Kingdom Hearts: It's The End Of The World As We Know It in Gamer's Gaming

The Road So Far…

The final showdown for the fate of the worlds is upon our heroes. Sora, Donald, and Goofy have managed to seal the Keyholes in all of the worlds. They have saved the Princesses of Heart from captivity within Hollow Bastion. They have defeated the coalition of villains made up of Hades, Jafar, Ursula, Oogie Boogie, Captain Hook, and Maleficent. They have even rescued Kairi from her deep sleep. Only one task remains: travel into the heart of darkness and defeat Ansem, who has possessed the body of Sora’s friend, Riku. By defeating Ansem, the Heartless will also be defeated and the worlds the Heartless destroyed will be restored to their original glory, as will their inhabitants. Sora, Donald, and Goofy have done everything that has been asked of them and only the one thing remains. Save the World. With no further ado, the group sets off to face their destiny…

Now…

The trio warped to Hollow Bastion and flew on from there to the last location the gummi ship could pick up. After the flights they’d had to Hollow Bastion, they knew this last trip would be a tough one. The crew dodged, ducked, dipped, dived, and…dodged around all manner of Heartless ships and obstacles. Good thing we’ve had alot of practice with that. Finally, the trio arrived at an area that seemed to be drawing all sorts of energy, both light and dark, into it. The trio disembarked from the gummi ship one final time for their face-off with Ansem. Emergin from a small cave, the trio stepped out into a wide open area dotted here and there with small chunks of rock. Goofy was taken aback, asking if those chunks were all that was left of the worlds taken by the Heartless. Sora spoke cheerily, saying that they would all be restored if they beat Ansem, but he was concerned that if they managed their task, what would happen to this place, and to the group themselves. Donald wanted to give an explanation, but couldn’t come up with one. Goofy figured that if this was a Heartless world, maybe it would just disappear. But no worries, even if that place did disappear, their hearts were strong and they would find their friends again. Sora and Donald both agreed as Sora looked down upon the lucky charm he had received from Kairi. The trio walked towards the nearest rock, but they were abruptly attacked by a giant ball of darkness and drawn into a fight with the Heartless. The new Heartless that attacked the trio were called Invisibles. These Heartless attacked with a large, serrated sword as well as any part of their body they could use: legs, arms, and even tails. They were incredibly strong and proved difficult for the group to beat, but the trio managed to fight them off and proceeded along the path. Many difficult battles with the Heartless followed, including fights with more Invisibles, Darkballs, and even a Behemoth or two. The trio also found a couple more new Heartless species. The Arch Behemoth looked and acted like a true Behemoth, but was not quite as strong. The Angel Star was a spell casting Heartless that attacked from long range and blocked physical attacks with their wings. As the group closed in on a bright light in the distance, they came upon a circle of pointed rocks. Drawing in close to the circle, they were attacked by a giant ball of darkness again and were left to fight another Behemoth. The trio battled on with courage and managed to defeat the giant beast once more. However, when they were released from the ball this time, they found they were in a completely new area. As they looked ahead, Goofy wondered where Ansem might have gone off to. Donald said that all they would have to do is dive into the most dangerous place and they would find him. The trio marched on and found they were in a giant crevasse with many platforms that led downward towards a swirling, white light. They slowly made their way down the treacherous landscape, collecting treasures fighting the few enemies that popped up. At the bottom of the crevasse, they found the source of the swirling white light. Seeing no other path forward, the trio jumped into the white light. Emerging in yet another area, Sora, Donald, and Goofy made for a nearby glowing ball of white light. The light brought them to a platform where pillar of black energy reached for the night sky above. Sora and company marched into the pillar of darkness and…found themselves in the the Third District of Traverse Town? What the… Something was different this time though. Giant stone pillars blocked off access to all but the middle square of the district and the door to the First District. Not only that, a treasure chest that had never been there before could be seen by the Lady and the Tramp fountain in the corner of the square. The group didn’t get much time to think, however, as they were attacked by wave after wave of Heartless that included Soldiers and Large Bodies. Before long, though, the attack of the Heartless ceased. The trio collected the treasure from the chest nearby and made their way through the door to the First District…only to return back to the platform that the pillar of darkness was on. The trio went back to the pillar once more and returned to Traverse Town’s Third District, but were left alone this time. Weird, huh? With their task apparently completed, the trio moved on to the next white ball of light. They were brought to yet another pillar of darkness. Entering this pillar brought the crew into the Rabbit Hole area of Wonderland. Faced with yet more Heartless, the trio fought bravely as always, defeating the Heartless and taking another treasure chest. This time, the exit was the door that would have normally led into the Bizarre Room. The trio made for the next ball of white light and the pattern continued on. The Olympus Coliseum, where they exited out of the Gates of the World. Next, the Bamboo Thicket in the Deep Jungle, where they exited along the path that would normally lead back to the Camp. Next, the city of Agrabah, where the group took the exit back out to the desert. Next, a trip to Atlantica, where the group exited out of a random tunnel. Then they found themselves in Oogie’s Torture Chamber in Halloween Town, leaving through the green door. The next stop was the hold of Captain Hook’s ship, where the group exited out of a nearby door. They even found themselves in the Hundred Acre Wood, though there were no enemies to greet them. Moving on to the last pillar, the trio found themselves back in what appeared to be Hollow Bastion. After defeating a few Invisibles in the hallway, a door opened nearby and a giant machine stood idle. Sora walked up to the machine and activated it. A screen nearby lit up with a message:

“Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all worlds and bring desolation. Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyhole, one key to the door. The door of darkness, tied by two keys. The door of darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness. Ones born of heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens.”

Very Lord of the Rings, if you ask me, but you catch the drift. This message was left to guide the Heartless on their mission to capture all hearts and open the door to darkness by completing the great heart. This would lead to Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds, where a great, eternal darkness would be waiting to welcome the Heartless back. Creepy stuff. Returning through the hole they had come through, the group found the pillar of fire gone and a dark hole in the floor. The trio looked at each other and leaped into the hole to face their destiny. As they drifted slowly down, they saw a gigantic, shadowy creature with wings standing up in a volcano. It was Chernabog, the mighty demon creature from Fantasia! Holy crap, that thing is huge. Well then, as our heroes flew through the air, they made their way to the giant demon. Though the giant beast looked unstoppable and had may potent attacks, using walls of fire, fireballs, electric orbs and the like to attack, our trio very wisely tried to stay behind Chernabog’s head and attacked with all of their might, finally bringing down their demonic foe. Chernabog sank back into the volcano, extinguishing it’s flames and allowing passage to the trio. The trio flew down, down, down into the depths of the volcano, passing through chamber after chamber before finally emerging in a chamber with yet another Behemoth. As the trio defeated the Behemoth, a piece of the Heartless symbol at the far end of the room fell away. Suddenly, more Heartless appeared to combat Sora and company. As they fought the waves of Heartless off, pieces of the Heartless symbol kept falling away. Yet, no matter how many Heartless they defeated, it seemed as if twice as many took their place. Finally, as the trio was almost down to the last of their strength, they finally defeated the last of the Heartless and the final piece of the symbol fell away, leaving a stormy void. The trio stepped though the hole and into a tiny chamber where sparkling sands fell from holes in the wall. Against the wall on the other side of the tiny chamber was a large, ornate door that looked just like the one Sora had seen in a dream a long time ago, back before the Destiny Islands had been destroyed. This was the final door between the trio and Ansem, Sora knew it. Sora, Donald, and Goofy joined hands and said a few small words amongst themselves before turning and facing the door. No humor, no compassion, no doubt remained in any of their features. The trio was resolved, ready to face their final test. Sora raised the Keyblade and stepped through the doorway to finally face down the destroyer of worlds, the master of darkness, the unfortunate soul about to receive the most merciless ass whooping ever given out. They stepped through the door to face Ansem once and for all…

