Traverse Town

Sora woke up near a lot of boxes. They had stars on them, yellow stars. Sora opened his eyes wearily, and felt his forehead. He was burning hot, and he didn't want to get up. He couldn't move. He tried to get up, but when he did, His head hurt like heck, and it felt as if needles punctured his skin. He sat down slowly, looking at all the scratches and bruises he had on himself. Sora then looked around slowly, wanting to fall asleep again. He closed his eyes, but couldn't sleep. He opened his eyes to a slobbery feeling. Sora's eyes shot open, and his head jolted to his left. He found a panting yellow dog by his side. Although it hurt just to pick up his own hand, Sora wiped the slobber off his cheek. He tried grinning, but his lips where chapped and sore.

"Hi..." He said weakly. His voice had felt like a cat scratching at his thought every time he tried to speak. He sat still, wondering where he was. I know... that this isn't Destiny Islands. I can't even remember how I got here in the first place. Was I fighting? Sora tried wettening his throat, and swallowed his own spit. It was a little better, but his whole body hurt bad. He closed his eyes, then opened them. He looked where the dog had been, but it was gone now. He didn't care, nor did he mind, and leaned his head on a nearbye box, finally falling as Sora felt his leg sting like horror. It felt as if a venomous snake just bit him in the leg, it's poisoning teeth sinking into him, into his skin. Sora hated the nightmare, and quickly opened his eyes half-way.

"So you're awake now, huh?..." Someone said. Sora opened his eyes all the way and sat up.

"Oh, don't move..." The voice said. Sora looked up to find some girl treating his wounds. She was extremely beautiful. She had large brown eyes and golden short hair that glistened in the light. She wore a dark purple crop-top and khaki shorts. What caught Sora's attention the most was her nice figure and the long sword she had strapped to her leg. Sora's cheeks drained into a light pink color, and then faded away slowly before he spoke.

"Um, where exactly am I?" Sora said, his throat feeling dry.

"Traverse Town." The girl said. She wrapped a large cut on Sora's leg up.

"Done!" She cheered. Sora looked at himself. He had to admit, he did look and feel better than before. He moved his leg and raised his hand up and down. It still hurt, but not as bad as it did before.

"Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Allison. Well, Alli, for short." She said.

"And I'm Sora. Hey, ah, do you know how I got here?" Sora asked.

"I dunno. I don't even know how I got here myself." She answered, looking up.

"Sorry." She said, smiling at Sora. He tilted his head and placed his bandaged-up hands behind his head.

"That's okay. Well, I better be going now." He said.

"'Going'?" Alli asked, a confused look written on her face.

"Yeah, to look for my friends." Sora said, placing his hands on the bed.

"They vanished on my island..." He said, looking down. Alli smiled.

"Oh, I see. I'm doing the same thing you are. Only I'm looking for my brother and sister. My dad has gone, too. I do TaeKwonDo, and one time, while I was at kendo practice with my bro, the heartless took over and I ended up here. So did my family." She said, looking out the window in the red-room. (Which was in a hotel.)

"Um, what are heartless?" Sora asked. Alli didn't answer, and Sora thought of a good idea.

"So, maybe we can team up and go to lots of worlds looking for them. So, um, do you want to?" Sora asked, he to looking out the window now. Allison stared at Sora. She smiled and laughed.

"Me? Me go with a goof like you? Are you kidding? Why would I? Um, anyway, sure." She said. Sora was confused, but knew that she wanted to be a team. He laughed, too.

"Good. So let's go." He said, heading for the door. Allison followed, and left the hotel with Sora.

Sora walked out the hotel's front doors and stopped in front of a man with a large gun looking sword. He turned and looked at Alli and Sora.

"They'll keep coming out of nowhere, and they'll keep coming at you, too. As long as you continue to wield the keyblade. But... why? Why did it choose a kid like you?" He said, covering his face by looking down.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? I'm not that dumb!" Sora said, real angry. Allison laughed.

"Yes you are, dumbo. I still don't know why I'm following a dork like you." She said, still laughing. Sora frowned in the darkness of the night.

