Chapter 25 The Underworld.

Takumi was sitting in what was now to be his room that he was sharing with Kaze. Kaze offered to leave and give Takumi the room for himself, but Takumi declined. He wasn't going to make Kaze sleep outside.

It's not like he minds bunking or anything. Since the war with Nohr started, he would usually bunk with others when away from home. Usually for protection. He did trust Kaze so he had no issue. In fact, he was probably the only one that Takumi would bunk with on this ship since Sakura was a little too old for them to bunk siblings or not.

Donald and Goofy were immediately out of the question.

Sora did kind of remind him of Hinata, and he didn't find himself hating the guy per say, but that doesn't mean he was going to trust him immediately. And as for Corrin...He wasn't going to deal with another Kamui.

But more importantly, what was he doing now? First it went from a 'long lost sibling' returning home that resulted in his mother's death, then she betrays them further by joining Nohr and helping them fight him and his siblings. Then the war truly began and Sakura and Azura went missing. Soon he suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of Kamui with the help of the other two princesses of Nohr. Soon after that, he was lured to the Bottomless Canyon by an ominous voice only to be captured and brainwashed by that witch Maleficent and waking up to see Sakura and even Corrin in another world. It's crazy!

Then Takumi stopped his train of thoughts.

"That voice I heard at Dia. And that headache. What were they?" Takumi asked himself. It all just came out of nowhere. Who's voice was that? Why was his head hurting so much? Why did it want him to go to the Bottomless Canyon of all places?

And most importantly…where did it go?

After awakening from Maleficent's mind control, Takumi no longer felt a headache or heard that voice.

Maybe it was just the stress of war?

"Lord Takumi. Are you okay?" Kaze asked entering their room.

"I'm fine. Just a lot on my mind." Takumi said.

"Understandable. It was quite a shock for me and Lady Sakura…and it still is." Kaze said.

It's all unbelievable! Other Worlds, talking animals...It's impossible!" Takumi said. "And then there are those Heartless."

"That reminds me. I'm to tell you that we are arriving in the next world soon. And apparently, Lord Corrin claims that we can get some good training there." Kaze said.

"That's good then." Takumi said getting up. Training sounds really good right about now.

The world itself was rather ominous. Even more than Beast's Castle.

The place looked like a massive cave. There was a river off to the side, but it looked like a river no one wanted to swim in due to the ominous feeling it gave. There was three paths in total. One that lead to a massive door, one blocked by a wall of green flames, and one that lead to a light at the end of a tunnel.

"Are you sure we are in the right place?" Takumi asked looking around.

"I'm sure this is the Colosseum." Donald said.

"Doesn't look like a Colosseum." Takumi retorted.

"I think its that way." Goofy said pointing to the light path.

"I guess we were a little off." Sora said as the group headed to the stairs.

"AHH!" A woman's voice shouted.

The group turned to see a rather beautiful woman with long brown hair tied in a ponytail and wearing a purple dress. She was being chased by a group of Heartless that looked like blue dogs with sharp teeth, yellow swirly eyes and a red collar with spikes on its rather small body.

"Heartless!" Sora shouted as he jumped into action and slashed away the Heartless.

Once hey were dealt with, Sora went to help the woman up.

"Thanks, but I'm fine." The woman said standing up on her own and getting a good look at her saviors. "Who are you supposed to be?" She asked with a bit of an attitude.

"I'm Sora. This is Corrin, Donald, Goofy, Sakura, Kaze, and Takumi." Sora introduced. "We came here to see how Hercules is doing."

"You know Wonderboy?" The woman asked.

"Wonderboy?" Corrin asked.

"Hercules." The woman clarified.

"Yeah. Because we're heroes too!" Donald declared.

"You mean Junior Heroes." Goofy pointed out much to Donald's irritation and the Hoshidan's confusion.

"So, we have a friend in common. I'm Megara. My friends call me Meg." Meg introduced.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?" Kaze asked.

"I want to see Hades." Meg said much to Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Corrin's shock and the Hoshidan's confusion.

"W-Who's Hades?" Sakura asked.

"He's the God of the Underworld. He's also a villain that was helping Maleficent with the Heartless a year ago." Corrin said.

