CJ'S VS BLOGS: Joker VS Sora (Persona VS Kingdom Hearts)

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"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes" - Carl Jung

Joker, The leader of the leader of the Persona-wielding Phantom Thieves of Hearts in Persona 5

Sora, The Heart Protecting Keyblade-wielding, guardian of light in Kingdom Hearts

These two heroes have enormous strength of heart, and I'm here to go over who I think has the stronger heart and would win a DEATH BATTLE!

Before We Begin

-I will not be including Shin Megami Tensei for Joker scaling, as though I think it is valid I can understand as to why other people don't think it is.

-I'm also not a mathematician and all the calcs I use will be given proper credit.

-I'm also just one person so if I do make mistakes, I apologize in advance

-Also, this is just my opinion on who I believe would win, you are free to disagree, just be respectful.

-Joker will be getting Persona 5/Royal, Persona Q and Q2, Persona 5 Tactica, Persona 5 Strikers and scaling to the other Persona games

-Sora will be getting the main 3 Kingdom Hearts games, Chain of Memories, Dream Drop Distance and scaling to the other Kingdom Hearts games

-Also be warned that there will be extensive spoilers for most if not all games that I mentioned

Background

Joker

-Credit to Nocverse

"Before that happens, we will take this country"

Ren Amamiya was just an ordinary high school student. That was until one day he came across a man forcing himself on a woman, and since Ren has a heart with a strong sense of justice; he couldn't just look the other way. This man turned out to be an influential politician with who lead a criminal organization named Masayoshi Shido. This however, led to Ren's arrest as Shido fell and injured himself and sued him. This led to Ren's expulsion from his current high school and his transfer to his new school Shujin Academy, where on his first day of school he and his new friend Ryuji Sakamato accidently enter the Metaverse, an alternate realm based on the collective unconscious. It's in this realm where Joker first awakens to the power of Persona in order to save Ryuji from Kamoshida. In Persona 5 the Metaverse takes the form of Palaces, alternate realms based on real world locations, with a central Palace of the collective unconscious being based on the Shibuya underground. This realm also takes the form of what the ruler sees it as. For some examples, the Thieves' first target Suguru Kamoshida saw Shujin Academy as his castle, and Shido sees the Diet building as his ship. After changing Kamoshida's heart alongside Ryuji (Skull), their talking cat ally Morgana (Mona) and their friend Ann Takamaki (Panther) they decide to stick around and form the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

This lead to Joker making a bunch of new friends and getting new teammates, such as Yusuke Kitagawa (Fox), Makoto Niijima (Queen), Futaba Sakura (Oracle), Haru Okumura (Noir), Goro Akechi (Crow) also not really, Sumire Yoshizawa (Violet) who doesn't join until the final Palace of Royal, in Persona 5 Tactica, Erina and Toshiro (they don't have code names) and in Persona 5 Strikers, the AI Sophia (Sophie) and Zenkichi Hasegawa (Wolf). After gaining these allies and more civilian allies called Confidants, up until meeting Haru and having her join the Thieves try and change her father Kunikazu Okumura's heart so she wouldn't be married off to a horrible man. And when the Thieves do succeed tragedy strikes as he undergoes a mental shutdown and dies live on TV during a press conference that was set up as the result of the Phantom Thieves changing his heart. However the Phantom Thieves were not the ones who killed Okumura, that was Goro Akechi, who blackmailed his way into the Phantom Thieves. It was around this time where the events of Persona Q2 happen, where the Phantom Thieves meet and join forces with S.E.E.S. and the Investigation Team. Which are the casts of Persona 3 and 4, but due to time travel and not being allowed to know details of the future for the 3 and 4 casts, they all end up with their memories of these events wiped at the end of the game. Akechi also secretly planned to kill Joker after arresting him. But Joker was able to immediately able to see through this plan and come up with a plan of his own to trick Akechi into thinking that he killed him, when in actuality Joker was still alive. This lead to Joker and the Thieves learning that Akechi worked for Shido who wanted to use the Metaverse for his own gain, including manipulating his way into becoming the main candidate for Prime Minister of Japan. So Shido became their next and assumedly "final" target.

One day Shido showed up to give a speech around Leblanc, a cafe where Joker and his friends hang out and where Ren lives. Since they were having trouble figuring out the keywords to access Shido's Palace, Ryuji, Haru and Joker decide to go see him speak to get some ideas, this makes Joker finally remember that Shido was the one who sued him all those months ago, making this last heist even more personal for him specifically. In Shido's Palace Akechi finally realizes he was tricked and confronts the Phantom Thieves. They engage in battle where Akechi reveals he also has the power to use more than one persona, however this ends in his defeat as the Phantom Thieves were able to beat him. Immediatley after this Akechi sacrifices himself for the Phantom Thieves in order for them to change the heart of his father. After this the Phantom Thieves do successfully do change his heart even after Shido separates Joker from his teammates, Joker was able to defeat him, and Shido later confessed all of his crimes. This however, seemingly did not stop the public from wanting Shido to become Prime Minister and he wasn't able to be prosecuted due to his organization claiming he needed a psychiatric evaluation. This led to Morgana realizing that in order to change the hearts of the public, they needed to erase Mementos, the Palace of the Public.

