On Today's Episode: The trinity's next stop is in a coliseum city that, naturally, hosts lots of tournament battles against ferocious opponents. What kind of battles will our keyblade-wielding heroes get to take part in here in Nordopolica? And who is this strange woman who also signed up for the games?
For Today's World: All right, thanks once again to Lonnie Lonster for helping me choose the "arena" world for re:Verse, and once he gave me ideas, I knew what I wanted it to be. Today's world is The Coliseum City, Nordopolica from Tales of Vesperia. I've been playing the absolute hell out of the Definitive Edition release for the past year, and I'm just loving the best version of the game that made me a fan of the Tales series. But enough talking, let's roll it!
Act 3: Under the Flag of the Knights
"Okay, this place looks pretty slick," Maylin admitted as the three of them entered the city they'd seen after disembarking from the Gummi Ship. "Definitely got that whole Roman Empire gladiator thing going for it."
"Oh, don't remind me of Gladiator," Nick quipped. "My mom absolutely loves that movie."
"Now, here comes my question," Haruka asked as the trinity walked through the city. "Where exactly are we?"
"This is Nordopolica, also known as the Coliseum City."
Nick looked over to the ship dock to look at the girl who had addressed them. She had short pink hair and green eyes, and was wearing a white coat with gold designs, a pink dress underneath, white gloves, black stockings and white boots with gold designs.
"This city was once popular among the nobility as a place to pit criminals against each other in brutal contest," the princess explained (because Nick could tell right away that she was a princess). "Nordopolica is currently run by the guild Palestralle, and has been turned into a city of entertainment."
"There goes the walking encyclopedia known as Estelle again," a man nearby Estelle quipped. The other members of the guild in question just smiled, apparently used to Estelle doing this.
"Yuri, they don't look like they're from around here," Estelle responded. "I was just being nice."
The sound of fireworks caught everyone's attention, and they all looked to the sky above the coliseum to see that a spectacular fireworks show had begun.
"Now that's beautiful," Maylin proclaimed.
"A party in the streets, huh?" an older man laughed nearby. "Oh, this is gonna be awesome!"
"Wait, Raven, since when are you on vacation?" Yuri Lowell laughed. In response, Raven just facefaulted.
"Right, a minion's work is never done," Raven groaned.
"Yeah, you're the Don's messenger, so don't be rude to Belius!" a twelve-year-old boy laughed.
"Karol, you are looking at a veritable paragon of manners and good breeding," Raven stated. Nick, Maylin, and Haruka weren't sure they bought that for a second.
"Okay, so, who exactly are the three of you?" a young female mage asked.
"Oh, we're just wandering travelers of a sort," Maylin answered, hoping they believed the cover story. "We've never really been here before, so this place is all new to us."
"Well, why don't we show you around?" Estelle giggled. "Brave Vesperia would be happy to be your escort!"
"On that note, I should get going, too," a young pirate girl proclaimed.
"Wait, where are you going, Patty?" Karol Capel asked.
"Lots of stuff to do," Patty Fleur answered as she ran off into the main street area.
"She's an odd one," Rita Mordio sighed.
With all of that said, Estelle began leading the trinity through Nordopolica after introducing them to herself and the rest of their guild, Brave Vesperia. Apparently, they were all chasing down a rather imposing monster to learn the truth behind something it had said to Estelle. They were currently headed for the desert area, the Sands of Kogorh, and had stopped here in Nordopolica so Raven could take care of some business for his own guild.
As they moved through the streets and eventually into the front gates of the Nordopolica Coliseum, Rita couldn't help but notice something odd about the trinity.
"Hey, where are your blastia?" Rita asked.
"...our what now?" Maylin quipped.
Before Rita could inquire further about that, small pools of darkness popped up on the floor and spawned a small pack of wizard-like Heartless, much like the Red Nocturne and Blue Rhapsody, only this one was yellow.
"Oh, wonderful," Maylin groaned. "The lightning boys are here."
