Part I. Failure
The first thing that we did was be on the look out for Riku. After a few seconds of nothing, we breathed easy. Donald then said, "Where'd Riku and Windelle go?"
"Guess they must've finally got tired of fightin' with us.", Goofy told Sora.
"I sure hope so.", I said. "Yet I still have my doubts." We then decided to go up and leave the ninth floor behind.
As we went up the stairs, I whispered to Florina, "Psst. Don't you suspect anything?"
"What?"
"While Sora, Donald, and Goofy's memories have not only been lost but changed as well, the rest of us have retained them."
"I told you before, the helmets keep us immune to the castle's effects."
"True, but I'm still concerned about Sora."
"What about?"
"You remember at one of the lower floors, he made a promise to return Kairi's charm to her."
"Yeah?"
"This… Naminé seemed to… replace her. Next thing, Sora's promise for Kairi would be replaced too."
"Uh-huh."
"What could we possibly do for him?"
"I don't know. For now, all we can do is move on until we find a solution further up."
In another one of my 'visions' one I stepped the last step up, there were Axel, Larxene, Vexen and their Ranger partners. Yellow Ranger was the first to speak.
"So what's going on Vexen, Cyan Ranger?"
"Your puppets were supposed to counter Sora and his friends.", Larxene continued. "What're they waiting for? Where are they?"
"They're hiding somewhere to lure them deeper into the castle, right?", Red Ranger asked.
"I agree.", Axel said. "I suppose we should just leave it at that, you know."
"A-ha! Oh, I see now.!", Yellow Ranger commented. "We would've never guessed that. So sorry, Vexen."
"You too, Cyan Ranger.", Larxene smirked.
Their last few words were said so mockingly that Cyan Ranger and Vexen said, "Shut up!" in an angry tone.
"Predictable response." was all Larxene said.
"Forget it.", Yellow Ranger added. "Men without hearts are so boring."
"You're one to talk.", Cyan Ranger said. "As if I am a Nobody like Axel and your partner here." as he referred to Larxene.
"That's enough.", two voices called out.
A dark portal then appeared as a hooded figure and the Pink Ranger emerged from it.
"Marluxia Yllitrahe!", Vexen called out.
"Pink Ranger!", Cyan Ranger said in surprise.
The hooded figure pulled back his hood to reveal 'quite messed-up' pink hair. Then he and Pink Ranger approached, saying, "The simple fact is that your projects were a failure. You best not disappoint us again."
"Disappoint YOU?", Cyan Ranger said. "You go too far!"
"In this Organization, you're No. 11!", Vexen told Marluxia. "I' No. 4 and I will not have you-" but then, Marluxia's scythe was aimed at him and likewise was done to the Cyan Ranger by Pink Ranger.
"We've been entrusted this castle and Naminé by our leaders.", Pink Ranger reminded them.
"Defying us will be seen as treason against the Organization and the Rangers.", Marluxia added.
"'Traitors are eliminated.' I believe that's what the rules say.", Axel said.
"Who needs half-baked good-for-nothings anyway?", Yellow Ranger remarked.
Vexen grunted at those words.
"Vexen, Cyan Ranger, you cannot win against Sora and his friends.", Pink Ranger told them.
After 3 seconds of silence, Vexen bluffed, "Pity to be so ignorant as you two are only able to see the surface of things."
"We wouldn't expect you to appreciate our true might.", Cyan Ranger finished.
"Oh?", Pink Ranger and Marluxia remarked as they dismissed their scythes. "Then let us watch as you prove it."
"What?", Cyan Ranger gasped in surprise.
"None of us wish to be suspicious of a comrade.", Pink Ranger said.
"Your insincerity is comforting.", Vexen replied as he disappeared with Cyan Ranger into a dark portal.
Once they were gone, Red Ranger said to Marluxia, "You give a challenge like that to Vexen and he'll seriously want to eliminate Sora and his friends."
"Same thing for Cyan Ranger.", Axel said.
