Kingdom Hearts: Daydream Believer, Island Oasis, and A Stroll About Town (Spoilers!!!) in Gamer's Gaming

So it is finally time to get back around to my entry I promised about Kingdom Hearts, a wonderful game released by Square Enix back in 2002 in corroboration with Disney. Now, if you look at this book, you will see a synopsis of the series a couple of entries back. As stated before, I love this series. I think it is great for kids and adults to share. It is not so complicated that kids can't work their way through most, or all, of the game with a little parental help for the younger ones. And the story is complex and interesting enough with enough complexity of gameplay to be of interest to adults. Since I had talked about the gameplay at length in my previous entry, A Preamble to Kingdom Hearts, I will mostly be focusing on the story of the first game's first three areas specifically in this entry. However, this will probably be a fairly long entry, just fair warning ahead of time. This is an RPG after all. One last note about these games: there are alot of cutscenes, so while I will do my best to describe them, I wouldn't expect a full account.

[Ed.-Since I forgot to mention it before in my synopsis of the series, I should bring up that the series has quite the voice acting cast. Haley Joel Osment, David Gallagher, and Hayden Panettiere voice the main trio of Sora, Riku, and Kairi respectively. On top of these and the many voice talents returning for each movie used in the game, such as Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" as well as Sean Astin and James Woods, who return to voice Hercules and Hades from "Hercules", we also get David Boreanaz doing the voice of Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy 8 and Mandy Moore, voicing Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy 7, concluding with Billy Zane voicing the game's antagonist, Ansem. Needless to say, Disney and Square worked pretty hard to secure a solid voice cast for the games, and it does show as, in my opinion, the series has some of the best voice acting not just in games, but in any kind of voice acting. Period.]

The game starts with a shot of Sora, who appears to be sleeping. We hear him contemplate about weird thoughts he has been having, questioning if anything he experiences is real or not. We watch as Sora seemingly submerges into a vast body of water, still asleep. As "Simple and Clean", Kingdom Hearts theme, starts up, Sora wakes up on a beach. He sees his best friend Riku standing knee deep in the ocean with his back to the beach. As Sora goes to approach his friend, the ocean tide pulls rapidly away from him. Startled, Sora sees a huge tidal wave form and rush towards Riku and himself as Riku turns to Sora and extends his hand. Sora rushes to grab his friend's hand, but the tidal wave crashes down on the two boys before Sora can get there. Underwater, Sora sees Riku still standing there with his hand extended. Try as he might to fight the rushing tide, the water pushes Sora away from Riku until he loses sight of his friend. Sora manages to get to his feet and emerges from the water to see his other friend, Kairi, standing on the beach waving to him. He waves back and rushes out of the water to meet her, bending over to catch his breath when he reaches her side. After recovering, Sora and Kairi both look to the sky to see a figure falling from the heavens. As it gets closer to the ground, Sora realizes that the figure is his sleeping self. As it reaches him, he falls backwards and down, away from Kairi, who attempts to grab his hand. Sora falls, first through the air and then back into the water. As Sora falls further and further under the water, his body rights itself until his feet come in contact with a platform of some kind. As he does, the water seems to disappear. A light bursts from beneath Sora's feet as doves fly around him, bursting from the previously shadowed ground. As the platform below Sora is revealed, we see a circular picture of Snow White and the dwarves.

