||Episode 2 - Part VI: Friends Helping Friends in Need||

"Sora!"

I called every time I could when Sora came into view, but there was always something keeping me from reaching him. Either his attention was still so fixated on what he was doing that he couldn't hear me at all, or it was the dozens of Heartless jumping in my path. My assumption was that both problems were the case. The latter seemed to be far more prevalent, though.

He was headed for the Third District. Since that was where my friend was headed, then I was going that way, too. I cut through the Heartless ahead of me and pursued Sora to the next area. The Heartless were close behind me, but I quickly retreated behind the large gates to the district. They were cut off my trail, allowing me to go on ahead without any trouble. I ran up to the stone railing and peered down at the place. Finally, I caught up to him!

With all the running, I was out of breath by the time I got there, but I felt rewarded upon seeing Sora running down to the center of the district. He was the one Ansem was referring to. My friend who was also in this town happened to be Sora. It was something that I was very happy to know, but at the same time... I frowned deeply realizing that Riku and Kairi were nowhere to be seen. The darkness might have taken them somewhere far away. It would be a while longer before we could all be together again, I feared. However, I couldn't lose heart now when one of my friends was practically right in front of me.

"Sora!" Breathing in, I let out a great shout to Sora, whose ears finally heard my voice. He stopped in his running and turned his head wildly around. At the same time, all of a sudden, there was an explosion of fire from a nearby building. I yelped, feeling the brief trembling of earth due to its power. "Ah!"

There were screams from up above, prompting me to search the sky. To my surprise, there was an unusual pair falling from several feet, and they were about to collide with Sora. It was too late for him to get out of the way. I winced when they crashed, but the three of them looked like they would be okay from what I could see. Seeing stars, maybe, but there didn't seem to be any other problems. Well, on the plus side, it stopped Sora from getting away from me. I took it as my chance to finally get to his side now that he was stuck under two bodies.

"Ow, my aching head..." said the feathery man. I ran up to them, stopping only to inspect the seriousness of their injuries. Wait a second... That's a talking duck! A talking duck wearing clothes? I stood by and stared at the two strangers with wide eyes. And the other one had the face of a dog, but he was also wearing human clothes. Traverse Town had its share of interesting people, but these were the strangest ones that I ever did see. What were they even? "Goofy, look!"

"Huh?" The one named Goofy shook his head and sat up. "Would ya look at that!"

"It's the key!" they exclaimed at the same time, snapping Sora out of his daze.

"What in the..." Sora groaned and freed his arm from the pile so that he could rub his head. He crawled out from under them and got up to his feet. "I don't know what happened... but that was crazy. Where was that voice coming from?"

I sighed and pursed my lips when Sora started looking around everywhere, except for right next to him. That was the typical Sora. He had his moments of being so great, until the tunnel vision kicked in. It was tempting to scare him when he wasn't paying any attention to his surroundings. I wasn't patient enough to let him be clueless, though. Now wasn't the time for any of that.

"Hey." I opened my mouth and folded my arms across my chest. "Turn around!"

"Huh?!" Sora jumped, jolting around to face me. "Lu!"

"Took you forever to notice!" I huffed at him. Yet, in spite of the annoyance I felt toward Sora, I worked up a smile and gave him a friendly wink. "I was worried that you'd never stop running. Well, anyway, I'm glad I found you."

"I can't believe it," Sora grinned. Our reunion was put on hold, however, when the ground started to shake violently. Towering pillars rose from the ground, blocking off every exit. And, on top of those pillars were the Heartless. They were ambushing us before our very eyes. "I'll ask you about it later. We've got trouble!"

Together with the unusual strangers, Sora and I fought off all the Heartless in the area. He was doing incredibly well, from what I noticed. Sliding right into the next enemy and striking them with his Keyblade. Sora pulled off moves I never saw him use before. I refused to fall behind, horizontally slashing a few Heartless in my attack before moving onto the next one. Huh, so those guys know how to fight, I noticed the duck and dog fighting close by. The dog guy was using a shield while his partner shot fireballs from his staff. They took out the last of the Heartless ambush.

"Looks like the last of them," Sora breathed out, putting away his Keyblade. He stepped over to me with a wide and goofy smile on his face. "Anyway, I'm glad I finally found you, Lu! Where have you been?"

