Author note: Please review after you read, they make me happy. Also for the contest of Corey's new outfit, I think I didn't execute it properly. After all, everyone who has submitted an entry did it for everyone but Corey. That wasn't the point of it. So does that mean everyone likes Corey's outfit? Also I am not the best with writing fighting scenes and the likes, so please forgive me.
Chapter 10: Don't Step in the Leadership!
"Let's go!" Corey ordered and almost everyone followed.
"Stop! We can't!" Thomas shouted out to them with much sorrow in his voice.
"What the hell is your problem?" Courtney asked him.
"Remember, we were strictly told to not get involved with events in other worlds," he reminded them. They all looked down and realized that he was right in some weird way.
"That ship has long sailed," Manikha told him.
"Well we do have to stay out though," Rachel commented. It was as a divine intervention kicked in, as a loud and long scream was head coming out of an entrance to a cave.
"Well, I guess doing the complete opposite won't hurt," Thomas sighed as his gentlemanly duties kicked in. Everyone smiled at his words and ran towards the entrance to go save Meg. They rushed in and saw that it was dark with an eerie glow that filled the room. There was a giant lake that started in the center and stretch far back to the point where no once could see where it ended. The surface they stood on was flat ground that was surrounded by jagged rocks. A few feet ahead of them stood a desk and a blackboard with strange writing on it. On either side of the out of place objects, was a path that lead up to a dark entrance. Behind the desk was a small, two person, row boat, and behind that was some black rock, dome shape building.
"So this is the underworld?" Corey commented.
"Strange," the spiky headed kid mentioned.
"I always expected a lot of fire," the pink fiend added.
"Isn't there suppose to be different levels?" the hot headed woman asked aloud.
"You're thinking of a worse place," Courtney told her. They didn't have much time to take in and 'enjoy' the scenery, considering that hundreds of bats soon filled the area.
"Bats are usually harmless, so they won't attack us, unless," Corey started as the bats lowered themselves to the group.
"Unless they're heartless," Manikha finished Corey's sentence as she was being bitten by a bat in the shoulder.
"That should take care of that," the blond-tipped girl said as she released a small discharge of lighting.
"Thanks," Pinky said as a heart floated into the sky.
"Well guys, let's take care of them," Corey ordered as they all drew their keyblades. The bats dived down from the air. The gang started to hack and slash to protect themselves from the oncoming onslaught.
…
"What do you want with me Hades?" Meg shouted her question at him. She grabbed the bars of her cage that hung above a glowing pool of green water. A soft moan could be heard coming form the waves that crashed upon the rocks. On the other side of the room was a single chair, a throne if you would. In front was a table with a chess board and several strangely shaped figures on top of it. One could only guess it was Hercules, the keybladers, and Hades own creatures. Not far from these two things, was a small pool like cauldron that rose from the ground. It was also filled with the strange green water with five dolls standing next to it.
"I just require your assistance, that is all," he told her with much aloofness as possible.
"Like I would help you," she sneered.
"Like you have a choice," he sneered just as hard back.
"Those kids will stop you," Meg whispered under her breath, but made it loud enough to make sure that Hades' ears caught a muffled sounds.
"What was that!" he shouted as his hair turned red. In a puff of black smoke he appeared in front of the cage.
"Don't mind little ol' me," Meg softened her voice and started to fan herself.
"Well then I shall be going," he told her in a confused manner.
"Wait," she called out to him as he turned back to face her. "You know, I always admire your plans," she flirted as her fingers walked up his chest and bopped his nose. Hades' blue skin went to a soft pink. Meg knew she had him right where she wanted.
"Well it's simple my dear," he started as he rushed back to his chest board. "You see, I keep sending creature after creature to fight Hercules non stop. Keep in mind that each one is stronger than the next. He keeps on fighting them, and he gets weaker as well. As for the kids, they are not used to this environment, so on their way here, it'll take its toll on them and they'll be weaker when they get her. Since they both want you, I'll throw them in the arena with Hercules along with you. Although Missy, you won't have your freedom. Your life will be in so much danger that they will fight to the death to save you. It will allow me to eliminate all threats against me," he monologued.
"You're disgusting," Meg gaged.
"Thank you, your too kind. Be nice, after all, you're the stone I need to kill the two annoying little birdies," the flamer laughed.
…
"What the," Corey gasped as he and his fellow teammates fell to the ground below them.
