When I opened my eyes, I screamed in terror at the sight of Olympus Coliseum. I fell to my knees in shame.
"No! Stupid powers, I wanted Deep Jungle not this place!" I shrieked. Kairi jumped at my sudden cry.
"What's wrong with this place?" she shrugged. I gave her a horrified look.
"Kairi, you don't know what this place does to you!"
"What do we get tortured or something?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Worse. Tournaments…" I whispered.
"What are those?" She questioned. I lead her to the charts that were scribbled on from previous events.
"Allow me to demonstrate." I said pointing towards the boards.
"Is that Sora's name up there?" Kairi said with glee. I glanced to find his, Donald and Goofy's name at the very top.
"Yeah it is!" I smiled.
"Who are Donald and Goofy?" Kairi asked.
"Those are characters that are very popular in my dimension and Sora travels with them throughout the series." I gladly explained and Kairi giggled, she always did whenever I talked about my world. We decided to tour the coliseum even though I wasn't too thrilled on being here in the first place. I was thankful that I didn't have to hear that annoying song over and over again. I found the building where the character Phil, Hercules personal trainer was supposed to be and walked in like I was celebrity that needed no introduction.
"Hi there," Kairi said.
"Got two words for yeh, Tournaments are officially over." Phil said without giving us a chance to explain ourselves.
"Are you sure? The charts outside don't say so." Kairi snapped back.
"Look here wise guy." Phil angrily twirled around and jumped at the sight of us.
"Oh you're just girls."
"What's wrong with that?" I asked with my hands folded across my chest.
"Nothing, usually guys enter the tournaments." Phil said. Kairi and my face lit up thinking about a certain guy.
"Did you meet a guy named Sora?" Kairi asked.
"You mean the scrawny kid with the giant key?"
"This key?" I summoned my blade proudly. A smile grew on a Phil's face.
"Yeh, that's the one! I do know him!" he cheered. "A junior hero I called him and his goofy friends." I couldn't help but chuckle at his little remark.
"Anyway, we were hoping that that would get us somewhere?" I said like I was unsure.
"Sorry, not going to happen." Phil lifts his hand from going any further.
"Look here mister goat man!" I shouted. "I've been through a lot and got this far, I'm not going to let you stop me!" Phil and Kairi stared at me in shock from my sudden anger.
"You don't have to get into the tournament but can you at least train us? Being friends with Sora should at least mean something!" I took a deep breath and waited patiently.
"S-sure," Phil shakily took us to the arena and set up a few obstacle courses for us to go through. He would have us do push-ups, hop over streams and train with us personally. We thought we were going at this for days but it was only a few hours. When we were finished, I collapsed from exhaustion. Kairi was still standing and laughed at my misfortune.
"You don't get out much in your world do you?" She asked teasingly. I mocked her laughing and stood on my knees.
"I couldn't do those many push-ups enough to save my life!" I whined. We agreed to take a break and I wanted to take a walk by myself to collect some thoughts. While walking, I ran into someone who I recognized as Cloud Strife from the final fantasy series. I held back my shriek as I saw him looking down at me with confusion.
"I'm so sorry." I blushed and looked away bashfully. He gave me no answer and I didn't know if he was angry at me for bumping into him or if he was silently laughing at me.
"No, my apologies miss. I wasn't watching where I was going." He said kindly. I was about to say something when a blood curdling scream came from Kairi.
"Jade, help me!" she shrieked. I summoned my keyblade and ran towards the source of her scream. I wanted nothing more than to be alone with Cloud but my friend's safety was important.
"Hold on Kairi! I'm coming!" I called back. I ran through the arena entrance to find the one and only Sephiroth, Cloud's worst enemy, standing before me with Kairi held captive in his arms.
"Kairi!" I shouted. Sephiroth's long silver hair swayed in the wind as he gave me a devious smile.
"Let her go Sephiroth!" I gasped soon after realizing that he didn't tell me his name.
"Interesting, you knew my name even though I never gave it to you." He smirked.
"What do you want?" I asked to regain my coolness. I noticed Sephiroth admiring my keyblade.
"You possess that weapon that kid has." He chuckled. I held my poker face because I didn't want to give away that I knew Sora.
"What do you want?" I wanted to change the subject.
"If you want your friend back alive, give me that keyblade and I will let her go." He offered. I had to think for a moment, would I give up this weapon for Kairi? What would Sephiroth do with it? What would Sora do? Sephiroth pressed his long sword against Kairi's throat.
"If you won't hand me that key, you can kiss your friend's life goodbye." I reached out my hand.
"No! I'll give it to you. Please don't hurt her!" I begged. Kairi shook her head and pleaded for me to run as I handed Sephiroth my keyblade. Just as he was about to touch it, Cloud's humongous sword blocked his path, almost slicing his hand off. My eyes lit up at the thought of this wonderful man protecting me from Sephiroth.
