We begin with out Jexi team as they continued to venture through a lush green field, in hopes of finding a way to locate Hope and Riku as well as Mickey. But that night, as they slept under the stars, Sora thought to have had seen something, a figure in a black coat. Before he could ask it anything, it had vanished.
That day following that, they arrived to a large weirdly shaped castle standing before their eyes.
Meanwhile on the Hope side…
"Ugh. I can't believe we've been stuck in here for so long!" Sokka groaned as they kept walking onward through the Realm of Darkness.
"Well, its called the Realm of Darkness for a reason, its a long dark and taxing place." Aqua said. "One where we can easily lose ourselves in."
"Yes. We might even be ripped limb from limb by a dark monster if we're not too careful." Robin giggled.
"Man, you really know how to say bad things like that so calmly." Erica said.
"But seriously Hope, do you think we can actually get out of here?" Medaka asked.
"Hey, Riku helped us close the door. We owe him enough to get him and King Mickey outta here." Hope said.
"Gosh, you really do have a heart of light. No wonder Xehanort wanted you first." Mickey said.
"Yeah. At least he was strong enough to resist him." Riku said. "Me, I was weak. I let the darkness in the first moment it had. Nothing can change that fact."
"Nothing can change what you did, but what you do in the future matters the most." Gray said walking around in his underwear.
"Gray, your clothes." Hope said as gray noticed.
"Ah, how the heck did that happen?" he said panicking.
"Because you have a habit for stripping thanks to your master." Hope said.
"I was being sarcastic!" Gray shouted.
Back in the castle, the Jexi group had just walked inside.
"Gawrsh. What a big castle. Should we really be looking it over?" Goofy asked.
"We have to if we wanna find the king." Donald said.
"What? King Mickeys here?" Goofy asked.
"I just had a feeling he might be." Donald said.
"Cause….honestly, I think I had the very same feelin." Goofy said.
"Its me to guys. For some reason, I feel that our best friends are in this castle." Sora said.
"Strange. All three of you have the exact same feeling at the same time. Even I had it." Jiminy said.
"Hmm. It must be something...with this castle." Jexi said. "But, i didn't get that feeling."
"Me neither." Ranma said.
"It looks like no one on the team had it." Jibanyan said.
"Oh. Now that is peculiar." said a voice as they saw a figure in a black coat stand before them.
"That's it! Who are you?" Sora shouted.
The figure just emotionlessly walked towards them.
"Wak! Heartless! Stay back! I'll use my magic! Thunder!" Donald said. But nothing happened. "Thunder! Fire? Blizzard? Why isn't my magic working?"
"Because, with the exception of that extra group, you three have forgotten how to use your moves, the moment you set foot in Castle Oblivion." the figure said.
"A castle that wipes out memories? And you're not a heartless. You look more like a shady character in one of those organization things I saw on TV, meow." Jibanyan said.
"Correct. I am not a heartless. You could say I am someone who isn't suppose to exist but does. But, we'll leave that in the dark for now." he said.
"So youre one of those mysterious creatures that are born from people becoming heartless. I thought it was just a legend, but they really do exist. Creatures who have no body, but arent heartless…. They're called Nobodies." Jexi said.
"Hmm. So you know about us. You are correct. I am a Nobody. And there is a rule to this place: to find is to lose and to lose is to find." he replied.
"What does that even mean?" Sora asked before the figure vanished and reappeared behind them.
"To know yourself better, you must know the past. Such is the way of this place. In this castle, you will encounter people you have met, people you miss as well as people you love." he said as he ran through Sora, rose petals falling behind him. Sora tried to strike him after only for the man to vanish once more and appear on the steps.
"What...did you do?" Brook asked.
"I have sampled his memories….and made this." he said holding a card.
"What is that?" Sci-Twi asked.
"A card...made from Sora's memories." he said tossing it over to them. "It is a reunion with the people you seek. Hold it up to the door and a brand new world will appear beyond it."
"Alright, so give it to us." Teddie said.
"He did. You're looking the wrong way." Jexi said to the backwards Teddie. "Though I do wonder, what waits beyond the door."
Meanwhile with the Riku and Hope team, they had begun to awake in a strange place.
"Where...are we?" Riku asked.
"Stay asleep." said a voice.
"Who's that?" Hope asked.
"You all should remain asleep, here between the light and darkness." the voice said.
"I can't put my finger on it, but it sounds familiar." Isaac said.
"Wait, the King. He's not here." Riku said.
"It is only all of you, Shining Hope Squad and you Riku, who managed to keep his heart, but lost his whole body to the darkness." the voice said.
"Heh. As if I'm some kind of demon." Riku said.
"Turn from the light. Shut your eyes. Here, blanketed by the darkness sleep is safety. Sleep is eternal." the voice said.
"We arent going to sleep. Were waking up and seeing everyone again." Hope said.
"If that is the case…." the voice said as a card appeared before them. "This is a key to the truth."
"A card?" Gemini asked.
"Take it and all of your sleeps end, as you take the first step toward the truth. But know this: the truth will bring you pain. Will you all still go?" the voice asked. "There is no return to the security of sleep."
Riku then took the card right out of the air. "This seemed like a boring place to take a nap anyway."Riku smiled.
"With you there, brother. Now lets get back at this thing." Hope said.
"That was very well said." the voice said as a light enveloped them.
When it subsided, they found themselves in a large white room with only a single door before them.
"Finally, out of that creepy place." Titanica said as some of them stared at her. "What?"
"Uh…." Sugarcoat said taking a small mirror out of her bag. Titanica gasped as she looked. "I'm...normal sized."
"There are certain...restrictions in Castle Oblivion if you wish to navigate through it." the voice said. "Dont worry, your hits will still hit at your full power, as if you were still giant."
"So, where are we?" Hope asked.
"The basement floors. The lowest one." the voice said.
"So we just move up. Not a bad use." Hope said before looking at Titanica. "I dunno what the big deal was, you look pretty fine to me."
"You really think so? I'm only at my normal height. You aren't just trying to spare my feelings are you?" she asked.
"I mean it. I think you're a little taller than me, actually." Hope said. "I mean, I'm about 6-3 to 5, youre at that evenly." Hope said.
"Thanks. I appreciate that. Maybe I'll figure out how to change my size if possible. But until then, let's work hard to get out of this castle." Titanica said.
Riku walked up to the door. "Here goes nothing."