Chapter 1
Destiny Islands
Sora's eyes shot open only to be greeted by the face of Kairi. He let out a yell of surprise and sat up quickly. He found he was on the beach.
"Sora, you lazy bum. I knew I'd find you snoozing down here," she said.
"Snoozing? No! This huge black...thing swallowed me up!" he told her. She smacked him across the head and he winced slightly.
"Sounds like you've been dreaming again," she said, sitting down next to him. He shook his head again.
"It wasn't a dream! Or was it? I don't know," he said letting his shoulders slump in defeat. It was then Kairi decided to change the subject.
"I can't wait until the raft is finished. Then we can go see other worlds!"
"Maybe we'll even find your world Kairi. You sure you can't remember anything about it?" Sora asked. Kairi had just shown up on Destiny Islands one day.
"I told you before. All I remember is showing up at the Mayor's house that day. That day when you and Riku were the first to come see me. That's another reason I can't wait to finish the raft. I might be able to get home."
"Hey! Aren't you guys forgetting about me?" Riku's voice cut in. He held a log under one arm. "I guess I'm the only one working on the raft." He tossed the log at an unsuspecting Sora and he was knocked over.
"Hey!" he said lifting it off him.
"And you!" Riku pointed at Kairi. "You're just as lazy as he is."
"So you noticed," Kairi laughed. "So let's get to the raft. Come on. I'll race you." She received a "What" and a "Are you kidding me" in response.
"Ready go!" she said. Sora stared at Riku and he stared back. They both suddenly jumped up and made a mad dash to the raft.
"So Kairi's home is out there somewhere right?" Sora asked Riku.
"Beats me, but we won't know until we try," Riku stared off into the ocean as the sun sank behind the water.
"If we do get to other worlds, what will you do there?" Kairi asked.
"I don't know. I've been wondering though. If there are other worlds out there, then why did we end up on this one? We could just have easily ended up on any other world. Don't you think?"
"I don't know," Sora said as he lay down on the tree.
"You've been thinking a lot about this haven't you?" Kairi asked Riku.
"Thanks to you. If you hadn't come I never would have thought about leaving here. Kairi, thanks," he said.
"You're welcome. We should be getting home," she jumped down. "Bye guys." She said running off. Sora started to follow.
"Hey Sora!" Riku's voice interrupted his run as he turned to look. A star shaped fruit suddenly landed in his hands.
"A Paupu Fruit?" Sora asked.
"Legend says that if two people share one, their destinies become intertwined," Riku started to walk past him.
"What?"
"Come one. I know you want to try it."
"What are you talking about?" Sora asked. Riku only laughed and patted him on the back as he passed him. Sora stared at the fruit and shrugged. He tossed it into the water and ran to catch up. Far away, on a distant world, Court Wizard Donald Duck walked down a hallway in the Castle of Mouse. He soon got to a huge set of doors that had to be ten stories tall. He found a certain spot and pushed until a smaller door, his size, opened up. He walked into the throne room.
"Good morning Your Majesty," he said before he noticed the throne was empty. "Huh?" He walked up to the throne and the King's dog, Pluto, walked out with a letter in his mouth. Donald took it and scanned it quickly. He then ran, screaming, from the throne room.
Donald found who he was looking for, Chief of the Royal Knights Goofy, sleeping peacefully in the courtyard.
"Wake up Goofy!" he said, shaking him a little. He then began to shake harder. "Wake up!" He shouted louder. He gave up shaking and held his hand above Goofy. Lightning jumped from his fingers onto Goofy's sleeping form. Goofy let out a yell and leaped a few feet in the air. Despite the wake up call he looked at Donald lazily.
"Good morning Donald," Goofy yawned.
"We have an emergency! Now, you can't tell anyone!"
"Queen Minnie?"
"No! Not even the queen!"
"Daisy?"
"No one!"
"Good morning ladies!" Goofy waved behind Donald.
