Eight people were standing, looking clueless, in the middle of the deserted square in Traverse Town. The other two were sitting on the stairs, shredding away at the minutes with a few words to each other here and there. Kairi slid closer to Sora and slipped her hand in his. Rikku bounced over, looking rather bored.

"Sooooo…Sora. Where are these friends of yours?" She asked. Sora shrugged.

"They usually come around here, but I guess we can go looking if you want." He answered. Rikku nodded vigorously. Yuna and Tidus approached the stairs.

"Hey, why isn't there anyone here? This town deserted?" Tidus asked. Sora stood up, shaking his head.

"It's early still. I wouldn't expect to see anyone around until sundown." He answered. Yuna watched him suspiciously.

"Why?" She asked. Sora shrugged again, giving Kairi a hand up.

"Dunno. It's always been that way at Traverse. It's pretty quiet around here until dusk." He answered. A voice made them all jump.

"Hey, Sora! What are you doing here? Haven't seen you in a while!" Sora turned to face the shop and grinned when he saw Cid's head poked out of the doorway. The man grinned. "Brought lots of friends I see." He observed. Sora nodded.

"Yup, but sadly, no Goofy and Donald." He answered, walking towards the shop, hand in hand with Kairi. Cid caught sight of it and crossed his arms.

"So, who's the lucky lady?" He asked. Kairi turned a little red. Sora grinned.

"This is Kairi."

"Not the girl you've been looking for, is she?"

"She is." Sora answered. Cid's eyes went wide.

"And you found her? What a stroke o' luck, huh?" He said, leading them inside. The entire group wandered into the shop after him. In the rather cramped space, Sora introduced them all. Cid scratched his head.

"Great to meet you all, really it is, but don't expect me to keep track of names." He said, eyeing each of them. Then, he seemed to suddenly remember something. "You know," he said, "Donald and Goofy passed this way only yesterday." He paused. "Actually, they're probably still here." He said slowly. Sora looked at him.

"Really? Where?"

"Hotel'd be my best guess." Cid answered, still thinking. Sora nodded, opening the door.

"Thanks!" He called, going outside. The others followed. Rikku fell into step next to Sora.

"So, who are we going to meet?" She asked.

"A couple of friends who usually stick around Traverse Town, Leon, Yuffie, Areith and Cloud…and maybe Donald and Goofy if they're still here." He answered. Rikku was silent for a moment, then grinned.

"Kay!" With that, she fell back to where Yuna was. Baralai was walking beside him now.

"So, Donald and Goofy are those…" he paused, not really knowing what they were. "Donald and Goofy were the two you were with when we met you at Luca, right?" He asked. Sora nodded, and stopped in front of two huge wooden doors. With a heave, he pushed them open.

"This is the Second District." He explained. "That's the Gadget Shop, the Dalmatians live in the house just down that alley, that's the alley way that leads to the caves, and that's the Hotel." As he spoke, he walked towards the Hotel. Kairi was walking beside him, her hand still in his. Her grasp went suddenly tighter.

"There's…something not right." she told him. He stopped.

"What do you mean?" He asked, sounding worried.

"I don't know, I just have a really bad feeling." She replied, almost whispering. Suddenly, she smiled. "Don't worry, it's probably nothing." She decided. Sora shrugged, a little bit on edge, and opened the door to the Hotel.

"HELLO!" He called down the hall. There was no answer. He pulled open the door of the Green room. It was empty. So were the rest of them. "That's funny." He decided. Gippal crossed his arms.

"So, where are these friends we're supposed to be meeting?" He asked. Sora shrugged.

"Dunno, they're not here. Probably in the caves." He answered, wandering back out of the Hotel and into the Alley. There, they found the entrance boarded up. Sora walked up it and kicked it in. Yuna looked apprehensive.

"If it's boarded up, they're probably not down there." She observed. Sora shook his head.

"There's more than one way down." He explained. "They probably don't use this one any more is all. Besides, this is the only other place I can think of that they'd be. If they're not here, we're either just going to have to go on a search, or wait for them to turn up." He said. Yuna shrugged in agreement and the group started into the cave. It was silent, and fearfully so. The cave was dim, dimmer than Sora remembered it being. Then, he stopped dead.

