Nelaxanthi: So… What? One World got destroyed and the other two we were chased from?
Xirama: It's not fun to be shot at, you know…
Me: I know, I know. But still, at least I'm updating! And I'm being distracted less by Pokefarm…
Navex: Pokemon? Really?
Navix: Hey, Pokemon is cool!
Me: Cool or not, it's an addictive site…
Marluxia: Anyway lovelies, enjoy the chapter! And good luck Hawk with the large conversations.
Me: Yay, just my luck. A big conversation and an action scene in the same chapter. This is not my day… Although there is, finally, some plot development...
The three Dark Corridors opened almost simultaneously in the Olympus Coliseum's equivalent of a hypogeum, three figures falling out in all directions from one, three running out of another and tripping over one of the fallen figures, and four just simply walking out of theirs, avoiding the pile.
"I'm guessing no luck all around?" Axel asked from the bottom of the pile, squashed against the floor by the three Nobodies who had fallen on top of him.
"Not on our side." Zexion answered.
"Yeah, just two monsters with ridiculous powers." Nelaxathi added.
"That's funny, we got one too…" Xirama told the as she picked herself up, brushing the sand off of her coat before moving to help Navix.
"We did too." Marluxia said, his voice flowery.
"Marluxia, you could you please get off of us?" Cloudx said through clenched teeth, tapping his foot on air impatiently.
"Well, that at least cuts off one World…" Noxcorn muttered, letting Uxye pull him up awkwardly once Marluxia had moved. "But now what?"
"Well, how do you like that? Those little squirts were right all along!" The ten Nobodies span, automatically moving to form a circle to guard themselves. "Uh, excuse me? I'm behind you." They span back around, right in time to see Hades, ruler of the Underworld, standing there, watching them.
"Who are you?"
"You again!" Xirama yelled at the same time as Noxcorn, earning a slightly puzzled look from two of the newer members of the Organization.
"What can I say, I have millions of lives. True, I stole most of them, but that's beside the point." He added with a smirk. "Right now, all that matters I helping along those old friends of yours."
"Wait, what old friends?" Axel asked, summoning his chakrams.
"Oh, that little spoiler will have to wait until tomorrow. After all, you are an important part of this game here…." Hades said, smirking. "But you may find out before then. But until that, ta ta!" And with that, he disappeared, leaving the group trapped in the hypogeum until the morning came around, and they would fight whatever disaster Hades had prepared.
"Well, this was a good plan…" A figure muttered, watching the ten Nobodies locked in the hypogeum, smirking to himself as he lounged on his very own throne. "If I do say so myself, at least." He stretched. "Man, it's good to have a real personality again." He added, stretching. "Anyway, you two know where you have to be, don't you?" He asked two figures, near impossible to see in the darkness of the room. They nodded.
"Yes sir." They said in union, bowing, before leaving backwards, not turning their back on their master.
The person on the throne chuckled, the sound dark, and disturbing. "Who needs those Kishin Eggs when you have such wonderful workers just dying to do your bidding? Makes me wonder why I kept them around for so long, to be honest…"
The sun didn't find much of an appearance in the hypogeum, so the first notice they got that the games were about to begin were the trumpets and other instruments of the Muses as they announced the opening of the gates for the celebration. Which was loud. It pretty much had to be, to be fair though. After all, it had to be heard all the way to the bottom of Mount Olympus, which is a tall mountain by any standard.
"Good morning do-gooders!" Hades sang, appearing before them all. "Just so you guys know, I'm rooting for you all!"
"Yeah, rooting for us to lose I'll bet…" Axel muttered, glaring at the god.
"Ah ah! Now don't be rude. You are the main attraction of these games! I'd hate to see any of you be force to drop out…"
"You mean you've been paid to keep us alive for this fight then?" Navix interjected, grinning slightly at the fact that he'd figured out the threat.
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, you guys just go out there and save the world like you normally do, all right? After all, you are all friends of that stupid Keyblade Kid Sora…" He muttered something about a grudge and alliteration, and then looked back up at them. "What's the matter?"
"We… Don't know any Sora…" Noxcorn said, staring at the god with an unwavering look.
"Really? You don't?" He looked puzzled, and was about to say something when the trumpets blared again and the gates cranked open.
"Well, it looks like we'll just have to take on what comes our way." Navex sighed as the group collectively summoned their weapons and headed out into the arena.
"Introducing, The Masters of the Inbetween!" The announcer called, and the crowd cheered as the ten walked in, obviously knowing what was about to happen.
"Wonder who we're going up against…" Xirama whispered to Axel as the ten of them took up a defensive stance.
"And now, we have the god of death himself! Introducing the man himself, Thanatos!"
There was a pause as silence fell over the Coliseum.
"Where is he?" The commentator yelled as the crowds looked unanimously confused.
"Whoopsie!" Came a voice out of nowhere. "Sorry guys, I forgot to set my alarm! I'm going to be a little late!" The voice was male, and reminded them all of Marluxia.
"A little warning next time…" The commentator muttered, before some muttering was heard. After a minute or two, he made another announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen! While we wait for Thanatos to arrive, how would you guys like an exhibition match between Hercules and Faint Attack?" The crowd roared in approval, and there was a sigh of relief.
