Xemnas (Dragon)

The command ship of Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts II, is fought twice as a boss near the end of the game.

The dragon serves the same role as the World of Chaos in Kingdom Hearts. A massive fortress, the ship is shaped like a giant silver dragon, with Xemnas' throne facing backwards atop its head. The ship is initially attached to two large energy cannons with a core to power them. Once Sora destroys the core, the ship presumably detaches from it, as in the next battle the cannons and the core are gone.

First Battle
At the start of the battle, the ground will suddenly rise up in front of Sora and the party - the player can either dodge them, or use Slicer to cut through them. Either way, the player will enter a new area afterwards. Here, the Dragoon Ship takes off into the air, then several buildings fly towards Sora. The player must use the Reaction Command Escablade to leap onto the buildings - depending on how far away they are when they use the command, they must use the Reaction Command Skyscraper several times until Sora leaps onto the ship's right cannon.

Sora and the party land on a catwalk in front of the cannon, where Nobodies will spawn in the air continuously. The player must attack these Nobodies and knock them towards the cannon in the background to damage it. Eventually the cannon will charge, and the player must use the Reaction Command Stunt Dodge to leap to the other cannon. After alternating several times, both cannons will be destroyed, and Sora will leap to the ship's core.

The player must now attack the ship's core, until it becomes invincible and several Nobodies spawn. Once they are all defeated the core will become vulnerable again. Eventually more Nobodies will spawn and the player must repeat the process. Eventually, Nobodies spawn and the player must defeat them while avoiding falling debris. Once the core is destroyed, using the Reaction Command Proceed sends Sora leaps to the top of the ship to battle Xemnas in his armored form.

Second Battle
In the second battle, the player is atop a small flying craft piloted by Riku. The X button swings the Keyblade, Square fires two homing lasers, and Circle summons a barrier to protect the craft. In the Final Mix version, as per standard of Japanese games, the functions of the X and Circle buttons, as with the rest of the game, are switched. Essentially, this stage of the battle is highly similar to the Gummi Ship mission required to access new worlds.

Throughout the battle the ship will fire lasers at the craft - the player should press Circle to drain their energy. When enough energy has been drained, the player can use the Reaction Command Megalaser to inflict heavy damage. Later, Nobodies will also be spawned - they can be shot down with the lasers or knocked back with the Keyblade. Rockets will also fire at the ship, but they cannot by drained or knocked away, they can only be dodged.

The first part to be destroyed in the tail, and destroying it is simple with Megalaser. Once the tail section is destroyed, there will be a short time when various white laser beams shoot at the craft - they must be dodged, they cannot be drained. However, they can be easily dodged by moving in in a circle around the screen. Then the player attacks the right engine of the ship. At this time, Nobodies will begin to spawn continuously. After the engine explodes there is another sequence of white lasers, then the player attacks the left engine.

Afterwards, the craft flies in front of the ship, and more white lasers are fired, followed by a barrage of rockets. The player then attacks the ship's left wing. Nobodies, rockets and lasers must still be dealt with, but the white lasers also continue to fire at random intervals. When the wing explodes, the craft returns to the front of the ship and must avoid a barrage of rockets before attacking the right wing. Once the wing is destroyed, the ship crashes Sora and Riku leap off the craft to battle Xemnas again on the ship's head.

Destroying the individual parts of the ship is easy with Megalaser, but the true danger is that Sora cannot heal during the battle, and eventually the damage he takes can wear him down, bit by bit. It is thus vital the player dodge as many attacks as possible and use the drain command to block whatever shots they can.

Trivia

 * The ship actually has three forms (even though only two are fought):
 * as a command ship,
 * as an actual mechanic dragon, and
 * as an advanced mechanical dragon carrying Xemnas (Armor).
 * A strange feature to the Dragon Ship in the final battle with it is that the design on the huge shield (not including the Nobody Logo) is identical to the design on the floor in the Altar of Naught.