Hollow Bastion / Radiant Garden
First Appearance: KINGDOM HEARTS (2002)
When Sora first visited Hollow Bastion, it was ruled over by Darkness. A mere shadow of the world it used to be, it served as a base of operations for the evil faerie Maleficent and the villains she gathered in order to take over all worlds.
Once Maleficent was defeated by Sora and the Darkness was pushed back, Leon, Aerith and other refugees who fled to Traverse Town returned to their world in order to rebuild it. It was in the middle of reconstruction that Sora, Donald and Goofy returned to this world. Sadly, the world was overrun by Heartless and Nobodies. Despite being forgotten for a while the trio was warmly welcomed and declared honorary members of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee that was made up from the friends they made in Traverse Town. The joyous reunion was cut short when Organization XIII, the Nobodies' leaders made their appearance. At first teasing Sora about his misuse of the Keyblade, they then implied the boy was connected to them. With little reason to believe their words, Sora simply defeated the lesser Nobodies they sent to attack the town and then proceeded to the next world in order to find a way to stop the Organization's plans.
The group returned when things seemed to be at their worst. The Nobodies and Heartless increased in numbers, but not all hope was lost. The Committee found the computer belonging to Ansem, the previous ruler of the world. They believed it held valuable information about their enemies, especially Organization XIII. Perhaps it even held information on Riku and Kairi's whereabouts as the former was still missing and the later was kidnapped by the Organization. On the way to the castle where Leon was waiting for them, Sora, Donald and Goofy ran into Aerith who informed them the King arrived and was interested in Ansem's computer. Sora couldn't contain his excitement - surely the King could tell him about Riku as the two were together in the Realm of Darkness.
They never had the chance to meet with the King, however, as Sora's misuse of the computer caused the trio to be transformed into data and put under arrest inside the computer. This proved to be beneficial, however, as inside the computer they found Ansem's data. A password was needed, however, and after scouring the man's office they found notes indicating a connection between the password and the Door to Darkness. Mickey arrived in time to help - as the Princesses of Heart are what opens the Door to Darkness, their names are most likely the password. A short trip into the computer later gave the party access to Ansem's data. As expected nothing was documented about Riku or Kairi, and the information regarding the Heartless and Nobodies was corrupt. In a fit of rage and with a stroke of luck, Sora managed to display information about Ansem the Wise. As he doesn't look like the Ansem they fought in the past, Mickey explains that the Ansem Sora defeated was an imposter. What more, it was that imposter's Heartless and the Nobody he created became the leader of Organization XIII. The real Ansem was still missing.
Next, Sora asked the King about Riku. Mickey dodged the question with an apology, saying he couldn't help. Instead, he offered they all concentrated on protecting Hollow Bastion and helping first the friends they had there. Help was needed as despite the Restoration Committee's best efforts, they were ridiculously outnumbered. Despite this, Mickey refused to let Sora help. He insisted Sora went looking for Riku and Kairi but Donald and Goofy pulled through for Sora. Disobeying the King's orders, the three rushed on ahead and met Number IX of the Organization, a Nobody called Demyx. He called Sora a traitor only to be defeated shortly afterward. The battle gave Mickey the chance to catch up, but this spelled danger as a nearby explosion sent debris flying in the small warrior's direction. Noticing the danger in time, Goofy jumped Mickey out of the way only to take the blow in his stead. No matter how many times they called his name, Goofy failed to respond. Assuming the worst, Sora, Donald and Mickey ran on ahead, guided by their anger and agony.
After a long, grueling battle the three stopped to catch their breaths. How surprised were they when Goofy caught up, revealing himself to still be alive thanks to his hard head. With renewed determination the party regrouped before setting out to finish the battle. They came face to face with Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII. He is the Nobody of Xehanort, a young man who served under Ansem as his apprentice. Sora confronted Xemnas about Riku and Kairi's whereabouts. Xemnas knew nothing about Kairi but on the matter of Riku, he pointed an accusing finger in Mickey's direction, claiming the King withheld information. He then vanished through a portal of Darkness and Mickey jumped in with him.
Once Sora recovered from having lost his only leads to his friends, the party realized the Heartless were gone. Axel, Number VIII of the Organization appeared to inform them it was all a trap. As the Organization needed Sora to slay Heartless with his Keyblade, they created a situation in which he was compelled to do so. Sora realized then that Axel was the one who kidnapped Kairi. Before he could question him, however, Saix, another member of the Organization appeared. Axel ran away as he was no longer a part of the Organization, and Saix turned to deal with Sora instead. He offered Sora entrance into the Realm of Darkness, but once Sora agreed to his terms Saix revealed it was a ploy to further frustrate Sora and bring him closer to despair. He gave Sora more Heartless to vent his anger at and revealed the Organization's motive - whenever Sora defeats a Heartless with the Keyblade, a Heart is purified and freed. Those Hearts come together to create Kingdom Hearts, an omnipotent being the Organization wishes to use. At the end of that explanation Maleficent appeared. Claiming Kingdom Hearts could only be hers she deemed Sora, Donald and Goofy to be the lesser evils and saved them by sending the three into the Realm of Darkness. There they met a man wearing the Organization's coat who left them a box. Inside it was a picture of Twilight Town and sea-salt ice cream.
Upon returning to the Realm of Light, Sora came to terms with his situation. Believing the man they met was Riku, he decided to fight despite everything. As he is the key that connects everything, it was up to him to put an end to the Organization's plots before things got worse.
When Sora returned for the third time, the Master Control Program was trying to take over the town. He turned the town's own defense systems against the inhabitants and used the information stored in the computer to create Heartless. Cid managed to develop an MCP eradication program, however, and Sora took it with him into the computer. The MCP was eradicated and replaced by Tron, a User-friendly program. Inside the stored data Tron found information about how the town was before Maleficent took over and he brought back the glow and shine that were found in abundance back then. Everyone couldn't help but be reminded of what their world used to be like and their determination to rebuild it was rekindled. There was nothing stopping them from making their world once again be worthy of the name "Radiant Garden".
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