"Yeah, she knows what she's doing." Leahna agreed, as Donald and Goofy led them back to the rabbit hole, where the Gummi Ship lay waiting for them. Already they had lost a new friend, and her Keyblade shining a light into that keyhole made her wonder what it was all about. But Leahna was confident Alice could fend for herself, hoping that the next world that they landed on would be hers and Scott's home…
A few hours later, Scott woke up in his room on the Gummi Ship, and slowly got dressed. He had dressed down the night before when they had taken off from Wonderland, after taking his shift driving the Gummi ship. Now fully changed in his regular clothing, he yawned as he stepped out through the sliding doors of his room and into the cockpit.
"Good mornin'!" Goofy greeted him from the pilot's chair.
"Morning." Scott smiled, feeling cheerful. "Are we there yet?"
"Yup. The next world's coming up right now!" Goofy pointed out the window.
Scott leaned forward and looked out the window. The world was all cloudy and had lots of rivers, but no oceans. It didn't look anything like his world.
"Well, we might as well go down and check if the King's there." Scott shrugged.
"Morning!" Donald Duck quacked as he entered. "Oh boy, I hope he is."
"Hey." Leahna said as she emerged from her room too. "Where are we?"
"I dunno." Scott shrugged. "But it's not our world."
"We're landing, so let's go find out! Everyone ready?" Goofy said. Everyone nodded, and Goofy pressed a button. They teleported down to the world's surface, and after the light faded away, Scott looked around.
The area they were in was a courtyard in front of a large building. There were giant statues of men in gladiator costumes pointing their swords into the air. Behind them, a large door with chains locking the handles blocked their path to the south. The courtyard had tall walls on either side with scoreboards on them, but no doors.
"Guess the only way is forward." Donald assumed, stepping towards the building in front of them that looked like an acropolis.
Scott saw the large sign above the door that read:
OLYPMUS COLLOSEUM
Leahna reached the door first and led them inside. They had entered a small lobby with torches lighting the room. Ahead of them was another door, and on both sides of the room were empty shelves and a pedestal on either side. Standing near one of these pedestals was a satyr, a mythical Greek half-man, half-goat creature. He reminded Scott of a short, fat, Mr. Tumnus from the Narnia books.
"Erm…" Leahna said, sounding unsure how to talk to a mythical creature.
"Good timing. Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games." The satyr gestured to them, without even turning around to look at them.
"Um… okay." Scott said awkwardly. "Maybe after that, you could tell us if you've seen someone we're looking for?"
The satyr, working on fixing one of the trophy shelves, didn't reply.
"Gawrsh, maybe he'll listen to us after we do it." Goofy said quietly.
"Okay… but I'm not doing anything else until we find out about the king!" Donald agreed.
They all started pushing the massive stone pedestal nearby in the direction the satyr had pointed, but it wouldn't move.
"There's no point, it's too heavy." Leahna sighed exhaustingly.
"Hey, there's no way we can move this thing!" Scott called over to the satyr.
"What? Since when have you been such a little…" the satyr started saying as he turned around, then stopped in mid-sentence when he saw the group. "Oh, wrong guy. What are you doing here? This is the world-famous Colosseum – heroes only!" He stepped up to Donald, who was about the same height as him. "And I got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pip-squeaks."
"Speak for yourself, short-round." Leahna shot back at him smugly.
"Okay, hold on a sec. We didn't come here to argue, we came here to look for the king." Scott reasoned, looking at the satyr. "Have you seen him?"
"Little guy, with big ears?" Goofy added.
"Ain't seen anyone like that. Like I said, three words for ya – heroes only!" the satyr told them.
"Don't you mean two words?" Leahna laughed.
"Look, I don't have time for this. Scram, all of yer." The satyr said angrily, pointing towards the door.
"Fine, let's go." Donald gave up, heading for the door.
"Wait a second guys, look at this." Scott gestured them over, looking at a flyer that the satyr had put up. It read:
HERCULES CUP
Come see the great hero defeat deadly monsters and new challengers!
Plus a new challenger from another world makes an appearance!
To sign up ask Philoctetes. Do you dare take on the son of Zeus?
