"A massive core of energy lay beyond the door sought by the Heartless. It may be the ultimate goal of the Heartless. But what is that energy? I have devised a hypothesis, based upon my observations of the Heartless.

The Heartless feed on other's hearts and they yearn for that energy core. That thing beyond the door must be a heart, too-the heart of this world. There is no proof, but, having felt that immense energy, I am certain. That was the heart of the world.

The Heartless are trying to take hearts not only from all living creatures but from the planet itself. But what do they mean to do with the heart of the world?"-Ansem Report 6


Tadashi Hamada was not a secretive person, but he was a loyal one. When someone trusted him with a secret, he usually kept their confidence. The exception only came in two instances, the first was when the secret was potentially harmful. Tadashi never wanted to be responsible for someone else's pain, when he could have done something to prevent it. The second instance came when sharing the secret, was helpful and beneficial. The latter happened to be the case with Nadia, Eraqus, and Xehanort.

His best friends were twins, by the name of Garen, and Gavener. Like Tadashi and Hiro, the twins were also geniuses, and also specialized in robotics. But the unlike Tadashi and his little brother, the twins were different. They looked at the world around them completely differently from the rest of the world. In the most literal sense, they saw things in the world, no one else saw. One time, when they were little kids, his parents invited the two to accompany them to a stargazing picnic the family had planned. As the family watched the stars, they saw a star blink out into nothingness. Tadashi's family was excited at seeing the rare occurrence of a star dying, but the twin's reaction was the complete opposite. Immediately the twins began to cry. When Mrs. Hamada finally calmed them down, she asked them what was wrong. The twins then simultaneously pointed to where the star once was.

"Another world has faded, all those people are sad," the twins said simultaneously.

Mr. Hamada gave the two an odd look, then suggested that they all go for ice cream, in an attempt to assuage the situation.

"Can we get sea salt ice cream Mr. Hamada?" asked Gavener, immediately cheering up

"I want blueberry!" said Garen

"I want chocolate!" said Tadashi

Mr. Hamada laughed and took the boys and his wife to get ice cream, the previous tension all but forgotten. However, the moment always stood out in Tadashi's mind, especially when other odd occurrences happened around the twins. There was an incident when they were twelve, when on a class trip, they claimed to have seen a dark creature with bright yellow eyes. The time they saw strange shadowy aura, emitting from a man who almost kidnapped one-year-old Hiro. These incidents culminated recently when the twins had claimed they found some sort of secret door. At first when the twins tried to show Tadashi and Hiro the door, Tadashi and his brother saw nothing. Naturally, the two siblings were skeptical and thought the twins were playing a prank on them. Then the twins grabbed the two boys in an attempt to show them where it was. The moment that Garen and Gavener touched them, it happened. A giant door spawned on the back wall of the abandoned garage. Both Tadashi and Hiro broke free of the twin's grip, clearly in shock. However, the moment they let go of the twins, the door had disappeared.

"W-what happened to the door?" asked Hiro, in a tiny voice.

"You saw it?" asked Garen, giving his brother a glance.

"I knew we weren't crazy," said Gavener.

The four friends quickly figured out that only Garen and Gavener could actually see the door. However, if Tadashi or Hiro came in direct contact with either twin in the presence of the door, it would appear to them as well. From that point on, Garen and Gavener made that abandoned garage their hideout. Whenever the twins were nowhere to be found, you could always find them in the garage, tinkering away on whatever project they happened to be working on. When they weren't working on a project, they studied the door. The door was plain in design, bearing a single giant keyhole. Other than that the door was nothing extraordinary, apart from being visually selective. Being unable to see it without assistance, Tadashi and Hiro's interest in the door was minimal. Garen and Gavener, the curious beings that they were, invested many of hours studying it. While they weren't able to find anything substantial, they discovered that the door gave off a massive energy signal. The energy was of such power, that by siphoning it's excess, the twins were able to supply power to some of their creations, mostly their robotics. Things were going smoothly and then the door handle appeared.

