Naminé had a choice to make. To her left was Xemnas who had Roxas trapped within his energy sphere, draining away any strength he had to fight. To her right was Xehanort's Heartless who had his guardian grasping Riku with its evil-looking claws. Which should she choose?
"As much as I hate to admit it," she muttered, "Riku probably knows more about these guys than Roxas does." Her sweaty palms tightened their grip on the Keyblade. "I'm going to help Riku."
"Don't sing it, just bring it!" Kairi shouted. With a warrior's cry erupting from her throat, Naminé charged at Xehanort's Heartless. She was only a few feet from her target when the Heartless guardian raised Riku over its head.
Naminé skidded to a halt. "He wouldn't..." But he did. She could only watch helplessly as Riku's body was flung across the arena like a discarded paper bag.
"No! Riku!" Kairi cried. Their heart literally stopped as the Dawn wielder crashed into the ground with a bone-crunching thump. Kairi couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Riku..." Tears began to well up in Naminé's eyes.
The memory witch whirled around at Ansem. "You're going to pay for that!" With an unimaginable rush of adrenaline bursting through her veins, she streaked toward her opponent as blonde hair and tears streamed behind her. All she could think about was how much more suffering these people had caused their friends and what had to be done. "Wait..." Naminé did a double take. Xehanort's Heartless hovered serenely with his arms crossed, apparently alone. "Where'd Ansem's guardian disappear to?" As soon as the words left her lips, Naminé felt a cold, icy claw grasp each of her bare arms, restraining her from attacking. She looked up and was horrified to see Ansem's Heartless was now looming over her; its sole purpose in its pathetic existence was to immobilize her. She hung suspended in the air like a makeshift crucifix.
"Come open your heart!" A cage of light surrounded Ansem as he began to float closer, flexing his fingers as if getting them warmed up. Naminé took one look at his gloved hands and the horrid memories of Vexen and Castle Oblivion began to flood her mind. The endless days of torture, the titillation, the nonstop laughter, and her utter helplessness to prevent it.
"N-n-n-n..." Anger was immediately washed away with an overwhelming sense of fear. Panicking, she yanked her arms in as hard as she could, but the Heartless' grip was rock solid. "He's going to tickle me! I know that sadistic look in his eyes!" she screamed silently.
"Naminé! Get a grip!" Kairi shouted reasonably. "He's not gonna..."
"Do you see his hands?! It's going to be Vexen all over again! The 'experimenting' using his fingers to probe and crawl all over my body!" Naminé's breath was becoming shallower and her heart was beating faster. She could feel a slight tingling along the nerve endings of her upper body as she imagined what was about to happen. "Oh, why did I have to be cursed with being so ticklish?!" she sobbed.
"NAMINÉ!" Kairi yelled even louder. "Focus, girl! Don't freak out on me!" Ansem was now within a few feet from the bounded girl. Naminé squirmed as best as she could, but the restraints were stuck tight. Finally, she couldn't take any more anticipation.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Naminé screamed. She wildly shot her legs out, kicking for all its worth. In her sheer panic, she managed to connect with Ansem's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. While he was doubled over, Naminé managed to land a solid leg combo to his head, forcing the Heartless that binded her to release its grip. She landed unceremoniously on her butt, her arms wrapped around her trembling body.
Kairi knew exactly how Naminé felt, so it was with a gentle tone that she asked "Naminé? Are you okay?"
Naminé let out a loud sniff. "I...I thought it was behind me." A wry smile appeared on her lips. "I guess there are still some fears that can't be overcome so easily..."
"You know he wasn't going to tickle you, right?" Kairi asked. "With that cage of light, he was probably going to..."
"...strip me?" Naminé suggested in a weak, sardonic tone.
"Actually, I was going to say electrocute you," Kairi clarified, "but I guess that's possible too."
Meanwhile, Roxas could feel his strength fading fast. "I guess it would be too much to pray for a miracle right about now," Roxas groaned.
Although winded, Riku was still able to stand upright and rush to Roxas' rescue. Just like before, the Dawn Wielder ran up to Xemnas, leapt up and stabbed at his opponent's face, forcing the Superior to turn sideways, weakening his hold. With his free hand, Riku palmed the other gloved hand, breaking the circuit that held Roxas captive. "Here I cooooome to save the daaaaaay!" He slammed the handle into Xemnas' chin, grabbed his arm, twirled him around and threw Xemnas into the distance.
Roxas staggered up to his feet and looked at Riku oddly. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Riku?"
