(Laughing) Okay, I expected the reaction I got for that little bit at the end of the last chapter. I guess you guys like that he's finally shown his face then. And I apologize for the way I came off in my rant last chapter about cold weather. It was out of place.

And I have a small announcement to make. I've changed my Profile Pic! The current one was made by Traskix on the KHInsider forums for the RikuXYuffie Fanclub.

Oh, by the way, if you haven't already seen Princess and the Frog, GO AND SEE IT!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, or Blitzball.

-A-D-

Light's Growth

Chapter XXVI: Blitz Fest Part IV: Match-ups

1250hrs,
Dunash, Destiny Islands,
Sora

"I still can't believe that Yuffie's the Wielder of Night," Riku said, shaking his head.

"She's going to flip when she finds out," Roxas said.

"I just think that it'll go to her head," Tidus said. "Instead of being the Great Ninja Yuffie, she'll be the Legendary Ninja Yuffie."

Sora nodded his head. "I can only imagine how that's going to play out." He looked up and smiled. The Blitzball stadium was right in front of them, standing tall and proud with its dome shining in the reflected sunlight.

"It's not going to be good," Donald said. "I don't want to be around when she gets the news."

Aiwemon looked down at the other bird. "Why not?"

Donald looked up at him as Aiwemon sat on Sora's shoulder as was his custom. "She might lose control of herself."

Sora nodded again and looked down at the dwarf who was walking next to him, and looking up at the Blitzball stadium. "So, what do you think Gimli?"

"The food was fine, though not entirely to my liking, and my kin can do better than that," he said, indicating the stadium.

"You tell us that after we're inside and you see the machina that fill up the pool," Riku told him.

"Forgive us for not being dwarves of the Lonely Mountain," Sora said, rolling his eyes.

"HEEYYY!"

Sora looked up and smiled at the ear-splitting voice that belonged to Selphie. The group of nine girls and Menelmon that they'd left behind were all coming up to them, and for some reason they all looked like they had wet hair and skin.

"Were you guys swimming?" Axel asked as they got closer.

"Course not," Yuffie said, her voice soft and sounding dreamy. "Just soaking our bones in a hot bath." She glanced at Kairi. "You really do look different Kairi. You're thinner but curvier than I remember."

The auburn-haired girl blushed and Sora looked at her. His eyes went up and down Kairi's frame, and he consciously noticed now that Kairi definitely had an appealing hourglass figure.

How did I not notice that before? He wondered.

"I still can't believe that you spent a month in the wilderness," Selphie said, shaking her head in disbelief. "No baths, no showers, no haircuts, no electricity, no heating, and sleeping stuck in the rain."

"It wasn't bad," Kairi answered. "Just, there were some parts that weren't… good." Sora sighed and shook a hanging head when she glanced at him.

"I'm just glad he's gone," he said.

"Oh, Yuffie," Aiwemon said. "Guess what we figured out."

"What?"

"You're the Legendary Rose Star Wielder of Night," Aiwemon declared.

Yuffie stiffened and stared straight forward, completely expressionless.

"You shouldn't have done that Aiwemon," Sora whispered.

"Huh? Why?" his partner asked.

"Have you already forgotten why Donald said he didn't want to be—?"

Sora stopped and stared as Yuffie began to laugh. It wasn't a disbelieving laugh, or one that showed that she was sceptical and thought that they were playing a joke. Her laugh sounded almost evil.

"Mwahahaha!" She grinned. "I am now no longer the Great Ninja Lady Yuffie Kisaragi, I am now Legendary Ninja Wielder Lady Yuffie Kisaragi! You shall all bow down before me and my mightiness! None can oppose me! Rule of all the worlds shall be mine! Mwahahahaha!"

"Sora, I'm scared," Goofy said, trying to hide behind him along with Donald, Aiwemon, and Kairi.

"Yuffie's scary," the little bird digimon mumbled, agreeing with him.

"You just had to say it," Donald grumbled at him.

"I am the greatest Ninja in the Universe! There is no one better than me! !"

"Yuffie," Riku said firmly.

She sighed airily and wiped her forehead. "Whew, I'm glad I got that off my chest. Okay, I'm done power-tripping now."

Sora felt his jaw drop.

"You mean all you had to do was one giant evil laugh and you're fine!" Kairi asked.

Yuffie just grinned at him. "Of course," she said, winking at her. "Every girl needs to have a moment where she can just belt out an evil laugh, right? Besides, you kinda already did let your evil side bust out."

Kairi looked down. "I didn't know that that was going to happen when I did it," she murmured.

"Oh I just remembered," Roxas said suddenly. "Kairi, Yuffie, which is better: coke or pepsi?"

"Coke, dur," Kairi answered.

"You kiddin' me? Coke all the way," Yuffie said.

Roxas laughed. "Haha! There we go Tidus. The four of nine currently known Wielders of Power agree unanimously: Coke beats Pepsi."

"Shut up," Tidus said.

"Hey fellas!"

