PrismRain13: Hey guys! Prism here and guess what I found out yesterday! KINGDOM HEARTS III IS NOW OFFICIALLY IN DEVELOPMENT AND COMING TO THE PS4!

Kairi: Finally we can get back to work! I'm so excited to finally kick some real heartless tail!

PrismRain13: About time! Now my life is complete! I'm so excited! Now I need to go buy a PS4...

Kairi: go check out the teaser trailer if you haven't already! Prism still claims no ownership of Kingdom Hearts, Disney or Final Fantasy. She only owns her OCs.

Chapter 25: Welcome to The Underworld

Back at the World that Never Was, Xemnas, Xigbar and a blue-haired member named Saïx sat in one of the secret rooms. It was in one of the castle's highest towers and displayed a clear view of the word below them through a window occupying an entire wall. The room was white with various nobody symbols and chains decorating the walls. There were three white chairs in the room that looked similar to the chairs in Where Nothing Gathers, only less detailed.

None of the other members knew about this room, as the things discussed in here between the three members were things that were kept secret from the others. Xigbar had just recently returned from Monstro and explained everything that had occurred to both Xemnas and Saïx.

"So it's true then," Xemnas said calmly. "My heartless has chosen a host. How ironic that I chose to pursue the same boy for the same purpose."

"What? You wanted to use Riku as a host too?" Xigbar asked.

"We currently only have six vessels created." Xemnas replied. "We'll have to create more if we want to meet our goal of thirteen vessels; we still don't even have thirteen members within this organization."

"Who knew Ansem already had a head start on our goal." Saïx said.

"No matter, one way or another we will have all our thirteen vessels by the time they are needed. Riku will be a welcome host for Ansem. Soon he'll be all to willing to dive further into the darkness. Then, he'll be another vessel." Xemnas explained.

"Yeah, but what about freckles?" Xigbar asked. "As long as she's around, we can kiss the possibility of this Riku kid going dark goodbye."

"I'm confident that Ansem will deal with her soon enough; leaving us with much less work to do."

"What do you wish for me to tell the others, Superior?" Saïx asked.

"Inform them that I no longer have an interest in Riku, but do not tell them why." Xemnas told him. With one nod, Saïx stood up from his seat and left the room through a corridor of darkness. He was soon followed by Xigbar, leaving Xemnas alone with his thoughts.

"Soon, Riku, soon the darkness will take you. It's unavoidable; just like Terra, you don't know how far you've already fallen in." Xemnas said to himself, as a small smirk slowly crept on his lips.

~*KH*~

Olympus Coliseum's Underworld was cold and scary to those who weren't used to it. Riku, West and Mushu(hiding in Riku's pocket) felt the effects all too well. A corridor of darkness opened in Hades's chamber, as the teenagers, dragon and Hades steeped out.

"Welcome to the Underworld, kids. The leading place for dealing with dead souls." Hades stated proudly.

"So, where're we training?" Riku asked, wanting to hurry up and find the last princess.

"Wow, look who's all ready to go." Laughed Hades. "Now, we did have our own coliseum right here in the Underworld; would have been perfect for you two. Unfortunately, my idiot brother, Zeus decided not to let me have my fun."

"Or get more dead people to stay permanently?" West asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Details, who needs 'em?" Hades waved off her comment. "So, you two will be training upstairs in the 'approved' coliseum." With a wave of his hand, two white and gold tickets appeared in his hands. He handed them out to each teenager. As Riku looked at it, he noticed that written in gold letters were the words Olympus Coliseum Participation Pass.

"I already signed you kids up for the Titan Cup." Hades continued. "To get out, follow the hallway out the door and g up the stairs. Just go talk to goat front desk and give them your passes to claim your spot. I'll be back to pick you up later."

Both Riku and West looked at each other before shrugging and sprinting out of the chamber. After they left, Hades smirked to himself.

"Hopefully you already have life insurance, freckles. Trust me, after you meet the final match, you'll be begging for it. Not that you'll survive long enough to beg." And with that, he sat on his throne and waved his and in front of him, creating a smoke mirror, giving him a clear view of the games.

~*KH*~

At the Underworld's entrance, there was a large price of rock in the middle of a cold, soul-filled river strikingly similar to the green river of death they had seen just outside Hades's chamber. Mushu had climbed out on to Riku's shoulder and was peering down into the river.

"Ugh. Now that is nasty!" the dragon said.

"Come on, they don't even look dead, it's just their spirits." Riku said. "Believe me, compared to how many horror movies I've seen, this isn't that bad."

"But this is the real thing." West shivered. "These guys really can jump out and drag you under. I'm telling you guys, it's creepy!"

"You're not scared, are you?" Riku asked with a raised eyebrow. He didn't need an answer; West was literally shaking with fear, looking down at the river and all around her nervously and rubbing her arms trying to keep to cold off her skin. She had been acting scared ever since they got here. He snickered under his breath before he held out his arms and moaning like a zombie towards West. "Ughhh... We're coming to get you... Join us in the Underworld..."

"Riku! Cut it out!" West tried to sound brave, but her voice shaking in fear. "I'm already freaked out!" She backed up, remaining unaware of how close she was to the edge of the land. She took one more step backwards, small stones from the rock falling into the cold. West turned her head around and gasped at the sight of the river of death behind her her.

Suddenly, one of the souls caught sight of the two teenagers and jumped out of the river and latched on to West's ankle. West screamed and tried with all her strength to make the soul let go, but it still wouldn't. The soul kept pulling on her ankle until West lost her balance and fell on the stone ground.

She kept screaming and dug her nails into the earth as the soul kept pulling her closer and closer to the edge. Riku had no time to think as he sprinted to West's side and pulled her into a protective embrace with all his strength. He wrapped one around her waist and with pointed the other at the soul. And out of his hand burst a darkness and dark purple fire blast that hit the soul directly in the chest, reducing it to a fading mist.

