The Keyblade bearing warriors and their friends made their way up to where their female friends were waiting for them.

"Kairi, Misty, you were great!" Donald congratulated. Kairi flipped her hair and giggled while Misty smirked and said, "Well, what'd you expect?"

Ash and Misty watched as Kairi and Sora hugged each other in a seemingly romantic embrace that rivaled cliché soap operas.

"Wait, Ansem!" Sora shouted as the man who appeared to be Ansem paused. "I mean, Xehanort's Heartless," he corrected before continuing. "I never thought for a second I'd ever see you again." He paused for a moment while Ash wondered how long he had been standing there before they had noticed. "Just thinking about all the things you did makes me really mad but…you saved Kairi right?"

"And Misty!" Ash chimed.

"And Misty," Sora nodded, "We have to be grateful for that…thanks!"

Suddenly, Kairi ran up to the man, grabbing his wrist and desperately crying, "Riku! Don't go!" This prompted a look of shock from everyone.

"Huh?" Goofy and Pikachu said in unison.

"K-Kairi, what did you just say?" Sora asked, stunned.

"Riku," Kairi answered simply.

'Xehanort's Heartless' turned away before saying, "I'm no one; just a castaway from the darkness."

Kairi frowned and turned her head back to Sora, "Sora, come here! Say something to him!" Kairi pleaded.

Sora tilted his head, confused but agreed all the same. He walked over to the two of them and looked to Kairi.

She took the silver-haired man's in hers and took Sora's hand and put them together. "You'll understand," she murmured as Sora placed his hand on top of the man's.

Sora shot Kairi a quizzical look and she merely smiled at him, blue eyes shining brightly, "Close your eyes," she told him.

Sora looked back to the man curiously before doing as he was told.

Meanwhile, Ash, Misty, Pikachu, Donald and Goofy were watching the scene while eating popcorn.

"Who do you think that man is, Pikachu?" Ash asked, shoving several kernels into his already stuffed mouth.

Pikachu shrugged and stole several kernels from Ash bag while Misty muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Pig."

Suddenly, the room turned black yet everyone could see clearly. Sora slowly opened his eyes and saw his friend, Riku, standing there. He still wore the Organization XIII robes, and silver hair had gotten longer. Sora's eyes widened and as the vision faded away and Sora stared at him with a shocked face.

"Riku…it's Riku…Riku's here!" Sora fell to his knees, clutching his hand. Tears rolled down his face as he stared up at the man. "I looked for you!" he said, voice cracking slightly.

"Come on, Sora, you have to pull it together," said Riku encouragingly, his voice losing the deep tone it had possessed moments earlier.

"I looked everywhere for you!" Sora cried, grasping Riku's hand tighter.

"I didn't want you to find me," Riku muttered, feeling ashamed.

"But wasn't he the one who was helping us?" Ash asked.

"Huh?" Donald asked.

"Those clues we kept findin'," Goofy realized, "That musta been Riku."

Riku went on to explain that he was worried that they would never catch on. "Sora never did pick the brightest friends."

"Hey!" Ash, Donald, and Goofy scowled.

"Ash, admit it. You may be a great Pokémon trainer but you never were good at thinking," Pikachu stated drily.

Ash's scowl deepened as he and Pikachu argued while Misty had half a mind to whip out her 'Magic Mallet' and bash Riku with it but thought better of it; the mood was too sentimental to break.

Sora sweatdropped before turning back to Riku, "Why didn't you let me know you were okay?"

"I told you. I didn't want to be found. Not like this…" Riku looked at himself briefly before continuing, "I fought with Ansem—with Xehanort's heartless…when it invaded my heart and I won. But to use to power of darkness, I had to become Ansem myself."

"Does this mean you can't change back?" Kairi asked, concerned.

"This battle isn't over," Riku answered, "And until it is, I still need the power of darkness."

"Well then, let's finish it. You're still Riku no matter what," said Sora as he stood up. He looked to his friends called, "So how 'bout it? Think we handle won last rumble together? The King's waiting!"

"Yeah! Let's get going!" Donald replied as the group headed towards the next room.

Meanwhile, Mickey and Ansem the Wise find the closest edge to Kingdom Hearts.

"This spot should do," Ansem nodded as he set the device down.

"What's this gadget for?" Mickey asked, eying the machine curiously.

"It's a device to reclaim Kingdom Hearts and encode it as data," Ansem explained to the Keyblade Wielder.

"Not sure I get it," Mickey admitted.

Ansem the Wise chuckled, "I do not claim to know the outcome of this venture, either.

After all...Hearts are unpredictable."

He starts up the device, which shoots a steady beam at Kingdom Hearts, beginning the enconding process.

Meanwhile, Sora, Ash, and their friends find themselves in the Proof of Existence. It's a relatively small room when compared to some of the other areas in the world. The party noticed 14 markers, one for each member.

