Part I. Revelations
As our Gummi Ships cruised towards Traverse Town, Sora and I chatted with one another about our companions and when Sora mentioned Cid, Aerith, Yuffie (all which I know of), and Leon, I took interest in that particular person. Eventually, judging by what Sora said about this 'Leon' (especially the gunblade), I silently confirmed that maybe, just maybe, this Leon and the Squall the SeeD Remnants told me about are the same person.
As I pondered on the thought, my companions took the communicator and asked Sora to give the communicator to Donald and Goofy. As I heard them talk (the conversation is being heard in the ship's speakers), they were (how do I say this) comparing Sora's and my abilities, summons, and spells, and saying their companion is better than the other and things like that.
Just before they can go too far, I took the communicator, asked for Sora (who probably had his speakers on too in his ship), and told him, "Pay no attention to all that. Teamwork makes us all better fighters. Are we clear?"
Sora confirmed the reply since we were already close to Traverse Town. As we landed, before we parted for now, I asked Sora to tell me the address of 'Leon' and not to leave until a flying message arrives ("You will know it by the sun icon I will be drawing.", I added).
While Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi went to their friends in this world, we did to ours (Florina and Ilsa were now part of my team). When we reached the SeeD Remnants HQ, (and after introducing Florina and Ilsa to the team), Irvine asked us (since he hinted that we had gone through a rough battle) what had happened, and we told everything that we had been been through (even the parts where we met Sora's Co. and his eventual revealing of our identities to him). I even mentioned Sora's friends in traverse Town (Cid, Aerith, Yuffie, and 'Leon').
The four of our friends took interest and I told them I intended to send a message to him about the four of them. "Do you have a picture of your team before the tragic destruction of your world?", I asked.
"As a matter of fact, we do.", Rinoa answered as she showed us a picture of the whole gang with Balamb Garden (I presume) in the background.
"You must have been an awesome team.", Florina commented.
"As a matter of fact, i was the last to join the gang.", Irvine said.
"No way!", Ilsa replied.
"True. It was during one of our 'assignments' back in our world did he join the party.", Zell responded. "Anyway, back to the problem of the Keyhole, you said that darkness is flowing out of it."
"No wonder there are more and more Heartless all over the place.", Quistis remarked. "The only means of stopping it is for Sora to seal it with his Keyblade."
"However, who knows what may happen once it's sealed."
"Well, we can't just stick around doing nothing. We got friends back there.", Florina said in fustration.
"Correct. You have them to worry about.", Irvine responded. "Windelle's gun might've been created by Stickee himself. Don't worry there, friend. If anyone can save him, all of you can. Especially when you join forces with Sora."
"Thanks. Uh, by the way, may I send a letter to someone?", I asked. "Not just any letter but something like the one you gave us that led us to the sewers to you."
"Why, sure." And as I was given a piece of paper, I wrote:
Hello there! This letter is for Leon (or is it Squall, like the Great Ninja Yuffie calls him? Ahhh, I'm so confused.) If the attached picture rings any bells, or if you are at least interested, follow the arrow that comes out of this thing and follow it. Our team has something in common with yours; we defend Traverse Town from the Heartless. But somehow, fate seems to keep us apart. With this, we may probably meet and we may have a surprise for you. See ya!
Once I was done, I asked Rinoa for the picture she showed us and then when she gave it to me I put it in the envelope Quistis provided. Afterwards, Irvine took the letter, said some words and before it flew to its destination, I grabbed it and drew a sun icon before releasing it.
We then said goodbye to the SeeD Remnants and as we waited for Sora and Co., A message appeared on the tracker (which was connected to the Gummi Ship) as it told us about the Hades Cup in Olympus Coliseum and also of the appearances of a Kurt Zisa in Agrabah and Phantom in Neverland. As we waited, Sora and Co. finally came but Kairi was missing.
"Wait a sec. Where's Kairi?", I asked him. "And don't say 'Isn't she with you?'."
Sora replied, "She's in the base where Leon and friends are."
"Oh, I see. By the way, did your friends receive the flying letter?"
"Yes. But they will read it later since they're going to Hollow Bastion with us later in my Gummi Ship."
"Oh, I see. Well, let's get going. I got reports of a Kurt Zisa in Agrabah, a Phantom in Neverland, and the Hades Cup is up in the Olympus Coliseum. Where to first?"
"Hades Cup!"
"Thought so." And we went to Olympus Coliseum to participate in the Hades Cup. (Gregorio, Yoris, and I came in with our helmets but we removed them as we entered the entrance in front of Phil and Hercules.)
Part II. Unfinished Business
In the Hades Cup, we contended wave after wave of Heartless. In the 44th Seed, Sora's Co were separated again (for the same reasons as in the last Seed in the Pegasus Cup; the barrier went down after we were both finished) from ours (I had Florina and Ilsa as my allies in this tournament) as the three of us contended with Rinoa (Sora and Co. were probably fighting Yuffie).