So the Phantom Thieves went to the depths of Mementos, where they encounter the Holy Grail, who was being supported by the masses and was constantly healing itself during their fight. It then proceeded to send the Thieves back to the real world and then fuse the real world with Mementos. And since the cognitive and real worlds had become one and the masses denied the existence of the Phantom Thieves, they faded from existence. However, this doesn't stop Joker as when he fades, he wakes up in the Velvet Room, where Igor orders his execution. But Joker summons his will and then is able to reveal the true form of his Velvet Room attendants, Caroline and Justine by fusing them back into Lavenza. Lavenza then reveals that the Igor that has been present throughout Ren's adventure was a fake and was actually the Holy Grail itself. Once the fake Igor leaves Ren goes to find his teammates and restore their willpower. They then leave the Velvet Room to once again go and fight the Holy Grail, even overcoming it being able to heal itself, as they cut it's wires to the masses. However, the fight was just beginning as the Holy Grail transforms into the God of Control Yaldabaoth whose enormous stature was even able to reach the clouds in the sky and he was able to nearly defeat the Phantom Thieves. However the public's belief in the Phantom Thieves had went from 0% to 100% which reinvigorates the Thieves and Joker in particular. As he summons Arsene, his starting Persona and broke the chains surrounding him it unleashed his true power and Arsene transforms into his ultimate Persona, Satanael who was even able to match Yaldabaoth in stature. Ren and Satanael proceed to shoot Yaldabaoth through the head and kills him, erasing the Metaverse in the process.

However Ren's friend and counselor, Takuto Maruki fully awakened to his Persona on the day that reality merged with the cognitive world and his Persona had the power to alter reality through cognition. And he was able to alter reality back to the point where the fusion of it and the cognitive world wasn't fully undone. After doing this Maruki then altered the very fabric of reality in order to bring about a world that he believes would bring everyone happiness through his own view. However, Ren and Akechi who is now seemingly alive were able to see through this reality and realize it wasn't what it was supposed to be and was able to get his teammates to realize it too. And they decide to stop Maruki as they don't see the reality Maruki created as a utopia. So the Thieves go through Maruki's Palace and even awaken to their third Personas if you maxed out their Confidants. On the Eve of when Maruki's reality would become permanent, he visits Ren at Leblanc one last time to try and convince him one last time to accept his reality. In order to get him to accept it, as a last resort he reveals that Akechi is most likely only alive because he created this new reality and if they oppose him Akechi could die for good. This does not deter Akechi in the slightest and Ren also expresses his desire to oppose Maruki, so they finally fight Maruki and his Persona, Azathoth manage to win. After this Maruki manages to evolve his Persona into Adam Kadmon in a similar manner as to what Joker had done prior. But his effort was futile as the Phantom Thieves are still able to defeat him. But Maruki had one last trick up his sleeve, he fused with Adam Kadmon in order to fully use its power to the fullest extent and is nearly able to defeat the Thieves but they are able to realize his weakness as all of its defenses drop when attacking so the Thieves stall out his attack by using their Persona's to imbue their strength and have Joker use his grappling hook to reach attack Kadmon's head which his defenseless and shoot him through its head in order to knock Maruki out of Adam Kadmon. Then Joker had one final fist fight with Maruki in order to help Maruki kill his regrets. After this the fusion of reality and the Metaverse finally becomes undone once again and the Metaverse is once again erased, and reality is now back to its previous state before Maruki altered it.

After everything that happened in Maruki's reality reverted to what should've happened instead, which included Ren going to juvenile hall in order to testify about the Metaverse in order to properly prosecute Shido. After all of his friends he made throughout his year in Tokyo campaign to get him released from juvie; The police and journalists are able to find the woman who claimed that Ren intentionally hurt Shido and she recanted that testimony, making Ren a free man. And clearing him of his criminal record.

So once Ren was free and he was about a week from going back to his home in the country the Thieves are transported to a world inside of the mind of a politician named Toshiro Kasukabe. The Thieves then go through Toshiro's mind to try and find their way back home, where they learn that the struggles they're going through were being orchestrated by a god born of mankind's desire for tranquility, Salmael. The Thieves and their new allies Toshiro and Erina do battle with the god and are able to defeat him and return back to the real world. After those events Ren and Morgana says goodbye to all of the friends he made and heads back home for the next couple of months

During Ren and the Phantom Thieves' summer break, Ren goes back to Tokyo to spend the break with his friends. However, this break quickly turns into having to do business as Ren, Ryuji and Morgana enter a new Metaverse that was created using the AI EMMA by Akira Konoe. And this Metaverse was slightly different as instead of Palaces, the alternate realms were called Jails. They also function differently as Jails are based on cities, compared to locations and buildings like Palaces are. And Jails don't have Treasures and instead have Desires that the Monarchs stole from the people in the city. And the last difference is that when the Desires are sent back to the people and the Monarch returns to itself in the real world the Jail doesn't collapse like Palaces did when their Treasures were stolen. And because these Jails existed and took Desires from the people the Thieves were being scapegoated for the countrywide change of heart epidemic. In order to clear their names the Phantom Thieves traversed through Japan on a road trip in order to find new Jails and give the people their Desires back. This culminated in Osaka as the Phantom Thieves fought Akira Konoe, the head of Maddice, which is the company that developed the Metaverse Jail function into EMMA. They were able to defeat him, however EMMA had basically ascended into Godhood and became the Demiurge like the Holy Grail before it. And using this new power it also merged the Metaverse with Reality and stole the public's Desires. So Joker and the Phantom Thieves fight the Demiurge and are able to defeat it with Joker dealing the final blow. After this a couple of days go by and it marks the end of Ren's summer vacation and he and Morgana head back to his hometown with the promise that he will meet his friends again.

