King Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Tarzan were making their way through the Castle Gate area. All of a sudden...
"What's that rumbling noise?" the King asked.
Donald glared at Goofy. "Is that your stomach again?"
Goofy's eyes widened as he patted his spare tire. "Nope! I made sure to eat before the weddin'!"
"You mean while you were supposed to be checking invitations?"
Goofy looked at Donald, obviously hurt by the accusation. "Not on your life! Are you sayin' that I don't take my job seriously?"
"No, what I'm saying is that you should try losing some weight! That paunch of yours has been growing rounder ever since we returned to the castle!" Donald shook his head. "What would Max say if he saw you now?"
Goofy's eyes narrowed. "So we're talking about family now, are we? How are April, May and June these days?"
Donald's jaw dropped. "Hey! Daisy still hasn't forgiven me ever since that noodle incident! Just because..."
"Will you two stop bickering?!" Mickey snapped. Donald and Goofy immediately ceased arguing. "Why are you arguing at a time like this?"
"Sorry, your majesty," Donald apologized as both of them hung their heads in shame.
"We're just really worried about the others," Goofy explained. "And..."
Mickey shushed him. "Don't you hear that?" Indeed, the noise was getting louder. It didn't take a Gummi scientist to know what was happening.
"Avalanche!"
"Again?" Donald sighed wearily. Dozens of Pete-sized boulders came spilling off the edge of a cliff onto the foursome. "Scatter!"
Tarzan was able to bob and weave like water through the rocks with ease. Donald deflected the boulders using Blizzaga spells while Goofy ran around like a chicken with its head cut off. The King started forward, but ended up tripping over a crack in the ground.
"Your Majesty! Look out!" Donald, Goofy and Tarzan could only watch helplessly as stray boulders hurtled toward the King.
A huge blur sped past the stunned heroes straight for the King. Before their very eyes, the rocks exploded inches from King Mickey's body as if he had some kind of invisible barrier surrounding him. Dust and debris blanketed the field until the onslaught slowed to a stop.
"Somebody in need of a hero?" Out of the dust clouds came the unmistakable form of Hercules.
Donald and Goofy ran up to him and shook hands. "It's great to see you, Hercules!" Goofy greeted.
"But what exactly are you doing all the way out here?" Donald asked.
"Whenever the people are in need of a hero, I'll be there!" Herc laughed, thrusting his chest out proudly. "But in all seriousness, Phil told me that you guys could use some help." The Olympian hero rolled his eyes. "He said it was part of my 'training', if you know what I mean."
"Welp, if you hadn't been here, those boulders might've been the end of me." King Mickey smiled at him warmly. "You have my thanks."
"Hey, why don't you come with us?" Goofy suggested. "We sure could use all the help we can get!"
"Yeah!" Donald chimed in. "Us heroes need to stick together!"
Hercules raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you two make hero?" He chuckled as Donald clamped his beak shut. "Like I'm going to say no?"
"By the way, have you met Tarzan?" Goofy turned to Tarzan, who had been silently observing the conversation. "Tarzan, this is our friend, Hercules."
"Her-cue-lees?" Tarzan enunciated. "Friend?" Herc and Tarzan stared at each other, sizing each other up.
After a short awkward silence, Hercules said the first thing that came to mind. "Nice loincloth."
Tarzan looked bamboozled, unsure if the comment was sarcasm or a compliment. In the end, he just shrugged. "Thank you," he slowly replied.
"I can't believe this!" Kairi thought excitedly. "We're finally alone! Just the two of us!" She and Sora were by themselves on their first date at a private island on the other side of the peninsula. Riku had mentioned seeing it when he and Sora were hurtling back to Destiny Islands via Door to Light. He assured them that it was completely private. Tidus, Wakka and Selphie didn't even know about it. Kairi was wearing a cute, pink bikini with sparkly white stars printed on it. Sora was bare-chested, but he was wearing an open blue-green Hawaiian shirt with white swim trunks.