"Does anyone else get the feeling that this place feels like a graveyard?" Ash asked, looking at the markers.

"Actually, I kinda got that impression too," Misty and Pikachu admitted.

"It's not so much a graveyard as it is a…hallway of sorts…each one leads to a member's resting place."

They shrug and decide to enter one of the gravestones, leading the party to Havoc's divide.

"What's that?" Sora asked, looking at the beam of light aimed at Kingdom Hearts.

"It's the King and DiZ-I mean, Ansem the Wise. They must be higher up," Riku answered, "We better hurry."

Sora noded. They made to leave, but Luxord appeared, separating Sora and Ash from the rest of the group. He snapped his fingers and large cards rose and cover the rest of the party. The cards spun around them. Luxord snapped his fingers again, and the cards flew away, leaving Ash and Sora's friends missing.

"You!" they exclaimed.

" I'd rather we just skip the formalities," Luxord stated as the boys summoned their Keyblades and assumed a battle stance.

Luxord wasted no time in changing Sora into a die so Ash quickly dismissed his Keyblade, grabbed his friend and ran around the board while trying to dodge Luxord attacks.

Ash, one thing you should know about Luxord is that he likes to manipulate time. You will have to use the cards to turn the tides into your favor Rallen told him from within.

But I've never gambled before Ash mentally screamed.

But I have and I will teach you Rallen reassured him as Sora reverted from his dice form and lay in Ash's arms.

Well, this is awkward both boys thought. Luxord seized his chance, striking them both with his cards.

Ash threw Sora out of his arms and summoned his Keyblade. Sora landed on his butt, frowning while he brushed off some nonexistent dust before summoning his Keyblade and helping the Pokemon trainer beat the gambler.

When Rallen said he was good at gambling, it was understatement. Ash challenged Luxord every chance he got and ended up getting healed every time.

Luxord hid under the cards and shuffled them. Sora flipped them one by one and when he found Luxord's card, both boys rushed in to team up on him. Sora attacked while Ash continued to strike with Thundaga spells.

Luxord hid once again and Ash decided to save some time and use a Thundaga spell, destroying all the cards. Sora tried to get a strike in but was too slow.

Luxord hid one more time and both boys resorted to flipping cards, several of which exploding, causing minor burns.

Eventually, Luxord came out of hiding and began attacking them. Sora cast a Reflega spell, block and countering the damage while Ash jumped a slashed him several times from midair.

"Look who's on top of the game!" Luxord shouted, his voice echoing. The cards scattered all across the field while the two boys started running for their lives. They dodged all of Luxord's card throws and eventually found themselves playing a last gamble. Sora let Ash handle this and watched on in amazement as Ash stole Luxord's cards and skillfully threw them at the gambler, stunning him.

Sora rushed in for the final blow, ending the battle. "You play the game quite well."

Ash holds his Keyblade and ran at Luxord for a final blow. Luxord surrounded himself with cards. Ash slashed right through the cards, slicing them in half and striking Luxord.

"How could you Rallen...Roxas..." said Luxord, his breathing labored.

"That's SORA and ASH!" they snapped as Luxord faded away. The cards reappear and return their friends.

"You okay?" Kairi asked them.

"Yeah! No worries," Sora replied and then turned to door that led them there, "Let's keep moving."

They return to the previous room and noticed that another path started glowing. The path had a picture of a claymore on it.

"I can sense Saïx. He's using something to boost his power. If we can figure out his power source, we may be able to use it, too."

"Cool!" Ash grinned as they entered the pathway.

They entered Addled Impasse and find Saïx looking up through a large window at Kingdom Hearts. He smiled a creepy smile at them when they entered.

"Only you could have made it this far in one piece...Roxas… and Rallen," Saïx muttered, claymore in hand.

"That's getting really old!" Sora snapped. Donald, Goofy and Pikachu stand infront of the two of them.

"Yeah! They're Sora and Ash!" they snapped.

"Different name, same fate," Saïx muttered as his claymore quickly sharpened. He thrusted the weapon forward and a powerful gust of wind shot forward. Riku ran over to cover Kairi and Misty while Pikachu flew into Misty's arms. Suddenly, a barrier formed, blocking the four of them out.

"Are you kidding me? When do I get some action?" Pikachu muttered, clearly not pleased with the developments.

"Do you feel it, the moon's power?" He asked as they rushed forward. "Moon, shine down!" Saïx roared as he felt power flow through his veins, making him seemingly invincible.

Ash jumped as Saïx slammed the claymore into the ground, leaving a replica behind. Remembering what Riku had said earlier, Ash grinned and grabbed it, lighting his head on fire yet it didn't hurt. He moved towards the Luna Diviner smashing multiple times with blue haired man's weapon.

"I misjudged you," Saïx muttered as Sora dashed over, blocked his first strike and quickly slashed at him as much as he could, casting Reflega for more damage.