Sora

-Credit to Death Battle

My friends, they are my power

Sora was a normal teenage boy living on the world of Destiny Islands with his best friend and rival Riku and his other best friend and crush Kairi. Who Riku teased him over having a crush on her like before the two had a friendly race; said that the winner would get to share a paopu fruit with her. A paoup fruit is a fruit that if two people share it, is stated that those people will be in their lives forever. And also some characters from the Final Fantasy series of games. That was until on the day before they planned to leave it on a raft to go explore what they think could be other worlds, a severe rainstorm hits; with a cloud seemingly made of darkness passes overhead and shadowy monsters called Heartless invade. This results in Sora looking for Riku and Kairi all throughout Destiny Islands. And at the spot where their raft was he finds Riku saying that the door had been opened to the outside world, and that he wasn't afraid of the darkness. The two then begin to start sinking into the darkness but before Sora could be fully enveloped by the darkness, he receives the Keyblade and it dispels the darkness around him, however Riku had fallen completely into the darkness. This Keyblade helps him defeats the heartless and then he goes to find Kairi. He then finds Kairi inside of The Secret Place. Which is a cave behind the Islands waterfall. When he found her and reached out his arms to grab her, a strong gust of wind blow them away and she ended up phasing through Sora and disappearing. After Sora was blown out of The Secret Place he finds himself face to face with a giant Heartless called Darkside and a cloud of darkness above them. Even after battling the Darkside, Destiny Islands is still swallowed by the cloud of darkness and succumbs to it. And Sora is dragged up to the cloud and after a while ends up waking in Traverse Town. A world that appears when other worlds succumb to darkness and its purpose is to be a temporary home for people whose worlds had succumb to darkness. When he wakes up he travels throughout the world, battling Heartless until he crosses paths with Squall from Final Fantasy VIII who goes by Leon. He then fights Leon and passes out from the exhaustion of fighting such a tough opponent. After this he wakes up in one of the Traverse Towns' apartments and mistakes Yuffie from Final Fantasy VII for Kairi. After this Leon and Yuffie explain what the Keyblade is, what the Heartless are which is monsters who have lost their bodies and try to claim other people's hearts in order to regain their form back, and who Ansem is. Immediately after this the trio are attacked by Heartless and are forced to separate. When Sora goes into the towns Third District he encounters Donald Duck and Goofy, and the three of them take down a swarm of Heartless and a giant Heartless made of armor called Guard Armor. After the three introduce themselves to each other Donald and Goofy ask Sora if he wants to join them on their quest to travel the universe and find their king, and that it was their king's request to follow the key. Sora wanting to find Riku and Kairi, agrees to join them on their quest. The trio travels many worlds on their journey and they end up making a bunch of new friends and allies as a result. Sora even grows closer to Donald and Goofy and sees them as close friends, like he does with Riku and Kairi.

After traveling through those worlds, the trio returns to Traverse Town where they end up finding Riku. Riku reveals that he has a suprising amount of knowledge about the Keyblade and is also able to take it from Sora. He reveals that he is also looking for Kairi. Sora then tries to asks if Riku wants to travel with them but before he could, Riku disappears. Sora being happy with the knowledge that Riku is safe, he departs with Donald and Goofy on their journey again hoping to find Kairi. The trio then end up traveling through more worlds and running into Riku a couple more times. This culminates in the world Neverland where Riku reveals that he has found Kairi, but she's in sort of a daze. Riku then reveals that he has turned to the darkness and summons a Sora made of pure darkness to combat him and leaves. Sora, undeterred goes on to fight Captain Hook who reveals that Riku and Maleficent are residing in the world of Hollow Bastion. The trio then make their way to Hollow Bastion where they once again encounter Riku. Riku then reveals that he was the actual master of Sora's Keyblade and takes it from him. This results in Donald and Goofy leaving him for Riku as their instructions were to follow the key. Sora then fights his way through Hollow Bastion with a wooden sword and The Beast as his ally until encountering Riku once more, where Riku tells him to stand down as he has no power. Sora refuses and says that his friends are his power, which results in Riku firing an attack made of darkness at Sora, but before it could hit him Donald and Goofy return to his side and protect him from the blast. Because of his strength of heart the Keyblade returns to Sora and becomes his permanently. The three then fight and defeat Riku, and move throughout Hollow Bastion until they encounter Maleficent and fight and defeat her. The three then go further throughout the world until they find Kairi's slump body and Riku, who is now being possessed by Ansem reveals that Kairi had lost her heart and that it currently resides in Sora. Ansem then tries to release Kairi's heart from Sora, but Sora fights back and is able to defeat him. However in order to free Kairi's heart he stabs himself with Ansem's Keyblade, which does release her heart but also turns him into a Heartless. While he was a Heartless he made his way towards Donald, Goofy and Kairi, and Kairi somehow recognizes him which lets him return to his normal self. The Final Fantasy characters then arrive at Hollow Bastion and tell the trio that Ansem was once a wise person who was their leader and that Hollow Bastion is their home world. They also tell them that Ansem is most likely waiting for them in a different world called The End of The World. Which is a culmination of all the worlds that had fallen to darkness. Before going to battle Ansem, the trio go back to Traverse Town in order to place Kairi somewhere safe from harm. Sora and Kairi then talk and Kairi gives him a lucky charm she made for him back on Destiny Islands and makes him promise to come back and give her charm back, and Sora departs with Donald and Goofy. Upon finding Ansem, the trio have one final battle with him and are able to defeat him, however he tries to open the door to Kingdom Hearts as he thinks it's darkness, but Sora realizes that Kingdom Hearts is light which makes the door open and light burst out of it and destroy Ansem. The trio then try and close the door before Heartless come out of it as the door doubled as a means to enter or leave the realm of darkness. Just then a free from possession Riku appears on the other side of the door to help as it can only be closed from both sides, he also has help in the form of the king Donald and Goofy have been searching for, Mickey. Mickey then requests Sora's help in order to close the door to darkness, which they succeed in. This results in the worlds that had fallen to darkness being restored and Sora sees Kairi and he tells her he has to go look for Riku and King Mickey. He also promises to meet Kairi again. After this the events of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories happen, where Sora's memories are messed with and he, Donald and Goofy are put in sleep pods in order to restore the memories to what they should be.

