A/N: A short KH oneshot that I hope can tide you guys over for a bit until Mizao is back on her feet (I f*cking hate college sometimes). I figured that a short battle sequence involving a few members of the Org would do good for a short story. The only question was who. I decided to go for an unlikely trio- Xion, Lexaeus, and Demyx. Hope you enjoy!
I don't own Kingdom Hearts
Alright, final match!" Xion cheered.
"Don't get cocky, small one. If we were good enough to get this far, the opponent must be of equal or greater strength." Lexaeus chided her. The larger, older Nobody was staring silently across the Coliseum floor, awaiting the arrival of their final opponent in the tournament. Xion, Lexaeus, and Demyx had been ordered to enter the current tournament in Olympus Coliseum both to collect hearts from the Heartless that entered and to earn the sizable munny prize from winning. None of them had been sure about their team arrangement at first, but they were coming along surprisingly well.
Aw, c'mon, Lexy. What's the worst they could be?" Demyx asked.
"Ok, the final match of these Games will begin now!" Phil called from the box to the crowd. "Team Gaia"- he motioned toward Xion, Lexaeus, and Demyx- versus Lord Ares!" Demyx's eyes shot open and his jaw dropped in horror. Phil motioned with a flourish to the other side of the arena. Across the arena, a ball of red light formed, crackling and sparking before bursting into flames. The Nobodies shielded their eyes as the light grew brighter. When it faded, they saw their opponent. Ares, the red-skinned, squat, yet muscular god of war, stood across from them, wielding a titanic greatsword like a single handed blade and a phalanx shield, clad in Greek battle armor and with a nasty look on his face.
"You. Were. Saying?" Lexaeus growled at Demyx as he hefted his axe into his usual stance. The Silent Hero's lust for battle was elevated to new heights, but he knew better than to rush a god.
Demyx summoned his sitar, panic on his face. "How was I supposed to know we'd fight a GOD?" He asked.
"This was called the Ares Cup, Demmy. It's not exactly Vexen level science. Not to mention, after the crazy stuff we had to get through to get here, I kinda saw this coming, even though I wish I had been wrong." Xion said, her Keyblade out and ready. She was scared, scared out of her wits, but she was determined to win the fight. After all, Hades had been beaten in the games before, so why couldn't Ares? They were in for the fight of their lives. The barrier went up, and the match began.
Ares darted forward, far faster than was expected for someone his size. Xion swung her Keyblade on reflex and managed to block a sword strike, though Ares' strength sent her skidding back towards her teammates. Ares smiled again and moved toward Lexaeus. The Silent Hero swung his axe forward and connected with Ares' armor with a mighty CRASH. Ares was pushed back, but otherwise seemed unfazed. He raised his sword and launched a blast of yellow energy at Lexaeus, who was blasted off his feet and knocked to the ground. Ares moved to press his attack, but a blast of water against his head got his attention, and he moved towards Demyx instead. Demyx continued to strum his sitar, and jets of water splashed up around Ares and Demyx, blocking Ares' progress and knocking him around. Xion leaped in and began to bat Ares around with the Oathkeeper. As she finished with a flip slash, Ares promptly struck back with his shield, knocking Xion back. Lexaeus charged in, slamming Ares back to his side of the arena, and the three Organization members regrouped.
"You okay, Lexaeus?" Xion asked, her concern for her teammate evident.
Lexaeus grunted. "I'm fine, just a cracked rib or two. I can still fight."
"Here he comes again!" Demyx shouted, bringing the other two back to attention. Ares leaped forward and slammed his shield against the ground, sending out a shockwave and blowing the three Nobodies in different directions.
"He's trying to separate us and keep us from working together!" Lexaeus thought, landing on his feet. Ares had not only done that, but two dog like creatures had materialized alongside him. Ares grinned cruelly.
"Brutacles, Sadisto, sic 'em!" He laughed. The two dogs split off, Sadisto charging for Demyx and Brutacles going after Lexaeus. Ares himself charged Xion.