Sora saw Saïx about to go berserk and tried to get away but Saïx proved to be a quick enemy as he smashed Sora multiple times before taking aim at Ash.

Ash lured Saïx away from Sora and an unconscious Donald and Goofy. He blocked the oncoming projectile.

Ash noticed that Sora had one of the claymores as well and let Sora smash Saïx out of berserk before he went in and slammed him purely for the hell of it.

Sora attacked from one side, Ash from the other, leaving the Luna Diviner no opening for a blow until he felt his power come back.

"All shall be lost to you!" Saïx roared. The two Keyblade wielders exchanged and glance, turned the other way and ran for their lives.

Unfortunately, Saïx was faster and had quickly caught up to them before slamming each boy two times, sending them flying into the nearest wall.

Thankfully, the attack ended and Sora quickly cast a Curaga, healing his wounded party. Both Keyblade users rushed in to grab a claymore and slammed it into Saïx as fast and as hard as they could.

Ash had a feeling that the battle had ended when Sora struck Saïx with the claymore.

"A heart... if I had a heart..." Saïx muttered as he dropped his claymore, which crashed towards the window and looked up at Kingdom Hearts.

"Why…Kingdom Hearts…Where…is my heart?" Saïx reached out towards Kingdom Hearts as he fades away.

"I don't get it. Why's everybody been calling me Roxas?" Sora asked before adding, "I know he's my nobody and all that but…"

"Yeah, same here," Ash muttered.

"Don't forget, they was once a part of Organization XIII," Kairi reminded, Sora and Ash nodded in remembrance.

Riku felt that now was the best time to explain everything, "Xemnas was the one who found Roxas and Rallen." Everyone looked at him curiously, "They could use the Keyblade because they were your Nobodies. That's why Xemnas brought them into the Organization – But Roxas and Rallen betrayed them. After that I fought Roxas because I thought it would help you wake up. I lost, but the next time we met I made sure I was the stronger one.

"What happened to Rallen?" Ash wondered aloud.

"He agreed to come with us," Riku replied.

Riku, blindfolded, stood up and walked toward Roxas. He lifted the Oblivion Keyblade and struck it into the ground next to Roxas. The scene was silent for a moment before Roxas started moving, startling him. Roxas struggled, grabbing the Keyblade and pulling it out of the ground, slashing at Riku with lightning speed. Riku leapt away. Roxas got up and ran toward him with the Keyblade. Riku sent a Dark Firaga spell at Roxas, who slashes through it and continues his attack. Riku dodges once more.

"Why don't you quit?" Roxas demanded.

"Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that," Riku taunted.

"Huh? Get real! Look which one of us is winning," Roxas stated, clearly taken aback. He placed a hand near his mouth with an incredulous look on his face.

"So it's true. You really are his Nobody. Guess DiZ was right after all," Riku muttered.

"What are you talking about? I am me! Nobody else!" Roxas shouted as he threw his hand up and the Oathkeeper flashed into being. He rushed Riku and jumped into the air. Riku dodged again. Roxas swings around and slashes the Keyblade across his arm. Riku flew from Roxas's blow as he slumps, kneeling, to the ground.

"How many times do I have to beat you?" Roxas shouted.

"All right. You've left me with no other choice," Riku muttered.

"What?" Roxas asked, confused.

"I have to release the power in my heart—" Riku stood up, "The dark power that I've been holding back." Riku took off his blindfold and let it fall to the ground. "Even…if it changes me forever!"

He braced himself and cried out as he was lifted into the air. A dark gust of wind flew around his face as dark energy enveloped him. Roxas readied his Keyblades again. The smoke dissipated, revealing Ansem and his Heartless Guardian suspended in midair.

Ansem is garbed in the same black cloak. He vanished suddenly, surprising Roxas. Ansem reappeared just a foot away from his face. The Guardian's large muscular arm reached out and grabbed him by the chest. Fear laced the boy's face and he struggled to free himself as the arm lifted him into the air. His legs hang aimlessly and his movement is futile. He dropped his Keyblades and they disappear after clanging to the ground. Roxas stops moving.)

"I have accepted it," Ansem stated.

Later, Ansem stood over the motionless body of Roxas, staring at him. A dark portal appeared and he quickly hooded himself as DiZ enters. DiZ looked down at Roxas.

"He could feel Sora," Ansem stated.

"Oh, he told you how he 'felt,' did he?" DiZ scoffed, Ansem frowned under his hood, "Ridiculous. A Nobody cannot feel anything."

"If he had met Sora, things might have been different," Ansem muttered.

"Maybe I didn't need to fight him after all. I think they left the Organization because...they really wanted to meet you two," Riku mused.

"I'm glad we got to meet them too," Sora and Ash mused aloud as Riku walked away.

"All right. Let's go," Riku stated. Sora, Ash and their friends quickly followed, ready for the next challenge.