It was near sundown when they reached the Coliseum. The space ship landed right at the base of Mount Olympus in an abandoned part of town near Thebes. After everyone gathered outside, Reno stood on the stone steps emptying out from the path to the mountain and grabbed a megaphone in his hand. Then, after readjusting the volume and getting everyone's attention, he divided everyone into their ticket types: Princess, Plebeian, Peasant, Pauper, and Pirate. When Sora was called to the Pauper group, he walked over with a smile and his hands crossed over the back of his head. There was the crew he had worked with on the ship journey: Rose, Olette, Rai, Pence, Sota, Nao, Hayner, and Beat. Then there were Wakka and Riku. As Sora glanced around at the entirety of the summer program's eighty applicants, he grinned. Most of the faces he recognized from lunch in the mess hall. Others, like a winged boy with a massive blade and hood and a girl in red boots and a black leather miniskirt, were strange to him. When Sora looked past them both, his brows furrowed.
Five figures in black pantsuits approached from the road ahead. When they reached Reno's side, they whispered in his ear. Then, wordlessly, they began sorting through the eighty applicants. When Sora was herded into his own group of twenty, a woman with auburn hair and brown eyes directed them towards the Northern edge of Thebes and pointed to the sea.
"That is where the Pauper lodgings are," she explained. "Your hostel is a seaside shack arrangement along the shore of the Aegean Sea. Salt and sand get in everything, so take care of any electronics you bring with you and make sure you don't mind your clothes being starched and bleached by the sodium chloride!" Then the woman talked about the suggested route from the shacks to Olympus Coliseum, which was perched precariously atop the peak of Mount Olympus, a dormant volcano near the coast.
"You will be coming to Olympus from behind the volcano, while everyone else will be coming to Olympus from ahead or astride the volcano."
"Where are the princesses staying?" asked Hayner. Pence and Olette stifled snickers beside him. Their guide narrowed her eyes, but smiled and responded, "they are staying in a seaside resort South of Mount Olympus.
"So beside us?" Pence asked.
"No," responded the guide. "You are on the Northeast, they are not. Anyway," she added with another clap, "there are a lot of great choices for food, and thanks to you guys' golden cards, you get to eat at a number of pre approved restaurants free! You also get continental breakfast and free lunch at the coliseum!" she added. Then she signaled for the students to start walking. Everyone naturally formed friend groups save for a few people who didn't know anyone. Sora flew to Wakka and Riku. When he reached them he tried swiping his arms over their shoulders. Both ducked easily. Wakka chuckled. But Riku shot Sora an uncharacteristically cold glare. He glanced around to see if anyone else saw the exchange, eyes training particularly on the hooded boy Sora spotted earlier. The one with the blade and single wing. Thankfully Xehanort Nimoy was not around.
Ahead, the guide pointed out places she liked eating at. After an hour and a half walk, the party finally reached the seaside shacks. The guide turned to face the party once more.
"Okay, so there's usually six to a shack tops, but since there are nineteen of you we had to add one group of seven," she apologized. Then she called out who was in what group. There was one group of girls and two groups of boys. Sora's was the group of seven. It was he, Sota, Hayner, Pence, a boy named Roxas, Wakka, and Riku. As the guide said goodbye and returned for the road to Thebes, Sora's group introduced itself and checked in at the hostel "lobby," which was really just a thatch roof kiosk a couple doors down from the shack line up. After everyone got their golden tickets stamped, they trailed to their shack, passing more thatch roof deals with white washed sides and thinning blue paint on the way. Sora's group's lodging had holes in the walls and seemed to be sagging. When the boys filtered inside, their mouths dropped.
The floors were hard packed clay. The walls were filthy grey. There were cobwebs in every crevice. Sun shone through the spotty thatch. There was a single, albeit massive, straw mattress at the room's center. There were no pillows or blankets. The straw stank of mildew. The mattress cover was stained and moth eaten. There was a bucket, a backwasher, six threadbare towels, and a metal tub hanging on one of the walls. On the other wall was a picture of the pantheon of Greek gods. By the door was a bar of soap, a roll of toilet paper, a fading Greek magazine, and directions to the nearest toilet, which was a patch of woods close to the water.
"Well!" Wakka said with an upbeat skip, "let's unpack!"
