Cody walked aimlessly in the city streets, no doubt all emptied out because of the commotion he accidentally caused with the Heartless chase. He really should have thought this out better. His goal was to regroup with the others, but he himself had no knowledge of how to even navigate through this world. At this point he was hoping to run into someone, anyone he could recognize. Heck, he'd be happy to run into Heather again at this point.

Most of all, he was reaching for that last bit of hope that he'd run into Gwen or Trent. He was still haunted by those last images of the pair and wanted all possible assurance that they were alive and well. That Tidus kid mentioned there was a possibility that they simply wound up in a different world. He could only pray that that was the case.

Cody yawned. He rested back at that shop, but the unwanted workout seemed to have taken a major toll on him. In fact, he somehow felt even more tired now than before. He had to find the others fast. The sooner he did, the sooner he could find a place to really lay down and nap and hope everything would go back to normal when he woke up.

The extreme fatigue was starting to affect his sense of direction as he twisted and turned through the endless alleyways. Despite it all, Cody eventually finally found his way back to the main plaza. At that point, all the former campers who had populated it earlier were now gone. It figured. How long was it since he ran out of here anyway? And how was he going to find everyone now?

He peered his lurching eyes down at the oversized key that he had almost instinctively lugged around this entire time. This was seemingly his only means to fight against the Heartless, but he was much too cowardly to do so. Instead, he resorted to running and running and running… In his heart, he knew he should've blamed his own weak will, but in a mix of his drowsiness and general disorientation over recent events, he couldn't help but direct his anger towards the object as it had made its appearance right when everything started to go wrong.

He sluggishly walked off again and swooshed the key around in an almost drunkenly frustrated manner as he sneered and cursed at its very existence.

"Hey, watch where you're swinging that thing,"

Cody rubbed his eyes. In front of him was a man who looked to be in his mid twenties. With his hair in an almost raven-like shape and hue, dark attire filled to the brim with belts and buckles, and a scowling face that complimented the nasty scar that ran down his forehead, Cody would've been forgiven for being terrified at first glance. That was if he was actually in the proper state of mind to register how threatening the man looked. In his worsening mental condition, all he could do was say every word that came to his head without taking any consideration towards consequences.

"Sorry for scratching up that face," Cody droned. "Or like, was it already like that? Sorry."

The man visibly twitched. "Are you serious?"

"No, I'm Cody."

He facepalmed. "Well, Cid did warn me."

The next thing the man did finally put sense back into the tired teen's head.

He pointed his sword just inches away from Cody's face.

"Wh-what are you doing?!"

"Well the plan was to spar with the Keybearer so we can get a good assessment on how screwed we are," the man replied matter of factly. "If this isn't enough to wake you up, I don't know what is."

The man slashed the sword upwards, only for Cody to tumble backwards in the nick of time; an act that seemed both accidental and strategic. There was no time to breath as the man lunged forward for another attack, forcing Cody to bounce off once again.

"You've got a talent for dodging, I'll give you that," the man mumbled. "That's at least something."

Cody began to increase the distance between him and this madman who had attacked him for no reason. If he was going to keep charging at him, he might as well make himself harder to reach.

The man smirked as he did something completely unexpected. He held up his sword like a revolver…

...And shot out balls of flame.

That sword was also a gun.

Cody yelped as he ducked and rolled away from the incoming explosive impact. This gave the man more than enough to charge back up and close the gap between them.

Cody could feel his brain screaming at him to do something. He had a weapon with him, why wasn't he using it? His body was betraying all instincts. Despite being mentally wide awake, he could feel himself physically losing all sense of himself. The last thing he saw before collapsing onto the ground in a sleepy mess was the man getting ready to lunge another attack on him.

THUD!

The man blinked in astonishment. This wasn't supposed to happen.

"Hey." He crouched to the ground with a small twinge of panic and tried to shake Cody awake. "Hey, are you alright?"

A snore came out in response.

"...Seriously?"

"Leon, did you kill him?!" A new voice chimed in, this time coming from a girl.

The man turned around. Before him stood a girl with a jet black bob who looked to be around Cody's age. Her outfit was of conflicting features, clearly being built for ninja activities yet clad in a loud yellow color scheme that fit her personality more than her profession.

"No, I," he stopped. This was going to sound ridiculous. "I was facing him and he just collapsed. And he's not dead. Can't you hear him snoring?"

Right on cue, Cody croaked out the loudest snore possible.

"He fell asleep in the middle of battle?" The ninja girl griped. "Man, when you said this whole sparring thing was to see how screwed we were, I thought you were joking."

"So was I…"

The two continued on their negative evaluation of the weak geek. And all the while, Cody continued to enjoy the second most peaceful dream he'd had in months.

oOo

"So a kid crashed down from the rooftop hatch…"

"...And he brought a ton of 'Heartless' with him?"

Alakazam and Loudred found themselves at the scene of Cody's misadventures in the shopping district. The shop owner had gotten right to work trying to fix everything up, and he was more than happy to dump his frustrations on the pair.

"Yes, exactly!" The owner gruffed as he continued to pick up the endless slew of broken gadget parts from the ground.

"So a troublemaker, huh?" Alakazam said in sympathy with the man. "What an awful kid."

"Did he happen to be carrying around a key by any chance?" Loudred added.

