Into Twilight, A Hero Goes... (Kingdom Hearts 2) in Gamer's Gaming

The Road So Far…

We have come a way, haven’t we? Hopefully the adventures of Sora and Riku are fresh in everyone’s minds, but I believe a recap is in order. In Kingdom Hearts, we met a trio of youngsters named Sora, Riku, and Kairi. The friends dreamed of travelling to other worlds, not realizing that their own dangerous adventures through the realm of light were just about to begin. One night, a violent storm hit their home, the Destiny Islands. But this was no ordinary storm. A dark being appeared on the island and opened a door to darkness that began to swallow the Destiny Islands whole. Sora made the trip out to the island that he and his friends played on only to see both Riku and Kairi taken by the darkness. Cornered by the Heartless, Sora found himself in possession of the Keyblade, a magical weapon capable of defeating the Heartless and releasing whatever hearts they had possessed. Sora managed to defeat Darkside, the leader of the Heartless, but it was not enough to save the islands and Sora was sucked into the dark vortex as his world blinked out of existence. Sora awoke in Traverse Town, a town that acted as a way station for those whose worlds had been destroyed by the Heartless. Here, he met Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid, refugees from a world called Hollow Bastion that had been destroyed seven years before. They taught him about the Keyblade and introduced him to Donald and Goofy, the court magician and captain of the guard of Disney Castle, respectively. The duo had come to Traverse Town in search of their missing ruler, King Mickey, who was a Keyblade master. Mickey had set out to learn why the worlds were blinking out of existence. Sora joined up with Donald and Goofy in their search to hopefully find his own friends. The trio journey through various worlds like Wonderland, Olympus Coliseum, and the Deep Jungle, but found no trace of their friends. They did, however, learn more about the Keyblade and the Heartless. A trip back to Traverse Town opened up new worlds to explore including Agrabah, Halloween Town, Neverland, Atlantica, even the innards of Monstro the whale. In the course of their journeys, Sora was briefly reunited with Riku, but the two were quickly separated again. Riku had joined forces with Maleficent, the leader of the Heartless, who taught Riku about the ways of darkness. Riku’s jealousy over Sora’s possession of the Keyblade and his connection to Kairi led to Riku being attracted to the power of the darkness and, eventually, to his possession by Ansem, the seeker of the door to darkness who planned to plunge the entirety of the realm of light into darkness. Sora and company set out to Hollow Bastion to stop Maleficent, only to be confronted by Ansem, who had possession of Kairi and the other six Princesses of Heart, the keys to opening the door to the darkness. Sora, Donald, and Goofy managed to thwart Ansem’s initial attempts to open the door by sealing the Keyhole of Hollow Bastion, but at the cost of Sora’s heart. Sora became a Shadow for a brief while, but managed to return to his true form thanks to Kairi. After trailing Ansem to the End of the World, the trio faced down the dark master himself and defeated him before he could open the door to Kingdom Hearts. However, the door to darkness remained open. While Sora and company were unable to close the door on their own, they finally managed to find both Riku and King Mickey on the other side. The five of them closed the door to darkness, leaving Riku and Mickey on the other side to find a way out of the dark realm. As the previously destroyed worlds began to take form, once more, Sora was once again separated from Kairi, but he promised her that he would find Riku and they would return home to her together.

In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, we see what happens to Sora and Riku following the events of Kingdom Hearts. Sora, while on a seemingly endless path, is guided by his heart to a white castle on the edge of existence, Castle Oblivion. Inside the castle, Sora is told that, as he makes his way through the castle, he will begin to forget but, in forgetting, will begin to remember something hidden. As Sora, Donald, and Goofy climbed through the castle in hopes of finding Riku and Mickey, they began to lose their memories of their journeys. However, Sora began to remember another girl that he had grown up with on the islands, but had become lost to him. Her name was Namine and Sora said that he had lost track of her after she had moved away from the islands. As they climbed the floors, Sora was constantly challenged by the mysterious Organization. Led by Marluxia, the group that challenged Sora consisted also of Vexen, Axel, and Larxene. The four cloaked individuals, in addition to a Riku Replica, made Sora’s journey through the castle a nightmare. However, as they climbed, both Sora’s strength and infighting within the ranks of the group, led to the destruction of both Vexen and Larxene before Sora learned the truth. Namine was not a person he had grown up with. She was a witch who had power over the hearts and memories of people. Namine had been held prisoner and was being used by the Organization to gain control over Sora. While Sora learned the truth, he refused to give in to the Organization’s plots and managed to destroy Marluxia before being placed into a deep slumber by Namine who had promised to return Sora’s memories back to normal. Meanwhile, Riku had been guided out of the darkness by a voice and made it to the lower levels of Castle Oblivion. While there, he was confronted by the darkness within his heart at every turn and did all that he could to combat it while also dealing with the machinations of the Organization. Vexen attacked Riku and used what he learned in battle to create the Riku Replica. As Vexen proceeded to his demise on the castle’s upper floors, two other Organization members, Lexaeus and Zexion, conspired to use Riku to counter Marluxia’s attempts to use Sora to topple the leadership of the Organization. Lexaeus fell to Riku’s Soul Eater blade while attempting to capture the boy. Shortly thereafter, Sora defeated Marluxia, leaving Zexion to dispose of Riku, as he was no longer needed. However, Riku learned to embrace the darkness within his heart and defeated Zexion before Zexion became the final casualty of Castle Oblivion after being destroyed by the Riku Replica at the urging of Axel. The price of his acceptance of the darkness, however, was that Ansem poised to possess Riku’s body for his own purposes once more. Mickey managed to infiltrate the castle, however, and protected Riku for the time being. Riku then met the enigmatic DiZ, who presented Riku with a series of choices. Riku, after finding Sora slumbering inside his pod, was given the option of doing the same to let Namine lock Ansem away within his heart, never to escape. Riku, however, chose to face down his darkness and proceeded to the final sublevel of Castle Oblivion to face down Ansem, once and for all. Despite Ansem’s best efforts, Riku stood victorious at the end of the fight and escaped the castle with Mickey at his side. Riku, now a creature both of the light and the dark, was told outside the castle to choose the road to light or the road to darkness. Riku proceeded straight ahead and said that he chose the twilight road, the road to the dawn. When will Sora awaken? What does the remainder of the Organization have planned for him when he does? What exactly is Axel’s agenda? What will become of Riku? Will the two friends and rivals ever make it back to their home islands and Kairi? Perhaps it is time we found out the answers to those questions…

Now…

Sora, standing at a crossroads, can be heard speaking. “A scattered dream that’s like a far off memory. A far off memory that’s like a scattered dream. I want to line the pieces up – yours and mine.” As the Kingdom Hearts 2 theme song, Sanctuary, plays, we see Kairi sitting on the sand of the Destiny Islands with the vast ocean and a beautiful sunset framing her. Kairi is making another good luck charm as a seashell is carried off by the ocean. The next scene shows Kairi, Sora, and Riku standing near the warped tree on the lone island across the bridge from the island on which they played as children. Suddenly, Kairi is swept away like sand in the wind as her body dissolves, followed closely by Riku’s body. Sora does not seem to notice as he leaps off of the tree and lands, suddenly in the Rising Waterfall area of Hollow Bastion, flanked by Donald and Goofy. As the trio looks up, they see Heartless lining the floating islands in the air. Sora leaps up and destroys the Heartless, making his way to a larger island where Kairi is laying prone and still. The background becomes the Keyhole Room within the halls of Hollow Bastion. Sora runs to Kairi and slides his hands underneath her to lift her up. Sora turns back to see Riku, standing near the giant Keyhole in his dark battle garb. Riku raises his hand to Sora as both his clothes and the background morph into a scene from the islands as a tidal wave rushes towards the two friends. As Sora runs forward, brandishing the Keyblade, he swings the weapon upwards and the scene shifts back to the Keyhole Hall. Riku blocks the attack with his own Keyblade before leaping backwards and, as he lands, he takes on the form of the dark master, Ansem. Sora charges Ansem and attacks. Suddenly the view shifts to the door to Kingdom Hearts releasing light and defeating Ansem. Inside the door, Riku stands as the door begins to shut. Back in the Keyhole Hall, the scene where Sora unlocks his heart and becomes a Heartless replays, quickly followed by his return to form with Kairi in his arms. All these memories rush through Kairi’s head as she stands alone on the beach. As the sky darkens, dozens of tiny lights surround Kairi and she looks up to see Sora, calling back to her, promising that he would return with Riku. Suddenly, the scene jumps as Kairi ages years in the blink of an eye, no longer a child but a teenager, still waiting for her friends to return home. As Kairi stands alone, a flash of a blonde girl appears on the screen and, as the scene shifts to the side, it also becomes a room within Castle Oblivion where Namine sits alone in a chair, drawing a winding staircase. The staircase spins to life and we see Sora, Donald, and Goofy running up the stairs, defeating Heartless along the way. Sora comes to a stop and sees a hooded figure and DiZ standing above him until the scene warps to the upper halls of Castle Oblivion where Marluxia stands before him, wielding his deadly scythe. The scene jumps back and forth, suddenly, showing flashes of the battle between Sora and Marluxia while also showing the battle between Riku and Ansem. Sora hurls his Keyblade at Marluxia and, like that, the scene shifts back to the winding staircase as both Sora and Riku make their way up the never ending stairs. Back in the room with Namine, Sora comes through the nearby door and sees Namine, who is drawing a picture of Sora within his pod. Suddenly, the pod springs up from below Sora. As Sora looks out through the pod at Namine, he slowly falls to sleep and falls backwards through a bright light before flying through the air towards the Destiny Islands. Namine closes her notebook as the scene shifts back to Sora, Riku, and Kairi, lying in the sands of the beach. The scene explodes as a new boy, a boy with short, spiky blonde hair and white clothes drifts down into the ocean. The boy slowly awakens as he slowly flips over and lands on solid ground. Suddenly, birds fly up from the ground and, as the boy watches them fly away, a picture of Sora is revealed on the platform he stands on. As the birds fly away, the scene shifts once again, this time to a beach in the night, with a half dozen dark arches thrusting into the sky and returning to the water from which they come. The moon shines brightly, a silver ball in the background against the ebony sky. A dark portal opens near the base of one of the arches and a cloaked figure exits onto the beach. A voice speaks out as another cloaked figure appears nearby. The voice notes that the other has arrived and says that he has been to see “him” and that “he” looks a lot like the other. The other, without a voice, asks who the cloaked figure is. The voice proclaims that he is what was left. Or, maybe he is all there ever was. The other says that he meant for the cloaked man to tell him his name. The cloaked figure says that his name is of no importance and asks what about the other. Did he remember his true name? The other begins to say that his name is… but realizes that he can’t remember it.

