A/N: I'm baaack! Sorry it took a little longer than I thought to update. See, when I'm not writing, I'm working at Ynot Pizza. Last week was Customer Appreciation Week, and it was BAAAAAD! But enough about my suffering, let's get on with what ya'll have been dying to see. The Hades Cup! Hope ya'll like it.

Chapter 37 - The Hades Cup

Olympus Coliseum - Arena

The stadium was packed. Hundreds of people had filled the stone bleachers to standing room only capacity. In the center of the ring, four teenagers stood nervously, waiting for their battle to begin.

Cody was nervous. Even though he and his friends had competed in the games a while ago, he still wasn't completely used to being watched by about a thousand people yet. He turned to Bridgette, Noah and Lindsay. The surfer girl looked about as nervous as him. Noah looked around indifferently, but Lindsay was once again waving to the people and smiling brightly.

"How are you not nervous?" Bridgette asked Noah in a sort of strangled voice. The black mage just shrugged.

"Crowds have never phased me. Besides, once we get back home, I'm expecting paparrazzi to tail me every day. What with how popular Total Drama has been."

Bridgette nodded, impressed. Cody slightly chuckled to himself. He wondered why Bridgette was so anxious. Seeing how she had hosted the Aftermath special in front of many people, and about a million more live on television. The geek tore his eyes away from his friends and looked over by the entrance to the arena, where the other contestants stood.

Hercules stood listening to Phil giving him a pep talk. The strangers, Tidus and Rikku were once again talking with each other. Cloud stood away from the others, and was watching Cody and his guardians with a calm expression. Leon, Tifa and Yuffie were also looking at the teens, and when Cody caught their gaze, Leon gave him a thumbs up, which he returned with a newly confident smile.

However, there was one person that Cody hadn't noticed. Geoff. His smile vanished and was replaced with a scowl. He supposed that the party boy was with Hades, wherever he was.

Little did he know, Bridgette was also thinking about Geoff, also angry that he wasn't here. She turned to look at Cody with a scowl on his face. She was now concerned, she had seen him give Leon a thumbs up, then a few seconds later saw his expression change. Why? Had he noticed that Geoff was missing as well?

Before the two could think anymore, a bell had been wrung in the distance. And about fifteen feet away from the teens, A group of Heartless appeared. There was a Fat Bandit, an Assault Rider, two Bandits and two Nightwalkers. Cody, Bridgette, Noah and Lindsay summoned their weapons and got into defensive positions.

"Uh oh! This team has one of those fat Heartless that can breathe fire." Cody pointed out, with a bit of concern. He remembered the first time he fought a Fat Bandit, it had taken many hits to beat it.

"Yeah, and that centaur Heartless wasn't exactly easy either." Bridgette added with concern also, looking at the Assault Rider. Then she turned to the tech geek. "But hey, we've gotten stronger since fighting them last time. We can handle them." she finished confidently.

Cody turned to the beautiful blonde teen. She had a confident smirk on her face. He had to admit that she had a point. And he smirked in response.

"Yeah, let's do this!" he exclaimed confidently. "You guys ready?" he asked Noah and Lindsay.

They didn't answer. Instead, The two mages had stepped in front of Cody and Bridgette and looked back at them with confident smirks of their own.

"You two relax. Lindsay and I have got these guys." Noah told them, making the two go wide eyed.

"What! Noah, are you crazy?!" Cody asked in shock.

"Nope." answered Lindsay. "We just want to take these guys on by ourselves. Why?"

"Why?" repeated Bridgette in disbelief. "Don't you remember how hard these Heartless were the first time? For all we know, Hades could have made these ones stronger. We need to fight them together."

"No we don't." replied Noah calmly, still smirking. "Did you two forget where we were while you were playing around in the Hundred Acre Wood?"

Cody and Bridgette looked at each other, then it dawned on them. That's right! Noah and Lindsay had been training with Merlin. Noah continued. "Yeah, Merlin trained us really well within several hours. Trust us. We got this."

Cody and Bridgette onca again looked at each other, Cody sighed. "Okay. But if you need help, we're here."

"Aww, thanks Cody." Lindsay replied brightly. "But really, we won't need it this time."

The keyblade master raised an eyebrow, but he and the surfer girl both stepped back to give the two mages some space to fight. Now they were intrigued. Just how strong had Noah and Lindsay gotten from Merlin?

The bell rung again, and the people in the stands immediately started cheering as Lindsay and Noah got into battle positions. They ran in two seperate directions and the Heartless began pursuit.

The two Bandits and the two Nightwalkers had surrounded Lindsay.