The game starts with a series of tutorial stages where the player is taught how to move, fight, interact with objects, etc. While standing on Snow White's platform, the player is given the basic move and jump commands, and then is given the option of choosing a power to guide them and then forced to discard a power in return. The powers are represented by the Sword of Power, the Shield of the Guardian, and the Staff of the Mystic. Your choices affect not just your weapon used for the intro sequence, but also the stats Sora will start with. Personally, I tend to keep the shield and sacrifice the staff. I tend to be more offensive minded and most people would guess I would go for the sword first, but I choose to let my defensive stats build up early in the game in case I get too aggressive. It keeps me from too many game over screens. Once you have chosen your weapon and discarded a power, the platform beneath Sora shatters and Sora falls to another platform. On this platform, he is taught how to attack and target enemies. This is where you first encounter the most basic of enemies in the game, the Shadow. This is the first time you will encounter the main force of the enemies, known as Heartless. The name is pretty self explanatory, but it will make more sense in the context of the story as it continues. After defeating a few Shadows, a black miasma bubbles up from the ground and pulls Sora into the dark. He awakens on a platform with a translucent door in front of him. On this platform, you are taught how to interact with objects in the environment. As you accomplish each task, the door appears to solidify until you complete all three tasks. When the door completes this transformation, Sora can finally open it. When the door opens, a blinding white light comes from the other side. Without fear, Sora moves into the doorway, at which point he ends up on a wooden platform surrounded by the ocean. Three of his friends are standing around on the platform: Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie. Those familiar with Final Fantasy games will recognize those names. Tidus is the hero of Final Fantasy X and Wakka is a guardian and fast friend of Tidus'. Selphie is a recruit who joins up with Squall and Zell near the beginning of Squall's journey in Final Fantasy VIII. Each character will ask Sora a question and Sora's answers will determine the pace at which the characters will level up. After answering the three questions, Sora is transported to a platform bearing the image of Aurora, better known as Sleeping Beauty. The player is instructed on how to access the menu screen. At this point, Sora becomes surrounded by Shadows and must fight his way out. Defeating all of the Heartless reveals the first save point in the game. After a quick tutorial on saving the game, a light travels away from Sora and reveals a pathway that leads to another platform, this one featuring Belle from "Beauty and the Beast". The light casts Sora's shadow onto the ground, which then morphs into the game's first boss, Darkside. Sora tries to run away, only discovering that there is nowhere for him to run to, leaving a fight as his only option. For those of you who have ever played a Mega Man X game, you know that the phrase "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" rings true and Darkside is much the same kind of enemy. Though he may be gigantic, it is an intro boss and is a bit of a creampuff. After a short fight, Darkside dissolves slightly, spreading shadow across the platform. Sora is absorbed by the platform and everything goes dark...

Until Sora awakens on a beach, with his friend Kairi standing over him, calling him a lazy bum. Sora asks Kairi a few questions about her past, which she mysteriously cannot remember. After a conversation about traveling to other worlds, Sora's other friend, Riku appears to remind them that they are supposed to be working on a raft. As the friends race each other toward the work site, the camera pans out and tells us that this place is known as the Destiny Islands. The player then regains control of Sora. His first task: retrieving materials for the raft. As the player wanders about this part of the island, they will find some familiar faces in Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie. Also, you might notice that the area in which Tidus is practicing seems very familiar. As Sora gathers materials for the raft, he will come upon Riku sitting on a bent tree, who can be challenged to a fight. In fact, all four of Sora's friends can be challenged to a duel (excluding Kairi). When Sora's apparent bloodlust has been sated, he returns to Kairi to give her the materials for the raft. Giving Kairi the items and ending the day starts a cutscene. Sora, Riku, and Kairi sit on the previously mentioned bent tree as the day fades into night and talk about the possibility of other worlds and trying to travel to them one day. After their conversation, as the group wanders off toward home, Riku throws a star shaped fruit, known as the paopu fruit, to Sora, telling him that those who share the fruit will have intertwined fates and teasing him that he should share it with Kairi. Sora is sufficiently embarrassed, but takes off toward home. The scene shifts to Disney Castle, home of King Mickey, Queen Minnie, Donald, Goofy and all the rest. Donald, the court magician, is starting his day off by going to the throne room to find King Mickey, only to discover that the King is absent. Pluto appears from behind the throne with an envelope marked with the king's seal. Donald loses his mind and runs to the castle gardens to find Goofy, captain of the guard, who is catching a nap. Donald tells Goofy that there is something top secret going on and that he can't tell