Michael: Welcome back to Another Story. After reading through Atea's review, I decided to change the format of my stories to more novel-like. This means more descriptions of environment, characters, and battles. After this chapter, do you think I should continue on like this or not. And I'm reading novels of FFX and KH to get more of an idea. Wish me luck. This chapter contains Olympus Coliseum visit 1, Auron, Lightning, Hope, Zack, and Ventus of course. Please review.
Chapter 9: Olympus Coliseum
With Beast's castle done for now, it was time to pick the next world. Two worlds were along the white path as Kairi's friends waited for their leader to pick. But Kairi was not listening. In fact, her mind wasn't in the gummy ship anymore. Kairi's thoughts were still on Xaldin's comment about knowing her and her status as one of the princess of hearts. Kairi closed her eyes and entered her mind.
She was running, running through the streets of an unnamed world, holding the hand of another. The other was an elderly woman, wearing old fashion clothes. The sky was pitching black as the wind picked up around them. Then creatures of the dark appeared and surrounded the two, blocking their path. The elderly woman held Kairi closed to her as the creatures attack. But suddenly, the creatures were wiped out by a blue spear. Then a man with black hair tied back with a pony tail appeared in front of them. The man's eyes were closed but he walked closer to the pair, spear in hand. The elderly woman smiled and spoke wearily, "Oh thank goodness, Dilan. You must take my granddaughter to her father right away. There's not much time. This world will be blackening in darkness, just like in legends."
The ponytail haired man didn't respond, but held his spear at the woman. With one thrust, the spear was in embedded into the woman's heart. Kairi screamed in fear, but it wasn't her own voice, but that of a child.
Back in reality, Kairi opened her eyes to see she was back in the gummi ship with her friends. She held her head in pain from the images that played in her mind. Then Xion's voices called out to her.
"Kairi, are you there?"
Kairi snapped back to focus and looks to Xion with a false smile. Oh, sorry Xion. I was thinking. So, where do you all want to go?"
Xion and the others pointed to the world after Beast's castle. On top showed a coliseum with two golden statues crossing swords and the bottom looks like a dark cave. Kairi steered the gummi ship to Olympus Coliseum. But where they ended up wasn't the coliseum. The sextet was in some kind of underground cave. The ground was light grey with a green pool in the middle. On their right was a large river; except purple instead of rich blue. This whole place gave an eerie feeling to it.
"Are you sure this is the coliseum?" Kairi asked, not remembering this from her time in Sora's heart.
"I don't think so, and I've been to this world before." Roxas said.
"Hey, that must be the way to the coliseum." Donald pointed.
The heroes look to see a stairway to the coliseum. The red head princess smiled with embarrassment. "Oh, guess were a little off in our landing."
But before they could walk to the stairs, a woman's scream was what they heard. Turning around at once, the heroes could see a woman draped in pink-purple Greek robes was attacked by small dog-like heartless. The heartless were blue with a red dog collar around their middle. Kairi and her friends sprang into actions as the heartless scattered away, leaving the woman unharmed. The woman looked up to see Kairi holding out her hand to help her up, but she said, "Thanks, but I'm alright." The woman stood up on her feet and looks to Kairi and the party. "And who you suppose to be?" she asked, sporting a frown and arms crossed.
"I'm Kairi. And these are my friends: Donald, Xion, Roxas, Goofy, and Namine. We came to see how someone named Hercules is doing."
The woman replied in a calm manner. "You know wonder boy?"
"Wonder boy?" Roxas asked.
"Yeah, because we're heroes!" piped up Donald, sticking a thumb to his chin.
"You mean junior heroes, Donald." Goofy said, corrected the magician in a whisper. Donald looked back to Goofy with a scowl as Namine, Roxas, Xion, and Kairi giggled a little. Even the brown haired woman laughed too. "Looks like we have a friend in common." she remarked to the party. "Name's Megara, my friends call me Meg."
So how's Herc?" Donald asked.
"Wonder boy?" she asked. "Well, he's duking it out at the coliseum every day. You know the old saying, 'a hero's work is never done' and all that. He's ready to drop any minute, he keeps on fighting. Even wonder boy has his limits. Those opponents are bad news- special deliveries from Hades himself..."
"Hades?" Donald exclaimed. Kairi was shocked by that name too.
"Right." Meg nodded. "Lord of the underworld. I was on my way to see him. Maybe I can get Hades to give Wonder boy a breather. If anything happened to the kid…"
"Wow." said Xion. "Sounds like you two are more than friends."
Megara's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh… uh, I mean." She stammered on. Kairi smiled and said, "We'll go and have a chat with Hades. I'd hate for anything to happen to you on your way to see him."
Meg looked taken aback from Kairi's offer. "You really want to do that? She asked. Kairi nodded to answer her question. Well, it looks like you know what you're doing. I guess I'll take you up on that offer. But… let's keep this chat-with-Hades thing our little secret okay?" she pleaded to the heroes.
"Our lips are sealed." Roxas and Xion said.
"Well, go luck." Meg said, smiling to them. Kairi smiled back and the heroes entered the first area of the underworld: The entrance to the Cave of the dead. The Entrance lived up to its name. The room was large. Torches were lit all around, each with a blue flame. Steam was on the grey floor and small white wisps appeared.
"What are those?" Namine asked.
"There what's left of the departed once they come to the underworld." said a voice.
Kairi looks to see a boy, no older than her walking up to them. He had spiky black hair with bangs hanging off his face. His body was well-tone, meaning he worked out a lot. He had sky-blue eyes and a strange x shape scar on his cheek. He wore a dark blue uniform, gloves, boots and a sword like Cloud has on his back.
