Birth by Sleep - Aqua - The Prince Of Helmeted Evil

Things are winding down in Birth by Sleep and by winding down I mean ramping up. The odd thing is that Aqua REALLY IS out of the loop. Remember she hasn't seen Ven or Terra or any of the main villains since Radiant Garden. There's a lot to do an little time to complete it in.

So Neverland is the last World currently visible on the map, not sure if this is the LAST world in the game but Neverland always seems to be near the end.
Upon landing a couple of lost boys are running towards a piece of paper (a map?) but Aqua picks it up before they can get to it.
PETER! Apparently who ever finds the map (I’M SO SMART) gets to be the leader so… CONGRATS AQUA!
Tink flies in pissed because Aqua is a giiiiiiirl.
Even though Aqua tries to give the map back nobody pays her attention.
Either Aqua leads the treasure hunt or they don’t go on one. So Aqua gives in and decides to lead the expedition.
Aqua reads the map and then gets to the introductions and Peter says offhandedly “Oh, you’re Aqua!” So obviously somebody’s been here before us.
Off to Mermaid Lagoon!
Aqua leads the boys off on their adventure only to run into Captain Hook who has his ship fire on the group so Aqua orders everybody to run.
So the treasure is up on top of a waterfall? The lost boys are freaking out because they’ve never flown that high. So with a little help from Tink off they fly!
Nothing fazes Aqua anymore… not even flying boys.
Unfortunately Aqua doesn’t get to fly but does super jumps through pixie dust… Poop.
So…. We went in a circle. Great.
But Hook is there with the treasure so I suppose now is when we fight?
Wait! The treasure isn’t in there instead it’s filled with wooden swords and… a wooden keyblade that has Terra carved into the handle.
Peter tells Hook that the play swords aren’t junk, they’re treasure… and then the crocodile shows up and scares Hook away.
So… no fighting?
After a round of creepy laughter and even more creepy smiles the treasure is brought down so Aqua can look at her booty.
Of course she goes right for the wooden keyblade, sigh.
BUT WAIT! Ventus left it there? Why does Ven have a wooden keyblade with Terra’s name on it?
Even better Ven had told Peter he’d be back with enough treasure to fill 100 treasure chests, bless.
But Aqua finally seems to remember about Ven and looks kinda sad.
Huh?
Apparently Ven isn’t the only one who’s visited Neverland, Aqua stares off and makes a face.
Apparently this is something she has to do on her own… WHO COULD IT BEEEE? Terra? Please don’t be Terra.
So… we don’t get to learn how to Glide, instead we get something called Double Flight which allows us to double jump. Oh well, we know Air Dash so I suppose it’s kinda the same thing.
So we return to where we came into Neverland and it’s in first person: OH GOD WHY SO DRAMATIC?! IS SOMEBODY HURT?!
OH GOD! NOOOOO!
IT’S THE PRINCE OF HELMETED EVIL HIMSELF!
And he has the wooden keyblade…. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
What have you done Vanitas?!?
I’m going to take this time (before Vanitas change’s my mind) to say why I adore Vanitas so much. Most of the Kingdom Hearts villains have a reason to do what they’re doing. They want Kingdom Hearts, they want power, they feel wronged, yada yada yada. Vanitas just seems to be a jerk because he can be. Which is admirable in a villain. Maybe he’s after something, maybe he has his own agenda but he actually seems to get off on being an ass. Whatever the reason might be he enjoys his role and really that makes him unique in Kingdom Hearts cannon and probably why he’s such an effective villain. SERIOUSLY he hasn’t even done anything BAD yet (or at least not to Aqua) but you KNOW he’s no good.
Back to the game: Aqua doesn’t know how Vanitas got the wooden keyblade. Well… he probably stole it.
Vanitas ignores her and simply states that “child” has outgrown this toy and SNAPS IT IN HALF!
Aqua is confused, crestfallen and angry all in the span of two seconds.
UH OH! Apparently Vanitas has “outgrown his need for” us! So… call back! Back in Radiant Garden Vanitas pretty much said Aqua was his backup plan. I wasn’t sure if Aqua was the backup for Terra or Ven but… it was for Vanitas himself? So Vanitas thought he wouldn’t be strong enough for something? But now either his (or his master’s) plan has fallen into place OR he’s become strong enough to carry it out. Or I’m totally over interpreting this.
HOLY SHIT! Aqua is super pissed and calls Vanitas a “freak!”
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
I also feel need to say that I did this battle while listening to “Bulletproof” by La Roux on repeat.
Also: Normally when I play Kingdom Hearts games I keep to basic magic. I never branch outside the fire/blizzard/thunder/cure groups. However, playing as Aqua I made it my mission to learn some more complicated magic. So for my fight against Vanitas I had zero gravira, blizzara, thundaga, curaga and mine square equipped. Which… made for a fun combination. Freezing Vanitas in the air with zero gravira then doing Mine Square so he hit most of my mines midair.
The battle itself is the hardest yet of the game. You need to be at least level 28 (I did it at 29 and I still had a few frantic moments of cartwheeling away from any attack until I could use curaga). I found the best plan of attack really was using zero gravira to get a bit of breathing room. Vanitas isn’t playing around this time and he’s up to par with Riku fights. He hops around, disappears and blasts you with… fire? It’s not an easy battle and unlike many boss battles in this game requires a tactic.
Again after the battle Vanitas is knocked fully onto his back, spread-eagle. Aqua, however, is at her limit and falls to her knees. OH NO!
Aqua mutters about finally finishing off Vanitas (dude you only fought him once before) but she looks away for ONE SECOND and he’s gone. Left behind are the broken pieces of the wooden sword.
Oh god… she tries to get up but falls down right away. Aquaaaa!
Now lying flat on her belly she smiles, thinking that Terra and Ven are now safe from Vanitas.
Oh god why do I feel like she’s dying?
Aqua looks out over the cliff and sees the ocean sparkling she smiles then… her head hits the ground.
OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD
D: Flash back to happier times. Aqua is remembering being back up on cliff from the beginning of the game. Ven and Terra are goofing around and THIS IS SO SAD SHE CAN’T BE DYING!
I think this is Aqua’s theme playing and it’s really pretty. I still think Xion’s theme is my favorite KH theme though.
OH YAY! Peter comes and wakes Aqua up!
Peter notices the broken wooden keyblade but Aqua says it’s okay. That their friendship isn’t something that’s easily broken and that’s what makes it so important. I think it’s good that Aqua remembered just what she was fighting for and how special it is to her.
Peter says Ven and Terra should come back to Neverland with Aqua one day and she says that she’d like that.
D-link with Peter and a new keyblade, huzzah?
OH GOD WE’RE NOT DONE YET!
We get launched into ANOTHER cutscene but to for the sake of length that's going to be in the next post.

End