"Come on lazy bum. Wake up." The words hit Sora's consciousness before he woke up and it was like a bolt of energy hit him. It couldn't have been Kairi, if she was really here, then did that mean he had found her. Then the two of them could look for Riku. He opened his eyes and sure enough, the red head was there in the hotel room he was now in.

"You okay?" Kairi asked.

"I guess…" Sora said. He was still embarrassed, and a little upset, over losing to the man in the earlier fight.

"Those creatures that attacked you were after the Keyblade. But it's you heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade," Kairi said. It sounded like she was explaining the creatures to him, which didn't make sense since she couldn't know about them; then again, so long as she was okay, he could ask her later.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Kairi," he said and smiled.

"Kairi?" she asked. Her face contorted in confusion, leading Sora to believe he was wrong. Maybe this girl was from Kairi's world and was her identical twin, how else could she look exactly like Kairi? "Who are you talking about? I'm the great ninja master Yuffie." All of a sudden "Kairi" disappeared, only to be replaced by a girl with short black hair and green outfit. "I think you might've overdone it Squall."

"That's Leon," it was only then that he noticed the man from earlier in the room. That must have been Leon, although what made him change to that from Squall made Sora slightly curious. He looked next to Leon to see his Keyblade lying there. They hadn't stolen it from him, just taken it out of his hands.

"The Keyblade…" Yuffie seemed to notice his staring. "Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures. It turns out that's how they were tracking you." Was that why they'd only shown up in places he was and why nobody else seemed to comment on them, or was that why they tended to swarm him. Sora was so confused.

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them," Leon said. "But it won't work for long. Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one." He picked up the Keyblade and in a flash of light, the Keyblade returned to Sora's hand. It wasn't until that moment that he realized it had been weird to see the Keyblade out of his possession. "Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

"Why don't you start making sense? What's going on here?" Sora asked. He was ready for his answers.

-x-

"Okay, you know there are other worlds out there besides this town and your kingdom, right?" the woman asked Luigi, Bowser, and Peach.

"Rosalina has mentioned them a few times, but I'm afraid this has been the only time I've been to another world willingly," Peach said with a glance at Bowser.

"Hey! What's that look mean?!" Bowser asked.

"She's implying the only times she's ever left the world were because of you kidnapping her," Luigi said.

"What? You're lying!" Bowser growled.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are!"

"Ignoring those two," Tippi said. "Aren't the other worlds always supposed to remain hidden from each other?"

"Normally yes, but the recent years haven't been normal, as you're existence proves," the woman said. "They've only remained hidden so long because they weren't connected. When the Heartless came, everything changed."

-x-

"The Heartless?" Sora asked. He'd never heard that term used to describe a species before.

"The ones who attacked you, remember," Yuffie said. So that was what the shadows and other creatures he ran into on the islands and in Traverse Town were.

"Those without hearts," Leon explained. "The darkness in other people's hearts-that's what attracts them. And there is darkness in every heart."

"Hey, have you ever heard of someone named Ansem?" Yuffie asked.

-x-

"I don't think so," Luigi said. "Peach, Tippi?" He didn't even bother naming Bowser, if those two didn't know it wasn't likely Bowser would.

"I've never heard of him either in all the books in the Mushroom Kingdom," Peach said.

"I've heard the name before, but I do not know anything about him," Tippi said. "Who is he?"

"He was studying the Heartless. He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report," the woman said.

"Wait there's all this info on those Heartless guys and you aren't showing them to us?" Bowser asked.

"Its pages were scattered," the woman said.

"So go find them then! They've all got to be somewhere around here," Bowser said.

"It's not that simple, they were scattered all over the worlds," she said.

"I suppose that causes a problem then," Peach said and put her hand up to her chin in thought. "Perhaps that's where Mario's gone, to gather these reports so he can know more about the Heartless."

"Those were my thoughts." The woman smiled.

"Well, let's go find my bro then!" Luigi jumped up from his seat.

"Hang on. Luigi, we still have to find the key before we can look for Mario," Tippi reminded him.

"That's right, the Keyblade," the woman said.