"Hades holds them all in his dungeon, where souls and even living people are his captives." the boy finished.
"And you are?" asked Roxas.
"Oh sorry, allow me to introduce myself." The boy said.
(Cue Zack's theme- Crisis Core/Birth by Sleep)
"The name's Zack, Zack Fair." he said, holding his hand out to Kairi. Kairi shook it.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Kairi and this Donald, Xion, Roxas, Goofy, and Namine. What you doing here in the underworld?"
"Well I got myself sidetracked and ended up here after running into someone. And what brings you down here?" Zack asked the princess of heart.
"We're helping Hercules with a problem of his own. Hades is sending opponents all the time and Herc won't long if this keeps up. That's why we're going to see Hades and put a stop to this."
"Well I'll go with you. I have a score to settle with Hades too and I wouldn't want anyone else getting lost here."
"You saw others here too?" the former nobody asked.
"Yup… One was a woman with pink hair, a boy with silver hair, and Ventus was following them. Boy, Ven hasn't changed one bit."
"Ventus, you think Ven's here?" Namine said.
"Could be, but we won't know until we look. Let's go!" said Kairi and the heroes walked into the cave of the dead, with Zack following after them. (End theme) Inside they saw a hooded member of the organization running down the Cave's passage. Like the entrance, it too had blue flame torches and steam under their and white wisps forming. The group could see racks fall from the ceiling.
"The organization!" Donald exclaimed.
"Yeah." The keybladers agreed.
"Who?" asked Zack.
"Long story, let's hurry after him." Kairi announced and followed the hooded member through the cave. Several Heartless appeared in their path. Kairi and the others summoned their weapons at the ready. Zack steeped foreword, his sword in hand.
"Leave this to me." he said.
Zack's whole body charged with energy and with break neck speed, charged at the heartless. Zack hit the heartless with many horizontal swings, ending with a final thrust to the ground, wiping them out. Kairi and her friends stood there amaze at Zack's skills. The young solider swung his sword twice and placed it on his shoulders.
"After you." he said, showing the path to the heroes.
"Thanks, you're really good." Namine commented.
"Thanks. Now let's find that cloaked figure." said Zack and the heroes walked through the cave, going deeper into it. They made to the end where the cloaked member ran up to them. Thinking this was a sign to fight, the heroes summon their weapons to fight when the cloaked figure spoke in whiny voice," RUN, RUN AWAY!" and disappeared into a corridor of darkness. Everyone had the 'Big lipped alligator moment' written on their faces, most of all was Kairi.
"Okay?" she said, confused.
"Was that a member of the organization?" Goofy asked.
"Yup, and I think I know that one." Roxas said, feeling a sweat drop going down his face.
"Let's move on." Zack said uncomfortably.
"Yeah, going now." said Namine.
When the heroes came to the entrance to the Cave of the Dead's inner chamber, they could hear voices. Kairi looked to the others and Zack for support.
"You think it's more of the organization?" Zack asked.
Kairi shrugged but summoned Destiny's Embrace. "Let's give them a surprise they'll never forget."
The heroes nodded and summoned their weapons. All together, the heroes ran into the inner chamber, but what they found wasn't the organization, but three unknown personals. The first was a woman around 21 years old. She had long light pink hair, pale aqua colored eyes and a heart shaped face. She was extreme fit, wearing a uniform comprising of a sleeveless white overcoat over a brown turtleneck-like shirt and green metallic pauldron with yellow stripes. She also had a red cape attached to her left on her back, a long black sleeve over left arm; knee high leather boosted a brown mini-skirt over high topped black shorts. A weapon, familiar to the party as a Gunblade; was in a black case behind her back along with a red case strapped to her left leg. Around her neck was a necklace with a lightning bolt pendent, two black bands around her right bicep, and a silver navel piercing.
The second was a young boy, a year younger than Kairi. The boy's outfit consists of a short sleeved orange and yellow jacket, a green scarf over a black shirt, and black gloves with palms. He also wore deep green pants, a black storage pack hanging from a black belt over his left leg, and light green shoes. Kairi spotted a strange symbol covered for a second by a wristband. He had layered silver hair and green eyes that remind Kairi of Riku.
The last one was a boy who from looking at him looks just like Roxas. The boy wore a jacket that had on side light (Roxas' Twilight Town jacket) and dark (Sora's KH2 jacket) the collar of the jacket was red and pleated, similar to Roxas' jacket. Underneath the jacket, he wore what appears to be a grey vest with a single button and several, angular patterns on it. He wore a third layer under this, in the form of a plain, high-necked, black shirt. He also has a chunk of dull green and grey armor on his midsection that appears under his vest and another piece of armor on his left shoulder. The boy's pants are also similar to Roxas wore, his were more balloon outward slightly before closing up about halfway down his legs,. These pants had shades of grey, black, and white. He had a black and white checker board wristband around his right hand and armored versions of Roxas' shoes. Over his chest were two criss-cross straps with a silver badge in the middle.
The three were surprise to see them that they stood there confused. The Silver haired lad said, "You can put those away. We're not the enemy you were looking for. We chased him off. By the way, I'm Hope."
Kairi and the others redraw their weapons and greeted themselves. "I'm Kairi. This is Zack, Xion, Roxas, Donald, Goofy, and Namine."
The blond haired boy walked up to Kairi to greet her. "Oh you must be Kairi. The pleasure to meet you, I'm Ventus, but call me Ven."
Kairi smiled a little and shook Ven's hand. Kairi noticed he looks like Sora from his blue eyes. She nearly blush a little.
"And you are?" Kairi said to the pink haired woman.
"Lightning." she said coldly.
