Despite his valiant efforts, Sora realised very quickly that his wooden sword was useless against these horrid little creatures. It simply kept bouncing back off them as soon as it hit their bodies, giving the impression that they were made of a strange rubbery material rather than flesh and bone. His heart began beating wildly as he saw that this was a fight he could not hope to win as the monsters gathered around him. Looking up towards the island in the distance where he had often duelled with Riku on occasion, he spotted his friend standing there once more. Jumping over the black beasts and running past more which were sprouting from the ground, Sora sprinted faster than he had ever done over the wooden walkway to the island to reach Riku.
"Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!" he yelled in desperation. However, Riku did not appear to hear Sora's words, for he simply remained facing out towards the dark horizon, his eyes closed in a strange expression of sheer pleasure and contentment.
"The door has opened..." he said calmly, his tone showing a sense of ease which was disembodied from the chaos on the islands around him.
"What?" Sora could barely understand what the older boy was talking about. Riku turned and faced Sora, his posture bent slightly as if primed to run.
"The door has opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!" As he finished speaking, Riku turned his body right around and stood fully upright.
"What are you talking about? We've gotta find Kairi!" Sora yelled back desperately. At that moment, travelling to other worlds wasn't important to him. Making sure Kairi was safe was the only train of thought running through his mind. Fists clenched, he briefly thought about grabbing Riku and shaking him to try and get a sensible response from the boy about where their other friend was.
"Kairi's coming with us! Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. 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!" Sora could only stand in disbelief, his jaw agape at this response. Although he wasn't fully sure what the swirling orb in the sky meant, he had a terrible feeling it was something incredibly bad. Riku meanwhile was looking up at the ball with the same intense look in his blue eyes he had shown earlier that day when he was talking about leaving to see other worlds. He stretched a hand towards Sora, indicating his wish for his friend to take hold.
"Riku!" Sora said nervously. Before he could physically react, Sora was shocked to see a swirling dark circle appear beneath his friend. Shades of black, purple and dark blue were circling Riku, climbing up from the ground to engulf his whole body. Sora dashed forwards to try and rescue his friend from whatever strange force was claiming him, but found himself being sucked into it as well. He stretched his hand out once more, trying with all of his might to reach Riku's but the darkness kept growing higher, becoming deeper and sucked him in further. Soon, he could see nothing but blackness. Then, from the hopeless and all-encompassing gloom a blinding light sprang forth and Sora found himself back on the island with a strange object in his hand. He was gripping the bottom of it. It had a long silver shaft of the same metal colour, ending in a protruding section which was serrated all along the outside edge. At the base where he held it, the three yellow bits of metal formed a square shape with the part which was being held in the centre. Riku was nowhere to be seen and the strange malevolent circle had also vanished. Sora instead cast his eyes over the new item he seemed to have acquired from somewhere unknown to him. Then, a strange yet familiar voice rang through his head, one which he was sure he had heard before but could not quite place it.
Keyblade... Keyblade...
Deciding to concentrate on Kairi at that point, Sora charged back towards the main island with his new weapon. As the creatures once more began amassing around him, he began to swing the keyblade backwards and forwards as if it were a sword he was wielding. The instant that the serrated protrusion sliced into the monsters, they split open and dissipated back into the ground from whence they came. This was something that Sora found himself taking great pleasure in. As the creatures came close to him, he destroyed each and every one of them with a swipe of the keyblade. He charged across the island, killing every one of the monsters he could find. Eventually, he reached what had been the tunnel leading towards the secret area. A chill travelled down his spine as Sora recognised the door which now blocked the pathway. The pink doors with intricate ornamental detail covering it was not unlike those which he had seen in his dream before. Tentatively, he took the handle of one of them and pulled it open. His heart pounding, Sora raced along the tunnel, hoping against hope that Kairi would be at the end waiting for him. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her standing there, facing the wooden door-shaped section on the back wall.
"Kairi!" he yelled, sensing something wasn't right with her. As she turned, he could see the life had almost gone from her deep blue eyes, her face was pale and drawn and she was incredibly sickly looking. Something terrible was happening to her.