"How should I know?" The man brushed off the query. "He just came crashing down and then the whole damn building was in chaos. Don't know if he was carrying shit, but he better not come back here if he knows what's good for him."

The man looked like he was getting just as frustrated at the pair's questioning as he was with the kid he was accusing. They quietly took the hint and made their leave.

"Why did you bother asking him about the key?" Alakazam scoffed at Loudred. "That kid was obviously a villain. Why would the King have us search for someone like that?"

"I don't know. I just kind of had a hunch."

"A stupid one. This is why I'm the brains here."

"Got it."

In the near distance, a tiny creature peered at the two from the shadows of the alleyways. It gingerly eavesdropped on the two with its enormous rabbit-like ears and picked out the keywords from their conversation; "King" and "key"... Are these the two they were supposed to be expecting?

"This is not our day," Alakazam groaned, his head in his hands.

"Maybe we should try looking for that Leon guy instead?"

Keyword number three set! The small creature happily jumped in the air in celebration, causing small rumblings among the trash bins it was surrounded by. Alakazam and Loudred were quickly notified of the creature's presence.

"Hey, Skitty, is that you?" Loudred shouted out.

Unfortunately, due to the naturally loud nature of his species, this statement that would've been merely an above average tone to him was strong enough to send the poor creature flying backwards. While the creature's giggles echoed through the barren streets, the two Pokemon panicked and ran after it, making sure Loudred didn't send it hurtling towards a brick wall or worse.

Lucky for them, rather than a brick wall, the creature neatly bounced on to the arms of a friend.

"Hey," Loudred cried out as the two arrived at the scene. "Are you alright?"

"Quit shouting! You're the one who sent it flying in the first place!"

"Excuse me," a soft feminine voice greeted them.

The pair looked forward. The creature they had chased after wasn't their friend, Skitty, though it did have a similar catlike face. Rather than a pink cat, it was a white rabbit-like creature with both ears and feet that looked comically large in comparison to its diminutive size, and a rounded body with a ruby red gem that glistened on its forehead.

The creature sat snugly in the woman's arms as she gently patted its head. She had an almost fairy tale-like beauty to her with her outfit of pinks and reds and her golden brown braid that stretched just below her waist. There was a bit of uncertainty in her face as if she was examining the pair to make sure they could be trusted. Even then, it was unable to hide the general kind aura that radiated from her.

"You two wouldn't happen to be looking for a man named Leon, would you?"

"Uh, yeah," Alakazam stammered. "How did you know?"

"Well," she giggled lightheartedly, leading the white creature to imitate her. "He's a friend of mine actually. Your king told us all about you two. If it's alright, could you follow me? You guys probably have a lot of questions, so it would be better if we talked somewhere private."

The woman lightly sprinted away, a surprising amount of spunk in her steps that contrasted with the dainty impression she gave off.

The two looked at each other. They could tell she didn't seem like the kind of person who would lie. After all the fruitless effort they've wasted trying to find the Keybearer, it was nice for them to finally have some semblance of their mission progressing. Without much else to do, they hurried along after her.

oOo

"...Hey, wake up."

Cody slowly lifted his eyes. It'd been so long since he had a peaceful wakeup, he'd almost forgotten the sensation entirely. Everything was still a blurry daze. He laid on the beach of Camp Wawanakwa, no doubt giving himself a nasty sunburn in the process, and a familiar goth girl peered at him from the pier right beside him.

….Wait.

Gwen?

Was...it all a dream?

"Keep sleeping like that and we really will all be doomed," she called down.

This is real, right? None of that stuff had actually happened, right?

"G…" Cody sounded out, still in the process of regaining full consciousness. "How...are you still alive?"

"The heck does that mean?"

"I...you...saw you disappear."

"Well that definitely didn't happen."

She acted like her normal snarky self rather than...whatever that was back in the cave. And if she had no memory of what happened... There was no question. That was all just a dream.

Cody sang a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you're not dead, Gwen."

"...Gwen? Who's that?"

...What?

"My name's Yuffie."

Suddenly, the blur from his surroundings started to fade. He was no longer lounging on the sands of Camp Wawanakwa. Instead, he laid flat on a bed in what appeared to be a colorful dollhouse-like hotel room. A girl in ninja attire was right beside him, taking advantage of her skills to perch on the top railing of a chair, probably out of boredom from watching after the sleeping teen.

Who in the-?

"How did you mistake me for an Asian girl?"

Cody was completely taken aback. Not only was the Gwen earlier just an illusion of his dream, there was a new Gwen leaning against the door. Was this the real one? Was this Gwen fake too? Either way, with his mind supposedly woken up, he couldn't help yelping in shock at the sight.

"Gwen?!"

"Hey, Leon," the mysterious girl called out to the other side of the room. "You sure you didn't conk him on the head during that fight?"

"Positive."

Cody turned to see a man leaning against the wall near the corner of the room. And it wasn't just any man; it was the scary one who attacked him out of nowhere.

Cody was set into a panic. His eyes darted everywhere around the room. What was going on? Who were these people? Why did that man go off on him? Why did they kidnap him? Why was Gwen with them?

...Wait, where was Gwen?

She was no longer in the room, no matter how much he continued repeatedly examining every nook and cranny of it. Was he going insane?

"Hey, hey, calm down," the girl said as she jumped off from her perch, afraid Cody might accidentally knock the chair over in his manic state.

Calm down? Calm down?!