After about a year of sleep, Sora, Donald and Goofy wake up with their memories restored in the world of Twilight Town and soon after waking the trio encounter some new people Hayner, Pence and Olette. Sora, Donald and Goofy then ask them if they have seen people who look like either King Mickey or Riku, and they say they saw someone with pretty big ears by the town's train station. The trio then venture to the station where they find King Mickey. He tells them to board a specific train and talk to his master Yen Sid as they have missed a lot during the year that they were asleep. So the trio make take the train to the Mysterious Tower and Yen Sid fills them in on a new threat called Nobodies which are similar yet different to the Heartless. They are similar because they also have lost their true forms, however they're different because they kept their bodies but lost their hearts which results in their body being basically a shell. And Organization XII an evil organization made entirely of Nobodies. Yen Sid then has the three fairy Godmothers from Sleeping Beauty give Sora new clothes as he had outgrown his old ones during his year long slumber. These new clothes also gave him a new ability to transform into new forms called Drive Forms. Then Yen Sid tells them to go to Hollow Bastion to help the Final Fantasy characters restore their world from the damage it had taken back in Kingdom Hearts 1. The trio then make their way to Hollow Bastion and helped Leon and the others try and restore it, but before they could the Organization unleashed Nobodies on the world to do more damage to the world. Sora and the others are able to stop them and after this Sora, Donald and Goofy travel through more worlds and meet up with some of their old friends and also make new ones. A bit after this, the trio are summoned to Disney Castle as it's power source the Cornerstone of Light which protects it from darkness was being attacked. The trio then go to the Cornerstone's hall and are able to go into a past world called Timeless River, which is the world detailing how Mickey built Disney Castle. The trio are able to stop the Cornerstone from being destroyed by Pete, by teaming up with his past self. The trio then return to Twilight Town and have to fight off more nobodies summoned by one of the Organization members, Saix. After driving off the nobodies Hayner, Pence and Olette find and tell Sora that Kairi was there, but she got kidnapped by a different Organization member named Axel. Sora vows to find Riku and Kairi and heads off with Donald and Goofy to travel more worlds.

The trio then head back to Hollow Bastion, which is under even more danger than the last time that they visited, as not just Heartless and Nobodies are attacking the world but also it's own defense system. The trio then accompany Leon who had found Ansem's study and his computer which he thinks should hold the solution to their conundrum. When Sora messes with the studies computer, he Donald and Goofy are digitized by it's Master Control Program and are transported to a world inside the computer called Space Paranoids, where they meet Tron. Tron then helps them find their way back to the outside and King Mickey also came to help. King Mickey helps Tron be able to access Ansem's database, and with the help of Sora, Donald and Goofy help Tron defeat the MCP in order to get the world's defense system to stop attacking it. Mickey then reveals to the trio that the "Ansem" that they fought wasn't the real one and was actually the Heartless of one of Ansem's students, named Xehanort. He also reveals that Xehanort's Nobody, Xemnas is the leader of Organization XIII. Just then the Organization unleashes countless hordes of Heartless and Nobodies on the world in an attempt to take over Hollow Bastion. King Mickey tells the trio to leave the fight to him and the inhabitants of the world but they refuse and join the fight as well. Sora is then seperated from his friends and is forced to do battle with 1000 Heartless on his own and is able to defeat them. After this Sora runs into Saix, and Saix tells Sora that with every Heartless he defeats, another Heart gets added to the Organization's version of Kingdom Hearts, and then tells him that Kairi is with the Organization. Sora then begs him to tell him where Kairi is, and Saix refuses and then leaves. Sora then talks to the Final Fantasy characters who tell him that they finally remember the true name of Hollow Bastion, Radiant Garden. Sora then joins up with Donald and Goofy once more and with determination to find Riku and Kairi once and for all, and to stop Xemnas.

