Sora vs the Forces of Evil

"Oh this is not good, not good, not good," Star said, pacing back and forth in the Arena's front enhance, Sora sitting on a nearby bench looking onto the ground.

Sora had been quite for the best part of the day. He didn't want to think to hard as he and Star were about to enter the tournament.

To say he was nervous was a understatement. Sora was horrified at the prospect of having to fight in these games. He didn't know how many opponents he would have to face to win, let alone he'd still have to go up against Cloud. He was glad that at least Star was far more combat ready than him. But both of them knew that Cloud was still going to be a hard opponent to crack if at all beat.

Still, there friends lives were on the line, and they couldn't let them down.

"Star, it will be okay," Sora said taking a deep breath, "We have to go the distance, like Phil says".

"Yeah, but what does that mean," Star said, looking horrified,

"I...I'm not sure"

Sora sat there looking at his feet for a moment trying to get into his head just what those words even meant. They had to mean something, Go the Distance, Go the Distance, Go the distance

Sora

I have often dreamed of a far off place

Where a hero's welcome would be waiting for me

Where the crowds would cheer, when they see my face

And a voice keeps saying this is where I'm meant to be

I'll be there someday, I can go the distance

I will find my way if I can be strong

I know every mile would be worth my while

When I go the distance, I'll be right where I belong

Star frowned, "Sora I know your worried right now but now is not the time for a song about your intenral thoughts!"

"Sorry," Sora said, "I'm just nervous"

"Me too, at least you have the Keyblade, I don't even have my Wand, just this sword Phil gave me"

"Hey, you have more combat skills than me remember,"

Star paused for a moment, "True, I was able to wield a sword when I was three months old".

"See that's the spirit," Sora smiled, trying to keep a positive demon, even though deep down he was freaking out as well.

He had never been a fighter and he knew it. Even going up against the hordes of Heartless during his journey so far, he had never had to face a real opponent with real skill and vigor. The closet thing that came to mind was Jafar in Agrabah, and that had gone horrible for him. So this was going to be his first time facing a real enemy.

Sora could feel his stomach start to churn again,

"Keep it together Sora," He took a deep breath, "Keep it together,"

Thankfully Star didn't notice as she twisted her own fingers in nervousness. It was a room filled with people who were a living wreck right now.

"Alright how's my team doing," Phil came into the room to see both of them looking horrified, "Okay not doing well at all that's normal...But you gotta snap out of it, if your gonna save your friends".

Sora and Star looked up at Phil and quickly both nodded, "Right!" They said together

"Right," Phil nodded back, "That's what I like to see, now remember everything I taught yuh, and remember, go the Distance".

"What does that mean though!"

Before Phil could answer the horns began to ring, the single was sent, the games was about to begin.

-000-

Sora and Star walked out to the stage.

Standing before them was not only the gran arena, but now hundreds of guest and watchers all cheering for or against them.

It was just now that Sora realized just how large this place really was.

Standing to the side, Donald, Goofy, Leon and Aerith were in a special bench in the arena just for them. It was nice that he was able to see his friends at least cheer him on during this tournament. He was going to need all the moral support he could muster. Star too.

"Good luck Sora," Goofy shouted from afar,

Donald waved to him, "You can do it,"

Sora gave them both a faint smile.

"Heh, heh...Oh this is gonna be good," In a puff of smoke Hades showed up in front of them, a wicked smirk on his face, "So, are we all ready to have some fun, no pressure or anything….Oh wait...Sorry, there is".

With a snap of his fingers, three cages emerged, each holding one Star's friends in them.

"Marco! Janna!" Star called out to them.

"Hey what about me!" Tom yelled.

Star frowned almost immediately, "Oh yeah, you too,"

"Star!" Marco called out as she ran to him, "We're good here Star, don't worry, just beat whatever plan he's got".

"Oh well now isn't this a delight," A new voice came causing everyone including Hades to turn in surprise.

Toffee walked up to them, a smirk on his reptilian like face as he approached the cages. Sora eyes narrowed, he had a feeling he wasn't here out of the concern for Star or his friends.

