Dark Riku

**Dark Riku** is the time-traveling heart of the brainwashed Riku Replica from the past, and Rank X of the real Organization XIII.

As one of the few time-traveling members of the Organization, Dark Riku was given a new refined replica body to use as a vessel for his heart, and would additionally be infused with a fragment of Master Xehanort's heart alongside the rest of his fellow Organization members.

## Appearance

Dark Riku is physically identical to a younger Riku due to being the Riku Replica from his time in Castle Oblivion; sporting the same skin tone, and shoulder-length silver hair. A key difference between the two is the eye color, with Dark Riku's eyes being golden - a sign of him being a vessel for a piece of Xehanort's heart, though Dark Riku lacked this feature in his initial appearance and retained his original aquamarine color.

Like a majority of the real Organization, Dark Riku primarily appears wearing a black coat, complete with black gloves and knee-high boots. Unlike others, his boots are much larger and looser around his feet, resembling sneakers. During the Keyblade War, Dark Riku uses Dark Mode, replacing his black coat attire with its bodysuit.

It should be noted that Dark Riku's design and overall model in his debut appearance is completely identical to Riku wearing his black coat at the end of *Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories*, and Data-Riku from *Kingdom Hearts coded*.

## Personality

As he is in reality the Riku Replica brainwashed into believing he is the real Riku, Dark Riku's personality stems from Riku's in *Kingdom Hearts*. He harbors an intense competitive streak, wishing to be stronger and better in every way possible. Like the Riku Replica, he shows no fear in using the darkness, pridefully boasting of its vast powerful applications and the superior strength he gained from using it.

His competitive nature and desire for power however causes Dark Riku to be incredibly cocky, arrogant, and egotistical, commonly talking down to those he sees as weak, including the very person he is derived from. For a time, Dark Riku maintained a lasting charade that he was in fact Riku during the time he was possessed by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, though this would ultimately falter upon his defeat.

Outside of these copied traits, Dark Riku is shown to have a slight disdain for the Organization work he was tasked with conducting in San Fransokyo, merely calling it a "hassle" and showing a liking for a more brawn approach to his work. He is also shown to be extremely cunning, easily twisting Sora's own words of positivity against him while using them himself to further his experiment. Additionally, Dark Riku seems to hold a sense of composure during his interactions in San Fransokyo while simultaneously mocking the heroes, though he becomes prone to aggressiveness when it comes to combat, as shown in his interactions in the Keyblade Graveyard.

## Powers and Abilities

Like Riku when he gave into darkness and his original self as the Riku Replica, Dark Riku wields the power of darkness, and enters a form known as Dark Mode to channel his dark powers. Outside of Dark Mode, Dark Riku displays the ability to use corridors of darkness to traverse the three realms at will, and is shown to have the power to open portals to other dimensions outside of the three realms, such as the alternate dimension where the original Baymax was lost in. He is also capable of telekinesis, as displayed when he sends the Darkubes into the alternate dimension and levitates the combat chip into Dark Baymax.

In combat, Dark Riku’s basic attacks mirror that of his various other incarnations, such as his three swing combo that he follows up with a V-shaped dark shockwave on the ground with his offhand. He is also capable of sending out a slash of energy from his weapon from a distance before rushing his target for a single slash. At times in battle, Dark Riku will use his desperation move, appearing to be a combination of Dark Aura and Helm Split; Dark Riku will rise into the air in a dark aura before warping above and slamming down onto his target, warping back into the air and repeating his slam attack several times before unleashing a swarm of lightning-based spires from the ground on the final slam.

It should be noted that some of his abilities are identical to Ansem's, albeit color-swapped into a purple color as opposed to Ansem's dark red. These attacks consist of Dark Riku summoning a half ring of crystal mines in front of him, which will explode if anything comes into contact with them, as well as summoning a pool of darkness that homes below his target for a few moments before manifesting into a larger pool of darkness that unleashes multiple dark claws.

In *Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind*, a digital recreation of Dark Riku is fought in the Data Analysis, and is canonically his true power level. Easily one of the most aggressive data fights along with Saïx, Dark Riku will relentlessly attack Sora with amped-up attacks seen during his fight in the Keyblade Graveyard, and will mix in unblockable attacks in conjunction with his basic attacks, such as turning the slash of energy he can release from his blade into an unblockable attack. During the fight, Dark Riku will summon massive quantities of his dark mines all around the arena, utilize Dark Reflectwhile sidestepping, constantly slam down onto Sora while simultaneously creating unblockable spires of lightning all around Sora, launch more pools of darkness, and unleash powerful shockwaves after his combos in greater sizes than previously displayed.

His most devastating attack is his desperation move Dark Aura, which he can use as early as his first health bar in the fight. Dark Riku will start the attack by raising into the air in an aura of darkness, slamming down onto the center of the arena and creating a shockwave of darkness before warping towards Sora from all directions. While he is doing this, he will summon formations of his dark mines all around the arena and unblockable lightning spires each time he finishes a warp attack on Sora, and will also directly crash down onto Sora, additionally also slamming down into the center of the arena to create more shockwaves as shown at the start of his onslaught. At the end of it all, Dark Riku will close the desperation move by summoning his unblockable lightning spires across the entire arena.

## Trivia

* He was the one who turned Sora into a vampire in Sora’s Vampire Curse