"Nevermind. Now let's see that keyblade of yours." The man said, his head lifting up, revealing a serious look on his face. Sora lifted his keyblade.

"What? There's no way your getting this! It's my only memory of my friends!" Sora said, hugging his keyblade. Allison and Sora backed away, both afraid of the man. He laughed in an odd way.

"Alright, then, have it your way." The man said, lifting his gun looking sword high in the air. Allison reached and quickly got her kendo sword out of some pocket thing on her leg. She jumped on-top of the man, and hit his head wildly, grunting. She jumped down and allowed Sora to hit the mysterious man. He slammed the keyblade at him, slamming him into a nearby wall of a shop. Allison joined the fight again, using combo-attacks and hits that looked odd and cool. Sora did the same. Finally the man moved his own weapon upwards, hitting both Alli and Sora at the same time, throwing them to the ground. Unconscious, they both remained silent and cold on the hard town's ground.

Just then, a ninja-looking women came running to the man in a black, freaky outfit.. She stopped near him, and giggled silently.

"Hey, you found it. Nice going, Leon." She said.

"Yeah, but still... it looks like things are worse than we thought... a lot worse."

Sora opened his eyes wearily, and then closed them, listening to a soft graceful voice slowly fly through his ears. He thought it sounded familiar...

"Come on you lazy bum, get up. Hey, uh, you okay?" The voice chanted. Sora sat up slowly, and stared at the familiar looking girl. Her red hair moved as she did, and it paced with her. She stopped and watched Sora blink, rub his eyes, blink, shake his head, and then slowly study the girl again. It was Kairi. Atleast he thought it was. He blinked again and answered her.

"I... guess..." He said, feeling sleepy for some reason. The girl smiled and started to pace again. She quietly said something to Sora.

"Those creatures that attacked you are after the keyblade... your keyblade. But it's your heart they really want because you wield it."

"I'm so... glad... that you're ok... Kairi..." He said weakly, his eyes desperately wanting to close. He had to "pry them open." Kairi giggled, and she looked Sora straight in the eye, leaning over.

"Kairi? Who are you talking about?" She said, standing straight, her fist on her waist.

"I'm the great ninja Yuffie!" She said in a high-pitched voice. Suddenly everything changed when Sora finally blinked. He shook his head real slow, moaning.

"Hm?" He whispered, looking at the "great ninja" who took Kairi's place. Sora looked around the green room, knowing it looked a whole lot like the red room, only green. The "ninja" sighed.

"I think you might've overdone it, Squall." She said, looking at the man in the black outfit. He frowned and seemed to growl when he answered her.

"That's Leon..." He said, turning his blank face towards a wall. Sora instantly felt better when he picked the keyblade up. He examined it, starting at the yellow handle and stopping at the crown-shaped end. He quietly talked, and seemed to be speaking to himself.

"The keyblade..." He said. The "ninja" looked up and at Sora. She smiled.

"Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures." She said, a serious look invading her face, extinguishing the happy-one. Sora stared at the man. (His name is Leon, and the girl's is Yuffie.) Leon looked at the floor, never seeming to look at anybody. He closed his eyes.

"It was the only way to protect your heart from them. But it won't work for long. Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one. Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers." He said, lifting his head when he finished. Sora frowned angrily, and tried to stop his mind from spinning. He had a question that he wanted to blurt out, but his lips where "taped" closed. He somehow "opened" them and let it out.

"Why don't you start making sense! What's going on!" He yelled, for some odd reason crying. There was a long pause, and Sora had more to say, but his sobs choked his throat and he sounded odd when he tried talking. He moaned, and looked down watching his tears darken some spots on the bed's covers he was sitting on. The pause was continuing and seemed to never stop. It felt like no one would talk for hours. Finally, Yuffie broke the silence, answering Sora's question. She smiled as she talked.

"Okay, you know there are many worlds out there, besides your castle and this town, right?" She said. Sora tried speaking, dodging the sobs and hiccups in his throat.