Riku rolled his eyes. "Give me a break. I try out one different catch-phrase and you're suddenly listening to me."
"But, come on! 'Mighty Mouse?'" Sora felt like facepalming himself. "When were you born again? The eighties?"
"Not to mention that quote wasn't even Disney related," Roxas added. Suddenly, Roxas' Keyblades began to glow, causing him to almost drop them. "What..." The Oblivion and Oathkeeper faded into light, replacing themselves with two new Keyblades that Sora had never seen before.
"What in the...How'd you get new Keyblades?" Sora asked in shock.
Roxas grinned. "Say hello to my upgraded weaponry: Winner's Proof and Two Become One!"
"'Two Become One?'" Sora repeated skeptically.
"Would you have preferred 'Serendipitous Duo?'" Roxas replied. Sora only responded with awkward silence. "How about 'Destiny Two?'" Roxas amended. More silence. "'Fateful Encounter?'"
"Whatever..." Sora sighed. "I still say my Ultima Weapon and Fenrir look much cooler. I mean, come on. A mushroom Keyblade?"
"You'd prefer a dirty-looking blade wrapped in bandages like some old Egyptian relic?"
"Hey! Look sharp!" Sora warned. Xehanort's Heartless flew at him; his guardian's hands lighting up with energy. It threw its arms out in a downward arc, summoning down streaks of lightning that blazed across the field. Roxas barely managed to Aerial Dodge over the attack.
Taking advantage of the quick interlude, Riku hurried toward Naminé, who was still sitting on the ground, trembling. "Naminé, get up," he said sternly.
"But I..." Riku's arm shot out and scooped her under the armpit. Naminé instinctively shrieked, but Riku calmly lifted her back to her feet.
"Naminé..." He gave her an understanding, yet hard look. "There's a time for thinking and there's a time for acting. Dwelling on your past and shrinking from your fears will surely get you killed in battle." In the back of Naminé's mind, there was a tiny bit of confusion as to why her emotions kept shifting, but it wouldn't register for some reason. "I'm not saying that you should try to abolish your fears," Riku continued. "But instead of freezing up and cowering from them, use them to your advantage as a driving force in your fighting style." Seeing Naminé was unaffected by his words, he decided to take a different approach. "Someone once told me to just be brave. Know that the fear and doubt is there and don't give in. Do that, and you'll gain strength unlike any other." Naminé blinked. The words were vaguely familiar...
Then she remembered. She had said almost the exact same thing to Riku back in Castle Oblivion. Naminé's body finally stopped trembling. She closed her eyes, and took a deep cleansing breath to calm her nerves. When she opened them again, she felt her fear seem to instantly vanish. Naminé looked at Riku and smiled. "Thank you, Riku. I don't know what came over me."
"You're good to go?" Riku asked. Naminé nodded. "Good, because I think your fiancée's getting his butt kicked over there." He pointed over at Roxas, who was doing his best to dodge Ansem's attacks.
"Roxas!" Naminé took up her Keyblade and ran straight at Ansem.
Riku chuckled shaking his head. "Just like Sora." He shouldered his Way to the Dawn and charged at Xemnas.
As Naminé sped toward Xehanort's Heartless, he glared down at her in an arrogant manner. "Insolent brat!" Ansem raised his gaze upward. "Come, guardian!" The Heartless faded away and reappeared in front of its master, shielding Ansem. In a case of temporary lapse in judgment, Roxas bounded up to him in reckless Sora-like fashion with both arms swinging. Unfortunately, the guardian Heartless slammed its claws together, immobilizing Roxas in mid-air. "You're a fool to choose a fight with me!"
"Isn't this how you lost to Riku last time?" Sora asked.
"Not...helping..." Roxas grunted as the Heartless' grip tightened.
While Ansem was occupied, Naminé circled around and managed to connect with a flash kick to the chin. "Get your grubby hands off of my boyfriend!" she roared. Xehanort's Heartless reeled back, forcing the guardian to release Roxas from its grasp.
The dual wielder gave Naminé an incredulous look. "You demoted me from fiancée to boyfriend?"
Sora sighed. "Girls. Go figure."
"Keep complaining and we're demoting you down to acquaintances," Kairi teased.
Xehanort's Heartless managed to recover and quickly hovered straight at the couple. "Submit!" The guardian Heartless raised its giant fist and swung a mighty punch at them.
