Sora had met with Kairi in the entrance hall. She had gotten to know the two remaining princesses and eagerly introduced him to them. The girl in the simple blue dress with the braided brown pigtails was named Sheeta Laputa. She had come from a legendary kingdom known as "Laputa." She held up a tiny glowing stone she wore around her neck and explained that it was the key to unlocking Laputa's great power. The girl in the frilly red and white dress was Sakura Kinomoto. Sakura was well versed in magical arts and had the ability to trap monsters inside cards. Sora had also met Akane, who he instantly recognized by her cobalt blue hair.
"You're a lot nicer than Ranma made it sound like." He had commented.
Akane responded to this with a rather annoyed look.
"And just what did he say about me?" she demanded.
Sora chuckled nervously and replied, "Well he said you were a bit of a tomboy."
Each girl had lost her home world to the darkness and Sora promised them he would get them back. They all thanked him and went to join their peers, but Kairi stayed behind with Sora.
"Do you think our lives will ever be the same?" she asked him. "Riku's…lost in the dark."
"So was I." Sora reminded her. "I started forgetting who I was, what mattered to me, but your voice brought me back. So, maybe I can bring Riku back. I've got to try."
Kairi took Sora's Hand and placed the wayfinder she made from Thalassa shells in it.
"It will help you find your way back to me." She insisted.
Sora tucked the wayfinder safely into his jacket pocket.
"I'll bring it back to you, I promise."
At that moment, the Keyblade appeared in Sora's hand, but it had taken a new form. It had two shafts which ended in a heart shape. It had a colorful flower-shaped tooth, a hand-guard shaped like a pair of angel wings, and the keychain looked like a miniature wayfinder. Sora never imagined a weapon could be so beautiful, the name Oathkeeper instantly came to mind.
Kairi took Sora's hand in hers and said, "Wherever you go, I'm always with you."
Krillin, Gohan, and the others all entered the hall.
"Time to go, Sora." Krillin advised.
"I can feel the dark forces growing, far from here." Princess Serenity warned.
"We'll take the Gummiship and deal with them once and for all." Gohan assured her.
As Sora, Krillin, and Gohan got into the Gummiship, Aerith and Leon, came to see them off.
"We may never see you again, but we won't forget you." Leon avowed.
"No matter how far apart we are our hearts will bring us together." Aerith added.
"We know." Krillin said.
"And we'll remember you too." Sora added.
More than enough farewells had been said. Gohan started the engines and the three heroes blasted into the sky and in mere moments, Hollow Bastion was far behind them.
As the Gummiship sped further away from the known worlds, space went from the calming deep blue Sora was comfortable with, to absolute blackness. They didn't even have a single star to light their way, but Sora could also feel a dark force growing more powerful in the direction they were heading. After hours of speeding through the blackness, Krillin lit the ship with his staff and checked the fuel gauge.
"We're out of fuel." He said, "We're just gonna have to drift."
They drifted for at least another hour through utter blackness until a purple glow came into view. It was a pulsating purple nebula, and they were drifting right into it. Krillin used his magic to take control of the ship and slow its descent. They descended through the nebula and discovered land beneath it. Krillin made a relatively soft landing on a ridge. When they got out Sora gasped and hugged himself. The air was freezing, twice as cold as Hollow Bastion. The air was also very still, there was not even the faintest breeze. They strode across the moist, rocky ground; the gravity was stronger than Sora was used to. As they hastened their strides they came to a small gorge filled with glistening frost. As soon as they entered they were confronted by a sea Shadows. Sora summoned the Oathkeeper, leapt into action, and hacked his way through them while Krillin blasted more of them away with lightning. As they neared the end of the gorge, a Darkball appeared and zoomed toward them.
"They explode!" Sora warned.
Krillin encased them in a magical sphere just as the Darkball burst into a shower of dark purple flames. When the flames cleared, Krillin let the barrier down and they made their way up a steep slope and out of the gorge. As they made their way across some relatively smooth, rocky land, they were opposed by three more Darkballs. Krillin sent three lightning bolts from his staff and blew them to bits before they got too close.
"What…is this place" Sora wondered."
"It must be what's left of worlds taken by the Heartless." Krillin concluded. "The worlds should all be restored once we beat Ansem."
"But what will happen to this place…and to us?"
"Well, this is a heartless world so maybe it'll just disappear." Gohan suggested. "But our hearts shouldn't go anywhere."
After hours of walking they came to a large portal of light and stopped to examine it.
"It looks safe enough." Krillin commented.
"Light's always safe…isn't it?" Sora wondered.
Unable to hesitate any longer, the stepped through the shining portal and the next thing they knew, they were on top of a deep canyon. The walls seem to be made of gummi, mostly dull blue and purple, with some yellow, red, and green patches here and there. Sora felt much lighter here, so he jumped onto a small cliff below and landed softly, the gravity was weak here. He continued jumping down from rock to rock and allowed himself to drop slowly through the canyon, followed closely by Krillin and Gohan. When they reached the bottom, they found another shining portal in the ground. Without hesitation, they stood on it and allowed themselves to sink into it.
