(Philia Speaking): "What is the overall difference between illusions and reality? Should we really not be fooled by illusions? Are the people and places in illusions things we shouldn't connect with? They are a part of our memories. A part of our hearts."
"Last time, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I all continued our journey to find our friends, my memories, and a way home. What we found instead was a castle that somehow attracted the attentions of Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy, claiming their feelings told them that their friends were here, even though I felt no such thing. What we learned was that this place was called Castle Oblivion, home to some guys in black coats. It was also a place that was ruled by a card system and memories, meaning we fight using the power of cards, and our memories created an illusion of Traverse Town, where we met my friends, who's memories were affected by us. What this whole ordeal was suppose to mean was beyond me."
"After going through the memory of Traverse Town, we were not only confronted by the black-coated man, but a new one named Axel, and we were about to go into a battle with him."
(Insert 'Resister' by ASCA, TV version.)
Pride that shines within strong, unwilling emotions
Resist destiny!
(Sora and Philia stand at the crossroads in the middle of a grassy plains at night, facing opposite directions, with Philia expression that of sadness. Then the wind draws their attention, and they shielded their faces, only to open their eyes to see Castle Oblivion before them, with Donald and Goofy by their sides. The scene blurs out as the title of the series appears.)
In a place your voice doesn't reach
Is a twisted rule that no one taught me
(On a clear surface in a black environment, Sora stood there, the silhouettes of Donald, Goofy and Jiminy, then switched out for Riku and Mickey, then Kairi with her back turned. She turns around, and her appearance changes to Naminé. He closes his eyes, and falls backwards.)
When you were young, you had dreams you wished for with all your heart
The journey to find where they are has only just begun
(Sora transforms into Philia as she splashes through the surface, her eyes half-closed as pictures of their previous adventure scatter the area about her, mostly those of her and Sora together. She becomes wide awake, and struggles to swim back up to the surface, only for her leg to be grabbed by a hand. She looked down to see a man in a black coat, all but his grin hidden in the hood as he looked at her.)
I no longer need the time I mourned.
So break the wall of limitation, right now!
(In a white room, Naminé sat there with a somber expression, drawing pictures in a book. She looked up, and the scene shifts to one of the large doors within Castle Oblivion opening to let Sora, Philia and their friends through.)
Pride that shines within strong, unwilling emotions
(The pair were working together as they took out Heartless that got in their way as they charged through the castle hallways with their weapon, before pulling out cards that shined, allowing them to perform magic and Dagger Skills.)
Recollections that never change, no matter what pain we experience.
(At a closed door, silhouettes of Axel unleashing his blazing chakrams, to Larxene throwing her electrified daggers, to Vexen and his shield in front of him as he unleashed a pillar of ice, to Marluxia as he swiped his scythe, unleashing a scattering of flower petals.)
Embracing the vow I found as I broadened my sight
(Sora ends up fighting against Dark Riku as they clashed with one another, both determined to save Naminé, before pushing off of one another, skidding to a halt.)
Because this road I chose with unclouded eyes will connect me to you
(Sora, covered in injuries, glares at Riku, before he heard something, and turned around to see Phox standing there, his blood red cutting knife raised, as a screaming Philia was consumed in a cocoon of darkness, before revealing herself once more, in a similar attire to Dark Riku's, only blue instead of purple, and her eyes flashed deadly at Sora.)
Let your voice echo, resist destiny!
(Sora was shocked at Philia's change, but saw Donald and Goofy come to his side, assuring him to save her, and they charged forward to Dark Philia, Sora's hand raised out to her, though the scene shifts to regular Philia falling backwards into darkness.)
Proud of Myself. Aaah~
(Scene warps about, from Sora standing on the beach with Kairi, who is swapped with Naminé, to Philia clutching her heart, while the logo of the Laughing Coffin was behind her, then crying out in desperation to know what is the truth, to Riku rising up to reach out to the light, to the light showing a silhouette of King Mickey, to the shadow of DiZ in a dark room, finishing Naminé closing the drawing book, placing it on a small white table before her, showing a crude picture of Philia and Sora standing together, their hands held as they stared up at Castle Oblivion. Naminé's shadow over the book moves aside as she walks away, ending the scene)
"Don't you go off and die on me now!" Axel told the team, readying his chakrams Suddenly, the room glowed brightly, blinding Sora and Philia. The next thing they knew, they found themselves in an empty atmosphere, on a large, circular platform, with a few pillars surrounding the area. What's more, Sora and Philia noticed Donald and Goofy were gone, now at the mercy of the cards.