"Toffee?" Marco said in shock.

"Yes, greetings," Toffee said, adjusting his tie, "I knew your friends were in trouble Star but I wasn't sure that it was that bad".

He turned to the lord of the underworld

"Though I do applause you for getting the Mewni Princess in this predicament, even my fellow monsters had trouble seducing her in the past...I do hope you take care when it comes to his Key," Toffee pointed to Sora now, "That weapon can surprise you, and I have a feeling so could it's wielder. If he embraces the power it can wield ...wisely. And now, I take a seat" .

Everyone looked a bit confused as Toffee just walked off. Sora noticed that even Hades seemed a bit uneasy by him as he shuttered for a few seconds before speaking again.

"Oy lawyers am I right," Hades said, "Anyway, I'll leave your little pals here, you know, make sure the stakes are nice and clear, and because I wanna watch them watch you fail...Hard!"

Sora and Star both gulped,

"You can do it Star," Marco called out to her, "I know you can, we've taken on bigger lugs than this before".

Star looked up at Marco and nodded, Sora saw the surge of confidence come to her. He only wished he could muster up that confidence as well.

"Come on," Phil interrupted, "It's time".

Sora and Star nodded.

Together the two of them head up to the main stadium, audience cheers roaring in the distance. There screams excited and rabbid. They shook the ground beneath the players feet, Sora looking over to them, feeling a boost of confidence that he couldn't help but give a dramatic bow to them, shaking his fist in the air triumphantly.

"What are you doing?" Star asked

Sora looked over Star and winked, "Giving them a show?"

"A show?"

"Yeah...That's why there here right?"

Star looked at the audience and came to the realization "Ooooooh…" She too began to wave to the crowd.

If they wanted a show then they best not disappoint.

"Okay." Sora took a deep breath and extended his hand, now was the time to summon the Keyblade. "Come on-Come on-We can do this."

He held his hand out and concentrated with all his might, the large crowd watching with intensity as he tried to summon the keyblade. Only problem was, it wasn't coming.

"Um...Phil?" Sora said, his voice cracking.

"Just concentrate." Phil shouted.

"Uh, Sora." Star pointed forward.

Heartless began to emerge in a vast swarm. Several of them stood on the other end of the arena in various shape and sizes. Suddenly the Keyblade emerged, Sora held up looking at it disappointingly.

"Dang it, I wanted to summon it myself!" Sora shouted.

Phil rolled his eyes. "Who cares kid. Just attack!"

"Right. Come on guys, let's get going. Ready?"

"Ready!"

Sora and Star charged forward and clashed with the Heartless. He swung his Keyblade as best he could using the moves and techniques Phil had taught him like dodge roll and combat strike. One by one, he took out each Heartless as they struck him down.

Star used the sword she was given and managed to strike the swarms as they charged toward her. Her anger and vigor accurate and precise. She was truly well trained and much more accurate in her attacks compared to Sora, who still managed to fumble around doing most of the battle.

The Heartless were trippy enemies, yet Sora's training had prepared him for that. Goofy used his shield to protect Sora with his magic, while Donald used his own magic to strike the Heartless.

"Come on, guys! We got this!" Sora yelled.

"Yeah! We're doing it!" Star called back.

Phil rollers his eyes. "Don't get cocky, more are coming."

He was right. Another swarm of Heartless arrived and came after Sora this time with full force. All three of them charged forward and attacked with as much strength that they could muster. Training together had made them a team. Just like back in Traverse Town. But now Sora had something to fight for. Hopefully, it will be something he'd keep with him as the games went on.

"I can do this," Sora muttered, "Go the distance"

-000-

In the crowds, everyone watched. Leon kept himself quite yet his face was stern as he watched Sora and Star fight off wave after wave of Heartless. Yet his eye kept going back to Toffee who seemed quite stoic, knees folded and hands on his lap as he watched, a slight snicker on his face the entire time. He never trusted the lizard ever since he had appeared in Traverse Town. He always wondered what was on his mind.

