridge connecting the two play islands together. The white paper bag, which he was currently holding with his right hand, swung lightly at his side as Sora moved away from the smaller play island. So far he had only managed to find two mushrooms and that wasn't nearly enough in his opinion. Fighting the urge to sigh in defeat, the red and black clothed boy thought to himself, 'There is no way I am going to beat Riku at this rate.'

The spiky haired teen had combed the entire northern section of the larger play island. The first mushroom he found had been located at the base of the rectangular hill, right up against the mountain. Sora found the second one after he had doubled back to the small forest on the northern beach. It had been pushed right up against the mountain by one of the tree trunks and it had been a struggle to get his arm to fit through the small divide in order to pick it up. Ignoring the way Riku would smirk at him while bringing several coconuts to the raft, Sora had left to try his luck on the southern side of the larger play island right after he collected the second mushroom. Finding not a single one near the wooden wall, he decided to check the smaller play island first. Unfortunately, getting on his hands and knees and digging through the shrubbery there had yielded nothing.

'If I had known this was going to be so hard I would have insisted on collecting the coconuts,' Sora thought, silently seething at Riku. Knowing the silver haired boy, he was probably done already and casually relaxing while waiting for Sora and Kairi to get back to the raft. As he came to stand on the tall hill poking out of the larger play island's mountain, Sora told himself, 'This is so unfair.'

"That was a total waste of time, Wakka!"

Caught off guard by the sudden shout, Sora stopped marching towards the wooden door directly before him and flinched where he stood. Recovering a moment later, Sora wondered, 'Was that Tidus? It sure sounded like him.'

Turning to his left, the spiky haired teen walked to the edge of the hill. Looking down below, he spotted Tidus and Wakka down below. The two boys were walking away from the small lake and the hole in the mountain. Tidus was walking slightly in front of his taller companion and running his hands all over his body, clearly attempting to dust himself off. The two of them appeared to be walking towards the docks. The two rowboats that had been positioned closest to Sora's had already disappeared because Selphie and Kairi had both left the islands at an earlier point in time. Their boats were gone well before Sora first set foot on the smaller play island today. Wondering what was going on with Tidus and Wakka, the spiky haired teen focused his gaze on the two of them as they continued walking towards the pier.

Slightly shorter than Sora, Tidus had a thin body, lightly tanned skin, blue eyes, and light brown hair. His hair was rather messy but resembled Riku's hairstyle the most despite several strands poking out from the top of his head in a manner similar to small curling spikes. The young islander wore a short sleeved shirt that seemed slightly too short for him right now and it was left open on the front, exposing his chest and stomach. The shirt was primarily colored yellow with a white outline but its sleeves were white with small yellow hems instead. Tidus also wore pitch black shorts. The pants legs of his shorts were of different lengths, with the left leg barely reaching the halfway point between his waist and left knee. The right pants legs went slightly further than Tidus' right knee. A zipper circled the longer pants leg, its location even with the hem of the shorter pants leg. Another zipper rested diagonally on Tidus' left hip, its presence likely identifying the location of a small pocket. Attached to the front of his shorts was a small fanny pack that Tidus wore facing forward. Another zipper cut diagonally over the front of the small pouch. Like Wakka, Tidus was also wearing sandals. His were primarily light brown with grey straps, the latter of which were pressing a small yellow cloth-like apparatus on to the top of his feet.

With his blitzball currently tucked under his left arm, Wakka walked with his right hand on the side of his neck as he cracked his head from side to side. He said, "Cool it, y'ah. Sure that place was a bummer but it's no reason to lose yer temper, man."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," Tidus told him, not sounding very apologetic as he waved his left arm in dismissal. He didn't sound irritated either however.

Neither boy bothered looking up at Sora's location before they turned their backs toward the hill he was standing on. Because of that, they failed to notice him peering down at them and listening to their conversation as they moved closer towards the small pier.

"Wonder who did all those chalk drawings we found on the walls. They didn't seem too old, y'ah," Wakka mused out loud, looking up at the sky and pulling his hand away from his neck. Tidus merely shrugged his shoulder as he continued walking in front of the taller boy.

"Who knows? Does it really matter though? There is nothing there but a bunch rocks and a lot of brown mushrooms," the sandy haired teen told his friend, sounding like he had finished calming down. Sora's ears perked up when he heard that last word.