"A God?" The Hoshidans asked shocked.

"Why are you going to see him? He's not a person you just casually visit. He's dangerous." Sora asked.

"I want to make a deal with him to give Wonderboy a breather. Hades has been sending monster after monster to fight him. Hercules has beaten everyone so far, but he's starting to get exhausted. I'm getting worried." Meg admitted.

"Sounds like you really care about him." Corrin commented.

"Err…well." Meg stuttered looking away with a small blush.

"Anyway, why don't you let us go talk to Hades. Force is probably the only way to make a deal with him anyway." Sora said.

"You might be right about that, and you seem to know what you're doing." Meg said before nodding. "Alright then. I'll take you on your offer. But let's keep this a secret from Hercules. He'll worry otherwise."

"Our lips are sealed." Sora promised.

"Hades is beyond that door. Be careful though. The Underworld is said to be able to sap ones strength." Meg warned.

"Sap Strength?" Corrin asked.

"It's some kind of curse of the Underworld that can drain a person's strength as they travel through it. It is a place of the dead after all." Meg said.

"P-Place of the dead?" Sakura asked afraid.

"Thanks for the tip." Sora nodded.

"So, We're going into some cursed place of the dead to talk to some evil God on taking a break of sending monsters?" Takumi asked annoyed.

"Actually, I want you, Sakura, and Kaze to escort Meg to the Colosseum. The four of us will have a talk with Hades." Corrin said.

"What no! Brother please! Let me come too!" Sakura pleaded. Sure she was utterly afraid, but she just got Corrin back. And now he was going into a super dangerous place to talk to a super dangerous guy?

"Lord Corrin please!" Kaze asked.

"Lord?" Meg asked.

"Long story." Corrin said before turning to the Hoshidans. "You guys need training. You've managed this far sure, but not without a lot of bumps along the way. I should know. We were the same starting out. Go take Meg back to the Colosseum and asked a guy named Phil for training. He can help you three a lot."

"Will he do that? It took a bit of convincing for him to train us." Goofy pointed out.

"I'll help with that. I don't fully understand your predicament, but if you're willing to do this much for me, then this is the least I could do. I think I can convince the old goat to help." Meg said.

'Old goat?' Takumi thought flatly.

"I suppose we have no choice." Kaze relented. He couldn't argue with what Corrin said. Plus the more he thought about it, the more he realized that this was probably for the best. Sakura was struggling more than any of them so far and he and Prince Takumi weren't too much better. He also couldn't leave them alone. He did make a promise to Queen Mikoto to look after them all. Plus as much as he hated to admit it, Lord Corrin was more than capable of taking care of himself, and Sora wouldn't leave him hanging.

"I-I suppose you're right. But please be careful." Sakura said as the three Hoshidans escorted Meg out of the Colosseum.

"Well, now it's the four of us again." Sora said.

Corrin nodded. "Let's go see Hades."

The door opened and the four world jumpers headed into the Underworld.

Hades Chambers:

"Where do they dig these freaks up? Geeze louse." Hades groaned as he watched another one of his monsters beaten by Hercules in the Colosseum from his throne on a mirror. Beside him were two little demons. One blue and skinny and one pink and fat. Pete was also in the room with him.

"Oh, they're nothing but trouble. The whole lot of them." Pete dismissed. "So uh, what are you going to do about Hercules? He's made mincemeat out of every fighter you've sent him. Soon the Underworld is going to be the standing room only. Say, here is an idea. Why don't you just send him someone already dead and save him the trouble?" Pete laughed as Hades glared at him.

Hades was ready to throttle Pete, but his little comment gave Hades an idea.

"Dead…dead is good! And I know just the warrior." Hades said with a smirk as he got off his throne and headed towards a swirly vortex hole nearby. Pete crept closer rather afraid.

"So…what's down there?" Pete asked nervously.

"This is the Underworld's deepest dungeon." Hades said with a smirk. "This time I'm bringing out the mother of all bad guys."

"You don't say." Pete muttered stepping back. "Maybe I should go."

Hades lite both of his hands-on fire and tossed both of them into the vortex causing a puff of red smoke to appear. Out of the smoke stepped a man in a red trench coat with short black hair.

