The world they arrived in was empty, a wide expanse of purple water with small islands of real land floating around, if they could even be called that. It was empty, and dark. Sora, Luigi, and Bowser looked around in surprise.
"This is all that's left of the worlds taken by the Heartless?" Luigi asked.
"I believe so. Where the hearts of the lost worlds gathered. This is where Ansem intends to make his last stand," Tippi said.
"Those worlds will be restored when we defeat Ansem, right?" Sora asked.
"That's what it sounded like," Tippi said.
"But if we do beat him and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what's going to happen to this place? And to us?" Sora asked.
"Well…it's a Heartless world right?" Luigi asked. "It'll probably just go away like the Heartless should."
"What? You mean we're walking into a suicide mission to save the worlds?" Bowser asked in anger.
"I wouldn't worry about it," Tippi said. "I'm sure we'll be fine."
"Yeah, you're right," Sora said and pulled out the lucky charm Kairi gave him. I'll return this. I promise.
They began to walk on the purple water towards a bright light glowing in the front of the world. It was empty, almost too empty for a world they would have been expecting to be swarmed with Heartless. As they got closer to the exit of the empty expanse, an orb of darkness appeared above them, rapidly falling until it landed on them. When the darkness cleared, they were on a large island with a Behemoth Heartless standing in front of them, this one just slightly smaller than the one they fought in Hollow Bastion.
"This guy again?" Sora summoned his Keyblade.
"We'll just take him out like we did before." Sora nodded to Luigi's statement and rushed onto the Behemoth's back, climbing up its knee first, followed by its back. The Heartless seemed smarter than the first, for after several hits from Sora's Keyblade it shook him off its back, knocking him to the ground and underfoot. It fired several dark balls at him, which he reflected back at the horn before climbing back on. Luigi and Bowser had managed to get on his back and were rapidly attacking the horn with a combination of claws and fire. Sora, back on top with them, joined in the rapid attacks, once more hitting the horn with his Keyblade while avoiding or blocking the Behemoth's lightning strikes. It fell quickly.
The world reverted to normal, just as it was before. "I hope we don't have to fight another one," Luigi said.
"Don't say that, now we'll have to fight one more," Sora said. No Behemoths or balls of darkness fell from the sky interrupting their path, and it wasn't long until they final arrived at the purple light, leading inside of a giant cavern filled with green webs and crystals.
"I bet this place could have been a pretty world at one point," Luigi said. "If it weren't a Heartless one of course."
"It's not like the other worlds we've been to, or even the ones I saw while cursed. It's empty…untouched," Tippi said. "It's beautiful, yes, but sad."
"Only a Heartless would be happy with a world like this," Sora said. "Which is why Ansem has to be hiding here."
"Hmph, let's just hurry so I can head home," Bowser said and crossed his arms.
They started their descent slowly, jumping downward from each level and descending deeper and deeper into the darkness as they went. Still against expectations, the Heartless didn't attack, but seemed to just let them pass by into the next area, where there was nothing ahead, although a large pillar of purple fire could be seen a distance away.
"If you step forward, it should launch you towards it," Tippi said. Sora stepped forward and suddenly the four of them were nearby the flames. He walked inside.
When the bright light cleared, they were in Traverse Town, surrounded by Heartless, many harmless overall, just the Soldier and Large Body variety, but it was still a surprise. Sora began to charge at each soldier, slicing at them with his Keyblade while Bowser and Luigi each took on one of the two Large Bodies that had appeared. Within minutes, the Heartless were gone, but they were still trapped in Traverse Town.
"Well this is great, how are we gonna get out?" Bowser asked and glared at Sora.
"Hey, I hadn't expected it to take us away like this!" Sora argued back.
"It can't be that hard…" Tippi looked around the area, but it appeared they might have actually been taken back to Traverse Town. "I suppose it won't hurt to check in on Kairi while we've returned, right?"
"Huh, oh yeah, we can," Sora smiled and went over to the door that led into the first district. He pushed on it, expecting it to open, but the door stayed closed. "I guess we'll have to go the long way." The moment they entered the door to the second district, they were back by the fire, able to see another one glowing purple in the distance.
"Now we know how to exit these things," Luigi said and they entered the next launch area, sending them to the next purple flame. Sora entered inside the flame and found himself this time back in Hyrule's fields. Stalfos and Skulltulla Heartless appeared around them. Bowser's flames quickly roasted the Skulltulla Heartless while Sora and Luigi rapidly beat up the Stalfos until no more Heartless arrived. Sora went in the direction of the Hyrule Castle, only to reappear once more beside the flames.
-x-
"How many more of these are there?" Sora asked as he sliced through the last robotic Heartless from Mobius on Eggman's Egg Carrier.
"Well, we've visited Traverse Town, Hyrule, Smash World, Bitlands, Dreamland, my home, Treasure Town, and the Unova League so far," Tippi said. "So counting this world…that makes nine of the ten we've visited."
"Just Hollow Bastion left," Sora said as they emerged from the column of flames. The one ahead was not purple like all of the prior ones, but was instead red, a bright angry red. They launched forward towards it and walked in.
