The crowd roared in the coliseum. Hercules dove at his opponent, a bull twice the size of a normal one. The Cretan Bull got out of the way easily, and tried to gore Hercules with its horns. Herc grabbed the horns, and wrestled the bull to the ground. He grabbed it around the throat, and squeezed as hard as he could. There was a crack as its neck broke. The bull went limp, and the crowd went wild.
"Thank you! Thank you!" Hercules said as he waved to everybody watching. "It was nothing, really." He flexed his muscles, and three women in the crowd fainted.
Riku snorted. "I could've taken that overgrown cow down in ten seconds, flat."
"Hercules could have too," Sora said, his hair still hanging down in front of his face. "But it's just the audience. He couldn't get an earthquake going, or he could have hurt somebody, and if he did it too quickly, they would have gotten disappointed. Rule #77: Keep the crowd interested in Coliseum Matches."
"It was Rule #78," Ven corrected, "but close enough."
A deep voice came over the announcement system, which was odd, considering that Ancient Greece did not have electricity. "Now that that little pest has been taken care of, the Zeus Cup Prelims will be beginning, and the tournament itself will be starting in an hour. All fighters need to be ready to go by then."
"Hey, Sora!" Phil hobbled over to them. He examined Sora, and pulled the hair up from his eyes. "What happened to ya?" Sora glared at Terra. Phil ignored it, and pulled a bottle out of who-knows-where. "If you're gonna be a hero, ya can't have hair like that." Sora examined the bottle's label.
He embraced Phil in a big hug, and the satyr grunted, unable to breathe. Sora let him go, and thanked him. Yes, it was a bottle of hair-gel, max-hold.
Ten minutes later, Sora strolled out of the bathrooms, his hair spiky again, and it would stay that way until he next washed it. "Now I can be out in public," he said with relief. "Anybody want to do the Zeus Cup? Cause I am." He went to the lobby without waiting for an answer.
Sora scanned the tournament bracket. There were exactly seven empty spots. "So are any of you guys gonna enter?" he asked his friends. "We can't all enter separately. Riku?" The darkness-wielder shrugged indifferently.
"How about the three of us?" Ven said to Terra and Aqua.
"Do I get to kick somebody's butt?" Aqua asked. Terra and Ven nodded. "I'm in."
Naturally, Oro and Jessie were teaming up. Melee and ranged combat combined, they were a tough team to beat. Kairi turned to Xion. "Well?"
Xion considered it for a moment. "Let's see, you use light magic, and I use dark magic. It would be odd, and I make my living on odd. I'm good with that."
---
1st Round
"Now, for the first match-up of the Zeus Cup!" the announcer shouted. The crowd roared. "We have, on one side, the keybearer Sora and his best friend Riku! On the other side, we have The Masters of Magic!" (Shaman x2, Wizard x2, Red Nocturne x3, Blue Rhapsody x3, Yellow Opera x3, Green Requiem x3).
Sora summoned his keyblade, as did Riku. The horn blew, and both of them leapt into action. Riku started on the Shamans, while Sora took care of the Green Requiems, as they were always a pain when you were trying to take down a stronger heartless and they kept on healing them. In ten seconds flat, the heartless were gone, and Sora and Riku were the winners.
"Is this always this easy?" Riku asked.
Sora thought about it. "If you know the right tricks to beating them, then it's easy. But when it comes to human enemies, it gets a lot harder."
---
"FIRAGA!" A burst of fire came from Ven's keyblade. The group of soldiers burst into flame, and spent a full five seconds running around trying to put themselves out, before Ven destroyed them completely.
Aqua's keyblade floated by her hand. She swirled her arm through the air, and brought it around. Her keyblade was coated in thunder, and the heartless were easily dispatched. Aqua snatched her blade out of the air and cast a magnet spell, sucking in heartless.
Which were, like the other heartless, destroyed by Terra's strikes. He spun it around in his grip like a drill, and the remaining enemies vanished. "Cake," he said simply.
---
2nd Round
"So far, we've seen some great fighting and some, er, neat tricks. I swear, Yuffie, I've never seen anybody throw a shuriken quite that accurately. Really, why did you have to throw it right--" There was a sudden rush of static. "We seem to be having some technical difficulties. Right, now, coming from their 1st round victory against Monkeys and a Barrel--" Powerwild x3, Bouncywild x3, Sniperwild x3, Barrel Spider x1 "--we have the lovely ladies of Light and Darkness, Kairi and Xion! These two will be facing off against the maiden of disaster, and barkeep of one of my favorite spots, Tifa Lockhart!"
The horn sounded. Kairi cast reflect almost immediately as Tifa punched at her. The punched bounced off harmlessly, and Kairi went after Tifa, who avoided every attack that came at her. Tifa jumped up, kicked down onto Kairi's keyblade, and punched her in the chin. Kairi went skidding back from the sheer force of the punch.