Kairi walked closer to the woman and placed a hand on her shoulder. "So what brings you down here?"
Lightning reacted by slapping Kairi's hand out her shoulder. "It doesn't concern you!"
The group gasped as Roxas was ready to attack. Hope said calmly, "Light, we're all on the same side!"
Lightning looked to Kairi, who was holding her hand defensively and sighed. "Sorry I didn't mean to take it on you. Hope and I are looking for my sister Serah and her friend Snow. We got separated and we came to the underworld hoping to find them here. That's when we found Ventus here looking for his friends. What's your business here too, Kairi?"
Kairi replied calmly, "Hades is pushing Herc to his limits, so we came to ask him to lay off on him. Since we are looking for someone, let's go to Hades together."
"Fine with me." she replied coolly.
With Hope, Lightning, and Ventus in tow, the heroes entered the next room.
-Meanwhile in a unknown chamber-
Inside a skull like/rock like chamber, a blue skinned man with black roman robes, long fingers, and a blue flame for hair was sitting around a table with three guests. The first two were small and imp like. One was fat and magenta, the other skinny and teal. They were Pain and Panic; Hades loyal (but bumbling) servants. And last was Pete. The former Disney Town resident was sent by Maleficent (Who has return from her demise) to assist Hades in her army of Heartless. The God of the underworld spoke to Pete, Pain, and Panic.
"Where do they dig these freaks up? Geez Louise." Hades grumbled, sitting in his throne.
"Ah, they're nothing but trouble, the whole lot of them." Pete agreed. "Now what are you going to do about Hercules? He's made mince meat out of every fighter you sent him. Pretty soon the underworld will stand only!" he laughed. The large cat suggested to Hades, "Say, why don't send someone already dead and save him the trouble."
The lord of the dead was about to retort angrily, causing the three to jump. He then sat in his throne stroking his chin, saying, "Dead, dead is good. And I know just the warrior…" An evil glint appeared in his black-yellow eyes.
"Oh no, he has that look again." Pain said to Panic.
"Yeah." Panic replied.
The three looked worried as the table slowly melts into the floor.
-Back with our heroes-
The heroes were in the valley of the dead. Like the whole underworld, this gave out an eerie feeling to it. Underneath them was swirling and green, like the Underworld's entrance's little pool. Donald and Goofy were scared and holding their bodies/clapping a hand to their mouths for support.
"Do you guys feel that?" asked Zack.
The others nodded. Lightning walked on. "We can't chicken out. Let's go."
Everyone followed as they made their way to Hades' chamber.
Back in the chamber-
A new hole opened up where the table was. The hole could go down forever as Pete looked down afraid. The hole was swirling green vortex
"By the way, uh… what's down there?" Pete said scared.
"Just the Underworld's deepest dungeon." Hades replied. "This time I'm bringing out the mother of all bad guys."
Pete looked to Hades and saw he was serious. He gulped and said, "You don't say." He slowly back away to the wall where Pain and Panic stood frighten. "Maybe I should go."
Hades summoned two fireballs from the palms of his hands and tossed them into the vortex. The vortex let smoke and sparks as it turned red. Something rose from the vortex in front of Hades, Pete, Pain, and Panic. What came out of the vortex was not a monster, but a human. The human had ruffled black hair, a vertical scar over his left eye, his face partly hidden by his red coat. The coat was long that it reached to his shoes, covering a black body suit. One sleeve of his coat was hanging out while the other supported his other arm; helped only by his belt. When the man touched the ground, he opened his right eye, as his left could not function because of the cut. The vortex closes as Hades walked up to him.
"Let's cut to the chase." Hades began, "here's the deal I'm gonna offer you. I let you out of the slammer -no strings- you'll be free as a bird." The mad had his eye on Pete and the two imps, who backed away in fear. "And all for little job; Fight Hercules… in the coliseum, to the death!"
The man however smirked. "This is my story and you're not part of it." The man summoned a sword and held it behind his back, ready for battle.
"Hades was not amused. "Did you forget who you're talking too?" he demanded. "I am the lord of the dead!"
"Heh, no wonder wants to die." he replied coolly.
When Kairi and her friends got closer to the chamber, they heard Hades roar out, "You are fired!" Hades charged at the man, who blocked the lord of the dead with his sword.
"Hades!" Donald exclaimed as they entered the chamber.
"You again?" He demanded, not only to Donald and Goofy's direction, but to Kairi who he shocked to be here. The man struck back with his sword and says, "Fight!"
"With pleasure." Lightning and Zack said as the heroes were ready to fight Hades. But as they attacked him, something was off. Not any of their attacks could connect to the god. When they stopped, Kairi felt weaker than normally.
"Something's wrong!" Donald said.
"I feel funny." Kairi groaned.
"That's right!" Hades said, "That's the thing. In the underworld; heroes are zeroes, comes with the territory."
"Great, anyone got any ideas?" Zack muttered to Kairi and Lighting. Kairi didn't have any idea to stop him, but Lighting charged at Hades with her Gunblade. The god merely grabbed the sword with one hand and pushed Lightning back, laughing. Lightning gritted her teeth and got back up to face Hades but the red coat man says, "We have to leave now!"
"But we have to talk to Hades!" Kairi said to him.
"He's right, we have to go!" Lightning said in defeat.
The heroes and the man in the red ran out of the chamber. Outside, Kairi, Goofy, Zack, and Lightning quickly closed the door.
"Is he gone?" Hope asked.
"Don't count on it." the man replied.
Kairi and Lightning looked to their right and gasped to see Hades poof besides them. "Leaving so soon?"
