The usual bustle of Twilight Town seemed to be missing today. There was hardly anyone outside; Sora guessed that was unusual for this town.

"Sora, do you remember which way the mansion is?" asked Krillin.

"I think so." said Sora.

As they strolled through the town, they noticed people hastily concluding their businesses, closing their shops and scurrying indoors. Perhaps the Nobodies were still lurking around, causing trouble. Sora got his answer when they reached the woods and a group of crossbow-wielding Nobodies appeared and began firing red energy bolts at them. Sora rolled away and reflected the bolts back at them. Then Krillin cast Blizzaga to put out whatever caught fire. Finally, they reached the old mansion and Sora was shocked to see Hayner, Pence, and Olette on the ground covered in bruises. He rushed over to them and with some help from Krillin, healed them all.

"What happened?" Sora asked anxiously.

"We came here looking for Kairi..." said Hayner, "…and those grey things attacked us."

"You gotta be careful." Krillin insisted.

"Yeah, you guys didn't have to go and do that." Sora added.

"Of course we did!" said Hayner, making no attempt to conceal his frustration. "She's our friend too, you know!"

Sora had never considered that.

"You guys…" he said sincerely, "I'm grateful, really, but you're no match for the Nobodies."

"Look out!" Olette gasped.

Sora and his comrades whirled around to see about a dozen or so of the basic Nobodies and a few of the helmeted, wakasashi-wielding ones. Krillin cast a bolt of lightning, which they all gracefully flipped or twisted away from. He then waved his staff and sent Hayner, Pence, and Olette flying toward the mansion and created a force field to keep them there while Sora and Gohan engaged the Nobodies up close. They each cut a path through the grunts and split up; Sora engaged four of the wakasashi wielders while Gohan dealt with another group of crossbow wielders. Sora whipped the Gullwing around furiously, but could not parry every Nobody's strike in time. He suffered a few light cuts, backflipped away from them, and cast Zero Gravity.

The spell sent them drifting, allowing Sora to fry them all with Fira. Gohan had also bested his targets, with a little help from Krillin. About a dozen more Nobodies were emerging from the woods. Sora, Krillin, and Gohan prepared to engage them when a crimson blur shot down and knocked them all into the air. It was Goku! Another group of crossbow-wielding Nobodies appeared and fired on Goku, but he cast a powerful Reflect spell and sent their bolts back at them with astonishing precision.

"I've got something to tell you." he said, without preamble "I think I know where Ansem is…the real Ansem. I think he got into the organization's world!"

"Well, that's why we're here." said Sora.

"But how did you know to come here?" Goku asked, sounding both impressed and surprised.

"Someone…uh…left me a clue." Sora admitted.

"Who?"

"Well…Sora thinks it might've been Riku." said Gohan.

"Just a feeling I have." said Sora.

"Well if that's what you think…you're probably right." said Goku.

"You mean it's him? He's okay?"

Goku seemed reluctant to answer.

"You know something, Goku." said Sora, struggling to hold onto his patience. "I know you do."

"I…I can't, Sora. I made a promise." said Goku, Sora could see something like regret forming on his face.

"A promise…you made a promise to…"

Goku's features quickly turned grim. Sora didn't understand it at all, but it quickly became clear that he wasn't going to get an answer just yet.

"Um…who's Riku?" Olette asked quietly as they all made their way into the mansion.

"My best friend." said Sora. "He's the one I was looking for before you told me what happened to Kairi."

"Oh…I'm…sorry."

"Don't be."

Hayner was the next to speak up.

"We thought maybe there was a door to some kind of alternate dimension in here."

"Alternate dimension?" Goku repeated.

Hayner turned his attention to Gohan.

"Gohan, right? Do ya think we could see that pouch of yours?"

Gohan took out the pink pouch that Goku gave them when they first awoke in this town and Olette took an identical pouch out of her pocket.

"I made this pouch myself, every stitch, even the design on it." she explained. "So there shouldn't be another one like it."

"So, where'd you get it?" Hayner inquired.

Sora could see a look of discomfort on Goku's face.

"We got the pouch from my dad." said Gohan, nodding to Goku.

"Goku, sir, you got the pouch from Riku, right?" Olette asked delicately. "And you promised not to tell?"

Goku looked around at everyone and scratched his head awkwardly.

"Gosh, you guys." was all he managed to say.

"It makes sense now." said Hayner. "There's gotta be another town somewhere just like this one."

"Maybe it's where whatever's missing from this town goes." Pence added. "That's how it works in comic books an' stuff."