And Sora found himself back on the Destiny Islands with Donald and Goofy. Everything looked almost the same as he remembered it, though a few parts of the island didn’t look quite right. Sora made his way towards the Secret Cavern and stopped just outside. Ansem’s voice called out, saying that this world was connected, tied to the darkness, soon to be completely eclipsed. Suddenly, parts of the island started to disappear. The ocean turned to black as the island became a warped version of itself. On a part of the crumbling beach beside the ocean, Ansem stood looking out to sea, still in Riku’s body. Sora and company ran up to him. Without turning around, Ansem told them to take a close look at where they were. To a heart seeking freedom, the island was a prison surrounded by water. Ansem raised his/Riku’s arms and said that Riku had sought out an escape from such a prison and to cross over to other worlds using the power of darkness. Ansem turned around and assumed his true form. Sora called out to Riku, but Ansem told him not to bother. Where Riku was, Sora’s voice could no longer reach him. Riku’s heart now belonged to the darkness. Ansem said that all worlds began in darkness and ended the same way. The heart was no different. Darkness was born within the heart, grew and consumed it, drawing the heart back into the darkness from whence it came. As Ansem said, darkness is the heart’s true essence. Sora denied Ansem’s words. Sora told Ansem that the heart may be weak and it may even sometimes give in, but, as Sora had learned, deep down there is a light that never goes out. Ansem levitated into the air. Ansem shook his head, telling Sora that even though he had come this far, he still understood nothing. Just like Jon Snow… Anyway, Ansem claimed that every light must fade and every heart return to darkness. Suddenly, a dark guardian sprouted up behind Ansem and the battle for the fate of the worlds commenced. Ansem used the dark guardian to both attack the trio and block their attacks, while using dark attacks of his own to attack as well. Sora and company had come a long way in their training for this very moment, and attacked both with magic and with physical attacks, from the air and from the ground. Ansem could not stand up to the onslaught for very long and was knocked for quite a loop. Ansem had a few tricks up his sleeve, though. As the group charged him, he broke the island in half and stood inside the ruin, waiting for the trio to resume their attack. As Sora leaped into the ruin to recommence the attack, Ansem cast a barrier spell that separated Sora from Donald and Goofy. Sora was left to fight Ansem on his own for the time being. As Donald and Goofy looked on in worry, Sora drew his Keyblade and made ready for whatever Ansem had planned. What Ansem had planned first, however, Sora could never had expected to see again. Darkside, the giant Heartless he had faced down during the destruction of the Destiny Islands, rose from the ground and towered over the ruins of the island. Sora remembered what he could of his previous battles with Darkside and prepared himself to face the gargantuan Heartless once more. Sora had grown much stronger than Ansem had anticipated, however, and put an end to Darkside before the creature could mount almost any attack. Ansem returned to the field of battle with his dark guardian and Sora made ready to face down his greatest foe once more. Ansem trotted out many more moves than he had in his previous fight. He had his guardian possess Sora and damage him. He Attacked with geysers of darkness. He even shot across the arena in a giant, dark ball of fire. Sora, left to his own devices, had a hard time keeping up and made much use of his healing items and spells, but, near the end of the battle, after a particularly brutal combo from Ansem, Sora unleashed his Ars Arcanum ability and slashed away at Ansem with blinding speed. The final blow of his own combo took Ansem out of the battle once more. The entire world faded into blackness. When the sky lightened a bit, the trio was reunited, but also found that the entire island was now gone and they were floating in a dark storm. Ansem called out, telling them to behold the endless abyss. Within the darkness lay the heart of all worlds, Kingdom Hearts! A gray door had appeared in the middle of the abyss. Ansem told the trio to look as hard as they liked, they would not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths, he claimed, all hearts were born, even those belonging to the trio of do-gooders. Sora looked down and gasped as a Heartless ship of unfathomable size appeared, one which Ansem had fused with. THIS would be the final battle for the fate of all worlds. The trio readied themselves to end the evil ruler once and for all. However, as they made to attack the ship, a vortex appeared and sucked Donald and Goofy into it. Sora began to fall and thought all was lost, until a voice rang out, seemingly from within himself. It asked if he was giving up already. The voice figured Sora was stronger than that. It was Riku! Somehow, Riku had spoken to him. Riku’s encouragement reminded Sora what it meant to fly and the Keyblade warrior sprung out of the storm and attacked the Heartless ship. Sora went for Ansem immediately and withstood his scythe and dark laser attacks, attacking himself as often as he could. Sora dealt out some great damage to his enemy and, finally, Ansem was forced to withdraw into the embrace of the ship to protect himself. A vortex appeared again within the ship and Sora, brave as ever, flew into it to find his missing friends. After defeating the Heartless within the vortex, a tear in the fabric of the vortex appeared. Sora attacked it and opened it wide, allowing him to escape. However, there was still no sign of Donald or Goofy. However, parts of the ship began to move, no longer protected by the shield that Ansem had generated. Sora attacked without mercy, defeating each and every last piece of the Heartless ship that he could get at until, finally, another vortex appeared. Inside this vortex, Sora found Goofy and helped him defeat the Heartless within. Sora and Goofy fought with all of their might until all the Heartless had been defeated. Another tear in the fabric of the vortex appeared and both Sora and Goofy attacked it until they were free of the vortex. Suddenly, the prow of the ship came to life. Sora and Goofy pressed the attack, healing themselves when they could. Though the ship did what it could to protect itself, including using those strong dark laser beams, Sora and Goofy beat the ship into submission once more, causing yet another vortex to appear, this time in the prow’s mouth. Inside this vortex, Sora and Goofy were reunited with Donald. The trio, reformed, defeated the waves of Heartless and, when the tear appeared once more, the trio managed to release themselves and made their way to the heart of the ship, where the barrier protecting it had now been dropped. Sora and company laid waste to the heart of the ship, which destroyed all that was left to protect Ansem, releasing him out to fight the final phase of the battle against the three heroes. Ansem redrew his scythe and commenced with his attack once more, but this time, all three of the heroes were ready to face him and attacked with complete abandon. Ansem never stood a chance and, at long last, the dark ruler was defeated.