The heartless appeared and a barrier blocked the exit. Figures the heartless were connected to the barriers; they fought the heartless with the red coat man. Lightning and Hope showed they were great fighters, keeping the heartless at bay with Lightning's sword/rifle and Hope's Boomerang. Ven was the most interesting keyblade wielders Kairi has ever seen. Ventus held his keyblade back handed, but attacked just like Sora. One of his finishers involves spinning in the air, striking the heartless. But the man in the red coat was the superb fighter. His fast attacks and his limit with Kairi defeated the heartless and made their way back into the inner chamber. Kairi, Roxas, Xion, Namine, Goofy, and Donald were exhausted and fell to the floor. Zack, Hope, Lightning, and Ventus leaned on the way by a save point, but the man wasn't fazed, he only stood and waited.
"You're really good. Are you some kind of hero?" Kairi panted.
The man shook his head and said, "No. I'm no hero. I'm just a…" he began, but paused for a moment. "Auron"
Kairi cocked her head in confusion. "My name." he replied.
Kairi got up and introduced herself. "I'm Kairi."
"I'm Roxas"
"I'm Xion"
"Goofy"
"Namine"
"Donald"
Auron looks to the other four leaning on the stone wall. "And you four?"
"Zack"
"Lightning"
"Hope"
"Ventus"
"It seems we were destined to meet. Maybe you need a guardian." Auron said.
"A guardian thanks. Besides, we need to get back to the underworld entrance." smiled Kairi and her friends headed through the passage. Auron chuckled and followed suit.
Back at Hades' chamber, the lord of the underworld sat back in his throne, thinking while Pete went on. "I've got Heartless all over the underworld now. You can leave those pipsqueaks to me. You just focus on turning Hercules into a heartless, and then he'll be all mines.
Hades flamed up, his whole body in red yellow flames. He didn't like the idea of Pete: Maleficent's lackey telling him what to do. "This is my underworld, idiot! I'll handle this myself!" he roared. The god of death snapped his finger and 20 foot three headed dog appeared by a window. "Cerberus, go!" he commanded as the three headed dog headed after the 11 heroes.
Mean while, the 11 heroes return to the valley of the dead's entrance to find the green-blue door unable to move.
"Come on, open!" grunted Roxas.
Kairi looked up to see a keyhole on the door. Knowing what to do, she summons Destiny's Embrace. Auron looked to the lock and to Kairi's weapon.
"Will it work?" he asked.
"It should." Before Kairi could unlock it, a roar was heard. Cerberus appeared from the ceiling and shocked the heroes.
"Hurry!" Auron said and went to distract the beast. Kairi pointed at the lock and a blue light came from the blade and shot at the lock. A click was heard and the door opened. Donald, Goofy, Namine, Xion, Roxas, Zack, and Hope ran into the door, leaving Kairi, Ventus, and Lightning behind. The three warriors hesitated but went to help Auron.
"Kairi wait!" Namine yelled.
"Ventus!" Zack yelled.
"Light!" yelled Hope
Kairi, Lightning, Ventus, and Auron stood ready to beat Cerberus.
(Cue Vin and Vigor (KH2 OST)
The four warriors rushed up to Cerberus to attack it. The three heads did a 360 spin and knocked the heroes back. Ventus stood for a few seconds before letting out fiery salvos form his keyblade. Lightning changed her gunblade into its rifle mode and fired at one of the Cerberus' heads. The three headed dog roared and fired fireballs from its middle head. Lighting guarded and left it in Kairi and Auron's hands. The two used their limit and attacked the dog of the underworld in midair. The limit finished with Auron and Kairi locking weapons, spinning them to create a whirlwind which stunned the beast. Kairi attacked the heads but was locked between them as the third was ready to bite her. The princess of heart evades the middle and wedges her blade into the middle head. Kairi took her keyblade from the beast mouth and with one powerful slam, defeated Cerberus.
The three headed dog staggered a little as Roxas called out, "Hurry before it's not in a daze!"
Kairi, Lightning, Auron, and Ventus ran into the doors as the doors began to close and Cerberus ran to the doors. Roxas, Xion, and Goofy, and Donald taunted the beast as it ran into the doors.
"Whoa, that was tough." muttered Ventus.
"You did really good, lightning." Kairi said to her.
"You didn't do half bad you self." Lightning added. The champagne haired woman looked to see that Auron was gone. "Where did Auron go?"
"I think he'll be fine. Right now let's go to the coliseum and meet up with Meg. We can try this again later."
As they walked to the stairs, Hope asked, "You think Hades really has Serah and Snow?"
"Knowing Hades, they're somewhere. Still, at our strength, we'll never find a way to stop him. There must be a way to get out strength back. The big question is why can't we damage Hades?" Kairi said to the party.
-In the coliseum's vestibule—
Meg sat by a familiar friend of Sora's. He had red-orange hair, black eyes, bronze Greek armor, and a small blue cape on his back. He wore brown sandals and his boy was muscular. This was Hercules, a demi-god and son of Zeus.
"Come on Wonder boy, play hooky for a day." Meg insisted the demy-god.
Hercules or 'Wonder boy' to Meg only shook his head. "Sorry Meg I would, but they came to me, they came to see a hero..."
He stood up face Meg. "Besides, what does a hero need rest for?" He flexes his arms but could because of fatigue. He waved to Meg and said, "Later."
Hercules into the arena where people began cheered for his name. On Hercules's face was a smile, but he was tired and sighed. Meg looked to her side and said, "Kairi don't let me down."
Meanwhile back at Hade's Chamber—
The two Villains sat in silence discussing something. Hades spoke first. "So, let me get this straight, those brats' keys can open any lock."
