In the world that would never again see the light of day, the building that was formally known as Castle Oblivion stood tall and alone. Several yards from the castle doors was a figure dressed in black hooded robes. He pulled back his hood to reveal his long spiky green hair. He was a young man, about nineteen and he stared up at the top of the building.

"Light and darkness...darkness and light. What evils does the power of darkness hold and what good does the power of light possess. Is light really pure good and is darkness truly pure evil? I may finally learn the answer in this Castle of Oblivion. The answer to the true powers of darkness and light..."

He put his hood back over his head and marched purposefully to the castle doors. He placed a hand on either door and slowly pushed them open. As he did, thick black and purple smoke slipped out from inside. It floated into the air and disappeared into the sky. As it did, the smoke seemed to come together to form the words...

~Kingdom Hearts 2 1/2~


Chapter 1

Traverse Town

"Hey you... Get yer ass up..."

Sora felt like he was being poked with a stick. He wearily lifted his
head off the ground and got to his knees. He looked around and noticed
where he was, but it was impossible. After he got up, he saw who had
woken him up: it was an old man with spiky blond hair. The man was
smoking a cigar and holding a long pole. Sora's eyes lit up.

"Cid!"

Cid blew smoke into the air and stood his spear upright.

"The hell you doin' layin' in the streets? Ain't you supposed to be
on some island with Cari or whatever that girl's name is?"

"Her name's Kairi, and..."

Sora was about to say what had happened but he wasn't even sure. Last
he remembered, he was on Destiny Island with his friends Kairi and
Riku...but now he was waking up after being unconscious in a world
that wasn't supposed to exist anymore. Cid shrugged and started off.

"Whatever, we all have crazy crap goin' on. Come on, we best be
getting to Leon and the others. Their here too..."

Sora gasped and ran after him. They walked down the streets of
Traverse Town until they came to a familiar house. Cid opened the door
and let Sora in. Right away, he saw several familiar faces. Sitting at
a computer were Yuffie and Tifa. Aeris stood by a counter and Leon was
leaning against a wall. As soon as Sora entered, Yuffie jumped up from
the desk, pulled out her shurikan, and lunged at Sora who drew his
keyblade and guarded against her attack just in time. Yuffie smiled.

"Hey Sora!", she said, looking as cheery and energetic as ever.

Sora smiled weakly. "Hey, Yuffie."

Leon shook his head and walked over.
"At least you haven't lost it yet. Welcome back, Sora."

Sora pulled back his weapon and smiled.

"Great to see you all too! But...why are you all here? Shouldn't you
all be in Hollow Bastion?"

"That's Radiant Garden...", Tifa stood up, looking serious. "And we
would like to know too."

Aeris closed her eyes and was silent for a moment.

"I can hear them anymore... The world's life-force. They are all
crying in pain..."

"What are you taking about?" Sora looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Aeris can listen to the life-force of worlds. That's one of the many
powers of the Ancients." said Tifa, still looking serious.

"So they're all...dying...?" asked Sora weakly.

That would obviously explain why Traverse Town was there again.

"We don't know fer sure. Just 'cause Radiant Garden's gone and now
maybe your island don't mean a thing." said Cid.

"But Aeris just said she can here them! The worlds just cant be at peace yet."
Yuffie was getting frantic."

Sora looked puzzle, and then he snapped his fingers.

"Maleficent...and the Heartless. Remember when the Heartless were
destroying the worlds by crawling through the keyholes?"

Leon nodded, "It all makes sense...well, you know what to do."

"Yeah! Except...I don't have a Gummi Ship...", he looked down and sighed.

Just then there was a puff of blue smoke and Merlin the wizard
appeared in the middle of the room.

"You're not going to let something like that stop you, are you lad?"

"The hell you want, ya old coot?", Cid snapped.

"My word, I was only going to offer young Sora my assistance..."

He turned to Sora and looked at him.

"You're ship is not the only way to travel from world to world. Unless
you've forgotten, I am the one responsible for bringing Scrooge McDuck
to Radiant Garden and I once brought you to Disney Castle, as I plan
to do now.", Merlin smiled as he said this.

"You can bring me from world to world?", Sora's heart was filling with hope.

"Heavens no, not from world to world but I can reunite you with some
old friends who can."

Leon placed a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Take care of yourself, and make sure you bring our world back...", he
said sternly.

Sora nodded, "I will..."

He looked up at Merlin and without a word they disappeared with a puff
of smoke and headed for their next destination.