"Lindsay!" Cody shouted with concern. He was about to run into the fray when the Bandits buzzsaw-flipped at the blonde, and the Nightwalkers spun toward her as well.

Lindsay however, raised her star wand above her head and shouted "Reflega!"

To Cody's and Bridgette's shock, a shiny, crystal sphere had appeared. And the four Heartless slammed into this new and pretty powerful barrier, which shot them away from Lindsay, destroying both of the Nightwalkers.

"Whoa." Bridgette exclaimed in awe.

Then she and Cody turned to see Noah, who had lured the Fat Bandit away from the stunned Assault Rider. Noah turned around to look at the large, turban-wearing Heartless as it took a deep breath, preparing to shoot fire from it's mouth.

Noah smirked. His bracelet started to glow a bright blue, brighter than ever before. He then stuck his hand out and yelled "Blizzaga!"

Ice shot out from his hand at the same time the Fat Bandit shot a blast of fire, but this wasn't just several flakes, it was large blast of ice. The two blasts collided in midair. But the powerful ice was just two strong for the normal fire to handle. The freezing blast shot through the flames and struck the Fat Bandit, immediately killing it.

Noah let his hand down and gave a satisfied smirk. Unknown to him however, the Assault Rider had gotten back to it's hooves, and charged at the scrawny bookworm.

"Noah! Look out!' shouted Lindsay, disappearing and reappearing a second later behind Noah. Cody and Bridgette couldn't believe what they were seeing. Lindsay used Reflega again, this time surrounding Noah and herself as well. The large Heartless slammed into the barrier and was flown back quite a ways before collapsing onto the ground again.

Noah exhaled. "Wow. Thanks Lindsay." he thanked the blonde as her shield faded. The white mage smiled in response. "But uh... didn't you forget something?"

Lindsay looked confused. She thought about it for a moment before looking over at the two bandits running toward them. "Oh yeah."

Noah just shrugged. "Don't worry. I got it." His bracelet glowed again, this time a bright, bright red. He raised his hand at the approaching Heartless.

"Firaga!" He yelled. Out from his hand shot, not a fireball, but like the blast of ice, a blast of fire that hit the two Bandits, destroying them instantly. Noah lowered his hand and looked back at Lindsay. "So, do you want to finish that thing off?" he asked her, looking over at the still dazed Assault Rider.

"Uh huh. Sure." she replied cheerfully. She then jumped into the air and brought her wand down onto the large Heartless' head. It burst into black mist a second later.

The bell had wrung again, signaling the end of the match. The crowd cheered wildly, and on the sidelines, Tifa and Yuffie hugged each other, celebrating their victory while Leon smirked. Cody and Bridgette just stood there, wide-eyed and speechless, as their friends approached them. Noah snickered at their stunned faces.

"I'm gonna assume from the looks on your faces that you liked our stronger spells." said Noah with a smirk.

"T-T-T-That..." stuttered Cody. "That was so cool, you guys."

"Thanks Cody." replied Lindsay giving him an appreciative hug.

"Told ya Merlin taught us some new stuff." Noah added smugly.

"And best part, we're moving onto the next round." Bridgette pointed out happily.

The other three just nodded as they listened to the crowds cheering for them, Lindsay blowing kisses at random spectators.

Unknown to the four teens however, they were being watched by two people from the darkness of the large caged door that once housed Cerberus. Hades leered, while Geoff just stared indifferently at Cody's group with his arms crossed.

"So the little twerps have gotten better." proclaimed Hades angrily. "I should've sent in a stronger group of Heartless to finish them off."

Geoff smirked, and turned to the evil god. "You sound worried, dude."

Hades glared at his blonde partner. "Quiet, blondie!" he snapped. After calming down, he smirked. "No worries. I'll just send in a much stronger team of Heartless against those two kids next match. Once they beat them, they'll take out the keyblade master in the next round." Hades crossed his arms and looked at his servent smugly. "So whaddya think of that?"

Geoff's grin faded. He just shrugged in response as he turned his gaze back to the four celebrating teenagers standing in the ring. He gritted his teeth as he saw Bridgette hug Cody.

His blood began to boil at the sight of his ex hugging that loser. The party boy clenched his fist hard and began to shake. Hades watched Geoff's jealousy in silent amusement.

Olympus Coliseum - Arena

Unfortunately for the god of the Underworld, his plan had not gone according to plan. In Tidus and Rikku's match, they went up against a team of four Living Bones and eight Shamans. And they had won, which meant that they would be facing Cody, Bridgette, Lindsay and Noah in the next round. Tidus had used a blue, crystal-like sword whose tip was curved inward. Rikku used two red clawlike blades.