"I don't feel too good," Rachel panted.
"I want to die," Manikha cried.
"On the bright side, all the heartless are gone," Courtney reassured them.
"At what cost?" Thomas wondered. They lied there motionless for a couple of seconds before slowly sitting up. "I believe that the underworld is slowing sapping our strength away," he explained as he slowly regained his composure.
"Do you think our bodies will get used to it?" the bright girl asked.
"Hard to say," the red-head answered her.
"So what is the plan?" the other woman questioned.
"Well it would seem that we have to save up our strength to use it when we need to," the spiky head told them as he soon stood up. "It seems that my body is adjusted now."
"Mine too," Manikha said as she and the other got up as well.
"As I asked before, what is the plan?" Courtney asked expecting to be answered.
"Well we need to get to Hades to give Hercules a break and to probably rescue Meg," their leader started.
"That is a given," Rachel told him.
"Although, if Hercules need a break, we should probably go to the coliseum and lend him a hand," Corey continued.
"So are you suggesting we split up?" Rachel wondered.
"That seems to be the only option we have," he responded with some confusion in his voice.
"Come on Manikha let's go," Thomas commanded as he started to head towards the boat.
"What a drag," she commented.
"Where are you going?" the dirty haired boy questioned them.
"You said we were going to split up," Thomas said with an innocent smile.
"And we already figured out how you were going to split us up," Manikha continued with the thought.
"So we thought that we would save you the trouble of speaking," Thomas finished as they climbed into the row boat.
"Wait," the leader called out, "that's not how I was..."
"Save it," the pink girl told him.
"It's okay, we're going," the spiky hair kid sighed as they started to row towards the building in the middle of the lake.
"So they're right about how you were going to split us up, aren't they?" Rachel jokingly asked.
"It was, but they didn't have to act that way," Corey sighed.
"Whatever, we should probably just continue on with what we were doing," Courtney informed them. They started to run down the path on the right that led to a giant set of double doors.
Team Corey, which is comprised of Corey, Rachel, and Courtney, rushed through the doors and entered a strange room. There green water, flowed like a river through it on one side, while a rocky path followed right next to it. There were jagged rocks that stuck out of the ground right next to the river.
"So I guess all we have to do is follow this path to get to Hades' chamber," Corey told them.
"This seems easy," Rachel smiled. "Too easy."
"Move out of the way!" Courtney yelled as she jump to her side. Corey saw a blue glow and jump out of the way. Rachel was confused by what was happened. A shining blue orb landed near Rachel's feet causing an explosion and for her to fall over.
"What just happened?" Rachel asked struggling to get up.
"We were attacked," Corey told her as he quickly rose to his feet.
"You mean were being attacked!" Courtney commented as more blue orbs were flying towards them.
"I can't get up," Rachel cried which got the other two's attention. They noticed that Rachel's feet were planted in the ground by a block of ice. The orbs flew past them and exploded on impact. They turned to see the damage the attacks caused and saw blocks of ice were the attacks have landed.
"Ice," echoed through everyone's mind. Slowly they turned their head to see the attackers, and there they were, more heartless. Although, these seem more colorful than the ones that they have encountered before. They had bright orange hats, almost like the ones that are put on scare crows, or like a witches hat, maybe like a black mage one. They had black spheres for heads with two glowing yellow eyes, and a dark blue cloak. They were small,and floated in mid-air, so it seems that these foes will not be so easy to take on.
"I count about a hundred of you scumbags, and I'll take each and everyone of you on," Courtney told them with excitement in her voice.
…
"Hurry up!" Thomas shouted at Manikha as he was rushing towards the door. Manikha had trouble standing up in the row boat which made it hard for her to get out.
"What are we doing here again?" she asked as she finally escaped. He ignored the question and rushed into the door. Manikha was right behind him. When the entered they were a bit terrified at what they saw. At one end of the stadium was Hercules, holding a sword and pointing at his opponent. The battle must not be going as planned, after all, he was pinned against the wall. Facing him, was a huge dragon body, with five different colored heads (the necks are included) emerging and smelling Hercules from a few feet away. Thomas drew out his blade.
"Come on Manikha, we have to help him," he mentioned.
"Fine," she sighed. She drew out her blade, which took a few seconds to manifest. It seems that she either didn't want to fight, or was too scared to. With a heavy sigh she jumped into the air. Somehow the laws of physics didn't apply to her as she flew into the air and headed towards the dragon hydra knock off creature.