-x-

"So…this is the key?" Sora asked as he looked at the Keyblade again.

Yuffie nodded. "Exactly!"

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade," Leon explained. "That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what."

"Well, I didn't ask for this." He threw the Keyblade away from him, only for it to return in a burst of light moments later in his hand.

"The Keyblade chooses its master. And it chose you," Yuffie said.

"So tough luck," Leon added.

"How did all this happen? I remember being in my room…" It hit him. He had thought Riku and Kairi were in Traverse Town, but after exploring around it was obvious neither were there, and there was still the matter of why he wasn't on his islands. He didn't know where his islands were and where his two best friends were. He had to know. "Wait a minute! What happened to my home? My island? Riku! Kairi!"

"You know what? I really don't know," Leon said.

"Leon!"

"No, it's okay," Sora said and put on a fake smile. "I bet Riku and Kairi are somewhere in Traverse Town and then the three of us can look for the islands together."

"That's the spirit!" Yuffie smiled at him.

Leon frowned. "Sooner or later, the Heartless will find you. You'd best prepare yourself."

"Prepare yourself?" he echoed.

"To fight for your life. Are you ready?" Leon asked.

"I'm ready!" Sora said. Maybe now he'd learn how to be a better fighter by taking out the Heartless and making up for his embarrassing loss against Leon earlier.

"Yuffie, let's go join Aerith," Leon said. "She should be there by now with the other visitors."

Yuffie's eyes looked toward the door. "Leon!" One of the helmeted Heartless had appeared.

"Yuffie go!" Leon commanded. Yuffie bolted out the door, slamming the door into Luigi as she went out and passing by the woman, Peach, Bowser, and Tippi.

"Yuffie?" the woman asked. After a second she followed the ninja master out of the room. The Heartless ran out of the window.

"Sora, let's go!" Leon jumped out the window after it, closely followed by Sora. They arrived in an alleyway outside the hotel. "Don't bother with the small fry. Find the leader. Let's go." He began fighting his way towards the area where Sora had first arrived in, leaving Sora to head in the direction of the fountain he had found. He ran out back into the second area he'd entered, Heartless swarming all over the place. He found himself facing the Heartless with the helmet and slashing at them in an attempt to kill them. He raised his Keyblade to block their kicks and slashed at them as they were momentarily stunned by the block. As each one of the helmeted Heartless fell, they released a small crystalline heart much like the one that formed them. Several of the black shadow Heartless surrounded him, but remembering Leon's words, he ran towards the entrance to the fountain area. One of the large round Heartless blocked the way.

"I have to take this thing out," Sora thought aloud before gripping his Keyblade tighter. This time when the Heartless jumped into the air to crush him, he rolled forward to get out of its way, giving him a view of its back. He slashed at it, and the Heartless seemed to stumble for a moment before charging at him and facing him. He realized that's how it had to be beaten, by attacking it from behind, so that's what he did, he attacked it from behind and it wasn't long before the Heartless had sustained enough damage that it fell.

"Yes!" he cheered. His happiness was short lived as more of the helmeted Heartless and shadow Heartless appeared. Realizing that the large round Heartless was not his target, he began to attack the ones around him to clear the path to the fountain area. Once they were defeated, he entered the area and ran to the center. Fighting on top of a building were Bowser, Luigi, and Peach.

"So many…" Tippi looked at Sora. "They all arrived when he entered the area."

"You don't think he's the one we're looking for, do you?" Luigi asked.

"That shrimp, I bet-" Bowser stopped as he saw Sora summon out his Keyblade.

"The Keyblade…" Tippi said. Her voice was filled with a slight awe.

"Then let's go!" Peach jumped off and opened her parasol to glide down gently and land next to Sora. Luigi and Bowser also jumped off the building, although their landing was a lot less gentle, shaking the ground beneath Sora's feet as Bowser landed. Tippi fluttered down.

"Who-"

"Heartless first!" Peach slammed her parasol into the Heartless beside her, one of the black shadows and took it out in one hit before turning towards another one and striking it. Bowser unleashed a torrent of flames at another of the Heartless, setting it on fire and killing it quickly. Luigi combated the Heartless with punches of his fist and quick bursts of green flames that erupted, and they made quick work of the surrounding Heartless.

