"Where did Sora and Kairi go?" Emma, Dia, Donald, Goofy, and Ixion were standing in front of the waterway, but Sora and Kairi weren't. Emma looked around. "Sora! Kairi!"

Dia also looked around. "Yo, lovebirds! Where are you?" she called.

"They…they went to Cid's house," a weak voice announced.

Goofy took out his shield. "Who are you?"

A silver-haired boy was lying on the ground near some crates, his face turned sideways. "It's me," he murmured. "I…I got away…but…I got pretty beat-up again."

Emma ran forward. "Riku! Are you okay? What happened? How are you back to normal?"

Riku lifted his head up, showing a few scrapes on his cheek. He laughed weakly. "Slow down, Emma. The Princesses of Heart helped me…I knew they had strong hearts, but I didn't know what they could do. They separated me from Ansem for the time being. I teleported myself here, but I collapsed before I could find you. Like I said, he and Guardian will probably come back for me, so I can't stay long."

"And like I said, we'll just take you back!" Emma grabbed his hand, and helped him to his feet. "How do you know that Sora and Kairi are at Cid's house?"

"Because that's where they said they were going," Riku said slowly, as if he was explaining something to a young child. "I've been on the ground for a while…I heard Sora tell Kairi that they should stay at Cid's house until you guys came back."

"Oh. New destination, Ixion!" Ixion neighed and trotted over. "Meet our new summon!"

Riku reluctantly pet the Aeon. "I guess he's sort of cute…" Ixion kneeled again; Dia and Emma helped Riku on. "It's good to be back with you guys," he decided.

"How sappy and random." Dia patted him on the back. "Good to have you back, Riku."

… … …

"We all really live in a video game?" Kairi was sitting in a chair in Cid's house, looking intently at Sora. "How is that possible?"

Sora shrugged. "I don't have a clue, but it's the truth. Hey!" He stood up as Sora and Co. walked in. "Riku! You're here!"

Riku grinned. "Of course I am! Did you really expect me to go down that easily?"

Sora grinned back. "You're right. It's time to lock Hollow Bastion!"

Kairi pouted. "Please let me come with you guys! I want to see other worlds! That's what you promised that we would do!"

"I didn't know about the Heartless then."

"I don't care, Sora! You promised. You, me, Riku, and the others are going to travel the universe, together!"

Sora finally caved in, sighing. "Okay, you can come." Kairi jumped up and down, and clapped her hands. "But you have to promise that you won't get in the way."

Kairi narrowed her eyes. "Sora!" she chirped indignantly.

Dia looked at her watch. "Man, we've really got to leave! Save the Dark Depths for us, all right?"

"Huh? Where are they going?" Kairi wondered.

"They live in the real world, not the game, so they have to go home. They can only be with us at certain times," Sora explained. He, Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Kairi waved. "See you tomorrow!"

… … …

Emma yawned. "Good morning, Dia." She sat up and surveyed her surroundings. She was still in her sleeping bag, but she in a blank white area. "Hey! What's going on? Where am I?"

"In your mind," a voice told her. "You are dreaming…but what I have come to tell you is real."

What? I'm dreaming? Emma looked around for the source of the voice. "Show yourself!" Ansem appeared in front of her, but in a flash of light, not a wave of darkness. Okay, this is confusing.

Ansem bowed his head slightly. "I suppose you want to know why I'm here, Miss Baecker."

Emma nodded. "Of course I do! And why did you just call me Miss Baecker? Aren't you supposed to be calling me 'elementalist', or 'that pesky girl'?"

Ansem blinked at her. "What do you mean?" Emma didn't reply, so he continued on. "In the World Terminus, in the Hollow Bastion crater, there is a lab, correct?"

Emma thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah! All those Invisible Heartless attack you there."

"Correct. The message that is displayed on the screen is supposed to be vague and relatively unimportant, but the message has changed. Make sure that you and your allies read it."

"How do I know that I can trust you? You're Ansem!" Emma yelled.

Ansem blinked at her again, then laughed. "Oh, that must be why you appear so perturbed! You think I am Ansem!"

"Aren't you?" Emma looked closer at him. He had brown eyes instead of red ones. His jacket was closed, and instead of having red and gold stripes on the edges, there were blue and silver stripes.

"No. Have you played the game called Chain of Memories?"

"Yeah."

"Then you know about Vexen and his experiments?"

"Yeah."