"You!" Cody pointed accusingly at the man. "What the hell do you want from me?!"

"Hey, cool it, alright?" The man walked forward slowly, possibly with similar fears as his female companion did.

"You guys literally kidnapped me!"

BONK!

The girl had grown tired of his outburst and pounded his head just lightly enough that it wasn't going to knock him out again.

"You fainted in the middle of the city with no one around. It would've been worse if we just left you there."

...She did have a point.

Cody gulped. He was getting himself into something and even if he wanted no part of it, it didn't look like he had an option. "So...who are you guys?"

The girl beamed. "That's more like it." She jumped and flipped over and above the bed before neatly landing neatly on her feet right beside the man. "I already said it, but just in case you were still too messed up to hear, my name's Yuffie!"

"Leon," the guy added flatly with as little effort as possible in his introduction.

"Uh." He still wasn't sure what to make of this situation or if he could trust these two. Then again, he had similar sentiments towards the crew at the shop he rested at and that turned out fine in the end. Maybe this would too? "My name's Cody."

Yuffie snorted. "The name of a dweeb too."

What was that supposed to mean?

"Now that we finally have introductions out of the way," Leon started, brushing aside Yuffie's rude remark. "Let's move on to why you're here." He pointed towards an object right beside Cody's bed.

The key.

Cody was almost startled at the very sight of it. He had held on to it so instinctively, he didn't even realize it was no longer in his grasp when he'd woken up.

"You were holding on to this thing so tight, we almost had to use pliers just to make you let go," Yuffie groaned at the memory. "When its owner holds on to it, that thing's like a beacon for Heartless to come at you as they please."

Cody's face flushed in embarrassment. Well that explained a lot. Turns out instincts couldn't always be trusted.

"So I have to get rid of this thing? Is that what you're saying?"

"Absolutely not," Leon halted. "You need that key. We need it. Everyone does."

Cody gulped. He knew this was going to turn into something too big for him to handle. "So then...what is it?"

Yuffie smirked. "You're in for a ride."

oOo

"What you're looking for is called the Keyblade," the woman, named Aerith, explained.

In a hotel room, right next to the one Cody was situated in, Alakazam and Loudred were seated with both concern and anticipation as the full extent of their mission was slowly unveiled to them. Aerith had poured the pair tea and laid out cookies to try to lighten the mood. In the end, only Loudred opted to take the tea, purely out of politeness, and the cookies were quickly consumed by the white rabbit creature and no one else.

"'Blade'? So, it's kind of like a sword?" Alakazam inquired.

Aerith shook her head. "No. It acts like a sword, but it's an entirely different class of its own.

"You may have seen shadowy monsters around town. Those are the Heartless. They can be hurt and defeated by most any other weapon if the wielder is skilled enough, but the Keyblade is the only thing that can take them down from the source."

"But why?"

"The Heartless are the manifestations of darkness, of the negative energy that collects in the unconscious. And the Keyblade," Aerith smiled. "Is the complete opposite. A weapon of pure light."

"So then," Alakazam continued. "What exactly are those Heartless? The King was talking about blinking stars. Are they responsible?"

"Well…"

oOo

"I'm hoping you stuck around with Tidus long enough to know why you're here in the first place," Leon said.

Cody nodded having more or less gone completely silent as he slowly took all this information in.

"So you know how there are other worlds, right?" It was Yuffie's turn to lecture.

He nodded again.

"Well all these worlds, every single one, are able to exist because of light. Light brings life. Flowers would die without sunlight. You get the drill."

"And the Heartless," back to Leon. "Their very existence hinges on destroying all light. If light is gone, the darkness takes over, and the world is gone. That's why they flock to any and all worlds they can find. They're attracted to the light like flies and want nothing more than to destroy it. And this," Leon turned back towards the Keyblade. "Since it's a weapon of light, they become attracted to it too."

"It's like a mouse trap," Yuffie explained. "Mice sniff out the cheese, but they don't realize it's a fight they can't win until it's too late."

"So," Cody spoke softly. "If they're attracted to light...wouldn't that mean they'd be everywhere?"

"Not quite," Leon answered. "When flies start zoning in on a single source of light, they only do that because the room is already dark. The darker a room is, the easier it is to pick out the parts of it that aren't."

"In other words," Yuffie nodded. "Once the Heartless sense darkness in someone's heart, they use that as a means to gather and spread."

Their words were simple, but this was still a lot for the teen to take in. Just yesterday, he was in a normal world where things like this would only exist in games and movies. And now he was expected to rewrite everything that he's ever known to be normal with the world?

While Yuffie and Leon allowed Cody time to breath, the ninja had formed something else in her brain. There was something she figured might be worth asking Cody, though she doubted that he'd have any clue what she'd be talking about.

"Hey, have you ever happened to hear about a guy named Ansem?"

oOo

"Ansem?" Loudred cocked his head.

Aerith noticed he had just finished his cup of tea and was right on to pouring him some more.

"He was the ruler of the world my friends and I used to live in," she replied. "He was a brilliant researcher, and before things went wrong, he was studying everything we've been talking about. It's just a hunch, but we think if we can find out more about him and his research, we might be able to get rid of the Heartless for good."

Alakazam and Loudred glanced at each other, both looking like they felt guilty for not knowing anything.

"Sorry," Alakazam scratched his head. "Honestly, this is the first time we've heard about any of this stuff."