"You know Yuna, I think you were right. They're not down here. And there was a good reason for the boards too." He whispered. Everyone else was frozen in place. There was an enormous creature lying stretched out on the rock. It looked like a big cat, except that it had a handful of tentacle-like stingers coming out of its shoulders, and it was completely furless. Its red skin made it look sickening in the gloom. Slowly, the group stepped backwards towards the exit. In silence and what felt like a million years, they made it back out. Sora's heart was beating out of his chest. Kairi and Rikku were both pale. Paine was shaken. Baralai and Gippal were really jumpy. Nooj stood completely still. Yuna and Leblanc were pacing. Tidus was staring into the darkness of the cave entrance. It was Rikku who spoke.

"Wh-what was that?" She asked. Sora shrugged, shaking his head.

"I've never seen anything like that before…Traverse Town has never had anything like that before." He said slowly. Gippal look a deep breath.

"I think we need to leave." He said. Almost instantly, Kairi's head shot up.

"NO!" She cried. Everyone turned to look at her, surprised. "We can't leave. This planet is covered in fear. There are still people here, and we can't just leave them!" She said, sounding urgent. Yuna nodded.

"She's right. Who knows how many other…things there are? If we leave, we could well be dooming people to their deaths." she agreed.

"We can't leave them here." Baralai said, nodding. Paine nodded too.

"I'm staying." Tidus said, as if speaking in defiance of the creature. Gippal shrugged.

"Guess we're going big cat hunting?" He asked, smirking. A smile creeped onto Paine's face.

"Let's go." She agreed, swinging her sword. Yuna aimed her gun, half smiling. Gippal crossed his arms impatiently.

"What are we waiting for!" He asked, starting back into the cave. The group was enveloped in darkness once again.

"We need to see to be able to fight." Nooj observed. Leblanc smiled.

"I can take care of that." She offered. They could see the outline of the creature laying on its rock. Yuna took careful aim.

"One the count of three, Leblanc lights and we attack. Ready? Three!" In a blinding flash, the cave lit up. The people were disoriented for a moment, but, relying on the aim she took in the dark, Yuna shot. She heard the cat screech. In a moment, her eyes adjusted to the light. Kairi and the cat were circling, each tensed to strike. Paine was standing against the wall nearby, waiting for the cat to turn so it was facing away from her. Sora was standing on the dry rock, his Keyblade ready to shoot a spell, waiting to get a clear shot at the creature. Everyone was still, only Kairi and the cat circling carefully. Kairi moved suddenly. The cat reacted at shot out its stinger, only Kairi wasn't there. She's faked her attack and side stepped, shooting her disk. It cut two of the stingers clean off. The cat screeched again, Paine and Sora both move instantly, Paine cutting down on the backside of the cat, while Sora shot a stream of ice at it. The water around it began to thicken and harden. It worked desperately to escape the trap before it froze around its legs. Rikku launched forward, landing with both feet on the cat's back, and jumping from there to the dry rock. She'd kicked it under the water, and before it could reach the surface again, the water finished freezing and it was caught. Everyone stood still for a second. Rikku scratched her head.

"Think it's dead?" she asked. Gippal shrugged.

"Maybe. Either way, it won't be bothering us anymore." he observed. Yuna stared at it.

"I don't think it's dead…" she said.

"Why not?" Paine asked, traipsing out of the water. Yuna shrugged.

"There's no pyreflies." She answered. There was another moment of silence.

"This is true…" Baralai said. He kicked the surface of the ice. Kairi crouched on the rock next to it.

"I don't think it ever was alive." she said.

"Why not?" Leblanc asked, releasing the light she'd created. The cave dimmed. Kairi shrugged.

"You think anything living thing could look like that?" she asked with disdain. Sora shrugged.

"That's true. I don't think I've ever seen anything as entirely ugly as that." He said, looking rather disgusted. Gippal sat down on the rock.

"Well, anyways, dead or living, it was easy to beat." He observed. Rikku spun around.

"What are you talking about?" She asked angrily. "You didn't do anything!" She shouted. Gippal shrugged.

"Exactly, because it was so easy that you didn't need me." He said. Rikku crossed her arms.

"Oh crid ib." She commanded. There was movement above them. They could hear thumping coming from somewhere above. There was another door, also boarded up. Sora kicked it in, just as he had the last time. It was a huge shaft, leading up into darkness. He looked back at everyone else.

"There's something up there, good or bad. Should we check it out?" He asked. Gippal stood up.

