On Today's Episode: At long last, the end has come. Our keyblade-wielding heroes arrive at the End of the World, the final resting place of many worlds destroyed by the Heartless. Many powerful foes await them here, not the least of which is Yaldabaoth himself. The False God of the Velvet Room was foiled many years ago, but with his second chance at domination in his grasp, can our heroes destroy Yaldabaoth before he infects the entirety of this new multiverse with his madness?
Episode 20: Journey's End
Nick looked around once they'd all disembarked, finding themselves in a dark cave with very little light to see.
"Ugh, this is where I wish I had some kind of spell that could make some light in places like this for more than just seconds at a time," Maylin admitted.
"Where the heck are we?" Marie asked. "This cave doesn't seem like much, if you want my opinion."
Nick's eyes, however, were drawn to a strange light at the far end of the cave. When they all followed that light and found their way out of the cave, they were met with quite possibly the eeriest and most out-of-place sight they'd seen on their entire journey.
It appeared to be nothing more than a massive, empty field of darkness dotted by snowy fragments of land and a gigantic vortex of purple light at the far end of the field.
"Whoa," Marie gasped. "These look like... like pieces of other worlds."
"Wait a minute, does that mean that... this is all that's left of worlds that were taken by the Heartless?" Haruka gasped.
"But those worlds will all be restored if we defeat Yaldabaoth, right?" Nick quipped. "That's what everyone's been saying. But... if we actually do manage to take him down, and all of these worlds become restored and disconnected... what's going to happen to this place? What's going to happen to us?"
"That's the one answer I couldn't give ya," Maylin responded.
"This place seems like a Heartless world, so it will probably just disappear completely once its 'component worlds' are restored," Sophia stated. "But I wouldn't be worried, Nick. Even if this world disappears, our hearts will carry on. I know we'll find our friends again soon."
Sophia reached out to hold Nick's hand, understanding what he was probably thinking about.
"Let's go," Nick proclaimed. Nothing more needed to be said as everyone set out through the field.
After a few seconds of running towards one of the tiny land fragments, they seemed to be unable to progress any further.
"Oh, are you kidding me with this invisible wall bullcrap?!" Maylin growled.
Nick looked down at the land fragment, which seemed to be pointing towards the next land fragment just up ahead.
"I think we have to follow the direction that these islands are giving," Nick stated. "See how they're all pointing towards another one further ahead?"
Sure enough, following the direction the pointy end of each island was pointing towards proved to be the way onward.
When the group finally reached the swirling vortex that appeared the way onward, a large sphere of dark energy suddenly descended upon them from above, transporting them to a snowy wasteland with plentiful outcroppings of crystals.
"Um, excuse me?" Marie quipped.
Just then, a bunch of Heartless spawned in the room, mostly Darkballs, but there was also a new type of Heartless, one with black skin, a muscular frame, and a heart-shaped hole in its torso, sharp purple and blue horns that formed the outline of a curled heart, small blue bat-like wings on their back, gold-tipped feathered wings on their forearms, and bluish-purple fireballs under their feet, and their long tails appeared scaly and ended in a sharp, crescent-shaped blade. This Heartless was also carrying a scalloped, blue-bladed sword.
"Okay, I wasn't expecting this ugly punk!" Maylin shouted.
"Any tips on this one, Haruka?" Nick asked.
"Well, I've only fought a few, because these are actually pureblood Heartless and not Emblems, but Invisibles are tough customers," Haruka explained. "They're really good with that sword of theirs, and they like to disappear before surrounding their target with a ring of darkness to blast them. Try to keep moving if they're targeting you, basically."
While Marie and Sophia split off to deal with the Darkballs, Nick waited for the Invisible to attack him first. The Invisible took the bait and swung its sword towards Nick, at which point Nick parried the blow and blasted it back with a Ripple Drive.
After recovering, the Invisible threw its sword into the ground before vanishing, a ripple of darkness surrounding Nick. He quickly jumped into the air as the ring of darkness converged and reformed the Invisible.
Maylin cast Thundaga to wipe out the remaining Darkballs while Sophia summoned Pandora and cast Kougaon towards the Invisible. Naturally, being a light spell, Kougaon dealt massive damage to the Invisible and finished it off.
When the area was clear of Heartless, another sphere of darkness enveloped the group before returning them to the strange field, thus allowing them to cross into the vortex and find themselves in a large but quiet canyon with, of all things, Gummi Blocks scattered all over the place.
"Okay, is that weird to anyone else?" Maylin wondered. "Why are there Gummi Blocks here?!"
"I bet it has something to do with this place being a world made up of the remnants of destroyed worlds," Nick quipped. "If Gummi Blocks are the only real way that interworld travel can be accomplished, it must be related."
"Where do you think Yaldabaoth went?" Marie wondered.
"Just dive into the most dangerous place and I'm sure he'll be waiting for us," Maylin proclaimed.
"I think we need to head down the canyon," Sophia stated. "There does not appear to be a way up."
The group began to hop down the pathways that stretched out across the canyon, making sure not to get caught up in the webbing unless they had to use it to bounce to a higher area.
After a rather harrowing trip, the group reached a swirling vortex of light that appeared to be the only way onward.
"Well, all in who's going in, I guess," Maylin quipped.
After a second to prepare, the group hopped into the vortex, finding themselves standing in what appeared to be Traverse Town's Third District.
"...dare I ask what we're doing in Traverse Town?" Marie wondered.
"I don't think this is actually Traverse Town," Sophia proclaimed. "It appears to be simply a memory-based recreation of Traverse Town."
"Well, then let's get out of here quickly, before..." Maylin stated, only for a bunch of Heartless to spawn around them. "...that. Before that happens."
The group all charged to defeat the Heartless, and though they were comprised mostly of Heartless they'd seen early on in their quest, they seemed stronger here, no doubt due to the nature of this world. But it still didn't take too long to defeat them all, and the door to the Third District opened up again.
But when they entered the door, instead of going back to the Second District, they found themselves in the White House Library in Jinbocho, Tokyo.
"I'm starting to sense a pattern here, really," Nick quipped. "Let's just keep moving before it gets even weirder."
And so it went, each area of the World Terminus taking the group through area from the other worlds they'd explored, where they had to fight groups of Heartless to open the way onward. In all, they explored the White House Library in Jinbocho, the Coliseum in Nordopolica, the Entrance Lobby in Gun Gale Online, the Front Gates in U.A. High, the Mirror Room in the Maze of Illusions, Naraku's Castle in the Feudal Era, the Eggman Outpost on Kronos Island, Queen Beryl's Throne in the Dark Kingdom, and the arena where Nick had fought Specter in the Pipo Storybook.
