Sora walked out of the cave, confused at what had just happened. In all the time since they had found that secret cove, there had never been any mysterious occurrences with the door. What had triggered the hooded figure to appear, and how did he get through if the door had no handle or keyhole? More importantly, what was this 'darkness' the figure had mentioned? The more he thought about it, the more he decided he didn't like the sound of it.

Looking down and seeing the mushrooms in his hand, he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. Deciding he would act like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, he ran back to where Kairi was waiting.

"Hey Kairi, sorry it took so long," he said apologetically, handing the provisions he had gathered to her. "What's that?" he asked after he noticed that she was fiddling with something.

"This? I'm making a necklace out of thalassa shells. In the old days, sailors always wore thalassa shells. They were supposed to ensure a safe voyage. Oh, and thanks for collecting everything for me! I found something today, too. Here, it's yours," she said as she passed him a Hi-Potion.

"Ah, thanks. Hopefully we won't need this, huh?" he said, putting it away.

"Hee-hee, I guess so," she replied. "Are you tired? Want to call it a day?"

Sora looked up and noticed Kairi studying him while wearing a somewhat worried expression. He figured he must have looked tired from the day's events. The truth was that he wanted more time to think about the stranger in the cave, and he couldn't really think about it with Kairi around. He wasn't sure if he was ready to discuss what had happened to anyone . . . and even if he was, he would have preferred it to be Riku. Speaking of Riku, he hadn't seen him since earlier. After scanning the horizon for his white-haired friend, Sora decided that it was best if he just went home and thought about things alone. He didn't want to worry about Riku too much, at least . . . not right now.

"Yeah, let's go home," he said, stretching his arms and stifling a yawn.

"Okay, tomorrow's the big day. We should rest up!" exclaimed Kairi. Sora wholeheartedly agreed, even though he wasn't sure how much rest he would be able to get that night. "Let's go, Sora," she said, already a few feet in front of him.

"Oh, right. Sorry, Kairi. I guess I have a lot on my mind right now." He wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say, but at least he wasn't making excuses for himself. They continued walking until they got to the dock of the island. Kairi sat down on the edge, her feet hanging carelessly over. Sora decided to sit beside her and swung his feet over the edge with her.

"You know, Riku has changed," she said in a low voice.

Sora looked up and processed what Kairi had just said. Had Riku changed? He was unsure of what she meant. Also, why she would say such a thing about Riku?

Had Riku been acting different when Sora was around? He hadn't noticed anything different. Then again, he didn't really see him as much as he used to. And even when they were hanging around each other, it was mostly during a youthful competition. Sora suddenly felt a rush of disappointment in his heart. Why hadn't they been around one another lately? He did often wonder what his friend was up to. Shaking his head slightly, he decided that now wouldn't be a good time to think about it.

"What do you mean?" he asked and looked over at Kairi. Looking more attentively to her face, he saw that she was biting her lower lip. She had shown this habit before when she didn't know whether or not to say what was on her mind.

"Well . . . " she responded, pausing slightly.

"You okay?" he asked softly, worried that something bad was going on behind his back. To be honest, he wasn't exactly sure how Kairi and Riku felt about each other. He always had assumed that they were friends, but Kairi seemed genuinely upset about something, and he didn't know what it was.

"Sora, let's take the raft and go-- just the two of us!" she interjected.

"Huh?" Sora wondered aloud.

"Hee-hee, just kidding," Kairi added hastily, giggling slightly.

"What's gotten into you? You're the one that's changed, Kairi." He noticed that his voice was shaking steadily while he talked. He had to admit that Kairi was starting to make him nervous. Did she really want to go out alone with Sora, or was she really just joking? And he still wasn't sure why she had said that Riku had changed. Maybe Kairi was trying to split them apart? That would make sense if she really wanted to go out alone with Sora, but he didn't think Kairi was that kind of person . . .

"Maybe..." Kairi suddenly got quiet and serious. "You know, I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready. No matter where I go or what I see, I know I can always come back here. Right?"

