Author's Note: Not much to say, so let's continue on.

I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It rightfully belongs to Disney and Square Enix. I don't even own the songs...yes, this is my first somewhat musical fanfic.


CHAPTER 4: Zero to Hero.

Not having gone too far, Meg watched Hercules and his friends take off while shaking her head slightly before groaning both for how sappy she was acting and what she had to do now. So turning, she made her way into a dark forest nearby where the trees were dark and black, and had no leaves, and were leaning in. She didn't go far as she encountered a small rabbit and a gopher.

"Aww, how cute." Meg said, sarcastically, "A couple of rodents lookin' for a theme park.

The rabbit glared up at her, saying in an very familiar gruffy voice, "Who you callin' a rodent, sister? I'm a bunny!" pointing at his fluffy tail to prove the point.

"A-and I'm his gopher!" The gopher said in another familiar voice, before he and the rabbit both immediately turned into that of Pain and Panic, the two devils showing off like they just finished an impressive act at a circus, "Ta-dah!"

Meg rolled her eyes as she groaned, but not all that surprised. "Ugh, I thought I smelled a rat."

"Meg." Another familiar voice spoke, as Meg then felt a smokey hand holding up her chin, causing her to see Hades standing right there. As it turned out, Meg was one of those unfortunate people who got caught up in Hades' deals, selling her soul to him and now has to spend her life serving him as his slave.

"Speak of the devil." Meg muttered, as Hades then dragged her next to him, before she waved his arm off that then returned to it's normal solid form.

"Meg, my little flower, my little bird, my little nut Meg." Hades greeted, before asking, a bit dumbfounded, "What exactly happened here? I thought you were gonna persuade the river guardian to join my team for the uprising, and here I am kind of river guardian-less." while materializing a boardgame, which on it had the figurine of the Centuar from earlier.

"I gave it my best shot, but he made me an offer I had to refuse." Meg replied, before flicking the Centuar figure away where it landed on the ground with a thud, before walking off a few paces to stand by another tree, her back turned to Hades who, while annoyed, decided that it wasn't the end of the Underworld.

"Fine. So instead of subtracting two years from your sentence, hey, I'm gonna add two on, okay? Give that your best shot." He said calmly while poofing the chest-board away.

"Look, it wasn't my fault!" Meg snapped, "It was this Wonderboy, Hercules."

Hades froze in shock, his pupils shrinking in sudden anger. Did he hear just right? No...it cannot be. It was just not possible! That brat was supposed to be dead! Unless...

Behind him, Pain and Panic, who also heard this, suddenly started to get nervous despite the fact that, after 18 years, they forgot the certain incident...until now.

"Hercules..." Panic said, nervously, "Why does that name ring a bell?"

"I don't know..." Pain replied, before shrugging, almost as nervous as his friend, "Maybe we owe 'im money?"

"What, was that name, again?" Hades questioned, wanting to make it more clear and seriously hoped that he heard wrong.

Too bad that hope was boiled.

"Hercules." Meg repeated.

Hades grunted in sheer anger. He knew it...those two useless minions of his had lied to him. They actually lied! All these years thinking that he had nothing to worry about, believing that Zeus's sunspot brat was actually dead, and despite being defeated by six mortal brats, first Terra and Grovyle when he failed to turn them and Zack to Darkness seven years ago, then in that same month short time later, defeated again along with the false version of the Ice Titan by a silverbird named 'Sailor Moon', and her bluebird friend named Aqua, and then after that, defeated the third time along with Cerberus by not only that fourteen year old hero-wanna be, but also by a humaniod mouse named Mickey and an eleven year old brat named Jason who was looking for Grovyle, none of them were seen after that and Hades all but figured that they died, so he didn't have to worry about them save for Zack, but as far as Hades was concerned, that mosquito was more of a sore loser.

But now not only Hades had Zack to worry about, but Hercules who is very much alive and by Meg's description, he defeated Nessus. The Lord of the Dead turned angrily towards Pain and Panic who were both oblivious of his head turning sheer bright fiery red in anger which also turned his hair into normal fire colour.

And all the while Meg was continuing, still not gazing at Hades and what she said only made things worse, "He comes on with his big, innocent farm boy routine, but I could see through that in a Peloponnesian minute, with a cute little mouse-boy and this other country boy."

Mouse-boy...so that Mickey Mouse was back too!? That did it. Hades was at his boiling point. Now he had Hercules, Zack and Mickey to handle and with the three of them combined...suddenly he remembered the vision the Fates showed him all those years ago; Now it made sense and along the vision already started to come true; the five of the eight warriors were 'Sailor Moon', Aqua, Terra, Grovyle and Jason. Who the sixth one was, Hades didn't know as he never met or even heard of Ventus. But still, the ones who would help Hercules to defeat him...were none other than Zack who was the swordsman, and Mickey who was the mouse with the Keylike sword.

