More KHII, more whining about life, etc.

[tammaiya]

So like it's been more than a month since the last one of these, but by this point I'm keeping them mostly for my own record. Especially since this is where the really important wrap-up stuff starts. There's only going to be one more after this, and that'll be after I play the ending. Not with the special end, because I am too fed up like wo to try beating the Hades Cup in one freaking go anymore. BLEH.


The Adventures Of Somebody-From-Somewhere-san (who is now Sora again), Final Part

A brief check reveals nothing going on in Tron, and on a sidenote, levelling up Wisdom form is the most painstaking thing in the UNIVERSE.

When we go back into the book, the new location is the same hill that we finished at last time, only at night. (It's also the same hill that was in the credits of the series. Um. Shutting up now. Still, I really miss Winnie The Pooh, it used to be one of my favourite cartoons as a child...)

Anyway, we hear a voice calling out "I can't get it off!" and when we look up at the hill, we see that Pooh has got his head stuck inside a honey pot. We go up there and Owl comments that this happens quite often. We play a mini game to free Pooh's head of the pot, and Sora asks what he was doing here. Pooh says he was searching for a way so that Sora would have to be here. Sora echoes that, confused, and Pooh explains that he was trying to figure out what he should do so Sora wouldn't go far away anymore.

Aaaaaaw, woobie.

Sora doesn't know quite what to say to this. He explains that he has to go, and he'll be back, but Pooh says he gets lonely when Sora's not there. Sora says that he's always there, and points to Pooh's chest. In here, Pooh asks? and Sora says it's a promise. Camera scans down and Piglet is standing on the log between them, waving his arms. I promise too! he says, then all the other forest friends come along and add that they also promise. Sora has to go, but Pooh says he won't be lonely, because Sora is right here, gesturing towards himself. Sora promises that everyone will be with him, too. Then the book closes, and the gashed cover is renewed and the picture changes from the end of 100 Acre Wood in KHI to a scene you just got with Pooh sitting in Sora's lap on the hill under the stars. The world is locked. Aaaaaaaw.

Simba really is very emo sometimes, huh.

Back to the Prideland for the second episode. We find ourselves in the Savannah and start walking towards Pride Rock when we run into the hyenas, who are snarky at us. Sora asks how Simba is; Shetzi laughs, and Banzai starts chanting Simba's name so she keeps cackling. If you've seen the Lion King, it's like that scene where they're like "Mu-fa-SA! Mu-fa-SA! Mufasa Mufasa MUFASA!" only Simba doesn't have the same ring, what with being one syllable shorter and all. We want to know what's so funny and are very pissy that they won't answer the question, and the hyenas tell us "Go see for yourself. Did you really think the condition of the Pride land was Scar's fault?"

Well, that bodes well.

Sure enough, the Prideland is just as desolate and such as always. On our way we see a shadow Scar and we're all "!" We talk to a female lion and try to warn her about it, but she's not surprised, and she's very disillusioned with Simba as king. He's no Mufasa, apparently; he has done nothing to improve their situation, and these shadow Scars are all over the place.

When we talk to Simba, he's moping around being very emo. He's all, I'll never be like my father, I'm a lousy king, it's useless, blah. He snarls at us for not minding our own business, and then apologises. He wonders what his father would do. Sora tells him he's thinking about this the wrong way-- he should ask what would Simba do, not what would Mufasa do. Timon jumps in with a comment that the past is past so you should concentrate on the future, and Simba remembers that he does in fact have a spine and starts thinking "What would I do?" and you're all, yeah! Let's go talk to Rafiki!

(You know, at this moment, I was all What Would Jesus Do? :D alternatively, What Would The Reasonable Person Do?

Uh, yes, law in-joke there, sorry. XD)

Nala looks relieved that Simba is back to his old self and they nuzzle before we go off to talk to Rafiki, who tells us that the shadow Scars are an emanation of Simba's weak heart. Sora is all but he's gotten over that now! and Rafiki says that just because the head knows something doesn't mean the heart does. We all brush this off and, deciding that the hyenas may know something, head off to the Elephant Graveyard. They delight in making our lives difficult, so you then have to fight a really annoying battle where they run around the Elephant Graveyard really fast and you have to try and catch them and whack them until they're all three out of health. After that, they don't tell you much; they say that they've heard the shadow Scars appear around weak guys, making it very obvious they're referring to Simba, who's getting mad, and then a shadow Scar appears and they're all, "Hey, look, there must be a weak guy here!"