Moments later, they found themselves atop a very large pillar-like structure in the middle of a rocky wasteland. The pillar was a deep purple and had craggy edges. In the center was a column of violet flames. Sora looked into the flames and saw a hazy image of the third district of Traverse town. He touched the column and felt no pain, so he stuck his head inside and saw the third district as though he were there. His mind was swimming with questions now. Was this really part of Traverse Town? Had this one area been taken by the Heartless or was it just an illusion?
He pulled his head out of the flame column and went to the edge of the pillar where a tiny orb of light caught his eye. He touched the orb and his whole body vanished. He began speeding forward and landed on another pillar identical to the first. He looked down and saw that he was in his body again. Krillin and Gohan had joined him moments later. Sora looked into this column's flame pillar and saw the Bathouse inside. He touched the orb at the edge of the pillar and was teleported to another, followed by Krillin and Gohan.
They kept warping from pillar to pillar and in each one, Sora could see an image of a world he had been to: Nerima, Feudal Japan, Dark Japan, the Cerulean World, and finally D's world. They warped to one last pillar with a geyser of orange flames in the center. They nervously stepped in and when they emerged, they found themselves in a dark hall. At the end of the hall was a pair of doors with the Heartless emblem on them. They tread down the hall and Sora swung the doors opened with the Oathkeeper ready. What they found inside was a dimly lit room with a large machine inside.
The machine consisted of a large glass dome with two sets of metal pipes running into it; the pipes were pumping what looked like water and color into the dome. There was purple, green, blue, orange, and yellow. They all mixed to form black, the absence of color. There were five metal pods connected to the dome, each bearing the Heartless emblem on it. Gohan moved to a console in front of the machine and pressed a button. What came next took them all by surprise; it was a recording of Ansem's voice reciting a cryptic message:
"Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all worlds and bring desolation. Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one keyhole, one key to the door. The door of darkness, tied by two keys. The door to darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness. Ones born of the heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens."
Before they could make sense of this message, a drove of Heartless appeared and surrounded them. They were all as tall as Gohan with muscular black bodies, narrow yellow eyes, bat-like wings on their backs, and long purple prongs on their heads. Each one carried a sword too; they all swopped down at once and began slashing at the heroes. Sora parried two of them in one swing and beheaded them. Gohan disarmed one and shattered its head with his sheild, while Krillin pelted the rest with fire balls and lightning bolts. It was not long before they all retreated into the walls. Sora and his comrades waited for a few moments for the Heartless to come back for more but they did not.
"C'mon." Krillin said. "I don't think there's anything left here."
Sora however was drawn to the machine; it must have been the machine Ansem used to experiment on people's hearts. Just the idea made him angry and he could not resist the urge to destroy it. He began hacking away at the console with the Oathkeeper and jumped back when it started spewing sparks. Krillin sent a lightning bolt into the dome and it too exploded.
"Happy now?" he asked.
"Yeah." Sora replied.
The three of them headed back down the hall and found a black portal in the floor. With nowhere else to go, they grabbed each other's hands and jumped in. They plummeted through blackness for a few minutes until they found an opening below them. They descended into what seemed to be a desert. There was nothing but sand for miles save for some sort of enormous pyramid below them and another pyramid in the blackness above them. As they descended closer to the pyramid in the desert below, a bolt of golden lightning struck it and an enormous creature appeared on top of it. It was over a hundred feet tall, had armored blue skin, an incredibly muscular build, a pair of dragon-like wings, and a crest of long horns on its head.
Without warning, it raised a mighty fist and an azure glow engulfed it. It swung with surprising speed for something so massive, but the heroes were able to fly out of its way. It swung again and this time it created a gust of wind which sent them tumbling through the air. Sora regained his balance, flew toward the creature's face and hurled the Oathkeeper into one of its burning red eyes. The creature let out an earsplitting roar and a hundred lightning bolts emanated from its skin knocking Sora back and knocking Krillin and Gohan to the ground. This was starting to remind Sora of his encounter with the dragon that guarded Hollow Bastion's keyhole. Perhaps this creature was some kind of guardian too. The creature reached out, grabbed Sora and pulled him close to its face. Sora struggled for a moment, looked down at Krillin and Gohan, who were getting slowly to their feet and then looked into the creature's eyes. The creature stared down at Sora for what might have been a small eternity...eventually he stopped squirming and when he was certain the beast would squeeze the life out of him, it released him. Sora floated away from it, in case it decided to attack him again. Finally, the creature faded from sight, allowing Sora to land on top of the pyramid. Krillin and Gohan managed to float up to join him thanks to the virtually non-existent gravity here. There was an opening just large enough for one to squeeze through at a time. Sora went first, followed by Gohan, then Krillin. When they reached the bottom of the pyramid it was nearly pitch-black, So Krillin lit it up with his staff. They found a sarcophagus. Sora quickly pushed the lid off, revealing yet another portal of light. They jumped inside, without hesitation and emerged in an underground tunnel. The walls were a mixture of blue and magenta, until they came to what looked like a painting of a forest. Several large tree limbs were protruding from the walls though, so it wasn't just a painting, it was what remained of a real forest that was taken by the Heartless! As they got deeper into the tunnel, they passed what looked like the crumbling ruins of a castle half-buried in the ground. These sights made Sora all the more eager to defeat Ansem. He hurried through the tunnel until he reached the end and found himself in a very spacious chamber. The walls were a subdued purple but the ground was glowing an emerald green.