Finally, the group all found themselves in a strange room that looked like it was a room in Lost Jerusalem's castle, a short hallway blocked by a large Heartless emblem at one end, with a small room to the side. The side-room contained a large machine with a computer console and five capsules on it hooked up to a tank of unknown liquid.
"Oof, talk about your non-standard freaky set," Maylin quipped.
"This machine appears to be known as... 'The Ark'," Sophia stated.
"Have you seen it before, Sophia?" Haruka asked.
"...no," Sophia replied. "The information is just within my Gummiphone database. I do not know why it is."
"Hey, there's a datalog here on this computer," Marie stated as she walked up to the main computer of The Ark. "Sophia, do you think you can crack it for us?"
"Okay, I've got it," Sophia responded, briefly returning to the Gummiphone so she could check out the data on the console.
After a few seconds, text began to appear on the console screen as Sophia jumped back out of the Gummiphone.
Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all 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 the 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.
"...yikes, that sounded ominous," Marie shuddered.
"That text mentioned something about a 'Kingdom Hearts', the 'great heart' to 'encompass all'," Nick quipped. "An aggregate of hearts, combined together to form one massive heart. Do you ladies think that's what Yaldabaoth is trying to do? To find a way to summon this Kingdom Hearts?"
"If that's what he's up to, we need to find him right stat now," Haruka proclaimed. "Let's get the heck out of here."
The group all exited The Ark through the opposite hallway, which was no longer blocked by the Heartless emblem, and back into the World Terminus, where one final gateway was now open. As they passed through the light, they found themselves in a large void almost resembling cyber space, standing on one of three lone hard-light platforms in the abyss.
"Dare I ask what's about to happen?" Nick quipped, summoning Oathkeeper to his hands.
"My name is Arfoire... a name that will signal your demise, and ring the bell of destruction for this hopeless world!"
A rumbling shook the platforms as a thirty-meter tall figure soared up from the abyss. The gigantic figure had pale white skin and a helmet with a red visor that hid her eyes. She had a large device around her neck which had an orange power button at the center with spikes protruding directly from it, and armor along her arms, legs and chest. Wisps of energy flowed out of her chest, shoulder spikes, and helmet. The figure had a violet color scheme and long bright purple hair.
"Whoa, who summoned the kaiju?!" Maylin exclaimed.
"Now, let us begin the banquet of despair!" Dark Purple bellowed, floating towards the platforms and swiping her hands across it. The group all ducked to the ground to avoid the strike.
"Whoa, that was close," Marie stated.
Dark Purple floated away from the platform to fire violet laser blasts from her hands that swept the platforms. Maylin told everyone to get close to her, then cast a Reflect spell around them all that protected them from the lasers.
"Where's the big 'hey, please hit me here' point on this thing, then?" Maylin asked.
"I'm willing to bet that it's that power button symbol on her neck thing," Nick quipped as he used Strike Raid to throw Oathkeeper at the power symbol on Dark Purple's neck before calling his keyblade back and throwing it again.
Meanwhile, Maylin started casting rapid-fire spells to cause as much damage as possible until Dark Purple floated closer to the platforms again.
Sophia took advantage of this, summoning Pandora to cast Bless Amp on herself before casting Kougaon on Dark Purple, the effect of Bless Amp powering up the spell and causing much more damage to Dark Purple.
"How'd you like those apples?" Sophia taunted.
Dark Purple simply spread her arms out, and violet energy began to surround the center platform.
"...did I jinx it by taunting her?" Sophia asked.
"Everyone, get to one of the other platforms, quickly!" Nick shouted.
The group decided to follow Nick's advice and jumped to one of the side platforms as the violet light erupted into an upwards geyser of purple energy.
"Oof, that could have been us," Marie sighed in relief.
Dark Purple raised her hands and snapped her fingers, causing an array of violet lasers to shoot from the spikes on her armor plating. Maylin cast Reflect on herself and Haruka, while Nick and Sophia batted the lasers away with their keyblades and Marie took advantage by moving to attack Dark Purple while it was still close to the platform, swinging Star Cluster to attack the power symbol.
Just when it looked like they were going to triumph, Dark Purple floated far away from the platforms again and fired the giant lasers from her palms, forcing the group to duck underneath the blasts.
"We need to put an end to this before she busts out some big ol' super move!" Maylin shouted.
"Try to lure her close to the platform," Nick stated.
Maylin nodded and cast a Thundaga spell again, this time as a single gigantic thunderbolt that rocketed out to strike Dark Purple in the neck. Dark Purple seemed to take the bait and floated closer to attack.
Nick saw his opportunity, rushed towards the prone Dark Purple and jumped, executing a stylish five-swing combo on the power symbol before floating backwards and aiming Oathkeeper towards Dark Purple, energy gathering into a large sphere around Oathkeeper's teeth.
After charging up just a bit longer, Nick unleashed his gathered energy in the form of a barrage of light projectiles that all homed in on Dark Purple's power symbol, doing enough damage to destroy the symbol and cause Dark Purple to rear back and shout in agony as it collapsed into the void, eventually disappearing completely.
When Dark Purple was finally gone, the three platforms realigned themselves before materializing a staircase that led down into the volcanic crater at the very bottom of this area.
"Yikes, it's getting really ominous now," Marie noted as they went down the staircase and descended into the crater. "I'm sensing powerful darkness all around us."
"That means we must be getting closer to the end of this place," Nick stated. "Here's hoping Yaldabaoth's waiting there so we can take him down."
After making their way through the crater of the thankfully inactive volcano, the group eventually reached a large, glowing chamber with a Heartless insignia blocking the door onward.
Before Nick could take a step closer to investigate, a massive swarm of Heartless of both Pureblood and Emblem Heartless appeared to surround them.
"Should have figured they'd try and ambush us!" Maylin shouted.
Nick wasn't too worried, though, bringing out the Wavecrystal. Both Maylin and Haruka smiled at each other, knowing what chaos was about to ensue.
For the next few minutes, Nick used all six of his summons to battle the insane swarms of Heartless that were appearing to attack them. With every few waves that were defeated, a part of the Heartless insignia would break off.
Finally, after eight waves of enemies, the door ahead was finally fully opened.
"Holy crapbaskets, was that a marathon," Maylin sighed in relief once the battle was over. "I don't think we've ever been swarmed by that many freakin' Heartless before."
"It's probably because we're getting closer to Yaldabaoth," Marie answered.
But as the group crossed through the doorway and into a small cavern with nothing but a mysterious door, Nick noticed that the door in question was eerily similar to the strange door he'd seen on the radio tower in Mistralton after his Dive Into the Heart, before the Heartless had invaded.