Aerith shrugged, keeping her smile despite her slight disappointment. "I kind of figured. It was worth a shot though." She stared up at the ceiling in deep reflection. "All his research data was probably lost with our world anyway. But you can't help but at least hope for a miracle, right?"

A lightbulb went off in Loudred's head. "Maybe the King went looking for them!"

"You think?"

"Yeah! He was always traveling around worlds talking to big, important people. Maybe he knew this Ansem guy too." He laughed heartily in excitement, any tenseness in the room now gone. "In fact, maybe we should go and help him. He's not exactly the lone wolf type like he tries to be sometimes."

"You're forgetting something," Alakazam jabbed. "We still need to find the key."

oOo

"So," Cody breathed. "Back to this key… Why do I have it?"

This is when Cody could start seeing visible nervousness in the pair.

"Well…" Yuffie wanted to tell him, but seemed very hesitant. It looked like it was time for Leon and his dangerous bluntness to take over.

"The Keyblade chooses its master. Supposedly, it goes to someone with a pure heart; someone with the right drive and courage to wield it."

The key word was "supposedly". Cody started to cringe. He knew what was going on.

"Yeah, you're," Yuffie was still hesitant to bring it down on him. "You're not what we were expecting. Like...at all."

Well, he could have told them that all on his own.

"Look," Cody sighed. "This was all cool to hear about and all, but if I'm in charge of all this, we're doomed."

"My thoughts exactly," Leon agreed, earning a glare from his younger companion.

"Then you take it."

"Can't."

"Why not?"

Leon reached out and held the weapon only for it to disappear from his hand and straight into Cody's.

"Like it or not, it chose you."

This couldn't be happening.

He lived his life trying and failing to act out a confident cool guy persona. Sometimes, he was naive enough to even believe that lie. But after everything that's happened, he had to be honest with himself. He was not meant to have this thing. Pure heart? Courage? What the hell were they talking about? He was a coward trying to be someone he wasn't and he'll never will be anything more.

There had to be a mistake. This was supposed to go to someone else on the island. Owen? Leshawna? Bridgette? Geoff? Trent would've been the obvious choice just a few days ago, but he's not exactly sure the "pure heart" angle fit the dude.

...Gwen. This was supposed to go to Gwen.

Despite all odds and all her rotten attitude, she came out looking like a hero on the island. People wanted to support her even if she didn't want it. She was supposed to be the hero, not him.

"You really think that highly of me, huh?"

Cody jumped. There was her voice again. There she was once again, leaning against the door. He rubbed his eyes just to check, and as quickly as she appeared, she was gone.

Is this what a panic attack was like?

Yuffie tiptoed over to the side of Cody's head, her mouth just inches away from his ear.

"Hey."

He jumped and screamed.

Yuffie giggled cheekily while Leon could do nothing but bemoan his own presence in this room.

"Okay, you need to be psyched up, right? You think you're not up to the task and you're ready to call it quits right here and now, right?"

"I'm not doing it."

"So I get the feeling you're the nerdy type, right?"

"I'm not doing it."

"Well, you know how in some nerdy books, the main character is a boring and useless schoolkid who gets sent to a different world where he's completely out of his element?"

"I'm not doing it."

"And then in no time flat, he's like mowing down enemies like it's nothing and he's the true hero of the world and all the ladies fall over themselves for him?"

"I'm not doing it."

"What I'm saying is, this is 100% the same situation you're in!"

"I'm not…"

Wait.

It kind of was, wasn't it?

Leon gawked. That kid couldn't possibly be falling for this.

"This could be your big moment, you know!" Yuffie continued to egg him on. "All your life, you've been a complete loser and starting today, you're going to be the biggest badass possible. You're going to save the day, get the ladies, and be the best 'you' you've never even dreamed you'd be."

"Yuffie, this is the dumbest shit I've ever heard," Leon snapped.

While the two spilled into an argument over their current situation, Cody took serious consideration into Yuffie's words. Sure, she only said all that to butter him up, but he could feel some semblance of sense in them. Maybe this strange situation he found himself in was the chance encounter that he'd been waiting for his whole life. Maybe this was going to be the changing tides he'd always longed for. Maybe this was how he was going to turn into someone worth remembering.

Even if he couldn't be a popular cool kid… Even if he couldn't be the kid everyone would flock to… Even if he couldn't be the winner of a reality show… Even if he couldn't be anyone's first choice to talk to…

...Maybe he could be an unlikely hero?

Cody opened his mouth. He wasn't sure how the two would respond or if any of this was going to work out in the end, but he'd made his choice.

THUD!

Cody jumped.

"What was that?" Yuffie said as she quickly procured a small ninja star from her pockets and enacted a battle stance.

There was a commotion downstairs. Lots of muffled voices and sounds of furniture crashing, cracking, and getting thrown everywhere. Leon drew his gunblade and very carefully trudged over to the door. He gave a stern and knowing nod to the two younger occupants of the room; a sign that they had only the time between him reaching for the knob and opening it to prepare themselves for whatever would happen next. Yuffie was ready the moment she felt danger was near.

As for Cody? As usual, he and everyone else could tell he wasn't ready, but even if he wasn't he'd have to try his best to fake it.

