Kairi felt a wave of drowsiness as she opened her eyes to a foreign world feeling something fiercely lick against her face. Sitting nearby is a rather happy fella wagging his tail happily at her, once again licking her face.
A Dog?
She giggled, pushing him back gently, "Down boy!"
He complied as she smiled at him, taking notice of the tag chained to his collar.
"Pluto?" She asked.
He barked in response, wagging his tail as though he wanted to play but then immediately turned his tail and running away down an alley.
"Hey wait-" As she reaches out for the dog, a light appears in her hand. "Huh?" There appears weird looking sword in her hand, it's kind of heavy as she lifts it to get a better look.
...A key?
[The Kingdom Key]
A name popped into her head, much to her fascination. Suddenly, she realized-
"Sora!?" She calls out, stumbling as she lifts her weary body, leaning against the wall for support. "Sora!" Once again she calls, but in this new world only a scream answers her call.
A woman fleeing fell nearby, backing away from a monster with fierce yellow eyes.
"Stay away!" She screamed as she turned away but in a moment she disappeared and a new monster appears nearby, this one in a rugged armor as it flails around running.
Kairi backed away, frightened for a moment until she realizes with anger.
These are the monsters who attacked the island.
Instead of wavering she grips this new weapon with both hands.
"Where's Sora?!" She angrily asks the image of these monsters surrounding her friend flashing in her mind just as she reached out for him.
But these monsters only waver in place, from behind she feels a slash.
"NGh-" She turned around seeing herself surrounded from all corners.
Kairi gritted her teeth together in anger, "Fine." she muttered, charging at the enemy.
Fearsome as they appeared, they were no match for the light standing before them.
Kairi caught her breath, the Keyblade still in her hand gripping it tightly.
"You fight well."
She immediately turned around to see an older man standing nearby. His stature and fierce looking eyes remind her of Riku in a way, but that didn't waver her suspicion of this new possible foe.
"But how long are you really going to last out here? As long as you keep that Keyblade they'll keep coming after you over and over again."
"Who are you?" She asks, taking note of what he said.
"Why though, would it choose a kid like you?" The stranger mutters under his breath.
Huh?
"Never mind." He shook his head, walking towards towards her, "Now, let's take a look at that keyblade."
An image flashes in her mind, a hand holding hers, just as this weapon in her hand appears in both of their for a moment.
Kairi took a defensive stance, an aura of protectiveness surrounding her.
"I am not handing this over to you."
The stranger stops walking, looking over her once before sighing. "So you wanna do this the hard way?"
Her silence is all he needs for them both to charge at each other, their weapons clashing against each other.
Already weakened from her previous battles, Kairi gasps for breath as the stranger falls to his knee defeated.
" Had...enough...yet…?"
A wave of exhaustion befalls her, as once again darkness takes hold.
…
….
"-ari…"
"Kai…"
Kairi opened her eyes again to an unfamiliar ceiling.
"You okay?"
She turned her head to see a girl with black hair an odd clothes standing nearby her bed.
"I think so…" She sat up, pushing away the bed sheets. "Who are you?"
The girl smiled brightly, "I'm the great ninja thief, Yuffie!"
"...I'm Kairi." She tilted her head, confused at this girl's words.
Yuffie shook away her thoughts of confusion, waving her hands to grab her attention. "But all you need to know is that, so long as you have that Keyblade right over there." She pointed to the Kingdom key sitting nearby, "and that bright heart of yours, they're gonna keep coming after you."
"That's what the other guy said."
"Hmph, oh! You mean Squall? Yeah, he's pretty brood-"
"That's Leon."
The man, Leon, corrected, walking into the room with the two of them, agitating Kairi slightly.
"You tried to take the Keyblade from me." She states.
"Because if you still had it on you while passed out those Heartless would've destroyed you. But I doubt that separating it from you is going to work…" Leon picked up the Keyblade but almost immediately it disappeared and reappeared in hers. "It's not just the keyblade that's attracting the heartless, it's you as well."
"Huh?"
He sighed, "Your light."
"Basically," Yuffie cut in, "You don't have any darkness within in your heart, so that's all well and good, but so the heartless are going to be more prone to wanting to, you know, off you because you're the keyblade's goes for those around you as well."
A cold chill went down Kairi's spine. "Wait a sec, what about the Islands, my friends?!" She stood from the bed, clawing her heart in panic.
"Honestly, if they've fallen into darkness, there's no chance in getting them back."
"What?"