Cloud and Hercules were also successful in their matches. Cloud had gone up against a Stealth Sneak. Cody had watched in awe as Cloud made the chameleon Heartless reveal itself after just a single speed thrust from his large sword. However, it had taken him several more minutes to defeat the Stealth Sneak. But Cloud had come out of the battle relatively unscathed.

Hercules had to go up against an entire Guard Armor by himself. Hercules used his sword for most of the match, and had been able to destroy the legs. But when The Heartless separated it's body parts, it's arms spun a hundred and eighty degrees and hit Hercules, knocking his sword away. Luckily, Hercules' powerful fists had been able to make up for it, and he eventually destroyed each of the Guard Armor's body parts.

Finally, it was time for the final match of Round 1. Cody's group was standing on the edge of the arena with Hercules and Phil, close to the bleachers. Bridgette had watched as Geoff had finally shown himself. He walked out from the giant cage at the other end of the arena and straight into the center of the ring. Leon, Tifa and Yuffie turned to each other and nodded, then proceeded to the ring also. But not before Cody stopped them.

"Guys, wait!" exclaimed Cody. "Before you go... There's something you should know about Geoff."

"Let me guess, he's one of your friends who joined Maleficent, right?" guessed Yuffie.

Cody looked a bit stunned that Yuffie had actually guesed right. "Um... yeah."

"And you want us to go easy on him?" wondered Tifa with a hand on her hip.

"I didn't say that!" exclaimed Cody fiercely. Leon, Tifa and Yuffie's mouths fell slightly, taken aback by the tech geek's tone. After calming down, Cody continued more softly. "I mean... Well, you see, I obviously don't want him to get hurt. But... he's working with Hades. Who knows what that creep's been telling him."

"Yeah, we remember you telling us about him shooting you." replied Leon. Cody frowned. He didn't want to be reminded of that incident. The tall teen continued. "Don't worry Cody, we'll keep an eye on him."

Cody nodded. "Just... be careful guys."

Leon nodded and patted his shoulder as he walked by while Tifa winked at him. Yuffie bopped the keyblade master on the head and said "You worry too much." She then followed her partner.

Cody massaged the spot where Yuffie tapped him while walking back to his friends. Bridgette was sitting next to Lindsay, and watched as the tech geek finally reached them and leaned against the wall next to Noah.

"Everything okay?" asked the surfer girl.

"Yeah." replied Cody. "Just giving them some pointers."

"Pointers?" repeated Noah with a snicker. "Didn't Leon kick your butt the first time you met?" This made Cody frown.

"Shut up, Noah."

Bridgette wondered for a moment what Cody had told Leon's team. But she shook off her curiousity and turned her attention back to who was standing across the ring from the two. Her ex-boyfriend.

Geoff just stood in the center of the ring, waiting patiently as his two opponents stepped into it. He had seen Cody pull them aside to talk to them for a couple minutes. It seemed that the three knew the geek and Bridgette somehow. But the party dude didn't really care to be honest.

Then he turned to the sidelines, and noticed that Bridgette was staring at him. Even though she was kind of far away, he could tell that she wasn't looking at him with a smile, like she used to. Her expression was piercing, and somewhat angry. She was obviously still miffed about the way he treated her inside that whale.

The sight hurt him. Geoff knew that his ex had every right to be furious with him, but he had hoped that she might have gotten over what he did inside Monstro. Apparently not though. Then he shook his head violently. "What are doing? You're not supposed to think about her, remember?" he thought inside his head.

Tifa looked over to one corner to see Cloud watching in anticipation for their battle. He smiled and gave her the thumbs up, which she was more than happy to return.

The party boy turned back to Leon, Tifa and Yuffie, noticing that the former and latter now had their weapons out. The boy held a sword whose handle ressembled that of a gun, it even had it's own large barrel. The girl held what looked like tiny, four-bladed spurs in her right hand. Throwing Stars. The taller girl just got into a fighting stance, making Geoff assume that she was a hand-to-hand fighter.

Geoff immediately reached into his right side holster and pulled out one of his silver guns. He used his other hand to turn a small crank above the handle to the left. Immediately, green lights glowed from the small linings around the gun.

Around the edge, Cody watched with bated breath as Geoff took out his weapon. He had heard Lindsay say "Here we go, guys."

Leon, Tifa and Yuffie all got into defensive positions at the same time Geoff took his battle stance. A few seconds later, the bell rang.

Cody, Bridgette, Noah and Lindsay watched in amazement as Tifa dashed right for Geoff and threw a punch. But the party boy disappeared before she struck. The tech geek recognized this as the flashstepping "Yeah, I kinda like that name" he thought to himself. A technique that he and his guardians had learned recently, as well as the same one that Duncan had used to travel so fast and cut into his shoulder.

