I groaned and got up to my feet. The landing was a little rough, and I hit my head on a piece of wood sticking out from the sand, but I was alright.

The gusts of wind were still running amok, but I only felt winds equivalent to a strong breeze. It blew my hair from side to side, but I felt no calm just yet. Not when I was standing on only a portion of the island that was broken off from the rest. I found no way off it, only the way to a giant monster towering above us. It looked menacing with the glow of the giant vortex above shining down on us.

It had wild vines of hair, yellow eyes, and a hole in its chest that looked like a heart.

"T-That's the monster from my dream," Sora blurted.

...This huge black THING swallowed me up! I couldn't breath, I couldn't...

His words from the other day replayed in my head. So, that was the thing he was talking about back then. It made sense now. That thing was going to try, and we were on its list of prey to eat.

In my left hand, that strange sword appeared again. Sora's also flashed into his hands. "I guess we have to fight it," I gulped but got into my fighting position.

The two of us fought as hard as we could against the giant monster, taking on different approaches to beating it.

Sora targeted the hands when they were low enough. His best opportunity came when the monster Shadow slammed its claws into the ground, which caused for more tiny Shadows to come up. He also took care of them when he could, reducing the number of problems we had down to one.

I climbed up that same arm and targeted the head. It looked like the most vulnerable place to me, so I swung my weapon at it and did what damage I could.

After we beat it up to the best of our ability, the giant monster stopped attacking. It froze in place as the storm-tossed island rose closer to the vortex. I stumbled on its shoulder and fell to the ground when it stood up.

"Ugh!" I grunted. My body hit the ground hard, but I was still conscious.

Sora was over by a boat protruding from the sand was. He was trying his hardest to hang on to one of the broken boards, but his fingers were bound to loosen. I was crawling over to him, but a hand plucked me off the ground. It was the monster we had just beaten, but it was still up for a fight.

I struggled against its grip, but it was much too strong for me to break free from.

This isn't good, I realized as I rose into the sky with the monster still holding onto me.

There was nothing Sora could do for me, nor was there anything I could do. I was helplessly being dragged into the vortex, into the great unknown. Sora was screaming my name, I was sure, but his voice was muffled by the raging winds. I was too occupied with the sinister force pulling me in to bother crying out for my friends.

And then, as the darkness smothered me... I blacked out.


Streetlights lined up along the street, lighting up the eternal night. Donald and Goofy entered the town through a large gate, marking their arrival at Traverse Town. They were in new attire, for the security of the world order was a priority. Both fancied the brand new look. Even Pluto had on a new collar, but there was no need for anything else.

Goofy looked around with interest at all the sights to see, but he was falling behind Donald's faster pace. Something more interesting than the numerous shops and other buildings caught his attention.

He looked up at the night sky to see all of the stars, for something prompted him to focus his gaze on one of those countless stars.

Was it a voice?

The knight in disguise had not a clue, but he knew very well that something serious was going on.

He noticed the star's peculiar twinkling, and he called out to Donald to look at it, too. "Look, a star's goin' out!" he announced.

The star flashed brightly once and was gone in the next instant. Yet another one had gone out since their departure, signaling to them that the destruction their king warned them of was nearing.

"Come on," Donald urged Goofy onward. "We have to hurry!"

As far as they knew, Traverse Town was still a safe place. They walked all over town in search of Leon and the "key", but they found neither one. It took them hours to go around the whole of the First District, but the group of outsiders ended up back in the middle of the district.

"Where's that key..." Donald grumbled to himself, folding his arms.

Goofy was still lax about it and ignored the complaints from his friend. "Hey, ya know, maybe we ought to go find Leon," he suggested. "The king did say that he'd point us in the right direction."

At the top of the steps, the group got a little... divided in direction. Pluto was sniffing the ground, for a peculiar scent lured his skilled nose. Donald was going in the opposite direction, away from the alley that Pluto was heading over to. Goofy stopped and shifted his focus from Pluto to Donald.

"Uh, Donald. Ya know, I betcha that..."

"Aw, what do you know, you big palooka?" Donald waved his hand at Goofy and continued on the other way. He was too irritated to bother with his companion to concern himself with the "misguided" direction of the dog.

Goofy scratched his head and thought about it for a moment.

"Hm... What do I know?" he asked no one in particular. "Come on, Pluto!"

The sniffing animal did not immediately heed to the call. Rather, he continued to scout the alley, until finding a collapsed boy slumped against a grouping of crates. His arms were covered in scratches and bruises, but he was still breathing. Pluto licked the boy's face to wake him up, but he stirred in his apparent sleep. Not wanting him to fall back asleep, Pluto pounced and forcibly woke him up.

"Wah!" the boy yelped, and jumped to his feet. "I'm not dreaming!"

He groaned and looked around the dark alley. It did not look like home to him, which was a major concern to the boy.

"Where am I? Oh, boy... I'd better find the others."