Disney Town

Merlin and Sora reappeared in the square of a town. The buildings were
all cute and colorful and there were brightly colored streamers
hanging from the old fashioned lamp posts. Sora looked a bit confused.

"Um...Merlin? I though you were going to bring me somewhere familiar.
What is this place...?"

"Oh dear, I must have missed my mark... We are still in the right
world, at least. Sora, I know you can find your way to where you need
to go. I hate to leave you here but I need to get back to the Fairy
Godmother."

"No problem, Merlin. I'll find my way.", Sora said, "Thanks!"

Merlin was gone with a poof and Sora started away. He started looking
around the town. There was an ice cream shop with a weird looking
cannon-like machine standing outside of it.

I wonder what this is for..., thought Sora.

He never found out though because he heard a high-pitched scream .
Instinctively he drew his keyblade from out of nowhere and followed
it. When he got there, he saw a tall rat standing over Huey, Dewy, and
Louie. He was wearing a belted outfit with lots of zippers very
similar to the King's and Pete's. It appeared that Donald's nephews
were guarding a large gate.

Huey got up, "There's no way we are letting you into the castle!"

The rat laughed, "This here castle was should belong to me: the
rightful king of Disney Town, Mortimer Mouse!"

"More like 'Mortimer Rat'!"

Sora skidded in front of the triplets with his keyblade bared.

Mortimer glared at him, "I know who you are. Petey told me everything
about you...Keyblade Master!"

He pulled his weapon out of nowhere. It looked like one of Donald's
staffs with the blade of a sword.

"I'll do Lady Maleficent a favor and get rid of you here. And then,
Mickey-the-Rat and his little castle are mine!", he bared his weapon
and charged.

Mortimer started the battle off by casting a barrier around himself.
Sora bombarded him with attacks in attempt to shatter his barrier.

Mortimer sent Sora flying with his staff-blade and shot several fire balls at him. Sora used Aerial Recovery to get himself on his feet and Quick Run to dodge the fire balls. Once Sora had gotten far enough, Mortimer cast Thunder in attempt to hit him. Sora closed it on Mortimer, dodged the lighting bolts, and delivered several blows with his keyblade and a finishing move, shattering the barrier. Mortimer's eyes widened and he jumped back before Sora could strike him again.

"That's enough for now. Pete warned me about the keyblade wielder. Mark my words, you haven't seen the last of Mortimer Mouse! Hacha-cha!", Mortimer pushed past Sora and bolted away.

Sora ran to Huey, Dewy, and Louie, "Are you guys okay? Who the heck was that?"

"Sora! Are we glad you came along! That guy was Mortimer.", said Huey.

"He's been trying to steal the throne from the King for ages.", said Dewy.

"We saw him at the gates and just knew he was after the castle and the Queen!", said Louie.

Sora shook his head, "I won't let that guy anywhere near the the castle. So, did you say that the King was gone?"

"Yeah", said Huey,"his majesty left Disney Town because he said the worlds were going kaploowee again!"

"Maybe you should go check on the Queen.", said Louie.

Sora nodded, "Yeah, I will"

He waved and ran through the gate. Inside the castle, he saw Donald and Goofy guarding the entrance to the throne room.

"Guys!", he smiled and ran up to them. The three laughed and hugged.

"Her majesty went down to check on the Cornerstone of Light and left us to to guard the throne room.", said Goofy proudly.

"Sshh!," whispered Donald, "I hear the Queen coming!"

A smaller door in the middle of the taller one opened and Queen Minnie walked through. She smiled when she saw Sora.

"Oh Sora, thank goodness you are here. Mickey left the castle a few days ago saying that the darkness was spreading again and it was his duty as a Keyblade Master to take a look at it. Would you please be so kind as to help him?"

He nodded, "Of course, your majesty. That's sorta why I'm here."

Donald and Goofy smiled and nodded behind Minnie's back and Sora got the hint.

"Um...your majesty?", he began to ask, "May I borrow Donald and Goofy?"

"He can't do anything without us.", Donald laughed.

"Of course they can, Sora. There haven't been any Heartless in Disney Town yet, and I'm sure we will be fine without Donald and Goofy for now. Now boys, behave yourselves."

"What are ya talking about? We are always behaved!", Donald shouted.

Everyone laughed and Sora and Goofy dragged Donald away.

Gummi Ship

After picking it up in the hanger, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were piloting the Gummi Ship through space heading to their first destination.

