Hello and welcome to my first fanfiction! Okay, this is a one-shot about one of my favourite Kingdom Hearts chraracter, Sora, fighting against my favourite Final Fantasy villain, Garland! This story takes place in one of Disney worlds, Olympus Colliseum, and takes place after KH: Dream Drop Distance. Warning! Possible spoiler for KH: Dream Drop Distance. I do not own any Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy character. Rated T for blood and violence. And now, enjoy my first fanfic!
As Sora arrived at the gates of the Colliseum, he saw two large colossus crossing swords which signifies strength and unity. This gave him a reminence of how the he and his companions had endured the tournament he and his companions had entered during their last two adventures. Sora always wondered what kind of new fights there will be in the Colliseum.
Infact, the reason that he came to this place is because he needed to find a new strength to overpower the darkness inside him, which is the reason why failed the Mark of Mastery exam. Sora has powerful light within him, but unlike his friend Riku, he does not have the power to control the darkness. To be honest, he does feel envious of Riku to have passed the examination, yet felt that Riku truly deserve to become a Keyblade Master, after all the torment of solitude and secrecy that he went through.
After standing and thinking about his last adventure, Sora finally went towards the entrance. In the lobby, he saw a satyr cleaning the place up. Sora then greeted, "Hey Phil!". The satyr turns around and said with a big smile, "Hey Sora! Long time no see!". "Where exactly have you been? Ever since Hercules been going out with Meg, I'm actually starting to miss ya! You hardly been to this place. There's actually a lot of stuff goin' around here!", Phil said. Sora puts his hands behind his head and said, "Sorry, I'm actually really busy now these days. But now I got time, I can come by and train.". "Well that's good to hear, cause' there's been a lot of competition goin' here. And I though that you might compete since, well, you're competitive and all," said Phil. Sora scoffed and said, "Well I can beat them all! Just sign me up and I can butt-whoop them in no time!". "Yeah I though you might say that," said Phil with an expressionless face.
(Many hours later)
After having to battle every seven tournament he entered,in the arena, Sora lied on the ground with his face up due to fatigue and said, "Boy! You weren't kidding when you said about competition!". "What did I tell ya'. There's been goin' alot around here recently," said Phil as he approached Sora. "Yeah. I guess," said Sora. Suddenly, a sinister laughter came out of nowhere. Sora and Phil looked around to find the source when finally, a cloud of smoke puffed out of nowhere, revealing a figure in a black robe, with blue skin and blue fire for hair.
"Hades!" shouted Sora as he immediatelystood on the ground and went into defensive position. "What bussiness do ya have this time?" questioned Phil. "Hey, hey calm down. I'm here just to see whether is it true that Keyboy here is really going to take on 'him'," said Hades as he crossed his arms while looking at Sora. Sora looked at Hades dumbfounded by the word 'him' but Phil quickly exclaimed, "No way! Like I'm ever gonna let him fight 'that guy' until he's strong enough!". Sora was puzzled by how they mentioned 'that guy', so he said, "Wait! Who's 'that guy'?". Hades tilted his head to the right, then looked towards Phil and said, "Ooh. You didn't tell him about 'him'? Let me guess. You don't want Sora here to end up like Blunderboy when he got beaten to pulp by the new champion, do ya?".
Sora was shocked to here what Hades just said. Who could've easily defeated Hercules when he is now a god? Phil then said, "I ain't that stupid! You know just as I do that you're here just to encourage Sora to get nearly killed by Garland!". "Garland? Who's that?", though Sora. Hades then looked at Sora and said, "Well let me tell ya kid. He actually pulvarized your friends when they stupidly waltz into the arena and point their whatever-they-have to him. And what's more, he said to your friends that they are, ahem, miserable insects with false hope.". He said the last sentence with a big grin.
Sora angered hearingthe words Hades said so he shouted, "He said that?". With that, Hades simply vanish into thin clouds of smoke. Sora and Phil both paused for a long time, then Sora said, "Phil, let me fight Garland so tha-". Immediately, Phil cut him off and said, "No way! I've seen how this guy fights! You have no idea who you're goin' against. Believe me, when he picks his sword, even the gods are actually scared of what's goin' to happen next!".