"A new challenger from another world. It might be someone from our world." Scott suggested.
"Maybe." Leahna said hesitantly.
"Still, it's worth checking out." Scott considered. He turned to Donald and Goofy. "What do you say guys? Are you up for a little competition?"
"Well, why not?" Goofy said cheerfully. "If it's someone from your world, you guys won't have come down here for nothing."
"Yeah, we're heroes!" Donald said. "We have to play, there could be Heartless in this world."
"So what do you say, Larnie? Are you in?" Scott smiled at first, but saw Leahna's expression was still hesitant.
"I don't know… I don't think my mum would want me fighting monsters if I had a choice…" Leahna considered.
"You could just sit out in the audience if you want and watch us." Scott shrugged. "That way you won't get hurt and your mum won't berate you. I guess this team is only going to have boys in it."
"What's with the attitude? You're not being sexist, are you?" Leahna crossed her arms as she looked disappointedly at Scott.
"What? No!" Scott said defensively. "I didn't say anything like that. At least, I didn't mean to."
"Well, it sounded sexist if you meant it or not." Leahna told him. "Well, I've changed my mind. My mum would want me to try and find any way I can get home. If this person from another world is from our world, I have to find out as much as I can. So I owe it to her to join the games. And that way, I can show I can fight just as well as you guys can."
"I never said anything like that. You know better than anyone that I treat women equally, in fact even more so. But okay, good." Scott nodded. "Let's leave it at that and go sign up at the games."
"Okay. Good." Leahna said, joining the boys as they stepped up to the satyr. "Hey, are you… how do you say this? Phil-oct-et-es?"
"Just call me Phil." Phil said simply. "I thought I told you shrimps to vamoose."
"We want to sign up for the games." Leahna stated.
"You want to sign up?" Phil said incredulously. "Look, it's like this. Heroes are coming all over to fight ferocious monsters here in the colosseum."
"We're heroes!" Donald exclaimed.
"Yup." Goofy agreed, stepping between Scott and Leahna, putting his hands on each of their shoulders. "They're real heroes, chosen by the keyblades."
"And we're heroes, too!" Donald quacked proudly.
"Hero? Those runts? Ahahahahaha!" Phil laughed.
"What are you laughing at, goat-face?" Leahna snapped back at him defensively.
"Yeah, me and Larnie have fought and destroyed a bunch of giant monsters!" Scott backed her up.
"Hey, look, two words for you guys. You ain't heroes." Phil said stubbornly, displaying his quirky inability to count again. "If you can't even move this pedestal…" he demonstrated, putting his hand on the pedestal the group had tried to move earlier, then attempted to push it. "You can't call yourself…" Phil spoke between grunts, pushing the pedestal but making no progress, "… a hero!" He finally stopped pushing, panting and drawing in deep breaths. "Okay, so it takes more than brawn. Why don't you start by mastering one of Zeus's simple spells?"
Phil pointed his fingers at Scott and Leahna, and suddenly Scott felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, like he had been given a mild stock of static electricity.
"Hey! What was that?" Scott questioned Phil.
"The power of lightning." Phil explained. "If you can't master that, then don't bother coming back. Now, go target practice and get out of here! Come back later. I got things to do."
"But – " Donald started.
"I said, get out! And don't come back without any practice unless you've got passes to the games! See you!" Phil stubbornly told them, pushing them out to the courtyard again. He slammed the door behind them once he had forced them out of the lobby.
"Aww, damn." Leahna said.
"Now what?" Scott wondered. "I guess we'll have to practice the spell like Phil said."
"What a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?" came a sly voice from literally out of nowhere. Scott looked all around the courtyard, but saw no-one.
"Who's there?" Scott called. "Show yourself."
A cloud of dark grey smoke exploded before them out of nowhere, and then it cleared, it revealed a figure. The man was not human, shown clearly by the blue flames burning on top of his head, and yellow eyes. He had a long face with a pointy nose and wore a smile with his jagged, decaying teeth. He had dark grey, almost near-dead looking skin, and long yellow fingernails. He wore a black toga with robes around his mid-section, which trailed along the ground near his feet as he walked towards them.
