Me: I'm so sorry for the long delay (though it's only three days)! It completely slipped my mind as I've been busy recently.

Sora: Tell them who this Doom character is!

Me: I'm actually surprised nobody knows who he is... I mean he's from a really famous-

Kairi: Just tell them already!

Me: Deltora Quest: Doom is leader of the resistance

Sora: However, in this story he obviously lost his world to the heartless.

Me: I was actually thinking of entering this as a possible extra world for KHII but if nobody knows... Oh well.

Kairi: You tried!


Sora huffed, her breath coming out in short gasps.

Sweat trickled down her face as she stood off squaring against Cloud (who had somehow become some sort of joint-trainer with Leon since the first time he'd joined in her training session). The two of them were in the water way once more and Sora was struggling to win against Cloud (Leon was busy doing something else).

The only reasons she knew she might have had a chance to win was because Cloud was also breathing heavily.

Where is an opening to win?

And then she saw it.

As he sped towards her, weapon raised, instead of dodging like all the other times, Sora grinned.

And ran forward to meet him head on.

Leon may have said that sometimes it's better to get out of the way…But sometimes it's even better to do something an enemy won't expect!

She saw Cloud's eyes widen as he tried to change his sword position. Sora's heart rate speed up, knowing she would have-

Sora fell to the ground with a loud groan.

"Owwww…" Sora mumbled, rolling onto her back as her keyblade fell to the ground and disappeared with a shing.

"You got too cocky." Cloud smirked as he looked down at her. "But you did good. A few more minutes and the tables may have turned."

Huh. The most you've said to me since our first meeting…

Cloud had simply jumped in the air, heavy weapon and all, flipping behind her and attacking her exposed back. Sitting up, she stared at Cloud who gave a small smile to her.

"What was fighting like when you first started?" Sora asked, putting her hands behind her head and staring at the waterway top.

"I…" Cloud hesitated before running a hand through his hair and nodding. "I was cocky too…"

"Heh." Sora smiled at him. "It just means that I'm going to get even better then you as I get more experience! After all, if you turned out this strong while being cocky at first, imagine how strong I can be?!"

Cloud shook his head in bemusement as Sora beamed.

"Don't worry! I'll definitely beat you soon." And then Sora saw Leon coming. "And you too Leon!"

Leon came down from the stairs leading to the cavern, gunblade in hand with a frown (annoyed face) as he held some of Aerith's Barley Tea (that she always put sugar in even if Leon didn't like it).

"Is that so?" Leon asked, mouth twitching into a smile.

A smirk came across Cloud's face, as if something Sora had said had amused him.

"Sora! Come on!" Donald squawked as he ran into the water way. "We're going to be late for the Hercules Tournament!"

Coliseum

"AH!" Sora shouted, pointing at him. "So that's why you thought it was funny?!"

Cloud stood on the other side of the arena, weapon raised with amusement dancing in his eyes. They were in the fourth round and Sora was definitely planning to verse Hercules like she'd wanted.

Which meant she had to defeat Cloud.

She wouldn't let anything stop her and she did feel confident.

After all, she'd nearly defeated him by herself. And this time, she had her friends with her.

"BEGIN!" Phil shouted and then Cloud attacked.

Sora raised her keyblade up to parry him, moving her body slightly forward so she wouldn't fall back from the force of his blows (she'd learnt that after the first dozen falls).

Cloud was already jumping away, having dodged Donald's thunder spell (that was thankfully accurate and hadn't hit Sora who was less than a metre away from the target) and heading towards Goofy.

"Gawrsh." Goofy frowned, raising his shield again before (most likely) remembering what happened last time (chopped shield).

So he did something else instead.

He fell over.

The crowd went hushed for a moment and Cloud's eyes widened but before he realised it, Sora had already jumped over Goofy, grinning like mad as she swung her keyblade towards him, having found an opening.

If Cloud's focused on Goofy falling over, he'll barely have time to see that Goofy was only being a distraction so I could attack!

Of course, they hadn't planned that but Sora just knew that what Goofy had done was to help her by being a distraction.

I guess it's like when I always teamed up with Riku against somebody else. I know him so well I know what he's planning! But this time I can tell what Goofy's doing!

Goofy was up again, smiling as he ran to the side of the arena. Of course, Sora only saw this out of the corner of her eye, trying not to alert Cloud as she had a feeling Goofy was going to do something else.

Cloud seemed to be meeting her blow for blow and Sora frowned, knowing if this kept up, Cloud would beat her and then manage to beat Donald and Goofy anyway.

I'm not letting that happen!

As a cure spell came over Sora ("thanks Donald!"), Sora quickly jumped back and raised her keyblade.

"MUSHU!" Sora shouted, grinning as flames erupted from her keyblade and…

A lizard-like creature appeared on her shoulder.

Mushu was the summon that Doom from Halloween Town had given her. When they had made it back to Traverse Town, she had stopped by Merlin's House and released Mushu. He was a very funny lizard…ah… 'dragon'…

"Sora, my girl!" Mushu smiled at her, his hands patting her face. "I knew you'd need my awesome help sometime-WAH"

Sora was already moving, knowing she didn't have time to explain to Mushu what was going on (hopefully he'd figure it out himself).

"Go girl! Get him!" Mushu shouted, jumping on her head and waving his fists around as he cheered her on. "I'll fry him with my fire!"

