Freak: Yessir, this is going to be my longest chapter! Will Dark FINALLY make an appearance? Maybe.

Dark: TT You're so cruel! I just wanna be with my Daisuke . . .

Dai: Shut up! You're just encouraging her!

Freak: Heh heh . . . Anyways, please review. I'm amazed at how many reviews this got! My reviewers have inspired me enough to keep the pairings as is. In other words: DxD & SxR. Yes, yes, shounen-ai. Thanks to one reviewer (I love you all: YOU ROCK!), I shall no longer ridicule myself outside of my thoughts. That's right! I'M STALLING! MWAHAHAHAHAH!

Dark: I love you ALL! is currently on cloud 9

S&R: GET ON WITH IT!

Freak: All right, all right! And without further ado, here is chapter 3! Enjoy! ENJOY, CURSE YOU! evil look strikes face

Disclaimer: If you don't know by now, I'll have to hang you from the top of the Empire State building by your feet, let you fall and splat the cement, then resurrect you and draw and quarter you! You don't have to rub it in!

Chapter 3: Darkness

(Sora's POV)

It was really nice of the Niwas to let us stay here. Riku's sulking on the roof because we're staying here. He made an almost instant enemy of Riku-chan, and she's Daisuke's girlfriend. They had . . . eh . . . a bit of an argument . . . if you care for understatements.

Anyways, we all decided to rest for the day and get over Riku's piloting. Donald and Goofy are sleeping in the living room, and Daisuke was nice enough to let Riku and yours truly sleep in his room on the floor.

"Hey, Sora! Wanna come play cards with me'n my dad?" Daisuke poked his head through the door. We became friends pretty quickly. He's a really nice guy. "See, we need 4 people to play, but Mom, Towa and Grandpa don't want to play."

"Sure, I'll ask Riku if he wants to play, too." Daisuke brightened. He looks up to Riku, sort of like an admiring cousin. ((Freak: No, not brother. That's going to be Satoshi, when I finally introduce him.))

"Okay! See you downstairs!"

"Okay." Daisuke left me to deal with Riku. I opened up the window-door to his balcony and called up to Riku.

"Hey, Riku! Wanna come play cards with me, Daisuke and his dad?"

" . . . I guess." sighed Riku. He jumped down and followed me inside.

–A few hours later, about 10:00 P.M.–

I woke with a start. When I awoke, I knew something was coming. I sat up and glanced around. Riku and Daisuke were still fast asleep. I got up and dressed. I tried to be as silent as possible, but Riku still woke up.

"Sora? What's wrong?"

" . . . I'm not sure, but I think . . . the Heartless are coming." THAT woke him up entirely.

"Then we'd best wake up everybody. They should know what they're up against." Our conversation woke up Daiskue, and we explained to him. Soon, we were all rushing around, fully awake and dressed, waking up everybody else.

I found Donald and Goofy still awake playing cards.

"Guys! Heartless are coming! I can feel it!"

"WHAT!" shrieked Donald.

"Gawrsh," exclaimed Goofy, "That sure was fast."

"Yeah, we'd better find that keyhole! The sooner the better!"

We heard footsteps racing down the stairs, and we showed the Niwas enough to keep 'em alive until this was all over.

"Well," said Emiko, "I guess you have to go now, huh?"

"Yeah." I replied.

"Towa and I will come with you!" To my surprise, Daisuke was the speaker. "I just can't sit by while my friends are rushing head-first into danger!"

"Hey!" said Riku, exhausted, "We'll be fine, but thanks."

"But, finding things is my specialty!" exclaimed Towa, "I can find that . . . uh . . . 'keyhole' in no time at all!"

"All right!" I shouted. It was hard to be heard over all the racket. "Let's go!"

"Daisuke, sweetie," called Emiko, "Make sure you and your friends keep in one piece, okay!"

"All right, Mom."

As soon as we stepped out the door, I knew something was very wrong. Instead of heartless, there were all these strange, silvery-reflective creatures running around. One of the creatures rushed over to a screaming lady and grabbed her, making her disappear.

The sight was horrible. I saw the creature flash a crimson red – the color of blood – and the lady's face flashed across the creature. Then she was gone.

"Hey! There's a strange void over in the park!" cried Towa, "It's like a portal of pure darkness!"

"Then in there is most likely the keyhole." said Riku, "They always seem to pop up in the most unlikely places."

"Yeah." I said. A mirror-creature ((Freak: I'm gonna take a leaf out of Square's book and call them the Mirrors from now on)) ran up to us and tried to grab Daisuke. Daisuke swung the baseball bat he'd brought and shattered it into a million tiny pieces. Hah! Serves it right!

"OH, ST!" snarled Riku. I looked over to see what was going on. The shattered Mirror pieces were turning into tiny, miniature Mirrors!

"Let's get out of here!" cried Donald.

"Towa, Daisuke, lead the way to this park!" I said.

"WHAT'S GOING ON OUT HERE?" We spun around to see who'd spoken.

The speaker was a boy about Daisuke's age with blue hair and eyes. He has this sort of air around him that said, "Get lost. I'm better than you and I know it." For some reason, I really didn't like this guy.

"H-Hiwatari!" exclaimed Daisuke, "What're you doing out here?"

I noticed the Mirrors creeping in around us.

"Run now, talk later!" I said, "Daisuke, do you wanna find Riku-chan and her sister to bring them with us?"

"No, that's way too many people! Let's get out of here!"

"Good!" We fled. There are times when running IS the best thing to do, you know. This 'Hiwatari' character followed us, with a very confused look on his face (which I found priceless).

The travel up to the park was the same the whole way up: when a Mirror got too close, one of us smashed it to stall it, and we kept on running.

When we finally reached the void, everyone stopped to take a breath.

"Guys," said Daisuke, panting, "This is Satoshi Hiwatari, the commander of the police force."

" . . . Hi . . ." Satoshi was panting really hard. I almost felt bad for him. Almost.

"Okay," I said, "Everybody ready? Let's go!"

We went through the portal. The first thing we saw was –

TBC

Freak: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Cliff-hanger! This chapter was entirely in Sora's POV because Daisuke's would've just been too . . . boring. But I'll have him narrate most of the next chapter, I promise.

Dark: Ooooh, what did they see?

Dai: She's not going to tell.

Freak: Why, Dai-chan! You noticed! pats Daisuke on the head I'm touched!

Dark: DON'T TOUCH MY DAISUKE!

Freak: In case you haven't noticed, you aren't here yet. Go away.

Sora: Ignore them. Come back for the next chapter, okay?

Riku: Yeah! And review, too!

Satoshi: Hi, everyone. I'll bet you were all wondering when I'd pop up.

Freak: Not really. whispers He's only here because of the rabid fangirls plaguing my e-mail . . . Anyways, review! My wonderful reviewers! Thank you! You rock so much! By the way, I have finally discovered how truly EVIL my alter ego and friends are! They want me to drop the SoraxRiku part, stick the Rikus together and put Sora with Satoshi. Tell me what you think – they're getting awfully persuasive. I leave it in your highly capable hands. (I know one of you at least is siding with me!)