"Yeah..." He said, hiccuping inbetween it. Yuffie chuckled.

(In the red room next-door, Goofy and Donald were with a girl in a pink dress named Aerith.)

Goofy gasped.

"But the worlds are supposed to be a secret!" Goofy said, his hands covering his mouth. Aerith sighed, then smiled. She looked at Donald and Goofy.

"They've been secret because they've never been connected... until now, when the heartless came and everything changed."

(Green Room)

Sora looked up cautiously.

"The heartless?" He said, his sobs and hiccups fading away slowly. Yuffie smiled and giggled.

"The ones who attacked you, you remember?" She said. Leon spoke in a low voice, his medium-lengthened brunette hair moving with him.

"Those without hearts." he said, not ever moving as he spoke. Yuffie laughed and soon stopped.

"The darkness in people's hearts-- that's what attracts them." She said, glancing at Sora.

"And there is darkness within every heart." Leon said, seeming to interupt Yuffie every time she spoke. Yuffie frowned at him, and for some reason it seemed as if she was changing the subject. She looked up at the ceiling.

"Hey, have you heard of someone named Ansem?" She said.

(Red room)

"Ansem?" Goofy asked, his face slowly turning into a puzzled one. Aerith smiled.

"He was studying the heartless." She said, smiling. Then everyone was silent...

(Green room)

Sora studied his keyblade again. He finished crying, and spoke up.

"So... this is the key?" He asked. Yuffie's face changed into a plain look.

"Exactly." She said.

"The heartless have great fear of the keyblade. That's why they'll keep coming after you, no matter what." Leon said, his voice sounding as if a frog lived in his throat. Sora frowned.

"Well, I didn't ask for this." Sora said, a tad mad. Yuffie laughed.

"The keyblade chooses its master, and it chose you!" She said, sitting next to Sora on the bed. Leon did a quick smirk and leaned against a wall.

"So tough luck." He said slowly and in a low tone. Sora looked up and thought back a while... Sora sighed.

"How did all this happen? I remember being in my room..." Sora said to himself, and gasped.

"Wait a minute! What happened to my home, my island? Riku? Kairi? And... hey, where is Alli anyway?" Sora said, his mind all mixed-up. Leon and Yuffie looked at Sora.

"You know what? I really don't know. But your little girlfriend is at an Item Shop." Leon said, getting off the wall and walking around. Sora blushed angrily.

"Hey! Allison is not my girlfriend! She's my... my, uh... friend..." Sora said, not knowing what to say. Leon didn't listen to Sora, and wanted to know if Sora was ready for the adventure he was about to leave on.

"Are you ready?" He asked, Sora staring at him. Sora tilted his head to the side, then back up.

"Uh, I-I'm ready..." Sora answered, his heart beating faster. Leon, for once, and finally, smiled.

"Be prepared to fight for your life, Sora." Leon said. He glanced at Yuffie.

"Come on, Yuffie, let's go join Aerith. She should be with the other visitors." He said, nodding towards a red door. Yuffie screamed and shouted for Leon to look. She pointed to a heartless with a ton of metal on it.

"Yuffie, go!" Leon said, telling Yuffie to leave the room. She did so and slammed the red room's door open, slamming poor Donald into the wall, "quacking." Aeirith followed Yuffie and hopped off the bed.

"Yuffie, wait!" She screamed. In the Green room, Leon was quickly talking to Sora.

"Sora, let's go." He said, watching the heartless jump in action out one of the windows. He followed it, jumping out as well. Sora had no choice but to go with him, so he did. He jumped out the window, and went to kill the heartless with Leon. He found it and hit it multiple times, finally killing them. Sora sighed with relief.

"Good job, Sora. I've gotta go now, so your on your own, okay?" Leon said, running off into some other direction. Sora walked towards a large door, and it led him to the third district. Tons of lights lit-up the town, and music played all through out it, too. He walked down a set of stairs near bye, and took a walk around the district.

