Authors Note: Olympus Coliseum everyone! In my opinion, the most pointless world in the game! I put my own twist in is so it's more interesting than everyone just fighting Heartless. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable. Just Katy and Ryan.
Chapter 7
Luckily, it didn't take that long to get from the Deep Jungle to the next world, so the trip was relatively peaceful. Since Donald had now not only prohibited bouncing, but any form of singing as well, Katy decided to smush her face against the window and watch as Heartless ships and other space objects flew past them. She was so engrossed in the landscape that she didn't notice Sora staring at her. It wasn't until the other teen tried to bite back a snicker that Katy turned around. She glared at him playfully.
"What?"
"You look like a little kid."
"Why thank you, I take much pride in that."
Sora laughed and crossed the small interior of the ship to sit next to her.
"Really though, it's like you've never seen space before. Nothing's changed out there since the last time."
"Maybe I just like looking out the window. Besides it not like I can do anything fun. The ugly duckling has forbidden any sort of entertainment."
Donald shot her a glare and she held up her hands in mock surrender.
"I only speak the truth."
After another hour of back and forth, Donald announced that they were landing. The party clamored off their vessel and looked around.
"Dude, it looks like something out of those icky documentaries they make us watch in history class."
"Icky?" Sora asked amused
Katy huffed.
"Is it necessary to constantly make comments about my word choices?! I have a colorful vocabulary okay?!"
Rolling his eyes, Sora walked away leaving Katy to pout behind him. She caught up as they entered the large, ornate building. Once inside, they saw a short, stubby—
"Ohmygosh! It's a freaking centaur!" Katy exclaimed, bouncing in place.
The centaur whipped around and Katy frowned and cocked her head to the side.
"I though centaurs were supposed to be pretty, like in Harry Potter."
"Who's Harry Potter?" Sora asked
Katy's eyes got big as she stared at the other teen in disbelief.
"You don't have Harry Potter where you live?"
"Uh, no."
"Dude that's like a freaking federal offense, you could probably go to jail. You're missing one of the key components in life. Harry Potter is VITAL, like water, like reality television, like VAMPIRES!"
Sora was still staring at her, looking even more clueless.
"Okay, it's official. If my world didn't get eaten by the bunnies, I'm kidnapping you, tying you up in my basement and forcing you to learn about American pop culture."
Someone cleared their throat rather loudly behind them and they both turned to see that the centaur was giving them a rather angry glare.
"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you…?"
"The names Phil."
"Phil. I'm Katy. Those two over there are Donald and Goofy, and this is Sora." Katy said, deciding to take introductions into her own hands since Donald and Goofy were preoccupied with Phil's request to slide a large stone block across the room, and Sora was still looking at Katy like she was crazy.
"What are you doing here anyway? This here's the world famous coliseum…heroes only!"
Katy opened her mouth to interject but Phil made a "chst" sound and she fell silent.
"I've got my hands full preparing for the games, so run along pip-squeaks."
Sora shot Phil a glare that was more cute then menacing and Katy couldn't help but squeal and snap a picture.
Phil sighed and rested his hands on his hips.
"Look, it's like this, heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the coliseum."
"You've got heroes standing right in front of you." Donald said, crossing his arms (wings?)
"Yup! Sora's a real hero chosen by the Keyblade." Goofy said.
Katy cleared her throat loudly, but was ignored. Letting out a cry of disbelief she crossed her arms and pouted.
"Oh, so were playing the let's-pretend-that-Katy's-invisible-game? Got it. I see how it is."
Sora laughed and threw his arm around her shoulders.
"This is Katy. She was chosen too."
"Yeah, to be your glorified babysitter since you've already demonstrated that you obviously can't take care of yourself." She bit back playfully, slugging him in the arm.
"And we're heroes too!" Donald exclaimed, gesturing to himself and Goofy.
Phil found this quite funny.
"Heroes, you runts?"
He then proceeded to burst into hysterical laughter.
"What's so funny? I've fought a bunch of monsters."
"And talked to doorknobs." Katy muttered under her breath.
Phil composed himself and turned back to them.
"Hey, if you can't even move this…" Phil started, trying to make a point by moving the stone block himself.
It didn't look like it was working out too well.
"Then you can't call yourself…"
It still wasn't moving. Who was this guy again? I mean not very impressive for a mythical creature.
"A hero!" Phil ended dramatically.
Yeah, it would have been a really good blow to Sora's oh-so-fragile-ego…if the pedestal had actually moved.
"Harry Potter would have been able to move it." Katy whispered, shaking her head sadly
"WHO is this Harry guy?" Sora whisper-yelled back.
"Later!" Katy hissed as they waited for Phil to catch his breath.
