Before Naminé could take a single step, Xigbar rotated the weapons in his hands and with a loud KA-CHICK, they formed together into a sniper rifle.

"Gotcha now!" And with that, the Freeshooter jumped through a wormhole and reappeared on a high ledge, hopelessly out of range.

"What the..." Naminé ran to the edge of the platform and pointed the Keyblade at him. "Get back down here, you coward!"

"Uh, Naminé? Now might be a good time to run," Kairi suggested.

"Why?" Sharp arrowheads blazed through the air straight toward her. "Oh." She turned to run from the incoming fire. "I thought it was a sniper rifle, not a machine gun!" She could feel the ground exploding behind her heels.

"You should know how cheap these guys are by now!" Kairi retorted.

"OW!" Naminé flinched as a few of the projectiles nicked her across the back of her neck. "Stupid arrows!" she grumbled as she tossed her blonde hair back over the exposed skin.

"Naminé! You should know better than to turn your back on your opponent!" Xigbar called out. "Hasn't the Organization taught you anything?"

"Any bright ideas?" Naminé said as Xigbar paused to reload another clip of ammo.

"Well, the Magnega chain worked before..." Kairi suggested. Not knowing what else to do, she ducked under Xigbar's line of fire and leapt off the platform. The slightest mistake would have the void underneath swallow her into darkness.

Naminé swiped the Keyblade in front of her. "GATHER!" The orb of gravity appeared above her, immediately sensing its target flying out of range. Just like Kairi did with Xaldin, Naminé let herself get pulled in before summoning another orb at the apex of her momentum. She swung herself upward and forward as if she were a monkey climbing branches on her favorite tree. Xigbar looked up from his reloading and was stunned that the memory witch would make such a bold move. But he regained his composure and took aim. Naminé was almost within reach when she felt herself being pummeled with arrows straight into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

"Now we can't have that!" Xigbar laughed as Naminé began to go into a freefall. Out of pure reaction, she fired off another Magnega orb, caught it with her Keyblade and swung her body back onto the platform.

She fingered the gaping hole in her dress that the arrows had caused. "Any other suggestions?"

"I can only think of one," Kairi replied. Naminé nodded, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

She raised the Keyblade over her head. "THUNDER!" In a spectacular display of light, bolts of lightning appeared above Xigbar's head and cut themselves right through his system, electrocuting him.

Naminé took one look at Xigbar and couldn't help but giggle. His sleek hair was now frizzy, sparking with electricity and the smell of burnt leather was smoking from him. He gave a little cough of smoke. "Clever little sneak!" he muttered.

He jumped back through his wormhole and reappeared upside-down above the battlefield. Naminé tilted her head to the side. "How in the world can you stand being upside-down like that? Doesn't the blood rush to your head or something?"

Xigbar grinned at her. "Been a whole lot easier since Zexy bought me those gravity boots for Christmas!"

Naminé stopped dead in her tracks, staring at Xigbar in disbelief. "Okay, first of all, you're data now! You don't have gravity boots!" The Freeshooter began to take aim with his weapon. "And second of all, gravity boots are usually used to help people in losing weight!" The downtrodden face of Xigbar was priceless. "Did it ever occur to you that he was hinting at something?"

He lowered his gun. "What? Are you saying that...I'm out of shape?"

Naminé placed her hands on her hips. "Face it, dude. All you do is travel from wormhole to wormhole to get where you're going. When's the last time you actually walked?" As Xigbar contemplated her words, Naminé took advantage by running straight toward him. She took a flying leap, her Keyblade high above her head. Unfortunately, he snapped out of his stupor before she could make contact and teleported to the other end of the field, her Keyblade hitting nothing but air.

Before she could even turn to face him, Xigbar cried out, "Heads up!" His guns suddenly appeared point-blank on each side of Naminé's head. "Bet you're gonna have a splitting headache after this!" He squeezed the triggers.