'Mushrooms?' Sora thought to himself. Taking his eyes off Tidus and Wakka, the spiky haired boy turned his gaze towards the hole at the base of the mountain. He knew he had yet to check that place but he couldn't help but ask himself, 'Could it really be that simple?'

Tidus kept on talking, utterly heedless of the red and black clothed boy's silent question. Sora overheard him saying, "You sure those brown ones are edible, buddy? I am starting to feel a little hungry."

Looking back at the pair, Sora heard Wakka say, "Yeah, I recognized them. Ya'h can eat those mushrooms but I don't think ya'll like the taste, man. If yer feeling hungry, we can find something to eat in town and then get some guys together for a game afterwards."

A bark of laughter burst out of Tidus as the two boys began to pull out of Sora's hearing range. "Now that, Wakka my man, sounds like a good plan."

'So there actually are edible mushrooms back there,' Sora thought to himself, turning his gaze to once again to look down at the hole in the mountain. He shrugged his shoulders a moment later, deciding it was worth a shot to take a look. Glancing down at the white paper bag he was currently carrying, the spiky haired teen gave it a light shake while thinking, 'Hopefully I will find enough to fill this thing.'

Leaping down from the cliff, Sora landed with a small grunt on the sands. He just barely managed to keep himself from using his left hand to steady himself while he crouched. Rising up to his full height, he jumped out of the beach and onto solid ground. Ignoring the small wooden cottage to the right of his location, Sora looked to his left instead. A quick glance showed him that neither Wakka nor Tidus were looking in his direction right now. The two of them were too busy untying their rowboats from the pier. Not wanting to run the risk of them seeing him now and asking what he was doing, Sora quickly slung his white bag over his right shoulder and ran towards his destination. It was a short run and the base of the island's massive tree soon became a rather thick barrier between the spiky haired teen and the other two boys.

After slowing down to a brisk walk for the last few footsteps, the red and black clothed boy came to stand directly in front of the small entrance to the old hideout. For a long moment he just stood there, looking at the innocent hole in the mountain, wondering to himself if he should go in. Realizing he was hesitating and unable to decide why, Sora gave his head a wild shaking to get rid of his inexplicable nervousness. After that, he slapped himself on the forehead with his left hand.

"What is up with me?" he wondered aloud to himself, the words little more than a whisper. Pulling his hand away from his face, the red and black clothed boy looked up the mountainside. "It's not as if there is some sort of monster waiting for me in there."

A small chuckle burst out of Sora at that particular set of words. The spiky haired teen recalled how convinced he had been that one had made this cave its lair when he and Riku explored it for the first time. It turned out all that noise he had heard was nothing more than the wind coming through a hole in the ceiling. Sora couldn't help but smile at the memory and the nostalgia it brought helped settle his nerves. After lightly shaking his head again while silently chastising himself for being afraid of nothing, the spiky haired teen crouched down before the opening. Pinning the paper bag against his stomach with his right arm, he started to squeeze his way through the entrance to his old hideout.

'It's a little tighter than I remember,' Sora thought to himself a moment later. He found it rather difficult to pull himself into the small tunnel and the low ceiling soon forced him down to one knee. Unable to lift his left foreleg off the ground, the red and black clothed boy practically dragged himself into the tunnel using his right foot and left hand. It was very slow going but the spiky haired teen refused to give up. However, he couldn't help but wonder, 'How did someone as big as Wakka manage to get in here?'

Fortunately for Sora, the small tunnel he was traversing through grew wider as he pulled himself forward. Eventually, the ceiling rose up enough for him to once again walk on both feet, though he had to do so while hunched over. A few more steps and, to his immense relief, Sora was able to walk upright again. Rubbing his forehead with his left forearm briefly, Sora continued on his way. As he did so, he allowed the white paper bag he was carrying to fall back to his side now that there was enough room for him to carry it like that. Coming to the end of the passageway, Sora turned to his left and entered his old hideout, stepping past the roughly oval-shaped entranceway outline by two large tree roots.

The cavern was a still of a decent size, with brown dirt covering the ground and the sides comprising of nothing but smooth rocks of differing stacked on top of and against each other. A few roots from the giant tree outside were mixed into the naturally forming walls here and there. Due to the cavern's rather rounded shape, the formation of rocks closely resembled a rough bowl that had been flipped upside down. The ceiling had a fairly large hole in the middle of it, through which fresh air was constantly entering the hideout. A rock large enough to act as a stool poked out of the ground a few steps away from Sora's current location. It was pushed to the side slightly and was therefore not standing directly between the entranceway and the center of the cavern.