With that, Sora decided that she was just nervous about the journey. He didn't find it unusual for nerves to make her act funny. "Yeah, of course!" he said, smiling as he looked back out at the sunset.

"That's good. Sora, don't ever change," she added, once again making Sora wonder aloud.

"Huh?"

Kairi stood up slowly and stared out at the horizon. "I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great." Sora leaned back on his hands, agreeing silently. He didn't think that he would ever change. He had his two friends there with him, and he never thought that there would be a day when they wouldn't be there beside him.

Meanwhile, back in the cove, Riku paced back and forth. He sighed and studied the door once more. He'd been studying it for hours, and nothing about it had changed. He pressed his ear against the door and noted that there was no sound coming from it, then ran his fingers up and down where the hinges should have been. The edges of the door were flat, almost as if it wasn't really a door and was just a painting of one.

'What do I have to do to get this door to open,' he thought to himself, full of anger. He was furious that the hooded figure had appeared to Sora and not himself. He was much more mature than his friend, and was ready to get off of the island no matter what the costs were. He was sure that Sora would have lost heart after hearing that there would be 'darkness' involved. 'That's just the kind of person Sora is,' he thought spitefully.

Frustrated, Riku sat down on a large rock that was in the cove. While he didn't know why he was feeling so scornful about Sora, he knew that he surely didn't mean the things he was thinking about his friend. After all, Sora was one of his oldest and closest friends.

'It must be an effect of the door,' he thought. The thought seemed crazy, but he knew that the door was invading and influencing almost every one of his thoughts. Riku looked up at the door and sighed once more. He knew something was going to happen soon. It had to. Why else would a stranger appear out of nowhere saying that the door had opened? Surely it would just be a matter of time.

At that thought, a loud clap of thunder echoed its way through the cove.

'A storm . . . now?' It seemed odd that it would be storming after a day with perfect weather. Another large wave of thunder caused the rocks in the cove to rumble. Riku suddenly became aware of how the rumbling was growing to be more and more like an earthquake and jumped off the rock, heading toward the exit. No matter how much he wanted to get out and see other worlds, he knew it wouldn't do any good to stay in front of the door and get crushed to death by a cave-in.

As he neared the entrance of the cove, he instinctively reached out his arm to brush the vines out of his eyes and looked around in disbelief. It was a very dark and black night, but up in the sky there was unmistakably a giant ball of dark energy above the island. His gaze soon shifted to the beach and saw many strange shadowy creatures appear instantly out of the ground. He now knew that something was happening. The door must have opened, and he most certainly did not want to miss his chance to escape.

He turned around and ran back into the cove, anxious to pass through the door he knew had to be open. Riku was surprised to see Kairi standing in front of the door. There were creatures around her, but they disappeared into the ground when he ran into the opening.

"Kairi! What are you doing here?" he shouted. His body was full of emotion. Kairi didn't respond, however, and Riku grew impatient. He looked behind her and saw that the door was open. The thought of running straight into the abyss crossed his mind and was his first plan of action, but when he took a step toward the door, it slammed shut. He could still hear the rumbling of the thunder and the swishing sound of the shadow creatures outside of the cove, so he knew it wasn't too late. Deciding that surely there had to be a different way to go to the other worlds, he turned around and ran back outside.

Riku looked back up at the sky and noticed the ball of energy had moved to above his island.

'That must be the way through,' he thought as he saw small light rays passing through cracks in the darkness. Riku didn't hesitate while running over to his island. As he got closer to it, he saw that Sora was heading toward the dock in a boat.

'Well, I guess now is the moment of truth. Will Sora go with me to the other worlds, or will he stay behind in fear?' Soon after that thought, Sora had reached Riku's island, running from the shadow figures that he seemed to do no damage to.

"Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!" Sora exclaimed.

'So, the first thing he's concerned about is Kairi? I'm not going to let anything stop us from going to other worlds,' thought Riku.

"The door has opened . . . "

"What?" Sora sounded as if he had no idea what Riku could be talking about.

"The door has opened Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!"

