(Philia Speaking) Hi, my name is Philia. A while ago, I ended up getting sent away from my world, and now I have no memory of my past, other than my skills with a dagger and the fact that I was a treasure hunter. I am currently joining alongside my new friends Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy, as we are now finishing the fight against the Heartless, and the true leader behind them.
Last time, we got an invite to take part in the Hades Cup by the namesake himself. It was a long and tough set of rounds, especially when we had to deal with Cerberus, my friends of Traverse Town, Cloud, and even Hades himself. Oh, and did I mention we ended the whole thing with a mountain of a rock monster? It was extremely difficult for all of us, but we managed to succeed in defeating everyone in the tournament, gaining more power in the process.
However, that wasn't even over for us, as another opponent singled out Sora to fight him one-on-one; a one-winged, silver-haired man named Sephiroth. And let me tell you, he nearly killed Sora so many times in that match, I nearly thought he died. I worried so badly for Sora, even though I knew he was able to overcome a lot. Even so, the only reason Sora won the fight was because Sephiroth forfeited the match, deciding to walk away from him. While I am glad Sora is okay, I worry if we will ever see that guy again.
And then, after all that, we were alerted about two powerful Heartless in two different worlds, leading us to go and deal with them in separate groups, from Sora and Donald helping Aladdin against a Kurt Zisa, while Goofy, Tink and I helped Peter Pan against a Phantom. Both were incredibly difficult to beat, but we managed to do so, getting stronger still from our encounters.
Finally, with nothing else to distract us, we finally went on our final mission; defeat Ansem, and save Riku. We have prepared ourselves with everything we need to enter into the dark realms where he is at. Now, we have to end this, once and for all, in order to save not only those dear to us, but the many worlds that are lost in the darkness. It's time to end this!
(Cue 'Digimon Adventure Tri Opening 1 - Butterfly TV Size', music on Youtube)
My wings are full of images of holding back, They are still weak but I'm sure I can fly
(As the viewer zoom in on a grassy field, a red shape passes the viewer, revealing Sora in the distance. A light blue shape passes, revealing Philia, then a green one reveals Goofy, and a dark blue one reveals Donald.)
Oh My Love (guitar intro)
(The viewer zooms in and circles around to see the four of them standing there, looking off into the distance. The image becomes blurry as the title appears in front of them.)
I become a happy butterfly and flying the shimmering wind And I will go to see you right away
(Sora was asleep on the shore of the Destiny Islands, but was awoken by a voice behind him. He turned to see Kairi and Riku standing there by the raft, the latter looking somewhat annoyed by Sora's laziness while Kairi waved him over to help. Sora got to his feet and raced to his friends. The screen fades to white.)
Better you forget about unnecessary things, There's no time to joke anymore.
(The viewer zoom out of the white in Philia's eyes as she practices with her Sword Breaker, with Leon and Yuffie watching her. Her blade glowing yellow-green as she thrusted her blade forward in a Dagger Skill. She holds her position for a moment as Yuffie applauds her, then Philia lowers her weapon, looking up at the sky with a sad expression. The viewer looks into the sky, seeing the stars as they shined for a seconds, before quickly disappearing one by one.)
I wonder, wow wow wow wow wow, what will reach the sky
(The viewer zooms out as Maleficent comes into view, standing at the table with the shadowy silhouettes of her villainous allies, and Riku at her side.)
But, wow wow wow wow wow, don't even have a plan for tomorrow
(The scene changes to six of the seven Princesses of Heart, their eyes open as they stand behind the Keyhole, defending the realm from the Heartless. Kairi appears in the middle of it, her arms crossed in front of her as she opens her eyes and opens her arms out, revealing her lucky charm, which shines brightly, replacing her position with Sora as he stood there beside Philia, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy on Donald's head as the viewer shifts the angle to behind them, seeing the hundreds of Heartless in front of them.)
Living in a world of nothing after the infinite dream, My love to you is growing weak
(The four begin to display to the viewers their combat skills against the Heartless one at a time, starting with Sora, then Philia, then Goofy, then finally Donald, who rains down lightning onto the Heartless before the heroes charge in to continue fighting.)
My wings are full of images of holding back, They are still weak but I'm sure I can fly. Oh My Love
(The viewer passes the Heartless to see Riku standing at the end, reaching out to Sora as to invite him to the darkness, his image replaced fully by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Philia clears the path for Sora as he races forward, reaching out to his friend. The view shifts to Sora's view, shifting his hand to swing down his Keyblade onto Ansem.)
Guitar solo ending
(The screen shines an image of King Mickey holding the Keyblade as Donald and Goofy looking in from the sides. The view shifts to a dark image of Aincrad as it crumbles away, with Philia's face looking to the viewer. The view zooms out as Sora pats Philia's shoulder, causing her to look and smile at Sora as he grinned back. The view zooms back even further to show quartet and Jiminy standing there, smiling at the viewers as they stood on the same hill as before, before the view shifts back to the sky again, with the flower petals flying by once again.)
Gummi Ship
"Watch out, Philia!" Donald cried out.
"I see them! I see them!" She answered, steering the ship to avoid the fire of the space Heartless in front of them, "Just keep firing back at them, Donald!"
"That's what I'm doing!" Donald responded, firing the weapons back at them as they flew, destroying them. Tink was right on Philia's shoulder, while Sora, Jiminy and Goofy were in the backseats, keeping tabs on anything they were not noticing, and mentally prepping themselves for the battle to come. After all the fighting, the many worlds they went to, the challenges that they had to deal with up until now, they were finally prepared to face the main opponent himself, the Seeker of Darkness, Ansem. They had many things on the line for them. For Sora, it was saving Riku. For Philia, she hoped for the restoration of her memories. For Donald and Goofy, it was finding their King. However, one thing they all had on the line for them; the restoration of the worlds that have been swallowed by the darkness. To them, they needed to win this fight, no matter what.
"I see it!" Philia exclaimed, pointing out the location far off in the distance. They quickly approached it, seeing the final destination. It looked like blue lights were trailing down into a purple energy vortex with fragments of landscapes swirling about it.
"Is that it?" Goofy asked.
"The End of the World." Jiminy stated.
"Fitting name." Tink responded, with Philia nodding in agreement.
"That's where Ansem and, hopefully, Riku are at." Sora said, looking at it.
"I can't find a good spot for us to teleport us down there." Donald stated, tapping at the computer, "There's way too much interference down there."
"Then we have no choice but to land down there." Philia decided, "Let's make our way down." Philia guided the ship towards the area, finding a good landing spot.
The area was filled with strong darkness, that it shook the Gummi ship as they flew, causing Philia to grip the controls tightly, calling out, "I got all my focus on stabilizing us here. You guys find a landing point!"
"I see one!" Sora called out, pointing to a small island down on their starboard, "There's a small cave area we can land in."
"Got it!" Philia answered, guiding the ship towards their location.
In a moment, they safely landed in the cave. Once they were secure, with Tink and Jiminy back in their respective pockets, they stepped out into the land that they were barely able to see before. However, what they witnessed was something hard to stomach. Nothing but the purple sky, the purple waters ahead of them, and fragments of land, which once belonged to other worlds. Off in the distance, the dark energy that they saw encasing the entire area before created a small vortex like a portal, with pillars of stone acting as a path towards it.
"Gawrsh, is that all that's left of the worlds taken by the Heartless?" Goofy asked.
"It's pretty sad, looking at how things are, here." Philia pointed out.
"Those worlds will be restored if we beat Ansem, right?" Sora assumed.
"You betcha!" Donald answered with confidence.
"But, if we do beat him, and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what's gonna happen to this place? And to us?" Sora asked, looking to his friends.
"Well, uh..." Donald started, but stopped when he had no clue about what would happen. Even Philia had no answer she could confidently give.
"This is a Heartless world, so maybe it'll just disappear." Goofy answered, causing the three others to look at him with shock. The fear they had at that very second instantly diminished as Goofy continued, "But no worries. Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin' nowhere. I'm sure we'll find our pals again. Yup, I just know that we will." Donald made a sound of agreement at this statement.
"Then that just means our adventure won't be over, even after defeating Ansem." Philia stated, dangling the Kingdom Key keychain from her fingertips, and smiling as she finished, "That's good..."
"Yeah, you're right." Sora agreed, holding Kairi's lucky charm in one hand, mentally adding, 'I'll return this. I promise.' He then took something else out; Philia's Swordbreaker, looking at it as well. Even if, for some reason, he was separate from Philia, as well, he did have this to remind him of her, and something he had to return to her. Philia looked to Sora, seeing each keepsake in each hand, mentally grateful that he was holding onto her dagger along with Kairi's charm.
"Let's go, team." Sora started, taking a step into, or rather onto, the water, as it somehow supported the weight of the team, allowing them to walk on it. However, they were barely a few steps in when they saw a massive orb of darkness fall from the sky, and the team were unable to avoid it in time before it consumed them.
They thought they took damage from the ball of darkness, but instead, they found themselves inside some sort of pocket dimension, on solid ground, and face-to-face with Invisible Heartless. "What just happened?!" Sora asked.
"Let's figure it out after we beat these Heartless!" Philia answered, readying her dagger, as the others produced their weapons, and took on the Heartless. Fortunately, thanks to their heavy training between Hollow Bastion and now, the Heartless were practically child's play to them, and they were easy to beat. What's more, Philia found a Mythril Shard in a treasure chest in that same area. Moment's later, in an instant, the team found themselves outside of the area, back to where they were before.
"What was that?" Goofy asked.
"Where were we?" Donald asked.
"Maybe we got stuck in some sort of area within that ball of darkness when it fell onto us." Sora assumed.
"Right. And we got out after beating the Heartless." Philia added.
They looked around, noticing that in some areas around them, more balls of darkness were falling about, sinking into the depths below. "Guess we should avoid them if we can." Goofy spoke what everyone was thinking, and they nodded in agreement.
"Hey, look!" Donald exclaimed, pointing to another small bit of land, where a treasure box was at, "I call dibs!"
Donald raced over to it, and had just wrapped his winged hands around it when Philia's treasure hunter instincts kicked in, and she shouted, "Wait, Donald!" However, he had already opened it, and darkness expelled from it. In a second, they were in another pocket dimension of darkness, with Invisible and Darkball Heartless surrounding them.
"It was a trap?!" Sora exclaimed, producing his Keyblade.
"You shouldn't open up the treasure boxes without checking for traps, Donald!" Philia argued, leaping in with a Cross Edge Dagger Skill on the closest Darkball.
"How was I to know that would happen?! It never happened before!" Donald squawked angrily, using Thundaga on the same Darkball, destroying it.
It took a moment for the team to clear the Heartless before returning back to the area they were before again. They did discover a Pretty Stone, which must've been the reward from the box. "Next time, let me check the box before opening." Philia scolded Donald.
"But how did you know it was a trap?" Goofy asked.
"I guess it's in my treasure hunting instincts." Philia answered, "Maybe in my old life, I was good at finding those traps."
"That's pretty neat." Sora stated, "Well, we'll be counting on you."
They continued onward, with Philia investigating the treasure chests for them, much to Donald's disgruntlement. Fortunately, she was able to investigate and discover the next trap-filled chest, so they were prepared before they unveiled it, entering into the pocket dimension. What they weren't expecting was a Behemoth Heartless to be in the dimension to deal with. But it was good for them that they fought two other Behemoths before this one, and this one was weaker than the others. Needless to say, they were able to coordinate together to take it out, earning them an Omega Arts accessory, as well as Mythril. Sora held onto the Omega Arts.
