Kingdom Hearts: Paths of Destiny Chapter 88: Enter the God-King of Evil, a kingdom hearts fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, the Characters, or any Game, Movie, or TV Show content that are mentioned in this FanFiction story. They belong to their respective owners and I honor respect their great works.

(The World That Never Was)

After unlocking the Sleeping Keyholes in their own journeys like Devon, Sora and Riku both arrive in the World That Never Was, in the lowest section of the white castle called Delusive Beginning, an area situated inside the large spinning ring at the base of the castle. The two boys were surprised to find themselves together in the same world.

"Riku?" Sora says

"Sora?" Riku says

"What's going on? This looks like the Organization's world. But... why are we here?" Sora asks

"I don't know. We unlocked all the Sleeping Keyholes. So, we should be awake in the real world." Riku says

"Do you think Devon probably wound up here too?" Sora asks

"Maybe." Riku says

Sora and Riku looked ahead at the hallway infront of them, which seemed to lead on to the upper levels of the castle.

"C'mon. We need to figure this out." Riku says

Eager to find Devon and investigate, the two heroes ventured forward. They travel down the hallway, turn left around the corner, then turn right down a smaller hallway and enter a circular central chamber with three connecting hallways, one on the ground floor to the left, and two high above going straight and right. A vertical blue-green energy beam is housed in the center of the chamber, surrounded by an impenetrable shield.

"Now where do we go?" Sora asks

The two boys looked up and saw the two hallways above them. One of them had to lead them further into the castle.

"Looks like the only way forward is to go up." Riku says

"But how do we get up there? There's no stairs or anything." Sora asks

"Let's try down this way." Riku says pointing at the left hallway with his right-hand

Sora and Riku head into the only hallway on the ground floor and turn left around the corner. The two boys grind across a length of pipes using Flowmotion and discover a blue portal at the end that led to another point in the area. Going through the portal, Sora and Riku returned to the central chamber, dropping down from the ceiling inside the shield. Using their Keyblades, they strike the shield generator a couple times until it sinks into the floor. The shield fades away and a blue-white transparent spiral walkway appears, leading up clockwise to the upper levels.

"That did it." Riku says

"Alright! Let's go!" Sora says

Moving onward, the two Keyblade Wielders ascend up the walkway to the upper level and look at the two hallways.

"So, which way should we go?" Sora asks

Riku became the decision maker as he gazed down the two hallways. He soon chose the one infront of them.

"This way." Riku says

Following the path ahead of them, Sora and Riku continue through the castle. They pass across an area called Walk of Delusions, a long straight bridge that led from the outer edge of the castle to the castle itself across an open area beneath them. As they moved toward the castle, the two Keyblade Wielders couldn't help but feel that something was amiss.

"I don't like this. It feels like a trap." Sora says

"I know. We haven't even run into any kind of resistance yet, though I don't want to jinx it." Riku says

"Riku, I'm worried. I can't help but feel that Devon is in deep trouble like us." Sora says

"All the more reason to find him and get out of here. Devon is still the strongest out of all of us. I'm sure he's alright." Riku says

"Yeah. I know. But still..." Sora says

Riku stopped and turned to Sora on his left, placing his left-hand on his right-shoulder, offering him comfort.

"Don't worry, Sora. We'll find him." Riku says

The two boys were about halfway across the bridge when a group of Dream Eaters appeared infront of them. These were Skelterwilds, Keeba Tigers, Majik Lapins, and Drak Quacks.

"Dream Eaters!" Sora exclaims

"Figures. Well, only one way to take care of this." Riku says

"Right!" Sora says

Sora and Riku both summoned their Keyblades: Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn and got into their stances. Their Spirit Dream Eaters also appeared next to them. For Sora, his Spirits were a Meow Wow and a Cera Terror. And for Riku, his Spirits were a Komory Bat and a Keeba Tiger. The Keyblade Wielders and their Spirits stood together and braced themselves for a fight against the Nightmares.

Sora made the first move by leaping forward at a Skelterwild, striking the bony dinosaur's head with three frontal slashes, his Keyblade wrapped in fire, then spins backwards with three more strikes and his Keyblade wrapped in ice. Sora's attack easily defeats the Skelterwild and the Dream Eater collapses onto the ground in pieces. Two Keeba Tigers leap at Sora with their claws extended, but the young teen jumps back and counters with ahigh leaping strike, raising Kingdom Key over his head and slamming it into the ground, creating a wide shockwave of light that destroys the sabertoothed creatures. Three Majik Lapins and three Drak Quacks close in on Sora, but he swings his Keyblade with a right slash and blows away the Dream Eaters with strong gusts of wind using an Aeroga spell.

Sora's Meow Wow bounces up and down with its rotund body, creating small shockwaves of light that knocked away a few Dream Eaters. Then, it grew three times larger in size and bounces some more, creating larger shockwaves that sent as much as ten Nightmares flying, including a few Skelterwilds. The Cera Terror rams its horns at three Drak Quacks on its left and two Keeba Tigers on its right, sending them flying off the bridge, then smashes into a Skelterwild, knocking the bony dinosaur down on its right-side. Two Majik Lapins hop towards the Cera Terror, but the dinosaur Spirit rises up on its hind legs and stomps down on the small Nightmares with its feet.

Riku dashes forward at a Skelterwild and strikes its skeleton body with a wide right slash, then follows up with a downward slash, a left uppercut strike, and a reverse roundhouse slash. The Skelterwild lunges at the silver-haired teen with its jagged jaws, but Riku jumps back, dodging the sharp teeth, and counters with a leaping strike, raising Way to the Dawn over his left-shoulder. He slices through the bony dinosaur, landing behind it, and the Dream Eater's head falls off, leaving the rest of its body to collapse onto the ground. Another Skelterwild stomps toward Riku and swings its clubbed tail at him, but he stretches his left-hand out and generates a spherical barrier of violet light around himself, which protects him from the large tail, causing it to bounce harmlessly off its surface. Afterwards, Riku rises up into the air with an upwards spiral, striking the Dream Eater with four right spinning slashes, then finishes the bony dinosaur off with a strong overhead strike.

Riku's Komory Bat flaps its wings and launches dark blue spiral air blades at three Drak Quacks, cutting them down. Next, the bat-like creature curls up into a ball and tackles into a Majik Lapin, knocking it back into two others. A Keeba Tiger leaps at the Komory Bat and snaps its jaws at it, but the Spirit quickly flies away and fights back with a loud screeching cry, releasing damaging supersonic waves from its mouth. Riku's Keeba Tiger wrestles with its Nightmare counterpart, rolling around on the bridge until it kicks away the dark creature with its hind legs. Getting back onto its four feet, the Spirit cloaks its body in a fiery red aura and tackles into the Keeba Tiger Nightmare on its right-side, causing it to disintegrate in a puff of black smoke.

After cutting down their groups of Dream Eaters, Sora and Riku stood alongside each other as they faced another group of Nightmares. The two boys attacked first with Sora swinging his Kingdom Key with a left, right, and downward slash at a Keeba Tiger, and Riku swinging his Way to the Dawn with a downward, upward, and right slash at another Keeba Tiger. Next, Sora and Riku stood back-to-back and cut through dozens of Skelterwilds, Keeba Tigers, Drak Quacks, and Majik Lapins with several spinning slashes, four times left and right. Then, spikey and silver-haired teens both leap up into the air and dives down on the remaining three Skelterwilds, four Keeba Tigers, five Drak Quacks, and three Majik Lapins, thrusting Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn down on the ground and creating a wide, large shockwave of light and darkness that completely blows away the Nightmares, sending them flying.

The two boys rise up to their feet and face the Dream Eaters again as more continued to appear, replacing those that were defeated. Even some new additions joined in the fray like Ryu Dragons, Tyranto Rexes, Halbirds, Eagliders, Hebby Repps, Fin Fatales, Fishbonés, KO Kabutos, Staggerceps, Toximanders, and Cyber Yogs.

"They just keep coming!" Sora says

"There's too many! We have to push through!" Riku says

Sora looks over at Riku on his right, then down at the Keyblade in his hands, unsure of how they could escape. Sora's Cera Terror stomps up to his left-side and gives him a gentle nudge with its head, attracting his attention. The dinosaur Spirit growls softly and lowers itself down, offering the Keyblade Wielder a ride. Sora smiled as the idea came through and climbs onto his Cera Terror, then looks over at his best friend, extending his right-hand out to him.

"Riku! Climb on!" Sora says

The silver-haired teen looks up at the spikey-haired teen for a moment, then nodded his head as he understood what was happening. Riku dismisses his Keyblade, grabs his best friend's hand, and climbs up onto the Cera Terror, sitting behind Sora. Once both Keyblade Wielders were onboard, the dinosaur Spirit rises back up and lets out a snort.

"Alright! Let's go!" Sora says

The Cera Terror scrapes the ground with its right-foot a few times like a rhino ready to charge. With another snort and a bellowing roar, the ceratopsian dinosaur runs toward the dozens of evil Dream Eaters with Riku's Keeba Tiger and Komory Bat, and Sora's Meow Wow running and flying behind it. The Cera Terror plows straight through the Nightmares like an unstoppable force, knocking over Skelterwilds and sending Keeba Tigers, Drak Quacks, and Majik Lapins flying, moving across the bridge in less than a minute.

Once they were safely away from the Dream Eaters, Sora and Riku stopped on a large, circular platform in the next area known as Fact within Fiction, a large, open-air level at the top of the castle's spinning ring, which offered the view of the mechanism that spun around the building. The two boys climb down from the back of their Cera Terror and took a moment to recover. Sora was bent over, resting his hands on his knees, while Riku rotated his right-arm.

"Whew. That was a close call." Sora says

"Yeah. I'll say." Riku says

"With so many Dream Eaters like that, something's definitely wrong." Sora says

Riku gazes up at the white castle as it towered over him, feeling a strange sense of unease.

"You know, it may be strange, but it's almost like they were trying to prevent us from reaching the castle." Riku says

"Huh? You mean that all those Dream Eaters were protecting something?" Sora asks

"Or someone." Riku says

Sora and Riku both shared concerned glances with one another. Not just for themselves, but also for Devon, knowing that he was probably fighting twice as much Dream Eaters on his own. They turn to the path before them and continue onward towards the castle, determined to keep going and find their best friend.

The two Keyblade Wielders and their Spirits follow the high-walled passage as it curves to the left and come across long gap with a thick metal pipe stretching out several feet away to the other side. They easily overcome the obstacle with Flowmotion, grinding the metal pipe, and push on to the castle. Sora and Riku turn right around the corner and ascend up a flight of stairs to another large circular platform, then proceed up some more stairs to a grey rectangular platform with a beam of light shining down on it. The two boys step onto the platform and a lift magically raises them up to the higher levels of the castle.

Sora and Riku arrived in the next area called Verge of Chaos, a large, slightly curved balcony. But when they look around, they saw no other way out.

"Now where do we go?" Sora says

Riku turns his gaze toward a massive pipe attached to the side of the castle on his right and follows its length upward.

"Nowhere but up." Riku says

Sora follows Riku's gaze as he stared at the metal pipe. The two heroes grind up on the pipe and ascend higher along the castle, landing on smaller balconies along the side that had no way on or off, except with Flowmotion. After grinding more vertical pipes and scaling the wall, Sora and Riku reach another small balcony at the top attached to a larger one by a small incline. They climb up to the second balcony and turn towards a multi-turreted tower on their left. Moving across the connected narrow bridge, the two Keyblade Wielders climb up the small flight of stairs. Once they reach the top, they were shocked by what they saw. In the center of the tower was a gravely wounded Devon, floating in a deep comatose state in an upright position inside an orb of darkness with his tattered clothes and bloody cuts all over his body. Sora and Riku gasped and stared at their trapped friend with horror in their widened eyes.

"Oh, no..." Sora says

"Devon!" Sora and Riku exclaim in unison

The spikey and silver-haired teen rushed over to Devon and they saw faint visions of what was happening in the version of his world, which surrounded him. One showed Devon's parents, Shara and Ducar, who shared happy smiles, and another showed themselves and Kairi walking away, while a third vision showed Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Luna, Spyro, Cynder, the Viking Teens and their dragons running away. Sora and Riku gazed at visions for a moment, then proceeded to help their best friend. Riku grabbed Devon's right-arm with his left-hand and gave him a few nudges to try and wake him from his slumber, while Sora stood on Devon's left, looking up at him with deep worry in his face.

"Devon! Don't!" Sora says

"Devon! You've gotta wake up! Devon!" Riku says

There was hardly any response from Devon. Sora and Riku both grabbed his hands and tried to pull him out of the dark orb, but to no avail.

"Hnng... Gnnh! He won't... budge!" Sora grunts

Suddenly, the darkness that swirled around Devon flies past Sora and Riku and began to take shape in the form of a dark figure wearing the black coat of Organization XIII. The only difference was that the coat had magenta flames on the sleeves and coattails. Underneath the hood of the coat were a pair of evil, flaming, glowing red eyes, and a Nightmare Dream Eater symbol appeared on its back. Its name: Anti Black Coat. The two Keyblade Wielders turned around and faced the mysterious figure.

"Who are you?" Sora asks in a demanding voice

"Are you what's trapping him in that nightmare?" Riku asks also in a demanding voice

The Anti Black Coat stood silent, not responding whatsoever to the questions of the two boys. Sora and Riku both summoned their Keyblades: Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn and got into their stances.

"Cause if you are... We are what nightmares fear!" Riku says

"Yeah!" Sora says

The black sky around the tower darkens almost completely and the two Keyblade Wielders prepared themselves for a fight against the mysterious entity.

Making the first move, the Anti Black Coat stretches its right-hand toward Sora and Riku, creating a large black-red shadowy pool with the Dream Eater Nightmare symbol underneath their feet, which they noticed. Turning its hand under and clenching it into a fist, dark energy erupts from the ground, which the two Keyblade Wielders quickly dodged by jumping and rolling away to the sides, Sora to the left, Riku to the right. Sora and Riku both aimed their Keyblades at the evil entity and shoot a Firaga and Dark Firaga spell. Standing still, the Anti Black Coat stretches its hands out and absorbs the two fireballs into its open palms, much to the surprise and shock of the two heroes. The Nightmare cloaks it's body with an 'X'-shaped mass of black-red energy, and charges into Sora, striking him directly in the chest with strong impact.

