On Today's Episode: Finally, the trinity returns to Alola Town to see what exactly is going on there, but along with having to contend with yet another member of the Organization, there's also a mysterious Heartless on the prowl, and it somehow feels familiar to Nick. Not only that, but somebody that Nick knows is chasing this particular Heartless, fully intent on destroying it...
Episode 11: In Order to Change My Fate
"Things look as normal as they were last time, really," Maylin admitted as the trinity disembarked at the Tram Common area.
"That's usually where the trouble likes to hide," Nick quipped. "We should probably stay on our guard."
No sooner had Nick said that than Acerola, a member of Bede's group, came frantically running down the cobbled brick street.
"H-Help, the... the sandlot!" Acerola exclaimed.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Acerola," Nick responded as he kneeled down to calm Acerola down. "What's happening?"
"B-Bede's been attacked," Acerola gasped. "These... these strange white creatures just swarmed us. I barely got away from them..."
"Nobodies," Haruka stated. "Guess it's a good thing we're here after all, huh?"
"You just get somewhere safe, okay, Acerola?" Nick answered. "We'll go and take care of those weird creatures."
Despite her worries, Acerola nodded and continued running towards Sunset Heights, leaving the trinity to summon their keyblades.
"Let's take care of business, ladies," Nick proclaimed.
"Oh, you know it," Maylin chuckled.
The trinity all made their way to the Sandlot, where, just like Acerola had said, Bede, Gary and Silver were all sprawled out on the ground while a small group of Dusks slithered around them.
"We can handle things from here," Sophia proclaimed. "You all just get to safety."
Bede simply grabbed Gary and Silver and led them away from the Sandlot so the trinity could go on the offensive.
Nick let a couple Dusks surround him before getting rid of them with an Explosion, while Maylin cast Magnet, gathering a bunch of Dusks into one spot so that Sophia could cast Kougaon and obliterate them all.
However, more Dusks spawned in alongside a much larger Nobody. This one had a well-muscled, bronze-colored upper body with thin upper arms, its forearms mostly covered in large cylindrical silver gauntlets and blocky black hands. Its waist and upper legs were silver, its lower legs were cylindrical and grey, the silver and grey halves of its legs separated by a steel blue knee brace, and it had a rather small black and cylindrical head with a silver helmet. It was carrying a long, T-shaped bronze hammer as a weapon.
"Okay, that doesn't look pleasant," Haruka admitted.
The Berserker lunged forward and swung its hammer, and Nick was just barely able to swing Uber Sheep hard enough to parry the blow.
"Jeez, this thing's a tough little bugger," Nick quipped.
Regardless, Nick ducked around the Berserker, since that large hammer mostly protected it from the front, and started swinging Uber Sheep to slash it across the back, eventually ending in another Explosion that destroyed the Berserker and a couple Dusks that had tried to be sneaky.
"Yeah, you weren't all that," Nick chuckled.
"NICK, WATCH OUT!" Sophia shouted, but her warning came too late, as another Berserker spawned just above Nick and came crashing down with its hammer, the shockwave from the impact knocking Nick into the air.
The Berserker attempted to swing its hammer again to send Nick flying, but Sophia intercepted the strike with a slash from Super Yo-Yo, then ran over to catch Nick, summoning Pandora to cast Diarahan on him.
"...oof, that was not my finest moment, was it?" Nick admitted. "Thanks for saving my bacon, Sophia."
"Praise accepted," Sophia giggled as she swung Super Yo-Yo to parry another Berserker's hammer swing.
Nick noticed that this had separated the hammer from its owner, and Nick moved to grab it, floating in the air slightly as he moved towards the remaining two Berserkers that had spawned in.
As the Berserker he'd taken the hammer from tried to wiggle through the air and snatch it back, Nick swung the hammer down three times, each strike sending them both higher into the air, before Nick swung the hammer around like mad, easily destroying two Berserkers at once.
"Huh, that's pretty effective," Maylin quipped as she used a Gravity spell to flatten the last remaining Berserker so that Nick could take its hammer and dispatch it the same way.
