Kingdom Hearts: Turning The Tide Of Darkness in Gamer's Gaming

The Road So Far…

Their mission has finally become clear: defeat Ansem, close the Door to Darkness, save the worlds. Sora, Donald, and Goofy have come a long way since their first meeting in Traverse Town. They have traveled from world to world, fighting the Heartless and combating an evil consortium of villains. Hades, God of the Underworld: MIA since his plan was thwarted by the trio at the Olympus Coliseum. Jafar, vizier of Agrabah: defeated and captured in a lamp, a prision of his own making. Ursula, sea witch of Atlantica: destroyed. Oogie Boogie, nightmare creature of Halloween Town: destroyed. Captain Hook, dread pirate of Neverland: defeated, currently being chased by a crocodile. Even Maleficent, evil sorceress and leader of the group: defeated, turned into a dragon by the darkness, and defeated by the group once more. All that remains is Ansem, ruler of Hollow Bastion, architect of it’s destruction, and researcher into the darkness. Ansem used the consortium to collect seven Princesses of Heart whose hearts, legend states, would be able to open the Door to Darkness. Those princesses included Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Alice, Jasmine…and Kairi, Sora’s friend. In their attempts to stop Maleficent, the trio finally made their way to Hollow Bastion, but they were stopped by Riku. It seems that Riku was meant to be the true Keyblade master. Riku took Sora’s Keyblade for his own and headed back towards the castle. Donald and Goofy, who were instructed by King Mickey to find and follow the Keyblade wielder, felt they had no choice but to continue on with Riku. As his friends left him behind, Beast, a transformed prince from another world, made his way toward the castle to save his beloved, Belle. Sora, disheartened but resolved, accompanied Beast to the castle above. Sora and Beast managed to reach the entrance hall of the castle but, after a trick by the Heartless, Sora was cut off from Beast and left to face Riku on his own…or so it seemed at first. As Riku cast a dark spell at Sora, Goofy jumped in front and blocked the blow with his shield. Donald joined his two friends and, together, they defeated Riku and Sora took back the Keyblade. As Riku made his way back to Maleficent, however, he was convinced by a shadowy figure to completely open himself to the darkness to gain true power. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Beast scaled the castle and arrived in a chapel area. Here, they were confronted by Maleficent once more. The group managed to defeat her, but Riku, using a new Keyblade forged by the hearts of the princesses, unlocked the darkness within Maleficent, turning her into a giant, black dragon. In the end, though, even the dragon was no match for the group and Maleficent fade into nothingness. Riku retreated farther into the castle and, in the deepest part of the castle, the group confronted him once more. Sora found Kairi laying on the ground, without a heart. But he had an insight. He realized that Riku was not really Riku. It turned out Riku had been possessed by Ansem, the ruler of Hollow Bastion. Ansem attempted to strike Sora down, but Sora rose up and defeated Ansem for the time being. However, Kairi still lay asleep. Remembering that Ansem’s Keyblade had the power to unlock hearts and realizing that Kairi’s heart had been protected within his own all along, Sora plunged the Keyblade into his own chest, unlocking his heart and releasing Kairi’s back to herself. As Kairi regained consciousness, Sora disappeared into a million balls of light. Ansem made to recapture Kairi, but Riku’s heart managed to hold him back, giving the group time to escape. As they ran, however, they were chased by one lone Heartless. As they reached the entrance hall, Kairi felt a connection to the little Heartless and protected it as Shadows closed in around them. As Kairi gave everything she could to protect the little Heartless, the Heartless transformed into Sora, returned from the darkness by the feelings Kairi had for him within her heart. Together, the group retreated to Traverse Town and came up with a plan. Cid had saved the navigation gummi that had brought he and the other Hollow Bastion refugees to Traverse Town and installed it in the group’s gummi ship so they could make their way back to Hollow Bastion. With a goal in sight and Ansem standing between them and saving Riku and the worlds, Sora, Donald, and Goofy took to Hollow Bastion once more to stop the darkness once and for all…

