Kairi charged at the great beast, slide-dashed underneath the creature's legs and swung the Keyblade for all its worth. She might as well have been swinging at shadow. Despite their look of solidity, the legs were as illusory as the darkness itself. Darkside raised its giant fist and swung with the force of a sledgehammer. Kairi stumbled backward as the beast's hand plunged into the ground. Pools of darkness began to ripple beneath her feet. She ran a short distance away from the creature to catch her breath.
Kairi started cursing herself. "That's great. I'm starting to become as hopelessly reckless as Sora."
"Well, his heart is a part of yours after all," Naminé said.
Kairi's eyes narrowed as she concentrated on Darkside. "Alright, what did Sora say about fighting this thing again?"
While she was contemplating, Shadows started to materialize out of the darkness. "More Heartless?!" Kairi readied her Keyblade. "Now I'm sorry that I made fun of Sora about having problems with these things."
"Kairi," Naminé said, "I've been digging around in Sora's chain of memories and it says that the upper half of Darkside is the most vulnerable to attack."
Kairi froze for a moment. "Wait, you still have a connection with Sora's memories?"
"Only up to the point when you and I merged together. Everything afterwards is all his."
"Upper half, huh?" Kairi muttered. She ran forward, her hands gripped tightly around the handle of her weapon. The Shadows sensed her presence and leapt with mindless abandon. All they cared about was the fresh heart pulsating within their vicinity. They had no concern with the piece of metal that she was wielding until the Keyblade ripped through their bodies.
Finally seeing her as a potential threat, Darkside plunged its other fist into the ever-expanding pool of darkness. As Kairi got nearer, it removed its hands from the ground, pulling out an orb of dark sparking energy that pulsated with a sinister aura.
"Its upper half's out of reach!" Kairi yelled in frustration. The creature threw its creation into the air, where it exploded into smaller projectiles that rained down onto the battlefield. "Oh no." Not knowing what else to do, she swung her Keyblade wildly at any random projectile that fell near her. The objects that made contact with the ground burst, leaving traces of icy hot debris to fly out dangerously like shrapnel.
"And Sora didn't teach me how to use Reflect yet!" she complained.
"But he did teach us Magnega, right?" Naminé asked. Kairi grinned at the reminder. She raised the Keyblade above her head.
"GATHER!" A single orb instantaneously appeared yards away from Kairi and drew the falling debris to its core, obliterating them. "That was easy." Kairi turned to face her opponent again. "Now where were we?"
Undaunted, the behemoth plunged its fists into the ground again, this time summoning orbs of darkness which started closing in on Kairi. "All right, it's finally in range!"
"Look out!" Naminé yelled. As the gravity orbs homed in on Kairi, her body went into automatic as she did a quick triple axel in the air, deflecting the spheres of energy away with her Keyblade.
"Glad Riku taught me how to Aerial Dodge," she thought as she landed on Darkside's forearm. Struggling to keep her balance, her hand made contact with its surface causing a cold, uneasy chill to flow through her. Kairi knew that if she paused to think, she would definitely fall off. She ran along the length of the forearm, focusing intensely at her target's head.
Kairi shifted her balance as she pulled the Keyblade back. Her weapon smoothly plunged into the Heartless' head like a machete through melted butter. If it had a voice, the Darkside would probably have cried out in pain. The critical blow struck true. Feeling Darkside's solidity start to evaporate beneath her, Kairi immediately jumped off, landing neatly onto the dirt. She turned to see the creature buckle over before fading into nothingness.
The redhead let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness that's over."
Naminé sighed too, but in disappointment. "It's not over yet, girl."
"What are you...?" Suddenly, bands of light materialized over her wrists and ankles. As she stared curiously at them, the light started to grow steadily brighter before engulfing her vision. Kairi felt her entire body go numb as the light washed over her. She willed her hand to maintain its grip onto the Keyblade no matter what.