They continued their walk through the voided landscape, finding more treasures, and more orbs of darkness that with pocket dimensions they had to fight off Heartless in. There were Shadows, Darkballs, Invisibles, and Star Angel Heartless. While they collected a lot of treasures, they neared the portal ever so slightly, only to reach another pocket dimension with another Behemoth to deal with. It took just as long to deal with as the other one.
As soon as they returned out of the pocket dimension, they found themselves in an area that was clearly not the endless void of a land they were in before. Instead, it was a dark chasms, with many floors to it, leading to the bottom.
"How did we end up here?" Philia asked.
"Guess beating that Heartless got us here." Sora assumed.
"Wonder where that Ansem feller went to?" Goofy asked.
"Simple; Dive into the most dangerous place and we'll find him!" Donald answered.
"That's not simple at all." Philia argued.
"But it sounds right." Sora admitted, "Let's go deeper in and find Ansem."
Going deeper into the chasm was no easy feat, especially with all the Heartless about, and the difficult terrain to deal with. Fortunately, they were very capable of traversing the place, especially with their Glide skill. As such, they were able to discover all sorts of treasures in the chasm, inducing a new wand called a Meteor Strike for Donald to use.
They reached the bottom at last, and leapt into a hole of light, vanishing and reappearing into a crag-like platform. There was floors with stalagmites on the edges, a ceiling with stalactites on the ridges, but no walls, as they could see the open darkness as far as they could see, and similar platforms like the one they were standing on, each having something dark and purple glowing within. Then there was the glimmering light right in front of them.
"Where do we go from here?" Sora asked.
"Only one way forward, by the looks of it." Goofy answered, pointing at the glittering light ball. The four of them walked over and touched the light. Suddenly, they were teleported to another platform like the last, only this one had a pillar of purple dark energy in the center of it. Seeing no other option, they jumped into the light.
When they reappeared, they found themselves in a new area, or rather a familiar area. "This is Traverse Town!" Philia recognized, recognizing the Third District, as they wandered into the center of the place. Suddenly, a swarm of Soldiers and Large Bodies surrounded them, causing them to instinctively call out their weapons. They went to work destroying the crowd, trying to avoid as much damage or using too much energy as possible. They were able to find some shards and a Spirit Gem from a treasure box Philia discovered, by the time they were done.
"Now what?" Donald asked.
"I don't think we can go anywhere but back the way we came." Philia stated, looking back at the door, towards the Second District, "Let's get moving, guys." They agreed on this suggestion, and they went back the way they came, returning to the platform they were on before. Only this time, the dark pillar of energy was gone, and a new glittering ball of light appeared before them.
"Looks like you were right." Sora stated, "Taking out those Heartless in Traverse Town allowed us to progress even further in. Let's keep going on!"
"Right!" The other three responded, and they ran to the next glittering light.
They made to the next platform, where they found another pillar of darkness that warped them to another area, this time being the entrance to Wonderland. There, they found more Heartless, mainly magic-wielding Heartless, which they promptly destroyed. After finding a Thunder Gem, they proceeded to the Bizarre Room, which caused them to be warped back to the platform again, gaining a new path forward.
The next area was pretty much the same, only they ended up at the entrance to Olympus Coliseum, dealing with an assortment of Heartless there. Sora decided to summon Mushu once again, using his firepower to pepper the Heartless until they were burnt to a crisp. Once they were cleared, and gathered up the treasures, they went out the double doors behind them, returning to the platform to continue onward.
The repetition was the same over and over; walk into the pillar of darkness, finding themselves in a familiar world, taking out a swarm of Heartless, and gaining access to the next area. They went to the bamboo forest of Tarzan's world, where Philia utilized Dumbo and his watery attacks to take out the monkey Heartless, to the streets of Agrabah, where Sora was able to discover another treasure high above in the form of a Blaze Gem, to the waters of Atlantica, where Philia once again had to quickly adapt to her revealing mermaid form for a moment, much to her embarrassment, to Oogie Boogie's roulette room in Holloween Town, which made Sora recalled Philia's traumatic experience before, which caused him to try to quickly take out the Heartless before those memories resurfaced in her again, to Hook's ship, which Tink and Philia took the lead to clear things up.
The next platform didn't have a dark pillar of energy, but a green pillar of light, almost calming, which caused them to question what it was, before entering in. Turns out, it led them to the hill within the Hundred Acre Woods, where they discovered a Megalixer and a moment to rest up. Since it was Philia, Donald and Goofy's first time in this area, they found how tranquil the place was, to the point where Goofy almost fell asleep. However, they knew they had a job to complete, and exited the area, returning to the darkness once more.
They warped to the next platform, where something far different from the tranquil green light. Instead, a fiery orange pillar was in front of them, causing Sora to growl, "Stay cautious. I feel we are nearing something tough." They stepped into the fiery pillar, and were warped to an area that looked like it should be part of Hollow Bastion. It was a small hallway, the emblem of the Heartless on the wall on the far end, a small, electronic door on the side, and a Guardian and a couple Invisible Heartless to deal with.
They cleared the Heartless, before entering into the side room, where they found a machine similar to the door that led to the Keyhole before. Philia stepped forward to the computer in front of it, and examined the contents. "Check this out guys." Philia told the others, "It says, 'One born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, rage all worlds and bring desolation'."
"Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart." Tink followed up, "All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all."
"Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts." Jiminy continued, "The great darkness sealed within the great heart."
"Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness." Donald spoke up, "For the heart of light shall unseal the path."
"Seven hearts, one Keyhole, one key to the door." Goofy followed, "The door of darkness, tied by two keys."
"The door of darkness to seal the light." Sora continued reading, "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."
Just as they finished reading, two Invisibles appeared, causing the team to nearly get caught off guard. Fortunately, they were able to react, and deal with the Heartless, destroying them before they were able to catch them unawares.
When they were done, they gathered together, looking at the computer. "So this Kingdom Hearts. Is this what Ansem is searching for?" Sora asked.
"Well, the entry did mention seven hearts and one Keyhole, which we already know as the Princesses of Heart and the Keyhole Sora sealed." Philia pointed out.
"Not to mention the thing born of the heart and darkness suites Ansem to a T." Tink noted.
"But what about those two keys it mentioned?" Jiminy asked, "We know Sora has one key. But what about the second one."
"And based on the story, it seems like Ansem believes Kingdom Hearts is darkness. Like darkness is the true origin of the great heart." Sora stated, "But...that can't be right, can it?"
"Agreed. Darkness can't be the origin." Philia agreed, looking to the team, "We know the truth, right?"
"Yeah!" "Our hearts are filled with light." Donald and Goofy responded, respectively.
"Even so, we can't let Ansem get his hands on Kingdom Hearts." Sora stated, "Let's keep pushing forward and prove him wrong!" He led the team back the way they came, through a fiery orange portal, leading them back the way they came.
When they returned to the platform, they discovered that the fiery pillar was gone, but a hole in the ground was replaced by it. Seeing no other way forward, the four readied themselves as they jumped down the hole into the darkness below.
They used their glide powers to slow their descent, though the atmosphere around them felt different. Tink flew out of her pocket as she stated, "Guys, I think this atmosphere around here is reactivating my pixie dust with you guys." Sure enough, the four of them felt the glittering energy from their bodies, as the wear enow able to fly again, just like they did in Neverland.
(Insert 'A Night on the Bare Mountain')
As the team descended, they saw a mountain, with something black and massive on top of it. As they settled in position, they saw the massive thing unveil its immense black wings, revealing itself to be a black, muscular demon, with piercing yellow eyes. It roared as it seemingly woke to their presence, startling the group. They could see the fiery inners of the mountain, or rather, volcano, that it stood in.
"What in the world?!" Sora gasped.
"Is it a Heartless?!" Goofy asked.
"I never saw anything like this beast in my encyclopedia!" Philia exclaimed, already having her book out and examining the contents, "I believe this demon might not be a Heartless, but maybe a resident of one of the fallen worlds!"
"That thing is suppose to be normal in another world?!" Tink questioned.
"And it looks really mad!" Donald added.
"Then we'll have to take it down first before we can move on!" Sora told the team, charging to the demon, which unbeknownst to them was named Chernabog.
Sora struck the demon hard with his Keyblade over and over again, who was rather unfazed by the attack. Donald, Goofy, and Philia all joined in on the assault, just as the Chernabog made its move. It erupted the volcano underneath it, sending flames gushing up and burning the four, forcing them to back off.
"So it uses fire, just like Hades." Philia understood.
"But it doesn't burn nearly as badly as his." Sora pointed out, before seeing the demon breath in deeply, and shouting, "Move!" It unleashed a fire breath, causing the team to scatter about to avoid getting hit.
"Hit 'em with Blizzard magic!" Donald squawked, unleashing his Blizzaga magic as soon as he got close, before moving to a different angle to fire more spells. Sora and Philia utilized their own icy magic, while Goofy flew above before crashing down onto the demon with his shield.
The Chernabog doubled over in pain, causing the team to think they finally got to it. However, Sora and Philia's instincts kicked in, and they shouted together, "Back away from it!" The four flew off as the Chernabog suddenly made the volcano underneath erupt even stronger than before, creating a wall of flames that prevented them from even getting close to it.
"That was close..." Goofy muttered, seeing a small ember on his hat, and pinching it out.
"I've had enough times being a roasted duck!" Donald growled.
Sora and Philia looked to each other, the former saying, "Guess our instincts really are getting better."
"It should be, after all the hellish fights we did just recently." Philia pointed out, readying her dagger, "Now, let's hope they keep us from being burnt to a crisp by this demon."
The four continued their assault, unleashing lots of melee attacks, as well as their Blizzard and occasionally Thunder magic. The Chernabog's attacks were mostly revolved around fire attacks, whether it was summoning flames from the volcano to encase it, unleashing fire from its mouth, or just throwing fireballs at them. The big difference between it and Hades before was that this monster was nowhere near as fast as the lord of the Underworld, and a much larger target than Hades. It was able to blow them back with a gust of wind from its wings, so it could try to gain a counterattack on them before they got in close again. Because Philia and Goofy had an earlier fight with the Phantom, they had a jumpstart in the flying capabilities than Sora and Donald, but the latter pair were able to catch up to their skills to fight the demon before them.
The Chernabog roared as it formed its hand like it held a ball, and summoned a multitude of light wisps, which started to move around like ghosts. It then sent them flying towards the team, who scattered and avoided getting hit by them. They homed in on them, all splitting up to strike down each.
"This beast is really getting to be a pain in the butt!" Philia exclaimed, flying as fast as she could.
"Then we should let him taste his own attack!" Sora answered, flying towards the Chernabog. The others saw what he was doing, and gathered towards him, the light wisps all gathering up to pursue them. The demon saw them coming, summoning fireballs in each hand, before swinging them into the four, attempting to mash them in between the two attacks and the light wisps.
"Down!" Tink shouted, which Philia translated, and they flew downward, barely avoiding the flames that exploded right above their heads. They curved their bodies as they went right underneath the embers of the exploding fireballs, the wisps tailing them. They then shot up at the demon, got in close. Just as the wisps closed in on them, the heroes barely avoided the attack, and shot out of the way as the wisps struck into the enemy. While half were able to strike and cause damage, others were able to swerve and purse the heroes.
"Still not enough?!"Donald quacked angrily.
"That lessened the amount to deal with." Sora answered, readying his Keyblade, "That makes them easier to take out. Graviga!" He unleashed a veil of gravity magic onto the remaining wisps, followed by Donald using Thundaga. The combined spells were able to eliminate the attack.