"Let me guess, these guys use lightning attacks?" Nick quipped.
"Yep, and they don't have a real weakness like the others, so the best strategy is to just beat them into the ground," Haruka replied.
With that, Nick, Maylin and Haruka summoned their keyblades, much to the shock of Brave Vesperia, and charged in to attack.
One of the Yellow Operas lunged forward, its body surrounded by electricity, but Maylin sidestepped the attack and shot a Fire spell into it, stunning it long enough for Nick to finish it off with an overhead swing.
Haruka simply waited for two of the Yellow Operas to come to her before slamming Divine Rose into the ground, creating a small shockwave that stunned the Yellow Operas. Two quick slashes, one to each, finished them off rather handily.
"Enemy data registered," Sophia proclaimed.
Nick let Kingdom Key disappear for the moment and turned back around, only to see the shock and awe on the faces of Brave Vesperia's members.
"Um... is there something on my face?" Nick asked.
"First off, what the heck were those things?!" Rita proclaimed.
"The barrier didn't fail, did it?" Estelle asked.
"No, the barrier appears to be just fine," Judith responded.
"Well, I guess there's no harm in it now," Maylin sighed. "Those things were Heartless, monsters created from the darkness in people's hearts."
"You seem to know a lot about them," Rita replied. "Was that whole 'wandering travelers' thing a lie, then?"
"Not completely," Haruka answered. "We are travelers, just... we're from another world."
"Another world? Like aliens?!" Karol gasped, to which Estelle giggled.
"Well, yes and no," Maylin quipped. "See, we're traveling to different worlds in order to find our missing friends, and we just happened to drop by here on our journey."
"I guess it makes sense now," Rita proclaimed. "Blastia are used all over the world, and yet you three have no idea what it is, you have these strange weapons and can apparently use magic with it..."
"Honey, the more you think about it, the more it hurts the head," Raven laughed.
"It often does," Haruka chuckled.
With that business settled, the group continued up the nearby stairway that led to the actual coliseum, Brave Vesperia turned to a door to the left to talk to the nearby guard.
"This may take a bit," Raven proclaimed to the trinity. "So how about you kids take the coliseum for a spin while ol' Raven takes care of business?"
"Just talk to the lady at the reception lobby down the stairs," Karol stated.
The trinity made their way back down the stairway to talk to the receptionist, only to be roadblocked.
"I'm sorry, but the coliseum games are only open to people who have an Entry Pass," the receptionist proclaimed.
"Oh, that's bunk!" Maylin exclaimed. "What's wrong with wanting to just try out a tournament battle?!"
"The rules are the rules, I'm afraid," the receptionist responded. "But I do have something you can use."
The receptionist handed Nick a golden-yellow Magic Crystal much like the one Maylin had given him at the start of their adventure. Nick took the crystal and crushed it in his hands, the power flowing into him and causing a small jolt of electricity to lance along his keyblade.
"Try mastering that spell before the next games," the receptionist stated.
With that in mind, the trinity walked outside to consider their options. That's when they saw Patty talking to a pair of merchants at the crossroads.
"Hey, what's Patty up to?" Haruka asked.
"I think she's shopping," Nick replied.
"Those clothes you're wearing... I'm sorry, but... are you Aifread's granddaughter?" the woman asked. "I ask because there's been a rumor going around about a girl, dressed like Aifread and claiming to be his granddaughter..."
"That's me, all right," Patty replied, handing off the Gald for her purchase.
"Um... I hope this doesn't sound rude, but... could I ask you to stop coming here?" the woman asked.
"Is it... because I'm Aifread's granddaughter?" Patty asked.
"Well, I don't really mind myself, but... our customers..." the woman started, glancing at her husband.
"W-wait a minute, I said no such thing!" the man proclaimed.
"You just said that it'd hurt our reputation if the granddaughter of an outlaw shopped here," the woman retorted.
Though Patty tried to keep her expression neutral, Nick could see the hurt in her eyes.
