I woke up to the smell of breakfast and the clattering of pots and pans. I groggily stood up and dragged myself to the table. I wasn't the only zombie at the table. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were zombies until they had their coffee too. Even with my coffee, I still remained zombie-like because I could not stop thinking about Natalee. I worried about her. Everyone noticed I was lost in my thoughts and avoided talking about the failure of last night. Sora came up to me and said, "You know we won't be able to continue our quest with you being sad and all."

I freaked out and asked, "Why?!"

"Because our gummi ship runs on happy faces!" Donald cheered.

"How can I be smiling in a time like this? You saw how Natalee acted. How am I going to get her back?" I asked solemnly.

Jiminy Cricket jumped from Sora's shoulder and onto the table and said, "Now, now Anthony. You can't cut off all hope and sit and mope around. Don't you remember when Riku was controlled by Ansem?"

I replied, "Yeah."

"Well, Sora didn't give up. Even when Riku said some of the most horrible things to him and even tried to take his heart, he still fought to release him. Right?" He said.

I replied, "Right."

"So, you need to do the same thing. No matter what she says or does, you keep fighting! You love her so much that you would sacrifice yourself for her, right?" He said.

He was giving me some of my courage back. I was starting to feel fired up as I replied enthusiastically, "Right!"

"So you need to go out there and fight for her! And release her from Xemnas!" He cheered.

"Yeah! Let's go!" I cheered with a smile.

Everyone laughed and smiled. I gave everyone my thanks for trying to help me save Natalee despite the failure and for cheering me up. We said our goodbyes and got into the gummi ship. We landed in The Land of Dragons to find Mulan tracking a supposed Organization member. We went up into the mountain pass to find this supposed Organization member there. We fought him and the hordes of Heartless that were there too. He ran off but Sora got the feeling that he was Riku. I was not totally sure but Donald, Goofy, and I didn't want to burst his bubble. We saw a heartless in the form of a dragon head for the Imperial City. We ran to the Imperial City to see if the Emperor was okay. Before we could get into the castle, there were two hooded people about to open the giant double doors. They looked like Organization members and one was about Natalee's height. We jumped down from the tapestries walked towards them cautiously until we were about two and half yards away from them. We pulled out our weapons while Mulan said, "Wait!"

The taller one cringed and turned around while the shorter one just spun around. The smaller one was definitely a woman and was probably Natalee since she is the only woman in the Organization at this point. Sora took a few steps towards the man and stopped. Sora asked, "…Riku?"

Sora took another step towards the man and I took a step towards Natalee. She looked at me and pulled out her bow and arrow. The feathers of the arrow were an orange/red and the arrow was on fire. Sora and I stopped in our tracks and the man pulled off his hood. It was Xigbar, and he replied, "No. Never heard of him."

A bunch of sniper nobodies appeared all around us. With them, turned up these weird and new nobodies. They had sort of the appearance of a Neoshadow but they were white and had bright blue vein marks throughout their body that glowed. They had black gloved hands that forced their fingers to stick together. They had black boots on that went a little past their knees and two black belts that crossed at their hips. They had a blue string on their left hand that attached from where their middle finger would be down to the very beginning of their wrist. Arrows appeared in their right hands ready to fire at us. We all looked back to where Natalee and Xigbar were standing. They were gone! We heard footsteps behind us and we saw Natalee and Xigbar running towards a portal. I tried to go after them only to be shot at by the Nobodies. Xigbar ran into the portal and Natalee stopped. She spoke in a low voice that I couldn't recognize, "They're called Neo-Marksman."

She nodded at them and signaled them to attack. She ran into the portal as we fought the Nobodies. The snipers were a little easy to get around but the Neo-Marksman appeared to have no weaknesses. We couldn't use their weapons against them and magic didn't harm them either. They were hard to pin down because they teleported so quickly only to hit you from behind. We had hard time but we managed to defeat them all. We all looked at each other and Goofy walked up to Sora and said, "Guess it wasn't Riku. Sorry, Sora."

Mulan turned to them and said worriedly, "I can't stay. I'm worried about Shang."

Sora exclaimed, "Oh! Right!"

We ran through the double doors into the Emperor's throne room. I was worried about Natalee. I know she's being controlled by Xemnas and all, but if she were controlled by Xemnas… wouldn't she have tried to kill us herself back there? Whatever it was, I tried to shrug it off. We stood before the Emperor and Mulan shouted, "Your Excellency! Shang! Something terrible has happened! We saw a huge monster fly out of the mountains and toward the city!"