"Leave the girls alone!" Cloud threatened. Sephiroth gave his devious smile and surprisingly released Kairi. She ran into my arms and quietly sobbed.
"I'm sorry Jade. I'm so sorry." She wept. I stroked the back of her head comfortingly.
"It's okay; it's not your fault." I assured. After she settled down, I held her soft hands tightly.
"Can you do me a favor? Go hide someplace safe for me?" I asked in a whisper. She sniffed and nodded quickly. We gave each other a hug and she ran off. I prepared myself and ran to Cloud's side. In a fighting pose similar to Sora's, I gave Sephiroth a look I wanted to give him for years to let him know that he made me very angry.
"You two think you can beat me?" Sephiroth asked revealing his cockiness.
"By the way you ticked me off; I know I'll be able to defeat you!" I snapped. Cloud was the first to strike and swung his sword, almost taking me out in the process. During the fight, Sephiroth's sword nicked me a couple of times. Because of this being a virtual world, I thought I wouldn't feel any pain. When the tip of the sword pricked my shoulder blade, I felt a mild sting. I could see horrible bruises growing on my arm and legs and who knows what my face looks like. At first, Cloud and I were not working together and Sephiroth seemed to have the upper hand. I pulled Cloud aside to discuss the situation quickly.
"Cloud, we need to work together. We're getting nowhere." I said not sugar coating it.
"You're right…" he paused and I knew he wanted to say my name.
"Jade" I said and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you,"
"Nice to meet you Miss Jade, want to work together take this loser down?"
"You have no idea." I chuckled.
"How about, you attack him on one side and me the other?" I suggested. Cloud nodded.
"Sounds like a plan." He agreed and charged at Sephiroth's left leaving me with the right. This time, we were in sync and kicking the living crap out of him. I loved the idea knowing how much I've hated Sephiroth. After a couple of rounds, Sephiroth was almost on the ground in defeat. Cloud gave him a final blow with one of his special moves.
"This is for kidnapping Kairi!" I shouted before I swung my keyblade and Sephiroth was finally on the ground. I walked over to Cloud and gave him a high five. I was surprised he gave me one back knowing his personality.
"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that." I laughed and scratched the back of my head
"Thanks for everything Cloud. It was an honor working together with you." We shook hands again.
"I'm sorry but how do you know my name? I know for a fact that I never even mentioned it." Cloud asked and my heart stopped. Sephiroth asked the same question before our fight.
"I can…read minds?" I asked unsure of myself.
"Hmmm, alright," Cloud shrugs and was about to walk away.
"Oh wait. I wanted to ask you something." I called before he vanished on me.
"Did you run into a boy named Sora? That girl Kairi and I are looking for him." I asked. Cloud looked surprise.
"With brown spikey hair and wields that same weapon?" he asked pointing to my keyblade. My eyes lit up with joy
"Yeah, that's him!" I shrieked. "Did he mention anything about us or where he was going?"
"No. Sorry, I gave him some advice and that was the only time I spoke with him." He said and turned away. I waved even though he wouldn't see and ran off to find Kairi. I walked out of the arena and had a small heart attack when Kairi jumped out from behind a pillar.
"Boo!" she shouted and I let out a loud shriek. I placed a hand over my chest as I caught my breath. I lightly bumped her head.
"Don't care me like that!" I sighed.
"Sorry." She chuckled. "So did you beat that guy to a pulp?" she asked raising her fist.
"You bet!" I patted her shoulder. "Why did Sephiroth want you in the first place?" I asked.
"I don't know. When he approached me he asked if I was one of the princesses of heart and just kidnapped me." She shrugged. I grabbed my chin and thought why Sephiroth would need her when he wasn't part of the original plan. Was it because of her heart filled with light? I decided to let go and held her hands.
"What world are we going to now? Did that blonde hair guy give you any clues?" she asked with her eyes lighting up with hope. I shook my head.
"He said that he ran into him but Cloud only gave him advice." I raised the right side of my mouth and shrugged once again and decided to move on. I was about to teleport when Phil stopped us.
"Girls wait! I wanted to talk to you for a second." He called. The two of us chuckled watching him run towards us.
"What's up?" Kairi asked.
"I wanted to tell you that you girls have spunk just like that kid you asked about, that Sora." Phil complimented.
"Aw thanks." Kairi giggled.
"If Sora ever came back, tell him that we're okay and that we say hi." I laughed.
"Hey Phil, thanks for training us!" Kairi called to him as he headed back to the arena. His response was just a wave and that was that. I then closed my eyes and thought on where to go to next. I thought it'd save us some trouble and go to the worlds that were important. I shivered at the thought of monstro and being inside that huge whale and getting lost. I pictured the mouth of the whale and held onto Kairi. Not prepared for what was going to happen next.