With confidence in his voice, Sora said, "Well I've been through something that they might even thought it's scary, so you can trust me, Phil. I'll show Garland who's a real insect.". Phil thought that overconfidence have bested Sora. He tried to reasoned with him, but since Sora is stubborn and would never back down on his sights, Phil finally said, "Alright, kid you win! You will fight him when you're ready.".
With a gleeful voice, he said, "Yeah! That's more like it! I promise Phil. When I face Garland, I'll make sure he'll regret tormenting Hercules and everyone else with those words of his.". With a serious look, Phil looked at Sora and said, "Okay. But I gonna warn ya, this guy is probably like nothing you ever seen before.".
(Inside Hades's chamber)
Hades was sitting on his throne with a witch holding a staff with a green orb and who appears to be a harlequin standing beside the stone table, facing him. "Have you enticed Sora to fight Garland?", said Maleficent. "Oh you should've been there to see him going 'hey he can't do that to my friends, I'm gonna avenge them', He seems really straightfoward to go fight him," said Hades. Kefka said, "So wait, that kid doesn't feel scared or, or weird that you told what reall happened? Boy! Is he stupid! I guess you are right about this kid being so naive.". Hades then told, "Oh that's nothing! You should've seen what he's been doing to save little Nutmeg from a 'tangled' situation.".
With a smirk, Maleficent said, " Then everything is going to plan. Xehanort will surely be pleased when Sora gets a little taste of darkness.". "But why can't I do it? Come on! You're boring me and the least you could do is letting me destroy something!", said Kefka. Hearing these, Maleficent explained, "Xehanort needed him alive and in one piece. But if you would've done it Kefka, you would stood no match for the Keyblade wielder.". Kefka grunted hearing these, then Hades wondered and ask, "By the way, what does he want with that brat alive anyway? It's not like he's gonna do whatever we wished like a genie.". She answered, "Because he has 'someone' that we require to perfected Xehanorts true masterplan.".
(Later, in the arena)
Sora stood there waiting patiently for opponent to come out. He was still thinking of Phils words about how Garland easily bested his friends during battle. But he thought with his experience, he would easily defeat Garland with just a single blow and avenge those who has fall before him. Suddenly, six meters infront of Sora appeared a floating black orb, which then burst out a black aura with some electric arc that would intimidate anyone seeing it. Then, a powerful light flashed and blinded Sora for a moment. After his vision has recovered, Sora saw a bulky figure all covered in silver armor.
His armor had blue orb on each back of the gauntlet, another orb on his belt, and a helmet supporting two long horns. Sora assumed that Garland was once a knight , according to his appearence.
Garland looked at Sora with two glowing white eyes(1), and said, "I take that your my next opponent?". "Yeah. And guess what, your going down after what you did to Herc and the others,", said Sora. Garland replied, "An avenger, are you? Well you should consider yourself a fool, thinking you have what it takes to defeat me.". "Well I have. Because who you're looking at is a hero chosen by the Keyblade!", said Sora with confidence. The armoured man said, "A Keyblade wielder? Then perhaps you might give me something worth seeing. Of course, I would never expect some serious power from a boy like you.". Sora thought that he was taunting him, so he shouted, "Believe me. I've fought someone who has more power than you could attain in a million years! So you better give me everything you've got to win!".
Garland chuckled hearing Sora's words, then said, "Perhaps so. But since you asked for it, you might as well welcome your obliterating end!". Sora then got into a fighting stance and summoned his Keyblade, Kingdom Key. He then shouted, "Bring it on! Remember, I'm doing this 'cause you're trying to broke my friends! So you better get ready with what I've got for you!". Garland glared at him for a moment, then said, "If that's the case, then I shall.".