"God powers… gotta love that." the man commented humorously.
"Who are you?" Donald questioned.
"Who am I? Hey, someone get this duck a history scroll." The man joked. "Let me introduce myself. I am Hades, the god of the Underworld!"
"A god!?" Donald said curiously, moving in for a closer look.
"Whoa, hold on there, fuzz boy." Hades halted him, moving around the group. "Wait, let me guess. You want to enter the games, right?" He put his hand on Leahna's shoulder, making Scott feel a sudden, strange uneasiness in his stomach. Before he could say anything, Hades jumped in. "Well, then, hey, pretty little lady, get a load of this."
Then in a puff of smoke, an entry pass appeared in his hand in front of Leahna.
"What's this?" Leahna said, a little confused.
"A pass for the Hercules Cup." Hades explained. "Go on, take it. It's on the house. It'll cover the four of you."
"Okay, wait a sec. What's the catch?" Scott said, hesitant about a gift being pressured upon Leahna.
"No catch. I felt like entering, but I felt my god-like powers might be too much for the competition, you know?" Hades elaborated. "It's all yours. Good luck kids. I'll be pulling for you, little shorty." he spoke down to Leahna, then disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the pass in her hands.
"Haha." Leahna laughed sarcastically, but Hades was gone.
"You heard him. Cmon, little shorty." Scott teased to Leahna.
"Well I am. I'm only little." Leahna accepted the taunt and shrugged as they entered the lobby. "Hey Phil, we've got a pass now."
"Hey, how did you get this?" Phil asked, taking the pass and examining it.
"Forget about it. Can we enter the games now?" Scott asked, hoping to avoid the subject they had been talking to a god of the underworld.
"Well… alright. I guess so." Phil finally accepted.
"Oh boy!" Donald squealed.
"You're still not heroes though." Phil eyed Donald.
"Awwww…." Donald sighed.
"We'll start with the preliminaries! Ready for the preliminaries?" Phil asked the group.
"Ready as we'll ever be. Let's do this." Scott looked at the others, who nodded at him, then he nodded at Phil.
"Alright. But I gotta warn ya, some real weirdos signed up for the games. You better watch yourself." Phil advised, and led them into the battle arena. "Alright, according to the chart, you'll be fighting these guys."
Scott stared across the battle arena and suddenly felt on edge when he saw their opponents. They were tiny little wizards with pointed hats, red little cloaks and the symbol of a black heart with a cross at the bottom. Instantly they started shooting fireballs at them.
"Heartless!" Goofy cried.
Everyone got out their weapons and fought the new Heartless, the Red Nocturne. Five minutes later, they had won, only suffering a few small burns from fireballs.
"You're no heroes yet, but you ain't doing bad." Phil said admiringly as they came off the battle area to rest before the next battle. "Lucky you came to me for coaching."
Scott and Leahna smirked and shared a glance with each other. They knew their skills had nothing to do with Phil's 'coaching'.
Then they heard footsteps, and Scott looked over to see a man walk past them. He was the first actual human they had seen sight of since they had first come here. He had blonde, spiky hair and piercing blue eyes. He wore a crimson cape, that looked burnt and frayed at the edges. He wore a metal shoulder pad, bracelets, and a claw over a fingerless glove on his left arm, and only a black arm band and the other matching fingerless glove on the right. His torso was covered with a sleeveless blue jumpsuit, which had brown leather straps bracketed by a silver ring leading down in a Y-shape from his shoulder to a series of looping belts which reminded Scott of Leon's. The symmetrical outfit continued, with him wearing a silver leg brace around his left thigh, and samurai torso armor on his right, and again on his lower legs where he wore two silver rings on each leg, looping over each over in a cross fashion. He wore brown boots and in his right hand, he carried a massive broadsword, wrapped in bandages. The blonde man looked silently at them as he walked past them.
"Something tells me that guy will be a tough one to beat." Phil remarked as the man walked away. "Who knows, you might even end up fighting him."
"Is he the guy that came from another world?" Scott asked Phil curiously.
"Yeah. Okay, you guys are up for the next round!" Phil said, as Heartless began appearing in the area, this time with giant fat bodies and small heads.
