Chapter 3

As they flew through the endless reaches of outer space, their new friends stared out the windows in wonder. Suddenly a beeping came from the navigation monitor.

"What's with that beeping?", Ichigo asked.

"It means that we're getting closer to a world," Riku said as they walked over to it.

"And that world's Traverse Town!", Sora said.

"Let's go!", Donald shouted as he ran to the controls and pressed the accelerator button as they flew towards the world.

Meanwhile in Traverse Town...

It was pretty calm in Traverse Town. Hardly anyone was in the first district except for the Moogle that ran a little shop in a corner. The silence was broken when a group of people walked through the huge door that lead outside.

"So this is Traverse Town, huh?", Renji asked as he looked around.

"Yep. Like we said earlier, this is where people who lost their homes to darkness usually end up here, so there's a pretty good chance that your friends are here," said Terra.

"Where should we start looking?", asked Goofy.

"If I were you, I'd check the 4th District. There's a chance that they could be there," a voice said.

They looked up to see where the voice was coming from. A boy with spiky orange hair with purple headphones placed over his ears wearing a purple and white shirt with a high collar along with white shorts was sitting on top of a roof.

"Hey, it's Neku!", Sora shouted.

"Who?", asked Kairi.

"Neku. We met him during our Mark of Mastery exam," Riku explained as Neku jumped down and landed in front of them.

"Hey Sora, Riku. How's it going?", he asked.

"Pretty good. What're you doing here in Traverse Town? I thought you won the Game," said Sora.

"Well, we did, but Shiki missed this place so she convinced Joshua to open up a portal for us so we could come here," said Neku.

"So where is this 4th District anyway, Phones?", Vanitas asked. Neku twitched slightly at the nickname but shrugged it off.

"It's down this way," he said pointing to a door on their left.

"Let's go then!", Ichigo yelled as he ran passed them.

"ICHIGO! GET BACK HERE!", Rukia yelled as she ran after him.

"What's with him?", asked Neku.

"His family's gone missing ever since his home was attacked by the Heartless," Namine said before they ran after Ichigo and Rukia.

With Ichigo and Rukia...

"YOU IDIOT! What if the Heartless show up?!", Rukia shouted. "I don't care! All I want is to find my family!", Ichigo shouted over his shoulder.

"I understand that, but if you do it this way, you'll get yourself and everyone else killed!", shouted Rukia. Ichigo stopped when he heard this and sighed.

"You're right," he muttered. "Hey where's Sora and the others?", he asked.

"They're probably looking everywhere for us since you ran away from the group," said Rukia.

"Now what? Do we just sit here and wait?", asked Ichigo.

"I guess," Rukia said as she sat down on a box. Ichigo's eyes wondered over to a Moogle floating around the district.

"What's this thing?", Ichigo asked as he walked over to it to get a closer look.

"I am a Moogle, kupo," said the Moogle.

"A Moogle? You look like you came out of Rukia's bad drawings," he said. Rukia heard this and threw a rock at his head.

"OW!"

"Watch it!", she grumbled.

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head and turned back to the Moogle. "Anyway, what's up with this pom-pom on your head?", he asked as he poked the red ball. A few veins appeared on the Moogle's face before he chomped down on Ichigo's hand.

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!", Ichigo screamed in pain as he ran around trying to shake the Moogle off.

"Don't EVER touch my pom-pom, kupo!", the Moogle yelled as it bit down harder.

"GET IT OFF!", Ichigo shouted.

"OK! Just hold still!", Rukia said as she attempted to pry off the Moogle. As she did that, Sora and the gang finally caught up with them.

"We heard screaming. What happened?", asked Aqua. They noticed the Moogle with it's teeth latched into Ichigo's hand.

"Ichigo, did you touch the pom-pom?", asked Xion.

"Yeah," Ichigo said.

Vanitas rolled his eyes. "First rule when you meet a Moogle: NEVER touch the pom-pom," the black haired version of Sora said.

Sora, Rukia, and Roxas pried the Moogle off of his hand and it flew away.

"Yikes. Look at that bite mark," Lea muttered as the Moogle finally let go.