Goofy cautiously walked towards the door that had slammed Donald. It slowly closed, and Donald was a flat duck that felt like a swatted fly stuck to a brick wall. Goofy laughed and pealed Donald off the wall. Then he took him towards the hotel's exiting doors, back into the Second District. Once there, Donald somehow "poofed" back to his normal-self. Donald shook his head quacking, and then pointed to a large, decorated door.

"Let's go there, Goofy!" He said, walking towards it. Goofy tilted his head to the side.

"Go where?" Goofy said, staring at Donald. Donald laughed.

"The Third District! Come on, now, Goofy." Donald said, while Goofy ran behind him. They entered on a high spot on a building, and they both spotted a dark ant looking monster.

"Gawrsh, are these the heartless dudes?" Goofy asked. "Sure is scary..." Donald held his wand up high as Goofy lifted his shield to protect him. Donald hissed quietly and then he yelled.

"Let's get em', Goofy!" He said. Donald took a swing at the heartless, but never hit it and lowered it's HP. The Heartless slammed itself on the ground, and both Goofy and Donald went flying in the cold air. Sora, taking a walk, turned his head to the screaming sound of Donald and Goofy, whom then landed on Sora. There was then silence as Donald looked at the key Sora held, then Goofy. They both smiled.

"The key!" They said, as happy as ever. They tried grabbing it, but a large earthquake feeling disturbed them, and they looked up, surprised to see an overlarged metal covered heartless that didn't have any body parts connected. As it spun its loose parts, it walked towards Sora, Donald and Goofy, and they quickly got up and prepared for battle. They all at once charged for the monster, and it smacked Goofy towards the ground. Sora left Goofy and stabbed the Heartless hard, but it's metal was to thick and heavy for the blade to even go through. Just then, the heartless was knocked on to the ground, and everyone was surprised to find Allison behind the creature.

Allison held her midnight black kendo sword that she grasped in her hands tightly. Allison rose her heavy sword high up into the air and came smacking down on to the giant heartless's head. Sora was extremely impressed by her technique as she swung the blade. It was as if Alli was an angel sent to rescue him.

"Come on Goofy, lets help her out!" Shouted Donald, running towards the heartless with great fear. Donald stopped in front of it and aimed his Mage's Staff towards the monster's head.

"Blizzard!" He shouted, with cold, freezing snow that was -0 degrees beaming out of his wand. The heartless's head, which twisted and turned, picked Donald up and threw him at Goofy. Sora ran towards the monster and Alli and Sora both hit the monster with all their might, but it didn't budge. Alli jumped back and quickly reached into one of her pockets, and got two potions.

"We need Donald and Goofy if we're gonna win this thing, Sora!" Alli said. "Heal!" She screamed as the two potion bottles turned into glowing leaves that blew to Donald and Goofy, recovering their HP points up to the max. They quickly jumped up, and everyone formed a circle underneath the giant monster's head still floating. Then they each held their weapons up high, and all at once jumped up and hit the heartless so hard they about hurt themselves. The heartless, finally vaporizing quickly into the air, vanished. Allison cheered, and ran towards Sora, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you!" She said, releasing grip over Sora, who was blushing out of control. Sora turned away quickly, and then back

"What the heck, Alli! I barely even knew you!" He screamed. Alli sighed.

"Sorry, I'll try making a more comfortable hug next time." She said. They all laughed, but Sora stood as still as a stone.

"Anyway, I think we'd all make a good team. So, friends?" Alli said, reaching her hand out. Everyone smiled and piled their hands on top of one another's. Sora slowly put his on top.

"Alright," Sora said, "But no more of that crap you pulled back there, Alli!" He said. Alli smiled happily.

"Alright, alright... Anyway, good. I'm glad..." She said. Just then, Donald and Goofy turned to Sora.

"Sora, we need you to come with us on our journey to find King Mickey. Will you help us?" Donald said. Sora smiled, and his blush faded away.

"Sure, but, how are we gonna see other worlds?" He asked.

"In our Gummi Ship." Goofy said. Sora's face burst into a puzzled one.

"Gummi what?" He asked.