"Now then, I'm-" before Tippi could start the introductions off, a large purple Heartless appeared from the ground. This Heartless appeared to be made of an armor with eyes out of the head and the thorny heart on the chest plate. "That's a Guard Armor Heartless. It's made of six individual segments that can all attack at once. If you take out the arms and legs, its head will be left defenseless."

"You know all that from a glance?" Sora asked.

"It's her talent," Bowser said. "Now are you gonna help us take out this Heartless or not?"

"Right!" Sora nodded and began to attack the hands of the Heartless. It began stomping and slapping its hands in his direction. Each stomp left a small shockwave that damaged Sora, as did each slap of the hand. He was constantly raising his Keyblade and rolling to get out of its way as the Heartless continued its rampage. Sora ended up in Bowser's direction as the large turtle unleashed another breath of flames on it, dealing damage and taking attention away from Sora. He ducked inside of his shell while Peach came up and attacked the torso with her parasol and ducked under it, protecting herself from all of its attacks. Sora ran up after it and once more slashed at it with his Keyblade, this time finding himself back to back with Luigi, who leaped up to punch it once more. Its body separated, the hands and feet no longer connected to the torso.

"You help me with the arms," Peach said to Sora. "You two attack the feet."

"Why does he get to work with you?" Bowser asked.

"Because you're better at ground targets," Peach said and with that turned to the arms before once more attacking it with her parasol. Sora followed her lead and slashed at it with his Keyblade. The two concentrated their efforts with both weapons. Occasionally she would release a pink heart from the tip of her parasol that allowed her to deal more damage to the hand than just her parasol alone. Whenever an attack came, she would effortlessly duck underneath and avoid taking damage. He threw his Keyblade at the hands to draw their attention away from Peach. As they went to go attack him, she pulled a frying pan out from her pockets and hit them with it. Both hands vanished.

Meanwhile, Luigi and Bowser were working on the feet. Luigi found himself constantly running out of range of the feet and their shockwaves while Bowser breathed fire on them.

"Come on Luigi! Do something!" Bowser shouted in anger.

Luigi threw a green fireball at the feet once more. "I'm trying! But I can't get close to these feet," he said.

"Then stomp 'em like that annoying Mario does!" Bowser said. Luigi, now feeling slightly stupid, leapt into the air and landed on one foot, not that it did that much damage. Bowser came up behind and clawed at the two feet, causing one to vanish while the other remained. The Keyblade soared through the air and destroyed the other foot.

"Thought you might need a hand," Sora said and smiled. Luigi and Bowser looked at each other in shock.

"Get your acts together; you still need to take out the head!" Tippi shouted at the duo who looked to see Sora and Peach both defending against the large Heartless as the torso began spinning into them, hardly giving one an opportunity to attack before they were forced on guard again. Luigi ran up first and once again punched the Guard Armor before leading it into Bowser's fire breath. Eventually it stopped spinning and its head fell off. With the head on the ground and it making no motion to get back up, it was subjected to a barrage of fists, Keyblade, parasol, and claws. Eventually a large heart emerged from the body as it vanished, leaving the four heroes a moment to catch their own breath.

"So you guys were looking for me, right?" Sora asked.

"Yup, my bro sent us out to look for you!" Luigi said.

"They too have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," Leon said as he entered through the other entrance to the fountain area.

"We need you to help us on our journey," Tippi explained.

"We would be incredibly grateful if you traveled with us. You'd get to see a ton of worlds," Peach said.

"I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi…" Sora thought.

"Of course!" Bowser said.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Tippi said and fluttered over to Sora. "We don't know if your friends survived the Heartless attack, but if they did, we'll help you find them."

"You should go with them Sora, especially if you want to find your friends," Leon said.

"I guess…" Sora said.

"Oh come on, Sora, was it?" Peach asked. "I promise we'll find your friends out there, but if they see you're upset, they might get upset too, so smile, okay?"