Now…

The trio landed back in Hollow Bastion, where Beast was waiting for them. Sora asked Beast where Belle was. Beast said that she was still in the castle. Goofy asked if she was being kept against her will, but Beast said that was not the case. He believed that she had stayed in the castle for some reason. The other princesses were still inside also. Donald wondered why they would stay, but Sora suggested that they just go ask them. Beast offered to accompany the group once more. The group made their way back to the top of the Rising Falls and made it to the Castle Gates once more. Fighting through wave after wave of Heartless began to take it’s toll on the group, so they decided to stop into the Library to rest and prepare for the climb ahead. As the group climbed the to the second story, however, they met Belle, looking through the books. Beast was relieved and embraced Belle once more. Belle asked the trio if they had come to seal the Keyhole. She told them to be careful as the darkness had been raging from inside. The princesses had been holding it back as best they could, but they weren’t going to be able to hold out much longer. Sora promised that they would take care of it and the group headed off towards the top of the castle once more. Belle stopped the group before they could leave and gave Sora a gift: the Divine Rose keyblade. With the powerful new keyblade in hand, the group finally set off. Besides the amount of enemies they faced as they scaled the castle, everything seemed to be the same as their last trip. At last, Sora and company managed to reach the Castle Chapel, where they found the five remaining princesses. The asked Sora to hurry and seal the Keyhole. Darkness was pouring out and they were just barely managing to hold it back. Sora asked where Ansem was and the princesses told him that he had been swallowed by the darkness, though that had not slowed the darkness down at all. Aurora seemed particularly shaken because, as she told Sora, when Ansem was taken by the darkness, he seemed to be smiling. With this new information, Sora and company moved on into the Grand Hall of the castle to seal the Keyhole. The Heartless inside the Grand Hall attacked relentlessly and the group fought bravely to finish them off, finally making their way to the giant Keyhole at the back of the Hall. It seemed, however, that this Keyhole was just a door to another place. Gathering up their courage, the group jumped into the doorway to face whatever may lay beyond. What lay beyond was a gigantic Heartless, known as a Behemoth, that blocked their access to the Keyhole. Sora and company attacked. They tried a direct assault, but took far too much damage with little effect. Sora, clever as ever though, remembering a tactic he had used in Agrabah, used the Behemoth’s rear legs to access it’s back. Sora attacked the horn on top of the Behemoth’s head relentlessly and wore the giant creature down before finally finishing it off. Goofy suggested that it was time for them to seal that giant Keyhole, but a voice from behind congratulated Sora for doing what he set out to do. Sora and company returned to the Grand Hall to find Leon, Aerith and Yuffie waiting for them. Sora asked what they were doing there. Yuffie told him that they had come back in Cid’s ship. Aerith told Sora that Hollow Bastion was their childhood home. Leon seemed a little down, realizing that it was in worse shape then they had feared, but Aerith told them all not to worry. If they defeated Ansem, it should be restored to it’s former glory. Not just their world, but all the worlds, including the Destiny Islands. The news cheered Sora up, but Yuffie seemed down. She said that it would also mean goodbye. Aerith explained that once the worlds were restored, they would all be separated again. Sora said he would just visit them in the gummi ship, but Leon shook his head. It would not be that simple. The reason nobody knew about other worlds before this had started was because there had been impassable walls that separated the worlds. The Heartless had destroyed those walls. Thus, if the worlds returned to normal, so would the walls that separated them, rendering the gummi ships useless. Sora seemed to get the idea and bowed his head. Leon said that they may never meet again, but they would never forget each other. Aerith said that no matter where they were, their hearts would bring them together again. Yuffie chimed in, saying that she couldn’t forget Sora now, even if she wanted to. Sora huffed, asking her what that was supposed to mean. Donald and Goofy called out from the other side of the room and told him it was time to close the Keyhole. Leon wished him good luck as Sora ran off. Sora and company returned to the Keyhole and sealed it for good. Returning to the chapel, the princesses informed him that the darkness had begun to weaken. Jasmine, however, could feel a powerful darkness growing somewhere far away. Aurora assumed that it must be the heart of the darkness. That must be where Ansem had been drawn to. Sora told them that they would take the gummi ship and go put an end to Ansem and the Heartless once and for all. The princesses gave Sora the knowledge to access the strongest fire, the Firaga spell. The princesses said that once Ansem and the Heartless were defeated, all would return to normal and everyone would return to their homes. Sora said that he couldn’t return home until he found Riku and King Mickey. With Hollow Bastion safe once more, protected by Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, and the Princesses of Heart, Sora and crew took flight in the gummi ship once more. Chip informed them that yet another tournament was being held at the Coliseum and one final world had appeared just beyond Hollow Bastion. Sora decided that before heading off, he would check on the refugees once more. In the Library, the trio found Aerith poking around the stacks. As soon as she saw Sora, she told him that there was something that he should read. It was the rest of Ansem’s Report. It was Ansem’s Report 2, 4, 6, and 10! All that remained missing was Ansem’s Report 8. Speaking to Aerith once more, she taught him all he needed to know of healing, upgrading his Cura spell to Curaga. Sora and company left Hollow Bastion and set out to prepare for their final showdown with Ansem…