"What happened?!" Sora asked, looking about as he had his Keyblade ready.
"Guess this is our battlefield." Philia answered, before charging forward, her dagger ready to strike Axel, the silhouette of her card number being '5' behind her. Axel chuckled as he combined two card numbers into a '6', igniting his chakrams and throwing them at her, her attack overpowered as they slashed by her, causing her to fall.
"Philia!" Sora shouted as Axel vanished and reappeared on the other side of the battlefield to catch his weapons.
"Better keep up!" Axel called out to Sora as he charged at Sora, the silhouette of the number '5' right behind him. Sora reacted with the a number '0' card, and slashed away Axel's chakram, before unleashing his combo of slashes on him.
"Not bad, but you were too quick to use that." Axel retorted, warping to the center of the middle of the battlefield, uniting two cards to become a '9', and shouting "Burn!" Suddenly, three pillars of flames appeared around him, followed by a shockwave of flames that spread around the area, burning Sora as he did so.
"Should've saved that card for something like that." Axel chuckled.
"You mean like how I did?" Philia asked, coming from behind and unleashing slashes with her dagger, falling up with a stab that almost got Axel, had he not unleashed a same-number card as she, canceling their attacks out.
"Okay, not bad, not bad." Axel stated, using his cards, and going into a dancing slash of attacks at Philia, who backed off from him to keep herself from getting hit, but got singed by a couple of the burning slashes thanks to his warping around to strike her.
Sora was up, and unleashed his Blizzard spell on Axel, striking him, getting his attention. He vanished as Philia tried to do a sneak attack, reappearing a good distance from the pair.
"Some people would say this is unfair to have the both of you fight me at the same time, but..." Axel looked to the two, before snickering, "...Considering how novice you guys are, I don't need to worry."
"We'll see who're the novice!" Sora argued, before he and Philia charged at Axel together.
Axel was clearly a skilled fighter with the card system, and utilizing it and his warping skills to unleash attacks from dancing with his chakrams, throwing them as flaming projectiles at the two, or just unleashing a flame wall that spread around the battlefield. Fortunately, Sora and Philia's experience up till now gave them the ability to be quick learners in this fight, and helped them beat him back once in a while.
"Okay, now you're getting the hang of it!" Axel stated, throwing chakrams, the number 5 behind him. Philia came in and stacked a 1, 2, and 3 card together, and slash away the flaming chakram, before coming in at Axel, striking him with an attack. At this point, Sora had found a green card, and pulled out Pluto, who dug up some health and munny from the battlefield for Sora.
"Thanks, buddy." Sora thanked the dog, who barked in response, and disappeared. He then heard Philia's grunt, as she got repelled by an attack from Axel, before he warped to another area, saying, "Gotta recharge my deck."
"No you don't!" Sora shouted, racing to him with a stacked combination that helped him unleash a Sliding Dash that struck Axel hard.
He tried to warp away from another attack, and ended up seeing Philia come at him quickly, unleashing her Armor Break Dagger Skill, and stabbed him hard. He fell backwards as he grimaced, "You gotta be kidding me..."
"Oh, we aren't kidding!" Philia responded, as Sora raced towards her, and the two unleashed a pair of slashes together with their blades, and knocked Axel hard. As they did so, the card the other hooded man gave him before fell out of his pocket, and started to glow. "Give me a break..." Axel muttered as the field suddenly shined. Everyone was enveloped in this light. Axel seemed defeated.
The next thing the pair knew, Sora and Philia were standing in the same room as before, with Donald and Goofy behind them. The two had a pair of cards given to them, containing the Fire spell. "Another tool to use for our battles." Philia stated, placing it in with the other cards.