The scene shifts to Sora, who is lying on the beach. Was that static? A voice calls out to him, telling him to wake up. The weird static and rolling effects continue as Sora tells Kairi to give him a break. It quickly shifts to Sora, Kairi, and now Riku, running along the beach. Riku asks them if they give up already. The scene shifts again, this time to the lone island where Riku leans against the horizontal, warped tree while Sora and Kairi sit on it. Riku asks that, if there were any other worlds out there, why did they end up on this one? A shift again to the picture that Sora carved in the cave wall of himself giving the papou fruit to Kairi as a voice tells him that this world has been connected. Sora spins around and asks who is there. He sees a brown cloaked figure standing in the cave entrance who tells him that the world has been tied to darkness. Shifting again, Sora and Kairi sitting on the end of a pier. Kairi tells Sora never to change. Shifting again, Riku holds his hand out to Sora and tells him that the door has opened. Shift. The brown cloaked figure telling Sora that he understands nothing as Darkside blocks out the sky above Sora’s head. Kairi being sucked into the dark door in the cave. Sora…

A blonde boy awakened from his slumber and sat up in bed. He looked around his room, taking in the familiarity of it all, a stark contrast to the disjointed confusion of his dreams. The boy was dressed in a t-shirt and shorts. Another dream about him, said the boy. The boy got to his knees and looked out the window of his room to the town outside. He opened the window and took in the fresh air of Twilight Town, a town perennially on the edge of night. A short time later, the boy made his way to a clubhouse where he sat with three other friends. His friends seemed to be joking and talking about everything, but the boy just sat there, puzzled and distracted by his dreams. The boy looked down at his hands. One of the other boys, talking to the rest of his friends, wondered if something ticked them off too. A second boy said that that was just wrong. The lone girl of the group said that Seifer had gone too far this time. The first boy looked towards our blonde boy and the two nodded to each other. Boy 1 said that it was true that stuff had been stolen around town and their group had a score to settle with Seifer, so if Seifer thought they did it, he really couldn’t blame him. That wasn’t what really bugged him. What REALLY bugged him was that Seifer was going around telling everybody that they were thieves! Now the whole town and their mothers were treating them like they were the Klepto Club! Boy 1 turned to the blonde boy and asked if he had ever been ticked off like this in his entire life, because he sure hadn’t. Nuh-uh, NEVER! But what to do about it? The girl looked like she had something to say, but instead, cast her worried gaze over to the blonde boy. The blonde boy thought about it for a second and said that they could find the real thieves. That would set the record straight. Boy 2 thought that sounded fun. Boy 1 asked what they should do about Seifer. The blonde boy said that, first, they needed to clear their names. Once they found the real culprit, everyone would get off their backs. Suddenly, Boy 2 yelled out. They were gone. Their ---- were gone! Boy 2 tried to clear his throat, as if he had just caught a bug with his mouth. Boy 1 was furious! All their ------ were gone? Boy 1 started to have the same reaction as boy 2 with the bug in the throat. The girl covered her mouth with her hands. Hell, can ya blame her? These kamikaze invisible, imaginary bugs are stealing the words before they can make them? She said that they couldn’t say ------, but why not? Boy 2 asked to make sure they understood what he was talking about. Their ------ were gone. Stolen! The blonde boy said that they hadn’t just stolen the ------, but the word ------, too! Boy 1 asked what kind of thief could have done that. Seifer could have never pulled that off. He decided it was time for some recon as the group ran out of their clubhouse. The blonde boy went last, but suddenly got really dizzy and fell to the ground. In the darkness, a voice spoke out, saying that his heart was returning. Doubtless he would awaken very soon. The blonde boy came back to consciousness and got to his feet. The girl had come back and told Roxas to come on. Ah, so the blonde boy is Roxas! Wait, who the hell is Roxas? Never mind.

A short time later, Roxas appeared in the town square and saw his three friends standing by a shop. Boy 1 called out to him. Roxas ran over to his friends. Boy 2 said that they needed to get the investigation underway. The shop owner said that he never thought Roxas would do such a rotten thing. Roxas said that they hadn’t stolen anything. The shop owner said he would like to believe him, but who else would steal that stuff? Roxas asked what stuff he was talking about. The shop owner said, “As if you didn’t know.” He said that he wasn’t about to tell them what had been stolen and told them to go ask at the accessory shop. The group turned around and walked over to the other shop across the square. Boy 1 told Roxas to ask the shop girl about the missing stuff. Roxas spoke to the shop girl and she said not to let her down. After all, Roxas had been one of her favorite customers. Roxas said that he wasn’t a thief! He said it wasn’t any fun having everyone suspecting him. The shop girl told him that he needed to find a way to clear his name. The woman at the candy shop seemed pretty disappointed in him too. The group turned and ran towards the candy shop. The old woman at the candy shop asked if Roxas had seen her cat around. Roxas wasn’t sure, but as he looked up, he saw the cat standing on the awning above the shop. Roxas reached up and helped the cat down from the awning. The old woman thanked him for his help. Roxas asked if the thieves had stolen something from her too. She said yes, something important. Roxas told her that it wasn’t them that had taken it. The old woman said that she believed them. Roxas thanked her for believing him and asked what the thieves had taken. The woman replied that they had taken her ------. Oh great. Boy 1 said that it seemed the culprit was going around stealing ------. This is getting ridiculous. Boy 2 pointed out that this wasn’t some average thief. Well, no shit Sherlock! He’s stealing ------. Damnit! Now they’ve got me doing it! The girl wondered if Seifer would know anything about this. Roxas agreed that they needed to talk to him about this. To the Sandlot! The group ran off towards another part of the town together.

They reappeared in a clearing in the town and walked up to three other kids. One was a tall, muscular boy dressed in an orange t-shirt and black pants. On the other side, there was a purple haired girl dressed in a blue shirt and white pants. In the middle…ummm…well, it’s a midget. He…she…it…wore a pointy hat and a blue coat. All that could be seen of its face was its two bright yellow eyes. Everything else was blacked out. The kids said that what Roxas’ group had done was pretty low. Boy 1 came back with an, “Oh yeah?” Just then, a tall boy in a long, silver coat with a black skullcap walked into the clearing and told him that was a nice comeback, real sarcastic like. Boy 1 asked him what he said again. Silver coat said that Roxas’ group could give them back the ------ now. Aw crap, not this again. Orange shirt agreed, saying that Roxas and company were the only ones who would take it, ya know. Silvercoat said that it was undeniable proof that he had totally owned these lamers. Oh jeez, come on man. That was lame. Silvercoat asked what Roxas had done. Had they burned it? Not that he needed some ------ to prove that Roxas and friends were losers. Purple said replay. Silvercoat said that now they were talking. He figured that if Roxas’ group got on their knees and begged, MAYBE he would let it slide. Roxas stepped forward and, suddenly, dropped to his knees while the other group laughed at him. However, Roxas had noticed something. Three blue bats sat on the ground near the other group. While the other group was distracted, Roxas sprang forward and grabbed one of the bats, one with a hand guard that gave him better defense. Roxas became calmer. Silvercoat, otherwise known as Seifer, grabbed the other bat and wielded it in Roxas’ direction. Boy 2 told Roxas to focus. Roxas stepped forward and attacked Seifer, knocking him backwards. Seifer just laughed and told Roxas to quit playing around and fight. Seifer attacked briefly, but Roxas managed to block most of his attacks and countered with quite a few more of his own until Seifer was on his knees. Orange and Purple ran in front of Seifer and told Roxas that Seifer wasn’t feeling so hot, y’know! Purple said that tournament decides. Boy 2 raised the box in his hand and looked through it at Roxas, taking a picture and giving him a thumbs up. Suddenly, a slinky silver being appeared and swirled around boy 2, taking the camera and disappearing with it down a nearby alleyway. Boy 1 asked what that was. The girl said that it must be the thief. Roxas and company chased after the silver being, chasing it all the way to a wooded area within Twilight Town. Roxas followed the creature all the way to a clearing where the creature stood before a wrought iron gate that blocked the path to an old mansion nearby. Roxas ran up to the creature and attempted to capture it. Suddenly, a voice sounded out in Roxas’ head that said, “We have come to rescue you, my liege!” Roxas, confused, just looked at the creature before attacking it. However, Roxas was unable to even land a single blow on the acrobatic creature. He felt like attacking it was no use. As the creature slinked towards him, the bat in his hand changed form and took on the form of a giant key. Roxas was startled by the appearance of the weapon and wondered what it was as the key struggled to pull Roxas towards the enemy. Roxas ran around the creature and countered it’s movements with the help of the Keyblade while attacking as often as possible until the creature was no more. The creature disappeared in a flash of light as pictures showered down where it had once stood. Roxas picked up one of the pictures and looked at it. After gathering them all up, he made his way back to his friends and they all made their way back to the clubhouse.