It turned out there was a small grouping of shelves hidden at the back corner of the shack. The boys set their bags on top of it. Most decided not to take their clothes out for fear they would get ruined. Wakka did not care: his had become so bleached from working with his father on his long liner that they were practically stark white. When everyone had situated their belongings and finished padding around the room to see if they'd missed any treasures from their first search, they decided to pat down the mattress. That was a bad idea. Immediately a family of six cockroaches scuttled from beneath with a healthy dose of dust, mold spores, and dead flies on their backs.
"Fucking hell," muttered Hayner in revulsion.
As the roach family returned to the safety of the upturned mattress's inner folds, Sota took the initiative and announced that they needed to clean their lodgings.
"I don't want to sleep on a cloud of maggots tonight," he said. "But this bed is all we have, and there's not enough floor space without it unless we stack on top of each other around it."
"But then the bugs might come out and sleep on us, too!" Pence chimed in. "They will of course be inspired to investigate their new visitors."
"Unless we want to contract some sort of disease on our first night here, I suggest we wash the sheets and clear out the old straw, get some more wherever we can find it. All we need is some sort of plant fiber. We could even buy a real mattress and a plastic zipper to protect it from the bugs and salt."
Everyone scratched their heads and grumbled until Sora offered a bit of his extra money to pay for a new one. Sota said that he would donate, too. With a clap, Hayner stepped forward to delegate.
"The ones with the money can get the mattress cover. The rest of us will find free straw, or feathers, or something to stuff the thing with until we have enough cash to break out on a real mattress. How about it?"
Everyone nodded. The third and fourth intrinsic leaders, Riku and Wakka, split everyone up. Sora naturally would accompany Sota to town to get a mattress cover. The rest would hunt for straw or feathers. Everyone agreed to meet at the shack at ten for dinner. Then with a nod they parted ways.
It took an hour for Sora, Sota, and Riku to leg it to Thebes. When they reached the city center it was swarming. After attempting to search for a mattress together, Sota and Riku decided to split up and meet at the statue of Oedipus and Eteocles at Thebe's Center in an hour. Before Sora could protest, he was standing beside Oedipus's clubfoot alone, wondering what to do next.
He searched stall after stall for what felt like years until he crossed a second hand furniture shop. What was supposed to be a plastic, zip-able couch cover looked like it would work for their mattress. When Sora asked how much it was, the vendor told him it was one drachma.
"Oh great!" Sora chirped with glee. Then he remembered how much a drachma was worth.
"Wait, ONE DRACHMA?" he bellowed, his mouth opening and flapping through the wind in shock. The vendor threw up his nose and announced that the cover was perfect.
"It's got a hole in the side!" Sora barked, holding his hand through the hole for the man to see. When the man demanded to know why Sora had broken his mattress cover, Sora blubbered uselessly, barking that the cover had been like that from the moment he picked it up.
"Can you prove that?" the salesman snapped. Sora faltered. He was lost for words. As the salesman sucked in a deep breathe to call the police, a massive golden hand fell against Sora's shoulder. When Sora looked up, an incredibly orange, incredibly muscular man gleamed down upon him like a glittering sunbeam.
"You having trouble here, kid?" the man asked. When Sora blocked out the light from the sun behind to get a good look at him, he noticed the demigod's startling blue eyes, peach pink cheeks, chiseled bone structure, and thick grinning lips. There was a dimple in his chin and burnt orange curls extending from his majestic scalp. When Sora looked further down, a form bursting from the confines of the armor it wore greeted him. The man's arms were the size of comets. His hands were large and firm. His pecks sliced up when he gesticulated. And… he had a sword and shield strapped right on his back.
Sora's mouth dropped further. This man. This man was a hero.
"You're a hero, aren't you?" Sora gasped. In return the man laughed bashfully.
"Naw," he gushed, "I am perfectly mortal. Wait, did you ask if I was a god?"
"No," Sora responded with a big smile. "But I wouldn't be surprised if you were!"
"Aw well, gee, you sure know how to make a big lug feel good, uh, what's your name?" the man asked. Sora grinned and introduced himself. After he shook the man's hand and found out his name was Hercules, Sora asked if he was doing the hero training program at the coliseum. Hercules boomed laughter and asked what Sora was doing around town.
"Buying a mattress cover," Sora responded.
"Well, gee, my trainer Phil has an old mattress cover he's trying to get rid of!" Hercules gasped. "He just upgraded from a queen to a king size!"
"Will he want money for it?" Sora asked. Hercules shook his head. "I'll make sure you get it free." He winked. Then his face brightened. "Say, maybe we could all go out for a bite to eat later on! You'll probably be training with him tomorrow anyway. No harm in meeting him early!"
