*ROAR*! Tis teh Beast! After that Shadow! OK, remember, when dealing with Shadows it's best not to lock-on, since they tend to become un-hittable for awhile, so just swing randomly and you're bound to hit something. After awhile, the Beast shows up and pops a few heads. ... and basically shoves you aside and ignores you. Owwie. Well, there's a moogle and an SP in here. Buy two Sardonyx Rings for Sora, one for Goofy, and two Silver Rings for Donald (if you don't have enough munny just come back here whenya do). Leave the room whenyer ready. Yeah, Belle should know what's up! Go up the stairs and take a right to enter Belle's room. ... as Belle glomps a protesting Donald. Aha. What would Daisy think? *snickers* The chests here contain a Mythril Shard and the map to the castle. Save if you wish, then go back into the east wing.

There's a tent in the chest. OK, if you'll remember from KH, the only way to get rid of the Large Bodies is to hit them from behind. They have a brand new devastating attack, so don't give them a chance to unleash it. The other chest contains a Hi-Potion. Back in the entrance hall, go up the other flight of stairs and enter the west wing. After the movie, turn around and go back to the entrance of this area. See those suits of armour? They drop drive balls or whatever, so smash em up ifya need to. There are also two chests with a Mythril Shard in one and a Hi-Potion in the other. Go back down the hallway and as soon as you can, go right into the little alcove for a Drive Recovery. A chest at the end of the hallway and on the right contains a tent. There's another alcove on this side of the stairs with a chest containing a Mythril Shard in it. You can't bust up the suits of armour on the stairs, so inspect the armoire thingy right across from the chest containing the tent. ... hmph, stupid wardrobe thingy. OK, button-mash triangle until the thing looks about to wake up, in which case run back away from it (if you keep trying to push, it knocks you away and moves back in front of the door). When it's asleep again, go back to pushing, and run away again when it starts to wake up. After awhile, the thing finally wakes up and starts acting all nice and stuff. Well, we would've said so if you hadn't been so busy alternating between sleeping and beating us up, grommit. ^>__<^ ... not very helpful, is it? Go through the doorway. ... uh oh is right.


Boss: Threshholder, Possessor, Hook Bats, Gargoyles (x2)
HP: Thresholder: 137, Possessor: 98
Strength: Thresholder: 15, Possessor: 15
Defense: Thresholder: 8, Possessor: 8
Attacks: Homing Bomb (darkness heat-seeking balls)
Bonuses: Upper Slash (Sora), Donald Fire (Donald), HP up (Goofy +5)
My current level: 13

Destroy the statues (Gargoyles) first, then two waves of Hook Bats show up. Defeat them, then ice the door with Blizzard until you run out of MP, then just take whacks at it. Once it goes down, quickly collect your stuff, then press triangle at the door. The thing then flies out at you. Chase it around and smack the hell out of it, and it drops a bunch of drive orbs. It then returns to the door and starts with its dark heat-seeking ball attack. Ignore the balls cause they don't do a whole lot of damage. Go into Valor form (you should be back up to full gauge by now) to do some real damage. Use triangle again when prompted, and the thing flies out again. Shouldn't take too long to finish it off after this.

There's nothing in the room cept a blocked-off doorway in the area above, so just go through the door. Ahaha, Donald's a curious one, ain't he. Well, it's off to find the Beast. The chests in here contain an area map and an AP Boost. Go out and jump up to the balcony to see Cogsworth, who makes the statues up there move aside. OK, time to light some lanterns. And no, Fire won't work. Gotta use... Sprinkle. Ooh boy, girlyness. ^<__<^;; Anyway. Run ahead and light the two lanterns (the random bits of dinnerware need to reach em to for you to light em), then run back to Cogsworth. Wait for him to run out of grip, then hit Restore (Mrs. Potts the teapot needs to get there to help him out). Get to the last lantern and bust up the boxes leading to it so the servants can get to it. wait impatiently for Mrs. Potts to make her way over there (behind you are two chests containing a Hi-Potion and a Mythril Shard), then use the Sprinkle command. *whew*! Open the chest for a Mega-Potion (what, already? I'm still using just plain old potions ^O__o^;; ), then enter the west wing.

The chest here has an AP Boost in it and the one on the other side of the door has a tent in it. The one up the stairs contains a Mythril Shard. Go down the hallway and enter the door at the end to find the Beast. Aahh, stupid Organization. Oh holy crap! That is one pissed-off Beast!