Queen Minnie or Daisy about it, only to discover them standing right behind him. The scene shifts back to the Destiny Islands, where it is the next morning. Wandering around, you can again talk to all of Sora's friends. Talking to Wakka reveals a partially hidden cave, which Wakka comments that he and Tidus are going to explore. Selphie, obviously a hopeless romantic, talks to Sora about the legendary powers of the paopu fruit, Riku's "gift" from the night before. Tidus feels the need to remind Sora that he has gotten stronger, but still probably is no match for Riku, and that Kairi will always be able to count on Riku to protect her. Yeah, thanks guy. Anyway, Sora can now go through a door that Kairi was previously blocking that leads to the backside of the island. A quick conversation with Riku leads to a disagreement about what to name their raft. Riku wants to call it the Highwind, while Sora's default name is Excalibur, which the player has the option to change. To settle the matter, the boys decide to have a little race. Riku ups the ante by saying that the winner will also get to share a paopu fruit with Kairi, mostly to throw Sora off of his game. In the end, you can win or lose the race, but Riku will tell you upon talking to him again that he was just kidding about the paopu fruit thing. Some friend, huh? Always screwing with your emotions. You know, this one time...ah, nevermind. Talking to Kairi reveals Sora's next task: securing provisions for their trip. The search for mushrooms takes Sora into the partially hidden cave, where a short cutscene takes place. Sora remembers a time when he and Kairi painted their faces on a wall. Sora chips more at the rock, so it appears that he is giving the paopu fruit to Kairi. As Sora goes to leave the cave, however, a man in a hooded robe appears. He apparently has come to see the door to this world, which he tells Sora has been connected by the darkness. Sora gets a little freaked out and tells the guy to leave him alone. The hooded figure insults Sora for awhile until the cutscene ends. Talking to Kairi reveals that she is making a charm out of shells to help them find each other should they ever get separated. After this conversation, returning all the provisions to Kairi will bring an end to day two, unless you should choose to explore. The ensuing cutscene shows a conversation between Sora and Kairi, where she comments that Riku seems to have changed. Kairi reveals that she feels relief because she knows no matter where she goes, she can always come back to the islands. The scene moves to Disney Castle, where we are shown the words in the letter that Pluto gave to Donald. Mickey explains that he has noticed that stars are beginning to blink out one by one which means disaster is sure to follow. As such, Mickey has gone to investigate what is happening to the stars. He apologizes for not letting them know, but tells them that there is someone in another world that holds a "key" to their survival and instructs Donald and Goofy to seek out Leon in Traverse Town to help them in their search. Queen Minnie tasks the duo with finding the king and sends them off with Jiminy Cricket, who is meant to chronicle their travels. Jiminy tells them that his world disappeared and that he was the only one to make it to the castle. Donald and Goofy travel far into the castle, discussing that they must blend in so as not to tip off others to the existence of their world. Deep below the castle, Donald and Goofy are loaded into a Gummi ship by Chip and Dale. The ship is used for travel between worlds. The pair are unceremoniously dropped through the bottom of the planet and set out in search of the "key" and their king. Back on Destiny Islands, a storm is brewing and Sora realizes that the raft needs to be protected. He takes off from home as his mother calls him for dinner. Arriving at the island, he sees that Riku and Kairi's rowboats are already docked. Sora is startled when he notices a huge sphere of darkness floating above the island. Shortly thereafter, Shadows attack Sora, who only has a wooden sword to protect himself. Realizing that his "sword" is having no effect, Sora makes a break for the bent tree and sees Riku in the distance standing by the tree. As Sora makes his way to the tree, he continues to be hounded by the Shadows until he reaches Riku, who is alone. Riku tells Sora that the door has been opened. When Sora questions Riku about Kairi's whereabouts, Riku only tells him that Kairi is coming with them. Riku proclaims that he is not afraid of the darkness, which then swallows him and causes him to disappear. A flash goes off and Sora opens his eyes to find a giant key in his hands. As more Shadows appear, Sora discovers that this key has the power to defeat them. However, as he defeats the Shadows, even more appear to attack him. Looking around, Sora sees that a door, similar to the one from his dream, has appeared in front of the cave. He races to it and enters the door, which leads into the cave. Traveling further in, Sora finds Kairi, who seems to be really out of it. As Sora watches, the door behind Kairi opens and blasts out a dark wind, propelling Kairi almost into Sora's arms before absorbing her back through the door and shooting Sora back out of the cave. Outside, the world seems to have been swallowed up by the dark vortex created by the sphere in the sky. Only a small piece of land still exists. Returning to his feet, Sora spins around to find Darkside behind him. While Darkside has grown in power from the last encounter, he is still no match for Sora armed with his key. As Darkside is defeated, he is sucked into the dark sphere. Sora attempts to hang on to his world, but eventually is also sucked up into the sphere.