As they stood around in a circle, they looked at the pictures that Roxas had retrieved. The one they were looking at showed Roxas standing with the accessory shop owner. Roxas explained that they had taken that picture because Roxas had been his first customer after the shopkeeper had taken over the shop. The girl said that it was a really nice photo, and gasped. Boy 2 exclaimed that she had just said photo. Oh my God, the word was photo. Seriously!?! Boy 1 asked Roxas to tell them about the picture thief. Roxas told him that there wasn’t much to say. The pictures had just been lying there. Boy 1 asked how they could prove they weren’t the ones who took them. He looked down at another photo, showing Roxas and the shop girl smiling. The girl said that Roxas looked particularly happy in that picture. Roxas, embarrassed, said that he did not. Boy 2 pointed out something. He asked if any of them had noticed that all of the stolen pictures were of Roxas. The girl gasped and figured that was the reason everyone assumed they had stolen the pictures. Boy 1 said that Seifer hadn’t gone around accusing them, after all. Roxas asked if all the pictures were really of him. Boy 2 showed all the pictures and, sure enough, Roxas was in all of them. He thought it would be weird if the thief had wanted to steal the real Roxas or something. Boy 1 told him to get serious. Why would anyone want to steal a bonehead like Roxas? Roxas said, “Oh, thanks!” and the group busted out laughing. With the mystery solved, the four friends left the clubhouse and began walking back to their homes. As Roxas exited the clubhouse, he became blinded by the sunlight and, in the darkness behind his vision, a voice spoke out, asking where it was, what was going on, and who was he. Static appeared quite suddenly and a computer voice spoke out, saying restoration was at twelve percent.

In a room with many computer screens, a black cloaked figure walked up behind another figure sitting in front of the computers. That figure wore red and black clothing with his face covered with red bandages. He said that Organization miscreants had found them. The black cloaked figure asked why Nobodies would steal photographs. Red said that both were just data to them. The fools could never tell the difference. He said they were running out of time and that Namine must make haste.

The screen crackles and fizzes and we are shown the scene of Sora waking up for the first time in Traverse Town, awoken by Pluto licking him in the face. The screen keeps flickering, showing Sora’s first moments out on his own. Wondering where Riku and Kairi were. His first fights against the Heartless in Traverse Town. His first meeting with Leon. His introduction to Donald and Goofy. Learning about the nature of the Keyblade. Finding the Keyhole in Agrabah.

Roxas woke up in his bed, bouncing into a seated position and understanding that the weapon he had wielded the day before had been called a Keyblade. Roxas got out of bed and got dressed. A short time later, Roxas was walking through the streets of Twilight Town, walking towards the clubhouse. As he contemplated the dream he’d had while he slept, he noticed a stick lying against a wall nearby. He picked it up and looked at it, swinging it around like a sword. He finally realized he was acting silly and tossed the stick over his shoulder where it hit a man in a dark cloak who was standing against a nearby wall. The man walked down a nearby staircase while Roxas called out, apologizing for hitting him. As the man walked away, Roxas made his way into the clubhouse where his three friends were all waiting for him. Boy 1 handed him a blue ice cream bar on a stick. Roxas thanked him and began eating as Boy 2 wondered if the four of them would always be together like this. The girl said that she sure hoped so. Boy 1 wondered where a question like that had come from. Boy 2 said that he was just thinking out loud. Boy 1 said that he doubted they could be together forever, but isn’t that what growing up was all about? What was important wasn’t how often they saw each other, but how often they thought about each other. Boy 2 laughed and asked if he had gotten that out of a fortune cookie. Boy 1 said there would be no more ice cream for him and said that today was turning out to be a drag. The girl suggested that it might be because of yesterday’s memory thief. Boy 1 said that wasn’t it, but just that they didn’t want summer vacation to be over, that was all. With that, he suggested that they all go to the beach. And why go to the beach? Because they hadn’t gone once the entire summer vacation! Blue seas, blue skies. They should just get on the train and go! He seemed disappointed when the others didn’t share his enthusiasm and asked why they didn’t want to go. Roxas chimed in that they were all broke. Boy 1 said that wouldn’t matter because he was smart. The three others ran out of the clubhouse as Roxas lagged behind. Boy 2 ran back into the clubhouse and told Roxas to get a move on. Outside, Boy 1 declared that they were going to Market Street. The three took off ahead of Roxas, leaving Roxas to catch up once more. Roxas followed their path and finally caught up with them in the next area, where his friends had stopped to look at a poster that said “Struggle!” Boy 1 told Roxas that the two of them had to make it to the finals. That way, no matter who won, the four of them would split the prize. Roxas said that he was on. Boy 2 said the two of them would have no problem. The girl told them to go get ‘em. Roxas and Boy 1 bumped their forearms together and promised that they would do it. Boy 1 finally said that it was time to get down to business. One ticket to the beach was nine hundred munny, so how much for the four of them? The girl answered that it would be thirty six hundred munny. Boy 1 suggested they also needed three hundred each to spend and asked how much that would be for all of them. The girl said that would be twelve hundred munny for a total of forty eight hundred munny for all of them. Roxas asked what they would spend the munny on. Boy 1 said they would get pretzels, of course. What else was there? Roxas suggested that there was always watermelon. Boy 1 shot that idea down, saying that they were two thousand munny apiece. Roxas agreed that pretzels were the way to go. Boy 1 asked where they were. The girl said that they needed forty eight hundred munny altogether, but all they had was… Boy 2 chimed in that he had eight hundred munny. The girl said that she had six hundred fifty. Roxas said that he only had one hundred fifty and apologized. Boy 1 said that was only sixteen hundred munny, so they needed another thirty two hundred. He suggested that they find some odd jobs and earn some dough. They had until the train left to earn eight hundred apiece. As he took off, he yelled back to them to meet at the station with cash in hand. Boy 2 seemed to remember Boy 1 saying that he had it covered. Roxas didn’t care. The thought of those pretzels was making him hungry. Roxas found himself in front of a Help Wanted board a short time later. There were three jobs available. One involved mail delivery. Another involved moving stuff. The final one involved doing a street performance. Roxas decided to start with the mail delivery. Roxas had to deliver all of the letters along one of the streets in Twilight Town. The faster he did it, the more munny he would earn. Roxas delivered the letters along the street as fast as he could on a skateboard and earned thirty munny. Still seven hundred seventy left to go. He decided to try the moving job next. His job was to take a cart of cargo to a garage at the top of a hill. After a long battle with the card, Roxas finally managed to get the cart into the garage, but the owner felt like he had taken too long and only gave Roxas ten munny. Jeez, I’d like to see him trying to knock a cart up a hill with a bat. With that failure behind him, Roxas decided to try the street performance job. The performance involved keeping a ball up in the air. For his effort, Roxas earned himself thirty more munny. Gee, only seven hundred thirty left to go. Yay… As Roxas wondered what to do, he wandered around and talked to his friends. Boy 2 finally identified Boy 1 as Hayner. The girl told Roxas that Hayner went up the hill to Station Plaza. Boy 2 said that he could also find some jobs at the Help Wanted board in Tram Common, so Roxas headed in that direction. Three jobs were available at the Tram Common board also. There was a job putting up posters, one involving bee extermination, and another that dealt with disposing of junk. Roxas decided to take the poster job first. All he had to do was post posters in the designated areas. Roxas ran around Tram Common placing posters on the walls as fast as he could. For his work, Roxas earned fifty munny. Roxas decided to do the bee extermination next. He managed to earn thirty munny for this job. Next, he decided to try the junk sweeper job. For that, he earned fifty munny. The day continued on like that until Roxas earned his eight hundred munny. Finally, with all of his munny in hand, Roxas made his way up to Station Plaza where Hayner was waiting for the other three. Hayner made sure everyone had arrived as Boy 2 asked what they had. Roxas showed them what he had earned and was instantly praised by his friends for his hard work. The girl said that, added to what they had started with, they now had five thousand munny! She suggested that they get tickets as she and Boy 2 ran inside the station. Roxas and Hayner continued standing together outside. Hayner said that they wouldn’t be able to stay together forever, so they better make the time they did have together something to remember. Roxas was confused and Hayner, sensing the excess emotion of the moment, punched Roxas and yelled “Gotcha!” as he headed into the station behind their other two friends. As Roxas approached the station, he fell to the ground and smacked his face as a stick flew off in the opposite direction. Roxas looked up to see the cloaked man from before standing beside him. The man grabbed Roxas and dragged him to his feet. Roxas was about to ask what he wanted when his friends called out to him and told him they had three minutes. Roxas looked back and noticed the cloaked man had disappeared. Roxas, confused as ever before, turned and followed his friends into the station. Hayner was already at the window and asked for four student tickets. Boy 2 asked Roxas for the money, but as he reached for it, he found it was missing! He remembered the cloaked figure dragging him to his feet and turned around to run from the station. The girl asked what he was doing. Roxas said that he had the money before he fell and he bet that the cloaked guy had taken it. Hayner asked what he meant by “guy”. Roxas started saying that the guy couldn’t have gotten too far, but realized his friends were looking at him very funny. Boy 2 asked what he was talking about. There hadn’t been any guy. Roxas was as confused as ever, swearing he had seen a guy. Suddenly, the train whistled as it pulled out of the station. Disappointed, the kids made their way back out of the station as Roxas wondered what was going on. A short time later, they sat near the top of the town’s clock tower, eating ice cream again… well, all except for Roxas. He sat there in a daze as his ice cream melted and dripped down to the ground, far below. The girl woke Roxas out of his reverie. Roxas apologized for being so out of it. Hayner told him to snap out of it already. Roxas said that what had happened had definitely been weird, though. As his friends looked at him, Roxas said, “Can you feel Sora?” Apparently, when the cloaked figure picked him up, that was what he had said to Roxas.

