In a Dream World covered in sandy beaches, beautiful mountainous scenery, palm trees, walked a young five year old girl wearing a red muumuu with white palm leaf designs all over it and sandals on her feet. Her hair was black and she was carrying a red dog collar in her hand. She looked like she was looking for someone…or more appropriately, something. She kept walking along down a small pathway with a sad look on her face. As she passed an old burnt down house, the front door unexpectedly opened. She paused as she saw four people emerge.
"Where are we?" Sora asked confused.
"Not sure. I know we're in someone's dreams, but whose?" Roxas said as Axel shut the door behind them.
"Uh guys. You might want to ix-nay on the ream-day." Axel said as he noticed the girl who was giving them all a curious look.
"Oh, hello there." Namine said sweetly as the girl cocked her head to one side.
"Are you four going to a Halloween convention?" the girl asked.
"Huh? Oh, no we're not. But we're not from around here." Namine said as the girl looked down at the empty leash.
"Then have any of you seen my dog? He's got blue fur and he looks like a koala." The girl said as the four shook their heads.
"Sorry. I'm afraid we haven't. But we'll keep an eye out for it." Sora said as the girl sighed despairingly.
"Thanks anyway." The girl replied as she started walking on down the road.
"Hey! What's your name?" Roxas asked as the girl stopped and turned around to face them.
"I'm Lilo. What are your names?" the girl asked.
"I'm Sora, and this is Roxas, Namine, and Axel." Sora introduced.
"Got it Memorized?" Axel asked as Lilo smiled slightly.
"Nice to have met you all." Lilo said as she turned and continued walking off.
"Well she didn't seem to be having her dreams hijacked." Axel said as Namine looked puzzled.
"But there's something wrong here. I could feel it in her memories. She remembers having her dog in her possession one moment but then without warning, some…shark thing just grabbed him and took him away." Namine said as Sora looked thoughtful.
"Did you see what the dog looked like?" Sora asked as Namine nodded. She then put a mental image of it in Sora's mind. Sora immediately looked surprised.
"WAIT A MINUTE! I know that dog! That's Stitch!" Sora exclaimed.
"Stitch?" the other three asked confused.
"Yeah! He helped me, Donald, and Goofy, out on our last adventure whenever I summoned him!" Sora explained as Namine searched his memories and sure enough there were very clear memories of Stitch in his mind.
"He's telling the truth. He knows who we're looking for!" Namine said.
"Then let's see if we can find Stitch. Come on guys let's go!" Sora said as he and Namine ran off but Axel and Roxas both looked around curiously.
"Do you feel that, Axel?" Roxas asked as Axel nodded.
"That strange feeling that we're being watched, oh yeah." Axel replied as they started walking along after Sora and Namine.
"We better be careful, we don't know what kind of enemies we could run into…maybe even…" Roxas said as Axel nodded knowingly.
"Yeah I know." Axel said.
"Hey! Are you guys okay?" Namine shouted back to the two.
"Yeah we're coming!" Axel shouted back as he and Roxas picked up the pace. As they walked on, they eventually found themselves in the middle of a small seaside town that very much reminded Sora of the Destiny Islands.
"Where are we?" Sora asked.
"I know this place isn't the Destiny Islands but I know that this place is very similar in appearance." Namine said as Roxas nodded.
"A little too similar." Roxas replied.
"How keen of you to notice." A familiar voice said from nearby. They immediately summoned their weapons and looked around. Roxas then spotted Dark Sora standing atop a nearby building with her hood up. Her face was still visible through the hood.
"You! Where's Kairi! What have you done with her?" Sora asked angrily.
"You know, for a fake, you're pretty persistent, but yet very single-minded. How you managed to defeat Darkside is indeed a mystery to me. However, the fact alone that you defeated him tells me that I cannot simply trust a meager Heartless to do the job for me. You know I wonder if you're my nightmare." Dark Sora said as Sora gritted his teeth in anger.
"If you want a fight then you'll get it!" Sora said as Dark Sora chuckled in delight.
"As much as I would love to fight you myself, I'm afraid that I just don't have the time. Instead I leave you with…an old friend of mine." Dark Sora said as she stretched her arm straight out to the side and opened a Corridor of Darkness. From it emerged another hooded figure.
"I'll leave you all to get reacquainted." Dark Sora said with a laugh as she vanished in another Corridor of Darkness.
"Alright! Who are you?" Roxas asked as the figure remained still and silent. They then noticed large streaks of water flowing up towards a glowing sphere of energy above the figure's head. Suddenly the figure reached its right hand up above its head but the sphere unexpectedly burst into a large puddle. The figure stood there for a moment before looking around curiously and confused looking.