Sora looked around and smiled. "Your Majesty," he said along with Donald and Goofy.

King Mickey was walking towards them along with Sora's aunt and uncle, Asterix and Obelix and Dogmatix, and Lord Ramius. There was a small group of five younger children, mostly girls, around Obelix and Dogmatix and cooing over the little dog.

"Ooh, he's so small and cute," one of them was saying when they got within earshot. "I just want to cuddle him."

King Mickey and Asterix both laughed while Obelix grumbled and Dogmatix dropped out of his hand and barked happily at the girl. He dropped onto his tummy and rolled around, looking for a belly rub, which he received.

"We've got the tickets," Uncle Sal said, coming up to Sora.

"Great," Sora said, excitement starting to develop within him. "How much do I owe you?"

His uncle chuckled. "Come on Sora, do you honestly expect that I'm going to want you to pay me back for blitz tickets?"

"Well, I mean, you got tickets for like thirty people," Sora said. "That had to hurt your pocketbook some."

Uncle Sal looked back and forth for a second before leaning in close to Sora. He leaned in as well to hear what his uncle was whispering, and Donald, Goofy, and Kairi also leaned in behind him. "Actually," he said, "Lord Ramius paid for the tickets. Don't tell anyone though, he doesn't want it to get around."

Kairi smiled from behind Sora. "Well that was nice of my godfather," she whispered.

"It was nice," Uncle Sal whispered back. "It would have cost us thirty-four hundred munny."

"So who all are we still waiting on?" Rikku asked, looking around.

Sora glanced around. He knew that there had been more people who had come to town with them. "Um, Wakka and Max, and uh…"

"Mulan, Anar, and Isil too," Tidus said.

"And Mushu and Cri-Kee," Axel finished.

"Hey! Guys!"

They looked around and saw the blonde and silver haired twins waving at them from a distance with Wakka and Mulan.

"Look who we—!" Anar started to exclaim before he was cut off.

"Privates Tidus, Jeffery, and Kia, why are you not wearing your berets!"

"Holy fuck no!" Tidus cursed quietly, quickly reaching for his beret as it hung snugly between his black belt and green pants.

"What is it?" Donald asked.

"They found our Company," Kia grumbled. "And Sobel just had to be with them. Fuck!"

"Get over here now!" a tall, slim man with slick black hair and a fat and hooked nose belted out. "Your leave passes are cancelled."

"Fuckin' hell," Jeff muttered.

"Can you guys tone down the swearing a little?" Naminé asked.

"Can you kill that guy off?" Tidus whispered, sounding like it was seriously a request. "If you do, maybe we will."

"Sir, you can't do that," an officer who was a large owl said.

"Subject to the needs of the Company Lieutenant Kol," Sobel answered snappily.

"This bastard again?" Yuffie asked aloud. "I oughta show him why I'm legendary now."

Riku growled slightly. "Yuffie that won't help things."

Sora looked at the looks on the faces of his military friends as both the company of soldiers and his friends came closer together. He looked towards the Sobel character and said simply, "Their leave isn't cancelled."

"Yes it is you little snot," Sobel replied, somewhat casually.

"I don't think it is," King Mickey said, matching E Company's CO's tone of voice and moving to stand next to Sora.

Lieutenant Kol's already massive eyes widened and he dropped onto one knee along with all the other anthropomorphs from Disney Castle in Easy Company. "Your Majesty! It's an honour."

Captain Sobel looked wildly at his XO before quickly shifting his eyes to the King. His voice was shaky as he said, "Wait, he's King Mickey Mouse?"

King Mickey smiled and nodded his head with a little laugh. "That's right, I am." He extended his right hand to Sobel. "Nice to meet ya, Captain Sobel."

Sobel reluctantly bent down and shook the monarch's hand. "It's a pleasure, Your Majesty," he said. His eyes were still on Sora though. "And, who is he?"

"Who? Me?" Sora blew air out of his mouth in a manner that indicated what he was about to say was trivial. "Oh I'm nobody really, just Sora." He put his hands behind his head and grinned his grin at the officer. Sobel's black eyes became tiny pinpricks and he started to stutter incoherently as Sora looked through the throng of soldiers. He smiled wider and waved. "Hey, Olette!"

"Hey Sora!" the girl said, taking his greeting as a sign that she could go and join him, sparing only a short glance at her platoon leader, 2Lt Comte, who nodded her head.

"How you doing?" Sora asked as she came closer.

Olette grimaced. "Sour," she replied.

"How come?" Kairi asked.

"What are you all doing here anyway?" Tidus asked, looking closely at her and the rest of their company. They were dressed in their combat armour and gear, even if their helmets were held under their arms. "Shouldn't Easy still be at the FTX?"

"We should, yeah," Olette grumbled. "But we aren't because we were eliminated." Tidus, Jeff, and Kia cursed under their breath, obviously understanding, but Sora just looked at Olette in confusion.

"Eliminated?" Roxas asked.