"As if!" they shouted in unison. Leaping over the Heartless' swipe, the engaged couple dove at the temporarily vulnerable Ansem, weapons at the ready. Ansem grunted as a flurry of Keyblades smacked him across the face. Both Roxas and Naminé managed to land decent aerial combos that sent Xehanort's Heartless reeling.
"Don't let up the attack!" Sora cried as the Nobodies landed on their feet. Without a word, they started for another round of combos, but Ansem was ready for them.
"Take this!" The guardian Heartless suddenly appeared in front of its master, turning into a giant ball of energy that began to rapidly flit around the battlefield like a bullet train off its tracks.
Reacting on instinct, Roxas scooped up Naminé in a classic "Princess cradle" and Aerial Dodged into the air, avoiding the attack. As his body hovered in the air, Roxas grinned at Naminé, who was slightly blushing from embarrassment, yet she felt comfortable in this position. "This has been one crazy honeymoon, huh?" Roxas joked.
Naminé giggled bashfully. "We're not even married yet!" she reminded him.
Meanwhile, Riku tried to keep Xemnas occupied to prevent Roxas and Naminé from being double-teamed. Unfortunately, Xemnas managed to break away from his scuffle and teleported a good distance away from his opponents.
"Be gone!" Xemnas twirled around and began firing out pairs of energy orbs that exploded into crystallic mesh spheres. As they expanded, the orbs' radiuses began to become a bit too close for comfort.
"FLY!" Naminé shrieked.
Roxas winced from her outburst. "I'm right here. You don't have to shout." Like Superman on yellow Kryptonite, Roxas started zooming forward, dodging the aerial energy mines.
"Wait a minute..." Sora realized something odd about the situation. "Roxas, how is it you can Glide all of a sudden? You weren't able to before..."
Roxas shrugged. "I think it must be some after-effect from Peter Pan's pixie dust," he suggested.
"Figures," Sora muttered. Before Xemnas could fire any more Spark Bombs, Riku managed to interrupt his assault by getting under his guard and smacking him upside the head with his Keyblade. Riku aimed his weapon and released a few Dark Auras, but Xemnas teleported out of sight before they could connect.
"My strength returns..." Roxas and Naminé looked down just in time to see the guardian Heartless dissipating from Ansem and spreading itself over the area, swallowing any trace of light into pure darkness. Ansem's body began to take hold of a mysterious glow. "What do you hope to accomplish?" Xehanort's Heartless taunted. While their focus was on Ansem, Xemnas suddenly reappeared right behind the gliding duo and raised his arms. Before they could react, sharp thorn beams twisted themselves out of Xemnas' hands straight for the Keyblade bearers. Roxas was blasted out of the sky as nicks and cuts tore across his skin. Naminé, however...
The beam sliced into the fabric of her dress, miraculously missing her skin completely. One of the straps of her outfit was cleanly cut through giving her a seductive, one-shouldered look. Naminé felt the anger bubble up in her once again. "WHY?! Why is my dress the only thing that gets ripped?!" Without warning, their heart began to ache again. However, instead of the usual agonizing pain, the feeling became icy numb, dimming down to a dull throb. Roxas managed to land on his feet, but he wasn't able to stay upright. Naminé quickly jumped out of his arms and propped his staggering form up against her. "Roxas, are you alright?"
"It stings a bit," Roxas mumbled. Not wanting to use up her magic to heal Roxas, Naminé decided to help him forget about the pain instead. She quickly landed a light peck on his cheek.
"Feel better?" she giggled as Roxas reddened slightly.
"Yeah," he replied in a strained voice.
"Watch out!" Sora and Kairi both shouted. Roxas and Naminé looked down and realized that the entire ground had become a giant lake of liquid darkness. The area underneath their feet suddenly begin to vibrate.
"It's just like Marluxia!" Kairi realized. "The pillars of darkness!" Naminé quickly understood and began running for all its worth. Following the girl's lead, Roxas jumped back in the air and started gliding around in a circular path. Seconds later, the guardian Heartless burst out of the ground where they had once stood.
A few feet away, Riku and Xemnas were clashing swords. "Why?" Xemnas asked. "Why do you loathe us who teeter on the edge of nothing? We who were turned away by both light and dark, never given a choice?"
"You're asking me again?" Riku asked. "I'll tell you this." He stared Xemnas straight into the eyes. "There is ALWAYS a choice. If you hadn't decided to immerse your heart in darkness, things wouldn't have ended up the way they did."