"FIRE!" Fireballs burst out of the Keyblade and began to rapidly orbit the teenager, setting Xigbar's gloves on fire. He immediately pulled his hands back through the wormholes and patted out the flames on his cloak. Naminé gave a toss of her naturally golden hair. "Too hot for you?"

He glared at her through his one eye. "So the little princess knows how to play, huh?" he growled.

Naminé sighed. "Again with the sexist cracks. I mean, seriously. What is with the Organization looking down on me like I'm some helpless three year-old?" She stomped her foot in emphasis. "You guys are lucky that I can't manipulate your memories or I'd be taking pictures that every yaoi fan-girl could only dream of!"

"I agree," Kairi chimed in. "We've gone through the Organization's gauntlet and so far we've basically proven that we can kick just as much butt as Sora, Riku and Roxas can!"

"Exactly! Come to think of it, why are there so many guys in your stupid club anyways? What, every girl you asked didn't feel like hanging around with you losers and your plans for extracting hearts on Saturday nights?" Naminé shook her head. "You people are pathetic. I can't believe I used to be afraid of all of you."

While Naminé was ranting, Xigbar had tucked his hands inside his cloak and was now serenely twirling his guns around in the empty space a few feet from him. "Are you done rambling? 'Cause you're putting me to sleep, bucko!" he yelled out impatiently.

"Oh, shut up!" Naminé snapped. She tightened her grip on the Keyblade.

"You know, I kinda liked you better as that timid little girl that we always picked on," Xigbar said without looking at her. "The way you are right now, you're too much like Larxene."

Kairi gasped. "Did he just..."

Naminé felt anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach. "Oh, you did NOT just compare me to that nymph!" she roared.

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" Xigbar taunted. He took aim and fired off a round of arrows as Naminé charged in a berserker rage. She positioned the Keyblade as best as she could and tried to deflect the projectiles. To her surprise, the ones that the Keyblade caught were sent straight back at its owner. However, a couple of arrows were able to get past her defenses, causing a few more slits in her dress.

"Figures," Naminé muttered. "I've really got to expand my wardrobe."

"Take th..." Xigbar squeezed the triggers only to realize that he was shooting blanks. His eye widened as Naminé spun into the air and slammed the Keyblade into Xigbar's side, knocking him through the air a few feet. Before she could follow up, the Freeshooter transported himself to the far corner of the arena.

"Arms, reload!" The clip of arrows hanging underneath the nozzles of his guns began lighting up neon pink again. His weapons clacked noisily as he flipped himself right side up and began charging his next shot. "Take this!"

"What the..." As soon as the words left her lips, a bright bluish-white arrow blasted out of the nozzle and shot toward her in an unwavering straight line. Naminé quickly jumped aside letting the shot whiz past her. She looked at Xigbar curiously. "That was the best you..."

Xigbar grinned at her and tapped his pointer finger in the air. It was Kairi who remembered. "Naminé, jump!"

The girl automatically obeyed and leapt to her right. Naminé was stunned to see that the exact same arrow that had passed her was now making a return trip straight through where she had been standing. "Ricocheting projectiles?"

Xigbar flipped back right-side up and fired off another...and another. Soon, the entire field seemed to be filled with ricocheting white arrows that bounced around. Naminé had to tear her focus off of Xigbar and begin dodging for her life. The shots bounced off invisible walls and passed through the platform itself as if it were nothing but an illusion.

"Keep practicing, chica!" Xigbar laughed. "One of those arrows has enough charge to send your body into convulsions! Imagine what would happen if you were hit from more than one." Naminé narrowly escaped from an incoming shot by Dodge Flipping to the side. "It'd take you out of this game..." His good eye narrowed at her. "...permanently."


"Tidus! Wakka!" Selphie's voice rang out. Tidus and Wakka looked up and to their utmost relief, their Destiny Islands friends had finally found them.

"Selphie! Riku!" The gang got into a big group hug. After they finally broke their embrace, Selphie let out a low whistle.