Finally Goku spoke.

"There's gotta be a computer in here somewhere. If we find it, we'll find what we're looking for."

The seven of them began searching the main hall and found nothing. It was a big mansion, so they split up into pairs; Pence with Olette, Gohan with Krillin, and Sora with Hayner, leaving Goku to search alone.

As Sora and Hayner searched the mansion's many guest rooms, Sora decided to take out the photo he got in the Dark Realm and show it to Hayner.

"Hayner, this is Roxas. You know him, right?"

"No, sorry." said Hayner, intrigued by what he was seeing. "I've never seen him before. But y'know…this photo proves that there's someone else out there just like me."

"Then there must be another Olette and another Pence." Sora concluded.

"EVERYONE!" they heard Goku shout. "I THINK I FOUND IT!"

Everyone rushed to the mansion's study where there was a large opening in the floor leading to a basement with metal walls. Goku pointed to a unicorn sculpture on a bookcase and explained that he found a hidden button on it that made a panel in the floor slide out. They descended into the basement and found a high-tech computer lab.

"This must be it." said Goku, indicating the computer with multiple monitors. "I wonder how it works."

"I can handle it." said Pence, taking a seat and turning it on.

The computer took a few seconds to load, but Pence couldn't log in without a password. Everyone turned to Sora.

"The only clue I got was this photo." he said "Try Roxas."

Pence typed it in, but it was incorrect.

"You sure that's it?" asked Krillin.

"Well, there was also an ice cream bar in the box I found the photo in." Sora remembered.

"That's it!" said Goku. "Ansem loved ice cream!"

"Do you have any idea what flavor it was?" asked Pence.

"It was weird-tasting." said Sora. "It tasted like sea-salt or something."

"Yeah…sea-salt flavor…it's an acquired taste." said Pence.

He typed it in and logged on. Whatever data was once on this computer seemed to have been wiped clean. Suddenly, a nearby machine was activated, it was large enough for one person to stand in and a cyan beam was shining down from an emitter at the top.

"This has to be it." said Goku

"We'll stay here an' explore the mansion a little more." said Hayner. "Best of luck, guys."

"Tell Kairi we look forward to seeing her again!" Olette insisted.

"Sure thing." said Sora.

One by one, Sora, Goku, Krillin, and Gohan stepped into the machine. When they stepped back out, they appeared to be back in the same lab, but then Sora noticed Hayner, Pence, and Olette were gone and Ansem's computer was smashed up. It looked as though it had been that way for a while.

"This is it." he said mostly to himself. "This is the other Twilight Town…Roxas' Twilight Town."

At the other end of the lab was a strange anomaly; it looked like a pale green portal with darkness swirling around it. This had to be an entrance to the Dark Realm. They pushed their way through the portal and on the other side was a swirling tunnel of neon gas. Half was pale pink, the other half was deep blue, and the whole tunnel was filled with Nobodies. In the center was Axel, and he appeared to be fighting the Nobodies. Sora rushed forward, carving a path through the hordes of Nobodies, there must have been a hundred of them.

"I knew you'd find your way here sooner or later!" Axel yelled across the tunnel.

"What did you do with Kairi?!" Sora demanded as he fought his way toward Axel.

"I took her out of Twilight Town, but then Saix showed up, so I got out of there." Axel explained as he sliced up any Nobody that came near him with his bladed wheel-like weapons. "Saix, he's the one with the blue hair."

"So Kairi's with them now?"

"Bingo!"

Axel spun around and sent a burning wave that incinerated several of the Nobodies with bladed arms. Krillin tried casting Zero Gravity but because they were already in a void, it did not hinder the Nobodies' mobility. He then conjured a great big Graviga orb that pulled all nearby Nobodies in, allowing him to strike them with lightning while Goku and Gohan fended the others off.

"I think…I liked it better when they…worked for me." Axel panted. "Well, kiddo…it was nice knowin' ya."

"It's not over yet!" Sora insisted.

"Oh, it's over…FOR THEM!"

Axel leapt toward the remaining dozen Nobodies and unleashed a mighty blast of flame that lit up the void. When the smoke cleared, Sora rushed over to Axel and saw that his body was slowly crumbling into ashes.

"You're…dying." Sora used the term for lack of a better one.

"Well…that's what happens when you put what's left of your energy into an attack." Axel said weakly. "Keep heading toward the darkness and you'll find the castle. Xemnas'll be there…and Saix. Watch out for Xigbar too…he's the one with the eye patch."