Before he could contemplate that revelation, Nick heard a strange voice in his head.
"...did you ladies hear that?" Nick wondered.
"Nope, I don't hear anything but dust and darkness," Maylin quipped.
"...wait. I hear it, too," Sophia answered.
Be very careful. This is the last safe haven you'll find here. Beyond this door, there is no light to protect you. But do not be afraid, for your heart is still the mightiest weapon that you can muster. Remember, you are the one who will open the door to the light.
"That sounded very much like a warning," Maylin stated.
"Maybe something's telling us that the point of no return is waiting for us beyond that door," Marie noted. "Basically, once we step through, it's do or die."
"Well, then, how about we make sure we're ready?" Haruka quipped. "I can actually send us back to the Gummi Ship from here. If there's anything you all want to do before we end this, I suggest we do it now. Because I have a feeling that Yaldabaoth's actually waiting for us."
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Maylin responded.
"So am I," Marie quipped.
"I am ready as well," Sophia proclaimed.
"Yeah, I think I'm ready for this, too," Nick stated. "Let's not keep mister long nose waiting."
No more words needed to be said as Nick reached for the handles of the door and opened it, causing the small room to be flooded by a burst of light.
And when they could see again, they found themselves on the sidewalk of a rather bustling city.
"H-Hold on a second, this is Mistralton!" Nick exclaimed. "This is my home!"
"Wait, I thought your world had been destroyed by the Heartless," Haruka replied.
"It was," Marie quipped. "Something doesn't seem right. Let's keep an eye out."
The group moved into the city, trying to find anything at all that seemed out of place, anything that would hopefully lead them to Yaldabaoth.
Eventually, they went to the downtown area and found the city's radio tower, and sure enough, that strange door was there again, just like when this had all begun.
"Should we check it out?" Sophia asked.
However, when Nick took a step towards the door, something strange happened.
One of the nearby skyscrapers inexplicably tore itself off of its foundation and started falling towards the group, but before they could get their keyblades up to defend themselves, the building had vanished completely.
Other buildings around the city did the same, falling off of their foundations only to disappear before they hit the ground.
"This world has been connected."
"Wait, I remember this voice," Nick quipped, remembering what the weirdo in the brown robe had said to him.
"Tied to the darkness... soon to be completely eclipsed."
The radio tower once again snapped itself in half and collapsed to the ground.
"There is so very much to learn. You do not understand anything."
Most of the city began to disappear bit by bit, leaving only the mostly-empty metropolitan area as an inexplicable floating island above an ominous ocean of darkness.
"A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."
"Well, this looks like a pickle," Maylin stated. "Now what do we do?"
Nick glanced to the west, his eyes falling on a very familiar basketball court, though the building was without its roof thanks to the chaos, and Ellen was standing in the center of the court.
"...Ellen?" Nick asked tentatively. "Is that really you?"
Ellen didn't respond at first, only raising her hands.
"Take a good look at this tiny place," Ellen proclaimed, speaking in Yaldabaoth's voice. "To the heart seeking freedom, this city is a prison, surrounded by towers of concrete and steel."
Nick steadied himself, not knowing what was about happen but preparing himself for anything.
"And so this girl sought out to escape from that prison," Ellen proclaimed. "She sought a way, any way possible, to cross over into other worlds. And in the end, she opened her fragile heart to the darkness."
Ellen turned around to face Nick, her body disappearing and leaving Yaldabaoth in its place.
"Ellen!" Nick shouted, reaching for his girlfriend.
"Don't even bother," Yaldabaoth chuckled. "Your voice can no longer reach her where she is. Her heart belongs again to darkness."
Yaldabaoth chuckled as he started floating around the group.
"After all, all worlds begin in darkness, and all so end," Yaldabaoth proclaimed. "The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it. It grows and consumes it. Such is its nature, am I right? In the end, every heart can only return to the darkness whence it came!"
Yaldabaoth sneered wickedly. "For you see, darkness is the heart's true essence."
"YOU'RE LYING!" all five wielders shouted in defiance as they summoned their keyblades.
"While the heart can be weak at times, and sometimes it does give in," Nick admitted. "If there's anything that I've learned on this journey, it's that deep down, there's a light that can never be extinguished."
Yaldabaoth simply scoffed, floating slightly higher into the air while his body glowed with dark energy.
"So... you have come this far, and still you understand nothing," Yaldabaoth growled.
A demonic-looking figure burst into existence behind Yaldabaoth, a creature with an ink-black, muscular, humanoid form with a partially bandaged head that hosts relatively human features, bearing some resemblance to Yaldabaoth, yellow eyes gleaming above a mouth filled with sharp teeth, two long antennae spouting from the top of its head, a hole between more bandages on its torso in the shape of a heart, much similar to the heart-shaped hole that appeared in many Pureblood Heartless, very large hands, and a torso that came to a tail-like point that faded away into its host's body.
"Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!" Yaldabaoth proclaimed as he started approaching his opponents.
Nick moved in first, just to see if the direct approach would work, only for Yaldabaoth to place his Guardian in front of him to block Nick's jumping strike.
"Well, nuts," Nick quipped.
The Guardian flexed its arms and threw six blood-red energy discs towards Maylin, and while she cast a Reflect spell to defend herself, Nick once again got close to Yaldabaoth, jumped into the air, and hit him with four swings before sending him dipping back with a Hurricane Period.
"You will submit," Yaldabaoth cackled as the Guardian swung its fists multiple times, clearly intending to play keep-away. Haruka slipped in and parried each blow so that Sophia could summon Pandora and cast Kougaon on him, delighted to see him shirk back in pain from the spell. Given that Yaldabaoth was somethin akin to a Heartless at this point, light-based attacks seemed to cause him a lot of pain.
"I will never submit to you," Sophia proclaimed.
"I would choose your next words carefully, little A.I.," Yaldabaoth sneered as he cloaked himself and his Guardian in a dark barrier before barreling forward to attack Sophia.
Marie intercepted the rush by casting Waterga around Sophia, the spinning shield of water protecting her from the dash attack before exploding outwards in a vicious geyser to drive Yaldabaoth back.
"Um, she's a girl, thank you very much!" Nick shouted as he threw Oathkeeper towards Yaldabaoth in a Strike Raid, finishing three throws until the Guardian came out to deflect his next throw.
When the Guardian retreated, Sophia swung her yo-yos out to ensnare Yaldabaoth in his place, allowing Nick to jump towards him and hit him directly in the chest with a horizontal slice. This forced Yaldabaoth to retreat, floating away to the stadium just across the street from the basketball court.