"Is everyone here actually going to fight?" she asked. All of Sora's friends and allies that he had helped out over the years were finally gathered together, mingling as if they were at the wedding reception. Peter Pan and Tinker Bell were still busy keeping lookout from above, though.

"I never knew that Sora knew this many people," Olette gasped in astonishment.

A few feet from them, Hercules strutted up to Auron. "Nice to see you again, Auron!" the Olympian hero greeted. Auron only gave him a heart-warming smirk. Hercules proceeded to pat him on the back. Unfortunately, he ended up getting distracted by the sight of Rikku and Paine flying by. "Faeries?" he muttered as his pat turned into a full-out smack, sending Auron flying into a wall. Hercules grinned sheepishly. "Uh, sorry Auron," he apologized as Auron's body began to peel itself out of the newly formed human-shaped crevice.


Tron and Tarzan were both looking at each other strangely. "How do you do?" Tron said as he held out his hand. Tarzan only nodded with a grunt. Realizing that this man didn't do handshakes, Tron slowly pulled back his hand. "My name is Tron."

Tarzan stared at him for a few seconds before lightly tapping his own chest with his knuckles. "Tarzan," he replied.


"Yunie!" Rikku air-tackled Yuna and gave her a tight squeeze. "Where've you been? Me and Paine were worried sick about you!"

Yuna giggled. "Don't worry, I'm fine! I was just sticking around with Tidus and his group."

Paine looked at her suspiciously. "Are you okay?"

Rikku finally let Yuna out of her bear hug. "Yeah, why?"

"Your face looks a little flushed."

"Oh, is it?" Yuna patted her face and was stunned to find her skin was indeed a bit warm. "I guess I'm just a bit tired from flying around."

"Uh huh. Or you might just be falling for Mr. Eenie-Meenie over there!" Rikku teased.

Yuna reddened even more. "That's ridiculous!"

Paine crossed her arms and sighed. "You already know faeries can't mate with humans."

"I wasn't going to mate with him!" she argued.

"Yunie's got a boyfriend! Yunie's got a boyfriend!" Rikku sang.

"Rikku! I'm telling you..." Yuna stammered.

As Rikku and Paine continued to tease her, Leon walked up to Tifa and Aerith, who were sitting on the ground trying to wake up Cloud.

"When'd you and Strife get back?" Leon asked Tifa.

She got to her feet and started patting the dust off of her butt. "About an hour ago."

Leon nodded thoughtfully. "What happened to you guys anyway?"

Before she could answer, Cloud's eyelids finally fluttered open. "Ergh..."

Tifa rushed back to Cloud's side. "Cloud! Are you okay?" she cried.

Cloud winced. "Could you keep your voice down?" He sat himself up and started kneading his forehead. "That really smarted..."

"Cloud," Aerith began, "who did this to you?"

Cloud's eyeballs rolled up past his eyelids as he tried to remember. "My memory's a bit hazy..." He blinked a few times and shook his head. "I'm sorry. But I can't remember right now."

"Hate to ask this, Strife," Leon began, "but you think you can still fight?" Using Aerith and Tifa for support, Cloud clumsily got to his feet.

"I'm fine, Squall." Albeit a little shaky, Cloud let go of the girls and was able to stand on his own. He unsheathed his sword and took a couple practice swings. "I'll be okay."


"How's everyone at the safe room?" Riku asked.

"No worries!" Aladdin replied, giving him a hearty pat on the shoulder. "They're all doing just fine!"

"Even Belle?" the Prince asked.

"The Princesses are doing quite dandy as well!" Jack Skellington said cheerfully.

"Although that lass of yours has a pretty short temper," Sparrow added.

The Prince glared at him. "If you touched her..." he growled dangerously, sounding eerily like his old self.

"Oh, no worries, mate. She knows how to take care of herself." The Captain massaged his jaw. "And she swings a strong arm too."

