Awakening on a mosaic platform of infinite size (depicting scenes from EVERY Disney and Square Enix property), Sora sees his older self longing on an intricate throne.
"Morning lazy, how'dya sleep" the master mocked in a condescending tone".
Ignoring his jab, the islander scrambled forward and prepared to attack. But before he could make it three feet his senior merely extended his hand and stole the boy's weapon. Sora continued to charge undeterred, yet the throne then began sliding away at matched speed. To an outsider observer the scene would be reminiscent of an angry hamster on a wheel.
"Now now, that's no way for the savior of the universe to behave" the keyblade founder continued to taunt. "Besides, I still need to give you that explanation I promised. You still want those answers don'tcha?"
Seeing the futility of the chase Sora begrudgingly came to a stop, not once relinquishing his hate filled gaze.
"Good boy" with a casual flick of the wrist the man tossed the keyblade back to its owner.
Back outside the ensuing melee has been split into five groups. The first battle to be observered is Aced versus Vanitas. Although the ursine master made his death threat to Sora, he decided that the doppelganger's irritating face would have to suffice. However, before Aced can get an upper hand, Donald and Goofy jump in to assist.
Vanitas being who he is mocks the duo for helping a bad guy like him. Much to his surprise however the knight and wizard ignore his biting words and claim that everyone deserves a little help, no matter how they have been. Unaccustomed to genuine kindness, the dark heart of the boy can't help but soften ever so slightly. Doing his best to shake off such feelings, Vanitas calls the duo crazy and fights alongside them.
In the end, Aced's festering rage is severed from him; drawn out of his heart and consumed by Vanitas to join the endless ranks of the unversed. The boy claimed that the act was performed out of pure self interest, but his temporary allies insist that he had nobler intentions. Flustered the villain fervently denies this, thus insighting a childish argument between Donald and himself. But deep down in his heart, he was beginning to worry if he was actually going soft...
"Once upon a time there was a lonely world." The master began. "Unlike all the others in its universe it was the only one with intelligent life, the kind that could look beyond reality and dream of things that have never existed before. However, that isn't how it had to be, for there was a secret magic that could make these dreams real if all of the world's people united for that very purpose." His typically joviality suddenly gave way disappointment.
"Unfortunately such an event remained a dream in and of itself, for the universe they inhabited existed in an endless and unavoidable cycle of light and darkness, creation and destruction. So even when the people discovered this potential, a new age of darkness would rear its head and erase their progress, and the world would remain silent until an age of light started everything over again. And so this process continued, a pointless process of balance conducted by unknowable yet indifferent powers, and so it would have continued to be forever."
With a grin the older Sora's typical tone returned. "That was, until we entered the picture."
"Having lost my place in the wheel I could see things as an outsider. When I decided that I hated what I saw I set to work finding a loophole, a way to make sure that the efforts of a previous cycle would count for something."
With a clap he exclaimed "That's when it hit me, if I could be a tourist of time, why couldn't I take some souvenirs?
Of course, it's not as simple as buying a keychain or taking a photo, I needed to make a place that could literally store everything that there ever can and has been. Luckily for me, I remembered the power that lay inside people's being, or perhaps you could call it, their hearts..."
The younger man paled as it all finally came together. With a shaky voice Sora stated "So, what your saying is..."
"... That we created Kingdom Hearts? Yep, right on the mark".
The second battle, Aqua and Terra vs. Ira
The master then conjured the image of a world orbiting an invisible axis. "All I needed to get started were seven ruling ideals, ones that could draw people together instinctively, and with them, create a sanctuary from Oblivion" he continued. With every cycle the world crumbled, but would send the image of a crown to the orbital center before reforming as a completely new world. Each time a kanji would flash: duty, respect, courage, sincerity, compassion, integrity and finally, with the playing card bearing his crown, honor.
"Thanks to my, and now your, efforts" the elder emphasized by pointing a finger towards the youth, "it worked". With a flash the crowns fused together and created the heart-shaped moon of kingdom hearts.
"From their it all went like clockwork" with another wave the projection continued its cycle. "Just as planned, our project went on to spare countless cycles worth of hearts." The model reflected this as the orbiting world would send a cloud of hearts each time it decayed. And with each delivery, Kingdom Hearts grew steadily in size.
"Eventually we had collected enough hearts to shape not only the world, but the entire universe. Thus," with a snap of his fingers the model stopped it's rotation on Yozora's version, "A new world order was born."
With a pulse of light from Kingdom Hearts the lonely world disappeared, and in its place grew a Titanic planet larger than a thousand worlds combined. This was the world-line that would create the age of fairytales.
Third battle, Ventus and Axel vs. Gula
Having remained quiet throughout most of the lesson the younger Sora finally spoke. "But it didn't work like we wanted, right?"
The older one released a heavy sigh. "Exactly" the man confirmed as he rested his head on his fist. "Turns out the original order of things is impossible to get rid of, and adapts to whatever rules we place in front of it. Thus came the prophecy: blah blah fated land, blah blah light expires" the master punctuated by causing the image of the world to explode into the near infinite pieces we know today.
"Naturally the easiest method for this entropy was through Kingdom Hearts, which thanks to my propensity to disappear; I could not guard 24/7. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, that's when it hit me. If I can't run from the inevitable, why not use it to my advantage instead?"
Flicking his wrist the master erased the image of the planet and replaced it with those similar to Sora and Roxas.