"Aaah!" Sora exclaims

The spikey-haired teen rolls over three times before landing flat on his stomach. Riku looked over at his best friend and gasped with widened eyes.

"Sora!" Riku exclaims

After knocking Sora down, the Anti Black Coat turns its head towards Riku, targeting him next, and charges at him with the same attack. The silver-haired teen was ready for it and he holds Way to the Dawn horizontally to the left infront of him, encasing himself inside his dark barrier and defending against the Anti Black Coat as it smashes into him with strong impact. After five seconds of struggling, Riku sends the humanoid Nightmare back with a reprisal strike.

"Haaah!" Riku yells

The silver-haired teen raises his Keyblade above his head and shatters the barrier, sending its violet panels flying in all directions and blasting away the Anti Black Coat. Seizing his chance, Riku attacks the humanoid Nightmare with a thrusting strike, a wide left and right slash, a backflip and somersault slash, another thrusting strike, four left spinning slashes, and a final right slash that knocks the Anti Black Coat away. Getting back into the fight, Sora strikes with a thrusting strike, four right spinning slashes, a downward slash, a right and left uppercut slash, and another, stronger thrusting strike that sends the Anti Black Coat away even further. Riku looks over at Sora on his left, who looks back and nods his head, silently saying he was alright. He smiles and nods back, and the two young teens focus back on the evil Nightmare.

Rising up onto its feet, the Anti Black Coat casts a menacing glare at Sora and Riku, who returned the gesture with serious glares of their own. Spreading its hands out to its sides, the humanoid Nightmare summons multiple black-white dark projectiles around it, then thrusts its hands forward, launching them at the two boys. Sora and Riku deflect the dark projectiles away with their Keyblades, and counter with projectiles of their own, launching salvos of light and dark blasts at the Anti Black Coat, hitting it sixty times, each blast creating small gold and dark blue explosions on impact.

Dashing toward the evil entity, Riku assails the Anti Black Coat with two spinning slashes, whirling forward and backwards with three strikes each, his Way to the Dawn enveloped in darkness, then in light. He repeats the attack again, this time with his Keyblade wrapped in ice, unleashing three icy spinning slashes, then attacks with fire, following up with three fiery slashes. Sora holds out his Kingdom Key and casts a Balloonaga spell, summoning a huge, blue-colored sphere and sending it towards the Anti Black Coat. Slowly, the sphere homes in on the humanoid Nightmare and bursts in a flash of light into smaller multicolored spheres on impact, which also home in on their target and burst, dishing out a great deal of damage to the evil entity. Sora and Riku both leap across the tower toward the Anti Black Coat with their Keyblades raised above their heads, but the humanoid Nightmare teleports away just as they strike and reappears several feet away from the two Keyblade Wielders.

Spreading its hands out to its sides and raising them upwards, the humanoid Nightmare summons multiple black-red columns of darkness, which emerged from shadowy portals, heading straight for Sora and Riku. The two heroes dodge the dark columns and dash toward the humanoid Nightmare. Closing the distance, they attack with their Keyblades, warping around in-between blows and striking from all directions. Then, Sora and Riku reappear above the Anti Black Coat and plunge their Keyblades into the ground, releasing columns of Light and Darkness and sending the humanoid Nightmare flying backwards.

Standing on the opposite side of the tower, the Anti Black Coat rises up a few feet into the air, hovering above the ground with its body enveloped in darkness, and stretches its hands out again, creating two dark portals in the ground, then raises its hands up, summoning two large shadow hands, which slowly emerged from the portals. The Anti Black Coat extends its right-hand and sends the right shadow hand towards Sora and Riku, looming over their heads. The humanoid Nightmare swings its flat hand downward, and the shadow hand mimics the gesture, descending down towards the two boys. Sora and Riku quickly leapt backwards, dodging the black hand as it slams onto the ground, and counter by slamming their Keyblades down on it. This causes the shadow hand to recoil as it shrieks in pain. The Anti Black Coat also pulled its hand back, feeling similar pain. In retaliation, the evil entity swings its left hand, attacking with the other black hand, taking a swipe at the Keyblade Wielders, but they jump back again, evading the shadow hand. Next, the Anti Black Coat brings both shadow hands in from the sides to crush the heroes, but they stand back-to-back and stab the palms of the hands just as they close in, Sora driving his Kingdom Key into the right-hand, and Riku driving his Way to the Dawn into the left-hand. Both shadow hands pull back and shriek loudly in pain, likewise the humanoid Nightmare. Attacking again for a fourth time, the Anti Black Coat reaches out with the black hands to grab the two teens, only for Sora and Riku to leap forward and cut through the shadow hands with a swipe of their Keyblade.

Rushing straight toward the Anti Black Coat, Sora and Riku both attack together, swinging their Keyblades one after the other. Sora swings his Kingdom Key with a downward slash, a left slash, a right uppercut slash, and a reverse roundhouse slash, while Riku swings his Way to the Dawn with an uppercut slash, a right slash, a left downward slash, and a roundhouse slash. Next, Sora and Riku stand back-to-back and strike the Anti Black Coat with fourteen spinning slashes, swinging their Keyblades seven times left and right. Finally, the two boys deliver the final blow to the humanoid Nightmare, stabbing Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn into its chest with a combined thrusting strike, Sora wrapped in a golden aura of light, and Riku in a black and violet aura of darkness.

After a very tough battle, the Anti Black Coat falls backwards in mid-air, its red eyes disappearing into the darkness of the hood and fades away into oblivion. Sora and Riku both breathe a sigh of relief and turn their attention toward Devon, who was still comatose, trapped inside the orb of darkness.

"Devon, don't chase the dreams. They'll lead you nowhere, just to an endless abyss you'll never be able to wake up from." Riku says

"Devon... We need you. Please. Wake up." Sora says

Suddenly, Devon disappears right before their eyes and the two boys noticed the world around them waving about all distorted, changing to Memory's Skyscraper for only a few brief seconds, before reverting back to the tower they were standing on.

"What's going on in Devon's world?" Riku asks

"Why won't Devon open his eyes? Is he still in the nightmare?" Sora asks

"That's right." A male voice says

Sora and Riku both heard the voice and immediately recognized it.

"Ansem!" Sora and Riku exclaim in unison

"Devon can no longer wake up. No matter how many nightmares you consume, you cannot wake someone who has fallen into the chasm of dreams." Ansem says

"What?" Riku says baffled

"Dreams hold our memories. Sleep holds our dreams. And darkness holds our sleep. Devon's heart now belongs to the darkness." Ansem says

"You're wrong! Devon would never give in to the darkness!" Sora says

"But you feel it, don't you? This world, the nightmare, the abyss. Why haven't you returned to the reality whence you came?" Ansem says

Sora and Riku looked around as everything continued waving about, realizing now the situation they were in.

"No. This is a..." Riku says

"Dream of a dream. A twofold nightmare. This whole time, each of you had been separated and sent on your own individual journeys. And now, darkness within darkness awaits you." Ansem says

Suddenly, a black pool of darkness appears underneath Sora and Riku and began dragging them in. The two boys felt the sudden drop beneath their feet, and they pulled their legs up to try and escape, but with no success.

"No! I can't get loose!" Riku exclaims

"Riku!" Sora exclaims

Soon, Sora and Riku were waist deep in the dark pool, then they were up to their necks in less than two seconds. No matter how hard they struggled, they couldn't free themselves from the black portal.

"Aaah!" Sora and Riku exclaim in unison

The two Keyblade Wielders reached out with their hands before they sunk completely into the pool of darkness.

After being dragged down into the dark portal, Sora and Riku opened their eyes and found themselves standing in an area completely surrounded by darkness. Before them stood Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness as he continued speaking to the heroes.

"At the start of your test, when you struck out from that tiny island, you and your friend, Devon saw me there dressed in a robe. Immediately, you knew something was wrong, so without even knowing it, you each dove into the Realm of Sleep. And you became exactly what that sigil on your back represents: a Dream Eater to protect Devon from nightmares." Ansem says

The two boys both had the Spirit Dream Eater symbols on the backs of Sora's jacket, and Riku's vest. Sora's was the typical emblem of the Spirit Dream Eaters, a heart-shaped symbol with a simplistic, innocent look, a bowl-shaped tail on the bottom, and swirling wings, colored in a faded pale peach fading to a deep dark pink with a dark purple border. Riku's was similar in design, only it was black with a white border.

"Dream Eaters?" Riku says

"Us?" Sora says

"Correct. But you both failed to protect him. While you were galvanizing through the Sleeping Worlds, Devon traveled through worlds of his own, on a path completely separated from you. One that the Dark Lord had laid out for him, while you were left wandering in the dark, completely oblivious to the danger your friend was in. And he was forced to endure... alone. Against his nightmares, the horrors of his past, and the growing darkness inside him." Ansem says

Ansem pointed his left index-finger towards Sora and Riku.

"After all your efforts to command the darkness and protect those you cherish, it is a shame you locked away that power in the end." Ansem says turning his hand over and clenching it into a fist

Riku sighs.

"Except... it's not over. We can still save Devon." Riku says clenching his own right-hand into a fist

"So, you understand what to do." Ansem says

The Seeker of Darkness extends his right-hand out to the two Keyblade Wielders as an invitation to join forces with him.

"Set the darkness in you free and you can save your friend." Ansem says

Sora stares at Ansem with a angry expression, grunting softly, then relaxed as he looks at Riku on his right.

"Ansem... or Xehanort. You used to be a Keyblade Wielder. But the darkness stole your heart, and the Keyblade with it. Don't you see? That's half the reason I'm on this journey." Riku says

Riku looks down at his chest and places his right-hand over it.

"After allowing the darkness into my heart, am I still fit to wield the Keyblade? Even after locking you away, here you are, haunting me again. So, I get it now. There's no point in trying to hold the darkness back." Riku says

"At last, you see clearly." Ansem says smiling

"You know... when I look at you... there's this memory that flashes back. A secret I said I'd keep when I was little. The main reason I kept dreaming about the outside world... was because of them." Riku says

A vision briefly appears in Riku's mind as he remembers, all those years ago during his childhood, when he first met Terra, one of the lost Keyblade Wielders, and Ducar, Devon's father, and the conversation they had.

"Our journey begins here, and now." Riku says

Riku stretches his right-hand out infront of him and he summons his Way to the Dawn into his grip.

"We're going back to the real world, and then to Devon's side." Riku says

Sora nods his head in agreement and follows Riku's example, stretching out his right-hand and summoning his Kingdom Key into his grip.

"Yeah! Both of us! Together! We stick by Devon's side, no matter what!" Sora says

Ansem lowers his hand upon hearing the heroes' response.

"That... is your answer?" Ansem asks

"Yes. I know the way. Consume the darkness, return it to the light." Riku says

Sora and Riku both got into their battle stances while Ansem's amber eyes narrowed.

"You can try." Ansem says

In a flash of white, the area surrounding the two Keyblade Wielders and the Seeker of Darkness changes into a place called Darkness' Call, an arena-shaped area with a spiraling violet vortex below them, and streams of darkness rising around the center, and both parties hovered in mid-air. Sora and Riku prepared themselves to fight Ansem, and his Guardian, which appeared behind him.

Ansem's Guardian attacks first by conjuring up two razor-thin discs of red energy with white edges in its hands and hurling them forward at Sora and Riku, throwing a total of seven in rapid succession. Each disc homes in on the two heroes, who separate and evade the discs, quickly dashing left and right with great speed as they fly past. Afterwards, the Guardian flies toward the Keyblade Wielders with its dark-charged fists, pulling its right-hand back and throwing a wide right punch, before following up with an overhand hammer strike. Sora and Riku fly backwards and dodge both strikes, then counter with attacks of their own. Sora delivers a triple backflip slash and a downward slash to the Guardian, while Riku strikes with three reverse right spinning slashes. After knocking back the Guardian, the young teens focus on Ansem and close in to attack.

Sora raises his Kingdom Key over his right-shoulder with both hands and strikes Ansem with a downward slash, then hits him with four left and right slashes, an uppercut slash, and a reverse roundhouse slash. Riku moves in to support Sora and hits Ansem with a right upward and downward slash, a reverse roundhouse slash, a left slash, a thrusting strike, and a right slash. The Seeker of Darkness grunts with each blow received and until he exploded with anger, letting out a fierce yell.

"Haaaaah!" Ansem yells

Pulling his hands back and thrusting them forward, Ansem sends the Keyblade Wielders back with a strong blast of telekinetic force, sending them flying several feet away. Then, the Guardian throws its hands upward and sends a pair of fast-moving shockwaves of dark blue lightning bolts toward Sora and Riku, but they both dash over to the right, dodging the attack. In retaliation, the two boys throw their Keyblades at Ansem with Sora's Kingdom Key enveloped in light, and Riku's Way to the Dawn enveloped in darkness. Both of their Keyblades land a strong hit to Ansem's body, striking him in the chest.

Sora raises his Kingdom Key above his head and conjures a large orb of fire that releases sixteen fireballs, which homes in on the Seeker of Darkness and strike his body multiple times, creating small yet effective explosions on impact. Riku aims his Way to the Dawn at Ansem and uses a Triple Plasma spell, firing three yellow spheres of electricity, which hit their target in the chest, exploding on contact. Still aiming at the Seeker of Darkness, Sora and Riku stand together and charge up energy for four seconds with an orb of light and darkness appearing on the tips of their Keyblades, then fires a salvo of thirty golden-yellow and dark blue projectiles.

"Hng!" Ansem grunts

Crossing his arms infront of him, Ansem shields himself as he's struck multiple times by the light and dark blasts. Once the bombardment ceased, the Seeker of Darkness thrust his arms out to his sides and both he and his Guardian surround themselves in a black, red, and purple dark aura, glaring menacingly at the heroes.

"Drown in darkness!" Ansem says

Flying with incredibly fast speed, Ansem and his Guardian charge straight at Sora and Riku in an attempt to smash into them, but the two boys dash out of the way and narrowly avoid being hit by the duo. The Seeker of Darkness flies back around to try and hit them again repeatedly five times, but they continue to dodge his attacks. Turning around and facing the heroes, Ansem thrusts his right-hand forward and his Guardian hurls two large dark fireballs from its hands. Sora and Riku dodge the attack as the fireballs shoot past them, traveling several feet into the arena before exploding in a blaze of dark blue flames, then close in on Ansem to attack.