At the end of the chamber was another opening. As the trio approached it however, a massive purple behemoth appeared before them. It stood on four beefy legs, had a glowing horn on its head, two sharp tusks on its face and the Heartless Emblem on its belly. Behemoth was the only fitting name for such a creature. It let out a low growl and lunged forward. Sora and Gohan were agile enough to dive out of its way but Krillin put up a barrier which the Behemoth shattered, knocking him back a few feet. Sora flung the Oathkeeper between the Behemoth's eyes and it flinched. He struck it twice more and it shot a thick golden lightning bolt from its horn. The bolt shot straight toward Sora but Gohan threw himself in front of him and blocked it with his shield. As the Behemoth stomped toward them, Sora soon realized it may be too strong for them to bring down fast enough to stop Ansem. He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a summon gem, and tossed it into the air. There was a flash of white light and the little blue and white frog-like alien emerged. It let out a tiny roar and shot a thick yellow beam from its mouth, searing the Behemoth, the frog-creature then retreated back into the gem. Sora caught the gem, drew the Oathkeeper, and hurled it straight into the Behemoth's skull. The Behemoth stumbled and thrashed around before collapsing dead on the ground.
As soon as it faded from existence, three of the pronged, sword-wielding Heartless descended and flew straight toward Sora. Krillin managed to freeze one in midair with blizzard magic and it crashed to the ground. Sora parried strikes from two of them but they were relentless. Gohan grabbed one by the tail and pulled it away from Sora while he kept combating the other. Fighting seemed to come naturally to it, but it had none of the resourcefulness Sora had. He locked blades with it, cried "Fire!" and shot a burst of flame into its face. He then rolled under it and stabbed it in the back. As soon as it was gone though, the one Krillin had frozen burst out of its icy shell and flew toward Sora. Sora held out the Oathkeeper to block its attack but rather than attack with its sword as Sora expected, it plunged the sword into the ground and morphed into a ring of purple fire, which surrounded Sora. Before he knew what to expect next, the ring closed on him, binding and scorching him.
"Help me!" he groaned.
Krillin tried spraying ice crystals but the flames kept burning and began to darken. Sora bit his lip so hard that a trickle of blood slid down his chin. Krillin ran up to Sora and shined a ray of light on him. The dark flames were blown away and he fell to his knees. Gohan handed him a small potionand he gulped it all down. He sprang to his feet with his vitality restored just as three new Heartless appeared. These Heartless were the most peculiar by far; they each had two sets of golden wings, bulbous white heads with three beady yellow eyes, and glassy bell-shaped bodies. They each had emblems on their bodies, so they must have been created artificially. One shot an orb of pale yellow light at Gohan, he blocked it with his shield but it caused a burst of light which blinded him. Another Heartless conjured a small purple whirlwind and sent it speeding toward Krillin, who dove aside and shot a fire ball which shattered its glassy body. The third Heartless extended its wings and began spinning toward Sora in a deadly dance. Sora jumped over it and hurled the Oathkeeper into its soft, bulbous head. Gohan's Heartless tried to skewer him with its wings, but he flipped over it and put his foot through its body. He then grabbed one of its wings, swung it around, and flung it into the wall. Each Heartless flickered for a moment and then vanished.
These Heartless were different from the rest, they used the power of light, so were they created from the darkness in people's hearts or from the light? Sora would never had believed it, had he not seen it himself. Could the power of light really be harmful to people?
"Why would Ansem create Heartless that can use light?" he wondered. "Scratch that...HOW the Hell did did he do it?"
"He probably made them from people with light hearts." Krillin hypothesized.
"Maybe he made them to fight the other Heartless...you know, in case they turned on him or something?" Gohan proposed.
The trio waited for a minute to see if any more Heartless appeared but none did.
"I think they're all gone." Krillin decided.
"Yeah, I'm not sensing anything." Gohan added.
They walked to the opening at the end of the chamber and stepped into it. Inside was a smaller chamber. It reminded Sora of the secret cave on his island. He felt safe here. He sat down on the soft, cool ground next to a stone basin with a few inches of clear water in it. Krillin and Gohan sat with him.
"Nowhere left to go…so we'll just have to wait, I guess." said Krillin, with a sigh.
As Sora began to dose off, he thought he heard a familiar voice saying:
This is the last Haven you'll find.
Note: Can anyone guess the name of the guardian of the Pyramid? I'll give you a hint, he's one of the most powerful YuGiOh monsters.