The scene shifts to a new location, a town where Goofy, Donald and Pluto are searching for the king. Something in the sky captures their attention. Donald and Goofy are startled to realize that another star is going out. The camera fades back and we are told that we have arrived in Traverse Town. Goofy suggests that they seek out Leon, as the king suggested. As Donald and Goofy go one way, Goofy notices that Pluto has gone another way. Donald ignores this and they move on while the camera follows Pluto into the alleyway, where he has sniffed out Sora, who wakes up behind a crate. Before Sora has made it to his feet, Pluto takes off after Donald and Goofy, leaving Sora by himself. Sora exits the alleyway and takes in Traverse Town for the first time. It doesn't take him long to realize that he has made it to another world. After a couple of brief conversations with the locals, Sora wanders into the Accessory Shop, where he meets Cid Highwind, airship captain and first man in space from Final Fantasy VII. Cid is running the accessory shop and is disappointed to realize that it was only a kid who has wandered in. Cid fills Sora in on where he is and wishes him good luck in his search for his friends, telling him that if he ever needs anything, just to come back and see him and Cid will look out for him. Nice guy, huh? Sora's next stop is the Item Shop next door, run by Donald's nephews: Huey, Dewey, and Louie. While there isn't alot the little guys can do for you right now, they are more than willing to sell you items after obtaining some munny (yes, that is how it is spelled in the game). After all of your conversing with the people of the town, Sora discovers that there are three districts in Traverse Town and he is currently in the First District. He also learns that he is not the only person to have appeared in the town recently. In fact, it seems like alot of new people are popping up all of a sudden, all apparently refugees from some other town (or worlds). Since the First District doesn't hold any clues to the whereabouts of Riku or Kairi, Sora decides to move on to the Second District. The Second District is the home of a hotel and a place called the Gizmo Shop. Upon entering the Second District, Sora sees a man running away from something who trips in front of him. As the man looks back in horror, his heart floats away from his body and is absorbed into a ball of darkness, which becomes a new enemy, the Soldier. The Soldier disappears into thin air and apparently, so has the man. When Sora runs forward to investigate, he becomes surrounded by Shadows. Sora defeats them as well as the many other groups that appear as he wanders around the Second District. Besides treasures and Shadows, it doesn't seem like there is much to find in the Second District, including people, so Sora decides to investigate the Gizmo Shop. Upon entering the Gizmo Shop, the camera pans to view Donald and Goofy, who have just emerged from the hotel, still in search of Leon. Inside the Gizmo Shop, Sora takes in the wonders and notices more treasure, but just after entering, he is attacked by wave after wave of Heartless. After defeating the Heartless, Sora notices that not all of the Gizmo Shop gizmos are working, so he leaves, promising himself to find a way to reactivate the gizmos and reach the treasure. Sora decides to investigate the hotel next. Upon entering the hotel, we see Donald and Goofy enter from the First District, still in search of Leon. In the hotel, Sora discovers that all of the rooms are currently closed off, so he exits and decides to try a doorway he found near the fountain near the doors to the First District. This time, as Sora enters the door, Goofy and Donald come out of the hotel entrance closest to the First District, STILL looking for Leon. Jeez, this guy is as hard to find as the g-...on second thought, let's skip that analogy. The doorway Sora went through leads to an alleyway that runs behind the hotel and the Gizmo Shop. And wouldn't ya know it, there are Heartless here too. Oh well, that just means more munny and items for Sora. At this point, if you are playing this game, or even if you are not, it should seem pretty obvious that with as many Heartless as Sora has defeated, he is pimpin'. Sora makin' it rain munny. shakes Sorry, no idea where that came from. Moving on...there are also many treasure chests for Sora to open and other doors for him to find. Besides the Heartless and chests, Sora discovers a barred up entrance to some sort of tunnel system. Sora stores that away in his memory and moves on farther down the alley where he finds a doorway that leads to the Dalmatians' House, of course from 