Tifa looked around for Geoff, until the blonde reappeared behind her and tried to pistol whip her with his gun. Tifa's reflexes were impressive however as she matrix-dodged out of the way before dashing over to try and punch and kick her opponent. The two kept up this back and forth until Leon and Yuffie, who had both been momentarily stunned by Geoff's speed, ran over to help. Leon swung his gunblade, only for Geoff to jump over it. Yuffie than threw her shuriken to try and get Geoff in the air, but her spun out of the way and landed on the tile floor.

By this time, the people in the stands were cheering wildly, and Cody, Bridgette, Noah and Lindsay were left in awe at the party boy's speed. "He's so fast!" Bridgette exclaimed, now worried about the outcome of this battle.

While Geoff was regaining his bearings, Tifa took the opportunity to roundhouse kick him in the gut. Geoff's eyes bulged from the power behind this chick's kick before he flew toward one of the pillars. He springboarded off it and dashed back into the fray as Yuffie appeared out of nowhere to swing her weapon at the party boy. Geoff flashstepped away just in the nick of time.

Suddenly, the three teammates turned around to see Geoff behind them with his gun pointed at them. He fired a green laser, one which Cody's group had not seen before, that Leon, Tifa and Yuffie were able to dodge. Yuffie threw her stars at high speed after jumping into the air. Geoff was able to avoid two, but the third star cut into his left arm while he tried to dodge it.

Blood poured from his cut. Luckily for him, it wasn't deep. And he regained his senses in time to see Leon falling toward him with his sword raised. He backflipped to avoid his swing. When Geoff hit the ground again, Yuffie was suddenly in front of him. Geoff didn't have a second before the tiny ninja was punching and kicking at him. The party boy moved as quickly as he could to avoid the attacks.

"Just give up." Yuffie said with a smirk as she continued attacking. "It'll be easier."

Feeling aggrevated at her remark, Geoff gripped his gun tightly and swung his fist near Yuffie's face. The ninja, surprised by this, backed off immediately. She sommersaulted away as Leon shot a Fira spell at Geoff. He raised his gun and fired another green laser, which hit the fireball and caused a small explosion.

Leon, Tifa and Yuffie shielded their eyes as the smoke reached them. When it cleared, they noticed that Geoff was gone.

"Where did he-" Tifa started, but she never finished her sentence. For a green laser had struck her in the back. She felt her body immediately go numb, and her vision became cloudy. "Crap. He got me." she muttered weakly.

"Better take out the power chick first." Geoff theorized before turning his gun to his next target.

Yuffie looked next to her just in time to see Tifa fall to the ground. "Tifa! What happen-" Geoff didn't give her the chance to finish either as he shot her too.

Leon gasped, and turned to his left to see Geoff behind them with his gun pointed at one of his partners, and his other partner already on the ground. Yuffie felt herself go numb too. She fell to her knees before collapsing to the ground, unconscious, just like Tifa.

"Tifa! Yuffie!" Bridgette and Cody shouted in horrified unison.

Leon gritted his teeth as he gazed at his two companions unconscious forms. He gripped his gunblade as he turned to face Geoff, who looked rather guilty.

"Sorry dude." apologized Geoff. "But I gotta win this thing, you know?"

"Now you've done it." snapped Leon. He gripped the gunblade in both hands and pointed it straight. Cody, Bridgette, Lindsay, Noah, Geoff and everybody in the arena watched in amazement as Leon's weapon glowed a bright, whitish blue. The blade extended itself to where it was twice the length that it was before.

Geoff's eyes widened as he watched Leon effortlessly lift his longer weapon with one hand.

Leon smirked. "You don't stand a chance against me now."

Geoff just frowned at the older teenager. Leon dashed at high speed and swung his gunblade at the party boy, who dodged, though just barely. Geoff's eyes widened again. He couldn't believe how fast Leon's swings were with a much longer blade. This guy was strong. He had to end this quickly.

Leon kept up the attacks for several moments. His opponent looked like he was getting tired. When Geoff jumped away, Leon took the opportunity. He ran at the blonde teen at full speed.

"It's over!" he grunted loudly as he jumped into the air with his gunblade raised. He brought it crashing down to the ground, which caused a fiery shockwave. Unfortunately for Leon, Geoff had been able to flashstep at the last second.

"Darn!" grunted Leon. He then felt something slam into his back, making him collapse to his knees.