Kairi smiled to herself. "And to think Sora couldn't be acting any more clumsier." Indeed, Sora's mannerisms seemed to be a bit more unfocused and sporadic. The Princess of Heart suspected it might have had something to do with her swimwear. She giggled as Sora's eyes tried desperately to maintain focus on her face, but his gaze always seemed to remain drawn to her body. His stammering didn't help prove her theory wrong.
Kairi was flattered that he thought she was hot. On the other hand, Sora's body was just as tempting to gaze over. Admittedly, his abs weren't as rock-hard and well-defined like Riku's. But it was obvious that he had been working out due to the muscle definition all over his body.
They had spent the past couple of hours playing, talking, wrestling (Sora cheated by tickling her) and pretty much having the time of their lives. And now they stood there, gazing at each other under the twilit sunset. A pleasant breeze played across Kairi's body, sending goosebumps across her skin. She felt Sora's fingertips softly caress her hair before gently guiding her face toward his. His deep blue eyes seemed so hypnotic and mesmerizing to her. She couldn't help but stare lustfully back into them.
Kairi's lips trembled with anticipation. "Is this it? Is this the moment?" As Sora's handsome face drew closer to hers, she could feel her body moving on instinct. Kairi gently closed her eyes, her lips slightly parted as her head was guided toward his. Their lips were mere millimeters from direct contact...
CHAKAROOOOM! Kairi's body was flung back by a powerful explosion that separated the couple. She could feel her exposed skin scratched open by the sand's friction beneath her. Refocusing on her surroundings, Kairi was horrified to find herself on the earthy platform she had fought Darkside on. The sky was no longer filled with the gentle orange sunset. Instead it was replaced by the same maelstrom of darkness that had threatened her island.
As she picked herself up, she saw Sora had already summoned his Keyblade. Kairi attempted to do the same, but then remembered she couldn't. She was a Keyblade wielder, but she wasn't a Keyblade master. The Keyblade hadn't chosen her to summon it at will yet. She had only received her weapon from Riku. And he wasn't here.
"No..." Kairi tried to run after Sora, but her body was stuck fast in a pool of darkness. "Sora! Don't leave me alone!" The more Kairi struggled, the faster the darkness was pulling her in. Sora's head whipped around, his face immediately changing to complete shock.
Before he could help her, Heartless appeared out of nowhere and piled on top of him, weighing him down. "Kairi!" he shouted, stretching his arm as far as he could reach.
"Sora, help me! Please!" Kairi screamed. Wisps of darkness threatened to engulf her vision as they snaked up her outstretched arm. "No, not again..."
"Kairi!"
"Please," she sobbed, "not again..."
"Kairi!" Naminé's voice shouted. "Wake up!"
Kairi's eyelids snapped open. She found herself sprawled out in the middle of the Garden of Assemblage. As she sat herself up to a sitting position, Kairi yawned and stretched out her limbs. It took a few seconds before she remembered where she was.
The Princess of Heart brushed some stray hair back into an almost presentable position. "Naminé, what happened?"
"Stating the obvious, you've been asleep."
"Asleep? For how long?" Kairi stifled another yawn.
"Approximately a good hour or two." The girl's jaw locked in mid-yawn as she became fully alert.
"What?! I was asleep for two hours?" As Kairi rose to her feet, she realized that there were tear trails streaked across her face and hastily wiped them off. "What exactly happened? The last thing I remember is..." Her eyes widened in shock. Kairi's hand flew to her neck and was amazed that there was no trace of any injury.
"I took over long enough to heal you, but..." Naminé sighed. "For some reason I couldn't hold onto my form for very long. I made our way here before I lost control and your body collapsed."
"Did you also notice that feeling in our heart again?" Kairi asked.
"Yeah, it was definitely more noticeable this time. But..." Naminé's voice trailed off.
"But...?" Kairi repeated.
