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We know what you’re thinking: Nevermind Sora! To the save point!

So, Sora got enveloped within a dream all because this whole event was planned by the Organization. Riku found Sora, but he disappeared, leaving Riku to slay the darkness within him.

He has now returned to the skyscraper outside the Organization’s castle in Sora’s part of the world. But where is Sora?

The World That Never Was

Once you regain control, go northwest and use the Moogle Shop and Save Point. Then try heading north to the next area and you will suddenly have Riku fall asleep.

Sora suddenly awakens to find Mickey, Donald, and Goofy running away. We find Sora to be in his Kingdom Hearts II clothing - does that mean he’s out of the dream? The effect is only temporal, though.

He suddenly comes across Naminé, which is a little weird since she is supposed be inside Kairi. Suddenly, she transforms into Xion - Roxas’s friend from 358/2 Days - which is even weirder, since she is supposed to be inside Sora! She merely flees without a word.

You then learn about this world’s Reality Shift, Nightmare’s End, which is no different than the one Riku had. Once you regain control, go north and use the Save Point and Moogle Shop, then head northward.

Finish the fight, scale the wall with Flowmotion, then go northeast to another roof with a chest containing a Shield Cookie 3 . Go to the building which has the Portal mark on the map. Scale the ridiculously-tall thing and open a chest for Salvation .

Then use the Special Portal and win using at least three Flowmotion attacks to obtain 65 DP , a Wild Fantasy , and a Royal Cake . Afterwards, since you likely were forced to move far away, let’s begin somewhere arbitrary. See those striped buildings on the map? Just south of there is a chest with a Water Barrel .

Hang in there Sora; the nightmare’s almost over…

Use a Reality Shift on the building to the north to break it. Go on up, then west onto the blue buildings to get launched up a little. Continue along and hit the ground to the south. Here in the northwestern area, you can find a Drak Quack Recipe .

Head into the southwestern area to find a Savage Fantasy - scale the southwestern rooftops to reach it. Go along to the building northwest of the Save Point to find a Dulcet Fantasy .

Go along the building path as before: fully this time. Beat the nearby enemies and open the chest for an Elixir . Continue west to the big open area, and go to its southernmost parts for a Dream Candy . Go north to the next area.

There, Sora meets up with … Roxas!? Wasn’t he a part of Sora? Roxas speaks of how many hearts are connected to Sora’s. Sora wants Roxas to be his own person and, suddenly, the bubbles of memories Roxas experienced flood into Sora and Roxas himself disappears, leaving Sora upset and angry at, I guess, Organization XIII.

Suddenly, Riku’s voice echoes from above, telling him to wake up. But how?

Once you regain control, go forward and open the chest for a Block-it Chocolate 3 . Go along the linear path eastward until white-striped buildings come up to block you; use Reality Shift to cut them down. Ascend one of the northern buildings to get Ars Arcanum .

Continue eastward and let Sora do his thing by cutting down more buildings. Go along the lower western path near the building bases to find an Elixir . Hug the outer edge as you go southeast to find another chest; be sure to open it. Continue along the path some more, remembering to open the chest past the Flowmotion rail to get a Confetti Candy 3 .

Further along, when the path splits between a high road and a low road, go low to find a Wondrous Fantasy at the end. Scale the nearby wall and use the nearby Portal from Squall - win using at least three Flowmotion attacks to get 25 DP , a Grim Fantasy , and a Shield Cookie 3 .

Continue along the path some more, hugging the outside of the loop, to reach another chest, this one holding an Ice Dream Cone 3 . Then continue along to the next area.

There, at the Nightmarish Abyss, continue along to the Save Point and the Moogle Shop. Use them and go along the building path.

This is it! The final stretch! Remember to save before proceeding!

As you cross, you seem to meet up with Riku and Kairi - they suddenly turn into Terra and Aqua, while you somehow turn into Ventus, the three Keyblade wielders of Birth by Sleep.

They walk off, everyone transforming into their normal form. Sora tries to follow, but to no avail. Riku’s voice again echoes from above, telling Sora to stop and wake up! The fake Riku and Kairi disappear and Sora arrives at the Memory Skyscraper. A bright light shines…

… and we see Sora and Riku as kids meet up with Aqua, I presume. They chat for a bit and her image is replaced by Ansem! A bright comet shines down back in The World That Never Was, landing right in front of Xigbar. Sora has apparently woken up.

