A/N: We have arrived in Traverse Town!

Lucky Holt © to Kristen Verne

Skadi Thurston © to DinoWriter23

Other OC's © to me

Chosen One I

KAI/KAIRI: And so the Keyblade journey begins.

"Where...am...I?"

All she could see was darkness. All she could hear was silence. All she could feel was emptiness. In fact, Kairi couldn't feel any part of her own body. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe, and yet somehow didn't feel the need to. She had no energy, feeling so tired that she couldn't even distinguish whether she was awake or asleep. She felt as if all she could do was float motionlessly in nothingness.

"Am I...dead?"

Suddenly, her vision changed. At first it was awfully blurry and she could only make out dark colors. She could also hear a muffled groan. "What a dream," the voice spoke as the vision began to fade... only to come right back almost immediately, and everything was much clearer. Kairi could see what looked like a dark alleyway and a yellow dog in front of her. The voice from before cried out in surprise, no longer sounding muffled. "This isn't a dream!"

"Sora?"

Her vision moved around on its own, without her conscious input, and soon it looked down as she saw Sora's clothes...looking as if she herself was now wearing them. However this body moved on its own, again without her conscious input, standing up from having been sitting down. Her vision looked around, seeing the night sky, the buildings with red roofs, and concrete ground. Then Sora's voice spoke again. "Where am I? Oh boy..." The vision then looked to the dog. "Do you know where we are?" However the dog looked as if it heard something else and ran off. "H-Hey!"

"Am I...watching Sora...from his eyes...?"

Sora then walked out of the alley into a much wider area and saw more buildings, bright lights, and even some people. "This is totally weird! Am I...in another world?"

"What's...going...on?"

Unfortunately, Kairi couldn't ponder any further as she felt her tired mind slipping from consciousness.

Kai woke up in the Third District of Traverse Town. He picked himself up, feeling groggy as he stood up and looked around.

"Where am I?" He wondered before he remembered something. "Xehanort!" he shouted angrily as he looked around frantically, trying to sense his presence, his darkness, but couldn't sense anything. Wherever Xehanort was, he wasn't here.

The redhead looked down as he took a moment to process everything that happened. Xehanort had the gall to show himself to him, but when he tried to kill him, his sword passed right through him like he wasn't even there, apparently because he was lacking a physical form. The creep who has caused him so much pain, who he had been pursuing for nine years, was finally right in front of him, and he literally could do nothing to him. That alone had the werewolf fuming. But then he told him that he was in cahoots with Maleficent the whole time, the very person who promised to help him get revenge on him. Now he realized that they both had played him for a fool, Xehanort for making him think his sister was dead and Maleficent for promising him revenge with no intention of fulfilling it. Kai's anger was really burning now.

And to top it off, he caused the islands that became Kairi's new home to fall into darkness, with his sister's fate now uncertain. And the biggest gut punch in that situation was the last words that creep spoke: But thank you for wasting time speaking with me. In other words, that whole conversation he was stalling, keeping him from finding Kairi and getting her out before it was too late. Kai couldn't believe that he let himself get distracted like that. As his anger reached its boiling point, he let out a loud cry as his hand transformed into claws and slashed at the nearest wall, leaving a set of deep gashes on the concrete.

The redhead breathed heavily before grabbing his head in pain as the constant growling in his head got louder. It wasn't too loud yet but it was only a matter of time. He'd need Lucky's sedative dust soon.

That line of thought made him flinch in realization. "Lucky!?" He called as he looked around frantically again. "LUCKY!?" Unfortunately she was nowhere in sight, and he couldn't sense her in this vicinity, not helped by the fact that the growling was interfering and limiting the range of his senses. "Where the hell did she go?"

Before he could contemplate further, a swarm of Shadows and Soldiers suddenly appeared, surrounding him. Kai couldn't help but growl in frustration. He never learned to control the Heartless, never really cared for them and preferred to do things himself. Part of him wished he had learned so that he could command them to get lost. But on the other hand, he could really use some stress relief right now. With that in mind, he summoned both of his hands' beast claws, maybe letting out some of his Lycan powers will quell his primal fury. He really let loose on all of them, tearing them to shreds, smashing them to bits, and showed very little restraint. It wasn't long before they were all gone.