The screen filled with static and a computer voice said that restoration was at twenty eight percent. Red’s voice came out of nowhere and told Namine to hurry. Back in the computer room, Red sat in front of the computer screens while a cloaked figure stood in the back of the room, tossing the munny pouch up into the air and catching it. The figure asked if it would really be that hard to make a beach. Red said that doing so would simply be giving the enemy another entry point. The cloaked man held out the pouch and asked what to do about that. Red suggested that they could always buy some sea salt ice cream. Ah, so that is what the blue ice cream on a stick was called. Sea salt ice cream. Sounds salty. Anyhow, Red laughed and said that objects from that town must be kept out of the real world, so the pouch could be deleted. The scene faded to black as a weird machine was shown on the screen.

Static overtook the screen once more and showed more of Sora’s previous adventures, in particular his interactions with the denizens of other worlds. Ariel from Atlantica, Phil and Hercules from Olympus Coliseum, Genie and Aladdin from Agrabah, Sally and Jack Skellington from Halloween Town, Mushu, even Riku as Sora journeyed through Monstro’s innards. Peter Pan and learning to fly. Tinkerbell. Cloud. The inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Woods. The London Keyhole…

Back in the computer room, Red sat waiting. In another part of the complex, a blonde girl stood in front of a pod.

Roxas awoke once more and looked around the room, confused by his dreams once more. Roxas got up, got dressed and made his way to the clubhouse, only to find a note from Hayner. The note said to meet at the station. Today they were going to hit the beach and not to sweat about the munny. As Roxas left the clubhouse and made his way out to Station Heights, he spotted Boy 2, named Pence, and the girl, whose name is Olette according to some drawings in the clubhouse, coming up the hill towards him. The two called out to Roxas, when suddenly they stopped dead in midstep. Roxas started running towards them but stopped short when a blonde girl appeared right in front of him. She said hello to Roxas. Roxas said hi back and went to ask who she was, but the girl cut him short. She said that she had wanted to meet Roxas at least once. Roxas was confused that she had wanted to meet him, but she said that she did before she walked off back down the hill. As the girl, who we know full well is Namine, disappeared around the corner, time unfroze and Roxas’ friends began walking toward him again. Pence said that Olette had dragged him along to go shopping. Olette asked if Roxas wanted to go with them, but Roxas was still a little behind. He asked if they had just seen that girl. Pence said that Roxas was just stalling. Olette said that was fine and they would just see Roxas later. The two friends ran off and left Roxas standing there alone, wondering what in the blue hell was going on around here. Roxas wondered if the girl had gone to the haunted mansion and ran off towards Tram Common in search of the girl. He spotted her off in the distance, near the entry point into the woods that led to the mansion. However, as he followed her into the woods, a portal opened up in the air and a bunch of the silver creatures from the other day leaped out into Roxas’ path. The creatures tried to grab ahold of him, but Roxas managed to escape their grasp and ran back out into the Common and past it, towards the Sandlot. Seifer and his crew were all there and he called Roxas a chicken wuss as he ran by, followed by the shifty silver creatures. Seifer and his crew finally saw the creatures that were following Roxas and decided that someone needed to find a weapon and fight them. Roxas spotted a bat sitting nearby and leaped to grab it, somersaulting over it. He returned to his feet in fighting position. However, as before, Roxas could not land a hit on the enemies with the toy bat and was knocked on his butt as the rest of the creatures surrounded Seifer and his crew. Roxas got to his feet, realizing the situation was not good when suddenly, he realized that time had stopped again. As the creatures surrounded Roxas, a voice called out and told him to use the Keyblade. Roxas looked around and spotted Namine standing high above on the Twilight Town rooftops. One of the creatures attacked suddenly and, as Roxas raised his arms to protect himself, a flash of light shone out. Roxas lowered his arms to find himself standing on a platform, one from his dreams. Sora’s form adorned the platform. Roxas was presented with three weapons: a staff, a sword, and a shield. Roxas, realizing he stood little chance against a foe he could not fight offensively, chose the shield to protect himself. Suddenly, the shield became a Keyblade in his hands. As he looked at his weapon, the creatures came onto the platform to attack the young boy. Roxas managed to fight off the three enemies, however, and gained the use of abilities. After the battle, a light shined out from the platform and a small chest appeared. Roxas opened the chest and received a Potion. After opening the chest, a door appeared on the other side of the platform. A quiet voice told Roxas to be careful, as another world laid beyond the door. The voice told him to not be afraid, however. Roxas cautiously approached the door and walked through it, finding himself on another platform, this one also featuring Sora. A walkway led up to a higher platform nearby. As Roxas climbed higher, he was attacked repeatedly by the silver creatures. On the next platform, he opened another chest that rewarded him with a second Potion. Roxas continued climbing, finally reaching a platform that had another door, standing and waiting for Roxas. Roxas found himself on yet another Sora platform. This time, however, a cloaked figure stood behind him. As Roxas backed up, the figure caused pillars of silver to raise from the ground as a giant silver creature took form in front of Roxas. Roxas turned and ran, only to find himself at the edge of the platform with nowhere to go. The creature trapped Roxas in bright circles of light and attacked, tossing him high up in the air. Roxas managed to counter, however, and landed a blow against the giant creature. The creature slunk away, underneath the platform and managed to turn it sideways in an attempt to spill Roxas off the edge. Roxas shoved his Keyblade into the platform and held tight. Roxas fell, but managed to float in the air. As the giant creature prepared an attack, Roxas hurled his Keyblade at the creature and stunned it, settling the platform and dropping them both back onto it. The creature shot silver lightning bolts at Roxas and spun and slinked around the platform. Roxas did his best to dodge the creature’s attacks and deal a few of his own when he could. After a lengthy battle against the creature, Roxas managed to do enough damage, causing the creature to collapse. Unfortunately, it was right on top of him. The creature became enveloped in a dark egg on top of the platform, one that attempted to swallow Roxas until a girl’s hand reached out to him. Roxas found himself alone in a room with Namine. Roxas went to speak, but Namine quieted him and introduced herself. She asked Roxas if he remembered his true name, but the cloaked man appeared from behind and raised Namine to her feet, telling her to say no more. She began to say that if nobody told him, Roxas would- However, the man said that it was best that Roxas didn’t know the truth. Roxas recognized the man as the pickpocket, but the man simply raised his arm, causing a dark portal to open behind Roxas. As Roxas turned to look at it, the man approached him from behind and tossed him through the hole. Roxas awoke on the ground to find Seifer and his crew, taking pictures. Roxas asked what they were doing that for. Purple said they were keepsakes. Orange said that the freaks in the white jumpsuits were gone, y’know. Roxas asked what those things were. Seifer said that they were outsiders and if they didn’t wise up to the rules around there, he might have to take disciplinary measures. Oooooh, look out. We got a badass here. Orange said that Seifer was always looking after the town. Just then, Hayner, Pence, and Olette arrived in the sandlot. Hayner saw the other group standing there with Roxas and humphed before turning and running back up the stairs, followed closely by Pence and Olette. Roxas ran after them, yelling at them to wait up. Seifer yelled at Roxas, telling him there would be no chickening out of the tournament tomorrow. Back in the clubhouse, Roxas’ friends were eating some sea salt ice cream as Roxas arrived. Pence said that it seemed that Roxas had hung out with Seifer’s gang today. Roxas said that it wasn’t like that and asked about the beach. Olette said that they hadn’t gone. It wouldn’t have been the same without Roxas. Roxas apologized and said that they should go tomorrow. They could get some pretzels. Hayner said that he promised that he would be somewhere. Roxas remembered the promise that they had made the other day to meet in the finals of the tournament. After a few minutes, Hayner said that he was outta there and took off.