"Ahh. So it is as the young man said. Isn't that right, Captain?" The Emperor said.

Shang replied, "Y-yes, Your Excellency."

The Emperor continued, "You see, a young stranger visited us not long ago. The Captain fought the visitor, but was quickly defeated."

"To my dishonor." Shang added.

"It seems that the young man was the one in black I heard whispers about," The Emperor continued.

Sora asked, "Did he mention the name Riku?"

The Emperor frowned, "He didn't offer his name. He was rather rude."

Sora cheered, "Rude? Then it WAS Riku!"

Donald whispered to Goofy and I, "Riku's in the Orginazation?"

Goofy replied, "Gwarsh…"

Mulan asked the gang and I, "But why would he come here?"

We all thought for a second until we were interrupted by a huge earthquake. Mulan said, "I'll check outside."

We all started to run towards the double doors that led into the hallway until Shang said, "Mulan!"

Mulan interrupted him and said, "Shang- guard the Emperor! I'll be fine- with them!"

Sora added, "Th-that's right!"

The Emperor said, "Indeed. That is true: We need not worry while you protect us."

Donald shouted, "Hurry!"

We all ran into the hallway and to the double doors that led outside. Mulan opened one door and the Heartless dragon started to attack the door. We ran outside to the courtyard and fought the creature. Once we defeated the creature, it started to fall from above us. Mulan was right under it and Shang shouted her name as he ran towards her. He hugged her as the monster disappeared as it reached them causing them no harm. We all walked back to the throne room. The Emperor said, "Once again, you have served China well. It would please me to reward you. What is it that you wish?"

Sora said, "Well… You say a guy in black came to see you. What did he say?"

The Emperor asked, "That is all you request?"

Sora answered, "Yes."

The Emperor said, "Dragons have crossed our land and have left a great web of paths. These dragons wield much power, and they are a source of many gifts to both man and nature. But it would seem someone of evil intent disturbed one of our dragons, and transformed it into what you call a Heartless. He described the person of disturbing the dragon as a woman in a black cloak and if you saw her without her hood on she would have black hair with red eyes and pale skin. It is my belief that this young man came to warn me of that danger. Then, I could alert and prepare my troops."

Sora asked, "Did you?"

The Emperor chuckled, "I was about to, but he told that the situation had changed."

Shang said, "He said four "wise guys" had arrived, and they would take care of things."

Sora cheered, "That's gotta be Riku!"

Donald gave a worried look to Goofy. Goofy asked, "But what's he doin' hangin' out with Organization 13?"

Sora calmed down and replied, "No idea. But at least I finally know he's okay. That's good enough."

Donald said, "Yeah, that's good!"

I said, "The woman in black he talked of was Natalee. But the last time I saw her, her hair was jet black and I thought she had red eyes, but I wasn't sure. Her skin was paler than usual but I think that's from wearing those cloaks all the time. Now this just confirms that we need to save her quickly."

Jiminy Cricket appeared on Sora's shoulder and said, "Well, you haven't seen her since the whole problem in Hollow Bastion. Right? Who knows what might've happened since then. Maybe Xemnas stopped controlling her. Who knows! Once we find her or find someone who has seen her, then we can ask them. But right now we need to search for those people who have seen her and obviously Riku has and possibly the King."

I replied, "Yeah, you're right. I think that's good."

The Emperor turned to Mulan and said, "Now then, Fa Mulan. Do you have a request?"

Mulan replied, "I'd like Shang… I-I mean… well… The Captain…"

The Emperor said, "Yes, yes, my dear. What is it?"

She continued, "Could the Captain have a vacation, please?"

The Emperor chuckled, "I hardly expected such humble requests. In this case, I'm afraid I must refuse. Captain Li's responsibility is to protect the Emperor. And yet, Mulan… Would you like to serve alongside him and protect me?"

Mulan and Shang both stared at the Emperor in disbelief and the Emperor continued, "Two reeds together are stronger than one. But the choice is yours alone."

Mulan gladly accepted, "Thank you, your Excellency!"

