Chapter 1 Disney Castle

JIMINY CRICKET GAZED AT HIS PAIR OF JOURNALS AND reflected on his two long adventures in one of the many rooms of Disney Castle, the world under King Mickey’s rule. The king, Donald Duck, and Goofy were resting after their journeys, spending their time with Queen Minnie, Daisy Duck, and Pluto.

Jiminy had accompanied them in these quests to save the world twice—once to stop the darkness from spreading, and the other to put all the lost hearts where they belonged. Though both journeys had been difficult, Jiminy hadn’t actually done any of the fighting. His role was as a recordkeeper.

After all was said and done, these records of their travels were all he had to show for his efforts. As he flipped through the volumes, Jiminy thought about the boy and his friends who had done the real adventuring.

But the pages of the first journal were all still blank—except for a single line:

Thank Naminé.

Well, maybe it was because those were the only words the book was meant to hold.

As Jiminy flipped through the blank pages, his heart stirred with emotion. He could vividly see in his mind’s eye everything that had happened to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. It brought a smile to his face.

That was when it happened. Jiminy’s breath caught in his throat as he discovered more text on one page of his supposedly blank journal:

Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it.

He had never seen this passage before—yet he had no memory of writing it.

Jiminy snapped the journal shut and rushed out of the room, hurrying down the corridor to the study of the king—Mickey.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

Jiminy burst through the small door nested in the corner of the larger one, too worked up to even knock, and sprang onto the desk of a slightly perplexed Mickey.

“Whoa, what’s the matter, Jiminy?”

“It’s the journal! There’s a message I’ve never seen before!” He held the tiny book out before Mickey.

“A mysterious message?”

“Uh-huh. I certainly didn’t write it. And you know I never once let the journal out of my sight.”

Mickey peered closely at Jiminy’s journal. Since Jiminy was a great deal smaller than him, the journal was positively miniscule.

“I don’t know when anybody woulda had a chance to…”

Jiminy tilted his head to one side, while Mickey folded his arms.

“‘Their hurting will be mended’? Gosh, Jiminy. Sounds like somebody needs help and doesn’t know what to do. Let’s get to the bottom of this.”

“Of course, but how?” Jiminy asked uneasily as he looked up at Mickey. “All the other pages are completely blank.”

“Sure, the words you wrote are gone, but that doesn’t mean the journal is empty.”

Mickey nodded with a smile and stood.

A few hours later, two small figures were busily scurrying about in the king’s study—the chipmunk brothers, Chip and Dale. The pair were setting up some sort of large machine, with an enormous monitor and keyboard attached to it.

Donald and Goofy watched them curiously.

“Do you know what they’re up to?” Donald asked.

“Nope.” Goofy shrugged, equally baffled.

“They’re gonna extract the memories from my journal.”

“Huh?” Donald tilted his head at Jiminy’s explanation.

“You see, the journal should still contain the memories of the worlds I wrote about when we visited.”

“But wasn’t it all erased?” Also confused, Goofy tilted his head even farther to the side than Donald had.

“Well, sure, the words disappeared, but the memories should still be there, at least according to my theory. If we convert the journal to data and analyze it, maybe we can find some clues,” Mickey explained earnestly as he watched Chip and Dale hard at work.

The explanation did nothing to help Donald and Goofy.

“Your Majesty! Everything’s ready!”

“Your Majesty! What Chipper said!” Chip and then Dale shouted toward Mickey.

The king gave a nod, and Chip pressed a button on the machine.

Inside the device’s capsule, a beam of light shone onto Jiminy’s journal as the book appeared on the monitor.

Eventually, a flood of images leaped out from the book, all from the places they’d visited during their previous travels. It seemed that memories really did remain within the journal.

The data extraction appeared to be going smoothly, until a large number of strange blocks appeared on the monitor. Red geometrical patterns raced along the surface of black cubes, glowing with an eerie light. The images started to disappear behind all the black and red.