Oh, now he was very furious. And it was all Pain and Panic's fault!

"Wait a minute." Pain quickly realised, sharing a worried glance with Panic as his memory finally returned, "Wasn't Hercules the name of that kid we were s'posed to—"

He didn't get the chance to finish, as Pain and Panic both turned to see Hades glaring at them, and both immediately knew that they'd finally been busted and found out. "OH, MY GODS!" They both shrieked in unison as Hades stretched his arms out towards them.

They tried to run away by climbing over a fallen tree, but unfortunately for them, Hades grabbed them by their tails and pulled them towards him, despite their failing attempts to claw the ground to free themselves as he began angrily in heavy sarcasm, "So you took care of him, huh? "Dead as a doornail"."

He then gripped them by their necks, continuing furiously as his hair turned orange, "Weren't your exact words?"

"This might be a different Hercules." Pain croaked.

"Yeah! I mean Hercules is a-" Panic's neck was then strangled so tightly by Hades that the green-ish blue devil could only raspily choke the rest of his sentence, "-very popular name nowadays!"

"Remember, like, a few years ago, every other boy was named Jason like the one seven years ago, and the girls were all named Brittany?" Pain continued feebly.

"I'm about to rearrange the cosmos..." Hades began, before he tossed Pain and Panic onto the ground, the two of them immediately turning into insects as soon as he began to literally explode in severe anger, "And the one schmiel, the one mosquito and one little rat who can all louse it up are WALZTING AROUND IN THE WOOODS!" and that he exploded so much fire that they bursted out in all directions like volcanos erupting that it destroyed all of the dark trees in the dark woods that they just simply vanished in a matter of seconds that there was no fire on the ground.

Meg had ducked down as a flash of fire passed over before she stood up. All of the trees were now smoldering stumps, as Hades returned to normal and panted at such exploding anger that was rare, even for him, to feel in most of the eternity. The only blessing was that his three slaves were alive, but at the moment, he needed someone to kill to really cool off.

"Wait, wait!" Pain squeeked, before he returned to normal as another memory came into mind, "Big guy! We can still cut in on their waltzing, especially Hercules'."

"That's right!" Panic quickly added, also returning to normal as he continued, still nervously, "And-and-and we made him mortal. That's a good thing. Didn't we?"

"And that Mosquito kid and mouse were born mortals, so they don't have the same strength as he does." Pain continued.

"Kills three birds in one stone." Panic concluded.

Hades pondered by these words, and that did calm him down, not to mention make him plot another evil plan. They were right; Hercules is mortal, so he's not invisible. As for Zack and Mickey...they may be fighters, but neither of them can defeat every giant monster despite their seperate training. He then smiled evilly and brought Meg, Pain and Panic to him.

"Fortunately for the three of you, we still have time to correct this rather egregious oversight. And this time, no foul-ups."

Meg really wished she could get out of here, but she was stuck watching Hades's eyes narrow in a sinister smirk, and as far as she knew...she was going to be in the key role to this new plot, this time it was to kill Hercules, Zack and Mickey. Secretly, she began to panic. While she didn't like the three of them that much...they nice innocent boys and treated her much more nicely than Hades, Pain and Panic ever did.

As much as it irked her to admit it...she didn't want Hercules or his friends end up killed.


Meanwhile, Hercules, Zack, Mickey, Phil and Pegaus flew over Thebes that was much larger than the other town near the Coliseum, and the three younger boys were staring in awe, never having seen a place like this before.

"Wow." Hercules gapped.

"Gosh." Mickey breathed.

"This is all in one big town?" Zack asked, awed. He'd never seen a city this big before, and while it did somehow give him a strange deja vu, it was amazing.

"One town, one million troubles." Phil nodded, "The one and only Thebes. The Big Olive itself. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere."

The group landed and moments later were within the crowd of people who were going about their normal everyday lives. The City ran normally enough, as a crossing guard held up a vase to show people when they could cross the street and road with buildings intact.

"Stay with me, kids." Phil said with caution. "This city is a dangerous place."

Unfortunately, Phil didn't see a mad driver on a chariot coming hurling towards them. Mickey did as he cried out to the satyr, "Look out!" only for Phil to be spun around and around Hercules' waist and Zack stepped back in alarm by one step.

"Look where you're goin', numbskull!" The rude driver yelled at Phil who was not clinging onto Hercules' shoulder.

"HEY, I'M WALKIN' HERE!" Phil shouted in return. He then turned to the others and said, stating his point as Hercules gently puts him back down onto the ground, "See what I mean? I'm tellin' you - wackos."