It was quite easy partly since Irvine wasn't with her, and partly because Florina moves like an acrobat and Ilsa was wise enough to grip Rinoa's Blaster Edge, leaving her with her gunblade. In the 40th Seed, we battled a Behemoth Heartless.
Despite it's might at first sight, we took care of it relatively fast compared to other bosses. In the 30th Seed, we fought Cerberus, who was stronger than before (our battle with him back after our first battle with Cloud and Barret was quite easy since I suspected that Hercules was able to wear him down while we fled, then returned). We eventually defeated him and went on fighting the next Heartless teams.
(Of course, we had breaks and that was after every ten rounds.) On the 20th Seed We fought Cloud, Barret, Leon, and Irvine. There was no barrier this time but for some odd reason, the two of them never managed to get close to one another, even if we weren't trying to keep them apart. In fact, we were trying to bring them together but it was too difficult since we also had Cloud and Barret to handle.
-How the battle goes is up to your imagination. ;-) Sorry.-
Before we knew it, the battle was over and they had to leave. We then continued fighting the waves of Heartless (we took a break first) and at the 10th Seed, we came face to face with the Lord of the Dead himself; Hades. Despite his intense heat and fire attacks, he did not seem to be allowed to use his full power and we were able to defeat him, but he said, "You guys aren't worth fighting this long." as he vanished in a puff of smoke.
Eventually, we reached the 1st Seed where we had to combat a Rock Titan. He was relatively easy compared to Hades since he was so bulky and so slow we were able to land a lot of blows on him and he rarely was able to hit us at all (even Ilsa was lightning fast for him, relatively speaking). In the end, Sora obtained the Trinity Limit and I obtained a Headshot ability (in the form of a yellow Materia, of course) which gives a chance to KO enemies when I shoot them in the head (Before, they only damage as much as anywhere else, and against bosses, as I found out later, Headshot merely does triple damage, which is okay for me).
We then entered again, this time, for the Gold Match where we had to deal with an Ice Titan, who was a quite difficult boss due to his ice attacks and the fact that they are enhanced by Aero spells. We all had to keep moving just to not get frozen by his attacks. Eventually, Sora found a way to defeat him by deflecting his icicles back at him. Since I am not capable of such, all I could do was melt the ice all around so as not to slip. When he crumbles due to the deflected shards, we pounded him with whatever Fire attacks we got and when he got up, we repeated the sequence.
Eventually, Ice Titan was defeated and we set off for Agrabah to deal with Kurt Zisa (We did see that the Platinum Match was available but seeing that the opponent was too strong, we skipped out for now). When we arrived at Agrabah, While Sora and Co. went off to battle Kurt Zisa, we went shopping for food supplies (since, duh, we have to eat and our supply in the Gummi ship was running out and i did not want to use up the paopus, which still haven't expired, to my surprise). Once in a while, we encountered Heartless and some of the palace guards, who were on patrol, offered munny in return for our aid.
Ten minutes later, Sora and Co. returned, reporting that Kurt Zisa was defeated and showed a 'piece' (I will not say what it is) as proof. We then set off to Neverland, then went off for the Clock Tower and faced the phantom 4 at a time (Sora, myself, and two others). Whenever one of us is knocked out of the battle (and can't be revived due to the Phantom's effect) he/she is replaced by another of our total party. It was a very difficult battle since it only reveals its heart infrequently, but Phantom was eventually defeated, with Sora, myself, and Florina as the last ones standing. When I asked Sora if he thinks we are ready for Sora the Platinum Match (Sephiroth), he said yes and we set off back to Olympus Coliseum.
Part III. Final Tasks
Once we arrived at the Coliseum, we saw another Gummi Ship docked just outside the entrance and Barret was there. He merely waved as we greeted him, then we entered the Coliseum. As we got ready to battle Sephiroth, we passed by Cloud who was standing by and he merely said, "Good luck."
As we entered the arena (only Sora and I entered), Sephiroth started by zipping around the field, attacking us from all directions and even if we were back to back, he just appears in between us and spins around with his long sword, the Masamune as he calls it.
His "Stigma" truly caused problems for us though when there were two pillars relatively close to one another we had to hold on to each other. (I called away my DirLuxGun in this situation and held Sora with my free hand since I still needed the shield in case Sephiroth intends to split us apart and the gun does little to serve as a 'blocker') "Every Shadow Flare he calls upon, I arrive to block it whenever I or Sora can't escape from them. Every time he casts Heartless Angel (no Heartless actually appear), we both used a Megalixir pronto since it drains everything but 1 HP. Eventually, after being drained of Megalixirs and nearly all of our HP (even my shield disappeared from taking too much damage but it eventually returns when I call it outside battle and Cure it), Sephiroth was defeated but he did not fall.
Instead, Cloud came over to talk to him. As we headed back to the Coliseum Entrance, leaning on one another due to fatigue in battle, we then heard a clashing of swords but as we turned around, they were gone. Just before we returned to our Gummi Ships, Barret was gone along with the Gummi Ship he was next to (he probably pursued Cloud and Sephiroth using his vessel). Shrugging, we then set off for Hollow Bastion.