Sora was excited, "Think we're going to see any new worlds?"

"Probably", said Donald, "the King says that the universe is infinite. Who knows where that darkness has gone this time?"

The ship eventually approached a world unlike any that Sora had ever seen before: tall grey rectangular buildings were coming out of the ground.

"Looks like this is our stop guys.", said Sora, "Let's go."

Big Apple

As soon as the three landed in the new world, Sora was taken in by all of the sites. The skyscrapers, the paved streets, the lights, the cars. He stared at everything in awe.

Donald looked at him oddly, "Hello? Sora?"

Goofy walked up to them from behind. "Donald, Sora's probably never seen any big cities on his little island."

"You're right", said Sora still staring at it all, "I've never seen anything like it..."

Finally he looked back at Donald and Goofy and gasped. Donald had a grey pigeon-like body and Goofy had a thin black dog body and right now looked a lot like the King's dog, Pluto. He then looked at himself to see he had become a brown tabby kitten. He jumped back, obviously startled. Goofy and Donald burst out laughing.

"Garwsh, you look like the Queen's pet kitty cat!", said Goofy.

"Too bad Kairi isn't here!", laughed Donald.

Sora glared, "Be quiet! You two don't look any better."

Wow.. he though, This is a lot like when we went to the Pride Lands...

He turned back to them and smiled.

"Sorry guys. Hey, let's take a look around this place!"

They both smiled back, "That's what you wanted to do from the very beginning, ain't it?", Goofy laughed.

They all ran into the streets of the big city. Just then they heard a loud meowing and a crash. They went closer to the noise to see a small orange kitten was being chased by a large overweight man. They were running circles around a hotdog stand and the man was throwing crates at the cat.

"You filthy cat! Getta away from my hotdogs!"

Sora hissed and his keyblade appeared in his mouth.

"We gotta save that kid. He's so much smaller than that fat guy!"

Goofy grabbed Sora's tail in his mouth as Sora started running.

"Sora!", he said, "That cat is tryin' to steal those hotdogs though. He's a thief."

"Yeah, Sora. We are heroes. Heroes don't help thieves.", said Donald.

"Heroes also protect people who are weaker than they are.", Sora looked back at them with narrow eyes, "Don't do anything if you want. I'm going to help."

Sora pulled away from Goofy and charged at the fat man. He hit him with the keyblade and the guy drew his attention away from the cat and onto Sora.

"So you gotta friends with you you stupid cat? No one getsa Tony's hotdogs for free!"

He was about to drop a large crate directly onto Sora when a medium-sized brown and white dog knocked the man over and turned to Sora and the other cat. He wore a red bandana around his neck and had a confident expression on his face.

"Hey cats", he said, "You picked the wrong guy to steal hotdogs from. How about you help me to liberate those nice hot weenies, and maybe together we can convince old Tony to share?"

Sora glanced from the dog to the cat. The cat nodded, "Yeah, I'm there!"

The three charged at the fat man and knocked him over. The dog grabbed a string of hotdogs and ran off. Sora looked up and didn't see the cat anywhere.

"He got away.", sighed Sora, "That's good..."

"Sora! Behind you!"

The fat man had gotten up and was about to bring a broom down on Sora's head. Goofy jumped in front of Sora with his shield attached to a collar around his neck like a giant license tag.

Next, Donald flew over the man and whacked him over the head with his staff.

"Sorry we didn't follow you, Sora.", Donald looked sad, "You were right."

"Don't worry about it", said Sora as he hit the guy one last time, "Just help me get all of us out of here alive!"

All three of them past by Tony, and both Goofy and Sora were sure to jump on his head as they ran past. Finally they ended up far away from the hotdog stand and found themselves in an empty construction zone.

Goofy looked ahead. "Hey, Sora! It's those two from the hotdog stand!"

A little ways ahead, the small orange cat was chasing after the dog. He had the hotdog string wrapped around his neck and was smirking back at the cat. The cat ran after him angrily.

"Me and that other cat helped you get those. Give some to me; that's not fair!"

The dog laughed, "Fair's for tourists, kid.", and he ran off.

The kitten glared at him and ran after him. Suddenly, several large fat blue dog-like creatures and a larger green one with spirals on their eyes and spiked collars around where their necks would have been appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the two. Sora knew what they were: Mad Dog Heartless. He jumped passed the Heartless and stood in front of the cat with his keyblade clenched between his teeth. To his surprise, the dog with the hotdogs did the same.