"No kidding." Zack muttered in agreement.

As the group continued on exploring the city, they were unaware that a cloaked man was hiding around the corner that they were about to approach. The moment they were close, they all jumped, startled, and in Phil, Zack and Mickey's case, disgust. The cloaked man had turned around and opened his cloak to all five of them revealing several sundials.

"You wanna buy a sundial?" Asked the man.

"Sorry, not interested." Mickey quickly said, as he and Phil led the others to continue downstairs to the lower part of Thebes, as the salesman then jumped before walking off.

Zack groaned while facepalming himself at what he described as the worst sight he'd ever seen in his entire life. "Ugh, I think I'm gonna have nightmares tonight."

"You're not the only one." Phil groaned. "C'mon, kids."

Just then, a man wearing a trash-can came, hystericaly panicking, "The end is coming! Can't you feel it?" as he approached the group, and Mickey and Zack both tried not to make eye-contact with the creepy guy.

"Yes, yes. Thank you for the info. Yes. We'll ponder that for a while." Phil said to the man before pulling Hercules forward to continue on as Mickey, Zack and Pegasus quickly followed, as the goat-man told the eighteen-year old, "Just stare at the sidewalk. Come on. Don't make eye contact. People here are nuts. That's because they live in a city of turmoil. Trust me, kid, you're gonna be just what the doctor ordered."


At a small fountain, a group of people were having a conversation and they all looked dejected and annoyed, not to mention devastated.

"It was tragic!" Said a woman in a pink dress and red hair, "We lost everything in the fire!"

"Everything except old Snowball here." A burnt man said, as he held up an equally and shocked cat who meowed weakly, blowing smoke as it did.

"Now were the fires before or after the earthquake?" A large man with black hair and beard asked, trying to remember which disaster struck first recently.

"They were after the earthquake - I remember." A skinny, shaky woman with some kind of pot with handles said.

"But before the flood." The red-haired woman added.

"Don't even get me started on the crime rate." Said an old man with a walking stick.

"Thebes has certainly gone downfall in a hurry." The red-haired woman groaned.

The old man nodded in agreement, " Tell me about it. It seems like every time I turn around there's some new monster wreaking havoc and I—"

"All we need now is a plauge of locust." The burnt man muttered...only for a small innocent locust leap onto the fountain's stone edge and chirped. Everyone screamed as if it was a two-headed giant, which their scream scared the Locust away.

"That's it!" The old man grunted, "I'm movin' to Sparta!"

"Excuse me." Hercules spoke up as he and his friends walked up to them. "It uh ... *ahem* seems to me that what you folks need is a hero."

"Yup, to solve all of your problems, as a matter of fact." Zack added.

The group stared at the two young men skeptically, before the large man questioned, "Yeah, and who're you?"

"Welp, this is Hercules and Zack." Mickey said, after he and Phil pushed them foward, all four of them having agreed that this was also Zack's chance to be a hero alongside Hercules for starters. "They happen to be heroes, Hercules especially."

"Number one right here!" Zack added, as Hercules stood confidently.

The people just laughed before hordering around Hercules while pushing Zack near where Mickey and Phil where, while the old man asked Hercules, "Have you ever saved a town before?"

"Uh, no, uh, not exactly, but I—" Hercules began before he was interrupted by the large man, "Have you ever reversed a natural disaster?"

"Uh...no." Hercules said simply.

The large man rolled his eyes as he and his group walked off, muttering, "Oh, listen to this. He's just another chariot chaser, like that other man and the mouse. This we need!"

"That's a laugh." The skinny woman said.

While Zack and Mickey were speechless, Phil growled before he grunted, "Don't you pea-brains get it?" which caught the group of five turn to his attention as he continued while gesturing at the trio, "This kid's the genuine article and these two are heroes themselves!"

The group stared down at Phil, before the burnt man realised that he looked familiar, asking as a memory came up to him, and a laughing stock at that, "Hey, isn't that the goat-man who trained Achilles?"

"Watch it, pal." Phil growled through his teeth, turning bright red in anger.

"Yeah, you're right." The large man said to his friend with a smirk, before taunting through laughter, "Hey, uh, nice job on those heels! Ya missed a spot!"

Phil by then was growing angrier and angrier until he charged as he yelled, "I got your heel - right here!" and leaped at the large man, beating up him all over the place, "I'll wipe that stupid grin off your face!"

"Hey, Phil!" Hercules cried out as he, Zack and Mickey all immediately leaped to pull their angry friend off the beaten up man.

"Phil! Knock it off!" Zack cried out.

"Phil, stop!" Mickey cried.