The screen went fuzzy with static once more as a computer voice said that restoration was at forty eight percent. Back in the computer room, Red and the cloaked man looked at the screens. The cloaked man asked if the Namine that had appeared to Roxas had been made of data. Red said no, that Namine had hijacked the data herself. He bemoaned what she had done as said that she was totally beyond his control. The cloaked man told Red to calm down as Red smacked one of the screens with his hand. Red said that it didn’t matter. As long as Namine accomplished her goal, they didn’t need to worry about what happened to Roxas.

Flashes of Sora’s past journeys appeared again, showing Sora flying into beams of light, reaching for someone in the Hollow Bastion Library, his loss of the Keyblade to Riku outside Hollow Bastion. Fighting against Riku and regaining the Keyblade. Attempting to wake up Kairi. Fighting against Ansem as he inhabited Riku’s body. Releasing Kairi’s heart from within his own. His final meeting with the Hollow Bastion refugees. Receiving the lucky charm from Kairi. Locking the Hollow Bastion Keyhole.

Roxas awoke within his room once more, remembering the promise he had made to his friends and realizing what a mess he had caused the day before. As Roxas ran towards the sandlot, a bystander told him to hurry or he was going to be late. The denizens of Twilight Town surrounded the arena, including Pence and Olette. Pence asked who she planned to root for and Olette said that she would be rooting for both of their friends. An announcer took to the fighting platform and said that it was time for the summer’s most sizzling clash. Today was the day for the Struggle! He wondered who would be the one to break through the ranks and take on their champion, Setzer! Orange yelled out that he meant Seifer, y’know? The announcer continued, asking who would leave today as the new Struggle Champion. Pence and Olette said it would be Hayner or Roxas. A bunch of girls out in the crowd said it would be Setzer, as a tall man appeared on the stage next to the organizer. Another announcer appeared and introduced the four combatants: regular finalist and head of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee, Seifer; coming completely out of nowhere, one of Seifer’s crew and the smallest entrant, Vivi; underground favorite and local attitude problem, Hayner; and, finally, Roxas… Who would win this sweltering summer Struggle? Who would take home the grand prize, the Four Crystal Trophy? Who would take on the champion, Setzer? Only the finals would tell the tale! Roxas checked in with his friends before the action started. Pence told him that the Item Shop was open prior to the Struggle, so Roxas went to the store and bought a couple of Potions, just in case. Hayner was still barely speaking to him and told him to just go listen to the rules. Nearby, one of the organizers gathered the finalists together to remind them of the rules. Each participant had one hundred orbs. Attacking would take away the opponent’s orbs. At the end of the match, the participant with the most orbs would be the winner. Simple. With that, Roxas proceeded to the tournament’s main organizer, who was standing in the ring. Finally, it was time for the finals to begin! Roxas’ first match was against his buddy, Hayner. Roxas still felt bad about what had happened the day before and, before the match began, apologized once more for what had happened the day before. Hayner asked if he was still worried about that and told him he needed to let it go. Roxas said that he’d had a lot on his mind. Hayner apologized only to wonder what he was apologizing for. Hayner smiled at him and Roxas smiled back, happy that their friendship was bigger than their little spat. The two friends squared off as the announcer set up the match for the crowd. Roxas and Hayner battled around the arena, blue and light red (PINK!) orbs flying around everywhere. As time winded down, Roxas realized that he had a solid lead over Hayner and played keep away for the last few seconds until time ran out. Roxas was declared the winner! Roxas ran over to Hayner, who was laying on the ground. He couldn’t believe he had lost, but he was smiling while he said it. Hayner said he figured he had taught Roxas pretty well. Roxas said that he’d had a lot of fun fighting Hayner. Hayner smiled brightly before getting serious and turning away, saying that he hadn’t. Roxas clapped him on the shoulder and said they could go find a way to cheer Hayner up. Hayner chuckled and said that was alright. The friends left the arena as Seifer got there for his next match. Seifer faced down Vivi and told him not to mess with his elders, but Vivi was inexplicably staring at Roxas and Hayner. As the match started, Vivi flew at Seifer with a strength that seemed to be from some other world. Hayner asked Roxas when Vivi had gotten so tough. Even Seifer seemed startled at his diminutive friend’s new found strength. Seifer managed to land a blow on Vivi and scrambled to grab the orb, but Vivi shot out of nowhere and grabbed the orb, then spun and landed a huge blow of his own, knocking a dozen orbs off of Seifer just before the match ended. Vivi was the winner! Wait, what? As Seifer walked by Hayner and Roxas on his way out of the Sandlot, he stopped in front of Roxas and said that that had not been Vivi. While Roxas wondered what he was talking about, Seifer said to thrash him. Seifer, Orange, and Purple made their way out of the arena. By the way, if you were wondering, Orange is actually named Raijin, or Rai, for short. Purple is actually Fujin, or Fuu, for short. Anyway, back to the game. As Roxas stared across the arena at Vivi and Vivi stared back, the main organizer walked up to Hayner to tell him that Seifer had withdrawn from the Struggle for third place, leaving Hayner in third. Hayner was ecstatic. After talking to Seifer and having a practice battle, Roxas returned to the Sandlot for the match against Vivi. Given Vivi’s match against Seifer, Roxas mostly played keep away, but got in a few shots where he could. It was enough to give him a few more orbs than Vivi, leaving Roxas as the winner. Suddenly, as the match was about to end, time stood still once more. All of the spectators froze. Everyone froze, except for Vivi. Vivi stood still, staring at Roxas, until he suddenly morphed into one of those silver creatures in front of Roxas’ eyes. Roxas suddenly found himself surrounded by them. He looked to the bat in his hand and it morphed into the Keyblade, once more. However, Roxas had grown stronger and made short work of the enemies. After the battle, he looked around and saw that everyone was still frozen. Everyone, that is, except for the black cloaked figure standing nearby and clapping. He congratulated Roxas and told him to fight, fight, fight. Roxas realized the man sounded different from the other one. The man walked up to Roxas and, registering the cautious stare on his face, said that Roxas really didn’t remember. The man said that it was him, you know. The camera panned up as the man removed his hood and a flaming mane of red, spiky hair popped out above a familiar face. Axel! Roxas said Axel as if he didn’t know who he was. Well, he wouldn’t, would he? Or would he? Well, we know full well who Axel is. Well, at least we think we do. Anywho, Axel said Roxas was blank with a capital “B”. Man, oh man, even the Dusks weren’t gonna crack this one. Ah, so those silver creatures were called Dusks. Axel drew his fiery chakrams. Roxas said to wait a sec and tell him what was going on. Axel said that this town was his creation, right? That meant they didn’t have time for a Q & A. Roxas was coming with Axel, conscious or not. Then he could hear the story. Suddenly, an invisible wind of some sort sprung up behind Roxas and spooked Axel. Roxas became frustrated and threw the Keyblade to the ground, wondering what was going on. Immediately, the Keyblade returned to his hand. Axel said that he was Number 13, Roxas. The Keyblade’s chosen one. Axel prepared to fight and, finally, Roxas had had enough and got himself into battle position, saying Axel had asked for it. Axel attacked with his flaming chakrams, wheeling them around Roxas and casting fire spells, but Roxas countered and blocked, attacking as he danced around Axel as best as he could, until he finally had Axel knocked back. Just as Axel seemed ready to renew the attack, Red showed up, appearing out of nowhere. Axel said that it had been him, after all, and threw his chakrams at Red, or DiZ, if you prefer. DiZ told Roxas that Axel was speaking nonsense! Axel told Roxas not to let DiZ deceive him. Both DiZ and Axel began calling his name, leaving Roxas more confused than before until, finally, Roxas called out the names of his friends and time began moving once more. The crowd cheered for Roxas as Vivi collapsed, suddenly seeming to come back to his normal self. Hayner, Pence, and Olette rushed the arena as Roxas was declared the new top Struggler! After the battle, Roxas was still a little spaced out as the girls in the crowd began cheering for Setzer, the Struggle champion, who had made his way into the arena. Olette told Roxas to snap out of it because the championship match was about to begin. As the promoter reminded them to have a fair fight, Setzer turned to Roxas and suggested that Roxas throw the match for him. Setzer said that if Roxas let him win, he would make it worth his while. Creeper. Roxas told him to get real. Turned out Setzer was not actually much of a fighter as Roxas laid waste to him. However, Setzer seemed glad at the way the match turned out and left the arena quietly as Hayner, Pence, and Olette ran to Roxas’ side. Roxas was rewarded with both the Four Crystal trophy and the Struggle Championship belt. The crowd chanted for Roxas as the boy held his newly won belt high. Afterwards, the four friends sat together on the Twilight Town clock tower as Roxas held his trophy. For some reason, Roxas removed the crystals, one by one, and tossed them to his friends. The yellow crystal, Earth, went to Olette. The green crystal, Wind, went to Pence. The red crystal, Fire, went to Hayner and Roxas kept the blue crystal, Water, all to himself. The friends held out their crystals and looked at the sun through them. Roxas said it was as promised. They said they would share the reward, after all. Olette said that she had a present for all of them too and pulled out four sea salt ice cream bars. Roxas stood to his feet, but suddenly became dizzy and tripped, falling off the side of the clock tower! As he fell, static sparked across the screen and the scene went black.