Garland raised his right hand, reaching for the sky, then a large object, covered in red aura, came falling from the sky and crashed to the ground beside Garland with its handle gripped firmly by his right hand. It was a giant sword, with a blade that is seemingly unable to cut and lines dividing the length of the blade. Garland went into a fighting stance and said, "You may try, with all your might and all your will but you can never prevail for I, Garland, will knock you down!".
(So the battle of Sora against Garland begins! The music played will be Final Fantasy 1: Battle, Dissidia version)
Sora charged at Garland with full force, then swung his Keyblade at Garland. But Garland managed to block his strikes before countering with powerful strikes at Sora. Sora blocked all his heavy blows, but he staggered whenever Garland's blade clashes with his. Sora skipped back and throws his Keyblade at the knight, but he deflected it with his blade. The Keyblade rematerialized back in Sora's hand before he throws it again repeatitively at Garland. Tired to do the same thing, Garland called down several bolts if lightning to Sora. The Keyblade wielder immediately created a magic shield around him, reflecting the lightning bolts to Garland.
Garland quickly evaded the magic he casted to his right while saying, "Nice try.". He then lunged at Sora with a swing of his sword. Sora dodged to the right and, again, charged at the knight. Garland sees this and prepared to block his next move. As he comes close to Garland, Sora launched a flurry of thirteen powerful blows at him. Garland managed to block every blow, but the final one was able to throw him back. While Garland was staggering from Sora's last attack, Sora lunged at Garland. Garland's next move suprised him, as he splits his swords in half, making Garland duel-wielded. "He actually has two swords?", thought Sora.
Garland blocked Sora's lunge with his sword, while his other sword in his left hands swung at him. Sora was able to backflipped to dodge his attack. Garland and Sora eyed each other for a moment, before charged at one another. Garland landed many strikes with his two swords at Sora, but he again managed to block his blows. Though unlike fighting Roxas, Garland's blows are heavier, so he trid to skip back. but Garland was persistent. He kept on swinging until his final strike of the combo. The two swords combined back into one and then transformed into a large axe.
Sora thought, "It's an axe now?". The strike throwed Sora very hard, making him crash to the arena wall. Garland's axe turned back into a greatsword, while Sora recovers from the impact. Sora decided he needed to use a long-ranged strategy, so he summoned a tornado. The tornado headed for the knight as Garland tried to avoid the cyclone, but then, he was sucked in the tornado, and then swirled inside it. After that, garland was thrown to the wall harder than Sora did. Seeing this he smirked. Garland stood back up and said, "Is that your most powerful magic? Let me show you what true magic is!".
Garland's sword extended to form a lance, which he then swung , creating two very large cyclone, both five times bigger than Sora's tornado. Sora's eyes widens as he saw this, so he anchored the Keyblade to the ground. While sora struggles to prevent being sucked by the two cyclone, Garland saw this oppoturnity, stopped his magic and transformed his sword into an axe again. He slams his weapon to the ground, causing a very large tremor and a very large chunk of earth to rise beneath Sora, hitting him and making him flying through the air.
Garland jumped above Sora and prepares to pulvarize him. Sora used his Keyblade to block his hammering axe, but Garland put so much force in his strike, Sora slamed to the ground with a very large impact, making a crater beneath Garland. He then landed just a few meters away from the crater.
As Sora stood up, he coughs up some blood, and his spine ached very much. He couldn't stood up properly, he shouted in his mind, "This guy is so strong! He's even way harder than Sephiroth! If he has many trikes up in his sleeve, then I better not hold back!". Sora tried casted a healing spell on himself, but Garland saw this through and swung his greatsword. The sword then turns into a flail, with a very long chain linking the blade and the handle. Seeing this, Sora canceled his curaga and evaded the blade of the flail. Garland kept swinging his weapon but Sora constantly dodged the flying blade, so Garland jumped high and throwed his flail at the ground. Suddenly, the flail chased Sora as if it has a mind of its own and was followed by floods of water that magically came out of nowhere.