Leon turned around to see Geoff with his weapon pointed at him. He was starting to lose feeling all throughout his body. He smirked at his opponent, a sign of respect for being able to outsmart him, before finally falling to the ground, knocked out. The bell rung, and the people in the stands started to cheer.

"Leon!" Cody shouted fearfully. Now that the match was over, he ran as fast as he could to the ring to check on Leon, Tifa and Yuffie. Bridgette, Noah, Lindsay, Hercules and Phil right followed behind him. Cloud ran over to check on his two childhood friends as well.

The four junior heroes croutched by Leon's form. The keyblade master gripped his shoulders and shook him hard to try and wake him, but the teen was out cold.

"Don't worry." Phil told the teens as he inspected Yuffie's vitals. "This one's alive! Just unconcious!"

Bridgette copied Phil and checked Leon's vitals. Thankfully, he still had a pulse and a heartbeat. She nodded to Cody and Lindsay, who sighed with relief. Cloud did the same with Tifa. Thankfully, she was alright too.

They all turned to look at Geoff, who turned the crank on his gun to the center, which made the green lights disappear. He then put it back into his holster. And without looking at the former Total Drama contestants, turned and started walking away.

"Geoff, wait!" Lindsay called back, making the party boy stop. "What did you do to them?"

Geof didn't turn around. He was seriously debating whether he should answer or not. After all, he wasn't sure if he was ready to talk to them yet. Finally, he sighed and decided to go ahead and answer the dumb blonde's question.

"Don't worry, I just stunned them. The guns I have can change the kind of shot you fire by turning the crank at the top. The green shots knock out whoever I shoot. While the red shots..." Geoff turned to look at Cody and smirked. "Well, you know what that one feels like, don't you loser?"

Cody felt enraged. Geoff was taunting him, while bringing up the fact that he had shot him. This guy had a lot of balls to say that with a grin on his face.

Geoff saw the glare that Cody was giving him and felt satisfied. Sure, he wasn't as mad at Bridgette as he used to be, and he didn't even care about Noah or Lindsay, but the geek was a different matter. He was, after all, moving in on his girl.

Before Cody could retaliate though, a certain blonde had done it for him.

"Shut up! You're such a jerk, Geoff!" Bridgette screamed scornfully. "How dare you taunt Cody, when it was YOU who shot him!" She didn't care if this was her boyfriend once, there was no way in hell she was going to let Geoff tease and insult Cody.

Geoff seemed a bit shocked at Bridgette's viciousness. But then he just scoffed, and started to walk away. "Whatever, see you in the Finals, Bridge. If you even make it that far."

"Don't you dare call me Bridge!" the surfer girl growled. "You've lost the privelage to do that!"

Geoff didn't respond. He just continued walking toward the caged area. Cody watched him leave, bitter that he couldn't give the party dude a piece of his mind.

"Geez, so you all know that guy?" Hercules asked, a little indignant about Geoff's attitude.

"Yep." answered Noah. "He's one of the friends we've been searching for, and he's also Bridgette's ex-boyfriend."

Hercules looked at the still angry surfer girl. "Well, I can see why you left him." he said with a smile.

Despite her anger, Bridgette felt a smile creep onto her face.

The crowd continued to cheer. All of the first round matches were now finished. And it was time for Cody's team to fight again. Hercules wished the teens luck and picked up both Leon and Yuffie, draped their unconscious forms over his shoulders and walked back toward the sidelines, while Cloud carried Tifa over to join him. Phil nodded at the four teens and followed after his pupil.

Cody, Bridgette, Noah and Lindsay watched as Tidus and Rikku stepped into the ring. When they got close enough, Cody noticed that their expressions were, not excited, nor a fierce determination to win, but what looked like concern.

"Hey, are your three friends gonna be all right?" asked Tidus.

Cody and Noah looked at each other in confusion for a few seconds. They were all about to fight one another, yet they were worried about Leon's team? "Uh. Yeah." answered Noah. "They're just knocked out. They'll come around soon."

Rikku smiled. "That's good. I know we only just met earlier today, but I was worried about them."

"Yeah." added Tidus. "Well, here's hoping they wake up soon."

Cody and Bridgette turned to each other. After a second they smiled. Then Bridgette told the other two. "Thanks guys."

Tidus and Rikku both nodded, and then they took out their weapons. "Now then, you guys ready?" Tidus asked them.

Cody smirked and summoned his keyblade, while Bridgette brought out her trident and Lindsay summoned her star wand. Noah's wristband began to glow.

"You bet." answered Cody confidently as he and his guardians got into their battle positions. A moment later, the starting bell rung.

Geoff had just entered the caged entrance and began walking further into the darkness when he felt a hand grab his shoulder. He turned to see Hades looking at him with an indifferent expression.