Pushing the offensive, Riku hits the Seeker of Darkness with two sweeping left and right slashes, a downward slash, three backflip strikes, a right kick using his left-foot to the face, and a wide reverse roundhouse slash. Sora flies towards Ansem and closes the distance in less than two seconds, spinning four times in the air with a somersault, and strikes with a downward slash. Then, he unleashes a flurry of strikes, swinging his Kingdom Key with two spinning right uppercut slashes, a left slash, an upward and downward slash, four side swipes, a thrusting strike, three somersault slashes, three backflip slashes, another downward strike, a right slash, and finishes by spinning his Keyblade three times in his right-hand and delivering two left overhead strikes.

Sora and Riku manage to defeat Ansem in the first round, but the fight wasn't over yet. They descend deeper into the swirling vortex and were now in Darkest End, a larger arena that had huge dark pillars, a violet spiral in the front, and a bottomless abyss in the back.

"Ansem! You're part of my heart now! Part of the light!" Riku says

"Ever the fool, boy. Forever a pawn of the darkness. And forever a pawn of the Dark Lord of the Shadows!" Ansem says

Ansem crosses his arms and seals himself inside a massive organic sphere of darkness, which had two indigo wings extending and curving downwards from the sides, and his Guardian appears, merging half of its body with the top of the sphere. Getting back into their stances, Sora and Riku readied themselves for their second battle with the Seeker of Darkness.

Just as he had done before, Ansem makes the first move with his Guardian throwing a dark-infused punch using it's right-hand.

"Heeyagh!" Ansem yells

Sora and Riku jump back and dodge the charged fist of the black humanoid as it swings down at them, landing a several feet away. Next, the Guardian conjures up two large Dark Firagas in its hands and hurls them both at the heroes. Sora and Riku counter the attack with Firaga spells of their own, launching a huge fireball from the tip of their Keyblades. Both projectiles clash and cancel each other out in a gigantic red-orange and dark blue explosion. Then, the Guardian throws its arms forward and fires purple-white waves of dark energy crests towards the two boys, who held their Keyblades infront of them, encasing themselves in spherical barriers, which protects them from the dark crests as they bounce off harmlessly. It was now Sora and Riku's turn to attack.

Riku raises his Way to the Dawn above his head, summoning a giant ice crystal from the ground as it emerges infront of him, then points his Keyblade at Ansem and thrusts it forward, sending the ice crystal flying straight toward him. Sora aims his Kingdom Key at the Seeker of Darkness and shoots a huge fireball from the tip of his Keyblade. The giant ice crystal strikes Ansem first, shattering and exploding in a large cloud of frost on impact, then the huge fireball hits shortly after, which creates a massive, fiery explosion.

The Guardian raises its hands up and charges two black-purple dark energy spheres, which appeared in its palms, then thrusts its hands forward and fires them in the form of two large dark energy beams. Sora and Riku both separate and jump out of the way, dodging the attack. Next, the black humanoid conjures up two black and dark blue orbs of darkness in its hands and thrusts them forward, firing ten incredibly fast lasers of the same color from both hands at the heroes, who deflect the lasers with their Keyblades. Then, the Guardian forms two black lights in its hands and throws them upward, creating a long, tall, black jagged shockwave that races toward Sora and Riku. The two boys leap up high into the air, dodging the dark shockwave as it passes underneath them.

Landing back on the ground, Sora and Riku pull their Keyblades back and hurl them forward at Ansem and his Guardian. Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn split apart into multiple spiral discs of gold-white light and violet-black darkness in flight and each one strikes their target. Calling their Keyblades back to their hands, the heroes continued their assault. Riku teleports up to the Guardian and attacks, swinging his Keyblade left and right four times and striking its body. The black humanoid pulls its right-hand back and throws a punch at the silver-haired teen, but he quickly warps away, causing it to miss. Riku reappears on the Guardian's left and swings his Way to the Dawn with three more strikes. The Guardian swings its left-arm at him, but he teleports away again before reappearing behind it and delivering four side swipes to its back. While Riku kept Ansem and his Guardian distracted, teleporting in and out and attacking from all directions with his Keyblade, Sora places his left-hand over his chest and closes his eyes for a moment as he charges up with light enveloping his body. After ten seconds, he opens his eyes and raises his Kingdom Key above his head with both hands, summoning a large column of light above the Seeker of Darkness and his Guardian. Riku teleports away after delivering his eighth strike, just as the blue-white column smashes down on its target.

Ansem and his Guardian both recover from the light-based attack and the tan-skinned villain growls angrily, narrowing his eyes at the two young teens. The Seeker of Darkness spreads his hands out and a black aura envelopes them as he prepares his next attack.

"Feel the darkness!" Ansem yells

Throwing his hands forward, Ansem launches Sora and Riku across the arena, which stretches out into a long pathway. The two Keyblade Wielders slide across the ground, landing on their feet, and began running back toward the Seeker of Darkness. Ansem forms two orbs of darkness infront of him and shoots incredibly quick lasers at them. Sora and Riku jump away and dodge the lasers, continuing across the pathway. Next, black-purple columns of darkness erupt from the ground infront of Sora and Riku, but they jump and roll out of the way. The Guardian creates two dark blue fireballs in its and combines them together into a larger one, then throws it into the air. The huge fireball explodes, and a rain of dark blasts descend toward Sora and Riku. The heroes jump from side-to-side, dodging the fiery projectiles, and eventually reach Ansem.

Sora and Riku both rush through the air and smash into the Ansem with white energy in an 'X'-shape infront of them in a combined charging attack. The Guardian raises its hands over its head and swings downward with a hammer strike at the two heroes, but they quickly separate and dodge the large hands as they came down. Using Flowmotion, Sora spins around the massive sphere three times before stopping infront of the Seeker of Darkness and delivering a wide right slash. Then, he moves out of the way for Riku as he makes his move. The silver-haired teen dashes toward Ansem with his Way to the Dawn pulled back over to his right-side and delivers a strong left uppercut strike, leaving a dark-infused slash in the wake of his blow.

"Enough!" Ansem yells

Both the Seeker of Darkness and his Guardian cross their arms and thrust them outward, unleashing an explosive wave of dark energy that repels the pesky Keyblade Wielders, blowing them away and sending them flying backwards once more, far across long, stretched arena.

"Aaaah!" Sora and Riku scream in unison

The two heroes manage to land crouched down on their feet and slide to a stop. Rising up, Sora and Riku face Ansem and his Guardian as they powered themselves up with a black aura of darkness radiating from their massive form.

"Now, weak-hearted fools, witness real power!" Ansem says

A large black-purple orb appears infront of Ansem, surrounded by sporadic bolts of purple electricity, appearing small at first. But then, it quickly grew in size until it was larger than he and his Guardian in their second form. Sora and Riku gasped and stared in shock, while a sinister smile formed on Ansem's face upon seeing their expressions.

"Take this! Heeyaaggh!" Ansem yells

Thrusting their hands forward, the Seeker of Darkness and the black humanoid fire the orb in the form of a massive black-purple beam of darkness, which shoots fast across the pathway. Sora and Riku stared at the huge beam as it came toward them, knowing that there was no way they could escape it. But they weren't prepared to give up now. Not while their best friend's life depended on them to save him. Holding Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn infront of them with both hands, the two teens quickly charged up with a golden aura of light enveloping Sora, and a violet aura of darkness enveloping Riku. An orb of light and darkness appeared on the tips of their Keyblades and they fired two huge energy beams of the same element and color. Within moments, the three beams clashed in an epic power struggle, exploding with incredibly tremendous force. Sora and Riku's attack managed to hold out for a while, at least a minute, until Ansem and his Guardian pushed more power into their attack. Slowly, the dark beam began to overpower the heroes. Sora and Riku both felt the increase in power and struggled to maintain control of their own beams.

"Gnnh... Ngghh... Come on!" Riku grunts

"Too... strong! Can't... keep this up..." Sora grunts

Ansem's beam was now dangerously close to the two boys, only a few feet away consuming them.

"It's no good! We can't win!" Sora says

Riku looks over at Sora on his left as he said this, and his eyes glance down crestfallen. He didn't want to admit it, but Sora might be right. Somehow, Ansem had become much stronger than before, while he and Sora were practically at their limit. There's no way they could find the strength to beat Ansem at this point. But then, just as they were about to give up, a familiar voice spoke to Sora and Riku.

"What are you doing, guys! Don't give up! You can still win this fight!" The voice says

In that moment, the transparent spiritual form of Devon appears infront of the two islanders and stands with them, glowing with a bright blue light.

"Devon?!" Sora and Riku exclaim in unison

"Sora, Riku, you're both stronger than this. I know you are. You've got all the power you need to defeat Ansem. Just let it all out." Devon says

"We can't! It's too much to handle!" Riku says

"We're not strong like you, Devon. You're more powerful than the two of us combined. We can never hope to ever reach your level." Sora says

"Listen to me, guys. Don't you ever doubt your own strength. Not for a single second. How many times has Ansem tried to convince you darkness is stronger? And how many times have you proved him wrong? Despite all the power he has, he's never a match for you. And you're both just as strong as I am. You've proven that time and time again." Devon says

Sora and Riku gasped as they recalled their encounters with Ansem. Flashes of their battles played out in their minds. For Sora, he remembered fighting the Seeker of Darkness when he possessed Riku in the castle of Hollow Bastion, then later in End of the World against his true form and his Guardian, even succeeding against their World of Chaos form. As for Riku, he remembers his fight with Ansem in Castle Oblivion, where he prevailed against his inner darkness.

"Both of you defeated Ansem before, and you'll do it again. Just believe in yourselves." Devon says

The Keyblade Wielder glances back at his best friends over his right-shoulder.

"I may not have been around to help you guys back then, but I'm here now. I've always been with you. And this time, we'll defeat Ansem... together." Devon says

Sora and Riku both nodded their heads in agreement. Devon smiles and nods his head.

"Remember, our hearts are connected. The three of us share a powerful bond. And through that bond, we share in each other's power. Sora, Riku, both of you still have plenty of dormant power just waiting to be awakened. Trust me. I can feel it. Just look deep inside and you'll find the strength to win. You can do it!" Devon says

Sora and Riku nodded their heads again, then closed their eyes in concentration. Everything around them fell silent as they delved deep into their hearts.

"Think about all the people you've met on your journey thus far. The friends you've made, and the bonds you share. Let their love and compassion fill you up inside. Use that as your strength. Then, focus that power and unleash it through yourself!" Devon says

After fifteen seconds pass with Devon's encouragement, Sora and Riku suddenly felt a huge surge of power flowing through them, an incredible burning sensation of enlightenment unlike anything they had felt before. The light and dark aura that enveloped the two boys instantly grew large in size, taking up both sides of the pathway.

"I... I can feel it!" Riku says

"Wow! This energy! It's amazing!" Sora says

"Great work, guys!" Devon says

Turning back to face Ansem and his Guardian, Devon puts on a serious expression and stretches his right-hand out infront of him, summoning his Keyblade: Soul Calibur in a brilliant flash of blue light. Then, he grips his crystal Keyblade with both hands and holds it straight infront of him, aiming at the Seeker of Darkness.

"Now, let's show 'em...Show them our combined power!" Devon says

Across the other end of the pathway, Ansem's eyes widened in surprise as he noticed this, and this distraction gave the three boys their chance.

"What?!" Ansem exclaims

"Now!" Devon yells

Filled with increased determination, Sora and Riku both unleashed their combined power with a loud yell.

"Aaaaaggghhh!" Sora and Riku yell in unison

The two beams of light and darkness instantly grew twice their size, and their increased power began to overtake Ansem's dark beam. Devon lends his support to his best friends and fires a huge blue beam of light from Soul Calibur. The three energy beams merged and combined into a gigantic one. Devon's blue beam fired straight with Sora and Riku's gold and purple beams coiled around it. The combined attack of the three heroes quickly overwhelmed the Seeker of Darkness, pushing all the way across in less than five seconds.

"Gaaaaaggghhh!" Ansem yells

Ansem and his Guardian were struck by the full force and were blasted back to the very end of the pathway. Before they could recover, the three Keyblade Wielders appeared infront of the Seeker of Darkness and the black humanoid, hovering a few feet above the ground. The two halves of Nightmare's End and Mirage Split appeared behind them and combined together to form the Combined Keyblade, which then became a shining, giant sword of blue-white light. Devon held his right-hand above his head with Sora holding his left-hand up, and Riku holding up his right hand in support, each of them bearing serious expressions on their faces as they stared down at Ansem.

"Haaaaaaaaaah!" Devon, Sora, and Riku yell in unison

Striking together, the three boys swing their hands downward and bring the giant sword of light down on Ansem, delivering the final blow and finishing the fight.

Ansem floats backwards and is absorbed into the organic sphere, while his Guardian slowly began to fade away with black mist seeping off their bodies. The Guardian stretches it's right-hand out to Devon, Sora, and Riku, who stood where they were with their Keyblades held horizontally infront of them. Strangely, the black humanoid lowers its hand as if it recognizes the three boys. Then, Ansem and the Guardian disappear completely, leaving the Keyblade Wielders alone in the darkness. Once they were gone, Devon de-summons his Keyblade and turns around to his left to his best friends, proud of their victory.

"Sora, Riku, you two were great." Devon says

"Well, we couldn't have done it without you, Devon." Riku says

"Yeah. Thanks." Sora says

The spiritual Keyblade Wielder smiles and nods his head before giving the two islanders a thumbs up with his right-hand.

"Anytime." Devon says

It was now Devon's turn to disappear as his glowing transparent form fades away. Riku sighs and gazes down at his Keyblade.

"Strength to protect what matters." Riku says

The silver-haired teen closes his eyes and smiled. Sora gazes down at his Kingdom Key, taking in what Riku had just said, and he too closes his eyes with a smile. Suddenly, the environment began waving around the two heroes until everything went black.

Sora and Riku opened their eyes and gasped in surprise to find themselves back in The World That Never Was, standing infront of Memory's Skyscraper.

"This place... Did we finally make it out of the dream?" Riku says

"It looks like it." Sora says

"Sora, you, me, and Devon have been split up since the start of our journey, because Ansem... no... because Xehanort and Teridax planned it. And that means... we're a long way off course from the Mark of Mastery Exam the Inheritor gave us." Riku says

"Yeah. But we're here now, and we'll find and save Devon together." Sora says

"And we're coming with you." A female voice says

Sora and Riku turn around upon hearing the new voice and were surprised again when they saw Luna, Spyro, Cynder, Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, Stormfly, Fishlegs, Meatlug, Snotlout, Hookfang, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Barf and Belch behind them. Luna was the one who spoke as she and the others approached the two Keyblade Wielders.