One day, Garen and Gavener walked into the garage, as they had many times before. The door was there, in its usual position, only this time there was a door handle on the door. Immediately Garen called Tadashi and told him to get to the garage on the double. Tadashi dragged a still half asleep Hiro outside, and the two brothers double-timed it over to the garage. When they got there, Gavener wasted no time grabbing the two brothers by the arm and dragging them over to his twin, to show them what they had discovered. There it was, plain as day, a doorknob that had never been there before. Hiro looked at the twins, the obvious question etched onto his face.

"Did you look inside?" he asked.

"We couldn't do it without you guys," responded Garen simply.

The group gathered around the door, and with slight trepidation, Garen opened the door, and they stepped inside. The inside was pure white, with no distinction between the sky and the ground. In fact, if they weren't already on solid footing, one would be given the impression that another step would lead to an endless fall. But in the center of the room, lay something more impressive than the spatially disorienting room. In the center of the room was a massive core of energy.

"Woah..think of all the marshmallows we could roast with that.."said Hiro trailing off

Garen pulled a device out of his pocket and held it up to the energy core. After examining the scan results, he turned to his twin.

"It's the same energy signature that we've been siphoning from the door. This must be the source of it," he said.

Suddenly the door flew open and in crawled two black creatures with big yellow eyes. Tadashi was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of uneasiness, instinctively he drew Hiro behind him protectively. The creatures' heads wiggled erratically and suddenly their antennas twitched into the direction of energy core. Quick as a flash, Gavener materialized his red Ethereal Chakrams, and tossed them at the creatures, cutting them to dust. Tadashi looked towards the twins, his feeling of uneasiness at its peak.

"This isn't right, we don't belong here. Let's get out of here. NOW!" he said in an uncharacteristically harsh tone.

Gavener nodded in agreement.

"Wait!" said Garen

He pulled a hand-sized device from his pocket and held it up to the energy core. The device emitted a beam that siphoned energy directly from the massive core. When the device was at full capacity, Garen nodded, and the group quickly filed out of the room as Gavener slammed the door shut behind him. As he did, the doorknob disappeared, leaving the room inaccessible. After a couple minutes of silence, it was Hiro who erupted with the questions they all wanted to ask

"What was that thing? What were those creatures? Why can I still see the door without your help?" he asked, in an almost ramble of questions.

Garen quickly looked at Hiro, then to his twin, then back to Hiro.

"You can still see the door?" he asked Hiro.

Hiro nodded. Garen looked towards Tadashi.

"I- I can see it too," said Tadashi.

"Maybe that energy core has something to do with it," said Garen, thinking out loud. "That still doesn't explain why Gavener and I could see it without the help of the core."

Gavener shrugged, unable to hypothesize an answer.

"Come on let's get out of here for a while. This whole thing is kinda killing my vibes," he said.

Tadashi and Hiro quickly agreed. Garen stared at the door for a few more moment, deep in thought. Snapping out of it, he agreed and the group decided to head out to prepare for their annual stargazing picnic.

Yes, Garen and Gavener were Tadashi's best friends, but they were certainly different. Strange things happened to them, and around them. That day had only served to add to the list of strange occurrences. That very night an irregular and unexpected meteor shower occurred. In the weeks that followed, more of those creatures had made appearances around the city, forcing Tadashi and his friends to hunt them down. Also in those weeks, Garen and Gavener began finding fragments of the meteorite all over San Fransokyo. These fragments were unlike anything any of them had ever seen. Instead of the expected composition of various minerals, the fragments were completely elastic. They bonded easily with their other counterpart fragments. The twins had decided to call the strange fragments Gummi Blocks, and right away began testing their applications to robotics.