Many of the rocks here were adorned with all sorts of different drawings Sora, Kairi, and occasionally Riku had made using white chalk when they were younger. The spiky haired teen could tell at a glance which ones were his and which were not. He was a little ashamed to admit that his drawings were of a slightly lower quality compared to those made by his friends. Then again, Sora could admit to himself that drawing and painting was never really his strong suit. He didn't seem to have the right amount of patience for it, always rushing to get his creation done as soon as possible.

Pushing that aside, Sora focused his gaze on the one thing that had been in this cave long before he and Riku had first found it. Resembling a wooden door, the structure was lodged into the rocks on the other side of the cavern and it stood directly opposite the tunnel entrance. Still slightly taller than Sora, the door had a wide oval-shape that was partially cut off at the bottom. The structure appeared to be have two separate sections. These sections consisted of a rather thick light brown outline that framed the actual door, which was composed of dark brown wood. Yellow markings were engraved on the dark brown wood as. They mostly formed a line running down each side and the base of the construct while taking on a shape resembling two pairs of curling branches or hooks that refused to touch each other at the top of the door. A small yellow symbol resembling an extra curvy question mark without the dot or a stretched out S rested in between and below the four hooks.

Like the other wooden doors on this island, this one did not possess a window, making it impossible for Sora to see what lurked beyond it. It also lacked a doorknob, so it could not be easily opened. Sora and Riku had both tried multiple times to force it open by pushing against the door but it never budged, even when the two boys worked together. The two boys tried to pry it open with their fingers but that also never amounted to anything. One day, Riku took a sharp knife from his house without his parents noticing and tried to cut an opening. That didn't work either as the wood proved itself to be surprisingly sturdy and unrelenting despite Riku's determined assault. After that, the two boys and Kairi gave up on ever figuring out what was behind it. And over time, Sora just lost his interest in whatever could be lurking on the other side.

Unwilling to once again get dragged into the unsolvable mystery, Sora forced himself to look around the chamber. He was more than a little surprised to see that Tidus and Wakka had been telling the truth. There were multiple brown mushrooms sprouting out of the ground here, each of them standing by themselves in various locations on the ground. They definitely weren't here the last time Sora visited the hideout, further proof that it had been a long time since the red and black clothed boy had last set foot in this place. These mushrooms must have somehow just sprung up in his absence. Either way, the brown haired boy quickly went about collecting them, one at a time.

'Oh yeah, I hit the jackpot here, folks,' he thought to himself while peeling his fourth mushroom off the ground. 'I won't be able to take them all with just one bag but I know where to go now if Riku and Kairi ask me to collect some more.'

With that thought in mind, Sora darted across the small cavern, moving from mushroom to mushroom with a pleased grin stuck on his face the whole time. Bending down slightly as he came up to each mushroom, he carefully pulled it out of the ground with his left hand and dropped it into the bag he was carrying with his right hand. After collecting ten of them, twelve if Sora bothered to count the two he had in his bag before he entered the cavern, the spiky haired teen noticed that the bag was getting rather full. It would not be able to hold much more and there was at least another ten mushrooms scattered around the place. Wanting to collect at least one more, Sora looked for the mushroom closest to his position. Looking to his left, he saw one standing rather close to the strange wooden door, positioned almost directly between the object and Sora himself.

Quickly moving over to it, Sora went down to his right knee and reached for the mushroom with his left hand. With a simple tug, he pulled it out of the dirt covered ground. Rising to his feet yet still remaining hunched over, the spiky haired teen started to put it in his bag. Not bothering to watch his arm's progress, he started to lift up his head. The action drew his gaze towards the rock standing directly before him. Catching sight of the two small white chalk drawings engraved there, the spiky haired teen proceeded to freeze in place the very second before he dropped the mushroom he was holding in to the white paper bag. The only movement Sora made was a slight widening of his eyes as he looked upon two sketches innocently resting in front of his face.