"Luna, Spyro, Cynder, guys?" Sora says

"What are you all doing here?" Riku asks

"The Inheritor sent us. We're here to help you save Devon." Spyro says

"We owe him a lot for everything he did for us... including his parents." Cynder says

"You knew Devon's parents?" Sora asks

"Yes. Shara and Ducar. Me and Spyro met them a long time ago. It took us a while for us to recognize them as Devon's parents since we've been frozen inside a time crystal for years, but Ignitus helped us to remember while you boys were partaking in your Mark of Mastery Exam." Cynder says

(Flashback)

Visions played out in Cynder's mind as she recalls the times she met Devon's father all those years ago. Back when she was once the Terror of the Skies and an ally to both Lord Thanatos and the Dark Lord of the Shadows. The first was when she encountered Ducar and Spyro in Munitions Forge after draining Terrador of his elemental powers of Earth to resurrect the evil dragon, Malefor, and chasing them in flight. The second was in Concurrent Skies in her black fortress where she fought Ducar and Spyro for the first time and drained Ignitus, back when he was still the Fire Guardian, of his elemental power over Fire. Then, there was the final battle in the Realm of Convexity where Cynder and Lord Thanatos freed Malefor from his prison.

"Ducar and Spyro freed me from Malefor and Lord Thanatos' control when they turned me into an evil dragon as their slave." Cynder says

In the aftermath of the fight, the black dragoness returned to her former self after Lord Thanatos absorbed the darkness that corrupted her. Then, she was sucked into the altar, where she would have been lost forever, had Ducar not leapt in and saved her.

Next, it was Spyro's turn as he and Cynder recalled their next adventure with Shara, only weeks after Ducar's visit. The first vision showed the two dragons meeting the Keyblade Master after she saved Cynder from the Unversed near the old Dragon Temple.

"And after that, we met Devon's mother. She helped me and Cynder every step of the way during the Eternal Night of Darkness when Malefor's soul was freed from the Well of Souls." Spyro says

Two more visions showed them later on the Fellmuth Arena when they faced off against Lord Thanatos, and again in their final showdown with him and Gaul, the Ape King in the Well of Souls. The flashback ends with Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, and Shara gathering close together and Spyro using his time fury powers to encase them all inside the time crystal until they were found years later by Devon and his friends.

(Present time)

"We've been looking for a chance to repay them for everything they've done to help us. Saving their son seems to be right way to do it." Cynder says

"And we owe Devon for helping us establish peace with our dragons. If not for him, we wouldn't be where we are now." Hiccup says

Hiccup turns his head to his Night Fury, who stood on his right.

"Right, bud?" Hiccup asks

Toothless croons and nods his head in agreement. Astrid walks up to Hiccup's left and stands alongside him.

"That's right. Devon's our friend too. And we'll always be there for him." Astrid says

Luna takes four steps closer to the two Keyblade Wielders and looks up at them with her light blue eyes.

"Sora, Riku, Devon has done so much for us. It's about time we return the favor. He needs us. He needs me. Please. I can't bear to lose my rider to the Dark Lord. I can't live without him." Luna says

Sora and Riku look at each other, then look back toward Devon's friends and nod their heads. Sora places his hands on the female Night Fury and strokes the left-side of her head with his right-hand.

"Of course, Luna. You guys can tag along. We'll take all the help we can get." Sora says

A big smile forms on Luna's face, happy to join the Keyblade Wielders.

"Alright. C'mon. Let's go find Devon and bring him home. He's here... somewhere." Riku says

With Luna, Spyro, Cynder, the Viking Teens and their dragons now joining the party, Sora and Riku proceed through the streets of the Dark City in their mission to save Devon from the clutches of Organization XIII and the Dark Lord of the Shadows.

(Elsewhere)

"AlL LiFe EnDs In DeAtH. AlL oRdEr EnDs In ChAoS. AlL pAtHs Of LiGhT aNd DaRk CoNvErGe At ThE cRoSsRoAdS oF dEsTiNy."

While his friends set out to rescue him, Devon was lying flat on his back, his unconscious form resting atop a dirt path in a grassy field under a starry night sky with the pale light of the full moon casting its glow over the land. Eventually, the Keyblade Wielder stirred as he slowly regained consciousness.

"Mmm... Uhh..." Devon groans

Devon opened his eyes and sat up, waking up to a strange new world. He rises to his feet and looks around, seeing nothing but endless green fields.

"Where... am I?" Devon asks

Suddenly, the Keyblade Wielder heard the giggling laughter of a young girl, which surprised him.

"Huh?" Devon says

Devon looked for the source of the giggling, which seemed to echo all around him, looking up and down the endless road. He turns back around and saw a little girl further up ahead of him. But not just any girl, it was...

"Kairi?" Devon says baffled

The four-year-old auburn-haired girl stood several feet up the road from the Keyblade Wielder with her hands behind her back and a sweet, innocent smile on her face, wearing the same white apron-shirt, pink skirt, and white shoes she wore back in Radiant Garden the day she met Aqua and Shara. Before he could even question her presence, Young Kairi giggles and turns around, running away from Devon.

"Ah! Kairi!" Devon exclaims

The Keyblade Wielder quickly chases after the small girl as she runs up along the path.

"He he he... Catch me if you can, Devon!" Young Kairi giggles

Devon dashes down the endless dirt road, putting all the speed he had into his feet. But no matter how fast he was running, he couldn't catch up with Kairi, who was still far away from him.

"Kairi, wait!" Devon yells

Suddenly, the environment around him began waving around and changing as he continued running. Green trees faded in, appearing on the sides of the road, turning the grassy plains into a forest. Devon looked around as the world changed around him, but he was more focused on catching up with Kairi.

"Be CoRrOsIvE. Be CoRrUpTeD. Be DiSeAsEd. Be DeVoUrEd."

After fifteen seconds of running, the environment changed back into the grassy plains as the trees disappeared. Then, the world took on a more horrifying look as the lush, green landscape slowly turned into a grey, dead barren wasteland with dead grass and black rotten, scary-looking trees, turning into a nightmarish environment. Eventually, Devon trips on a large crack in the road and falls forward onto the dirt, landing flat on his stomach.

"Ahh!" Devon exclaims

The Keyblade Wielder winced in pain from the nasty fall. He had scraped his left-knee, creating a large tear in the sleeve of his pants, and his right-elbow, both of which were bleeding profusely. Determined to find Kairi however, Devon pushes himself up onto his feet, grinding down on his teeth as he fought against the increasing pain, the wounds tearing open as the flesh stretched. He looked up and down the road, but she was nowhere to be seen. Devon turns around to face the road infront of him and nearly jumps in surprise as the desolate ruins of a large ghost town suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"LiFe Is FrAgiLe. In ThE eNd, OnLy DeAtH rEmAiNs."

Devon gazes up at the exterior walls of the town, which stood several feet high, but had collapsed with large spaces in between. With nowhere else to go, the young teen enters the town through it's entrance, the decrepit remains of a tall stone arch gateway that had a broken space at the top, passing the rotten remains of the wooden double doors that laid flat at his sides. Hopefully, he would find Kairi inside.

The Keyblade Wielder walks down the mile-long main street and enters the central district of the metropolis, staring at the complete devastation that surrounded him with a combined expression of astonishment and horror. Most of the buildings and structures were destroyed in huge piles of rubble, while few were still standing in half-broken states. Awnings were torn and shredded, blowing in the wind. Rusted streetlights with shattered glass caps, likely from electrical explosions. Trash, debris, and glass shards from busted windows littered the town. And gaping cracks break apart much of the concrete pavement of the streets. The entire town was ravaged like a warzone and looks as though it had endured nearly thousands of years. It was impossible to believe that this once thriving metropolis was once home to a population of probably billions of people. Devon had never seen such devastation in his life, and this was by far the worst. No doubt this was a world that was destroyed by the Dark Lord of the Shadows and his evil empire. The Keyblade Wielder could only imagine the fear, chaos, and hysteria that struck the poor, innocent civilians who lived here.

Everything was eerily silent, save for the howling wind and the footsteps of the Keyblade Wielder as he walked amongst the ruins. Up ahead, Devon observed the remains of a large, dried-up water fountain that had several cracks in the base of the bowl, and chips around its ring. In the center of the bowl was a four-sided star, broken into tiny fragments. Then, he discovers the pieces of a large human statue behind it, the pedestal with the legs still attached, and the empty spot where they once stood. There was some writing inscribed, likely a memorial dedicated to a fallen hero, but the stone was so cracked and broken that it was impossible to make out what it said.

Moving on, Devon proceeds to the upper level of the plaza via the right staircase, one of two in the district. There, he gazes upon a colossal castle that stood high above the town, though it was in poorly decaying state. The castle gates had also seen better days as the large clock tower was in a similar state with the clock missing from the tower. It had actually fallen infront of the destroyed wooden double doors, preventing further access to the structure.

Devon takes four steps forward across the upper plaza until his right-foot steps onto something that made a loud squeak, breaking the silence and causing him to gasp in surprise. Looking down, the sound came from a four-legged plush toy dragon, the size of a small dog, laying on its right-side. The dragon plush had two black beads for eyes two straight horns on the back of its triangular head, a bright blue body, a light cream underbelly, and a long tail with an arrow-shaped tip, but it was extremely dirty from years of abandonment, and had an inch-long vertical tear in its chest, revealing the white cotton stuffing inside. The Keyblade Wielder lifts his foot up, kneels down to the dragon plush, and picks it up in his right-hand. Using his other hand, he swipes off the dirt and dust as best he could to clean it. Devon gazes down at the small toy with a solemn expression, knowing that it probably once belonged to a poor child who suffered and died at the hands of Teridax, and cradles the dragon in his arm, stroking its head and back as though it were a real creature.

Suddenly, Devon heard the laughter of children, which made his snap up and rise to his feet, turning around to his right in alarm. He was not alone. Unbeknownst to him, a small boy stood eerily silent in the upper plaza several feet away behind Devon. Feeling that he was being watched, the Keyblade Wielder quickly turned around to his right and looked behind him, but the boy was gone. Then, he heard some familiar giggling, which made him turn back around, and his eyes widened when he saw the small girl he had been chasing.

"Kairi!" Devon exclaims

"He he he... C'mon, Devon! Follow me!" Young Kairi giggles

The four-year-old girl takes off and runs down the street on her left. Devon gasps and jumps down to the lower plaza. Not wanting to lose her again, the Keyblade Wielder chases after Kairi, dashing down the street she went into.

"Kairi! Come back!" Devon exclaims

Devon reaches the end of the street that branches off in two different paths: one left and one right. He looks down both ways, not sure which way Kairi went. He soon hears her giggles coming from the left and takes off down the street.

"WaTcH aS yOuR flEsH wItHeRs, fAiLiNg To SuStAiN yOu, LeAvInG yOu ExPoSeD aNd HoLloW uNtiL yOu ArE lEfT wItH nOtHiNg."

Devon enters another district, one of four connected to the center of the town, and gazes at the sights of his new surroundings. Around him were demolished stores with broken windows, wrecked wooden stalls, and a blacksmith shop full of rusted weapons utterly useless. This was clearly a shopping district for trade and commerce.

The young teen approaches one store that once sold finely crafted statues, pots, vases, and paintings of beautiful scenery. The pottery and statues of humans, dragons, gryphons, and other majestic, mythical creatures were all shattered to pieces of stone, clay, and crystal glass, and the paintings were moldy and discolored with some parts faded and disintegrated, completely unrecognizable. Devon kneels down and picks up the glass head of a dragon with his left-hand, which was surprisingly intact, gazing down at it and feeling its shape with his thumb. Unknown to him, he was being watched by two small boys, who stood outside the shop. A cold shiver ran down Devon's spine, forcing him to stop what he was doing. He quickly glances back over his left-shoulder, but the boys were gone. The Keyblade Wielder steps back outside and looks around.

"Kairi?" Devon says

"This way." Young Kairi says

Devon follows the direction of Kairi's voice, which led back out into the street where he came. He gently puts the glass dragon head down on the ground, and leaves the Shopping District, following Kairi's giggles in the ruined town.

"ThE tIsSuE tEaRs. ThE tEaRs BuRn. ThE bUrNs BlOsSoMs LiKe PlAqUeD fLoWeRs UpOn SkIn."

Now, the Keyblade Wielder was in a district that was full of destroyed rides, old, abandoned movie theaters, street side games and attractions like a shooting gallery for target practice, a children's playground with monkey bars, swing sets that squeaked in the wind, rusted slides, a metal roundabout, and a large ferris wheel, which was in a very sad state of decay. Large balls that were once used for play were deflated, lying flat like rubber mats on the concrete. There were also empty food stands once used for handing out popcorn, large pretzels, pizza, ice cream, etc. It was like being in an abandoned amusement park.

Devon steps on a small, empty snack bag, which crunched under his right-foot, causing him to look down. He kneels down and examines it in his left-hand. Although it was old from decay, the bag was black in color with stars decorating it, and titled words. The first set was a multi-colored rainbow that read:

Star Bits

And underneath that was a second set of words in light blue letters that read:

Cosmic Fruit-flavored Gummies

The Keyblade Wielder stared down at the snack bag with a curious expression, as if it felt familiar to him somehow. Before he could ponder it any further, Devon heard the tiny patters of small footsteps in the area. He looked around but saw nothing. Then, Kairi's voice broke the silence.

"Over here, Devon." Young Kairi says

Devon turns around to his left and caught a glimpse of the small girl running off into the street, giggling with fun laughter. Giving chase, the Keyblade Wielder runs after her, leaving the shopping district.

"MaLiCe FoR bOnE, RaGe FoR bLoOd, TeRrOr FoR tHe SoUl."

Devon follows Kairi back out to the central district, across the plaza, and into a third area, which was one huge garden. Once, it was beautiful garden of life with many vibrant colorful exotic plants. Now, it was full of dead, decaying plants and rotting fungi. The Keyblade Wielder pushes away leaves and other plants that blocked his path as he runs down the trail, chasing after the little girl. Unknown to him, five ghostly children stood hidden from view deep within the black and brown plants, watching Devon as he went by. Soon, after two minutes of running around a maze of plants, the young teen and small girl leave the garden district.