Finally the trio managed to pull the furious satyr off, but not before he pulled part of the man's pants off, leaving a hole which revealed the beaten up guy's heart-shaped underwear, while Hercules, who held Phil in his hands, Zack and Mickey told him, "Take it easy, Phil."

"What are you, crazy?" The large man, now missing a tooth and sporting a black eye, asked, panting while slightly traumatized for being beaten up by a raged goat-man. "Sheesh."

The red-haired woman then snobbily told the trio while Phil was panting to cool down, "Young men, we need a professional hero, not an amateur." flipping her hair into Phil's face before walking off with her companions, while Phil himself spat the piece of ripped cloth out of his mouth where it floated to the ground.

"Wait! Stop!" Hercules called out after putting Phil down, but they just kept going. Dejected, he slumped to the ground, leaning against the statue of a man holding the world, as Zack bend down next to him, and Mickey and Phil both stood by him, and Pegasus slumping. "How am I supposed to prove myself a hero if nobody will give me a chance?"

Phil wished that he could answer that, but the hero gig was probably one of the more fickle ones. A town with not enough trouble, and the kid would have to wait maybe years to get a shot. Same thing with Zack. Thebes was so bad that everyone was skeptical of rookies like Hercules and Zack.

"You'll get your chance, buddy." Zack assured, shrugging, "These sort of things doesn't happen overnight."

"He's right, Herc." Mickey agreed, "Besides, ya' just need some kind of trouble, catastrophe or a big disaster."

"Help!" A familiar voice called out, and they turned to see Meg rushing through the streets of Thebes. "Help, please! There's been a terrible accident!"

"Meg?" Hercules and Zack muttered in unison.

"Speakin' of disaster." Phil muttered, uneasily. There was something about the chick he didn't like, and he had no idea why.

"Wonder what happened." Mickey thought, worriedly despite that he had a bad feeling about the situation that was going on. He followed Hercules and Zack to meet up with the woman whom they met just a few hours ago.

"Wonderboy!" Meg called out as soon as she spotted Hercules. "Hercules, thank goodness!"

"Wh-what's wrong?" Hercules asked.

"Outside of town," Meg panted, seemingly out of breath, "Two little boys, they were playing in the gorge. There was this rock slide, a terrible rock slide! They're trapped!"

"That's terrible!" Mickey exclaimed, worriedly.

"Gotta do something!" Zack nodded in agreement, turning to Hercules to tell him, but didn't get the chance to say anything as an excited look filled up his friend's expression.

"Kids? Trapped?" Hercules said, with a mixture of worry and hope. He then shook Zack by the shoulders(and despite Zack being three years older, he was an inch or two shorter than Hercules), saying to him, Mickey and Phil, "Guys! Guys, this is great!"

"You're really choked up about this, aren't ya?" Meg asked, sarcastically.

"Come on!" Hercules said as he pulled Meg to Pegasus who, with a reluctant sigh, allowed them to climb onto him and soon took flight, much to Meg's dismay.

"No, I-you don't under-I have this terrible fear of heights!" Meg said quickly, but by the time she said it, Pegasus was already high in the air and she whimpered, clinging onto Hercules's waist for dear life. Pegasus, who like Phil, felt that something was off about her, chuckled in amusement by her fear, and flew faster, both to see if the children were alright and to just scare Meg on purpose.

"Herc, wait up!" Mickey cried out, giving chase seconds later.

"Hey, wait for me!" Zack cried out, one second behind Mickey to catch up to their friend. Soon everyone in town followed the five of them.

"I'm right behind ya, kids!" Phil cried out, only to end up miles behind the crowd and easily tired out already, panting as he paused to a stop. "Whoo! I'm way behind ya, kids." before running again, Sputtering, "Whoo-ha, I got a fur wedgie."


The trio eventually landed in the gorge as Meg looked like she was about to throw up, with her hair disheveled from the wind, being a complete mess. Hercules dismounted from Pegasus before gazing at the young woman, asking, "Are you okay?" while the said horse silently sniggered in amusement at the sight.

"I-I'll be fine." Meg said, weakly, "Just get me down before I ruin the upholstery."

Pegasus in respose thumped Meg off him and she landed right into Hercules's arms, just as cries of two young boys, aged from nine and seven, filled the air from underneath a giant boulder.

"Help! I can't breathe!" A blond-haired boy cried out. "Hurry! Get us out!"

"We're suffocating!" A brown-haired boy cried out.

Hercules in response quickly slid down a rock and bend down as the blond-haired boy coughed, "Somebody call IX-I-I!"

"Easy, fellas." Hercules told them calmly. "You'll be alright."

"We can't last much longer." The brown-haired boy moaned.

"Get us out before we get crushed!" The blond-haired boy cried.