“Hey, what’s goin’ on?” Dale seemed confused, but not particularly concerned.

“Jiminy’s journal—I think it’s gone completely nuts!” Chip crossed his arms with a worried look.

“Nuts? Where?”

“That’s not what I mean!” Chip scolded his easygoing brother, then began hammering away at the keyboard attached to the device. But the monitor was already filled with blocks.

“I don’t know what’s causing it exactly, but there’s something wrong with the worlds inside the journal. And we can’t analyze that message for you, either!” Dale said.

Mickey sighed. “Hmm, isn’t there something else we can try?”

Gazing up at the monitor, Goofy muttered a suggestion. “Gawrsh, maybe if we could get in there somehow and fix the data, we could figure out what’s wrong.”

Chip smiled as the lightbulb went off above his head. “Hey, that’s it!” he exclaimed. Everyone turned to look at him. “We could look for somebody already in the journal and ask them to explore the worlds and repair the data. That’s a great idea, Goofy!”

“Somebody to explore the data from the inside…” Jiminy crossed his arms in thought at Chip’s proposal.

Then, Mickey got to his feet as his own idea occurred to him. “And I think we know just the guy to do it! Am I right, fellas?”

There was only person they could think of to call for this:

“Sora!” Donald hopped up and shouted.

“But how…?” Goofy wondered.

“Everything will be fine. Right, Sora?”

Mickey smiled at the monitor.

Sora was sinking into the depths of a deep, deep sea—a sea of data. This record of the boy within the journal both was and was not Sora—a Data-Sora. Still, Sora was Sora in any form.

He opened his eyes.

Can you hear me?

Now, step forward. Can you do it?

He didn’t know where the voice was coming from, but Sora stepped forward as he was told.

Power sleeps within you. If you give it form—it will give you strength.

He had heard these words before—back in some other time, in some other place. This was the beginning of his journey.

It was time to depart; his adventure was about to unfold.

“We’re in business! That takes care of rewriting Sora.” Dale cried. Sora’s form was displayed clearly within the monitor.

“Rewriting?” Goofy inclined his head, bemused.

“Yep! We rigged it so he can use the Keyblade already. Now he can help us un-glitch all the journal data!” Chip explained.

“This data is a new Sora?”

Goofy tilted his head so far he was starting to lean over. Who was this Sora within the data?

“It means it’s a Sora based on everything Jiminy wrote down.”

“Are you saying he’s not the same Sora we met on our journey before?” This time, Donald was the one with questions.

“Your journey with the real Sora was all recorded into data. So he is the Sora from before, just another version,” Mickey replied with a smile, but Donald and Goofy still seemed slightly lost.

“An’ since he’s still Sora, he can help us restore all the worlds to the way they’re supposed to be.”

As Chip paused in his work for a moment, an alarm sounded from the monitor, and the image distorted.

“Is something wrong?” Mickey asked with concern.

“Could be something gumming up the system.”

“Wait here. We’ll hop next door and have a look. Be right back!”

Chip and Dale nodded to each other and then dashed from the study. After a moment, the alarm shut off, and Sora could be seen standing in the monitor exactly like before.

“Well, I guess Chip and Dale figured the problem out,” said Jiminy with a sigh of relief.

As a sudden question occurred to him, Goofy turned to Mickey. “So, uh, Your Majesty… What is it we’re doing, exactly?”

“Oh! Somebody wrote a strange message in Jiminy’s journal. And the only way to find out who is by analyzing the book,” Mickey answered.

“What does the message say?” Now Donald was the one with questions.

“‘Their hurting will be mended when you—’”

Before Mickey could finish, Jiminy hopped up on Mickey’s shoulder and pointed at the screen, interrupting him. “Curious…”

“What is it?” Mickey looked at the screen, too.

“Hey! Look at the monitor! What’s he doing there?!” Donald cried out as he spotted the unexpected figure.

Someone wearing a black coat stood behind Sora.