Nick hopped up the broken rafters to get to the top and jump down into the arena, though Maylin, Haruka and Marie were blocked from entry by an invisible barrier. Sophia had managed to transfer herself back into the Gummiphone to get through the barrier, jumping out when she was close to Nick.
"Did the others make it?" Nick wondered.
"Something is blocking them from reaching us," Sophia responded. "We may be on our own for a bit."
Just then, a gigantic pool of darkness appeared on the arena floor, and a Darkside pulled itself out of it.
"Whoa, haven't seen you in a while, huh?" Nick taunted. "Sophia, let's take it down."
"Roger that!" Sophia proclaimed.
The Darkside just stood there initially, but after a couple seconds, it very slowly lifted its right hand into the air before slamming it down quickly. Nick and Sophia had to jump to avoid the shockwave that punch created, and when they landed, they saw the Darkside's arm stuck inside a pool of darkness that began spawning Shadows.
Sophia slashed at the Shadows that spawned while Nick attacked the Darkside's hand, happy to see that he was leaving visible gashes in its hands with each slice.
Eventually, the Darkside pulled its hand out of the dark pool, and the pool faded away, leaving Nick and Sophia to wait for its next attack.
While it just ambled around and did nothing, Sophia raised Super Yo-yo and summoned Pandora to cast Diarahan to fully heal Nick from any damage he'd taken over the course of the previous battle.
The Darkside kneeled down and thrust its chest out, gathering energy in that heart-shaped cavity in its chest and launched it as a flurry of dark homing shots that came straight for Nick and Sophia.
Sophia quickly swung Super Yo-yo to parry the blasts, sending them flying back into the Darkside's head.
Before Nick could do the same, the Darkside created a large ball of darkness in its right hand, then shot it into the sky. A few seconds later, small blobs of dark energy began to rain down from the sky, forcing Nick and Sophia to stay on the move.
Nick continued to bat the orbs back to Darkside's head until it did its fist slam attack. This time, though, Nick and Sophia jumped over the strike so they could land on and run up its beefy arm, taking them right to the Darkside's face.
"Yeah, you're screwed now!" Nick shouted.
"Say goodnight!" Sophia shouted.
The two wielders performed an X-slash across the Darkside's face that caused it to collapse and explode into wisps of darkness.
"All right, Yaldabaoth, how about you stop stalling and get your crooked face out here so we can cave it in?!" Nick challenged.
Yaldabaoth obliged, floating down into the arena from above.
Sophia immediately went on the offensive, jumping forward to cast Kougaon on Yaldabaoth, only for him to charge away with his Guardian and avoid the light blast.
At the other edge of the arena, the Guardian flexed its arms before throwing them upwards, sending two waves of dark energy across the ground and separating Nick and Sophia temporarily.
"You insolent little boy," Yaldabaoth cackled as he approached Nick. "When I say 'submit', YOU SUBMIT!"
The Guardian lashed out to punch Nick and send him tumbling backwards, but then the Guardian detached itself from Yaldabaoth and possessed Nick momentarily.
"W-what did you...?" Nick gasped before the Guardian came out and lifted him up by his arms, leaving him wide open as Yaldabaoth surrounded himself with a large purple energy sphere and floated into Nick, damaging him severely before throwing him into a nearby wall.
"You are going to regret that!" Sophia shouted, brandishing Super Yo-yo as she doubled back to cast Diarahan on Nick, only to be force away as the Guardian returned to Yaldabaoth.
"Why do you insist on this pointless struggle, little A.I.?" Yaldabaoth laughed.
"My name is Sophia, and I am more than an artificial intelligence now," Sophia shot back. "I am humanity's companion!"
Sophia charged in to attack Yaldabaoth while the Guardian was reforming, sending him skidding back with an overhead chop before casting Makougaon, hitting a wider area with her light spell and driving Yaldabaoth into the ground.
"My strength returns," Yaldabaoth proclaimed as the Guardian again detached from him and dove into the ground.
Pools of darkness appeared underneath Sophia, so she kept running to avoid the Guardian as it shot up from each of the different pools in an attempt to catch her.
"Do not deny your fear," Yaldabaoth stated. "The final darkness is nigh. What exactly do you hope to accomplish?"
Sophia dive-rolled away from the Guardian again, only for it to float to the center of the arena and unleash a powerful dark shockwave before returning to Yaldabaoth.
"Why delay the inevitable?" Yaldabaoth laughed. "There is no hope for you."
"How about you shut up?!" Sophia shouted, summoning Pandora to cast Kougaon on Super Yo-yo and charge towards Yaldabaoth. Sophia jumped into the air and brought Super Yo-yo down onto Yaldabaoth's head, a great burst of light erupting from the point of impact that severely damaged Yaldabaoth and forced him to retreat for the moment.
When Sophia saw droves of darkness running over everything in sight, she quickly made a beeline to Nick and cast Diarahan on him, fully healing him just as the darkness swallowed everything.
After a few seconds, Nick opened his eyes to find that Maylin, Haruka and Marie had rejoined himself and Sophia, but they were all floating through an endless void of darkness with a small white island in the distance. Resting on that island was a massive door, along with what seemed to be the silhouette of a gigantic black heart behind the door.
"You fools," Yaldabaoth proclaimed, his words echoing through the void. "Behold the endless abyss. Within this place awaits the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts! Look as hard as you are able with your feeble human eyes. You will not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From these depths of darkness are all hearts born, even yours."
A loud rumbling caught the group's attention, and they all followed it to the source, only to gasp in shock at what they were seeing.
Floating there in the abyss was a titanic battleship and easily one of the largest Heartless they'd ever seen, one that seemed to be almost entirely organic and made of twisted, discolored flesh, its body very long and flat on top, its face is on the front tip of its body, and its main core located on top of its body towards its rear, the core covered by a twisted, dark pink cage. At the top of this cage, Yaldabaoth was floating there, surgically attached to a much larger version of his Guardian.
"DARKNESS CONQUERRS ALL WORLDS!" Yaldabaoth shrieked.
A bunch of dark portals opened up across the World of Chaos that sucked everyone except Nick into one of them before closing up, leaving Nick to fall down into the endless abyss.
...this can't be how it ends, Nick thought. After having come this far?
"Giving up already?"
Nick gasped in shock when he heard Ellen's voice talking to him.
"Come on, Nick, I know you're stronger than that."
Despite his body seemingly fading away into the darkness, Nick could still hear Ellen speaking to him. He wasn't sure if it was just a figment of his imagination, if Ellen was subconsciously fighting back, or if his own mind was projecting what he thought Ellen would probably say to him.
"I know my own boyfriend pretty well, I'd like to think. Now get back up there and trash him."