"Sora..." she gasped weakly, reaching out with a hand for him to take. Before he could react, though, the section behind her burst open as if it had been a door all along. A great black wind blasted through, sending torrents of black smoke into the secret area along with it. Sora braced himself against its force, only glancing up in time to see Kairi being thrown towards him. He quickly opened his arms to catch her, but she was sent right through his body as if she had been nothing but air. Then, he too was sent flying backwards by the wind, his eyes closed against its power. Suddenly, he felt himself landing face down on a sandy beach. Opening his eyes, he was suddenly aware of being very close to the edge of Destiny Islands, staring down into a large purple abyss rather than the ocean which should have been there. Sections of the island were being stripped off by the now very large orb above it. The entire sky was black without clouds or even the moon present. The orb had turned a very angry colour of red and orange mixed in together. There was nothing left aside from the island Sora was standing upon and he was suddenly aware of a presence behind him. As he scrambled to his feet and turned, only to find himself facing a terribly familiar monster. Roughly twenty feet tall with long unruly hair which was the same black colour as its body and a heart-shaped hole in its abdomen, with emotionless yellow eyes which seemed to pierce straight through him. Reaching behind towards the back of his trousers, he drew the keyblade from where he had put it after fighting the small creatures before and charged towards this new nemesis. He barely dodged its hands as the brute bent down onto its knees and attempted to grab him within its grasp. Sora concentrated on smacking into the hand which was nearest him as the beast sat back on its knees and began shooting purple blasts from its abdomen. Despite the blasts which kept hitting him, Sora knew that he must bring this monster down. Every burn he sustained from the beams only served to spur him on to crush this monster. Then, as it stood on its feet and plunged one of its gargantuan hands into the ground to summon more of the smaller creatures, Sora struck again and again into the hand which was in the ground, killing any of the smaller monsters that should get in his way. Eventually, the giant dissipated into a purple glowing orb which too faded away. The burning sphere in the sky grew more and more ferocious and started to suck everything up into it. Sora found himself suspended in midair, gripping on with all of his might to a section of wood. However, his muscles were already very weary from their battle and soon his grip gave out and he was sucked upwards into the darkness. While this was all happening, Donald and Goofy were in a town very far away from where Sora had been claimed. Walking through the main square of the town, they suddenly stopped when Goofy cast his eyes up to the night sky. Donald turned very irately, as he was determined to get on with the mission. Raising a shaky hand, Goofy pointed to the sky and this drew Donald's gaze as well.
"Look, a star's goin' out!" Goofy exclaimed while Donald just stared, jaw agape as indeed one of the stars shone brighter than the rest before disappearing completely.
"Come on. Let's hurry," Donald said once he had recovered from the shock. Him, Goofy and Pluto whom they had discovered on their ship shortly after leaving the castle walked faster than previously, hurrying with more urgency across the square. Donald crossed his arms in frustration as they walked, feeling very impatient and irritated with the lack of knowledge they had. All that the letter had said was they were to find the "key", but they had no idea of what this key could look like.
"Where's that key..." he groaned in annoyance. Goofy cast a smile at his fiery-headed companion as they walked. It was a rather endearing characteristic which the duck possessed, even if it made certain people who were in his company very annoyed and not really take to him.
"Hey, ya know, maybe we ought to go find Leon," he suggested helpfully. The companions walked towards a shop in the middle of the area they were in when Pluto began going off in one direction while Donald was walking in the other. Goofy stood indecisively, watching the dog sniffing the ground enthusiastically as he walked. Something had obviously caught his attention over there, which could lead them to something.
"Uh, Donald. Ya know, I betcha that..." but he didn't get to finish his sentence, as Donald cut him off very abruptly while still walking determinedly.
"Aw, what do you know, you big palooka?" he shouted back with a dismissive wave of his hand. Goofy looked over at the street where Pluto had gone before responding almost absent-mindedly.
"What do I know? Hmm... Come on, Pluto," he called on the dog and followed Donald. However, around the corner, Pluto was sniffing around the unconscious form of a boy. After he gave the boy a big slurpy kiss and this served to wake him up. Groaning slightly, Sora forced his eyes open and rubbed his head which was slightly sore.
"What a dream..." he mumbled before he was jumped on by Pluto. This served to jog him to full awareness and he stared at the dog standing in front of him in shock.