"And yet you yielded yourself to that same darkness," Xemnas countered. "You took the form of my Heartless and claimed that fool Ansem's name as your own." Riku hesitated as Xemnas' words rang through his mind. Taking advantage of Riku's hesitation, Xemnas whirled around and shot his leg out in a tornado kick, smashing the surface of his boot against the teenager's ribcage. As Riku doubled over in pain, the Superior pointed his saber at the teenager's neck. "Why don't you vanish..."
"Roxas!" Roxas whirled around in time to see Xemnas' blade trained on the Dawn wielder. "Castle!" Riku managed to shout as he clutched his ribs. The chess term told Roxas exactly what he had to do. He took aim and hurled his Winner's Proof straight at Xemnas' outstretched hand.
CLANG! Xemnas' arm was knocked away from its target, giving Riku enough time to backflip out of range. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. Just the act of movement caused Riku to grimace in pain. Roxas quickly summoned back his thrown Keyblade back to his hand and began running straight for Xemnas.
"The final darkness is now!" Ansem cried. Streaks of purplish flame burst out from underneath him in a cross pattern. Unfortunately, Riku happened to be crouching down in its path. His body reacting on instinct, Riku threw up a Dark Shield, negating the brunt of the attack.
Knowing Riku could take care of himself for the moment, Naminé rushed to help Roxas. Seeing this, Xemnas split himself into two and took aim at the incoming young girl. "Fire!" A plethora of red energy bolts screeched through the air toward her.
Naminé quickly raised her Keyblade and shouted "WIND!" An almost invisible sphere of wind formed around her body. She instinctively flinched as the beams made contact with her Aeroga barrier, half-expecting the shots to go through. Fortunately, they instantly fizzled away into thin air, allowing Naminé to visibly relax. "Wow, can't believe that actually worked."
Sensing wounded prey, Xemnas began to dive toward the weakened Riku, but Roxas barred his path. Sora's Nobody twirled the Keyblades in his hands. "Let's duel!" Xemnas' sabers jutted out of his hands as both combatants lunged at each other. Keyblade clashed with Ethereal Blade as The Superior and The Key of Destiny locked their weapons together in mortal combat, neither dual-wielder budging an inch.
"Traitor," Xemnas groaned. Roxas smirked through gritted teeth.
"Noob," he replied. Xemnas eyes widened.
"Insolent child!"
"Ungrateful doo-hickey!" Roxas shot back.
"Are you quite finished?!" Xemnas roared.
"That's what she said."
"Roxas?" Sora muttered. "You've really gotta work on your comebacks."
To finally break the stalemate, Xemnas attempted to tornado kick Roxas while their blades were locked. But Naminé wouldn't have it. She cartwheeled through the air, and using her long, silky legs, Naminé clamped Xemnas' head in-between them. Just like she did with Data Roxas, with a rocking backward motion, she used her momentum to lift Xemnas into the air and leg-scissor backflipped him to the ground, slamming his head against the floor. Unlike last time, she managed to land on her feet. "It's over!" Naminé raised her Keyblade, preparing to finish the fight by piercing the weapon through Xemnas' skull. Unluckily, Xemnas quickly recovered enough to curl his body inward and slam both of his boots into Naminé's back, sending her body flying...
...right into the path of Xehanort's Heartless. Ansem smirked as he ordered his guardian to raise its giant fist. Roxas and Riku were too far away to help her.
"Naminé, catch!" Riku hurled his Way to the Dawn in Naminé's trajectory. As the memory witch hurtled toward Xehanort's Heartless, she instinctively reached out with her free hand, grabbed Riku's Keyblade and with the force of a thousand exploding suns, shoved both Keyblades in front of her tearing straight through the center of Ansem's torso, leaving a giant gaping hole through his body. The Heartless guardian disintegrated as the Heartless known as Ansem faded away into data.
"THAT'S my Dual-Wielding sister!" Kairi cheered.
Naminé casually brushed some blonde hair out of her face. "Thanks, Riku!"
Riku made a weak attempt to smile, but the pain in his ribs made it hard to. "Well, you needed help after all..." As Xemnas got back to his feet, Roxas and Naminé each pointed a Keyblade at him.
"Your advantage is gone, Xemnas!" Naminé shouted.
But Xemnas only chuckled. "I wonder about that..." Before they could react, the Superior rose gracefully into the air, his arms spread out like a makeshift god. He slammed his hands together, plunging the entire battlefield into darkness as overwhelming amounts of energy radiated through him. "There's no such thing as light..." Roxas and Naminé quickly surrounded Riku's fallen form and braced themselves as thousands upon thousands of laser bolts began blinking themselves into existence.