"It can't be that bad, after seeing how little that thing did against us." He observed, looking up the elevator shaft. Rikku rolled her eyes.

"Might as well." She agreed, still annoyed with Gippal. Kairi looked up the shaft.

"Hey, what have we got to lose?" She asked, climbing onto the flat stone sitting in the middle of the shaft. Sora climbed on next to her.

"We can't all go up at the same time." He observed. "Rikku and Gippal can some up with us. We have to go up in groups." He said. Rikku climbed on, and no matter how much they squished, there wasn't enough room for Gippal. Grinning, Rikku shrugged.

"Tough luck." She said. Sora smiled mischievously.

"Not so fast." He said. Kairi squeaked as he pulled her onto his lap, clearing space for Gippal, who sat down, grinning at Rikku, who pouted. With a jerk, the elevator began to move. It climbed slowly, and in about thirty seconds, they began to emerge into the Magician's House. It was brightly lit. The moment they rose above the floor, Kairi found a sword tip being thrust at her. She yelped, throwing her weight backwards. Sora leaned back, pulling Kairi out of the way and nearly knocking Rikku from the elevator. He knocked the sword point away with his hand, swearing loudly.

"Leon! What the hell are you doing?" He said angrily. Leon was taken aback.

"Sora! How'd you get in here?" He asked, helping Sora and Kairi stand up, then Gippal and Rikku. Sora glared at him.

"What are you doing?" He asked, pointing to the gun-blade that had been knocked out of Leon's hand. Leon frowned.

"I didn't know it was you. We heard a crash from the caves and figured that one of the Beasts made it into the elevator." He explained. The elevator began to slowly descend back into the shaft for the rest of the group. Sora looked around. The door that led outside was barricaded. Areith was leaning against the barricade, her brown hair falling freely around her shoulders. Cloud was lying on the floor, his head in her lap. She was watching over him nervously. The pink ribbon that usually held her hair in a neat braid was tied around his hand as a make-shift bandage. The Magician who owned the house was sitting on the bed, paging through a very old looking book. Other than that, the room was empty (most of the stuff had been used in the barricade). Sora looked around the room again. Something was missing. Then it hit him.

"Where's Yuffie?" He asked suddenly. Leon shrugged, looking pained.

"We don't know. She went missing a couple of days ago, and we haven't heard from her since." He answered. There was a moment of silence, and then Areith's quiet voice cut in.

"Wait!" She said, twisting around to face the barricade. Rikku had climbed on top of the barricade and was pushing a table just out of the way so she could slip outside. Gippal grabbed her arm.

"Don't." He said commandingly. Rikku stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'm going looking and you're not going to stop me." She insisted, pushing herself through the gap and wrenching her wrist from Gippal's hand.

"Rikku!" He shouted. She landed softly on the ground outside, and, to her dismay, had pushed a chair off balance and sent half of the barricade tumbling over. When the dust settled, she put a finger to her lips, cringing.

"Oops?" she said quietly. Gippal crossed his arms.

"Good job Rikku. You sure you weren't the one who'd been messing with the machina on the Highroad?" he asked. Rikku frowned at him.

"I did not!" She replied, indignant. Paine, Yuna and Leblanc all came up the elevator next. Leon looked mildly surprised.

"There's more of you?" He asked Sora, who grinned.

"That's not the last of them." He answered. By this time, Kairi and Gippal had both also climbed outside. Sora shrugged. "I guess we're going looking for Yuffie. You gonna come?" He asked. Leon glanced at the three standing outside, and then at Areith and the unconscious Cloud.

"I would, but I can't just leave them here." He answered. Nooj, Baralai and Tidus were now just arriving from the elevator and overheard Leon speaking. Nooj leaned on the wall.

"I'm staying here too." He said, smiling roughly. "I'm gettin' too old for this." He said jokingly, stretching out one of his legs. Leblanc shrugged.

"I'll be staying here with Noojie then. You can run along." She said. Leon looked at her distastefully and stepped outside. Sora joined him a moment later, followed by everyone else that was coming. They all walked single file around the wall of the house to the front. About halfway, Rikku stopped suddenly, gasping.

"There's something in there!" She cried, pushing herself up against the stone, scrambling to get away from the dark water. Gippal rolled his eyes.

"There's not Rikku. Don't freak out." He said. Leon, who was at the front of the line, turned around.