"What do you mean, 'eliminated'?" Rikku added.

"I mean we lost," Olette answered. "And it sucks that we got killed off so early too."

"Lost at what? What are you talking about Olette?" Sora asked.

She sighed and shook her head. "Alright, so on the Field Training Exercise out in the plains and close to the jungles you guys have getting closer towards the big shield volcano you've got on this island the bigwigs in charge of this whole fiasco, the division COs, decided that we should have a big week-long war game between the 1st Infantry Division and the 2nd Infantry Division. So, we have about ninety guys in a Company, twelve Companies in a Regiment without included the Battalion and Regimental HQ Companies, and three Regiments in a Division or so, so there's about…" Olette grumbled slightly as she tried to figure the math out in her head, "six and a half thousand people running around on the island in a big strategic exercise divided into the blue team and red team."

Sora blinked a few times as he tried to take that in. "Okay, that's a lot. Which team were you guys on?"

"Blue team," Olette said. "And we just happened to get slaughtered in an ambush."

"What do you mean 'slaughtered'?" Kairi asked.

"We all had these wards placed on us," Olette explained. "They protected us from physical damage, and after the magical ward had taken enough of a beating and deactivated, a weird ping went off in our ear and we had to drop to the ground to signify that we became a casualty. We got wiped out fast."

"I thought we were better than that," Kia muttered darkly.

Olette threw her a look. "It didn't help us that second platoon was short two of their better swordsmen and best archer when she has her bow, and, if I do say so myself, three of their best NCO leaders; that third platoon was missing an excellent mage; that another two people from first platoon were gone; that most of our company is made up of guys who were still having trouble staying in step and marching in a straight line on Saturday; and that our CO decided to lead us right into an effing death trap!"

"Ouch," Anar said, having listened in. "That's gotta suck."

Olette gave an aggrieved sigh. "Tell me about it."

"How're Abel and Baker doing?" Wakka asked. "Hayner's in Abel right?"

Olette's face broke into a smile for the first time in a couple of minutes. "Yeah, he is."

"So, how're they doing?" Wakka asked again.

"I'm not sure," admitted Olette, her smile slipping. "They were still out there last we heard. Abel Company was able to do some damage to Red team without a loss, and Baker was tasked to hold some position, but that was twenty minutes ago now and anything could have happened."

Sora nodded his head, most of what Olette was saying flying right over it. "So… what are you guys doing down here now?"

"They're seeing the game with us."

Sora turned his head sharply at the rougher voice and heard Kairi gasp something, but neither was able to prepare him for coming face to face with the Chief Guardian.

"So you're the Chosen Master of the Keyblade?" Garda asked, looking down at Sora with a slight frown. "Word is you have an interest in my apprentice."

Sora looked at him blankly for a few seconds, an uncertain fear beginning to rise in his throat. Once before he had thought that together he and Riku would have easily been able to take the man down, but now with seeing the man up close, Sora wasn't so sure about that anymore. He gulped, trying to push the anxiety back down. "Apprentice?" he asked cautiously.

"Kairi," Garda answered with one word. Sora's eyes widened and his head swivelled around to look at his girlfriend in shock.

"What?" he asked soundlessly.

Kairi meekly shrugged her shoulders. "Surprise," she whispered.

So that's how she got so good while I was away.

"I'm still looking forward to our match later girl," Garda continued. "But for now, you'd better hurry and take your seats; the game is about to begin." The man gave Sora one last nod before walking off with two richly dressed people following him. After them went Captain Sobel and the officers of E Company, leaving the rank and file Privates with Sora and his rag-tag group of world-hopping, world-order-obliterating friends, princesses, knights, kings, heroes, junior heroes, digimon, and one dwarf.

"Okay… what?" Sora asked aloud.

"I don't know," Donald said, "but something fishy is going on."

"I think I've got everything just about figured out," Naminé said quietly. "If you want I can explain it while we get to our seats."

"No you won't," Sade said, refuting her claim. "We'll be too busy getting through the crowds to our seats, finding our seats, getting drinks and snacks, getting back to our seats, avoiding already drunk people, and finally watching the actual game for you to fully explain anything about what just happened."

"I think he's got a point," Max said, lifting his sunglasses off of his eyes as he came over to join them. "I don't really know what's going on right now either. Can we just watch the game? I've got fifty munny on the Dolphins against PJ."

"Wranglers for the win!" Sade retorted.

"Yeah, Naminé, if you want to tell me anything, tell me at half-time," Sora agreed, nodding his head slightly. "They may not be my team, but I've been dying to see some Blitz action."

"Gawrsh, well then we'd better skedaddle on inside," Goofy said, pointing. "Because it looks like we've been left behind."

"Huh?" Sora asked.

Sure enough, only he, Donald, Goofy, Naminé, Max, and Sade were still standing in front of the stadium. All the others were already nearing the small crowd at the doors. Sora reached down to his pockets for his ticket, and then froze when he came to a realization: his uncle still had the tickets!