"Well, to be fair, she's the granddaughter of a man who violated the morals of his guild and murdered tons of people," the man growled. "You know what that would do to us?!"
And with that, Nick had finally had enough, marching over to the couple.
"Hey, cut the bullcrap," Nick proclaimed. "You honestly think a young girl like her was responsible for that?! You wanna tell me to my face what exactly Patty did wrong?!"
When the couple had no response, Nick just sighed in frustration.
"You can't just go around blaming Aifread's granddaughter for something he did," Nick stated. "The sins of the parent don't always trickle down to the child, you know. Besides, just what the hell did Aifread do that was so bad, anyway?!"
"The Black Hope Massacre," the man responded. "He slaughtered his own crew, and now every guild despises him for it."
"So, what, just because Aifread's not around to take your hatred, you dump all of that on poor Patty's shoulders?!" Nick shouted. "What is wrong with you?! That's no damn excuse to blame her!"
Patty was utterly shocked to see Nick defending her so passionately, despite knowing what her grandfather had done.
"I-It's okay, Nick, you don't have to defend me," Patty responded. "I'm used to this kind of thing..."
"That's just not right, Patty," Nick answered. "Come on, let's talk somewhere where the peanut gallery can't interrupt."
Not even sparing the merchant couple a glance, Nick led Patty over to the ship dock where the Fiertia was parked.
"I appreciate you standing up for me, Nick, but you really didn't have to," Patty stated.
"No way in hell I was just going to stand there and let you take that dressing down for something that wasn't your fault," Nick replied. "Now listen, okay, Patty? I'm not from 'around here', shall we say, but I'm not one to judge people based on what their parents, grandparents, whatever did. I prefer to focus on the actions of the person that's right in front of me right now. Something like that happened where I come from, and... let's just say that I didn't know if I could do anything, and it hurt me to think that I couldn't."
Nick kneeled down to rest his hand on Patty's shoulder (she was just a bit shorter than him). "So, Patty, if you ever need someone to talk to, or a shoulder to cry on, as long as I'm here, I can do that for you. I cherish my friends more than anything else. You should be able to do that, too."
Despite trying her best to hold it in, Patty was unable to stop a few tears from falling, and she leaped over to hug Nick, sobbing quietly into his shoulder. Nick simply hugged Patty back, rubbing her back to comfort her as best he could.
Maylin and Haruka watched from the steps of the coliseum gates with smiles on their own faces.
"You feeling a little better now, Patty?" Nick asked.
"Aye," Patty answered. "Thanks, Nick. That really meant a lot to me."
"People have told me I usually know what to say," Nick replied. "You gonna be all right out here?"
"Of course," Patty proclaimed. "I'm gonna go check up on the Fiertia, make sure everything's running right. You go enter the games with your friends."
"That's the plan," Nick laughed as he walked back up the stairs to reconvene with Maylin and Haruka.
"You're a good kid, Nick," Maylin quipped. "Don't let anyone tell ya otherwise, got it?"
With nothing much else to do, the trinity wandered around until someone walked up in front of them, accidentally bumping into Nick on the way.
Before Nick could go off on this rude stranger, he noticed something being placed in his hand. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be an Entry Pass for the coliseum games.
"I'm pulling for ya, little shorty," the man chuckled before sashaying off. Though covered by a gaudy-looking hood, Nick could make out some of the red-and-yellow hair the man had.
"Okay, that was... something," Maylin quipped. "But hey, it looks like we can enter the games now, so let's get back to the coliseum!"
As they headed towards the coliseum, the trinity could just barely make out Brave Vesperia talking to someone underneath the bridge area, but they let it go, knowing it most likely wasn't their business.
After making it back to the lobby, Nick showed the receptionist their new Entry Pass.
"This appears to be in order," the receptionist proclaimed. "Welcome to the games! We're gonna start you off with the preliminaries, but be careful, okay? It looks like some real weirdos signed up for the games."
The trinity walked up the steps and used the center door to enter the coliseum, where a crowd was already waiting, including the members of Brave Vesperia.
