Chapter Two

"It's your entire fault, you piece of crap," Sora told Riku as they walked along a beach on a desolated island. "We wouldn't be here if you weren't jealous of Kairi's relationship with me. But here we are, in a strange world, walking along the beach surrounded by nobody."

Riku turned to Sora and shoved him onto the ground. "You'd better shut up, shithead, before I tear out your eyes and beat you until you're nothing but rotten flesh."

"Is that a threat, Riku?" Sora said with a playful smile. "Have you been what, plotting to kill me, like you killed that one girl?"

Riku shot him a disgusted expression of hatred and continued walking. Sora scrambled to his feet and walked alongside Riku, quite a few feet away from him.

"Where exactly are we going, genius?" Sora asked Riku.

"We're going to walk until we find something, or someone, that can give us a way to get back home," Riku replied angrily.

Their surroundings were nothing like that of Destiny Island. Scarce trees and sources of food were visible nearby, and vast, grassy land of emptiness stretched out as far as the two ex-friends could see. The sun gave off extremely warm waves of heat, and a cloud was not seen at all in the blue afternoon sky above.

"Kairi's a bitch," Riku said minutes later. "It's not my fault, it's hers."

"Yeah, well, the fault is separated into thirds: we all share one-third of it." Sora sighed. "But, I must confess, she is quite the sexy girl."

Riku scowled at him. "You disgust me, you know that? Kairi falls for me, and no one else. In fact, she's head over heels for me!" He laughed, almost mocking Sora's cocky impressions.

"I could just run off, leaving you alone, and you would actually cry for me," the brown-haired boy beside Riku said. "You would starve and die if it weren't for my knowledge, and you can't deny it."

"Quit bragging and be on the lookout for anything that might help." Riku searched around them continuously, hoping to find at least someone to aid them.

"Face it, Riku, there's nothing around here for miles-"

"Look, a girl!" the silver-haired boy exclaimed, sprinting towards an outstretched figure on a large rock. Sora reluctantly followed him, unwilling to speak to any female.

The figure was a slender girl a little older than Riku and Sora. She had strands of braided golden hair that fell at thin shoulders, and narrow, half-opened jade green eyes glared at the approaching boys. She wore a yellow bikini top, blue boots, a red-orange scarf, and dark green mini- skirt.

"Whoah!" she exclaimed, leaping away from the rock and staring wide-eyed at Riku. "Who're you?"

"Riku," the silver-haired boy responded, confused. "I won't harm you."

"That's what they all say, and at the last minute, they'll turn their back on you and almost kill you." She pushed back her hair. "I'm Rikku. Surprising that someone has almost the same name as me."

Sora neared the two seconds later, breathing heavily in exhaustion.

"I'm Sora," he said, reaching out to shake Rikku's hand.

Rikku complied with his request and shook the boy's hand after a slight hesitation at first. "Nice to meet ya both. How'd you get here?"

"Well," Riku began, "we just sort of... ended up here out of the blue. See, we're looking for our friend, Kairi."

"Hmm... never heard of a name like that," Rikku said with a shrug. "You two blitzball players?"

"What players?" Sora blurted.

"Blitzball. It's a big game in Spira. Everybody knows about it. How come you don't?"

"He's a brainless bastard, that's all," Riku said with a slight grin. Sora cast him a sickened look, completely offended by Riku's word usage.

Rikku laughed. "You two are quite a pair. Have you guys seen anyone named Yuna, Wakka, Tidus, Auron, or Kimahri?"

"Uh... no," Riku told her. "No luck. You lost, too?"

"Yeah, sort of got separated. Auron said he was goin' on some 'quest for redemption' or something... I ended up here just like you guys, out of the blue. This is pretty fishy, just ending up in some other island."

"Something's telling me this is another world, not just an island. There's got to be someone here, at least Heartless, or this wouldn't be a modern- day world."

"Heartless? What're those?" Rikku questioned.

Sora and Riku both gasped.

"What? It's not my fault I'm not from around here."

"The Heartless... shadows, who have been invading the universe," Sora explained. "Don't tell me you haven't heard of shadows."

"No, I've heard of 'em. Actually, back in Spira, we once had this really terrible thing called Sin. It just appeared one day and began to destroy everything in its path. There were all these monsters, too, who just sprang out of nowhere and attacked you. Me and the gang, we've been through lots of bad stuff."

"Gang? You belong in a mob?" Riku said in entire disbelief.

Rikku laughed. "No, silly, my group of friends. Yuna, Paine, Kimahri, Auron, Wakka, Tidus, Lulu... everybody."

"Sounds like a really weird group of friends," Sora commented. "Well anyway, we'd better continue looking around this place for some kind of help. We'll need it the most."

"Wait... so you come from Spira?" Riku interrogated the girl. "What else do you have there beside this... Sin?"