"Okay, that should be the last of them, right?" Haruka wondered.
"...sadly, I think that was just the first round," Nick admitted as a corridor of darkness opened up at the opposite end of the Sandlot, allowing another member of Organization XIII to walk out.
"Gotta say, that was quite impressive," No. 6 chuckled. "By the way, have you seen a particularly nasty Heartless flitting around here?"
"...wait, you sensed it, too?" Sophia gasped.
"Well, yeah, that thing's caused enough damage," No. 6 quipped.
"Why the heck are you guys in the mood to destroy Heartless?" Maylin wondered. "Wouldn't the chaos that the Heartless cause only help you hooded weirdoes?"
"Normally, yes, but this one is different," No. 6 answered. "It needs to be stopped before its wrecks our contingency plans. ...that being you."
"Oh, gee, thanks for 'looking out for us', buddy," Nick retorted. "I think we can take care of ourselves, though."
"Glad to hear it," No. 6 chuckled. "After all, it would really break our hearts if something were to happen to you."
"...you really expect us to believe that crack when you don't have hearts?" Maylin challenged.
"Well, it's true that we don't have hearts, but..." No. 6 replied as he pulled down his hood to reveal a bulky, muscular creature with dark gold skin and large hands, white nails on his fingers and toes, white hair on his head, facial hair consisting of a moustache and beard, and some hair on his shoulders and wrists.
"We do remember what it was like," Daruk stated. "And that makes us special. We know the inner workings of a heart, and that makes it all too easy to injure one."
Daruk raised his right hand, and in a flash of dirt and rocks, summoned his weapon to his hands. The weapon in question was about a meter long, and had a blue handle roughly half the length of the blade, the top and bottom of the handle ending in spikes resembling those on the Nobody logo. The blade was mostly black with a red edge and several other red patterns decorating it, the top of the blade curving noticeably and the tip flat and fanning out. The bottom edge of the blade was serrated, sporting a square pale yellow counterweight on the opposite side of the handle as the blade, and the guard was decorated with black lines on the corners and a thin, red X on the top side.
"Let's get it on, kiddies!" Daruk laughed as he rushed forward to start attacking, his body glowing with a bright yellow aura.
Nick charged forward as well, swinging Uber Sheep to try and parry the incoming swing, but Daruk's Skysplitter was surprisingly much stronger and the swing broke through his guard and sent him flying backwards.
"Sorry, but you'll have to try harder than that," Daruk taunted before twirling around and slamming Skysplitter into the ground, uprooting a few rocks that tumbled towards Nick.
Haruka quickly planted herself in front of Nick and swung Divewing multiple times to cut through each rock.
"Ah, finally, someone to challenge me in strength," Haruka giggled.
"You wanna go, then?" Daruk proclaimed. "Let's go!"
Daruk marched forward and swung Skysplitter again, but Haruka actually managed to parry it, though it did push her back slightly.
Not deterred, Haruka lunged forward and swung Divewing upwards, knocking Daruk back and dispelling the aura surrounding him.
"There's your chance, Nick, go and wail on him!" Haruka exclaimed.
Nick did so with gusto, leaping over Haruka to knock Daruk down with a jumping slash, followed by a Flash Step that sent him skidding backwards.
"Don't be fools now," Daruk proclaimed as he re-powered up, his aura larger now than it was before.
Nick attempted to try and catch him off guard, but Daruk intercepted him and slammed Skysplitter into the ground three times, each strike dredging up a pillar of rock that forced Nick to jump away.
"Nick, incoming!" Haruka shouted, though her warning came too late.
Nick dodged away from another rocky pillar, only for Daruk to jump closer and kick Nick up into the air before jumping after him, then using the hooked blade of Skysplitter to slam him back into the ground, creating an upheaval underneath him that damaged him further.
"I'll heal him, you two focus on taking him down!" Sophia exclaimed.
"Roger that," Maylin quipped as she decided to hang back and start casting spells from afar while Haruka got in close and decided to get physical.
"That's the second time you've saved my bacon today, Sophia," Nick chuckled.
"No thanks are necessary," Sophia giggled. "I'm just doing my duty as a friend."