"When Ansem lost his heart, Vexen's Other, or his true form, Even, decided that he would try to take over Hollow Bastion. He would construct a replica of Ansem, and implant Ansem's memories inside of it. He thought that he would indirectly be the king, because he would be telling the replica what to do."

Emma scratched her head. "So…Even created you?"

"Vexen created me. I was created after Organization XIII was formed, very shortly after, and Vexen carried out his Other's plan. However, he never got to control that world; not only had it deteriorated, I was compelled to help the inhabitants escape. A few years later, I learned that Ansem was planning to send a real-worlder into our universe. I hinted that one girl would surely have the Keyblade Master killed." Ansem's replica smiled. "However, she has done nothing of the sort. She has been a veritable gold mine of help to him."

"What?" Emma's eyes widened. "You gave me the cheat code?"

"I did. I could not have this universe infested with darkness, could I?"

Emma shook her head slowly. "I guess not…can't you tell me what the message in the lab is?"

"You must get there by yourself. Farewell, Miss Baecker."

"Call me Emma, okay? What do I call you?"

"I have no name."

"Can I give you one? Just calling you 'Replica' wouldn't be too respectful, huh? Let's see…Dia calls your real form Mr. Fluffy-Doody."

Ansem's replica raised his eyebrows. "You may give me a name, Miss Baecker…er, Emma…but I insist on one that is normal, or at least sane."

"Fair enough. Well, your hair's silver…that's Gin in Japanese, but that's not the best name. The way to say gray in Japanese is Haiiro. I like that name. Is that okay?"

Haiiro nodded. "It is fine. I shall see you again, Emma." He bowed.

Emma bowed in return. "Thanks for the tip. I'm gonna wake up now." She clenched her fists, and she disappeared.

… … …

"Nice to meet you, Kairi!" Sora and Co. were standing in the Grand Hall; Jake heartily shook Kairi's hand. "I'm Jake!"

Kairi giggled. "It's nice to meet you, too! So, are we going to lock Hollow Bastion now?"

Sora held out the Metal Chocobo Keyblade. "Of course! Come on!" He and his allies jumped into the Dark Depths.

Once they entered, they were greeted by the towering Behemoth. "Yikes, it's even creepier in person!" Dia commented. The Heartless roared loudly, prompting Dia to start hacking and coughing. "This guy needs a breathmint!" she gasped, trying to get fresh air back into her lungs.

Jake ran off into the distance. "Cool! It's like a never-ending, swirly, rainbow thing!"

"Hey! Come back, Jake!" Kairi called.

Everyone stared blankly at her. "Kairi!" Sora yelled. "What are you doing here?"

Kairi clenched her fists. "I want to help you guys fight! You spent all this time looking for me, so I owe you something! I must have SOME powers, seeing as I'm one of the seven Princesses of Heart!" She strode over to the Behemoth, and held out her hands. "Um…shouldn't something be happening?"

Sora and Co. sighed. "I don't know, try to make up a power," Emma offered. "Later in the game, not too far from where we are now, you completely rebuild every world that has been destroyed. Whenever a world is destroyed, a star goes out; when you go back to the islands, practically a million stars fly out from the horizon, and return to the sky. The hearts of the people who were turned into Heartless make the islands look as good as new. Even better, actually, because it's an FMV. That means 'full-motion video'. Cool, huh?" Kairi seemed mesmerized by Emma's words. "If you can do something incredible like that, I'm sure you can find a way to kick Behemoth's giant, purple butt."

"You're right, Emma!" Kairi nodded firmly. "What happens when a Heartless is destroyed?"

"A heart floats out of it. A crystal heart."

Kairi looked triumphant. "Then I'll make that heart come out!" She held her hands out again, this time directed toward the Behemoth's Heartless insignia. "Heart goes bye-bye!"

Donald scoffed. "Heart goes bye-bye? Like that's supposed to-"

"WOW!" squealed Jake, who had ran back over. An enormous, diamond-like heart floated out of the Behemoth, and both disappeared. "Way to go, Kairi!"

Sora held out the Oblivion, and locked the keyhole that had been revealed. "YES! We've gotten really close to beating the game, right, Emma?"

Emma nodded. "After we finish things up in Spira, we can go to the End of the World, and we'll be all done!"

… … …

"Drive faster, Max!" Dia urged, jabbing Sora and Co.'s chauffeur with her index finger.

Max twitched. "All right, all right! What's the hurry?"

Dia leaned back in her seat. "I can't wait to kill that blue-haired man-lady, Seymour!"

Emma laughed. "Who doesn't? Oh, and guys? Yuna has a new Aeon. Be prepared, okay?"