"Geoff, Geoff, Geoff." Hades complained. "What happened out there? I thought you were gonna go all out on those opponents of yours. But you didn't even kill them. What is with you?"

Geoff shook his shoulder away from Hades and turned to face him. "I didn't have a beef with those three. I wasn't gonna just kill them like some crazy person." he replied angrily.

Hades smirked. "Oh that's right. You only have a problem with the keyblade master and Hercules. How could I forget?" he finished jokingly.

"Uh, you have the problem with Hercules." the party boy pointed out. "I don't care about that guy."

"Yeah. See. You should be Geoffy." started Hades. "See, my people tried to kill Hercules eighteen years ago. Unfortunately, they were only able to turn him mortal. But he still has his godlike strength. You see, if you go up against Hercules in the finals, odds are you're gonna lose worse than Troy did with the Trojan Horse."

"Then why don't you do something about him?" Geoff asked irritably. "Like I said, I don't have a problem with Hercules. The only person I care about beating in this freakin' tournament is Cody."

The evil god smirked again and crossed his arms. "Geez, you're really taking what you've seen at the castle seriously aren't you?" Geoff looked a bit confused. "I know you don't want that girl hooking up with that kid but..."

Geoff scoffed. "How many times do I have to tell you that I don't care about Bridgette anymore!" he tried to convince the demonic god.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, lover boy." Hades mocked.

The party boy growled, but didn't retaliate. He turned and walked further into the darkness.

Hades just stood there and watched the party dude leave. "Little punk." he whispered angrily. But then he thought about what Geoff had said a moment ago. He started to stroke his chin. "But, then again. He did bring up an interesting idea." An plan began forming in his head as the bell for the next round rung in the distance.

Olympus Coliseum - Gates

Meanwhile, Hercules was sitting on the steps of the courtyard while Phil talked to him about the tournament.

"Alright, Herc. You did great in the first round. But now we gotta prepare for the next round. I watched that guy take on the junior heroes without using any effort. This guy Cloud ain't no pushover."

Hercules stood up and chuckled. "Oh, come on Phil. Stop worrying. I've got this tournament beat."

Phil put his fists to his hips. "Don't get cocky Herc!" the saytr warned. "Don't forget that Cody actually did a pretty decent job against you in that sparring match. You can't take this lightly. Remember what's at stake here?"

"Yeah, I remember." Hercules replied sadly. "Hades is threatening the people if we don't compete in his sick games."

"Exactly." Phil exclaimed. Then he sighed. "Well, I guess now we just wait until you're next match starts."

The hero nodded in agreement. "Come on, let's go see how Cody's match is going."

Phil nodded. The two of them were about to open the doors to the lobby when they heard a strange popping noise behind them. They turned around to see a dark oval-shaped mass sprouting from the ground in the center of the courtyard.

"What is that?" Hercules asked curiously.

He squinted as he looked closer at the black portal. There wasn't anything but darkness. Then suddenly, he heard someone screaming. It was a woman's scream, and it sounded like it was coming from the dark mass.

Hercules' eyes widened. Someone was in trouble inside there.

He didn't stop to contemplate what this portal was, he just ran toward this dark oval at full speed. Sure, he had no idea what this was, or where it might take him, but as a hero, he knew that he needed to help whoever was in trouble. No matter where they were.

"Herc! Wait!" Phil cried out as he struggled to catch up with his pupil. But Hercules had already run into the portal. And to the saytr's horror, it vanished a second after the hero ran into it.

"No! Hercules!" Phil shouted. He looked all around the area. But Hercules had disappeared. "Herc! HERC!"

Unknown to the saytr. A man with blue skin and blue fire burning on his head, wearing a dark gray toga, watched Phil calling out desperately to Hercules from the shadows. He grinned with evil triumph. Chuckling, Hades disappeared in a puff a black smoke.

Olympus Coliseum - Arena

Back in the arena, Cody and his guardians were having a chore fighting against Tidus and Rikku.

It had been twenty minutes since the starting bell. Bridgette and Lindsay were going up against Rikku while Cody and Noah fought Tidus.

"You're not bad at fighting." Tidus complimented Cody while their swords were crossed. "You actually managed to block me."

Even though the tech geek was struggling to hold back the force of the older teen's sword, Cody smirked. "Thanks. Don't let my small frame fool you, I'm actually quite deadly." he joked. This made Tidus chuckle.

After that momentary loss of focus, Cody pushed back on Tidus' sword and swung his keyblade, only for the blonde to block the attack.