They fought the Heartless again, this time discovering the Heartless, called Fat Bodies, were completely invincible to their weapons as they kept bouncing off every attack. But their heads and their backs were their weak points, and after ten minutes they scored another victory.
"You ain't bad, kids!" Phil commented as Scott, Leahna, Donald and Goofy walked off the battle arena tired but victorious. "I just wish he was here to see this."
"Who?" Leahna asked.
"Hercules." Phil replied. "Now, he's a hero if I ever saw one. Too bad he's off visiting his father Zeus in Mt. Olympus."
Scott nodded, and walked off to stretch his legs. As he walked past the dark entrance where the next challengers appeared from, he thought he heard a haunting voice calling t him.
Scott…
"Who's there?" Scott called out into the darkness. He looked through the dark entrance, but saw no-one. It seemed strange. He thought he felt the same presence as he did back in Wonderland… and the voice sounded familiar somehow. He shook it off. He must have been tired from the last battle.
A few minutes later, Phil approached them. "Next up, you face… him." he said after they had rested up, and looked in the direction Phil had pointed. The blonde man with the large sword from before was standing there.
"All four of us facing him at once? Is he that tough?" Goofy asked.
"We'll find out soon enough. Let's begin!" Phil shouted as they walked back into the battle arena.
"Hey." Scott greeted the man. "I'm Scott. And this is Larnie, Donald and Goofy."
The man did not say anything, and quietly looked at the ground.
"What's your name?" Leahna asked him uncertainly.
"Cloud." The man simply said, readied his sword. Suddenly he shocked everyone when a black, evil-looking demon wing spread out threateningly from his left shoulder, and then, he attacked. He yelled out a battle cry and thrust his sword forward in the blink of an eye, moving with it as energy exploded outwards from the blade. Donald cried out as Cloud charged through him and Goofy with the move, knocking Donald out cold. Goofy protected himself with his shield, but Cloud jumped into the air and thrust his sword into the ground, creating an energy shockwave, quickly knocking out Goofy as well. "Donald! Goofy!" Scott called, but they were way out of it.
Scott kept his distance between himself, Cloud and Leahna, making sure he was within a few steps to step in to help if Cloud targeted Leahna next. Instead, Cloud attacked Scott, coming for him with the Sonic Jab technique. Scott anticipated and used the Dodge Roll technique Goofy had taught him to dodge his attacks. Cloud seemed to grow impatient and suddenly changed targets, using his Sonic Jab technique towards Leahna. Leahna dodged out of the way as well and attacked when Cloud had finished, but Cloud was ready, blocking her keyblade and countering her attack with another Sonic Jab. Leahna was pushed aside from the blast of the attack onto the ground.
"LARNIE!" Scott cried out in concern, and reacting to pure emotion, ran forward and attacked Cloud to protect his friend. Cloud reacted quickly in the same way, parrying Scott's keyblade attacks and countered with another Sonic Jab. Scott cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Was it over?
Scott saw Larnie was hurt, but she was getting up. She still had some fight left in her. Scott still had some fight in him too, and started to get up when Cloud jumped in the air to do his shockwave attack. Scott dodge-rolled, Cloud's attack missing him by inches. Larnie came to Scott's aid and attacked Cloud from behind, and this time she was successful, striking him when he was still recovering from pulling his sword out of the ground. It gave Scott an idea on how he and Larnie could win.
Cloud started his Sonic Jab technique again, intent on landing a hit on Scott. Scott kept dodging whenever Cloud gestured to make the attack, waiting for him to use his shockwave attack. But Cloud kept using Sonic Jab, chasing after him. Scott realized what he had to do, and it had to be convincing. As Cloud suddenly changed targets and closed in on Leahna, and she dodged him, Scott waited for the right moment. When Cloud ued Sonic Jab again towards Leahna standing still, who was anticipating his attack, Scott ran in and protected her with a block from his Keyblade. Leahna became surprised for a moment, and did not move as she watched Cloud drive his sword through Scott's defense, the sheer power of the attack knocking him to the ground. Then Cloud finally used his shockwave attack.