Yaldabaoth looked down at the abyss and grinned wickedly.
"He put up quite the resistance," Yaldabaoth chuckled. "But in the end, even he did not stand a chance against..."
Then, a small spark caught his eye.
Then, the abyss was quiet again.
Nick burst out from the darkness, flying upward with determination in his eyes. Nick flew upwards until he was about level with Yaldabaoth's giant Guardian before floating slightly back downwards, doing a stylish flip, and summoning the Kingdom Key to his hands.
"We end this now, Yaldabaoth," Nick proclaimed.
"Very well, then," Yaldabaoth shot back, summoning a falchion-esque sword with a red, purple and blue blade shaped like a demonic wing.
Nick flew forwards to approach Yaldabaoth, parrying the swing from the Soul Eater and returning the favor with a Gravity Break, in which Nick dipped back before performing a powerful overhead strike that caused a sphere of Gravity magic to explode outwards from where he'd hit Yaldabaoth.
"Looks like that one hurt," Nick taunted.
"Return to darkness, boy!" Yaldabaoth shouted, slicing Soul Eater through the air and forcing Nick to fly backwards. One thing Nick noticed about this massive battleship was that Yaldabaoth seemingly couldn't chase him due to being surgically attached to the Guardian by long, fleshy cables.
Knowing this, Nick flew back in to attack Yaldabaoth, only to be repelled when he shrouded his body in a veil of purple light. Nick waited for the barrier to fall before attacking Yaldabaoth again.
In the middle of his combo, though, orbs of light started forming around the Guardian before eventually shooting lasers that forced Nick to back away until they subsided.
"See if this will enlighten you," Yaldabaoth laughed as he sliced Soul Eater downward and caused a barrage of dark energy blades shaped like Soul Eaters to rush Nick. He quickly glided to the side to avoid the blades.
"Oof, that was close," Nick quipped. "Did not want to be swiss cheese of darkness there..."
Nick flew back upwards to resume his assault on Yaldabaoth, parrying another Soul Eater swing before repaying him with a Zantetsuken.
This knocked Yaldabaoth backwards, but when Nick attempted to pursue, Yaldabaoth dispelled his Soul Eater and placed a large Heartless insignia over himself, most likely to recover.
The Guardian seemed to go inert when this happened, so that gave Nick some room to breathe.
"First things first," Nick quipped. "I need to rescue my friends. But where are they?"
Nick flew backwards to give himself a better view of the World of Chaos, and that's when he saw a dark portal in front of the cage protecting the ship's core.
Nick flew towards that portal, going straight into it and finding himself in a pitch-black room where the only light came from the floor, which was emblazoned with the Heartless insignia.
A horde of Shadows all materialized to swarm Nick, but as he raised his keyblade to retaliate, a great burst of light shined down from above and destroyed a good number of Shadows.
Nick looked up to see Sophia hanging from the ceiling before dropping down to greet him.
It didn't take much longer to mop up the remaining Shadows, and when the last one was defeated, a strange, sinewy strand appeared on the edge of the room.
Nick jumped towards it, destroying it with a Hurricane Period and causing another portal to open so that Nick and Sophia could escape the room and back to the outside of the World of Chaos.
"All right, what's the game plan?" Sophia asked.
"Yaldabaoth's dormant right now, so I'm taking this opportunity to get you guys out of whatever creepy place he yanked you into," Nick responded.
All of a sudden, laser beams began to shoot towards them from the blobby artillery cannons dotting the side of the World of Chaos.
"Oh, flake off already!" Nick shouted, casting a Thunder spell to destroy the cannon that had shot at him.
Sophia looked up towards the Guardian to see that another dark portal had opened in front of it.
"I believe that is where we should go next," Sophia proclaimed. "Let's hurry."
Nick and Sophia flew towards the portal even as the Guardian came to life and blew them back with a massive gust of wind. Nick hit the Guardian with a Strike Raid to stop the gusts, then called his keyblade back so he and Sophia could enter the portal.
Inside another similar room, Marie was swinging Star Cluster to fend off a small horde of Darkballs that were attempting to take a bite out of her.
Sophia cast Makougaon to drive the Darkballs away, which allowed Nick to cast Thundaga to wipe out a few of them.
"Need some assistance, sis?" Nick asked.
"Thought crossed my mind," Marie teased.
Working together, the three wielders were able to clear out the rest of the Darkballs and expose another Room Core. This time, Marie did the honors of attacking it until it imploded, re-opening the portal to allow them to exit.
When they returned to the World of Chaos, the Guardian stayed still once again, though now the ugly-looking face at the front end of the ship was moving around.
"That doesn't look pleasant, does it?" Marie quipped.
"I think we have to destroy the face to move on," Sophia stated.
Nick, Marie and Sophia all flew downwards to the front of the World of Chaos to do battle with its grotesque face.
Sophia started off with a Kougaon, followed by Marie whacking it in the face three times before finishing with a light-tinted spin attack. Nick hung back to cast spells, given that the only real attack the face had was a bite, and the World of Chaos' other artillery guns were too far away to hit them effectively.
Occasionally, the face would surround itself with lightning bolts, but given that they could fly, it was easy to dodge.
Eventually, the face roared loudly before stiffening up and leaving its mouth open, a portal of darkness forming in its gaping maw. Nick, Marie and Sophia all flew into the portal, finding themselves in another mostly-dark room where Maylin and Haruka were fighting off a swarm of Invisibles.
"You having a good time with these things?" Nick quipped.
"We've been better," Maylin admitted as she blasted an Invisible back with a Blizzaga spell.
"We've been worse, too," Haruka teased as she drove an Invisible into the floor with a jumping strike.
"How about we set Laura loose on them? For ol' time's sake?" Nick responded, holding up the Wavecrystal.
"I like the way you think, buddy!" Maylin laughed as she and Haruka vanished from sight.
A large whirlpool of water sprouted underneath Nick, but didn't suck him in. Nick raised the Wavecrystal to the sky, and bursts of ocean water exploded from it and flew into the whirlpool. Nick looked down to see Laura swimming through the whirlpool for a few seconds before she jumped out of the pool to finally reveal herself to Nick.
Laura looked at Nick before smiling happily and swimming through the air on a current of water to hug him tightly before spinning around him to face down the army of Heartless alongside him.
One of the Invisibles lunged forward, but Laura simply raised her hand to create a barrier of water around Nick that bumped it backwards so they could go on the offensive. Laura leaped high into the air before coming down with a big splash that did big damage to the Invisible.
Nick noticed that the splash attack actually left a pool of water where Laura had landed.
Knowing what that meant, Nick continued to move around the battlefield, occasionally jumping alongside Laura to create a pool of his own and blasting Heartless away with each leap they made.
