"I thought you said Earth was destroyed." Dani said as she stepped out of the Gummi Ship.
"I did." Donald said. "Why?"
"Because this looks a lot like Greece."
Olympus (Coliseum)
It did look a bit like Greece. Or at least, the photos of the ancient structures that were on Hanna's art history textbook. They stood on a piece of land as long as a football field, surrounded on all sides by Ionic columns. In front of them was a large temple, guarded by two giant-sized golden statues of Roman soldiers crossing their swords together. Purple and gold tapestries lined the walls of the building, each written in a text Hanna could not read but showing depictions of goblets.
"Grease?" Sora asked.
"Could also be Rome. They're pretty similar." Hanna said. "But there's no way this is either of them. They were destroyed years ago, and this all looks pretty recent."
"Well, let's go investigate, then!" Dani said.
She rushed in before anyone could stop her. Hanna was not too surprised; Greek and Roman legends have always been her favorite. Instead, she followed her sister inside the temple.
The temple was small, more of a waiting room than a chamber. The only other thing was a short creature Hanna recognized as a satyr, standing on a pedestal and fiddling with a chalk board.
"Good timin'." The satyr said without looking up. "Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there."
The seven looked at each other. Eventually, Sora decided to take the bait and leaned on the pedestal. He pushed, pushed, and pushed some more. Hanna would be generous to say it move a micrometer.
"THIS THING IS WAY TOO HEAVY!" Sora said.
That caught the satyr's attention.
"What! Too heavy! Herc, since when have you been such a little-"
The satyr spun, and actually realized who he was talking to. "Huh. Wrong guys. Well, whyever you're here, I'm busy! The Pegasus Cup's right around the corner, and I don't got time to deal with a buncha pipsqueaks!"
"Pipsqueaks that are taller than you." Hanna said.
"You're nothin'. Ya can't even move a pedestal!"
To prove his point, the satyr jumped from the pedestal he was perched on and walked over to the other. He pushed, and pushed, and pushed. Hanna didn't think it could actually make negative damage, but it seemed to be going in that direction.
"That's about what I was expecting." Penny said.
"LISTEN HERE!" The satyr snapped. "THIS HERE'S THE WORLD-FAMOUS COLOSSEUM! HEROES ONLY!"
"We're heroes!" Katie said defensively.
"I mean, we've fought two giant monsters and lost a little girl." Penny said. "I'm not sure how heroic that is."
"Yeah? Well, if you don't got an entry pass, then scram!" The satyr said.
The satyr jumped back onto his pedestal and ignored them. Dani looked like she was about to start a fight, but Hanna quickly defused it by placing a hand on her shoulder. It didn't stop her from slamming the door behind her.
"What's that goat's big idea!" Sora said. "Treating me like a child!"
"Yeah!" Donald said. "We're genuine heroes, chosen by the Keyblade!"
"You tell 'em, Donald!" Dani said.
"I thought we were supposed to be keeping that a secret." Penny said. Goofy shrugged in response.
"Rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say? Ignoring such up-and-coming challengers like you?"
The seven spun around. A figure approached them from the south gates. It definitely looked like a man, but with blue skin and flaming hair, Hanna hesitated to consider it human. He sauntered up to them like he owned the place.
"Certainly, Hercules is a prized pupil." He went on. His voice was smooth and silky, and had the exact same amount of charm that jerks who presented themselves as nice guys had. "But what's he going to do when the Jerkules is gone?"
Nobody quite had an answer to that, because nobody was quite sure what he was getting at.
"And just who are you?" Donald asked, trepidation in his voice.
"Whoa there fuzzball. No need to get defensive." The man held his hands out in front of him teasingly. "You want to prove it to them, right? Well, get a load of this."
He held out his hand. Though Hanna was pretty sure there was nothing in it before, now there was a shining golden ticket.
"What's this?" Sora asked.
"An entry pass for one team to the Pegasus Cup!" The man said. "And consider this one on the house."
The man got close, too close for comfort, to Hanna.
