Hey! Part III of the Traverse Town arc. Don't worry, it won't be much longer, but I had to do this chapter because it also explains a lot of things, some things that only apply to this fan fiction. Also, I don't intend on doing a lot of the worlds, at most, just important snippets from Kingdom Hearts I. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

"Ugh…where am I?" Sora woke up dazed. The first thing he noticed is that he was in a comfortable bed, laying there without the sheets over him. For a minute, the brunette thought he was back home, in his comfortable bed, and everything that happened was simply a bad dream. That notion was crushed as he realized too many things out of place. First, he was still in his day clothes, covered in water, dust, and sand. When his vision started clearing up from being dazed, he looked around a rather green room, with a circular wooden table at the center, a wardrobe across the room from where his bed was, and a mirror hanging over the wardrobe. There was a large window with glass doors in the middle that opened out to a balcony, which overlooked a street. There were also three doors, one along the same wall as the bed, another opposing that door on the opposite side of the room, and a third perpendicular to his bed. The last thing out of place was the man who knocked him out, a girl who looked like a ninja, and his keyblade lying against the wall.

"Good, you're awake," Leon stated apathetically. Sora flinched seeing the man who knocked him out and scooted to the opposite side of the bed.

"Don't worry, he won't knock you out again," Yuffie reassured and gave Leon a nagging, but playful glare, "Won't you Squall?"

"For the last time Yuffie, it's Leon," Leon sighed, "Sorry though, it was the only way to get you here."

"Where am I? Why did you want my keyblade? And what the heck happened to my island?"

"You're in a hotel in the Second District," Yuffie explained, "as for your island, well…if you're here then likely it was taken by the Heartless."

"You mean the creatures that attacked me?" Sora asked.

"Yes. Those creatures, the Heartless, are physical manifestations of corrupted emotions that take monstrous form. When someone becomes a Heartless, their heart is sent to a place called Kingdom Hearts. In the place of that person spawns a Heartless. They pry hearts from anything that can feel emotion and turn their prey into a Heartless, multiplying like a virus."

"What about my parents? Riku? My other friends and family?" Sora begged.

"I don't know," Yuffie admitted, "only people who are either saved by somebody or is lucky enough not to succumb to darkness make it here. Most usually disappear."

Sora's expression grew somber and Leon even was astonished by Yuffie's lack of compassion. Leon went over and leaned against a wall closer to Sora.

"Look, we might not be able to confirm if everyone is OK. The least I can say is not to give up. It frightens me to say it, but you were chosen to become the Key to All Worlds."

"What does that mean?" Sora asked.

"The keyblade over there," Leon pointed to the key, "is a weapon…"

"…that is meant to maintain the balance between the worlds. {1} I know that, but what makes this key so special?" Sora asked.

Leon looked surprised that Sora knew anything, but dropped it, "That Key was created to seal the doorways of Worlds threatened by the darkness in the Realm of Light. The Key to All Worlds was a keyblade especially made for this purpose. There also exists an Anti-blade, the Key's opposite, which was meant to seal the keyholes in the Realm of Darkness. With the two blades combined, it is rumored that sealing the Door to Darkness can bring back fallen worlds taken by the Heartless."

"I see then," Sora took it all in, "but who then has the Anti-blade?"

"The King is trying to look for it as we speak," Leon walked over to the keyblade lying against the wall. He picked it up and swung it in the middle of the air. Soon after, a light veiled around the keyblade and it disappeared. The light reappeared in Sora's hand and the keyblade with it. Sora looked at the keyblade in awe, then with determination.

That's when the door swung open.

"Radiant Gardens?" Kairi asked, "That was…"

"A place we heard of from our Master," I finished her sentence and gave her a glare saying don't tell them. Kairi looked puzzled, but nodded, figuring it was for the best.

Silence filled the room, something I was grateful for just this once.

Radiant Gardens, or rather Hollow Bastion, hasn't been completely lost.