Donald and Goofy both looked nervous, keeping themselves close, hoping that Sora would pull through. Aerith was the only other calm one in the group, although the hint of concern was in her eyes.

Still they would support Sora and Star, hoping for the best. They had to believe in there hearts that they would pull through no matter what

"Quite impressive isn't he," Toffee said getting everyone attention

"What's that mean?" Donald asked, glaring at him

Toffee chuckled, "Star and Sora...Two mere children with so much weight pulled on their shoulders. One wielding the most powerful weapon in the universe, and the other being the Wand of Mewni, which compared to the Keyblade is small by comparison. But what really is fascinating is one is a Princess of a long bloodline, the other….No one, fascinating".

"Sora ain't know one" Goofy chasized, "He's a Keyblade Master"

"Yes, but with what background" Toffee interjected "And more importantly, he has really yet to prove himself in any major achievement...Yet"

"I think he will," Aerith spoke up now, gaining everyone's attention, "He's gotten this far, lost his best friend to darkness, and while the evil hasn't been vanquished yet the fact he's still fighting is still a accomplishment in itself".

Toffee merely shrugged, "True….But will light vanquish the darkness, or will it take something...more".

-000-

"Go Star, Go!" Marco cried from his cage, shaking the bars a bit, "Ugh...I should be there with her"

"She'll be fine dude, relax" Janna said leaning against her cage, "It's not like she hasn't been able to handle things on her own before. Right Tom?"

"The walls!" Tom shrieked before looking at his friends "Oh...Uh right, right….Is it, is it getting smaller in here"

The trio were on the other side of the stadium watching Star and Sora fight tooth and nail against Heartless monsters. Round after round passed as they fought off entire hordes of them. Some big, some small, some with great powers. Yet with each trial they were able to prevail, and with each trial they managed to get a bit closer to freeing them once and for all. Marco seemed the most worried about his friend.

Star was his best friend after all, that weird Mewni Princess who randomly came to him from another dimension. The two had shared in the most wonderful and wild of adventures.

"Come on Star….You can do it,"

"You value your friend don't you," Marco flinched as he turned up, Cloud was standing by them watching the games.

"Yeah," Marco said before becoming angry, "More I can say then you...You...Not nice person!"

Cloud just looked at Marco for a brief second before flicking his hair

"Oh sure, be Mr. strong silent type, but you knwo what buddy at least I have friends and morals….and...ethics…..okay maybe not strong ones...But I have them darn it. And you know what, I don't go around making deals with demons...Unless it's Tom, but I don't like Tom that much...No offense Tom."

"THE WALLS ARE CLOSING IN ON ME!"

"See! But what about you huh...Star is fighting for us, Sora is fighting for his friends, what about huh...Mr….Fight for demon for no reason...Hmm….Hmmm…...Hmmmmm!"

Cloud just looked at Marco again before walking out.

"Yeah, that's right walk of Mr...Quite person," Marco huffed

Janna chuckled, "You sure should him," She said starcastically

"Janna," Marco muttered, "Get out of town"

-000-

"Okay, champ! Final round!" Phil declared.

Sora gulped. This was it, the moment of truth his battle against Cloud, it would be his strength against Clouds strength. So basically he had lost before the first sword was flung. Yet then he remembered why he was doing it, lives were on the line and whatever Hades wanted with his Key was not a good thing. He couldn't risk losing, he wouldn't lose.

Turning to Star he nodded back a them with a look of confidence.

"Ready Star?" Sora asked

Star nodded, "Ready as I'll ever be!"

Sora waited and watched the sheer intensity grew with every passing second as he waited. It was if each passing second he was getting another step closer to his own death. The fact that Hades had put him and Cloud up to this made those suspicions all the more clear. Suddenly from the other side of the arena he saw him, Cloud. Slowly he began to make his way onto the arena the crowd letting out various sounds of cheers and boos already by this time they had picked their favorites on who they wanted to see win and lose. Cloud, however, did not put on a show as Sora had did, instead he kept focus straight on the boy as he walked up to the platform drawing his sword and pointing it straight at him.