Haruka continued to clash with Daruk, even managing to slip a few hits in, though said hits didn't seem to stagger him any longer.
Knowing what she had to do now, Haruka waited for another horizontal swing, parried that, then struck with another upwards slash to remove Daruk's aura and stagger him.
Nick quickly rushed over there, deciding not to try and use a Drive Form. He just had a weird feeling that he probably shouldn't risk it against a member of the Organization, and that Antiform might do more harm than good against someone like this.
"This is for the powerbomb, you jerk!" Nick exclaimed as he landed four clean hits before finishing with another Explosion, happy to see that this move naturally broke through Daruk's already impressive defenses.
Before Nick could continue attacking, though, Daruk powered himself up again, his aura now incredibly large, before jumping into the air and floating high and away.
"...I'm not liking this," Maylin groaned.
"SCATTER!" Sophia shouted as Daruk came flying back towards the Sandlot.
The trinity all wisely ran away to the edges of the Sandlot as Daruk came back and jammed Skysplitter into the ground, unleashing a massive upheaval of rock and granite that covered almost the entirety of the Sandlot.
Thankfully, when the rocks all receded, Daruk was simply standing there exhausted, that attack having clearly taken a lot out of him.
Sophia wasn't going to waste this opportunity, summoning Pandora while she ran towards Daruk to charge her keyblade with light magic.
Just as Daruk was attempting to stand back up, Sophia jumped towards him and swung Super Yo-Yo. Daruk attempted to use his Guardian spell, Daruk's Protection, to create a bright red polyhedral barrier around himself, but Sophia's charged keyblade was too much, breaking through the shield and striking him in the face.
A great burst of light exploded outwards from the point of impact, and this seemed to do enough damage to finish the fight, as Daruk collapsed to his knees, his body starting to dissolve.
"...I guess... you were the ones who beat Urbosa, I bet," Daruk sighed. "That meant... this was probably a fight I shouldn't have picked. Congrats, kiddies. And one more thing... you just keep on fightin' those Heartless, you got me?"
"And why would you want us to do that?" Haruka asked.
"Maybe you'd be better off telling us how to find your hideout, so we can take care of the rest of you," Nick retorted.
In response, Daruk just chuckled.
"Don't be reckless, boy. Do you want to end up like her?"
With that, Daruk had spoken his last, his body fading back into darkness, but his last words only left the trinity even more confused.
"...what did he mean by that?" Nick wondered. "End up like who?"
"Hey, why don't you get out of my town now?" Bede growled as he, Gary and Silver re-entered the Sandlot. "I think you've caused enough chaos here."
"Oh, way to be grateful," Maylin groaned. "Let's just get going, you guys."
"Hold on a second," Bede cut in.
"Will you make up your mind already?!" Maylin sputtered.
Bede held up a large trophy decorated with an abstract wave, four crystals slotted into parts of the wave.
"This goes to the strongest guy in Alola Town," Bede proclaimed.
"That's cool, but we don't really need it," Nick admitted, even though Bede marched up and shoved it into his hands regardless.
"You're simply better than me right now," Bede grudgingly admitted. "I saw your fights with those things. You can have that trophy now, but I'll be getting it back soon enough."
As Bede and his gang left the Sandlot, Haruka used her wrist device to teleport the trophy to the Gummi Ship, just so it wouldn't get in their way.
"Hey there!"
The trinity looked up to see Lana running towards them.
"Your name's Lana, right?" Nick asked. "I just wanted to make sure, since it's been a while."
"I get that a lot," Lana chuckled. "My younger brother used to call me 'Lance' until he was older, but... I gotta ask, Nick, do you know a girl named Marie?"
"M-Marie?! I sure do, that's my sister!" Nick gasped. "Did you see her?"
"Well, you should come to Sunset Station," Lana replied. "We'll explain everything there."
The trinity all followed Lana up the Station Heights towards Sunset Station, though Nick could have sworn he'd seen something strange gliding behind them, but every time he looked, it was gone.
Eventually, they reached Sunset Station, and Lana started pacing around while waiting for Mallow and Selene to show up as well.