I didn't know what to feel. Part of me felt relieved at the fact that my home wasn't completely lost. That, perhaps, everything I loved still had a chance of going back to what it used to be. Not to mention the invaluable research notes that Master Ansem possessed may still be there. Or possibly, even Xehanort's notes on the Heartless.

But another part of me couldn't help but be worried by this as well. If Radiant – no – Hollow Bastion wasn't lost yet, it doesn't necessarily mean the world isn't still captive to the darkness or else Cloud and Tifa would have returned to their former home already. It's also likely true that someone had to have been guiding the Heartless this whole time, someone who knew Hollow Bastion was key to opening the Door to Darkness as well as someone who knew when another world is open to the Darkness, the Realm of Light will connect to the Realm of Darkness, therefore granting the Heartless access to every world.

It only takes one link, one link to allow many more to arise. This not only applies for people but for the worlds. I remembered Master Eraqus telling me.

Someone with that much knowledge of the Heartless could be using Hollow Bastion as a base, since the world was a key world for the Heartless. Even worse, that same person could have found Master Ansem's research notes and are using them to fasten the pace of not only just destroying the worlds with the Heartless from the dark realm, but, in fact, guiding the Heartless efficiently to the Key Worlds, trying to find the Keyhole and succumbing those worlds to darkness.

Then there was the Heart of All Worlds. The Keyholes were originally in place to seal off the Great Heart (as some call it) after the Keyblade War. However, these keyholes were reopened after the Door to Darkness was reopened. No one knew if the Heart to All Worlds was correlated with Kingdom Hearts; many believed that the Heart to All Worlds could be the key to gaining control over Kingdom Hearts.

No, it can't. If the Realm of Light is destroyed, so is the path to Kingdom Hearts. The X-blade needs light in order to be forged. Without it, Kingdom Hearts is untouchable. No, whoever is behind this only wants destruction and darkness.

"Tell me, do you know about the man named Ansem?" Tifa asked.

"Ansem?!"I blurted out. I covered my mouth too late; I could see the puzzlement already upon Tifa's face. Even the expressionless Cloud showed curiosity at my outburst. Kairi looked at me with some shock, but also a pang of empathy, knowing I was hearing my Master's name.

"Do you know him?" Tifa asked curiously.

"I've only heard of him," I lied, "he was supposedly studying the heart before Radiant – I mean Hollow Bastion was destroyed."

"Yes, we believe that if we are to find his notes, we can figure out what is happening to the Heartless," Tifa explained.

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked.

"Well, the Heartless aren't all the same. After some time on the battlefield, we concluded after some time that the Heartless have different breeds. The usual varieties of Heartless are what we call Purebloods, the ones that are normal Shadows, Neo-Shadows, Darksides, etc. However, a new type of Heartless exist too, what we call Emblem Heartless.

"Emblem Heartless?" Kairi questioned.

"Yes, these types of Heartless, unlike their Pureblood cousins, are easy to identify because they have an emblem on them, not to mention they are a lot stronger then you're usual variety. The oddest anomaly with these Emblem Heartless, however, comes with the fact that this breed possess darkened hearts inside of them. The hearts get released when you defeat them."

"Wait, these Heartless have hearts in them?" a skeptical tone came to my question.

"Yes, we don't know how they are created or even where they come from," Tifa admitted.

"Someone is forcibly creating Heartless from gathered Hearts," Cloud commented. We all turned, shocked by the insightful comment from the almost silent spiky-haired blond.

"You're right," I started pacing, a habit of thinking I inherited from Master Ansem, "Likely they are using the Pureblood's essence to artificially create Heartless from captured Hearts. Almost like a mad science experiment." I thought back to when Xehanort created the Heartless inside that pod, the experiment that haunts my dreams to this day.

No doubt whoever it is has also found a way to recreate that sick experiment.

"In that case, we need to take out the source of where the Emblems are being created as well," Cloud turned to me, "It's the only way we can guarantee true victory."

