Guided by a voice calling out to him, Sora awoke in a mysterious old mansion. He must have been sleeping there for a long time, but he couldn't remember a thing.
Stepping outside, he found the town strangely familiar, even though he had never been there before.
Sora was wandering around Twilight Town as puzzled as ever when he met Hayner, Pence, and Olette in the back alley. They said they'd seen someone at the station who was looking for Sora nd this friends. From the sounds of thing, it must be the King.
Sora and his friends hurried to the station, but suddenly found themselves surrounded by swarms of foes. The black-clad warrior who rescued them form their predicament. was none other than the King himself! There was little time to celebrate their reunion. "You gotta board the train and leave town!" said the King, who gave Sora a pouch of munny before disappearing. But if the King had been locked away in the realm of darkness and was safe and sound, that meant Riku must be, too. Sora made up his mind to search for Riku: "He and I can go back to the islands together. Kairi's there waiting for us!" Donald and Goofy agreed to come along too, of course.
It was time for them to set out on their next journey. Just like the King said, they had to take a train out of town; they said good-bye to Hayner, and the others, who had come the the station to see them off.
It was a tearful farewell, even though Sora had only just met the three friends...Still feeling strangely sad, they rode the train to the baeas of a lonely tower.
Donald and Goofy knew the fellow at the tower entrance—Pete, who was never up to any good. The King had banished him to another dimension, but the sorceress Maleficent freed Pete, who served her now. He was gathering an army of Heartless and had his eye on making a Heartless out of the King's teacher, Master Yen Sid.
The tower was overflowing with Heartless. Master Yen Sid was waiting for Sora and his friends when they finally made their way to the top: "Chosen wielder of the Keyblade! You are the key that will open the door to light."
According to Yen Sid, the light was under a new threat from the enemies called "Nobodies." These were the empty shells left behind when someone with a strong heart became a Heartless, ye they had purpose and will they could act on. A group called Organization XIII was controlling these Nobodies, although their goals are still unknown. The King is on a journey to discover what exactly Organization XIII is trying to accomplish, and if they find the King, they'll likely know where Riku is, too.
Sora decided to go out in search of the King, but needed to change out of his too-small outfit first.
The three good fairies gave Sora enchanted garments in preparation for his journey.
All that was left was to set sail in the Gummi ship Master Yen Sid had prepared. If they opened gates as indicated by the beam of light streaming from the Keyblade, new paths should appear one after the other, connecting the worlds once more. Yes, everything is connected, even heartless that are far apart and out of reach. A new adventure awaits!
They arrived in Twilight Town again to find Vivi desperately searching for help.
Sora and friends ran to the sandlot and defeated the Nobodies who were threatening Seifer and his gang. Saïx, a member of Organization XIII, appeared to give the group a warning. It seems Axel had done AWOL and was aiming to turn Sora into a Heartless. He then made a fleeing remark about Riku before vanishing in to the darkness. Seifer tried to get Sora to accept a trophy proclaiming him the strongest guy in town. That's when a fluster4ed Pence came by and asked, "You know somebody named Kairi?"
Kairi had come to Twilight Town in search of Sora, but then Axel kidnapped her. "I gotta help Kairi!" Sora exclaimed. Just then the crystal from Seifer's trophy began to glow, and a new road was opened. Surely this road led to Kairi and Riku—and so believing, Sora and friends where on their way to find them.
The box found in the realm of darkness held some ice cream and photos of the old mansion in Twilight Town.
Sora and his friends came by the mansion searching for clues, only to find Hayner and his friends recovering after being attacked by Heartless. Olette said they thought the old mansion was some kind of gateway to an alternate Twilight Town. "What do you mean alternate?" For some strange reason, Sora and his friends found they had duplicates of the handmade pouch and crystals that had supposedly been one of a kind. This proved that there was a Twilight Town "out there" that closely resembled the one "over here". "That other town must be where whatever's missing from here went!" said Pence. If Kairi had disappeared from this Twilight Town... could she be waiting in the other one? That's when the King appeared. He was on the trail of Ansem the Wise, who was heading for Organization XIII's stronghold. Though he was pretty vague about it, it sounded like Sora might be able to meet up with Riku if he tagged along, too.
According to the King, the old mansion's computer was connected to the Twilight Town "over there," where they should be able to find a way into the realm of darkness.
The computer was password-protected, but Sora and his friends remembered a likely hint: the ice cream that had been in the box with the photos of the mansion!
Turns out the password was "sea salt ice cream." Entering the name of Ansem the Wise's favorite treat activated the device, which shot out a been of light. The road to the other Twilight Town had been opened.
Sora and his friends arrived in the other Twilight Town and joined the King in his search for a way into the dark realm.
The entrance was an eerie gaping hole in the basement hall of the old mansion.
Sora and his friends headed into the darkness, but were beset by enemies on all sides, Axel was the one who got them out of their predicament. He apologized for kidnapping Kairi and put everything he had into wiping out the marauding foes. When Sora asked why, Axel muttered, "I just wanted to see Roxas again. He made me feel like I had a heart," before fading away. Though it had cost him his life, Axel had used every last drop of his strength to open the final path Sora had to follow—the path that led to the kidnapped Kairi.