By this time, Zack, Mickey and the townspeople had arrived. Hercules then crouched down and grabbed at the bottom of the rock and lifted, with his legs, and after a few seconds, the boulder was off the ground and held up above Hercules' head. Meg's eyes widened slightly at what she saw. That was something you didn't see everyday; Hercules certainly had incredible strength. Zack and Mickey both smiled, proud of their friend. The two boys ran out to safety, and the townspeople gave a polite applause.

"How you boys doin'?" Hercules asked, calmly.

"We're okay now." The tallest boy said, smiling.

"Jeepers, mister, you're really strong!" The brown-haired boy said, awed.

"Well, just try to be a little more careful next time, okay, kids?" Hercules suggested.

"We sure will!" The blond-haired boy replied as he and his friend ran off, while Hercules then tossed the boulder thousands of miles away.


But what everyone didn't know was that the boys were actually Pain and Panic in disguise and they both secretly joined up with Hades who was sitting on a stone chair, eating Pita Worms he got for himself(Ew!). "Stirring performance, boys. I was really moved." He said with a mouthful of food.

"'Jeepers, mister'?" Panic asked to Pain in annoyance as the two of them returned to normal. Where'd Pain get an annoying comment like that? And why did he have to say it to Hercules?

"I was going for innocence." Pain defended proudly.

"And hey, two thumbs way, way up for our leading lady." Hades said as Meg stood there. "What a dish. What a doll."

Meg, who actually cared if Hercules and his friends would get hurt, whispered down to them so that no one else could hear her, "Get out of there, you big lugs, while you still can."


"Great job, Herc!" Zack praised happily as he and Mickey met up with Hercules who rechieved a clap on the back by the spiky-haired man, just as Phil walked forward, finally having caught up, and was breathing heavily, out of breath.

"Thanks." Hercules smiled to his friend, before gesturing at the crowd, "They even applaud...a little."

Suddenly, Mickey sensed something from the darkness of the cave where the boulder once covered, and sensed terrible darkness. Something was in there...something...huge, monsterous...and extremely dangerous. "Uh, fellas? W-What do ya' suppose is in there?" He asked, nervously.

"Whaddya' mean?" Zack asked, puzzled at what suddenly got Mickey so scared.

Suddenly, a low growl quickly answered their questions and soon they, Hercules and Phil quickly gazed at the darkness where the growl came from. Phil gasped in sudden fear, before pointing out to Hercules, "I hate to burst your bubble, kid, but that ain't applause."

Out from the darkness of the cave, stomped a dark pink dragon with rip wings behind his head that made him appear to be wearing a crown, long neck like a snake, long fangs and sharp rows of teeth, and only on two legs, it's tongue slithering like a snake, very green and slimy saliva on it. Dark menecing eyes stared darkly at the group who slowly backed away, their hearts pounding in nervousness that they were afraid that it would burst.

"Uh oh..." Mickey muttered, eyes wide in terror. He'd seen terrifying monsters before, but this giant dragon, known as Hydra, looked very dangerous...and given the look in it's eyes...it looked very hungry too, waiting for mortal flesh.

"He looks hungry." Zack muttered with wide eyes of disbelief. Despite having fought Cerberus with Mickey and Jason seven years ago, and seen the Ice Colossas that 'Sailor Moon' and Aqua fought as well as fighting Hades...Zack could tell that this fight was going to suck.

"Ph-Ph-Ph-Phil? What do you call that thing?" Hercules stuttered.

"Two words!" Phil cried out in fear, as the Hydra shrieked and lightning flashed while thunder words, indicating that a storm was coming. The lightning flash just made the giant monster even more terrifying, before the satyr turned and ran, "Am-scray!"

Hercules simply pulled out his sword, and quickly held out an arm to stop Zack from doing the same and also stop Mickey from summoning his weapon, saying to his friends, "You guys go and hide. I'll handle this!"

"No way!" Zack cried out, shocked. Was Hercules crazy? He can't just abandon his friend like this.

"It'll eat you!" Mickey added in agreement.

"Just go!" Hercules urged.

Despite struggling with themselves and not wanting to abandon their friend, seeing that Hercules was serious forced both Mickey and Zack to nod hesitatedly before they ran and hid behind a rock near where Phil was hiding, but they still peeked halfway from the rock, watching anxiously with fear and worry. The crowd, seeing the giant terrifying monster, all screamed and flinched in fear and now hoped that Hercules didn't screw this up, or worse, get eaten.

"Let's get ready to rumble!" Hades called out with a sadistic smile, while Pain grinned and Panic clapped excitedly. This was going to be fun.

Hercules stepped back as Hydra stomped towards him, and soon the fight began.

"That's it. Dance around!" Phil coached. "Dance around! Watch the teeth. Watch

the teeth. Keep on. Come on."