The one on the left resembled the right side of Sora's face and hair, only completely bleached white as it faced the other image. The stone was left untouched in several areas to give the drawing a dark eyebrow, an equally dark eye, and a dark outline for the edges of the ear. Opposite it was a much more poorly done rendition of Kairi's face, which was looking back at the sketch of Sora's own. The white chalk was primarily used to outline the shape of Kairi's head, her mouth, the extra wild strands of her hair, and her left eyeball. Everything else was left untouched.

'Man, I really was bad at this,' Sora thought to himself as soon as the shock wore off. Pulling himself to his full height after dropping the mushroom he was holding into his white paper bag, the spiky haired teen looked down at the two pictures he and Kairi had made with a small fond smile glued to his face. The red and black clothed boy couldn't recall exactly when they did these sketches but at least a year had passed since Sora first showed Kairi this cave. The auburn haired girl did the image of Sora at the same time as the fourteen year old boy did her face. 'I am glad Kairi never made fun of me for this.'

Slowly coming down to his right knee, Sora gently set the bag of mushrooms he was holding down beside him. As he let go of it, his left forearm came to rest on his left knee. For a long moment, Sora just gazed at the two drawings before him, trying his hardest to commit their appearance to memory. It would probably be a long time before he ever set foot in this cave again and the spiky haired teen found himself regretting the fact that he didn't spend more time here with his friends recently.

'Maybe we should all pay this place one last visit before we head home today,' Sora thought to himself, thinking of Riku and Kairi as he did so. He wasn't sure how they would feel about such a suggestion but the brown haired boy vowed to at least bring it up at some point.

He found he rather liked the idea and he eventually started to gently run his right forefinger across the white portions of the one he had made. Sora was careful not to press down too hard as he did so, not wanting to risk the slim possibility of smudging the image, and his finger moved very slowly. The spiky haired teen felt as if he could almost recall every step of the process he went through while making this sketch, from the first strike all the way to the last.

'I really was bad at this,' Sora told himself, well aware that he was repeating that line. He couldn't help but smile at the admission. While he felt his drawing skills had improved with time, it wasn't nearly as much as his sword fighting skills. Fortunately, being a poor artist was one of the few things the red and black clothed boy didn't mind his friends making fun of him for.

Still, with the sudden thought that he was a better drawer in mind, Sora's smile turned into a very soft frown. Looking down at the drawing, the red and black clothed boy wondered, 'Should I try and fix it? Maybe add something to it?'

After a few short seconds had passed, Sora pulled his right hand away from the sketch and waved his right hand in dismissal of the thought. Rolling his eyes, the spiky haired teen told himself, 'I'll probably just ruin it. Besides, it's about time I went back to the raft. I don't know about Kairi but Riku is probably waiting for me.'

That said, Sora pushed himself up with his right hand on the ground and rose to his full height. Closing his eyes, he arched his back slightly and raised his arms to the ceiling as far as they could go while standing on the tips of his bare toes. Once he was done with that momentary stretch, Sora opened his eyes and turned his back to the two sketches. The red and black clothed boy was careful not to touch the bag of mushrooms beside him with his leg as he moved. He would have reached for said bag the moment after he completed his turn had he not caught sight of something that shouldn't be in the cavern right now.

Another person. And someone the spiky haired teen did not recognize.

"Wow," Sora cried out in shock at the sight, throwing his hands in front of his test and taking a sudden step back with his right foot. The action caused the base of the spiky haired teen's heel to come into contact with the rock directly behind him. At the same time, his leg jostled the white paper bag beside him and caused it to fall onto its side, spilling some of its contents. Heedless of this, Sora called out to his unexpected guest and demanded to know, "Who's there?"

The newcomer, whoever they were, was standing in a small alcove on the other side of the cavern. The fissure was close to the cave's tunnel entrance and more than large enough for this person to hide in it. Despite standing rather casually in the center of the alcove, the shadows seems to cling to the figure in a semi-serious attempt to obscure them from Sora's eyes. It didn't work as Sora could make out that this person as dressed in a hooded brown robe that possessed long billowing sleeves. The robe was rather plain and worn-looking, with its only ornamentation being a pair of dark reddish-brown leather straps forming an X over the chest and back. Five metal studs were located in a row on each strap, with one stud being covered by another where the two straps crossed over the mysterious person's chest. This person's hands were tucked into his or her sleeves and kept hidden from view. The hood was also pulled up over the figure's head, their face complete consumed by darkness. The figure's feet were shield from view by the base of the brown robe. Despite standing slightly hunched over, the figure was still taller than Sora, leading him to believe this person was an adult.