The redhead panted for a moment. It didn't work completely, but the inner growling had gotten quieter for now. He looked around and winced at the result of his lack of restraint: small craters on the concrete ground, a chip taken from the corner of a stone wall, a statue of two dogs smashed to pieces, and claw marks everywhere. "This could cause a stir..." he muttered to himself before shaking his head. "I need to figure out where I am."

He made sure the hood of his navy blue cloak was up over his head before he leapt high into the air, landing on the border wall between districts taking in the surrounding areas. "Could this be that Traverse Town place that Lightning mentioned?" he wondered.

His attention was then drawn to a strong light he could now sense close by. Curious, he followed that light, finding himself on the rooftops of the Second District. He spotted the source of that light, and to his shock, it was that Sora boy from the Islands. And not only did he, of all people, seem to make it out of that disaster, but he was currently fighting off swarms of Shadows...with a giant key. "A Keyblade!?" This discovery gave Kai mixed feelings. On one hand, finally a potential solution to the problem of Maleficent and the Chaos Squad has appeared. But on the other hand... "How could this...SLACKER...be a Keyblade's chosen one!?" That fact made him angry, jealous, and not to mention doubtful of this new key bearer's ability to take on the evil fairy.

However before he could dwell on those feelings, he sensed something else within the boy, something faint, something so...obscured that he almost didn't notice it. Heck he probably wouldn't have noticed were it not for the fact that this something felt so...familiar... He gasped when finally identified it. "K...Kairi? Wh...What the hell is Kairi's light doing within that Sora boy!?"

In the Fountain Plaza near the Fourth District(1), Skadi had just finished another swarm of Heartless.

"Is it just me, or are these Heartless attacks becoming more frequent?" the giant complained. "What a hassle!"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a cat's meow. She turned to see a Cyprus cat approaching her. It stopped and let out another meow before turning around and heading in the opposite direction, towards the large fountain. It paused and turned its head back to the woman, letting out one more meow. Skadi guessed that this cat wanted her to follow it, so she did. The cat brought her to a figure in a dark grey tattered cloak lying front first on the ground. A basket lay tipped over next to them, a bunch of cat stuff spilling out. But then she noticed the figure's long pink hair, green hardened skin, and... well how could she possibly overlook those large purple butterfly wings. It was her! It was Lucky Holt!

Skadi rushed to her fellow experiment's side and gently shook her. "Hey! Lucky! Are you alright? Please wake up!"

The bug girl stirred as she slowly woke up. When she saw the freakishly tall woman, she jumped into a sitting position in fright, leaning against the fountain ledge. "Wh-wh-who are!? Wh-wh-Where am I!? P-p-please don't hurt me!"

Skadi raised her hands trying to get the cloaked woman to settle down. "It's okay Lucky! It's okay! I'm not gonna hurt you!"

"H-how did you kn-... w-wait..." Lucky paused as she took a good look at the giant. "D-didn't I s-see you in the l-lab? Th-the one they c-called G-Gigas?"

The tall woman sighed. "Yes. But please call me Skadi." She then started to pick up the spilled cat stuff and put it back in the basket.

"S-Skadi..." Lucky then started looking around the place she was in. "I-if you're h-here then th-this must be T-T-Traverse T-Town!"

"Yes," Skadi confirmed as she held out the basket. "I assume the cat that brought me to you is yours?"

Lucky took the basket. "W-well, D-Dawn isn't actually m-mine. I've j-just been t-taking care of her f-for someone."

Boy, her mother wasn't kidding about her chronic stutter, the giant thought to herself. "From the sound of things, you didn't come here by choice, did you?"

"N-no. K-Kai and I w-were just v-visiting a w-world that h-happened to be o-on the v-verge of f-f-falling into d-d-darkness, and-" Lucky then gasped as she looked around frantically. "K-K-Kai! Wh-where did he g-go!? I-is he here!?"

"I'm afraid I haven't seen him. I'm sorry."

The pinkette looked down in clear worry. "I h-hope he's a-alright."