Sora was in disbelief. Did Riku even care about rescuing Kairi? She could be in serious danger! "What are you talking about? We've gotta find Kairi!"

"Kairi's coming with us!" Riku yelled with obvious impatience in his voice. "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again." He took a moment to study Sora's face, unable to read what his friend was thinking. "There's no turning back. But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

"Riku!" Sora was worried about his friend. How could he not be afraid of the darkness? This was staring to scare him. He didn't want to lose his best friend, but from the sound of it, that was beginning to become a possible reality . . .

Riku extended his hand toward Sora as darkness quickly engulfed them both. Sora tried to grab his hand, but no matter how hard he tried to reach it, it seemed like it got further away. Suddenly, it was as though Riku had been ripped away from the island by the darkness, and Sora found himself all alone.

There was a flash of bright light, and he felt something materialize in his hand. He looked down and saw what seemed to be a giant key. A mysterious voice resounded in his head. It was repeatedly saying, "Keyblade . . . Keyblade . . . " Sora assumed that the key was some sort of specialized blade used for fighting. He swung it at the shadow creatures and found that it defeated them easily.

He made his way to the secret cove and noticed that the opening had been replaced by a silver door. Opening it quickly, he ran inside and came to a halt when he saw Kairi standing in front of the door the stranger had appeared at earlier.

"Kairi!" he yelled.

She turned around and to look at him, and Sora noticed that she looked ghastly, as if someone had completely drained her energy.

"Sora . . . " she said in a whispery moan while reaching out for him.

However, before she could move, the door behind her burst open and a strong black wind blew her against her friend. He tried to hold onto her, but she didn't appear to have any texture and disappeared through him like a phantom. The wind was too strong for Sora to stand against, and he also got blown away by it.

Everything around him was dark; he couldn't tell where he was going or if he was even alive anymore. That was a question that would soon be answered. He landed with a thud on what appeared to be a large chunk of the island. Standing up and looking around, he became instantly frightened at by what he saw.

'It looks like I've been sucked into that ball of darkness that was floating above the island!' He panicked when he saw debris swirling around, knowing for certain that his home and everything he knew had been destroyed. A giant thud brought his attention to an enormous shadow man.

'What the heck is that!' He didn't have much time to contemplate it, because the shadow figure brought its hand down right next to Sora in an attempt to crush him. He jumped out of the way and swung the keyblade behind him, hoping to swipe its hand in his movement. It worked, and Sora noticed that some of the shadowy essence on his hand had disappeared.

He continued to fight the dark creature until it stopped attacking. Sora looked up to the creature's face, wondering why it had stopped going after him. He saw an enormous black sphere and grew nervous at what was going to happen. Fortunately, he didn't have to be afraid for long, because almost immediately the sphere sucked him up, as well as all of Destiny Islands. In the dark sphere, he felt that he was being pulled in all directions by the darkness. He had no clue where he was going, or if he was ever going to get out of the swirling torrent.

After what seemed like an eternity, he landed on the ground with a large thud, knocking him unconscious. A wet tongue on his face woke him up, though he was still groggy from the fall.

"What a dream . . . " he said as he opened his eyes. A couple of seconds passed as he thought about what had just happened. 'There was no way that it could have been real, right?" he assured himself halfheartedly.

'Wrong,' he thought, as a dog jumped on him, pushing him softly against the wall.

"This isn't a dream!" He wasn't sure what to do at this point. If it wasn't a dream, then his home really had been destroyed, and he had lost both of his best friends. He stood up and looked around. He seemed to be in an alley, but he didn't recognize it.

"Where am I? Oh boy." He looked at the dog, who seemed to be calm. "Do you know where we are?" Of course the dog didn't answer. In fact, it ran off away from Sora.

"Hey . . . " Sora said as he walked out of the alley and looked around. He was in what was obviously a town, though he had never seen it before in his life. There was a large gate that Sora assumed was the way in and out of the area. He studied the gate for a while, and then his eyes drifted up to the top. A bright sign read, "TRAVERSE TOWN." That could only mean one thing . . .

"This is totally weird . . . I'm in another world!"