"I would love that!" Sora gasped, not believing his luck.
"Are you meeting anyone here?" Hercules asked. Sora nodded and pointed to the statue of Eteocles and Oedipus. "We're meeting at that statue," he relayed. After nodding, Hercules walked him over and set Sora on his shoulders so he could get his friends' attention. Soon, Sota and Riku were running towards him empty handed. As Riku examined Hercules with hidden awe, Sota eyed him up and down suspiciously.
"Uh, Sora?" he asked. "How do you know this guy?"
"I met him at a pawnshop!" Sora responded. "His name is Hercules! He's a hero at the coliseum!"
"Well, I'm not a hero yet, Sora," Hercules chuckled. "I'm still in school! But I'm getting there." Then he asked again if Sora and his pals wanted to meet his trainer Phil. Though Sora relayed the full story of how they had met and who Hercules was, Sota still seemed unconvinced. When he looked towards Riku for help, Riku shrugged and said that they could do whatever they wanted. Sota bit his lip.
"We said we would meet the other guys for dinner at ten," he muttered. Hercules' shoulders fell, but he shrugged.
"That's aye okay, fellas! Maybe next time!" he added with a wave. Then he asked Sora if he still wanted the cover for free. Sora glanced towards Sota and Riku hopefully. Both grimaced at each other. Then, after a sigh, Sota told Hercules to lead the way.
The three boys set off after the demigod towards Mount Olympus with Sota watching their every step. Sora thought his behavior was ridiculous. It was like he expected a carriage full of bandits to jump on their fork in the road and get in a sword fight with the three of them at any minute. As their path steepened Sota and Riku began to pant. Sora wheezed. Hercules chatted the whole way, completely unperturbed. By the time Sota and Riku hit their stride, Sora had long hit decline. When he failed to walk fast enough Hercules offered to carry him. Sora declined, suffering in silence until the gates of the coliseum shone ahead like beacons in the twilight.
The group of four mounted the stone steps to the Coliseum in awe. Two massive double doors thundered open ahead into the arena's walled, open-air lobby. Its ground was unpaved, packed yellow sand. The walls on either side of the lobby's entrance doors were lined with torches and posters of seeds from different tournament cups. Sora read through them giddily as he passed. There was a Phil, Pegasus, Hercules, and a Hades Cup. Sora's eyes twinkled as he imagined what each was like. When he peered closer at the names, he pursed his lips. The crown winner for the Phil Cup was a boy named Terra. A pair named Squall and Yuffie had bested the Pegasus Cup, and Hercules bested the Hercules Cup. A man named Sephiroth had won the platinum match for the Hades Cup. Sora wondered who all of the people were, and if he would meet them in the coming weeks.
When Sora snapped out of his reverie he realized Hercules was calling him. The man stood on the other end of the lobby between the sparring figures of two massive, golden statues of Spartan warriors. Sota and Riku wandered behind him.
Sora scrambled beneath the arch of the carven warriors and through the entrance to a narrow vestibule lit by burning lanterns and piles of coal in massive gilded bowls. The end of the vestibule was lined with shelves filled with tournament trophies of varying colors and sizes and a massive stone pedestal seating a treasure chest. At the end of the vestibule drew the darkened entrance to another, narrower passageway. A rope and sign reading "no tournaments at this time" barred its way. There seemed to be a disturbance rattling within. When Sora attempted crossing over the threshold to see what it was, a sharp voice emanated from the darkness within, telling him not to move a muscle. When Sora peered closer, he yelped.
Ahead of him drew a short man with a fuzzy big belly, red caterpillar eyebrows, and an angry grimace. The thing that really set him apart, though, was the set of goat legs below his belly button and the horns above his floppy ears. When he spotted Hercules, he hopped over the rope and sign and held out his arms for a hug. The pair embraced. When Hercules asked the goat man what was wrong, he groaned and rubbed his hands over his face.
"I can't for Pandora's pithos remember where I put my new pan pipes," he complained. Then he looked behind Hercules with a frown. "Herc, who are these bozos?"
"Phil," Herc beamed. "These are your new students."
"New students?" Phil returned, eyeing up the prospects with a lopsided grin. "Herc, hero preliminaries aren't till tomorrow."
"What?" snapped Sora. Preliminaries?
Sota looked confused. Riku must have been as well, but he, as usual, hid it like a craftsman.
"You didn't know?" Phil barked, glancing from one boy to the next. "The hero summer program only has sixty places. They bring in eighty, teach 'em for a week, and then they decide who they want to keep!"