"Goofy!" Philia shouted as she held onto Goofy's shield as they used their strength together to enduring the peppering of light wisps onto them. Philia channeled her magic energy as the shield glowed, and doubled in size, enduring the attack much easier than before, allowing them to take on every last attack.
"Time for a counterattack!" Sora shouted, and he led the charge at the Chernabog, unleashing a series of attacks, along with Goofy, finishing with a shield uppercut and Ripple Drive together.
They backed off as Donald channeled his magic into Philia's dagger, which glowed brightly as she readied her own Dagger Skill. "Back to the abyss with you, demon!" Philia roared, shooting forward, "Go back to sleep until your world reawakens!" She unleashed Eternal Cyclone, which mixed with Donald's Blizzard magic, and the face that she was flying, made her into a billowing ice tornado that severely damaged Chernabog with every spin she made. Her attack caused the demon to roar in agony, before turning into blue and white flames, sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness, until it vanished from existence.
As the flames died down, ember flew up towards the four, lightly touching the team members, their bodies glow a bit, before dying down. "What happened?" Donald asked.
Tink flew to Philia, then looked to the boys, before answering, "I think those bits of ember contained a hint of magic in them. It seemed to enhance your gliding capabilities, allowing you to fly faster, even without the effects of environments like this."
Philia translated what Tink says, causing the team glee as Sora says, "So now we can fly faster? That's awesome!"
"Uh, Sora?" Goofy called to him, "We should get goin'." He pointed to the volcano, where they saw a cave that was the only way forward.
"Right. That demon was only in the way to our actual goal." Sora understood, "Let's get going, guys." He led the team into the cave, where they flew down deeper and deeper into the depths of the cave, until they reached an area where their flight powers vanished. However, they could see the remains of structures from other worlds.
"This place...almost reminds me of a cave in Destiny Island." Sora recalled, looking about as they wandered through, before looking down, wondering, "I wonder if one part of this cave is from my home?"
The others looked to him in sympathy, before Philia patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Things'll be okay. When Ansem is gone, your world and ours will return to normal. Let's keep moving forward towards him."
"Right." Sora agreed, and they continued through the cave. There were many portals that led to different parts, but always deeper in.
As soon as the four exited another portal, and saw they were in a wide and long hallway with green flooring. However, they also noticed one more thing; they were not alone. A Behemoth was there, and it was already pouncing towards them. "Move!" Philia shouted as they scattered, barely avoiding the giant feet of the Heartless crashing down onto them.
"Cheap shot!" Donald squawked angrily.
"Like Heartless ever play fair!" Philia argued, "Now shut up, and let's destroy this thing."
"Way ahead of you!" Sora shouted, already on top of the Heartless's back, and unleashing his Ars Arcanum on its horn, going into a multiple hit combo on it, doing a large amount of damage. The Behemoth lowered its head to avoid Sora from getting close to its horn, but was met by Philia's Accel Raid Dagger Skill, doing numerous slashes herself with her dagger. Donald and Goofy leapt up from behind her, and slammed their weapons as hard as they could against the horn, breaking it, and causing the Heartless to vanish before their eyes.
"Now what?" Sora asked as he joined the three.
"Look over there." Goofy pointed to the far end of the room. In the wall, there was a Heartless emblem that was about as tall as Goofy. The upper-left part of the emblem suddenly broke off, disappearing in smoke.
"What happened there?" Philia asked.
"Head's up!" Tink shouted from Philia's pocket, and the team found themselves surrounded by Darkball Heartless, and they were all glaring at them.
"Fire away!" Donald shouted, as he, Sora, and Philia all unleashed a huge barrage of Firaga spells, blasting all of them with fire balls.
"Got 'em!" Sora cheered.
"Hold on!" Goofy hollered, as more darkness appeared, followed by Invisible Heartless, all of which charged at the four with their blades ready.
"Stop!" Philia shouted, and the Heartless ceased moving thanks to the Stopga spell. Two of the blades of the Heartless nearly reached Sora by the bridge of his nose.
"Too close..." Sora whimpered.
"Let's beat them while they stopped!" Philia ordered, as the four of them went to work unleashing damage like crazy onto the group of Invisibles. Even after the spell wore off, they were still outmatched by the team. The same was said for the Angels that came afterwards, and even the mixed group of Heartless after that.
As they fought, they kept noticing the door started breaking bit by bit with every group of Heartless they defeated. This meant that the only way they could go forward was by defeating the Heartless swarm within the room. They utilized everything at their disposal to destroy the Heartless about the place.
The four were back to back with each other as more Angels and Invisibles were surrounding them. Their was only the bottom piece of the Heartless emblem remaining on the wall, with the next room almost in full view for them.
"Just one more group." Sora muttered, looking around, "But it might be tough to attack one without the others attacking us."
"Hey, Sora." Goofy spoke up, "Why don't use that Trinity Limit move?"
"Oh, yeah. The one attack you gained from the Hades Cup?" Donald asked.
"Right..." Sora recalled, "Well, with the four of us here, it should be called Quartet Limit. Let's try it!"
He stabbed his Keyblade into the ground, channeling all of his remaining magic into it. A shining orb shined above him as a great magic circle formed from his weapon, encasing the four of them in its glow. Donald, Goofy, and Philia channeled their magic into Sora's attack, and the orb of light glowed brighter. Suddenly, it grew brighter and brighter, its' light dazzling all over the area, blinding the team and enemies alike. By the time the light died down, all the Heartless were vaporized, destroyed by the attack.
The four all panted, using up all of their magic for the final attack. "That...was amazing!" Philia exclaimed.
"Yeah..." Sora agreed, looking at the empty room, "We totally destroyed the Heartless that were left!"
"But it took all of our magic energy to do so." Donald pointed out.
"Still, we did it together." Goofy pointed out, with the other four nodding in agreement.
Just then, they heard the breaking of the final piece of the Heartless emblem break off, revealing the next room before them. "Guess that's our way forward." Sora stated, pulling out a Mega Ether, restoring the teams magic energy with it.
"Lead the way, Sora." Philia told him, and the four entered through the hole, revealing a small room, with a portal nearby that they recognized as a way back to their ship, and a treasure chest that contained a Megalixer. In front of them was a pair of copper-colored doors just standing right in front of them. They weren't even connected to a wall, but instead the frame and the door were standing there.
"Huh?" Sora looked at it with a puzzled expression.
"What's wrong?" Donald asked.
"Don't you hear something?" Sora asked, cupping his ears to the door, before gasping, "There!"
A voice spoke to Sora, and Sora alone. 'Careful. This is the last haven you'll fine here. Beyond, there is no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. Your heart is the mightiest weapon of all. Remember, you are the one who will open the door to the light.'
"I don't hear anything." Donald stated, with Goofy and Philia nodding in agreement to this.
"Strange... That voice was so familiar." Sora pointed out, "Maybe it's just my imagination."
"What did it say?" Philia asked.
"Wait, you believe he heard that?" Donald questioned her, "Maybe you both need a rest!"
"Shut up for a moment." Philia stopped him, before turning to Sora, "So, what did the voice say?"
"It said this was the final safe haven for us." Sora answered, looking at the doors, "I guess that means this is the final room before we meet Ansem. He lies just beyond these doors."
"Meaning once we go through, there's no turning back." Philia understood, looking at the doors, "We have to be ready for it."
Sora glared at the doors for a moment, before turning to his friends and asking, "Well, are you guys all ready to go?"
"You betcha!" Donald answered.
"We gotta save all the worlds." Goofy added.
"And save everything and everyone that is dear to us." Philia added, "Including each other."
Sora nodded in agreement, looking back to the doors, "We've come this far. Let's see it to the end." He grabbed the handles of the double doors, and opened it up, causing light to poor onto them. They became blinded by its light as they stepped forward, prepared to take on whatever follows next.
What they discovered next was a landscape that was unfamiliar to three of the four. For Sora, however, it was a very, very familiar location. They stood on the sandy beach of the world he had lost what felt like forever ago. "Is this... Is this my island?" Sora asked.
"This is your home?" Philia asked, looking about at the pleasantly-nice place that was Destiny Island.
"It sure is nice." Goofy noted, looking around, before frowning, "But something doesn't feel quite right."
"Yeah..." Sora agreed, looking about, "This place... it feels so empty. Like it is here, but not completely here."
He then heard a voice speak up. coming from the cave that he remembered a door being in. He looked to the said area that leads to the cave, as a voice of an echoed past repeated words he heard before. 'This world has been connected.'
"What was that?" Goofy asked, as they looked to one area, noticing the smaller island that contained the tropical tree that was Sora's favorite sitting spot vanish.
'Tied to the darkness...soon to be completely eclipsed.' the voice continued to speak as a larger part of the treehouse on the island vanished next.
"That voice... Is that Ansem?" Philia asked, horrified at the disappearing of one place after another.
'There is so very much to learn.' Ansem's voice continued as the waters turned into a sea of darkness, 'You understand so little. A meaningless effort.' The area around them started to shake violently, like an earthquake was taking place about them, before they got blinded by whiteness. 'One who knows nothing can understand nothing.'
When everything was clear again, they could see the Destiny Island has drastically changed. Once beautiful and tranquil, the island looked like it was pulled high above the ocean, fragmented and broken. The pier and buildings that were on it were now destroyed. The greenery now had dark branches growing outward, with what looked like black leaves growing from them. However, what they also saw that was just as disturbing was the appearance of Riku before them, wearing the garments of his dark form. He stood on the edge of the broken island, looking out at the sea.
"Riku?!" Sora gasped, about to approach him, before Philia held out an arm to gate him from approaching.
"Wrong. That's Ansem." Philia answered, glaring at the figure before them.
"Take a look at this tiny place." they heard Ansem's voice come from Riku, "To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison surrounded by water. And so this boy sought out to escape from this prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds, and he opened his heart to darkness." He turned to the group as darkness enveloped him, and in replace of Riku's body, Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, stood before them.
"Riku!" Sora cried out, seeing his friend vanish.
"Don't bother." Ansem scoffed, "Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness."
"Why you...!" Philia growled, knowing he was to blame for what happened to Riku.
"All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different." Ansem started, "Darkness sprouts within it, it grows, consumes it. Such as its nature. In the end, every heart returns to darkness whence it came." He vanished and reappeared right behind them, causing them to spin around and back off as he finished, with a raised hand, "You see, darkness is the heart's true essence."
"That's not true!" Sora barked back, "The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may give up. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"
Ansem didn't respond immediately, but floated high into the air, crossing his arms in front of him as he said, "So, you have come this far, and you still understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!" He suddenly summoned something from behind, a dark creature that had the look of a Heartless, with dirty white bandages across its chests, and two binding its mouth shut.
"But the light is where all things are created from, even darkness." Philia spoke up as they pulled out their weapons, "Memories are born from it, as are connections. It is the true heart's origin. Someone who only looks at darkness, obsessed with it, would not understand that!"
The team charged in, the fight against Ansem finally beginning. The human Heartless flew past them, stopping from behind Sora as his dark creature came around and unleashed a dark energy-encased punch, slugging Sora and sending him reeling. Goofy caught Sora before he fell, as Donald unleashed a Firaga spell, with Philia charging in with a Side Bite Dagger Skill. Ansem got hit by the fiery attack, before getting the double horizontal slash by Philia.
"Take this!" Philia shouted, raising her dagger to deal another blow.
"Come, Guardian!" Ansem shouted, as his monster suddenly appeared in front of him, spreading its arms out, and blocking the attack that was about to be dealt to him. Philia tried several more slashes, but they practically did nothing to even phase or damage the Guardian.
