Chapter One

Swinging her schoolbag in her left hand, and a "pick me up" bar of sea salt ice cream in her right, Kairi was in the midst of her daily walk home. She did this yesterday, and the day before, and the day before, and would likely do this tomorrow, and next week, and the week after that.

Her daily life had frustratingly returned to its monotonous routine the moment Destiny Islands returned from the deepest pits of the Darkness. Except where she could pass the time with Riku and Sora, she now found herself alone without her two best friends. They were off with pressing matters. She was home alone, in a place that felt less and less like home each passing day. She should be busy across the stars, saving worlds, releasing captive hearts and keeping evil at bay. Not taking classes and wondering what Sora and Riku were up to, hogging the adventure they all promised to have together, only for themselves.

She didn't feel like this until very recently, forgetting then remembering Sora. It relieved her that she could recall on what the huge gap in her memory was, but then it quickly frustrated her. Her mood improved at the thought of her friends being okay, but it made her anxious when she realized the daunting task placed on his shoulders, and her inability to assist him. The same went for Riku, with his pathway to Kairi taking him in Darkness.

Neither of them came to see her or the island, despite having vessels that reduced interplanetary travel to a mere whim. Neither of them bothered to contact her. And there was just nothing she could do about it but go to class and wait for adventure to find her.

She turned the corner on Moonlit Alley to walk two more blocks to her residence on Lakeshore Drive. She dropped her finished popsickle stick in the rubbish bin on the corner, and continued her stride. Instead of meeting an empty brick pathway, she was met with a tall six foot figure of a man. Staring at her, wearing midnight blue robes, with a wizards hat adorned with gold star and moon symbols. His gray beard dominated his front, his lack of wrinkles gave the impression that his face never cracked a smile, or any discernible emotion.

One thing was for sure, he wasn't from around here.

Luckily, he picked up on that in his tone, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible. "Excuse me, are you the Princess of Heart, Kairi?"

Each time Kairi heart the term "princess of heart" she found that she was never fond as to what happened afterwards. "Yes." She began to shift her feet to move backwards in case. She could throw her bag at him to make a temporary distraction, and then sprint in the opposite direction.

He noticed Kairi stir. As expected, he was a weird man from a different world. Also she was desirable, not only for her heart, but her connection to Sora and Riku put her in a constant state of peril.

"Do not fret, please. I am Master Yen Sid. I am a Sorcerer from another world. I taught King Mickey everything he knows, and I recently met Sora."

"And… what do you want with me?" she asked, with a little more fear in her voice than she would have liked.

"There is a world that is about to be consumed by the heartless, an important world I have been keeping my eyes on for a long time. Many lives are in peril." His deep voice explained.

"Why can't Sora get to it? He's the one out there having all the fun." She winced at her last statement. She didn't mean for that to come across… so enraged. But in fairness, she lacked an outlet for her anger.

"Sora, the Keyblade Warrior is…" Yen Sid trailed off.

Donald Duck stood tapping his right foot, his eyes scanning a sheet of parchment. "I'm telling you, we need to go that way!" The pale duck pointed in seemingly an arbitrary direction, across a large plain of tall grass as far as the eye could see.

Sora snatched the map. "Give me that! I think we need to go back and make a left."

Goofy leaned over Sora's shoulder. "Which way is left?"

"East!" Donald screamed.

Sora scoffs, "No, Goofy means west, because we're going North."

Goofy scratched his head. "Oh? I thought we were walking to the uh…. South."

"Why would the King go South?" Donald asked.

"No, the King seems like a 'go North' kind of guy to me." Sora replied, eyeing the map. "I think we should keep looking for Riku instead."

Donald took the map. "Riku is in the dark realm! King Mickey wouldn't be in that place for long at all!"

"Why would he escape and not Riku!?" Sora protested.

"Gawsh. We must be lost." Goofy sighed.

Yen Sid sighed heavily. "Sora is a bit... lost at the moment." Yen Sid finished.

Sora was never good at reading maps. Or… anything requiring a significant amount of brain power. "Well… King Mickey's unavailable too?" she said, remembering their brief encounter.

King Mickey entered a large underground mine. It's brown hard walls had a diamond in it every few feet, and in front of him by several yards were at least seven dwarves, dwarves singing songs, each swinging a pickax to the tune.

He scratched his head, confused. What part about this type of manual labor made you want to sing? Certainly it didn't seem like forced labor... "Excuse me fellas, can you tell me-"

Their song ceased immediately, and one of the screamed out. "DIAMOND THIEF!"

And before the King could blink, each of the dwarves had run and hidden deeper into the mine, or rolled away on mine carts.

"Awh Gosh. I'm lost."

"The King is also… a bit lost."

Kairi had to finish covering her bases. "And of Riku?"

"Erm…"

Riku walked through the dark forest once more, thick vines he had to avoid tripping over, a marshy mess of ground he found impossible to gain stable footing on. The stifling heat. The swarming mosquito. And the constant smell of gorillas.

He arrived at a lagoon, one where Hippopotamus lay. Their big bodies submerged in the murky water, the only part of their bodies exposed above the water was their large flat backs. He would have to… leap on their backs to continue moving forward?

Riku was fed up. "Where the hell am I!?" he screamed.

"He is… lost as well." Yen Sid replied.

Kairi raised an eyebrow. If he was an impostor or someone that wanted to take advantage of her being a Princess of Heart, he'd have done that earlier. Furthermore, if he truly wanted to deceive her, he would have come up with a much better lie than all three holders of the Keyblade being lost at the exact same time.

"Then… what do you need of me?" she asked.