101 Dalmatians. However, Sora notes that the house holds little more than furniture until he finds Pongo and Perdita. Apparently, their 99 puppies were lost when their world was destroyed. Sora promises that he will keep an eye out for them and will make sure than any he finds are returned home safely. Sora exits the house and reemerges into the Second District. That only leaves one more door: the door to the Third District. Sora takes a deep breath and pushes forward through the door. As little as there was to see in the Second District, the Third District appears even more devoid of anything: people or places of interest. The first door Sora finds leads into a vacant house. Sora emerges to battle more groups of Heartless. As he clears the area, he notices a door down a long alley. The door has a picture of a burning flame on it. Sora ponders this, but cannot find any way to open the door for now. Sora gazes around the Third District, trying to find some indication that his friends might be here, but there is nothing to be found. Despite that, his battles against the Heartless have made him stronger, and he has even learned some new abilities. Is this the work of the mysterious key weapon he has obtained or was there some latent power inside him all along, waiting to come out. Realizing there is nothing to do but to backtrack, Sora heads back toward the First District, hoping maybe that his friends have appeared while he was exploring, or that Cid could give him an insight into something he may have missed. However, Sora arrives in the previously peaceful First District to find in under siege by the Heartless. Sora fights his way toward the center of the district and enters the Accessory Shop. Cid apparently has no new information, but tells Sora to keep his chin up and continue looking. As Sora exits the Accessory Shop, he is approached by a young man wearing a black coat. The man tells him that he will continue to be attacked by the Heartless as long as he wields the Keyblade. Ah, so that is what the weapon is called. The man is confused why the Keyblade chose Sora and tells Sora to hand it over. Sora refuses and the man attacks. After a brief fight, Sora defeats the man, but almost immediately passes out from exertion. As the man recovers, a girl walks up behind him. The girl mocks him for having been beaten, referring to him as Leon. Guess that means we found him. Shame we had to beat him down. Leon claims to have taken it easy on Sora and bemoans how things must be much worse than he and the girl originally thought. As Sora lays unconscious, we are shown a new scene. Riku awakens on a stone platform surrounded by walls of water. He calls out for Sora and Kairi, but appears to be completely alone in this strange place. We leave Riku once again and refocus back on Traverse Town. Donald and Goofy are walking through the alleyway that runs behind the hotel. Goofy, our "fearless" captain of the guard, is spooked. Donald declares that he is not scared until a person reaches out from behind him and touches his shoulder. Donald flies high into the air screaming and clings to Goofy. However, a girl's voice drifts on the air from behind them, asking if the king had sent them. They turn around to find a girl in a pink dress smiling at them. The scene shifts to darkness and a voice is heard telling someone to wake up. Sora shakes himself awake to see Kairi standing in front of him in some sort of hotel room. Is that Kairi? "Kairi" tells Sora that the Heartless are pursuing him because they want to the heart of the one who wields the Keyblade. Sora tells "Kairi" that he is glad to see her safe, but "Kairi" seems confused, wondering who Kairi is. Sora's head clears up a little bit to see someone who is definitely not Kairi standing in front of him. Not-Kairi identifies herself as Yuffie, a great ninja and one giant (but useful) pain in the butt of the group of heroes from Final Fantasy VII. Yuffie tells some guy named Squall that he might have overdone it. Leon emerges, reminding her that his name is Leon. Ah, but some of you might recognize the name play. This man is Squall Leonhart, the brooding SeeD student and main protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII. Sora spots the Keyblade on the other side of the room. Yuffie lets him know that they needed to get it away from him because that is how the Heartless were able to track him down. Leon still cannot figure out how Sora was chosen by the Keyblade. As he picks it up, it disappears and reappears in Sora's hands. Sora questions how he has ended up there. The scene shifts immediately to another hotel room where the girl in the pink dress is telling