"Woah, woah, hey now." Yuffie caught her attention again in response to her shocked expression. "There's a chance that maybe that your friends got away, after all, we did." She flashed her a smile, giving Kairi some reassurance.
She looked down at the weapon in her hand, tightening her grip on it, still worried that it would be taken from her…
Suddenly, a heartless appeared, an armored on, similar to the one that appeared earlier.
"Yuffie!"
"Right!" She ran out of the room, slamming open the door just as the Heartless jumped out of the window.
The fall wasn't more difficult than playing around on the Islands with her friends, with this weapon in hand her entire body felt lighter and easier to move around.
Along the way she and Leon got separated and she ran towards a clearing lit up by the neon lights of the town.
From a distance she heard a few shouts followed by an explosion, then followed by something crashing nearby.
Two odd character were dazed by their collision, clearly looking like a dog and a duck respectively, but it was already an odd day so...
"Are you okay?"
They zeroed in on the sound of her voice, immediately reacting as their vision cleared. "The Key!"
She had little time to react, as another Heartless appeared nearby, the biggest she'd seen yet. Immediately, she placed some distance between herself and the new enemy, keeping an eye on the two oddities now scrambling for their weapons, a staff and shield respectively.
"Can you fight?!"
"Of course!" The duck responded, sounding rather agitated.
"No need to worry about us." His companion replied as he held up a shield.
One tiring boss battle later.
Kairi feel to her knees in exhaustion, the Keyblade disappearing as the danger passed.
"You have the Keyblade."
She nodded at the Duck's words cautiously, " Yeah...?"
"We're actually looking for the Keyblade, see." The goofy looking one informed. "Our orders were to "Follow the Key" "
" So, you guy's are looking for me?"
"They're from another world as well."
"Really? Did you get lost in the Darkness as well?"
"Nope, we have a ship that can take us to other worlds."
"Kairi, if you go with them they there's a chance that you'll be able to find your friends."
"Really?" Her eyes shone with hope.
They nodded.
"But there's something else you should know."
"What's that?"
"Our ship runs on smiles, so no being sad, ya' hear?"
"You got it." Kairi nodded, flashing a smiled at newfound hope.
"I'm Donald Duck." He said placing his hand out.
His comanion placing his hand on top of Donald's. "Goofy."
"It's nice to meet you, my name's Kairi." Kairi followed their lead, placing her hand on top of theirs.
"All for one, and one for all!"
"This is our ship!" Donald gestured towards a rather blocky looking ship sitting before them decorated in bright colors.
"Woah! So this ship can take us to other worlds?" Kairi looked around in awe at, what was to her, strange machinery, but still exciting nonetheless.
"Yup." Goofy walked towards the entrance along with Donald, "Don't worry, it's safe for us, there are special roads that only we can travel on to other worlds."
"Right." Kairi sat down on one the left back seat near Goofy while Donald sat in the front, "So where're we going now?"
"Ahem."
Kairi head a voice around them, but it didn't sound like Donald or Goofy.
"Beg pardon ma'am."
She looked down to see a nicely dressed cricket smiling up at her, she held out her hand towards him and he jumped into her palm.
He glanced over her once before smiling with his hat in his hand, "Name's Jiminy ma'am, I was tasked by the king to keep track of your progress as the Keyblade Master."
"The King?" She tilted her head curiously.
He nodded. "You've got a good head on your shoulders there ma'am I can just tell."
"Are you from the same world as Donald and Goofy?" She asked.
Jiminy's demeanor lowered at the mention of this, but lifted it only a second after, "Nope me and my friend Pinoc are from a different world, one the ones that fell into Darkness. We managed to get away and wake up here in Traverse town. Soon after that I met the King and he offered a way to help us."
Jiminy showed Kairi his journal with a wayfinder looking symbol on it. "This meeting'll be my first venture, meeting you in Traverse town.
"Are you going to be okay traveling with us?" Concern rose in Kairi's chest, scared for the small cricket.
"No worries ma'am, I was informed to hide behind Captain Goody's shield once danger rears her head. No need to worry yourself about me."
Kairi sighed in relief, smiling at the cricket "You can just call me Kairi Jiminy, it sounds like we'll be traveling together for a while."
"No too long I hope." Jiminy said hopefully, he bowed his head again, then jumping towards Goofy where he jumped in his pocket.
Kairi smiled at her knew friend, feeling bittersweet recalling his words. They both knew the pain of being cast out from their original worlds, but while Jiminy had his closest friend safe in Traverse town, Riku and Sora were still out there somewhere, best case; together. She placed a hand on her heart, hoping that at least, the two of them were together.