Episode 2

"… … … wh…where am I?"

Sora's voice echoed through the emptiness, and as he awoke, he was in total darkness. Sora struggled to stand, feeling as though he had been drained of all his strength. When he did manage to stand up, he had to fight just to remain standing, his legs shaking in protest.

"Riku?! Kairi!?" Sora called out, but the voice that replied definitely didn't belong to his friends.

"They are gone keybearer. And you will not see them again for some time."

At first, confusion filled Sora's mind. But he clenched his fists,

"Tell me where they are!" He shouted, feeling some of his energy return.

A cold, bitter laugh answered him, and Sora felt his emotions boil over in anger. He screamed out into the darkness, summoning the keyblade to his hand with a flick of his wrist.

With a burst of power from the keyblade, the darkness shrank back, receding into nothingness as an enormous room was revealed. The ceiling was high above, with fancy beams stretching across its width. Strange mirrors hung from some of the beams, reflecting the cold light that had managed to sneak into the room. The walls were stone, and the floor was black marble, with a red carpet leading from a steel door that was behind Sora.

The hooded figure was sitting on a large throne like chair far ahead, his legs crossed in a comfortable position as he watched Sora.

"Impressive. That's what I like to see – that anger of yours could be put to good use with that keyblade." He said as he clapped his hands in amusement.

Sora glared, "Where are Riku and Kairi." He asked, not at all amused. The hooded figure let his hands fall onto the arms of the throne,

"They are trapped within my dungeons of darkness, waiting for their precious hero to save them. Your island is only the first of many worlds that I shall claim as my trophies…unless you stop me."

Sora blinked, obviously confused. The cloaked man stood and started slowly down the red carpet.

"You see, I want to play a game young Sora. I will allow you to save your friends, the worlds, and be the big hero by defeating me."

He paused, then continued,

"But, you will have to play my game. You will go to several worlds through my portal, live there for a short while, defeat the baddies, and then leave when I open a new portal for you."

The keyblade disappeared as Sora crossed his arms, eyes narrowed.

"So…you want me to travel the worlds through your portals? Is there a catch?"

"Yes, there is. You have to search for someone and defeat him for me during your travels. Each time you go through my portal, you will lose a part of yourself Sora, and if you don't find this boy in time, then you will eventually lose your heart to the darkness and become my slave."

Sora tensed, his gaze becoming a glare. He opened his mouth, but the man raised his hand to silence him.

"If you refuse to go through the portals, your friends will pay the price."

Sora waited, and then spoke, "What if I do find this guy and defeat him?" He inquired.

Behind his hood, the man smiled,

"Then you'll find yourself in front of a red portal. Bring him, and his companions if he has any, for the portal will lead straight to my castle – the very castle you stand in now. Then, you will be able to free your friends and save the day."

Sora was silent as he let all of this process. He couldn't find anything that seemed off…unless –

"Wait, who is he? What does he look like?"

The cloaked figure walked towards Sora, stopping mere inches in front of him.

"He has short, blonde spiky hair, lightning blue eyes, and one hell of an attitude. He should be wearing a red jacket with black flames, and a spike like marking on his right shoulder."

He gave a chuckle,

"Believe me, you'll know when you meet him, because he's looking for you too."

Sora was abit surprised by this. At first, the man's description reminded him of –

The man snapped his fingers, and a black portal opened behind Sora, darkness swirling within it. Sora quickly turned, his eyes widening as he stepped away from the portal.

He suddenly felt a hand press against the center of his back, pushing him forward.

"Go forth keybearer and be the hero once again!"

Sora shouted in surprise as the man shoved him into the portal, and darkness again surrounded him.

The man stood still, watching the portal flicker and disappear.

"Good luck keybearer, I wish to see you again." He said calmly.

It was dark and cold, and Riku shivered as he managed to sit up. His body ached, and he felt exhausted. He rubbed his head, glancing around the stone cell that he now sat in.

Then, his began to recall what had happened.

"Sora…" He said, clenching his fist. Sora had been taken into the darkness, and he hadn't been able to save him.

Riku looked up, wondering where he was. The only light came from a black flame on the wall that stood outside of his cell door and the only other thing in his cell was a bed. He stood, narrowing his blue eyes as he tried to remember what had happened, but it was all a blur.

He walked to the door and glanced through the bars, allowing him to see several other cell doors almost identical to his own.

"A prison, great."

Riku muttered as he stepped back from the door. He shook his head,

"Sora...Kairi…where are you guys?"

Light broke the darkness that surrounded Sora and he turned to face it. He winced slightly, putting a hand up to shield his eyes, but started towards it. He was nervous, even scared, about what was going on. The only thing he knew that was for sure was that he had to save Riku and Kairi and if it meant going after this blonde guy, then he would do it.

Sora stepped into the light, feeling its warmth surround him and shelter him from the darkness. The strength of the light increased and he closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was falling through the upper branches of trees.

The drastic change stunned him and he yelled, bringing his arms in front of him to protect his face as branches ripped and stung at him. He felt his shirt catch and his decent slowed for a moment until the branch snapped and he fell to the ground onto his back.

Sora laid there, aching from his sudden plunge through the trees. He let out a groan, rolling over onto his stomach and rubbing his head.

"Geez…he didn't tell me I would end up falling into a new world…"

Sora mumbled as he put his hand against the ground to help sit himself up. He paused, looking at his gloved hand and realizing his glove was different. It was simpler, with the fingers still cut, but a metal piece was now attached to the top of the material over his knuckles. Engraved on the metal was King Mickey's insignia.

Sora blinked, feeling his head as he felt an unusual pressure. He was wearing a headband as well and this caused Sora to stand and examine his clothes a little more. His entire attire had changed and had simplified. His strapped pockets had turned into pouches that were held against his legs by wrappings, and his usual large shoes had shrunk down to blue, toeless sandals. His shirt was now made out of fish netting, with his jacket's metal shoulder pads gone as well as the straps.