"I got it," Orihime said as an orang aura appeared around Ichigo's hand.

"Soten Kisshun!", she said as the bite mark started to disappear. They gang stared in shock at this. When the orange aura disappeared, Ichigo's wound was gone.

"WOW! How did you do that?!", asked Ven.

"See these hairpins?", Orihime asked, pointing to the hairpins on the sides of ehen head. "These are actually the sealed form of healing spirits. When I use them, I can reverse the damage that was done."

"That's awesome! It's more cooler than the Cure spell!", Ven said.

"If you think my abilities are cool you should see Ichigo and Rukia's!", Orihime said.

"Well, I don't mean to brag but-", Ichigo began to say before they heard a scream.

"What the?", asked Sora.

"It came from over there!", Uryu shouted. They ran towards the direction the scream came from and found two people surrounded by Heartless. One was a boy with brown hair wearing a yellow T-shirt under a green short sleeved shirt with gray pants and the other was a girl with spiky black hair wearing a white long sleeved shirt over a dark blue shirt with a star on it with blue jeans.

"Keigo! Tatsuki!", Ichigo shouted.

"Ichigo? Is that you?", asked the girl, now known as Tatsuki.

"Hold on! We're coming!", Ichigo shouted before pulling something out of his pocket. He placed it on his forehead and suddenly collapsed.

"ICHIGO!", Sora shouted as he and Anne caught him as he fell back.

"Relax, Sora," he heard him say. He looked up to see Ichigo standing in front of him, but he was now wearing a black kimono and was carrying a large sword.

"Wha-what the h**l?!", Sora asked, rapidly looking back and forth at the Ichigo that collapsed and the Ichigo in the kimono.

"Uryu, Chad, watch my body, OK?", he asked as he ran after the Heartless.

"Wait up!", Sora shouted as he set Ichigo's body down and ran after him. He summoned Kingdom Key and slashed at a Soldier.

"Dark Firaga!", Vanitas shouted as he shot a ball of dark flame at a Red Nocturne, destroying it.

"I got it!", Donald shouted, firing a Thunder spell, destroying several Shadows.

"Hado 33! Sokatsui!", Rukia shouted as she held out her hand and fired some type of blue energy at the back of a Large Body, destroying it.

The gang stared in amazement for a moment but snapped out of it and went back to the battle.

Neku used a fire pin and aimed a ball of fire at a Shadow, destroying it.

"Bring it!", Anne shouted as she summoned her Keyblade. It was a light gray Keyblade with the front part of the blade shaped like kunai knives and the hilt's edges curved outward slightly. "Aeroga!", she shouted, sending several Soldiers up in the air.

"They're all yours, Vanitas!", Anne shouted as Vanitas jumped up in the air.

"Dark Cannon!", he shouted, summoning three crystals. He focused the energy in the center and launched it at the Heartless, who were surrounded by a flash of light. When the light disappeared, the Heartless in the air were gone.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "Alright. It's my turn," he said as he gripped his sword. "Getsuga..."

"Huh?", everyone asked as they turned to face him.

"TENSHOU!", Ichigo shouted as he sent a wave of energy towards the Heartless, destroying the last of them.

Everyone's jaws dropped at the sight. Ichigo sighed and sheathed his sword. "Man, that went quicker than I thought it would," he muttered as he turned to the group.

Keigo, who recovered from his shock, ran at Ichigo.

"IIIIIICCCCCHHIIIIIGGGGGOOOOO!", Keigo shouted as he ran to glomp Ichigo. Ichigo stuck his arm out and knocked him to the ground with an annoyed look on his face.

Sora looked at Roxas. "Doesn't this seem familiar to you?", asked Sora.

"Yeah. That guy reminds me a lot of Tidus," Roxas said before walking over to Ichigo.

"OK, mind telling us why you're wearing a black kimono and why there's a big honking sword strapped to your back?", he asked. Ichigo sighed at this.

"Hold on," he muttered as he walked back over to his body and reentered it. His eyes snapped open and he sat up. "OK, where do I start?", Ichigo asked himself before looking up at the group. "I'm a Substitute Soul Reaper," he said.