"Oh, they're lots of stuff there," Rikku began. "I'm part of the Al Bhed Tribe, which is a tribe that uses machina in horrible ways. But I don't fully respect their doings, believe me. There are so many cities and places, like Zanarkand, and Besaid... it's all so beautiful, just as if it came out of a cool oil painting or something. Look, I don't have all day for chit-chat, but I have to find my friends. It's kinda urgent."

"Would you like to accompany us?" Sora requested. "We're really good guys, trust me. And we won't try to rape you or anything; we've recently been fighting for this one girl..." He gulped. "Well, yay or nay?"

"I... I guess I could join you, sure," Rikku said. "Count me in!"

"Do you have weapons, may I ask?" Riku said.

"Oh, of course!" Rikku pulled out a few grenades and a dagger from her mini- skirt and smiled. "See? Bombs and a dagger. The only weapons you'll ever need- trust me."

"Let's go!" Sora said with a wide, sparkling-teeth grin. Rikku nodded, and Riku rolled in eyes. The two boys continued along the beach with a new companion next to them: Rikku.

Taurus Town wasn't a very lively place. It was incredibly small, Kairi noticed, since most of it had been demolished in a fire or disaster of some sort. She and Mero had passed the forest and now stood on top a green hill, overlooking another town not far off from Taurus Town.

"What's that city over there?" Kairi asked Mero, pointing beyond Taurus Town.

"That? That's Monstropolis, home to the hugely known Monsters, Inc. business. The best monster there is James P. Sullivan, he's a good one. Scares the shit out of kids in their beds late at night."

"What do they do in Monsters, Inc., exactly?" Kairi asked Mero. "Just scare kids?"

"Mostly," Mero explained. "They collect Screams, which supply the city with light, energy- life. The monsters are paid huge sums of money, let me tell you that. Ever since their new boss, Mr. Hivesburrow, came in, everything just changed. It all became amazingly fascinating, and it was all a safe environment. Little-kid free. But now they accept humans into the city, just as long as they wear astronaut-like suits over them so that they can't touch the monsters with their bare hands. Anyway... you hungry?"

"Yeah, actually, I am."

"Good. There's a great restaurant in Monstropolis called 'Harryhausen's'. It's awesome. The best sushi in the city."

They headed for Monstropolis, and Kairi became very eager to see what the monsters looked like.

Once they were at the entrance of the city that had to wear the suits, just like Mero had said. Kairi slipped into a white suit, which had a round tank that went over the head. It had an exact resemblance to an astronaut's suit, and Kairi found it quite comfortable. Mero wore the same color. Kairi had stored her keyblades at the waist belt of the suit.

The two strode into the city, and Kairi was immediately in awe. Cars passed by them on the busy streets, honking their horns as much as possible to aggravate those around them. The locals walked along the sidewalk, all in strange forms. One monster Kairi spotted was purple, with only one eye and wide green lips. As it walked it left a trail of slimy, fragrant liquid that was similar to that of snails.

"Oh, and the guy at the entrance said there can be pictures, but no flash," Mero told Kairi. "Humans can also not enter Monsters, Inc., even if they have permission from the richest monster in the world."

Kairi nodded. She didn't need to enter Monsters, Inc.: she enjoyed watching the odd-looking monsters walk around, minding their own business, either with family or alone. Watching three monster friends eating ice cream nearby reminded Kairi a lot of her and her times with Riku and Sora. She missed them terribly.

She turned to Mero. "May we please find that restaurant? I'm starved."

Mero nodded. "Sure. It'll be my treat." He smiled before they began walking, following signs that read: "Downtown – This Way".

The two finally reached Harryhausen's. They entered cheerfully and were greeted by a tall monster waitress with slithering snakes in her hair and wearing a stunning smile upon her face. "Welcome to Harryhausen's," she said in a charming soft voice. "Right this way, please."

She led them to a table, where they sat down immediately in two comfortable chairs, and she handed them a menu each. "Today's special in warm sake salad with fresh Romanian lettuce and parmesan cheese. Feel free to eat from the sushi bar at any time; it is included with your meal. Enjoy." She left to another table to fulfill another customer's needs.

Suddenly one of the walls in the restaurant collapsed. Large pieces of glass and brick flew everywhere. Mero and Kairi dodged them and hurried out of Harryhausen's quickly.

They were surrounded by large creatures, with shadowy faces and arms. They wore full body armor and had glinting red eyes.

Kairi gripped her keyblades tightly as he headed towards the Heartless, followed by Mero. But she was also followed by another figure.

Sulley and Mike ran at the Heartless, clawing and slashing the air.

"Mike! There's the keyblade master!" Sulley told his one-eyed friend. He approached Kairi, who greeted them happily. "May we join you?"

"It is my honor to be in the presence of a lady," Mike said, sinking to one knee and kissing Kairi's hand.

"Sure you can join us," Mero said with a grin. "Come on... let's kick some creature ass!"