Meanwhile, somewhere very far away, a brunette girl walked along a dirt path. A voice called from behind her, telling her to wait up. Kairi. As the girls walked along, Selphie asked Kairi if she wanted to go out to the island. Tidus and Wakka were all wrapped up in their ball game and wouldn’t go with her. Kairi said that she didn’t want to go today and apologized. Selphie moaned and asked why not. Kairi asked if Selphie remembered those boys that used to hang out with them. Selphie asked if she meant Riku. Kairi said that she did. Selphie wondered what had happened to him and said that she sure did miss him. Kairi said that he was far away, but she was sure they would see him again. Selphie agreed and said of course they would. Kairi asked about the other boy. Selphie asked what other boy she was talking about. Kairi said that she was talking about the boy that used to be with her and Riku all the time. His voice used to be there, but now it was gone. She said that she couldn’t think of his face or his name and she felt awful about it. So she had promised herself that she wasn’t going back to the island until she remembered everything about him. Selphie asked if she was sure that Kairi hadn’t just made him up. Kairi nodded, but then suddenly, a boy’s voice said the name, Namine. Kairi grasped her head as the screen faded into static.

As Roxas continued falling, he called out to Namine and asked what was happening to him. Kairi’s voice answered back, asking who he was and saying that Namine was not her name. Her name was Kairi. Roxas responded back, saying that he knew her. She was that girl that “he” likes. Kairi asked who he was talking about and asked for a name. Roxas said his own name. Kairi understood that he was Roxas, but what was the name of the boy that liked her? As Roxas continued to fall, the boy’s voice changed and chided Kairi for not remembering his name and jokingly said thanks a lot. He said that he would give her a hint. Starts with an “S”.

Kairi woke up on the ground. Selphie knelt down beside her and asked if she was okay. Kairi stared out towards the ocean and their island in the distance. A gleeful look came over her face and she began sprinting in the direction of the docks. Selphie was plenty confused and watched her running away towards the beach. Selphie ran after her and managed to catch up with Kairi at the beach. She asked what was going on. Kairi simply knelt down by the water and released a bottle into the ocean. Selphie asked what it was. Kairi said that it was a letter she had written yesterday to the boy she couldn’t remember. It said that, no matter where he was, she would find him. One day. Kairi said that, when she had stopped writing, she remembered that they had made a promise, something important. That letter was where it would start. She just knew it. Selphie hoped that the boy got it. Kairi said that he would and that his name started with an “S”. Right, Sora?

The screen faded into static again and the computer voice said that restoration was now at seventy nine percent. Back in the computer room, DiZ said that his progress was astounding. The cloaked man asked what had happened. Apparently, Namine’s encounter with Roxas had put his heart in contact with Kairi’s. That, in turn, affected Sora. Cloaked one said that Namine was quite a wonder. DiZ said that Namine wasn’t born like other Nobodies. She was capable of interfering with the hearts and memories of Sora and those aligned with him. Cloaked asked whose Nobody she was. DiZ said that he could tell him, but first, perhaps Cloaked would tell him his true name. Cloaked pulled back his hood and revealed the face of Ansem as he said his name was just that. DiZ seemed to smile, for some reason. DiZ laughed and said that it was an honor to see him.

In another room, tall chairs stood around in a circle, chairs of differing heights. A few of them were empty, but a few others held other cloaked figures. Axel sat in one of these chairs and said that it was too soon. They couldn’t seriously want to get rid of “him”. One of the other figures said that it was an order and asked why Axel hesitated. Axel, who had been ruthless towards those who had turned their backs on the Organization. Axel said it wasn’t like that. “He” hadn’t betrayed them. “He” COULDN’T come back. A lance dropped down beside the other cloaked figure and told Axel that he knew what he must do. If “he” didn’t come back, Axel must do his duty, or face the consequences himself. Another cloaked figure, this one sitting in the highest chair, drew out a ball of energy and faced it at Axel. Axel realized that if he didn’t carry out his mission, they were going to turn him into a Dusk. Finally, Axel relented and said that if that was what they wanted, he would do it.