"Holy..." Roxas muttered. His grip tightened around his Keyblades.
Riku groaned as he struggled to get up. "Riku! Stay down!" Naminé ordered. She shot a glance at Roxas, who seemed to have come up with the same idea.
"Ready, Naminé?" Roxas asked.
Naminé gave him a sly grin. "With you? Always."
As every laser bolt trained themselves on the trio, Naminé and Roxas raised all four Keyblades in front of them, touching them at the tips. Roxas and Naminé knew what they had to do. They took a deep breath, cleared their minds and focused like they never had before.
"PROMISE MEMORY!"
A single gold beam shot vertically out of the Keyblades' tips, a light of truth. The beam splintered; a thousand more beams arced high over their heads, crisscrossing all around them, until they were enclosed in a golden, dome-shaped web, a cage of light.
Xemnas' Multi Shot cascading on the dome's surface, but the barrier held its own. Roxas and Naminé poured every bit of their heart's strength into maintaining the shield.
"Don't break the connection..." Naminé grunted, gritting her teeth.
"Not planning to..." Roxas responded with equally strained effort.
It was all down to a battle of willpower. Xemnas focused as much energy as he dared into breaking through the couple's shield, but the strength of the bond between them seemed unbreakable.
As Riku felt his strength returning, he watched in awe as Roxas and Naminé struggled to maintain their barrier of light. He couldn't help but smirk. "I forgot that Limits depend on the strength and trust between people," he thought. "The stronger the bond, the more powerful the Limit. We didn't get to teach Kairi that, but it looks like I didn't have to."
After what seemed like an eternity, the onslaught finally subsided and all three Nobodies were exhausted from their Limits. Roxas and Naminé collapsed to their knees, the Keyblades dangling uselessly to their sides. However, Xemnas wasn't finished. He channeled within himself all the power that he could muster for one final desperation attack.
"Roxas! Naminé!" Kairi cried. "We'll take it from here!"
The two Nobodies looked into each other's eyes, a spark of hope twinkled back at them. They gave each other a weak smile before surrendering their control back to their original selves. Fortunately, Riku had finally recovered enough to stand up. He nodded to the betrothed. "You two ready for this?"
Kairi nodded enthusiastically. "Let's do it!"
"It all ends here!" Sora added.
Xemnas couldn't believe his eyes as all three of them sped toward him with unrestrained ferocity. While he charged his energy with one arm, he raised the other to form a Spark Wall, something to stop their trajectory. Astonishingly, they broke straight through his barrier and it became frighteningly obvious that while their hearts were in full synchronization, they were invincible. Before he could counter...
"ULTIMA!" Sora led the attack as the Destiny Island Trio began banging their Keyblades against every spot on Xemnas' weakened form. "TAKE THIS!"
"DARK CANNON!" The party hovered back a few feet as Riku channeled his dark energy into the Keyblades. Then without warning, purplish fireballs rapidly shot out of the Keyblades, engulfing Xemnas in its flames. "Is that all you got?" And finally...
"HEARTBREAK STARBURST!" Kairi, Sora and Riku spread themselves out until they formed a triangle formation around Xemnas. Kairi poured her light energy into all three Keyblades. Instead of red heart bubbles, white heart-shaped beams of light blasted out of the weapon's tips, piercing through Xemnas' body. "Take that, you pervert!" As the beams collided within the center of the triangle, a giant explosion ripped Xemnas' torso from the inside-out, critically injuring him.
While Xemnas flew head over heels helplessly in the air, Sora, Riku and Kairi touched the tips of their Keyblades together and pointed them straight at Xemnas.
"TRINITY LIMIT!" they cried. A super condensed beam of energy fired toward Xemnas. His expression was of utmost horror as the beam made contact with the leftover remains of his body, instantly enlarging itself into a blinding, overwhelmingly powered attack.
"LIGHT!" Sora shouted.
"YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE IT ALL!" Riku added.
"NEVER AGAIN!" Kairi finished. The light grew brighter and brighter, enveloping the entire battlefield and all who occupied it.
As the light finally began to fade, so did the rest of Xemnas' body. "No..." The remains of his form began to dissolve back into data. "Not again!" A half-formed hand clutched at his chest. "NOT AGAAAAAIIIINNNNN!" And with that, he was gone.
Kairi gave a toss of her naturally red hair. "Mess with the best..."