We all said our goodbyes and we returned to the gummi ship and traveled to all the other worlds we have already been to in search of Riku and the King and hopefully Natalee. We did come across some Organization members but they never answered our questions concerning Natalee. We managed to defeat one member named Xaldin at Beast's Castle but the rest of the members we ran into disappeared like cowards before their deaths. We returned to Hollow Bastion and settled things in the TRON world. We found out that Hollow Bastion's original name was Radiant Garden. We traveled to the last world that Riku, the King, and Natalee could be… Twilight Town. We arrived at the train station and Goofy said, "Hey! I think we're almost there!"

We all turned around to look at him confused and he continued, "Gawrsh, aren't we here because of the picture? Look, I'll show ya!"

Goofy showed us the picture of Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette that came in a white box with a salty-sweet ice cream bar that we received from Riku after Saix talked to us after we saw Natalee and Xemnas in Radiant Garden before the night of the ball. Donald said, "Yeah! Goofy's right!"

Goofy cheered, "C'mon, let's go find this mansion!"

We ran through the town and into a broken wall that led to a forest. We walked through the forest to find Hayner, Pence, and Olette passed out in front of the open mansion's gates. We ran towards them and Sora knelt down next to Hayner and shouted, "Hey, are you alright? What happened?"

Hayner sat down on the ground and said, "We came here looking for Kairi and Natalee. Then those white things attacked us…"

Donald said, "You gotta be careful!"

Anthony agreed, "Yeah, you guys didn't have to go and do that."

Hayner cut him off, "Of course we did. Kairi is our friend, too, ya know."

Hayner stood up along with Sora. Sora said, "You're right… You know, I never thought of it like that before."

Hayner said, "Word is, this mansion gets a lot of really strange visitors."

Olette said, "We thought this place might be the gateway to some kind of alternate Twilight Town."

"What do you mean, alternate Twilight Town?" I asked.

Pence said, "Hey, Goofy, do you think we could see that crystal of yours?"

Goofy displayed the crystal and the pouch the King gave us after we first arrived in Twilight Town. Olette said, "I made that pouch myself, and I still have it. So there shouldn't be two of them here."

Hayner held up our Struggle trophy and said, "And this is the trophy that Seifer gave you. You left it behind, remember?"

Pence added, "It's the only one of its kind. Same for the crystals- red, blue, yellow, green- only one of each color. But you've got your own!"

Hayner asked Sora, "So… where'd you get it?"

Sora thought for a minute. Goofy said, "The pouch is from the King. When he gave munny for the train ride, he gave us the crystal too."

Pence continued, "But then… where did the KING get it?"

Hayner said, "See? There's gotta be another town out there like this one. That would explain how the King got that pouch and the crystal. Everything makes sense."

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I all looked at each other confused. Sora asked, "It… does?"

Pence said, "That other town must be where whatever's missing from here went!"

Olette added, "Like Kairi and Natalee."

Sora said, "I get it!"

All of a sudden, two Dusks appeared. They were about to attack until the King destroyed them and said, "Watch out!"

We fought alongside the King in order to defeat the Nobodies. Hayner, Pence, and Olette came out of hiding and we all formed a circle. The King said, "I got somethin' to tell ya. I found out where Ansem is- Ansem the Wise! The real Ansem! He snuck into Organization 13's stronghold."

I replied, "And we've figured out where Kairi and Natalee are! I'm pretty sure we're right."

The King asked, "But why'd you all come here?"

Sora replied, "Someone gave us a clue."

The King asked, "Who?"

Goofy replied, "Well, Your Majesty, Sora thinks it mighta been Riku."

Sora replied, "It's just a feeling I had."

The King said, "Welp, if that's what ya think, then it's probably right."

Sora cheered, "You mean Riku's okay!"

The King replied, "If that's what ya think…"

Sora replied, "I've waited long enough, Your Majesty! Tell me what you know!"

The King replied, "It's not for me to say."

Sora asked, "But Your Majesty! Why?"

The King replied, "I don't wanna break my promise."

Sora cheered, "You made a promise to Riku!? So he's okay! I can see him again!"

Hayner asked, "Huh? Who's Riku?"

Sora replied, "My best friend."

Pence shouted, "That's IT!"

Olette asked, "Your Majesty? You got the pouch with the crystal from Riku, didn't you? And you promised not to tell, right?"

The King sighed, "Gosh, guys…"

Donald shouted, "That's enough!"

I cheered, "Yeah. Let's go!"

We all ran into the mansion and the King said, "There's gotta be a computer somewhere!"

Pence asked, "A computer… Do you think that's connected to the other Twilight Town?"

