FG: Welcome back to CC2! Here are the long-awaited poll results!

Sora: They're not really long-awaited, actually.

FG: Well…here are the poll results.

Poll #1: Who's your favorite OC character?

…Emma Baecker- 55

…Dia Quinn- 9

…Jake Quinn- 9

…Robin Fuudo- 9

…Bernie Soleil- 9

…Coeur/Hart Kurosato- 9

…Miaow Kurosato- 0

…Alissa Baecker- 0

Poll #2: Who's your favorite Rei no Aku member?

…Guardian- 20

…Taylor Quinn- 10

…Lyze Rune- 20

…Silke Sakura- 10

…Karson- 0

…Sadym- 10

…Eclipse Kurosato- 30

Poll #3: Who's your favorite real character?

…Sora Takahashi- 20

…Riku Ono- 80

…Kairi Anzu- 0

…Donald Duck- 0

…Goofy- 0

Poll #4: Should I make a CC3?

…Yes- 100

…No- 0

Poll #5: Who should Emma end up with?

…Riku- 90

…Eclipse- 10

…Other- 0

Poll #6: What was your favorite chapter of CC2?

… The Juu Senshi- 0

… Bernadette Soleil- 0

… Bernie's Story- 0

… Robin's Story- 0

… The Nekoshus- 0

… Battle of the Elementalists- 0

… Starved Rock, IL- 0

… Songs and Cyborgs- 0

… Where'd the Action Go?- 0

… Sadym- 0

… Since When Was This a CoM Fic?- 0

… Life in the Waterways- 0

… The Enemy of My Enemy- 0

… A Trip Down Memory Lane- 0

… Fa'mm Pa Dukadran eh Cbened- 0

… Black Cloaks and Moo Cows- 20

… The New and Improved Robin- 20

… Puttin' on the Ritz- 0

… The Nutcracker on Thin Ice- 20

… The First Nikushimi- 0

… More History with Professor Axel- 0

… Kentou!- 0

… The Reunion- 0

… Disney World- 40

FG: Well, there are the votes! I'm sorta flattered that 100 of you wanted a CC3. Now, the thing you've ACTUALLY been waiting for, the preview of THE CHEAT CODE III: My Heart's a Battleground! I was just going to do a synopsis, but I already started typing CC3, so I decided, why not? Here you go!

… … …

Roxas stood outside the Old Mansion's gate, gazing at the enormous, tan structure. "Y'know something…" A voice spoke up, causing him to jump a little. He looked beside him, to see Pence standing there. "…we were gonna check the mansion out tomorrow. It IS the most suspicious place."

"Right…" Roxas nodded, and resumed staring at the mansion.

Pence nodded. "Even Seifer's gang was gonna help out!" he continued.

Roxas raised an eyebrow and turned towards his friend again. "Seifer?" he repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah, Hayner asked him to."

"Huh." The blonde boy looked back at the mansion. "So, what're we looking for, anyway?"

Pence pointed to a pair of large, pink curtains hanging in one of the windows. "They say a girl appears at the second-floor window, even though no one's lived there for years."

"Oh." Roxas glanced up at the window. The curtain flapped a little. "Huh?" A white light filled the area. When it cleared, he saw that he was now in a small, white room, with colored drawings pasted on the wall. He looked down, and noticed that his body was missing, as if he was simply a spirit.

Roxas? a girl's voice called.

Naminé?

Spirit-Roxas looked around the room again. His eyes settled on a drawing of two cloaked people. One had spiky, red hair, and the second strongly reminded him of himself. Is that…me? And Axel's here too!

Well, you ARE best friends…

Very funny.

Naminé's voice paused for a moment. Don't you want to know the truth? About who you really are?

No one knows me better than me.

She laughed. Of course.

But…I don't get what's been happening lately. Finally, Roxas glanced at a very crowded picture. There had to have been at least ten people drawn there. Two of them stood in the front, a boy with brown spikes, and a girl with black hair and glasses. Naminé, who are those people? And why are those two in front, when everyone else is on the sides? He squinted a bit. And is that Axel near the back?

Those are the Juu Senshi. Everyone in the group is a very powerful warrior; they all have different skills.

Really? They should come and sign up for the Struggle, then! They'd clean everyone in no time! Anyway, who are those two? Are they the leaders, or something?

I guess you could say that. The boy is Sora. The girl is Emma. Sora is the Keyblade Master, so he was the ringleader for a while. Emma can control the game, so she's important too.

The game? What game?