"You also have a power of wielding the Keyblade. It goes unnoticed with you being Princess of Heart. As you can imagine, being a Princess, the risk of you being on the front lines of the battlefield against the darkness is too great of a risk."

"So you want me to fight the Heartless? Kairi asked.

Yen Sid shook his head. "Not exactly. You are not an experienced fighter, I will not rudely ask so much of you. But rather, simply seal the Keyhole. The residents of the world will fight the darkness."

Kairi almost leapt right through his arms. She so badly wanted to make that jump. To finally contribute. To finally take the role of hero, instead of a plot device. To take control of her own fate in the cosmic war between the Light and the Darkness. She extended her arm, and she opened her heart. She had no idea why, it just felt like something she should do, as if something inside her was calling out.

Whatever she was calling for, it answered. With a bright flash of light, her right hand grasped the hilt of a Keyblade.

"Oh my!" she stared at it, eyeing it up and down. The handle of her blade was a deep pink, the ring surrounding it was a vibrant green. The shaft of her blade was a deep black, with a yellow mark appearing to be a vine on its side. A single rose was where the handle and shaft connected.

"Rumbling Rose." Yen Sid nodded. "Yes yes. It certainty fits."

Having her very own Keyblade was all the confirmation Kairi needed. "I'm ready, Master Yen Sid!" she readied for battle.

"Very well then." He said, and walked towards her. "We shall set off at once!"

A high pitched female voice hit Kairi's ears. "Hold on, just a minute!"

As she looked around for the source, she was then met with three different, fluttering and flying… old ladies. They each appeared from the sky, and made circles around Kairi, as if they were surveying her.

"Oh no no no. You can't go yet." The tallest one said, draped in red robes.

"Those clothes just wont do." The plump one said, dressed in blue robes.

"No Keyblade master is going to wear those anywhere." The green one criticized.

Kairi looked at them confused. I mean… maybe she couldn't fight in a white blouse and a plaid mini skirt. But her school clothes didn't look bad at all! "Excuse me, who are-"

"Never mind that dear, these clothes must go." The red one replied.

"Quick fast and in a hurry." The blue one agreed.

"Then it's settled. All together now dears!" the blue one said.

They each stopped their circular flight path around Kairi, and stood in front of her in a single file line. They each pointed their wands at her, and with a flick, a jet of light hit Kairi.

With another blinding flash of light, she underwent another change, though not quite as monumental as the first. The school robes had been exchanged for another set of clothes. She donned a simple, peach colored dress that stretched from the top of her breasts, to the mid of her thigh. Each of her curves were hugged tightly, the material both flexible to accommodate her range of motion, and sturdy enough to protect her most vital areas. She spun her body around, savoring the look, the wind played with her beautiful red locks. The fairies swooned in response.

How a sun dress was supposed to help her in combat… she would never know. It was cute though.

Yen Sid brushed off the distraction.

"Yes, yes ladies she looks ravishing." He pushed the fairies to the side as they showered each other with praise. "We must be going. We don't want to be out at night on this world. Plus-" he checked his watch. "We have a ride to catch."

Kairi nodded. She found herself unable to resist a smile as Yen Sid placed his hand on her shoulder, and within a second, a large *Crack* filled the air. The uncomfortable sensation of being pulled from behind her navel made her queasy. The colors of the world appeared to melt way, and then warp and contort, forming a beautiful rainbow one second, and a sickly, ugly mix of gray another.

Three seconds felt like forty seconds, and Kairi found herself in the middle of a road. Her eyes adjusted from the soft orange of her sky of her home to the bright overhead sun, covering the semi-arid, dust bowl she found herself in. Behind her she noticed the road twist and turn, heading down in elevation, leading to a sandy beach, with a bridge connecting a roofed structure to the shore. She wondered what that was...

But if this beach, and this desert were all that this world consisted of, then wouldn't this journey would be rather boring?

"Excuse me, Mr. Yen Sid?"

"Yen Sid is fine." he replied.

"Didn't you said we had a… ride to catch?" Kairi asked.

"Oh, worry not."

/screech

The sound of screeching tires, and the smell of burnt rubber filled Kairi's nose as her skin was mere inches from a speeding black vehicle. If it had stopped any later she'd have been flattened! Yen Sid couldn't have put them on the banks of the road!?

One male stepped from the car, his smooth voice somehow putting Kairi at ease. "Well, I daresay Noct needs a break driving."

"Thanks, Loverboy. Can't go an hour without almost killing someone." This voice was more rugged, deeper.

"Whatever, my driving isn't bad. Sorry I can't control people standing literally in the road. We're fine."

A blonde one half hung out of the backseat. "Speak for yourself! I almost dropped my camera!"

Kairi looked at the four males, and finally to Yen Sid, who she sensed smiled for the first time in a long time.

"Right on time."

Thank you all for reading.

This fic is something I'm just writing for some fun. I'm working on two full length novels, one of which focuses on multiple characters talking in many of the scenes, so to help practice I figured the Chocobros could help me out. One of them focuses on a Female Lead with a group who she is unfamiliar with, all of whom are friends already, so I borrowed Kairi. This mini series felt too good to just sit on my hard drive collecting virtual dust, so I decided to make my Fanfiction account un-retire, haha.

Also, I hated Kairi's pink Keyblade in KH2, which is why I retconned it. She seems more of a Rumbling Rose girl anyways, haha. Besides, it's fanfic, nobody cares, lol.

Again, this is for fun and practice. As such it focuses mostly on the smaller nuances of my writing, such as voice, dialogue mechanics, flow and pacing. Forgive any spelling mistakes. Let me know if any of these things strike you as particularly good or bad. I hope to see you in the next one!