"Hey wait for us!"

-A-D-

True to his cousin's word, it quickly became a chore for them to find their seats as the group of thirty tried to stay together while navigating the concourse of the stadium. As soon as they'd found their seats, they had to negotiate with a group of five fans who were sitting right in the midst of the block that they'd been assigned as per the seat numbers printed on their tickets, to get out and move to where the fivesome's tickets told them that they were supposed to be sitting. It ended up taking some smoke from Mushu's muzzle and Obelix picking one of them up by the collar of their shirt and slapping them repeatedly in the face with his massive hand after one of them called him fat, to convince them that the seats they had paid for were better than the ones that they were currently sitting in, even if the seats they were sitting in were at the dead mid-point of the sphere pool and five rows up from the front row.

Sora ended up staying back with Kairi, Naminé, Mulan, Selphie, Rikku, Donald, Max, Gimli, the digimon, and Asterix while all the others went to get snacks. He had no idea how they were all hungry enough that they'd need more hot dogs, burgers, fries, ice cream and popcorn after whatever it was that most of them had consumed between arriving in town and now, but they apparently were still hungry. He'd only asked Riku to pick him up a coke, and that was all he'd go on at least until half-time. Sora's only worry was that he was not sure how the twelve of them were supposed to save thirty seats.

"Why don't you take your jacket off and hang it over a couple of seats?" Rikku asked him.

Sora looked back at her. "There's no way I'm doing that," he said, glancing uncomfortably at and briefly clutching his left arm, the automail concealed underneath the sleeve of the black jacket and the black glove on his hand.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because I don't want to," Sora answered firmly.

"Aw," Rikku said, drawing out into a sort of pout. "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to Rikku," Sora reiterated.

Rikku looked like she was going to ask again, but Mulan placed a hand on her shoulder to stay her. "Just let it go Rikku," she said. "Sora has enough problems already."

He smiled gratefully at the Hero of China. "Thanks Mulan."

She smiled back. "Anytime Sora. How are you holding up? This is your world after all, and after what happened to it because of…"

Her sentence trailed off, but Sora nodded his head slowly. "I'll be okay. Don't worry too much about it. You're still hanging in there, right?"

Mulan's smile slipped for a moment. "Once Maleficent's gone, my world will return," she said. "Then we'll be able to get on with our lives."

"But the memories will never leave you," Asterix spoke up. "I can still remember the war twenty years ago as clearly as you can smell Unhygenix's fish."

"And how bad is that?" Kairi asked in trepidation.

Asterix gave a small chuckle. "Come to my world when this is over and you'll find out, three miles out from the village," he said.

Donald groaned. "I'd rather not," he mumbled.

-A-D-

Riku and Yuffie were both at one concession stand, putting fixings onto hot dogs for the both of them. Riku placed a coke down on the table.

"Who's that for?" Yuffie asked, looking at the fountain pop. He already had his own coke, and she had hers, so why would he have an extra one?

"It's for Sora," Riku answered, holding his hot dog in a hand. "Now where's the mustard?"

With quick and deft hands, Yuffie snatched the pop while Riku went to the other side of the rack, pulled off the lid, and grabbed a nearby salt shaker.

Riku looked up at Yuffie from where he was putting mustard onto his hot dog and narrowed his eyes at the innocent expression on his girlfriend's face. "Were you just doing something?" he asked.

"Just lacing this thing with some onions," Yuffie replied. "Why do you ask?" Riku glanced between her hot dog, which did have ketchup, onions, and green relish on it, and the coke he'd gotten for Sora that he'd left on that side of the cart.

"No reason," he said, shrugging off the feelings of doubt he had concerning the legitimacy of her answer, "Just thought that I heard you doing something."

"Yeah, like you really heard me spooning onions into the bun over the sound of that guy over there tooting his massive horn," Yuffie said sarcastically. Riku shrugged and shook his head, looking into the crowd at the person Yuffie had mentioned, the man carrying a long, blue horn with the Dolphins' logo printed on the side. He turned back down to his hot dog to add a little bit of…

Riku did a double-take. There had been someone in the crowd near the man with the horn who looked familiar, but he couldn't quite remember from where. All he did know was that he had to look again, because a slight chill went down his spine as he tried to recall the face from memory. Aquamarine eyes roved the throng of people around where the man winding his blue Dolphins' horn stood, but they could not locate the man he'd thought he'd seen.

"Hey Riku, are you okay?"

Yuffie's voice was softer this time, and seemed more anxious than sarcastic or excited. She must have noticed the look in his face and eyes. Riku shook his head again and placed a smile onto his face. "Yeah, it's nothing," he said comfortingly, "just thought I saw my math teacher." His smile became a little more sincere as he saw the worry erased from her hazel eyes. "C'mon, let's get back to the gang."

"Yes," Yuffie purred under her breath, "let's." It was going to be entertaining, at least for her.