"Okay, so it takes more than brawn." Phil admitted
"Well, let's see what you kids can do."
They then proceeded to spend (waste) the next hour breaking a series of crates and barrels within a time limit. There were four of them, so it wasn't really that difficult, just really, really, really, (did I mention really?) tiring. By then end of the many, seemingly never ending trials, they were all exhausted.
"Okay, so we've come to the conclusion that we can break barrels. I knew that already. Why was it required for us to get all sweaty and gross?" Katy whiled, trying, unsuccessfully to blow her long, lavender bangs off her sticky face.
Once again, she was ignored. She was staring to get the feeling that her friends were getting used to her lack of obnoxiousness. Looks like she would have to fix that. Just as Phil told Sora that they still couldn't enter the games, (that centaur was dead if he thought he was going to make her feel all gross and then not let her compete) Katy did the only thing she could at that time to get there attention. She screamed. Loud. The others looked over at her shocked as she propped herself up on her elbows and sent Phil her evilest death glare.
"Why. Not?" She demanded
"Two words," He said once he got over the shock of her "mad face"
"You guy's ain't heroes!"
Sora , Donald, and Goofy were still looking at the mythical goat slack jawed, so Katy would, once again, have to step in.
"Okay, ONE, that was four words. Learn how to count. TWO, I'd like to see you try to break all those barrels within your dinky time little limit. And THREE? You'll be hearing from my FREAKING lawyer for making me fight FREAKING stationary pieces of FREAKING splintery wood, and then not letting me enter your FREAKING competition."
The entire room fell silent and Phil was looking at Katy like she had six heads. She flipped her long hair off her still sweaty neck and stuck her nose in the air.
"Good day to you, sir!" She yelled to the not-so-pretty centaur as she left the coliseum, dragging Sora out by his wrist.
"But…" The spiky haired boy started to protest.
"I SAID GOOD DAY!"
Katy kept a firm hand on Sora's wrist until they were out of the coliseum.
"Why did you--? "
Katy cut Sora off
"If he doesn't think we're good enough then it's his loss."
Then a voice from behind them called out.
"Rather stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?"
Katy brightened.
"Ohmygod YES!!! He's so—HOLY SHIT YOUR HEAD IS ON FIRE!"
The man, whose head was indeed on fire, rolled his eyes and waited for Katy to calm down.
"Heh, sorry. Guess you get that a lot."
"Not as often as you'd think." He said back sarcastically.
"Who are you?" Donald demanded.
"Whoa, hold on there, fuzz boy. Wait, let me guess…you want to enter the games right?"
He walked up behind Sora and went to place a blue, bony hand on his shoulder.
That's when Katy snapped.
It had never been like this before. When Sora was in danger, or when they separated it was just an uncomfortable gut feeling. This was different. This was a white hot urgency that was spreading through her body that was screaming for her to do something; run, scream, kick, bite, claw, do whatever it took to get Sora and the others away from this man. It seemed like an eternity went by when in reality, it had been less than a second. The man had not yet placed his hand on Sora's shoulder. Then she realized it was because he wasn't moving. No one was moving. Katy gave a slight cry and looked around. Everything was still and there was an eerie edge to it all. She could still hear her heart beating in her ears, still feel the adrenaline rushing through her bloodstream, and then for a moment she saw something that was impossible.
Ryan was standing behind the flame-headed man.
She cried out again, this time in happiness and took a step forward. Then it was like someone else took over her body. Suddenly she was pushing the man back, away from Sora, her blades had materialized and she was crouched into a threatening stance. Ryan had disappeared.
"Stay. Away. Hades." She said through gritted teeth, her arms itching to bring the blades up and attack. The man held his hands up in surrender and backed away from her slowly.
"Easy, kid. I just wanted to give him this." He said, looking taken back as he handed her the entry pass. He hadn't told them his name.
Katy kept her defensive form and didn't relent until the man was gone. Everyone was quiet, until Katy felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around, expected Sora to be annoyed at her, but instead she only saw concern.
"What was that?"
Katy didn't answer, and her eyes seemed to be glazed over.
"Katy? How did you know that guy's name? What--"
"Sora, you Donald and Goofy enter the games." She interjected, handing him the pass
"Without you?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Katy stared off into the direction the Hades had left in
"Just trust me. It will be better if I don't compete."
Sora nodded slowly and left with Donald and Goofy to show Phil their pass. Meanwhile, Katy set off in the direction Hades left in. Something was going down here, and she was going to find out what…even if it killed her.
"That little punk is your next opponent, okay?" Hades said to Cloud in a secluded spot under the bleachers in the coliseum.
