Hello everyone! Welcome back.

So, we left off with Sora, Donald and Goofy (along with Jiminy) finally awakening and going off to find out where they're at, but also find Penelope before resuming their quest.

I own nothing but my OC, who will only be mentioned in this chapter and in the next few until her reintroduction.

Here's chapter 5.

-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 5: Exploring Twilight Town

For some reason, as Sora walked out of the few chambers that led into the Pod Room, much to his discovery, he found that he, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy happened to be sleeping in some kind of mansion. It wasn't actually some kind of laboratory as expected, which made it a mix of disappointment, relief and confusion all at the same time.

The only question was how they even got to this mansion in the first place; let alone how they ended up falling asleep in it. However, that wasn't the main concern at this time.

So, Sora, Donald and Goofy went out to the front of the mansion and acknowledged that they were in some kind of town- more specifically the outskirts of it. Sora found a few chests about the yard, so he quickly opened them before regrouping with Donald and Goofy.

So far, they were starting to figure out where they were. Except there was no Penelope anywhere, which was a letdown. Still, they'd find her eventually.

After going out of the gates and out of the mansion and through a forest, Sora and his friends ended up coming into town. Sora was starting to find familiarity in it from somewhere, but where it happened to be coming from was full of uncertainty in Sora's mind. As they were exploring about the streets and still trying to gather information, upon heading through the back streets, Sora noticed a red sheet that struck him as suspicious.

Curious of what lied beyond it, he went through it, with Donald and Goofy following. He ended up discovering three other kids about his age boredly lying about the room. One of the boys, who was blonde, quickly acknowledged the three newcomers and glared at them. "What do you want!?" He snapped, and he made Sora, Donald and Goofy tense up a moment.

"Uh, nothing. Just wondering what was back here." Sora replied, somewhat worried he aggravated the one boy by his existence. The blonde rolled his eyes a moment.

"Now you know. This is our spot." He said back, before looking away.

Another one of the boys, who had black hair styled upwards, was somewhat at a loss for words when he spoke, though he seemed to be analyzing Sora, Donald and Goofy somewhat carefully. "Uhh…"

"What?" Sora asked, shifting his eyes to him.

"You're…new around here, right? I'm Pence." He introduced, with a smile on his face.

The blonde boy got up. "Hayner. Nice to meet ya, but we got stuff to do, so catch ya later." said he, who left after saying that. Hayner really cut any further conversation with him at this moment rather short.

The only girl present there, who had brown hair and friendly green eyes, smiled at them before finally introducing herself to the group. "My name's Olette," she greeted, before moving onto another topic. "Hey, did you finish up the summer homework, yet? Independent studies are the worst, huh?"

Sora's eyes widened as he was a bit unsure, but nervous as to what Olette was talking about. "Homework?" he asked, looking to Donald and Goofy. The anthropomorphic dog and duck simply shrugged in response. They had no clue what she was talking about either.

"What're your names?" Pence asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, sorry. We're Sora, Donald and Goofy." Goofy introduced, pointing to who was who when he spoke.

"Hey there." Sora smiled at them, after his introduction.

Pence and Olette found their names familiar. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, we just met someone who was looking for you." Olette explained. At first, they thought it was maybe a clue to where Penelope was.

But it was somewhat better for another goal rather than a current one when Pence explained it. "He sure seemed to be in a hurry. He had a black coat on, so I couldn't see his face, but he had these big round ears." By that description alone, they easily figured out who Pence was referring to.

"The King!" exclaimed Donald.

"Where'd you see him?" asked Sora to Pence and Olette. Pence was the one who answered the question for him.

"At the station." replied Pence.

"The station! Thanks!"

Olette stretched before getting up. "Well, we better get back to that assignment." said she, as she was starting to leave. Pence followed her and had the last word.

"Later!" The two waved goodbye before going off.

Donald was excited from the newfound information they got about the King. "Oh boy! The King is looking for us!" exclaimed the duck very excitedly.

"Yeah! Let's get to the station!"