"Foolish girl." Ansem stated, retracting his Guardian behind him again, floating away, and unleashing several energy discs that looked like many spinning blades, slashing Philia with a few that sent her back crying out in pain.
"Philia!" Sora shouted, passing by her as he unleashed his Aeroga spell, creating a barrier of wind around all of them, before proceeding to Ansem, unleashing several strikes with his Keyblade. The Guardian attempted to punch him away, but Sora was more prepared, and blocked the attack with his weapon. Goofy followed up with a leap and a slug with his shield, striking Ansem in the head with it. He wasn't phased by this, but smirked at the pathetic attempt of an attack.
Donald and Philia unleashed a double Thundaga spell together, damaging Ansem, while Sora and Goofy went on the frontal offense, dealing the physical damage. Ansem once again produced his Guardian to block the attacks, nullifying both physical and magical attacks.
"That sucks!" Sora growled as he and Goofy backed off from Ansem, while the Guardian went behind him again.
"You fools stand no chance!" Ansem chuckled, "No one can destroy my Guardian. Have a taste!" He flew towards Sora and Goofy, the dark being pulling back a fist, and slugging Sora and Goofy once more. They endured with both their weapons and the Aeroga barrier, though it did make them skid back on the sand. Donald and Philia caught the two, bringing them to a halt.
"We gotta keep a cool head, Sora." Philia addressed him calmly, "He may be toying with us, but we need to keep up the damage until he knows we are serious about taking him down."
"We are not so easy to take down!" Donald squawked angrily.
"Right!" Sora and Goofy answered, and the two charged in, just as Ansem used Guardian as protection again.
"Try as you might, you can't defeat me." Ansem told them.
"Then how about we deal with pushing that monster of yours away?!" Sora asked, coming up with an idea on the fly, and pointing his Keyblade forward, "Graviga!" The forceful magic energy struck onto the Guardian, the result causing it to flail and be forced behind Ansem again.
"Gotcha!" Philia shouted as she, Goofy, and Donald all launched a triple strike of attacks onto Ansem, damaging him, "Not so confident now, are you?!"
"Don't be absurd." Ansem scoffed, "So you managed to find a temporary way around Guardian. That doesn't mean you stand a chance. Just give in to the darkness, like your friend."
"That won't happen!" Sora and Philia answered, before the four continued their fight.
The Seeker of Darkness was clearly not taking them seriously, merely flying around the area, hitting them with fists from his Guardian and unleashing energy disks. When on the defensive, he summoned out the Guardian in front of him. However, the team was able to read the attacks and deal with them accordingly, avoiding, blocking, and in the Guardian's defensive case, unleashing their Gravity spells to force it away, and deal with Ansem with all they could.
"You fools have no idea how meaningless this is." The Heartless man scoffed, "Why don't you just submit!" The Guardian suddenly flew around and reached out to Sora, about to grab him.
"Watch out!" Philia shouted, leaping in front and being struck by the Guardian, who vanished soon after, leaving Philia with a dark aura around her.
"Philia!" Donald and Goofy cried out.
"What happened?!" Sora asked her.
"I...I don't know." Philia answered, looking at the dark aura, feeling the cold darkness almost embrace around her. She then heard the chuckle from Ansem, and saw he was now vulnerable. "I don't know what you did, but I can withstand anything you just did to me!" She shot forward, about to slash Ansem, her dagger edging towards his face. However, the attack was thwarted, as her arms were suddenly restrained by the Guardian reappearing behind her, holding her in the air by the wrists.
"What the-!" Donald gasped.
"That monster's got Philia!" Goofy noticed.
Philia struggled as Ansem neared his face to her's, saying, "Just give in to the darkness. You have no chance."
"Make me..." Philia growled, glaring blades at him. His response? Producing a spherical cage of darkness around him, slamming into Philia hard with it, the Guardian vanishing as she was sent reeling, screaming in pain.
"Stop it!" Sora shouted, his body surging with energy as he slammed Ansem several times with his Keyblade, before unleashing Ragnarok, sending a light salvo streaming at the man, striking him endlessly.
"You okay?!" Donald asked, racing up to the crumpled Philia to heal her.
"Stay back!" Philia shouted, as the Guardian reappeared, and backhanded Donald, sending him flying. However, it gave Philia just a little time to heal herself with magic. 'Damn it!' She shouted mentally, 'I am no good in this situation with this monster stopping me from attacking, or even moving in on Ansem. However, it looks like Sora and the others can, at the very least, damage him while his guard is literally on me. Better make sure this thing keeps its attention on me instead of the enemy.'
"Ansem!" Philia shouted in an angry tone, racing towards the man once more, her dagger at the ready.
"Philia, what are you doing?!" Donald questioned, her friends shocked at her frontal assault.
"She knows that won't work!" Sora pointed out, back-stepping from Ansem as he placed up his barrier.
Sure enough, just as she got a few meters away from Ansem, her assault was halted by the Guardian, who restrained her once more. "You really are foolish." Ansem scoffed, flying towards her, "Did you think if that would work if that didn't work before?"
"Sora, strike him!" Philia shouted as she struggled against the Guardian. The Keyblade wielder immediately responded by getting in-between Ansem and Philia, unleashing a Hurricane Blast that sent Ansem back, followed by Donald and Goofy bombarding him with attacks, before Sora unleashed his Strike Raid technique on him, striking him several times over. Philia felt the Guardian vanish, and unleashed Thundaga from the sky, striking Ansem over and over again, until the Guardian restrained her once again. "Fine by me." Philia grimaced, "This Guardian just relies on instincts without its master's orders. Plus, I am at the distance. I can rely on my friends to take him on."
Ansem, meanwhile, was realizing what Philia was doing to turn her hinderance into an advantage for the others, and flew away from the boys, growling, "It seems that I underestimated this girl's intellect. Even so, it will not stop me! Come back to me, Guardian!" The dark beast did as it was told, vanishing off of Philia, and returning to Ansem's back.
"Philia is free!" Goofy cheered, as the treasure huntress came to their side.
"You okay?" Sora asked her.
"I had you guys, so I knew I was safe while you guys did the fighting." Her words caused the trio to smile back at her.
Ansem started to fly away into the woods and bluffs at this point, and the team looked to see him leaving. "Get back here!" Sora shouted, racing after him. However, just as he went through it, the area started to shake once more, like another earthquake was taking place. The team stopped and braced themselves against the rumblings as the island was shifting once more. The island split in half as the sand and ground rose up, forming a semi-dome, the sides looking broken and almost flame-looking, the way it curved, ebbed and flowed. The interior was dark and eerie, clearly made by Ansem and his darkness.
"Stop damaging my island!" Sora shouted, racing into the only part of the semi-dome he could run through, leaping into the interior area.
"Wait up, Sora!" Philia called to him as she, Donald and Goofy followed after him. However, The moment they tried to go through the same crack, they slammed into an invisible barrier, and recoiled from impact.
"No!" Donald exclaimed, getting back and pounding the barrier with his fist.
"Sora's on his own!" Goofy realized.
Philia looked at Sora as he stood there, glaring about for Ansem, but only felt the ground shake again as something arose from the ground in front of him. Something large, and something familiar. The dark character that Sora faced only once before, and the one he faced before the very island he stood on now vanished.
"You!" Sora growled, looking up at the Darkside that towered above him.
Philia instantly pulled out her book on Heartless, and flipped through the pages, before discovering it. "The Darkside. A powerful being, and practically among the strongest of the Pureblood Heartless."
"This thing was among the reasons my home disappeared!" Sora growled, getting his Keyblade ready, "I'm a lot stronger now than I was before. Time for Round 2!"
He charged in as the Darkside as it reeled back a fist. Sora saw it, and instinctively did a leap back. The Heartless punched right through the ground, creating a void of darkness as he did so, along with a shockwave that Sora avoided through his back-step. It looked like it was digging for something deep down with the arm.
"Firaga!" Sora shouted, unleashing fireball after fireball from his Keyblade, striking the head and free arm with them. The Darkside was unfazed as it pulled up a ball of black and red energy, with spark coursing around it. It cupped it in two hands as Sora wondered what it was gonna do with it, before deciding not to falter and attack it at the arms, trying to stop whatever it had planned with the sphere of energy, even utilizing a Ripple Drive in attempt to deal a lot of damage. Once again, it remained unfazed as, after it seemingly steadied itself, it raised the ball of energy high into the sky, and shot it into the sky.
"Don't tell me..." Philia muttered, seeing it shot high up, before expand and start raining dark energy balls downward. "I knew it." She muttered, "Sora, watch out from above as you are fighting!"
"I see it!" Sora responded, readying his Keyblade as he took in the Heartless, who pulled back its other fist, gathering it up with energy. Sora recognized the attack, but still barely avoided the attack. The Darkside was moving faster than before. Not only that, but the area where Sora landed on was the same place where a dark ball of energy fell down, hitting him. He was able to recover, but saw the Shadows rise up from the pool of darkness formed from the Darkside's fist.
"Jeez, this is too much!" Sora exclaimed, ducking and running around more raining dark energy, and striking out the Shadows with relative ease, before turning his focus back to the Darkside. He shot towards it, leaping and slashing numerous times at its hands, while avoiding the raining attack.
"Sora's gotta avoid the falling balls of darkness, while dealing with the Darkside and its attacks." Philia noticed, "Not an easy task, but we know Sora is able to take care of it."
"Yeah. It's a lot easier to deal with than that long-haired guy at the Coliseum." Goofy pointed out, indicating the battle with Sephiroth.
"Yeah, as well as that black-robed person back in Hollow Bastion." Donald added, indicating the unknown person they faced back then.
"Those two fights were certainly tough." Philia agreed, "But we still need to deal with Ansem, as well. I know he is just waiting to pounce on Sora when we least expect it."
Sora continued his fight while they spoke, and he was easily able to adapt to the attack patterns of the Heartless, even as it shot its homing dark energy attack from its chest. Sora rolled around the area to avoid the attack, seeing the openings, and slashing or utilizing magic to damage the Darkside.
"The raining seems to have died down." Sora noted, looking to see the sky cleared of the dark orbs. However, he quickly notice the Darkside crouch over, slamming its fist into the ground once more, creating a shockwave that Sora barely reacted to. He stumbled and fell, but quickly got back up as it pulled out another sparking ball of darkness.
"No you don't! Not again!" Sora shouted, leaping up and charging the tip of his Keyblade, before unleashing Ragnarok, sending a deluge of light salvos to strike the Heartless and the dark orb. The peppering of the attack did the trick, as its dark orb dissipated, and its body vanishing as it crumpled over, disappearing in darkness.
Sora sighed in relief, muttering, "I feel like I just redeemed myself after what happened to Destiny Island. However..." He felt something as he heard Philia cry out, "Watch out, Sora!", and he turned to see Ansem reappear from darkness, his arms still folded, and his Guardian at his back.
"How does it feel to be able to stop the very Heartless that was partly responsible for returning your world to darkness?" Ansem questioned, "Even so, you were too late to stop it then, and you are too late to return your world back to normal, now. You, along with your world, will remain forever encased in darkness!"
"That's where you are wrong!" Sora shouted, "I will bring back my island, along with all the worlds that were taken away by the Heartless, and I will stop you as well!"
"How will you do that all by yourself?" Ansem questioned with a smirk as he and his Guardian readied to face Sora, with the other three watching from the distance. The second match with Ansem was about to begin.