-A-D-

"—a colossal dog, a cheeseburger, a coke, and three bars of ice cream," Roxas finished, at the front of a concession line. Naminé and Axel had both told him to buy them stuff while Naminé stayed behind to watch the seats and Axel went to buy himself some things he said he "needed for the game". What those could have been, Roxas didn't know.

"Here you go," the cashier said after Roxas had paid him. "Would you like a tray?"

Roxas looked at his accumulated goodies with a pensive expression for a second before nodding his head. "Sure," he said, placing his coke under his left arm. The three bars of ice cream went into the same hand, while his loaded food tray went onto his right arm. The coke then left the crook of his arm for a cup-holder within the tray, and Roxas was off with a slight smile on his face, already anticipating the pleasure of sinking his tongue and teeth into the ice cream in his hands on this warm autumn day.

Naminé and Axel are going to love that I got them ice cream too, he thought, looking through the crowded concourse to find the exit to get back to their seats.

"Hey Roxas!"

He turned around and laughed. "Axel, what's with all of that stuff?"

"What are you talking about?" Axel asked, smiling cheekily at him from underneath a foam blue hat with the picture of a dolphin striking a blitzball in front of it to the left with its tail plastered onto it. On his hands were two great big foam fingers with #1 written on them. "I've got to support somebody don't I?"

"Well, why are you supporting them?" Roxas asked, waiting for Axel to gain a few more paces on him. "I thought that since you and Sade hit it off, you'd be supporting his team."

"As if," Axel answered. "Just because your little cousin and I happen to both do the Dew does not mean that I have to go against my best buddy who'll be cheering for his cousin's team's rival, got it memorized?"

"So you're only cheering for the Dolphins because Sora and I are cheering for them to spite Sade?" Roxas asked.

"Sums it up, yeah," Axel answered.

Roxas laughed. "Want an ice cream?"

"No thanks," Axel said, showcasing his two big fingers. "I've got my hands full."

A little bit of disappointment stung at Roxas, but he shrugged it away. There was always Naminé. "Alright, want anything to eat then when we get back to the seats?"

"Nah," answered Axel, "got to support the team. I can't take one of these fingers off just to have a hot dog."

"But, you asked me to get you something!"

"Well, I'm not hungry anymore," Axel told him as they came out to where the seats were. "Ah here we are now."

They were the last two to return to the seats, with everyone else already either sitting or standing up and talking while trying to get to their actual seat. Obelix had a huge stack of hot dogs in his hands, and Roxas' eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets when he saw the Gaulish warrior snuff four of them down at once.

"—playing at Riku!" Sora was saying loudly and aggressively, out of his seat and staring at his best friend.

"Hey!" Yuna and Rikku complained from directly in front of Sora, what looked like pop dripping in their hair.

"What are you talking about?" Riku asked, confused.

"Take a sip of this and then you'll know what I'm talking about!" Sora retorted, shoving the drink towards him. "Remembering the spider prank wasn't enough for you? You had to go and prank me again?"

"Oh, please don't remind me of the spider prank," Kairi said, curling up into her seat and shivering.

Axel tapped her on the shoulder from a row above. "What's going on Princess?"

She didn't have time to answer because Riku had just spat a mouthful of pop into Donald's face. "Oh, blech! That stuff's nasty!"

"HEY!"

"Told ya!"

"Too damn… Yuffie!" Riku said, rounding on the ninja. "You laced this with salt when I wasn't looking didn't you?"

"Hm? Me?" she asked with a mouthful of processed meat. "Yu've gut the wong gur Ruk."

"Yuffie?" Sora asked. "You trusted my drink with Yuffie!"

The raven-haired kunoichi swallowed mightily and placed a hand to her chest for a second before looking forebodingly at Sora. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means!"

Yuffie placed her free hand into one of the pouches draping down from her belt. "Perhaps you can explain it to me."

"Yuffie, put the kunai down," Riku said. His head buckled and both his hands leapt to the back of it as he hissed in pain. "Hey what?"

"You spat in my face!" Donald said, having whacked Riku with his staff.

"Well I really didn't mean to," Riku apologized.

Roxas shook his head as he watched all of this happening and finished passing his load of food around between himself, Naminé, and Kairi, since Axel would no longer take any. "Hey Naminé, I've got some ice cream here for you too."

"Huh?" she asked, looking up at him as he stood to her right. "Oh, no thanks Roxas, I'm good with this burger."

Even more disappointment embedded itself into Roxas as he looked mournfully at the three bars of ice cream in his hands, which were now beginning to melt. "But, who else will I have ice cream with?"

"Ooh! I'll have one!" Selphie said excitedly.

"Wait don't give it to—too late," Kairi murmured as Selphie had already snatched one of the three bars up and immediately began to devour it. Roxas looked at Naminé, and he seemed so pitifully lost and confused that she couldn't help but sigh and give him a small smile.

"Alright," she said. "I'll have some ice cream too."

