As soon as Kairi and the others were all up, they thought about where to go next. "I say we should go someplace familiar," said Daisy. "Somewhere that Sora and his friends have been to, maybe?"

"Good idea," said Minnie. "That way, we'll know what to expect. Only question is…which one?"

Rydia pointed at a dot marked "Port Royal." "What's this place?" she asked.

"Sora told me that it's an old-fashioned town near the ocean. He says there's pirates, and cursed gold, and – "

"Cool!" exclaimed Rydia.

"No way!" said Terra. "Rydia, pirates aren't 'cool.' They're dangerous!"

"Maybe later," said Kairi.

She took a good look at the map. "How about here?" she said, pointing to Agrabah's spot on the map.

"That's a possibility," said Minnie. "Sora has friends there, right?"

"Sora has friends everywhere," laughed Kairi.

"What's Agrabah like?" asked Terra.

"I've heard that it's a desert kingdom full of magic and mystery," answered Daisy. "That's a good idea. We should go there."

Rydia wasn't so sure. "But I hate it when it's too hot!" she complained. "It's a desert!"

"We'll be fine," said Minnie. "I know a water spell or two. If you get thirsty, I think it's safe to drink. Though, I don't know how good it'll taste…"

Kairi looked at Minnie, Daisy, and their long dresses. "You want something a little better for hot weather?" she asked.

"Good point," said Terra. "You should probably buy something when we get there. Kairi, I think you'll be OK. I'll probably be fine, too. And Rydia, what you're wearing looks OK."

"Alright," said Kairi. "Let's go."

They beamed down behind a building, where, thankfully, no one saw them. "Ugh, it is hot here," groaned Rydia.

"You'll live," said Terra.

The five of them ventured out into the street. This one seemed relatively quiet, with only a few people walking by. So the group kept walking.

The next street they reached was a lot busier. There were several merchants there, selling all kinds of things.

Rydia ran over to one of them, who appeared to be selling little sculptures. "Look at these!" she squealed. "They're so cute!"

She picked up a little sculpture of a cat. "I love it!"

The merchant grinned. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he said. "And it's cheap, too. Only – "

But Rydia had already found something else. "These fruits look delicious!" she said, holding up something that vaguely resembled a mango. "I've never seen them before, and I am kinda hungry. How much are they?"

A few moments later, Rydia was munching on the fruit. "It's good!" she said, looking up at Terra. "You should try it."

"I think I'll pass," said Terra.

They walked through the streets, searching for a clothing shop. "Man, these salesmen are awfully pushy, aren't they?" groaned Kairi.

"Well, it's how they make their living," said Minnie.

"Yeah, but still. It's obnoxious. Reminds me of this total tourist trap I went to once, when Mom and Dad and I were on vacation."

"What's a tourist trap?" asked Rydia, who'd just finished her fruit.

Kairi thought for a moment. "It's a place that sounds cool, but really isn't that great. Usually, you end up spending more than you would have liked."

"Ugh," groaned Rydia.

After a while, they finally found a clothing store. Minnie and Daisy ended up each buying a simple cloth dress, Minnie's in a pale pink and Daisy's in white. "Do you have a fitting room?" asked Daisy.

"A fitting room? What's that?" asked the vendor.

"Umm…" started Minnie.

"It's a room where you try on clothes to make sure they fit you," answered Terra.

The vendor shrugged. "These look like they'll fit. Tell you what, if they don't, I'll let you trade them in for another size."

"Thank you," said Minnie.

So they went back to the ship to put them on. Sure enough, they fit perfectly. "Those look really good on you!" exclaimed Terra.

The two of them took a look at each other. "They do," said Daisy. "Looks like we made a good choice."

When they went back down, the scene looked entirely different. The whole street was panicking. The people were screaming, the vendors looked terrified. A few of them were packing up and leaving. There were far less random people on the street than there had been.

Kairi ran up to the clothing seller. "What's going on?" she asked.

"That creature…" the merchant whispered. "It's attacked again."

"What creature?" asked Rydia.

"You don't know? There's this dark monster that's been stealing from the merchants here. It's been attacking without warning, for the past month or so. We don't know why it keeps coming, but it's terrible for business. Fewer and fewer people are coming here, and most of the usual vendors have left."

"Sounds like a big problem," said Terra.

"It sure is. I don't know how much longer I can stick around here. After all, how long will it be until it goes after me?"

The group walked off into an alleyway, and began to discuss the problem. "Do you think this has to do with the creature we're after?" asked Minnie.