The trio then resume their journey hoping to find the Organization's headquarters and even run into a member of the Organization, Xaldin in the world of Beauty and The Beast and defeat him there. They then return to Twilight Town looking for clues in order to find the Organization's HQ. They are soon joined by King Mickey and return back to where Sora, Donald and Goofy had woken up earlier in their journey and find a computer used by the real Ansem and use it to enter an alternate digital Twilight Town. This alternate Twilight Town houses a passageway to the Oraganization HQ. Before the quartet could actually enter the world, they were surrounded by a horde of Nobodies to try and prevent them into entering it. However another Organization member Axel turns traitor to the Organization and sacrifices himself in order to wipe out the horde. As Axel begins to fade, he apologizes to Sora for kidnapping Kairi and opens a portal to the Organization HQ, which is a world that could never be. It was called The World That Never Was. Upon entering the world Sora is confronted by a hooded figure who transports him to his Station of Awakening, a place located within Sora's heart, to do battle with him. Sora is able to defeat him and is then transported back to the real world. He, Donald, Goofy and Mickey then go into the Organization's castle in order to stop them from finishing their version of Kingdom Hearts. Saix then sets a massive horde of Heartless upon them and Sora, Donald and Goofy are forced to fight them, but just then the Heartless on the upper level start being taken out by Kairi and Riku who has taken the form of Xehanort's Heartless. After taking out the Heartless Sora has to fight Xigbar another Organization member who calls him Roxas, and is able to defeat him. The trio then make their way further into the castle where Sora finally reunites with his best friends. The group then goes further into the castle and have to fight two of the last three Organization members Luxord and Saix, who both also call Sora by a different name, Roxas. Sora then asks why they keep calling him that, and Riku reveals that Roxas was his Nobody, that was created when he stabbed himself in order to free Kairi's heart. Sora then realizes that the hooded figure he fought in his own heart was Roxas. After this the group runs into a robed man, who in actuality was the original Ansem, known as Ansem The Wise. He uses a device in order to destroy the man-made Kingdom Hearts, even though it will also destroy him. As he does this, it succeeds in it's goal and even restores Riku back to his true form as a side effect. Sora and the others then go ahead to finally defeat Xemnas, and Sora is reunited with Roxas for one final conversation. Then Namine, Kairi's Nobody, opened a portal back to Destiny Islands. But before Sora and Riku could enter the portal Xemnas reveals the he had survived and the duo go off to face him one last time. The duo are able to defeat him and after have no choice but to go through a random portal that leads to the Realm of Darkness. After talking for a bit in the realm of darkness, a bottle washes up at the sea with a note and Sora reads it, which results in a Door to Light appearing before them and the duo enter it, and end up back at Destiny Islands where they reunite with their friends, and Sora is finally able to give Kairi her charm back. An unknown amount of time later Kairi finds a note on the Island's shore from King Mickey and Sora reads it and is filled with some new determination to continue his journey.

A bit after this Sora and Riku travel back to the Mysterious Tower to take their Mark of Mastery exam to officially become Keyblade Masters, as that's what Mickey told them to do in his note. The reason Mickey told them to do this is because he needs their help to rescue his old friends and Keyblade wielders Terra, Aqua and Ventus and free them from their hurt. And they need to be Keyblade Masters to do so. Yen Sid then tells the duo the other reason for this exam is because both Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody had been destroyed it would mean the return of Xehanort's true form and they need to be Keyblade Masters in order to stop him as Xehanort himself is one of the most dangerous Keyblade Masters to ever exist. Sora initially refuses to take the exam but is swayed to take it by Riku. Yen Sid then tells the two of them that in order to become true Keyblade Masters they must go through seven sleeping worlds which had fallen to darkness back in the first game but had not fully come back yet and are therefore sleeping. Sora and Riku begin their journey through the sleeping worlds on Destiny Islands back when it fell to the darkness. After doing battle with Ursula from the Little Mermaid, the duo are split apart through unknown methods and wake up in alternate but linked versions of Traverse Town. After meeting Neku, Joshua and Rhyme from The World Ends With You who mentor him, Sora departs on his journey to wake the sleeping worlds. Several times during his journey he encounters a young man who has strange ties to Xehanort and he is normally accompanied by Ansem and Xemnas who Sora believed to be destroyed. After waking all seven sleeping worlds Sora ends up back in The World That Never was rather than back in the Realm of Light. Sora then encounters Xigbar who tells him that the Organization planned for this from the start. He is then taken by the young man with ties to Xehanort and reveals to him that he is a younger version of Xehanort who agreed to help with his older self's plan. Young Xehanort then allows for Sora to go further into the world's castle, where he finds Xigbar and Xemnas who is very much alive again. The two of them then reveal to Sora that the true purpose of Organization XII is to create thirteen vessels for Xehanort to put his essence in so that they can do battle with seven guardians of light to create the X-blade and that the final vessel they plan to use is Sora himself. Sora refuses and utters that his friends are his power once again and fights and defeats Xemnas, but his heart is badly weakened in this encounter and he falls to the darkness. This results in him almost becoming the last vessel needed for Xehanort's plan but due to help from Riku, King Mickey, and Axel who know goes by Lea as his true form has been restored due to his Nobody being defeated, he is able to come away from this encounter without becoming Xehanort's vessel. Although because of this and not being able to use the power of waking anymore, which is the power to wake sleeping hearts Sora fails his Mark of Mastery exam but he is happy that Riku was able to pass it.