Noah stood about ten feet away from the two of them. Since he didn't have a sword, all the black mage could do was fire spells at Tidus. Though he avoided using his most powerful spells against him, opting instead to use Fira and Blizzara. After all, Tidus and Rikku weren't Heartless. And contrary to poular belief, neither was he.

Unfortunately, Tidus was able to jump away from every spell that Noah fired.

The black mage growled. "Quit jumping around like a freakin' kangaroo already!" Tidus laughed again as he backflipped away from another Fira spell.

On the other side of the ring, the girls were having a better time. While Rikku was pretty strong, Bridgette was able to gain an upperhand since she had a trident and she only had two short claws. However, it wasn't by much, considering Rikku's speedy attacks, which the surfer girl was barely able to block.

"Why so serious?" Rikku asked Bridgette. "You should loosen up a bit, y'know?"

"Sorry. But we need to win." Bridgette grunted. Although that statement was true, a small part of Bridgette was still a little irked about Rikku getting too close to Cody earlier.

"Oh. Okay, gotcha." Rikku replied pleasently. She then proceeded to flip over the surfer girl and kick her in the back, sending her flying about twenty feet away. Bridgette saved herself by landing on her hand and flipping back to her feet.

The older blonde girl charged at the surfer again. But before Bridgette could defend herself, Lindsay flashstepped in between them and used Reflega, blocking Rikku's attack and sending her back several feet.

"Thanks Lindsay." said Bridgette.

The white mage turned to her and smiled. "Sure thing girlfriend." she replied with a wink.

They both turned back to Rikku, who got into defensive position when the two blonde girls charged. Back on the other side, Cody and Tidus continued clashing with their blades. They kept this up for a couple of minutes. The people in the stands were loving every minute of this battle.

"Okay, I've had enough." Noah grumbled to himself. He raised his hand into the air. His wristband began to glow yellow as he shouted "Thundara."

Several bolts of lightning fell to the ground in front of Tidus, who was startled, and immediately backed away from Cody. The keyblade master grinned and took advantage of the oppurtunity to throw the keyblade at his opponent. The blade struck Tidus across the mid section.

Rikku blocked an attack from Lindsay and as she backed away, she turned and noticed Tidus getting smacked in the stomach by Cody's weapon. She immediately became worried.

"Tidus!" she screamed. Unfortunately, Bridgette fired a stream of Aquaspheres at Rikku, which struck her hard. The blonde landed painfully against one of the pillars. She fell to the ground, out cold.

"Oh my gosh!" Bridgette cried worriedly. She and Lindsay ran over to check on Rikku. "I... I guess I shouldn't have used a move that strong." she said with guilt.

Tidus was on one knee, holding his abs from Cody's Strike Raid attack. He smiled. "Nice move. That's quite a weapon you got there, Cody." The tall teen got back to his feet, as Bridgette and Lindsay joined the tech geek and Noah. "Sorry guys, but I gotta end this now."

The four teens got ready. Tidus ran at them at high speeds. Suddenly he turned and did a few backflips. Cody stood there watching in stunned silence as Tidus got closer. Noah however, seemed to know what was coming.

"Move guys!" he yelled. Cody came back to his senses and moved out of the way as Tidus frontflipped and brought his sword down onto the spot where the junior heroes had been standing a second earlier.

Noah fired a Blizzara spell at Tidus' stationary form. The blonde teen was struck by the cold blast, which momentarily stunned him. Cody used this chance and dashed at Tidus, hitting him, and knocking his sword out of his hands. It landed twenty feet away, a loud ringing echoing throughout the arena.

The ending bell rang. The crowd cheered. And Cody, Bridgette, Noah and Lindsay just stared at Tidus, who looked a little sad. But it only lasted for a moment before his smile returned.

"Congrats."

The four teens smiled at each other before Cody addressed Tidus. "Thanks dude." He extended his hand, which the taller teen gladly excepted.

Not far away, Rikku was finally regaining consciousness. She got up, rubbing her sore back, and noticed Tidus shaking Cody's hand while his guardians watched with grins.

The other five watched as Rikku had finally reached them. "Uggh." she groaned in pain, stroking her head this time. "Did we win?"

Tidus and Cody both shook their heads. Rikku groaned sadly, leaning forward with her arms hanging.

Bridgette giggled. Then she turned to Cody. "We won again!"

"I know!" the tech geek responded in excitement. He looked around at the people cheering for them in the crowds.

"You guys were amazing." Rikku praised. She looked at the keyblade master. "And that weapon you have is really, really cool too."

Cody once again blushed. "Hehe. T-Thanks Rikku. It's nothing really."