But while twins dug deeper into the mysteries that they had uncovered, Tadashi had become worried that they were in over their head. Even after weeks of research, they were no closer to coming to any answers to any of their questions. To make matters worse, Tadashi knew that the reason the twins constantly threw themselves into their research and robotics, were attempts at creating something that would pay off some of their mother's medical expenses. Their mother raised them by herself and her health was always frail. She was in constant war with cancer, and it never seemed to stay in remission for too long. As one could imagine, the expenses quickly racked up. The twins were always hoping to invent something that would alleviate their mother's expenditures.

It was for this reason, that Tadashi was sharing their secrets with Nadia, Xehanort, and Eraqus. The fact that they had come from another world entirely, had brought a lot of clarity to the mysteries that currently revolved around Garen and Gavener. Tadashi had a very strong feeling, that the trio of friends could be the key to unlocking those mysteries.

...

Tadashi dropped Hiro off at their house, much to his dismay. Then he took Xehanort, Nadia, and Eraqus over to the twin's garage. Upon entering, they were met with a loud noise of moving machinery. Two boys of seventeen were scurrying around, carrying large parts of what looked to be a giant mechanical robot suit. Xehanort assumed that these two boys were Garen and Gavener. Nadia and Eraqus looked at the machine in awe; Tadashi wore a look of concern

"Hey, guys what's the hurry. I thought you weren't working on this bot anymore," said Tadashi, a hint of concern in his voice.

"Enough with the lecture Tadashi, we need to get this done," said the twin, with a short crop of red hair.

"But Gavener-" said Tadashi, before the blue haired twin held his hand up in interruption.

"Can it Tadashi, we don't have time for this," he said, continuing to calibrate the robot's arm.

Tadashi' face crumpled into a look of realization.

"You're going to that bot fight, aren't you Garen?" he asked harshly.

The blue haired boy looked just as harshly at Tadashi, his green eyes determined.

"I said, we don't have time for this Tadashi," he said firmly.

"You said you guys were done with this...I don't believe this," Tadashi said angrily.

"Tadashi, if you're here to hassle us take your new groupies, and get the hell out," said Gavener.

Tadashi walked over to Garen and grabbed his arm firmly.

"I'm not going to let you guys do this, think about your mom," he said.

Garen's face turned red with rage. He roughly shoved Tadashi to the ground.

"I told you to leave us alone!" he cried.

Tadashi lay there on the floor in shock. Even Gavener looked surprised at his twin's actions. Garen suddenly looked ashamed of himself, and slowly sank to his knees, tears suddenly welling up at the corner of his eyes.

"Tadashi...I'm so sorry..I-I didn't mean to.." he said.

A look of realization crossed Tadashi's face once more.

"It's your mom, isn't it," he said.

Both Gavener and Garen nodded in confirmation.

"It's near terminal this time. I-If she doesn't have the operation soon..she's going.." Garen said trailing off, unable to utter the unthinkable word.

"The operation is one hundred thousand..." started Gavener.

"...The same amount of money for this week's bot fight jackpot," finished Tadashi.

"Come on Tadashi, we need this..." said Garen.

Tadashi let out a long sigh.

"I'm sorry I just can't let you do this..." he said with a slight pause. "...Not without my help."

Garen smiled and reached out his hand to Tadashi. Tadashi took his hand and the two friends embraced in a hug.

"Thanks, man, this means a lot to us," said Garen

"Come on guys, you know I always got your back," said Tadashi. "Besides someone has to keep you out of trouble."

"So who are these three?" asked Gavener suddenly.

Tadashi let out a small laugh,having momentarily forgotten about the trio. He motioned for Xehanort, Nadia, and Eraqus to come over.

"Guy, this is Xehanort, Nadia, and Eraqus. I kinda told them about the door," said Tadashi.

"You what?!" shouted Garen

"Relax, guys we can trust them. Besides they're from another world, they might know more about it than we do," said Tadashi.

The twins face lit up simultaneously.

"Really?" asked Garen

"Which one?" asked Gavener.

"How many are there?" asked Garen

"Whoa guys, give them room to breath," laughed Tadashi.