"Wow, this happens a lot, does it?" Maylin giggled.
"All right, everyone, get your weapons ready, because it's time for the Nordopolica Games preliminary matchups!" the announcer proclaimed, his voice echoing through the arena. "Our challengers today are warriors from a far-off land itching to test their skills! Let's see if they can shred their way through the opening rounds! Fighters, are you ready?!"
"Yes, we're ready, just get on with it!" Haruka exclaimed.
"Bring out the first group, Shadow Scout!" the announcer proclaimed, and the small circle in the center of the arena descended into the ground for a few seconds before bringing out a group of Heartless, namely four Soldiers and three Blue Rhapsodies.
"W-wait, what the hell are Heartless doing in the arena?!" Maylin gasped, instantly summoning Spellbinder.
"They must have captured some of them to use in the games," Haruka quipped as she summoned Divine Rose.
"Let's not think too hard about it, 'kay?" Nick stated as he summoned his new keyblade, Paper Master, to his hands. "Let's just focus on getting rid of these Heartless."
The Soldiers made the first move, spinning through the air to deliver a flying kick towards Nick that was quickly countered by a Slapshot. Maylin dual-cast Fire to blast away two of the Blue Rhapsodies while Haruka struck down another Soldier with a jumping slash.
Finally, Nick decided to cast his new spell, raising his keyblade to the sky and casting Thunder, causing a small spread of lightning bolts to rain down from the sky around the remaining Heartless, wiping them out easily.
"Oh, yeah, we bad!" Maylin proclaimed.
"Not bad, newbies," the announcer stated. "Let's see how you fare against group two, Sinisters!"
The platform raised up to bring in three more Blue Rhapsodies and ten Shadows.
"Hey, Nick, you know there are multiple different ways to use spells, right?" Maylin quipped. "Watch this."
As two Blue Rhapsodies approached her, Maylin raised Spellbinder and cast Thunder, but instead of a rain of lightning bolts from above, this one was a bolt that fired right from Spellbinder's teeth at the Blue Rhapsodies and wiped them out.
"Try different ways to cast your spells and you might find some new strategies," Haruka stated as she easily wiped the floor with the Shadows, leaving Nick to Slapshot the final Blue Rhapsody.
"And that's round two, everyone! Our newcomers are showing promise," the announcer proclaimed. "Time for group three, Heat and Freeze!"
The platform ascended to reveal five Red Nocturnes and five Blue Rhapsodies.
"They seem to like the little wizard dudes," Maylin quipped.
"Hey, they're all following us," Haruka stated.
"Let 'em," Nick replied. "I got this one."
Nick waited for the Heartless to come to him, then swung Paper Master upwards and unleashed a Ripple Drive that obliterated all ten Heartless.
"That's how we do it!" Haruka proclaimed.
While all of this was transpiring, the mysterious man from before was watching from the sidelines with a young woman standing next to him, with long, brown hair, green eyes, and a large mechanical device strapped to her wrist that clearly didn't look like it belonged in this world.
"See that boy with the giant key?" the mystery man stated. "He's your next opponent, so don't blow it, all right? Just take 'em out."
"A great assassin like you is afraid of a kid?" the woman retorted. "Look, you told me that I have to..."
"I know, I know," the mystery man shot back. "I was the one who contracted you! I know you're supposed to kill Yuri Lowell in this tournament, but you're gonna have to go through that kid to get to him, got it? I mean, a casualty or two along the way is no big deal, right, Shion?"
Shion Uzuki just scoffed and walked away.
"Jeez, such a stiff-ass," the mystery man chuckled. "Still, spry little things like her are hard to come by."
Back in the arena, the fourth group, Shadow Platoon, was brought up to the arena, consisting of two Shadows, two Soldiers, three Red Nocturnes, and three Blue Rhapsodies.
Nick cast his own Thunder spell, using the "rain of bolts" variant to take out the wizards while Maylin used the "projectile bolt" variant to blast away the Shadows and Soldiers.