Simba runs off. We're all, fuck, looks like Rafiki was right.

Back at Pride Rock, Nala is very worried when we return without Simba. We can't think where he'd be but Timon and Pumba say he must be at the Oasis. Pumba offers to guide us but Timon says he stinks so much that Simba will smell him coming and run to hide somewhere else, which depresses Pumba. Smooth, Timon. XD So we go back through Gnu Valley and the Jungle to get to the Oasis where Simba is indeed angsting. I don't quite remember how we persuaded him to get over it this time, but if I'm getting the order right, he says that he and his father are different because his father did everything by himself. Sora goes to object that this doesn't mean Simba is a lesser king, and Simba says he knows; his father did it alone, but Simba's strength is his friends. Nala. Timon. Pumba. Sora. Donald. Goofy. Rafiki. He and his father are different, so he's going to stop comparing himself to his father and do things his way.

We are of course like YAY! but then Sora is like "Is that just your head speaking again or does your heart know it too this time?" and Simba very truthfully says he doesn't know, we'll just have to find out. We go back to Pride Rock, and Nala is relieved and happy to see Simba. There are illusory Scars all over the place, and they all converge into one huge monster in the Savannah, which you run off to fight with just Sora and Simba.

On a related note, this was the last new form of Heartless in the game.

We beat that, everyone is all whee, nobody will forget Simba's bravery in a hurry, and Nala hints that she and Simba are going to have cubs. Aaaaaaaaw.

And that's the end of the Prideland!

The bit you've been waiting for-- I finally explain the OMFG IT'S CANON spasms! OMFG. IT'S CANOOOOON.

Alright, VERY long after the fact I attempt to remember what's going down here. God I suck.

*looks up some walkthroughs for memory refresher* They are surprisingly unhelpful and light-on for plot. You only ever get spoilered when you don't want to be, apparently. However, it did the trick! Entering Twilight Town, I got creeped the hell out. Despite the utterly TERRIBLE pun inherent here, it's seriously like the twilight zone. I initially wrote something about Vivi and Seifer here, but that actually happened earlier. Which I figured out by looking at my older write-ups. ANYWAY, I'm right aside from that, so back to the creepy.

NO ONE IS THERE. The whole town is eerily quiet; even the music is different, for memory, and the only other beings you encounter are Nobodies. I'm like "mummy! ;;" because it's just. Yeah. I mean, I know it's only a video game and it's not even like things were jumping out from behind corners at you (shut up, I'm a wuss), but it was still just wrong. But anyway, we wonder why we're here, and then we remember the photo. Back to the old mansion, and-- finally! PEOPLE. It's Hyne and the gang, laid out outside the gates. For a moment, I totally think they're dead, but this is still Disney, so we're cool. Hyne says they came to look for Kairi, but then those white guys...

Sora tells them that they shouldn't feel responsible, but then they give him a well-deserved smackdown for his own self-pity by reminding him that Kairi is their friend too, so of course they're worried. Nobodies come back, we open a can of whooparse-- or we would if the game hadn't had other ideas, srsly. I could so have taken them out, but then Mickey came to open the TRUE can of whooparse with his shiny keyblade. Yeah, yeah, whatev, man. *pout* Something involving those materia orbs happens; I think Sora drops the blue one he's been carrying around. Hyne et al are all "o.O;" because there's only supposed to be ONE, and that's in the Struggle Battle Trophy.

We've also got that double of Orett's purse.

Alright, what's going on?

Mickey finally spills the beans, or at least some of them. There are two Twilight Towns, and there should be a path to the Dark Realm through the other one; the real Ansem went there alone. Sora's all, soooooo, did Riku tell you that? and Mickey's like "he told me not to tell you!" and Sora's like "ah HAH!" which makes Donald go all >O stop harrassing Ou-sama! when Mickey is like nooooooo ;;!

LALA STILL NOT GOING THERE.

