A/N: Here is the ninth chapter of the story! Thank god that exam is officially over, but I FAILED. Holy Crap. I have to brace myself to be chewed by my parents... arr.

Thank you for talesfangirl and roxy mccartney(sorry that this chapter didn't reach to what I had promised because it's so damn long...) for the beloved reviews, and for Dark-Wing-Blader and renmarie for the addition to favorites/alerts list!

And WOOT! More than twenty reviews and more than 1900 hits! Seriously, I feel really loved!



Falling; they were falling from the Sky- again. Riku was getting bored of the clich that made them fall from the sky each and every time that they had crossed the borders of the realms. Maybe they would end up splashing into the harmless sea- again.

They were falling head-first to the world below them, and with the help of gravity force blood had started rushing quickly to the head- it made him feel nauseous. Sora was obviously panicking in the background for the height of the fall, and Aqua seemed to be dizzy of the high velocity they were moving into.

Until Riku realized that they were moving in an accelerated pace- not towards a sea like usual- but instead, they were plunging to the seashore. 'Holy crap,' he thought- That's going to hurt- a lot.

"Don't say we're going to have our head smashed by hitting that!" Sora almost screamed. His mind was practically haunted with images about his doom. "Damn, I wish gravity is nonexistent!"

In a split second of thought, Riku summoned his Way to Dawn, and charged up power for a magic spell in midair. He waited for the right time- as the duration of the spell needs some calculating and timing, then when they almost reached the ground- in which point Sora was flailing and Aqua was getting to dizzy to even concentrate-

He defied the gravity itself.

"Release the bounds of earth, Zero Gravira!"The silver-haired boy managed to choke out in the last seconds before their impact to the sandy ground. A black-colored circle appeared on their landing point, and before the two others knew anything about it, they were floating in mid-air. Riku took advantage of the spell's effect and balanced himself for the landing.

Sora was having difficulty in this- as he was flailing his arms around- trying to get in the right position. Aqua quickly flipped her position, so that the pressure inside her head, caused by the immense amount of blood, would finally cease to be. At the same time, she also braced herself for the incoming drop.

Not a long time later, the spell had tired out.

"Ouch!"

Riku and Aqua had landed safely on the ground, so the silver-haired boy turned only to see Sora had actually fell back-first into the sands; exactly the reason why the brunette had shouted. He then offered a hand, which his friend gleefully accepted. Riku then pulled the fellow keyblade wielder up.

"Uh, thanks..." Sora muttered, scratching his head. He looked down upon the sands so that he would able to hide his face from the silver-haired boy.

"If you really are sorry you should have been more careful," Riku answered, withdrawing his hand from Sora's. "Then again, it was quite an entertainment I had, seeing the hero fall such embarrassingly."

"Riku, you..!" Sora growled playfully, and then attempted to pounce at him. Of course a 'stop it, you two' from Aqua managed to stop them from doing any further. Then, they stopped to see the surroundings. The nostalgic smell of the sea, the rising tide, and the sound of the waves- they all seem familiar to the three of them.

"Could this be Destiny Islands?" Sora asked, recalling his homeland that he had not visited for long- he had left for more than one and half a year.

"No, guess again," Riku pointed to a point further from the shore. "I see lights there. And I don't remember that the shores of Destiny Islands are this populated..." he pointed at the remains of someone having barbecue on the sands. The smell of charcoal and roasted meat had become too unbearable for them.

"If I remember it..." Sora trailed off. "How long has it been since we've eaten?" he counted inside his mind, using his fingers as a tool to help him count the numbers. "Like, months?"

"But there's no point in eating when we don't get hungry at all,"

"Yes..." Sora whined a little, defeat striking him hard like a bunch of stones thrown mercilessly into his head. His body was limp, practically only relying on to his feet so that he would not fall forward. "So, this is a populated area, right? Should we get to the nearest inn or should we set up tents?" he asked, head perked up again.

"I don't even need to answer that," Riku said his left hand scratching his head, and the other one pointing out right behind them. "Look"

Aqua and Sora turned their respective heads to the direction Riku was pointing- and immediately they found a large, wooden building- and it even had a sign that reads "Kauai Resort" printed in large, red alphabets- conveniently lit up with a couple of torches.

The trio just had to be amazed when they saw the building in front of them, and the fact that they had been ignoring it all the time.

"Ah, how convenient..." Aqua said, in a loss of any more words to say- her eyes wide and her hands stiff- sometimes twitching, as if she was grabbing something solid with her bare hands.

"How long have it been since I have visited a world that ACTUALLY have inns?" Sora half-protested, clenching his fists in a manner that was used to hold down one's own anger - but he didn't just stand there- he immediately took a step first into the building's rather spacious entrance. "Come on- we're not going to waste our time here, are we?" he called to the other two,

"Of course not I'm not some airhead with Zero sense of balance!" Riku joked as he ran towards the brunette. Aqua watched the two buddies in glee and followed them inside- yelling, "Wait for me, you guys!"