"Man, this is too easy!" Maylin giggled.
"Well, they are the preliminaries," Haruka replied. "They're probably just to make sure we can handle the bigger guys in the future."
"Our newcomers are closer to the final round," the announcer proclaimed. "Here's hoping they don't trip up at the finish line! Here comes group five, Blue Revenge!"
"Does he have to be like that?" Maylin groaned as the platform brought up nine Blue Rhapsodies, which immediately started flinging ice bullets towards them.
"You should see some of the sports announcers back in my world," Nick laughed as he blasted away half the group with a Ripple Drive, leaving Maylin and Haruka to clean up the rest of them. "'Hammy announcer' is practically their job description."
"This is it, folks! Our challengers only have one round to go to reach the final! Can they defeat the final group, Big One?" the announcer proclaimed.
The platform ascended to bring four Red Nocturnes, four Blue Rhapsodies, and a new Heartless that was nearly spherical in shape, with massive arms and hands, short legs, huge feet, and tiny heads, wearing a purple sleeveless bodysuit edged in gold trim.
"Whoa, who's the round boy?" Nick asked.
"That's a Large Body, and they can be annoying little buggers," Maylin stated.
"Large Bodies are slow as erosion, but frontal attacks won't work on them due to those round bellies bouncing your physical attacks off," Haruka explained. "So either taken them out from behind or hit them with magic."
Nick spun Paper Master in his hands and went to attack the Large Body while Maylin and Haruka mopped up the others.
The Large Body swung both of its meaty hands in a one-two punch that Nick parried before jumping over it and striking its back a few times.
"Man, this one's hardy," Nick quipped as he struck a few more times, seemingly enraging the Large Body, as it started hopping around while swinging its arms before charging towards him. Nick quickly blasted it with a Blizzard spell to finish it off.
"And that's all the groups, ladies and gentlemen! All that remains is our final challenger!" the announcer proclaimed. "Come on out and show us a fight!"
The platform descended downward, then rose again to reveal a young woman with long brown hair, green eyes, and a sleek, mechanical weapon strapped to her wrist.
"Okay, was not expecting that," Nick quipped.
"I will not lose," Shion proclaimed, activating her MWS. "So prepare yourself!"
Shion wasted no time in going on the offensive, getting in close to attack the keyblade wielders with various punches and kicks, and even a few swipes from her MWS.
"Something tells me she's not gonna be as easy to beat," Maylin stated, jumping back before blasting Shion back with a Fire spell.
While Shion was stumbling, Haruka moved in to land a few clean slashes until Shion retaliated with a Shock Blade, extending a hidden blade from her MWS and slashing it forward, a trail of electricity following the slash arc. This attack caught Haruka off guard and threw her backwards.
"Okay, you wanna fight thunder with thunder?" Maylin taunted. "We can do that!"
Maylin cast Thunder on Shion, only for her to tank the spell and unleash a large sphere of purple energy from her MWS that enveloped Maylin and pulled her down to the ground.
While Maylin struggled to dispel the Gravity Well surrounding her, Shion set her sights on Nick, rushing in to strike while she had an opportunity, only to get knocked back by a Ripple Drive.
"Don't even think about it," Nick proclaimed.
In response, Shion jumped right back in and struck Nick with a Lunar Blade, striking him with three clean curving slashes that knocked Nick to the floor.
Nick knew that Shion probably had the edge at the moment. Even though he had a more-than-likely mystical weapon on his side, she probably had more battle experience than him, considering she'd knocked him flat with just one good attack.
Shion looked down at Nick, almost looking regretful, before she raised her MWS to deal the final blow.
Before she could bring her weapon down, however, the hooded man from earlier leaped in to slash at Shion, though she was able to bring her MWS up to defend herself.
"H-Hey, what's the big idea?!" Shion shouted.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you that there was one other rule I didn't mention," Zagi laughed as his hood fell down. "Accidents happen!"