We go down into the computer room where Roxas smashed up the computer in a fit of rage. The computer is shiny and whole. O-kay. Computer asks for a password. Sora is, might I add, still convinced that Riku is the one who gave him the icypole and the photo, which is why he was bugging Mickey about it earlier. The password is a brand of icypole. You can just guess at it, or get a riddle from-- Orett, I think-- or get Mickey to practically GIVE the answer away. Once that works, we step into a pod thingy, and it's all, beam me up, Scotty!

And we step out of the pod into pretty much the same room, only no one else is there and the computer is all mechakucha. Um. Bashed up, that's the word. Care of Roxas, obviously. Still being kind of creeped out I go back through the rooms which, despite being identical, come up as "???" when you go through them. In the corner of the room where we fought Axel as Roxas there's a vortex thingy, and Mickey is all, ah HAH! So we go through that, and there's this bizarre void-like area, twilight-y colour with no apparent exit or entrance or walls or etc. We get set upon by Nobodies, and after we bash them up, more arrive. We're like "They're neverending!" and then Axel appears, yelling something along the lines of, "Don't just STAND there, go!"

Sora's all why are you doing this, obviously. Axel says, "I have my reasons, so go!" but then he gets dragged under by Nobodies, and Sora runs back to whack them away. Sora asks Axel if he's okay.

Axel: Even though I abducted Kairi, she got away. Seems she got caught by Sykes. So hurry up and go save her!

A Nobody appears right behind Sora, and he knocks it back.

Sora: Don't interfere!

You then have another battle with the Nobodies, this time alongside Axel with only Sora on your party. Axel is SO kick arse, with his fire attacks and everything. <3 So anyway. When that's done, you're all like, man we're cool. Cooperation, for the win!

Yeah, right. Squeenix ain't letting you out of it THAT easily. Back to cutscene and there's a whole ARMY of Nobodies. Axel says something about how when facing an enemy, these guys just keep multiplying. Sora asks archly if he's reconsidering; Axel grins and says no, I'm strong, so just watch! at which Sora's smirk fades and he looks surprised. Axel does a MASSIVE AWESOME fire explosion and Sora covers his eyes with his arm to shield them from the bright light, and when he lowers it, all the Nobodies are gone and he looks amazed.

Yes, Axel DOES rock ass.

... omg, unintended bad pun strikes again! Roxas... *die*

Sora's like, wow! but then he sees Axel lying smouldering on the... ground... whatever... and runs over to kneel beside him.

Sora: Are you going to disappear?
*cue sad music*
Axel: Maa, it was an attack that used my entire existence, so, you know. Can't be helped.
Me: *wibble* NOOOOOOOO! AXEEEEEEL!
Axel: Well, Nobodies are things/people that don't really exist, but hey. Maa, don't let it bother you... go on, go to Kairi. Aah, I'd forgotten. Sorry for doing horrible things to Kairi...
Sora: If you are, you should apologise to Kairi directly.
Axel: It's no use... because my heart doesn't care. Because I'm heartless... hahahaha. *wry, a little bitter*
Sora: What were you intending to do?
Axel: ...I wanted to see Roxas. (lit. Could also be translated as "I missed Roxas".)
Me: ... OH. MY GOD. WAH.
Sora: *eyes widen, then looks sad*
Axel: *rueful but happy smile* I loved him. Whenever I was with him, it was like I had a heart, too... a feeling like that... that's how it was.
Me: *have spastics* OMG. OMFG. CANOOOOOOOON.
Axel: *turns head to Sora, still with that wistful smile* It feels like that with you, too... exactly the same.. *smile fades* Kairi is in the castle prison. Go from here... *opens up gate, arm flops to ground*
Sora: Axel...

Then Axel fades away and Sora gets a keyblade called Bond Of Fire. Sora says "Beyond this..." and Donald is all LET'S JUST GO ALREADY! so you do, and emerge into the dark, depressing alley that you saw Pluto and Axel in earlier. Mickey runs out with you and makes me wonder why he wasn't there in the void where he could have HELPED DAMMIT.

Sora: He said Kairi is in the castle prison...
Mickey: Right. Then first we have to find the path to the castle! *runs off ahead*

We walk out into a larger alley and see all the dark and neon. This is the world where you see blindfold!Riku at the end of KHI and in all the Roxas/Axel flashbacks. The world name comes up on the screen: The World That Never Was. Uh oh, maybe I should get out of here like NOW and go back and finish Hollow Bastion, says I. Which I do.

