Sending The Darkness Into Oblivion (Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories) in Gamer's Gaming

The Road So Far…

The time has finally come for Riku to face down Ansem, once and for all. Riku was pulled from the darkness he found himself in after closing the Door to the Darkness by DiZ, a mysterious figure who seems intent on making people choose their path. Riku found himself in Castle Oblivion and moved through the underground floors of the castle while Sora moved through the above ground floors. In the process, Riku repeatedly confronted the darkness within himself as well as the machinations of the Organization as they tried to stop him, then take possession of him, before finally trying to destroy him. All of their plans failed, however, and all but one member of the Organization has fallen before both Riku and Sora. Vexen, the Chilly Academic, was the first to go, struck down by Axel, the Flurry of Dancing Flames. Larxene followed Vexen into the abyss, struck down by Sora. Lexaeus, the Taciturn Stalwart, was the next to go, felled by Riku and the darkness inside of him. Marluxia, the Graceful Assassin and master of Castle Oblivion, was destroyed next at the hands of Sora. Soon thereafter, Riku fought his way through the illusions of Zexion, the Cloaked Schemer, and weakened the Organization’s number 6 for the Riku Replica to finish him off. What lies in the future for our heroes? What else does the Organization have planned for them? Will Riku finally be able to defeat the darkness inside of him? After defeating his Replica and choosing to forgo slumber in an effort to defeat Ansem, all that is left is this one final task. Using the Castle Oblivion card to draw Ansem out of him and into a final confrontation, Riku makes his way forward through the doorway to meet his final fate in Castle Oblivion.

Now…

Riku ran through the hallways of Castle Oblivion, finally stopping in the middle of the hall before drawing his Soul Eater and commanding Ansem to show himself. Ansem’s voice laughs in response, asking why Riku is in such a hurry. Ansem said he would be at the very heart of darkness watching Riku plunge into the same darkness inside of him. Riku ran forward, towards the sound of the voice, and received the Key of Beginnings card. Riku found himself in the polished, white halls of Castle Oblivion once more, facing down a plethora of powerful Heartless. In addition to the familiar Darkballs, Shadows, and Wizards, Riku found the all new and extremely powerful Neo Shadows blocking his path. Though these foes made out to be quite tough, Riku had become an unstoppable beast in battle and fought through their numbers with hardly a pause. Riku fought through the first room and made his way north into a Moment’s Reprieve room. With very few rooms between him and Ansem, Riku wanted a place to prepare. After some basic preparation, Riku went north once more into a Teeming Darkness room, which he used to power himself up some before the final battle. After taking down the waves of Heartless that came from every part of the room to challenge him, Riku returned to the Moment’s Reprieve room and prepared one final time. As he had made his way through the Teeming Darkness room, Riku had spotted the final Key of Beginnings door behind which lay Ansem. Riku steadied and readied himself for his final battle with the darkness in his heart and returned to the door to face his destiny.

Riku walked down another adorned hallway when he suddenly came to a stop. Riku said that he could smell Ansem and commanded the dark creature to show himself. Ansem appeared in a flourish of darkness and stood before Riku. Ansem told Riku that he had watched him fight and knew his strength. He said that Riku’s skill with the darkness had grown and become more mature. Ansem asked why it was, however, that Riku had accepted the darkness, but still refused Ansem. After all, Riku knew they were similar. They both followed where the dark led. Indeed, they were the same, so why would Riku still block him out? Did some part of Riku’s heart still have a fear of the dark? Riku said that that wasn’t it. Riku said the truth was that he just couldn’t stand Ansem’s foul stench. Riku drew the Soul Eater and stared down the master of darkness. Ansem called Riku a fool and said that he ought to know Ansem’s powers well, by now. Riku said that he knew, but did Ansem forget? Riku had used all of the power that Ansem had to give and Sora had still beaten him! He wasn’t at all impressed with Ansem’s powers. Ansem said, in that case, Riku would sink into the abyss! Ansem drew back and unleashed pure darkness from within himself that washed over Riku like a tidal wave. Riku raised his arms to protect himself, but the darkness overtook him and brought him to another realm. As Riku looked around at his new surrounding, he leaped backwards as a giant, black limb tried to crush him. Riku looked up with anger on his face and saw Ansem, floating high above with his dark Guardian poised, and ready to attack. Ansem attacked Riku with the help of his Guardian, both defending and attacking. Ansem shot flaming pillars up from the ground, slashed at Riku with energy waves, and even had his Guardian strike out at Riku. Riku countered with an attack that was boosted by his Dragon Maleficent card, at first, then bolstered by his Jafar-Genie card towards the end, that kept Ansem from breaking his attacks. Finally, Riku managed to deny Ansem’s attack. After the battle, Riku found himself back in the halls of Castle Oblivion with Ansem staring him down. Both the hero and the villain were breathing heavily after their difficult battle. Ansem yelled at Riku, calling him an insolent brat, then fired a dark ball of energy at Riku, which Riku managed to block with his Soul Eater. Riku managed to destroy the projectile then charged at Ansem and, with a cry of rage, sliced through the dark master. Riku said that this was the end. Ansem, standing stock still, said that this was hardly the end. Ansem said that he had given all of Riku’s darkness to him and, because of that, his dark shadow would linger within Riku’s heart. Someday, he would return! Suddenly, Ansem exploded into a dark mist that enveloped Riku once more. Within the folds of the darkness, Riku spoke Sora and Kairi’s names and, suddenly, a bright lights pierced through the darkness. Mickey’s voice called out, saying he knew Riku wanted to battle the darkness alone, but he wouldn’t mind getting a little help, would he? With that, Mickey appeared beside Riku and dragged him out of the darkness.

Back within the halls of the castle, the duo walked towards the exit. Mickey turned to Riku, as they were walking, and asked the boy what would happen next. Would Riku go home? Riku said that he couldn’t go home, not yet. It was still there, in his heart. The darkness was really faint, but he could still sense Ansem within it, waiting. Mickey said that Riku’s darkness belonged to himself, just like his light did. Up to this point, Mickey had thought that darkness was something that should never exist. But then, he had spent time with Riku and it changed his mind. The road that Riku had chosen was one Mickey had never considered. Light and darkness, back to back. With Riku, Mickey thought the two might meet in a way that nobody had ever seen before. Mickey wondered where that road led and said that he would like to see for himself. Mickey said that he would like to walk the road with Riku and extended his hand in friendship. Riku giggled and took Mickey’s hand, shaking it once. Riku said that he was really flattered to have His Majesty along and didn’t know what else to say. Mickey said that Riku ought to know that he didn’t have to address Mickey so formally now that they were pals. Riku said that that was fair enough.

Outside of the castle, finally, Riku and Mickey walked along the path in their new cloaks until they came to a crossroad, where DiZ stood waiting. Riku looked at DiZ and asked what DiZ was making him choose now. DiZ said that Riku needed to choose between the road to light, and the road to darkness. Riku said that neither suited him. Mickey gawked at Riku as the boy walked straight forward toward the path that lay behind the enigmatic man. DiZ asked if Riku meant the twilight road to nightfall. Riku paused and, without looking back, told him no. Riku looked over his shoulder and said that it was the road to dawn.

THE END…