Xion blocked a shield bash and struck back with Counterguard, but Ares barely even shifted his balance. Fearful, Xion blasted him point blank with a Firaga spell, which made Ares stumble, but nothing else. Realizing that physical strikes were the only way she'd reliably hurt Ares, she charged him. Big mistake. Ares expertly avoided her first strike and whacked her with his shield, following through with a blindingly fast sword combo and a kick to the gut to finish. Xion flew across the arena as Demyx cried out her name in horror, slammed against the barrier, sank to the floor and just lay there, unable to stand. Still, she gripped her Keyblade tightly, determined to defend herself anyway. Ares leaped at her to finish her off, but Lexaeus intercepted him after kicking the thoroughly unconscious Brutacles aside. Lexaeus' strength held out, and he and the god broke their clash, only to immediately get into another one with every swing of their gigantic weapons. However, Lexaeus had still taken damage in the battle with Brutacles, not to mention Ares' previous attacks, and soon Ares had managed to bring down Lexaeus too, right next to Xion. Ares moved to finish them, but one of Demyx's water jets caught him off guard.
"You've still gotta deal with me, jerk!" The Melodious Nocturne yelled at the god, stepping over Sadisto's unconscious body and readying his water magic. Ares growled and charged, but Demyx just smirked. "Dance, water, dance!" Demyx called, strumming away at his sitar as about thirty of his water clones formed. Ares turned his attention to those first, as he knew what happened to those who ignored the clones- if Demyx finished his song, the clones would converge and hit the opponent with a brutally powerful water torrent that would almost certainly KO in a single hit. As he smashed the final water clone, Demyx immediately called "Dance, water, dance!" again. This time there were fifty of them. As Ares smashed clone after clone, Demyx shot Xion a look that read "Hurry- I can't do this all day!" Xion could tell that Demyx only had enough energy left for one or two more big waves of clones, and after that, Ares would finish him off and they'd lose the tournament and fail the mission. Xion managed to reach into her pouch and pull out one of her Hi-Potions, which she immediately downed. Her strength returning, she stayed on the ground and subtly cast Curaga on Lexaeus and Demyx. Reenergized, Lexaeus pushed himself to his feet, eyes full of rage and drive to win. With a roar, Lexaeus activated his power-increasing spell, pushing his power to it's absolute limit. Xion hopped to her feet, the Berserk Charge Ability Panel she'd borrowed from Saix activating, and she launched herself at the distracted god.
Ares smashed clone number 50 and was immediately blindsided by Xion, who swept him up into a cyclone of aerial Keyblade strikes. As she slashed away, she heard Lexaeus charging in and Demyx saying something. Immediately, she broke off and let her burly teammate pick up the slack. Lexaeus smashed the stunned god in the stomach with his axe and bounced him off the ground, before leaping up and using the curved part of the axe to slam Ares into the ground again, causing an eruption of stone spires. Demyx continued to play his sitar. As Lexaeus and Ares continued to duel, Xion began to rapid-fire Thundaga Shots at them. The lightning based spell wouldn't hurt Lexaeus, but it was enough to cause Ares to flinch. Still, it looked like nothing would put the God of War down for the count. Suddenly, Demyx shouted "Time's up!" Xion looked around the arena and realized Demyx had done another water clone wave while she and Lexaeus had attacked Ares, and he had finished his song while the god was distracted. Ares and Lexaeus realized it too, but there was nothing Ares could do to stop it now. 300 water clones swarmed him, forming into a large torrential blast of water that slammed Ares into the barrier and managed to knock him out. There was about thirty seconds of total silence. Then, Xion leaped into the air with a triumphant cheer, Keyblade held high in victory, and the crowd went wild as Demyx and Lexaeus took their own victory poses.
As the three Nobodies prepared for the award ceremony, Lexaeus turned to his teammates. "Good work, both of you. I wouldn't have survived that battle on my own." he said, giving them a rare smile.
Demyx put his hands behind his head, smiling back. "Well, we wouldn't have won if I hadn't done that last water clone wave" he said cockily. Lexaeus growled at him and Demyx quickly amended himself "...buuuuut I wouldn't have gotten to pull off one big enough to knock him out like that if you guys hadn't already done a lot of damage and kept him distracted. Great job, team." He said, giving them both a legitimate grin.