It was at this point, Xehanort took a moment to study the twins. Despite the fact that they were twins, they were hardly identical. Garen had a mane of blue hair that hung over his shoulders. He wore a black leather jacket over a blue shirt . He also wore military cargo pants and combat boots. Garen had the look of a general or a soldier. His posture and facial features were structured into a mask of discipline. His twin brother had a much more relaxed vibe to him. Gavener's red hair was cut much shorter and stuck up giving him a messy look. He wore a red hoodie that bore a skull caricature that stuck it's tongue out. He wore baggy shorts with multiple belts that crisscrossed over them. His sneakers were black, with bright flames painted on them.

Xehanort then stuck out his hand, to which Garen shook it.

"It's nice to meet you," said Xehanort.

"It's nice to meet you as well," said Garen

"So what brings to our little slice of the universe?" asked Gavener.

This time, it was Nadia who answered.

"We're on a mission. We've been sent to investigate the worlds and see if there are any problems that have arisen," she said. "We were told you found a door...show me."

"Okay it's over here," said Garen, leading her to the back of the garage. "Though I'm not sure if you'll be able to see it."

But when the group arrived at where Garen led them, it was there plain a day. Nadia walked over to the door and put her hand on it.

"Wow, this my first time seeing one in person," she muttered to herself.

"Wait, you can see it," asked Gavener.

Nadia snorted. "Of course I can see it all those who have the ability to wield the Keyblade can see the doors that lead to the heart of a world." She rubbed her chin in deep thought. "I suppose the real question is how you two were able to see it." She subconsciously summoned the Kingdom Key. "I suppose, I should seal this Keyhole, though."

"What is that?" asked Garen

"Awesome!" said Gavener.

Nadia held up the Kingdom Key. "This is a Keyblade, it's a weapon we, chosen, use to safeguard the light." She pointed to the door that stood before them. "You guys say you opened this door and dark creatures appeared?" Garen, Gavener, and Tadashi all nodded. "You guys are very lucky. Things could have been a lot worse. Those creatures were called Heartless, they're physical manifestations of hearts that have been captured by the darkness. The Heartless operate on the sole instinct to devour hearts. But above all else, they crave the ultimate heart, the heart of all worlds. That energy core you found was this world's heart. If the Heartless had succeeded in devouring that, your world would have been swallowed by darkness." The boys all gulped simultaneously.

"I'm going to seal this Keyhole so that the Heartless can never reach that core again," said Nadia.

She took a step back and pointed her Keyblade at the door's Keyhole. A beam of light shot out from the Kingdom Key and instantly sealed the Keyhole. The door glowed brightly, then disappeared in a flash of light.

"Well I suppose that's one mystery out of the way," said Gavener.

"Yeah, thanks for preventing us from doing something stupid," said Garen.

"Well, I suppose no real harm was done," said Nadia kindly. "Though you know what they say about curiosity."

"Alright guys, now that, that's out of the way. Why don't we get this bot ready for battle, we got a fight to win," said Tadashi determinedly."Xehanort, Nadia, Eraqus we could use some extra hands."

"Sure I think we-" Xehanort started, pausing to look around. "Hey, where is Eraqus?"

The group looked over to the front of the garage, where Eraqus was examining the robot about to press a big red button.

"Get away from that!" everyone in the room shouted simultaneously.

Eraqus quickly put his hands behind his head, slightly embarrassed.

"What? I was just looking," he said. "It's not every day you see a giant mecha."

Nadia shook her head in exasperation, and the rest of the group burst into laughter. Garen began assigning everyone jobs, as they started preparing for the bot fight that was to come.


A/N: Woot! Another chapter down the hatch. I had originally my deadline this chapter for Monday, but when I actually started writing it, the chapter went into a different direction then what I originally planned. I think this route was much smoother. Plus we have some background story to Garen and Gavener, who will be major players in this series. As always reviews are appreciated, and I hope you enjoy the chapter. Just not that the next chapter is going to be pretty intense.