Donald and Goofy that all the other worlds that exist have remained secret, unknown to other worlds until now. Apparently, the arrival of the Heartless had something to do with the connecting of the worlds. Back in the other room, Leon and Yuffie fill Sora in on what the Heartless are and what apparently attracts them: the darkness in people's hearts. Out of thin air, Yuffie asks Sora if he knows someone named Ansem. Returning to the other room, Goofy seems confused by the name. Apparently Ansem was studying the Heartless and compiled a detailed report on them. However, the pages of the report have been scattered amongst other worlds. Goofy, in a rare moment of insight, suggests that maybe King Mickey went to find the pages of this report, which apparently was also what our girl in the pink dress was thinking. Anyone else find it odd that Goofy shared an intuitive thought, let alone any thought, with another person? Goofy suggest finding the king immediately, but Donald reminds him that they also need to find the "key". Pink Dress tells them they are right, that they are referring to the Keyblade. Back in the other room, Leon and Yuffie point out that the Heartless fear the Keyblade (which certainly did more damage than Sora's pointy wooden sword, right?) and will stop at nothing to destroy he who bears it. Sora whines that having the Keyblade wasn't his choice, but is told that the Keyblade chooses it's owner. Suddenly, Sora realizes (somehow, just at this very moment) that he doesn't know what happened to his home or his friends. Leon, an ever cheerful sot, muses that he really doesn't know what might have happened to any of them. After regaining his composure, Sora approaches Leon, who suggests that they should rejoin Aerith, who apparently is with the other guests. Of course, pink dress...Aerith...must be Aerith Gainsborough, last of the Ancients and supremely tragic female love interest of Cloud Strife in Final Fantasy VII. Huh, apparently wounds from a 15 foot sword that is plunged through your back and out through your stomach heal miraculously when said stiff is released into water and then transported to another town (and another game series). She looks perfectly healthy to me. Sephiroth must be losing his touch...umm, don't tell him I said that. I'm sorry, it will make much more sense later on, I promise. Anyway, back to the story. the Heartless have found Sora and Yuffie charges into the room next door, flattening Donald against the wall behind it. As Sora and Leon eject the Soldier Heartless from the room, the door moves away from the wall and Donald's pancake form is stared at by Goofy. Back in the alleyway, Leon instructs Sora to find the Heartless leader before taking off. Sora makes his way through the Second District, fighting groups of Soldiers and Shadows, and returns to the First District. Leon lets Sora know that the First District is secure and to come back if he needs to rest. Aerith gives Sora an item to aid him in his battles, and Yuffie hints that while the First District is secure, she does not know the state of the Third District. Guess where we are headed...that's right, the Third District. In the Third District, Goofy and Donald are attacked by a Soldier Heartless, which catapults them into the air, landing them right on top of Sora, who has just arrived. In the square, the trio becomes entrapped by stone pillars and surrounded by more Soldiers. Dispatching the Soldiers seems to clear the area and offer safety until a gigantic Heartless drops from the sky, appearing to be made of pieces of knightly armor. So we encounter the boss of Traverse Town, the Guard Armor. Sora, Donald, and Goofy attack the Guard Armor's floating limbs, torso, and head, fighting desperately to dispatch the massive Heartless. As they fight, pieces of the Guard Armor are defeated and disappear, leaving only the torso left to battle. After a long struggle, the trio emerges victorious. A large heart escapes from the Guard Armor and it disappears. A conversation between the entire group after the battle reveals that Sora is who Donald and Goofy have been seeking all along. Goofy suggests to Sora that he join them and they can use their Gummi ship to seek out the king and possibly find Riku and Kairi as well. Sora dejectedly agrees to tag along, but Donald lets him know that he won't be able to come along looking so down, so Sora has to put on a happy face. One giant fake smile later (it is very creepy), the trio is ready to move on. The scene shifts to a darkened room, illuminated only by a hologram of Sora, Donald, and Goofy standing together. Voices come forth from large shadows that surround the hologram. While