"Wait!" Hercules and Thomas both cried out at the same time.
With a powerful swing, she sliced off the blue dragon length and sent it crashing to the floor.
"That was easier than I thought," she commented with a smirk on her face. The remaining dragon heads screeched as the rose back into the air.
"Why did you do that?' Hercules asked her with a bit of anger hinted in his voice.
"Yeah Manikha, there was probably a reason why he didn't slash off its heads," the spiky headed kid told her.
"What makes you say that?" she questioned Thomas' motives. All he did was point in the area behind them. There, laid about a dozen severed heads that all seemed to come from the dragon.
"It is able to regenerate its missing heads if it needs to," the hero informed them.
"I screwed up didn't I?" she wondered but knew the answer. The dragon roared as a new head shot up from the area that had just been attacked.
…
"There not many left," Corey informed his team as he was hacking through a few more. Light blues orbs still flew threw the air, but this time, it was at a faster rate.
"This blows," Courtney cried out as she was hit by one of the attacks.
"At least you are not spending the battle stuck to the floor." Courtney looked to see what she was talking about. Rachel's feet weren't the only things covered by ice. In fact, both of her arms were now frozen to the ground. Courtney sighed, at least she was better off than Rachel. Sure she was frozen from the waist down, but if any enemy floated past her, she could still do some serious damage.
"A little help here Corey!" the both cried out to him. He turned to see what their problem was, but what he saw was his friends covered in ice. This time, it was Corey's turn to sigh. He put his hands together. They were glowing bright red as he pushed them forward. He shot two fire balls, one at each of his friends, freeing them from their icy prison.
"Now that I'm free, time to get my revenge," Courtney evilly smirked. She retrieved her keyblade off the floor and put it in her hand.
"Corey, I think we should get out of here," Rachel told him.
"Good idea," he agreed with her as they both distance themselves from the threat that is Courtney. A strange yellow glow surrounded Courtney. The heartless seemed to slowly inch back. She raised her keyblade and pointed it to the ceiling. In a flash of lightning, she was on the other side of the room with her arm and keyblade as far as possible from her body. A second pasted before each heartless was hit with a slash and destroyed.
"How many hits did you get in?" Corey asked as he rushed over, ignoring the hearts floating into the sky.
"There were only twenty-three left, so about that much," she figured.
"Really?" Rachel questioned, "I only saw eight."
"Well I'm afraid your eyesight is better than mine, I only saw the flashes of light," their leader confessed. Courtney shook her head and walked off.
"Way to keep them guessing," Rachel approved as she and Corey caught up with their friend.
"Well, we should probably make sure we conserve our strength until we need it," Corey instructed them.
…
"Watch out!" the hero announced as he grabbed Manikha. They managed to jump out of the way just as three heads went in for the kill.
"You've got to be careful!" Thomas shouted at her.
"You're telling me," she sighed as Hercules put her on her feet.
"What do we do? If we slice off the heads they grow back, but if we don't stop it now, it will kill us now," the hero went over in his head.
"Poor Hercules, he must be dead tired," Manikha thought to herself. "Just looking at the bags under his eyes makes me feel bad." The dragon raised all of it's heads as high as it could get them. It pointed them where they all would face the same way, almost like it was planning something by itself.
"There must be a way to stop it from regenerating its missing limbs," they all thought at the same time.
"Hey Hercules!" Thomas called out, after all, they were on opposite sides of the room.
"What do you want kid? I'm thinking right now!" he responded.
"What if we just impale it? Wouldn't that stop it regrowing its heads?" Thomas shared his thought with them.
"How would we do that?" Manikha asked.
"She's right to ask; there's nothing here to impale with," he told the male.
"As long as you can bring the heads to lay right on the ground, you can leave the rest to me," the spiky hair kid explained, then winked at the end of the sentence.
"I see what he is getting at," Manikha understood.
"What is going on? Am I missing something?" the red head inquired.
"Not now, let's just do what he said. After all, it's the only plan we have," she smiled at him.
Manikha jumped from the conversation and rushed towards the dragon. The heads were still plotting so they didn't pay attention to her. Who could blame them. She used her keyblade and repeatedly slash it across the knee, which apparently, still did nothing.
"Even useless as a distraction," Thomas sighed in his head.
