Three years after the first game was released for the PlayStation 2, the long awaited sequel to the original Kingdom Hearts arrived in Japan, and was followed a year later by it’s Western release. This part of our recap focuses on Kingdom Hearts 2, which begins a year after the events of Chain of Memories.

In the virtual Twilight Town created by DiZ, Roxas is now living a normal existence with his new friends Hayner, Pence and Olette. The group have just seven days left of their summer vacation, and are determined to spend them wisely. During each day, Roxas begins to experience strange visions, see things that no one else can and even travels to his own version of Dive To The Heart.

Instead of seeing Heartless, Roxas sees mysterious white shell like creatures, and eventually learns that they are named Dusks, a breed of a being known as a Nobody. Eventually, Axel manages to hack his way into DiZ’s simulation and try to reawaken his friend’s memories, but he is foiled by DiZ and Namine.

After witnessing Namine be taken away by DiZ for trying to spare Roxas’s feelings, Roxas is then informed that he is a Nobody himself, formed from Sora, and must be vanquished for Sora to awaken. He eventually succumbs to this fate, and Sora, Donald and Goofy awaken in the real version of Twilight Town.

As they explore this unknown place, the group encounter King Mickey, who is wearing a cloak similar to one worn by the Organization. He asks them to visit the Mysterious Tower, where Master Yen Sid still lives. After meeting and saying goodbye to the real Hayner, Pence and Olette, Sora, Donald and Goofy board a train headed to the Mysterious Tower.

When they arrive, they discover that Pete, one of Maleficent’s minions is still working to achieve her goal, undeterred when the group inform them of her apparent death. Sora and the group meet with Master Yen Sid and he informs them that they must go on another journey to defeat the Heartless, as well as the lesser Nobodies that are controlled by the Organization, and the members themselves who are similar in composition to Roxas.

In order to prepare Sora for the trails ahead, Yen Sid commissions Flora, Fauna and Merriweather, the three good fairies to create Sora a set of clothes that will allow him to fuse with his allies. As Sora leaves, Maleficent’s raven brings her remains before the fairies, and are forced to watch as she is brought back to life.

After visiting various worlds, Sora, Donald and Goofy return to Hollow Bastion and discover that the Ansem they fought was a Heartless formed from Master Xehanort, who was his devoted apprentice. His Nobody Xemnas is the leader of Organization 13, and the ultimate goal of the group is to create their own Kingdom Hearts to somehow allow all Nobodies to gain a heart of their own.

After tracking down the remaining members of the Organization that have not been eliminated and taking them out, Sora, Donald and Goofy head to the The World That Never Was to take down Xemnas once and for all. As they ascend through the Nobody’s stronghold, they rescue Kairi, who had been kidnapped by Axel shortly before the events at Hollow Bastion and discover that Namine is Kairi’s Nobody that was born at the same time as Roxas.

Riku, still in his form as Xehanort’s Heartless eventually joins the group, and Kairi gains the ability to use her own Keyblade. They eventually encounter the real Ansem the Wise, who is planning to digitise the Organization’s Kingdom Hearts to prevent it from harming anyone else. His plan fails, as hearts are too complicated to be turned into data. Eventually, the machine he is using explodes,  As a consequence it kills Ansem the Wise, and returns Riku back to his original appearance.

The group confront Xemnas and seemingly defeat him, and Namine opens a portal for everyone to leave The World That Never Was. Before Sora and Riku are able to leave, Xemnas reappears, forcing the group to defeat him once and for all, and lock the false Kingdom Hearts away for good. The defeat forces Sora and Riku into the World of Darkness, where they come across a bottled letter from Kairi that opens a door back to the World of Light.

The duo arrive back at the Destiny Islands, where they are greeted by Kairi, Donald, Goofy and King Mickey. An undetermined amount of time passes, with Donald, Goofy and Mickey returning to Disney Castle and Sora, Riku and Kairi remaining on the Destiny Islands. That is until the trio discover a letter from King Mickey in a bottle on the beach, which asks them to journey to the Mysterious Tower and meet with Master Yen Sid. With these events, we are led to the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 3D.

Previous Chapter – Chapter 2: Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days Recap

Next Chapter – Chapter 4: Kingdom Hearts 3D And Re:Coded Recap