Soon after this Yen Sid summons Sora, Donald and Goofy to the Mysterious Tower and tells them to go on a journey throughout worlds and to, "let his heart be his guiding key". Sora follows this advice and heads off to the world of Olympus Colosseum to see Hercules one more time to get his advice on how to get lost power back. The reason why Sora asks Hercules this is because after he almost fell to the darkness most of his strength and powers, including the ability to use the power of waking and enter Drive Forms, and Hercules had experienced something similar with losing his strength and being able to regain it. Before Sora could ask Hercules for his advice, he Donald and Goofy had to help Hercules out with the World being under attack from the Titans and Hades and are able to succeed in driving off Hades from taking over Olympus. Hercules then tells Sora that he should be able to regain his lost strength and powers by fighting with all his heart. The trio then go back to the Mysterious Tower and Sora tells Yen Sid that he might not be able to regain his strength currently, but he'll try to. Yen Sid then gifts Sora some new clothes, with a new ability to replace his lost Drive Forms with Keyblade Formchanges which can sort of be seen as an evolution of his Drive Forms and the trio depart to Twilight Town to create data and a vessel for Roxas' heart as Sora learns that another heart resides within him and believes it to be Roxas'. Although another former Organization member Ienzo formerly known as Zexion believes it to be a different heart because it has been with Sora since he was young. As the trio travel throughout the world they encounter Hayner, Pence and Olette running away from a horde of Heartless and fight the Heartless to protect them and the town. The trio then encounter Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas who pressure Sora into wanting to resurrect Roxas in the actual Twilight Town rather than the digital one he was planning to use. Sora then talks to Riku to learn about how the Replica Program works and finds out that Roxas can only be resurrected by making a vessel with this program that way his heart has a place to reside. Filled with determinaton to free Roxas from himself, he continues on his journey with Donald and Goofy throughout the worlds to try and regain his lost power.

After traveling throughout many more worlds which now include Pixar movies, the trio learn that the side of light has lost contact with Riku and King Mickey who went to the realm of darkness in order to save Aqua. Sora then opens a gate that leads the trio to Destiny Islands where Sora finds an old Keyblade which he uses to open a door to the Realm Of Darkness where he goes alone in order to save Riku and King Mickey. When Sora arrives in the Realm of Darkness he sees Riku battling Aqua who had fallen to the darkness and Sora takes over the fight for him and is able to defeat her and take her back to the realm of light, finally freeing her from her hurt. After this Aqua takes Sora, Donald and Goofy to Castle Oblivion, which they don't recognize. The reason for this is because Ventus was hidden in this castle's original form called the Land of Departure. The group finds Ventus sleeping as his heart is no longer in his body, but after they're attacked by another Organization member named Vanitas, Sora is able to regain the power of waking which gives Ventus his heart back, as the heart that had been with Sora since he was a young boy was that of Ventus'. Soon after this encounter the group goes to the Mysterious Tower in order to formulate a plan and gather all seven guardians of light, which now includes Axel/Lea as he can now use a Keyblade. Sora and Kairi then go back to Destiny Islands one more time where they exchange paoupu fruits with each other. The guardians of light, plus Donald and Goofy then go to the world of The Keyblade Graveyard for their battle with the True Organization XIII which are Xehanort's thirteen darkness's he needs to battle the seven guardians of light in order to form the true X-Blade and open Kingdom Hearts. The Orginization then unleashes a horde of Heartless and Nobodies to fight the guardians and the guardians are able to win, however the guardians then encounter the final lost Keyblade wielder Terra, who catches them off guard as Xehanort had taken over his heart and body and he critically injures Axel/Lea and Ventus. Then a horde of Heartless called a Demon Tide overwhelms and kills each guardian one by one with a sort of exception for Sora. After being overwhelmed by the Demon Tide, Sora arrives in the Final World a world that is the edge of reality just before a heart ceases to exist. In this world Sora learns of his defeat from a being called a Chirithy learns that he is not quite dead yet, but in pieces conceptually. With the help of Chirithy and a bodiless Namine, Sora uses the Power of Waking to piece himself back together and restore the hearts of the other guardians of light. After using this power so much, Young Xehanort warns him that abusing this power would result in dire consequences. Sora then uses the power of waking one more time to go back to the time before everyone was defeated by the Demon Tide. Sora then helps the guardians defeat members of the True Organization, and even help Terra regain control of his body and he joins the side of light, and later on Sora manages to free Roxas's heart from his own and Roxas joins the fight with the guardians after getting his vessel to store his heart. After this Sora joins Riku and King Mickey in a 3 on 3 battle against Young Xehanort, Ansem and Xemnas, who had kidnapped Kairi and delivered her to Xehanort earlier. After Sora, Riku and Mickey defeat the fan-dubbed "Nort Court" Xehanort reveals he only needs one more battle to happen in order to form the X-blade. So in order to do this he summons Kairi and freezes her then slashing her with his Keyblade, destroying her body in the process, goading Sora into attacking him, which classifies as a battle. This results in in the X-blade forming and Xehanort proceeds to use it to open the true Kingdom Hearts in order to reset all of the worlds in the Universe. However before Xehanort is able to reset everything the guardians of light are able to realize that Xehanort's time travel abilities could be used against him, and make a portal by using those powers trapping Xehanort in his old home, the world of Scala ad Caelum. Sora then tries to go alone as the other guardians of light try to close Kingdom Hearts, but Donald and Goofy join him in his fight against Xehanort. The trio then go through the portal to Scala ad Caelum, where after an extensive battle they are able to defeat him. After this, the other Keyblade wielders join the trio and the heart of Xehanort's childhood best friend Eraqus emerges from Terra and he manages to convince Xehanort to surrender and entrust the future to the younger generation. Xehanort finally surrenders and even gives Sora the X-blade to use wisely and Xehanort and Eraqus then fade away. After that event Sora uses the X-blade to travel back to the Keyblade Graveyard and help the guardians close Kingdom Hearts seemingly for good.