"Gummi Ship. It's a small ship the king gave us to fly in. We'll show you, come on!" Donald said. Before they all exited Traverse Town's large decorated door's, a loud yell echoed across the sky.

"Wait!" It said. Alli turned her head, and waved at the man running towards them with two girls following behind.

"Konnichiwa, Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith!" She said. Then everyone else stopped and turned around. They, too, waved. Leon and the others stopped, all gasping for air. Leon then reached his hand out to Sora, asking for his keyblade. Sora handed it to him, and Leon closed his eyes tightly and shook the keyblade hard as it glew bright red. It then faded away and Leon opened his eyes.

"There. I gave you fire, but I just hope you can use it. When you want to, just believe in yourself and imagine fire bursting out of your blade, and it will come out. Trust me." Leon said. Sora smiled in return.

"Thanks." He said.

"Anytime." Leon responded. Then Yuffie went to Donald.

"Here, I thought you might've needed some extra bucks on your trip." She said. Donald stared at his hands.

"Bucks?" He asked. Yuffie chuckled.

"I meant money. Sorry. Here, take it!" She said. Donald gladly accepted. Aerith then walked to Allison.

"Here, Alli. I thought you might need some extra potions. I'll give you eight of mine." She said. Alli smiled and took the potions, sticking them into her pocket.

"Thanks a bunch!" She said cheerfully. Aerith smiled.

"Yup." She said. Then they all stepped back and waved, running back to their hotel.

"Thank You!" Everyone yelled. Donald then nudged Goofy with his elbow, and Goofy looked at him.

"What?" He asked.

"You know..." Donald said.

"I do? What?" Goofy asked. Donald sighed angrily.

"That technique thingy...?" Donald said. Goofy gasped in surprise.

"Oh, Ah-yuck, Oh yeah! Sora, I'm gonna give you my Dodge Roll technique." Goofy said. Sora turned to Goofy.

"Um, okay...?" Sora asked. Then, Sora felt great power within him, and it slowly faded away. Sora thanked Goofy, and looked down in depress. Alli leaned over, and stared at his sad face.

"Ooh, Mr. Ol' Grump isn't in the the mood to go, huh...? I thought you wanted to go home." Allison said, crossing her arms. Donald smiled.

"Yeah, and besides, our ship only runs on happy faces! So no frowning, or we'll have to leave ya' behind." Donald said. Sora talked so quiet it sounded as if he was whispering.

"I just want to see my friends." He said. Alli sighed angrily.

"I thought we where you're friends, Stinky! So, who do you like better, then, Kairi or me? Whose a better friend?" Alli asked angrily. Sora looked up in an angrily matter.
"Of course it's gotta be Kairi! I'm not gonna be friends with some idiot who always fights with me! I'm never, ever gonna be friends with you, either! I promise!" He yelled. Alli sighed and looked down sadly. There was a long pause, and Alli broke the silence.

"I-I'm sorry... It's just... Ooh, nevermind!" She said. Sora frowned angrily, and Alli turned it into a happy frown.

"Sora, smile!" She said. Sora smacked her hands away.

"Stop it! What's the matter with you!" He said. Allison frowned.

"I'm only trying to have fun, Sora, gosh! Fine, then, be that way!" Allison shouted, with tears running down her face. She then rushed out the doors and into the Gummi Ship, leaving the others behind. Goofy sighed.

"Ooh, ouch... That's gotta hurt..." He said. Donald ignored the fight, and looked at Sora, who was looking down again.

"Remember, smile, Sora," Donald said, "smile happily!" Sora didn't say anything for a while.

"Happy?" He said. Donald and Goofy watched and waited for Sora to do something. There was another pause. Then, Sora looked up, and he smiled as if he were a clown in the circus. It was real funny looking, too. There was a pause again and Sora's smile slowly turned into a bored one. Then everyone burst out laughing, and Donald and Goofy pointed to Sora.

"That's the funniest face we've ever seen in our lives!" Donald said. Once the laughing quieted down, they all went into the Gummi Ship with Allison.