"From what I've heard about him, I'm sure he's fine. And hey, if you wound up here in town, chances are he's here too."

"I-I g-guess..." Lucky still couldn't help but worry. And if that wasn't enough, she couldn't help but worry about Kairi and her friends. Did they make it out of there like she did? Did any one of them make it here?

The dark skinned woman scratched her head in thought before speaking again. "Hey, uh listen... I'm really sorry about what happened to you. I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone sooner."

The bug woman shook her head as she picked up Dawn and put her back in the basket before standing up. "I-it wasn't your f-fault. Th-they g-grabbed me because I w-was in the wr-wrong p-place at the wrong t-time. I-I was c-captured b-before you got r-roped in. A-as for not t-telling... ho-honestly I d-didn't w-want anyone to s-see me like th-this anyways. Y-you owe me n-no a-apology."

Skadi felt a little better hearing that one experiment didn't even hold her responsible for her misery. "Regardless, I'm really glad you're finally here. Your mother has been waiting all these years for you."

Lucky fidgeted with her cloak. "Sh-she h-has?"

"Yes. I speak with her quite often, you know. She's a very kind person. She was one of the first people willing to give me a second chance after what I willingly took part in. Even after I had basically lied to her when she asked me to look for you, she forgave me and still defends me from those still angry with me for not telling anyone what was going on sooner."

"Th-that s-sounds like my m-mom, sure e-enough."

"She still believes you're alive. She wanted me to tell you that she doesn't care about what happened to you, or what you look like, she just wants her daughter back." Skadi then put her hand on Lucky's shoulder. "Please... You should go see your family."

The bug woman looked hesitant. "I-I s-still don't know."

Soon a new voice made itself known. "Lucky?" The two young women looked to find none other than Mrs Holt, staring at the pinkette in particular.

"M-m-mom?" Lucky stood frozen at the sight of her mother, whom she hadn't seen in over nine years. Part of her couldn't believe she was here right in front of her after all this time. The other part was frightened now that her own mother was now seeing the bug girl she had become. She wanted to flee, but she found herself unable to move, like a deer caught in headlights.

The middle aged woman slowly approached, tears forming in her eyes. "My baby girl... It really is you!" Soon she stood right in front of her daughter before pulling her into a warm embrace. "You finally came back to me!"

Lucky's own tears began to fall. In spite of her appearance, her mother accepted her so easily. She couldn't help but cry as she hugged back.

Skadi wiped a tear from her own eye as she watched the mother and daughter have a tender reunion. With this, she felt one less weight on her shoulders.

After a while of them letting their emotions out, Mrs Holt then turned to the giant. "Thank you for finding my daughter."

Skadi scratched her head awkwardly. "Well, her cat brought me to her, really."

"Her cat?"

Lucky then opened her basket showing her mother said cat. "Sh-she's really a c-close f-friend's cat. Her n-name is D-Dawn."

"Aww! She's adorable!" The mother petted Dawn before taking her daughter's hand. "Come on! Your father will be so happy to see you again!"

"A-are you s-s-sure? I-I mean, w-with how I l-look?"

"Oh trust me! He'll be too overjoyed to care!"

Lucky still looked hesitant when Skadi chimed in. "You should go, Lucky. Catch up with your family. You all need this." She then saw the bug woman looking around for something...or someone. "If you're still worried about Kai, I'll have everyone keep an eye out for him. If we find him, we'll let him know where you are. Okay?"

Lucky still looked worried, but ultimately conceded. "Okay..."

With that, the mother and daughter left.

Soon after Skadi's radio beeped. "This is Yuffie, with Squ-I mean Leon. Can anyone hear me?"

"This is Laguna, with Aerith. We read you loud and clear!"

Skadi grabbed her radio off her belt, pressed a button and spoke into it. "This is Skadi. What's up?"

Lucky and her mother stood outside the Holt family's apartment.

"D-do we really h-have to do th-this?" Lucky asked nervously.

"Your father has been in denial long enough," Mrs Holt answered. "He needs to see for himself. Don't worry, he'll accept you."

