Traverse Town
Strangely enough there were no opposing ships that got in there way before they landed on Traverse Town. They ran around the 1st District and there was noone. They even entered Cid's accessory shop and Huey, Louie, and Dewey's item shop, but everything was desserted.
"Let's check the 2nd District" mentioned Donald.
When they got to the door, it was locked. Sora summoned his keyblade- a blade that looks like a yellow key- and tried opening the door with it, but it was too big for the small keyhole.
"How about we break it as a trinity?" suggested Goofy. Everyone agreed and Sora slammed against the door with his body, then Donald slammed on Sora, and then Goofy. With their strengths combined, they successfully barged open the door.
"Nobody, not even a Heartless" gasped Donald
"Don't stop searching"
Sora looked over his shoulder to find a running silhouette.
"Hey wait!" he yelled.
They followed the silhouette to a dead end path. Standing on the last end was a man wearing a dark green hood holding a bow and arrow against them, though, he had a sword with him as well. Sora held his keyblade ready to fight in case the man was an enemy. Donald asked to put it down to ensure the man that they were friends
"Who are you?" asked the man
"That's what we were gonna ask you" said Sora "Look, we're not gonna hurt you, we're just looking for someone... or more accurately a few people"
"State your name!"
"I'm Sora, this is Donald, and this is Goofy"
the man blasted off an arrow which hit the wall behind them.
"You missed" claimed Donald
"I don't miss, unless I intend to shoot what's behind you" the man loaded another arrow onto his bow "How do I know you don't work for Thanos?"
"Who's Thanos?" asked Goofy
"You can trust us!" said Sora
"We're here because our friends disappeared into ashes" explained Donald. The man thought about what they said for a few seconds before putting down his weapon.
"I see that I have no choice, given that we're the only ones here. My name is Ronin, my family disappeared the way you claim your friends did"
"That's not your real name, is it?" asked Goofy
"Why do you ask?"
"That's a japanese term which means a masterless samurai a-hyuck. I mean gawrsh, just look at that sword"
"Your friend is smarter than he looks"
"What's your real name, then?"
"My real name, I can't give you yet. I'll help you find your friends"
Sora, Donald, and Goofy continued their search, but this time with a help from Ronin who casually parkoured his way around Traverse Town from rooftop to rooftop.
"How did you know that, Goofy?" asked Donald
"I have hobbies"
They searched everywhere in the 2nd district even the smallest spots. Even the hidden waterway. Never did Sora think that in his adventure he would be doing something boring. Not even the dalmations were in their home. Ensuring that nobody was really there, they decided to search the 3rd district. The door was locked as well. Ronin, however, jumped across the roofs to open it from the other side. The 3rd district was as empty as the others.
"Do guys think it was none other than Organization XIII?" Sora broke the silence as they walked around "Since there are no Heartless, and there are no Nobodies..."
"Pinning the blame on the Organization already?" interrupted a familiar voice. The party turned around to see a familiar black hooded man with spikey red hair.
"Axel!" gasped Sora before summoning his keyblade. Axel summoned his circular-bladed frisbees called Chakrams. The two were ready to fight when Ronin drew out his samurai sword and Donald and Goofy drew out their staff and shield
"Friend of yours, Sora?" he asked
"I helped you fight a bunch of Nobodies just so you could get to the World that Never Was" said Axel "And this is how you repay me?"
"Right, I guess I owe you something. How are you alive?"
"Not important. Fight me and we'll make it even"
"What?"
"Just you and me, I wanna see how strong you got since we last fought. Defeat me with no interruption from your friends, and no forms, and I'll show you where it all happened. Got it memorized?"
"F- fine!"
Without warning, Axel surrounded their area in flames so that Donald, Goofy, and Ronin could not interfere.
Axel moved first by throwing his chakrams against Sora, who successfully dodged by rolling away. Sora striked with his keyblade rapidly at Axel.
"I can see you've gotten quicker" said Axel before swinging his left chakram and hitting Sora.
"I'm amazed that, even though your chakrams are sharp, they don't make me bleed"
"Your keyblade doesn't even look like a blade"
Sora strikes with his keyblade but Axel successfully dodged away and swung at Sora's back. They clashed, and clashed, dodged and striked quickly. And with a few more hits, Axel was defeated.
"I have underestimated you, keyblade master" groaned Axel, on the floor, releasing the flames which surrounded them before.
Donald, Goofy, and Ronin all ran up to Sora, who was injured but still standing. Donald quicly used his staff to cure all of Sora's wounds.
"Now you have no choice" said Ronin to Axel "Show us where it happened"
"I will show you where it happened, but not how" said Axel before bringing up a dark smoking portal to take them to a place called Castle Oblivion.