But before he could go back Sora is determined to restore Kairi's heart with the power of waking like he had done for the guardians prior, so Sora sets of on a time traveling journey in order to piece back Kairi's heart. Before he does, he arrives in the Final World again where Chirithy tells him that if he continues to abuse the power of waking like he has, he will lose the power again and fade away, but Sora says that he doesn't care and he goes through with his plan to save Kairi. Sora is able to succeed in his goal to save Kairi, and after reuniting the two of them return back to the final world where Sora calls for Chirithy in order to take it to it's friend. After leaving the final world Sora and Kairi travel throughout many worlds together where they watch their friends finally get their happy endings after all of their struggle. They even have a giant get together on Destiny Islands where they all spend time together and Sora spends most of his time with Kairi for one last time before he fades away as his consequence for abusing the power of waking.

Experience/Skill/Battle IQ

Joker

In terms of combat experience and battle IQ Joker has been fighting the Shadows with the Phantom Thieves for about a year. Joker is also able to quickly learn things outside of combat like with being able to perfectly replicate Sojiro's coffee and curry after a short time studying under him and being able to expertly wield a gun after training with Shinya Oda in a gun game. He also trains in the Protein Lovers Gym in order to increase his stamina. He can even integrate things he learns with his Confidants in the real world into the Metaverse, like with Hifumi Togo's Shogi strategies, he is able to translate those strategies into his own unique style of battle strategies with the Phantom Thieves in the Metaverse. Joker also shows an ability to adapt to his environment and use tools around him with Phantom Dashes, like using skateboards and shopping carts to mow down mobs of Shadows, dropping chandeliers on Shadows, and blowing up cars and destroying glaciers to do elemental damage to them. Although Joker doesn't have much experience fighting own his own as he usually has his friends with him, but he is capable of going solo if need be. All in all Joker is a pretty capable fighter and stategist with an exceptional ability to both adapt and use his environment to his advantage.

Sora

In terms of experience Sora has been battling the forces of darkness with the Keyblade for a little over a year now. Although he has significantly more experience with his fighting style thanks to all of the years of dueling with Riku, which is the fighting style he adopts when using the Keyblade. While he might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, his combat IQ is nothing to scoff at. He can adapt to pretty much any situation and one of his greatest weapons is his skill at improvising by using what's in his environment to mow down Heartless and Nobodies like it's nothing with his Reaction Commands. He can even use these to attack the forces of darkness with their own allies like he does in The Battle of 1,000 Heartless. Another example is dropping a giant chandelier on a Heartless and spinning it so hard it goes flying. All in all, while Sora might not be the brightest he is still an exceptional fighter in his own right.

Arsenal/Equipment

Joker

Phantom Thief Attire

Joker's Phantom Thief Attire is the manifestation of his will of rebellion, which gives it it's appearance as that's what he believes a rebel looks like. It also doubles as a way to protect him from the distortions of people's corrupted hearts, and the ability for him to summon his Personas. And this protection is so potent that even a god born from the Collective Unconscious are unable to erase a Persona Users will.

Metaverse Navigator

This app on Ren's phone allows him to enter Mementos and Palaces. And in Persona 5 Strikers it allows him to enter Jails

Knife

Joker's melee weapon he uses when not using his Persona. He uses this to deal physical damage can perform lengthy combos with it and can even pickpocket items from his enemies with it.

Handgun

Joker's preferred way to deal with Shadows when not using his Persona. It can even pierce through enemy resistances, immunities, reflections, and absorptions. Although it cannot pierce the reflection skill Tetrakarn. In Strikers it had the ability to gain more ammo and recharge it's bullets on it's own, but in Tactica it gives him unlimited ammo and as I'm giving both fighters their abilities at their best, his gun will be given unlimited ammo.

Grappling Hook

A tool given to him by Morgana, Joker can use his grappling hook to get around Palaces easier and can even pull himself to his enemies to ambush them or pull his enemies to him.

Infiltration Tools

Joker has a bunch of tools that he can craft in order to infiltrate Palaces more easily, the most notable ones being a smokescreen to help him avoid detection from his enemies and lockpicks to open locked chests and steal the valuables inside like the thief he is.