"You can do it!" Mickey called out.

"Herc! Lead with your left!" Zack warned.

Hercules dodged a lunge by the dragon, and it simply ate the ground it had caught in its jaws, but in the confusion, Hercules had lost his sword, which made Zack facepalm and groan, "Your other left."

Thinking quickly as he needed a distraction to get his sword without Hydra getting to him first, he tossed a large flat rock right into Hydra's mouth to block it, but it only bit into it, shattering it into pieces like candy. It laughed evilly, while Hercules quickly rushed to get his sword. Hydra then lunged at him again, but this time, Hercules held its mouth away from him, keeping it open. Hercules then tossed the monster to the unpopulated side of the gorge and made for his sword again. Just as Hercules grabbed it, Hydra manages to catch Hercules around the ankle with its long tongue. It throws him up into the air where he then screamed as he descended...landing right into Hydra's mouth which then slammed shut.

Much to Zack's and Mickey's horror, Hydra swallowed their friend up. Phil groaned in dismay as the monster belched. Meg grabbed her neck, feeling sick. As Hydra licked it's lips, a woman's scream was heard from the crowd, and seeing the large crowd, made towards them.

"Okay, that's it!" Zack grunted angrily, leaped over the rock and made his way to try his luck, despite knowing that his chances of winning was extremely slim, but no one was going to eat his friends and gets away with it! On top of that, he refused to allow Hydra to eat the townspeople as well.

"Right behind ya!" Mickey cried out, just as angry. He didn't care if he and Zack had any chances of winning, but like Zack, Mickey didn't want Hydra to eat any innocent lives.

"Hey!" Zack shouted loudly, which got Hydra's attention, as the young man pulled out his own sword and stood in a fighting position, glaring heatedly at the monster, "Come and get it, nasty lizard!" while Mickey stood beside him, summoning his Star-Seeker Keyblade, also glaring heatedly at the monster.

Despite Phil's protests, Hydra took up the challenge and made to lunge at the duo, only to freeze up and groan, much to Zack and Mickey's confusion. The next thing everyone knew, suddenly a blade appeared at the base of its neck and swung around, revealing Hercules, still alive and had cut the neck from the inside so that the dragon's head flew off and landed on the side, its decapitated body falling to the sidelines as well, and Hercules stumbled out. This time, the applause were much more lively.

While Zack and Mickey were stunned, unable to believe that Hercules had managed to get himself out of the Hydra's stomach and managed to kill it from the insde, Phil cheered on, "Alright! Alright! You're bad! Okay!"

"See, guys?" Hercules said weakly, failing to put his sword away as it ended up on the ground instead, "That- that wasn't so hard." and fell to the ground on his back, passing out, much to his friends' worry. The three of them immediately surrounded him, with Zack kneeling on one knee.

"Herc!" Zack cried out, worriedly.

"Herc, are you okay?" Mickey asked, worriedly, "How many ears do ya see?"

"Six?" Hercules guessed.

"Aw, close enough." Mickey smiled weakly. "Let's get ya cleaned up."

"I gotcha, buddy." Zack smiled warmly as he and the others helped Hercules stand while it started to rain.

Up in the mountain, Panic was whimpering as he was shaking like a rattle and Pain was frozen stiff, nervously. Hades was definitely going to kill them now that Hercules had killed Hydra. To their surprise, Hades was very relaxed, and he said casually, getting comfortable in his seat, "Guys, guys, relax. It's only half-time."

As Hercules, Zack, Mickey and Phil began to walk away, an odd noise of gross crunching came from the beheaded Hydra's body, making them stop and slowly turn around, now once again nervous. "That doesn't sound good." Phil cringed, worriedly.

To their shock, the body then stood up and the hole that revealed the entrance to the stomach closed up, and in a matter of seconds, three new heads emerged, shrieking and grinning evilly at the good.

"Oh, this is not good." Zack muttered, eyes wide.

"Really not good." Mickey added, shaking.

"Definitely not good!" Phil cried out, before running back to his hiding spot when the fight began.

"Whoa!" Hercules, Zack and Mickey all screamed before the three of them, with the latter two having no time to run to their hiding spot this time, running quickly as Hydra attacked again, this time three heads against three opponents with every intention of eating them.

Thinking quickly, Hercules whistled out and Pegasus immediately flew in, scooping him up along with Mickey and Zack, saving the three of them just in time, and now that they had no choice but to fight together, Hercules, Zack and Mickey fought against the Hydra as Pegasus flew while avoiding the heads. Despite the slices of two swords and one Keyblade, no matter how many times they sliced off Hydra's heads, three more sprouted out each time they did, until eventually the four of them were faced with innumberable heads staring hungrily at them.

