I woke up feeling strangely warm. The entire time I slept I had dreams of fire and mixtures of darkness and light. I was running, in a panic, but never really reaching my destination. All I could see ahead of me, when the flashes of fire that would light up the hallway, was a black pile of fabric on the floor and a red mass at one end.

Donald and Goofy were the only ones awake. I walked up behind them and asked how long until we landed. They answered that it would only be half an hour. I looked out the window, my eyes searching the empty void of space for some clue as to Rachel's whereabouts. We passed worlds closely, but only so you could see the kind of climates that ruled them. A few of the one's we passed were devoid of life entirely, just black circles of darkness.

"Meg." I jumped. Nessa's hand was on my shoulder. "We're in Traverse Town." I nodded. We exited the ship and walked through the gates. Almost immediately Sora took off to find Cid so he could put in the next Gummie Block.

"Nessa," I called, before she could walk off, "We've got to do research. I mean we know so little about the Worlds and everything that's happening. Traverse Town has so many people that could teach us what they know. Leon, that old guy…uhh Merlin, and whoever else." She looked at me and nodded. "Look!" I said pointing to a poster. "Olympus Coliseum Hercules Cup," I read. "We could enter this Tournament and get stronger. We could train a bit and then we'd be good. So if it does come down to a battle with Rachel we won't completely be lost."

"I think it's a great idea," Nessa agreed, "While these guys are running around here lets ask around for help. I'm sure Leon will give us a hand, Yuffie too." I laughed.

"Okay, you just like my plan because it involved Leon," I teased. Nessa immediately reddened.

"Tha—no" she stuttered, "I like this plan because it makes sense." I laughed and ran to catch up with Sora.

"Let us know when you're leaving!" I called, running past him as Nessa was coming up behind me.

"COME BACK HERE!" She yelled. I just laughed and pushed through the doors to the Second District.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So you want to know everything about the heartless and the worlds?" Leon asked. Beside him stood Merlin and Yuffie. They'd been discussing something when we came in, but stopped when we entered.

"There's a lot even we don't know," Yuffie said.

"Doesn't matter. We're going to save our friend even if it means going straight into the darkness ourselves," I said.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely positive." I could see a look pass between Nessa and Leon but I ignored it for the moment. Honestly.

"Very well sit down."

For the next couple of hours all we learned was about the realms. How heartless came into beings, what the purpose behind bandannas and anklets were, how Gummy Ships could travel through space. How other large objects could travel through space, like the whale and the pirate ship I thought I saw. Leon and Yuffie helped Wanessa learn to wield her shield more like a weapon. Yuffie even popped a few of her ninja stars apart and stuck them on the end of shield. Merlin helped me concentrate on my magic. Teaching me several new spells including lightening, gravira, fiagra, bilzzara, and curaga.

XXXXXXXX

"Okay, okay," Merlin huffed, "That's enough. I think you're ready for the tournament." I smiled in triumph. I'd finally beaten the old man battling with magic. Nessa was fighting Yuffie currently, sending her ninja stars back with a slight movement of her shield.

"I agree," Leon called, "Yuffie! Stop attacking Wanessa!" The little ninja backed off and did a flip, landing next to Leon. Nessa walked up and joined us. "Their ready to go, don't you think?"

"Totally," She agreed. "Good luck guys, I have to go help Cid!" she took off running towards the first district. We waved her goodbye.

"So," Leon started.

"HEY MEG, NESSA!" Sora came running up. "We're about to get going. Apparently there's some sort of planet we missed that's almost covered in darkness. It's the opposite way of the whale. We gotta go!"

"Okay, but we're going to have you guys drop us off at the Coliseum because you have to be there for Hercules Cup anyway," Nessa explained. Sora nodded.

"Well we have to go, Donald might leave us behind," He started running.

"Good luck!" Merlin called as we started running.

"See ya," Leon said in goodbye. Nessa turned and waved. We raced to the first district.

XXXXXXX

They dropped us off at the Coliseum several hours before the Pegasus Cup was about to start.

"I wonder why Sora didn't want to fight in this one," Nessa said. I shrugged.

"Maybe he just wants to find Riku," I guessed, "Since Rachel's obviously not with him, seeing as how she would talk to us if she was, we have to find her somewhere." Nessa was signing our names on the sign up sheet and I was looking around. I spotted a man with spiky blond hair walking across the courtyard. His long red cape was tattered at the bottom and he wore a suit of armor, not fit for this sort of environment, he was from another world.

Nessa was talking but I wasn't listening. He stopped in front of a girl who had brown hair and was kind of short. I took a step closer but as she turned around to greet him a huge group of tourists walked in front of me.

"MEG!" I turned around quickly. "What are you looking at?" Nessa asked.

"I thought I saw Rachel," I answered. I turned my head, the crowd up people was gone, but so was the girl and the guy.

"Why would she be here?"

"I don't know, but I'm positive it was her I saw."

"Okay we'll keep an eye out for her."

XXXXXXXXX

The Tournament started. Our first match was against some ghosts, bandits, and pirates. We easily defeated them and moved up in the rounds. Nessa and I were barely out of breath by the 7th round. The 8th round consisted of three fat bandits and three large bodies. While Phil was going over the previous scores we worked out a plan.

The bell clanged and the match started. The large bodies immediately launched themselves at us. Wanessa jumped in front of me and with her newly spiked shield blocked them off with an almost blinding flash of light that sent them flying back into the fat bandits. I jumped over the pile of them and pointed my staff and their backsides.

"BLIZZARA!" I yelled. I could feel the icy snowstorm whip around me and with my hair blowing I sent the ice out in a shockwave that hit all of them. Nessa jumped forward again and smashed into them all with the spikes on her shield. The fat bodies disappeared into nothing and the fat bandits were standing up again. They pulled back their heads and started to gather air to blast fire at us.

"BLIZZARD THEM!" Nessa yelled, holding up her shield. I gathered up my power and just as they released their fireballs I sent a wind full of icy shards in their direction.

They exploded into nothing and we stood as champions of round 8. Nessa and I high fived, me not using my left hand and Nessa's right, Rachel wasn't there.

"You ready for round 9?" We turned around. Leon and Yuffie were standing behind us. Nessa immediately became flustered and Leon walked up to talk to her. They started to whisper in hushed tones. I walked up to Yuffie.

"Have you seen a short girl with brown hair, she's probably in all black," I asked. Yuffie looked around.

"Well, there's a couple people in all black," She said, "But earlier there was a guy with spiky blond hair, Cloud I think is his name, he was sitting with a girl and she left just a moment ago. He's sitting near the edge over there." She pointed to the edge of the Coliseum where there was a dark passage next to him.

"ROUND 8!" Phil yelled, "READY? SET! FIGHT!"