"I sincerely hope Mallow's not dilly-dallying again," Lana groaned. "This is not the time for that..."
"Um, pardon my French, but what the hell is that?!" Maylin shouted, pointing towards the sky, where she could see something floating down towards them.
It turned out to be a large black Heartless with the shape of a roughly humanoid torso, wearing a black robe that faded into white tendrils at its base, draping sleeves that ended in pink points, a tall pointed headdress covering its head and long neck with a criss-crossing design ending in a flair at the shoulders resembling white hair or feathers, and glowing yellow eyes peering through a skull-shaped mask. A heart-shaped hole was cut through its chest, marking it as a Pureblood Heartless, bordered by a bright pink design on its robe, three chains dangling from under it ending in pink spikes that hung at alternate heights. Clutched in its hand was a grey staff with a black headpiece that also featured a heart-shaped hole through it.
"What is that monster?!" Lana gasped.
"That's not like any Heartless I've ever seen," Haruka stated. "And I've seen some nasty ones."
Nick, however, was staring intently at this particular Heartless. Why did it feel so familiar to him?
"Hey, watch out over there!"
Nick spun around so fast that he almost gave himself whiplash at that familiar voice, only to see his girlfriend Ellen Baker charging up Station Heights, then jumping off of the archway to get enough elevation to slash her Starlight keyblade at the Lich, driving it backwards.
"Look, you guys need to get out of here," Ellen stated. "It's not safe for any of..."
The instant Ellen turned around, though, she noticed Nick standing there in wide-eyed surprise.
"N-Nick?!" Ellen gasped. "What the heck are you..."
Suddenly, the Lich flew back towards Ellen, taking advantage of her distraction to launch a barrage of fireballs towards her, but Nick raised his own Starlight to cast Reflect and block each shot.
"Guess we don't have time to talk right now, huh?" Nick quipped.
"Yeah, I've been chasing this thing all over the place," Ellen answered. "You wanna rip it apart together? For old times' sake?"
"Exactly what I was thinking," Nick chuckled.
The Lich simply scoffed and cast a tornado spell underneath them, but Ellen jumped to the side and swung Starlight to catch the Lich off guard so that Nick could jump and start attacking.
In the middle of Nick's combo, though, the Lich vanished and teleported away, an afterimage taking its place for a brief moment. Nick quickly dropped down to the ground and dodge rolled away as the afterimage exploded.
"Okay, so that's gonna be annoying," Nick groaned.
"Maybe we gotta hold it in place so it can't do that afterimage trick," Ellen quipped.
"Ooh, me, me, I got this!" Maylin laughed, running over to the edge of Sunset Station while dodging more fireballs from the Lich, before casting Gravity on it, pressing it down into the ground.
Ellen took point this time, charging in to land a vertical upwards slash from the left leg, then a long rush forward with a diagonal spinning slash, and then a lightning-fast array of a left horizontal slash, a right horizontal slash, an upward swing, and finally, a vertical downward slash that, much to everyone's surprise, was tinted with dark energy.
"Wait, I didn't know you could still use dark powers!" Maylin gasped.
"Honestly, I didn't either," Ellen admitted as the Lich broke out of the Gravity spell. "I thought I'd lost those powers for good after you guys slapped Yaldabaoth out of my body, but I think I regained some of them when I started chasing the Lich."
"Wait, you've been chasing this monster?" Haruka wondered.
"Yeah, for about six months now," Ellen sighed.
Something clicked in Nick's mind. Six months ago. According to Lillie, Nick had been in the Metaverse for six months recovering from whatever had damaged his heart. His last memory before waking up was six months ago, on his way to Ellen's basketball game before encountering...
...this very Heartless.
"It was you," Nick growled as the Lich stared him down. "You're the one who damaged my heart, you freak."
The Lich answered by waving its staff and throwing six large discs of electricity towards Nick. Sophia jumped in and cast Kougaon to obliterate the discs.