Xion smiled at her team members. "I'll admit, when we got put on this mission together, I though Saix had gone nuts. But I'll admit, you guys and I make a pretty good team. Demyx, you're certainly stronger than you look, and Lexaeus, you can be quite the team player when you want to be. This was probably the most fun mission I've been on in a little while. I can't wait to tell Roxas and Axel all about it!" she said, getting really excited. Phil came in to escort them out onto the arena floor, where their trophy and a large pot filled with munny sat. Xion picked up the trophy, and then out of nowhere, Lexaeus picked her up and balanced the tiny Nobody on his right shoulder before raising his left fist in a simple victory pose. Demyx twirled his sitar around, strummed a few notes, then pointed at the audience with his right hand, grinning openly. Xion giggled cutely and lifted the trophy above her head with a triumphant cry of "We're the champs!" Confetti rained around them as the crowd cheered. The three Nobodies took their prizes, quickly got out of sight, and dark corridored back home.
The three of them came out back in the castle. Lexaeus went to go file their mission report, Demyx went to present Xemnas with their winnings, and Xion was left with nothing to do but wait for Roxas and Axel. Well, wait for Axel. As it turned out, Roxas was already back. Soon, Axel returned, and the three of them retreated to their usual spot on top of the clock tower, eating ice cream as Xion told them the story.
"TWO Dustfliers at once?!" Roxas sputtered in disbelief. "How did you guys survive that?"
"Mostly we just stalled them and blocked their moves until Demyx managed to finish a water clone song and take them both out in one go. But Ares was even tougher." Xion said.
"Ares? You guys fought ARES?" Axel yelled, looking very worried.
"Who's Ares again?" Roxas asked.
"Ares is one of the gods of Olympus Coliseum, and is the god of war, making him one of the strongest of the gods and definitely their best fighter, rivaled only by his sister Athena, Hercules, and Zeus himself." Axel explained, and Roxas' eyes widened. The two promptly bombarded Xion with questions about how she and her team had survived, which she answered as best she could.
"To be honest, we only went the 'stall for Demyx' route in the double Dustflier fight because we didn't know who was up next and wanted to conserve healing items and energy. It was a requirement to beat Ares." Xion said. "He beat the crap out of us, but Demyx stalled him with smaller clone waves while I managed to heal myself and Lexaeus. Then we barraged him while Demyx did another clone wave. I need to remember to ask Saix how to craft the Berserk Charge Ability Panel, it's very useful as a last ditch effort without Limit Breaking."
Axel chuckled and asked "How many clones did it take to put him down?" with a very Axel smile.
About... 300? I lost count after 100." Xion shrugged.
"How did Ares not notice that? The arena in the Coliseum isn't that big, it would have been so crowded he couldn't move!" Roxas asked, flailing his arms and bewildered that the strategy had worked.
"To be fair, Lexaeus was all up in his face while at maximum power, and I was shooting Thundaga Shots the whole time I wasn't whacking him." Xion said, blushing and giggling at her friend's antics.
"I suppose that'd do the trick." Axel said. "Lexy is seriously scary when he really gets going. Word of advice that you guys probably already know, but I'll tell you anyway- never make him mad at you. Got it memorized?" he asked, tapping his head for emphasis.
Xion and Roxas copied their friend's gesture. "Got it memorized." they chorused.
'Good. Now then, we've heard about Xion's mission. So Roxas, what happened on yours?" Axel asked. Xion opened her ears and went back to her ice cream. She loved this life.
A/N: So... I hope you guys liked it. I picked Xion, Lexaeus, and Demyx as the team members for varying reasons. Xion got in because I like her, and Lexaeus got the same. However, I needed one more team member for them. I would have used Zexion, but I didn't really see any way to use his ability to defeat Ares. So I thought of who would have a move that could beat Ares in one shot without involving Xemnas, since getting involved would be kinda out of character for him. So, I thought of Demyx and his water clones, came up with a way they worked when time ran out, and worked that in. And yes, they faced two Dustfliers simultaneously in the second seed. And won. Anyone who's played 358/2 Days knows how insane that would be. You may hate fighting him, but if he has teammates to stall for him, you'd love having Demyx on your team. Ares' dogs, Brutacles and Sadisto, come from the Hercules animated show. And yes, those are their names. Don't believe me? Look it up. His weapons, though, I made up. I didn't make up the energy blast though. I don't think there's a Berserk Charge ability panel in Days, but it would make sense for Saix to have, wouldn't it?
Read and review! Next time I update, I promise it'll be the end of the Saiyan battle in Mizao. See you guys then!