"All of them do," Aladdin said with a grin. "Even when he knew that the Princesses were all promised to someone else, the Captain here started flirting with them."

"Is that so wrong?" Sparrow asked rhetorically.

The others laughed at his attempt to sound serious. "As soon as the Captain went into his "This is the day..." farewell speech," Aladdin continued, "all of the Princesses of Heart jumped out of their seats and started beating the sh-"

"It was an amusing sight to be honest," Mulan chuckled.

"I've been slapped by many a damsel," Captain Jack said. "But I'd rather be facing Davy Jones himself than going through all of that again." He shuddered at the thought. "On second thought, bring on the damsels," Sparrow muttered as he glanced in an inside pocket to check on his good luck charm.


"What the...?!" Wakka took one look at Ariel and frowned. "What are you doing with my spare Blitzball?"

It was Leon who answered him. "She has really strong legs, but she hasn't fought in hand-to-hand combat before," he explained. "So I figured that with the Blitzball she could..."

"Kick it?" Wakka shook his head in amusement. "It's more than just taking aim and swinging your legs. Here let me show you..."

Meanwhile, Pence was asking Cid for pointers about his new weapon: a flamethrower. It looked like an antique camera that professionals once used on tripods back in the days of old. Yuffie was busy stretching out her limbs behind him preparing for the battle that was about to take place.

"Why in the world do you have a flamethrower here?" Pence shifted his grip on the heavy box. "Aren't you afraid that you'll burn the whole town?"

Cid chuckled. "Back in Traverse Town, there was a constant Heartless swarm that always managed to drive any potential customers away from my shop." He gave the weapon a hardy pat. "This little beauty obliterated all those Shadow Heartless in mere seconds!"

"But what if you had destroyed your shop if this ever misfired?"

Cid blinked at Pence. "You ask a lot of questions; you know that, kid?"

"Of course he's going to ask a lot of questions!" Yuffie said excitedly. "He's a teenage boy from a quiet town, not some psychotic arsonist that smokes five packs a day!" She winked coyly at Pence.

Cid whirled around on Yuffie. "Doggone it, girl! Just because I like blowing stuff up with my airship and wielding fire around doesn't make me psychotic!" He crossed his arms. "What about Barret? He likes blowing things up as well!"

"That's only because he forgets to turn the safety on that arm of his!" Yuffie replied. "What's your excuse?"


On another side of the group, the King was consulting with Jiminy and his Gummi mechanics.

"Chip, Dale..." The King looked at the two chipmunks with worry. "I need you two to get back to the safe room and..." He whispered his instructions quickly and quietly.

The chipmunks saluted. "You got it, your Majesty!" Chip replied.

"Aye aye, Captain!" Dale added. They jumped back on top of Pluto's head and started off to put the King's plan into action.

The King watched them head down the path when he realized that Jiminy was standing right by his feet. "You're not going with them?" Mickey asked.

Jiminy shook his head. "Someone has to record everything that's happening. Who knows..." The court scribe smiled. "Maybe this could become the next big video game."

King Mickey chuckled. "Welp, I admire your enthusiasm. But who would want to play something as tedious as this?"


"Where's Sora and Kairi?" Tidus asked Riku.

"Kairi's the one who needs rescuing," Riku explained. "As for Sora..." He jerked a thumb over at Roxas. "He's kind of having an identity crisis at the moment."

"Oh, thanks!" Roxas retorted sarcastically. But Tidus didn't get it.

"Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm Roxas," Roxas replied holding out his hand.

"The name's Tidus," Tidus said as he gave Roxas a firm handshake. "Are you Sora's twin brother or something?"

"Nobody, actually," Roxas corrected.

"Nobody?" Tidus repeated. "Well, you're definitely somebody. But how are you related to Sora?"

"I just told you, I'm his Nobody."

Tidus shook his head. "I'm still not getting it."