While they were leaping through water pools, every now and then Nick fired a blast of water from his keyblade to deter any Invisibles from interrupting their watery dance.
Eventually, as the remaining Invisibles closed in, Nick and Laura decided that it was time for the finale, and they dove into a larger pool of water before jumping out of it, high above the battlefield, and thrusting their hands towards the Heartless. All of the pools they'd created during their rapid-fire jumping erupted with concussive water blasts that flooded the entire nearby area and utterly obliterated all of the Heartless that got caught in the torrent.
When the water cleared away, all of the Heartless that had attacked were gone. Her work finished, Laura swam over and planted a kiss on Nick's cheek before vanishing in an outwards burst of water that reformed into the Wavecrystal in his right hand.
When the Room Core appeared, Maylin did the honors by casting Aeroga offensively, battering the core with blades of wind until it imploded and opened the portal for them to leave.
When they all returned outside, the face of the World of Chaos rattled slightly before exploding, leaving a rather nasty gash where the face had just been.
This act seemed to have dissolved the barrier around the ship's main core, so the group all flew back upwards to destroy that.
Thankfully, the core really didn't put up much of a fight to speak of, mainly a few artillery cannons that Maylin and Haruka easily destroyed so Nick could focus on attacking the core.
Once the core had exploded, the entire World of Chaos rattled from the force of the explosion, Yaldabaoth reawakened, the Heartless insignia protecting him vanishing as he re-summoned the Soul Eater.
("New Era" by SixTONES plays)
"I think this is it, everyone!" Maylin shouted. "We just have to take him down one last time!"
"Oh, is that so?" Yaldabaoth taunted, raising his Soul Eater. "Now I think it's time for you weak-hearted fools to witness real power!"
Yaldabaoth pointed Soul Eater behind him, towards the abyss in the background. A gigantic black hole of dark energy opened up just behind the Guardian, right as Yaldabaoth aimed his weapon towards the keyblade wielders. Electricity
hissed inside it and the void began shooting meteors of glowing energy
at the five wielders who started flying around like mad to avoid the blasts.
"Still confused? Then maybe this will enlighten you!" Yaldabaoth shouted as he clasped his hands together to make the void explode, sending everyone flying back and landing back on the lower deck where the main core had been.
"Are you ready to give up?" Yaldabaoth laughed.
Nick glanced at both Maylin and Haruka, who had the same idea.
Nick raised his keyblade, as Maylin and Haruka did the same, two bright red orbs of light flying from their keyblades into Nick's keyblade. Nick then did a few flips and leaps before stabbing his keyblade into the ground, creating a magic circle on the ground at the point of impact. A larger sphere of light appeared above him as the magic circle expelled blasts of light upwards, and finally, the orb sent out multiple beams from it in a wave that severely damaged everything in the vicinity, Yaldabaoth included.
"Is... is this the answer?" Yaldabaoth gasped. "It... it can't be!"
The Guardian began imploding violently, the fleshy cables connecting Yaldabaoth to it snapping and vanishing as the World of Chaos glowed brightly, then self-destructed in extravagant fashion, leaving behind only a very weakened Yaldabaoth.
"You... you were stronger than I expected," Yaldabaoth admitted, clutching his shoulder. "But... it is futile in the end. The keyblade alone... cannot seal the door to darkness."
Yaldabaoth spun around towards the giant door in the distance, reaching out to it like he was praying to some strange god.
"Kingdom Hearts!" Yaldabaoth proclaimed. "Fill me... with the great power of darkness!"
The door to darkness slowly began to open up, droves of darkness attempting to slip through the cracks in the door.
"Yes, yes!" Yaldabaoth cackled. "Supreme darkness is mine!"
"You're wrong, Yaldabaoth," Nick proclaimed. "I'm sure there's probably a great darkness behind that door, but you forget that the brightest light is what casts the deepest shadows in the first place."
Nick placed a hand over his heart. "I know now, without a shred of doubt in my heart. Kingdom Hearts... is light!"
As if responding to Nick's proclamation, a blinding blast of light burst through the door, driving the darkness back and completely enveloping Yaldabaoth.
"L-Light..." Yaldabaoth gasped. "B-But... but why?!"
What power... It surpasses mine own... once again, I am defeated... Damn that Igor... once again spouting nonsense that turns out to be true...
And with those final thoughts, Yaldabaoth, the God of Control, was destroyed by the overwhelming light of Kingdom Hearts.
The keyblade wielders flew down to the island where the Door to Darkness rested, as while a great light had shined through, there was also a lot of darkness hiding behind that door, and they needed to close it quickly.
"Um, you guys, we may have a problem or two," Maylin quipped, pointing to just ahead, inside the Dark Realm, where thousands upon thousands of Heartless could be seen converging and making a beeline for the door. "There's that, and the simple fact that this freakin' door won't close!"
Just as Nick was trying to figure out what to do, a hand appeared from the other side of the door.
"Come on, Nick, don't give up!" Ellen shouted, having recovered her body and heart thanks to Yaldabaoth's destruction. "We can do it together!"
However, as they all tried to close the door from both sides of it, stronger Heartless began to appear, inexorably marching towards them.
"Oh, we are in trouble," Sophia sighed.
At that precise moment, however, something lunged towards the swarm of Heartless, destroying the horde rather easily with a wave of light.
"Wait, who was that?" Marie wondered.
But Maylin and Haruka knew that person more than anybody, the person they'd been searching for this whole time.
"Emperor Clow!" Maylin and Haruka exclaimed.
Emperor Clow Reed nodded before raising his hand and, much to Maylin and Haruka's shock, summoned a keyblade. It appeared to be a mirror image of Nick's default keyblade, the Kingdom Key, and this was reflected in its coloration, where Nick's Kingdom Key had a silver blade and keychain and a golden guard, Clow's had the opposite color scheme.
"All right, everybody, let's close this door once and for all," Emperor Clow proclaimed.
"Yeah, close it, quickly!" Maylin shouted.
"Don't worry, Nick, you can trust Emperor Clow," Haruka answered.
"But he'll be stuck there!" Nick exclaimed.
"Don't worry about me," Emperor Clow responded. "There will always be a door to the light."
"We might wanna hurry!" Haruka shouted.
The group pushed with all their might, the door finally starting to move.
As they continued to shut the door, Nick caught one last glance of Ellen, who was smiling brightly towards him.
"Take care of yourself."
Just then, Emperor Clow raised the Kingdom Key D and fired a small blast of magic from its tip, pushing Ellen out of the dark realm just as Nick and his friends finally shut the Door to Darkness.