The second after he spoke, he encased himself in a dark spherical aura as he shot towards Sora quickly, who barely avoided it with a dodge roll. He came out of the roll as he quickly saw Ansem stop, and come at him again extremely quickly, striking Sora and sending him skywards in pain. Just as Ansem turned around and came at him again while he fell, Sora heard his friends call out to him, and used his Superglide's floating abilities to catch himself in the air, the dark orb surrounding Ansem just grazing his feet, before he landed on the ground, rolling out of the way again to avoid the next charge attack.
"He's moving a lot like he did when he possessed Riku in the last battle with him." Philia recalled, thinking on the fight between Sora and the possessed Riku.
"Yeah, but this looks a lot tougher to avoid." Goofy compared.
"Come on, Sora!" Donald shouted, as the Heartless man continued his charging attack, while Sora evaded.
Finally, Ansem stopped his assault as the dark orb encasing him vanished, revealing the man. Sora launched himself towards Ansem as he shouted, "Time to see how you like it! Sonic Blade!" Sora lunched himself forward in a multitude of dashing stab attack that pierced right through Ansem multiple times, before he finished with his final stab.
"Come, Guardian!" Ansem roared, as the said monster appeared in front of him, shielding Ansem from harm.
"I can resolve that!" Sora retorted, using his Graviga spell to cause the Heartless to be crushed and forced behind Ansem again, giving the Keyblade wielder a chance for a multitude of slashes on Ansem.
"Submit!" Ansem roared, as his Guardian attempted to snatch Sora in his grasp. Fortunately, Sora pushed himself back with one foot, just barely evading its grasp. Recalling what it did to Philia, if he was possessed by the Guardian, he would be in a heck of a lot of trouble, especially since he would be alone.
"He's learning from the last fight, and adapting to Ansem's movements." Goofy noted, seeing Sora continue his assault on Ansem
"That's cause Sora's got so much empty space in his noggin' to learn this stuff." Donald answered, seeing Sora back away from another dash attack, only to put his guard up against Ansem coming at him again, and after a tug-of-war of power, Sora cancelled out the dash attack.
"That's not true at all!" Philia argued, glaring at Donald, before seeing Sora leap at Ansem, his Keyblade ready. She recalled all the fights she had seen Sora in, the flashes of all the battles in each world they were in, up to now, and giving a confident grin as she finished, "Sora has all the experience from our adventure to aid him here. And, he has us rooting for him." Donald and Goofy could not deny that at all, and smiled in agreement.
Sora backed off from a slug from Ansem's Guardian, shouting, "No more fooling around! I know you are still holding back!"
"Not so..." Ansem muttered, smirking as he emanated a dark aura, "However, I do feel my strength return." The area suddenly went black as Sora looked around, before noticing the Guardian suddenly leave Ansem's back, flying into the air, and leaving Ansem alone.
'Now's my chance!' Sora noticed the vulnerable state Ansem was in, rushing towards him. However, he felt the ground beneath him feel weird, and noticed only for a brief second that a black portal suddenly was beneath him. This was quickly followed by the Guardian surfacing from the ground, slamming Sora while creating a shockwave, forcefully sending him flailing in a backward somersault. He fell to the ground, in pain, but not so phased that he didn't notice yet another portal appearing underneath him. With his free hand and his reflexes in full force, he was able to push off the ground as he was in mid-tumble, going to one side as the Guardian surfaced from the ground again, just grazing Sora with its fist, but was still damaged by the shockwave that followed after.
"Why isn't he using his newfound gliding speed?!" Tink demanded, popping out of Philia's pocket, while Sora's friends were watching the scene, invisible from Sora's view on account to the darkness.
"He might've forgotten." Philia answered, seeing Sora rolling out of the way again to avoid another close shave from the Guardian, who was creating portals so quickly, Sora barely could dodge. She then shouted into the darkness, "Sora, fly!"
Sora was stressing out from the dodging, damaged from the attacks, but was able to hear Philia's message. Dodging another attack from the Guardian, he leapt into the sky and flew around the dark arena with his Superglide ability. The plan worked, and Sora's speeds were now too fast for the Guardian to keep up, while the shockwaves were out of range from him.
"You may be able to dodge that, but how will you dodge this final darkness!" Ansem questioned, as a portal surfaced underneath him, and through the power of his surfaced Guardian returning to him with his own power, created a dark shockwave that went in four directions around him, one nearing Sora as he flew.
"Look out!" Donald and Goofy shouted together. Sora heard his friends, and ceased his gliding, going into a defensive stance with his Keyblade, getting pushed back by the shockwave pressuring against him, but utilizing the force to curve himself around the attack. The moment the shockwaves vanished, the darkness in the area vanished, returning to normal.
Sora was damaged pretty badly, but was able to recover by utilizing his Curaga spell, healing him of his wounds. "I am mildly impressed." Ansem stated, "You were able to withstand all that. However, I should point out that you only did so thanks to your foolish friends shouting to you." This, of course, irked the viewers of the fight.
"You may be right." Sora admitted, "After all, my friends are my power. Without them, I wouldn't make it to this point. But I am glad I have friends who help me, cause they are the reason I can keep fighting, and how I will win!"
He charged himself up, before unleashing his Strike Raid combo onto Ansem, who took each hit hard, before stopping the last couple attacks with his Guardian. Sora recalled his Keyblade, downed a Mega Ether as he charged, restoring his magic, and used Graviga on the Guardian to force him away again, and did a full melee combo with his Keyblade on Ansem. The Guardian punched, but Sora blocked it. It tried to snatch Sora to possess him, but he evaded. Ansem was at a disadvantage. Sora was able to counter each attack he could unleash.
"Finish him off, Sora!" Philia shouted.
"End this guy!" Donald squawked.
"Return the worlds to light!" Goofy finished.
"Time to end this!" Sora shouted, using Graviga on the Guardian before it could move in to block, and unleashing Ars Arcanum, going into his strongest combo attack, hitting Ansem over and over again until the flurry of attacks ended with a heavy final slash that made the Heartless man fall backwards, until he vanished.
For a moment, it seemed like Sora finished the man once and for all. The barrier around the area Sora fought in vanished, and the others joined Sora's side, about to say something. However, they barely could speak, as without warning, everything went dark. The atmosphere suddenly became a black cloud, swirling around them, barely making anything visible to them.
"Wha-?!" Sora gasped, wondering where everything was, or where they were now.
Then, from the darkness around them, Ansem's voice spoke up, "Behold the endless abyss! Within it lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts!" Adjusting to their surroundings, the team suddenly noticed, from far off, a floating platform with several gray spiked pillars, surrounding a very large pair of white double doors with an eccentric frame. The darkness seemed to swirl into the area behind the doors, almost like it was being sucked in.
"Look as hard as you are able." Ansem continued, "You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours." The team looked down, and both Sora and Philia gasped. From out of nowhere, something surfaced it meet them. Something enormous.
The thing looked like a giant, living warship, many, many times larger than even the largest Heartless they've seen. It looked almost completely made of distorted flesh, and was mostly pink with various colors mixed in parts of it. There was a literal head on the warship monster, demonic-looking in all aspects, tendrils and wings on the sides, a rocky tail on the back, and a massive cage in the area that should be the main helm of the ship, surrounding a pulsing orb that was most likely the core.
On top of the cage was Ansem himself, now much larger than before, and without clothing, save for the skintight attire that he wore on his lower half. His back had cables that connected him to the living warship. He also carried a dual-bladed halberd, the blades looking like Riku's sword. Behind him was his Guardian, which had also evolved, its face more demonic, armored, and far more threatening-looking than before.
"Darkness conquers all worlds!" Ansem roared as it floated upwards to them, the team near the main deck of the monster ship known as the World of Chaos.
"Holy hell!" Sora exclaimed, before the four suddenly felt nothing beneath their feet, and the fell. Sora fell one direction, while Donald, Goofy, and Philia suddenly were pulled in by a swirling fog of energy within the cage, and they vanished from sight. Sora was so shocked at the sudden lack of flooring, he flailed and fell through the air, falling down towards the endless abyss, unable to do anything. 'Donald, Goofy, and Philia all got pulled away, and I can't even fly!' Sora told himself, 'Even if I could, how am I gonna destroy this enormous monster? Is it even possible to destroy something that size?!'
"Giving up already? Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that."
In that sudden moment, Sora heard Riku's voice in his mind, almost as he was mocking him for what he was thinking. As he fell into the darkness, he suddenly found the mental strength to rebuke what he thought before. There was no way he should give up now. He wanted to finish this fight, and he was gonna do so, no matter what.
Thinking on his memories in Neverland, he found his happy thoughts again, and his body felt light. He was flying again, just as he did before. Reaching back up to where he was before, he produced his Keyblade, and prepared to fight. He was not gonna let himself doubt his victory, even as a barrier erected from the interior of the cage, preventing him from going within to attack the core. However, looking at the area, he decided on the target he went after first; Ansem. He flew up to the gigantic man, about to fight him off.
Meanwhile, in a dark area, Philia had just got herself off the floor, and looked about. "Sora? Donald? Goofy?" She called out, looking about, "Anyone there?!" There was no answer...at least, none she wanted. For all of a sudden, many Darkball, Shadows, and Neoshadows appeared all around her, surrounding the lone girl.
"What happened?!" Tink asked, popping out of Philia's pocket, flying right next to her.
"Unfortunately, it seems we are separated from the others." Philia growled, "And we have to fight off all these Heartless alone."
"That won't be a challenge for you, girlfriend!" Tink stated, as the Heartless came at her, only for Philia to counteract with Thundaga to electrify them.
"But the real questions are how long will they keep coming, and how can we escape." Philia argued, readying her dagger to fight, and she lunged at a Neoshadows, who whipped out its' claw to meet her attack.
In that same fluid movement as Philia and her opponent, Sora and Ansem slammed their blades at each other, with Sora being the one to be pushed back. He had already seen that Ansem was more or less spinning his double-ended blade about to fend Sora and his Keyblade off. However, this was not stopping Sora, who found every opening he could to attack Ansem and his massive body, even though it felt like he wasn't able to do anything to him.
"Welcome the darkness into your heart." Ansem called to Sora, as the boy suddenly saw three orbs of darkness starting to form in front of him. Quickly reacting, he flew out of the way as the orbs fired off lasers that would've struck Sora if he was in the same place before. He saw three more appear, and he kept moving as they tried to home in on him, only to miss him again. He came back to Ansem again, avoiding his blades as he tried striking him over and over.
"All shall be consumed!" Ansem shouted as he sent more orbs, who fired one laser after another at Sora, who flew to avoid getting hit, before noticing Ansem summoning Heartless.
"No you don't!" Sora shouted, avoiding the last of the lasers, and unleashing Firaga spells at Ansem and the Heartless, destroying the Heartless and damaging Ansem. Sora shot towards Ansem, and their battle continued.
Ansem's attacks were either unleashing spinning swings from his twin-bladed weapon, or unleashing orbs that homed in at Sora to unleash lasers at him. He did summon more Heartless once more, but were easy to deal with. Sora saw through these one-dimensional attacks, flying fast enough to avoid the lasers, while parrying and avoiding the sword strikes, before striking Ansem over and over again.
Finally, after all that, Ansem shouted, "Enough!" He smacked Sora like a fly in the air with his blade, the latter attempting to parry with his Keyblade, only for him to be sent backwards. Once he was a good distance away, Ansem crossed his arms across his chest, and fell back onto his Guardian, which Sora now noticed had something that looked like an open rib cage. He fell into the open area like it was a coffin, and a large Heartless emblem appeared in front of him, creating a magic barrier that prevented Sora from attacking him further. However, while Ansem looked like he was recovering, that caused a fog of magic energy to appear in front of the cage. Sora saw this and, thinking it might lead to his friends, dove into the fog.