During their chat, Sora gets the idea that those Nobodies have hearts: Axel, Roxas, Naminé, and Xion, included. According to Xemnas, he’s sort of right. He also reveals that the experiments that he was doing on the heart, as a human, was to find a way to control the mind and make it a slave.

But one can get rid of their own heart, and the body will look desperately for a substitute. Xemnas knew that, after dividing into Heartless and Nobodies, it was temporal; they would become human again.

Sora asks why Xemnas had to lie and tell the Organization they had no hearts - he’s obviously speaking specifically about Axel, Roxas, and Xion.

Xigbar suddenly speaks, revealing the whole plan about the second artificial Kingdom Hearts - filling a bunch of empty Nobodies with Xehanort. Good thing we screwed that up! That included Xigbar, so why did he want to? Then it is revealed that Xigbar is already half Xehanort, which is odd…

Xemnas then speaks that most of the members of the Organization were inadequate for this - they may have been unwilling, untrusting, or just weak. They never could get a heart. Of course, Xemnas expected this.

Sora is offered a choice - join with the Organization, or fight. He knows that he is strong because of the people he met, and that is why he received the Keyblade. He cares not that the Keyblade didn’t really choose him as he had thought for years; at least he got to help the right side.

And so, Xigbar leaves Sora to Xemnas. Or is it the other way around?

Boss: Xemnas

**Max HP** **Strength** **Magic** **Defence**
443.4 12.5 12.3 6.0

Resistance

**Fire** **Blizzard** **Thunder** **Water** **Dark** **Light**
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Your HP increases for winning.

After the fight, you’ll get a Glossary entry on Recusant’s Sigil - it was part of a phrase Xemnas shouted before the fight…

We also see Xemnas disappear and the darkness has surrounded Sora. The young Xehanort comes by, claiming that Sora has lost. He has come to the deepest part of his sleep, with no hope of awakening, and is extremely tired. He points out the “chi” emblem on Sora’s chest. (Or it is an X.)

It tells Sora’s enemies where Sora is. That was how he was followed. It seems, though, that Xehanort needs Sora … or, really, will be left of him - Roxas. That day, all of the Xehanorts were meant to come there and welcome Sora as the Organization’s thirteenth member once again.

The darkness around Sora strengthens, and Xehanort says that he has no more knowledge of the future; what he has told Sora is what he knows. The young Xehanort decides to return to his time. And Sora will be enveloped into eternal slumber and his body, Roxas, a vessel for Xehanort.

We see Sora in the lowest, thirteenth chair of the Organization’s throne room, then Sora falling. A light comes to Sora and glows brightly, enveloping Sora in armor resistant to the darkness. It protects him. Further above, a light still shines. There is still hope.

You’ll receive a Glossary entry on the hearts that are tied to Sora.

Go northwest and use the Save Point and Moogle Shop, and continue onward.

In the next area, you’ll look upon the Organization’s castle at the dead end. Riku believes he is in the real world again, but has his Dream Eater powers, so Sora is still asleep. Suddenly, Riku hears a Spirit in the distance, one of Sora’s. But how does he get to it.

Now this is… most definitely the final stretch! Really.

Suddenly, Riku’s own Spirit comes out and he gets the idea. Use Reality Shift on the Spirit and use Flowmotion to go to the castle. He arrives in the throne room of the Organization and finds Sora, but is attacked by the young Xehanort.

Riku is shocked to find that Sora is meant to be a vessel for Xehanort (but is obviously also shocked he, too, was supposed to be one, until he resisted the darkness). Roxas would have been a good choice, but he became aware of himself and ended up returning to Sora.

Xehanort reveals the true plan of Organization XIII - to divide Xehanort’s heart amongst thirteen vessels, much like the thirteen dark pieces of the X-blade. Sora and Riku made it apparent that certain members wouldn’t work. Suddenly, as Xehanort says it, the true Organization XIII arrives on their thrones.

Xehanort reveals that he is from the past, and that his future self told him to bring the splintered versions of himself here today. He then says that his most future self will arrive soon. Time for them will then return to normalcy, and young Xehanort will return to his own time to live out what he has in store.

Suddenly, King Mickey arrives, casting Stopza, the most powerful of all the Stop chain of spells, stopping all time, except for Riku and he in the area. Mickey tells Riku to grab Sora so we can go, then someone appears and brutally strikes Mickey from behind.