Part IV. Before World's End
As we went back to Hollow Bastion via the same way as we entered it the first time, we headed for the library to rest since we encountered strong Heartless as we went. As I borrowed Sora's "Ansem's Report" and read it, we saw Beast walking up one of the staircases and, just then, he called out Belle's name and sure enough, as we followed, there she was in a golden gown as she browsed the books.
As Beast came over to embrace her, we also saw three other princesses in the place whose names were Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White (all from their respective Disney films). As the rest of us chatted with Snow White and Cinderella, Aurora revealed to Sora, Donald, and Goofy about Maleficent's origins (but I wasn't paying close attention so I can't give out details).
We then left them (they ensured us as their being Princesses of Heart, they can ward off the darkness while united), we came around to the place where we first fought Maleficent (Beast joined us at this point) and suddenly, a guy in a black hood and someone unexpected; a Black Power Ranger (to be exact, Shadow Ranger from Power Rangers SPD but instead of a 100 on the suit's front, it was a Roman Numeral I so I just knew that Anubis Cruger, who is the original Shadow Ranger, was not the one behind the helmet).
Suddenly the two of them passed 'through' Sora and me (I experienced disorientation).
"Who are you?", Sora asked them.
"Black Ranger.", I muttered to myself.
When Goofy asked if he was Ansem, they hinted that they were familiar with that name. Just then, the hooded figure (who I'll call Unknown) blasted an energy attack at Sora, which he blocked. "Black Ranger" did a slash wave at me which I blocked. Then the two of them engaged us in battle. (I was so confused with the fact a Power Ranger was fighting us so I was not able to describe how the battle took place. However, I know for sure that we had defeated them.) After the battle, they backed away, delivered cryptic messages to us, then vanished in a dark portal.
Dismissing what they said, we then went to the Keyhole (where Sora finally recognized who I was) and jumped through it. We then encounter a Behemoth Heartless and began to engage it in battle. We eventually found its weak point and defeated it.
Goofy said, "Now let's go and seal that big Keyhole." but then, a voice behind us congratulated Sora and we walked back out.
When we came out, we saw three of Sora's friends back at Traverse Town; Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith.
Leon started the conversation with, "We may never meet again but we'll never forget each other."
Aerith: "No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again."
Rael: (to myself) "And 'Leon' will soon be with his old friends"
Yuffie: "Besides, I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to."
Sora: "What's that supposed to mean?"
Florina: "Hehehehehe."
Donald and Goofy: "Sora! Hurry and close the Keyhole!"
Leon: "Sora, good luck."
We then went back and after sealing the Keyhole, we came back to the three of them and when I asked Leon if he received the message with the sun icon (my message), he said he did and that they will be sticking around to fend off more Heartless.
As we were about to leave Hollow Bastion, we encountered Barret who just said, "I have a feeling Cloud will end up here soon. Until then, I'll fight the Heartless here until he arrives."
We then returned to our Gummi Ships and suddenly, Vic Vipers (where at least one also appears after a Keyhole is locked) appeared and flew around us and closed in for the kill. During the dogfight, we headed for Traverse Town, busting the Heartless vessels as we went.
"What's with these things?" I wondered.
After the battle, we docked down and while Sora shopped around for items, I went to the SeeD Remnants HQ and invited Irvine, Rinoa, Quistis, and Zell to come with us to Hollow Bastion since 'Leon' would not be able to come visit them and that they have to be the ones to come to him as a result. We then flew to Hollow Bastion (and fought another Vic Viper fleet) and landed there.
Once we landed and escorted them to the entrance, Rinoa then said, "You guys better get going and save all the worlds with Sora. We'll take care of things here." As we said farewell to them (and a silent 'good luck' wish that Squall will remember them), we followed Sora's Gummi Ship (and attacked yet another Vic Viper fleet) and reached a 'forsaken' world and we teleported down to it. However, afterward, we lost contact with the Gummi Ships as the Teleporter no longer worked (Luckily, I brought a large supply of provisions with me beforehand).
Kingdom Bites Remake: Zell's Errands
"Uhh..., Quistis?", I asked her.
"Yeah?"
"I was wondering. I saw that Zell is running errands. To whom is he running them for?"
"If you want to know that, I'm afraid that you'll have to ask Zell himself."
I then left to look for him, and soon encountered the 'errand runner'.
"Yo!", Zell greeted. "What is it I can help you with?"
"Who do you run errands for?"
"How do you know that?"
"The first time I saw you, after you broke out the panel that was in your way and busted the Heartless, you mentioned about being late for your errand."
"Oh, that? You see, I'm serving as a deliveryman in the Second District, where Heartless are so commonplace that no one dares to just leave their homes to deliver stuff to one another. So I run errands for just anyone."
"Okay. Thanks for telling me."
"You're welcome."