Roxas beamed at her and handed her the other bar. "Heeere you go," he said, "One for you, and one for me." He dropped down onto his seat and placed his lips around the top of the bar, a dopy smile of happiness melting onto his face as surely as his lips melted down the ice cream's soft form.

The lights started to dim as the energizing background music began to blare louder. "Yo Sora, Riku! Stop brawling and sit down yah?" Wakka said, laughing at the Keyblade Masters, who were currently engaged in mortal unarmed combat with Donald, Yuffie, Yuna, Rikku, and Obelix, who wouldn't let himself be excluded from the fun. Donald's wings were around Sora's throat, and Sora had his right arm gripping one of them and trying to pry it off and his left hand was blocking a backhanded slap Yuna was sending to him. Riku had his arms around Donald, trying to get the duck off of his best friend, and Yuffie had her hands on the ground with both of her legs wrapped around one of Riku's knees, about to twitch them and send him toppling to the ground. Rikku was being held in Obelix's mighty hand by her foot, and dangling from it. Her arms were both out, trying to hit the big Gaul and kick him with the only foot she still had under her own power.

All of them froze still and, grumbling, extracted themselves from the positions they had gotten into and returned to their seats before security could be called to remove them. The lights dimmed even further as the retractable dome on the top of the stadium began to close, shutting out the sunlight. Screens all around the stadium came to life, playing a video of Dolphins highlights set to a powerful song to pump up the crowd. The video and song ended, and a loud voice began to blare as the searchlights continued to rove the stadium and interior of the filled sphere pool, in which six players wearing brown and red were swimming around, tossing a blitzball back and forth while one stayed in front of the goal.

"Ladies and Gentlemen…"

"What the—?" Gimli asked, looking around wildly. "Where is that voice coming from?"

"Just relax and enjoy it Gimli," Sora called over to him, by now thoroughly not caring that his Furies weren't playing. He was just happy to be at a game this year.

"…we are pleased to welcome you this magnificent afternoon of Blitz Fest to the season opener for the Gibios Wranglers and your Dunash Dolphins!"

The cheers were thunderous.

"Now, give a big hand in welcoming into the sphere pool: your Dunash Dolphins! On Offence, the Centre: Mike! His Left Wing: Comrie! The Right Wing: Jordan! On Defence, the Left D: Eberle! The Right D: Jeff! And, in the net: the man who broke the team record for highest save percentage last year, Deslauriers!" (A/N 1)

Six players in blue and white swam into the sphere pool as their names were called, and the cheers of those wearing blue and white and waving blue flags and holding and wearing blue foam items grew so loud that it threatened to shatter decibel levels achieved at rock concerts. The overhead ceiling began to retract again, bringing the light of the glowing Sun back into the stadium to glitter through the rolling waters of the sphere pool.

The referee brought out the ball as the Dolphins and Wranglers sized each other up from within the pool, and each team formed up upon either side of the starting glyph for the opening blitzoff. Sora was nearly shaking in his seat from excitement and adrenaline. He was giddy, and completely unable to contain himself as the referee blew his whistle and the Dolphins' centre forward grabbed the ball first. "Run 'im over!" he yelled, meaning the centre forward of the Wranglers.

It was almost like Mike heard him over the din, or that the player had been planning on doing that already, when the Dolphins' centre ploughed right through the tackle the Wranglers' centre Jerome plied on him. He twisted around in a corkscrew, dodging a tackle coming from the Wranglers' left winger Iginla, and tossed the ball up in a rocket pass to his winger Comrie, who was bowled over and lost the ball a second later by Wranglers' right wing Steve, who passed it back and across to his left defenseman MacIntyre. MacIntyre then took the tackles of both Jordan and Mike and continued on to pass the ball up to Jerome, who lost it to a kick from Eberle coming in from above. Eberle picked it up and tossed it off to Comrie, who deked around another hit from Steve and threw it away to Mike before the Wranglers' other defenseman Curtis could hit him. Mike just barely grabbed it by the skin of his fingers and rolled underneath a pincer tackle from Jerome and MacIntyre to pass down towards Jordan. He struck out at the pass with a snapping foot and shot the ball from below towards Wranglers' netminder Joseph. He saved it off of his shins, drawing a massive groan from the blue and white and cheers from the brown and red, but the cheers were quickly stifled and the groans turned into mammoth shouts of joy as the rebound found the foot of Mike and the blitzball shot above extended arms to enter the triangular goal area a foot above and to the left of Joseph's head.

Horns blared and Sora could hear Axel screaming his lungs out with a lolling tongue and both his massive foam fingers up in the air. Sade and his immediate family were groaning, and many others among their group did not know who to root for, but Sora was surprised slightly when he was just barely able to make out Gimli the Dwarf make a small shout of 'Yes' before regaining a mildly interested, though not genuinely caring, expression.

Kairi suddenly grabbed his arm and Sora looked at her in concern. "Sora, there's something I forgot to tell you," she said.

"Sure, what is it?" he asked, half-watching the players return to the centre of the pool.