"What?" Donald turned slowly to see the Queen and his girlfriend. He laughed nervously before slumping his shoulders.
"Highwind!" Riku shouted and Sora.
"Excalibur!" Sora shouted back. They had been arguing over this for some time now, the name of the raft.
"Are you two at it again?" Kairi asked, walking up to them. "I guess this calls for the usual. First one to touch the tree and get back wins." They had grown accustomed to both fighting and racing to decide what happens.
"If I win, I'm captain," Sora started, "And if you win..."
"I get to share the Paupu with Kairi," Riku finished.
"What?" Sora asked, taken back slightly.
"Deal? The winner gets to share the Paupu with Kairi."
"Hey wait a minute," Sora didn't get to say anything though.
"Go!" Kairi shouted and the two were off. They ran on the broken bridge and jumped over the missing parts. They then hit the part where they split. Riku started climbing up the ladder that would take him to a pulley that got him to the top of the trees. Sora jumped off a small cliff only three feet high and ran through the shallow ocean water. Sora got to the large hill and climbed to the tree at the top the same time as Riku.
"Here we go!" Riku shouted as they both made a mad sprint back to Kairi. When they got to the broken bridge they picked up speed. Sora went for one more desperate jump and got to Kairi just before Riku.
"Coconuts, fish, water..." Sora looked at the things in his bag. They were collecting provisions for the trip seeing as no one knew how long they would be on the raft. He looked at the next item on the list. Mushrooms. He walked over to a certain spot on the island known only as, The Secret Place. It was a well-hidden cave covered by vines and over grown plants.
Inside there were all sorts of drawings on the walls that the kids of Destiny Islands had drawn. He went over to a certain drawing. One was of him and the other of Kairi. When they were younger they decided to draw each other. Her drawing of him was great but his was, well, a little less than perfect. He sat down on the ground and took a sharp rock. When he was finished he moved back to admirer his work. He had drawn his arm giving the drawing of Kairi a Paupu.
He grabbed the mushrooms and turned to leave but behind him was a man in a long cloak and a hood that shadowed his face.
"Who are you?" Sora asked.
"I've come to see the door to this world," the figure said, clearly a man. Sora turned to the door the man stood next to. It had just appeared one day but they had no way of opening it.
"What are you talking about?" Sora turned his gaze back to the man.
"This world had been connected. Tied to the darkness. Soon to be completely eclipsed," the man moved slightly.
"Where did you come from?"
"You do not yet know what lies beyond the door."
"So you're from another world. Well you'll see! I'm going to go learn what's out there!" Sora told him confidently.
"A meaningless effort," the man laughed a little. "One who knows nothing can understand nothing." Sora turned to the door for second. When he turned back to the man he had completely vanished. "Dear Donald,
I'm sorry to leave without notice but trouble's brewin! Stars have begun to turn out one by one. I need a favor from you. I need you to find the Keybearer who holds the 'key' to our survival and stick with him. Go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He'll help you. Thanks pal.
P.S. Apologize to Minnie for me."
"What could this mean?" Daisy asked after Donald had read the letter.
"It means we'll just have to trust the king," Minnie said. "Donald and Goofy will need to find this key." Donald ran over a list in his mind.
"Daisy will you take care of..."
"Of course," she said quickly.
"And to chronicle you adventures, he will accompany you," Minnie pointed to a spot on the desk. Goofy squinted his eyes but couldn't see anything.
"Over here!" Came a voice from the desk. Then Donald and Goofy saw a small figure jumping up and down. "Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket at your service."
"Good luck to all of you," Minnie said as she and Daisy saluted. Donald sighed when he saw Goofy saluting next to them.
"You're coming too!" Donald yelled and yanked Goofy away.
"Gwarsh Jiminy, your world disappeared too," Goofy said as they headed down the steps to the Gummi Ship, their means of travel.
"Yup. As far as I can tell I'm the only one who made it to this castle," Jiminy said from Donald's shoulder.