Nick jumped backwards and raised the Kingdom Key high into the sky, stars and light energy gathering around it, while Emperor Clow did the same thing on the other side of the door.
The Door to Darkness shined majestically before dissipating completely, leaving only a winding pathway on the island where it had once been.
Once the door had disappeared, seemingly endless shooting stars began to rain upwards from the abyss, creating a strangely beautiful-looking reverse meteor shower.
"I... I guess this is it, huh?" Maylin quipped, nervously shuffling her feet. "I knew this was probably gonna happen, ever since Ziggy said so in Lost Jerusalem..."
"W-wait, what exactly is happening?" Ellen wondered. "Are we going home now?"
"I think so," Haruka stated. "All those lights are the hearts the Heartless took from the worlds. Now that Yaldabaoth's toast and Kingdom Hearts has been sealed away, all those hearts are going back where they came from."
"Which probably also means that the walls dividing the worlds will be restored, too," Maylin sighed.
"Hold on, so... is this goodbye?" Marie asked, and she almost immediately regretted it when she saw Maylin actually crying.
"I'll never say goodbye," Maylin cried. "You all are my best friends, and yes, that includes you, Ellen."
"Why, though?" Ellen wondered. "I thought you hated me for what I did to all of you..."
"To be fair, now we know that you were being manipulated by Ichinose and controlled by Yaldabaoth," Nick responded. "You kinda didn't have a choice in the matter, really."
"And we'll find a way to come and visit you guys again," Haruka proclaimed. "If there's one thing that keyblade wielders are known for, it's persistence. We won't give up until we can find a way through the walls to see you again."
"Well, if this is it... put 'em here," Maylin quipped, extending her hand. Nick placed his on top of hers, followed by Haruka, Marie, Sophia, and even Ellen in turn.
"This isn't goodbye," Maylin stated.
"It's more like... 'see you later'," Haruka replied.
"No matter where we go or where we're taken to..." Marie proclaimed.
"Our hearts will bring us together again," Sophia responded.
"We'll always find our way back to each other," Nick quipped.
"No matter how long it takes," Ellen proclaimed.
As the light shower eventually became far too bright to see properly, the six keyblade wielders all muttered one final phrase before they were separated.
"May your hearts be your guiding key."
When Nick was able to open his eyes again, he noticed that he and Marie were back in the Kelly household. The first thing Nick did was run to the window and look outside. Ever so thankfully, Mistralton appeared to have been completely restored to normal, not reflecting any damage from the Heartless invasion.
"...we made it home," Marie gasped. "We really made it."
Nick turned around, wondering if he could still summon his keyblade. He raised his hand and clenched his fist, and the Kingdom Key flashed into Nick's hands. Marie did the same to call Star Cluster to her hands.
"I guess our keyblades are sticking with us," Marie quipped. "Just wish I could say the same about the others..."
Nick sighed in realization when he noted that Maylin and Haruka weren't with them. "Yeah, I knew it was going to happen, but that doesn't mean it's easy to accept it, you know."
"Um, sorry, but is this the right time?"
Surprised by that voice, Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out his Gummiphone, and couldn't help but smile when he saw the face of Sophia on the screen.
"Sophia, you're okay!" Nick shouted.
Sophia giggled before turning into a red ball of light and leaving the Gummiphone, her physical body forming right in front of them.
"I wouldn't have missed it for the world," Sophia giggled.
"Wait, I thought you went back to your own world, Sophia?" Marie asked.
"It appears that my world was one of the worlds that Yaldabaoth destroyed with his own power, so there was nothing to reform," Sophia admitted. "Besides, I'd much rather stay here with all of you."
"Wait, what's today?" Marie asked.
"I believe it is Saturday," Sophia answered.
"Hey, your girlfriend's basketball game is today!" Marie shouted. "We must have been taken back to right before the Heartless invaded."
"Oh, crapbaskets, I'd better scoot, then!" Nick proclaimed, dashing up the nearby stairway back to his room so he could re-dress for the game and head out, Sophia jumping back into Nick's Gummiphone so she wouldn't arouse any suspicion.
("Yume Sekai" by Haruka Tomatsu plays)
Marie couldn't help but smile as she watched Nick tear off for the high school, just like before. Despite everything that had happened, those two were still head over heels for each other.
I guess that's just how things always will be, Marie thought.
Maylin and Haruka bowed to Queen Su Yung, wondering how she would take the news of Emperor Clow's decision to stay trapped in the realm of darkness.
Surprisingly, Su Yung simply waved it off, knowing that Emperor Clow had been through crazier situations before.
Maylin suddenly heard a commotion down near the Gummi Garage, so she bolted off to investigate, only to find that Tomoyo had leaped to tackle-hug her girlfriend Sakura Kinomoto, who had just returned from her magic training.
Haruka just chuckled. Some things never changed, apparently.
The camera dotted around the city until it focused on what appeared to be the I-Jin clone of Gennai Hiraga talking to another man holding a long staff. The man with the staff glanced at the camera before the feed cut off.
Mister Joker told Yomiko and Nancy that this had been the last video the satellite had taken before it had been destroyed. Drake guessed that they might have found another I-Jin, though Joker admitted this was all the data they had.
Joker then stated that Yomiko and Nancy were off to India, where another batch of rare books had been stolen. As Yomiko got excited, Joker had to remind her that, if they found that other I-Jin, to at least attempt to bring him in alive this time.
As Shion returned to the Coliseum in Nordopolica, having heard rumors of a strong opponent here, she looked across the arena floor and saw an old-looking professor standing there.
The professor began cackling about his latest and greatest creation, one that would surpass anything his father had created before.
Shion raised her M.W.S., the Miyuki Special, as the professor summoned a gigantic battle robot into the arena, proclaiming it as the robot which would subjugate all other robots, Erde Kaiser Omnis.
Shion just inwardly wondered how many more Erde Kaisers she'd have to fight in her lifetime before charging in to attack it amidst the cheers of the crowd.
Sinon whipped her sniper rifle around to fire a shot at the bugger who thought he'd been too clever, catching him with a perfect headshot and destroying his avatar, thus eliminating him from the tournament.
She looked back down towards the field where the bulk of the BoB was taking place, and chuckled when she watched Dyne and Ginrou flailing around like madmen.
Sinon then heard footsteps behind her and turned to meet her opponent.
Much to her pleasure, it was Kirito.
Ready to keep her promise of taking him down in the next BoB, Sinon refitted Hecate and started aiming for Kirito, who simply took out his photon sword and prepared to charge.
Eri looked out the window towards a shooting star she'd seen sailing through the sky and ran to the window to look at it.
She smiled brightly, happy she was able to smile again after class 1-A's amazing performance at the festival.