Seeing that no response was coming to his sudden question, Sora frowned slightly. Pulling his right foot forward slightly, he lowered his arms and called out to the figure again. With a calm voice he asked the hooded person, "Hello? Can you hear me?"

This time the mysterious figure chose to speak up. The sound of their voice identified the hooded figure as a man and Sora was pretty sure he had never in his life heard someone speak with such a deep voice. Ignoring all of Sora's questions, the robed individual stated, "I've come to see the door to this world."

"What?" Sora asked him, caught off guard by that particular phrase. The spiky haired teen found himself wondering what this person was talking about as he looked at the hooded man with wide eyes. 'Door to this world. What is he talking about?'

Turning his gaze slightly to the right, Sora eyed the roughly oval shaped wooden construct to his right. The red and black clothed boy made sure to keep the stranger in the corner of his vision as he did so. He asked himself, 'Is that what he is talking about? Does he know how to open it?'

Ignoring Sora's actions, the man continued speaking. "It is tied to the darkness," the mysterious man spoke, his tone sounding like he was stating a fact and not speaking directly to Sora right now. The words drew the brown haired boy's blue eyes back to the stranger's cloaked form. "Soon to be completely eclipsed."

There was something ominous in those words and it caused a chill to crawl down Sora's spine while he gazed at the hooded person. The spiky haired teen did not know why they affected him like that by they still did. It was making him start to feel a little irritated deep down. Sora noticed that the mysterious man had yet to move an inch from where he had been standing when Sora first laid eyes on him. The spiky haired teen could not help but feel there was something unnatural about the stooped stranger's lack of movement. This feeling only further heightened his unease, which was starting to feel like something close to fear.

Unwilling to admit he was feeling this way and unhappy that this hooded figure was drawing such an emotion out of him just by speaking, Sora chose to lash out. Raising his right hand before his face, the red and black clothed boy curled the attached fingers into a fist. Shaking the newly made fist in the stranger's direction, Sora demanded, "Whoever you are, knock it off. Stop freaking me out like this."

The stranger gave no response to the spiky haired teen's words. If he made any sort of physical gesture, such as cocking his own head to the side slightly, it was perfectly masked by the brown robe he was wearing. The shadows under his hood were still pitch black, preventing Sora from seeing any portion of the mystery man's face. The red and black clothed boy had no way of knowing if this person was even looking at him right now, despite the rim of the man's hood being turned in his direction.

'What is up with this guy?' Sora wondered to himself, narrowing his eyes as he lowered his fist to his side. His frowned deepened as he tried to recall if he had ever heard the man's voice before, hoping to uncover his identity. Finding no answer in his memories, the spiky haired teen could only conclude that he had no idea who this person was. That only made him more unsettled.

'Who is this guy? How did he get here? When did he get here?' Sora asked himself, firing off a new question before he had the chance to even think up an answer for the one that came before it. The brown haired boy knew for a fact that the mysterious stranger had not been standing in that alcove when he first arrived. It had been one of the first places Sora had gone to in order to collect some mushrooms. Two of the mushrooms currently in his bag were resting in that very spot before Sora picked them up.

Seeing that the silence between them wasn't bringing him anymore closer to getting answers to the questions swirling in his head, Sora reluctantly decided to speak up again. He tried to sound brave and commanding but failed to full reach it. At the very least, the spiky haired teen did not think he sounded as nervous as he currently felt. He asked the hooded man, "How did you get here? Where did you come from?"

The mysterious man spoke up as soon as Sora was done talking. However, he once again failed to answer any of the spiky haired teen's question when he did so. Instead he said, "You do not yet know what lies beyond the door."

The stranger sounded genuinely disappointed by that fact, which almost caused the annoyance brewing in the spiky haired teen's chest to surpass his unease. His words, however, confirmed Sora's theories that he was talking about the wooden door directly to the fourteen year old's right. This hooded man, whoever he was, knew what this door was and where it led to. Were it not for the two emotions fighting for dominance in his chest right now, Sora might have been happily asking this person how to open it. Now however, he chose to ask him something else.

"You're not from the islands, are you?" Sora asked him, more for the sake of getting those words out than anything else. The stranger made no reply to that question and simply stood in place. If he actually bothered to nod or shake his head in response to the question, the darkness obscuring his face made it impossible for Sora to see the motion. Still the spiky haired teen took a step forward with his left foot and he said, "Are you… from another world?"