"That's right." Pete replied,
The God of the underworld chuckled evilly. "Did I ever tell you about the killer Coliseum we have right in the underworld?" Pete only shook his head. "Makes the one upstairs look like an Olympic kiddle pool."
Pete slammed his fist to the table, agreeing to the idiot. "Then that's where we're going to Herc the jerk's winning streak." He exclaimed.
"Problem, Zeus locked it tight." Hades interrupted the former Disney Town Resident, who groaned in disbelief. Pete looked to Hades who had a smile on his face. "Exactly, all we have to do is swipe of those keyblades and re-opened the underdrome."
Pete chuckled in agreement, but frowns. "Hate to tell you the truth, but those keyblades' kinda particular. It won't work for just anybody. And those kids are no pushovers."
Hades only laughed more. He stroked his chin saying, "I think this calls for a woman's touch." He hold out his hand and in a poof of Smoke, a statue of Meg was in her hands.
"Isn't that Meg's Statue?" Pete asked.
"That's right; this little baby controls Nutmeg's free will. Once wonder boy in not looking, we snatch her up, that'll bring the princess and her friends running."
Pete grinned some more mischievously as their plans were in motion.
Outside—
The heroes felt the warmth of the sun as they were outside the underworld and facing the coliseum. It hadn't changed one bit since Ven's journey, Donald and Goofy's journey with Sora, and Kairi remembering it from Sora's heart. Roxas and Xion couldn't forget the large gold statues with shields and crossing swords.
"Wow, this sure brings back memories?" Goofy said.
The heroes ran up to the coliseum to see the doors open to reveal a tired Hercules. He looks around to see Ventus, Zack, Donald, and Goofy.
"Zack, Donald, Ventus, Goofy!" Herc said with a smile.
"Hey Herc." said Ventus.
"Hey!" said Donald.
"Howdy there!"
"It's great to see you all again. Hey, where's Sora?" Herc asked.
"We'll explain inside. By the way I'm Kairi. This is Lightning, Hope, Roxas, Namine, and Xion." Kairi said, introducing the others.
"Good to meet you, Kairi, come on into the vestibule and we can talk."
Kairi and the party watched into the vestibule where Meg stood with Hercules.
"So Sora's missing, that's too bad, it'd like to see him. What brings you here?" The demy-god Hercules asked.
"Well, we ended up in the Underworld and ran into Meg-." Kairi was stopped half sentence when everyone (including Megara) giving the red haired a 'don't tell Hercules' look. Kairi stuttered and said, "Meg-a, trouble. Yeah, that's right, Mega trouble. We tried to teach Hades a thing or two and find Lightning's sister Serah but the underworld drained us of our strength."
"We need to handle Hades at our full power, any ideas?" Hope asked.
"Well…" Herc began. "There's this stone that guards against the Underworld curse. The Gods use when they have to go down there.
The heroes' feelings' were lift. "Can we use it?" asked Lightning.
"Sure, I'll get it for you." Hercules hopped from the pedestal. "But Hades isn't a pushover, even with the Olympus stone, and I have a match soon. You know you need, Training. Go see Phil at the Arena."
Taking Hercules' advice, they entered the Coliseum's arena where another familiar face of Sora's friends. It was a small one-foot tall man with goat legs, horns, and middle aged fat bell. This was Phil, Herc's trainer. The Goat man was setting urns on the arena, not noticing the 10 heroes.
"So, this is Herc's trainer?" Lightning asked.
"Yeah… I met him when I first came to this world. Strange, nothing's change much." Ven said, placing his hands behind his head.
"How you feeling, champ?" Phil said, not noticing any of them. "Ya gotta rest up for tomorrow's match. No one wants a worn off hero, capice? Just remember the two things I thought you; eat. Bathe. Sleep."
Now when Phil pointed it out, Goofy counted on his fingers, Ven as well, And Hope looks to Lightning with a confused look of his face. Lightning merely shrugged as Goofy, Donald, Ven, Zack, and Roxas laughed. Phil spun a 180 around and noticed the heroes. "Well, if it isn't the junior heroes?" Phil said, greeting Zack, Roxas, Ven, Donald, and Goofy.
"How ya been, Phil?" Ven stated.
"Never better, so, have you finally earned your 'true hero' wings yet?"
The five look to one another as Phil pointed out, "Nope, haven't got what it takes."
"What?" the five boys said in disbelief. Phil looks to the girls and Hope. "And you are?"
"I'm Kairi; this is Xion, Namine, Lightning, and Hope. I'm a close personal friend of Sora's."
"So how's Sora anyway?" Phil asked.
"It's a long story. But…" Kairi explained to the Goat man about their encounter with Hades. Phil just laughed. "You take on Hades?"
Lightning only glared at the goat. "Look, if you want to beat him, you'll have to train hard. Got it?"
"Right!"
Kairi and other keybearers walked to the center of the arena and practiced with the pots. Time passed with Kairi left to practice. Lightning and Hope watched for awhile before talking to Namine and the others.
"So, what's Kairi fighting for?" asked Lightning.
Namine look to Lightning and said, "Kairi's friend was taken by the organization and Riku her other friend is missing too. Kairi is fighting to save them. They've done so much for her, now it's her turn to do the same."
Lighting folded her arms in understanding. Kairi redraw her keyblade when she saw the demy-god walk in. Phil left before Hercules came outside. The heroes left the stands and walked up to Hercules.
"Hey Herc, what's wrong?" Kairi asked.
"The Olympus stone is missing." Hercules said.
"What?" they said.
"What happen?" Zack asked.
"Someone wearing a black coat took the stone and ran into the Underworld with some white creatures."
"The organization" Kairi explained.
"Someone you know?" asked Herc.