Sora casted a reflect spell around himself. The flail and floods of water puts so much force towards Soras' magical protective shield before the weapon returned to Garlands' hand. Garland landed on the ground and witnessed the shield around Sora exploded as a result of repelling powerful magic using a reflect spell. The explosion causes a smoke of dirt to surround Sora, giving the chance for Sora to prepare his Sonic Blade technique. As Garland approaches the smoke, Sora came out quickly, rushing towards Garland with his Keyblade pointed foward. He tried to block Soras' attack with his greatsword, but he only staggered, leaving Garland completely open. Sora continuously attacked Garland with his rushing move, making serious damage to him and his armour. Garland was heavily wounded, with some cracks on his armour, showing some part of Garland's unusual rough, black hyde.
Sora wasn't done with him. As Garland recovers from Sora's powerful thrusts, Sora leaped through the air and charges his Ragnarok attack. Bright light emited from the tip of his Keyblade, growing before bursting into missiles of light that headed for Garland and the exploded. Sora watched Garland as he stood up from the Garland and heard him chuckled and said, "Perhaps I have finally met a worthy opponent. Now there is no need for me to hold back!".
Suddenly, Garland emited a bright ren aura from his body. The aura is growing bigger and brighter as Garland shouted a battle cry. Sora was intimidated from seeing this, so he took his time curing himself with a spell, and prepared to face Garland, who is probably stronger than before. After Garland increased his power, he immediately charged at Sora with increased speed.
Sora throwed his keyblade at him using Strike Raid, but this time, Garland didn't tried to dodge or block, instead he took the blow of the weapon, and he didn't even flinch! He just continued to charge at Sora with absolute determination! Sora was shocked seeing this, it seem Garland had a resolve strong enough to withstand any pain! So he though of a new strategy to defeat this knight, he must put everything he has on Garland without having to be caught by him.
As Garland was nearing Sora, he changed his weapon into a lance. He then thrusted at Sora, but missed. Sora took this opportunity and used his Ars Arcanum technique. Though Soras' strikes on Garland were powerful, Garland didn't hesitate to swing his greatsword at Sora. He was quick enough to react by blocking with his keyblade, but the swung was heavy enough to send Sora flying through the air. Sora landed roughly on the ground with his back, but not before Garland split his sword in half, then spin them to create many missiles of fireballs that targeted Sora. Sora managed to dodge roll to the left, evading the fireballs.
Sora casted blizzard magic on Garland, but Garland just blocked the chunk of ice with his sword that combined from the twin-sword form earlier. "You're pathetic!", mocked Garland. Sora didn't know how else to attack Garland without having to deal with his mighty sword swing, so he continued his long-ranged strategy that would probably take a while to defeat him.
(Half an hour passed by)
Sora was battered and bruised. He had a large bruise on his forehead and blood dripping from his mouth. His body ached everywhere for Garland managed to hit Sora a few times. Sora didn't have enough mana to cast cure on himself. But no matter how much critical condition he was in, Sora would never gave up to avenge his friends.
Garland saw determination to defeat him in Soras' eyes. He would not give in to defeat, but Garland remembered what he actually fought Sora for, so perhaps now is the time, to unleash the darkness that had been contained within Sora.
"Quite the persistent boy, aren't you? You looked like you're trying to win this battle!", said Garland. "As if I'm going to loose to you! Not after what you did to my friends!", shouted Sora. Garland laughed and replied, "Oh really? Did you honestly think you can win with this kind of strenght you're using? Did you really think you can win, after you have failed you Mark of Mastery exam?". Soras' eyes widened when he heard that. How did Garland know Sora failed the exam when this is the first time Sora met him? Garland continued, "Do you even know the reason that you failed? You had so much anger and hatred within you, but you didn't used them. You thought that they would not serve any purpose in battle, which is why you are weak!". Sora angered hearing that, so he shouted, "You're wrong! I may be weak, I may have failed the exam, but I am never alone! I would never used anger and hatred to fight in battle. I would never use the darkness to fight. Not even against someone like you!".