"Where am I? What is this place? What am I doing in these clothes? Wait a minute…WHO AM I?" the figure asked. The four on the ground were each blinking in disbelief.
"Wait a minute, I recognize that voice." Axel said as Roxas nodded.
"Me too." He said.
"Now that you mention it, so do I." Sora said as the figure looked down and saw the four. He immediately leapt down to the ground and threw back the hood, exposing his blond haired mullet. Axel, Roxas, and Sora immediately recognized him.
"DEMYX!" they each yelled in unison as they brandished their weapons. Demyx however looked at them totally confused.
"Oh so that's my name huh? Strange it was on the tip of my tongue and I just couldn't seem to remember it." Demyx said.
"You mean, you don't remember who you are?" Sora asked confused.
"Well…you say my name is Demyx and you all seem to recognize me. But what's strange is that the two of you look familiar…" Demyx said pointing to Roxas and Axel.
"…but you two don't look familiar at all." Demyx then said pointing to Namine and Sora.
"You don't even remember us?" Axel asked curiously.
"Like I said, you look familiar but I just can't seem to place how I know you and where I know you from. I also know there was something I was supposed to do but I just can't seem to remember what it was. Oh wait I remember something! I was supposed to help some guy named…Gan...Gan…What was it, Gan…oh this is going to make me go crazy." Demyx said as Axel leaned over to Roxas.
"Too late." He muttered.
"What should we do with him? He's obviously on that evil me's side and he's probably helping to do her dirty work here." Sora said as Roxas looked over his shoulder at Demyx who was leaning against a wall, tapping on his forehead as he tried to think.
"He is but there's something…I dunno, "off" about him." Roxas said as Axel nodded.
"Yeah, he looks like Demyx, sounds like Demyx, heck he even acts a little like Demyx but he just doesn't…feel like Demyx." Axel said as Namine glanced at the confused Melodious Nocturne. She then narrowed her eyes in confusion.
"Odd…his memories are all scrambled, confused, messed up. It's like someone took a long chain and broke it link by link and then dumped all the broken links into a bucket. But the links are slowly joining back together. I can't make any sense of it." Namine said as they all pondered.
"Gantu! That's the name! Gantu!" Demyx declared excitedly.
"Well he's remembered that part." Axel said.
"But who's this Gantu guy?" Sora asked.
"I don't know but we better find out. If this Gantu is working for this Dark Sora character, then we need to do what we can to keep him from damaging this and any other Dream Worlds out there." Namine said as the others nodded in agreement.
"Then what do we do?" Sora asked.
"We split into two groups. Axel and I in one group, you and Namine in another." Roxas replied as the others nodded.
"What if we find something?" Axel asked.
"Simple, we send a Firaga blast into the air or some form of magic that the others can see and hear." Roxas replied as the others nodded in agreement.
"Alright, then let's split up." Sora said as they started heading in opposite directions, leaving Demyx behind to ponder to him.
"I know there was something that I was supposed to do to those four…but what is it?" Demyx asked as he leaned back in thought against the building.
Meanwhile…
In the middle of a jungle clearing, a very tall dark skinned shark like creature stomped his flat round feet into the center of the clearing. On his back was a large glass capsule and within the capsule was a small blue furred koala looking creature with four arms, two legs, a pair of antennae, and three strange spines on his back.
"Lousy little trog. You're more trouble than you're worth." The large shark like creature grumbled with a deep voice.
"Ah be very careful with Experiment 626. 626 is greatest creation and must be handled with great care." A fat four eyed alien said with a thick accent as he emerged from the bushes with a very thin one eyed green alien behind him in official looking blue clothes.
"Whatever. Here's the abomination." The man said as he reached for the glass capsule off his back. But he found nothing there.
"What in the world?" He asked as he spun around to face Dark Sora square in the eyes. Floating in the air attached to a chain made of purple smoke was the glass capsule with Stitch inside.
"What! When did you get here?" He asked confused.
"A moment ago. I just thought I would speed up your progress, Captain Gantu. My master needs experiment 626 so that she might be able to create new minions for her army to conquer the worlds." Dark Sora said as the three aliens looked at her surprised.
"Ah HA! Exactly what 626 was designed for! Total annihilation of civilization! He will back up sewers, reverse street signs, and steal everyone's left shoe!" the fat Alien, Jumba, declared excitedly and proudly.
"Along with the little monster's abilities to think faster than a computer, along with being bulletproof, fireproof, shockproof, as well as see in the dark and lift things three thousand times his own weight!" the thin one eyed one, Pleakley, reminded.
"Naga! Stitch not want to leave!" Stitch said from inside the tube, earning surprised looks from everyone present.
"Oh I almost forgot about the little human girl who he seems to have made friends with. Apparently little girl gave 626 the name, Stitch." Jumba said.
