Jessica had just landed in a new world. This one was a world that looked old. There were a lot of golden statues, and on a lot of the buildings, there were pillars. She unzipped her backpack. "Luna, a powerful force is here. I can sense it," She said.

"Do you think Mercury could be here?" Luna wondered.

"Maybe. Well, let's go and find out," Jessica suggested. Jessica explored the world some. Nothing really interesting at the moment. She decided to take a break from walking. She sat down on the ground. It was then that she realized how tired she was. It was impossible to tell when the last time she went to sleep was because each world had a different time stream. "Luna, I'm tired. Can you keep watch while I sleep?"

"Sure," Luna answered. Jessica fell fast asleep. Eventually, Luna nudged her frantically to wake her up.

"Luna? What is it?" Jessica mumbled.

"Unversed," Luna warned. That was enough for Jessica to know that she had to get up. She jumped to her feet and immediately saw the Heartless attacking a teenage girl. The girl had brown hair in a high ponytail and purple eyes and wore a purple dress.

Jessica ran to the Unversed. "Go!"

"Hate to burst your bubble, kid, but you are less than half my size. I think you need to get lost while you still can," The girl scoffed.

Jessica summoned her keyblade. "I'm more capable than you think, now run!"

"If you insist. Good luck," The girl agreed before she ran off. Jessica started fighting them, but there were too many. Soon she was out of energy.

Jessica heard a familiar voice as she thought she was done for. "Heal!" She felt energy surge through her.

"Ven?! What are you doing here?!" Jessica exclaimed.

"This was the world I went to! You?" Ventus asked.

"Same," Jessica answered. Suddenly, a thin teenage boy with orange hair dressed in a white toga came running to them.

"Herc, what about your match?" Ventus reminded.

"Forget about the match. No way I could let my friend fight alone cause I'm a hero, I mean, you know I'm gonna be one," Herc stated.

"He's not alone." Jessica pointed out, not liking being ignored.

"Well, I'm here now, so I might as well help," Herc decided.

"Oh! Jess, this is Hercules, Herc for short. Herc, this is Jessica, Jess for short." Ventus introduced while fighting some Unversed.

"Nice to meet you," Hercules greeted.

"You too," Jessica smiled.

"C'mon. Let's finish this together," Hercules encouraged. They fought the Unversed until they were gone.

"Sorry I made you lose that match, Herc," Ventus apologized.

"What match?" Jessica wondered. No one had time to answer. An Unversed got behind Hercules, and a teenager with a sword cut it. The Unversed faded.

The teenager was a boy. He had a grey helmet on, his shirt was black, and he wore blue pants. "What? You didn't save any for me?" The boy commented.

"Hey, you're here," Hercules mentioned.

"Hey, I set my sights on being a hero too. I just don't learn as fast. That's all," The boy explained.

"So you both threw the match? Who won then?" Ventus inquired.

"I left first, so it's not me," Hercules replied.

"Yeah, but I was only seconds behind you," The boy pointed out.

"I'm confused. No one ever tells me anything. It's always like people expect me to read between the lines. I'm too simple-minded for this. It's giving me a headache," Jessica complained.

Ventus, Hercules, and the other boy turned to her. "Is she with you?" Zack questioned.

"Yeah," Ventus replied.

The boy held out his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Zack," He said.

Jessica shook his hand. "The name's Jessica, but my friends call me Jess."

"Jess, there's this guy named Phil, and he trains Heroes. Hercules and Zack were in a fight to decide who gets to train under him, but then the Heartless showed up, and we all came here to stop them," Ventus explained.

"Hey! I never said I'd coach the winner." A voice stated. Jessica turned toward the voice to see a strange goat/man hybrid. "All I said was I'd see the match, then decide. Look, being a hero takes more than just muscle. You gotta have heart, care about people, and sure you both get high marks for that, but this time only one of you cared fast enough, and that makes all the difference."

"Then that means..." Ventus trailed off.

"Aw, man! I was this close. Well, that's life. Congratulations, Herc," Zack smiled.

"Thanks, Zack," Hercules thanked.

"Yeah, well, we'll see if you're still thanking him when I'm through with you. You got a long road ahead of you, champ," Phil commented.

"Hey, don't count me out. I still have plenty of big dreams to go with my lousy luck," Zack added. Jessica, Hercules, Zack, and Ventus laughed.

Ventus bent down, so he was closer to Phil's size. "Okay, be honest. You weren't really gonna stop training Herc, were you?" He asked.

"Of course not. I know that kids gonna go the distance, but he was stuck in a rut. He just needed a little incentive. It's uh Ventus, right? Well, thanks to you, Herc is really shaped up. I owe you," Phil mentioned.

"Nah. I'm glad. I made a really good friend. Somebody to share a laugh with. Like Terra and Aqua. We'll patch things up. Right, Jess?" Ventus replied. Jessica nodded.

Jessica turned to Phil. "Hey Phil, you said that you said that Herc is gonna go the distance. Do you think I can go the distance to become a hero too?" Jessica asked.

"Anyone can go the distance. It's just a matter of actually going the distance," Phil smiled.

"Thank you," Jessica thanked.

"It's getting late. Your parents are probably getting worried," Phil mentioned.

"Right," Jessica sighed. She had no idea where they were or what they were doing at that moment, but they probably had no idea that she had left The Land of Departure.

"Do you want me to send Herc to walk you home?" Phil offered.

"Nah, that's okay. I'll be alright. Bye Phil, Zack, Herc. Goodbye, Ventus." She blew a kiss to Ventus and left.

I am so sorry that it took me so long. I've been having internet problems. Thank you, Cheesecake Superstar, FanFictionWriter123, and Life is no Fairytale for reviewing.

FanFictionWriter123, sorry about that. I'm not very good at explaining things.

Life is no Fairytale, I agree with you, but I worked really hard on getting this far, and I don't want to start over, but yes, I can't say that you're wrong.

Also, thank you .7771 for following.