When the trio had entered the inn's building, they found out the insides of the inn is not very different from any other inns. Quaint, peaceful, it was almost too peaceful. Sora could have sworn that the one and only inn he had crossed during his journey had been choked full with Heartless roaming around in every nook and cranny. Thankfully they were not very powerful as to be able to break the barrier his magician friend had created to protect them during their stay, but the sounds were rather unnerving for those who had only heard it recently.

The receptionist seemed to have dozed off- then Sora looked at the tropical-themed clock that was positioned above the sleeping worker- it showed 2 A.M; no wonder that he was still very exhausted. But they need a place to stay in anyway... they decided to wake him up.

"Uh, sir," Riku poked the man's tanned arm, which was folded along with the other one to act as a comfortable cushion for him to take a day's rest. After a few more poking attempts and several calls meant to wake the worker up softly, the man finally raised his head to see Riku- and he promptly shifted into his rightful position- as a receptionist, of course.

"Uh..." the receptionist stared at the clock for a moment. "Good Morning sir, how can I be of service?" he asked nicely, though the silver-haired boy could have sworn he had been cursing about the guests' untimely entrance. After all, the expression on his face clearly showed so.

"Yes," Riku answered, getting straight to the point. "We would like two rooms for the night,"

The receptionist stifled a yawn, and then he punched several numbers into the cash register. "And that, sir, will be 60 dollars,"

At this, Riku was taken aback. The only currency he had on in his hands was munny. He had been on and away into Radiant Garden, Twilight Town, and many other worlds that accepted munny as a payment... wait a second.

The other shops were run by the moogles, which generally use munny as their currency of shopping. He had never attended real shops that originated from these worlds.

And this particular world just happened to have a different currency. Damn...

"I don't have any dollars, but..." The silver-haired boy reached out for his pocket, rummaged for a bit, and then he pulled out several bluish-yellow gems from inside. Then, he put the 60 munny on the table. "I hope this would suffice."

The receptionist then stood still like a statue, his widened stare of disbelief aimed straight at the gems that Riku had offered to him as a payment. Then he regained his composure, took his own wallet, and slipped three pieces of printed paper, each one bearing the writing of 'twenty dollars' and slipped it into the cash register before slamming it close.

"Sweet cakes!" he exclaimed. "I must be dreaming right about now," the receptionist kept on telling himself that- so much that it had started to sound like a mantra of madness. He eyed the gems, as if they were items conjured by his imagination- a hallucination, no less. Then he started pinching himself in an effort to make sure that it was really not a dream.

"Uh- are you all right, sir?" Riku asked nervously. He was afraid that he might have snapped one of the important parts of the receptionist's nerve system. And that would be awful- for him and poor receptionist.

"Oh?" The receptionist asked, seeming to have momentarily forgotten about the existence of his customer. "About it, yes- you can stay, as long as you wish," he said, greed being visible on his face when he pocketed the munny. Then he handed them a couple of keys each labeled with numbers- 313 and 314. "The rooms are on the third floor."

And with this, Riku left. That had left the receptionist to mutter on how he would buy a ring for his lover among many other things that he would like to do with the fortune.

"So, how'd it go?" Aqua had asked the silver-haired boy when he had returned from the reception counter.

"Well, I got us two rooms..." Riku answered, playing with the keys. He spun the ring around, letting the metal keys make a jingling sound as they hit against each other.

"Sweet!" Sora exclaimed. Then he quickly snatched the keys and ran upstairs to the third floor.

"You won't believe me," Riku said, getting Aqua's attention. "That I only paid 60 munny for two rooms, and the receptionist said that we get to stay here as long as we like,"

"How generous of him," the Keyblade master answered, partly not believing what Riku had just said to her. "I just hope the room he gave us is not a janitor's..."

"Exactly what I'm thinking," Riku agreed to her and let Aqua go up the stairs first before he followed.

Fortunately, the rooms they got were not janitor rooms at all. Actually it was a pretty nice room, quite ventilated, and best of all, there two beds inside each room. Because Sora had gone and barged inside the room 314, Aqua decided to take room 313, because of gender factor and all.

"Good night," the blue-haired girl said, referring to the silver-haired boy and the sleeping brunette inside room 314.

"Yeah, good night for you, too" Riku answered before closing the door and shut off the light, enjoying the soft surface of the bed he had not enjoyed in about a year and a half's worth.



"Seriously, you two eat like pigs,"

"I can't help it! It's been MONTHS since I've last eaten anything!"