"Whoa…I like the new look." Sora said with a smile.

He reached up, untying the headband from his head and examining it in his hands. It matched his gloves, with a large piece of metal stretched across the fabric and engraved with King Mickey's insignia once again.

Sora gave it a thoughtful look, then reached back up and retied it.

"Alright, time to figure out where I am."

After an hour of walking, Sora stopped, leaning against one of the many large trees that filled the dark, creepy forest that he had wandered into. He groaned, sliding down the trunk and onto the ground into a sitting position.

"This forest is insane huge! I don't have a clue of where I am!" He complained out loud, closing his eyes and laying his head back against the bark.

'I'm all alone out here…man, I really wish Donald and Goofy were here.' Sora thought sadly.

A faint hissing sound abruptly interrupted his thoughts and Sora felt something move against his shoulder. His eyes opened and he shot to his feet, swiftly turning to see what had touched him. He relaxed as he saw it was only a snake and managed a smile.

"Man, you scared me little guy. I thought you were a heartless for a minute there."

It was a small, green snake that Sora didn't recognize, but he guessed it was harmless.

"Heh, and to think I was all freaked out over a snake." Sora joked.

Suddenly, a loud sound caught his attention and Sora went stiffened. The little snake slithered away rather quickly as Sora slowly turned. His eyes widened and he literally almost fell over as he saw what had appeared from the tree tops, making its way down the trunk of the tree.

It was another snake, only this one was the size of a freakin' house! Sora tried to move, but he was frozen stiff.

'It's a giant freakin snake!' A voice screamed in his mind. The snake locked its red eyes onto him, its tongue flickering in and out of its mouth.

'Move! Move!' Sora yelled in his mind, but his legs wouldn't move. He couldn't move his body at all, and the monster of a snake was coming straight for him.

'Oh crap! I'm going to die!' Sora thought, fear ripping through him. It flicked its tongue out again, only inches from his face, then it hissed and lashed forward. Its jaws opened, and Sora saw a flash of teeth before he closed his eyes.

"Uzumaki Barrage!"

Sora opened his eyes as a voice rang through the forest and several orange blurs came down from the trees. The snake looked up as the blurs came down on top of its head, punching and kicking wildly. The massive reptile pulled its head back angrily, trying to shake the figures off. As this was happening, another orange figure flashed in front of him and blue eyes met with Sora's.

"Hey! Move it! Don't just stand their gawking!"

The boy seemed abit younger than Sora, his blonde spiky hair and orange clothes making him stick out from the dark scenery. On his forehead was a headband similar to Sora's, only with a leaf like symbol engraved on the center.

"Now! Go go!" The boy shouted, snapping his fingers in front of Sora's face. Sora snapped out of it, nodding,

"Uh, right!" He replied quickly.

The boy ran darted forward, his speed amazing Sora as he tried to keep up. He glanced back to see the other boys that had attack the snake disappear in poofs of white smoke and the snake angrily turned, retreating into the forest.

Sora soon came to a stop, breathing heavily. He had lost the orange clothed boy, which seemed odd since he stuck out so much. Sora put his hand on his knees, trying to catch his breath when someone tapped his shoulder. He gave a yell, turning quickly.

The boy blinked and then laughed.

"Wow, you're a spaz." He said.

Sora narrowed his eyes,

"I'm not! I'm just psyched out from almost being eaten by a giant freakin' snake!" He retorted.

The boy laughed again, "Giant? That was one of the smaller ones! Anyway, you shouldn't be in here! This is the Forest of Death for a reason kid!"

He paused, looking over Sora, with his gaze resting on Sora's headband.

"Huh…I don't think I've seen you around before. I'm Uzumaki, Naruto - who the heck are you?"

"Yeah, I'm…new around here. My names Sora."

Naruto gave him a bright smile, "Well Sora, nice to meet 'ya! We can chat more, but we cant really stay in this forest much longer. You're lucky I was messing around in here or you would've been snake food."

He took a few steps away, then faced Sora,

"Come on, follow me Sora!" He said, gesturing with his hands. Sora stood in place for a moment before nodding and following the strange blonde.

Naruto jumped up onto a tree root and came to a halt, turning to Sora.

"Alright, now that we're in the safe, what the heck were you doing in there anyway?" He asked, curious.

Sora gave a shrug,

"To tell you the truth, I don't really know. I just was walking around and ended up in that creepy forest. Are all the animals in there that big?"

"Nah, only the dangerous ones." He hopped down, noticing the symbol on Sora's headband.

"Hey…what a weird village symbol. Where are you from Sora?"

Sora glanced up at his forehead before looking at Naruto,

"Um…Destiny Islands."

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he thought, crossing his arms.

"Destiny Islands? Weird, never heard of it. Must be a pretty small village." He grinned, the seriousness disappearing in a flash,

"Well, welcome to Konoha Sora! We're top dog here in the land of fire if you haven't heard!"

"Konoha? So that's where I am…" Sora said, trailing off in thought. He looked back at Naruto,

"Um, you don't live in this forest, do you?"

Naruto's expression blanked for a moment before he burst out laughing,

"Live in the forest?! That's funny! Of course we don't live in the trees!" He spun around, pointing ahead through the trees,

"We live in the Leaf Village! Its up ahead, and its totally huge! Best part is the awesome ramen shops!"

"Ramen?" Sora asked.

Naruto turned,

"Yeah, ramen! Don't you know what that is?"

There was a silence and Naruto shook his head,

"Man, you really do come from a small village! Come on Sora, I'll show you the village and treat you to the best ramen in the village! You're lucky I found those coupons earlier today!"