As both Izuku and Ochako came in to see how Eri was doing, she started chattering excitedly about the shooting star.
Ochako had to suppress a giggle at how cute Eri was being, while Izuku just smiled.
The group returned to Baguji's Island, declaring their intent to head off after Leorina to retrieve the Element she'd stolen.
Though Baguji asked to observe the other Elements, Popka suddenly realized that this person didn't smell like the Baguji he was used to.
His suspicions were quickly proved correct when 'Baguji' revealed herself to be Leorina, now holding all four Elements.
The Elements began to shine with blinding light as Leorina declared her intent to "make them all pay" with the power of the Elements before vanishing.
("Hikari" by Utada Hikaru plays)
Inuyasha continued to sniff down the scent of another demon, one who Kagome had sensed was carrying a Shikon Jewel shard.
Before the group could proceed any further, however, a demon puppet emerged from the ground and transformed into an avatar of Naraku.
Despite knowing this wasn't the real deal, Inuyasha was more than pumped to start fighting, even as he told Miroku to stay back, given that there was a swarm of Saimyosho approaching.
Kagome nocked an arrow and aimed it for Naraku, intent on keeping her promise to never forgive him for what he'd done.
Sonic continued to dodge the shockwaves from the Giganto's feet until he managed to find a vantage point in which to start climbing up the Giganto's titanic frame, assisted by the blue speeder rings much like the ones on the Asura.
Eventually, Sonic reached Giganto's head, where the last vault was waiting for him. Sonic raised his hand to retrieve the violet Chaos Emerald.
With all seven Chaos Emeralds now in hand, Sonic floated into the air and transformed into Super Sonic before flying upwards, then floating downwards to meet the Giganto, his arms crossed as he gave a "you're in trouble now" smile.
Usagi woke up in her bed, wondering what that strange dream had been about, though she was quickly jolted back into full consciousness by the shouts of her mother.
Realizing she was going to be late for school if she didn't hurry, Usagi sped around the house and tore off down the street, not noticing the black cat sitting on a nearby fence post.
On her way to school, Usagi couldn't help but reflect on her dream, where she'd been apparently helping a guy wielding a key-shaped sword.
But she'd ruminate later, when she wasn't late to class.
The Elsa (or at least, the Gummi Ship version) continued to sail through the vast reaches of space after setting out from Lost Jerusalem, still searching for the rest of their friends.
Just then, the ship's sensors picked up something interesting just ahead.
MOMO moved to the viewscreen console so she could isolate it and get a good look at what they'd picked up.
To everyone's surprise, it was a blue-haired battle android who was unfortunately missing an arm and both of her legs.
But Shion didn't care.
She had finally found KOS-MOS.
Shion began shouting at Matthews to bring KOS-MOS on board. Outside, KOS-MOS opened her blue eyes, laid them upon the Elsa, and smiled.
"Yeah, Ellen! Drive those suckers to their knees!" Nick shouted as the opposing team closed in on the home team's star player, Nick's girlfriend Ellen Baker.
Despite the other players surrounding her with clear intent of not letting her reach her destination, Ellen wasn't impressed, using her svelte frame (she wasn't "scrawny", she was "svelte", there's a difference) to easily weave through any attempts to rob her of the basketball she dribbled down the court before passing the ball off to her forward.
Just as planned, all of the opposing team went for the forward before she unexpectedly passed the ball back to Ellen, who now had a clear shot to the net.
Despite knowing what was about to happen, Nick stayed silent to let the moment play out.
"Thanks for giving me an opening, suckers!" Ellen laughed as she leaped with all of her strength to slam the ball into the net, causing the crowd to erupt in cheers.
By the time the final buzzer had sounded, the scoreboard in the gymnasium displayed the results proudly. By a score of 109-93, the Mistralton Mashers high school women's basketball team had punched their ticket to the tournament's final round.
And Ellen was feeling pretty good about her role in securing their team's victory, especially as her boyfriend came up to congratulate her.
"Way to go, Ellen!" Nick exclaimed. "You wiped the floor with those posers!"
"I still can't believe they fell for the oldest trick in the book," Ellen giggled, tying her long, blonde hair back into a left-facing ponytail. "Gotta thank Liz for coming up with that one. And just like that, we're heading to the finals!"
"Here's hoping we're ready, though," Liz responded. "Those Southtown players are no pushover, honestly."
"Hey, I'm feeling pretty confident about your chances," Nick quipped.
"That's because you're dating our star player, ya goofball," Michelle laughed.
"Well, that may have something to do with it," Nick laughed. "But really, she's your star player for a reason. You girls are gonna clean house at the finals!"
When the team split apart to head back to their activities for the day, Nick and Ellen stayed behind on the basketball court for just a bit longer.
"I'm glad you managed to drag yourself out of bed on a Saturday morning just for lil' ol' me, Nick," Ellen giggled, her emerald-green eyes sparkling at the thought.
"I'm not normally a morning person, but you know that I wouldn't have missed this for the world," Nick answered. "And now you're off to the finals to take the Mashers to their first title in seven years. I'm so proud of you, Ellen."
"Aw, stop, you're making me turn into a tomato," Ellen laughed through her blush, only stopped when Nick leaned in to kiss her, a kiss she gladly returned. "I guess I'll see you later, then?"
"Sleepover at my place, like we promised," Nick replied.
"Looking forward to it," Ellen replied.
As she walked back to her teammates, she winked to Nick, and he knew what that wink meant.
Later on, as Nick and Ellen walked towards the Kelly household, Ellen tried to think of a way to say what she'd been thinking ever since their world had been restored.
Eventually, she decided to get the ball rolling.
"...I'm sorry."
"For what?" Nick asked.
"You know what, Nick," Ellen answered. "I was so sure you were going to hate me for the things I did, the things I said..."
"And I said it's okay, Ellen," Nick responded. "Now that I know who was responsible for changing you so drastically, you don't have to worry about a thing."
Ellen smiled, raising her hand to summon Starlight back to her hands, which she noticed was back to its original brighter colors.
"I'll definitely never make that mistake again," Ellen sighed. "Thank you for never giving up on me, Nick."
Ellen stopped walking and leaned over to kiss Nick, a kiss he whole-heartedly returned.
"I love you, Nick."
"I love you, too, Ellen. Now let's get back to my house before Marie hogs all the brownies again."
"Yeah, she's not getting away with that again!"
And as Nick and Ellen started running towards Nick's house, laughing all the way, they just missed hearing a familiar voice saying something.
Remember, Nick. You are the one who will open the door to the light.
Kingdom Hearts: Key to Her Heart re:Verse
~The End~