"Look!" Goofy pointed to a card floating in front of them. It was the same glowing card that came out of Axel's coat. Sora immediately took it, and looked at it. The picture shined, and suddenly, the cards split into five cards, each having a picture of worlds they visited before. "More of them. What'd they do?" Goofy asked, as the four looked at them.
Jiminy hopped out of Sora's clothes, examining the card as he answered, "Hmm. Kinda looks like the card you used when you made Traverse Town."
"So does that mean these cards will create an illusion of another world made from our memories?" Philia asked.
"Then I guess we're gonna need them to keep going..." Sora assumed.
"That's right." A familiar voice answered, startling the two who thought they beat him. It was Axel again, leaning against a pillar next to the stairs.
"Axel!" Donald squawked angrily, as he sat up and walked towards them.
"Did you really think after that introduction, I would give up oh so easily?" He asked the weapon-ready team.
"You were testing us!" Sora realized.
"I knew that seemed too easy of a battle!" Philia growled.
"And you passed. Congratulations, Sora, Philia!" Axel answered, "You two are ready now; ready to take on Castle Oblivion. Sora, you will need to follow your memories. Trust what you remember, and seek what you forget. Then you will find someone very special."
"You mean King Mickey and Riku?" Goofy asked.
Axel huffed as he answered, "You will just have to give some more thought to who it is that's...most important to you."
"Who's...most important to us?" Philia echoed, "That's easy. My friends here are the ones most important to me."
"Are they now?" Axel asked, "Well, that's only because you don't know who you really were in the past, before they came into your life."
These words got Philia's interest as she looked up, surprised, and asked, "What do you mean? You don't know about my past!"
"Oh, but we do." Axel answered, "In fact, your tests will be different from Sora's, as you will soon start to learn about who you really are, and whether or not you can be friends with them." This warning did lurch Philia's stomach a bit. What was he trying to say? Was the person she was before someone who wouldn't be friends with Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy?
"Our most precious memories lie so deep within our hearts, that they're out of reach." Axel continued, "But I'm sure that you both can find yours, Sora, Philia."
"Why us?" Sora asked, looking to Philia, who looked worried.
"You have lost sight of the light within the darkness." Axel explained, "And it seems that you've forgotten that you forgot."
"The light within...darkness..." Sora echoed, lowering his guard as he wondered what he meant. What could he have forgotten? What was the light that he failed to remember?
Philia also had her concerns, wondering what kind of person she really was before meeting Sora and the others. Was she a good person? Or was she someone who would never become friends with Sora? And...was the truth really in this castle? Was there a clue to who she was in the castle?
"Would you like me to give you a hint?" Axel asked, reaching out to Sora and Philia, hoping for an answer.
The two didn't respond, but Donald and Goofy came to their sides, with Goofy asking, "Sora, do ya need it?"
Sora looked to Axel, before giving a serious glare as he answered, "I'm gonna figure it out for myself."
Philia looked to Sora, seeing his determination, before feeling a pat on her side from Donald. She looked to him, before giving a reassuring smile, before answering, "Whatever I was in the past, I'll figure it out. Besides, treasure hunters should find their own hints, right?"
"That's right." Sora agreed, as he and Philia readied their weapons, "If you're in our way..."
Donald got in front of Philia as he declared, "Don't worry, you guys! We'll protect you!"
Axel paused, before smirking as he lowered his hand, answering, "Good answer. Just what I'd expect from the Keyblade master and the lost girl."
"Lost girl? That's what they're calling me now?" Philia questioned in her mind.
"But be forewarned..." Axel continued, "When your sleeping memories awaken, you may no longer be who you are now." With this final warning, he disappeared in a black portal.
The four paused, looking at where Axel disappeared. "When our sleeping memories awaken...we'll no longer be who we are?" Sora echoed, looking worried at what felt like a threat.
"That's...rather daunting." Philia admitted, especially after what he said to her specifically.
"Gawrsh, do ya think there will be others like Axel and that other guy?" Goofy asked.
"If they are, I'll beat em'!" Donald answered.
Sora and Philia looked to them, before smiling, and looking to each other. Sure, the warnings were rather scary, but the two felt in their hearts that they could overcome it all. No matter what happens to the two of them, they still knew who they were.