"Who cares?" shouted Rydia. "We've got to help them out. It doesn't matter whether it has to do with that guy. If people need our help, we help them!"

"But what about the others?" said Daisy. "We can't waste too much time. We don't know how much time our friends have!"

"True," said Kairi. "But if the people here need us, we can't just forget that. I say we at least investigate what's going on."

"All right…" sighed Daisy.

So they went back to the street, and went up to another merchant. "So…" said Terra. "What do you know about the creature that's been attacking?"

The woman there shrugged. "Not much. All I know is that it appears out of nowhere, attacking people and stealing goods. Then after a while, it goes away. I've never actually seen it, but I know someone who has."

"Who?" asked Kairi.

The woman pointed to the left. "Over that way, a few streets down, there's a fortune-teller who says she's seen it. She even says she knows where it lives."

"Are you serious?" blurted Rydia. "Thanks!"

She turned to Terra. "Let's go!"

The five of them walked down the street, turned left, and walked a few streets down. It was soon clear what they were looking for.

Most of the buildings on the street were simple brown houses. But one of them was painted white. In front of the building were several brightly colored pots, jars, and other interesting objects.

Kairi walked up to the door, and the others followed. She knocked on the door, and waited.

After a few seconds, a middle-aged woman answered the door. She wore what appeared to have once been a simple brown dress. Now, it was adorned with all sorts of strange things, from feathers to beads to what looked like clumps of fur. She wore her long black hair in a braid.

The woman looked irritated. "If you want your fortune told, you'd better have something good to trade," she said. "It doesn't come cheap these days."

Kairi took a deep breath. "That's not what we're here for," she said. "We're here because we've heard that you know about the thing that's been attacking the merchants."

The woman's expression didn't change. "What do you have to give me? You got something?"

The group was silent. "Well, come back when you do," the woman snapped.

She slammed the door, leaving the group frustrated. "What DO we have?" asked Rydia.

"Doesn't sound like she wants cash," said Minnie. "Too bad. That would be easy."

"We could go back to the street where all the vendors were, and then we could buy something," suggested Terra.

"It'd need to be something unusual," said Kairi. "It seems like she knows the merchants. She probably knows what they sell."

But they decided that they had little choice. They went back to the street, and found that more people had come back to sell things.

They looked around for a bit, but couldn't find anything interesting. Then, Terra noticed someone a ways away from the rest of them. He appeared to be selling jewelry.

Terra got the others to come over. "Welcome," said the merchant, a tall, very skinny young man. "Are you interested in any of these?"

Kairi looked over the jewelry, trying to decide what the fortune-teller would want. She finally decided on the most extravagant thing she could see: a large pendant edged with some sort of metal. "That one," she said, pointing.

The man smiled. "Interesting choice."

Soon after, the five of them were back at the woman's door. "Oh, it's you again," she said. "You got something for me? I don't tell fortunes or give gossip without something to trade for it."

Kairi handed her the necklace. The fortune-teller took a good long look at it, turning it over and looking hard at it. Finally, she looked at them. "This'll do," she said. "Come in."

The group followed her into her house. It was lit by a hole in the ceiling, and it was full of more unusual things, even more fascinating than the things outside. Kairi figured that a lot of it was things people had traded her for her services.

The fortune teller pointed to a rug on the floor. "Sit," she said.

Once everyone was seated, the woman began. "So, that creature, hm? I have seen it."

"So we've heard," said Daisy.

"It is a strange thing. The size of a man, but with skin as black as night. Its eyes glow golden, and it wears a brown cloak. It appears out of nowhere, and raids the shops on the streets, and at the bazaar. Whatever object it touches will vanish, any person it touches will be struck with a horrible, deep terror. It takes hours to calm them down."

"Doesn't sound like the thing that's been taking people," Minnie whispered to Daisy.

"I've also heard that you think you know where it lives," said Kairi. "Can you take us there?"

The woman's face went pale. "Of course not! I don't want to be killed!"

She smiled. "But I can tell you. You seem a brave girl, and your friends as well. Perhaps you can get rid of it."

"So where is it?" asked Rydia.

"Go west of the city. If you look closely, there's a stone there somewhere. If you were to move the stone, there would be something there. But that is all I know. I'm not sure if this is it, but that stone was not there before the creature came."

The woman grinned. "If you can get rid of the creature, I would be glad to read your fortunes. And I'm sure that the merchants would reward you as well, if you so desired."

"Thank you," said Terra. "We'll do our best."