"We'll probably need new duds when we get to this new world," Goofy said gesturing to his armor and Donald's wizard robes. "We've got to protect the world border."
"Order!" Donald corrected.
"Right, world order," Goofy laughed.
Donald and Goofy sat in the Gummi Ship as the top was about to close. A blur of yellow passed in front of Donald.
"Pluto! Get out of here!" Donald heard Goofy yell but it was to late though as the hole opened up under the ship and they were off. Sora and Kairi sat, alone, on the dock at their island. The sun was setting behind the ocean, turning the water a brilliant orange color.
"You know, Riku's changed," Kairi said.
"How?" Sora asked.
"I don't know..." She said as her face turned to a concerned one.
"What's wrong?" Sora asked, worried.
"Oh, nothing. I just can't wait once we set sail. It'll be great!"
"Yeah."
"Sora let's take the raft and go! Just the two of us!"
"What?"
"Just kidding."
"You're the one that's changed Kairi," Sora said as the two stood up.
"Maybe. Sora, don't ever change," Kairi said just before running off to her boat. Sora just shrugged and went to his boat to get home.
Sora lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. Kairi's words were still fresh in his mind.
"I just can't wait once we set sail." Sora sighed and sat up. Lightning flashed and he closed his eyes for a second. He looked out his window to see the storm was directly over their island!
"The raft!" he jumped up and out the window.
"Sora! Your dinner is ready come on down! Sora?" his mom called from downstairs. Sora landed his boat at the island and jumped out. He noticed Riku and Kairi's boats were sitting there as well. He turned to find them when a small creature appeared in front of him.
"It can't be!" he yelled at the small Shadow that stood before him. Others began to pop up behind that one. Sora swung his wooden sword but to no effect. He started to run while hopping over the Shadows. He ran until he saw Riku on the small island that was connected by a bridge.
"Riku!" he ran up to him. Riku turned to face him.
"The door has opened," he said.
"What?" Sora asked.
"The door has opened Sora! Now we can get to the other worlds!"
"No way! We've got to find Kairi!"
"Kairi's coming with us! This may be our only chance! We may never see our parents again," Riku told him.
"Riku," was all Sora could say as he shook his head.
"But I'm not afraid of the darkness!" Riku shouted. Then Sora noticed a small pool of dark energy under Riku's feet. Then he noticed the same beneath himself. Dark tendrils began to rise up and envelop the two as Riku held his hand out. Sora tried to grab Riku's hand but the dark energy would not allow it. Then a bright flash over took them and Sora was forced to close his eyes. When he opened his eyes the darkness was gone, but so was Riku.
"Keyblade," a familiar voice said. Sora then noticed the sword in his hand. The hilt was in the middle of two gold handles. The shaft part was a thin cylinder about two and a half feet long and silver. The actual key part looked like a crown with round circles as the tips. It didn't look sharp enough to kill anything.
"Keyblade," the voice said again. Sora wanted to throw the weapon to the ground but something stopped him. Three Shadows appeared in front of him and Sora attacked with the Keyblade. Right before it hit the round circles at the tip pf the key part seemed to sharpen and slashed right trough all three. Sora was amazed by this but had no time to think it over.
"A door?" he wondered what Riku was talking about. The Secret Place, that mysterious door. He set off at a run but more Shadows blocked his way. He slashed through one and spun to cut another in half. He continued to strike them down as he continued to the Secret Place.
An exceptionally skilled Shadow jumped at him and blocked a strike from the Keyblade. Sora struck again but the Shadow dodged and slashed at him making a small cut on Sora's leg. Sora rolled sideways and slashed the Shadow quickly. Sora saw it was just a small cut and continued on until he finally got to the Secret Place. There he found Kairi standing in front of the door.
"Kairi!" he yelled to get her attention. When she turned he saw she was in bad shape. She breathed heavily and was sweating. Her face was pale and her legs seemed to shake under her own weight.