"This isn't a dream!" he exclaimed before getting to his feet. Everything around him was unfamiliar, there were very tall buildings on either side of him, a fence which ran between them and various barrels and crates as well.
"Where am I? Oh, boy" he said out loud before turning back to face Pluto, "Do you know where we are?" Pluto pricked an ear up as he heard something which Sora couldn't and raced off. Sora reached out to try and beckon the dog back to him.
"Hey..." he called, but it was too late. Not knowing what else to do, he ran out of the alley and towards the main square. As he got near to it, he moved slower before standing still and looking around in disbelief.
"This is totally weird... I'm, in another world!" he exclaimed. Turning around, he spotted a large shop right behind him. Not knowing where else to turn, he ran in there to see if the owner could offer him any help.
Standing behind the counter was a tall man with flaxen-coloured hair and a set of goggles on his head. Around his waist sat a thick belt which Sora could tell was made of the toughest leather and the man was also wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and a pair of blue trousers. He turned to look towards the doorway at the sound of the jingle announcing someone's arrival.
"Hey there, how can I... aw, it's only a kid," the man growled in an accent which Sora had never heard the likes of before. It contained a heavy drawl with each word that the man pronounced and the slightly condescending tone towards the end of his comment only served to irritate the young teenager who was frustrated enough at his predicament.
"I'm not a kid! And the name's Sora!" he snapped in response. The shopkeeper appeared to be only mildly shaken by the youngster's fire and attitude, his clear blue eyes giving nothing away other than an appearance of inner strength.
"Okay, okay, simmer down. So, why the long face, Sora? You lost or somethin'?" his tone on this response was significantly milder than it had been previously. Running a hand through his hair nervously, Sora was unsure how much of his plight he should reveal to this stranger. He had just met this man for the first time in his life, there was no way of knowing whether or not he could be trusted.
"No! Well, maybe. Where are we?" he decided to go with some measure of honesty, but not give away too much of his background until he knew more about this man. The steely look of aggression within the shopkeeper's eyes turned into complete shock and surprise at this question from the boy.
"Huh?" he couldn't help uttering this before he regained some measure of composure, "Sora, I think you and I had best sit down and I'll tell ya about this town you've ended up in." Sora was beginning to feel the effects of his trying and exhausting journey. Not needing to be told twice, he walked over and sat down on a very luxurious and handsome two seated couch. The shopkeeper sat on some soft stools which were across from the couch, handing Sora a couple of sandwiches to eat as well as a mug of a hot drink. These things reminded Sora just how hungry he was and also helped to waken and revive his spirit a good deal. When he tried the drink, he recognised it as hot chocolate and was pleased to feel its warmth travel throughout his body. After he had eaten the ham sandwiches and drank his chocolate, Sora conversed with his unexpected caretaker over what had happened to him. He told of the destruction of Destiny Islands, his lost friends and of how he had no idea why he was in this alien town. The shopkeeper didn't speak until Sora had finished his story, allowing the young boy to get everything out before he would try and answer some of his confusion. He told Sora of what the town was called that they were in and explained that he didn't know of a place called Destiny Islands.
"Traverse Town... so, gramps, is this really another world?" Sora asked once his mind had absorbed the information he had just been given. The shopkeeper's eyes once more flashed with irritation and he walked back over to stand behind the desk like he had been doing when Sora had arrived originally.
"Don't call me gramps! The name's Cid! Anyway... not sure what you're talkin' about, but this sure ain't your island," he growled in response. Sora had to make a conscious effort not to burst out laughing at the obvious annoyance showing in Cid's face at being called "gramps". He got to his feet feeling significantly better and more rested than he had done a short time ago. If he had made it to another world, then there could be no reason why Riku and Kairi hadn't done the same thing. This made him feel hopeful and determined to find them.
"Hmm... guess I'd better start looking for Riku and Kairi," he said to his new friend, approaching the desk as he did so. Cid opened the cupboards behind him allowing Sora to have a look at what kind of items he sold. Once he had purchased all he felt would suffice at that point, he walked over to the front door. As he opened the door, Cid's voice filtered across to his ears.
"Well, good luck with whatever it is you're doing. If you ever run into trouble, you come to me. I'll look out for you." With these reassuring words, Sora set off to explore this unusual town in the hope of locating his friends.