"I am not interested in whatever friends this creature has made. He is coming with me, one way or another." Dark Sora said as Pleakley scratched his "chin."
"Say, who did you say you worked for?" Pleakley asked curiously.
"That, is not your concern." Dark Sora said as she raised her Keyblade. Stitch instantly recognized the weapon.
"(Gasp) Sora!" he exclaimed excitedly as he started bouncing around inside the tube.
"Pipe down you little trog!" Dark Sora shouted as she aimed her Keyblade at Stitch.
"Sora? Sora part of Stitch Ohana? Sora not remember Stitch?" Stitch asked confused and a little hurt.
"I have no recollection of ever encountering such a disgusting creature." Dark Sora said as she pulled back the hood, revealing her face which caused Stitch to blink in surprise.
"Sora?" Stitch asked confused.
"Shut up you little abomination!" Gantu said as he grabbed the tube in his large three fingered hands.
"Careful you buffoon or you'll let him-!" Dark Sora warned but it was too late as the lid popped open on the tube and Stitch immediately escaped.
"Naga Ohana!" Stitch shouted at Dark Sora before running off into the woods.
"As disastrous as that was. This could work to our advantage. If 626 believes that Sora is his enemy now, and if that fake managed to defeat Demyx, then perhaps 626 will finish the fake off. Then once he's tired out, we can capture him again and I can take him to my master." Dark Sora said with a sinister smirk.
"Then I'll be ready to recapture the little abomination." Gantu said as he loaded a net into his gun before stalking off after Stitch.
"I on the other hand have business to tend to elsewhere. I'll be relying on the two of you to bring 626 to this location. Don't let him escape." Dark Sora said as she handed Jumba and Pleakley an object wrapped in paper and then disappeared in a Corridor of Darkness.
"Jumba, I really don't think this is someone we want to be dealing with here. Perhaps we shouldn't do this." Pleakley said as Jumba looked at the object in his large hands. He blinked his four eyes a few times in contemplation before pocketing it.
"We'll make a decision later. But first we must locate Experiment 626 and re-apprehend him." Jumba said as he and Pleakley started walking off after Gantu.
"But between you and me, I do not like this Sora person either. That voice is female yet the face is male. Something is very strange with this person." Jumba said as Pleakley nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile…
In a dark and lonely chamber sat Kairi, with a chain attached to her left ankle. Kairi looked up towards the ceiling, at the single beam of light shooting down from the surface, illuminating a light purple floor with a strange zigzagging black design beneath it. Karin sighed as she reached for the chain and pulled on it. The chain rattled and tightened as if attached to something heavy. Kairi could feel whatever it was, wasn't attached to anything so that meant, with enough strength, that she could move around the room. She started tugging again before hearing someone grunt in the darkness.
"Huh? Who's there?" Kairi asked as she heard the chain rattling again, from the darkness emerged an older girl who was about eighteen years old, was taller than Kairi, and had light pink colored hair. Her hair was tied in a ponytail on the left side of her head which went all the way down to her chest. She wore a red pleated skirt lined with black lace, a white sleeveless dress shirt, a semi-transparent sweeper in the same style of the shirt. She also wore thigh-highs, ankle boots, and a white bandage on her left arm. She was shackled around her left ankle as well.
"Sorry I didn't know someone else was in here." The girl said as Kairi smiled.
"It's okay, neither did I. So why are you here?" Kairi asked as the girl sat down next to her in the light.
"I don't know. All I can figure is that it has something to do with the Dreamer's Star." The girl replied.
"The what?" Kairi asked curiously.
"The Dreamer's Star. I know more about it than anyone in the whole of the Dream Worlds. That's why they kidnapped me. So why are you here?" the girl asked.
"I think it's because I'm a Princess of Heart. I don't suppose you know what that is, do you?" Kairi asked as the girl shook her head sheepishly.
"Sorry. Afraid I don't. I'm Serah, by the way." The girl said as Kairi smiled.
"I'm Kairi." Kairi replied as they shook hands.
"So Kairi, you see any hope of our escaping here?" Serah asked.
"Well…If I could see a little better, maybe. But don't worry. Sora will save us." Kairi said as Serah looked at her confused.
"Who's Sora? Is she your sister or something?" Serah asked as Kairi rolled onto her back with laughter.
"Sora's not a sister! He's my…" Kairi said as she blushed.
"Oh I get it. Sora's your boyfriend. So is he some kind of super soldier or something?" Serah asked as Kairi thought for a moment.
"Well…kinda. He's got a sword unlike any other." Kairi said as Serah shrugged.
"Well then I guess we'll just have to see if he makes it." Serah said as Kairi nodded in agreement.
End Chapter 7.
Serah is indeed Serah Farron from Final Fantasy XIII