The ship began to explode from within and Ansem himself was drawn into a gigantic ball of light that drew around him closer and closer until finally, the ball exploded, leaving nothing but Ansem’s body. Ansem was not finished, however. As he floated in space between the trio and the gray door, Ansem explained that the Keyblade alone could not seal the door to darkness. Ansem turned toward the door and called for Kingdom Hearts to fill him with the power of darkness. Slowly, the gray door began to open and a dark cloud of smoke billowed out towards Ansem. It was Sora that began to speak, however. Sora said that Ansem was wrong. He knew now, without a doubt, that Kingdom Hearts was light! Suddenly, a great, white light shone out from the door and knocked Ansem backwards. Ansem was overcome by the light, not understanding how wrong he had been about things, before finally disintegrating into nothingness. The trio, victorious over Ansem, made their way to the door to darkness and tried to close it, but all of their efforts were for not. After all, the door to darkness could not be closed from one side alone. Goofy peered into the door and let out a yelp. Donald told him to keep pushing, but lost his own concentration when he too looked through the doorway. Sora peeked through to see what had the two so wound up and saw it immediately: Heartless everywhere, all ready to come through the doorway. Donald screamed for them to hurry, but all their pushing could not close the door… until a hand shot out from the other side of the door and grabbed it. Sora looked up and into the face of his friend Riku! Riku told Sora not to give up. Together, they could close the door. With Sora pushing from one side and Riku pulling from the other, the door slowly began to close as multiple Darksides appeared, ready to attack. The door was closing, but far too slowly. Donald moaned that it was hopeless., but then, as suddenly as they had appeared, the Darksides were destroyed. Donald and Goofy both looked through the door and giant grins appeared on their faces. In the back of the cavern, a small figure with two big, circular ears leaped up from below and stood silhouetted against the bright, white light. Donald and Goofy both called out to King Mickey. Mickey yelled back and told Sora that it was time to close the door for good. Donald told Sora to close the door, quick. Sora was worried about Riku and Mickey, but Mickey told him not to worry. Even with the door to darkness shut, there would always be a door to the light. Goofy told Sora that he could trust Mickey. Riku called out that the Heartless were coming. Mickey turned around and thanked Donald and Goofy for everything. Riku looked down at Sora and told him to take care of Kairi as Sora pushed the door shut. On either side of the door, both Mickey and Sora drew their Keyblades and sealed the door to the darkness for good. Sora looked skyward and in his revery, thought of all the times that he and Riku had shared on the Destiny Islands. Sora turned around and spotted Kairi. Donald made to follow, but Goofy held him back, sensing it was meant to be a private moment. Sora ran up to Kairi as, suddenly, the worlds began to reform around them. As the worlds reformed, Sora told Kairi that he was always with her too and would find his way back to her somehow. The worlds began to reform and separate, drawing the friends apart for now. Kairi stood alone on the Destiny Islands once more as the world locked it self off and millions of stars shot off into the air, all the worlds returning to their true homes in the sky. Kairi walked into the Secret Place and looked around, everything there as she had remembered it. Except now she saw the picture Sora had scraped into the rock, showing him giving the star shaped fruit to Kairi. A lone tear slid down Kairi’s smiling face as she wondered when she and Sora would be reunited for good.

Meanwhile, friends were being reunited across the worlds. Cloud and Aerith, Aladdin and Jasmine, Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie, the Princesses of Heart. All the worlds were back to the way they were before the Heartless had ever attacked and all was right once more… well, almost. Sora, Donald, and Goofy had found a dirt path that rolled over the plains. Donald asked what they should do now. Sora said that they would go looking for Riku and Mickey. Goofy wondered where they should look when, in the path in front of them, Pluto appeared. Sora noticed that he was holding a letter closed with Mickey’s seal. Sora asked if Pluto knew where Mickey was. Pluto turned and ran off, followed by the trio in hot pursuit, running as fast as they could in the hopes of finding their friends somewhere off in the distance…

Kingdom Hearts

THE END