“Gawrsh, I thought Sora said he was alone in that dream,” Goofy commented, equally concerned about the suspicious newcomer.

That person standing there—who were they?

Sora glared angrily at the figure in black. This place was inside the data—or, in a manner of speaking, inside Sora’s dreams, but Sora himself didn’t know that.

“Who…are you?”

The mysterious individual didn’t respond to his question but instead began to walk off, following the path that materialized before them.

Listen! Can you hear me? You have to go after him!

As that somehow familiar voice called to him again, Sora took off. The path took him to a light-filled platform, rising up from the gloom just like the first. No one else was there. When Sora tried to continue the chase, two Heartless—Shadows—appeared before him.

Watch out! Heartless! Use your powers!

“Use my what?”

As Sora inclined his head in confusion, a key-shaped sword—a Keyblade—flashed into his hand.

“How did…?”

You’ve gained the power to fight. And this is your power to survive. There will be times you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong.

Sora could feel the strength welling up within him at those words. He readied his Keyblade and then charged toward the Shadows. Sora swung his Keyblade, and when it struck his foes they vanished in a burst of light. At the same time, a large door appeared in front of him.

Now, open the door. Hold out the Keyblade.

As the voice advised, Sora extended his Keyblade toward the door. A beam of light shot from the point, and the door seemed to swallow the light as it opened.

Now, get moving!

Sora nodded at the voice, then plunged through. For a moment he was blinded, until he realized he was back home on the islands—the Destiny Islands.

“Huh? How’d I get back here?” he mumbled.

Though slightly relieved by the familiar sights and sounds, Sora was a little disappointed. Then he heard the voice once more.

Sora.

“Who’s talking to me?” Sora responded, glancing around. He still couldn’t find the owner of the voice. It was like the sound was coming from overhead—no, inside his head.

Sora, are you okay?

“How do you know my name? Have we met?” Sora replied with a question of his own.

Gee, well, sort of. I’m Mickey. Let’s just say I know you, Sora, and Sora knows me. We’re good friends.

Not quite sure of what this person calling himself Mickey was getting at, Sora folded his arms and fell into thought.

We’ve never met, but I know who Mickey is, and we’re friends? That doesn’t make much sense. You couldn’t be friends with someone if you’d never met them before, right? Sora decided to voice his feelings directly. “That…doesn’t make any sense.”

He heard a small chuckle in response.

You see, I’m from another world and— Gosh, it’s a long story. There’s this mystery me and my friends are tryin’ to solve. But we can’t get to your world, so we were hopin’ you’d lend a hand.

“I have to solve a mystery?” Sora mulled over the situation. Now he was even more confused.

For starters, this whole thing about different worlds puzzled him. And the reason Mickey can’t get here, even though he can talk to me, is because…uh…

Well, we’re searchin’ for an answer somewhere in that world you’re in. And you’re the only one who can find it.

“Hmm, I don’t know what’s going on, but are you saying you want me to explore the island?”

Yeah, that’s it exactly! And if there’s anything you need, I’ll be right here.

“Great!”

Okay, so the first things we’re looking for are “glitches.” Anything out of the ordinary.

Sora shrugged. He had thought this place was as boring as ever when he arrived only a moment ago, but now he could see something had changed, and it was plain as day.

The island was littered with what appeared to be strange red-and-black blocks—he had never seen anything like them before.

“Well, that’s easy. These blocks! How’d they get on the island?”

Sora gave the block next to him a good chop with his Keyblade, and it vanished without a trace. Maybe he would learn something if he continued to get rid of them.

Perfect! That’s part of our mystery.

“All right, then. I’ll try asking around!” Sora replied. He spotted Selphie a ways up the beach and ran over to her.

As the boy went, Mickey spoke to him, full of hope:

Thanks! And remember, Sora. We might be worlds apart, but just say the word and I’ll do my best to guide you. No matter what happens, I’m always with you in spirit.