"The Dolphins' goal, his first of the season, scored by centre forward Mike!"

"Sora, the Prince is here," Kairi said.

Sora looked at her with mild confusion. "Prince? What prince? Who are you talking about?"

"Jordan and Comrie with the assists. The time: two minutes, four seconds into the first half."

"I mean the Prince," Kairi restated. "Prince Alexander III, from the mainland."

It hit home and Sora momentarily forgot about the game. "Wait, him! What's he doing here? He's never come here before!"

"I don't know," Kairi said, "but I think he might have overhead Master saying that I was Princess and Heir of Radiant Garden." She looked down worriedly.

"And…?"

"Princes marry Princesses Sora," Kairi reminded him. "He looked at me kinda funny."

"Don't worry Kairi," Menelmon said suddenly, the digimon's soft feathers rubbing against her cheek. "I'm not going to let some random prince take you away from the people you love, and that's on a digimon's honour."

Sora chuckled slightly and kissed his royal girlfriend on the cheek. "Have you forgotten already Iri?" he whispered. "I'm Prince of the Pride Lands." Kairi smiled again, reassured, and Sora turned back to the game.

It was sure becoming an interesting day.

-A-D-

Outside the town, eyes watching from the peak of a hill, two men stood side-by-side. One had his slanted orange eyes cruelly surveying the town, roving here and there as if he were prying open doors and windows with just a look, and the other's intelligent sapphire eyes were watching the other from underneath his black and purple fedora, pulled down low to nearly obscure them along with the curls of his black hair.

"I still think that it was unwise to send him in so soon," he said to the other man, who was dressed as if he came from a harsh land and spent most of his life in a saddle. "You can spy anything as easily as a hawk."

"Better than a hawk," the other replied with only a casual glance back at his hat-wearing friend. He was bald, and hair only grew around his face and from the back of his head.

Fedora shrugged at the bald man. "It is a funny thing," he said, stepping in front of Bald and looking at the town himself. "On this board you stand as King, but who among them stands as their King?"

Bald threw him a look, but Fedora did not see it and continued. "I cannot help, for Nixion did not send me. If you should fall here, the Mistress' message will waver and the battle will be lost. But which among them must be taken to end the game?"

"I don't care for your riddles," Bald told him. "I'll take them all if I have to."

"But that is not the purpose of the game to be played today," Fedora said, turning around. "Today we need only threaten their pieces, not take them outright."

Bald grunted and gave him a curt nod of respect, but he smiled wickedly. "I will take what is in my grasp. I must know if he is here, so I can feel his life slip away between these fingers."

"Which is why you sent in that lowly pawn," Fedora said, turning back to look at the town and the blitzball stadium within it. "If he's discovered and taken, it'll put the Keyblade Wielders on their guard; they'll know that you're here Xayn Shu."

He looked back at the Nobody of Shan Yu, who was smiling in confidence. "Perfect," he said.

-A-D-

The score was now four to one in favour of the Dolphins most of the way through the second half, and Dolphins fans cheered joyously as Wranglers forward Steve took a huge hit from a tackle by Dolphins defenseman Eberle, the ball leaving both hands and beginning to spin and drift through the sphere pool. The Wranglers defenseman MacIntyre didn't seem to like his fellow player getting hit, and within three seconds he was at Eberle's side, firmly shoving his shoulder.

Eberle shoved back.

"It looks like we're about to get a little action between MacIntyre and Eberle folks."

"Wait?" Yuffie asked suddenly, looking up in excited interest. "Are they going to—?"

"YES!" Sora, Roxas, Kairi, Sade, Tidus, Wakka, and about the entire crowd cheered as both MacIntyre's and Eberle's gloves came off and MacIntyre grabbed Eberle's shirt and threw a punch at his gut. Another one followed, and then another. Eberle kept a hold of MacIntyre's shirt and sent a shot to the side of MacIntyre's head, but he was sorely outmatched. MacIntyre was at least four inches taller and fifty pounds heavier. Another one of the enforcer's heavy punches struck against Eberle's chest, and the Dolphins' defenseman struck out at MacIntyre's head once more, both their bodies circling around in the pool.

"Come on!" Yuffie yelled. "Go for the head Mac! Yeah! Blitzball has hockey fights! This is awesome!" MacIntyre landed another jab to Eberle's chest. "Yeah! Hit him again!"

"Don't give up Eberle!" Tidus roared.

Blood was leaving the forehead of MacIntyre and was beginning to stain the shirt of Eberle and mixing with the waters of the sphere pool until it was indistinguishable. Both players kept hold of the other's jersey, keeping each other close. The Dolphins player was looking a little poor, even though he hadn't taken any blows to the head, but he threw another punch at MacIntyre's head, and then another and another. Two more blows rained down on the head of his opponent in quick succession, who was now looking like he was the one on the ropes. But then one solid slug from the Wranglers player's fist connected with the side of Eberle's head and sent the Dolphin down, reminding everyone why MacIntyre's nickname was SmacIntyre.