"Me too,"

Aqua, Sora and Riku walked out of the inn after they had their breakfast, chatting along the way. They were rather... surprised that the beach was already bustling with life even at 10 a.m.- there were already merchants selling goods and souvenirs, children playing with the beach sand, teenagers and adults alike swimming and enjoying the sea waves.

"Wow, so different from Destiny Islands," the brunette commented, in awe at the bustling crowd in front of him. "Thank god we haven't seen any Heartless, or it'd be a mess." With this comment, Aqua and Riku can't help but nod, their brain imagining the horror that would sprout if there were Heartless roaming around the area.

"Come on, Sora." Riku grabbed his friend's hand, dragging them into the more crowded part of the beach. "Let's enjoy when we're at it, huh?" In reflex, Sora grabbed Aqua's wrist, dragging her along with them. "Wanna come too? The more the better!" the blue haired girl smiled at this, and she also held Sora's arm. The three of them then marched to the beach.



"That's cheating, Riku!" Sora complained as his silver-haired friend took off first, having thrown his shirt and vest into the nearest bench and took off with a yellow surfboard. "You had a kick start!"

"You're just too slow!" Riku taunted, turning around to see that Sora had also discarded his shirt and vest, and was running towards him with a black surfboard. Aqua was right behind them, the draping pieces of fabric that formerly hung on her waist placed on the top of the pile of garments the boys had formed when they had removed their clothes.

But in the middle, someone had poked the blue-haired girl, forcing her to stop. The boys seemed to not notice this and went straight to where the waves are present. Aqua turned to face several men whose faces she didn't even recognize.

"Hey missy," one of the strangers said, stepping into a dangerous distance from her. "You seem like you could use a company..."

Slightly terrified, but mostly disgusted by these men, Aqua took a slight step back from the three. "Thank you, but I have companions..." she said, of course mentioning Riku and Sora, who were busy surfing behind her.

"Ah, but they're not here now, are they?" the three stepped closer to her, making the keyblade master grit her teeth. She was about to send a kick flying to these disgusting men...

But she was a cut short when a blue, fluffy ball went past her and smacked one of the molesters square in the face. The process repeated as the ball bounced at the three assailants' faces, alternating from one person to another, until their faces are red from the hits.

"Why, you-!" one of the ball's victims attempted to attack Aqua, thinking the ball was of her deed. He was about to punch her on the gut when he promptly screamed, before falling to the sand, following his comrades.

Gnawing at his feet was a blue creature with big beady eyes, its figure a weird mix between a rabbit, a koala and a dog. It growled fiercely, and then released its bite, muttering what sounded like "Bad guy!"

The three, terrified by the animal that had been the ball hitting them square in the face, immediately took a thousand steps away from Aqua and it. The creature turned at them, gleefully laughing at the terrified action of the 'bad guys'.

Aqua raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the unique creature that seemed to be very familiar to her. Big eyes, blue fur, a wild tendency, big ears... why does it all connect together?

Then all of the clues rang in her head. It was the creature she met in the spaceship in the Lanes Between. Sure, it lost a pair of legs and a pair of antenna, but its behavior and other physical features were unmistakable. It was experiment 626, the 'abomination' that was to be imprisoned inside the space ship. But how did it end up here- was it released of its good behavior?

"Stitch!" a childish voice called. A black-haired girl ran from the other side of the beach to get to her pet animal. "Let's go home- Nani is waiting for us." Then she looked up to Aqua. "Sorry about Stitch- he can get a little bit wild at times,"

The creature looked sorry, looking at Aqua with its big, beady, pleading eyes. "Suh - ree... AhKooWah..." then it followed its master away from the beach. Aqua stared at the air in confusion- did it just call her name?

Not long after, she saw Riku and Sora running past her, surfboards abandoned and in a hurry. They immediately wore their shirts and vests, accompanying their wet pants, and shouted for her. Aqua went over and tied the light ultramarine fabric across her waist, a little bit confused.

"What's going on?" Aqua was absolutely clueless on why they would seem in such a panic.

"Riku said there's something fishy going on in the forests," Sora answered, pointing towards a forest located about a kilometer from their location. "Maybe Heartless, or something,"

"I'm not sure myself..." the silver-haired boy added, "But I can smell the darkness being concentrated inside there." He pulled the zipper for his shirt. "That can't be anything good,"



A/N: This chapter is supposed to reach the scene until the three of them would have to fight, but the delay to that was so friggin' long that I'm afraid that the second part of the story won't get so much word count- and I decided to cut out the chapter here. Seriously- more than 2000 words woth nothing significant happening except me fooling around with theories. Geez...

Please review and tell me what you think about this filler-like chapter! Some craziness and action will ensue next chapter, feel free to kill me if I didn't do it. And for the poll, please vote on it as well! Because I need to come up with the plots, the poll will be closed the time I posted two chapters after this. Hurry up, folks!

With devotion to YOU - from the Author.