"...Lose like the rest," Naminé finished triumphantly.
Kairi turned toward Sora, intending to glomp the one person she truly missed. Unfortunately, the entire battlefield began shattering to pieces around them, enveloping all three of them into total darkness. The pain in her heart finally reached its breaking point as she clutched her chest, tears streaming from her eyes. It felt like something had exploded inside of her and all she could do was grit her teeth to stop herself from crying out in agony. She instinctively reached for something to hold onto, but her arm met only darkness. The last thing that Kairi heard was Naminé's voice yelling her name before she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Light finally ebbed back into sight as Sora and Riku found themselves in an area that they had never seen before. It was a giant empty area that was in similar size to the previous battlefield. The most distinguishing and prominent feature was the entire arena was covered with a highly reflective surface. No matter which way they turned, it was unavoidable to see their own reflections staring back at them.
Sora was feeling slightly off-balance due to his visual perception being warped. He was forced to blink a few times to steady himself. "Where are we, Riku? The realm of Darkness?"
Riku gave Sora an almost pitying look. "You've been to the realm of Darkness. You know there's no way this is it." He got down on one knee and wiped his finger on the mirrored ground. "Mirrors..." he muttered to himself.
"What are we doing here?" Sora asked. "I thought Kairi defeated all of the Organization members! There's no one left!" Sora's eyes went wide. "Kairi!" He whipped his head around and realized that his fiancée wasn't there. "KAIRI!" he shouted again.
"SORA!" Kairi had reappeared behind him and glomped him with unnecessary force. In any other situation, Sora would've felt awkward and wouldn't have known what to do. However, after being away from Kairi for so long, he almost felt like doing the exact same thing to her. "Sora..." Kairi gripped Sora's body tightly as if she had just learned that he had died and was suddenly reborn. Her face buried itself deep in his chest. The familiar fragrance of honey and paopu fruit reached Sora's nostrils as he gently brushed Kairi's sweet-smelling hair with his fingers. She loosened her hug slightly and stared up at Sora's face.
As Sora looked into her eyes, he noticed that they shone with adoration and...something else. He couldn't quite place it, but there was something that didn't seem right. "Kairi..." He started to lift his arms to reciprocate the hug...
...when a pink and white blur sped past Sora and slammed into Kairi. The Princess of Heart was sent flying back a few feet, but she managed to stay upright. Sora whirled around at the intruder.
"What the..." He couldn't believe his eyes. "Naminé?!" The memory witch had leapt out of nowhere and jump-kicked Kairi across the face.
"Sora! That's not Kairi!" Naminé cried. Kairi's eyes widened at the accusation.
"Sora! Don't listen to her! That's not Naminé!"
Naminé grimly looked at Kairi. "I don't know who you are, but leave these two alone!"
"Naminé?" Roxas didn't know what to make of the situation. "I thought you were completely drained as I was!"
Naminé shook her head. "Kairi fell unconscious as soon as Xemnas was destroyed," she explained. "I don't know how, but the next thing I knew, I was here seeing you talking with this..." Her sentence trailed off. "Wait a minute." Naminé looked thoughtful for a moment before her eyebrows shot up. "The scanning of the heart! The memories being recorded!" She pointed the Keyblade at Kairi. "You're their master plan! A clone of Kairi!"
"WHAT?!" Sora and Riku looked from Naminé to Kairi.
"I don't know what your game is," Kairi said, "but you're definitely not Naminé!" She reciprocated the blonde's motion and pointed her own Keyblade at Naminé. Kairi looked at Sora and Riku with a pleading look. "You two don't really believe this fake, do you?"
Sora looked from one girl to the other, completely baffled. "Which one's real?"
"Don't ask me!" Roxas replied. "I'm just as confused as you are!"
Riku was characteristically silent in thought. The situation reminded him of facing off against Repliku.
Naminé sighed. "Fine. There's only one way to settle this." The memory witch closed her eyes. Her blonde hair immediately began to darken and tinkle into familiar red while her white dress shimmered and brightened into pink. Unfortunately, as soon as the form of the real Kairi emerged from Naminé, the Kairi clone tackled her to the ground. Both of their Keyblades were immediately disarmed as they rolled around on the floor, struggling to pin the other.
Sora was beside himself. "A Kairi cat-fight?" He shook his head. "Now I've seen everything." He looked up at Riku. "What are we going to do, Riku?"
"There's only one course of action we must take," Riku said darkly. "I just hope Kairi forgives us for what we're about to do."