"CaRvEd FrOm ChAos... DrAwN fRoM DeAtH... BoRn Of SaCriFiCe... InSpIrEd By LeGeNd... CoNjUrEd By VeNgEaNcE... ThE pAtH pRoViDeD... ThE cYcLe CoMeS fUlL cIrcLe..."

Eventually, the chase brings Devon to the fourth and final area: a medical center. This four-story building, like all the others, looked completely abandoned with busted windows, broken down doors, turned over hospital beds, and littered with trash and destroyed medical equipment. The Keyblade Wielder walks down the halls on the first floor of the hospital, passing empty wheelchairs and beds that stood abandoned. He held Soul Calibur above his head as he wanders through the building, using its glowing light to navigate the dark hallways, while still holding the plush dragon switched in his left-arm, searching for Kairi.

Devon soon enters a patient room with a white, moldy medical bed, a large, rusty lamp with five shattered lightbulbs, a four-legged stool near the door where he entered, and a dirty sink on the other side of the room. Upon entering, the Keyblade Wielder felt another, even colder shiver down his spine, which caused him to shudder a bit, warm fog escaping his breath. This drop in temperature can only mean one thing: Paranormal Activity. A ghostly breath blows past Devon's ears and the door behind him slams shut, causing him to jump with a start. He immediately turns around to his right but saw nothing. The young teen slowly backs away, feeling slightly freaked out.

Suddenly, a screaming black face with two small dots as red eyes stretches out from the tile wall behind Devon, causing him to gasp and back away. More screaming faces and black hands stretch out from the walls and the ceiling, adding on to the fear and paranoia. Devon looks ahead toward another door and he quickly runs straight for it. He smashes the door open with his right-shoulder and heads through, only to end up back in the same room. This time, there was a black body bag laying on the medical bed that twitched and moved as if something inside was still alive. Devon slowly crept forward, holding Soul Calibur defensively and the plush dragon closer in his arm. As soon as he got close, the body bag jerks upright, causing the young teen to jump back and gasp in surprise. The zipper on the bag began to slide downward, revealing nothing but darkness. Devon runs and smashes through the other door, returning to the same room. Everything was quiet until a drop of blood falls from the ceiling and hits the floor, followed by another drop, and another, and another. Soon, the walls began to ooze with blood, while Devon gazes around in horror with his shuddering breath. Not wanting to stick around any longer, the Keyblade Wielder turns to head back out the way he came, but the door was jammed shut. After struggling for seven seconds, he manages to get the door open and runs out into the hallway, quickly making for the exit.

Once he was outside, Devon turns around and faces the haunted hospital. He had never felt so afraid in his life. His heart was literally pounding rapidly against his chest. The Keyblade Wielder took a moment to calm himself down, taking a couple deep breaths. As he did, Devon felt a presence, and he turns around to his left to see Young Kairi standing behind him. Before he could even step toward her, the little girl turns around to her right and runs away, giggling with laughter, much to Devon's annoyance as he was growing tired of this game.

"Oh... Come on, Kairi. Enough of this." Devon groans

Dismissing his crystal Keyblade, Devon leaves the medical district and chases after Kairi as she heads out into the streets.

"DaRkNeSs Is aLwAyS wItH yOu. In yOuR hEaRt... In YoUr ThOuGhTs... In YoUr DrEaMs... AlL aRoUnD yOu... WiThIn YoUr VeRy SoUl..."

Returning to the central district, Devon looks around for Kairi and saw her running into an alleyway on his right near the main street.

"Kairi! Please!" Devon yells

The Keyblade Wielder dashes over into the alleyway, only to be met by a dead end in the form of a brick wall. Kairi had vanished. He skids to a stop and places his right-hand up against the wall, baffled as to how a small girl could disappear completely.

"Huh? Where'd she go?" Devon asks

Devon turns around to leave the alley and is surprised when he saw daylight outside. Coming back out into the district, the Keyblade Wielder glanced around in awe and wonder as he saw the entire town restored back to its former glory. All the buildings, including the fountain, were repaired. The pavement itself was fixed, now level and even. But strangely, there was not a soul to be seen. As he gazed upon the town, Devon finally realized where he was.

"I remember now..." Devon says

The Keyblade Wielder closed his eyes as memories from so long ago came flowing back into him. His homeworld. The people he once knew. All wonderous sights he had seen as a child. Everything came back, clear as day. After thirty seconds, Devon opened his eyes as he spoke the name of his birthplace.

"Starlight Town. I-I haven't been here since I was a kid. Everything looks great." Devon says

The Keyblade Wielder soon noticed that the statue was put back together with a bed of flowers surrounding it, and he could see who it was. It was his father, Ducar. His true father. Devon approaches the statue and gazes up at it in wonder. Then, he looks down at the pedestal it stood on and reads the words on the grey stone, which he could now clearly see.

In memory of

Ducar

Hero of the Celestial Realm
A Loving Father
A Friend to All

As he stares at the words in the stone, Devon recalls the battle in the World That Never Was against Lord Drazor, and how he learned the awful truth.

(Flashback)

"Foolish child. If you only knew the power of the darkness..." Lord Drazor says

"Darkness destroyed my home... stole my friends... killed my family! You murdered... Ngh... my mother... killed my father!" Devon yells

"No, Devon. I... am your father." Lord Drazor says

"No... You lie! That's not true! That's impossible!" Devon says

"Search your feelings, Devon. Look deep inside, and you'll know it to be true." Lord Drazor says

(Present time)

A solemn expression filled Devon's face. It was still hard to believe that his father, who was once a great hero, was now an evil servant to the Dark Lord of the Shadows and his empire. His heart twisted by the darkness in his heart. He always wanted to believe his father was still alive, but not in a way he would've expected. Devon wasn't even sure if he could actually save him.

Suddenly, the Keyblade Wielder was pulled out of his thoughts when the sky quickly changed back from day to night with the loud sound of haunting, requiem bells ringing in the air. Devon glances up at the sky as the sun sets over Starlight Town with the full moon rising up in its place, then watches as the town fades back to its destroyed, abandoned state, falling back into darkness. The young teen walks around to the front of the fountain as the town changes before his eyes, ending with the seventh toll of the bells. Then, a soft humming of a young voice fills the air, which caught Devon's ears. Slowly turning around to his right, he saw a little girl, who appeared to be seven years old sitting on the ring of the fountain, wearing a pale blue dress and white leggings with black shoes, brushing the left-side of her long, ebony black hair with a white hairbrush in her right-hand, while using her other hand to hold it straight.

"Hello. You wanna play with me?" The girl greets

The mysterious child puts down her brush and lifts up her head to look up at the Keyblade Wielder, who was horrified by what he saw. This young girl had grey skin that was decaying with rotting flesh, a sunken, skull-like face, and eyes that glowed blood-red with a white sclera inside deep, black eye sockets.

Devon gasps and jumps back frightened, dropping the dragon plush in his hands onto the ground. Darkness emerges from the ground underneath the small toy and envelopes it, turning the dragon's stuffed body into a real one as it comes alive. The dragon rose up onto its four legs and slowly grew to the size of a horse. Its light blue body turned black and became muscular, its claws sharpened, and its wings grew large. The dragon's eyes snapped open, revealing them to be glowing red with fire and black slit pupils, which narrowed thinly, and the monstrous creature lets out a loud roar, showing a mouth full of sharp teeth, and causing Devon to jump back even more.

Grey clouds formed overhead, bringing thunder and dark blue lightning, and the full moon turned blood-red with black cracks forming on its surface, dyeing the night sky with an evil malice.

The Keyblade Wielder turns around to his right and found himself surrounded by thousands of zombie-like children. Each shared the same grey, decaying skin and red eyes, but some of them were different from one another. Some were missing a nose, an eyeball or two, even a lower jaw. The Keyblade Wielder turned back around to face the ghostly girl, who was now standing alongside the ferocious black dragon, and was even more horrified to see not just Young Kairi standing alongside them, but also a Young Sora and Riku, and even Amber, Dr. Fuji's daughter from the Pokémon World, who, fortunately, still had all their body features.

"Aah!" Devon exclaims

"He's waiting for you, Devon... Soon, you'll be able to play with all of us." Amber says

"And we'll all be together with him... like a family... forever..." Young Kairi says

"No... No!" Devon says

Suddenly, a tall, cloaked figure with glowing red eyes instantly appears behind the zombified children with a flash of dark blue lightning. It was someone who Devon recognized from his nightmare earlier in Distant Galaxy. It was Teridax, the Dark Lord of the Shadows himself.

"ThE dArKnEsS cOmEtH!" Teridax says

The Dark Lord spreads out his arms and a huge swarm of bloodthirsty vampire bats, each with glowing red eyes, fly out from the darkness inside his cloak, screeching loudly. Devon flails his arms about as the vicious winged creatures surrounded him, trying desperately to keep them away. Eventually, his left-foot trips on a crack in the pavement, falling down onto his back, and he rolls around as the bats continued their assault. Few of them clamp onto Devon's body with their claws and sink their long fangs into him. One bit down on his right-shoulder, another on his upper left-arm, and a third on the right-side of his neck.

"Aaaaah!" Devon cries out in pain

Devon sweeps the vampire bats off his body, rises back up and runs, taking off down the main street towards the town's exit to escape the nightmare, while the Dark Lord's laughter echoes all around him.

"HeH hEh HeH hEh HeH hEh Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha... Ah Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!" Teridax laughs

The Keyblade Wielder manages to make it out into the barren wasteland and continues running along the endless road as dark lightning strikes around him, and a black wave of darkness pursues him with shadow hands stretching out to grab him, consuming everything in its path. Eventually, the dark wave catches up with Devon and a shadow hand grabs his right-foot, causing him to trip and fall. Devon turns around onto his back and tries to kick the shadow hand away, only for another hand to grab his other foot, while others restrained his whole body, grabbing his arms, his chest, and his head. Everything around the young teen vanishes into darkness, except for the dark clouds and lightning overhead, and a black-red pool appears underneath him with the shadow hands dragging him down into it. Tendrils of darkness start to cover Devon's body, even as he continued to resist. One even covered his nose and mouth, muffling his voice. As the darkness slowly takes him, Teridax appears infront of the Keyblade Wielder in a flash of lightning and stares down at him with his sinister gaze.

"NoW dArKnEsS tAkEs YoU fOrEvEr..." Teridax says

And with that, the black tendrils cover Devon's eyes, darkening his vision as he's finally consumed by the darkness.

(The World That Never Was)

Back in the Dark City, Sora, Riku and their friends were still continuing their search for Devon. Luna was at the front of the group, sniffing the ground with her keen sense of smell to pick up her rider's scent and follow his trail. After minutes of following Devon's trail, the group reaches the edge of the Dark City, arriving at the cliff where the Castle That Never Was floated over the massive expanse.

"This is where the trail ends." Luna says

"End of the road, huh?" Riku says

The heroes gaze up at the castle, which gave off an unholy, evil, black-red light, then they look up at the pitch-black sky overhead, filled with blood-red clouds that no light could penetrate. Dark blue lightning flashed from the clouds, and over the castle was a huge, black-red swirling vortex of pure darkness.

"I know we're back in the real world, but Sora and I still have our Dream Eater powers." Riku says

"Which means... Devon still hasn't woken up." Sora says

"Devon, where are you?" Riku asks

Suddenly, the group heard a loud squeak in the area.

"What was that?" Hiccup asks

Sora and Riku both put their right-hands to their ears and listen carefully. Soon, another squeak fills the air.

"There it is again." Astrid says

"Look!" Luna exclaims

Sora, Riku and the others look across the massive expanse and saw three Dream Eaters at the edge of the passageway leading into the castle. These Dream Eaters were Sora's Meow Wow, and Devon's Tyranto Rex and Ryu Dragon.

"Dream Eaters. Is that where Devon is?" Riku asks

"It must be." Luna says

"But how do we get there?" Sora asks

"Simple. We fly across." Hiccup says

Hiccup climbs up onto Toothless' back and mounts into his saddle, while the rest of the Viking Teens mount their dragons. Luna lowers herself down to the ground, offering the two Keyblade Wielders a ride on her bare back.

"Sora, Riku, climb on." Luna says

Sora and Riku nod their heads and climb onto Luna's back with Sora sitting at the front and Riku sitting behind him.

"Devon, we're on our way." Sora says

With everyone on their dragons, the group takes off from the cliff and flies across the expanse toward the Castle That Never Was.

Now inside the castle, Sora, Riku and the others enter the circular chamber of Where Nothing Gathers, walking onto the middle platform, and gazed up at the twelve empty thrones all around the room. Then, they look down at the lowest throne and were horrified by what they saw. There, hovering over the throne, was a tattered and weakened Devon, trapped inside his orb of darkness with his upper body still exposed, his arms and legs bound in black chains, dark blue lightning and streams of dark energy sparking and swirling around his body, and the ancient black-red runic glyphs glowing all over on his skin.

"Devon!" Everyone cries out in unison

Out of everyone in the room, nobody was more shocked than Luna, who gasped and stared with widened eyes. How could something so horrible happen to her beloved rider. To see him like this was heart wrenching.

"C'mon! We got to help him!" Luna says

Sora, Riku, Luna, Spyro and Cynder jumped down to Devon to save him. But before they could get close enough to do anything, Lord Thanatos appears infront of them with Young Xehanort on his left and Lord Drazor on his right, and the evil entity thrusts his right-hand forward, sending the two boys and three dragons flying back up onto the center platform with a telekinetic blast. Sora and Riku landed on their backs, while Luna, Spyro, and Cynder landed on their sides. The three Dark Keyblade Wielders levitate into the air, rising up to the platform.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY MASTER'S NEW VESSEL!" Lord Thanatos says

"Vessel?!" Everyone asks in unison

Sora, Riku, Luna, Spyro, and Cynder rise up back on their feet and rejoin their friends as the three villains touch down on the platform infront of them with Young Xehanort speaking next.

