Set directly after the events of Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts coded is in deep connection with the up-and-coming prequel Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. It follows the story of the mystery behind the missing contents of the journal – logged by the chronicler of Sora, Donald and Goofy’s adventures, Jiminy Cricket – of Kingdom Hearts. The hero is Data Sora from the journal who is asked by King Mickey to help solve the puzzle behind one of two remaining lines: “We must return to free them from their torment”. However, there is another problem: black and red blocks known as “Bugs” are appearing in the worlds of the journal, preventing Sora from unveiling the mystery, and causing trouble in both the outside world and the journal itself. While Sora fights for the truth, there are certain dark forces whose agenda is nothing but malicious and will do anything to stop him from completing his task. With a series of unexpected twists and turns, Kingdom Hearts codedwill uncover the shocking truth of the events of Kingdom Hearts.

The story begins with Jiminy returning to Disney Castle with Mickey, Donald and Goofy, and discovering that the journal in which he recorded the events ofKingdom Hearts has been wiped clean of its contents apart from two lines: “Thank Naminé” and “We must return to free them from their torment”. While the first message suggests that a duty of Kingdom Hearts must have been completed, the second message indicates otherwise. Unable to remember the text, Jiminy shows the message to Mickey.

The King also has problems understanding it, but tries to digitize the journal to better understand the problem; as soon as he does, red and black blocks fill the view; something is happening to worlds inside. Knowing that there is only one person qualified to solve the puzzle of the journal and the blocks, he asks Data Sora to embark upon a mission that will take him through the worlds that the real Sora has visited, and so the adventure begins.

Data Sora awakens in the familiar Destati – which the real Sora experienced at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts –; it is the beginning of his journey guided by Mickey from the outside. He is told that power sleeps within and after choosing a weapon, he gains the ability to traverse worlds freely. However, problems arise inside Destati and the outside world – a hooded figure appears from thin air, and a new message appears in the journal. Are the two related? The figure is silent and then disappears, and Mickey orders Sora to follow him. When he does, he is swarmed by Heartless but fortunately the Keyblade comes to the rescue and Sora ends his Destati, moving to his next destination.

Destiny Islands is just one of the worlds which is covered in Bugs, with rumors and actual sightings of the cloaked figure. All the time, new messages are appearing in the journal, throwing this seemingly simple task of destroying the Bugs and unveiling the mystery into a whole new level of hidden truth. Everything is not as it seems as the real and journal worlds intertwine, and danger is more prominent than ever with old enemies once again trying to throw the worlds into darkness. Questions are asked, truths are uncovered and even more mysteries present themselves. What are the Bugs and why are they contaminating the worlds? Who is the hooded figure and what does he want? Who must Sora free from torment? The truth to the secrets of Kingdom Hearts lies on one boy’s shoulders, and if he should fail to complete his task, everything will be thrown into turmoil.

Kingdom Hearts coded is set after Kingdom Hearts II, but set in the journal of Kingdom Hearts—a journal which has been erased by an unknown force. It is the journey of Data Sora – a digitized version of the real Sora – who embarks upon a quest to find the meaning behind a mysterious message left in the journal: “We must return to free them from their torment.” His travels are guided and aided by friends of the real Sora – including the King and his consorts and one of Sora’s best friends, Riku – as he voyages through the worlds of Kingdom Hearts, destroying mysterious “Bugs” which are causing corruption in the notebook world. Little does Data Sora know that the events which are unfolding around him are in deep connection with events of ten years ago that took place during Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep; now, everything lies on his shoulders, and if he fails, so help the data world and all of its inhabitants.

The adventure’s catalyst comes in the form of the only remaining line left in Jiminy’s journal—“We must return to free them from their torment.” While it is Mickey who takes action to discover its meaning and why it is the only thing inked in the notebook, the hero of action is Data Sora. Unbeknownst to Mickey – who decides to send the virtual Sora through the worlds visited in Kingdom Hearts – it is this line that is deeply linked with the events of Birth by Sleep.

The worlds Sora visits are covered by “Bugs”—the corruption in the journal given physical form, which are the result of Naminé’s efforts to restore the real Sora’s memories as seen in Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories. It would appear that while she was fixing his memories, the memories of someone else connected to him caused a kink in the chain, bringing about the journal’s Bugs and message. Though finding the source of the Bugs is a large part of Data Sora’s travels, far bigger and more dangerous secrets are to be uncovered.

One of these is the identities of two Hooded Unknowns following Sora, one of whom is none other than real Sora’s best friend’s virtual counterpart, Data Riku. This Riku follows Sora through the first few worlds of the journal, encouraging Sora to keep on fighting, before he eventually reveals himself; however, this Riku has a twist to his story—he is actually hosting the journal’s scattered memories so that they wouldn’t be corrupted by the Bugs which is important for the fixing and reassembling of the journal’s data. After his identity is uncovered, Riku helps Sora through the rest of his journey along with the King and company.

Sora’s journey is relatively smooth as he follows a seemingly straightforward pattern that consists of visiting worlds, destroying their Bugs and restoring world order. However, the data world and the real world soon become intertwined due to the meddling of an outside villain, who is all too familiar—Pete, henchman of the evil witch Maleficent. It is his discovery of the journal and its worlds that leads to him summoning Maleficent to the journal to wreck yet more havoc for the do-gooders. Once again, their plans are to throw the worlds into darkness and by doing so, ruling as tyrants. It is their intervention that leads to the corruption of the data within Data Riku just as nearly all the data is collected for the journal’s repair, throwing a huge spanner in the works. Thankfully, Riku is un-Bugged and the journal is restored, but even more questions arise.

Upon the journal’s restoration a new world opens up – made of data added by an unknown figure – which is none other than Castle Oblivion. Inside Castle Oblivion, Sora – guided by Mickey – comes across the second Hooded Unknown, presumed to also be Riku; it is actually the data counterpart of Sora’s Nobody, Roxas, who, along with Riku, has been guiding Sora. When Sora refuses to give up his memories, Roxas attacks him but looses the consequent battle, and so Sora learns the truth of the words “We must return to free them from their torment”—Sora holds the memories of all those connected to him; Roxas, Naminé, Xion, Axel, Terra, Aqua and Ventus. It is these people who Sora must free from torment, and now with all the questions answered, Mickey leaves for the real world one last time where he writes the real Sora a letter; it explains that he must return once more to awaken the people connected to him, drawing Kingdom Hearts coded to a close and paving the path for the next adventure.