Scott and Larnie both dodged the shockwave. Cloud recovered, pulling his sword out of the ground.
"NOW!" Scott shouted, attacking the defenseless Cloud with his keyblade. Leahna attacked as well, and both hit their keyblades into Cloud. Cloud staggered to one knee, supporting himself from falling over with one hand.
"You win." Cloud said simply, after catching his breath.
"Wow. You're really cool, Cloud." Scott smiled. "I had a lot of fun fighting you."
Cloud didn't say anything, and clutched his chest.
"Mmmhmm." Leahna murmured at Cloud's lack of words, smiling a little, then looked at Scott. "You didn't have to protect me. I knew when to attack him, btw. You didn't have to tell me."
"I had to make it convincing I was letting him get a hit, or he wouldn't have let his guard down. And sure I didn't…" Scott teased humorously.
Leahna scowled at him. Then she laughed. Scott laughed too. Then Donald and Goofy, having recovered, came to join them.
"Cloud, can you get up?" Scott asked, offering him a hand. He never got to help him up, as suddenly a giant black shape jumped into the arena out of nowhere, and grabbed Cloud in a whirlwind of white teeth. Cloud cried out in pain and dropped his sword. I wasn't until Scott jumped backwards and looked up at the giant creature that he got a good look at the creature. It was a giant black dog, but it had three heads instead of one. It had red eyes and rows of deadly sharp teeth.
Suddenly there was a puff of smoke, and Hades appeared at the side of the arena. "Cloud, I'm disappointed in you. You didn't make them collateral damage like we agreed upon, but either way, there's one less of you heroes to deal with. Oh, right, there was one other rule I forgot: accidents, happen." He laughed, and then disappeared in another puff of black smoke.
"It's Cerberus!" Phil cried in panic. "The guardian of the Underworld. Get out of there, squirts!"
Cerberus moved forward, its jaws drooling as the other heads snapped down towards the group.
Suddenly a figure jumped in and in one single move, pushed back Cerberus out of the battle arena. It was a man, with golden blonde short hair and blue eyes. He wore a red headband to keep his hair out of his eyes, a cape and a gladiator outfit with belt and sandles.
"Herc!" Phil called in surprise.
"Phil, get them out of here!" Hercules told him as he struggled to hold Cerberus back.
"What? No way!" Scott refused. "We can still fight."
"Yeah." Larnie agreed, a little hesitantly.
"This ain't just some match kids. This is for real!" Phil reminded them.
"Well then, it can be a test to prove if we're real heroes or not, won't it?" Scott said stubbornly.
"You got guts, kid. Be careful!" Phil warned.
Hercules lifted up Cerberus by the neck, plucking out Cloud from its teeth. He threw Cerberus with one hand and slung the unconscious cloud over his shoulder, making a run for it.
"Kids, I got two words for you: ATTACK!" Phil yelled as Cerberus came running back towards them, making Phil run for cover.
Cerberus snapped his jaws towards them, and everyone dodged out of the way. Donald quacked and shot a fireball spell towards it, but it had no effect, as it only seemed to enrage the beast. Cerberus shot fireballs back, and everybody dodged it.
Leahna jumped up and started whacking at Cerebus's head with her keyblade, from the side where Cerberus couldn't bite her. She got in a few shots, before Cerberus realized one of it's heads were getting hurt and snarled, stomping it's feet down towards her. She was struck and hit the ground hard. Cerberus quickly followed up by shooting fireballs at her and the rest of the group. Scott dodged them as he ran to Leahna's aid, gritting his teeth fiercely as Leahna cried out in pain as the fireballs hit her while she was down and scolded her skin.
"Larnie!" Donald sqwarked and shot spell towards her. A flower appeared in mid-air above her and bloomed; instantly the Cure spell made her burns disappear. Cerberus however stood over Larnie and lunged at her with all three heads to bite her.
"NO!" Scott screamed and leapt in front of the way. Leahna watched again as Scott took a hit for her, Cerberus biting down hard into Scott's torso and lifted him high into the air.
"Hold on!" Goofy cried and charged forward with his shield, but was knocked back from Cerberus stomping in front of him.