The entire universe is actually a game, Roxas. It's called Kingdom Hearts. We are all characters in that game. Emma can control what happens.

You expect me to believe that?

Not really, but it's true.

Fine, I'll play along. What's Axel doing there?

He helped them for a little while.

He HELPED them? Why? Isn't he a bad guy?

Not quite. He works for both sides. I thought that Emma might have been able to keep him on the Senshi's side, but he's gone back to Organization XIII.

This is all really confusing…what's with that picture of Sora and me together?

About three weeks ago, Sora lost half of himself, in a way. And…in order for Sora to become completely whole again…he needs you.

Me? What for?

You hold half of what he is. He needs you, Roxas.

Suddenly, Roxas materialized in a chair, along with Naminé. "How am I supposed to find him?" he queried. "Even if he does need me as much as you say, I haven't got a clue where he is!"

Naminé pressed her hands together. "You must travel to Hollow Bastion. The Juu Senshi has to take care of some business first, but they'll be there soon."

"Hollow Bastion? Where's that?"

"It's another world. There are many different worlds; you've only seen this one," Naminé explained. "Hollow Bastion isn't too far away."

Roxas scratched his head. "Okay, this is really making my head hurt…how am I even supposed get there? I'll need to hitch a ride with someone…"

The Nobody smiled warmly, and extended her hand towards the windows. "Already taken care of! You may come in now, Aldwyndain!"

A gust blew through the curtains, and materialized near Roxas and Naminé. It formed into a tall man, wearing a blue-and-gold uniform that looked as if it was stolen from one of Balamb Garden's SeeDs in Final Fantasy VIII. He threw his long, dark purple braid over his shoulder. "My Gummi ship is docked in the real Twilight Town, Naminé. Are you ready?" he asked Roxas.

"But…what about Hayner? And Pence? And Olette?"

Aldwyndain cast Naminé an uneasy glance. "I'll explain once we're both aboard the Yojimbo."

… … …

"A fake Twilight Town? But why would this DiZ guy do that?" Roxas yelled as he sat in Aldwyndain's brightly-colored ship.

Aldwyndain twitched from the volume of Roxas's voice. "To hide you from the Organization," he explained while blowing up an enemy vessel. "He duplicated the real Twilight Town, including the real Hayner, Pence, and Olette."

Roxas sighed heavily. "Oh…so I don't really have any friends? Just copied data?"

As they flew through the glowing keyhole, Aldwyndain looked sadly back Roxas. "Sorry, but that's reality. I'm sure you'll be friends with Sora, though; after all, you two are essentially the same person. Why wouldn't you like each other?"

"Can you tell me about him? About Sora?"

Aldwyndain nodded. "Sure. Let's see…he's strong…he's determined…oh, and he cares for his friends more than anything else."

… … …

"EMMA, I HATE YOU!" Sora wailed. He and the other Senshi were in the kitchen of Emma, Dia, and Jake's house. "Why'd you have to take it?"

Emma put her hands defensively in the air. "You left the table! I thought you were done eating! Besides, you're overreacting a whole lot."

Sora sat back down in his seat and crossed his arms. "But I was hungry! That was the last muffin! Can't Alissa make some more?"

Alissa threateningly waved a wooden spoon at him. "You'd better be thankful that I'm allowing you six to be in here," she told him. "Not only is it more mouths to feed, it's really creepy having THEM here," she added, pointing at Donald and Goofy.

Bernie looked at her watch, then stood up. "It's time to go, guys. Thank you for breakfast, Mrs. Quinn!"

"You're welcome, Bernie." Alissa smiled. "Be careful when you're in King of Hearts, you guys!"

Jake giggled and wiped his mouth. "Kingdom Hearts, Alissa."

"Same difference. Have fun!"

Riku nodded. "Yeah, we'll have loads of fun trying not to get hacked into pieces by the Heartless while trying to knock out some cloaked morons," he said sarcastically.

"That's the spirit!" The Senshi laughed as they trooped downstairs into the Quinns' basement.

… … …

FG: I won't wait until halfway through the story to explain the title this time; it's a line from Sanctuary, the English KH2 theme. Finally, the random facts.

… You know when Emma, Dia, and Jake are collecting their friends after the Heartless first appear in Chicago? Emma didn't forget Donald and Goofy…I did. I forgot to put them back in, and I was too lazy to rewrite all of that text.

