"Look out!" Naminé cried. The Twilight Thorn pulled back its arm, readying a punch. Kairi could feel one of her leg restraints start to give way. She had to time it just right...
Once the fist was in range, she yanked her leg backward and kicked out as hard as she could. Her boot made contact with the soft jelly-like skin, causing its appendage to be deflected back into the Nobody's face.
Unfortunately, as soon as Kairi's leg came back into position, her leg restraint locked back into its immovable state. Undaunted, Twilight Thorn's hands wrapped itself around Kairi's suspended form and ripped her out of space, breaking her bonds. She immediately tried to squirm into a better position to attack, but its giant hands were too high up her body for her to swing with any force. It was about to fling her into the air when she shouted, "Let me go!"
Stunned that its prey had a higher-pitched voice than any boy that it usually fought would have, the Nobody curiously lifted her toward its face. "Wait, what are you doing?" Kairi yelled. Still bewildered, the Twilight Thorn started to probe her body, its neck tentacles poking around in her armpits.
"NOOHOHO! STAHAHAPP!" Kairi squealed, unable to help herself. "THAAHAAT T-TICKLES!"
"I'm thinking this Nobody's ever seen a girl before." Naminé observed. Kairi couldn't care less as the intense ticklish onslaught continued. While she was wiggling and giggling, the Twilight Thorn started to slowly move its thumbs upward toward her...
"You perv! BACK OFF!" With untapped strength, Kairi hurled the Keyblade smack dab right into the Nobody's face causing it to drop her. The force of the attack sent it flying off the platform.
"Oh my gawd," Kairi panted, wrapping her arms around her chest. "That felt sooooo wrong."
"Maybe because it was someone other than Sora that was doing it?" Naminé asked slyly.
"Quiet, you," Kairi snapped, still red-faced. She looked around the platform, but Twilight Thorn wasn't anywhere in sight. "Where'd it go?"
"Kairi! Above you!" Kairi turned her gaze upward and sure enough, the Nobody was hanging upside-down in the air.
The platform started to rumble as it tilted toward the creature. Kairi desperately tried to keep her footing, but soon the slant was too great and the reversal of gravity resulted with her falling upward. Twilight Thorn charged up a planet-sized ball of sinister-looking energy and hurled it straight into Kairi's path. The entire universe seemed to move in slow motion.
"AHHH! I'm gonna die!" Kairi screamed.
"Calm down! We're not going to die!" Naminé yelled in a barely concealed panic. "Nomura said that we play a big role in KH3! They're not going to kill off the love interests! Try throwing the Keyblade!" she added.
"Are you crazy?!" Kairi shot back. "I'm not going to..."
FLASH!
The gentle waves lapped against Kairi's feet as she practiced her fighting skills with Sora. He wrapped his arms from behind her body like an accidental embrace and readjusted her grip on the weapon. She couldn't help but blush from the feeling of his chest pressing up against her back.
"But what if an attack is coming and I can't avoid it?" she asked.
Sora's lips gently tickled her ear as he whispered, "If you can't avoid the oncoming attack, it's best to charge straight through it."
FLASH!
Kairi knew what to do. She positioned her Keyblade straight over her head and spun her body around, spearing herself right into the sphere of energy. The resulting explosion rang in her ears as both combatants slammed into the platform almost simultaneously.
"Ow..." Kairi moaned, massaging her back. "That was so not fun."
"Come on! Hurry!" Naminé said quickly. "Now's our chance!" The Twilight Thorn seemed to be weakened from the sudden outburst of energy.
Wasting no more time, Kairi tightened her grip and charged with an Amazonian war cry. She hacked and slashed at its most vulnerable spot, its head jiggling with each blow like jelly. Finally, focusing all her frustration and humiliation from being violated by this creature, she leapt into the air yelling, "NEVER AGAIN!" and plunged the Keyblade straight downward into its non-existent skull.
As Kairi ripped out her weapon from its head, the creature stiffened upright before collapsing onto the platform with a gigantic crash. Its body evaporated into purplish, black smoke-like waves that covered the platform, eating up all visible color. The darkness began to seep over Kairi and for the first time in a while, she could feel thrills of fear pulsate throughout her body. She attempted to wave off the darkness with her Keyblade, but her efforts were in vain.
Painful memories started to resurface. The Heartless were swarming the island. She ran to the secret place behind the waterfall, but it was a dead end. The Shadows were creeping closer...She didn't know whether to scream or cry. She was all alone. The last thing she had said before the Heartless had taken her was...
"SORA!" Kairi cried. As soon as the name escaped her lips, a bright shining light burst from within her, eradicating the darkness. A warm, comforting feeling flowed within her as she heard Sora's voice whispering, "I'm always with you too..."
Kairi was dimly aware of her shivering body sprawled out on the ground as she felt her panic subsiding along with the warm pleasure that had countered it. "Are you okay?" Naminé asked gently. Finally, Kairi sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"Yeah, I'm okay. What just happened?"
"I think that you just proved yourself to be a Princess of Heart," Naminé replied.
"Where are we, anyway?" Kairi took a look at her new surroundings. They were in an open-air circular room, lined with waterfalls and white keyhole-shaped coves with hazy blue auras inside them. A beaten-up computer console sat in the middle of the room. Kairi's eyes flickered up toward the horizon and gasped as she saw Radiant Garden's castle towering in the distance. "At least we're still in Radiant Garden."
"There seems to be two exits. A tunnel and the door."