"More than you believe. If we get the stone back, can we borrow it for awhile?" added Kairi.
"Sure. Oh, have any of you seen Meg?"
They shook their heads in their responds.
"Oh." Herc said disappointed.
"Felling under the weather?" A voice asked from behind Herc. Hercules felt a cold hand on his shoulders as Herc spun around to glare at Hades. "You know, I thought staying in perfect shape was part of the whole job description... you know what I'm saying."
Lightning walked up to God of the underworld saying, "Hades, we have to talk!"
Hades smirked while seeing Lighting. "Oh, look what we have here, a big pink lightning bug. Where's that fly swatter?" he joked.
"Lightning Bug, Looking we have to talk!" Lighting spat.
Hades rolled his eyes and turn from Lightning. Everyone entered a battle position. "I came to share a bit of mildly-interesting news. It seems that you're dear sweet Nutmeg." Hades says as Herc tried to punch Hades, but he poof away for him and reappeared behind him. "Went and got herself lost in the underworld"
"You mean you kidnap her!" he accused.
"Well, maybe…" he said in a causal tone. "But why get caught up in details."
Hercules whistled into the air and a white horse with large wings and a blue mane. This was Pegasus, Hercules' friend. Hercules was about to get on when Hades said, "You can't leave now, okay? You've got a very important match today, against the um… the blood thirsty Hydra! I mean, if you don't stick around, whom know what 'accidents' might happen."
"Yeah accidents you cause!" Hope yelled.
"Like I said; details who need them." Hades said.
"You're just a coward!" Herc yelled.
"Oh well." Hades says disappearing. "Can't all be heroes?"
Hercules sighed as Kairi placed a hand to his shoulders. "Can you handle this?" he said to Kairi.
"Of course, we're heroes!" Donald said, pointing to himself with pride.
Lighting whispered to Donald, "I thought you and your friends were junior heroes"
Donald looked to Lightning with the 'not you too' scowl on his face. Roxas looks to Hercules. "I'll stay and help Herc; you guys hurry after the organization and find Meg."
"Okay Roxas and we'll handle things until you've beaten the Hydra."
"Thanks Kairi." Hercules smiled to the red haired princess and walk to Pegasus. He patted the winged horse and said to it, "Gotta find Meg." Pegasus took flight and headed to the underworld. Kairi faced her friends.
"Right, let's go!" Kairi announced and with Roxas left to help Herc, the others headed to the underworld. Back inside the underworld's lobby, Kairi spotted Phil knocked out on the ground. Kairi and her friends rushed to help him. Kairi shook the goat awake and in Phil's dazed vision, he saw an outline of another face besides Kairi.
"Oh, my head." Phil groaned.
"What happen?" asked Kairi.
"Some weirdo came into the underworld a black coat and these white creatures just knocked me out." said Phil.
The organization and those white creatures were the nobodies." said Namine.
"Hey, Phil, what are you doing anyway?" asked Ventus.
"I was hoping to find more heroes so Hercules can take a break." Phil explained.
Kairi kneeled down to Phil. "We'll help Herc, right now we have to help Meg, all right. We may not true heroes, but it's our duty as Herc and Meg's friends to help them."
Phil chuckled. "Alright, good luck Kairi, all of you."
"Thanks." Kairi got up and looks to the others. The heroes to the large green on the left and entering deeper into the underworld, fighting the heartless and navigating the blinding fog. They ended into a third room with a slope overhead. Walking up the slope, Kairi and the heroes spotted the organization thief. When they walked closer, Lighting and Zack called out. "Stop right there!"
The organization member turned around and gasped. "You?"
The organization member pulled down the hood revealing a boy with a blond mullet with green eyes. He looked three to four years older than Kairi. "What a sec, Roxas?" he said looking to Ventus.
"Excuse me?" Ventus questioned.
"Roxas?" the mullet headed boy said bewildered. "Ah, it's not use."
"What are you talking about?" Ventus said even more confused.
"What are you doing here?" Namine said standing by for battle.
The mullet haired lad took out a card form his pocket. "Let's see now: 'If the subject fell to respond, use aggression to liberation their true disposition'… great, did they ever pick the wrong guy for this." He muttered the last words before placing it back in his pocket.
"You're bizarre…" Ven said.
The mullet boy took from his pocket a yellow medal… the Olympus stone.
"What?" said Zack.
"He's gotta be the thief!" Goofy said dramatically.
"Now thanks just plain rude!" He holds out the stone and shot it into the air. Gold light emitted from the stone as the light glowed around him. Kairi and others summoned their weapons as the mullet haired boy summoned a sitar shaped like the symbol of the nobodies. The boy cried out, "Dance, Water, Dance!" The boy played several notes on his sitar and water like clones of boy appeared.
(Cue Blinded by Light- FFXIII OST)
Donald attacked with thunder, zapping water clones until they evaporate. Light sliced the clones with her gunblade while Zack attacking with his sword. Hope tossed his boomerang, turning the clones into Music notes. Namine, Xion, and Ven grabbed the water notes and whipped them over their heads, hitting the rest. Kairi cast fire around herself and melted10 of the clones. 25 remained as Donald casted Blizzard and froze them as Goofy spun around, shattering them. One lone clone was left, finished by Ven's sonic blade. The mullet haired nobody stood catching his breath as he groaned, "Ah, Roxas, Xion, come back to us?" the mullet haired nobody disappearing into a corridor of darkness.
Ventus redraw his keyblade and placed his hands behind his head, sporting a grin on his face. "Whoever he was, guy's a broken record."
"Weird thought, he called Ven 'Roxas'. How come?" asked Lighting.