"You're in big trouble now, you monster!" Sophia exclaimed as summoned Pandora, then swung her yo-yos around for a bit, striking the Lich multiple times, before switching back to her keyblade and pointing it forward, causing Pandora to shoot out five large beams of light energy in a fan shape, eventually causing an upward surge of light that blew back the Lich.
Ellen took advantage of this chance to jump into the air and start attacking the Lich with a horizontal slash to the left, then a horizontal slash to the right, an upwards spinning slash, and finally a diagonal vertical slash from the right shoulder, tinted by darkness, that ended up being the finishing blow.
The Lich collapsed to his non-existent knees, its staff clonking it on the head as it reached out futilely before falling silent, its body dissolving into dark wisps that quickly evaporated.
"There," Ellen proclaimed. "You can go and suck on that."
"Is that where you've been, Ellen?" Nick asked. "You were chasing this thing?"
"...yeah, I was," Ellen admitted. "No way in hell was I going to just let that thing get away with trying to kill you like that, Nick. The Lich wasn't like other Heartless. It doesn't take hearts to create more Heartless, but it instead ushers hearts down into the abyss of darkness. And... that's basically death, anyways."
Ellen leaned against the railing by Sunset Station. "I think it was trying to do that to you, but I caught it before it could finish the job, and then it started running," Ellen explained. "I'm just grateful that I re-discovered my dark powers then, because I could re-open corridors of darkness and keep up the chase. This thing's been slippery, no doubt, but I'm glad I got some help this time."
"So... are you going to stay with us, then?" Maylin wondered. "You got what you wanted. You caved that thing's face in, right? So, why not hit the road with us?"
"You'd... you'd really have me?" Ellen gasped. "I mean, I didn't know if you were still sore over what I did, and..."
"Hey, we already told you, we know that Yaldabaoth was influencing you, and that guy's toast," Haruka answered. "Just come with us, okay? I know that Nick's been missing you terribly."
Despite her own worries, Ellen couldn't help but let a few tears fall as she leaped forward to hug Nick. They both smiled at each other before leaning in for a long overdue kiss.
"I missed you, Nick," Ellen giggled.
"I did, too," Nick replied.
"HEEEEEY!"
The group all turned towards the archway just in time to see Mallow and Selene running up Station Heights towards them.
"You guys missed something epic, you know," Lana chuckled.
"I always do," Mallow groaned.
"Okay, not to sound rude, but can we please cut to the chase?" Nick wondered. "How do the three of you know my sister?"
"Well..." Mallow sighed, unsure of how to word this.
"She just came out of a strange hole in the wall a few days ago," Selene answered. "She told us who she was, and she said she was looking for you."
"Do you know where she is now?" Haruka asked.
"That's... the hard part," Lana admitted.
"Sounds like you guys have been through quite a lot, huh?" Mallow laughed once Marie had finished explaining herself.
"I'm surprised you believed me so easily," Marie admitted.
"If this was before the start of the school year, I might not have," Mallow quipped.
"Why don't you stick around here with us, then?" Lana offered. "I'm sure Nick will be coming back soon. He did say he would."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Marie stated.
"Oh, Marie, what took you so long?"
Marie quickly jumped back to her feet when a corridor of darkness opened up in the room, and Pyra walked out of it.
"Guess I figured you'd be here, huh?" Pyra chuckled. "I gotta say, Marie, you've got a lot of guts just jumping head-first into the darkness like that."
Both Mallow and Lana rushed to try and attack Pyra, but she simply dodged them and went straight for Marie.
"Um, yeah, no," Marie taunted, summoning Star Cluster to her hands and rushing to slash at Pyra.
Pyra juked around Marie, cursing the fact that she couldn't really move much in this cramped room, summoned her Aegis Sword, and slammed its pommel right into Marie's neck, instantly knocking her unconscious.
Her job finished, Pyra picked up Marie and walked back into the corridor of darkness.
"Oh, Marie..." Nick sighed, reaching into his pocket to pull out the star-shaped keychain that Marie had gifted him so long ago, thankful he hadn't lost this to the Lich.
"Sorry, dude, we tried everything we could," Mallow groaned.