"Sora..." she said weakly. The door behind her burst open and dark wind flowed through it. Sora held his ground but the weakened Kairi was blown forward. He tried to catch her but right before he could she disappeared. While he was confused he had forgotten to brace himself and was blown out of the cave.
Floating! His island was floating! Well, what was left of it. Only a large round piece of ground with sand on top was left.
"Wait! The hooded man!" Sora thought back to his encounter in the cave.
"This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness. Soon to be completely eclipsed."
The man had been right. His home was being destroyed. Above him was a large sphere of dark energy that was pulling things into it. A loud sound caught Sora's ears and he turned around. What he saw terrified him.
"Darkside!" he yelled. The giant monster had emerged from his dreams to make his reality a nightmare. The Keyblade still firmly in his grip he got ready to fight. He beat him before he could win again. Darkside suddenly dropped to his knees and slammed his hand into the ground so that the giant fist melded with it. Five Shadows came up from a dark void around Darkside's arm. They all lunged at him with claws ready. Sora swung the Keyblade and took down one. Two went behind him and two stood in front. He quickly back-flipped over the ones behind him and cut them down. The two in front ran at him but he blocked their attacks and sliced through them. Then Sora looked up at Darkside and was shocked.
"It's gotten smarter!" Sora yelled as Darkside had used the distraction to create that familiar ball of energy. Sora dodged the first ball of light but one slammed into his back and sent him to the ground while he felt that horrible pain again. He slowly got up but another ball of light struck him on his chest and he was sent flying back and off the floating island.
Using all he had left Sora grabbed a tree root that was sticking out on the way down. In his attempt to grab it the Keyblade slipped from his hands!
"No!" Sora yelled as he tried to catch his only defense but it was to late. He hung there with his head down. There was no hope left. Goofy and Donald walked through Traverse Town at night. Goofy looked up and patted Donald on the shoulder.
"What?" Donald asked, annoyed.
"Look at that there star," Goofy pointed up. Donald followed the finger and saw a star that was starting to dim.
Sora's head shot up with a new look of determination. He had to win! For Riku and Kairi! He had to find his friends and he would do it. He used the root to launch himself into the air and half way up there was a flash and the Keyblade materialized in his hand once again.
"Time for round two!" Sora yelled as he landed on the sand. Darkside looked about as surprised as he could with his face hidden but got ready to strike again. He slammed his giant hand on the ground to crush Sora but Sora dodged quickly. More Shadows popped up in front of him. Sora sliced through three of them and the remaining two surrounded him. They jumped at him and Sora did an amazing split kick that he himself didn't think he could do. The two Shadows were thrown from the platform of earth and sand into the endless darkness.
"Your turn!" Sora pointed the Keyblade at Darkside who Sora heard scowl in anger. Darkside swatted at Sora as if he were a fly but missed. Sora clung to the back of Darkside's hand but this time Darkside flung him off. Sora stopped himself from falling again and dropped into an attack stance. They both took notice that each second they fought the closer they got to the dark sphere of energy and the greater the pull from it came. This caused the wind to whip around Sora making it a bit tougher to see.
He could easily see Darkside's hand though as he tried to dodge but was hit and sent sprawling. He got up and shook his head a little. He went back to fighting both the pull of the sphere and Darkside.
"That's it!" Sora yelled. He then allowed the upward draft to grab him and he was thrown into the air towards the sphere. As he passed Darkside's head he grabbed one of the long strands of hair. He held the Keyblade above him, ready to strike.
"Stay dead this time!" he yelled and slammed the blade into Darkside's neck. He pulled out the blade and let go of the hair. Darkside's lifeless form was lifted and disappeared into the sphere. This is where Sora's journey would begin. He needed to find his friends, Riku and Kairi. Darkness then enveloped him. "It's going out!" Donald yelled as the star lit up brightly one final time before disappearing completely.
"We better hurry and find Leon," Goofy said.
"Yeah. Then we can find the one with this 'key'," Donald agreed.