Meanwhile, I continue having hysterics at anyone who doesn't care about being spoilered (probably because they don't care, full stop) and can't decide whether to be elated that one of my ships is TOTALLY CANON I SWEAR (okay, suki can be like OR love as I'm sure most of you know but in that context, it's basically romantic love.) or be all WAAAAH AXEL IS DEAD (and by extension so is Demix!) AND ROXAS IS ALL SUBSUMED INTO SORA! WEEP!

And you know, I still can't decide. I think the whole IT'S CANON slightly outweighs the WAH HE'S DEAD though, because I'm used to ships where people are both dead AND it's not canon, so hey.

The end of Tron and Hollow Bastion-- sorry, Radiant Garden.

So I totally had to go back and replay this, it's so long since I did it the first time-- just as well I keep old saves all over the place-- and since I wasn't as in a hurry to get through it, knowing what happened, I wrote down everything everyone said. XD Which I'll be doing more now we're getting to the end. Anyway.

Cut scene starts as we enter Hollow Bastion with Soldier heartless running by

S: We wrapped things up here... didn't we?
D: Ah-- look! *one of those defence system thingies does its beam thing*
S: I wonder if it's The XIII again? Let's try and find Leon and the others.

So then you get control. If you talk to Cloud, who's milling around in the town square area, he says, "What happens to this world is something I have no interest in. Besides... if you guys and the others are here, it's enough."

Anyway, we run onto the next screen and back to cutscene land. One of the defence system spheres bowls by and Donald jumps back hurriedly. The enemies from Space Paranoid materialise, and we get into a battle where the defence system beams are hurting us rather than the enemies. After that's over, Yuffie opens the door of Merlin's house and peeks round before coming outside.

Y: Welcome!
S: Welcome, you say... what's happened to this town?
G: Those Heartless from just now were the guys where Tron is, weren't they?
Y: In any case, come in, come in.

So we do, and Cid is tapping away frantically at the keyboard.

Y: Cid, hurry up!
Cid: Shut up!
Merlin: How much longer will you be!
Cid: Why you~!
S: Hey, what's going on?
Cid: Yo, good timing.
Y: 'Cause the MCP is up to something inside the computer.
D: Guku...
Cid: According to Leon and Aerith's investigations... *back into cutscene, and the text dialogue turns into Cid voiceover, Leon and Aerith in Ansem's study* They said something was sus, and went to Ansem's study to check it out.

(Leon looks over the rail, jumps back with shock, runs into the computer room and taps futilely at the keyboard. The door that was previously closed opens, cue creepy music; Leon goes into the other room, where enemies from Tron's world are being beamed into the real world.)

Cid: It looks like the MCP has restored the data inside the computer and is creating Heartless.

(Leon gets attack, kicks arse with gunblade and runs off. Heaps of Heartless start appearing in the town.)

Cid: On top of that, the MCP has also done something to the town's control system.

(Aerith and Leon are in the computer room when an alarm goes off and they look around in confusion. Leon tries to use the computer again; the screen displays this message:

>IGNORANT USERS
OBEY THE MCP ¦

On a sidenote, having been a great user of the Commodore 64 in my youth, it amuses me to try imitating its text output method. XD)

Y: The MCP is bad at giving up, huh.

(End of flashback, back to Merlin's house)

Cid: The programme doesn't give up.
S: What is happening to Tron?
Y: We can't get into contact with him. It seems that somehow or other he's been forcibly pushed into the game.
Cid: Doesn't seem like a very fun game.
D: Guku...
S: We're going to go find Tron.
Cid: That'll help. We're making something called the "MCP Erase Programme". My feeling is there's one more step 'til it's done.
M: Assuming this feeling turns out to be right...
Cid: *glares at Merlin*
Y: Anyway, when that programme's done we're gonna need Tron's help, but...
S: Got it. We'll tell him!
M: It's in your hands, Sora, Donald, Goofy.
S: Sure thing!