If the pillar had teleported them to Hollow Bastion, it was a part of the world he'd never seen before. It appeared to be a hallway filled with red and black holes, slowly eating away at it. At the end of the hall was the black and red thorny heart. Two Heartless formed, similar in appearance to the one that appeared in Sora's dream, only smaller with swords.
"Those are Invisibles, powerful Heartless that fire balls of darkness and swords. They are very fast and dangerous, so be careful." With Tippi's warning, the heroes leapt into battle. Sora took on one while Bowser and Luigi challenged the other. Sora slammed his Keyblade into it immediately, but it quickly retaliated by firing eight balls of darkness at him. He rolled out of the way, but a couple still hit him. He glared before lunging at it once more, this time the Invisible disappeared completely, leaving behind its sword in the ground. Small purple fireballs surrounded Sora as he moved and suddenly the Invisible appeared, sending out a pulse of darkness which he barely dodged. He ran at it once more, slashing at the Invisible before it once more sent the eight dark balls at him. He lifted his Keyblade up, reflecting them back at the Invisible, which once more disappeared. This time however, its sword began flying at him in a similar fashion to Riku. He rolled around the ground in a desperate attempt to avoid it before finally slashing through the Heartless once it reappeared. It disappeared in a cloud of darkness.
Bowser and Luigi appeared to fare much better than Sora did, the two working together seemed to be a challenge for the Invisible as it was blasted by Bowser's flames while attempting to hit Luigi with the same balls of darkness. When its sword flew at Bowser, he ducked in his shell, causing the sword to simply rebound upwards and away from him. The moment the Invisible reappeared, Luigi performed an uppercut beneath it, effectively causing it to vanish.
Since they were in unfamiliar territory, they had no idea of what way to go to exit the area. As they were considering jumping through one of the black and red holes, a door opened up, leading to a lab like room with a device on the center. "What's with this place?" Bowser asked.
"Well, assuming it's Hollow Bastion and Ansem did all the research on the heart, I'd say this could have been Ansem's lab," Tippi said as she looked around the room. "I don't see anything interesting here though."
"Hang on, what about this," Sora said and pointed to a panel on the device with writing on it. "It says 'Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage the worlds and bring desolation. Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyhole, one key to the door. The door of darkness, tied by two keys. The door of darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness. Ones born of the heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens.'" He finished reading the panel. They all sat quiet for a moment as though trying to figure out what it meant.
"I'd say it's important," Tippi said finally, "but I don't believe we should believe it. This is what Ansem believed, but I don't believe Kingdom Hearts is all darkness, do you?"
"But if at its core is darkness…" Sora shook his head in an effort to forget what he read. "You're right, we shouldn't believe it, let's go." He jumped into one of the holes, which lead into the area where the red flame once lingered, however, now there was no flame to be seen.
"I guess we go that way," Luigi said and jumped down, followed by Sora, Bowser, and Tippi. Below the pit was level ground. A large white mechanical dragon rose out of it, creating a large hole.
"WHO ARE YOU. STATE YOUR REASON FOR TRESPASSING IN THE END OF THE WORLD."
Tippi seemed surprised. "I've heard of you, you're Wracktail, the fallen guardian of Flipside."
"YOU COME FROM FLIPSIDE. THAT MEANS YOU ARE ENEMIES. NOW ENTERING ATTACK MODE." Wracktail said as it rose into the surprisingly large air space around them.
"Way to go Tippi," Bowser said. They ducked out of the way of his attack, diving to the right as he flew between them, scarcely managing to avoid his jaws.
"He shouldn't be hard. Wracktail partially malfunctions, but so long as you can get on his back, you should be able to attack him…" she seemed lost in thought for a moment. "The only thing is, how is he here? He should be terrorizing the people who find themselves lost in the Flipside pit…"
"Ansem probably brought him in," Sora said. They watched as Wracktail flew in from beside them. While the dragon chomped at the ground, they jumped onto his back. Little robotic duck like creatures walked along his back. All of them turned to face the heroes as they arrived. Sora waved at them, and they began firing eye lasers at them.
"Lasers?" Luigi asked as he ducked out of the way of one.
"Wrackles are the defense mechanism of Wracktail, they attack anyone who tries to hurt him with their lasers," Tippi said.
"Thanks for the warning," Bowser grumbled. He and Luigi started taking out the Wrackles. They fell quickly to either Luigi's feet while he jumped on them or Bowser's flames.
This left Sora to the head. "Where do I hit him?"
"His antenna is his weak point," Tippi answered. Sora nodded and began hitting the antenna with rapid strikes of Keyblade, each one causing sparks to fly off and Wracktail's movements in the sky to become shakier.
"Thunder!" Sora sent a lightning bolt at Wracktail's antenna and it stopped midflight, the body short circuited by the sudden addition of electricity. It fell out of the sky hitting the ground with a crash and causing the trio to fall off and hit the ground.
"He's done for," Luigi said.
"For now," Tippi said. "We'd better get out of here in case he reboots." They jumped down into the hole Wracktail left in the ground.