Riku shrugged. "Sure. What do we need to be prepared for?"

"Shiva is one of the only Aeons with a gender…she's a girl."

"And millions of male gamers are in love with her, so keep your tongues off the floor," Dia added.

The males of Sora and Co., excluding Jake, who had already seen Shiva, rolled their eyes. "Come on, Emma!" Sora groaned. "Like we'd really be in love with a summon." He stopped talking for a moment. "…is she hot?" Kairi glared and ground Sora's foot into the floor. "OW! I was kidding!"

Jake smiled. "I don't think we have to worry about someone liking Shiva, Emmie. Max isn't coming, I think Shiva's weird, Sora likes Kairi, Donald likes Daisy, Goofy…I don't know what happened with whoever he was married to, and I don't think I want to know, but Max probably wouldn't like having an Aeon as a step-mom. And Riku likes-"

Riku clamped his hand over the seven-year-old's mouth. "Be quiet."

"Okay, as fun as this conversation is, we're here." Max pushed some direction buttons, then pushed a large one. "Disembarking at Macalania!"

… … …

"Hey!" Sora and Co. ran down the steps of Macalania Temple's outer chamber. Tidus and Co. were standing in front of Seymour, with their weapons out. "What's going on?" Goofy asked.

Auron turned around. "We're fighting Seymour. Do you need an excuse?"

"Nope, my excuse is that I hate the man-lady's guts." Emma took out her metal pole. "Guys, this is Riku. And Kairi."

Riku and Kairi bowed their heads. "Nice to meet you!" Kairi waved. "I'm sorry I can't help you fight…I can't do any damage to humans."

"Seymour is a Guado, not a human," Wakka corrected.

"Same difference."

Seymour looked a bit tired, but not at all harmed. "Are you quite done talking? If I'm going to kill you, which I intend to do, I'd like to do so fairly; in a battle." He raised one hand. "Come, Anima!" The fish-like Aeon that he had summoned at the Luca Stadium appeared.

Yuna smiled at her part-time guardians. "The Fayth gave me a new Aeon," she told them. "I'll bet she can help us!" Dia winked at the boys of Sora and Co. Yuna spun her staff around in a circle. "Shiva, come forth!"

Several icicles shot out of the floor. A blue-skinned, blue-haired, blue-clothed woman sat atop the highest one. Riku shivered involuntarily. "This reminds me of Yuki Naifu."

"What's Yuki Naifu?" Yuna asked.

Emma bit her lip. "It's sort of an…Overdrive. It uses the power of ice. I had it before, but SOMEONE…" She glared at Goofy out of the corner of her eye. "…chucked the stone that I need to use it into a whale's stomach acid! I'm serious."

Shiva leapt down from her icicle, and peered down at Emma. "If you'd like, I can return the stone to you."

Dia raised an eyebrow. "Hey, how is Shiva talking?"

Jake grinned at his older sister. "I wanted her to talk!"

Sora and Co. exchanged glances at each other, ignoring Tidus and Co., who were staring at them. "So, Jake's power is to make non-human things talk," Goofy deduced.

"Could he have been responsible for Guardian talking?" Donald wondered.

Jake nodded. "I wanted him to talk, too!"

Emma focused on Shiva. "How do I get my stone back?"

"I have heard it said that your stones are made from the pure energy of the elements," Shiva remarked, pointing at Emma's necklace.

"How did you know?"

"A nice man named Haiiro came by not too long ago…are you familiar with him?"

Emma laughed. "I guess you could say that."

Shiva took Emma's wrist, and opened her hand. "You will feel extreme coldness, but please, don't let go of this." She put an icicle on her palm. Emma twitched. "Calm down, it won't give you frostbite."

"Are you sure?" Emma whined, still wincing from the chill. The icicle had completely melted. Whoa, it worked! In the ice's place was a small, blue pebble. "Thank you, Shiva! You did it!"

Shiva smiled. "Haiiro also told me that you tried to kill that boy with the Blizzard Stone." Riku drooped a little. "Do you think you can control yourself?"

"Emma will be fine," Sora told her confidently. "She wouldn't hurt her friends, even with the effects of the stone going! She only attacked Riku back in Monstro because he was trying to kill her, too."

Emma nodded, and strung the stone back onto her necklace. "I'm tired of being a good sport," Seymour announced, clearly annoyed. "Anima, attack!"

A blue mist filled the outer chamber, and Emma clutched the Blizzard Stone. "YUKI NAIFU!"