"You guys picked the wrong dog to mess with. This's what happens when you cross paths with Dodger!"

He lunged at the Heartless, grabbed them with his mouth and threw them so they crashed on the ground. Sora ran at them with the keyblade and quickly vanquished them. More and more kept coming but Dodger and Sora quickly teamed up to take them all out. When there was finally only one left with an inch of HP, the orange kitten gave it a final scratch, eliminating it.

Dodger looked at the two and smiled, "Look at that. We make a good team. What are your names?"

"I'm Sora", said Sora, "And these two are Donald and Goofy."

"My name's Oliver.", said the kitten smiling up and Dodger.

Dodger straightened up and started off.

"Well nice working with you but the dynamic trio is now the dynamic UNO."

Oliver's smile turned into a scowl, "You're wrong! Get back here!"

"Yeah!", said Goofy, "Me and Donald make five, so that's a...a quin...to?"

Donald was getting angry, "Who cares what a group of five is called? Let's get 'em!"

The four of them chased after Dodger but eventually the over-confident canine had lost them. Goofy got in touch with his new form's abilities by taking the lead and starting to follow Dodger's scent. It Was becoming dark. Finally they reached a house near the edge of a vacant harbor.

"Garsh", exclaimed Goofy, "I wonder if this is were that Dodger feller lives."

"We just gotta check it out.", said Oliver, continuing forward.

Just then, a fancy black car zoomed down the pier and nearly ran over Sora and company. The car stopped right at the house and two large dobermans jumped out of the car, went into the house, and forced a skinny man out in front of the car. The man was filthy and looked like he hadn't bathed or changed his clothes for a while. He was trembling as he faced whoever was in the car. Sora couldn't see whoever was in the car for the windows were all black, but he did see that the two dobermans were going into the house.

"Guys", whispered Sora, "Let's get into that house..."

Donald, Goofy, and Oliver hesitantly followed Sora passed the car and into the house. Inside, Dodger was standing in front of two other dogs and glaring at the two dobermans who were circling the single room of the house.

"Looks like Dodger is still working for that filthy homeless bum, Fagin. Let's see how long Sykes is gonna let y'all live!"

Dodger continued to glare at them, teeth bared.

"What happened to your sense of humor, Roscoe?"

Roscoe looked back at a television that somebody was obviously watching before they came in. He kicked it and it smashed into a wall sending sparks everywhere.

He smirked, "See that? I find that funny..."

"Yeah? How funny is this?", Donald drew his staff and hit Roscoe with a fire ball.

Everyone now knew that Sora and the gang were here. The dobermans growled and lunged at the four of them but Dodger attacked them. Sora drew his keyblade and Goofy his shield and they both joined in the fight.

It was a real messy battle. Furniture and other household stuff got knocked over and smashed as they all fought. Finally both dogs were down but only after Roscoe was limping after Sora bombarded his leg with the keyblade and Oliver left deep red scratches in the other dobermans nose. Finally there was a loud honk from outside.

Dodger looked up at the two dobermans and smirked, "Oh Roscoe, DeSoto, your master is calling..."

They both got up and headed for the door.

Roscoe snorted, "This ain't over, Dodger. You're giving us that money, even if it's over you filthy masters dead body..."

The dobermans left and the skinny man who was apparently Fagin came into the room, looking worn out and depressed.

"Three days...how am I going to get that money to Sykes in three days...?"

He sat down and his three dogs walked over to him looking sat. Fagin looked back at the dogs and his eyes fell on the hotdog string around Dodger's neck and smiled. He threw his arms around the dogs and hugged them.

"Who needs Sykes when I have you guys. You are my family and as long as I have you I'm the richest man alive!"

The dogs were all delighted and jumped on top of their master. Oliver watched them with envy. Finally they all stopped and Fagin noticed Oliver.

He smiled and picked the cat up, "Did you do that to DeSoto's nose? That's wonderful. That's great. From now on, you are one of us!"

Oliver's eyes lit up and they all hugged each other. Sora, Donald, and Goofy watched from the corner.

Sora smiled, "Looks like Oliver's made a few friends."

"Yeah, but we totally went out of our way for them.", Donald sighed.

"I don't know, Donald", said Goofy, "I think that as long as Sora is helping folks with his keyblade, he's protecting the light wherever he goes. We gotta learn to trust in Sora, no matter what he thinks is right."

They both nodded before the three of them left into the night.