"Right." Sora agreed, looking to the stairs, "Guys, let's go!" The four walked forward, and wandered up the steps, heading into the floor above.
As they walked onward, Jiminy was resting in Sora's hoodie, pondering. Philia looked to him and asked, "What's up, Jiminy?"
The cricket hopped onto Sora's shoulder, explaining, "Well, ya see, what Axel said back there worries me. What could he have meant by, 'You may no longer be who you are'?"
"I may no longer be me? How can I be anyone else?" Sora asked.
"Of course." Jiminy agreed, "Still, you can't be too careful."
"Memories can change a person." Philia stated, "I mean, I have no idea who I was before meeting you guys."
"Yep. Feels like just about anything could happen here in Castle..." Goofy stopped, trying to pronounce the last word, though was unable to, until Donald helped him with the word, "Castle Oblivion!"
"Oh, yeah. Now I remember." Goofy understood.
"Oblivion..." Philia muttered, "That word could be a hint in itself. To be oblivious means to be completely unaware of what's happening. Will that mean something will happen without us being aware of it?"
"We'll be okay." Sora assured them, "Whatever it is they're cooking up, we'll be able to handle it together."
"'Course we will, like at that creepy castle we explored together." Goofy recalled, "The one with all those weird contraptions."
"You mean Hollow Bastion?" Philia recalled, looking to both Donald and Goofy, "I remember you guys ditching Sora for a while, too."
Sora paused as he thought about it, before asking, "When was that?"
"Um...I don't remember." Donald answered, "What was it called?"
"It was Hollow Bastion, guys!" Philia answered, "I just said the name."
"Hmm... Sounds about right." Goofy answered, "Sorry, guess I forgot the name there."
"I...don't know." Sora muttered, looking to Philia, "Are you sure that happened?"
This drew great concern from Philia, looking to the boys. Hollow Bastion was a very important part of their journey. Lots of significant moments, from their fight with Riku, Sora turning into a Heartless, sealing the Keyhole, and other things in between. There was no way that they should forget something so significant.
"Guys, are you okay?" Philia asked, "How can you forget what happened in Hollow Bastion?"
"I don't know." Goofy answered.
"Well, it doesn't matter right now." Sora stated, "Let's keep going forward." He looked to the next set of doors that led them deeper into Castle Oblivion. The boys walked forward, but Philia paused to think. One of them could have a momentary relapse, but even that was stretching it. All of them forgetting what happened? That was unnerving. She was fortunate that she completely remembered everything that happened back then. She had a sneaky suspicion about all this, but no proof to back it up. She had to keep an eye out for anything unusual as they continued on.
They reached the door, and looked at the cards that they had obtained in the last battle. "Let's see what we have here..." Sora examined, seeing all the cards, "Agrabah, Olympus Coliseum, Wonderland, Monstro, and Halloween Town."
"All of them are worlds that we've been to, before." Philia addressed, "Although...I kinda had bad memories of Halloween Town, so let's not start with that."
"Sure." Sora understood, looking to the other cards, before taking the Olympus Coliseum one, and asking, "How about this one?"
"Sure thing. Let's get to it." Philia told him, who raised the card up high. The card glowed brightly, and the door before them opened up, allowing the team to enter in.
The moment they stepped through the light, they found themselves in a very familiar environment. The blue skies, the dirt ground, and of course, the Olympus Coliseum directly ahead of them, with the two golden statues of gladiators with their swords raised.
"I swear, we went to this world more times than any other world, due to the tournaments we partook in." Philia muttered, recalling their past adventure.
They were making their way to the entrance when Donald spotted an announcement board by the right statue, and wandered over to it, reading what was on it. "Look, an announcement!" Donald exclaimed, getting everyone else's attention. They made their way over to the board to read what was on it, as well, including Jiminy. There was the words 'Olympus Coliseum Survival Cup' on it.
"It's some sort of contest. They're calling it the 'Olympus Coliseum Survival Tournament'." Jiminy read, "Contenders have to run an obstacle course, battling each other along the way. And listen to this: 'The great Hercules will also compete in the Cup.' It says here he's never been beaten."