"That'd be an unfortunate denouement.", Pink Ranger remarked as he and Marluxia approached Naminé.
"What to do?", Marluxia said to her. "Your hero is soon to be wiped from existence. But I believe there is a certain promise that he made you. Isn't that right, Naminé?"
"…Yes."
"WOW! Tenth floor… We've gotten up pretty high.", Donald said in amazement.
"And that must mean you've lost ten whole floors' worth of your memories.", Gregorio concluded to Sora.
"Sora, it's still not too late.", Jiminy called out from Sora shoulder as he appeared. "Don't you think we should turn back?"
"Can't do it…because…that would break an old promise that I made.", Sora said.
"An old promise? What would that be?"
"On the islands, I promised Naminé-- that I'd keep her safe, no matter what. But I forgot it. I didn't remember until I started forgetting everything else. A promise between the two of us…"
After a second of dead air, Sora continued, "That's why I can't leave. Now that I remember the promise, I have to keep it."
"Of course. We understand, Sora.", Jiminy said.
"But we don't!", Yoris called out. "That promise you made was for Kairi, not this Naminé you're talking about."
"Yoris!", Goofy called out.
"You dare force me to defy my promise?!", Sora said.
"No! It's just that you replaced Kairi with Naminé when it came to that!", I told him.
"Who the heck is she anyway?"
"Your person most important to you!"
"Naminé's most important to me!"
"It's Kairi! Remember that!"
"It's Naminé! AND THAT'S FINAL!", Sora shouted out as he pounced on and forced me into a fight cloud. In all of the confusion, Donald, Goofy, Gregorio, and Yoris pounced in too, leaving Florina watching the chaos. In the end, both sides were fatigued and just then, Sora's stomach rumbled.
"Fine! Naminé it is.", I said. "But you can't rescue her on an empty stomach, you now."
Sora's stomach grumbled again.
"Yeah. You're right. Let's eat."
Concluding our rustle, I pulled out the food (which, thankfully, haven't expired yet) from my bag and we indulged ourselves. 5 minutes after the meal, we got up and, since we got only one card left, we selected Hollow Bastion and crossed the door.
Part II. Hollow Bastion
In the 'castle', Goofy asks, "I wonder where we are."
"Goofy, do you remember what you said back at the second floor?", Yoris said.
"Uhh…no."
"This is the castle you were trying to say."
"Uhh…what castle?"
"The one where Sora had stabbed himself with a Dark Keyblade."
"Really?"
"Defeated the Sorceress Maleficent."
"Is that so?"
"Don't forget Xin, her ally."
"Who?"
"Never mind. What's most important about this place is that Sora rescued Kairi here."
"Who is that girl anyway?"
Before anyone else could speak, we heard voices. When we approached, we heard Beast and Belle having a 'heated' conversation. However, once Belle left her, I could not remember much because I was shocked in disbelief that Belle wanted to stay with Maleficent (where are the Wutai Associates anyway?, Especially Xin, in this case).
Though we tried to comfort Beast, he left in a huff, but not in Belle's direction (where's Ilsa, I wonder?). Once we obtained the Key of Beginnings, we were in the 'floor area' of Hollow Bastion (and when I mean 'we' here, I mean me and Sora since the others are in the form of Friend Cards). After obtaining Homing Fira (Sora) and Fire Missile (me) from a Calm Bounty Room, We located the Door of Beginnings and crossed it. There, we saw Belle in the library reading a book. While Sora, Donald, and Goofy talked to her, Gregorio asked me something.
"Psst, Rael."
"Yeah?"
"What is it about Windelle being an 'Agent' anyway?"
"You see, I was told rumors about that by 2 young ones in Atlantica named Flot and Jet. Also, just after I lost the DirLuxGun, Ilsa told me about you being 'Agents' too, whatever that means."