"I think we just made things worse." Zack muttered worriedly.

"You think?" Both Hercules and Mickey responded worriedly.

"WILL YOU GUYS FORGET THE HEAD SLICING THING!?" Phil shouted in irritation as he came to realise before hand that the slicing thing was only making things worse.

Hercules wished he thought of that sooner. So quickly, the only thing he and his friends could do was try and outmaneuver them. So he had Pegasus flew up quickly to avoid the heads that were stretching up towards them. Unfortunately, one of the heads knocked Pegasus away, sending the trio falling. While Zack and Mickey somehow managed to land onto the edge of a cliff safely, the same wouldn't be said for Hercules as he fell into the den of heads, much to the duo's horror as they cried out his name, unable to save him.

"Zack, I don't think Phil and I had this covered in basic training!" Hercules called out as he slid down one of Hydra's necks when he saw a head, but he grabbed it's tongue and swung away as he made for the wall of the gorge, but the moment he made it, the monster pinned him there with its enormous claws.

Hades grinned. This was perfect. Once Hydra got rid of Hercules, the next victums would be both Zack and Mickey. The Lord of the Dead then said with a sneer, "My favourite part of the game; Sudden death."

Hercules tried to think quickly until he looked at the wall of the gorge and thought of the rock slide Meg told him about. That was it! He knew it was risky, but it was the only way to end this once and for all. As the heads lunged at Hercules, he bashed his fists against the wall, causing another rock slide that buried the monster alive, with Hercules still caught in its claw, which, as it tried to rise up...it fell limp. Dead.

Pegasus whined in horror what just happened, while Mickey and Zack, having hurriedly climbed down to the ground, froze in sheer horror and devastation, as the rain stopped. The townspeople gasped. Hercules had just sacrificed himself to kill the monster.

"Hercules...?" Mickey muttered, hoping for some kind of miracle. But after seconds passed...nothing. His heart ached at the loss. No...not Hercules too! It couldn't be happening. Memories of the losses of Ven, Aqua, Serenity, Jason, Grovyle and Ansem the Wise spun in his head rapidly, and he had to blink to try and prevent forming tears from falling free.

"No..." Zack whispered, breathing shakily as he collasped onto his knees, utter loss and devastation hitting him so hard he wanted all of this to be nothing but a nightmare. Not Hercules...! He can't lose him...he just can't! Tears threatened to fall free, and Zack struggled not to sob at the loss of one of his best friends.

"Oh..." Phil whispered in sadness. "There goes another one. Just like Achilles."

Meg stared on in sadness, before glaring up angrily at Hades who, very pleased to have accomplished this, leaned back in his chair and set as he put a cigar in his mouth and used his finger to light it.

"Game, set, match." Hades said to himself. Now all he had to do was figure how to get rid of Zack and Mickey.

Just then, the claw that had held Hercules, which was still closed, began to move. Everyone gasped when suddenly, they saw that Hercules pushed it open and was standing there, torn, tattered, and breathless, but alive. After a moment of silence, the crowd cheered like there wouldn't be a tomorrow and went wild. Mickey and Zack both gapped happily and sheer relief. Hercules was okay! He was alive! The two then hugged and laughed in such relief, while Mickey unconsciously shed tears while Hercules stepped off the dead Hydra's paw, and waved weakly before he was picked up and carried by the crowd's shoulders.

"You sure had us scared there, pal!" Mickey cried out happily as he and Zack joined the crowd. "I thought we'd lost ya'!"

"Sure gave me a near heart attack, buddy." Zack added, before grinning madly, "But you were absolutely amazing!"

"Well," Hercules began, as Pegasus licked him on the face, "You gotta admit...that was pretty heroic." as he regained his strength.

"Ya did it, kid!" Phil cheered happily, "Ya did it! Ya won by a landslide!"

Hades on the other hand, growled angrily that not only it burned out his cigar, but as he gripped Pain and Panic's heads, he burned them as he turned red in fury again. He couldn't believe it! He'd been so close! SO close in finishing Hercules off!

"Hades, mad!" Panic cried out as he and Pain yelped at the burning heat from their boss.

Meg smiled, very impressed. "Well. Whaddaya know?" and clapped as well. She was starting to like Hercules.


Back to the Muses in the story-telling part, they began to dance again as Calliope told the viewers/readers with a smile, "From that day forward, our boy Hercules could do no wrong. He was so hot, steam looked cool."

"~Oh yeah! Bless my soul, Herc was on a roll~" She continued.

"~Person of the week in every Greek opinion poll~" Thalia continued happily.

"~What a pro!~" Terpsichore added.

