Sora, Donald, and Goofy return to the Land of Dragons, where they spot someone in an Organization XIII cloak. As soon as he sees them, he runs away. They find Mulan, who's also chasing him, so they join together. They follow him to the canyon where the battle with Shan Yu's horde of Heartless took place earlier. Much to their annoyance, another horde of Heartless shows up. They begin to fight them, but Sora spots the hooded figure, so he confronts him instead. The man directs Sora to a Heartless behind him, so Sora turns to hit it before turning back to the man. The hooded figure produces the Soul Eater, Riku's weapon, and Sora fights him. Sora presses on the offensive, but the man seems reluctant to fight him; he focuses on the Heartless during the fight, only attacking when Sora gets close. Once the Heartless are destroyed, the man runs away again.
Sora begins to think that the man may have been Riku, but he doesn't know why his best friend would be with Organization XIII. Suddenly, they feel an earthquake, so they decide to descend the mountain. On the way back down, they see a massive dragon Heartless called the Storm Rider heading for the Forbidden City, so they hurry back down there. Meanwhile, the hooded man is already at the palace. Shang tries to fight him, but he is easily overpowered. The hooded figure approaches the emperor, but it is not seen what he does next.
When the group tries to enter the palace, the front doors are locked, so they climb a nearby pillar to find another way in. Inside they find a cloaked figure, but it is not the one from earlier; it is the Organization's Number II. He removes his hood, revealing himself to be a man with an eyepatch named Xigbar. He sends some Nobodies after them before vanishing. After dealing with them, they go tell the Emperor about the Storm Rider. He explains that a young man in black came to warn him about it. After hearing that he was "rude," Sora realizes that it really was Riku, but Donald and Goofy don't understand why he'd be part of the Organization; of course, unbeknownst to them, Riku was actually given the black Organization cloak by DiZ in Castle Oblivion.
They feel another earthquake, so they head outside to find that the Storm Rider has made it to the palace. They go out to confront it while Shang guards the Emperor. They destroy it and return to the throne room, where the Emperor explains that dragons are normally benevolent entities, but one must have been corrupted by an evil force. As thanks for saving him, he decides to grant any request they have, so Sora asks him what Riku said to him. The Emperor says that Riku came to warn him about the Storm Rider, but when Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrived, he said that they would take care of it. Mulan makes a request of her own: to give Shang a vacation. The Emperor refuses, but he offers to let Mulan train alongside him, which she gladly accepts. With the knowledge that Riku is safe, Sora is able to go on, knowing that he will eventually reunite with his friend...
Tropes:
- Arc Villain: Xigbar, Rank II of Organization XIII.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: Unlike most humanoid bosses, Riku isn't interested in fighting Sora and is more focused in fighting the nearby Heartless. He only attacks if Sora hits him first.
- Immune to Flinching: Riku.
- Mistaken Identity: There were two men in black cloaks here, both mistaken for the other. Sora initially mistakes Riku as a member of Organization XIII in the mountains, and later mistakes Xigbar for Riku in the palace.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Xigbar turned one dragon into a Heartless called the Storm Rider. Riku saw this, and warned the Emperor about it.
- Wham Episode: Sora finally discovers that Riku is alive, but the latter won't talk to him.