Xion sent a blast of darkness at Tifa, and a few orbs hit her, but Tifa just shrugged it off. She sent a thunderbolt at Xion, who brought up a dark shield. The electricity shot off in another direction, zapping somebody in the crowd. Specifically, somebody with green hair.
Kairi cast a cure spell. "Xion!"
"Let's show 'em," Xion said. Her keyblade was engulfed in darkness, while Kairi's shone with light. The two of them worked in tandem, mimicking each other perfectly. Tifa got knocked around all over the place.
Both of them skidded to a stop, while Tifa teetered around, dazed. "Light!" Kairi called out.
"Darkness!" Xion called back.
Both of them pointed their keyblades at Tifa. "Twilight Firaga!"
A swirling mass of fire shot at Tifa, sending the woman flying into the barrier. She had taken quite a beating, but she was still standing. She pulled a potion from her pocket and gulped it down quickly. "Final Heaven!" A row of blue explosions went off under Kairi and Xion's feet, and both of them flew into the air. A silvery clock face appeared under Tifa's feet, and she held out one arm. Her opponents almost stopped in their descent. Tifa jumped into the air, and slammed each one into the ground. She landed on the other side and dispelled the Slowga. Explosive energy gathered in her palms, and she shot a burst of fire like a smaller version of Mega Flare at the two girls.
"That's gonna hurt in the morning," Xion said, peeling herself off the ground. She had now idea how it was that she was still conscious after that series of attacks, but Kairi apparently had not been so lucky. Xion stood up, and staggered. "Crud," she muttered. "Now's one of those times I wish I hadn't used up all of my mana in a super-attack." She couldn't even use a simple cure spell, much less any kind of offensive magic. Xion still braced herself for an attack.
Tifa didn't attack. Instead, she tapped her chin thoughtfully, and reached into her pocket. She drew out a white feather, and offered it to Xion. "Care for a Phoenix Down?"
Xion was definitely surprised at this. Why would Tifa offer her a Phoenix Down to revive Kairi? She reached out carefully, not letting her guard down, and took the down feather. She backed up carefully. When she got to Kairi, she breathed ever so slightly on the feather, and let it go. The Phoenix Down dissolved into droplets of light, which fell on Kairi. The red-head opened her eyes, and stood up. She summoned her keyblade. "How . . ."
Xion gestured to Tifa. "Gave me a Phoenix Down. Can revive somebody from unconsciousness."
Kairi nodded. "Let's go, round two." She cast a cure spell on Xion, who sighed in relief. Tifa ran up and punched in rapid succession at Kairi. Magic sparks danced over her gloves. A fiery explosion finally blew Kairi back a bit.
"Sora, never, mentioned, her," Kairi said, breathing heavily. She reached into her pocket and grabbed a summon charm, a light green gemstone. "Give me strength!" Bambi burst onto the field in a flash of light. He walked over to Kairi and nuzzled her. After a moment of hesitation, she petted him on the top of his head. Bambi backed away a little bit, and started prancing around the battlefield, scattering magic orbs everywhere. By the time he vanished again, Kairi and Xion were both up to full mana.
Both of them managed to maneuver themselves to the opposite sides of Tifa, without getting hit. Kairi's keyblade shined brightly, while Xion's glimmered wickedly. "Twilight Strike Raid!" they shouted at the same time. Both threw their keyblade through the center, hit Tifa, and were caught by the other. They threw the keyblades again, and the same thing happened. One last time they sent them through, and Tifa fell to the ground.
"And the winners are Kairi and Xion!" the announcer said, once it was sure that Tifa couldn't fight any more. Kairi went over to Tifa, cast a cure spell on her, and helped her up.
"Nice fighting," Tifa said. "You two make a good team."
---
"I must say, folks, I have never seen such a strange fighting style in all of my years! The newcomers, Oro and Jessie, are certainly giving Auron a run for his money!"
Auron, while stronger than Jessie in a one-on-one fight, couldn't focus with Oro occasionally shooting an arrow at his head. Then there was the announcer, who felt it necessary to chime in with those comments of his. Why Auron had ever chosen to enter this tournament, he did not know, and neither did anybody else.
Jessie cleaved downward, and Auron just barely avoided getting another scar. "Oro!"
"Come mi pantalones!" Oro pulled out a spray can, shook it up, and drew a target on the ground. With a few simple movements, Jessie got Auron on top of the target, and tossed a stink bomb. This one, instead of the usual rotten eggs, was the smell of burning rubber, one of the worst smells in the universe.
Jessie sidled up beside Oro while Auron was trying to get a breath, and he pulled out a remote with one red button in the middle. "Would you like to do the honors?"
Oro wrenched the remote away from him. "Three, two, one!" He hit the button, and a baby grand piano appeared above Auron, fell, and crushed the warrior.
Auron crawled out from underneath. "I give."
The teenagers high-fived.
Author's Note
Poor Auron, I'm sorry that I must abuse him in the name of comedy. But you gotta admit, a baby grand piano? Where'd that come from?
Sorry that it took me a while to get a chapter up. I have no excuses. Reviews are appreciated!