The bug girl was still unsure, but she took a deep breath. "W-well, m-may as well l-look more p-p-presentable, I g-guess." She then handed her mother Dawn's basket before removing her cloak, revealing her off-white dress and brown accessories.

"Oh, Lucky!" the mother exclaimed. "You look so pretty!"

Lucky blushed. "Th-thank y-y-you! O-only one p-person ever s-s-said that to m-me."

"Well it's true."

With that Mrs Holt opened the door and walked in, followed by Lucky who closed the door behind her.

"Honey!" the mother called. "We have a very important visitor!"

A male voice called back, "If it's that Bruta poser, I told you I have no interest in speaking with her!"

Mrs Holt rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I assure you it's not Skadi! It's someone much more important than that! Come see for yourself!"

Mr Holt groaned as he came out of the bedroom. "I swear if this is some kind of ploy I-" He cut himself off at the sight of a young woman with green hardened skin and purple butterfly wings. "Who the heck is this?" This caused her to tremble nervously.

Mrs Holt sighed. "Jeremy... Look at her... Remember what we were told... Don't you recognize her?"

"All I see is a girl with bug-like...fea...tures... butterfly...wings..." Jeremy paused as he took a closer look at her. Her pink hair, her purple eyes, and the shape of her face. "It...can't...be..." He turned to Mrs Holt. "C-Clover, if this is... some kind of prank..."

"I-it's not a p-p-prank, D-D-Daddy!" Lucky finally spoke. "I-it's...r-really m-m-me..."

Her voice... and that stutter... Jeremy placed a hand on his heart, as tears began to form in his eyes. "Lu...Lucky?"

"Yes Jeremy," said Clover. "Our daughter has finally come home!"

The father looked down in shame. "I...gave you up for dead... I'm...so sorry..."

Lucky shook her head as tears formed once again. "N-no... I'm s-s-sorry... for n-never coming h-home!" She looked down at herself. "I-I was...so s-s-scared that if y-you s-saw me like th-this... you w-wouldn't a-a-accept me..."

"Darling... Your mother and I would've welcomed you home no matter what they did to you. Come here..."

With that, the father pulled his daughter into a hug, who started crying into his shoulder. The mother joined in the embrace as well.

For the first time in nine years, Jeremy, Clover, and Lucky Holt were a complete family again.

Kai followed Sora around from the rooftops, watching him wander about looking for Riku and Kairi, and slaying any Heartless that attacked him. The redhead also spotted two funny looking characters wandering around looking for someone named Leon. One was a tall dog-like guy, and the other was a duck who reminded him of an ice cream salesman back home.

Eventually the new Keyblade wielder made his way back to the First District where he was confronted by a face familiar to Kai. It was a fellow Castle Guard Recruit, Squall Leonhart. Apparently he wanted to get the Keyblade away from Sora, but the boy wasn't having it, leading to a fight. Although Sora held his own surprisingly well, it was obvious that Squall was just holding back. Soon the boy ended up tiring himself out before the more experienced swordsman whacked him upside the head, knocking him out.(2)

Soon a black haired teenage girl, who looked familiar to Kai but couldn't quite place yet, approached the scene. "Alright, you got him! Great job, Leon!" Kai couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Squall being called Leon. "Though I think you might be slipping a little."

"I went easy on him," replied 'Leon'. "Still... Looks like things are worse than we thought. A lot worse."

The girl then grabbed a radio from her belt. "This is Yuffie," Ah, now he recognized her, Yuffie Kisaragi, one of Kairi's friends from back home, "with Squ-I mean Leon." He spotted the girl's eyes rolling at this. "Can anyone hear me?"

Two separate responses came out of the radio. "This is Laguna, with Aerith. We read you loud and clear!"

"This is Skadi. What's up?"

"Well, the mouse king's prediction came true." Yuffie answered, and Kai wondered if this mouse king was King Mickey, who he remembered visited Lord Ansem a couple times. "A Keyblade wielder has arrived."

"Really!? That's wonderful news!" said Laguna.

"Well it would be, but... It turned out to be a teenage boy who's an amateur with the weapon."

"So our only hope of taking back our home...is a kid?" Skadi sighed. "Well that's encouraging!"