"Except by Sora and I. Our coordination was able to best him." Philia stated, recalling the battle they had against Herc.
"It sounds like fun. Why don't we enter, too?" Sora asked.
"I'd thought you say that." Goofy chuckled, "Whenever there's a contest, you're rarin' to join up."
"If there are great prizes, count me in." Philia stated, her eyes glistening at the idea of what they could win.
"You two are going to compete, even if we don't, right?" Donald questioned.
"Uh-huh." Sora answered, with Philia nodding in agreement.
"Guess we'd better tag along then." Donald sighed, deciding to give in.
"Hold it, everyone! There's more…" Jiminy noted, examining the rules further, "Only contenders who finish the preliminary course may enter the main competition. It says here the preliminary course is just ahead."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sora declared, racing to the coliseum to partake in the preliminary course.
Philia stopped momentarily, looking about, thinking. If this world was an illusion made from their memories, could that mean that not only their friends would appear, but their enemies? It could very well be that they would encounter a certain 'Ruler of the Underworld' here. However, she heard her friends call out to her, and she decided to be cautious, and joined the team for the preliminaries. Unbeknownst to her, her worries were sound, as a certain blue flame-haired god was watching them go, before walking to the announcement board.
Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy vanished into cards as Sora and Philia went to work taking on the preliminary rounds, fighting against Heartless. They decided to attempt on fighting individual battles by themselves, and while it was a bit difficult, the pair was able to succeed, and gain experience each. They had three different directions to go to, but were deciding to take enter into the room left from the entrance.
When they entered through, Donald and Goofy reappeared once more as they found themselves in the entryway of the Olympus Coliseum, where they saw the back of the Saytr they knew well. It was Phil, Hercules's coach.
He turned upon hearing the team come in, and looked surprised. "Huh? Where did you come from?" He questioned their sudden appearance, "Don't tell me you guys finished the prelims?!"
"Does that not surprise you?" Philia asked. She was rather puzzled at Phil not recognizing them for a moment, but then she remembered what happened in the illusion of Traverse Town. Even Leon and Yuffie didn't recognize them to begin with. Was this the same thing? Did that mean the others didn't remember them, like Herc, Hades, and possibly Cloud?
"We sure did." Sora replied, "And now we want to go for the Cup!"
"Well, you came to the right place." Phil stated, "Not that you stand a chance against Herc."
"Why not?" Donald asked.
"Two words: You ain't heroes!" Phil answered, with Philia watching Goofy raise three fingers from counting the words.
"You're wrong!" Sora argued.
"Yeah, that's three words." Goofy pointed out.
"Not exactly the point here, Goofy." Philia argued, air-slapping him.
"That's right. How can we prove we're heroes unless you give us a chance?" Sora questioned.
Just then, someone came in from the room behind Phil, which would lead to the coliseum itself. The muscles, the light-weight armor, the brown hair. The Demi-god himself, Hercules, made his appearance onto the scene.
"He's right, Phil." Hercules told his teacher, "They cleared the prelims. I think they deserve a shot."
"Hmm… You got a point there, Herc. But still…" Phil was unsure of it, considering the cast and what they looked like.
"Of course, we could always cancel the games." Hercules suggested, causing Phil to ponder.
"Cancel them?! What for?!" Sora demanded.
"You can't!" Philia exclaimed, thinking about the prize for winning.
"Old Phil's prelim course was so hard, no one else could finish it." Hercules explained.
"Is that right?" Sora asked.
"Didn't seem that tough to me." Philia muttered under her breath, not sure if she should say it out loud.
"Well, if you let us compete, you won't have to cancel the games!" Sora bargained, "Is that right, Phil?"
"And you can't let the prize for winning go to waste, right?" Philia added.
Phil pondered for a moment, his barriers wanting to stop Sora from competing slowly coming down, before he sighed, "Okay, you got me over a barrel, so fine. Here's how it works, sweet-cheeks. Oh, and you, too, kid…"
"It's Sora. Not 'kid'!" Sora argued.
"And Philia. Not 'sweet-cheeks'!" Philia argued.