Roxas sighed. "I'm his other half," he clarified. Tidus still had a blank look on his face. Finally Roxas said, "I'm his cousin."

"Oh." Tidus rolled his eyes. "Right. Well, nice to meet you. By the way..." He looked at Roxas suspiciously. "You wouldn't happen to know what Sora did with the tuxedo I lent him, would you?"

Roxas immediately turned to Riku for support, but the Warrior of Dawn shook his head. "Leave me out of this. This is Sora's problem, not mine."

Tidus had his arms crossed as he glared intensely at Roxas. "He ripped it to shreds, didn't he?"

While Roxas was thinking up of an excuse, Mulan walked up to Riku. "Okay, so why did you ask us to gather here, Riku?" she asked. Everyone immediately ceased talking and focused all their attention at the silver-haired youth.

Riku hesitated before answering. But after an encouraging nod from Mickey, he said, "When the Heartless and Nobodies first attacked us, I noticed a strange scent among them. It was pretty faint, but the smell was there."

Simba gave a giant sniff. "You're right. I remember smelling it back at the wedding hall. But it's...familiar somehow."

Riku nodded. "While I was in Xehanort's Heartless' form, I remember passing by this area when I was out on a mission for Ansem the Wise." He pointed toward the mineshaft. "The scent of darkness was strongest in there. But I never had a chance to go inside so I don't know anything beyond that."

Donald and Goofy exchanged a look, but it was Roxas that said what everyone wanted to know. "The Cavern of Remembrance." His face was etched with concern. "I can't believe we have to go through here again."

The group looked at Roxas in surprise. "Wait a minute! You've been here before?" Wakka asked.

Roxas shook his head. "Not me personally, but Sora has." He jerked his thumb over at Donald and Goofy. "So have they."

"Oh yeah!" Donald chuckled. "We came here with Sora a few months ago."

"That's right!" Goofy chimed in. "But the path was crowded with Heartless and Nobodies. They were almost as strong as the Organization!"

"But at the end is a circular computer room that holds data versions of all the members of Organization XIII," Roxas explained. His eyes narrowed. "Including a copy of me."

The group looked stunned. "You mean to tell me Kairi and Naminé are over there right now?" Riku shook his head. "That's not good. What if they accidentally activate one of them?"

"I'm pretty sure that was the plan." Roxas crossed his arms deep in thought. "Why they'd do it is beyond me..."

"Well, it's official! The Princess needs our help!" Tidus swung his sword in emphasis. "So, what are waiting for? Let's do it!" All of Sora's allies roared in agreement.

As the group began to head inside, Sora looked at all his friends through Roxas' eyes. If he was in control at the moment, he would've been smiling. Fortunately, Roxas was already smiling for him. "This has been one crazy day, huh?" Roxas asked.

"Yeah," Sora agreed, "But at least it's almost over."

Roxas nodded. "Naminé. Kairi." He placed a hand over his heart. "Hang on you two. We're on our way."


"Naminé!" Xigbar was enjoying the sight of Naminé struggling to stay in constant motion.

The blonde teenager found herself having to get into awkward positions to avoid the roaming projectiles. She felt a bit silly having to kick her leg backwards high into the air for a second before cartwheeling in the next. "There's got to be a way to stop these arrows!" she huffed as she backflipped over an incoming projectile.

"Try the Keyblade again!" Kairi suggested. "It reflected his shots before!"

Naminé stopped moving and reaffirmed her grip on the Keyblade. She placed her free palm against the blade to reinforce her shield and pushed against one of the shining arrows. Fortunately, the projectile deflected against the surface of her weapon, although its force pushed her back a few inches. Just like before, the shot sped toward the unsuspecting Xigbar, who doubled over in pain as it made contact. While Xigbar was stunned, Naminé ran into the paths of the other energy arrows and swiped the Keyblade at them, causing them to return back to its owner. As the Freeshooter took both hits to the chest, he quickly leapt backward into a wormhole and out of sight.

