"So, we try to reason with them on getting Sora back," Riku said, having no experience against the Witches. So, it was all give and take for now, until he saw for himself on what they were capable of. Once they arrived to the Mysterious Tower, Riku exited the Gummi Ship.

---

"I find that fishy too. If they want something, might as well say it to us personally. Unless...it's something more than just getting something out of us..." Kaika started to think about it, remembering Miki's advice. Think outside the box...think unconventionally... she thought, reflecting on what Miki said to her. What would they want from her and Sora to go to these lengths anyways?

"Yeah." Mickey nodded in affirmation. He made his way up into the tower and walked up to the sleeping Sora. "Good luck, you two." Yen Sid said. Mickey nodded, he then dived into Sora's dream world, knowing Riku would follow suit. He reached Traverse Town.

"Well, we can only make guesses until we find something. What's with all of these hallways, anyway? why would someone waste so much time putting up these hallways? unless, the people who designed this place never leave one room. Maybe that's it." Sora turned into an upcoming hallway on the right. "There has to be some rooms around here somewhere, or something. Do you have any special abilities or something? like, can you sense people? It'd help in finding people."

Right after Mickey, Riku Dived into Sora's Dream World, headed for Traverse Town. Soon, he would catch up to Mickey, who was already at Traverse Town.

---

Kaika had to agree, until they find something informational, they would be only guessing. Then hearing Sora's question, she answered,"Yup, I could sense other life sources...but right now it's just us I could feel. It's like this entire place is completely empty..." Kaika had been frequently activating her sensory ability to only sense herself and Sora...no one else. "Whoever's behind this...they may not even be in this place at all, or else I would sense them from far away," Kaika added, exiting out of her sensory ability so she wouldn't waste her energy.

Mickey went to the Third District, ans saw the gaping rift in the pavement. "So this is it, I see..a big blue rift. I wonder, who is the Witch who caused this?" Mickey pondered to himself as he waited for Riku.

"Alright, then there's no reason to stick around here then. Let's start making shortcuts!" Sora said. Turning to a wall, he sliced it open with his Keyblade. On the other side was another hallway. He stepped through, and went up to the next wall. He repeated this process once again. "C'mon, we'll make quicker progress this way. Eventually we'll hit an outside wall."

"Yeah...this is what caused Sora to disappear from here..." Riku said as he caught up to Mickey at the Third District, feeling that Sora was on the other side of this rift.

---

"Whatever makes the stay here quicker," Kaika remarked, knowing that this was quicker than actually walking the entire hallway maze they were placed into. So, she followed Sora through each opening on each wall, nothing weird coming up from her sensory ability. However, that strange faint feeling of a familiar source could be felt, a little more than how she felt it a few moments before. It wasn't long until she heard a voice in her head, calling for help. She thought it was just her imagination, and ignored it. Yet, the voice in her head became louder...clearer for her to recognize until a realization had occurred. Sota... Kaika thought to herself and stopped for a moment, really focusing her sensory ability once again. There was a new life source near them...one that she had become close and used to ever since her Pact was created. Why she heard Sota's voice calling for help?...Put that together with the fact that the metal stake could be still around, Kaika felt a lingering feeling that something bad was happening. "No....no...no no no no no!" Kaika began to panic a bit once realizing this, and quickly ran towards where she could feel Sota's energy. She knew that Sora was with her, and that he would try to stick with her even if he didn't know who Sota was in the first place. Turning a corner to the left, she saw that Sota was barely keeping his own against the same exact metal stake that Kaika and Sora encountered, smacking the stake away with his scythe.

"Well, no point in standing here. Let's go, haha!" Mickey jumped down into the rift below. "whoaaaaaaaa!"

Quickly keeping up with Kaika, Sora jumped from wall to wall until he saw what Kaika was worrying about. "Okay, I think I heard someone say once that metal is an electricity conductor or something, so whatever this thing is It'll have to stop! Thunder!" Sora said, casting the Thunder Spell at the metal stake.

Riku immediately leapt into the rift, going into a free fall as this rift was leading both to the mysterious place. For a moment of blacking out, they would find themselves in the empty hallways.