So, Sora and company left the Usual Spot. In order to really get to the station, they had to get through the Sandlot.

If you were to write it down on paper, it would actually sound simpler than it actually is. The reason being is because you might not consider who is in the Sandlot a lot of the time.

While Sora, Donald and Goofy were trying to pass through, they were met with more aggression. This is mainly because of the three present there (being Seifer, Fuu and Rai). Seifer looked up and glared, suspicious of the newcomers. "Hey you, where'd you come from?" growled he.

"Uhh…" Sora began, unsure of what exactly to say.

Seifer stood up. "Are you here to pick a fight or something?"

"Fight? We're not here to fight." Sora said, trying to end it calmly. Well, at first, until Donald butted in.

"Yeah, you big palooka!" Donald shouted at him. Seifer was visibly displeased, and quite frankly pissed at what Donald said, ending any hopes of a pleasant resolve.

Seifer cocked his head side to side a moment before saying, "Okay, smartalecks…Time to teach you how to behave in my town. Bring it!"

The head of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee and his two lackeys got into defensive stances. Sora huffed at the action, and looked at Donald. "Man, this guy is a jerk."

Donald nodded in agreement, and then he and Sora got into defensive stances. Goofy looked at the two of them bewildered (noting that he was literally the only one who decided to act so aggressive). Fortunately, before anyone got screwed over in a fight, the one Struggle tournament producer ran over to them, shouting, "One moment!"

"If you're gonna fight, why not make it a proper Struggle?" suggested he.

Seifer raised an eyebrow. "…What?"

"You see, Seifer… I'm a really big fan."

Nobody had any idea what was happening, but it caught Seifer off guard as he began to stutter. "Wh-what do you want?"

"In other words, I want to see more of your "super cool" moves! You handled the tournament with real style, and you absolutely dominated the title match. But I just can't get enough. Don't you see? The matches are far too short!" exclaimed the producer, before he turned to Sora.

"And what's your name?"

"Sora." the lighter brown-haired boy replied.

The producer smiled at him. "Sora, if you ever want to fight a match, you just say the word."

Sora nodded in response. When it all settled down, he, Donald and Goofy continued making their way to the station in hopes of finding King Mickey and getting some more insight into what was going on.

XxXxX

(Twilight Town Central Station)

As Sora was getting to the Central Station, still joined by Donald and Goofy, as they were about to head up to the doors, they were suddenly surrounded by these strange creatures in white. They had no clue where they came from or why, but they had to fight. However, as they were fighting, more kept showing up, and the trio got overwhelmed and also exhausted fairly quickly.

Fortunately, a certain mouse king appeared on the ledge of the station. As the mysterious enemies were about to strike again, while Sora held up his Kingdom Key to block, Mickey swooped down and easily destroyed the enemies with his Kingdom Key D.

While Sora was in amazement by the King's elegant display, Donald and Goofy pushed Sora out of the way to see him. "Your Majesty?" asked Donald.

"Shhh!" Mickey immediately hushed Donald. "You gotta board the train! The train knows the way! Here."

Mickey then handed Sora a certain munny pouch before quickly heading off to the market street. Donald was somewhat disappointed by the short encounter. "Your Majesty…" He sighed after Mickey.

"The King… was that really him?" Sora asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It coulda been…" Goofy began to say with a little doubt before quickly changing his mind. "Yep, I know it was!"

Donald bounced up and down a moment before saying, "Now we know he's okay!"

"The King was locked in the realm of darkness, right?" Sora asked, recalling the end of their first adventure when they first met Mickey. The meeting was short, but memorable.

"Uh-huh." Goofy agreed.

"But we just saw him…"

"Yep." Donald added.

"And if the King's here, that means Riku's here!" concluded Sora.

"He's gotta be!" exclaimed Donald.

Sora smiled, starting to really piece his long-term goal for his adventure together now that the steps were more clear. "Well, I'm gonna go look for Riku. Then he, Penelope and I can go back to the islands together. Kairi's there waiting for us! What are you two gonna do?" asked Sora.