"It's not your fault," Nick answered. "Those Organization creeps are no joke, after all. But we gotta go and find my sister."
Nick attached the charm to his keyblade, wondering if this would still work. After a few seconds, his keyblade transformed. This keyblade had a shaft displaying two hearts, its handle bore two angel wings, and the teeth were fashioned in the shape of the Japanese kanji for "light".
"Hey, you got it back!" Maylin gasped.
"I didn't think it would still work," Nick admitted as he swung Oathkeeper a few times. "I'm just glad it did."
"Guess that means you've all gotta go?" Selene asked.
"Yeah, we have to go find Marie," Haruka quipped as she used her wrist device to teleport the Four Crystal Trophy back to her hands. "Here, you can have this. Bede gave it to us after we saved him from some Nobodies."
"Bede gave you that?!" Mallow gasped. "He must not be feelin' good..."
Mallow reached out to grab the Four Crystal Trophy, but she just missed and the trophy fell to the ground, dislodging the four crystals from their perch. Mallow, Lana and Selene each grabbed the green, red and yellow crystals while Nick picked up the blue crystal.
"Ooh, man, that was close," Lana sighed in relief.
Nick held the blue crystal towards the sun, noticing how it shined when held up to the light.
Nobody noticed at that moment, but a transparent image of Lillie seemed to overlay itself over Nick.
"Y-You okay, Nick?" Ellen asked.
"I... I guess so," Nick admitted, not sure where that had come from.
The blue crystal in Nick's hands suddenly began to glow and float into the air.
Nick held Oathkeeper aloft as light energy began to swirl around the keyblade's teeth before projecting the image of a crown symbol, same as his pendant, underneath him.
Wind began to swirl around Nick until he found himself in the middle of a rusty-orange starry sky. The blue crystal shined brightly before firing a burst of light into the sky that eventually formed into a large keyhole.
Nick jumped back and twirled Oathkeeper around a couple times before firing a beam of light from the keyblade into the keyhole. Reality seemed to shatter around the keyhole for a brief moment before light began to shine from it, and after a loud "CLICK" resounded, Nick found himself back at Sunset Station.
"Whoa, what was the light show for?" Mallow asked.
"A new road is open," Nick answered. "And my sister is waiting somewhere along that road."
"You'd better hurry it up, then," Selene chuckled. "Don't keep your sister waiting, 'kay?"
"You gonna come back?" Lana asked.
"Of course we are," Maylin quipped.
That was enough for Mallow, Lana and Selene, who waved goodbye as they ran back towards the Usual Spot.
However, before Haruka could teleport them all back to the Gummi Ship, a horde of Dusks suddenly materialized around them.
"Oh, why don't you go and flake off already?!" Maylin shouted. "We've got places to be, you know!"
Before Nick could start attacking, though, his body was suddenly surrounded by silver light, his clothes glowing that same color. Sophia was also glowing the same silver color.
"Is... is that...?" Sophia gasped.
"I think you know what time it is, Sophia," Nick chuckled.
Sophia nodded happily as she ran forward, leaping to hug Nick tightly. An explosion of silver light erupted from Nick's clothes, and Sophia vanished from sight.
When the light cleared, Nick was now wearing a red jumpsuit with a long zipper running through the middle, ending in puffy shorts with a silver crown imprinted on the knees, and his crown pendant hanging from his neck. Over his jumpsuit, Nick wore a black hoodie that was blue on the inside and black on the outside with white sleeves ending in grey edging, a silver crown imprinted on the sleeves. Nick was also wearing white gloves on his hands with blue black and yellow straps, and yellow and black shoes with belt straps holding them closed.
"Wow, this form looks pretty unique," Maylin admitted.
"Yeah, usually the outfit's color just changes and gets a new logo," Haruka noted. "This outfit is completely different."
"Gotta say, you look good in that one, too," Ellen giggled.
"Well, I'm not one to brag," Limit Form Nick chuckled, speaking in a mixture of his voice and Sophia's voice. "Now let's see what we can do, shall we?"
One of the Dusks slithered through the air and tried to slap at Limit Form Nick, but he countered by raising Oathkeeper to parry, though the stance resembled what he'd done on his first adventure.