"Let's see..." Kairi brushed away some stray hair that covered her face. "Let's try the tunnel first since it seems to lead outside." However, as soon as she got close enough, Kairi noticed that a glimmering barrier of light blocked the passage. She tried to smash the Keyblade against the barrier with all of her strength, but it wouldn't falter.
"Well, that stinks. I guess, we have to go for the door."
Kairi cautiously pushed one of the double doors open. All she could see was a bright, white hallway with a cascading waterfall lining the inside. "It looks safe enough." With great caution, she started to move forward. Kairi barely went a few feet down the length of the hall when Nobodies jumped out of thin air.
"Nobodies, huh?" Kairi tightened her grip on the Keyblade. "We can take-" Before she finished her sentence, more Nobodies appeared, effectively tripling their numbers. "On second thought, RUN!" Kairi retreated back to the door with the creatures gaining on her. She dived through the open doorway and shoved it closed. Squishing sounds emanated through the door as her pursuers collided right into it.
"I don't think even a Keyblade could get rid of all of those guys!" Kairi huffed as she struggled to catch her breath.
"Remember when Sora and Roxas were arguing about who had the better Keyblade combination?" Naminé asked rhetorically. "Roxas was all, 'I kicked your butt with Oblivion and Oathkeeper! If I knew that you could summon your Keyblade into your hand, I totally would've beaten you!'"
"Oh, yeah!" Kairi giggled. "Then Sora was like, 'You've got to be kidding me! It's Ultima Weapon and Fenrir, no question! You've got your balance of attack and the right amount of combos. Not to mention it's called "Ultima" for a reason! And Fenrir HAS to be uber-powerful because we got it after we beat Sephiroth!'"
Naminé chuckled. "What is it with guys and naming inanimate objects, anyway?"
"I totally agree. I mean, "Follow the Wind", "Decisive Pumpkin", "Sweet Memory"...who comes up those names?" Kairi and Naminé laughed at the ridiculousness. After they finished, Kairi suddenly said, "Oh, that reminds me, when we get back home, I need to put Paopu Poochie in the washing machine."
"You're right," Naminé agreed. "He's starting to give off a fruity smell for some odd reason."
"Anyway..." Kairi gazed longingly at the open sky. Despite being outside, she still felt isolated from the rest of the world. "The tunnel's blocked by some type of light barrier and on the other side of the door is about a thousand Nobodies whose sole purpose is to keep us from leaving. Who in the world would build a place like this?"
"I...think I know where we are," Naminé said slowly. "When I was being held at Castle Oblivion, I remember Vexen mentioning something about 'backing up the Organization's data.' Look around; there's thirteen coves, each of them displaying weapons."
"So this place was built by the Organization?"
"Looks like it. And it seems that their security system was to keep whoever trespassed trapped in here so they could study them."
Kairi didn't like where this was going. "So what you're saying," she clarified, "that in order to get out of here, I've got to fight against each of these simulations?"
"That'd be my guess."
Kairi sighed. "And to think I started this day worrying about getting married..."
"Olette, are you okay?" Selphie asked. The girls had lost consciousness for a few minutes after being blasted into the air. "Where's Kairi?"
Olette shrugged helplessly. "I don't know! I just woke up a few seconds before you did. Maybe someone else saw her."
"With all the action and confusion going on, I wouldn't get my hopes up." There was a tone of hopelessness in Selphie's reply.
"Wait! There's Seifer and Hayner!" Olette pointed out a group of kids that were surrounded by Dusks.
"Seifer?" Selphie repeated. "He looks familiar."
Olette's eyes widened. "You've been to Twilight Town before?"
Selphie shook her head. "I've never even been outside Destiny Islands before the wedding." She clamped the nunchaku under her arm. "Anyway, those friends of yours look like they could use some help."
Not owning real weapons, the group had equipped themselves with their Struggle bats. Rai, Fuu, Vivi and Pence were doing their best to fight as well. Predictably, the foam bats couldn't even touch the Dusks. "Hey, quit playing around and fight!" Seifer yelled in frustration.
The Dusks danced around in their wavy hypnotic motions, stopping only to scratch or whip their opponents with an appendage before dancing out of range. Selphie led Olette through a crowd of Heartless toward the group. Sensing the presence of new hearts, the Dusks turned their attention toward the girls and began swarming the two. Being the only one with a usable weapon, Selphie was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of attackers.
"We need help!" Pence cried. "And better weapons!" As if in answer to his pleas, a familiar scarred warrior wielding a Gunblade appeared, slashing through each Nobody as if they were soaked paper. "What the..."
"You kids alright?" Leon asked, his sword clacking stoically when the last enemy was defeated.
"Who are you?" Hayner asked.
"A friend of Sora's. You sounded like you called for help."
"We would've taken them down eventually," Seifer scoffed.
Leon raised an eyebrow. "And who are you supposed to be?"
"He's Seifer, y'know?" Rai stated proudly.
Leon looked Seifer up and down suspiciously. "Have we met before?"
Seifer eyed the Gunblade and gave him a smug glare. "I think I'd remember a lamer like you."
"What'd you say, you little punk?" Leon growled. Seifer waved the comment off with his usual arrogant swagger.
"Rai. Fuu. Vivi." Seifer motioned toward his gang. "I've had enough of this place. We're going back to Twilight Town."
"Agreed," Fuu replied in her monotonous voice. And with that, Seifer and his gang began strutting away.
Leon's eyes narrowed as they left. Finally he said, "I've only met him two minutes ago and already I hate his guts."
"Don't take it personally," Pence said. "Seifer's always like that." That's when Leon gave Selphie a strange look.
"Aren't you..." Leon started, but then shook his head. "Never mind."