"Gawrsh, Sora. Do ya have to ask?"

Sora began laughing in response, much to Donald's alarm and confusion. He then got mad, and put his feathered hands on his hips. "Hey! What's so funny!?"

"Your face!" Sora exclaimed in response. The anthropomorphic dog and duck looked at each other before laughing along with Sora. Smiling, Sora then said, "What do ya say, guys? Let's stick together for one more journey… and find Penelope too so she can join us if she wants."

Donald and Goofy nodded. Except, the only problem was that with all this talking, Sora forgot where he and his pals were even supposed to be going in the first place. Mickey told them they were supposed to go to the train… train… Oh, right! The train!

Upon recalling it, Sora, Donald and Goofy ran to the doors of the station and opened them up, heading to the counter. Surprisingly though, three voices of those they had recently met called after them.

"Wait up!" Hayner hollered after Sora, Donald and Goofy, making them halt.

The other trio of friends caught up to them. "Hey Sora…" began Hayner.

"What?"

"Nothing, but…"

"We came to see you off. It just seemed like something we oughta do." Pence explained to the group.

A smile appeared on Sora's face. "Oh… really? Thanks!" exclaimed Sora, showing gratitude towards their actions. However, their interruption and farewell was interrupted by the ringing of a bell. "You should hurry and get your tickets." Olette advised.

"Right." Sora said with a nod, as he took out the munny pouch Mickey gave them as he went to the teller to get three tickets for the train.

Olette was surprised to see how it was an exact copy of her own munny pouch. When she showed it was the case, Sora and the other two were surprised, though now, Sora had to focus on getting the tickets. He shrugged at how there was an exact similarity, unsure how it happened. As he got the three tickets for himself, Donald and Goofy and went over to them, he appeared to be sad.

"I can't help feeling we won't see this town again…" He sighed. Donald and Goofy titled their heads to the side. They didn't know where that notion came from, but they still tried to help cheer Sora up. It was the best thing to do for now.

"Why not?" Donald questioned Sora.

"You're thinkin' too much." Goofy added.

"Yeah, you're right!" Sora said afterwards, positivity returning to him.

They started heading to the train. "Okay, let's go!"

Donald and Goofy smiled and nodded. Sora looked to Hayner, Pence and Olette and smiled at them, bidding them farewell. As Donald and Goofy got onto the train, they waved goodbye to the three that came to see them off.

As Sora was joining them on the train, Hayner stopped him. "Hey Sora. Are you sure we haven't met before?" He asked, getting Sora to pause and think about it.

"Positive. Why do you ask?" Sora asked, his sky blue eyes rather confused.

Hayner shrugged in reply. "I dunno."

Sora smiled back at him, though for some strange reason, a tear rolled down his cheek. Hayner, Pence and Olette looked somewhat surprised, as did Sora. Having no clue where the tear came from, Sora started to brush it off from his cheek.

"You okay?" Olette asked him worriedly.

"Y-yeah. Don't know where it came from." Sora answered her back.

Hayner smiled and chuckled at Sora. "Pull it together." He advised.

Sora nodded at the three. "Right… see ya."

Waving at Hayner, Pence and Olette, Sora finally got onto the train. He still waved to them as the door closed and the train left as Pence turned to Hayner and Olette. Sora took his seat on the train and he, Donald and Goofy watched as it rolled on.

Once more, Sora took out the munny pouch and analyzed it. In it, he found a blue crystal ball, and he held it up to the light. "You know…" Sora began to say to his friends as they sat down. "I'm sad."

"We'll be back." Donald said to Sora, trying to calm him down once again.

"Yeah. We can visit Hayner and those guys again." Goofy chimed in.

Sora tried to believe them as the train rolled out towards the sky, taking them ever closer to their destination.

-o-o-o-o-

There was one scene I was going to include at the end, but I decided against it and I will have it in the beginning of the next chapter. Other than that, I don't have much else to say.

Please review if you'd like, please try to refrain from flaming and please tell me how I can improve.

I will see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!