Just then, Belle told us to hide, and once we found a desk to hide behind, we hid there, then Maleficent appeared. There, we realized that the witch had set a trap to steal Belle's heart by luring Beast. The two then disappeared and we emerged from our hiding place, got the Key of Guidance, then left the Room of Beginnings. After running into a lot of Heartless, we found the Door of Guidance.
In the room of Guidance, we then saw Maleficent, Beast, and Belle facing one another. Then I heard Belle yell at Beast to go away, because she "does not want to see him again". Then Beast explained why he is what he is; his selfishness caused this.
"I will not leave you, Belle. You can consider this my final selfish act.", Beast said to her.
"My, my, I'm impressed.", Maleficent said. "Change of plans; I will take his heart in place of Belle's."
Just before the witch struck him with her scepter, Belle stood in the way, was transformed into a heart, and floated into the scepter.
"So much for the change of plans.", Maleficent muttered. "Belle's heart it is."
The witch then vanished. Beast then asked for our assistance and we naturally accepted. We then got the Key to Truth, left the Room of Guidance, and Beast was now one of Sora's Friend Cards. As we wandered about, we found a strange door named Door of Rewards, but we only had one Key for it. To remedy it, Sora rummaged in my backpack, and pulled out a portable 'Copier', yelling "Aha!".
"What are you doing?", I said to him.
"You see, back at Olympus Coliseum, when we had split up, I had obtained a card like this and used it to obtain a rare Keyblade card. Since a Key to Rewards card is very rare, I decided to copy this one so as to make things easier."
As he inserted the Key of Rewards into the machine muttering "I hope this works.", I muttered, "This bag reminds me of a place called the Room of Requirement; whatever you need, you get."
When the copying was done, two Keys of Rewards came out from the machine, one of them the original, and the other a copy.
"Success!", Sora called out.
"Not just yet. We don't know if the castle will accept the card. Only when it opens the Door of Rewards can we consider it a success."
Luckily, the said door was close by and when we used the copy Key of Rewards (along with the other criteria), it was a success. We entered the Room of Rewards, found a chest, and when we opened it, we obtained a Mushu Summon Card and a Lumiere Summon Card.
"All right!", I said as we left the Room of Rewards.
After some more Heartless encounters, we found the Door to Truth. We saw Maleficent there, who told us why Belle did what she did and it was to protect Beast.
"I wonder why she told Beast those things…", Florina muttered.
"You want to know why I told you all that?", Maleficent asked, as if hearing Florina. "It was not out of sympathy, but so I could get your heart as well."
"Not if we stop you!", Sora called out as he summoned his Keyblade.
Maleficent then transformed into a dragon and the 'battle matrix' initiated once more.
The witch (or should I say, dragon) began by breathing fireballs at us, which I blocked for Sora, who then jumped from behind me, jumped on my shoulders, and then jumped off them to strike Maleficent in the face. Once he landed, the dragon breathed fire again and this time, I was not able to protect Sora. Just when she breathed fire again, I then jumped over him, then fired an Ice Missile, freezing the flames. As the dragon attacked my shield, which I used to prevent Sora from getting hit again, A green Mickey Card appeared and when Sora used it, a stack of blocks appeared. Sora got up on them and jumped from there to strike Maleficent's face easier. Just then, the Dragon did a stomp which broke off a couple of the blocks. Knowing this'd increase the difficulty of the battle, I stood wary for her attacks and kept Card Breaking them with zero Cards and 'Beast' sleights while Sora continued with his onslaught. Finally, the dragon was vanquished and we got her card along with the goodies.
When the 'battle matrix' dissipated, Belle's heart appeared, then Belle herself emerged from it.
While she conversed with Beast and Sora, Gregorio said to me, "About us being 'Agents', can you tell me more about what Ilsa said to you?"
"Uhh…sure."
"Could you tell me more?"
"Well, Ilsa told me that you guys and Windelle have been sent in the form of humans but things went awry and you lost your memories concerning your past lives and mission.
"Oh, I see." Just then, Beast and Belle bypassed us and Sora told us that it was time to go. We left the Room to Truth, then eventually found the exit.