Boss: The Beast
HP: 156
Strength: 15
Defense: 8
Attacks: physicals
Bonuses: Equipment slot (Sora), Defender ability (Goofy), HP up (Donald +4)
My current level: 14

OK, basically, if you keep smacking at him and are quick with the triangle button, he doesn't attack. When he's out of HP, button-mash or else he'll have a full HP gauge and you'll have to start over again. This shouldn't even qualify as a boss battle...

Afterwards, the Beast repents. Oh, what, mistreat women? Somehow, I think Belle will forgive him. Anyway, the Beast is now in your party. Just like old times, ey? The chest in here contains a Mega-Recipe, whatever that is. Hurry to Belle's room. With the Beast in your party you can do some awesome triangle-button things. He kicks ass. ^~__~^ Once there, save and talk to the armoire or whatever (sources tell me that her name in French is "Mrs. Big-Mouth." I think her English name is the more boring "Wardrobe."). Apparently Belle went chasing after the Organization dude. Return to the entrance hall and, after the scene, go through the door you initially came in from (the door at the opposite end of the hallway). Clear out all the Heartless, then open the chests in this area to receive a Hi-Potion, an AP Boost, and a Mythril Shard. Go back inside and enter the door at the top of the stairs (the ballroom). woah buddy, it's the Ghost of Christmas Past! ... right? ^<__<^;;


Boss: Shadow Stalker, a.k.a. The Ghost of Christmas Past (aha)
HP: 176, chandelier mode: 59, pillar mode: 39
Strength: 15
Defense: 8
Attacks: Darkness Surge (darkness raking across the room), Swallow (he eats Sora!), Hook (pillar attack), Flame Shot (spinning fire beams)
My current level: 15

Another easy fight, despite the unavoidable attacks. The hardest part about this fight is actually finding the bad guy. When he's in his pseudo-Hades form or his pillar form hit triangle to knock him out of that form. Otherwise, just beat the crap out of him. The dual attack with Beast is pretty much useless here since the stupid thing doesn't stay still for very long.

... O... K... so maybe it's not so easy after all?


Boss: Dark Thorn
HP: 390
Strength: 15
Defense: 8
Attacks: various spinning attacks, including one with the chandelier
Bonuses: Retaliating Slash ability (Sora), HP up (Sora +5, Donald +4, Beast +35), Item slot (Goofy)
My current level: 15

Basically what you want to do for this fight is be pressing triangle and X at the same time for basically most of the fight (the rest of the fight would be spent running towards the guy). This strategy makes the fight a piece of cake.

Mr. Xaldin Organization Dude shows up after the fight, mocks you (to some extent), and disappears. Is it just me or are these Organization guys a bunch of chickens? At least in KH: CoM you could actually fight them (and kick their stuck-up self-absorbed asses. Like Marluxia! Ahaha!). *ahem* Anyway. After an apology and a very huffy Belle, the furniture pieces explain that if the Beast can't find somebody who loves him like he loves them, then he'll remain a beast forever. The rose levitates itself, and a new gate is discovered. You get Cure for defeating this level. ... not so fast there Hoss. It ain't so grand. Did you read the thingy? MP cost: all. Yeah, that's right, all of your MP. So basically a last-ditch effort to save yer skin, as oppsoed to being able to cure yourself multiple times like in KH. So much for that idea.

The ship is aliiiiiiiive! You return to Hollow Bastion, and are met with a bunch of Heartless emanating from Merlin's house. Yay, the Pooh book! Save, then talk to Donald. Enter the pop-up trees, then run past Pooh to open the three chests (map of the area, Mythril Stone, and AP Boost), then talk to Pooh. ... waugh! You get booted from the book, and Donald hails you from outside. ... heyyy, what's the big deal? It's just a bunch of Shadows. Hey! They stole the Pooh Book! ^>__<^ After the bastards! Back inside the book, go check on Pooh! Hrmmmmm, whatever kicked you out of the book must've messed with Pooh's memory. Back at Hollow Bastion, Merlin explains that some pages from the book are missing. And, uh... now you can, uh... summon... ... Chicken Little. ... ^<__<^;; Oh well. Hollow Bastion has now been upgraded from battle lv 8 to battle lv 15, so I'd suggest testing out the enemies around there, since the next stage is battle lv 16. Stock up on potions and the like (personally, I don't see the enemies as being all that much harder...), then fly to the Coliseum.