Meanwhile, Roxas fell through the blackness until, suddenly, he sat up in bed. He realized that he had been dreaming, but wondered which parts were dreams. Back in the clubhouse, Roxas sat and stared off into space. Olette stood in front of him and huffed as Roxas still seemed to be a zombie. Hayner said that there were only three days left of summer, so they better not even mention the assignment. Olette said that they agreed that they would finish it today. Roxas, still stuck in his own head, asked whether or not he had fallen off the station’s clock tower. Hayner said that he wouldn’t be here if he had. Pence said that it had been a close one though. Olette told them all to stop changing the subject. Hayner relented and said they would do the homework. Stupid independent study. Hayner asked if anybody had an idea for the topic. Roxas suggested that they could study the stuff that was happening to him. You know, the dreams and the guys in white. Hayner said to forget it. Roxas asked why. Hayner said that things have been weird with Roxas and the town since the photos had been stolen. Pence said that tomorrow, they were gonna search the town and find out what had been going on. Olette said that lots of people were gonna help out. Roxas wondered if all that was for him. He said that he would go get some ice cream, running out and returning a short time later with some sea salt ice cream for all of them. Pence said that there was a strange rumor going around. He asked if they knew about the stone steps at Sunset Station. They used them all the time without thinking about it, but – and here was the weird thing – the steps counted different going up and going down! Hayner asked if he was serious. Pence said that there were six other weird stories like that. It was like the seven wonders of Twilight Town. Hayner said that they should investigate those for their school project. Pence said that there may be other rumors going around and that they should split up. Pence said he would look for the seven wonders. Hayner said that he and Olette would go find some new rumors. Pence said that left him and Roxas to study the wonders. He said they would need to go to the train first. To the station! Inside the station, Pence said that the time had come for their hunt for the Seven Wonders to begin. Hayner and Olette walked into the station behind them. Pence asked if they had already found new rumors. Olette said that they hadn’t found anything on Market Street. Hayner said that the two of them weren’t gonna scoop he and Olette. They were going to the terrace with them. Olette turned and told Hayner that it wasn’t a race. Hayner said that it was now. Roxas said that they could all go as the four friends ran to get on the train. On the train, Roxas’ friends all took out their crystals to look at them, but as Roxas reached for his, he found it missing! He sat back on the bench and looked down. As the train pulled into the station, Hayner and Olette sprinted off of the train. Pence and Roxas took their time and turned to the side. They found themselves at the top of a staircase. Roxas asked if these were the steps that Pence had mentioned. Pence said that the rumor was really stupid. Rai was the one who had counted. He’d said that every time he counted the steps, it was different, y’know? Pence laughed. Roxas asked if that meant that Rai just counted wrong. Pence nodded and Roxas sighed. Pence told Roxas not to worry about it, and walked off. At the bottom of the steps, Pence said that he had a map of the seven wonders and, if Roxas got lost, to come see him. Roxas began to explore the town. One place he explored was an alley where a ball would supposedly come rolling out of a wall. Roxas got to the wall, but instead of rolling, balls came flying out of the wall at him! Roxas turned and ran to the end to plot a strategy before charging back in at the wall. Roxas managed to block some of the balls back at the wall and, after taking a few hits, managed to make it to the wall, stopping the onslaught. Pence ran by shortly thereafter, to see a ball come flying out of the alley. He asked if Roxas had thrown it. Pence figured that explained one of the seven wonders. As Roxas and Pence walked way, a small black portal flickered briefly in the wall. Roxas next made his way to one of the town’s tunnels. Apparently, people had heard moaning coming from the tunnels. Roxas went in to investigate and found Vivi inside. As Roxas ran closer to check on the boy…er, girl…whatever it is, Vivi split into three and made ready to attack! As Roxas attacked, the Vivi’s continued to multiply until, finally, they disappeared entirely. As Roxas stood, trying to catch his breath, the real Vivi appeared from a tunnel behind him and asked Roxas what was going on. Vivi asked Roxas if he was needing his Struggle bat and bet that Roxas was getting some practice. Roxas said it wasn’t that. There had just been a bunch of Vivi’s all over the place. Vivi didn’t know what Roxas was talking about. Pence ran in just then and figured that the mystery voice was just Vivi practicing. Roxas tried telling Pence that there had just been a whole bunch of Vivi clones there a minute ago. Back towards the tunnel, Vivi turned into one of the Dusks and took off back into the tunnel! Pence and Roxas, however, did not see it and the two friends left the tunnel to go searching for the next wonder. Roxas made his way to the southwest part of Sunset Terrace and found a waterfall where people had apparently been seeing doppelgangers of themselves. Roxas looked into the waterfall and a shadowy copy of him emerged for the waterfall, ready to fight. Roxas managed to defeat the shadow version of him. After the battle, Pence came along and found Roxas laying on the ground. Pence yelled out to Roxas and ran to his side. Roxas got to his feet and Pence asked if he was alright. Pence looked over to the waterfall and said it was creepy. He thought he had seen someone, but it was just his reflection. He figured that was behind one of the seven wonders. Roxas lagged behind, wondering how he had seen another version of himself. There was one more place for Roxas to check: Sunset Hill. Apparently, there was a bag there that moved around all by itself. On the way, Roxas found two treasure chests that contained a Potion and a Hi-Potion. Roxas made his way over to Sunset Hill and found a bag sitting by itself. Suddenly, the bag started hopping around. Roxas jumped on the bag and tried to wear it down, finally managing to do so after crashing into a few trash barrels. It turns out it was just a dog that had gotten stuck inside the bag. The dog walked off but as Roxas and Pence talked, the dog turned into a Dusk and slinked off. Roxas pointed out that some of these wonders weren’t exactly wonderful. Pence understood, but he said the next one would be great! Hayner and Olette ran up just then and said they had just found out about the Ghost Train mystery. Apparently, this is the wonder number six that Pence had just been talking about. Roxas asked if they had figured out where the train ran and Olette said that they could see it from Sunset Hill. Roxas and company returned to Sunset Hill and looked at the track below. Pence said that the rumor was that the train was empty. No driver. No conductor. No passengers. No return. The group sat and waited. Olette said that they HAD to get to the beach next year. Hayner agreed, saying they needed to get jobs the second that summer vacation started. Seifer appeared from behind and said good afternoon to the slackers, wondering what they were doing up there. Roxas asked why he cared. Seifer said that he didn’t and then said to tell him anyway. Pence said that they were waiting for the ghost train. Seifer repeated it word for word and then began to laugh. Roxas jumped up and got in Seifer’s face. Seifer asked why it was that looking at Roxas always ticked him off. Roxas said he didn’t know. Maybe it was just destiny. Seifer said that if it was destiny, then they should just be friends. He didn’t feel like cooperating with destiny. Roxas asked when Seifer had ever cooperated with anything. Seifer turned around and laughed a little before walking off. Olette called after him, but he said he knew already. Tomorrow. Just then, something caught Roxas’ eye and he ran over to the railing. He looked out towards the track and saw a train coming towards them, all purple with yellow stars on it. Roxas looked and noticed that nobody was driving it. He turned and told his friends about it, but they just stared at him. Roxas asked what the catch was. There had to be a catch. None of them seemed to know what to make of it. Roxas figured it must be real, then, and suggested they go to the station. Roxas ran up to the train platform a short time later with his friends following behind. Roxas looked at the train, then looked back at his friends. Roxas suggested that they go in, but as he stepped forward, Hayner grabbed his wrist and told him he would get hurt. Roxas was confused and turned back toward the track to find that there was nothing there. The real train arrived shortly after. Pence suggested that it was time to go, but Roxas was convinced that there had been a train there that had arrived from the beach. He said there had been no driver. Right? Roxas’ friends were frightened and confused that their friend seemed to be losing his grip on reality. Hayner finally stepped forward and pushed Roxas on to the train back to their part of town. As the group exited Central Station a short time later on, Pence suggested that they go home and work on the paper. Hayner said that the paper was essentially that the rumors were all bogus. The end. Olette said that they could still make it sound good if they wrote about all the work they had done. Roxas, lagging behind, asked about the last one, the seventh wonder. Hayner asked who cared. Roxas said that he did and asked Pence to come with him. Hayner huffed and took off. Pence said that the seventh wonder was at the haunted mansion before both he and Olette took off after Hayner. Roxas was left on his own to investigate the final wonder. Roxas made his way to Tram Common and went through the hole in the wall, wandered through the woods, and came out in front of the wrought iron gate of the old mansion. As Roxas stared up at his, Pence came up behind him, startling him, and told him that they were going to investigate the mansion tomorrow anyway. He said it was the most suspicious place. Even Seifer’s gang was going to help. Roxas was surprised, especially when Pence told him that Hayner had asked Seifer to help. Roxas asked what they were supposed to be looking for. Pence told him that the rumor was that a girl appeared at the second floor window, even though nobody had lived there for years. As the friends looked at the mansion, Namine stood in the second story window. Inside the room, there were drawings everywhere. Namine called out to Roxas and Roxas answered, mysteriously able to see within the room. He saw a picture of a red haired figure and a blonde figure standing side by side. Roxas asked if the blonde boy in the picture was him. And Axel was there too. Namine said that they WERE best friends, after all. Roxas thought that was funny. Namine asked if Roxas wanted to know the truth about who he really was. Roxas said that nobody knew him better than himself. Namine agreed. Roxas said, though, that he didn’t get what had been happening lately. The view moved on to another picture. Namine asked if Roxas knew who the three in the picture were. He said he did. They were Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They were from his dreams. Namine said, about a year ago, some things had happened and she’d had to take apart the memories chained together in Sora’s heart. Now, she was putting them all back, exactly the way they were. It had taken her a long time, but pretty soon, Sora would be his old self again. She said that the process had been affecting Roxas too. Roxas figured that she meant the dreams he had been having. Namine said yes and told him that he and Sora were connected. In order for Sora to become completely whole again, he would need Roxas. Roxas asked what for. Namine told him that he held half of what Sora was and said again that Sora needed him. Roxas found himself sitting in the white room across the table from Namine. Roxas asked who she was. Namine said that she was a witch with power over Sora’s memories and those around him. Roxas asked what she meant by witch. Namine said that was what DiZ had called her, but she didn’t know why she had this power. She just did. She wasn’t even sure that there was a right way for her to use it. Roxas said that he wouldn’t be able to help her with that as he smiled at her. He thought it was funny because, suddenly, he didn’t feel like he knew himself at all. He figured that he would like to know. What did Namine know about him that he didn’t? Namine told Roxas that he was never supposed to exist. Roxas asked how she could ever say such a thing, even if it were true. Namine apologized and figured that some things truly were better left unsaid. Suddenly, Roxas found himself back outside, looking up at the mansion. Pence was shaking his shoulder and calling his name. He asked if Roxas had seen the girl. Roxas said that he had and told Pence to watch the window closely. The curtains fluttered slightly and Pence said that was lame. It was just the curtains moving. There must be a draft somewhere. He was surprised that the old place even had curtains. Pence suggested that they should head back to the clubhouse. Hayner and Olette would be waiting. Back at the clubhouse, Olette asked how it had gone. Pence told her that the girl in the window had turned out to be a curtain flapping in the wind. Olette had figured as much and said that the report was already done. She asked if they wanted to go find Hayner. He was probably at the station. Olette said that they only had two more days together. Roxas asked what she meant. She said she was talking about summer vacation. Had Roxas forgotten already? The three of them walked up to the top of the station clock tower. Hayner said that, tomorrow, they would search the town. Pence said that the next day was the fair. Olette said that was the last day of summer. Hayner told her not to say that. It would give him an ulcer. Pence told him it wouldn’t happen if he exploded from all the ice cream first. Pence and Olette laughed, but Roxas just stood by, looking forlorn.

In the mansion, Ansem asked why DiZ had shown Roxas the train. DiZ said he had done it because Roxas had missed the trip to the beach. Ansem said that seemed almost kind of DiZ. DiZ asked if the holes in Ansem’s memory had begun to fill in. Ansem said that indeed, the haze was clearing. DiZ said that the same thing was happening to everyone who had ties to Sora. Very soon, to them, he would be like a good friend who had just gone away for a year. Ansem sat down in a chair across from DiZ and said that he had waited, but now he wanted to know. What was it that DiZ wanted? DiZ said that he wanted revenge and that now, it was time for the finishing touches. First, they must dispose of Namine. She had done a splendid job with Sora, but it was high time that she disappeared. Roxas wasn’t the only one who was never meant to exist. DiZ told Ansem to take care of it.

The screen fizzled with static and the computer voice said that restoration was at ninety seven percent. The screen flashed with more images from Sora’s journeys. Arriving at the End of the World. The fight against Chernabog. Meeting and fighting Ansem’s true form. Defeating the dark master. The opening of the door to Kingdom Hearts. Sora and Riku closing the door to the darkness. Sora and Kairi’s separation as the worlds began to reform. Walking down the path afterwards and finding Pluto. Meeting Marluxia on the path. Castle Oblivion.

Suddenly, a fight between two Keyblade wielders. One looked suspiciously like Riku, but older. The other…simply cloaked in black.

