Hello all!!! Were you guys surprised at what happened in chapters 7 and 8??? Hehehehehe, I didn't even know that I could write that good, but what can I say? My mind is an enigma beyond human comprehension, wait a second while I think of more smart things to say, hmmmm.... I know!! CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways, from now on, I WILL NEED AT LEAST 3 REVIEWS BEFORE I WRITE THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!! Heck, just three people could be reviewing my chapters, as long as I get my three reviews, I'll post the next chapter. Thankies in advance!!!!!!!!

*see chapter 1 for disclaimer*

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Chapter 9: Traverse Town

"Ugh, my head....." Sora moaned as he sat up and looked around. He was sitting on the ground in an alley, and so was Kairi.

"Kairi! Wake up! Guess where we are!" Sora exclaimed as he gently shook her awake.

"Just tell me where we are Sora." Kairi said as she was sleepily rubbing her eyes. "I'm too tired to guess."

"Traverse Town!" He said as he helped her up and dragged her into the main square of the First District.

*MEANWHILE*

"Riku you bum! Get up!!" Ari yelled as she kicked Riku in his leg.

They were both in an alley in the Third District of Traverse Town, with Riku lying down on the ground sleeping like a hobo. Ari had been trying to get Riku to get up for at least ten minutes already, but he still refused to open his eyes.

"No way!" He said as he turned his back towards Ari. "I'm tired, and I had this freaky dream that the Heartless came, so just leave me alone!!!!"

"NEWSFLASH BUDDY!!!!" Ari yelled, her voice shaking with frustration. "THAT 'DREAM' WASN'T A DREAM! IT REALLY HAPPENED! LOOK WHERE WE ARE!!!"

Riku slowly started to open his eyes. As soon as he realized that they weren't on the Destiny Islands, he jumped up in surprise.

"How'd we get here?!" He yelled.

"The same way Sora got here the first time." Ari answered as she was looking around the district.

"How do you know all this stuff?" Riku asked with a confused look on his face.

"What stuff?" Ari asked, her voice sounding nervous.

"You know," Riku said, " how Sora got to Traverse Town, what a Keyblade is."

"Oh yeah, that stuff." Ari replied. She had to tell him now, there was no turning back this time. "Well, first you have to promise to believe me and promise not to think that I'm crazy, ok?"

"I promise." Riku answered.

"Well," Ari started, " I'm from this world where your world is a video game. You, Kairi, Sora, and everybody else is in it, and everyone that you've met before are all in it, and so are the Heartless." She stopped and turned away for a moment, as if she was thinking of what to say next. "But the weird thing is," she started again, "it seems like the video game is your past, and what's happening right now is a sequel."

"That," Riku said, "just sounds crazy enough to be true. I mean, everything in that video game could just as easily be real."

Ari smiled. Riku had believed her. If she had told that to any of her friends, they would have tried to send her to the insane asylum.

"Well, c'mon! We have to find Sora and Kairi. I mean, how big can Traverse Town be?" Ari said.

"Real big if you're not used to the city." Riku answered as he walked over to a map. "Let's see, we're in the Third District, so we should start looking for them in the Fir- AAAHHH!!!!"

Riku turned around just in time to see a shuriken flying towards his head. He quickly dodged out of the way of the spinning metal star and landed right on the ground. Riku looked at the person who had thrown it.

Standing across from him was a young girl with short black hair and dark purple eyes. She wore short, yellow shorts and a green tank top with blue straps. Her shoes were orange, as were her gloves, and she had pale yellow socks that came up to her knees.

Although they had never met, Riku knew who she was. Back on the islands, Sora was once talking about who he had met on his journey, and he had described someone who looked just like the girl in front of him.

"Hey!" Riku said to the girl as he stood up. "Do you know Sora?"

The girl glared at him with fierce violet eyes that suggested Riku wasn't one of her favorite people.

"Yeah." She said in a stern tone. "And you know him too.'

"Well then you know that me and him are best friends." Riku stared at her, her expression never softened, it only became harder.

"I know that." She said. "I also know that you turned against him, and that you're working for Ansem."

"Oh, not this again...." Riku said under his breath. "Look! Sora, Kairi, and I are all friends again, so you can put that shuriken away, and we can all look for Sora and Kairi together.'

"Right, like I'm stupid enough to believe that crud." She replied as she drew out another shuriken from a pouch on her belt. She took careful aim at Riku, and was about to throw it. But she was stopped short by Ari, who bopped her on the head with a slightly damp, rolled up newspaper from the ground.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Ari yelled. "You can't just kill him without my say in this Yuffie!!!" Ari had apparently forgotten that they didn't know each other.

Yuffie was shocked, How does this girl know my name? She thought. We've never even met before!

"Squall! I need help!!" She yelled.

In about a minute, a man who looked in his early twenties rushed out of a weapons shop, his Gunblade drawn. He looked around for a few moments, and when he saw Yuffie, Riku, and Ari, he started to run towards them, on the way loading his Gunblade.

"Think we should run?" Riku asked Ari.

"Hey, if you wanna stay here and die, by all means keep your feet planted to the ground, but I'm leavin'!" Ari replied.

And with that, both Riku and Ari sped off towards the First District.