Axel's entire lower body was gone now.

"Kairi's probably in the dungeon…sorry I got her into this. I'll make it up to ya if I'm ever reincarnated or somethin'."

"Axel…why did you do it?" asked Sora.

"I just…wanted to see Roxas again…He was…the only real friend I had."

Sora stared down at the dying Nobody, pitying him.

"Roxas made me feel…like I had somethin' here." Axel muttered placing an arm on his chest. "It's funny…you make me feel…kinda the same way."

Axel continued to break down into ash until only his head, neck, and shoulders remained.

"Thanks for your help, Axel." said Goku. "We won't forget this."

Axel finally faded away and they all proceeded through the dark end of the tunnel. Sora was becoming more and more convinced that he and Roxas were somehow connected. When they at last emerged from the darkness, they found themselves in a dimly lit city street under a night-black sky. Rain was pouring down, but it didn't make a sound. Everything was dead-silent…it was scary. Sora took only a few steps and the street lamps began to flicker eerily. In mere moments the lamps blacked out and dozens of yellow eyes were staring at him. Krillin lit the area up with his staff so they could all see the droves of Neoshadows scurrying toward them. Sora blasted five of them back with his Explosion technique, Goku waved his arms and blasted ten more back with a wave of azure energy, Gohan did a furious spin-kick which reduced five more to black goo, and Krillin scorched the rest of them with a fire spell.

"We'd better find a way into that castle quickly." Goku decided.

Goku led them through the dark streets until they came to a more well-lit part of the city. A skyscraper, many stories tall and covered in blank neon signs stood before them. Sora stopped in his tracks, unable to take his eyes off of it. He thought he could see images forming on the large screen at the top, or perhaps the images were in his mind…he had seen them so many times before, so why didn't he recognize them now? Before he could comprehend what was happening to him, everything went black.

When Sora came to his senses, he was in another familiar place; a large circular platform made of stained glass. The platform was blue, red, and purple. The edge was lined with gold crown symbols, on the left was the Heartless symbol and on the right was the Nobody symbol. In the center was an image of Sora thrusting a dark Keyblade into his own heart. He remembered doing this in the castle of Hollow Bastion to free Kairi's heart. He paced the platform for a bit and when he looked up, he saw a figure, his exact height, wearing a black cloak.

"What are you?" Sora demanded, summoning the Kingdom Key.

"Someone from the dark." The figure replied in a voice that sounded impossibly like Sora's own.

The figure raised its hands and summoned a pair of Keyblades. One had a white wing-shaped hand guard, double shafts, and a colorful tooth. He recognized it as the Oathkeeper. The other was jet-black with a bat wing-shaped hand guard and a chain running along the blade. As Sora gazed at it, the name Oblivion came to mind. Without warning, the figure dashed toward Sora and began striking with both blades, leaving streaks of darkness and golden light with each slash. Sora parried each strike with ease and prepared to counterattack, but the figure vanished and reappeared behind him and pressed its assault. With each passing moment, it felt more and more as though Sora were fighting himself. An incredible sense of longing and nostalgia seemed to be welling up in Sora, but it could not possibly have been his own.

Sora's ears were also becoming overwhelmed by the clashing of the blades, which were in perfect sync with the beating of his heart. Now the figure fought faster; every time Sora parried one blade, the other struck him. Finally, the Kingdom Key was knocked from his hand and the figure held the Oblivion to his heart. Sora stood frozen in his tracks for some time staring at the Kingdom Key lying on the platform. He then gazed into the darkness beneath the figure's hood. Whatever this entity was…Nobody, doppelganger, inner demon, or dark reflection, it was not going to keep him from finding Kairi. He dropped to one knee, summoned the Kingdom Key back into his hand, and struck with all his might in less time than it took to contemplate. The figure dropped its Keyblades and fell back as Sora got back up. After a few moments, the figure slowly got to its feet and lowered its hood to reveal the smiling face of…

"Roxas!"

Roxas whispered something to Sora as brilliant golden light began to engulf his vision.

Sora's eyes flew open and he sprung to his feet, feeling more alive and complete than he had in over a year! Goku, Gohan, and Krillin were standing around him looking concerned.

"You blacked out for a few seconds." said Gohan. "You alright now?"

"Y-yeah…" Sora breathed. "I'm good now."

Sora was certain now that he and Roxas were one and the same, but he wasn't sure how it was possible. He had a vague idea, but wasn't sure he was ready to admit it to himself. He forced himself to dismiss it for the moment; all that mattered now was finding Kairi.