Naminé blinked. "Where'd he go?" Her eyes quickly scanned the battlefield for a telltale sign of him.

"Above you!" Kairi cried. Naminé didn't even have to think. As soon as she heard Kairi's warning, she tightened the muscles in her legs and threw her body up and backward. With a satisfying crunch, she felt her flash kick make full contact with Xigbar's face.

As soon as Naminé landed, she whirled around to face her opponent. "Enough cheap shots, dude!"

"Oh, I'm a cheap shot?" Xigbar shook his head rapidly to regain his balance. "This from a girl who flashes her assets and uses crotch shots to win." The entire battlefield was blanketed with a brilliant white light, blinding Naminé's vision.

At first Naminé thought she had been teleported back to the Garden of Assemblage. Then she realized that there were big gaping holes in the floor. "What the heck is this supposed to do?"

"So, what d'ya think?" Xigbar said with a flourish. "My masterpiece a la résistance!"

Naminé shuddered. "Ewww, French and surfer accents SO do not mix," she quipped. "And this is supposed to do what exactly?"

"Reality check, girl." Kairi moaned. "The less space you have to move around, the more likely he won't miss!"

Naminé glanced at the gaping holes in the floor. "Please!" She took a running start. "I could just jump ov..." Her words were cut short as her face slammed into an invisible wall.

As her body squeaked down the wall, Xigbar chuckled again. "Tcha! You didn't think it would be that easy, did ya?" He took careful aim as Naminé fell unceremoniously on her butt. As soon as she saw the flash of the gun, she instinctively raised the Keyblade to guard. Xigbar's fire reflected back on him, but he was far from dazed. Naminé scrambled to her feet and ran along the narrow pathway to the center where the Freeshooter was positioned. He tried to fire off another volley of shots, but this time she was ready. Naminé shielded herself with the Keyblade and reflected the attack back at him.

Before he could reload, the memory witch pounced and managed to land a solid combo on Xigbar's body. There was another flash of light, but it was quicker this time. The light faded to reveal that the floor was whole again. Naminé was about to let out a sigh of relief when the white light swept over the field for a third time. This time when Naminé's eyes readjusted, she realized that she was now standing on a small solitary platform. Xigbar towered over her, glowing with an unknown aura. He gave her a grin that had the girls feel uneasy. "Look what I saved for ya!"

"Thanks, but I prefer credit unions." Naminé raised the Keyblade over her head and brought it straight down on the lone figure. Unfortunately, the aura was too strong even for the Keyblade and her attack rebounded off of him. Xigbar raised his guns and rotated on his heel as if he were manning a gun turret. He fired off a series of shots that would've skewered Naminé if she hadn't jumped over his line of fire. Before she could get back into an erect position, Xigbar jumped through another wormhole and began circling the platform, firing random bursts of arrows throughout the arena. Naminé dropped back down and stayed as low as she could, Dodge Flipping around the platform.

"Now, let's see how you dance!" Xigbar reappeared, hovering in the middle of the arena. He plunged his hands into the empty space between his legs. Naminé's eyes widened as she saw countless wormholes opening up around her.

"Oh foofie." She immediately began to start running circles around Xigbar as the flurry of bullets splattered the ground behind her. "I am SO glad you took track, Kairi!"

And then tragedy struck. Naminé's sandal lost its traction causing her to slam face first into the ground. She didn't even have time to flip herself face up before the hail of arrows homed in on her position and began to bite savagely at her back. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to scream out in agony. It felt like thousands of knives were cutting into her, ripping her dress and tearing at her skin. "Hang on, Naminé!" Kairi shouted.

As soon as the painful assault ceased, Naminé blinked away her tears and used the Keyblade to prop herself up to her feet.

"Had enough?" the Freeshooter asked, giving her a sadistic grin. "I can keep this up all day, you know!"