Leon turned the doorknob and…

On cue, a small slew of Shadows broke into the room as if they'd been waiting right outside this entire time. Leon and Yuffie were quick to the draw. Cody was frozen solid, but now with the new resolve he made within himself, there was no way he would run away and hide like he did earlier. He had to harness his courage; the same courage that made him crazy enough to face Darkside on the island. The courage that cured him of his nightmares.

The trio made quick work of the small fleet that entered their meeting place. While Leon and Yuffie of course did most of the work, Cody was finding confidence in himself. If he could take these little guys on, he could take on all the worlds. Keep them coming.

And sure enough, more did come.

And more.

And more.

And...more…

Remember how he wasn't going to run away this time?

Well, screw that!

Cody dashed out like a speeding bullet. He could barely hear Leon's yells as the man tried his best to get the amateur to stay put with him and Yuffie. In the hallway, Heartless knocked down any and all furniture they could find, furthering the distance between Cody and the duo significantly.

"For fuck's sake," Leon snarled under his breath the same moment he took down another Heartless with a swing of his blade.

Right at that moment, the door from the room right beside the one Leon and company had been occupying slammed straight open. Aerith, a staff in hand, slung out a flurry of magical spells and attacks and decimated the majority of the Heartless in the vicinity.

"Leon," she turned to him. "Where is-"

"He ran off."

"What?!"

A ninja star flew right past Aerith's face and struck down a Heartless that was almost ready to get her from behind.

"Just up and ran!" Yuffie elaborated. "I couldn't believe it was even possible for someone to just go past this many Heartless without getting a single scratch on them."

Aerith grimaced before she faced back towards the room she came from. Loudred and Alakazam were psyching themselves up to join her in battle.

"Leave through the window!" She cried to them as she simultaneously fended off more approaching Heartless. "If you hurry, you might be able to get to him on your way out."

Alakazam was about to protest this order, but Loudred grabbed hold of him and tossed him out the window himself before he had a moment to open his mouth. The large purple Pokemon gave the woman a happy thumbs up before joining his friend. And unexpectedly, the white creature, who was still munching on cookies amidst the chaos, followed them.

oOo

During his botched "fight" against Leon, he recalled a point when the sullen man praised his dodging skills. Even if it was sarcasm, Cody admittedly didn't realize how right he was until this moment. Using his Keyblade to knock a nearby cabinet flat onto the ground - squashing a trio of Heartless on its way down - Cody created a path for himself amongst the thick paths of Heartless that covered every inch of the hallway. He hopped amongst their heads like rocks on a riverbank. It was a feat even the most experienced Heartless fighters would gawk at.

A small group of red doll-like mages, Red Nocturnes, quickly came approaching the boy from the air. They all shot out pellets of fireballs, causing him to panic and lose his minute focus on his hopping scheme. One Shadow was finally able to grab hold of his leg and he wailed as he tripped and tumbled down the stairs and crashed into the walls of the lobby.

Cody's mind and vision were a blur. How embarrassing that his first major injury from all this madness wasn't even from one of those creatures themselves. He furiously shook his head. There was no time to waste waiting for his senses to come back. The last thing he needed was for him to pass out again.

His vision returned to full function just in time to witness something that would haunt him for the rest of his days.

Right on top of the check-in counter, an unfortunate bellboy was surrounded at every angle by sludges of black. The heartless clawed their way onto the surface. The surrounding area was so thick with Heartless of every kind, the poor boy knew in his crying heart that he was doomed.

If only Cody fell into the lobby even a moment sooner. It was too late for the bellboy. The swarm of pure black monsters groveled onto their victim who could do nothing but scream as he tried and failed to swing them off. Soon enough, there was no longer a counter or a poor hotel worker; just an ever growing pile of darkness.

Cody was completely frozen in place. This was an image all too familiar to him. He dreamed of this scenario time and time again. All he could see was himself being devoured, like he finally witnessed one of those dreams from an outsider's perspective all the way to how he would wrangle his arms in the air, trying to grasp for the last bits of light he could see.

This was the moment he would finally see what came next.

With every last inch of the bellboy now consumed, the Heartless pushed the mass he had stood on downwards until nothing more could be seen but a puddle of Shadows pouring off of the countertop. And in their place was a new monster. One that wasn't quite as small as them or as large as Darkside. It was a Neo Shadow; a being that looked like man morphed into a crouching figure of darkness.

Of course, the Neo Shadow jumped towards Cody on sight. Cody made a high pitched yelp as he rolled off the floor. He made up his mind that defeating these things would be his big life changing goal, but even still he was hesitating. Leon and Yuffie weren't here. He ran away from them like he usually did. And he was also going to run away from this terrifying beast

Cody was out the door and ran into a near identical situation as he was in just hours ago. Was he really going to be the one to defeat all of this? He must've been completely out of his mind when he agreed to it. Yuffie was hoping he'd take her bluff and he was dumb enough to believe in her. Was this his road to becoming a hero? Or was he playing a part he was never meant to be yet again?

Cody skidded off into an open area where a large clock tower and a series of peculiar sculptures lay. Aside from his labored breaths. everything was silent. Unlike last time, he seemed to have succeeded in running all the Heartless off.