This someone … is none other than Xehanort, animated by the darkness and the power of the Keyblade, who envelopes the area in darkness, leaving he and Riku alone to fight.

Boss: Young Xehanort

**Max HP** **Strength** **Magic** **Defence**
325.2 12.6 12.8 6.0

Resistance

**Fire** **Blizzard** **Thunder** **Water** **Dark** **Light**
20% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

No time to waste! Use Reality Shift as soon as you can!

After that, you’ll literally be fighting time. You have go to fight that clock and Xehanort does not plan on holding back any longer. He will be absolutely brutal beyond any extent seen so far. The only way I was able to survive was with luck and a link.

You will easily have a few Game Overs, so don’t get freaked if you do lose. I’d probably find it hard not to lose three or four times.

After the fight, Mickey checks up on Riku. Suddenly, dark ripples appear everywhere. That means, Xehanort is definitely here!! He reveals what you already know - that he was meant to come here today, a complete being welcomed by his twelve other selves.

Xehanort tells Mickey why he is doing this. In ancient times, the times of the original Keyblade War, light was thought to be a gift from Kingdom Hearts. However, Kingdom Hearts was guarded by its counterpart, the X-blade. All wanted the light; so began the Keyblade War.

The clash forced the X-blade to split into twenty pieces - seven of light, and thirteen of darkness. Then the real Kingdom Hearts was engulfed by the darkness and never seen again. Xehanort once tried creating his own light and darkness to try to re-forge the X-blade, but failed.

He admits he was rash and did not know how to re-forge it in reality. Mickey then exclaims that his “little accident” greatly changed the destinies of, I suppose, Aqua (who died for her master), Ventus (who retreated into the heart of the boy, Sora, that helped him long ago), and Terra (who is Xehanort’s vessel).

Their sacrifices seem to have been not enough. Back in Kingdom Hearts I, it seems that Maleficent finding the seven princesses of heart - seven pure lights - was still Xehanort’s doing, while he looked for thirteen vessels for pure darkness - Organization XIII.

Sora stopped him both times. Xehanort admits Sora is unlike no other Keyblade wielder he’s seen, but no matter - Xehanort will not stop with his ambition. The seven guardians of light, and the thirteen seekers of darkness.

The guardians of light? There is Riku, Sora, and Mickey; Aqua, Terra, and Ventus, all of whom are missing; and the seventh is…?

But Xehanort claims Mickey to be three short - Sora is his, and I didn’t hear the rest. All of the pieces will come together anyways, and they will battle, and the X-blade will be forged in the high-dimensional collision, all for Xehanort.

But it seems all of the thirteen dark pieces are here, so why not bring them together? Xehanort withdraws his Keyblade and Sora’s chair rises for the injection of Xehanort’s heart. Xemnas stops Mickey, and Ansem stops Riku. It seems no one can save Sora!

And then, of course, Lea would be the one to do it. He blocks the shot and saves Sora. Saïx/Isa attacks Lea, and fails. Mickey and Riku force their captors to teleport. It is time to flee!

Then Ansem summons his goonie, who snatches up Mickey and Riku. Goofy and Donald then fall in, killing that goon! (We can charge them with manslaughter later.) Mickey thanks the duo as the black hoods disintegrate. Neither the unions of darkness or light occurred, and we must all return from whence we came.

But this won’t be the last chance, Xehanort says. The union of twenty will come soon. We’ll finish this at the “fated place”, he says, and Xehanort, too, leaves.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Square Enix
  • Platforms,
    3DS
  • Genre
    Action RPG
  • Guide Release
    19 June 2014
  • Last Updated
    7 December 2020
  • Guide Author
    Daniel Chaviers

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How to handle yourself in the myriad (and tourist-unfriendly) sleeping worlds with a complete walkthrough of the main story, from both Sora and Riku’s perspective. Plus extensive listings and tips to help you complete all the Reports, grab all the trophies and generally feel good about yourself. Nope, you’re not dreaming; it’s all in here!

Also Inside Our Detailed Strategy Guide:

  • A summary of the overarching Kingdom Hearts storyline so far.
  • Dozens of high quality screenshots to augment your reading experience.
  • The lowdown on the secret (and tough-as-nails) post-game boss.
  • Detailed listings of all the collectable items, commands and keyblades.
  • How to synthesise all of the friendly Spirits and what abilities they provide.
  • The requirements for all the trophies and tips on how to obtain them.
  • All you need to know about the Flick Rush tournaments.

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