Noah shook his head and grinned at his stuttering friend. Then he noticed Bridgette's face. He had to hold in the snicker he really wanted to utter, lest she hurt him in some way. But it was nonetheless funny seeing her obviously jealous face.

"All right, come on you." Noah told Cody, grasping his shoulder, much to the geek's protest, and leading him out of the ring, Bridgette and Lindsay right behind them. He turned back to Tidus and Rikku. "Great match! Nice meeting you guys!" Bridgette, Lindsay and Cody (still being led away by Noah) all smiled and waved to the other two.

"W-Wait! Where ya goin'?" Rikku called back, confused.

Tidus crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side as he watched the four teenagers approach the wall. "Huh. They're... kinda weird, aren't they?"

"Why'd you pull us away, Noah?" asked an obviously disappointed Lindsay.

"To save Cody from getting smacked." the black mage answered, looking at the surfer girl, who was now blushing, wide-eyed, and looking rather guilty.

"Um. You can let go of me now!" complained Cody, who hadn't listened to a word the cynic bookworm said. Noah finally let go of his friend. "Thanks."

"Cody! Bridgette!" came a loud voice. The teens turned around to see Phil running at them, and he seemed distraught.

"Phil? What's wrong?" Bridgette asked as Phil stopped in front of them to catch his breath.

"H-Herc... H-Herc..." breathed Phil. "Herc's dis... disappeared."

"Hercules disappeared?" repeated Lindsay. "What do you mean?"

"I mean he went on vacation." Phil replied sarcastically. "He's missing!"

"How do you know?" wondered Cody.

"I saw it happen. Me and him were just havin' a pep talk, and all of a sudden this black portal appears. Hercules heard someone screamin' in there and ran into it. Once he did, the whole thing just up and vanished."

Cody was worried. A black portal? He looked at his guardians. Lindsay still looked rather confused, however Bridgette and Noah seemed to know what he was thinking. They had seen black portals before on their journey. If Hercules vanished inside one, then that could only mean...

"Did I just here that right?" came an eerie voice from behind them.

"Yep, thought so." Cody thought to himself. His team and Phil turned to see Hades with a smirk on his face. "Sorry I think I had chunks in my ear. Did you just say that Hercules vanished?"

Cody glared at the evil god. "I knew you had something to do with it!"

"Hey hey hey. I don't know what your talking about, Shortstuff."

"Don't lie Hades! Now what did you do to Hercules!?" snapped Bridgette.

"Weeell. Okay, I might have sent him to the Underworld." admitted Hades.

"What! Hades! That ain't fair!" Phil shouted angrily. "I thought you wanted him to fight in this game of yours?"

"I did Goatboy. But see, I was struck by inspiration. Why destroy Hercules in this tournament, when I can just send him to the Underworld to die? If the Heartless can't kill him, they're tons of monsters down there that can. But that's not important now. What is important is that Jerkules will no longer be able to compete in the Hades Cup. Huh. Shame."

"You bastard!" cried an enraged Cody.

"Aww, you flatter me kid." Hades joked with an evil smile. "Well then, I guess that means Cloud wins his match by default, and you four'll be fighting him next. Better let the people know. Good luck, kids." The evil god then disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Cody, Bridgette, Noah and Lindsay just stood there seething. They should have known that Hades wasn't going to play fair.

They all heard footsteps behind them. Cody turned to see Cloud walking by them and toward the ring. However, he stopped and looked at the keyblade master. He grinned. "Looks like you'll get that rematch after all." After that, he continued walking again.

Cody's insides started to squirm. And so did his guardians'. They weren't expecting to have to go up against Cloud already. They were kinda hoping for a break. Their fight with Tidus and Rikku had been pretty tough. Cody, Bridgette, Lindsay and Noah all looked at each other.

"Damn! We're so screwed!" grumbled Noah mentally.

Man, this was a long chapter. Damn that Hades! What a cheating scumbag! Will Hercules be alright? Will Leon, Tifa and Yuffie? And what's gonna happen for the rest of the Hades Cup? Stay tuned to find out. Sorry about not uploading both chapters at the same time like I originally intended guys, like I said last week was terrible for me. But don't worry, I've got some free time now. And I can guarantee that the finale for the Hades Cup arc will be done and out within a few days.

So what did you think of Chapter 37? How bout Lindsay and Noah? Merlin's teaching paid off big time didn't it? And I really hope people liked Tidus and Rikku and how I wrote them. See, I haven't played Final Fantasy X before, but I've watched my brother play hours and hours of it. But that was years ago and I couldn't remember all of their character traits. I just hope I did it well enough. But I digress. Let me know what you all thought by the usual way (reviewing).