In the middle of the hubbub, a cloud of smoke suddenly appeared in the middle of the arena. "Helloooo, Thebes!" Hades called as he materialized, sounding like a sports commentator. "Man, you gotta love omnipotence!"
"What are you doing here?" Noxcorn asked, glaring at the god as he appeared again.
"And I thought you wanted us dead!" Nelaxathi added, joining in with the glaring that by now all ten of the Nobodies were part of.
"Yeah, well… That's sorta changed…" He rubbed the back of his neck, looking a little embarrassed. "Hey, I believe you when you say you've never heard of Sora. It's just that…" He mumbled something under his breath.
"Speak up or strike out." Axel said, Noxcorn pointing his bazooka towards Hades.
"Well… I might have lent some people who want to kill you the temporary use of two of the Titans…" Hades shrugged. "I thought it was overkill, there were ten of them after all. And all with the same uniform…" He was interrupted by Navix.
"The same uniform as us? And there were ten of them?" Realization suddenly hit the Nobodies.
"Well, I see we managed to give ourselves some time by delaying Thanatos." They heard above them making them all turn to the sky. With the sun directly in the middle of them stood the two Titans, one made of magma, the other ice.
"Good thing as well. Now we have more time to beat the ten of you up." There were two figures on the shoulders of each Titan, or at least hovering over them somehow. There was a pause, before they all leaped down, falling what must have been several hundred feet before being caught by the wind seconds before impact, landing gently on the ground instead.
"Well, nice new outfits." Hades commented.
The uniforms were different. While the two shorter, female people wore short red jackets that barely reached their waist, thigh-length black shorts, black tights and a black top of indefinable type, the taller, male two wore long, sleek black jeans, a black shirt and a longer red coat, almost reaching their knees.
"Caixsa?" Navix asked, lowering the harp he'd summoned in preparation for attack, staring at his crush.
"Tira?" Marluxia did the same, watching the girl he loved, wondering why she had left.
"Where are the others?" Noxcorn demanded, looking straight at the four.
The other girl ignored him. "I take it Vexen used the WTF to stop us from getting to other worlds?" She asked. Noxcorn nodded, frowning.
"Haxisal." Caixsa said, his voice dark as a slight mist began to form around the floor of the coliseum.
"What?" She replied, her short hair flying out as she span to him.
"We already knew that, remember. The Master's ordered us not to give away any information." Caixsa replied.
"Of course." Haxisal said, glaring.
Tiraxcovi took over. "We're not here to help you. Just to warn you now. Stop here, and our Master won't have to destroy you. And neither will we."
"You seem to have forgotten that there are ten of us and four of you." Axel pointed out, drawing the others into their battle positions.
"Well, I guess it's a good thing we brought along these guys." Tiraxcovi said. "Haxisal, Caixsa. Have fun!" She sounded slightly giddy. She and Jinxabnem stepped aside as the two Nobodies The Skeletal Queen had selected stood between the two Titans that were looming above them, one a gel-like mass of lava and the other an icy skeleton. The two looked up at them, and then Haxisal waved a hand as if slapping something, and the Ice Titan flew across the arena. Even it looked shocked as it fell into the Fire Titan, seeming to melt.
Caixsa waited a few seconds, then dismissed his Naginata and raised his clenched fist, a tempest of almost purple clouds forming around the coliseum, twisting into a spiral as something formed in the centre, directly above the Fire Titan's head… thing… body… whatever. Suddenly Caixsa spread out his fingers, and the clouds suddenly parted, and the huge sphere of water that had formed in the centre crashed down, smashing the Fire Titan flat and cooling it, making the lava solidify. Soon, it was just a flat statue.
"My brothers!" Hades cried, vanishing in a puff of smoke.
"What… was that…?" Xirama asked, awestruck.
"'That', was just a taste of our new power." Haxisal said as Caixsa flexed his hand.
Tiraxcovi giggled. "Now, see you later!" The mist that had formed along the floor suddenly rose, hiding them for a few seconds. When it faded, they were gone.
"Well, it seems that we found them." Zexion said, all of them still looking at the place they had been.
"So, what now?" At Uxye's comment, they all turned to Noxcorn, who looked like he was shaking, his eyes uncertain. He blinked at it was gone.
"We keep looking." He finally said, a grim look on his face. "And if we have to, we'll take them out." He looked calm, but they all noticed how white his hand was around the handle of his bazooka, which was quickly dismissed. "For now, we RTC and get some sleep, and find out how they got into this World in the first place."
There were no disagreements.
Me: I just realized, Magmoos and Snowmen look like mini versions of the Fire and Ice Titans.
Zexion: Only just now…
Me: Yeah.
Nelaxathi: Come again?
Cloudx: Some of the Underworld creatures from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Uxye: Safe to blame that for delay.
Navix: … I think that's the most I've ever heard you say…
Me: Anyway, before this escalates into an argument, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I took a different spin on it than I initially planned, but I still think it worked pretty well… Those of you who want to find out who the Master is, you'll have to wait and see.
Xirama: No! Pyrron's the best god!
Me: And there we go again…