… The Senshi names (Senshi no Ichi, Senshi no Yon, Senshi no Shichi) were translated wrong. Senshi no Ichi would mean "Fighter of One", Senshi no Yon would mean "Fighter of Four", and so on. Hopefully, I'll remember to take the 'no' out of their names in CC3.

… The running gag about Tetsuko and the waffles is derived from Super Milk-chan, an anime that was formerly on Adult Swim. I had only seen one episode at the time, where a robber was planning to steal a suitcase full of money, and use it to buy BELGIAN WAFFLES! The way he says it is funny, and my siblings and I kept imitating him. So why did I make Tetsuko say it? I dunno.

… You know when Colin is first introduced during his turn to do the disclaimer, and he says, "FG had to drag me away from 'King and I' practice to be here…"? He actually was performing the King and I. He was George, from the "Small House of Uncle Thomas" segment. Or, as the royal wives say, "Geooooo-ooooorge!"

… I still draw Colin in bikinis. Just not as much.

… Cabin 10 in the Flapping Monkey Reserve was based on a bad experience I had on a retreat in Indiana. Sonia, Eric, and I were playing with a ball, and it went into the biggest cabin. None of us wanted to get it, because it was filled with goose dookie. It was actually Cabin 12, but at the Flapping Monkey Reserve, the cabins only went up to 10.

… Robin was originally from Tokyo, but I wanted her to have been speaking the Kansai dialect, giving her a spiffy Osakan accent.

… Karson's last name, Alka, is derived from alkaline batteries. I just thought it would be funny to name a cyborg after a type of battery. And I just liked the name Karson.

… Lyze is actually the name of a viera from FFTA. I just kept fighting against vieras until one of them had a good name. The same goes for Etoile, Lotte, Aurelie, and Darcy. The names of the members of Clan Nutsy are the names of the members on my account. Except I renamed it Clan Sephiroth. Please don't ask why.

… Hart's named was originally Fisshe. I changed her name because I already had a character whose name was just an English word with an E at the end, Silke.

… Please tell me you know why I gave Hart's Nobody the name Miaow. Please tell me that.

… Sakana Ryōshi was originally a girl. I decided that there were too many boys, so I changed Sakana's gender. Oh, and I thought it would be funny to have an effeminate guy in the story. So sue me. While we're on the subject of Sakana, his name means "Fish Hunter".

… These are the translated names of every Kurosato and Ketsueki ancestor:

Daijikaze- Precious Kaze (Kaze means wind, but I didn't know that when I named him)

Chikara- strength

Kegawa (Chikara's father) - fur

Medea (Chikara's mother) - This isn't in Japanese; it's actually the name of a character from a manhwa (Korean comic book) called Faeries' Landing.

Higaisha (Kirau's father) - casualty

Takuramu (Kirau's mother) - greedy

Fuyukai Kon'yaku (Chikara's former fiancé) - unpleasant engagement

Atarashii Kōzoku (Kirau's wife) - I can't remember what "kōzoku" means, but "atarashii" means new.

Zen Torikae (Chikara's husband)- virtuous replacement

Shizuka Josei (Chikara's daughter-in-law)- calm woman

Shin-nen (Eclipse's grandfather)- new year

Kobito (Eclipse's great-aunt)- I don't remember. I feel stupid now.

Ihan (Eclipse's great-uncle)- offense

Osoroshii (Kirau's daughter)- frightening

Itsumo (Gaunt's grandmother)- always

Natsumi Kunisaki (Eclipse's grandmother)- I'm not sure; she was named after Natsumi Hayama from Kodocha, and Shugo Kunisaki from .hack/TWLIGHT.

Mamoru (Eclipse's father)- guardian

Hisae (Eclipse's aunt)- Named after Hisae from Kodocha.

Satsujinsha (Gaunt's mother)- murderer

Unagi Giseisha (Eclipse's mother)- Eel victim. Her name was going to be "treasured victim", but that would be Takara Giseisha, which sounded too much like Takuramu.

Kenka Yōchina (Eclipse's uncle)- childish fighting

Saezuri Yōchina (Eclipse's cousin)- childish chirping

FG: If any of you Japanese-speaking reviewers can translate the names I forgot, that would be much appreciated, since I've misplaced my translation notes. I decided not to type up the entries in my travel journal, since I didn't think you guys would like it much; if you DO want to see it, I'd be more than happy to display them. Oh, and for a little while, I'm going to be preoccupied with rewriting CC and CC2. I have to edit the parts where they say that DiZ is Ansem's Nobody, and when they say "shell" instead of "Nobody". After that, it's time to write CC3! Thank you all for reading!