"Oh boy." Sora muttered. "I'm in trouble, I'm in big, big, big trouble"

"Yeah…" Star sighed, "We are kinda doomed.

Sora looked up at Cloud and took a deep breath. "You don't have to do this!" He shouted.

Cloud eyes narrowed. The bell rang signaling the start match. Before Sora could even move a muscle Donald and Goofy were knocked out completely and Sora himself was knocked back without even realizing it, landing flat on his back seeing a sword being pointed straight towards his neck. It was if lighting had struck him without even him having time to blink. All the training and yet it had been for naught.

"Stay still and it won't hurt as much." Cloud said in a harsh whisper.

Before Cloud to go at it again Star came charging in, managing to keep the grip on her weapon as she and cloud clashed with one another. Sora got up and saw the two clash swords with one another, he was amazed by how well she was keeping up.

Star was definitely a fighter,

"I'm gonna free my friends no matter what," Star cried defending herself,

Sora rushed up and managed to duck Cloud who was taken surprise.

Cloud got some distance before charging his sword in massive succession, each time Sora and Star managed to barley dodge the attack.

Each attack though, he became slower

"He's become weakened" Sora noticed "Star...Together"

Star nodded and gripped her sword tighter.

Together she and Sora charged, and with swiftness and speed managed to overwhelm him. He was fast, but they were faster. He was fighting for darkness, they were fighting for their friends.

Finally Cloud had enough, he got to his knees looking exhausted.

"No way…" Cloud sighed, "H-How?"

"Easy," Sora said, "Because we have something worth fighting for"

Star nodded, "Yeah...Now, a deals a deal let our friends go!"

Hades appeared before them now snickering, "Oh...Did not see this coming, nope, did not see this coming at all….Oh wait...I did!"

"Huh?"

With a snap of his fingers Hades summoned large black portal of darkness causing Cloud and Sora to fling into the air. The cloud began to dissipate revealing the dark figure that emerged from it. In horror Sora their standing before him the shadow of a horrid beast. A three headed black dog, it's eyes pure red and teeth sharp as nails. It roar was fierce like a lion sending shivers down the spines of all it surveyed.

"What is that thing?" Sora asked.

"That's Cerberus, Guardian of the Underworld!" Hades chuckled "Yep, Ain't he cute?"

The crowds in the stands began to run in fear and panic, not even the local guard could keep the demon dog at bay.

"Sora! Run!"

"What? No, I'm gonna help you!"

"Don't argue with me Sora! Run before...Argh!"

Too late, Cerberus kicked Phil back off the arena as he began to rampage throughout the arena destroying much of the structure as he passed. It's large feet stomped on the ground matching miniature earthquakes with every step it took.

Sora tried to get up but it was too late the devil hound clawed foot hovered over him, ready to pounce. The poor boy closed his eyes ready for impact but to his surprise was spared, the dog was stomped back by a powerful blast of energy.

Without warning Sora found himself being flung back, looking up he saw that it was Cloud who had managed to save him, the ball of darkness barley missing him.

"Sora," Aerith cried out as she Leon and the others all came to his aid

"Thanks," Sora said to Cloud who put him down, "But what about Star"

Looking to the stadium they saw Star single handling the massive three headed beast herself, distracting it so it that it wouldn't attack the stands.

"Come on doggy," Star cooed, "Good puppy, good big scary puppy"

Cerberus comped at the bit to try and take Star's head, thankfully she was able to dodge and roll avoid it's attack

"Come on we have to go help her," Sora said getting up.

"We can't take on that big thing ourselves," Phill said

"Maybe not," Cloud said, "But maybe we can together...I know a few extra fighters"

-000-

Toffee was a safe distance away from now from the arena but just shy enough to get a good sense of what was going on. He couldn't help but get a bit of smug satisfaction at watching Star take on the demon dog of the Underworld herself. The Princess of Mewni had been a foe for a while, and watching her face this danger was quite an amusement for her.