So the scene flips to the computer room again, where Aerith and Leon are facing the newly opened door. Leon spins around brandishing his gunblade, and Aerith turns around just after he does. Goofy says it's just them, and they walk up to Leon and Aerith.

A: Well, you know, if this room were taken, we wouldn't be able to talk to Tron.
L: Did you see Cid?
S: Yeah.
L: And the programme?
D: Should be done soon, he said.
A: Whoo! *turns to Leon* Hey, Leon. Why don't you go back to where Cid is? Everything'll be fine here. Leave it up to me, okay?
L: But, if you're by yourself...
A: *GLARE*
L: ... Sorry. I'll leave it up to you.
A: *satisfied, walks back over to the door to resume guarding it*
S: Hey, what about Tron?
L: No change, we can't get in contact. You could try too, if you wanted.
S: Nah, we'll go to see him in person.
L: I see... in that case, I have a favour to ask. If you see Tron, could you tell him to come to the input-output tower for us? Since we're going to send the MCP Erase Programme from there.
G: The input-output tower, got it.
L: Aa. Take care.

Then Leon runs outside and Sora gets the Sleeping Lion keyblade. Sora and the others approach the computer, where the message from before is still splashed across the screen, and Sora says "Wait for us, Tron." We do our usual dematerialising-rematerialising voodoo and end back up in Space Paranoid, where enemies are crawling all over the place. Goofy wonders if Tron is okay, and Sora says let's go to the game area. When he tries the computer, it works, and Donald is all, come on, hurry up! so we go use the computer to go to the game area.

Meanwhile, in Merlin's house...
L: *runs in* How is it?
Cid: Dealing with the old man's magic is a pain in the arse.
M: Who are you calling a pain!
Cid: Why don't you calm the hell down!
M: I'll teach you to think such things about my magic! *waves wand and shoots out bolt of magic*
Cid: Done! *leaps out of chair with disk in hand, and gets hit on the butt by the magic, knocking him forward to sprawl on his stomach at Leon's feet* I did it, Leon. It's the old man's magic mix specially made programme. *hands it to Leon*
M: It's alright if we leave it to you now, yes?
L: I'm going.
M: Take care.
Cid: *backs away from Merlin slowly, and then runs, while Merlin's computer explodes in the background*

Back to Space Paranoid, Tron is being bombarded by a large number of enemies inside the game. Sora calls out his name, and Tron yells at us to take care before being bowled over by one of those unibike things. Sora yells out for him to wait, and we jump into fighting stance before, you got it, joining the battle. (On a sidenote, do you know how difficult it is to get used to fighting about 40 levels lower and with half the special abilities you expect to have? D:)

After the fight, Tron is all "you saved me" and Sora tells him it's no biggie. Donald asks what things are like here.

T: It seems the MCP has finally started making plans for all-out war on the users. How is the impact outside?
S: A Heartless-made instrument is moving around freely, and the town's control is also being interfered with. But Cid and the others are making something called an MCP Erase Programme. The plan is that we receive that from the input-output tower and erase the MCP, but...
T: Excellent!
S: Great!
T: But, who's Cid?
S: Our friend. Leon, Merlin, Aerith, Yuffie. They're all worrying about you from outside.
T: I've got lots of user friends, huh.
S: *nod*
G: Maybe it's possible the programme is gradually being completed.
D: Let's go to the tower!
T: Aa, let's go.

Then we cut to Leon, who is running back to the study and kicking Heartless arse with his gunblade on the way there. Back to us, and we make our way to the tower. The normal way, y'know, fighting and all that junk. Linking attacks never cease being cool. Tron is all, one last gasp! and obviously we get set upon by a mini boss, for that is the way of things. Sora is all "Outta the way!" and we get into a fight and kick some arse of our own, though I still keep trying to glide and stuff and being indignant when I can't.

Leon runs into the computer room with Aerith, meanwhile. Computer is like, "Alert. Do not approve of recent user operations." Leon taps away at the computer, but to no avail.

L: *slams hands down on terminal and bows head* Keh, it's no use!
A: Let me try.
L: *straightens up, hands her the disk*
Computer: Alert. Cease operations immediately.
A: Be quiet! *shoves disk in*
L: *facepalm*
A: Eat up!
Computer: Wh-what is this programme!
A: *turns to Leon smugly*
L: *crosses arms with a wry grin*

Back to us, waiting at the tower. Tron is all, sigh, not yet, and Sora yells for Leon to hurry up, following which the disk miraculously appears. Tron receives it into a disk drive thingy he takes off his back, and there is lots of shiny.