Sora

Special KHII Outfit

Sora's outfit in Kingdom Hearts II. It was gifted to him by the fairies from Sleeping Beauty. It gave Sora the power to enter Drive Forms. While he doesn't have this outfit or power anymore I believe it's important to go over since his KHIII outfit and powers can be seen as an evolution of this one

Special KHIII Outfit

This is the most recent outfit Sora wears in Kingdom Hearts III. It is another gift from the good fairies and is a special outfit meant to protect the wearer from darkness. It also comes with special powers, allowing him to use Keyblade Formchanges like his Kingdom Hearts II outfit gave him his power to enter Drive Forms.

Keyblades & Shotlocks

Kingdom Key

The Kingdom Key is Sora's default Keyblade that he starts every journey with. It comes with the Shotlock abilities King of Hearts which fires a burst of projectiles and Ragnarök which fires streams of light. Sora can change his Keyblade's appearance by changing it's Keychain which comes with new abilities and stats. For the sake of my sanity I will only go over the Keyblades he has in Kingdom Hearts III.

Hero's Origin

The transformation his Keyblade undergoes after getting a Keychain from exploring Olympus Colosseum. It specializes in offensive stats. It has the shotlocks Drain Shock which can drain HP from his foes and Atomic Deluge which transforms the Keyblade into a shield in order to scatter lighting.

Shooting Star

The Keyblade Sora gets after going to Little Chef's Bistro (Little Chef is Remy from Ratatouille), and exploring Twilight Town. It emphasizes Sora's magic stats. It comes with the Shotlock abilities Meteor Shower which sends shooting stars at his opponents, Cluster Cannonade which uses a giant launcher to launch a giant rocket that splits off into smaller projectiles, and Diving Barrage which rains down magical arrows on his enemies

Favorite Deputy

The Keyblade Sora gets after exploring Toy Box. It emphasizes Sora's strength stats. Its Shotlock abilities are Ghost Horde which sends a horde of ghosts that charge at his opponents and Drill Drive which allows him to warp and fly around his targets.

Ever After

The Keyblade Sora gets after exploring The Kingdom of Corona. It emphasizes Sora's magic stats. Its Shotlocks are Shimmering Drops which does the same thing as Drain Shock, and Spectral Rays which surrounds Sora with reflectors with Sora using magical light to bounce of them and attack his enemies with.

Happy Gear

The Keyblade Sora gets after exploring the world of Monstropolis. It enhances Sora's strength stats. Its Shotlocks are Snakebite which fires snake-like projectiles from his Keyblade, and Warp Trick which opens a bunch of portals allowing Sora to attack from all directions

Crystal Snow

The Keyblade Sora gets after exploring Arendelle. It specializes in magic stats. Its Shotlocks are Diamond Dust which launches spinning ice blades at his opponents, and Frozen Crescents which allows Sora to slash at his opponents with ice.

Hunny Spout

The Keyblade Sora gets after exploring the picture book world of 100 Acre Wood. It's balanced in both strength and magic. It has basically the same Shotlocks as Sora's Shooting Star Keyblade but with Honey instead of Magic

Nano Gear

The Keyblade Sora gets after exploring San Fransokyo. It is well balanced in both offensive and magic stats. It's Shotlocks do the same thing as Happy Gear but with block-like projectiles and portals instead of snake-like ones.

Wheel of Fate

The Keyblade he gets after exploring The Caribbean. It focuses on strength stats. Its Shotlocks do the same thing as Crystal Snow, but with wind rather than ice.

Starlight

The Keyblade given to Sora by Yen Sid after defeating the Demon Tide. This is the default Keyblade of Keyblade Wielders from the age of Fairy Tales. It has the same Shotlocks as Sora's Kingdom Key

Grand Chef

The Keyblade Sora gets after helping Little Chef's Bistro gain more popularity. It specializes in magic. Its Shotlocks are Steam Spiral which sends fireworks at his targets, and Fruit Crusher which does the same thing Atomic Deluge but with fruit rather than lightning.

Classic Tone

The Keyblade Sora gets after getting a High Score in every Classic Kingdom mini-game. It specializes in magic stats. It's Shotlocks do the same thing as Happy Gears Shotlocks.

Oathkeeper

Another Keyblade Sora has had for years, as the Keychain needed to use this Keyblade is the lucky charm Kairi made for Sora back on Destiny Islands. It represents Sora's close bond with Kairi and the light within him. It's Shotlock ability is Sunray Blast, which blasts Sora's enemies with shards of light. It also shares a Shotlock with Oblivion called Stellar Inception, which creates a galaxy of stars Sora can attack his opponents with.

Oblivion

The last Keyblade that Sora has had for most of his journey. This Keyblade represents Sora's close bond with Riku and the darkness within him. It's Shotlock ability is Bladefury eclipse which launches spinning dark blades as his opponents. It also shares a Shotlock with Oathkeeper called Stellar Inception, which creates a galaxy of stars Sora can attack his opponents with.

Ultima Weapon

The ultimate Keyblade Sora can acquire in game, it is both the strongest and most well balanced Keyblade in Kingdom Hearts III. It's Shotlock is Infinity Circle which gathers a massive amount of magic and unleashes it, basically a solar flare but with non elemental magic.

X-blade

Sora was given this weapon by Xehanort after defeating him. This is the original and most powerful Keyblade in which all future Keyblades are modeled after. This weapon has the power to open the true form of Kingdom Hearts and can threaten to reset everything. Sora uses it to close Kingdom Hearts but we never see him use it after, but for the sake of the debate I'm going to give him the X-blade.