"Before we became lost I always thought our similarities between Roxas, Ven and Vanitas were just coincidences" He continued excitedly. "But it turns out that it was all part of a plan I hadn't created yet!"
The teacher seemed to lose his student at this point. Rolling his eyes at the apparent look of confusion on the young Sora's face, the master started again more slowly.
"What I mean is we created a rule in the universe that there must always be at least one version of us at any given time. Being based on Kingdom Heart's creator they will have ultimate authority on opening it and closing it. That way anyone who tries to open Kingdom Hearts has to use one of us in the X-blade's creation, and the story about needing 7 pure lights and 13 darknesses would be a distraction."
This alleviated some of the younger Sora's confusion, but its logic still unnerved him.
"With that in place I felt comfortable letting history take its course. The original order would always have a foe destined to counter its plans at the controls, and the rest became literal history".
Fourth battle, Roxas and Xion vs. Invi... (More a conversation than actual fighting)
"What I didn't realize was just how adaptable the old order is" the master continued. "Because of us the end of this world-line has been delayed three times in a row, which has made the powers that be more than a little frustrated."
Changing the image again the Master of Masters conjured a tower labeled history.
"Rather than put up with our meddling any longer it has orchestrated fate to wipe the board clean all together. By denying you the creation of Kingdom Hearts, none of this can be possible" flicking his finger master Sora knocked out a key support of the tower and watched it all crumble. "THAT is the fate you so nearly caused in just a few hours ago, and the reason why I hesitated telling you about the real reason for your journey; AND can't trust you enough to take over for me as you are."
"So!" The Master of Masters exclaimed with a clap of his hands, "now that I'm done expositing your ear off, it's time to cut to the chase. I need you to forget everything about the last couple weeks so that you can go through the motions that turn you into me. I'll tighten up the time-stream to avoid any unexpected visitors, and we can all move forward with the best happily ever after we can manage. So, what do you say?"
Fifth battle, Riku and Kairi vs. Luxu
The younger Sora was silent as he processed all of this information. Maybe he would go on to understand all this time travel stuff eventually, but at this point, it was all well over its head. Yet for all that was incomprehensible to him now, his sense of dread was able to shine through.
"... For all this talk about saving the world, it sounds like I'll be the one to suffer the most for it" the teen conjectured.
"... I suppose so" the master replied soberly, "the best possible path forward needs us to bear most of the weight".
Both Soras' were silent for a time as the youngest mulled it over. There was no denying that there was a time when he wouldn't give a second thought about sacrificing anything of himself to save the rest of the world. But after having traveled the sleeping worlds with Riku and Kairi, and experiencing the lengths his friends would go to save him first hand, he just couldn't be the same martyr he was before.
"... A good friend of ours gave me advice not too long ago" the young hero explained. "He told me that I should stick to my course, and the world will adapt with it". He chuckled and admitted "I know this whole thing with the universe disappearing wasn't the best time to try that out, but, I'd like to give it another shot" the boy concluded with a smile.
"...Even if it hurts everyone else around us?" The master questioned severely. "I'm serious when I say that my solution will lead to the best outcome; diverging from it will only cause more problems for other people to deal with".
"That's fine" the youth stated as he placed a hand over his heart. "I've realized that going off on my own was already hurting those that I care about. So in a way, maybe including them in what's coming ahead wouldn't be so bad after all. That way, even if things become hard to deal with, at least we'll always have each other to make it not seem so bad".
With a heavy sigh the Master of Masters accepted that his junior would not be moved. "Fine," the keyblade founder relented, "We'll just handle this the old-fashioned way". Standing from the throne the elder Sora began to remove his coat and gloves. "Let's fight to see whose heart is stronger. If I win we go with my plan, and if you win, you can use Kingdom Hearts to do whatever you think is right."
As the final piece of black material fell to the ground, dark veins begin to encompass the man's scarred torso. "Heads up though, I've been using my coat to hide A LOT of built up anger, a few dozen lifetimes of it in fact". Entering the final stage of rage form, also called "void form" by the scarce few to have seen it, master Sora's body produced six additional limbs of darkness, each possessing a keyblade of impossible make.
"I wish you the best of luck, brave prince" the beast taunted as the last vestiges of humanity gave way to darkness, lunging forward with a monsoon of keyblades.
Sora, mustering all the courage inside himself, leapt to meet him.
In videogame terms, the Master of Masters is at level 999. No matter how much experience Sora gains on his adventure he'll only be able to reach level 99. Therefore this battle is impossible to handle as he is.
However, that is where his allies on the outside come in. As they overcome their foreteller opponents they lend Sora their own strength. Once all eleven are finished, there is a very real possibility that Sora could even outmatch his superior.
Through the power of friendship Sora is eventually victorious.
With one final blow the Master of Masters is defeated. Expunged of the darkness that has preserved him for so long, he finally gives in to the pull of eternal sleep.
The younger Sora is horrified to see his older self disappear, exclaiming that this wasn't what he wanted. But the fading master is quick to chastise such sentiment. After all, there isn't only room for one on a throne, one hand to guide one destiny. With an honest smile the Master of Masters wishes his other self, now truly separated from his own fate, good luck once again.
And with that, he is expunged from the universe.
Shaken by this experience Sora finally decides how to set everything right. Rising on shuddering legs he walks over to the throne of Kingdom Hearts. Sitting upon it he closes his eyes, and asks for a singular wish with all his heart.
Instantly the mosaic realm is awash in white, and destiny is rewritten forevermore.