The red and black clothed boy wasn't sure what prompted that question. Perhaps it was his desire to go out and see other worlds that made him bring it up. But, considering his inability to recognize the stranger's voice, the hooded figure being from another island or distance world did indeed seem very likely. The Destiny Islands were a small community, everybody knew everybody else's name and the sound of their voices. Unless this man had somehow changed or disguised his voice before coming here, there was no way he could be from the Destiny Islands. Though the stranger did not visibly react, that particular question managed to prompt him to speak up. This time, Sora could detect a faint tone of annoyance in his deep voice while he spoke.

"There is so very much to learn. You understand so little," the hooded man told him. He made the words like he was accusing Sora of committing a crime, if not an outright insult. That was the last straw for the spiky haired teen. His frustration quickly overwhelmed his unease and instinctively reacted to the strange man's cold remark.

"Oh yeah," Sora snapped, taking another step forward and raising his right fist in front of himself again. If this man wanted a fight, the red and black clothed boy was more than ready to give it to him. How tough could this guy be? The red and black clothed boy loudly said, "Well, you'll see. I'm going to get out and learn what's out there."

"A meaningless effort," replied the stranger, speaking up the very second Sora was done making his sudden declaration. His cloaked form still didn't make even the slightest of twitch where he stood but his tone was firmly dismissing Sora's words. He told Sora, "One who knows nothing can understand nothing,"

'What is up with this guy?' Sora thought to himself, lips peeling back slightly as a growl of frustration erupted from his mouth. Not even Riku had ever sounded this sure of himself or treated Sora's opinion as absolutely irrelevant. 'It's like he's convinced he has all the answers or something.'

Not wanting to look at the strange man anymore, Sora instead turned his head to the right and stared at the strange door. For the first time in a long time, the spiky haired teen wondered what secrets were lurking on the other side. Sora didn't know what he was expecting to see but when his eyes finally landed on the wooden object nothing about the thing had changed since the last time he looked at it. Despite a fair part of him having expected this, the young islander could not help but feel a little disappointed. His frown deepening, the red and black clothed boy turned his gaze back towards the hooded man's location. Sora's eyes widened as soon as they came to land on the alcove.

The empty alcove.

'He's gone,' Sora thought to himself, completely surprised by this discovery. The shock was almost as great as the one he had felt when he first noticed the strange man. The spiky haired teen even leaned back slightly while stretching his arms forward, the fingers on his hands spread wide before him. 'When did he…?'

Dropping that train of thought for the moment, Sora ran to the entrance way, leaving his bag of mushrooms behind without throwing a single glance its way. Skidding slightly on the ground as he came to a stop, Sora grabbed a hold of the root on the entryway's left side. Leaning into the rounded teen, the spiky haired teen peered down its length in hopes of spotting the hooded man in the middle of his escape. He found no sign of him there. All the spiky haired teen saw was the dirt, rocks, and gravel that made up the makeshift corridor.

'There's no way, he went out this way,' Sora told himself. The young islander couldn't believe someone so hunched over could run and crawl at the speed it would have taken him to leave that way without Sora noticing. Especially without making a sound. Besides, the stranger must have been slightly taller than Wakka. Would he have even been able to fit through the cave's opening?

Looking down at the ground, Sora frowned in confusion when he saw no new compressions in the ground to indicate someone had walked over it. The only foots prints he saw, faint as they were, belonged to Wakka, Tidus, and himself. And they were fading fast. Pulling himself out of the tunnel's opening, the red and black clothed boy looked back at the alcove. He saw no footprints to indicate the hooded man had just been standing there for a fair length of time either.

'Was that all in my head?' Sora thought to himself, feeling unsettled by this discovery. He tossed the idea aside a moment later with a violent shake of his head, considering the very thought ridiculous. 'What was up with that guy?'

Deciding not to mention he met the strange man to his friends, Sora turned backed to the wooden door and walked over to where he had left the bag of mushrooms. He sighed slightly when he saw that the bag had fallen on its side, spilling almost half of its contents into the ground.

Bending down, he took hold of the bag with his left hand this time and pulled it back into proper positioning. The movement caused another mushroom to fall onto the ground. With his right hand, Sora picked up all seven of them and placed them back inside the white paper bag one at a time.