Sora rolled her eyes, even as she ran forward to meet Cloud's blade again, the force of his attacks increasing. The crowd was so loud now that Sora had lost track of hearing Donald and Goofy near her but that didn't matter.

Goofy had thrown in a few attacks here and there, allowing her to take a breath when she needed it (unlike in her training with Cloud) which meant she had already lasted longer than she thought.

"Alright! Let's go!" Mushu pointed a finger forward, a flame coming from his hand.

Sora's eyes widened when her keyblade suddenly erupted in flames-the beginnings of casting a fire spell.

What…It's like the keblade's…Telling me to cast fire…?

"FIRE!" Sora shouted and Cloud's eyes widened as Mushu's fire and Sora's spell merged, creating a gigantic blast of fire that headed straight towards him.

"Go KID!" Cid's voice from the crowds almost made Sora smile but she continued to focus because Cloud wasn't defeated yet, having dodged the attack by jumping away (though he was unbalanced).

And that's when it happened.

Goofy launched in the air, shield raised before he rammed into Cloud, knocking him out of the arena.

There was a stunned silence as Cloud managed to put a hand out and flip back so he was standing up however he still remained outside the arena.

Which meant he was outside the boundary.

Which meant he lost.

"Winners: Sora, Donald and Goofy!" Phil announced, a big smile on his face.

The crowd went wild but Sora was too busy grinning and laughing as she ran up to Goofy with Donald, high fiving the both of them.

"That was awesome Goofy!" She laughed and Donald beamed, casting a healing spell on them all and getting rid of the fatigue in Sora's muscles.

"Gawrsh…" Goofy smiled bashfully. "It was nuthing'."

Last Round:

"Congratulations." Hercules grinned at them as he walked onto the arena.

The crowds were deafening in their cheers (Sora was sure a lot of them were for her) as Sora, Donald and Goofy stepped into the arena, all smiles and excited grins.

"Yep!" Sora grinned. "We did say we will beat you! Phil has to recognise us as heroes now!"

Hercules laughed, his eyes brightening as Phil shouted something from outside the ring.

"If you think beating opponents in a tournament makes you a hero kid, you got a long way to go!" Phi shouted as he placed the trophy down.

"What?!" Donald squawked out in Sora's defence as her head slumped down in dejection.

"Gawrsh, maybe we should just get ready?" Goofy asked and Sora sighed, raising her head to grin once more at Hercules.

I can't lose focus now…This is the last match…This is it…We are so going to win…! This is where all my training has led me! This is the proof that when we meet Maleficent, we are strong enough to stop her from destroying the worlds!

"Don't lose Sora!" Sora smiled as she heart Yuffie's scream from the crowds (apparently she had been defeated by Cloud in her third round).

"You ready?" Hercules grinned, raising his fists and nodding to them.

"Sora, my girl~" the high voice of Mushu the lizard ("That's DRAGON-I don't do that tongue thing!") made Sora turn her head. "Do you still need the mighty Mushu to help?"

Hmm…We're facing Hercules this time…There is no advantage because he's probably seen our battles with Mushu…

"Not this time." Sora smiled at the dragon, who sighed but nodded. "But next time for sure!"

"Alright then." Mushu smiled, disappearing in a flash of light.

Sora turned to Hercules.

Riku…Kairi…Look how far I've gotten…I've faced countless strong opponents and winning! I'm getting stronger to save the worlds and find you guys…We'll be back together soon! I promise!

Later…

"I can't believe it." Cid huffed out. "ya' beat the champion of the Tournament cause' he wasn't payin' attention."

Sora grinned, sharing a secret smile with Cloud. "He was too cocky."

Cloud snorted, even as he threw something toward Sora.

Catching it, Sora blinked at the keychain that had a chicken hanging off of it.

"A keychain?" Yuffie tilted her head in confusion as they exited the building. "Why'd ya' give Sora a keychain, Cloudy?"

"A keychain enhances the appearance and strength of Sora's keyblade." Leon explained as Sora summoned her keyblade.

Pulling off Tarzan's keychain and pocketing it with a smile, Sora attached Cloud's keychain.

There was a flash of light as Donald and Goofy gasped with Sora.

"Hehe." Aerith giggled. "It looks a bit like Cloud's sword."

Cloud looked away, a small blush on his face. "…Shut up…I gave it to her because she finally defeated me…"

"Thanks Cloud!" Sora beamed, quickly slashing downwards to test the keyblade. "It's awesome!"

Cloud nodded but didn't say anything as the group of eight went to their respective ships.

"You three should rest for today."Aerith said to them from the doorway of her ship. "You've had an exhausting day."

Sora looked at Donald and Goofy, biting her lip.

Donald looked hesitant but he nodded anyway. "We can't fight if we collapse…"

"Right." Aerith smiled. "The worlds are counting on you three, after all."

Back at Traverse Town:

"…Sora, what are you doing?" Yuffie sweat dropped.

Sora was banging her head repeatedly against the wall in front of the first district gate.

I forgot to search for the Coliseum keyhole…AGAIN?!


Me: So Sora beats the Hercules Tournament, gets to know Mushu and she forgets to find the Coliseum Keyhole. What will our cute Sora do next?

Sora: ...Please don't call me cute.

Me: And Sora's keyblade has changed once more! The keychain she won from Cloud! It has high attack but not as many air combos (just so you can understand how Sora will fight).