As they narrated, Hercules, with aids of Pegasus, Zack and Mickey through out the week, fought against monsters Hades sent to try and kill him and cause havoc, only for the monsters to be defeated each time. First had been a large black Warthog which met it's end by Hercules' bow and arrow and then served for dinner.

During the non-fighting times, Hercules gained fans from all over Greece, signing autographs.

"~Herc could stop a show, Point him at a monster and you're talkin' S.R.O.~" Calliope continued.

Then she and the other four Muses told everyone the readers together, "~He was a no one, A zero, a zero, Now he's a honcho, He's a hero! He was a kid with his act down pat, Zero to hero in no time flat, Zero to hero, Just like that! When he smiled the girls went wild, With oohs and aahs~"

Hercules and his friends greeted fans who went wild at him like celebraties, especially the girls. Hades each time in the Underworld would get rid of the monster figurines that lost in sheer anger.

"~And they slapped his face on every vase~" Thalia explained while holding a vase that had Hercules' face on it, only for Clio to bonk her on the head in sheer annoyance.

"~On every "Vahse"!~" She corrected, only for Thalia to plonk the vase onto her head, covering it in anger.

The five Muses then continued together, "~From appearance fees and royalties, Our Herc had cash to burn, Now nouveau riche and famous. He could tell you what's a Grecian urn, Say amen, There he goes again, and undefeated~"

As days went back, a large statue of Hercules had been built and completed in the middle of Thebes, money printed for him, and would defeat more monsters, such as kicking a giant Lion away, sending it millions of miles away like a football at a football game.

"~And an awesome ten for ten~" Melepomene added, showing off super ten-points for Hercules' success.

Figurines and merchandise were then made replicating Hercules and his friends as weeks went on and despite Mickey altering from here to Disney Castle, he still rechieved equal credit each day of the week as a few months went by so quickly.

"~Folks lined up just to watch him flex~" The Muses continued.

"~And this perfect package packed a pair of pretty pecs~" Thalia grinned as she held onto a Hercules figurine.

The next monster Hercules took on was a giant bird-monster which he, with Pegasus' help, caged into a giant cage and again, the crowd went so wild that it would never stop.

"~Hercie, he comes, he sees, he conquers, Honey, the crowds were goin' bonkers! He showed the moxie, brains and spunk-yeah!~"

While on a fishing trip with Zack, Mickey and Phil, Hercules stopped a Sea-Serphant and had that as their catch of the day. Hades, in sheer anger, melted the figurine of the Serphant in his palm.

"~Zero to Hero~"

"~A major hunk!~" Thalia grinned as she stood next to a Hercules statue.

"~Zero to Hero~"

"And who'd have thunk?" Calliope grinned with a shrug.

As they continued to praise around the story of Hercules' success, Calliope asked while holding a shield and sword, "~Who put the glad in gladiator?~"

"~Hercules!~"

"~Who's darin' deeds are great theatre?~" Melepomene asked while holding her mask.

"~Hercules!~"

At a theatre, a show was put on based on Hercules' fight against Hydra, which everyone, including Hercules and his friends,(with Mickey having secretly been recording with a video-camera to show Minnie, Donald, Goofy and everyone else back at Disney Castle later on so that they don't miss out) loving it.

Even Hercules' adoptive parents were now living off a much better life, successfully opening up a vase store and earning successful money, proud for their son's success and had moved to near Thebes.

"~Is he bold?~" Melepomene asked.

"~No one the braver~"

"~Is he sweet?~" Terpsichore grinned happily.

"~Our favourite flavour!, Hercules! (My man!) Hercules! Hercules! Hercules! (Look at my) Hercules! Hercules! Hercules! Bless my soul, Herc was on the roll!~"

Hercules, Zack and Mickey teamed up to finish off three ugly monsters with ease while the said monsters landed on top of each other, dazed and utterly defeated in a pile.

Hercules then closed up and sealed the erupting volcano near Mount Olympus, saving all of Greece and with his friends, entered the very first hall of fame. Hades on the other hand, so annoyed and frustrated, he slammed his fists on the chessboard in the Underworld and hit his head against it. This wasn't going well for the Lord of the Dead.

"~Undefeated, Riding high~"

"~And the nicest guy~" Calliope continued.

"~Not conceited, He was a nothing, zero, zero, Now he's a honcho, he's our hero! He hit the heights at break-neck speed, Zero to hero! Herc is a hero, Now he's a hero!~"

"Yes, indeed!" Calliope smiled as a proud confident portrait of Hercules was on another vase.

But despite all of this, the worst of Hades' schemes were yet to come, as well as other few things that Hercules and his friends were about to face. It would be one of their toughest challenges of all time.


A/N: Sorry that this chapter was a bit shorter than the last one, and I tried to make the fight scene okay against Hydra. See you in the next chapter!