The two boys returned to Castle Oblivion as yet another world shut behind them. Sora walked ahead enthusiastically, but Riku lingered behind. Now that they were out of the action in Agrabah, his mind couldn't help but wander to the odd sensation that he had felt while holding Kairi's charm. It felt almost like déjà vu, like his mind was playing games with him... but now he found himself thinking about it more and more.

"Who was that I remembered earlier? It wasn't Kairi..." he mumbled to himself. He racked his brain, trying to think back to his life on the islands. "Was there... someone else? Who was it? Her name... I remember, I do... it was... it was..."

"Riku?" Sora asked suddenly, walking up to him. Riku realized that he had stopped walking in his concentration. "You okay? You wanna find the King, don't you?"

"Well, yeah," Riku said, annoyed at Sora's interruption. He cursed under his breath. "Dammit... it was on the tip of my tongue, too..."

A room, blindingly white...

Sunlight spilling over a birdcage, a chair, a crystal ball...

A lone blonde girl silently sketching...

The two climbed the small set of steps leading to the next doorway. Riku suddenly froze.

"I... I remember!" he exclaimed. When Sora looked back at him questioningly, he continued. "There was another girl."

"What?" Sora said, surprised. His eyes flitted around the room. "Where?"

Riku shook his head, annoyed and yet excited at the same time. "No, no, I mean on the islands. Besides you and Kairi, there was one other girl we were friends with... remember? The four of us used to play together all the time."

Sora frowned. "What? No, there wasn't... unless you're talking about Selphie, but we never really played with her much..."

Riku dismissed his comment with a wave of his hand. "No, not Selphie. A blonde girl. It was when we were a lot younger... you probably don't remember. I forgot all about her... I think she went away when we were still little."

Sora folded his arms. "That's weird. Why are you remembering all that now?"

"I don't know," Riku said, shaking his head. "But it's been coming back to me in places the further we go."

"Really? What was her name?" Sora said, clearly straining himself trying to remember.

"I don't remember," Riku admitted. He gave a weak laugh. "I feel like an idiot. We keep saying we won't forget our friends... and I can't even remember her name."

"At least you remember that much," Sora said with a sigh. "I don't remember a thing."

Riku shrugged. He held up the last world card; it showed a picture of a whale. "It'll probably come back to me, just like the rest. It's pointless to just stand around, so let's keep going."

A cowled man stepped forth from the shadows. Larxene turned as he approached.

"Larxene," he said quietly. "What's this I hear about Sora coming into the picture?"

"Just a small bump in our plans," Larxen said with a scowl, looking down at the crystal ball.

"He cannot stay here," the man said, staring at Larxene through the shadows of his hood. "Everything we've worked for may become undone. His memories do not mesh with those of Riku."

"So what do you want me to do?"

The man turned to go. "Take care of Sora. I think you know what to do."

Larxene grinned. Static electricity crackled across her fingers, and small yellow throwing knives appeared in her hands.

"Yes, I believe I do."

"What a weird place! Everything's kinda springy and soft," Sora commented, staring up around them. They appeared to be in some kind of a huge cave. Riku touched one of the pinkish walls with a gloved hand; it was just as Sora said.

"It's kind of warm too," he noted. Looking down at the glove, he grew confused. "And... wet? Where in the world are we?"

"Shouldn't you be a little more worried?" a small voice said from behind them. The two boys whipped around.

"Who's there?" Riku demanded, summoning the Keyblade.

Out of the darkness stepped a small boy... made of what looked like wood. "Don't you get it? You're inside the belly of Monstro the Whale."

Realization hit Riku. That's right. This was the world he had been trying so hard to remember before. The one with the puppet... where he had betrayed Sora. He had done it all for Kairi, but that was no real excuse. He had also partly done it for the power; he knew that now.

Sora seemed to have remembered as well; a shadow passed over the younger boy's face for a moment. Just as quickly, though, Sora replaced it with a small smile.

"It's okay," he said quietly to Riku, as if reading his thoughts. "I don't remember exactly what happened, but... it's all in the past. We're friends again now, right? So don't worry about it."

Riku turned red. "Thanks... Sora."

"So, we're inside of a whale?" Sora said, loud enough for the puppet to hear. "You're... Pinocchio, aren't you?"

"I sure am!" Pinocchio said cheerfully. "But gosh, how did you end up inside Monstro, anyway?"

"Er... we came in a special way," Riku said, glancing at Sora. Explaining everything to an illusion was pointless.

"That's too bad," the puppet said in disappointment. "I was hoping you could help me and Father get out of here."

"Your father?" Riku said with a frown. How could a puppet have parents?