"Yes. We originally had our sights set on you, Sora, Riku. But you both developed a certain... resistance to darkness. So we did what the Keyblade did, and moved down the list. Roxas and Draxon... Now there were two worthy candidates. But, unfortunately, they became too aware of themselves and returned to you, Sora, and Devon." Young Xehanort says

"ORGANIZATION XIII'S TRUE GOAL IS TO DIVIDE THE DARK LORD'S HEART AMONG THIRTEEN VESSELS. THANKS TO YOU, WE LEARNED THAT NOT ALL OF OUR CANDIDATES WERE FIT FOR THE TASK. BUT, WE MANAGED TO MAKE UP THE DIFFERENCE. AND NOW, DEVON, THE THIRTEENTH DARK VESSEL, IS WITHIN OUR GRASP." Lord Thanatos says

"Thirteen... Teridax'?" Riku says

Then, the group looks around as the new members of Organization XIII appear in the chairs set around them, each with their hoods up hiding their identities, except for Ansem, Xemnas, and Xigbar, who had their hoods down.

"What is..." Sora says

"THE TRUE ORGANIZATION XIII." Lord Thanatos says

"The Organization?" Sora says baffled

"I am Xehanort from the most distant past. My future self gave me a task: to visit the splintered incarnations of myself in many worlds, and ensure they gathered here today to welcome the return of the Dark Lord." Young Xehanort says

"From the past?" Astrid asks

"But h-how is that possible?" Fishlegs asks

"There are restrictions to movement through time. First, you must leave your body behind to do it. Then, there must be a version of you waiting at the destination. Upon arrival, you can only move forward as per the laws of time. And you cannot rewrite the events that are destined to happen." Young Xehanort says

"Ugh. Time travel is really confusing." Snotlout says

"Yeah. I'm so confused my brain is hurting." Tuffnut says holding his head with his right-hand

"Ugh. Mine too." Ruffnut says also holding her head with the same hand

Luna narrowed her eyes and growled, showing her teeth. Now she and the others knew of Organization XIII's true goal. They were planning to turn Devon, her rider, into one of them. Well, she won't allow that to happen. Not while she lived.

"You monsters! What have you done to Devon?!" Luna roars

Lord Thanatos raises his right-hand to the highest throne in the room behind the heroes.

"OUR MASTER WILL ARRIVE SOON." Lord Thanatos says

The group turns around and looks up to see a huge mass of darkness forming in it, creating a human-like shape.

"THEN, TIME FOR ALL OF US WILL RETURN TO NORMAL." Lord Thanatos says

"And I will go back to my era to live the life fate has in store. He can vouch for that." Young Xehanort says

Sora, Riku, Luna, Spyro, Cynder, and the others stared at the black, shadowy humanoid form, gasping in shock with slight fear in their voices. Fishlegs whimpered and shook a bit.

Suddenly, a blue light blinks at the top of the chamber and a pillar of light strikes down on the central platform, blasting Lord Thanatos, Lord Drazor, and Young Xehanort away. A small figure appears on the platform and raises up a golden Keyblade into the air, casting a magic spell.

"Stopza!" The figure chants

A huge blue-purple bubble surrounds the entire chamber, slowing down time to a complete halt. Floating clocks appeared around the room, fading in and out with their hands rewinding counterclockwise. Everything and everyone was frozen, except for Sora, Riku, and the others, who had shielded themselves from the blinding light. Once the light died down, the heroes looked ahead and saw the caster of the spell. It was Mickey, standing with his back to them and his Kingdom Key D drawn. The mouse king turns and glances back at his friends over his left-shoulder.

"I'm glad I'm not too late." Mickey says

"Mickey!" Sora and Riku exclaim in unison

"Quick! Grab Devon so we can go! The spell won't hold them for long!" Mickey says

The heroes turned around and spared one last look at the highest throne where the Dark Lord of the Shadows would have appeared.

"Right!" Sora, Riku and Luna say in unison

Just as the group turned back to help Devon, Lord Thanatos, Lord Drazor and Young Xehanort stood before them, unfazed by the magic spell. Shocked expressions filled their faces as they stared with widened eyes and gaping mouths. Lord Thanatos soon spoke with a dark aura enveloping his body.

"A CLEVER MOVE. BUT NOT ENOUGH, I'M AFRAID." Lord Thanatos says

"That's impossible..." Spyro gasps

"How can you be moving?" Riku asks

"TIME AND SPACE HOLDS NO SWAY OVER US. NOT EVEN TO THE DARK LORD." Lord Thanatos says

Lord Drazor and Young Xehanort stretch out their right-hands and summon their Dark Keyblades: Fear's Shadow, and Time Watcher.

"Oh, no. Are you..." Mickey says

"BE GONE!" Lord Thanatos bellows in a deep, demonic voice as his fiery eyes blazed furiously and emitted a brief red flash

The dark being crosses his arms and thrusts them outward, unleashing a powerful, explosive telekinetic blast from his body with a loud boom compared to thunder, which blows Mickey, Luna, Spyro, Cynder, the Viking Teens and their dragons away, except for Sora and Riku, who shielded themselves with their arms. The two boys glanced back at their friends as they laid dazed on the floor below the platform, then turn back to face the three villains as Lord Thanatos slowly rises up a few feet into the air with his hands out to his sides. Darkness swirls from his body and surrounds the entire chamber, blinding Sora and Riku as everything turned black.

When the darkness clears, Sora and Riku found themselves standing in an area known as Sanctum of Time, a large circular area with several cogs and clockwork devices integrated below the floor as well as atop pillars on either side of the battlefield, surrounded by six diamond-shaped hourglasses of different colors, specifically red, blue, yellow, orange, green, and purple. The two Keyblade Wielders looked ahead of them and saw Young Xehanort and Lord Drazor still standing infront of them. Lord Thanatos was also with them, hovering up above in the air, but he soon teleports away, leaving his evil allies to deal with the heroes. Summoning Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn into their hands, Sora and Riku both got into their stances and prepared themselves for their fight Young Xehanort and Lord Drazor, the Dark Knight.

"You'll never prevail, you know. You have no idea what it is you're dealing with. Against him, there can be no victory." Young Xehanort says

"Oh, yeah? We'll just see about that!" Sora says

The villains made the first move as they dashed across the battlefield at fast speeds with Young Xehanort pulling Time Watcher across his body, and Lord Drazor raising Fear's Shadow over his right-shoulder with his right-hand, while Sora and Riku gripped their Keyblades tighter and braced themselves. Within moments, the two sides swung their weapons and their Keyblades clashed with a loud clang that echoed far across the area.

Young Xehanort attacks Riku with a frontal assault, swinging Time Watcher with a left slash, a right uppercut strike, a downward strike, and a reverse roundhouse slash. Riku blocks the first strike holding Way to the Dawn to the right, leans his body back twice in dodging the second and third strike, then blocks the fourth and final strike holding his Keyblade to the left opposite of Time Watcher. Shoving the Dark Keyblade away to the right, Riku counterattacks with a reverse roundhouse slash of his own, but Young Xehanort leaps away several feet with a backflip, catching himself with a hand flip midway before landing back on his feet and swinging his Dark Keyblade with a right slash, launching a blue 'X'-shaped wave at the silver-haired teen, which homes in on his location. Riku jumps and rolls over to the left, dodging the dark wave as it misses him by inches. Young Xehanort swings Time Watcher again, launching four more 'X' waves at Riku, who continues to dodge the attack, rolling out of the way of each projectile.

Now, it was Riku's turn to go on the offensive. Sprinting across the battlefield, he closes distance with Young Xehanort in three seconds and lunges at him with his Way to the Dawn, attacking with a thrusting strike. He ultimately misses as Young Xehanort jumps away to the right, dodging his Keyblade. Riku quickly follows up with an upward and downward strike, two cross slashes, and three right spinning slashes, and actually manages to land each hit to his adversary. Young Xehanort teleports away, leaving an afterimage of himself and waves Time Watcher above his head from left to right, creating a half-circle of ice shards. Pointing his Keyblade at Riku, he sends them flying at him all at once. Riku holds his Way to the Dawn infront of him and encases himself in his spherical barrier, causing the ice shards to shatter harmlessly. After the barrier disperses, Riku dashes forward at Young Xehanort and strikes him with three right spinning slashes, knocking him away.

While Riku and Young Xehanort continued to engage each other, Sora was up against Lord Drazor as his Kingdom Key clashed with Fear's Shadow. The spikey-haired teen leapt away from the Dark Knight as he attacks him with two side swipes, then held his Keyblade to the right above his head to block a downward strike, putting them both in a blade lock. Lord Drazor pushes down with his Dark Keyblade, but Sora stood firm against his strength. Eventually, Sora shoves Lord Drazor back and swings his Kingdom Key downward, summoning four revolving orbs of golden light around him, but the Dark Knight leaps away from the attack. Sora pulls his Keyblade back and hurls it at Lord Drazor, only to miss as he jumps from side to side, dodging his attack four times. Lord Drazor surrounds himself with three black fiery tornadoes, which revolved around him, and glides across the platform towards his adversary. Sora immediately jumps over to the right, narrowly dodging Lord Drazor as he zips past with incredibly fast speed. The Dark Knight glances back at the spikey-haired boy over his left-shoulder and loops back around for another charge attack. But this time, Sora was ready for him. Just the villain was about to smash into him, Sora swings his Kingdom Key upward and generates a magical aura of pinkish light around himself, blasting Lord Drazor back.

Seizing his chance, Sora dashes forward at Lord Drazor and goes on the offensive. He attacks the Dark Knight with an overhead slash, two thrusting strikes, a reverse roundhouse slash, three backflip slashes, and finishes with a downward slash, slamming his Kingdom Key into the ground and summoning a pillar of light, which hurls Lord Drazor a few feet away. The Dark Knight lands crouched down on his feet and rises up to face Sora, his eclectic breathing intensified. The spikey-haired teen narrowed his eyes as he stared the Dark Knight down, knowing that he won't be easy to defeat.

Back with Riku, Young Xehanort transforms his Dark Keyblade into a blue whip and lashes out three times at the silver-haired teen. Riku leans his body to the left, ducks down, and leaps away to the right, shooting a Dark Firaga spell in retaliation, but Young Xehanort simply waves his left-hand and diverts the dark blast away from him. He leaps up and descends toward Riku with a somersault slash but misses as the hero jumps back. Young Xehanort warps away and reappears behind Riku with a downward strike, swinging Time Watcher from behind his back. The silver-haired teen immediately turns around to the right and blocks the attack, holding Way to the Dawn horizontally to the left. Swinging Time Watcher away, Riku counters with a left slash to Young Xehanort's chest followed by a right uppercut strike, then grabs his left-arm like he had done with Xemnas in the past and spins around three times before throwing his opponent down to the platform.

Riku dives down towards Young Xehanort and descends upon him with six diving strikes, teleporting in between each blow. Then, he rushes at the silver-haired black coat with his Keyblade, attacking him with eight charging strikes in multiple directions, before reappearing up front and stabbing into the ground, releasing pillars of darkness radially and knocking Young Xehanort away. Sliding back across the battlefield and skidding to a stop, the silver-haired teen changes his Time Watcher into a whip again and swings it with four sweeping strikes, releasing crescent-shaped waves at Riku, who jumps and dashes away to the sides, dodging the projectiles. Then, Young Xehanort transforms into a long spear and dashes across the battlefield with blinding speed and lunges at Riku with a thrusting strike. Riku leaps away to the right, evading the sharp end of the spear, which misses him by inches, and counters with a right uppercut strike to the silver-haired black coat. He then follows up with a left slash, a thrusting strike, three right spinning slashes, and finishes with a strong downward strike, raising Way to the Dawn over his left-shoulder and bringing it down on Young Xehanort's body, sending him flying backwards several feet away.

Young Xehanort crashes and rolls backwards onto his feet as he slides to a stop. He slowly rises up, seemingly to continue the fight, but the silver-haired black coat grunts and falls down onto his right-knee defeated, using Time Watcher as a crutch. Having put his opponent out of commission, Riku looks over at his right and saw Sora, who held his Kingdom Key horizontally to the left, struggling against a barrage of dark blue lightning bolts, a powerful electrical assault arcing out from Lord Drazor's hands.

"Gnh... Ngh!" Sora grunts

"Sora!" Riku exclaims

Riku rushes to Sora's aid and sprints toward Lord Drazor to attack him. The Dark Knight notices the silver-haired teen heading his way as he turns his head left, and extends his left-hand toward him, just as Riku swings his Way to the Dawn with a left slash, freezing him in his tracks with his telekinesis, while keeping up his electric barrage on Sora with his other hand. He then tosses Riku aside and sends him flying into Sora, knocking them both to the ground. The spikey-haired boy was down on his stomach, while the silver-haired teen was on his back. Sora pushes himself up and looks over at Riku.

"Riku! Are you okay?" Sora asks in concern

Riku sits upright and turns his head left at his best friend.

"Yeah. I'm alright." Riku says

The two Keyblade Wielders focus their attention back on the Dark Knight as he stood before them with his eclectic breathing, and they rise up onto their feet, getting back into their stances and gripping their Keyblades in their hands as they faced him.

"Who are you?" Riku asks in a demanding voice

"Lord Drazor, the Dark Knight. I serve the Dark Lord of the Shadows, and I have waited many years to fight you, Sora, Riku. Both of you harness great power the same as my son, but it won't be enough to defeat me."

"Your son?" Riku says baffled

"Who are you talking about?" Sora asks

"You will learn soon enough." Lord Drazor says

With nothing left to say, Lord Drazor attacks first, leaping straight toward the two boys with Fear's Shadow raised over his right-shoulder. Sora and Riku both jump away from the Dark Knight as he slams his Dark Keyblade into the ground where they once stood, creating a massive, rippling black shockwave of darkness. Dashing forward across the battlefield, the two heroes raise their Keyblades and prepare to strike with Sora holding his Kingdom Key over his right-shoulder, and Riku with his Way to the Dawn over his left-shoulder. Closing distance in less than a second, they swing their weapons and clashed with Lord Drazor, who, matching their speed, quickly held up Fear's Shadow in his right-hand to block their strikes.

The spikey and silver-haired teens fought together with Sora attacking with a left diagonal slash, a thrusting strike, an uppercut slash, a downward slash, while Riku assists him with a right slash, a downward slash, a reverse roundhouse slash, a thrusting strike, and another downward slash. Lord Drazor switches back and forth between the two boys, evading and parrying their blows effortlessly. Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn clashed with Fear's Shadow again as the the two boys engaged the masked villain in another blade lock, bringing their Keyblades down on his. The clash lasted about five seconds before Lord Drazor shoves the heroes back with a right swing of his Dark Keyblade and thrusts his left-hand forward at Sora, sending him flying backwards with a telekinetic blast.