Naminé's skin still stung with pain. The back of her dress was completely shredded, exposing her back as if it were a hospital gown. Fortunately, the dress' straps were still intact and there was enough cloth to cover up her butt which saved her from embarrassment. A couple of years ago, she'd have been curled up into a ball crying her eyes out from being abused like this. But a lot had happened in the past few hours and she didn't feel like throwing in the towel yet.

"I won't give up!" Naminé yelled. Her knees were slightly jittery, but her face shone with determination.

"Just give it up already!" Xigbar shouted. "You're only a princess, not a warrior! You should just take your drawing pad and colored pencils and draw like a good little girl! It's the only thing you were ever good at anyway!" Then he burst out laughing. "Scratch that, you were never good at drawing either. I guess you really are useless!"

"Naminé, just Thundaga his sorry keister already!" Kairi snapped.

"There's only enough magic to heal!" Naminé muttered urgently. "And I don't think we can afford to wait for it to recharge." She closed her eyes and cleared her thoughts. "I just need to think..." She imagined all of her aches, her pains, her fears...she imagined them all melting away. She blocked out all distractions and took a deep cleansing breath. There was an unexplainable rush of power that seemed to beat within her heart. "That's it..." Naminé's eyes slowly opened...

...and found herself staring right into the barrel of Xigbar's gun. The Freeshooter grinned slyly. "Boo." Naminé immediately took a step forward with her foot and swung the Keyblade in a sweeping motion, knocking his weapon out of her face, leaving Xigbar wide open.

WHAM! She twirled her body around like a ballerina and slammed a backfist into his exposed face, sending him reeling back a few feet.

"Let's dance, 'Cykes'," she growled. Naminé charged at Xigbar, pouring every ounce of her heart's power into the Keyblade.

Xigbar took aim with his gun arrows and fired a round at the memory witch. A rush of adrenaline surged through her veins as she spun her weapon around and easily deflected the projectiles back at him. As the Freeshooter got splattered with his own ammo, he smirked at her ferocity. "Okay, now we're talking!"

Naminé and Kairi focused everything they had into one point. "LIGHT, GIVE US POWER!" The Keyblade radiated with a neon-pink aura as the girl pulled it back and swung, unleashing all of her remaining magic into her Limit.

"HEARTBREAK STARBURST!" Dozens of red heart-shaped bubbles flew out of the Keyblade's arc and sped toward Xigbar. He took one good look at the hearts through his eye before he burst out laughing.

"That's the best you've got? Just some tiny little bubbles?" He poked at one of them with the tip of his gun.

KABLAM! The seemingly harmless projectile exploded into shockingly white-hot starlight, burning his face and effectively blinding him. The burst of starlight started a chain reaction, causing all of the hearts to explode into a cascade of deafening proportions that shook the entire room.

Xigbar squinted through the light trying to figure out what was going on. The last thing he saw was the shadowy form of Naminé pirouetting up into the air and vertically slicing the Keyblade cleanly straight through the exact center of his body.

As soon as Naminé landed softly, she whirled around to see Xigbar drop from the air. The guns clattered to the floor as his body collapsed like a sack of potatoes.

"I lost?" Xigbar muttered. "Me?"

Naminé walked up to the fallen Freeshooter, patting the Keyblade in her palm. "Like I said before," Naminé smirked at him, "the Organization sucks at fighting girls."

The moment the words left her lips, she felt a sharp agonizing pain shoot straight through her heart. Naminé collapsed to her knees, gripping her chest tightly.

"What..." was all that she could let out before screaming out in anguish. Without wanting to, her body immediately converted itself back to Kairi.

Xigbar chuckled. "Wouldn't you like to know?" As soon as his data dissolved into nothingness, the pain quickly subsided.

"What are they doing to us?" Naminé cried. Kairi's eyes wouldn't stop tearing up.

"I don't know, Naminé." She slowly and achingly propped herself up with the Keyblade. "But we're going to make them pay." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "I promise."