He found himself in darkness, with only a blue glowing Heartless emblem on the floor to acknowledge the ground, as well as the eyes of the Shadow Heartless within. "Where are my friends!" Sora shouted, and he unleashed his Blizzaga spell to destroy the Shadows in front of him.
It barely took him half a minute to clear out all the Shadows before a sort of crystal appeared in the air above him. With no other way to think about it, he leapt up and struck the jewel, destroying it. In the explosion, the foggy portal opened up again, and Sora flew out, returning back outside again.
He flew up and turned to see the Guardian acting up. A black fog like the portals before appeared above many flesh-looking cannons on top of the cage appeared, looking like coral and other plant-life in the ocean, which began firing down at Sora. He evaded with his quick flying skills, before mentally telling himself what his next task was; destroy all things that were firing at him before getting to the fog.
He quickly went to a couple of the smaller cannons, destroying them before getting smacked by the massive hand of the Guardian, sending him flying away from the cannons. It clearly wasn't gonna stand by and allow Sora to destroy them, while the distance between him and the cannons was perfect for target practice. Sora saw more shots come at him, along with more orbs appearing to fire lasers at him. "Give me a break!" Sora exclaimed, before flying around the attacks firing at him.
He made his way back to the living cannons, destroying more of them, including one of the two larger cannons, before the Guardian smacked him away again. Sora shook it off, and flew back to the cannons, barely being grazed by another one of the larger cannon fires. "I'll show you some firepower!" Sora shouted, "Firaga!" He unleashed several fireballs from his Keyblade, blasting the cannons, destroying all but the final large cannon. He shot towards it as it fired an energy ball at him. Sora spiraled around it, pulling back his Keyblade, and ending it in one fell swoop.
A second after his attack finished the cannon, Sora looked to see the black fog portal now turn into the colors of the others before, giving him the impression that he was able to get through it. He saw the Guardian raise its hand, ready to swing. Sora shot forward to the portal, and entered in just as the Guardian swung, missing his target.
When Sora came through, he found himself in an almost identical dark area as he was in before, complete with Heartless symbol on the ground, with the only difference being who was in the room; Darkball Heartless, and Goofy.
"Goofy!" Sora called out, seeing his friend surrounded by the swarm of Heartless.
"Sora!" Goofy hollered back, as Sora joined his side, and used Stopga to freeze the Heartless in place.
"Where are Donald and Philia?" Sora asked, as the two went to work on the enemies.
"I haven't got a clue." Goofy answered sadly, "We got pulled into that weird fog, and suddenly found myself here, alone."
"Then that means Ansem had everyone separated." Sora grimaced, seeing the stop spell wear off, and the Darkballs they did damage to vaporize, "We have to get out and find a way to get them back!" He and Goofy saw more Darkballs appear, and they went to take them out.
In another room like the one the boys were in, Philia was still facing the Heartless, which seemed to never ended as she finished off so many, only for more to reappear in their place. She used things like her Thundaga, Eternal Cyclone Dagger Skills, and even summoning Dumbo to hose the enemies, but they continued to come in.
"There's no end to them!" Philia panted, seeing more Neoshadows and Darkballs appear, with even an Invisible joining with them, "Are Donald and Goofy dealing with this kind of swarm, as well?"
"Philia, you look exhausted." Tink noted, "You should summon me so I can grant you my power."
"Thanks, but I also have someone who can also help rejuvenate my strength, as well." Philia muttered, raising her dagger, "You are my trump card, so hold out for a moment, okay?" She concentrated as she used her magic energy before shouting, "Summon: Bambi!" She lowered her dagger, causing grass to emerge all around her, spinning around before as she gathered up magic into the tip of the blade, before tossing it in an overhead throw that arched and hit the ground, creating a small hill of grass and flowers, with a young deer appearing on top of it. It pranced and bounded about Philia, before stopping by her free hand, allowing her to pet it, before bounding off.
"What good is a little deer gonna do?!" Tink asked, seeing it bound about, before looking at Philia, seeing her glow as her body rejuvenated.
"Bambi is helping me recover, and what's more..." She leapt forward and slashed down a few Neoshadows, causing them to vanish, causing Bambi to prance and rejuvenate Philia even more, "...I get more recovery the more enemies I defeat."
She kept slashing and smiting the Heartless around her, as Bambi bounded about, even making large bounds that produced items such as potions and materials. To Philia, Bambi was a terrific assistance in her treasure hunting skills. She only wished she used him more often than now. By the time Bambi left, Philia was pretty much back to normal.
"I feel pretty upset that you chose that woodland animal over me." Tink huffed, turning away from Philia.
"I'm really sorry, Tink." The treasure huntress apologized, "I promise that you'll be the only person I'll summon to my side afterwards..." She looked at the swarm of Heartless that were still about, the size not seeming to shrink, "I just hope we can last that long."
At this point, Sora and Goofy flew out of the foggy portal, now free of the room they were in. They flew all the way to the literal head of the ship, where it was starting to move more aggressively, its mouth opening as it roared at the two boys.
"Goofy, let's take out the head!" Sora declared, "Then we can hopefully reach Donald and Philia."
"Right!" Goofy answered, and the two flew at the next part of the World of Chaos.
Suddenly, a spark of energy appeared right in front of Sora, who got surprised by the attack, and ended up getting hit by the energy explosion afterwards. Goofy stopped to see Sora recoil from the attack, before recovering himself, see Goofy, another energy spark appear behind him, and shout, "Goofy, guard behind you!" The anthropomorphic dog turned and raised his shield in time to endure the same energy explosion Sora took, and got sent flying back next to his friend.
"That was close!" Goofy sighed, "Thanks, pal!"
"No prob." Sora answered, "Now, let's go in, and let's avoid his attacks!"
The two flew in, now aware of one of the attacks it did, avoiding the sudden sparks of energy that appeared on their path, causing them to swerve and weave around them, before unleashing their attacks at the grotesque head. After a few seconds, the head reacted by summoning large purple lightning bolts from all around it to rain down onto the two, the pair getting zapped hard by the attack. Fortunately, Sora used Curaga to heal the both of them, and continued their assault.
Goofy was only able to do long range if he used his Discus attack. Otherwise, he was on close range, constantly checking and trying to avoid the lightning bolts that the head summoned all around it, similar to Ursula's lightning bolt assault. Sora was good in both close and long range, having more magic energy to spare to use his spells from a distance. However, the head of the World of Chaos was also good at both long and short range, from making energy sparks appear near the two before they exploded, or raining down bolts of lightning around it. They had to keep themselves on their toes, regardless of them being in the air or not.
"We have to keep striking it down, Goofy!" Sora shouted, tossing him a bottle of potion for him to down, before shooting at the Heartless head and striking it numerous times. He then sensed the head charging up something as it started to open its mouth. Sora pushed himself away as it roared and unleashed an energy burst from its very body that Sora barely caught with his feet, and felt a tingling pain from it. If he had not dodged in time, he would've taken a full blast of the attack that looked like it would do more damage than even the lightning.
"Okay, that was too close!" Sora stated, as Goofy came to his side, gulping at the new attack.
"That's one more attack we have to watch out for." Goofy pointed out.
"We can do it, Goofy." Sora responded, "We have to beat it in order to reach Donald and Philia."
"Right!" Goofy responded, getting himself ready as he and Sora continued the assault, now avoiding the new, stronger attack from the Heartless. It did seem a bit slower to unleash than the lightning, so they were able to react and avoid the attack. Sora was even able to land on top of the head, having ground to actually unleash his Ragnarok, sending the salvo forward, only to curve around and pepper the face, causing it a great amount of damage.
The Ragnarok attack was enough to make it grow weak, leaving its mouth gaping open, where both Goofy and Sora found another portal. "That's our way in, Sora!" Goofy hollered.
"Open wide!" Sora shouted, and the two flew right into the portal.
Once again, they found themselves in another room just like the previous two Sora encountered, and this one had a lot of Neoshadows, as well as Donald, panting from exhaustion from fighting within.
"Donald!" Sora and Goofy shouted, racing towards him, Sora unleashing another Curaga spell to heal all three of them.
"Where did you guys go?!" Donald demanded.
"We were trying to find our way to you!" Sora argued, the trio back to back with one another, "Isn't Philia here?"
"Doesn't seem like it." Goofy answered with a whimper.
"Then let's clear these Heartless, and find our way out!" Sora declared, striking a pair of leaping Neoshadows, "Philia's waiting for us to reach her. Let's not keep her waiting!"
"Yeah. She's scary when she's angry." Donald muttered, and the trio went to work.
Philia felt a sneeze coming on, but wanting to maintain focus as she was still surrounded, she backed off, and made sure to sneeze when she was a distance away. "Seriously?! Someone's talking about me now?!" Philia grimaced.
"You had to sneeze, now?" Tink asked her.
"It's not like I wanted to." Philia argued, landing back down and immediately seeing an Invisible appear to slash her. She guarded with her dagger, but got sent flying in agony from the force of the attack. She hit the ground on her back, got back up, and saw the Heartless about her closing in.
"Is everyone else dealing with the same battle as me?!" She exclaimed, really annoyed and exhausted from fighting so much.
Tink tapped her shoulder, and she looked to her to see her look consolingly at her, saying, "Philia, we gotta push through. Remember your happy thoughts, okay?"
Philia looked to her, her mind thinking on those words, and was about to think about the good memories, when something else appeared before her. From the ground, with the other Heartless surrounding it, was a Darkside, towering over her and all others. Philia looked shocked and terrified at the opponent before her. This just got a lot more difficult for her.
Meanwhile, Sora, Donald and Goofy were able to defeat the assortment of Heartless, and break out of the room together. They flew out of the mouth of the World of Chaos, which started to explode behind them, until with one final boom, the head was destroyed.
"Looks like we were finally able to some real damage to this giant Heartless." Goofy noted.
"Hah! I knew I could do it!" Donald huffed with confidence.
"Donald, you didn't even fight it out here!" Sora argued, before looking to see within the caged area of the Heartless, noticing the barrier vanishing, giving the team access to the core. "Come on." He told the two, "The portal to Philia has to here somewhere! Let's destroy that core!"
"Yeah!" The two answered, flying towards the core.
Getting there wasn't easy, as there were more flesh-like cannons firing energy shots at the trio. They dodged as they flew, with Donald and Sora using Firaga spells to blast the cannons if they were close. Goofy got to the core first, bashing his shield on the core, doing as much damage as he could.
"Goofy, out of the way!" Sora shouted, getting close as Donald angry used his lightning on the cannons. Sora pointed his Keyblade as Goofy flew to one side, and unleashed his Graviga spell on it. Fortunately, the spell did the trick, and the core got instantly destroyed by the spell.
"Let's get out of here!" Goofy hollered as they flew out of the cage, while the core exploded behind them.
When they got to a safe distance, the trio looked at the damaged Heartless battleship, hoping to find a portal to Philia. However, what they saw instead was the Guardian's arm movements becoming more aggressive, before seeing the Heartless emblem that barricaded Ansem vanish, forcing the giant man out into the battlefield again.
"Ansem's out, but there isn't a portal to Philia!" Goofy noted, looking about.
"I thought destroying the core would work." Sora muttered, feeling worried.
"Where did she go?" Donald asked, as worried as the others.
"Do not bother looking." Ansem spoke up, getting their attention, "The girl has been plummeted deeper into the darkness than either one of your friends. She has no chance of escaping. She will continue to struggle before she gets consumed by darkness."
"Oh, no!" Donald and Goofy gasped.
Sora looked shocked before angrily demanding, "Why did you do that?! Give us back Philia!"