Garland squinted at him, then said, "Is that so? Then how else did Riku have passed the exam?". Sora was shocked. How did Garland even know about his friend Riku? Did he watched them during the examination? He then said, "How did-You're wrong! Riku would never gave himself to the darkness again! Because he's the one who saved me from mine!". "Yes. And do you know how you are succumbed to the darkness?", replied Garland. Sora didn't know what to say. Garland continued, "You never used them with your will. You thought that only light would be enough to make you a strong warrior, but in truth, that only made you soft and weak! You are so vulnerable to the darkness inside you that it is probably impossible for a whelp like you to control it.". Sora was furious. He can't stand to here anymore of Garlands' words, but Garland then said, "But did you know, that your friend, a princess, is going to take the Mark of Mastery exam? I believe her name was, Kairi.". He was flabbergasted hearing that. How could Kairi take the exam already? She can barely even fight! So Sora barked, "Y-you can't be serious!".
"It's true. She would take the title 'Keyblade Master' just so she can protect you from harm,", said Garland. Then he continued, "Perhaps, if she can actually pass the exam, then the real reason that you failed isn't because of your darkness, it's you yourself that is weak!". Garland laughed hard and said, "And you call yourself a hero from the Realm of Light! It's no wonder you had so many friends! You actually wanted them to protect you, to be your shield!". Garland laughed harder after saying that. Sora could not contain his wrath when he listened to the knights' mockings, so he charged at Garland with full force and shouted, "SHUT UP!".
(Battle music ends)
Garland quickly react to this by turning his sword into a flail and swung at him. Sora rolled beneath the flying chain and raised his hand with Keyblade in hand to punish him. Garland was quick enough to tranformed his flail back into a sword blocked him. But this didn't stop Sora from continuously striking Garlands' blade. Sora puts his heart into each strike because of Garlands' insults of how pathetic Sora was.
Tired of blocking Soras' blows, Garland very quickly transformed his blade into a giant axe and swung with all his might towards Sora. Sora attempt to block his mighty axe swing, but this only resulted in sending him flying towards the wall of the arena. He crashed with an impact so powerful, it sends shockwave all across his body. After Sora fallen down to the ground, he coughed up more blood and he felt a very strong pain in his spine. With so much injury on his body, he couldn't even stand up and raise his Keyblade against Garland. Sora wasn't sure whether he could beat Garland, let alone provoke him of his unchilvary behaviour. Sora closed his eyes and prepared for the worst, then that's when he lost it.
Garland approached him slowy and cautiously, when suddenly, Sora was covered in dark aura, which gives an uneasy feeling for Garland. Taking no chance, Garland transformed his sword into a lance and thrusted right at Soras' torso. The lance seemed to impale through Soras' body, but it disappeared as it was an illusion. The real Sora suddenly appeared in the air, behind Garland with his Keyblade raised to slice Garland.
Garland was taken suprised that Sora still had some stamina left. He managed to evade to his right. Then he glared at Sora with his white eyes, wondering how he regained his strength quickly. Could it be that he finally unlocked Soras' inner darkness? When Sora glared back at him, Garland noticed that his eyes are now gold in colour. Garland knew who, or rather, what he had become for the moment. Sora casted a very powerful lightning arc from his Keyblade to the knight. Garland withstand the shocked of the thunder magic as pain is meaningless to him, but the lightning did some serious damage to him. As Sora continued casting his magic, Garland run toward him and attempt to grab him with his hand.
Seeing this, Sora stopped his magic and, amazingly, punched Garland by the face before he even had the chance to grab Sora. He actually punched hard enough to make him fall to the ground and rolled over a few times. This was very humiliating for the knight, so Garland decided to make Sora regret it. As he stood up from the ground, Sora quickly raised his Keyblade up towards the sky. The Keyblade then shooted a beam of light and a shockwave visible, burst from the ground around Sora. Garland charged at him with his sword dragging on the ground. Then, with a speed of a demon, Sora sliced at Garland with his glowing Keyblade, causing the knight to stopped right at his track, and kneel to the ground and dropped his weapon.