"Yeah, Geppetto, the clockmaker," Pinocchio said cheerfully. "Wanna meet him? Follow me!"

Shrugging, Sora and Riku followed the puppet through the innards of the whale. This place was utterly disgusting; Riku didn't see how he could have ever forgotten being in such a bizarre place.

Eventually they came upon the wreckage of a small ship. An old man with glasses and a bushy white mustache was gathering firewood from the debris scattered around. He glanced up when he noticed them approaching.

"Oh, do we have guests?" Geppetto said, a sad smile on his face. "Did you two get swallowed up as well? I'm terribly sorry to hear that. I wish I could help you boys out, but it seems I'm just as trapped as you are."

Riku nodded. "Well, maybe we can find a way out." He didn't want to think about the obvious exits from a living creature, but they were there if need be. It wasn't as if Geppetto the illusion could actually leave anyway, but they might as well help him out while they were here.

"It must be awful being stuck inside Monstro," Sora said sadly.

To their surprise, Geppetto shook his head with a smile. "Not if Pinocchio and I are together. I couldn't live without him. There's nothing better than being reunited with someone you care about."

Sora nodded. "I feel the same way, Geppetto." Turning his head, he grinned at Riku, who grinned back. It did feel good being with Sora again. The two friends really were a great team.

"I don't care if I'm trapped here, so long as I have Pinocchio," Geppetto continued, nodding. "He's such a good boy."

Riku nodded, getting a little bored with the man's doting. "Well, we'd better start looking for a way out. Thanks for your help, Geppetto!"

"Wait, Riku," Sora said, looking around. "Where's Pinocchio? He was just here..."

Riku shrugged. "He's just a puppet. I'm sure he'll be fine."

Sora glared at him. "That's what you said last time! But Pinocchio has a heart, doesn't he? So, he matters!"

Riku groaned. Was Sora really going to do this now? All he wanted to do was find a way out of this whale so that they could keep going through Castle Oblivion.

"Sora, need I remind you that none of this is real?" Riku said in aggravation. "Even if the real Pinocchio has a heart, this one definitely doesn't."

Sora's face fell. "Yeah... I guess that's true."

Riku motioned for them to keep going. "Don't worry, if we find Pinocchio we'll bring him back. He can't be far off."

Sora considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, so long as we help him if we find him."

Riku nodded, then closed his eyes in thought. Now, how were they supposed to get out? They seemed to be inside of Monstro's mouth at the moment, but even from here Riku could see that the whale's teeth were clamped tight. There was bound to be some kind of exit in the back, but... Riku didn't want to take that route for obvious reasons. Surely there was some other orifice they could leave from. He thought back to their studies in marine biology back on the islands. Obviously he had never dissected space whales, but they had at least learned about oceanic whales in their textbooks. Whales were mammals, which meant they needed air...

Riku's eyes snapped open. "The blowhole! We can leave through the blowhole!"

Sora looked confused. "What? What's that?"

The older boy sighed. "Let's make a deal. If we ever get back to the islands safe and sound, you have to actually pay attention in school. You're embarrassing yourself."

Sora turned red, but ignored the comment. "Well, we should tell Geppetto and Pinocchio! They might want to leave through there too."

"But they can't actually leave this world," Riku said, growing frustrated. "They're illusions, they're stuck here!"

Sora frowned, clearly frustrated with Riku's logic. "Well, yeah, but... they..."

Riku couldn't help but to smirk. "What?"

"I just like helping people, okay?" Sora snapped. Riku chuckled.

"At least you came out and admitted it. I always knew you had a hero complex."

"Shut up," Sora mumbled, blushing. "It just feels wrong to abandon them... even if they're not real."

Riku rolled his eyes. "Well, if you're going to make such a huge deal over it, let's go tell them. Then can we leave?"

Sora nodded with a smile. Riku chuckled again, then nudged Sora on the shoulder as he began walking again. "Come on. If we're going to be wasting time with illusions, we should at least hurry while doing it."

They hadn't gotten very far from Geppetto's broken ship, so it wasn't long before they had spotted the old man once more.

"We think we may have found a way out of Monstro," Sora said excitedly. "Through his, er... blow...hole?" He looked to Riku, who nodded approvingly.

"Oh, how wonderful!" Geppetto said, his face brightening considerably. "But we can't begin leaving without Pinocchio... have you found him yet?"

Riku sighed, wincing. "Er, not yet, but..."

Geppetto shook his head, going back to gathering driftwood. "Well, until then I'm staying put. I won't be separated from my little boy again."

Sora turned to Riku in distress, whispering to him urgently. "Riku, we've gotta find Pinocchio! Otherwise he and Geppetto will be stuck here forever!"