The King replied, "It might be. And there should be a way into the Realm of Darkness there."

Sora cheered, "Riku told you that, didn't he!?"

The King pleaded, "Please, Sora. I made a promise."

Sora replied, "Aha! I knew it!"

Donald yelled, "Hey! Stop pestering the King!"

Sora apologized, "Right. Sorry…"

We looked throughout the mansion and came upon a lab that seemed to be below the library. The King shouted, "There!"

Sora cheered, "We found it!"

Donald asked, "How does it work?"

"I can handle it," Pence said.

Pence walked over to the computer and sat down. He started to press the touch screens that were by his sides. He said, "Okay… Here we go… Ah!"

"What's wrong?" Hayner asked.

"I can't go any further without a password," Pence sighed.

"Do ya have any idea what the password might be?" The King asked.

We all thought until Goofy replied, "Well, we only got this photo…"

"And the salty-sweet ice cream bar!" Donald quacked.

"Yeah, the one Donald ate up," Sora added.

"It was in the box right next to the photo," Goofy added.

The King replied, "Hey, that's it! Ansem the Wise loved ice cream!"

Pence asked, "Okay, what's the name of the flavor?"

"Salty-sweet ice cream!" I replied.

Pence typed it into the computer and said, "It worked!"

A blue-ish/silver-ish beam appeared in a teleportation device that was close to the computer. I sternly said, "Let's go!"

Hayner turned to us and said, "We'll be here to hold down the fort."

Olette said, "Say hi to Kairi and Natalee!"

Sora replied, "You bet!"

Sora, Donald, Goofy, the King, and I walked into the teleporter and we all touched the beam. We were teleported back into the same room but Hayner, Pence, and Olette weren't there. As we walked out of the teleporter, Sora asked, "Are we back in the same place?"

We looked around for a second until Donald shouted, "Look!"

We saw the same computer that we typed the password into in order to teleport here, but it was destroyed. Sora said, "This is the other Twilight Town. Roxas's Twilight Town."

Sora went into deep thought until the King said, "There's gotta be an entrance to the dark realm somewhere. Let's split up."

We searched through the entire mansion until I searched the rooms close to the computer room. I found some kind of green portal with darkness around it. I called the gang to come see it. Sora said, "There…"

We walked up to it and the King said, "This is it."

We walked through it and the King wasn't on the other side with us. He disappeared! We were in a room where you could see crystal Nobody signs moving around the vicinity. The floor we walked on was crystal clear; it looked like we were walking on thin air. What gave the vicinity its shape were the blue and salmon pink clouds surrounding it. Sora asked, "What is this place?"

Donald asked, "Well, which way should we go?"

Sora took a few steps forward and shouted, "Riku! Kairi!"

All of a sudden, Dusks and Neo-Marksmen appeared around us. We fought them and as we defeated them and more and more appeared. I shouted, "It's no use!"

"Don't stop moving, or the darkness will overtake you!" Axel warned.

We saw Axel kill a couple Dusks and he looked at us sternly and said, "Get goin'!"

Sora asked, "Why?"

Axel shouted, "Don't ask. Just do it!"

Axel was pinned down by a Dusk and Neo-Marksmen. We ran up to the Nobodies and destroyed them. Sora knelt down to Axel and asked, "Are you okay?"

Axel got to his knees and said, "I'm sorry about the whole Natalee thing. I also kidnapped Kairi, but she got away from me. After that, Saix caught her. He's a member of Organization 13. Saix. Got it memorized? Now go save them!"

A Dusk appeared behind Sora and he defeated it. I shouted, "Leave us alone!"

Axel got up and we started to kill off the Nobodies as more appeared. Sora, Axel, and I ended up back to back. Axel said, "I think I liked it better when they were on my side."

Sora replied, "Feeling a little…regret?"

Axel cockily replied, "Nah… I can handle these punks. Watch this!"

Axel ran a couple yards away from us and started to levitate. His chakrams spun around him going faster and faster until two arrows shot his chakrams to the ground. Axel came back down to the ground and started to look around confused. We heard a snap and all of the Nobodies disappeared and a portal opened in front of us. Fire bomb arrows shot at us herding us to the portal. Before I walked into the portal, I turned around to see a girl in a black Organization cloak. Her description fit the description Riku gave to the Emperor back in The Land of Dragons. She aimed another arrow at me, signaling to go through the portal. I did and we ended up in a dark alleyway in The World That Never Was.