"Hey ugly! Dinner is down here!" she shouted at the beast. With a sneer of its nose, the yellow head lowered itself down so Manikha was eye level. She prepared to defend herself if necessary. It opened up it's big mouth, about to eat her.
"Get out of the way!" Hercules commanded as he fell from the sky. She managed to jump out of the way just in time. Hercules acted like a spear as he shot himself at the yellow head. He managed to crash it to the ground, leaving a small crater.
"Now it's your turn to get out of the way!" Thomas shouted from the top of the dome. He pointed his keyblade at the dragon. Hercules looked up and could barely make out the boy or his blade which had an orange aura around it. "Terra Impalement!" he called out. A small rumble could be felt from underneath the fiend. Then out of the ground, five huge pointed rocks shot out and stabbed through the head. A green liquid leaked out and it seemed to have the same ominous glow as the lake. The other four heads roared and prepared to attack Hercules.
"Think you can handle four at once Mr. Hero?" Manikha questioned as she slowly inched away from the raging beast.
"Leave it to me!" he boasted. "Just make sure your friend does the impaling fast enough."
"Don't worry about him," she told him as she left the battle completely. The hero looked over at her and saw that she was safe. He smirked as he turned to face the beast. (Okay, let's do a complete run down on the dragon. This is something I should have done earlier, but I figured now is as good a time as any. The dragon has two legs, which it stands on. A long tail with a huge body. The whole dragon is black with a dark gray underbelly/chest. It has five heads, each a different color. In order from the far left to the far right is: Red, green, white (leading one), yellow and blue. At first each head was suppose to have a different abilities but that was removed.) First was the blue head to attack. He jumped out of the way and landed on the head. As it raised itself to meet the others, it looked around searching for the enemy that was just in front of it. Hercules jumped and grabbed the head by its whiskers. While free falling, he brought the head down. Just as he released, spikes emerged from the ground impaling the second head. With a couple of it's heads stuck in the ground, the others had to lower themselves so it wouldn't be too much of a strain. The fatigue in the hero was showing as it was hard for him to continue. He was running up the dragon's tail, keeping out of sight from the other heads.
"We have to end this soon, I don't think Hercules would last much longer," Thomas was thinking as the rock he was standing on started to crumble. The hero, now at the space in between the red and green head.
"Come on, just a little bit more," Manikha gasped as Hercules was about to give out. The hero jump and grabbed the two heads by the whiskers as well. Sure it was repetitive, but you can't argue with what works. As he pulled them to the ground, his hands slipped, letting the heads free. Thomas had to react fast in order to impale the newly brought down heads. As they were pierced, the green liquid started to pour down the necks. The hero fell down to his hands and knees and started to pant. He wasn't able to keep this up. The final head saw an opening and took it. The head lunged itself at the fresh piece of meat that was presenting itself. With one swipe of her blade, Manikha managed to guide the head away from Hercules. Manikha dismissed her keyblade and grabbed the tired hero. The head launched it self again and Manikha barely managed to get out of its way.
"You're much heavier than you look," she complained in a joking manner.
"I could say the same about you," he yawned back at her. Spikes, much larger than the ones before came out of the ground and pierced the last head. Using this moment, Thomas jumped off the rock he was standing on just as it crumbled beneath him. He maneuvered himself so he could get right above the fallen beast. He figured he should fully destroy it now before it gets its second wind. He threw his blade with what remaining strength he had left.
"Hit the mark!" was all that he could shout that would fit the moment. It landed in the middle of the dragon, causing it to explode upon impact. Green water and slime splashed all across the stadium. Hercules caught Thomas right before he hit the ground.
"You really do put the glad in gladiator don't you Hercules?" Thomas cheerfully smiled as he was carefully put on the ground. Hercules sat down on the ground trying to catch his breath.
"As long as that battle doesn't get replicated," Manikha went along.
"Is he strong?" Thomas asked with a songful tone.
"There's no one braver," was the response she gave.
"Is he sweet?" the song continued.
"Our favorite flavor," she answered.
"Where did you hear that song?" the hero asked. A second later, his eyes closed and fell backwards.
"Idiot. Get some rest. Whatever comes along next, we will take care of it," Thomas reassured the sleeping hero.
"I guess Meg got what she wanted in a weird way," Manikha commented.
Preview for chapter eleven:
The only way to free the capture Meg and to keep Hades entertained is with a tournament. This chapter was suppose to be the set up, but I dragged it on too long.