"Sora, they're just-"

"Illusions, I know," Sora said, frowning. "You know, you're starting to sound a lot like your old self. So what if they're just illusions? They're still people, sort of... at the very least, they're the people from your memories. If an illusionary Kairi was here, would you still abandon her because she wasn't real?"

"Well... no," Riku said, turning red as Sora's words struck him. Even though the puppet and old man weren't real, he could understand where Sora was coming from when he put it in terms he could sympathize with. He sighed. "I guess you're right. Still, we shouldn't waste too much time." He turned to Geppetto, who hadn't been paying attention to their conversation. "Geppetto, would you come with us to help us find your son? You know him better than we do, and might have an idea of where he might be."

Geppetto thought for a moment, then nodded. "Just let me gather up our things. If we find Pinocchio on the way, maybe we can finally go home!'

Riku nodded. Now they were getting somewhere.

Soon enough, Geppetto had gathered together what was left of their shipwrecked belongings, and the trio headed out in search of the puppet. Riku subtly led the search party towards where the blowhole should be within the whale, although it made little difference; the path was relatively straightforward.

After nearly half an hour of walking and calling Pinocchio's name, they finally spotted him. He was standing at the middle of a large chamber, staring up at what might be considered the ceiling. Light was shining down from far above.

"Poppa!" Pinocchio said cheerfully as he heard them approach. "Look what I found! It's a way out!"

"Oh, Pinocchio!" Geppetto cried, scooping him up into his arms. "You mustn't run off like that. I was worried about you!"

"Good job, though," Riku said approvingly, looking up at the blowhole. "You did find the way out." The only problem was, how were they to get up there?

There was an odd slithering sound nearby. Riku whipped around, instincts taking over, but he reacted too slowly; both Geppetto and Pinocchio had been swallowed up by a huge cage-like Heartless.

"Pinocchio, Geppetto!" Sora cried. He tugged his sword from its scabbard, charging at the Heartless. Riku was close behind.

The two began to strike at the parasitic monster, but it retaliated by spewing acid all around the room. The ground shook violently, and a deep wheezing sound erupted from the whale's depths as if Monstro was reacting to their attacks - and he probably was.

"I have an idea!" Riku said suddenly, knocking back the Heartless's tentacles. "Monstro's getting irritated by all of this fighting - what if he gets so agitated that he sneezes us out?"

"But Geppetto and Pinnochio are still stuck inside of the Heartless's cage," Sora said, pointing at the beast's long, spaced-out teeth. Their two friends could be seen within.

Riku said nothing, attacking the Heartless with more determination. Sora followed suit. The Heartless fought to keep up with their attacks, but it wasn't able to block all of them. It began to weaken, it's jaws relaxing slightly. Riku spotted this; reacting quickly, he stabbed the Keyblade deep into one of the Heartless's eyes.

It howled in pain, it's mouth opening wide; Sora rushed over and helped Geppetto and Pinocchio step down out of the monster's jaws.

Now enraged, the Heartless began to thrash violently, its tentacles lashing out at everything in sight - Sora, Riku, Geppetto, Pinocchio, even the walls of the chamber. The room itself began to convulse violently; Riku's eyes widened in alarm and excitement as he heard Monstro inhaling deeply.

"NOW!" Riku shouted, grabbing Sora by the arm. Sora, in turn, grabbed Geppetto, who was holding Pinocchio.

The sound was deafening, like a volcano erupting. They were buffeted around the chamber by the fierce winds, their eyes watering as they were torn higher into the air. The ceiling and the round circle of light rushed towards them-

-And both Sora and Riku tumbled forcefully into the halls of Castle Oblivion.

Sora tried getting to his feet, but stumbled, still dazed from their forceful ejection from Monstro. He looked around the white hallway expectantly. "Geppetto! Pinocchio? Where are they?"

Riku rubbed his head where it had struck the marble floor. "Sora, they were just illusions. They can't leave the memory worlds, remember? They aren't real."

"Oh yeah," Sora said with a sigh. "Well... at least they were able to escape. Sort of."

Riku nodded, his head throbbing too much to entertain such a pointless argument. He managed to get to his feet, and the pain subsided somewhat. Still, while Sora did manage to forget about the nature of the memory-worlds, he was still correct to a degree. Riku had to admit that he felt a little bit relieved after helping Pinocchio and Geppetto this time around, as if he had redeemed himself for his actions in the past... even if these people were only illusions. They might not have hearts, but Riku did. Non-existence was no reason not to help someone.

What was he saying? He smirked. Was Sora's hero complex beginning to get to him?