"Actually, there are things in there. Careful where you step and don't fall in." he said, starting around the house again. Rikku rolled her eyes.

"I'm not going to fall in, I can walk you know." She replied. Leon shrugged, not turning around.

"I don't doubt it, but it's not a matter of being able to walk, it being able to jump." As he spoke, their way across the water came into view: a set of stones that they'd have to jump across to reach the other side. Rikku inspected them.

"They don't look that hard to handle." She decided. Sora smirked.

"Wait 'til they start moving." He said. Rikku stared at him.

"Moving? No way." She argued. Leon stepped towards the edge.

"Watch." He said. The rest did as they were told. He hopped down from the grassy stone foundation that jutted out of the water onto the first stone. He landed crouching, one hand on the rock. He didn't move for a moment, and everyone (but Sora) began to wonder why. Then, the rock jerked, which would have thrown Leon off balance if he'd been standing straight. One after the other, each rock began to move side to side. Rikku's eyes went wide.

"Oh." She squeaked. Gippal laughed.

"No problem." He said. He jumped from the foundation to the first rock. He seemed to have landed fine, but then stumbled for a moment. He caught himself, going a bit pale. Sora just shrugged.

"Harder than it looks, eh?" He said, hopping down onto the rock with him. Gippal shrugged in reply, jumping to the next rock, this time taking care not to fall. Leon was already approaching the shore. Sora looked up and motioned for someone else to come. "Come on." As he spoke, he jumped to the next rock. Kairi crossed her arms.

"He makes it look so easy." She observed, taking careful aim as she prepared to jump down onto the first rock. Slowly, one by one, everyone started across. About halfway to the other shore, Sora was getting ready to jump to the next when he heard a gasp from behind him, then a 'plunk' sound. He spun. Kairi had jumped onto the same rock as him, but her foot had slipped into the water and she was falling backwards. Sora grabbed her by the arm and pulled, maybe a bit too hard. He fell over backwards, pulling Kairi on top of him. Lying flat on his back on the stone, Sora groaned. Kairi rolled off of him and sat kneeling next to him. She watched him anxiously, chewing her bottom lip. Sora sat up, shaking his head, disoriented. She touched his shoulder lightly.

"Sorry. Thanks." She said quietly. Sora stood up, giving her a hand up as well.

"No problem." He replied, motioning for her to go ahead. She jumped to the next stone, and Sora followed. Other than that however, the group reached the other side without incident. They stood in the darkness on the beach, and Leon inspected each one of them.

"So, who are all these people?" He asked.

"Yuna, Tidus, Rikku, Gippal, Paine and Baralai." He said. "The two back at the Magician's House are Nooj and Leblanc." Leon nodded.

"I'm Leon, by the way." He said, starting towards the door. "Last time we saw Yuffie, she was in the third district, but, like I said, she'd been gone almost three days. She could be anywhere by now." They stepped out onto the street. Sora frowned.

"It could take…well, who knows how long it could take to do a good search of this place?" He said. He paused, then got an idea. "Cid!" He said suddenly. Leon gave him a funny look.

"What about Cid?" He asked.

"We could ask Cid if he's seen her. If she's been gone that long, she's probably been to Cid's." Leon looked as if he thought Sora'd gone crazy. Paine, leaning against a wall, shrugged.

"Sounds like an idea. It'd be a good place to start looking anyways." She observed. Leon stared at her as if she was just as crazy. There was a murmur of agreement through the group. Leon frowned.

"What are you all talking about? Cid hasn't been in Traverse Town for months. He packed up and left at the first sign of real trouble." He told them. There was silence. It was Yuna who spoke.

"But…we just met him, only maybe ten minutes before we found you." She said. Sora crossed his arms.

"Maybe he came back." He suggested. Leon shook his head.

"I doubt that. He wouldn't dare come back until he was sure that this mess had been cleaned up, and besides, there's no business here for him. There's no one here to sell anything to, and those that are here aren't exactly about to go browsing in his shop." He said. This was true. Paine walked away from the wall, swinging her sword idly.

"Well, if he is back, we can go find out why. If he's not, we can find out who or what it was that we just spoke to." She suggested. Leon nodded. Rikku smiled.

"Kay! Let's go!" She said, starting off at a jog towards the enormous door that led to the first district.

………………..

Ohhh this one's nice and long….and so full of thinking plot line! YAY!