"Her very existence is what pulled her deeper in." Ansem stated, "Her heart was meant to be consumed and put to sleep by the darkness. For you see, she was not meant to be part of this very dimension. As such, her heart should be sent to darkness."
"What does he mean?" Goofy asked Donald.
"I don't know." Donald answered.
"What gives you the right to say Philia was not meant to be part of anything?!" Sora demanded, angry at the words he heard, "Philia is our friend. A part of our team! Her heart is a part of ours, and we are a part of her's! Even if she isn't part of this dimension or whatever, she is still meant to be with us!"
Back with Philia, she felt exhausted as she looked up at the Darkside, along with all the Heartless in front of her. She was getting the slightest twinge of fear that she wasn't able to escape this area. That she was gonna fall and be consumed by the Heartless. She wasn't gonna make it back to Sora, Donald, Goofy, or Jiminy. She feared the worst.
"We gotta keep going, Philia!" Tink shouted, "We can't give up, just yet!"
"I...I know." Philia answered, bent over as she panted, "But...we've been fighting here so long, and against such powerful opponents. I...I just don't know if..."
Suddenly, she felt something within her heart. The words Sora was shouting were somehow reaching her very heart, and for a brief moment, she could hear him. She visualized him in her head, along with Donald and Goofy.
"Sora..." Philia muttered, looking surprised at the sudden appearance of the person she loved in her head. The thought of him, Donald and Goofy brought the hope back in her heart. Her mind started to think back to the very beginning, from when she and Sora first met, to Donald and Goofy literally falling into their lives. To the many adventures and battle they fought in all the worlds. The times they laughed. The times they got angry at each other. The many friends they gained from their adventures. The times when they lifted each other's spirits. The times they felt cornered and afraid. The times their bonds caused them to pull through so many dangers, becoming stronger together. The times where Philia could feel her love rise up, and when she learned about the feeling she had for Sora.
Philia's body glowed with a white aura as she straightened up, her body filled with energy again. Tinker Bell looked surprised at what was happening to Philia as she had her eyes closed for a moment, before opening them up and smiling.
"This isn't the time for doubts and fears. I've had enough of those." She started, "As a matter of fact, it's thanks to Sora, Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, Tink, and everyone in my life, from the point I woke up with no memories, that I learned to overcome and become the girl I am. And literally all the memories I have are about them. They are the light that carry me on."
"Philia..." Tink muttered, feeling joy at her best friend speaking so highly about her. This was more than just happy thoughts that were lighting her up.
"I started out this journey with no memories." Philia continued, her dagger held in front of her, and pulling out Sora's Kingdom Key keychain out of her pocket, "And even though I don't know who I am, or where I originated, I know that it isn't important. For the memories I have in me are my power, and they tell me who I am. I am Philia, and my friends are my power!"
All of a sudden, both her dagger and the keychain shined brightly, causing the Heartless to back off in fear. Philia raised them up together, before thrusting them high. Her body, and the two objects, exploded in a massive burst of light, destroying the Heartless, and whiting everting out all about the place.
Hidden within the darkness, someone saw this take place, and smirked as the person said, inaudible to anyone else, "Guess this wasn't enough. Oh well. Maybe next time."
Back with the boys facing Ansem, they were ready to take him on, while Ansem readied his double-bladed weapon, when something happened. The Guardian lurched as Ansem felt something strong. The three boys suddenly got their attention drawn down below them. From the area where the core of the World of Chaos was before, the air started to literally form cracks. Light was seeping out from the cracks. More and more cracks formed, and after a few seconds, they shattered, creating a portal of light in the form of a heart. The moment it opened up, two lights shot out, one far larger than the other, shooting right up in front of Sora, before dissipating to reveal Philia and Tinker Bell.
(Insert 'Butter-Fly All Cast Ver.' Tri Version)
"Philia!" Sora, Donald and Goofy cheered in joy.
"Sorry for the wait, guys." Philia answered.
"I knew we would find each other!" Sora stated eagerly.
Philia blushed in response to this, as she answered, "Me, too. You are my light." Sora grinned in response to this.
The team suddenly heard the Guardian roar, and the team got their attention back on Ansem once more, who was glaring at the lot of them, not saying a word. "Looks like I arrived on time for the final battle." Philia understood, as Tink dove back into her pocket again.
"Yeah. Let's finish him once and for all!" Sora declared, before the four shot forward to finish the job.
Ansem and his Guardian summoned energy orbs that fired lasers at the trio, which were new to the trio, and Donald got hit by one, but Sora was flipping around and dodging it, before slashing at Ansem multiple times, followed by the others, with Donald firing Firaga spells. Ansem tried two swing his blades at the up-close fighters, which hit Goofy, who blocked with his shield, getting sent hurling back. However, Sora and Philia avoided and continued their assault. Philia even got in a good chunk of damage with her Cross Edge Dagger Skill.
"I will show you the true power of Darkness!" Ansem roared, raising his hands up high as he created a void of darkness above him. Sora and Philia felt themselves being pulled in by the attack, and were forced to fly away from it. As they flew, Ansem hurled the void, Donald and Goofy flying away to avoid it, as well. Suddenly, the void exploded, as Ansem shouted, "Witness REAL power!" He raised his weapon high as the void sent many streams of darkness to fly at the team, and they flew as fast and skilled as possible. In fact, they seem to be moving faster than normal, as the light that emanated from the portal Philia came out of gave them a slight boost in their flying speed. The streams followed the team, but they were flying all about them, letting them pass by to misfire. They continued this dance as they drew themselves back to Ansem, who looked shocked at his attack missing.
"How?! You should've been hit by it!" Ansem demanded, "Just get consumed by the darkness and be done with it!"
"You're a broken record that can't get the point!" Sora shouted, flying in and slashing Ansem multiple times.
"The power we have far exceeds the power your darkness has!" Philia followed up, unleashing her Accel Raid Dagger Skill to deal massive damage.
"And we'll beat you with it!" Donald and Goofy shouted together, throwing their shield and fireball together to unleash a fusion attack to deal damage to Ansem.
Ansem and the Guardian got irritated by the team bombarding him with attacks, and used their powers to blow back the four. "You are as clueless as you were all the way back then. You failed to learn the truth, and shall fall by the true answer!" He raised his arms up high, and was prepared to fire off another void of darkness.
"No! You are the one who will be defeated, by our answer!" Sora shouted, raising his Keyblade high, which started to shine. Donald, Goofy, and Philia's weapons all glowed, and they raised them to Sora. Suddenly, the Keyblade shined, and transformed before their eyes. It became a larger blade, white, which mixtures of blue and yellow, the shaft and blade having a filigree design.
It shined as Sora held it, looking amazed at the new Keyblade, before seeing Ansem hurl the void. He grasped it in both hands, and brought down the blade in a diagonal slash. There was a moment's pause, Ansem and the void frozen in place. Then, the void suddenly split in two, disintegrating into nothing, A gash suddenly formed on Ansem's chest, and he reeled back, weakened by the attack.
Suddenly, the ship started to explode in many places. The damage of the final attack shook the entire Heartless battleship, as a light started to shine out from Ansem, as he and the Guardian struggled to keep going. However, it was in vain. The light bursted out in many areas, before their was a massive explosion. The World of Chaos, and Ansem, were eliminated.
Sora and his friends endured the blast. By the time the explosion ended, Sora's Keyblade reverted back to the Oblivion Keyblade again. "Is it...over?" Sora asked.
"I don't know." Philia answered, "We should head over to Kingdom Hearts, and seal it up."
The team flew their way to the floating island with the door on it, before stopping as they saw something floating in between them and the doors. Ansem was still alive. His arms were tensing as he had them crossed, before bracing his left arm with his right hand. The team readied to continue the fight against him, waiting for him to make a move.
"It is futile. The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness." Ansem told the team, before spinning around to the doors and shouting, "Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness...!" With his outstretched arm, as if he was using telekinesis, the double doors suddenly cracked open, unveiling dark vapors seeping out from within the realm. "Supreme darkness...!" Ansem gasped, wanting to utilize the power Kingdom Hearts had.
"You're wrong!" Sora shouted to him, "I know now, without a doubt." He thought to all the miracles throughout the journey, from the moment he gained the Keyblade, to the momentary Ultima form the Keyblade had to defeat Ansem. "Kingdom Hearts...is light!" Sora finished.
The moment he said this, the dark vapors instantly gave way to a bright light that shot through the cracks, bathing Ansem with it, causing him to flinch and shield his face from it. He gasped and grimaced at the sight of the light coming from within, before weakly saying, "Light...but why..." He suddenly became consumed by the light, his body spread out weakly, as right before their very eyes, Ansem, the seeker of darkness, vanished from sight, defeated by the very thing he sought out to gain.
The moment the mastermind vanished, the light dissipated, allowing the team to unshield their eyes. "Hurry! We need to close Kingdom Hearts!" Goofy called out.
"Right. No more villains are gonna get to it!" Philia answered.
The team flew to the floating island, landing on top of it, and raced to the double doors. They were a lot larger than they expected, not even able to reach the golden handles on it. Sora and Philia shoved their bodies against one of the two doors, while Donald and Goofy pushed the others. "Come on!" Sora shouted, pushing with all he had.
Philia was closest to the crack in the door as she looked in with one eye. She saw some light, but a lot of dark structures within. As she looked she saw something fly through the air, spiraling about. It looked like a thousand black shadows worming and spiraling through the air. As she looked at it, she noticed something that looked like a person within the shadows. She could barely recognize the person, but could just barely make out the short, blue hair within, before the person and the thousand shadows vanished from sight.
"What?" Philia asked, looking surprised at what she witnessed.
"Philia, keep pushing!" Sora shouted. The treasure huntress realized she wasn't pushing, and continued to push on the door.
Suddenly, Goofy gasped in horror at something as he peered in the door. "Stop staring and keep pushing!" Donald squawked at him, before he ended up seeing within. Philia also looked back in again, taking a better look at the structures and rock formation within. A lot of the structures were moving, meaning one thing.
"The Heartless!" Donald and Goofy shouted in horror.
"We gotta keep pushing, guys!" Philia shouted, struggling against the door, before seeing something, or someone else coming towards them. Someone that surprised her.
"I can't..." Sora muttered, wearing down from the pushing.
"Don't give up!" A free hand suddenly appeared near the hand Philia had at the edge of the door, coming from the other side of the door. It was Riku, somehow reappearing from within the realm on the other side of the door. "Come on, Sora! Philia!" Riku called to the two, "Together, we can do it!"
"Okay!" Sora responded, pushing with all they had against the door. Finally, with their strengthened effort, the team started to feel the doors slowly and surely close.
"Riku, look out!" Philia called out, looking behind the boy. A couple of Darkside Heartless suddenly rose up appearing behind Riku, ready to attack.
"It's hopeless!" Donald squawked in fear.
Just as the Darksides were ready to attack, they suddenly were destroyed, vanishing in an instant. The team looked within, and were wondering what stopped them. Suddenly, from on top of one of stones within, someone flipped up from below. A light shined behind the character, causing it to be shadowed from view. However, they could see the person was short, and had two big round ears, a pointed nose, and a thin tail.
"Your Majesty!" Donald and Goofy called out.
"He's your king?!" Philia asked, surprised to meet the mouse-like figure within.
Suddenly, the King produced a Keyblade, raising it high. It looked exactly like the Kingdom Key Keyblade, with a color swap between the guard with the shaft, teeth, and keychain. "Now, Sora! Let's close this door for good!"
"Close it, quick!" Donald told Sora.
"But...!" Sora started.
"What about Riku and your King?!" Philia asked.