He knew this wasn't the time to just stand and rest, but after the endless conga of shocking swerves, he felt he sure did deserve one. Cody stood and peacefully took in the silence. He took a better look at the sculptures. They were all purple and resembled pieces of armor. He wasn't an artist, so he could only imagine what kind of weirdo decided it'd be cool to just litter a bunch of giant body parts into the middle of the city. He then looked up at the tower. He knew he'd been there for at least a couple of minutes now, yet the hands never once moved. Even stranger were the figures who appeared to be fighting against some Heartless on the railings of the tower itself. Cody squinted his eyes. Were those two Leon and Yuffie? What was that white thing? Who were they?

Cody couldn't hear it, but Alakazam and Loudred were squabbling amongst themselves over the white creature's company interfering with their ability to fight. The pair had made their way up there thinking it'd be easier to pick out the Keybearer from up above, but not only did Alakazam just then remembered his crippling fear of heights, this turned out to be a horrible spot to fight off Heartless. It was no wonder that the two plus one were soon punted out into the air…

...And headed straight towards Cody who was now too caught off guard to put his above average dodging skills to use.

Cody could feel the weight of the three crushing on him as he laid at the very bottom of the pile. Why did all these weirdly comical injuries always have to happen to him?

Alakazam and Loudred groaned as they slowly regained themselves. The white creature, who conveniently landed at the very tip of the tower, laughed obnoxiously. Alakazam was ready to angrily shush him, but was distracted by the tug of Loudred's arm that directed him towards something that sat flat on the ground.

"The Key!" The two exclaimed simultaneously.

Are...are these guys with Leon?

Cody's eyes shifted towards the oversized key that his arm held outstretched on the pavement. But before he could form any more thoughts, a pair of summer stilettos blocked off his view.

"Well, look who decided to show his stupid face again," a familiar queen bee grumbled as she stared down at him. "Thought you were being slick running off like a little bitch before those monsters came without telling anyone, huh? And now you've found a trio of freaks to buddy off with."

"Hi Heather," Cody rolled his eyes. She was even more irritable than earlier. He never even did anything to piss her off. Why was she giving him so much crap now?

"Hey," Loudred tumbled off the pile, managing to keep the white creature neatly on his head. "That's not a very nice thing to say."

"Yeah," Alakazam came off next. "He's the Keybearer! Show some respect."

Heather's eyebrows arched in both confusion and disgust. "Did you actually manage to trick these things into thinking you're cool?"

The white creature giggled and cheekily pointed to Heather's head. "Bald."

To say she snapped would be an understatement.

Cody would normally try to move as far away from this conflict as possible, but something distracted him. Something in the near distance. The avant garde sculptures that littered the area had begun to move. At first he thought he was just seeing things, but his eyes returned to a frightened state as he witnessed the sculptures float into the air to come together like a disassembled toy. Even Alakazam and Loudred, who were busy talking back to Heather just seconds ago, stopped to witness the moment.

"What are you freaks staring at?" Heather turned around.

Cody knew what was going to happen next. He witnessed it right at the hotel lobby. He was not going to have those images embedded into him again. He and others all closed their eyes shut, shielding themselves away from what was going to transpire right in front of them.

There was a scream. When they opened their eyes again, all that was left was the terrifying gaze of Guard Armor.

The four looked upwards at the armored Heartless. There was a similar sense of fear and dread in all of them; this was their first big fight in this mission of theirs and there was a chance they just might die right at that instant. Despite that, Alakazam, Loudred, and, consequently, the white creature, charged forwards, knowing they had to push forward even if the odds were stacked against them. Cody just stood there, gaping.

He was just an average nerd after all; not a hero.

It was clear the Pokemon had no real plan running into this fight as the duo shot out mixtures of psychic and explosive sound blasts at random pacing. Anything to knock this thing down. But even then, their attacks just barely made dents on it. It was practically a living shield after all.

The monster tossed its dismembered limbs violently into the air, damaging nearby locales with the sheer force of its swings. Cody was ready to dodge a claw that was headed his way, but was shocked to see himself glowing and floating away from the body part instead.

Alakazam stayed on the ground and used his telekinetic abilities to juggle everyone else away from the armor parts in the air. An airborne Loudred shot out Supersonic screeches towards nearby armor with the creature that lay on top of him seemingly imitating his movements, only shooting out red laser beams instead.

Seeing that its separation strategy was not proving as useful as expected, Guard Armor reassembled itself and returned to its series of frantic limb swinging.

Cody was now back on the ground. As much as he'd love to leave the fight to his clearly more battle ready acquaintances, it became clear that the disorganization was wearing them down. They had no clue how to take this thing down or if their attacks were even effective against it.

"Hey, Key Kid!" Cody's ears perked up, noticing Alakazam calling out to him. "Are you planning on helping anytime soon?!"

He was just an ordinary guy. He couldn't take down a giant monster. Did he even take down Darkside back on the island? Why couldn't he remember?

Alakazam kept calling out to Cody as the kid continued to have a mini panic attack on the battlefield. The psychic Pokemon was quickly growing frustrated. This was the guy his king told him to seek out? He was ready to give the boy a piece of his mind, but was interrupted by the force of Loudred's body smacking straight into him. This in turn sent him flying towards Cody, leading them into a similar pile as the one they found themselves in just moments ago. Even the white rabbit creature was proudly stooped on top of them once again.

Guard Armor approached the group. This was it. Things were ending before they even began. It figured. How could these outsiders ever think they had a chance at saving anything or anyone? They all braced themselves for an upcoming attack…

...Only to hear the clanging of armor as the giant was forcibly pushed away from them.

Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith had all entered the scene, shooting simultaneous attacks of flame bullets, ninja stars, and magic blasts at every inch they could hit off the Guard Armor. The giant slowly walked backwards in response and shielded its upper body with its arms.

Leon looked at the sorry pile he and the girls had walked into. "What the are you doing? Get up and fight!"

Alakazam, Loudred, and the rabbit creature, once again resting atop Loudred's head, charged right back into battle. The encouragement of the three new fighters reinvigorated them.

And of course, the unheroic normal teenager was still frozen solid.

Leon furiously grabbed ahold of Cody's shirt, lifting the kid off his feet, and bringing his meek frown just inches away from Leon's snarling face. "I knew all that enthusiasm you were showing Yuffie meant nothing, but you are more useless than I could've ever imagined. If you're going to just insist on doing fucking crap while holding the one weapon that can tear that thing apart like nothing, then at least get the hell out of here so none of us have to see that pathetic face of yours."

Leon carefully pushed Cody aside and ran into the thick of the battle.

What am I doing here? Cody thought to himself.

Leon was right. He was nothing more than a liability. Where was that drive that woke him back in the hotel when he was promised a future of heroism?

Where was the courage when he boldly ran up to Darkside back on Wawanakwa?

Where was the determination he had when he dared to take down Darkside in his dream just seconds away from a death he knew was coming?

Where was the guy who risked running around in a crazy storm of Heartless just so he could find Trent and Gwen?

…

Cody gripped the Keyblade. He was sick of all these false starts. This was it. It was time for him to act the part.

He was going to play the role of a hero even if it killed him.

Cody ran towards Guard Armor. He had no plan, and with the shocked look on everyone's face, they all could tell he had no plan. Loudred desperately cried at a paralyzed Alakazam to lift Cody upwards as he approached the monster. Guard Armor was readying its loose claws to slam into the spot right in front of it. Unless Cody went airborne, he was done for.

Alakazam did just that. Once again, Cody was glowing and floating around in the air. His one plan of action was to attack. Make any kind of attack. It didn't matter how, what, or where. And thus that one attack landed on Guard Armor's head.

Guard Armor stumbled backwards wildly. No one could believe it. Cody's dumbass move found them a weakness.

The entire tone of the battle shifted dramatically. The group was no longer attacking wildly and randomly. Each move was making their way towards Guard Armor's head. The Heartless's attacks were growing less and less in frequency as it shifted itself into an defensive position.

Loudred saw Cody charge towards the Guard Armor once again. He grinned, knowing exactly just what to do. Once again, he called out to Alakazam to do his thing and once again, Alakazam telekinetically lifted Cody up into the air.

And once again, Cody struck its head, knocking it down for good.

The armor pieces that were once floating around with life suddenly halted into stillness before toppling on to the ground like hollowed out metal. Before even clattering to a halt, the pieces dissipated into the air like sand sculptures wearing away from the wind. And with that, Guard Armor was no more.

…

…

"...I beat it," Cody breathed and dropped onto the ground just like the Heartless had. He pumped his fist into the air. "I actually beat it!"

Yuffie laughed as she joined him. "We weakened it way before you did."

"Yeah, but I found the weakness!"

Aerith extended her hand down to Cody. "Hey, you're Cody, right?" She smiled. "I'm Aerith. Sorry you got stuck with Grumpy Pants over here to guide you around."

Cody grinned in response as he took her hand and lifted himself back up. "Eh, it's all good. Turns out, 'Grumpy Pants's grumpiness was just what I needed."

Leon harrumphed, leading the rest of the group into a laughing mess as they released all the stress their battle had given them.

Only one last thing to do. Cody turned towards the non-humans of the group.

"And you guys are…?"

"Alakazam," the psychic type nodded.

"And I'm Loudred," the normal type chuckled. "So you're Cody."

Cody was taken aback by Loudred's unexpected volume and shielded his ears ever so slightly. "Yeah… Hey, back when we...ran into each other… It sounded like you guys were looking for this." He motioned towards the Keyblade. "Why?"

"Oh that. Well, we-"

"We're looking for our king," Alakazam interrupted Loudred's answer, shifting the moment into a more stern and serious tone.

"Your...king?"

"Yes, he sent us on a mission to retrieve the key. You're here now, so now we have to go look for him."

"Look for him...where?"

"We're searching through all the worlds of course!" Loudred finished.

Cody blinked. Oh right. This wasn't just any city he was in. This was a completely different world from the Earth he called home for the past 15 years of his life. And beyond here, there were countless, no, limitless number of worlds out there that were filled with places and inhabitants he never once imagined would ever exist. All these worlds out there and these two were planning on searching through all of them for their king?

Cody thought back to what Tidus had said when he first arrived here. This may have been the world where those who are lost gather, but there's still the off chance someone could have landed somewhere else.

There was a chance Gwen and Trent were out there.

"Go with them," Leon spoke from behind. "We don't even know where to begin to fix this mess we're all in. The best thing you can do now is help these two."

"...I'll go on one condition.

"These two...friends of mine. They're missing. If I go searching for your king, we go searching for them too."

Alakazam blinked. This wasn't part of the plan at all. Searching for others? That's a major mission diversion! He was about to talk back, but his mouth was clamped shut by his partner's enormous hand.

"Sure thing!" Loudred happily replied.