"Roxas and Xion were once members of organization XIII but they left because they wanted answers. Knowing the organization, they'll be after them." said Namine, thumbing hair.
"I see." Lighting nodded
"Hey!" Donald picked up the fallen Olympus stone and gives it to Kairi. Kairi held it above her head and like with the mullet haired boy, light shined around. Kairi could feel the cruse gone from her body.
"Let's go, Meg needs our help!" she announced as they entered the final room; the lock. The lock was a weird room. Torches were around the room, grey dead trees also a large stone with an engraving of Meg was glowing rainbow colors. What was behind the stone was a dark pillar. Kairi held out their keyblades and shot a beam at the stone's keyhole. The stone and dark pillar disappeared, leaving an entrance to an underground pit and where Meg is.
"Meg!" Donald yelled.
"Almost there." Kairi said softly.
Kairi and her friends stepped into the glowing light. They found themselves down in the underground pit, weapons blazing. Kairi' friends stood behind her as Kairi pointed her keyblade at Hades. The God of the underworld himself had Meg tied up in darkness like ropes. Hades chuckled a little. "Now that's what I call a key, not bad for a princess of heart." He clapped his hands together and says with a smile on his face. "Gee, thanks for the help. Now have a nice day." And with that, he disappeared into smoke. Meg looks at something and gasped, "Kairi, behind you!"
The heroes turned to see Pete laughing with Hook bats. "What's wrong can't fight in the underworld? Well, boo hoo hoo!" He taunted and laughed on. Kairi and the others readied themselves for battle. "Better think again, Captain Pete."
Pete grumbled for a second and says, "Charge!" And the heartless surrounded the heroes.
The battle was simple for them; protect Meg and beat the heartless. Lighting, Zack, and Hope keep Meg safe while Kairi and the other fought the heartless and Pete. The Hook bats were easy to knock away, even using one to bash the others. Kairi attacked Pete, who countered with his punches and slammed his fists to the ground, creating shockwaves which knocked Kairi back. Kairi attacked with her keyblade and repeated the process over again. Time passed as Kairi knocked a few Hook bats back but more appeared next to Pete.
"There's too many." Kairi said.
"Let's go!" Donald replied.
Lighting used her gunblade to break Meg's bindings as Hook bats knocked into Pete. Hercules appeared with Roxas covering the rear.
"Sorry we're later." Hercules apologized.
Pete got back up but was stomped on the head by Pegasus flying in, knocking the former captain out. Hercules helped Meg on Pegasus as he says to the others, "Hurry and take Meg back to the coliseum, and I'll meet you there."
"What about you?" Zack asked.
"I'm going to show these guys what happens when they mess with a true hero." Hercules said, flexing his arms with pride. Kairi and the others entered back through the light, leaving Herc to battle Pete and the heartless. Back at the lock, Meg said, "Kairi, I won't leave him."
"He'll be okay." Kairi assured.
"Look even Herc has his limit; he won't last very long." Meg replied.
"Then we'll back him up."Kairi reassured.
Donald pointed at the winged horse's face. "Get Meg out of here!"
Pegasus obeyed and took flight. Back at the underground pit, Pete was accompanied by not only hook bats, but new heartless called Trick Ghost. Hercules was tired from thee battle with the Hydra that he was close to collapse. Kairi stood next to the demy-god as Herc looked down to her. The two nodded as they were ready to finish this
(Cue Rowdy Rumble—KH2 OST)
AS they were ready to fight, Namine called out, "Kai, Herc, let's get this done quick. This whole place will collapse."
"Right!" they said.
Like before, the keyblade wielders, Zack, lighting, and Hope handled the heartless where as Kairi and Hercules took on Pete. Pete throws bombs at the two warriors as Kairi was knocked back into the air. Kairi recovered as Hercules glowed.
"Kairi, over here!" he commanded.
Pete throws more bomb as Hercules holds up a gold Aura shield surround the keyblade wielder and the demy-god. Herc thrust his sword away as the barrier was gone. Kairi jumped into the air and used aerial swings with her keyblade, but Pete put up his own barrier and taunted, "You lunkhead, Pete's invincible."
Kairi had an idea. Jumping above Pete, she called out, "Hey Pete, what happens to a ball in a pinball machine?"
Kairi placed the tip on her keyblade to the barrier, lining it up with Hercules. With one swing, Pete went rolling to Hercules, who with one punch, shattered the barrier and defeated Pete. Kairi landed back to the ground with a smile on her face. "It tilts."
Pete stood up from the battle and says, "This isn't over. I beat you mugs next time." Pete took off and it was time for them to leave to leave too. When they left the pit, Hades appeared. Hades was happy. He didn't care that Kairi and Hercules saved Meg; his big plan was all coming together.
"Could this day get any better?"
Back at the underworld entrance, the heroes panted in relief of saving Meg and stopping Pete. And just when you think the trouble was over, Hades appeared behind them.
"Well if it isn't the hero wash out. You really blew now."
Kairi, Herc, and the others turned to see Hades. Kairi retorted, saying, "Nobody likes a sore loser, Hades."
"Can it, Princess." Hades said coolly.
"Then let me." Herc walked in front of Kairi and says, "Nobody likes a sore loser, Hades."
Hades looked away and replied, "Yeah, yeah, Styx and stones. Btw, you should have finished that Hydra that you've negated to finish off earlier; things are FALLLING apart up there, champ."
"What?" everyone yelled.
Hades disappeared calling out, "Hate to run, but I have another diversion to attended" as Hercules had a hurt look on his face. Entering back to the coliseum, Phil, Meg, and the heroes saw the coliseum destroyed and the Hydra alive. Everything, even the leader boards was knocked around and destroyed. The only one who was most hurt was Hercules.