"Now don't blow it, just take him out."
Neither of them noticed the lavender haired girl hiding in the shadows.
"The great god of the Underworld is afraid of a kid? Sorry but my contract says--"
"I know! You think I don't know?! I wrote the contract!" Hades yelled.
"I know it says you're only required to kill Hercules in this tournament, but you've got to fight that kid to get to him! Come on."
Cloud pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on.
"Look, it's like that old goat says: It's all just a game, so let loose and have fun with it! I mean a casualty or two along the way is no big deal, right?"
Cloud pushed off the wall and looked up, meeting Katy's eyes. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Katy put her finger to her lips. Cloud gave a small, unnoticeable nod and left the alcove, leaving Hades alone.
"Jeez. He's stiffer than the stiffs back home." Hades muttered.
"Still, suckers like him are hard to come by…"
Katy left not wanting to hear anymore.
As she made her way toward the coliseum lobby, someone grabbed her roughly by the arm and pulled her into a concealed entryway.
"Who are you?" Cloud asked in a dangerous voice.
Katy shook her head.
"That's on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know."
Cloud continued to glare at her and she sighed.
"Look, just don't listen to Hades okay. Don't hurt Sora."
"Why is he your boyfriend?" Cloud sneered.
"No, but he's the only hope we have against the Heartless."
Cloud said nothing.
"It's just a friendly suggestion. If you mess with him, you'll have me to deal with and I'm more trouble than I look." Katy said as she left to find her friends."
Watching with satisfaction as Cloud slumped to the ground; Katy couldn't help but feel relieved. She would have had a hard time following through with her threat…Cloud's sword was pretty bad ass. Sora walked over to Cloud, going to help him up, when his path was blocked by a giant three headed dog. It took all of Katy's self control not to scream.
"Dude, talk about Harry Potter…" She muttered to herself, eyes widening as the tri-canine drew closer to Sora.
"Oh, right, there was one other rule I forgot," A smooth voice from behind her said.
Katy turned around to face a very smug Hades.
"Accidents happen." Then he disappeared into the darkness of the alcove.
Katy didn't have time to follow him, she bolted out into the arena to assist the others.
"Kid, I got two words of advice for you: ATTACK!" Phil shouted.
"THAT'S ONLY ONE WORD!" Katy shrieked as she began to hack at one of the dog's heads. It was horrible. Cerberus was HUGE so there weren't many places to run. Plus, he shot this purple liquid darkness stuff at them, which as if it wasn't already gross enough, burned like something awful. The fight took the better part of an hour and by the time the giant three headed dog had collapsed, Katy wanted to join him. She didn't realize that she actually had until Sora was looking down at her, face pale.
"You're bleeding."
Katy looked at her arm, which ad a huge chunk missing. It took a lot not to throw up.
"Heh, yeah I guess I am." She giggled
"Look, don't move. I'm gonna go get help."
Kay didn't hear him; she had broken into a fit of hysterical laughter. The air around her felt too think and heavy and hey eyes kept sliding out of focus. It barley registered when someone lifted her into their arms and carried her inside.
"Hang on kid."
Katy looked up to see Ryan holding her. He grinned his famous lopsided grin and she couldn't help but laugh. Her vision swam and Ryan disappeared. She frowned, she couldn't see the persons face clearly, but it defiantly wasn't Ryan. Ryan didn't have blue eyes…
Katy woke to the familiar weightless feeling of being in space. She opened her eyes slowly and saw a pair of deep blue eyes peering at her. She screamed, but it came out sounding like a moan.
"Where? How?" She asked feebly.
"Hercules fixed up your arm best he could at the coliseum, but we're gonna have to get a doctor to look at it in Traverse Town."
"Were going to Traverse Town?"
"Yep." Sora answered, looking down at the ground almost…ashamed?
"What's the matter?"
"This is the second time you almost died helping me."
"I think that's kind of the whole point, Sora."
"It's not fair though! You didn't ask for this. You shouldn't have to follow me around and be my walking sacrifice." He ranted, breathing hard.
"Are you done?"
"Yeah…I think so."
"Look. It's okay, really. I think it would be worse for me if I didn't help and something happened to you."
Sora opened his mouth to argue but Katy shushed him.
"No. I don't want to hear it. I feel crappy and I want to go back to sleep." Katy snapped, eyelids already drooping.
"Hey, when you wake up, will you tell me who Harry Potter is?"
Katy laughed.
"Sure. Whatever you want.
Sora grinned and Katy slowly fell asleep, the sound of the ship's engine and everyone's steady breathing soothing her.
A/N: Bit of a long and dramatic one. The next two should be up tomorrow! REVIEW!!