"Don't worry." Mickey answered, "There will always be a door to the light."
"Sora, Philia, you can trust King Mickey." Goofy assured them.
"Now! They're coming!" Riku called out.
The light faded from around Mickey as he looked back at the team, saying, "Donald, Goofy, thank you."
The team gave one final push, giving their all as the double doors started to close. Riku looked back at Philia, before saying, "Philia, I'm sorry...for everything."
"It's okay. I already forgave you." Philia answered, giving a small smile to him.
He then looked to Sora, giving one last request to him, before the door closed. "Take care of her." By her, he meant Kairi. Sora looked back at him for a moment, before giving a serious nod back. That was something he had already promised to do. Finally, after one last push, they finally closed the doors, sealing Riku and Mickey within.
"Sora!" Philia shouted, tossing something to Sora. It was his Kingdom Key keychain. Sora understood what she meant, and swapped out to his original Keyblade. He leapt back, and raised it up high, gathering magic energy within the tip. At the same time, King Mickey was doing the exact same thing. The door started to sparkle and shine, the light and magic enveloping it, until it, like the many Keyholes they sealed in the other worlds, vanished from sight, leaving a lone path into the darkness that was behind it. Kingdom Hearts was sealed.
The team stood there for a while, Sora thinking back on his time with Riku on the Destiny Islands. While he knew they were going to reunite again, Sora knew that it would be a long while before they would see him again. He hoped they would reunite soon.
Suddenly, Sora felt a presence behind, and looked to see, at the edge of the island, Kairi standing there, somehow appearing on that very island with them. "Kairi?" Philia asked, wondering how she got here. Sora raced to her, while Goofy stopped Donald from approaching. Philia looked to them, then to Sora rushing to Kairi. She wanted to go with him, but felt like Sora should at least see her alone. It felt like it was for the best, regardless of how she felt.
A light started to shine from behind the team, as Philia felt her blade shine. She looked down, and saw two lights shine before appearing as Dumbo and Bambi, who took one look back at her, before Dumbo trumpeted and flew away, while Bambi pranced off.
Tink flew out of Philia's pocket, before looking back at her sadly. "I think...it's time for me to go." She told Philia.
"Yeah." Philia answered, looking sadly back at her, tears forming in her eyes, "I...I'm gonna miss you, Tink."
"Same..." Tinker Bell answered, tearing up a bit, before wiping her tears before they fell, "Best friends forever."
"Right." She replied, "We will see each other again. Give your love to Peter Pan."
"Do the same for Sora." With the final parting words, Tink flew into the light, vanishing from sight.
As Sora ran, his Keyblade shined, and he saw both Simba and Mushu appear at either one of his sides, running with him. Simba roared before racing off, while Mushu shouted, "You owe me one for having this guardian dragon lend you his firepower. Hope we see each other again, pal!" He leapt off into the light, disappearing.
Just then, Genie appeared above him, wearing a total tourist look, complete with a baseball cap that looked like Goofy. "Well, I can't do any more damage in this popsicle stand. I'm outta here!" With that, he rocketed into the atmosphere.
"Take care of yourself, Genie!" Sora called out to him, waving him off.
"Bye, bye, you crazy lovebirds!" Genie shouted, "I'm history! No, I'm mythology! Oh, I don't care what I am, I'm freeee!" With these final words, he vanished from sight.
Sora looked back at Kairi, seeing that she was now standing on familiar sands as part of the platform started to pull away from the island they were on. "Kairi!" Sora called out to her.
"Sora!" Kairi called back as the two approached each other. Suddenly, there was a rumbling, as the chunk of island pulled away, and Kairi stumbled, only for her hand to be caught by Sora's.
"Kairi, remember what you said before?" Sora asked her as she was pulled away, "I'm always with you, too. I'll come back to you. I promise!"
"I know you will!" Kairi answered, before their hands were forced away from each other, and Kairi floated away. They watched each other grow more and more distant from each other, while Philia watched Sora from behind, before a gasp from Donald and Goofy drew her attention to what was falling from above, and she gasped. Thousands, possibly millions of lights, were falling from the sky, raining down all about them. The light of many hearts, both of the people and the worlds, were returning back to where they came from. Donald, Goofy, and Philia all looked at this with pleasure in their hearts, even as the light consumed them from behind, disappearing them from view.
From Kairi's view, she turned to see the sand she stood on expand, with the Destiny Islands starting to form right behind her, returning back to normal once more. Kairi looked back to see Sora try to call something out to her, but he became inaudible, even as he tried to shout. Then, in a moment, Sora vanished, pulled away from the world, and consumed by the light.
Kairi saw the oceans form before her eyes, before seeing lights shoot into the sky, forming the very stars in the sky that she loved to look at. The worlds were returning back to normal again. Kairi watched this, sadly knowing that Sora was somewhere among those stars, too far away to reach, but close enough to see. After all, he was a part of her heart, and her memories. He and Philia.
Somewhere, far off in the distance, were Sora, Donald, Goofy, Philia, and Jiminy. All four of there were walking along a dirt road, with Philia in the lead, surrounded by vast plains of grass, with the occasional groups of trees here and there. They had only appeared there once they were consumed by the light, and had no idea what world they were on, or where they needed to go. Not only that, a lot of their equipment, including their extra weapons, had vanished, leaving them with their old weapons, meaning Sora had to give back Philia her Swordbreaker dagger. With no other option before them, they just decided to walk along this dirt path, believing it would take them somewhere. To get more comfortable, Donald and Goofy won't back to their old clothes again.
"Well, now what do we do?" Donald asked.
"We've gotta find Riku and King Mickey." Sora answered, leaning back on his hands as they walked.
"But, uh, where do we start lookin' for that there door to the light?" Goofy asked. The trio of boys stopped for a moment, before sighing as they doubled over.
Philia stopped and turned to the boys, her arms on her hips as she argued, "Come on, guys! There's no need to be so gloomy before we even start looking!"
"Well, do you know where to look?" Sora asked.
"Not a clue." Philia answered, turning away, "But we tend to stumble on what we are looking for by sheer coincidence anyway." Sora sighed as she didn't give a proper answer. He wasn't the only one who felt disappointed at the answer. Philia was, too, as she looked down, sadly.
'Yeah...sheer coincidence.' she echoed to herself, 'I may have fragments of my memories from my past, but not enough to know who I am, or where I am from. What's more, I have more questions than before. Like that light from before...' She thought about that burst of light that freed her from the darkness in the the final battle.
'What was that light that came from me? Why is it that I am able to sense hearts better than the other guys? There are so many questions that I have no clue to answer. If someone at least gave me a hint as to where I came from.'
A gasp from the boys caused Philia to be pulled away from her thoughts. She looked ahead, as did the boys, as they saw a dog appear in front of them. A dog that followed Donald and Goofy to Traverse Town, and even wake Sora up, but disappear soon afterwards.
"Pluto?" Donald called out to the dog, who stopped and turned to them.
"Where did he come from?" Philia asked.
"Hey, Pluto. Where have you been?" Goofy asked.
Sora then noticed something about the dog. In its mouth, there was a letter, and it had a familiar face on it in the form of a green stamp.
"Gawrsh, that's the king's seal!" Goofy recognized.
"Hey, have you seen King Mickey?" Sora asked Pluto.
Pluto didn't answer, but instead turned and bounded along the path before them. Donald and Goofy looked at each other eagerly, as Sora raced passed Philia, grabbing her hand, and saying, "Let's go, Philia! Come on, guys!"
"Wait, wha-!" She started as she was pulled along by Sora, her cheeks rosy at Sora pulling her along by the hand.
"You did say we would stumble onto what we are looking for. Let's see if that's true!" Sora told her.
Philia couldn't argue with that, but instead smiled as she answered, "Yeah. Let's find what we are looking for, Sora!" She met Sora's pace as they ran next to each other, with Donald and Goofy bringing up the rear, pursuing Pluto.
'Well, those questions will be answered in due time.' Philia told herself, smiling as she looked at Sora, who grinned back at her, 'After all, as long as I'm with these guys, I'm sure I'll find that out, as well as make many amazing new memories, while I'm at it. And someday, when I am confident in myself to say it, I will tell Sora about how I feel, as well. For now, it's time for a new adventure, full of many new treasures in store.'
Epilogue
Present Day, Disney Castle.
Kayaba finished off the story, closing his screen down after reading all that he recorded. He looked up at the group who had listened to it. Mickey had his eyes closed, thinking on what he had told, while Jiminy, Donald and Goofy looked at each other, hearing everything in the story.
"That concludes my report on what I learned from the journal." Kayaba told the group, looking to Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy, "I am rather interested in what the three of you have to say about it, considering you had an important role in the entire story."
"Well, uh..." Donald started, looking to Donald and Jiminy.
"It is strange that I have no recollection of that version of the story." Jiminy stated, "I don't even remember placing that in my journal."
"But doesn't it does sound kinda familiar." Goofy pointed out, "Feels like we should know her, even though we don't her." Donald and Jiminy nodded in agreement.
"Remembering and familiarizing are two different results." Kayaba sighed, putting his tablet away, "This wasn't what I was hoping to gain."
"And exactly where did you find this information?" Mickey asked, "We never found a trace of this information in the Datascape."
"That's just it. The information was buried so deep within the data of the journal, that even Data Riku barely noticed a trace." Kayaba answered, "From what we gathered and hypothesized, we believe that the reason we could not find it before was that the data was blocked by the Data Naminé we encountered."
"Naminé?" Jiminy echoed, the four surprised at this bit of news.
"Correct. Once she vanished, that was when these small traces were visible between the pages of information on your first adventure. It was as if she was responsible for hiding any information about Philia to us in the first place. It makes me wonder if the real Naminé was responsible for why you three, along with Sora, cannot remember her." Kayaba's words did make Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy ponder, though it resulted in more confusion and headaches than anything.
"Well, for the time being, you should look into this a bit further, Kayaba." Mickey requested, "In the meantime, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy, you should go ahead and make your way to Master Yen Sid's tower. It's nearly time for Sora, Riku, Kirito, Asuna, and Leafa to start their Mark of Mastery."
"Yes, your Majesty!" Donald and Goofy answered.
"We'll be on your way." Jiminy followed up.
"Great. I will join you momentarily. There's something I need to speak to Kayaba about, first." Mickey told them. They understood, and left the room, leaving only Kayaba and Mickey alone.
Once the door closed, Kayaba turned to Mickey as he hopped out of his seat. "I assume you purposely left us alone to speak about the information I gathered, correct?" He asked Mickey.
"As a matter of fact, you are correct." Mickey nodded as he spoke.
"Then, I am to believe that you know more about Philia, correct?"
Mickey nodded again, before starting, "In fact, I remember Philia well. So do very few others, including Riku, Kairi, and even Maleficent."
This bit of news surprised Kayaba, not expecting those names to come up, before asking, "But, how is it that you and they remember Philia, but not her closest friends?"
"It's not just them." The king pointed out, "Everyone connected to Sora and Philia together, save the few that I mentioned, don't remember her, either. And I know the truth." This made Kayaba remain silent as he wanted to know this truth. It took a few seconds for Mickey to gather himself up before answering with a serious tone.
"The reason why Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy don't remember her...is because Philia asked them to forget about her."
?
In a certain white room, kneeling before a large pod that looked like a closed lotus flower, was Philia. She was crying her eyes out, her tears dripping to the floor, as a certain young girl with medium-length blonde hair, wearing a white dress, stood there, watching her from behind.
To the treasure huntress, there was no choice but to do what she had to do. It was for the best.
Reconnect
The Path of Memories