"It's strange. No one was messing with your memories, but I could feel something...scanning them."
"Scanning? As in reading them?" Kairi shuddered at the thought. "Well, that's comforting. Someone or something knows all my private memories."
"You may be right," Naminé agreed. "Either way, I don't think there's anything we can do right now but to move on."
Kairi started for the ramp, but another flash of memory ran through her mind. This time Sora held out his Keyblade and summoned fireballs that circled around his body. "FIRE!" he cried.
"I guess I just learned another spell," Kairi said.
"Wonder what's left to learn?" Naminé asked.
Kairi shrugged. "Who knows? As long as they put me up on par with Sora and Riku, I don't care."
As they made their way back up the ramp and to their next target, Kairi suddenly remembered something that had been nagging her. "Axel said not to lose sight of light in the darkness. What do you think he meant by that?"
"Beats me. You know how enigmatic people can be sometimes."
Kairi nodded. "I know what you mean. Thinking that they're all cool just because they have a mysterious background or some unanswered secret. Sure, it was interesting back in the 70's. But these days? It's completely unoriginal and overused, don't you think?"
"Hey, people love a good mystery," Naminé replied. "It's a way to keep life interesting or else it wouldn't be worth experiencing."
The girls finally ended up in front of the next cove. To the left of Demyx's now-pink cove was an oblong symbol with many sharp points.
"It looks like some type of fancy chopstick."
Kairi's eyes widened. "Really? I think it looks like a pen or a quill."
"Maybe a toothbrush?"
"Nah, there's no bristles," Kairi replied. "Could it be a dart?"
"Well, whatever it is, we're not going to find out by standing here." As Kairi touched the shadow, blinding light swallowed her body in its rays. The light dimmed enough for her to open her eyes.
Kairi found herself standing in the middle of Addled Impasse. The data environment was a perfect copy of the original right down to Kingdom Hearts shining brightly through the transparent glass.
"Now I remember," Kairi said. "This was where Sora learned about Roxas." Then she gasped.
"What? What's wrong?" Naminé asked concerned.
Kairi felt a slight chill travel down her spine. "I just remembered which member Sora fought."
"Really?" Naminé's tone had a tinge of worry in those two syllables. "Who?"
As in answer to her question, circlets of data appeared before them, forming Xemnas' right-hand man.
"You!" Kairi cried, pointing her Keyblade at Saix.
"Kairi. Naminé." The Luna Diviner stared expressionless at Kairi. "Are you enjoying your stay in the Garden of Assemblage?"
"Can't say that I am," Kairi snapped. Then privately to Naminé, "That's what that room's called? Why would anyone call it a garden?"
Saix eyed the Keyblade in her hand. "I see you've learned to wield the Keyblade more skillfully."
"Well, being friends of Keyblade masters has its perks." Kairi grinned. "Hey, isn't this guy Xemnas' number two?"
Naminé giggled. "Eww! That's disgusting!"
"Fool. Do you truly believe that you can withstand Kingdom Hearts' power?"
Kairi gave her hair a flip of confidence. "Please. We already destroyed Kingdom Hearts once."
Saix shook his head. "If I had a heart, this would be where I die of laughter." He kept his glare solely focused on Kairi. "You didn't do anything. Sora and Riku did." This wiped the smile off of Kairi's face. "You were able to escape once by your friend from the darkness. You won't be so lucky this time."
Saix turned to face Kingdom Hearts shining outside the window. He spread out his arms, basking in its lunar glow. "Do you feel it? The moon's power!"
"Oh, this is bad," Kairi said as she took a few steps back. "He's going to..."
"Moon, shine down!" Saix rose up into the air like an angel rising up to the heavens. Light blue flames radiated around him as an unnerving amount of energy seemed to burst out from within his body.
Kairi cringed as Saix stared at her with predatory eyes. Naminé wasn't feeling any more confident than Kairi was. "We are so going to die."