"Be that as it may, he's all we've got, so we'll have to make do," said Laguna. "And who knows? This kid might surprise us! Where is he now?"

"First District," answered Yuffie. "He picked a fight with Leon, and got knocked out."

"I see. Well Aerith and I spotted two interesting characters looking for Leon. They could be the ones the king sent to aid the Keyblade wielder. We're about to move in to make contact. Yuffie, Leon, take the kid to the Second District hotel. We'll meet you there. If you can, make sure he's separated from his Keyblade to throw the Heartless off his trail."

"Will do, sir!"

"I actually have interesting news on my end too," said Skadi.

"What is it?" asked Laguna.

"I just found Lucky Holt!" That peaked Kai's interest.

"Really? Lucky's here?"

"Yeah! Found her unconscious at first in the Fountain Plaza near the Fourth District. We talked briefly before her mother showed up. I convinced her to go and catch up with her family."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. Maybe she can shed some light on what happened in the castle and what's going on now. But for now, let's give her some time with her family."

"I'll ask her about it later."

"Did she say anything about... the other experiments?"

"Apparently she and Kai had the misfortune of visiting a world right on the brink of falling into darkness. Next thing she knows she winds up here, separated from Kai it looks like. She seems very worried about him."

"Well knowing how stubborn he is, he's probably alright. And if Lucky found her way here, there's a good chance so did Kai."

"Actually," Yuffie chimed in, "I just followed reports of a disturbance in the Third District, and HOOOO BOY does it look like someone unleashed a rabid beast there not too long ago! Claw marks are everywhere!" Kai couldn't help but facepalm at himself. He was afraid that would get attention.

"You think that was Kai's doing?" asked Skadi.

"Given what we know about his werewolf? Maybe. But it could've just as easily been some more aggressive Heartless. Though if such Heartless were there, they're long gone now."

"We'll see if Merlin can fix that place back up next time we see him. But whatever the case, let's all be on the lookout for Kai!" said Laguna. "Though I won't be surprised if he's not in a talking mood."

"At the very least, if he comes looking for Lucky then we should direct him to the Fountain Plaza," said Skadi.

"Agreed! But for now let's rendezvous at the Second District. You too, Skadi. We may need your help if things get sticky, especially with the increased frequency of Heartless attacks."

"I'm on my way!"

"If there's nothing else to report, Laguna out!"

"Skadi out!"

"Yuffie out!"

With that, Leon picked up the unconscious Sora and started carrying him on his shoulder, while Yuffie grabbed the boy's Keyblade.

As they headed to their destination, Kai felt relieved hearing that Lucky was alright, and an odd warmth inside knowing that she was catching up with her family now. He just...couldn't help but feel that she deserved this for putting up with him for so long... as well as everything else. He was...happy for her. The growling in his head was still there, but it wasn't as bad as it was earlier. Add that with the fact that he now knew where to find her, he felt could afford to wait a little longer before getting his sedative. Plus he figured she needed some alone time with them.

For now, he decided to keep following Sora. With him being the new Keyblade wielder, and two weirdos being sent to aid him, he needed to find out what was going on here, and what exactly this crew apparently in charge of protecting this town knew. He felt really skeptical about Sora's capability of saving the universe from Maleficent and the Chaos Squad. And if that wasn't enough, this boy somehow has Kairi's light within him. That fact really unsettled him. How did this happen? What happened to Kairi herself? Is Sora even aware that he's housing a part of her within him? He wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't. Needless to say, Kai was very concerned about all this. He needed answers.

KAI: We asked for a Key Bearer to help us, and received a novice. How are we supposed to rely on this kid?

A/N: And that's part one of Traverse Town. Next time, we'll cover the rest of Sora's first visit... with some new additions.

Footnotes:

(1) Yeah I decided to have the areas only accessible in Dream Drop Distance appear in non-dream Traverse Town. The world would be too small for the many refugees otherwise.

(2) This was a fight where the story moves forward even if Sora lost. While it is possible to win in the game, realistically I don't think he would've won against the more experienced fighter at this stage. Especially since even if the player does win, Sora just faints from exhaustion immediately afterwards. Still I decided to include dialogue from both results just for fun.