G: How does it feel?
T: It's a strange programme.
D: Made by Merlin!
T: Oh? It's my power up add-on programme! More than that, we should be able to use the solar ship now.
S: And that means-- we can go?
T: If I were to say it the way you guys would-- anyway, let's go try! -- or something.
S: *grin*
T: Let's go to where the MCP is. First, to the solar ship dock!

Once we get on the solar ship and it starts moving, Donald and Sora are running all over the deck like small exciteable children. (By 'small' children, I mean 'younger than Sora', so no, he DOESN'T have an excuse.) Tron tells them to please be a little more alert, because there's no way the MCP is going to take this quietly, and just as Sora calms down with a very sheepish look, we get attacked by Heartless. This battle has a 'weight' limit in it, so if you're too slow theoretically you're toast, but I didn't have any problem with it last time or even this time when I kept trying to use abilities I didn't have. *cough* We reach the other dock, Tron tells us the MCP is just ahead, Sora is all 'final showdown!' and I pick up the treasure chests despite that being monumentally useless in this particular replay.

When we get in there, there's this huge orange spinning thing in the middle of the room and a guy standing there waiting for us.

S: Who was that, again?
T: General Circ. He's the number 2 around here.
Circ: Such stubborn guys. But this time I will stike the finishing blow!

So then we get to fight Circ and a small herd of Heartless, which is suspiciously easy. Hm, we say. Surely that was not the final boss for Space Paranoid?

Stubborn guys, Circ repeats as he staggers. But strong! Tron tells him, with a grin.

Circ: I wanted to make you great.
T: *throws the programme at him and smacks him in the face with it*
Circ: *collapses*

Next is the MCP, Tron says, and gestures at the big spinning orange thing.

S: This is the MCP?!
T: He's not the kind of guy who worries about physical appearances.
MCP: Tron... do you still not understand? The programme is all. We have no need to rely on such things as users. Will you not become one of my soldiers and take the world in our grasp!
T: *shakes head* MCP, the one who doesn't understand is you.
MCP: *slows to a stop, a huge orange rectangular prism with a face* Circ... Circ! I grant all functions to you!
Circ: *gets up and grows huge, like MCP size*

Yeah, see this? THIS is the REAL boss battle. But it's still not that hard. Basically you whack Circ in the legs until he falls over, whack his head until he's out of health, wait for the MCP to slow, whack away it's protective boundary and use the action button to zap it with the programme. Then Circ will regenerate, and the cycle repeats until the MCP is out of health.

T: We did it! *punches air*
S: You can be happy like that, too.
T: It's the influence of you guys. Of course, I'm a programme, so there are limits.
S: Right, once we get back outside we'll fix the programme for you.
T: You will? That's... please don't.
S: *to Donald and Goofy* Hey, how should we do it? Singing Tron, dancing Tron... *spins around* How about it?
D: I wanna see!
T: *laugh* Well, before you guys completely break me... Sora, Donald, Goofy. And the users on the outside, too... I truly thank you. You lent me your strength, you made me strong, you taught me the meaning of friends and allies, and for that I'm truly grateful. Since I met you, I started to think that someday it would be possible to defeat the MCP.

Then he reaches out to shake Sora's hand, and takes Sora by surprise by dragging him into a hug. Sora looks strangely vulnerable and unaccustomed to hugs, which clearly means he needs MORE of them. Riku! Kairi! Get your act together! >O (Knowing what happens leading up to the final boss I'm finding this funnier than I should. Uh.)

T: Parting comrades do this, don't they?
S: I wasn't doing anything like that.
G: That's right, Tron. We promise we'll see you again.
T: That so, huh. Well, then... *hugs Goofy, then Donald, then starts backing away slowly, still smiling* It's a promise.
All: *nod*
T: *continues backing away*
S: Where are you going?

Then, Tron gives a tentative wave and suddenly dives into the pit where the MCP had been. Sora-tachi cry out and run to look over the edge, but he disappears from sight into the bright light. Tron... Sora says sadly, and we're back to Aerith in the computer room, Yuffie running up to her.