With the Dusk stunned, Limit Form Nick ripped forward with a Zantetsuken, an overpowered forward chop, instantly destroying that Dusk as well as another one that had wandered too close.
Limit Form Nick stayed on the offensive, lunging towards another Dusk with a Sliding Dash, then hitting with a Slapshot, and juggling it into the air with an Aerial Sweep.
"Hey, I think he got most of his old moves back!" Maylin laughed.
A Berserker wandered towards the party, but Limit Form Nick was ready this time, blitzing forward with Sonic Blade, a swift series of super-fast dashing strikes that pierced through the Berserker's defense.
A pair of Dusks slithered forward and tried to ambush him, only for Limit Form Nick to swing Oathkeeper upwards and blast them both back with Ripple Drive, a crystalline red bubble of magic that exploded around him.
Limit Form Nick continued the barrage with Strike Raid, a move where he threw his keyblade towards one of the Dusks, called it back to his hands, and threw it again.
Another Berserker shambled towards the party while this was happening.
"Man, where do all these Nobodies keep coming from?!" Maylin shouted.
"Hey, Nick's kicking their butts, and that's enough for me," Haruka chuckled.
Limit Form Nick parried the Berserker's hammer swing before lashing out with Ars Arcanum, a savage flurry of keyblade strikes that left orange trails of light with each swing.
Still more Dusks came flying towards him, but Limit Form Nick leaped to meet them and destroyed them with a Hurricane Period, a spinning backwards somersault that left trails of light around him.
And finally, one last Berserker tried to get the drop on him from above, but Limit Form Nick countered it with Ragnarok, striking it with a stylish five-swing combo before floating higher, energy gathering around Oathkeeper's teeth before he fired it in the form of a barrage of light lasers that destroyed the Berserker and the last remaining Dusks.
Once the Sunset Station was finally calm again, Limit Form Nick landed gracefully on the ground before splitting back into Nick and Sophia.
"Okay, that was awesome!" Maylin laughed. "You got all your old moves back!"
"Eh, sort of," Nick admitted. "I think I can only use those moves in Limit Form, but hey, it's better than not having them at all."
"Very true," Sophia giggled.
"All right, if we're finished with the Nobodies, let's get on the move, shall we?" Haruka stated as she teleported all five of them back to the Gummi Ship.
Inside the White Room, No. 1 of the Organization pondered what had happened recently. A column of darkness erupted from one of the lower seats to reveal No. 7.
"It looks like Daruk passed on the message as we hoped he would," No. 7 stated. "He told Nick to keep defeating the Heartless."
"Good, good," No. 1 chuckled. "Not only can you inflict pain, you can also plant the seeds of doubt in a... 'receptive' heart. Nick will surely begin to doubt himself. It will cause him to hesitate, and that will turn into anger, which will fuel him to get rid of his apprehension and move forward, paving the way for the future that we desire."
"There's... something I've been meaning to ask, if I may," No. 7 wondered. "Can Kingdom Hearts truly allow us to rewrite our destinies? Sometimes it seems like fate is against us no matter how much we wish otherwise, no matter how much we try..."
"With the power of Kingdom Hearts, even destiny will fall before us," No. 1 proclaimed. "The heart of everything that exists. The wondrous power that can reshape reality. With Kingdom Hearts at our command... nothing will be beyond our reach. I can assure you that."
"Wow, this is a really nice ship you guys have," Ellen giggled once she'd taken her seat. Naturally, considering the events of the previous adventure, she'd never been inside the Gummi Ship before.
"Haruka really is a master at her craft," Maylin chuckled.
"I wasn't at first," Haruka admitted. "Remember my first attempt at building a Gummi Ship? It was a twisted mess that wouldn't pass for street legal."
"Hey, are you okay, Nick?" Sophia asked when she noticed that Nick looked slightly sad.
"It's just... we still haven't made any headway in finding Emperor Clow, and now I've lost my sister again, too," Nick sighed.
"There's no need to be sad, Nick," Sophia replied. "Remember, you're the key that connects everything, just like Lady Eris said. Just do what comes natural to you and we will find Marie again."