"Yes," Kairi stood up, "In that case, we must do everything we can."

"I'll see if he has awoken yet," Tifa got up to the door at the far left side of the room and opened it. She walked in and closed the door. Just moments later, Tifa opened the door and beckons to us.

"He's awake," she told us and guided us to meet up with her inside the room.

I walked into the room and everything happened at once.

"SORA?!" Kairi and I said in sync as we entered the room seeing him hold the keyblade.

"Emiri?! Kairi?!" Sora eyes were shocked. But suddenly, his gaze left us in favor to the window outside.

"Um…EVERYBODY!' Sora yelled as glass shattered. Armored Heartless of the Emblem variety came bursting through the glass in hoards. I immediately slashed at the Heartless, Kairi slashing with her keyblade at my left and Leon shooting the Heartless with his Gunblade to my right. Sora fended off a few for himself, Yuffie guarding the teen with her shuriken. Cloud eventually came charging in, hearing the noise, and threw himself at the closest Heartless with his Buster Sword. All at once, we then saw several pieces of levitating Armor flying past the broken window towards another one of the districts.

We managed to take care of the onslaught of Heartless, but more of them were advancing down below towards the plaza.

"We'll take care of the small fry," Leon yelled at Cloud as he jumped down to the street below, "go take care of the boss."

"Don't worry, Kairi and I will handle it!" I yelled. Kairi yelled her agreement and we began to depart when a particular brunette stepped in our way.

"Let me come with you," Sora held out his keyblade.

"It's too dangerous, Sora," I argued.

"But if I have to seal all the keyholes, I'll have to eventually fight tough battles," Sora rebutted, "After all, if I wield the keyblade, I will have to protect the worlds. I need to do this to get my home back and to find Riku."

"He has a point," Kairi agreed. I looked at her grudgingly, but the red head held her gaze firmly in Sora's defense.

"All right," I conceded, "but be careful. You hold the most important Key, Sora."

"Got it!" Sora said.

"Let's go," Kairi nodded and jumped down.

Aerith was leading Donald and Goofy though the Second District, right next to the large clock tower. Aerith was still trying to find the hotel where her friends were staying. Donald beckoned Goofy to lean over.

"Do you think we can trust her?" Donald leered at her, "We've been walking all over the place for over half an hour now."

"I'm sure it's fine. You just have to trust in the King," Goofy stood up straight again before Donald could say anymore, not like he could without questioning the King. Donald was grumbling his mistrust to himself when he heard shattered glass in the distance.

"What was that?" Donald shot his head up.

"I don't know," Aerith sounded worried.

"Look!" Goofy yelled as Heartless began forming in front of the party of three. Aerith began casting spells to fend off the Heartless, Donald aiding her. Goofy, on the other hand, lead an offensive charge, complimented with a battle cry, at the Heartless as he butted them away with his shield. The Heartless were soon taken out with the three's teamwork. Donald congratulated Goofy, while Aerith looked out further into the District. She gasped as she saw Cloud and the others in the distance, fighting off Heartless nearing the gate that leads to the First District.

"Cloud!" Leon yelled as she ran off to help him and the others. Donald and Goofy almost followed when they saw pieces of armor floating in the sky off towards what they believed was the Third District.

"Come on. We need to take care of that armor!' Donald beckoned to Goofy as they began to run off when…

"Can I help?"

A man appeared in front of the two Disney residents.

"I know you are servants to the King. I want to help you restore the worlds."

"Well, OK then. Come along!" Goofy turned around and the three of them ran after the armor.

{1} near-exact quoting from Chapter 15 of Emiri's explanation. I know Sora has bad memory, but I had to give that one to him.

I wonder who that could be? Anyways, sorry to say this, but I don't plan on getting anything uploaded for the next week. I have relatives coming from out of state, so I'll be busy. At worst, you'll just wait a week.

Anyways, Please review! Let me know you exist! And thank you to everyone who has reviewed!