Y: Looks like the town's calmed down! The Heartless have gone back to the same ones as usual and it feels like their numbers have decreased, too!
A: Now if only Sora and the others would come back... (And, with our brilliant timing, we obviously do.) Oh, good!
Y: Good work!
S: *nods, still depressed* How's the town's condition?
Y: Perfect!
A: It seems that the MCP has been erased. It's all okay now, don't you think?
S: *doesn't look that happy*
Y: *puts her hands on her hips and leans forward to stare into Sora's face* You look so depressed~! Did something happen~?
D: Tron disappeared...
S: Even though he promised we'd meet again.

And then an alarm goes off and we're all HOLY CRABSTICKS WHAT NOW?

A: Wh-what's going on?
Computer: This is Tron. I took control of the entire system just now.
S, D, G: Tron!
T: I'm glad to continue working alongside you.
S: Yeah!
D: *runs up and flops all over the keyboard in a flail hug* I'm so glad!
T: Quit it! That tickles!
G: Tickles, huh... *trades evil speculative look with Sora*
S: *advances on the computer with the TICKLE HANDS O' DOOOOM!* How's this!
T: Q-quit it!
S&D: *cackle*

And then Aerith and Yuffie start laughing too, further back. Camera changes so they're in the foreground.

Y: Tron, haven't you had a little too much of Sora and the others' influence?
T: W-wait a tick, everyone. I'd like to show my appreciation to you all. I'm going to show you what this town looked like when it was first created.

The camera flips to Cloud on the parapet-ish area, staring up as light beams into the sky. Leon comes up to join him, and says, "Speaking of... that's right." Sparkles start to rain down; camera flips again, this time to Cid and Merlin emerging from Merlin's house. Cid catches one of the the sparkles in his hand, and says it's making him nostalgic.

M: Ah yes... At some point this town was given the name of Hollow Bastion, wasn't it.

Back to us, walking outside.

A: This town's true name, you know...
Sora: Huh?

And then the Hollow Bastion intro label thingo splashes across the screen over the spire that is where the art behind the name came from, and it fades away. It's replaced by the words "The Radiant Garden", and the town art gets sparkles on it.

A: The Radiant Garden. The sparkling garden.

And THAT is the end of both Space Paranoid and Hollow Bastion Radiant Garden! :D Now be thankful YOU don't have to sit through all the levelling up, because we're going to go find Sephiroth, who's now hanging around just past that place where Sora fought the 1000 Heartless.

(On a sidenote, d'you reckon the whole 'garden' thing is supposed to be a link to FFVIII?)

Wow. Just... wow. KHII has hit all new levels of truly, amazingly gay. *awe*

(The following was written immediately after beating Sephiroth, hence the excitability. You have been warned. XD)

I BEAT SEPHIROTH. OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD. Anyway. Level 78, it took me so many tries I don't even remember and it was as much luck as stategy. Hahaaaah. So because nothing less than the word-for-word dialogue will do justice, I wrote it down and translated it as best I could.
~
After the fight
~
Sora: How was that?
S: How boring. It seems that Cloud is the only one who can erase me. Tell Cloud to come here. Sephiroth also wishes for conclusion
~
And so we run back to Radiant Garden proper to tell Cloud
~
C: Did you see Sephiroth?
Sora: I said I'd tell you, didn't I? He's at the Depths of Darkness.
~
Back to Sephiroth; strangely we beat Cloud there even though he left first. Maybe he was having issues.
~
S: Did you tell Cloud?
Sora: Maybe.
Cloud: *walks in* It seems I kept you waiting, Sephiroth.
S: Cloud-- as if you intend to abandon the darkness...
C: *unsheathes sword* Shut up.
S: As if you intend to discard your past...
C: Shut UP! *leaps at*

*really awesome fighting*

Sora: Cloud! Good luck!
Donald: Guwaa!