"So, hope your enjoying yourself," Hades said as he appeared behind him.

"Indeed,"

"I don't get you," Hades said scratching his chin, "Whose side are you own anyway"

"My own of course, whose side is more worthy than that"

Hades snickered, "I get that, but uh, I'm surprised you haven't joined Mal's little grouping, you seem like a guy with universal ambition"

"Oh I am," Toffee said looking back at Star, "But there is more than one way to rule the universe. Oh and by the way...I hope you have the Wand of Mewni somewhere secure."

"Yeah, it's with the prisoners, why?" Hades asked

Toffee frowned, "I was afraid of that"

-000-

Another dodge, another roll

Star was starting to get tired of keeping Cerberus on her tail, yet she persisted nonetheless. She wasn't about to let this dumb dog hurt her friends. She kept up the swift pace, managing to doge the fireballs and the dogs massive feet, trying her best to keep in a full circle formation.

"Oh I could really use some help right now" Star muttered

"CHARGE!"

Star turned around and saw Sora and Marco, Janna, Tom, Donald, Goofy, Leon, Cloud, Aeirth all running towards the arena now, Star's wand in hand firing magical blast at the devil dog. His heart soar. Taking the moment of reprieve Sora got up and got to a safer distance now, Donald and Goofy joined by his side.

"Guys!" Star beamed

Marco waved, "Don't worry Star, we're comin and look what we got…." He held up the Wand of Mewni tossing it to her.

The moment she caught it she felt empowered again, turning to Cerberus she smirked and jumped into the air, "Rainbow blast!" she shouted unleashing a powerful Rainbow energy field.

"Come on, we gotta help them!" Sora yelled.

"Against that thing?!" Donald said looking at Cerberus with shaking feathers.

"Oh come, on we went to the Underworld and fought a giant Heartless! It shouldn't be that bad."

"Yeah, come on Donald!" Goofy said

Donald sighed. "Fine."

"Come on boy!" Star called trying to get the big dogs attention with her magic wand, waving it around like a stick, "Come on...Get Star….Come on! I got a big chewable wand for ya to play with it."

Cerberus lunged it's head and fired giant balls of flame from its mouth, almost impacting Star and creating large craters on the ground. The young girl managed to dodge but Cerberus merely let out a large barrage of them. Goofy tried to aid with his shield but the power was too great that they flung him back.

"Goofy!" Donald ran up to him raising his staff. "Heal!"

"Thanks Donald!"'

Star was backed into a corner as the dog's sharp glaw hovered over her now.

"Star no!" Marco yelled, thinking quickly of a way to distract the beast. "Uh...Here big Doggy….Big...Horrible...Scary…..Oh boy."

Cerberus roared and went on a rampage, no longer carrying who he attacked so long as he was going after someone. He stomped his feet down hard laying down massive waves of dark energy.

A few Heartless emerged from these shadow pools and distracted the others leaving Sora open to Cerberus's attacks.

Cerberus closed in on him again this time there was no way out, all the others were too distracted by the Heartless to help. Now it was just him and the dog, alone, and without any chance of escape.

Sora closed his eyes hoping that at least his death would be a quick and easy one for him. But as soon as he saw Cerberus raise his claw, it stopped. Quickly Sora raised a eye to see what had happened. The demon dog remained still, however it's glowing red eyes began to dim. Above his head a small speck glowed through the light. As the sun got out of the way Sora saw Cloud riding on the tip of his head grabbing Cerberus by his fur pulling it up as if trying to control it.

The Dog struggled to get off his head but Cloud had his sword and he used it to pierce the dog at it's pressure points causing it great pain. He continued to struggle and bark, causing the ground to shake. This went on for several more minutes until the dog's eyes finally closed, his body beginning to sway until it finally collapsed onto the ground becoming fully uncinous.

Everyone slowly walked up to the dog, it was still breathing but it was knocked out cold. Cloud for his part slid down onto the ground and dusted himself off putting his sword back onto the hilt

"Wow….Cloud….How did you do that?"Sora ked.