"Smile?" Sora asked. He made a wide grin and Peach giggled.

"Maybe not that big, but that's the right idea," she said.

"I guess I'll go with you guys," Sora said.

"I'm Princess Peach, but please don't add the princess part on," Peach said.

"I'm Luigi!"

"I'm the Koopa King, Bowser, and don't you forget it."

"I'm Tippi. I'm helping them on their quest in order to tell them about the foes like I did with the Guard Armor."

"She's also the last remaining Pixl," Peach added on. "And because she's a Pixl she can do the scan thing."

"I'm Sora," he said.

"I know, I also know your best friends are Riku and Kairi because of my scan, so if I scan anybody with either of those names, you'll be the first to know," Tippi said.

"Thanks!" Sora smiled.

"Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you. We don't know how far the Heartless have spread," Leon said as they walked back to the area Sora had woken up in. The woman and Yuffie were there.

"You should check out the shops before you go, they're all pretty cool," Yuffie said and waved.

"This is from all of us to spend as you see fit," the woman said and handed him a small pouch with yellow and purple stones. "My name is Aerith."

"Nice to meet you Aerith," Sora said.

"This is from me," Leon handed Sora a yellow bottle. "Use it if you get into trouble."

"Thanks!" Sora smiled.

"Good luck!" Yuffie said.

"I hope you find your friends," Aerith added.

"Look out for each other and keep your spirits up," Leon said. Sora nodded and followed the other three out to the front gate.

"So what's out here anyways?" Sora asked.

"You see, when Bowser once kidnapped Peach, long story," Luigi added the long story part at the last minute, "he took off world. We were helped by an interworld princess named Rosalina. She helped us travel and gave some Toads a ship. Since Rosalina's missing, the Toad Brigade gave us their ship to travel the worlds." He indicated the red mushroom shaped ship.

"Don't worry about it being too small, there's room for five," Peach said.

"It also only needs three people to control it at maximum, so we should have an easy time with that as well," Tippi said. "There's a small combat training room below the main deck as well as a cabin for rest. Since you won't be piloting it, you can rest."

"We'll let you know when we arrive at the first world, so catch up on your rest. You've been through a lot," Luigi said.

"How come he gets to rest and not me?!" Bowser growled.

"Bowser, when your homeworld gets destroyed, you lose all of the Koopalings, Kammy and Kamek, and Bowser Jr., and have no idea how to drive the Starshroom then you can rest too now. Until then, you get to drive to the first world."

"Fine!" he shouted.

"If you don't mind Sora, I'll show you around the second half of the ship and explain the controls," Tippi said.

"Sure," Sora said. Tippi began to describe the control panel to him.

-x-

Riku woke up on floating platforms in a field of water. "Where…am I?" He looked up at the looming castle in front of him. "Kairi! Sora!"

-x-

"So…um, Count, the Keyblade Wielder managed to get rid of the Heartless in Traverse Town," a blue skinned woman with purple hair said. She was dressed as a secretary with glasses covering her eyes.

"Unexpected indeed, but not a problem, the plan shall continue, said Count Bleck." The creature who said this was strange indeed, as he had no visible body, and was simply a blue head atop a white cape with a top hat on. One of his gloved hands held a staff that was topped with a light blue gem. His eyes glowed red.

"'Ey Count! Where do ya think they'll go next! I want ta have a chance ta fight with 'em!" a man asked. He was pale compared to the other too, with segmented, muscular arms and a black outfit.

"Do not worry O'Chunks. Count Bleck does not believe they will be a problem. We shall ignore them until they prove otherwise," the creature said.

"Yes, a very good plan indeed," the one who said this was a jester. He had on purple and yellow attire, but covering his face was an eerie black and white mask, obscuring it from view. "Why should we waste time on these enemies who might not even make it very far to begin with."

"Golly, that makes a lot of sense Count." the final minion in the room said. She was a green girl with two green pigtails.

"Yes, speaking of, Mimi, Count Bleck needs you to pick up somebody immediately, he will have one of the girls we are looking for," the creature said.

"Of course! Be back in a jiffy!" The girl teleported away in an instant.