"What the..." As the brightness faded, she blinked a few times to refocus on her surroundings. There was no longer any wind or debris flying around. Kairi felt relieved that she had managed to maintain a firm grip on the Keyblade. That relief gave way to trepid confusion when she realized that she was no longer standing on solid ground. Her body was suspended spread-eagle in space, no longer above Radiant Garden, but some type of inter-dimensional dreamscape. Directly below her was a perfectly circular platform etched with what looked like a stain-glass window painting of Sora. "Where are we?" Kairi asked as she squirmed uncomfortably in her bondage. "And why am I restrained like this?"
"This would be the Station of Awakening," Naminé explained. "Sora and Roxas both fought here once."
"Really? It seems so peaceful here."
"Don't let your guard down," Naminé warned. "We wouldn't be here unless you're being tested for something."
"Tested?" Kairi repeated. "What do you mean by that?"
Naminé was silent for a moment. "I'm not sure," was all she replied.
The only thing that worried Kairi at the moment was that the more she struggled against her restraints, the more her dress started to ride up.
"If the guys were underneath me right now, I'd probably die of embarrassment."
"Just be glad you didn't go commando today," Naminé replied. "At least you're not wearing your teddy-bear underwear anymore."
"Hey! It's my sixteenth birthday! I figured it was time to start wearing lace!"
Before Naminé could reply back, a Darkside-sized Nobody with sharp, broad shoulders, tentacle-like tendrils erupting from its neck, giant pincer-like hands and a bulb for a head snaked into Kairi's view.
"EEEK!" Kairi shrieked. "How long has that thing been there?! It didn't look up my..." The thought made Kairi's face burn fire-engine red. "Naminé! You're a Nobody, right? Isn't there any way to talk with it?"
"Hello! I merged with you, remember? I don't physically have a body anymore!"
"Just what is that thing?" Kairi asked nervously. "And why is it staring at me like that?"
"It's called a Twilight Thorn and it usually plays around with its prey." The Nobody's "face" loomed closer to Kairi's struggling body.
"Oh my gawd! It's not going to kiss me, is it?!" Kairi asked in a panic. "I never even got to kiss Sora yet!"
"Kairi," Naminé sighed, "I think you need a serious vacation."
"LIGHT!" A crystal sphere of light enveloped Sora. He could feel the warm, pleasurable feeling of power rush from his heart into every point of his body. The sphere shattered into nothingness to reveal Sora's Final Form. The Keyblades Ultima Weapon and Fenrir hung in the air behind him as he hovered a couple feet off the ground. He was now at the same head height as Riku.
"What the...?" Riku stared at Sora incredulously. "You wore your traveling clothes underneath your tuxedo?"
Sora shrugged. "Hey, I was having second thoughts, okay?"
Riku stood silent for a moment. "Uh, Sora? Hate to break this to you, but your tuxedo..." Riku indicated the scraps of cloth flying around Sora's glowing form. "It's just been incinerated by your Driving." The only remnants of Sora's wedding garb were floating embers falling gently to the ground. Sora slapped his forehead in frustration.
"Oh man, Tidus is so going to kill me." Riku was about to tease him about that point, but then he noticed Donald and Goofy fighting alongside Queen Minnie and King Mickey in the distance.
"Wait a minute," Riku started slowly. "I thought Driving into Final Form causes Donald and Goofy to disappear."
"Surprised?" Sora smirked with a confident air. "Well, I found out two ways to get around that rule."
"How so?"
"First, since Roxas' heart is in sync with mine, my Drive Forms' expectancy increased to an infinite degree."
"Which means you can pretty much Drive whenever you want for as long as you want?" Sora nodded. "I think your Final Form would've looked a whole lot better than that tuxedo you were wearing."
"Yeah, it's more comfortable too. The tuxedo was starting to give me a wedgie."
Riku shook his head in amusement. "Hopeless. Anyway, what was the other way?"
Sora gave his silver-haired friend a mischievous grin. "I activated the cheat code that allows me to Drive without losing party members."