"YEAH!" Sade roared. "MacIntyre owns Sora! Wranglers all the way!"

"You're down by three with a minute to go," Sora reminded him. "I think you've lost."

"Who cares?" Sikora asked. "We won the fight!"

"And what a fight that was," Yuffie said, placing a hand to her chest. "It was so exhilarating. Ooh, I wish that we had our hockey back!"

Kairi tugged on Sora's shoulder. "I have to spar with my master in twenty minutes," she said. "We'd better get going if we're going to make it to the town square in time, what with this crowd."

Sora looked at her in disbelief. "But the game isn't over yet!"

Kairi rolled her eyes. "The Dolphins are going to win Sora, you won't miss anything."

Sora glanced up at the clock, and gave one last painful look towards the action in the sphere pool before rising at his girlfriend's urging and leaving with her.

-A-D-

Twenty minutes later, Kairi was waiting by the stage where she'd seen the priests of Poseidon retell the legend of how blitzball came to the islands. The warm wind blew through her hair, bringing with it the smell of the ocean. It was a comforting feeling, but it did little to still her mounting nerves. Over the countless hours of the many weeks she had trained by Garda's hand she had come to know him very well. He was thirty-seven, had never been married or had a girlfriend, and had been born and raised on the island of Nova. He'd spent a number of years in his childhood roaming the jungles of that island near the mines by its dormant volcano, and had learned at an early age of the dangers that wandered free about the islands. He'd made his first kill defending a friend when out camping at the tender age of nine, and he'd never looked back. Since that day, her master had dedicated himself to becoming stronger and mastering his skills in the art of wielding any manner of weapon, his preferred being the great two-handed claymore he always had strapped to his back. He looked to the betterment of himself and of any comrade who wished to fight alongside, and to the safety of his people wherever he went. He had had no need for intimately close relations with any one person because he kept himself close but distant to every person he came into contact with. Why he was keeping himself far away, Kairi had never been able to pry out of him. But there was one thing that she did know above everything else: from the day he'd killed his first fiend onward, any opponent he faced had never beaten her master.

She looked into the crowd in anxiety, both hoping and dreading to see the man's face above the heads of the number of people milling about in the square. She felt Sora's hands on her shoulders but did not look around.

"Don't worry so much Kairi," he said. "You'll do fine."

She bit her bottom lip and shook her head. "I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose," she repeated under her breath, meaning to only say the words in her head.

"No you're not," Menelmon said encouragingly. "I believe in you Kairi."

"Yeah," Aiwemon added, "have a little faith."

Riku, who was taller than the rest of them who waited in quiet, spoke up. "He's coming."

Kairi paled and spotted Garda striding towards her confidently. "I'm going to throw up," she mumbled.

"You can hurl after you've beaten him," Rikku told her.

Kairi shook her head but didn't say anything, thinking that opening her mouth might just cause her statement to come true. Time was acting in funny ways, because the next thing she knew, Garda was standing right in front of her.

"Are you ready girl?" he asked.

Kairi started and her breath hitched. "Ye—Yes Master!" she said, trembling slightly.

"Good," he said with a slight smile as his big right hand went back to the hilt of the mammoth sword upon his back. "Then show me what you've learned," he added before leaping onto the stage. His sword rang out as he drew it during his leap, and the Sun's light reflected off of the black metal of the long and thick claymore.

Kairi gulped and looked up at her master, unsure of herself. Then another voice spoke from behind her. She turned her head around and saw King Mickey standing there with Asterix. "We're all behind ya Kairi," the King said encouragingly, nodding his head at her.

Asterix nodded as well. "Show him what you can do," he said. "We're all here for you, Your Highness."

"You've gotten good Kairi," Riku told her calmly. "We're proud of you."

Kairi smiled slightly, but she still felt like the entire world was crashing down around her. There was still no way that she'd ever be prepared to fight him, and even if she was prepared, she couldn't possibly win, not alone.

You are never alone, a voice in her head spoke firmly.

Kairi stepped up onto the stage without even thinking about it. That voice was just as commanding as her master's, and just as important. With four simple words, the voice had reminded her of a pact she'd made when her life had been in jeopardy, and had briefly given her the strength to overcome the challenge that had immediately been before her.

Kairi's right hand glowed with white light and Crowning Flame appeared within it, the smaller white weapon glittering in the sunlight and contrasting the massive black sword held by her master. Garda looked at the weapon in interest, and Kairi steadily held onto it with both her hands, her nerves stilled.

"I will show you what I've learned, Master."

-A-D-

A/N 1: In case you didn't know, all of the names used for players in the Blitzball game came from the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. Mike Comrie; Jordan Eberle, even though he's down on the farm team but he played for the Oilers in the preseason; Steve MacIntyre; Curtis Joseph, he used to play for the Oilers; and Jeff Deslauries for the Oilers; and Jerome Iginla for the Flames.

Happy Holidays!

May the Grace of the Valar Protect You

Shire Folk