"...you know, sometimes I don't know what I'd do without friends like all of you," Nick laughed as both Ellen and Sophia leaned over to hug him.
"Well, buddy, that's what we're here for," Maylin giggled. "To make sure you won't ever have to find out what that's like."
"Uh-oh," Haruka gasped, shifting around in her pilot's chair.
"I didn't like the tone of that 'uh-oh'," Ellen quipped. "Is something wrong?"
"Look over there," Haruka answered as she turned the Gummi Ship towards Lost Jerusalem. A large cloud of sinister-looking darkness was hovering just over the structure that represented the world.
"That's... not supposed to be there, is it?" Nick noted.
"We should go and check things out," Sophia proclaimed. "They might need our help."
As Haruka piloted the Gummi Ship towards Lost Jerusalem, Nick once again felt a strange feeling, something deep in his mind that was warning him of an incoming crisis.
This was the calm before the storm.
But what that storm would bring, Nick could only guess at this point.
To be continued...
Keyblade acquired!
Oathkeeper
Strength: 7
Magic: 7
Length: 98
Ability: Form Boost (Increases the duration of each Drive Form. Equip more to further increase the duration.)
Description: A keyblade that represents a promise between siblings.
Drive Form acquired!
Limit Form
Form Focus: Merge with Sophia to utilize your abilities from your previous adventure.
Drive Gauge Points Needed: 4
Experience Points: Gain 1 EXP for every finishing move performed during a limit.
Action Abilities
Combination Guard: Blocks enemy attacks with Guard by pressing [] during a combo.
Slapshot: Rapidly attacks a nearby target without getting flung back.
Sliding Dash: Instantly closes in on and attacks a far target.
Aerial Sweep: Unleashes a powerful leaping attack on targets in midair.
Zantetsuken: Unleashes a finishing combo move on a single target. This powerful attack can instantly eliminate weaker enemies.
Ripple Drive: Unleashes a finishing combo move when surrounded. Damage dealt is relative to magic skill.
Hurricane Period: Unleashes a powerful finishing combo move consisting of an aerial barrage.
Zantetsu-Counter: Unleashes Zantetsuken by selecting Attack while guarding.
Limit Abilities
Sonic Blade: A Limit Command that unleashes an attack on an enemy as you pass by. Press /\ at the right tempo for a combo. (60 MP)
Ars Arcanum: A Limit Command that unleashes a powerful combo attack. Press /\ at the right tempo for a consecutive combo. (75 MP)
Strike Raid: A Limit Command that allows you to throw the keyblade at the target. Press /\ at the right tempo for a combo. (65 MP)
Ragnarok: A Limit Command that that allows you to shoot lasers by pressing /\ after an aerial combo. (80 MP)
Growth Ability
Quick Run: Dodge enemy attacks by tilting the left stick and pressing []. More efficient at higher levels.
Support Abilities
Drain: Restores Nick's HP whenever a Limit Command lands.
Draw: Draws in and obtains nearby orbs. Equip two to obtain for orbs.
Lucky Lucky: Will bring luck by increasing the drop rate of items. Equip to the whole party to further increase the drop rate.
MP Rage: Restores MP relative to the amount of damage taken. Equip more to increase the effect.
MP Haste: Increase MP restoration speed by 25% after MP is fully consumed. Equip more to increase the effect.
On the next episode...
Ellen: Wow, I didn't think any of this was here.
Maylin: Well, a lot happened in the year we were gone, so...
MOMO: Hey, everyone, we found something really interesting!
Junior: Yeah, we found Yaldabaoth's computer.
Nick: His what?
Sophia: He doesn't seem like the type to use computers.
Haruka: And apparently, there's a whole world inside that computer?
Maylin: We need to find that computer quickly. It might be able to tell us just what the hell we're up against.
Nick: I guess we're going to find the computer room next time on Kingdom Hearts: Key to Her Heart re:Verse II, "System Command"!
Nick, Maylin, Haruka, Ellen and Sophia: May your hearts be your guiding key!