Leahna got up and ran behind Cerberus as Scott grunted in pain, Cerberus's large teeth impaling his body. He attacked the middle head which held him, smashing his keyblade into it. Leahna suddenly appeared and whacked her Keyblade into the same head. "Let him go!" she seethed through clenched teeth, and finally Cerebus dropped him. He landed painfully on his back, and as Cerberus tried to shake Leahna off, Scott felt himself healed by Donald's Cure spell. He got back up, jumping away from Cerebus's feet, and slammed his keyblade several more times into Cerebus's middle head with Leahna, who was fighting furiously to keep the other two away from her. The giant dog let out a defeated groan and slumped to the ground on its side, sending up a big cloud of dust.
Scott ran forward through the cloud, looking for Leahna. As the dust settled, she appeared heroically from Cerebus's side.
"Are you okay?" Scott asked.
"Yeah. How about you?" Leahna said.
"Yeah, I think so." Scott clutched his chest, where Cerberus had bit him, then looked up at her. "I'm glad you're okay."
"You didn't have to protect me." She said as she looked at him.
"I didn't want you to get hurt again." Scott said simply.
"Okay." Leahna nodded.
"We did it!" Donald cried.
"Hooray!" Goofy cheered.
Later, they were in the lobby, and stood in a line in front of Phil as he read from a parchment. "Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes, and confer upon thee full rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further—"
"Hey, what do you mean, "junior heroes"?" Donald interrupted.
Phil looked smug. "You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a real hero."
"So, what does it take?" Goofy questioned curiously.
"Well, that's just something you'll have to find out for yourselves. Just the way that I did." Hercules said, as he entered the lobby.
"Hey Hercules." Scott greeted. "No problem. We'll start by proving ourselves in the games."
"There ain't gonna be any games for a while." Phil broke the news, shaking his head. "Gotta clean up the mess from the last battle first."
"Okay, then we'll visit again sometime. Bye." Larnie said, and the group exited into the courtyard to get back to the Gummi ship. Once they had stepped back outside, Scott saw Cloud, recovered from his injuries.
"Hey Cloud." Scott called to him. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Cloud shrugged.
"That demon wing you have, you're not from our world, are you?" Leahna questioned.
"No." Cloud told her, without making a single movement.
"So, that creep Hades," Leahna started, "Why did you want to make a deal with him?"
"I'm looking for someone." Cloud explained, surprising everyone as he kept talking. "Hades promised to help me. I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired. I fell into darkness, and I couldn't find the light."
"You'll find it." Scott encouraged, feeling Cloud wasn't a bad guy, but that he had simply been used. "We're searching, too."
Cloud looked up, looking directly at him and Leahna. "You too? Don't lose sight of it." He walked between them, and as he did, he put a hand on each of their shoulders. Scott felt a power being awakened in him, and from the surprised look on Leahna's face, he could tell she felt the same sense of power, too.'
"What was that?" Scott asked Cloud as he turned around.
"You're good kids. And Keyblade masters. I gave you some of my power." Cloud explained without going into detail. "Now you do Sonic Jab too."
"Hey Cloud, do you want a rematch sometime? Without any powers of darkness." Scott asked.
Cloud paused with his back turned to them. "I think I'll pass." he said finally, and then left.
Scott smiled as he watched Cloud walk away in awe. "He's so cool. And awesome." he said.
"Yeah, he's okay." Leahna shrugged. "But Hercules is stronger. He held back Cerberus for us, Cloud didn't."
"Yeah, but Cloud was just weak from us beating him. He could have handled Cerberus no problem. I bet he could beat Hercules if he wanted."
"No I don't think so. Hercules would break his sword, he's stronger. Ner ner." Leahna teased, grinning.
"No way! Cloud is faster. He'd dance circles around Herc. He's cooler too, so there."
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Is too."
"Is too!"
"Is n- hey!" Scott said.
They all laughed, and then went back to the ship. They hadn't found the king in Olympus Colosseum, and Cloud hadn't turned out to be from their world. But they had become "junior heroes" and made some new friends. Hopefully they would have better luck in the next world.