"Old trick, fought a lot of these kind of beasts at the day." His eyes once again narrowed. "Now...where is Hades."

Sora turned around and found no sign of the Lord of the Underworld. "He's gone?"

"Ugh...My head." Tom groaned getting up to see the might beast knocked out. "Um...What happened?"

"I think we won, Tom." Marco snickered, "I think we won"

"Great," Tom cheered "Can I go home now?"

-000-

"I see you lost." Toffee replied snickering.

Hades glared at him.

"What's worse is that in the end you didn't have what I wanted?" Toffee asked pulling out a scroll.

Hades bit his lip and looked surprised. "Wait a minute, why give it to me, didn't you want blondie and kick boy down there?"

"I had a better idea," Toffee sighed as he began to walk off, "Oh well...Guess I'll have to try again"

Hades just watched as Toffee left, something about that lizard screamed trouble. Even more trouble than Maleficent herself

-000-

Clean up from Cerberus's rampage meant there wasn't going to be anymore games for a while. Perhaps a month, maybe more. Sora and the other assessed the damage. The arena was definitely in total ruin. Bricks laid everywhere, the seats were a complete mess and the stage had been crushed, Phil looked upon it all with a hint of despair and grief.

"Well, this is gonna take a while." Phil said taking a deep sigh of exasperation.

"Yeah….So um…..How are we gonna train?" Sora asked, dreading the answer.

"Oh yeah, that…." Phil looked at Sora scratching his chin, as if almost examining him. Sora looked back at Phil confused. "Look kid. You're training…..It's done for now."

"What?" Sora looked surprised.

"Yeah, look, I taught ya some basics. You seem to know the final points of combat and you got something in ya. But I think at this point what you need kid is the best kinda teacher that sadly I can't provide. Good old fashioned experience!"

"Really?"

Phil nodded. "Yeah, Keyblade is more than just a sword as you know, but sadly I only

so much, a lot of it's secrets are just that secrets! Beside, you got friends and a King to find. So long as you help some people when you need to and trust in that key of yours. I know you can go the distance."

"There's that phrase again." Sora snickered he started to become used to it. "You know I'm um...I think I might understand a little."

"Just a little huh?" Phil snickered back at him, hands on his hips looking at Sora with a raised eyebrow. The old goat still knew how to intimidate them. "Yeah, yeah….well….Here." Taking out something from behind his back he handed Sora a piece of paper.

Sora read it a bit of pride coming onto him as he read what it said.

Sora

Certified Junior Hero

"Really!" Sora said sounding excatic.

Phil nodded. "Yep, now you can participate in any future games should we have one. Hopefully, you'll be better."

"Thanks Phil, I appreciate it really."

"Yeah well-I might have lied a little bit about the last few Keyblade Masters I knew, they weren't that bad, in fact….They were actually pretty decent, maybe not full on heros as I would see it but-They were coming close, and I think you could too."

With that final nod Phil walked off, now it was time to say goodbye to Star and Marco, the two of them were looking at the large piles of rock and trying put it away. Well it was more Marco trying to put away the bricks and organize them while Star just watched.

"Marco, I don't think you'll be able to organize the rubble." Star said.

"Eh, you should me my house on Wednesdays," Tom snickered

"I think it's wicked, "Janna chuckled.

"Ah...You underestimate me Star, I have a system. Large rocks in the center, small rocks on the left, medium one's in the center, then we divide them by height, width, and smoothness."

Star rolled her eyes. "I could repair this all with a flick of my wand."

"But where's the satisfaction in that?!" Marco argued.

Suddenly they went quiet as Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked up to both of them. Leon, Aeirth and Cloud standing right behind them

"So uh….What are you gonna do now?" Donald asked.

Star shrugged. "Well...If you like, I can take you to Mewni, my mom is the Queen and she knows a bunch of stuff about that Key. She was actually hoping to find you."

"Oh-great-more Queen's looking for me." Sora sighed.