After fighting through Heartless that filled the tunnels of the Underworld, Sora and co arrived at a long path over a pit of what looked like Green water below. And a bunch of souls swimming around.

Donald and Goofy were looking down rather frightened.

"Wh-What do you suppose that is?" Goofy asked scared.

"I-I don't know and I don't want to know." Donald said just as scared.

Sora and Corrin were panting. Despite the Heartless not being too tough, they found each step further was far more draining than normal.

"I think the Underworld curse is starting to get to us." Corrin panted.

"Yeah. We'd better do what we came here for and get out." Sora said as he noticed a room at the end of the path. "I bet that's where Hades is. HADES COME OUT!" Sora shouted much to Donald an Goofy's fear.

"Why don't we get a closer look." Corrin offered. Sora nodded and the four headed up the path with the Disney Castle residents following behind them.

Hades stood before the man in the red coat.

"Alright prisoner here's the deal I'm going to offer you. I let you out of the slammer. No strings attached! You'll be as free as a bird. And all you have to do is face Hercules in the Colosseum to the death. What do you say?" Hades offered.

"...This is my story. And you're not part of it." The man said as he raised a large blade over his shoulder.

"What was that?" Hades demanded with anger building.

"It's as I said. You're not part of my story." The man said.

"Did you forget who you are talking to? I am the LORD OF THE DEAD!" Hades demanded.

"No wonder no one wants to die." The man mocked.

"You are FIRED!" Hades shouted as his flames turned from blue to orange as he charged at the man. The man was able to block the attack with his sword and push Hades back.

At this point, Sora and co entered the room.

"Hades!" Donald gasped

"You four again?" Hades complained as he blocked another of the man's attacks. This time, he managed to toss the man to the ground and charge up a fireball, but Sora intercepted the attack.

"Get up!" Sora shouted.

The man took a glance at Sora. 'That kid…he looks familiar.'

Corrin, Donald, and Goofy readied their weapons to face the God of the Underworld who was not amused at all on what was going on.

And that's a wrap!

Sorry for the hiatus guys. But while I'm glad that you guys did enjoy the Timeless River (Or at least based on the reviews) that would was a nightmare to write and I needed a break.

I decided to finally get started on my Golden Emblem remake in the meantime, so that became my focus for a while. Though I did originally try to get through Olympus Colosseum before the break and did get this chapter mostly written before I decided to just break there.

But ether way, I am back now. I will be going back and forth between this story and Golden Emblem, working on whatever story I'm in the mood to write. Though I will do my best not to leave one hanging for too long without a reason. So be sure to check my profile on the story status. If I do need to take a break, I will post it there.

And with that, let's talk about this chapter:

So, sorry I had to ditch the Hoshidans this time around, but they needed to get their training started as soon as possible. (Especially Sakura) But after this world, they definitely will be getting more involved in battles than they have up to this point.

On a side note, I did get some requests on other Fire Emblem Characters appearing in the Underworld. But as I have stated before, I'm mainly sticking to the Fates characters only. So please stop asking for other Fire Emblem Games to appear.

Anyway, next chapter Sora and co meet Auron (Mother of bad guys right?) and Escape the Underworld. Stay tuned.

RAX: Thank you. And about Donald thing, yeah there is only so much you could do with a joke before it gets stale.

Guestwithideas:They'll be fine with ships for this story at least but later, yeah. They'll be getting an upgrade. As for that suggestion, I get where your coming from, but Donald and Goofy I don't see being the parental figures that they would need. Maybe a bit with Goofy since in multiple versions, he has a son Max (Who I am unsure if he is even canon in Kingdom Hearts at this point) but Donald, well talking about the issues that Sakura and Takumi have, he may bot be the best one for the job. I do have a plan later on for someone to have a heart to heart with Sakura at least, but that won't be until sometime later.

One last notice: As mentioned before, I did start my Golden Emblem remake titled Golden Emblem White Clouds. For anyone new, it's a crossover between Fire Emblem Three Houses and Golden Sun. Taking place after the events of Golden Sun the Lost Ages and at the start of Three Houses. Please go check it out.