Both teenagers and dragon just sat there, panting for air and trying to relieve themselves from the shock. Just then, they realized that they were still holding on to each other and quickly separated. Trying to hide their blushing faces. Not even a second passed before West violently punched Riku in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Riku complained, rubbing the sore spot. "Jeez, what was that for?!" However, he was surprised a punch that hard and painful had come from West.

"For scaring the living daylights out of me you jerk!" West responded.

"You know I told him it was a bad idea to mess with you." Mushu quickly started rambling. "But does he ever listen to his guardian dragon? No he does-" But before Mushu could finish, West nearly toppled them over from the impact of wrapping her arms around Riku in another hug.

"But thanks for you know, saving my butt." West smiled as she released a small laugh.

"No big deal." Riku shrugged, trying to pry West off him. "Now can you please let go of me?!"

"Not a chance!" As Riku finally pried her arms off his body, she narrowed her eyes at him. "You do something like that to me again, mister and you'll regret it!" West giggled, pushing herself up to her feet, "Now can we please get out of here and go somewhere, you know, safe?"

"You mean like a coliseum where people kill each other for fun?" Mushu asked sarcastically.

"Yeah! Exactly!" West beamed, "C'mon let's go!" Riku rolled his eyes at her showing her perkiness again, but still followed her up the stairs to the main ground.

Riku pushed open the large double doors of the Underworld's entrance, revealing a bright, beautiful sunny day. Right in front of them was the entrance to a giant Coliseum. The walls were made of strong, beige bricks with a gold-decorated door that reached almost as high as the roof. The door was in the center of two gold, giant warrior statues raising their swords in the air.

"Okay, I officially like this place much better!" West exclaimed.

"Yeah. Let's just get this training over with." Riku shrugged.

"Come on, Riku. Show a little enthusiasm!" West laughed. "Come on, let's go check in at the lobby." She then grabbed Riku's wrist and started dragging his towards the structure in front of them.

As West let go of Riku's arm, he pushed open the doors revealing a dimly lit area with trophies lining the walls and announcement boards. The entrance to the arena was guarded by a short, stubby, brown-furred satyr reading off a checklist with his back turned to them.

Riku and West looked at each other and shrugged, unaware of what to do next. Slowly, Riku walked towards the satyr.

"Hey, where do we..."

"Perfect timing champ!" The satyr exclaimed without turning around. "Thought you'd miss the start of the tournament. Two words when it comes to victory in the games; know enemies weaknesses!"

"Uhh, that's more than two words." West spoke up.

"You back talking me, champ?! Don't you remember who-" the satyr turned around, and eyes widened at the sight of the two teenagers and the small dragon in front of him. Clearly, he was expecting someone else.

"What do you kids think you're doing here?!" The satyr demanded. "Go on, scram! I got my hands full getting ready for the games!"

"We know, we're competing." Riku scowled as he crossed his arms. He was starting to strongly dislike this guy.

"You two? In the games?!" The satyr fell down laughing. "Oh man this is just cracking me up! First that kid with the giant key now you guys?!"

Riku growled at the mention of Sora, but still tried to stay calm. "Look, sorry us entering your games is funny to you. But me and West are already signed up." And with that, Riku pulled out his pass from his pocket, grabbed West's pass out of her hands and waved them in front of the satyr's face.

Immediately, he stopped laughing, took the passes and looked them over as his eyes widened. "Okay, fine. You're in. Just don't get to cocky; the games aren't too kiddie-friendly." He huffed.

"Alright! With the three of us working together we'll totally kick butt!" West exclaimed, wrapping her arm around Riku's shoulders.

"Oh yeah!" Mushu exclaimed. "We're gonna rock this!"

"Sorry, no can do with the dragon." The satyr stated. "You only got two passes and you just snagged up the last spot."

"Aww come on! I was looking forward to showing off my awesome guardian dragon power!" Mushu groaned.

"It's okay, Mushu. They'll be other times." West said, patting the dragon on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll root for you guys though. Maybe check out the snack bar." Mushu shrugged before climbing down from Riku's shoulder and walking to the audience stands. They watched the dragon until he was out of sight, then turned back to the satyr.

"Okay, so when does our first match start?" Riku asked.

"The games start in about an hour." The satyr explained. "Gotta warn you though; some real weirdos signed up. Don't say I didn't warn ya."

"I think we can handle it." Riku smirked, crossing his arms. "Just come get us when it's our turn."

"Fine by me, kid. Just don't come crying to me when you or your little girlfriend get hurt." And with that, the satyr released a huff before storming out of the lobby and into the arena.

"Wow. Talk about being assertive!" West exclaimed once they were alone. "You sure you're up to this?"

"Yeah, I'm positive. We need the training, right?" Riku replied.

"I guess. So wanna look around? The games don't start for an hour."

"You're going to drag me along even if I say no, right?" The islander grumbled.

"You know me so well! C'mon, let's go!" And with that said, West grabbed on to Riku's arm and started dragging him outside to look at the scoreboards and every other new thing she could find.

This is going to be a long hour...

PrismRain13: so, that's it for this chappie! Last one before my exams officially start! *sarcastically* yay...

Kairi: relax, you'll survive. Next chapter we'll see how Riku and West perform in the games. And we'll meet some familiar Final Fantasy faces.

PrismRain13: you'll never guess who *smirk* thanks so much for all your support guys! Please remember to keep it up with all the reviews! You're all amazing!

- Jr Jared Reese - no need to apologize; just relax and know that I always appreciate the reviews. And sorry, but you're wrong about West's nightmare.