"You have the eyes of a hero."
"No way...how in Zeus' beard did you get a hold on this pass?" The satyr asked.
"It doesn't matter!" Sora said. "We have a pass, so let us fight!"
The satyr looked torn. "Come on kid, a wimp like you who can't even move a pedestal's gonna get ripped to shreds in the ring. And you!"
The four women in the room stared him down. The satyr chose his words carefully.
"Do you have any experience that he doesn't?" He said.
The four women shrugged in acceptance and murmured a chorus of "you've got a point".
"To be honest, it can't be that hard to move the pedestal." Katie said. "I mean, if we all team together..."
The satyr paced around the lobby, lost in thought. He slowed and snapped his fingers as he reached a decision.
"Alright. Here's what we'll do." He said. "You'll get the special hero's training, all on me!"
"Huh?" Sora asked.
"We'll see what you can do! Do you have what it takes?"
"Ooh!" Katie said. "Are we gonna have a training montage like Rocky?"
"These are boxes." Dani said.
"Destroy every box in the ring before the time runs out." Phil said. "I've got plenty of formations planned out, so best get movin'!"
"Okay, what does destroying boxes teach us about-"
"Timer starts now!"
"How convenient that the kid with the Keyblades are here."
The voice was filled with accusation, and he was pretty sure that that kind of attitude wasn't allowed in his contract.
"They'll be entering the tournament. Don't blow it." He said.
"You want me to fight them? Sorry, but my contract says-"
"Yes, yes, I know what the contract says! But to get to Hercules, you're gonna have to get through them first. What's a few casualties along the way?"
He didn't say anything, and Hades only noticed he was gone once the door closed behind him.
"Geeze. Stiffer than the stiffs back home." Hades shrugged off.
Suckers like that were hard to come by.
"You know…" Penny said. "I don't think moving boxes is getting us anywhere."
"What are you talkin' about?" Phil said. "You kids are doing great! You're buildin' muscle, learnin' sword swingin', workin' together…"
"I feel like we're cleaning out your garage." Katie said as she collapsed onto the coliseum seats.
"Fine." Phil said, placing his hands on his hips. "What do you want to learn, then?"
"I wanna dual-wield!" Katie said, sitting right back up.
"We don't have two Keyblades to spare." Sora pointed out.
"Aw…"
"I want to learn more about magic." Penny said.
"Sure! I can teach you that!" Donald said. "Come one, we can practice Blizzard spells on those crates over there—"
"No. What I mean is, I want to learn more about magic." Penny repeated. "We don't have magic where I come from, so I'm not used to it. What is it? Where does it come from? How does it work?"
"Hmm…That's a lot more theoretical than the stuff I work with…" Donald said. "I know! Maybe we can ask Merlin! I know he lives in Traverse Town!"
"Oh, of course Merlin is real to." Penny said. "Next you'll be telling me Heracles is real."
"What about you, kid?" Phil asked, turning his attention to Hanna. "What do you wanna learn?"
"Hm? Oh…" Hanna stammered. "I don't really know. I'm not used to fighting…kinda prided myself in it, at one point…so I don't really know what I should be focusing on. I really just want to protect my friends…"
"That's a good answer, kid!" Phil said. "Bein' strong ain't the only thing that makes a hero. Ya need to be strong in both muscle and heart!"
"The heart is just muscle." Penny said. She was ignored.
"How do we get a strong heart, then?" Sora asked.
"If you have to ask, you're not a hero yet!"
All heads snapped towards the new voice. A figure stood in the doorway. In terms of dress he looked a little odd, apron over short tunic and bandana over his rather long hair. Considering his biceps were bigger than her head, she decided not to question his fashion choices.
"Hey Phil." He said. "Finished cleaning the toilets."
"Ah perfect!" Phil said. "Let me introduce ya to my prized pupil! The strongest, kindest, and most handsome hero, Hercules!"
"AND HE'S THE ONLY THING STANDING IN MY WAY!"