"What?" Sota barked. "That's not fair! We paid thousands of dollars for tickets."
"Ah, they'll give you a refund," responded Phil. "then you can go back to your peaceful lives of bozodum." With that, Phil let out a belly laugh and swiveled around on his hoofs. He seemed to be half joking, but he had taken the air out of everyone standing there's sails. After shrugging at his guests in apology, Herc told them to follow him. They did. Slowly.
The group filed over the rope and sign barring their entrance to the coliseum arena and veered right towards the hall that held the toilets. Beside the women's bathroom was a walk in closet. The interior was crammed full with statues of what looked like Greek heroes. Banners of Achilles, busts of Odysseus, weapon molds from Perseus, shrub arrangements of Theseus, and everyone else you could think of were displayed somewhere around the closet, filthy with dirt and decay. Weeds had begun sprouting through the floorboards. Cobwebs were endless. And when you stepped into direct sunlight you could see a haze of dust particles and baby flies. There was also the stench of rotting food. Herc did not seem to notice any of it. It made Sora question the condition of his supposed mattress cover.
"Oh, Herc, you would not believe who I ran into on the way here," Phil barked as he searched the closet for his panpipes. When Herc asked whom, Phil groaned again. "The Sphinx! Last time I saw her she was getting ready to eat Oedipus. Ran into her ten minutes ago lying in the dirt at the end of the road and I said, "I thought you ate yourself, or threw yourself off Mount Olympus," or something. Then I added, "night and day," before she could riddle me. She could hardly stand up she was so wasted. It's a real shame when things like this happen: you have an overworked temple guardian who can't deal with failure and what do ya get? Blanche Dubois. It's only natural."
"Phil, do you still have that mattress cover?" Herc asked. Phil snorted and said it was at the back of the closet with Ajax's training shield. Herc asked which one and Phil shouted "one of them." While Herc set off to find it, Phil turned back to Sota, Riku, and Sora, and ran his tongue over his gums. Then he pointed to them one at a time. "Maybe, yes, no," he announced. When Sora glanced in the order he had said it, he noticed that he had been the no, Sota had been the maybe, and Riku had been the yes.
"What the hell are you talking about, you old goat?" Sota growled. Phil laughed. Then he tapped his chin. "You know young man, you could either be a Hector or an Odysseus depending on which side of the coin you're looking at. You," he continued to Riku, "are a hero before his trials. And you," he added, pointing to Sora, "are a smiling idiot."
Sora didn't think he had ever been so hurt in his life. But instead of showing it, he asked Phil what was wrong with smiling.
"It's not the smiling," Phil responded, taking the challenge. "It's just you. You remind me of one of the sailors who got eaten by the Scylla when Odysseus was making his way home."
"Well that's not very nice!" Sora barked. Phil just laughed. Hercules returned with the bed cover. It actually didn't look half bad. It was dusty, but that was about it. Herc asked if they wanted to help clean it and they said yes. They traipsed into the hall and hosed it down. As they hosed, Riku asked if there was a mattress to go with it. It made Hercules gasp.
"You know, I think there is!" he beamed. He went to ask Phil for that, too. When he brought it back, the boys were less than impressed. It was cobwebby, dusty, and had a mustard stain that looked recent. Riku commented that it must have happened after the mattress was taken off the bed judging by the way it trickled. But they beat it down and spot cleaned the stain as well. When they slipped the mattress into the plastic cover, it looked practically new.
"All right boys," Herc sighed. Then he asked if they wanted to see the arena. Sota and Riku grinned and shrugged yes. Hercules led them past the bathroom hall to the arena entrance. When Sora tried following after them, Phil barred his way with one grubby hoof. When Sora demanded that he be let past, the goat hissed, "only heroes allowed beyond this point." Then he burst into laughter and disappeared after Hercules and the other two boys.
Sora listened without moving as the hall returned to silence. He was gob smacked. He had gotten into the hero-training program, hadn't he? He had just as much a right to be where he was as anyone else! He swayed a little bit as he thought about the indecency of it all. He needed a splash of water to the face. Or a head dunk in a cold pool. Then he would feel better.
Because there weren't any cold pools in sight, Sora decided on splashing water to pull himself together. Then he could face his fellow hero hopefuls once more. Swiveling on his toes and stomping for the bathroom entrance, Sora curled his hand right around the handle when he heard sharp voices extending from inside.