---

As Sora did that, Kaika sprinted towards Sota, seeing that he had some minor injuries already. When the Thunder spell hit the stake, it fell to the ground motionless. Yet, there was a voice coming out of the stake, saying,"Ow! That hurt!" suddenly, the stake was surrounded in golden energy, and was suddenly transformed into a girl with brown hair and red eyes. "You guys are tricky targets! But it only makes this hunt even more challenging for me," the girl says in frustration, but was still determined on attacking the trio. A purple energy blade manifesting on this girl's arm, she rushed towards Sora at almost the same speed as her stake form.

"Kaika, thank god you're alright..." Sota said once she ran over to him. "Well, you don't seem like you're alright," Kaika said as she shifted into her partial mode, seeing that Sora might need help against this girl who is also the stake that attacked them earlier. "Stay put here, I'll treat your injuries soon. Promise," Kaika said to him as she managed to generate a force field around him. Summoning her pink energy blade to her hand, Kaika quickly ran to see if there was any way to help Sora.

Mickey stood up, unaffected from the fall. "Let's get going, the witches should be lingering arouhd here somewhere if I'm not mistaken." he said, and then started to walk.

Clashing his Keyblade with her purple energy blade, Sora only had a grin on his face. "Targets, huh? you know, you might be wrong. We were taken here, against our will by somebody. And, if that's the case that somebody is going want us alive, right? so why don't you take a deep breath, and calm down and be reasonable, huh?"

"There should be at least someone here," Riku said, seeing how big this place appeared, but wondered where exactly the Witches could he at.

---

The girl leapt back once her attack was blocked, and said confidently,"What are you talking about? Even if I don't know who would try to bring you weirdos here, I don't really care if they get mad that something happened to all of you. It's all free game for me!" The girl suddenly shifted back into her stake form, sending herself towards Sora at a lightning fast speed. "You could at least let me gouge into your leg! It would be the first before the others show up! First come first serve for me!" the girl's voice echoed from the stake, close to hitting Sora, but was immediately smacked down by Kaika's energy blade.

"Geez, you're really that eager to hurt us," Kaika sighed by how persistent this girl was, but began to wonder what she meant by the "others." "Arrrgggghhh!! All I want is to get at you people now! Speaking of which, let's see how you like it!" the girl seemed annoyed by how Sora and Kaika seemed to figure out how to deal with her stake form. Immediately lifting her stake form upwards, she began to rebound wildly with great speeds. Whatever this girl was trying to do, she really wanted to hurt either Kaika or Sora soon.

"It seems like this place was designed quite unefficiently." Mickey noted. "Too many hallways, I don't think even in the Castle it's very hard to maneuver around like this, the people who live here could get lost." Mickey said as he walked.

"You're pretty confident in your abilities. But, if that arm blade and metal form thing are the only tricks you got, then you're kinda like..a two-trick pony. I only gotta keep casting Thunder or Stop, and you're down. I guess your fast, but so am I." Sora said, seemingly disinterested and unconcerned, once again casting the Thunder spell at her as she wildly flew at them.

"It's weird alright, but whoever designed this place did it in case of intruders," Riku said, keeping in mind that Witches had these "god-like" abilities.

---

Once again, the girl was stopped from her speeding path, falling down in her stake form. "You know what? I'll leave for now, but I'll bring my other sisters here to mess all of you up! Just you wait and see!" the girl seemed to be pretty annoyed, and she instantly disappeared in a cluster of golden butterflies. It sounded like she is coming back with company the next time she comes around. Kaika only sighed, and quickly ran over to Sota. "Let me take care of that for you Sota," Kaika said, seeing that he was bleeding from several minor cuts. Her hands glowed with pure white energy as she tried to speed up his healing process. "You don't have to, it's fine," Sota didn't want to worry her so much, but apparently Kaika continue the healing process anyways.

"I guess, but maybe we've been misled somehow. It might not be as simple as we think is going on." Mickey said. "You never know. There could be a reason this place is so empty." Mickey pointed out.

"I'll help out. There! Cure!" Sora said, casting the healing spell on Sota. "Alright, if we're done here, we need to make our way outside now. The more time we spend in here, the more time we waste. If that girl comes back with reinforcements, we'll be in for a tougher fight. So let's get going." Sora said. Wasting no time, he took off back to where they were earlier.