It took Hades a few seconds to calm down his flames. He picked up a few of the chess pieces off of the ground and realigned them.
"But why worry? The pieces are all falling into place..."
"Hades, I-"
Hades scrambled to hide all of his pieces.
"Did they not teach you to KNOCK in wherever you came from?"
The boy ignored him. Typical.
"I had a question about the kid."
"Well, I'll be happy to answer any questions you have but KNOCK NEXT TIME!"
Silence.
"You didn't see anything, right?" Hades asked.
"No Lord Hades, I definitely didn't see you playing with your dolls again." The boy said.
Hades slicked back the flames on his head in an effort to control the heat. "What's your question again?"
"There are five of them. Which one do you want me to take out?"
"Does it matter? Any one! All of them! All I need is that Keyblade of theirs, and then I'll be able to release the seal of the Titans!"
The boy let out a breath in something that probably was supposed to be a scoff. Hades didn't care. That was probably the most emotion he'd shown since they met.
"Wha...cleaning toilets?" Phil asked.
"Yeah. That's what you signed me up to do." The hero said.
"Herc, why would I assign ya to clean toilets so close to the tournament!"
"Well, you did want us to move furniture around earlier." Penny said.
"That's different! That thing was mucking around with my feng shui!"
"But while I was cleaning, I went over the entry list." Hercules said. "Lot of weird first timers. Not sure what that's about."
Penny did. Shadows, Soldiers, Large Bodies…A roster full of Heartless
"So maybe there was a reason for all of this." She muttered under her breath.
Donald gave her a look and pulled her in closer. The others followed.
"Why do you think Heartless are entering the tournament?" Sora asked. His whispering voice wasn't exactly what Penny would call whispering, but at least he was trying.
"Isn't it obvious?" Penny asked. "They want hearts, people have hearts, a fighting tournament's the perfect place to kill people without raising suspicion."
"What are you guys whisperin' about?" Phil said, voice thick with suspicion.
"Let's focus our efforts." Penny said. "We'll go take a look around for anything suspicious. You guys go into the tournament."
"Right!" Donald's whisper voice was even worse than Sora's.
"Yeah! How hard can it be?"
Sora was tossed backwards. His back collided with the ground, and it took him a second to see straight again. He tried to get back up, but the second he stirred he was met with a sword bigger than he was directly pointed at his neck.
"What was Hades thinking, sending me to fight you?" The stranger mumbled. "You're not match for me."
"Sora!" He heard Donald squawk.
"Kid!" He heard Phil shout. "Hang on, I'll see if I can't find those other kids of yours!"
The stranger's eyes darted away from Sora.
"I assume that's the Keyblade?" He asked.
Sora decided now was a bad time to nod with the buster sword still on his throat.
Something Sora couldn't recognize flickered in the stranger's eyes. His sword drifted upwards, just enough that Sora felt safe to breathe again. "There's no need to take you out. Just hand me the Keyblade."
"WHAT THE ME IS HE DOING!"
It took Pain and Panic to calm down the flames this time. Hades would be more embarrassed by it if he wasn't absolutely livid.
"Why can't a pawn just listen to its master?" He sighed.
He rearranged the pieces.
The sword was removed from his neck completely. Sora would have been relieved if he it wasn't pointed at something else now. From his viewpoint, Sora couldn't quite make it out. He could tell that big and black and scary looking.
He scrambled to his feet and grabbed the Keyblade. Three heads lowered to look him in the eye and growled at him.
"PUPPY!" He heard Katie exclaim.
"Kids, I got two words for ya!" Phil shouted from the sidelines. "ATTACK!"
Sora was about to shout back how wrong that statement was but he was distracted as the dog lunged for him. He jumped out of the way, nearly tripping on his feet as he did.
Dani jumped in-between them, tossing her Keyblade. It landed in the middle dog's mouth, prying its jaws open. The dog shook its head wildly, and the Keybade went flying.
"That was my only good idea, run away!"
Sora jumped out of the way again. No, but that was a good idea! They just needed to have better control. He scanned the battlefield. There he was!