Zagi began to wildly slash at Shion, each strike blocked by the MWS as the three keyblade wielders picked themselves up.
"What the hell is this?!" Maylin gasped, only to be pulled back by Estelle, as Brave Vesperia had just jumped down into the arena while Yuri moved to attack Zagi.
"Estelle, get them out of here!" Yuri shouted.
"Come on, we have to go!" Estelle exclaimed as she pulled the trinity back into the entrance lobby.
"Okay, let me ask this again," Maylin proclaimed. "Who was that lug-nut?!"
"His name is Zagi, and he's been a real pain in our rear-ends lately," Karol explained. "He just keeps showing up without warning, and he's apparently got some kind of thing against Yuri."
"He's a real nut-job, that one," Rita quipped, only to balk at the fact that Nick was already heading back up the stairs to the arena. "H-Hold on a minute! This isn't part of the games. That Zagi guy's the real deal. Are you sure you can handle him?!"
"Hey, I'm not afraid of a nut like him," Nick responded. "Besides, that girl may need our help."
Nothing else needed to be said as the trinity raced back into the arena and moved to confront Zagi.
Yuri swung his sword and fired an Azure Edge, a small comet-shaped energy blast, at Zagi, but the deranged assassin jumped over it and attempted to divebomb Shion while she was dazed from his previous attack.
The divebomb was stopped by Nick swinging the Kingdom Key in a Slapshot, forcing Zagi to hop back and re-evaluate his stance.
"Wanna pound on this freak?" Nick quipped.
"That was the plan," Yuri replied.
"Bring it on!" Zagi cackled. "The more the merrier!"
Zagi rushed down Nick, swinging his blades in a wild, frenzied manner, though Nick was able to block each swing rather easily. While Zagi continued to strike at Nick, Maylin blasted him backwards with a Blizzard spell, which allowed Yuri to unleash another Azure Edge that connected and stumbled Zagi.
After recovering, Zagi lunged forward, knocking Nick into the air with an uppercut slash, then zig-zagging through the air and hitting Nick with multiple slashes before spiking him back to the ground.
Haruka was over there in a flash, slamming Divine Rose into the ground underneath where Zagi landed, causing a localized tremor that stunned Zagi long enough for Haruka to land a few clean hits.
Maylin rushed over to Nick, who was struggling to stand up properly after that assault.
"Hold on, buddy, emergency first aid comin' up," Maylin proclaimed, holding Spellbinder over Nick. "Force, know my plight! Release the light! HEAL!"
Glowing green leaves surrounded Nick's body in a ring, healing the wounds he'd just received and allowing him to stand properly.
"Thanks for the heal, Maylin," Nick quipped.
"Always happy to be of service, buddy," Maylin giggled.
Yuri dashed in to attack Zagi's prosthetic arm with a Dragon Swarm, a series of spinning slash attacks, in hopes of getting the crazed assassin to back off, but Zagi quickly recovered and slammed his prosthetic hand into the ground, creating a shockwave of electricity around him.
"This isn't working!" Haruka shouted.
Shion rushed back onto the battlefield, clutching something in her hand. "Catch!" Shion exclaimed, tossing the object to Nick, who recognized it as an Ability Crystal like the one Haruka had given him in Traverse Town.
As Zagi laughed like a madman and charged towards him again, Nick crushed the crystal in his free hand and let its power flow into him. Time seemed to slow down for Nick before Zagi could get close enough to him, and Nick prepared to use his new ability.
"Hope you like getting shanked!" Zagi bellowed.
"You first," Nick shot back as he lunged forward with a lightning-fast dash attack, then turned around to hit Zagi with another lightning-fast dash, followed by five more dash attacks before one final dash that ended in a powerful stab that sent Zagi careening into the opposite wall of the arena.
As Zagi peeled himself off of the wall, he glanced at Yuri before dashing out of the arena.
"And good riddance, ya creep-show!" Maylin taunted.
"Nice new move, Nick," Haruka chuckled. "What're you gonna call this one?"