"I-" I was about to explain to him about what happened after the storm, but then there were several objects that fell from the sky. A large Heartless stood by with claws and feet that were disconnected from the main body. The face was hidden behind a masked helmet, but I only needed to see the emblem on its chest to know that it was one of them. It was a lot bigger than any other Heartless running around town. "That must be the leader."

"We'll fight it together!" The duck shouted, he and his companion joining our side. "Let's go!"

It took a lot to take out the legs. Eventually, we were able to destroy them to get the body and head alone. The four of us worked hard to combat the spinning enemy until the very last blow that sent it backward. We watched as the Heartless boss trembled uncontrollably. Then, finally, its head fell to the ground with a metallic thud and a brilliant light shined from where it used to be stationed. I watched in amazement as a crystalline heart rose into the sky, and the Heartless's body faded away.

間

"So, you guys were looking for me?" At the end of the battle, with there being no more Heartless to fight, Sora confronted the two who fell on top of him earlier. They said something about looking for the one who wielded the key. "Huh... Can you make any sense of this, Lu?"

"Not really," I shrugged my shoulders. Their story was incredibly far fetched, but it could be possible. I folded my arms and thought about it for a moment. There was something that didn't seem to connect right in my head. "I just don't know."

"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," a man approached us, and he was followed by a girl dressed like a ninja. "Simple as that."

"Oh, there's Leon!" the one named Goofy pointed at the tall man with a scar on his face. Judging by his reaction, I supposed that they were looking for him, too. But, he quickly turned his attention back to Sora. "Ah-hyuck. Hey, kiddo, why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel."

"Really?" Sora blinked in surprise and dropped his head to think about it. "I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi..."

What the? I gritted my teeth. Are they trying to make off with my friend? This sounds awfully suspicious.

We barely even knew these guys, and yet they were trying to get Sora to go with them. Having a ride to other worlds did sound like a great offer, but it wasn't like they were opening up the opportunity to both of us. I felt a little left out... But, most of all, it was like they were trying to take my friend away from me when we just got back together. It was so unfair, and I hated it.

"Of course you can find your friends," the duck said, nodding his head with great certainty. "Trust me!"

A fit of whispering erupted between the two world travelers about something I figured was related to Sora. I furrowed my brows and tried to listen in on their conversation, but it ended too soon for me to catch anything. They made themselves look even more suspicious in my eyes. What were they playing at?

"Sora, you should go with them," Leon said, urging Sora to go. I turned to him with a deep frown, which he noticed. "You and your friend here should work with these two, especially if you want to find your other friends. Who knows? You could do more together."

"Yeah, I guess so," Sora said, keeping his head down. At least someone supported the idea of us sticking together.

"You can't come along looking like that. Understand?" the duck said, waving his finger. "No frowning. No sad face. Okay?"

"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like me n' Donald!" Goofy chuckled, only to have his face shoved away. "Oof!

"This boat runs on happy faces!" Donald went on to say, and Goofy nodded in agreement.

"Happy?" Sora mumbled, suddenly bringing on silence. After a little bit, he mustered up the courage to show his goofiest grin yet. I stared at him while Goofy and Donald laughed their heads off. Sora looked to me, confused. "Was it really that funny?"

"Apparently so," I smirked.

"Okay, why not?" Sora straightened up and nodded to me. "I'll go with you guys as long as my friend here can come along."

"Hm, well..." Donald grumbled. "I don't know..."

"You said you wanted the Keyblade," I reminded them, manifesting Starlight. With a confident smile on my face, I helped them picture again the last battle we were in. "There's two of us who can wield it. Why not take us both? I'm not as much of a dead weight like Sora."

"Hey, what's that for?!" Sora stomped his foot and tried to push me. I giggled and pushed him back with my shoulder. "I regret saying you should come!"

"Fine!" Donald quacked. We stopped our horseplay and quieted down as he put his hand forward. "Donald Duck."

"Name's Goofy," Goofy said after, putting his hand on top of Donald's.

"I'm Sora, and this is Lu," Sora added our names, and we put our hands in the middle.

"All for one, one for all!" Goofy continued, finishing our introduction.

I smiled to myself and found it amusing doing this with these guys. It was not like what we did with Riku and Kairi, but somehow I felt like it made us friends. Looking at Donald and Goofy, I could see people who would help us find our best friends. They offered their vessel for help in our efforts. There was likely something they wanted in return, but I had to suppose that it didn't matter since we'd find Riku and Kairi. This is it. I'm coming to find you, Riku.