Fireballs cascaded from the sky. Sora ran. He tripped. He rolled. If there wasn't so much going on already, he probably would have found it very impressive. He somersaulted straight into the exact person he needed to talk to.
"Hey! Can you give me a boost onto the dog's back?"
The warrior knocked back a group of fireballs with his sword. "Can't."
"Why not?"
"Can't fly."
"But what about that wing on your back?"
"It represents my inner turmoil. But you might have an idea there."
He pulled off his scarf and handed it to Sora. Before Sora could ask any further, he ran off, sword raised.
Sora needed another plan.
"Goofy, duck!" He said.
"Donald!" Donald snapped.
"No, duck!"
"Oh! Got it!" Goofy said.
Goofy bent over. Sora charged and jumped on his back. As he rose, he just managed to grab Donald by his wing and hoist him onto his shoulders.
Donald seemed to get the idea. As soon as they were steady, he jumped onto the dog's back. He reached down for Sora to pull him up as well.
The back would have already been unstable even without the two other dog heads angrily snapping at him. He moved as quickly as he could and wrapped the scarf around the dog's mouths. There. That ought to keep them from attacking them for much longer.
"Now's your chance!" He called out.
"Oh! Got it!" Dani said.
She raised her hand, summoning her Keyblade back to her hand. Even from above, though, Sora could see her eyes darting back and forth as she tried to figure out just where to strike.
The stranger got there first. He raised his sword, sparking with Thunder magic. It was only one slash, not even against the heads of the beast. But the legs wobbled under the assault, and Sora had to roll of the beast's back before they collapsed completely.
"That will keep it paralyzed long enough for me to cart it back to the Underworld." The stranger said.
"Wow, thanks! You're a lifesaver!" Sora said.
"Did you forget the part where I tried to kill you a minute ago?" The man asked.
"No. But why should I worry about that?"
"'And thus I hereby dub thee Junior Heroes—"
"Junior?" Donald snapped.
"I can't just throw around the title willy-nilly! You've got a long way to go before you can be considered bona-fide heroes!" Phil said, peering over the scroll in his hands. "Now, 'Junior Heroes, and do confer the rights to participate in the games. Furthermore'—hey where's that redhead friend of yours?"
"She's so proud of figuring out how to move the pedestal that she's now trying to nail Jello to a tree." Penny said. "Don't know what's she's expecting, we haven't seen a single tree since we got here…"
"Hey Mr. Moody Pants!"
The warrior barely acknowledged her presence.
"Strife."
"Huh?"
"Mr. Strife. But if you have to call me anything, call me Cloud." He said.
"Good lord that cannot be your actual name." Katie stopped that train of thought when she realized just how moody Mr. Moody Pants looked. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"I've lost something important." Cloud said. "I thought if I worked with Hades I could find it. But instead I just fell further into Darkness."
Katie joined him and sat on the steps. "I'm sorry. Hey, would you like some Jello?"
Cloud let out a breath of air that may or may not have been a laugh.
"I think I'll pass." He said. "You're looking for something to, aren't you? Let me give you some advice: Whatever you do, don't lose sight of your Light."
KATIE obtained: Celestial Bronze
SORA obtained: Olympia
A mighty weapon that greatly increases the user's strength.
Author's Note: So we all talk about nailing Jello to a tree as a metaphor for an impossible task because we all think of just wiggly jiggly Jello on its own. You can absolutely nail Jello to a tree if it is in some kind of cup or plastic snack case. You just got to give it a little support.
Don't have time to comb through all 60 2-hour videos, but somewhere on Team Four Star's Kingdom Hearts retrospective (which you should absolutely watch if you're looking for some good Kingdom Hearts streams), one of the hosts made the joke of Sora saying "Sure you can be my friend. So what if you tried to kill me? A lot of people have. Here's a hint: they all fail" and to me that's just the perfect encapsulation of Sora's compassion and determination. But it's still a little too early in Sora's career for that many people to have tried to kill him.