*fighting continues for a while*

S: Laughable. You know better than anybody that defeating me would be meaningless, Cloud.
C: *GLARE*
S: Your darkness calls to me.
C: *snarl*
S: No matter how many times you defeat me, it will be the same!
C: *makes a choked noise*
T: *walks in* You're wrong.
C: Tifa, get away!
T: No. I want to help you.
S: It's futile. He can't cast aside the darkness.
T: *to Cloud* It's okay if you cast it aside. It's okay if you're embraced by the light.
S: *points sword at T*
T: There's darkness left, but, Sephiroth... It's already invisible to you.
S: Shall we test that? Your words. The strength of the light! *attacks T*
C: *shuts eyes against flash of light* Stop it!
T & S: *fighting*
C: *blinded by another flash of light*
Sora: Look out!
S: *swoops toward T*
C: *jumps in front of her*
T: I'll give you my light, so...
S: The light doesn't suit you.
C: I... I don't understand... *looks sad, and then starts to glow*
S: Stop it! *moves to attack, repelled by the light*
C & S: *jump high in the air and disappear in massive flash of light*

Sora: Eh?
D: Waaah...
G: Cloud and Sephiroth... I wonder if they returned to their original world.
Sora: [They/Cloud] went to another world. To defeat the darkness within [himself? I think you have to add -tachi for jibun to be plural.]... for a huge battle!
T: He's gone.
Sora: What will you do now?
T: Hmmm... I have to start looking again.
Sora: Do you have an aim?
T: It's okay. The light is really easy to find. See ya. I'll give this to you, as thanks.
Sora: Did we do something?
Sora, D, G: *scratch heads*
T: *leaves*
D: Ah!
~~~

I got a level up to my drive gauge for beating him and after Showdown of Fate 2 the thing Tifa gave me was the Fenrir keyblade.

But anyway, do you see what I mean about the AMAZINGLY GHEY? Once you add it to the Roxas/Axel above and the Riku still to come, the levels of gay in this game are truly impressive. :D

I firmly believe that levelling up is the bane of the existence of every hardcore RPG gamer. Like, ever.

I'm trying for the SPECIAL ending, because although I downloaded the extra bit, it rankles not to earn it and I haven't watched it. << Therefore, I spent god knows how many hours levelling up my drives and my summons, which is SO FUCKING TEDIOUS. Levelling up is evil. Almost any hardcore RPG gamer will shudder or maybe cry if you mention serious levelling up to them because the memories are traumatic, dammit!

And then after I was done levelling, I had to complete the synth list, which involved fighting endless things and hoping they'd drop the item I needed. I got a list off the internet to told me what dropped which items where. So I cheated; not much, and it was painful enough to warrant it. Besides, most of the time I didn't even use it. I'd go to a world in search of one item and load up on everything that got dropped there. XD

The point is, I haven't even finished doing this yet, and everyone is on level 99. I can't help but think if I'd only waited and done that FIRST, beating Sephiroth would have been an awful lot easier. *sweatdrop*

---

Next time: RIKU. Just. RIKU. More gay canon, hopefully the ending, lots of bitching about the Hades Cup, that about sums it up.


So I did no work on the weekend. Mari came over on Friday and we loafed around doing not much; on Saturday, Dani and I went shopping for five hours in Civic and I had the NICEST coffee (hazelnut truffle latte, mmmmmmm) from the same cafe I went to with _leareth last monday, and I bought some stuff (photos here, last four pics); Sunday I pretty much did nothing.

I haven't done the reading for this week. I haven't finished the reading from LAST week. I had an exam today I barely studied for, though I think it went okay. I have my weekly kanji tests I haven't studied for yet. I've got a tute problem I haven't done the readings for, let alone done. In the holidays, I've got to catch up all the reading I haven't done and do two assignments; the holidays are only two weeks long.

Today sucked. Talking to Sian and Eugenie cheered me up.

In completely disconnected news, FFXII is delightfully non-crapola, although I am rather confused as to what's going on. Note: I've only played the very beginning. I sort of understand the very odd battle system and ability system. What I don't understand is whatta goin' on with the whole war thing. All this complex war vocab and kanji, it go "WHOOSH" over my head. I'm like, okay... so this place was at war with this place... and its newlywed prince was killed in that kickarse cutscene at the beginning... and then... who is this person I'm playing? What? Who'm I shacking up with? Hey, now I'm someone else!

Someone else seemingly being the main character, Van, who is kind of reminiscent of Zidane.