"Then we'll look around. Maybe we'll find something," Riku said, agreeing that there could be some weird reason this entire clash of hallways were completely empty.

---

"Yeah, let's go!" Kaika said as she helped Sota back up onto his feet, being fully healed. Both of them were able to keep up with Sora. "Oh, and by the way, when I was taken into that rift with you, was there anyone else there? Like Umiya or even Peyton?" Kaika asked Sota, having a feeling that Sota wasn't alone when all of that commotion happened at the lake. "Well...Nero was accompanying me, said that you were taking too long with your break. That's when we saw you being sucked into that rift within the lake, and I tried to pull you out," he explained, recalling all of the events that led to now. Kaika didn't respond, now knowing that even her allies back in the Spirit World are for sure making plans to fetch her and Sota back.

Mickey started to speed up, figuring if they went faster they could get around easier.

Sora went down the way he came, then stopped at the first hole he made. He went through it, and then motioned for the two of them to follow. He then went up to the second hole and went through it. He went up to the third wall, slicing a hole through it with his Keyblade once again. Sora sighed. "Even if this is quicker, it's getting repetitive. At least I won't have to do this for long, though." he commented, going through the third hole.

Riku followed Mickey's lead, keeping an eye out for anything that seemed strange and out of place of the repetitive hallways. There was one occasional and faint bang of metal that they could hear.

---

"At least it gets the job done. We should hit something different soon at this rate," Kaika said, following through the third hole, and helping Sota get through since he had been recovered moments ago. she really wondered how the outside looked like if this place had all of these hallways, or if they hit a room with some important clues. All she could do for now is think.

Mickey's ear twitched, and he stopped walking. "What is that noise, and where is it coming from?" he asked, looking around a bit curious.

"Hopefully, this will take forever otherwise. I'm beginning to think the people in this world, or wherever we are, aren't the most normal or friendly people. I could be wrong, but if that girl was the first person we met, and she's got backup, it seems like people here are very violent. I hope we don't have to go through any of that when we get outside." Sora said, slashing a hole through the next wall. "So, hopefully we'll get outside soon..."

"I'm not sure...but we're not alone anymore," Riku said as he stopped and glanced for whatever made that noise. Nothing happened afterwards, silence came in for a bit. Then all of a sudden, a metal stake sped at an unbelievable speed towards them, going for a sneak attack.

---

"We'll just wait and see. I'm always ready if they decide to ambush us. Something about this place gives me an ominous feeling," Kaika said as she continued onwards, expecting a surprise attack from that girl later on. Sota had been quiet, but had been thinking of many different things at the same time. He could recall someone calling out to him once he arrived here, a mysterious voice without emotion.

Mickey turned around and blocked the metal stake, summoning his Keyblade. "Hmm...I see. So where are the people you work for? I don't have time to play games with you right now, so if you point us in the right direction, you won't get hurt."

"Yeah, I guess so." Sora nodded, going up to the next wall and cutting through it. He stepped through, wondering how much longer they would have to go.

"And why would I exactly tell you? I was told to take down anyone that is not from here," a voice said from the stake, shifting to her human form. Alike to the other girl, she had long black hair and red eyes. A purple energy blade formed near her arm, saying,"I will not stop until you're both lying on the ground." She swiftly tries to attack them, but Riku stopped her attack with a barrier.

"This isn't going to get anywhere," he says to her, knowing that she woukd be persistent about this.

---

Keeping caution of any kind of ambush, Kaika had her sensory ability activate, nothing too dangerous or hostile could be felt near them. "We're fine for now, I feel nothing too suspicious," Kaika says, continuing through the holes that Sora had made. Sota kept quiet, not having much to say and that he wanted to keep the strange voice calling to him a secret. The next time Sora would create a hole in a wall with his keyblade, they would be outside, at the enormous rose garden of this mysterious mansion.

"Well, you kind of just let us know you guys have hostile intent, when you're the ones who took our friend away in the first place. What do you want with Sora, why is he important to the witches?" Mickey said, pressing for answers.

Sora sliced open the next wall and found himself a bit blinded by the sun, but he smiled happily. "Finally, some fresh air. It was getting pretty stale in there." Sora said, stepping out and stretching.