"What's making you so trigger happy right now?" the first voice whispered. "You do know we employ him, right? You're not going to get at him in these games."
"I was under the impression that I would be fighting him in the Platinum Match," quipped the second.
"If you manage to make the Platinum Match."
"Shut up, pipsqueak."
"This pipsqueak knows your dear friend well."
Silence. Sora really should have stopped, but he couldn't resist the urge to eavesdrop.
"So I suppose you won't let me see him, will you?"
"Why don't you come to the Academy?"
"Don't I need to take part in your twisted vetting ceremony first?"
"Take this meeting as your golden ticket."
"Golden ticket?" Sora thought to himself. He inched his ear closer to the door to get a better listen.
"Play extra good, and we may even give you a key blade."
"I don't need a key blade. I've got my own sword."
"You're passing up the most powerful weapon in the galaxy for an oversized butcher's knife?"
"A weapon means nothing without a worthy master."
Sora tried making out whom was talking. The inquiring voice was singsong, nasal, and familiar. The responding voice was tenor and sullen. And there was a third voice. This one hadn't spoken much. It was the youngest. Vocal fry. Familiar, too. Just barely. As if Sora had heard him speak in passing.
"Didn't you want to be a hero?" asked the youngest. The sullen one responded with silence. Then, "just tell me what to do, and do it fast."
Sora's judgment told him to hide in the broom closet with the hero statues. After catapulting through its door, he wedged himself between a bust of Achilles and a pithos print of Odysseus and hoped for the best. Just as he situated himself, the bathroom door burst open and the first guest stormed out. A shadow blinked over Sora's feet from the open closet door as the man passed. As his footsteps disappeared down the hall, the remaining two emptied from the bathroom and whispered to one another.
"Have you talked to the other hopefuls?" asked the nasally, singsong voice. Sora had to keep himself from gasping. Reno. Or his doppelganger. Because the pair moved quickly, Sora could not catch his companion's response. Luckily the duo had not heard his heavy breathing. When Sora was sure no one was in the hall, he charged between the hero busts, from the closet, burst through the bathroom door, and thrust himself at one of the sinks so that he could pat his face with cool water. After he ran his head under the tap he looked at his reflection. Two wide, determined blue eyes stared back at him.
"You are a hero!" he barked to himself. "And no chunky old goat or big blue alien can tell you different!" Then he bit his lip and fist pumped the air. When he drew his arm back down, he noticed the door to the bathroom opening in the reflection of the mirror. When he turned, he met face to face with a boy about Riku's age with spikey, golden blond hair. Sora and the mystery kid stood and stared at one another for several moments in silence. Then, after the blond had had a good look, his mouth crinkled up with a smirk. He held up an empty palm. Sora's arm twitched in response. It was the instinctive high five in him.
"Forgot my keys," the blond muttered, fluttering his fingers as if jingling the absent set. He slipped past Sora towards the narrow shelf suspended over the mirrors and reached up to pad around. When his touch met with clanging metal, he slipped the keys into his pocket and cocked his head in salutation. Sora saluted him as he turned to leave. Just as the boy reached the door, Sora asked what his name was. The boy side eyed him before responding that it was Roxas. Then he asked Sora for his name. When Sora gave it to him, Roxas' grin grew. He even chuckled.
"What's so funny?" asked Sora. But Roxas said it was nothing and closed the door. Sora was just about to return to patting his face when the door opened again and Roxas popped his head in.
"Sora?" he repeated. Sora nodded. Roxas grinned wide. "I'm staying in your shack for the hero training program," he said. Sora's brows furrowed in confusion. Then he remembered the list of seven names the lobby man at the shack kiosk had given him.
"Oh yeah!" Sora said with a bright grin. He held his hand out for Roxas to shake. "Nice to meet you!" he added with a beam. Roxas returned the hello with a two-fingered salute to the forehead, but he did not walk forward to shake Sora's hand. Then he was gone. Sora stared after the closed door to see if the blond would appear again, but he did not. With a sigh, the brunette turned back to the mirror. He narrowed his eyes as he examined himself.
"Key blade," he whispered, leaning against the porcelain and tapping his forefinger to the space below his nose. He had no idea what a "key blade" was, but it was apparently hardcore. Maybe if he worked hard enough, he could get one. Then he would prove everyone wrong. Phil, Gantu, Reno, Rai, and even Riku. Especially Riku. He just had to get through whatever "hero" preliminaries Phil had talked about.
And he had to get into that Academy. Whatever it was, and wherever it was, he had to go.