Roxas awoke in his room once again, but seemed to fade in and out, taking both his form and Sora’s form. Roxas made his way to the clubhouse and said that he had not been able to sleep last night. However, as he reached for his friends, his hand seemed to go right through them! He tried to touch them but they all ran off. As Roxas stepped forward, he found a picture that showed just the three of his friends. Confused, Roxas left the clubhouse to find out what was going on. Outside the clubhouse, Roxas looked around the alley and saw nothing when suddenly, Dusks appeared out of nowhere and, behind him, Axel stepped out of a dark portal, blocking his escape. Axel said to look at what all this had come to. He had been given orders to destroy Roxas if Roxas didn’t come back with him. Roxas asked if they were best friends. Axel said sure, but he wasn’t getting turned into a Dusk for…wait a sec, did Roxas remember now? Axel’s eyes lit up. Roxas hesitantly said that he did. Axel said that was great, but he had to make sure and all, so he asked what their boss’ name was. Roxas went blank and Axel’s head drooped. He couldn’t believe this. Roxas picked up a nearby stick and it became a Keyblade, once more. Roxas managed to defeat the Dusks and made ready to fight Axel, but DiZ’s voice called out from above and told him that it was time to get to the mansion. Roxas called out to his friends, but this time, the world stayed frozen. As Roxas left the area, Axel came back to being and said that the Roxas he had known was long gone. He saw how it was. Roxas ran towards the mansion, fighting Dusks along the way. Roxas finally managed to make it to the mansion gate, only to find himself locked out and surrounded by Dusks. A vision of Sora using the Keyblade to open a lock appeared in Roxas’ head. Roxas backed up and raised the Keyblade, using it to open the lock on the gate. As Roxas ran through, the Dusks made to follow, but a cloaked man wielding the Soul Eater blade appeared in front of the gate and let it close behind him. The Dusks surrounded the man and charged as Roxas made his way into the mansion. Roxas found himself within a dilapidated mansion. As Dusks continued to attack within the mansion, Roxas explored. He found a library in one part of the house. In another part of the mansion, he found the room where he had spoken with Namine. As Roxas looked at the pictures around the room, his head began to hurt and he grasped it as memories flooded in. The scene changed to Roxas walking his way through a city. As he walked, he passed by Axel, who was standing against a wall. Axel asked if he was really planning on leaving. Roxas said that the Keyblade had chosen him and he had to know why. Axel yelled that he couldn’t turn on the Organization. Back in the mansion, Roxas continued clutching his head until he turned around and spotted Namine. He said that Organization XIII was a bad group. Namine replied that, bad or good, she didn’t know. They were a group of incomplete people who wanted to be whole. To that end, they were desperately searching for something. Roxas asked what. Namine said Kingdom Hearts and Roxas laughed. She asked if something was funny. Roxas said that it was just that he had been running away from the question he really wanted to ask: what was going to happen to him now? He asked her to tell him that. Nothing else really mattered anymore. Namine began to tell him what he was, but suddenly, she disappeared. DiZ appeared behind the chair she had been sitting in and told Roxas that there was no knowledge that had the power to change his fate. Roxas said that, even if it didn’t, he wanted to know. He had the right to know! DiZ said that a Nobody didn’t have the right to know. It didn’t even have the right to be. Roxas asked what a Nobody truly was. Suddenly, Ansem appeared and said they were out of time. There were too many Nobodies! A black portal formed to DiZ’s right and Namine appeared to tell Roxas that Nobody’s like them were half a person. She said that he wouldn’t disappear, but would become whole! Roxas thought about the fact that he would disappear. Namine said that he WOULDN”T disappear. DiZ said that there would be no further outbursts and took hold of Namine, covering her mouth. Roxas ran forward to try and help her, but Ansem blocked his way. Namine wriggled her mouth free and told Roxas not to worry. They would meet again. And then they could talk about everything. She may not know it was him and he may not know it was her, but they would meet again someday soon. Roxas tried to get to Namine, but DiZ puller her back into the portal as Ansem blocked Roxas’ path. Finally, all three disappeared, leaving Roxas alone in the room, all by himself. Roxas left the room and returned to the first floor of the mansion, going through a door in the western part of the foyer. Roxas found a couple of treasure chests containing a Potion and an Elven Bandanna. In the middle of the room, there was a table that appeared to have been crushed. Only a massive blast could have broken that table. However, there was no clue as to where Namine and DiZ had gone, so Roxas exited the room and returned to the library on the other side of the house. Inside, he used one of Namine’s crayons to complete a drawing on the table in the center of the room. The floor emitted a bright light and, as Roxas ran to the side of the room, the floor disappeared completely, revealing a set of stairs that led down a basement area. Roxas opened a treasure chest he found nearby before making his way to another staircase that led down into a dark cellar. In the cellar, Roxas came across the computer room where DiZ and Ansem had been watching him from. As Roxas looked at the screen, a massive jolt of pain shot through his head and he clutched at it as if it would split in two. A memory shot through Roxas’ mind of a white circular room with chairs all around: the Organization’s meeting room. The chairs all contained a cloaked member of the Organization. Some had been revealed, the ones that were inside Castle Oblivion. Others were still cloaked. However, it was the final one that was shown that was truly shocking: Roxas himself! Scenes flashed through Roxas’ head of running through a dark city, fighting with Riku and being captured.

DiZ and Ansem looked down upon Roxas’ true form, sleeping a deep slumber as he dreamed inside his own version of Twilight Town. Ansem asked if the plan would work. DiZ said that it would as long as their created version of Twilight Town held until Namine had finished reconstructing Sora’s memories. Ansem asked what would happen to Roxas. DiZ said that he held half of Sora’s power within him. In the end, he would have to give it back. Until then, he would need another personality to throw of his pursuers. Ansem said “Poor thing.” DiZ said that it was the fate of a Nobody. DiZ activated the computer and the weird machine hummed to life and digitized Roxas, transferring him, as data, into the computer world of Traverse Town.

Back in the computer world, Roxas shook his head as he finally realized the truth. He had been taken from the world he knew and he was going to be returned to Sora to complete Sora’s memories. Roxas drew the Keyblade and lashed out at the computer set-up in front of him. All he managed to do, however, was open another door in the side of the room. In the next room, Roxas was almost immediately attacked by more Dusks. Roxas had powered up, however, and made short work of the enemies. Just as Roxas was about to relax, Axel arrived and told Roxas that he had been simply amazing against the Dusks. Roxas said Axel’s name. Axel, mockingly, said that Roxas really DID remember him this time. He was so FLATTERED!!! Axel raised his arms and a circle of fire shot out of the floor. But, Axel said, he was too late. Roxas, realizing that a fight was inevitable, drew not one, but two Keyblades! Axel seemed surprised, but suppressed it quickly, drawing two weapons of his own, his fiery chakrams. Axel flew in and out of the flames and attacked, knocking Roxas into the air a few times, but Roxas flurried around the enclosed area and attacked and counterattacked with a speed and fury even Axel had never seen from his friend. In the end, Roxas stood victorious and the flames in the room died down as Axel breathed heavily.

Roxas remembered leaving the dark city before and Axel being there to stop him. Axel said that if Roxas were to leave, the Organization would destroy him. Roxas said that nobody would miss him before walking off. Axel, speaking softly to himself, said that wasn’t true. He would. Roxas spoke Axel’s name once more. Axel said that they should meet again in the next life. Roxas said he would be waiting. Axel said he was silly. Just because Roxas had a next life… Axel dissolved into blackness and Roxas was left, standing alone. Roxas, with nothing else to do, moved on into the next hallway and saw a group of pods standing along one of the walls. Inside were two faces he recognized from his dreams: Donald and Goofy. Where was he, exactly? Roxas continued down the hallway and through the next door. Inside, Roxas found himself in a blinding white room. In the middle of the room was a giant pod and standing in front of the pod was DiZ. DiZ said, at last, the Keyblade’s chosen one. Roxas asked who he was talking to: him or Sora? DiZ said that he was talking to half of Sora, of course. He said that Roxas resided in darkness. What he needed was someone who could move about in the realm of light and destroy Organization XIII. Roxas asked why and wondered who DiZ was exactly. DiZ said that he was a servant of the world and laughed. And if he was a servant, Roxas should consider himself a tool, at best. Roxas asked if that was supposed to be a joke, because he wasn’t laughing! Roxas drew the Keyblade and rushed DiZ, only to have the Keyblade pass right through him. DiZ apologized as this was only a data-based projection of himself. Roxas screamed and let loose, slashing through the DiZ projection until he was too tired to swing the Keyblade anymore. DiZ disappeared, but reappeared shortly thereafter nearby and told Roxas to come to where he was standing. Roxas said that he hated DiZ so much. DiZ said that he should share some of that hatred with Sora. Sora was far too nice for his own good. Roxas said no, his heart belonged to himself. He rushed DiZ again and slashed, but DiZ digitized away. However, the pod housing Sora opened up and Roxas saw Sora standing there, still asleep. Roxas said that Sora was lucky. It looked like his summer vacation was over….

WELCOME TO KINGDOM HEARTS 2!!!!