"I failed." he said
"It's not your fault." Meg said.
"I've let everyone down. I blow it, Hades was right; I'm just a wash-out." he cried out, slamming his fist to the ground.
"Champ…" Phil said at once.
"Wonder boy…" Meg said softly.
Hercules was ready to give up, ready to not call himself a hero, when someone spoke up from the party, "No!"
Everyone look to see Lighting clutch her fists in anger and stares at the demy-god, her aqua-colored eyes piercing Herc's heart. "Don't let Hades win. You just can't! You made a mistake, all heroes do. Don't give up because of this. Hercules, don't you want to be a hero, to join you father once more, than proof it and never let a scumbag like Hades get to you!"
Those words sank deep as Hercules stood up, ready to fight. For the first time since Kairi as met her, she saw a smile on Lighting's face. Everyone, even Meg, Phil, and Pegasus were ready to fight. The Hydra roared, meaning it was time to end this.
The Hydra swept its tail on the ground, causing everyone to fly into the air. Kairi, Zack, Lightning, and the other sword users attack the heads midair before coming back to the ground. The Hydra lowered its head as blue flames appeared. Hope stopped to throw his boomerang, Donald to cast thunder, and Goofy to bash with his shield. Ven throws his keyblade and it went around in a circle, before returning to his hands. Lighting changed her gun to a rifle and shot at the Hydra's head as the beast was stone still.
"Kairi!" Herc called out.
Kairi ran to Hercules as the demy-god Took Kairi by her hand and with one spin (keyblade and all) cuts the Hydra's head off. The neck of the Hydra sunk into the ground as three more heads popped up from the ground.
"Hey Kairi, get up on the Hydra's back!" Phil called out.
Kairi took Phil's advice and jumped onto the Hydra's back. Suddenly, Phil throws an urn at Kairi as the princess slams the urn into the beast's back. The three heads were knocked as Kairi ordered. "Donald, Ventus, Goofy, Hope, take the head on the right. Lightning, Namine, Zack, Xion, Roxas, take the one on the left. Hercules, we'll take the middle."
Everyone obeyed and took on the head they were commanded to kill. Hope's side vanquishes the right, Roxas' side vanquished the left as Kairi and Hercules vanquished the middle. But the battle was not over. The neck of the Hydra rose from the ground, revealing the beast with seven heads! The seven heads slammed to the ground, creating shockwaves sending everyone except Lightning and Kairi. Just then, Pegasus swooped down and saved the two girls as they rode the winged horse to the heads. As Pegasus got them closer to each head, they swung their blades at each head. As the seventh draw near, Kairi jumped to attack it but was swallowed by the Hydra. Lighting gasped and scream for Kairi's name. Everyone screamed too, believing that their friend was gone for good. Then the most incredible thing happened. The Hydra's started to glow as a huge fireball was launched from the stomach. The Hydra killed over and died. It could grow its heads back, but not its body. Kairi appeared from the blast, wiping herself off the blood and stomach juices. Her loyal friends all ran to hug their friend, happy to see her alive.
With the Hydra cleaned out, Hercules picked up a piece of the coliseum and looks to his friends, "It may take time, but this place will be good as new."
"That's a shame; there won't be any games for awhile." Goofy noted.
"It'll be alright. Like Meg said, I need a break. I still have awhile to become a true hero, but I must remember to never give up." Hercules said.
"That's the Herc we know." Zack said with a smile on his face.
"And another thing, Lightning, thanks" Hercules added.
"You're welcome, Hercules." Lightning said; that smile from before back again.
"Don't worry about Wonder boy, I'll look after him. Kairi… Lightning… Hope… Zack… Xion… Donald… Namine… Roxas… Goofy… I own you big time."
"Don't mention it; just give us a word if Hades and the heartless started acting up."
"Yeah, that's what heroes are for!" Zack said.
"When did you ten turn heroes?" she asked curiously.
"That's a story for another time." Kairi replied.
"Phil…" Donald said.
"Oh, come back real soon. have some serious training to do." Phil said.
Before they could go, Kairi handed back the Olympus stone to Herc, which revealed the new gate for them to open. Using their keyblades, they opened it like before. As they walked away, Kairi spoke with Ventus, Zack, Lightning, and Hope.
"Ven, you're up to find Terra and Aqua, it's my job to help you three." Kairi explained.
"I'm game to help. You're really good Kairi, that fire spell was impressive."
"The weird part was, I don't know where I learned that" Kairi said, scratching her head.
"Hard to say, your magic reminds me of Aqua and she was a pro. Kairi, do you know a girl named Aerith?" Zack added.
"Yes." she replied.
"Tell her Zack is still going to be a hero." Zack said as he began doing squats.
"Will do." She said and looks to Lightning and Hope. "Going to keep looking around for Serah and Snow?"
"Yup and we'll help Herc rebuild this place," said Hope.
Lightning walked closer to Kairi. "You and I are very alike. We fight for the ones we call our family. Let's both do our best to bring them home." Lightning held out a hand and Kairi shakes it. With everything, Kairi, her team, and Ventus took off to find Terra, Aqua, Sora, and Riku.
Michael: End longest chapter I ever written. Wow. So Zack is alive and still wants to be a hero, Light and Hope are still looking for Serah and Snow and Hercules is not an emo. If you ever read Pokémon: Keyblade Masters, I got the idea there. It's a great Fanfic and I recommended it. Kairi getting eaten was from the movie Hercules and that spell she used, write in the reviews box on what that spell was. Now next is Land of Dragons and It'll be longer because of it being close to the movie. Please review. And for how bad the fights may be
