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Alex,

We went over the information we gathered about KH3D, and about your idea of how it will work. However, there are problems that did come up even after you left to work on stuff. We hear you'll be back Wednesday, but we decided it's best to communicate before then so we don't forget about this.

The problems with "the Apprentices being away" is that we don't know how important it is to the plot that they be there. They might not be necessary for Master Xehanort to appear, but they might be necessary. We know at least Braig and Isa (Isa isn't in TI, I know), and Aeleus and Ienzo are in the game too, meaning they might also be Xehanorts later (this part is less known, but possible). Also, in the cutscene where Lea awakens, Even and Dilan are ALSO there, alongside Aeleus and Ienzo, in their BBS clothing. We can maybe use the "conveniently recombining" thing, but I don't know.

Next is the idea of having less people at all. Aside from Master Xehanort being there, there's the more crucial problem with Sora. Sora is not only the messiah of the KHverse as of Birth By Sleep's secret ending. It's also the fact that if Sora had become a thirteenth Xehanort, it would all be over. The thirteen Darknesses would exist, and they still would need to find and train a seventh Light. So far we only know Young Xehanort, Master Xehanort, Ansem Seeker of Darkness, Xemnas, Braig, and Isa, leaving six of the filled seats unknown (though Vanitas is a viable member of them as of the closing cutscene to La Cité des Cloches). If we have them coming up short on the chance that Aeleus and Dilan are on the list, then having the seats not be there sort of makes things harder. We can always remake them the way we discussed, perhaps with the changes of the Interferences making it possible again, but it still leaves it open. The suspense of the scene at Where Nothing Gathers was that that would be the LAST Darkness and they would be free to attack the Princesses, destroy them, and thereby destroy the entire World (KHverse name as of Xehanort's Report) and remake it in their image and balance right there. It wasn't just "and Sora wouldn't be around", though that was part of it.

For this next one, I turn my attention to one of Nomura's interviews, all of which have been compiled here: http://forums.khinsider.com/future-kingdom-hearts/159545-nomura-interviews-archive.html
Look at the first one under "Birth By Sleep Interviews", then look to the second to last question on that interview for this.

The "team spirit" thing really does not make sense. There is no indication whatsoever that allies of Keybladers need to be with them to destroy Heartless, nor that they even can completely destroy Heartless at all. Hell, even Keybladers can't. "[I]n the world of KH there is no concept of death". There is no death, meaning that destroyed Heartless do not die, they simply go away. It has been proven time and again that Keybladers are the only ones who can truly send the Heartless away. Roxas was told that he is the only one who can assemble Hearts, as the other Nobody weapons simply temporarily dissipate the Heartless. Saïx, who knows what he's talking about, told Sora that they needed HIM to destroy the Heartless to assemble their synthetic Kingdom Hearts. Meanwhile, Leon in KH1 explained that the Heartless always come back when destroyed in Traverse Town, until Sora came with Kingdom Key. So here's my point.

Can others temporarily dissipate the Heartless? Sure. Teammates in all game are capable of that, from the Organization members to the KH1 and 2 teammates et cetera, et cetera. But they can't do it on a larger scale. Only the Keyblade, and, by virtue of its similarity, the Lockshield, are capable of true dissipation. How do I know this? In KH2, Leon took out several Heartless on his way from Merlin's House to Ansem's computer in the second Space Paranoids arc. Pretty much everyone in the Battle of a Thousand Heartless took them down similarly. Hell, even SEPHIROTH, who is VERY much not on Sora's side at all, took down an entire group in two strokes in his appearance to talk to Cloud. This means that when Ed took out Aeleus at the conclusion of the final battle of TI3, he did not kill him or even render him a heart until it found his Nobody. He turned him temporarily into a heart, where he would reform later and perhaps go to find and rejoin with his Nobody's remains. Dilan also might, though that's a different story. The main thing is that Aeleus CANNOT be completely destroyed in that manner.

I'll see about solving it in TIL canon probably to solidify this, but we'll see if you agree on this.

Do you understand the problems then? And if so, do you have a solution other than what we were thinking of?

Hope you understand,
Greg