But Sora wasn't done with him, he made an uppercut to the knight, launching him in the air. Then he appeared above Garland. Garland saw that Sora had a wicked grin on his face, and was preparing for the worst. Sora sliced at Garland with his Keyblade. Sora then reappeared beside Garland and sliced him again. Sora continued teleporting around him while slicing maliciously for fifteen times, only then Sora hammered him to the ground with an immeasureable force. This creates a large crater beneath Garland, sending shockwaves throughout the arena.
Sora landed gently on the ground and watched Garland as he pathetically raised himself from the grounded. He was covered in blood from the cuts that Sora made. The aura surrounding Sora vanished and Soras' golden coloured eyes returned to sapphire blue. Sora could not believe what he just did. He actually defeat the knight with a strength he didn't know where it came from. Could he be, that he actually succumbed to the darkness for a moment, he thought. The red aura covering the knight also vanished.
Sora expected the knight to plead for mercy, wait, Sora wanted the knight to do that? But instead, Garland laughed maniacally. Sora was dumbfounded of this odd behaviour and said, "What's so funny?". "Because never in my experience, have my blood ever boiled from any battle before! It was exhilarating!", said Garland. "So you're not done yet?", said Sora. Garland replied, "No. I have done what was really necessary. You will have this victory, but the next time we meet, there will be chances that only one of us, will survive.".
Garland laughed, then the orb on his belt begins to glow brightly. Suddenly, the orb burst into a blinding light, and Garland vanished, without a trace. Even when he's gone, his laughter echoed in Soras' mind. Sora may have won, but he pondered on what Garland meant about what he had done what was really necessary. Could it be that he was trying to revive Soras' darkness? But for what purpose?
(Later, inside the lobby.)
"I still can't believe that you actually beat Garland!", exclaimed Phil. Sora scoffed and said, "I promised you, didn't I? He will never get away without learning a thing or two from me.". Sora was covered in bandages, after being treated by Aerith, who was coincidently there with Cloud. "How did you exactly beat him? Phil told me that you gone awol when you got hurt badly. Did you really punched him in the face?", questioned Cloud. Sora was suprised to hear and said, "Wait! I did?". Phil and Cloud looked at each other for a moment, then looked back at Sora with a concerned look on their faces. Sora was confused of what happened during his battle with Garland.
He looked at his right hand that he used, but can't remembered, to punched the knight. In his mind he said, "What, happened to me that time?". Sora wasn't sure what he did that made him lose himself in the battle, but he knows, that it can't be good for him.
(Inside Hades's chamber..)
"You did well Garland, you words centainly provoked the darkness that had been sleeping within Sora for twelve, long, years,", complemented Maleficent. She continued, "But you should be careful next time as Vanitas, that creature Xehanort called, isn't the one to kill his opponent quickly.". Garland replied, "I actually enjoyed the fight. It actually made me more, 'alive' compare to the fights I have been through before.". Maleficent warned, "You should be more cautious, because there is such thing as overzealous.". Kefka laughed hard and mocked, "I still can't believe that you actually got punched hard in the face by that brat!". Hades then said, "You know, I actually didn't know he had it in him to make you looked like a big and strong athelete being bullied by a skinny, little seven year old.".
Garland glared at the god of the dead and the mad clown for the mockery. He wouldn't be pleased if the news spread to the other villains. Then, came out a darn man with a silver hair, wearing a long, black overcoat. Xehanort said, "Now that Sora had awakened the darkness inside him, it won't be long until Vanitas, will finally took over him and realized my plan.". He ended the sentence with a smirk on his face.
Sora don't know what the darkness inside him really is, but one thing for sure, is that Sora will have a conflict for his sanity one day.
End
Finally it is done, I actually finished this story at midnight because I wanted to send this after I signed up for ! Anyway, I hoped that you enjoy my first story, and reviews will always be great.(1) I actually altered some of Garlands' appearence. Kefka is a main villain from Final Fantasy 6 and some of Garlands' moves is from Dissidia: Final Fantasy.