"Soul Reaper? You mean you steal the souls of people and eat them?", asked Ven.

"Pfft. No, I just fight Hollows," he said.

"What're Hollows?", asked Sora. "Some type of Heartless?"

"I guess you could say that," said Rukia. "Hollows are beings that born from human souls. They like to eat the souls of both dead AND living."

"As Soul Reapers, it's our job to fight the Hollows and purify them," said Renji.

"You're a Soul Reaper too, Renji?", asked Xion.

"Yep. So is Rukia," said Renji.

"OK, now that we're through with explanations... YOU MIND TELLING ME WHO THE HECK THESE PEOPLE ARE?!", Keigo shouted, comically waving his arms.

"Oh yeah. Everyone, these are my friends from school, Keigo and Tatsuki. Keigo, Tatsuki, this is Sora, Riku, Kairi, Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Roxas, Lea, Xion, Namine, Vanitas, Anne, Neku, and the kid sitting on Sora's head is Nel," said Ichigo.

"Hi!", Nel said cheerfully.

"Aww... you sure are cute!", Tatsuki said smiling at the little girl.

While Tatsuki was chatting with Nel, Keigo was staring at Aqua and had heart-shaped eyes. This did not go unnoticed by Aqua.

"Uh... why's he staring at me like that?", asked Aqua before Keigo ran to glomp her.

"Let me hold you in my arms, you blue haired beauty!", he shouted before he was punched in the face by Anne and was sent flying into a wall.

"Stupid pervert...", she muttered under her breath.

"Yeah, you might wanna watch out for that guy," said Tatsuki. "Anyway, you mind telling me what's going on?"

"Well, those things we just fought are called Heartless and they go after the hearts of worlds in order to throw them into darkness. This old guy named Master Xehanort is behind this. He wants to create this powerful weapon called the X-blade in order to start a Keyblade War," said Sora.

While he was talking, Ichigo gasped as he suddenly remembered something.

"Hey, Tatsuki, were Yuzu, Karin, and Dad with you when you ended up here?", he asked.

"No. Mizuiro and Chizuru aren't here either," said Tatsuki.

"Are you sure?", asked Ichigo.

"Yeah. We didn't see them anywhere while we were running from those things," said Keigo.

Ichigo looked down. "I see...", he said softly. "Sora..."

"Hm?", Sora asked as his head perked up when he heard his name.

"You said that there are a bunch of worlds out there besides this one, right?", Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, why's that?", Sora asked.

"I want you to take me to as many as you can," said Ichigo.

"WHA?! But why?", asked Donald.

"Because I won't stop searching the worlds until I find my family!", he said with a determined look in his eye.

"That's a good reason. Don't worry Ichigo. We'll make sure that you're family's OK," said Terra.

"That's right. You're our friend, so we'll do everything we can to help you out", said Goofy.

"So I guess you guys are getting ready to leave again?", asked Neku.

"Yeah. Why?", asked Riku.

Neku sighed. "If Shiki found out that you were here and I didn't tell her, she'd go nuts," he said sweat dropping.

"Well if she does find out, tell her that we'll be back soon," said Riku.

"I'll tell her that. See ya and good luck," he said with a wave before jumping up onto a building and disappeared as he jumped to another building.

"We better get going, too," said Sora as the gang started walking towards the entrance to the 1st District.

"Wait! Where exactly are we going?", Keigo asked.

"You'll find out in a few minutes. Now shut up and get moving," Ichigo said as they reached the gates that led outside.

"Whoa! What's that?!", Keigo asked as he gazed at the Gummi Ship.

"This is what we're gonna use to travel to other worlds," Kairi said.

"Wait, you mean we're going into outer space?", asked Tatsuki.

"AWESOME!", Keigo shouted as he dashed into the ship with the others behind him. Ichigo rolled his eyes at his goofy friend and walked over to the navigation monitor.

"Where are we going to next?", Ichigo asked as the engine started up.

"I don't know. I guess we'll just go to the first world that pops up on the screen," said Sora as the Gummi Ship took off and zoomed into outer space.