Lifting his gaze once he put the last mushroom into the bag, Sora's eyes once again fell on the two drawings of him and Kairi. For a split second, his mind overflowed with the memory of him and Kairi kneeling down before this rock while they scratched its surface with a white chalk. The red and black clothed boy almost smiled at the memory but the surprise appearance of that strange man had completely ruined his return to the old hideout for him. Now, he just wanted to complete his business and get out of here. Whether or not he would come back here later today and invite his best friends along for the visit remained to be seen.

'I wonder if there is enough time left for me to catch up to Wakka and Tidus so I can join in their game,' Sora thought to himself. He needed to do something fun after that strange meeting just now. Hopefully it will help him forget this unexpected encounter or, at least, drive away the strange unease he had felt while listening to the man.

Looking to his left, the spiky haired teen once again looked at the strange wooden door. He found himself wondering what the hooded figure meant when he called it the door to this world. Forcing himself to believe they were just mad ramblings a moment later, Sora pulled himself to his full height and lifted the white paper bag off the ground with his left hand. Tearing his eyes away from the wooden door, he pulled the bag and its contents against his chest and held it there with his right forearm. Once he was certain the bag wasn't going to fall or spill its contents, Sora let go of its handles with his left hand,

Carrying the bag just like that, Sora turned towards the cavern's entrance and started walking back towards it. While he moved at a casual pace, he was still determined to get out of here and find something to help him forget his encounter with the strange hooded man. Because of that, the spiky haired teen never once thought to throw one last glance at the strange wooden door behind him as he made his exit from the underground cavern.

Perhaps that was the wisest choice he could have made. Had he actually gone towards the strange door and pressed his ear against the dark brown wood, he might have been able to hear an extremely faint sound coming from it for the first time in his life. A sound that seemed to originate from the other side of the structure.

A sound that greatly resembled the sound of many small sharp objects scratching against wood.


And cut.

A bit of an ominous cliffhanger but it is a good place to end this. I know I may have sidelined Kairi for most of this chapter but these things happen frequently in various chapters in actual books and episodes in TV shows. They should not happen repeatedly throughout different games in a series, especially if said person is supposed to be one of the main cast.

Writing Wakka's unique speech was a pain. I might not continue it if we see him again later. And as promised, I skip the race between Sora and Riku this time. I wasn't entirely sure how to write it and the words wouldn't come out the few times I tried. I lengthened the conversation between Sora and Riku to give Kairi the excuse to come to their location at the very last second before they both agreed to compete over what to call the raft. In canon, Kairi did say that she was feeling afraid at some point about the prospect of going on their journey and people tend to lash out when they are afraid. In this case, I made it so that Kairi doesn't have a tolerance for the boy's tom foolery today, at least until they get their work done, and that this emotion was what ultimately pushed Kairi to create her lucky charm.

As you can see I changed the food supplies around a bit. I am not too sure why they had us collecting fish and a bird egg in canon as those were foods the three teens would have to cook while out on the raft. Since they didn't have access to a stove, their only option would be to start a fire. As Riku pointed it out, not a good idea while on a wooden raft in the middle of the ocean. So I increased the amount of mushrooms and gave Kairi the task of collecting a large amount of fruit instead of just standing around waiting for Sora to collect everything.

I used the increase in mushrooms to avoid having Sora draw the paopu fruit on the wall as in canon. Looking back that was our first actual clue that Sora was genuinely interested in Kairi as it was only implied twice in a previous cutscene, not directly stated. As this series will likely not be SoKai and fourteen is a little too young for me to support the idea of Sora pursuing a serious romantic relationship right now, I turned the secret spot into a mushroom garden and had Sora collect eleven of them to give you-know-who (yes, I don't mean Voldemort) the time he needed to make his unexpected appearance. That was probably the only part of this chapter I enjoyed writing.

No promises about any violence next chapter but we will definitely be seeing a certain pair of Disney characters once again when it comes out. I forgot to mention at an earlier chapter but when I started writing this story I considered switching the roles of a certain Disney trio around just for fun. It didn't quite have the same feel to it no matter which combo I tried and the idea of making the tall one the King of Disney Castle actually caused me to wake up in the middle of night and ask myself what I was thinking. So, we will be going with their canon positions in Disney Castle.

Anyway, that's all for today folks. Props up to anyone who can guess where all the different names I had Sora list came from. :)