"Oh, before I forget!" Aerith chimed in.

On that cue, the white creature that had inadvertently joined in on their battle leapt from behind and neatly into her lap.

"This is Mokona! His master's magic is the one thing singlehandedly allowing everyone in this world to break past the language barrier, and he can do the same for you too. Plus he makes for a good luggage case too! Completely multi-purpose. He should be helpful for your journey."

"I'm Mokona!" He happily chirped with a childish salute.

Cody stopped to think. So much had happened in so little time. He knew earlier at the hotel he was getting into something he wouldn't be able to turn back from, but right here at this moment, everything felt like it had finally pieced themselves together.

A castle outsider…

A lowly bard…

An indescribable creature…

And an awkward teenager who was never meant to be a hero…

...This was the start of their journey.

Cody grinned. "Alright! Let's get this party started."

oOo

She couldn't believe this.

Heather gingerly touched her head. After all this time spent slowly getting used to the ridicule her peers had thrown onto her…

Her hair was back.

"You weren't kidding," she gasped. "You're seriously a witch. A real deal witch."

"Yes," a sly and mysteriously sultry voice replied.

A woman with horns of the devil appeared before the girl. Her skin was a faint pale green, and her eyes were somehow even paler, giving her the illusion of a ghostly vision contrasting within the darkness of her phantomonic cloak that hid all traces of her shape. She was the embodiment of the monster that haunted the dreams of children from birth to adolescense. She was the shadow that loomed in the corner of the room at night time that you would convince yourself was just a figment of your imagination. She was the disturbing image that would be the last thing you witnessed in your slumber before waking up with an aching and pounding chest.

She was the demonic witch, Maleficent.

"Now about my proposal," Maleficent had smiled this entire time, yet even Heather could tell those smiles were nothing but hollow masks underneath. "I was shocked when I saw that you were able to avoid losing yourself to that Heartless when you yourself have long ago given away your heart to the dark."

Heather winced. She thought back to her last moments in Traverse Town. She swore that thing was ready to kill her. Yet when it was right in front of her, it stood its ground. Before she knew it, was transported to this strange castle, no doubt because Maleficent found her interesting enough to pluck from the stage.

"Furthermore, the Keybearer," the witch continued. "It seems you know him. You see, he possesses a key that I will need to retrieve for my plans. It would be useful having someone who has better knowledge on how to crush that boy best."

I don't know him that well, Heather thought. She didn't want to admit it, but she was too scared to say it out loud. Who knew what this witch would do to her if she realized her captive wasn't quite as useful as she'd predicted.

Maleficent held out her long bony hand. "If you choose to become my apprentice, you'll gain power beyond any realm of your comprehension. You'll conquer worlds and rule over all light."

"And if I say no?"

Maleficent provided no answer. She just continued waving around that fake empty smile.

This was too insane, even for her. All her life, she'd filled her life with bitterness. She was more than aware of the true nature of the world. The heroes that existed in all those stories did not exist in real life. Reality was where the ones smart enough to manipulate others thrived. That was how she had survived this whole time. But that was just school and a grounded social life. In front of her was a witch, a real witch. She wouldn't just be torturing a nerdy kid out of his self esteem like she normally would; she would be destroying him.

She wasn't actually going to go that far, was she?

Heather gazed at Maleficent's face again. Her smile remained. She was the face of pure evil; something way beyond anything Heather would've ever dared to become back at home.

...

Heather copied Maleficent's smile to the tee and took her hand.

Maleficent had thus gained another ally in her conquest for all the worlds.

Heather; A teenage queen bee who was willing to do anything and everything to get what she wanted.

Tabuu; A unworldly humanoid fiend that spoke no words and gave no pity.

Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik; A mad scientist who could turn even the most useless scraps of junk into vicious mechanical foes.

Medusa; Another witch with a serpentine glare that perfectly matched her sadistic glee and lack of empathy.

Reala; A literal being of nightmares that took the form of a killer jester.

And finally, Maleficent's other young witch apprentice. She had a gloomy demeanor which contrasted against her cutesy dollike figure. She had an outfit of blaring bright red colors as if she were merely roleplaying the role of a villain. She had a pair of long tangled black locks that stretched down to nearly the length of her entire demure body. She was a force to be reckoned with despite her size and stature. She had joined this group with little hesitation and had already been proven to be the most loyal asset. She was a teenage witch here for power and nothing else.

Her name was Ashley.

oOo

Where was he?

Trent frantically examined his surroundings. Rather than the musty island he'd called a temporary home for the past few months, he was in an eerily fantastical setting with floating boulders and walls of waterfalls. A sinister castle loomed in the distance.

There was no one else here.

Just him.

It was ironic. All his life, he never once felt a true human connection. He was always surrounded by others but would rather be alone where he wouldn't have to deal with their mundane beings. Yet here he was, terrified at the thought that he landed in this strange new world all on his own.

His first instinct was to call out to his girlfriend, Gwen. She was the one person in the world that mattered. She had to be here. Gwen had to be here. He wasn't sure what he was going to do without her.

He called out her name over and over again to no avail. He knew he was here alone. He knew Gwen wasn't with him, yet he kept grasping on to that one glimmer of hope that she was.

"Gwen!" He kept crying out. It was useless. He knew it was.

Gwen…

Gwen…

Gwen…

...And at one point, he tried a different approach and called out for Cody instead.