"Gaaah!" Sora exclaims

The spikey-haired boy bounces off his back along the ground and flips over four times before landing flat on his stomach. Riku gasps as he glances back over his right-shoulder with a shocked expression, then turns back to face Lord Drazor as he attacks him next, swinging Fear's Shadow at the silver-haired teen with a left downward slash. Riku dodges the Dark Keyblade, leaning his body far to the left, and holds Way to the Dawn vertically and horizontally to the left in defense, blocking a right, left, and right slash from the evil villain. The two Keyblade Wielders clashed in another blade lock for five seconds until a dark aura bursts forth from Riku's body as he let out a loud yell.

"Haaaaaaah!" Riku yells

Lord Drazor was blown back a few feet by the dark aura and Riku seized the opportunity to attack. Rushing up to the Dark Knight, Riku delivers a thrusting strike, a wide-sweeping right slash, a left diagonal strike, three right spinning slashes, and four cross slashes, sending the villain staggering backwards.

Getting back into the fight, Sora leaps across the platform and strikes Lord Drazor with six somersault slashes, spinning backwards and forwards, a right diagonal slash, a wide left slash, and another downward slash. He follows up with a thrusting strike, an upwards slash, a downward slash, four right spinning slashes, a right uppercut strike, a wide left slash, another upwards slash, and finishes with a strong overhead strike that sends the Dark Knight flying backwards several feet away across toward the center of the battlefield.

Lord Drazor skids to a stop, using his left-hand to catch himself, and stands up straight, casting a menacing glare at the two boys, though it couldn't be seen through his visor. He de-summons his Dark Keyblade and a black-purple dark aura envelopes his body as he prepares himself for his next attack, while Sora and Riku braced themselves. Dark blue electricity began to spark around the Dark Knight's body as he slowly spreads his hands out along his sides. Soon, he throws his clawed hands upwards, sending nine black-purple dark shockwaves along the ground. The two boys jump up high into the air, evading the attack as the dark waves pass underneath them, and land back onto the battlefield. But Lord Drazor was not done yet. Flying several feet up, the evil Keyblade Wielder hovers high above the Sanctum of Time, spreads his arms out again, conjuring up two black-violet spheres of dark energy in his open palms, and throws his hands forward one after the other, firing dozens of energy blasts at a very rapid rate. Sora and Riku dash around the platform, evading the dark blasts that trailed their movements, bursting into medium-sized explosions on impact. The two heroes soon slide to a stop as the attack ceases and gaze up at the Dark Knight above them. After hurling forty dark blasts, Lord Drazor brings the palms of his hands together infront of his chest and pulls them apart, creating a black-red energy sphere of pure darkness. Raising it upward, he charges it with more power, making it larger than the Sanctum of Time itself, and more powerful with streaks of black and red electricity sparking erratically. Throwing his hands downward, the Dark Keyblade Wielder sends the massive orb hurtling towards the heroes.

Sora and Riku stared up at the huge dark energy sphere as it slowly descended towards them, then shared brief glances with each other, nodding their heads with fierce courage and determination in their faces, knowing what to do next. As they had done before in their recent fight against Ansem, Sora and Riku held Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn vertically infront of their faces with both hands and focused on channeling their energy.

"For Devon." Riku says

"For Devon!" Sora says

The two boys charged up with their golden and violet auras enveloping their bodies, and an orb of light and dark appeared on the tips of their Keyblades. Gazing up at the dark sphere, Sora and Riku pulled back their Keyblades and fired two huge energy beams of light and darkness, both letting out a loud yell.

"Haaaaaaaaaaah!" Sora and Riku yell in unison

The gold and violet energy beams shot up into the black sky and strike the dark energy sphere with incredible force, stopping it in its tracks as the two attacks clashed in an epic power struggle. Lord Drazor had his hands stretched out, pushing the dark orb down with his telekenesis, while Sora and Riku pushed their beams with all their might. The clash endured a stalemate for more than thirty seconds until the Dark Knight pushes more power into his attack, causing the black-red sphere to slowly inched closer to the ground. The two boys felt the increased power as they slid backwards slightly only a few inches, but they stood firm, refusing to back down.

As the clash raged on, visions of Devon appeared in both Sora and Riku's minds. One vision was of them standing together against Xemnas in their final battle. Another vision showed the climax of the battle with Sora and Riku placing their hands over Devon's as he aimed Soul Calibur at Xemnas and finished him off by firing a beam of light into his body. A third vision showed them back on Destiny Islands with Devon wrapping his arms around their shoulders, smiling and enjoying each other's company. Sora had the biggest smile out of the three boys. And a fourth vision showed Devon nodding his head with a smile, giving a thumbs up with his right-hand.

"You can win this fight, guys. I know you can." Devon says

Powered by their special bond with Devon, Sora and Riku's power increased greatly, and their energy beams instantly grew larger in size, pushing the meteor back.

"What?" Lord Drazor says baffled

Cracks began to appear at the beam's point of impact on the meteor, which quickly spread along the surface, growing more and more until the huge black-violet rock bursts apart in a brilliant, massive explosion of light and darkness. Lord Drazor was thrown down onto the Sanctum of Time by the intense blast wave and he crashes onto his back.

The Dark Knight sat upright and rose up onto his left-knee when he saw Sora and Riku holding their Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn straight infront of them with both hands, charging up an orb of light and darkness on the tips of their Keyblades before each firing a salvo of fifteen light and dark blasts, landing a total of thirty hits to the evil villain. Then, the two boys pull their Keyblades back and raise them up to the sky, summoning beams of light and darkness, which pierced Lord Drazor's body another thirty times from all directions. Finally, Sora and Riku flew forward together across the battlefield with both their bodies shrouded in a corona of light and darkness, and their Keyblades pulled back again as they prepared to strike.

"Haaaaaaaaaaah!" Sora and Riku yell in unison

Within moments, the two heroes thrust Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn forward and charge into Lord Drazor with extremely powerful force, creating a massive, bright explosion on impact. The white light engulfing everything and blinding everyone as the fight was finally finished.

(The Castle That Never Was)

After the epic fight, Sora and Riku returned to Where Nothing Gathers, standing on the center platform with their Keyblades still in hand as Mickey, Luna, Spyro, Cynder, the Viking Teens, and their dragons approached them after recovering from earlier.

"Sora, Riku, are you okay?" Luna asks

"Yeah. Thanks, Luna." Sora says

Suddenly, black, red, and purple ripples appeared on the surface of the magic bubble as Mickey's Stopza spell wears off, causing the group to look around. Then, the heroes heard a deep, demonic voice echoing all around them.

"Of LiGhT BoRn, Of DaRkNeSs FoRmEd, BoTh MaKe ThE WoRlDs AnEw. I aM tHe DeStInY oF aLl. ThE fAtE tHaT lEaDs So TrUe. To YoU, dEnIzEnS oF LiGhT, WhO dArE tO sTaNd AgAiNsT mY pOwEr... An EtErNiTy Of MiSeRy AnD DeSpAiR aWaItS yOu!" The dark voice says

Sora, Riku, Mickey, Luna, and the others glance up toward the highest throne where the large mass of darkness was, and a great bolt of dark blue lightning strikes down from the swirling vortex outside on the castle and onto the throne. Multiple electric bolts erupt from the dark mass, shooting out in all directions. A black-red organic heart appears in the dark humanoid form inside a protective orb of darkness, floating disembodied inside with a sickening heartbeat that echoes in the room. Next, a black skeleton appears and takes shape, forming the ribcage that encased the evil heart, then came the arms, hands, and legs, which cracked to life. Black veins sprouted from the evil heart and spread to create the circulatory and nervous system, weaving together with the inside of the skeleton. Afterwards, black-red muscle tissue forms and covers the skeleton, followed by armor that dissolves in and obscures much of the body, beginning with the back and chest, then the shoulders and arms forming downward to the hands, the sides the thighs, and the lower legs. Then, the muscle tissue dissolves in from the base of the neck and spine, slowly forming upwards as the head finally took shape. The head was bent over at first, but then it straightened out, and two glowing red eyes snapped open from the deep eye sockets. Soon, the formation process was complete, and the group were finally able to meet their true enemy. Now sitting high above them on his throne was Makuta Teridax, the Dark Lord of the Shadows.

Teridax had a muscular, well-developed physique, standing 8 feet tall in length, towering over the entire group. His body was of metal, bone, flesh, and dark energy. His head was a black devilish skull with his flaming, demonic eyes of pure evil, no nose, and a glowing red mouth full of sharp teeth. His hands were five-digit bony claws with glowing black-red evil energy on the back. Red dark energy, which stemmed from his evil heart, pulsed throughout his entire body like a heartbeat, seen through his veins. And his entire being radiated with a black aura of pure darkness, draining the light around him and creating waves of distortion in reality.

The Dark Lord was mostly clad in heavy black, red, gold armor, wearing a ribbed black-red skeletal chest plate with a dull blood-red section covering his torso and abdomen with a black-red crystal diamond spike in the center of a dark circular space, three curved, segmented gold plates going from large to small on his upper shoulders, gold pauldrons with black demonic skulls with ruby eyes built into them, gold armlets with black chains wrapped around them, and five-toed, knee-length, gold talon grieves on his feet. Over his head, Teridax wore a long black hood with the center shaped to resemble an eagle's beak, which was connected by rectangular silver chains to his armor, and a long, floor-length, tattered black cape. The Dark Lord also wore a black, spiked, square chain belt and a long, scaled fauld around his waist with a thick drape of black cloth lined vertically with a combination of ancient symbols such as the Roman numeral XIII at the top center, the Greek symbols of Alpha (α), Omega (Ω), Lambda (Λ), Sigma (Σ), Psi (Ψ) on the left, the Kanji symbols of Chaos (混), Death (死), Corruption (腐), Hunger (饿), Vengeance (復) in the center, and the Hebrew symbols of Darkness (חוֹשֶׁך), Power (כּוֹחַ), Fear (פַּחַד), Void (בָּטֵל), and Primordial (רֵאשִׁיתִי) on the right. There was also the ancient runes and glyphs of unknown origin, similar to the ones on Devon's body, that lined the sides of the cloth vertically in ten small grey squares. Each of these symbols were black red in color with a glowing red outline.

The group stared the Dark Lord down as he gazed down upon them with his demonic eyes and a sinister grin, revealed by the glow inside his mouth. Luna, Toothless, Stormfly, Meatlug, Hookfang, Barf and Belch growled and stuck close to their riders as they all felt his incredible malevolence. After many years, the heroes were finally able to meet the one who has caused so much trouble among the worlds. The Ultimate Evil whom even the Inheritor could not destroy. Sitting in the thrones around Teridax was Lord Thanatos, Lord Drazor, Master Xehanort on his right, Young Xehanort, Xemnas, Ansem, and Xigbar on the left, and the other members, who filled in the remaining thrones. Soon, the Dark Lord spoke with his deep, demonic voice.

"AlL oF tHiS wAs DeCiDeD. My TwElvE sElVeS wOuLd WeLcOmE mE hErE oN tHiS dAy, WhEn I wOuLd ReTuRn A cOmPlEtE bEiNg. It WaS tHe FuTuRe ThAt WaS bEyOnD mY sIgHt." Teridax says

"Why are you doing this?" Mickey asks

"In ancient times, people believed that light was a gift from an unseen realm by the name of Kingdom Hearts. But Kingdom Hearts was safeguarded by its counterpart: the X-blade. For countless millennia, warriors vied for that precious light, thus beginning the Keyblade War. The violent clash shattered the X-blade into twenty pieces: Seven of Light, and Thirteen of Darkness. And the real Kingdom Hearts was swallowed by darkness, never to surface again." Master Xehanort says

"XeHaNoRt OnCe TrIeD tO cReAtE hIs OwN pUrE LiGhT AnD DaRkNeSs tO fOrGe ThE X-bLaDe FoR mE, bUt ThE aTtEmPt EnDeD aBrUpTlY iN fAiLuRe. In OuR eAgErNeSs, We hAd LoSt SiGhT oN tHe CoRrEcT pRoCeSs To AcHiEvE oUr GoAl. ThE aCt WaS cArRiEd OuT rAtHeR rAsHlY. I cAn AdMiT tHaT nOw." Teridax says with a grin

"What Xehanort did back then, your mistakes, changed the destiny of three of my friends, as well as Devon's parents." Mickey says pointing up at Teridax with his right-hand

"DeStInY Is NoT lEfT tO cHaNcE. I mErElY gUiDeD tHeM tO tHeIr PrOpEr PlAcEs." Teridax says

The Dark Lord holds up his right-hand and counts off with his five clawed fingers the fates of Shara, Ducar, Ventus, Aqua, and Terra.

"ThE bRoKeN bOy WhO fAiLeD tO bE tHe BlAdE, ThE mIsGuIdEd MaStEr WhO sAcRiFiCeD hErSeLf To SaVe A fRiEnD, ThE fOoLiSh MoThEr WhO sAcRiFiCeD hErSeLf To PrOtEcT HeR pReCiOuS cHiLd, ThE fEaRfUl FaThEr WhO bEcAmE a BrOkEn ShAdOw Of HiS fOrMeR sElF, AnD tHe FeCkLeSs YoUtH wHo BeCaMe XeHaNoRt'S NeW VeSseL..." Teridax says

The God-King places his hand over his chest.

"...aNd ThRoUgH hIm, BeCaMe A vEsSeL fOr Me." Teridax says with a sinister smile

Mickey clenched his right-hand into a fist, while Luna, Toothless, Spyro, Cynder, and the other dragons narrowed their eyes, growled, and snarled.

"In ThE eNd, YoU fAiLeD tO pRoTeCt ThEm. ThEiR lOsS mUsT hAvE bEeN sUcH a HeAvY bUrDeN tO bEaR." Teridax says pointing at Mickey with his right-index finger

The mouse king glanced down sadly.

"I couldn't find a way to save them. But I wanted to believe that their sacrifice stopped you for good. Why? How was I so blind? I should have seen it. Ever since Maleficent started gathering the Seven Princesses of Heart." Mickey says

"YeS. ThEy WeRe AlL mY dOiNg. AlL tHaT hAs TrAnSpIrEd OvEr ThE yEaRs WaS aCcOrDiNg To My DeSiGn. I uSeD tHe EvIl FaIrY, MaLeFiCeNt, tO fInD sEvEn PuRe LiGhTs FoR mE, jUsT aS XeHaNoRt AnD I PrEpArEd ThIrTeEn VeSsElS To FiLl WiTh PuRe DaRkNeSs." Teridax says

Riku took a step forward and stood next to Mickey on his right, speaking out against the Dark Lord of the Shadows.