"You guys can come to Traverse Town with us if you want," Aerith suggested, "Those interdimensional scissors could be helpful for our Anti-Heartless resistance"

Leon nodded, "Your good in a fight too, we could use you"

Star beamed. "Thanks but I think it's best we get back to Mewni and-"

"It's gone." A familiar voice called out.

Everyone turned around, Toffee arrived in the stadium standing right in front of the group with the cold demeanor. Sora seemed a bit surprised to to see him, he had forgotten that they came with him in the first place. Yet now that he was back, he wanted to forget about him as soon as possible

"Toffee?" Star said getting her voice shaking a bit, "What do you mean gone?"

Toffee seemed taken aback, "Oh, did I not tell you? Mewni was destroyed by the Heartless a long time ago. Taken by the darkness, like our mutual friends home".

Star was silent.

Everyone now had eyes on her

"W-W-What….."

"Sorry," Toffee shrugged, "I guess I forgot with all the excitement of the games"

"Mewni….Gone."

Star got to her knees for a second, Tom, Janna and Marco all surrounding her

"Star, it's going to be okay, I'm sure there is a way to fix this" Tom said

Toffee nodded. "Tragic...We may have had our differences, princess, but I had much different ideas for our home than what happened to it."

"I bet you did." Marco sneered

Tom looked at Star, "Hey you can come to my dimension or…

"No," Star got up again wiping a tear from her eye, "Tom, you need to go home and warm you're dimension in case the Heartless attack, Janna you need to go home too...Marco, we're going with Leon to Traverse Town. We're going to join the resistance.

Leon nodded, "Thank you, that's a lot to ask".

"We can give you a ride." Sora suggested

Star held up a hand. "No need….I have my dimension scissors…." she walked up to him now holding his shoulder with a firm expression, "Sora...I don't know alot about what's going on, but even I know that the Keyblade is very important. It might be the only way to get my home back from what little I actually studied….Please….Help us"

Sora nodded, "I will, I promise"

"What about you Cloud?" Aeirth said looking at him hopefully, "Will you come with us too"

Cloud shook his head, "Not yet, I'm going to stay here and help, might as well...This is partially my fault"

"Oh," Aerith sighed, "Just uh….Just don't be a stranger okay"

Cloud nodded

"Good luck Sora," Leon waved, "I'm sure will see each other again before the end

Sora smiled giving the thumbs up. He waved goodbye as he watched the group head off to Traverse Town. Another sense of dread coming over him, seeing the look of horror and sadness as he realized that another world had fallen and for some reason, he blamed himself.

"It's okay, Sora." Donald put a hand on shoulder. "Not your fault."

"Yeah…." Sora sighed, feeling numb to it.

Suddenly Sora heard footsteps from behind him. "She'll be okay."

Sora flinched as he turned around seeing Cloud looming over them, his blue eyes staring right back into his.

Fiddling his hands Sora took a few steps back a stared up at cloud, a confused expression on his face. "Heh….Uh…..So…...Um."

"Sorry…..I thought I could handle the power of darkness, but it backfired."

Sora looked confused.

"I was looking for someone, Hades promised to help."

"Oh…." Sora said nodding. "I'm looking for someone too."

"For your light?"

"In a way, yeah."

Cloud snickered. "Don't lose sight of it." He began to walk out but Sora called out to him one more time.

"Leon's in Traverse Town you know….He and Aerith miss you!"

For a moment Cloud paused, thinking about Sora had said, before he gently flicked his hair and moved on.

"He's strange." Sora muttered to Goofy.

"Yeah."

Sora took a deep. "But I think I'm starting to see why Riku did what he did….Maybe...Maybe I shouldn't be mad….I think I know what I need to do."

"What?" Goofy asked giving Sora a upbeat grin.

"I need to get his head outta the clouds and make him realize what he did….before it's too late."

With one last deep breath Sora headed off. He would find Kairi, he would find his friends, and he would save Riku from himself no matter what! That was a promise, and when Sora made a promise, he did not break it.

That's what a hero did and if his Mom and Dad were watching, hopefully they would be proud.