Voice 1 cannot believe that Sora defeated the Heartless, Voice 2 interject that it was the power of the Keyblade, not Sora, that defeated the Heartless. Voice 3 suggests just turning Sora into a Heartless...uh, wasn't that what the Heartless were trying to do already? Yeah, that seems to have worked out...right...Voice 4 recognizes Donald and Goofy as the compatriots of the king, but doesn't seem to think much of the trio. Voice 5 insults Voice 4, not thinking him much of a threat himself. Voice 6 cuts in, silencing the rest of the group. Voice 6 points out that the Keyblade chose Sora. The camera pans up to reveal that Voice 6 is Maleficent, evil queen and witch, enchantress responsible for Aurora's slumber in "Sleeping Beauty". Maleficent points out that whether as a Heartless or fighting them, as wielder of the Keyblade, Sora could prove to be useful to the group's plans. Back in Traverse Town, Leon (or Squall, if you prefer), Yuffie, and Aerith give Sora some last minute advice and gift him some munny for purchases. Donald lets Sora know that the Gummi ship lies outside the one gate we could not go through in the First District of Traverse Town. The game takes a second to let us know that we can also access the Gummi ship from some save points. Before leaving, Donald gives Sora the gift of magic, teaching him how to cast a fire spell, and Goofy gives Sora a new ability, allowing him to dodge out of harm's way by rolling to his side. As Jiminy looks on from below, he forecasts many adventures in the trio's future and decides it is his job to chronicle those adventures in his journal. Jiminy's Journal will eventually contain all sorts of information, but for the time being only has sections explaining Sora's journey up to this point and a section for characters, detailing main story characters, secondary characters, and the Heartless. The fun part is that the journal also will tell you the first appearance of all of the game's characters. It is worth noting that Jiminy's journal is far more succinct than this Gamer's chronicle. Both have their place I believe. However, his journal is also better organized than this one. Doesn't change the fact that this is the One Journal, it that shall rule them all...sorry, slipped sideways into a different type of fantasy. Moving on, the trio notices a mark on the ground near the tavern in the First District. This mark is known as a Trinity Mark. Trinity Marks appear in many places and have many different effects, though only the blue Trinity Marks are available to the group at this point. These blue Trinity Marks enable a move called Trinity Jump, where the trio jumps into the air and slams down, causing objects to appear or teleporting them to different locations. Returning to the Third District, Sora remembers the door with the flame on it. On a hunch, Sora casts his fire spell on it and the door reacts. The trio goes through the door to find an odd house sitting on an island in the middle of a lake inside a cavern. Entering the house, Sora hallucinates a vision of Kairi yet again. He's got it bad... Returning his attention to the spot where Halluci-Kairi was standing, Sora is taken by surprise by a voice behind him. A wizard appears at the door, surprised himself as Sora has apparently arrived sooner than he expected. The wizard is, of course, Merlin, teacher and mentor of young Wart/Arthur in "The Sword In The Stone". Apparently, Mickey requested Merlin's help. Merlin has apparently been away from home for awhile, though the lack of any object in the house makes it seem as though nobody has ever lived there. Merlin reveals that he takes his home with him wherever he goes, quite literally. He magically restores all of his belongings from his bag to their rightful place within his home. After explaining that he is to teach Sora the art of magic, he directs the trio's attention to a small green carriage next to the door, from which emerges the Fairy Godmother, she who helped a young woman escape a life of servitude in "Cinderella". A brief conversation reveals that her home has also disappeared. Upon leaving the cave, Sora unlocks the door between the Third District and the First District, giving him a shortcut back to the Gummi ship. After making sure that all of their affairs are in order and all supplies are bought and ready to go, Sora, Donald, and Goofy leave Traverse Town through the gate and board the Gummi ship. The trio has a choice of two destinations and, after taking some readings of the two possible worlds to explore, the group decides to make haste to the world located on their port side (left for you landlubbers). With that decision made, the ship blasts off...