"But you failed. We stopped you in your tracks on both counts." Riku says

"Yeah! That's right!" Sora says in agreement

"So YoU dId. YoU, SoRa... AnD yOu, RiKu, hAvE bOtH bEeN pErSiStEnT tHoRnS iN mY sIdE..." Teridax says

Teridax glances up with his flaming red eyes and sets his gaze past the group at the lowest throne across from him where Devon currently was.

"BuT tHiS cHiLd, ThIs BoY, A KeYbLaDe WiElDeR UnLiKe AnY eVeR sEeN, hAs PrOvEn To Be EvEn MoRe TrOuBlEsOmE. MaNy TiMeS hE hAs ChEaTeD dEaTh, eLuDeD mY gAzE, aNd SliPpEd ThRoUgH mY gRaSp." Teridax says

From his point of view, Teridax extends his right-hand out towards Devon.

"No MoRtAl HaS eVeR eScApEd Me, NoR sUrViVeD. He WaS tHe FiRsT, aNd He WiLl Be ThE lAsT." Teridax says turning his hand under and clenching it into a fist as though he was crushing the young teen in his grip

The Dark Lord lowers his hand back down onto the arm rest and shifts his gaze back at the heroes.

"HoWeVeR, I hAvE nOt AbAnDoNeD mY aMbItIoNs: ThE SeVeN GuArDiAnS oF LiGhT, aNd ThE tHiRtEeN SeEkErS oF DaRkNeSs." Teridax says

"Seven Guardians of Light?" Mickey says confused

Looking down at his hands, Mickey counts off all the Keyblade Wielders he knew.

"Well, for Keyblade Wielders, there's Me, Sora, Riku, Devon, my three missing friends, and Devon's parents. That's nine." Mickey says counting his fingers

Mickey gasps as he realizes something else and looks up at the new members of Organization XIII around him.

"That means... the thirteen seekers of darkness..." Mickey says

"YeS. PeRcEpTiVe, LiTtLe KiNg. BuT DeVoN AnD tWo OtHeRs On YoUr LiSt BeLoNg To Me. OnE nO lOnGeR eXiStS aMoNg ThE LiViNg, AnD tWo ReMaIn LoSt In ThE UnIvErSe, WhIcH lEaVeS yOu FoUr GuArDiAnS sHoRt. BuT wOrRy NoT, aLl Of ThE pIeCeS aRe DeStInEd To ApPeAr. YoUr SeVeN LiGhTs, JuSt LiKe My ThIrTeEn DaRkNeSsEs, WhOsE fInAl ClAsH wIlL bEgEt ThE pRiZe I sEeK..." Teridax says

"The X-blade!/ThE X-bLaDe!" Mickey and Teridax say in unison

"AnD wItH tHe X-bLaDe In My GrAsP, KiNgDoM HeArTs ShAlL fAlL iNtO mY cOnTrOl. EvErY wOrLd, EvErY ReAlm, EvErY DiMeNsIoNaL pLaNe, AnD eVeRy SoUl ThErEiN sHaLl SeRvE uNdEr My RuLe! AlL oF SpAcE aNd TiMe, AlL oF ReAliTy, aNd AlL oF CrEaTiOn ShAlL bEnD tO mY WiLl! My PoWeR sHaLl ExTeNd AcRoSs ThE sTaRs, To EvErY cOrNeR oF tHe UnIvErSe, AnD bEyOnD!" Teridax says

The Dark Lord of the Shadows rises to his feet and stands tall on his throne.

"BuT fIrSt, tHe ThIrTeEn SeEkErS oF dArKnEsS sHAlL bE uNiTeD. AlL oF tHe SeAtS hAvE bEeN FilLeD. AnD nOw, ThE fInAl VeSsEl ShAlL bEaR mY hEaRt... LiKe ThE rEsT!" Teridax says

Teridax spreads his arms out and the throne that Devon was on slowly began to ascend higher up in the room, while Sora, Riku, Mickey, Luna, Spyro, Cynder, the Viking Teens and their dragons all gasped in horror.

"No!" Mickey exclaims

"Devon!" Everyone cries out in unison

A dark, black-red swirling vortex appeared in the room, hovering high above the ceiling, while darkness swirls around the room, and dark blue lightning strikes flashed with its ominous light. The group rushes to help Devon, while Teridax proceeds with the dark ritual to transfer a piece of his heart into the young teen's body. Two black-red flames appeared in the Dark Lord's hands, and dark lightning sparked and crackled around his body as he began chanting an unknown ancient language lost to history.

"LeCh TeRvEyL bReSh... EhN KhUl NuLzAr... SeInTyL vEz MeHhYmN mEcHnAcH!" Teridax chants

Mickey jumped from throne to throne trying to reach Devon, but Young Xehanort teleports up to the mouse king and pins him against one of the thrones with his left-hand. Sora and Riku tried to help Devon, only to be pinned down by Ansem and Xemnas, who teleported drawn to them and held the two boys face down by their heads with their right-hands.

"VuLdAi RaHmDuS... OtUyAh NeHdUrAh LeiChMnEvAr..." Teridax chants

"Devon! Hold on!" Cynder yells

Spyro and Cynder fly up to Devon in an attempt to save him, but Lord Drazor quickly teleports infront of the two dragons, hovering in the air, and grabs them by their throats before they could react.

"No! I won't let you take him!" Luna roars

Luna flies up to save her beloved rider, while Hiccup, Astrid, and the other Viking Teens mount their dragons and followed the female Night Fury. In his throne, Lord Thanatos thrusts his right-hand forward and summons black chains from shadowy portals around Luna, the Viking Teens and their dragons, trapping them individually together.

"LeHriXaDu JeR xYl KhAriM... HaRr ShYn DrUhN tOrRi!" Teridax chants

Soon, Devon was in level with Teridax, hovering across from him. The Dark Lord summons his Dark Keyblade: Harbinger of Shadows in his right-hand, holding horizontally infront of him and waved his free hand over the blade as a black-red aura enveloped it.

"NoW, I shArE wItH yOu My DaRkNeSs. My HeArT... My PoWeR... My LeGaCy... ShAlL BeCoMe YoUrS. BeCoMe ThE DaRkNeSs ThAt ShAlL hAsTeN mY rEtUrN... My AsCeNsIoN tO pOwEr... AnD... tO mY gLoRiOuS rEsSuRrEcTiOn!" Teridax says

Teridax pulls the Harbinger of Shadows across his body and aims his Dark Keyblade at Devon, shooting a black-red orb, which flew across the room straight for him, while Sora, Riku, Mickey, Luna, and the others watched helplessly.

"No!" Luna cries out

Suddenly, just as the evil orb was about to reach Devon, two chakrams fly in out of nowhere and blocks the dark orb, creating a fiery explosion and a thick cloud of smoke. Mickey looked up and smiled with relief as he knew what had happened.

"He made it!" Mickey exclaims

"You!" Xemnas exclaims

The smoke and flames slowly died down, revealing Axel... or Lea holding Devon underneath his right-arm, and his chakram in his left-hand.

"Axel!" Xigbar exclaims

"Axel? Please. The name's Lea. Got it memorized?"

"You're not supposed to be here!" Xigbar yells

"Promises to keep. I'll always be there to get my friends back. What, bad timing?" Lea says

Lea looks over at Teridax across from him and speaks to him next.

"You had your perfect little script, but you kinda forgot to write the sequel. Now, let's find out what happens!" Lea says holding out his chakram

Xigbar growls under his breath and looks up at Teridax on his right.

"What now, big man? Our time is up!" Xigbar yells

Teridax says nothing and just grins with a chuckle. One of the hooded members on the right jumps toward Lea, summoning a large, spiked, familiar claymore in his right-hand, and takes a swing at him, but the red-haired young man blocks the attack with the chakram in his left-hand. A huge gust of wind blew forth from the clash and threw the figure's hood back, revealing his identity. Lea gasped in shocked when he saw who it was. It was a friend who he hadn't seen in years. Someone he knew way back from their childhood. It was...

"Isa!" Lea gasps

Isa, being the original persona of Saïx, looked exactly like his Nobody, having his long blue hair and his X-shaped scar. He said nothing to his former friend and pushes down further with his claymore, but Lea shoves Isa's weapon away and jumps down to the center platform.

In the confusion, Mickey swings his Kingdom Key D at Young Xehanort, but he teleports away, letting go of him in the process. Sora and Riku turn their Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn over in their hands and swings back at Ansem and Xemnas, making them teleport away. Spyro and Cynder open their mouths as they prepared to use their Fire and Shadow Breath on Lord Drazor with the insides of their mouths glowing with a red-orange and dark blue light, but he releases them and teleports away just as they unleashed their breath attacks. Sora and Riku looked up at Luna, the Viking Teens and the dragons, noticing they were in trouble, and threw their Keyblades up into the air, cutting through the chains and freeing them as they dropped back down to the ground.

Sora and Riku call their Keyblades back to their hands and stood at the front with Mickey as they regrouped with their friends on the central platform, forming a defensive line infront of Lea with Luna, Spyro, Cynder, the Viking Teens and the dragons behind them, while Lord Thanatos, Lord Drazor, Young Xehanort, Xemnas, and Ansem reappeared alongside the Dark Lord of the Shadows, hovering in mid-air next to him.

"Why are you here, Axel?" Riku asks glancing back over his right-shoulder

"No, I told you my name's... Ugh, whatever, Axel, fine. Now let's get outta here!" Lea says waving his left-hand

"Right!" Mickey says glancing back on his left

"Here. I'll take Devon." Luna says glancing back at Lea over her left-side

Lea nods and places Devon down gently on the female Night Fury's back for her to carry her rider, then summons his other chakram in his right-hand. Before the group could make their escape, Ansem crosses his arms and thrusts his body outward, summoning his Guardian into the room, which then swoops down and grabs both Sora and Riku in its hands, ready to crush them.

"Sora! Riku!" Luna cries out

Suddenly, two familiar screams from a certain Duck Wizard and Dog Knight filled the air. Everyone looks up and saw a bright blue light zigzagging down into the room. From that light, Donald and Goofy fell and bounced off the Guardian's head, making it drop the two Keyblade Wielders before falling backwards and fading away. Donald landed flat on his stomach with his feathered hands stretched out and a dazed expression with his eyes half open, while Goofy landed on his back with his hands alongside his head, bearing a similar dazed look on his face.

"We're we supposed to do that?" Donald groans

"I think so..." Goofy groans

"Donald! Goofy! You saved us!" Mickey says smiling

Then, before anything else could happen, Teridax, Lord Thanatos, Lord Drazor, Xehanort, Young Xehanort, Ansem, Xemnas, Xigbar, Isa, and the other members of the Organization began to fade away as their bodies became transparent.

"We ArE oUt Of TiMe. NeItHeR tHe UnIoN oF LiGhT nOr DaRkNeSs HaS bEeN aChIeVeD, aNd We MuSt AlL rEtUrN wHeNcE wE cAmE. HoWeVeR, tHe GaThErInG oF tHe SeVeN aNd ThIrTeEn Is NiGh. OnCe YoUr GuArDiAnS oF LiGhT aNd My SeEkErS oF DaRkNeS aRe UnItEd, LeT uS mEeT aT tHe FaTeD pLaCe WhErE tHe FiRsT, GrEaT KeYbLaDe WaR bEgAn MaNy EoNs AgO. ThErE, wE sHaLl MeEt In BaTtLe, AnD tHe EtErNaL cOnFlIcT bEtWeEn LiGhT aNd DaRkNeSs WiLl EnD. ThE uNiVeRsE aNd It'S sPoiLs WiLl bE mInE, aNd AlL sHaLl YiElD tO mY iNfInItE PoWeR!" Teridax says

Having said that, The Dark Lord of the Shadows and the members of Organization XIII vanish into the darkness, leaving the group of heroes alone in the room with Teridax' evil demonic laughter echoing all throughout the room.

"He He He He He... Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha... Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!" Teridax laughs

Once they were gone, the group checks up on Devon. Sora and Riku grabbed their fellow Keyblade Wielder by his arms and drag him off Luna's back, setting him down gently as the heroes gathered around. Sora kneels down with Riku and shook Devon's left-shoulder with his right-hand.

"Devon? Devon!" Sora says

"It's no good. He still won't wake." Riku says

"Let's get back to the Inheritor. He'll know what to do." Mickey says

The mouse king grabs the Star Shard in his left-hand and holds it up above him. A bright light shines from the star-shaped crystal and envelopes the entire group, transporting them away as the light bounces upwards into the air, leaving the World That Never Was behind.

Author's Note: The Ultimate Villain has finally been revealed! Sora and Riku completed their journey through the Sleeping Worlds, but instead end up in The World That Never Was, and find Devon trapped in his own nightmare. Sora and Riku face off against the Anti Black Coat, and Xehanort's Heartless Ansem, then meet up with Luna, Spyro, Cynder, and the Viking Teens and their dragons, who join in on the party to help save Devon. After many years of waiting, Teridax, the Dark Lord of the Shadows, the overarching antagonist for my Kingdom Hearts Saga, finally makes his grand appearance, and reveals his ultimate goal: claiming Kingdom Hearts and the X-blade through a second Keyblade War using 7 Guardians of Light and 13 Seekers of Darkness. Teridax and Organization XIII attempt to make Devon their thirteenth member, but Axel... or Lea steps in and saves him. Despite their failure, the Dark Lord promises that the second Keyblade War and that the gathering of the Guardians of Light and the Seekers of Darkness is inevitable. Will Devon be able to awaken from his nightmare, or will he suffer the same fate as Ventus? The epic conclusion revealed in The Next Awakening. I truly apologize for the long wait, but I can guarantee it was worth it. Only a few chapters left and Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance will finally be finished. Also, I just received a message from WolfWitchHuntress1318, who says a rumor of a slight possibility that FanFiction may shutdown. Honestly, I don't know why anyone would want to end the #1 beloved website that inspires creativity where billions of people share their fanfic stories, and I think it's BS, but I won't be taking any chances. As a precaution, I've downloaded my Profile and the stories that I've already posted and saved them, and I'll also do this for any future stories in the works. Just what I need, more stress... Anyways, let me know what you guys think. No flames please. Hope you guys like and don't forget to review!