Nick thought for a few seconds before coming up with a name. "...Sonic Blade," Nick proclaimed.
After leaving the lobby, the trinity caught up with Brave Vesperia, who was about to leave Nordopolica to chase after their own target.
"So, I guess there won't be any games for a while, huh?" Haruka sighed.
"Not until they clean up the mess that Zagi character caused," Raven answered.
"I guess that means it's time for us to head out," Maylin stated, looking back at the coliseum. "Places to go, worlds to see, and all that jazz."
"Hey, try and stop by Nordopolica every now and then on your trip," Raven proclaimed. "I'm sure they're gonna have some pretty jazzy battles once everything in the arena's been fixed up."
"Good luck to ye on your travels!" Patty giggled.
Nick would have responded if he hadn't noticed Shion leaning against a nearby wall.
"Hey, you doin' okay?" Nick asked.
"...as much as I can be, I guess," Shion admitted.
"Hey, so, why were you helping mister crazy-hair back there?" Nick wondered.
"I'm looking for a place called Lost Jerusalem," Shion answered. "I got separated from my friends, and Zagi promised he'd help me, but now I'm not sure I should have trusted him. I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but I guess it backfired."
Shion materialized her MWS, glancing at her reflection in it. "I fell into the darkness, and I couldn't see the light."
Nick walked up to Shion and patted her on the shoulder. "Hey, you'll find it, I'm sure," Nick quipped. "I'm searching for something, too."
"If it's your own light, don't lose sight of it," Shion stated. "It may save you one day. I almost forgot that lesson myself."
Shion began to walk back towards the coliseum lobby, only to be stopped one more time by Nick.
"Hey, how about a rematch sometime?" Nick offered. "Fair and square, with no dark powers involved?"
Despite everything that had happened, Shion smiled. "I think I'll take you up on that offer sometime," Shion giggled.
With that said, Brave Vesperia headed out of Nordopolica to the southwest, and the trinity returned to the Gummi Ship thanks to Haruka's wrist communicator.
Later that night, however, Zagi could be seen pacing around in front of the doors to the coliseum, his hood once again up and ranting about something in particular.
"Ooh, that boy's such a nerve-grater," Zagi growled. "All I want is to kill that damned Yuri Lowell, and what does this boy do?! He gets in the way of my kill! Who does that little PUNK THINK HE IS?!"
Zagi quickly shook his head to calm himself down. "Wait just a minute, Zagi," Zagi stated to himself. "The pieces are already in place. So, here's what you do. Let Yuri and his idiot brigade train them, make them strong enough to give me a real fight. When it's time for the next games, I'll make them bleed."
Zagi clenched his fist in glee until he noticed someone behind him.
"And who exactly invited you to this party?" Zagi taunted. "Why don't you just stay out of this, okay? This here world is my show."
Seemingly not fazed in the slightest, the woman just smiled.
"Go ahead, then," Kuon Ichinose laughed. "Fight and fight to your heart's content if it pleases you so much."
Despite the smile, Zagi could easily tell the woman's tone was mocking him, and could only scowl as Ichinose vanished through a corridor of darkness.
To be continued...
On the next episode...
Nick: Okay, and now we're... in the post-apocalypse? This journey's getting stranger and stranger, and this is literally only the third stop on our adventure.
Maylin: Trust me, Nick, it gets weirder and weirder no matter how you look at it.
Haruka: Look at this sniper girl, you two! She's mowing these guys down left and right, but... they're not bleeding?
Maylin: Hmmmm... methinks we're in a video game of some kind, if that guy only 'bleeds' red square things and not actual... y'know.
Nick: And there's someone trying to sneak up on the sniper girl.
Haruka: I think that's all we need to investigate.
Nick: Looks like we're taking down some lame campers on the next episode of Kingdom Hearts: Key to Her Heart re:Verse, "The Ballad of Bullets"!
Nick, Maylin, and Haruka: May your hearts be your guiding key!