Initially, the Second District was clear of any people. It also had shops and the homes of residents lined up- clothing, hand bags, and footwear. There were all kinds of shops in the district, but I could see that they were all currently closed to the public.

"Weird, there's no one here," Sora said, walking up to the stone railing. He gazed down at the empty park area below but saw nothing of interest.

I sighed and folded my arms out of disappointment.

All of the residents were either in their homes or the First District, but that was just what I was assuming. Maybe they wanted to live privately. It was hard to say since we only just got to this world.

I walked along with Sora for a little while longer but stopped when I saw a sign for a hotel across the way. We had been walking and running around for a long time now, and I hardly rested since that incident. "Hey, Sora, what do you say we check out that building over there?" I pitched the idea to Sora.

He followed my point with his eyes and considered it.

"But, we haven't found Riku or Kairi yet," he said, scratching the back of his head. "They might still be out there, you know."

"Well, sure, but how are we supposed to keep up with them if we don't have the strength," I rolled my eyes. Pointing back at the doors to the hotel, I encouraged him to further consider taking some time to rest. "Besides, it's dark out. We should look for them when the sun comes up."

Sora still had some protest left in him, but he gave in in the end. The hotel was still open, too, so we were on our way to check for available rooms. That was when a man came running by. It looked like he was in a hurry to get somewhere, but then I noticed his hand gripping his chest. He was stumbling along with sweat pouring from his forehead.

The man tried to turn the corner but a heavy stone caught his foot, and he fell to the ground in a heap.

I took a step forward, wanting to see if he was okay. However, seeing the look of fear on his face told me that he was not alright. Something happened down the street, and he was left in pain.

"Hey, that guy needs help!" Sora shouted out and was about to run over to the fallen man, but I stopped him.

"No, wait," I said, holding Sora by the arm.

Just then, a spark of light flashed in the center of the man's chest. It pulsed for a moment until a heart came flying out from his fatigued body. The heart floated along into a mass of darkness that opened up. We were shocked to see that darkness transform into a monster with red claws and a silver helmet.

The monster had yellow, beady eyes, just like the ones that took away our home. It was saddening to us that we could not help him, but his body faded away moments later. That strange monster disappeared afterward and fled to some other part of the town.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." I said in a quiet voice.

However, before we could go on to a safe place, shadows rising from the ground cut us off from the hotel and the way back to the other district. They had us surrounded in an instant, but our still mysterious weapons flashed into our hands.

It was a fight they wanted, so it was a fight that we were going to give.

Sora and I breezed through the Shadows and fled from the area. Those creatures that were the very same as the ones that attacked islands were swarming the Second District. The First District, which was thriving with life before, became a very dark place.

Mere hours had passed and the district was being overrun with monsters. People scattered and fled to shelter when swarms of Shadows flooded the place, leaving only the two of us to face them.

As dangerous as it was, we were as ready as we could possibly be. I split up from Sora to tackle the group of monsters close by, and I took them all out with my weapon as he handled the others. There were probably hundreds of them, but we quickly finished them off together and cleared out the First District.

I leaned against the wall as soon as I thought it was clear and rested. Not only was I tired but Sora, too. He plopped down on one of the stair steps and took in deep breaths.

"They'll come at you from out of nowhere, as long as you brats continue to wield the Keyblades."

Out of the blue, a man appeared a few yards away from where we were. He was tall and had a scar running diagonally across the bridge of his nose. Under his foot was one of the Shadows, but it was quickly done away with when he stabbed his large sword into it. That man was frighteningly accurate with it.

I held my key-sword-thing close as the man took another couple of steps towards us.

"Who are you?" I demanded his name.

"Why are there two?" he ignored my question. His head shook, and he pinched the bridge of his nose as if mulling over whatever details there were in his head. "I don't know why a couple of kids like you would have Keyblades, but that doesn't matter. Now, let me see those Keyblades."

Keyblade...?

The man must have meant the giant swords shaped like keys. So, that was what this thing was called. I examined the chained blade again as the word bounced in my head.

"There's no way we're letting you have these," Sora spat back.

"All right, then have it your way," the man shrugged his broad shoulders, and rested his sword on his right shoulder.

I wanted to avoid fighting him in the middle of the town, mainly because he looked really strong. But, then Sora rushed off ahead and started his clash against the scar man. That meant that I had to fight, too. We worked together and fought like we did against each other. As well as our apparent enemy did against our combined effort, he was backed into a corner.

The battle in the First District went on, until I struck the swordsman in the side of the leg with my Keyblade.

We were all panting and gasping for air, but the swordsman was the only one who dropped to one knee. He was the loser of this match.

I huffed and dropped the end of the Keyblade to the ground. The muscles in my arms were burning intensely and were numbed by the exertion of my power, It was worth it in the end, but I was ready to collapse.

As for Sora, he was stumbling back and leaned against the light pole. "Now... you're... gonna... you're gonna..." he slurred. Sora was unable to finish his sentence when he fell on his back in the patch of grass around the pole. He was out cold from all the fighting.

I gritted my teeth when the swordsman got back to his feet.

Was he still up for a fight?!

"Aw, you're slipping, Leon."

A black-haired girl suddenly appeared by the Accessory Shop. She wore a yellow scarf and an outfit that made her look like a ninja. "I went easy on them," the man named Leon told her. The duo approached us, but I got in front of Sora to protect him while he was down. Even if there were two of them, I still had enough fight in me to hopefully prevent them from taking Sora. Leon and the girl halted for a moment, then looked to one another. "It looks like things are worse than we thought."

"Yup," she nodded. "So, what are we going to do about these kids?"

"Let's take them to the hotel," he spoke up after a few minutes of glaring at me. "It's not safe out here."

I narrowed my eyes and gripped the Keyblade's hilt tightly. "What do you plan on doing to us?" I asked.

"You can relax," Leon said, walking passed me to Sora. He picked the silver and gold Keyblade out from his hand, and held it away from my friend. With his other arm, Leon lifted Sora over his shoulder and turned back to me with a hint of a smirk. "The hotel is the safest place right now. Come with us, and we'll talk more."