"Sure, sure, you two." Phil waved off their argument, "Since your team and Hercules are the only contenders…"
"No, they're not." A voice behind retorted. The team turned around and saw another familiar person. The spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. The attire and red cape, and the giant sword on his back. "The game has a new challenger. Name's Cloud." He introduced himself.
"I had a feeling he would appear." Philia muttered, as she heard Phil reply, "The more the merrier! Now the games will really be something to see!"
"I'm looking forward to this." Hercules spoke to the two, "Don't expect me to pull any punches!"
"Hey, as long as you don't expect me to take them!" Sora replied, turning to his friends, and declaring, "Let's give it our best." Cloud only scoffed at this.
"Whoever wins, no complaints, okay?" Philia asked, looking to Hercules, who gave a thumbs up in approval.
"Okay, let's get this show going!" Phil called out, clapping his hands together to draw back everyone's attention, "But first, I gotta explain a few rules. Rule #1: First one through the obstacle course wins! Rule #2: In the event of a tie, a battle will determine a winner! Rule #3: You can interfere with your opponents on the course! And finally, rule #4: All challengers have to give it everything they got!"
Sora and Philia stood together with their friends behind them, Cloud on their left, and Hercules on their right, taking their positions as they faced the hall they came in from. "All right, enough with the spiel." Phil called out, "On your marks… Get set… GO!" With the callout, Herc and Sora's team took off in a run, while Cloud walked along from behind. The race was on.
Leaving the room, Sora and Philia were alone again as they charged through the area they were at before, taking the door straight from the path they initially took, using one of their cards to gain access to the room. The next room was clearly more designed like an obstacle course than the last one, but that didn't stop the pair as they took on the course, with the Heartless among the swarm. The Heartless were mainly Shadows, Blue Rhapsody, Powerwilds, and Sniperwilds.
Sora was able to use a card he obtained, called a Calm Bounty, which gave him access to a new room, and allowed him to learn a new combination technique called the Blizzard Raid, which was the same as a Strike Raid technique, only encased in Blizzard magic. Philia joined him and learned her own variant from it, Blizzard Cross, which was a Blizzard-element version of her Cross Edge Dagger Skill.
After besting Heartless, and leveling up a couple times, they ended up making their way through another door, with Donald and Goofy reappearing again, leading them to a wide-open area, where they saw Cloud standing there, his massive bandaged sword held in one hand.
"Gawrsh, that was nice of him to wait for us to catch up!" Goofy stated obliviously.
"I highly doubt he waited out of kindness." Philia retorted.
"Of course not!" Donald squawked, "Remember Rule #3? 'You can interfere with your opponents on the course'!"
"In other words, he's looking to narrow the field!" Sora understood, readying his Keyblade, while Philia readied her dagger.
"You can put those away." Cloud told the pair, "I'm not looking for a fight with you, so keep moving." Sora and Philia looked rather surprise at this statement.
"See? He was waitin' for us to catch up." Goofy repeated himself.
"I don't buy it." Philia retorted, glaring at Cloud.
"Well, there are no downsides, if you ask me." Sora stated, "Let's keep moving." Sora led the others past Cloud, but Philia stopped as she and him stood with their backs to each other.
"Tell me something; You are willingly letting an opponent pass you." Philia summed up, "Either you are going to backstab us, which I know you aren't the kind of guy to do that, or you have an agenda apart from the Survival Cup."
Sora, Donald and Goofy stopped to watch the two, as Cloud paused, before answering, "You're right. I'm not here for the Cup. Just Hercules. Today he loses more than the competition."
"You don't mean… But why?!" Sora asked, shocked at what he was really here for.
"This is business." Cloud answered, "Stay out of it. Go win your Cup."
"Hades set you up to this, didn't he?" Philia asked, her eyes shadowed. Cloud looked back at her, surprised she figured it out. However, to Philia, this wasn't the first time Cloud was set up by Hades. What's more, she knew why Cloud was doing this; to search for a certain man.
She turned around as she and Sora redrew their weapons, prepared to fight Cloud. He turned around, looking at the two as he asked, "Do you realize what you're doing?"
"Rule #3: You can interfere with your opponents. Right?" Sora reminded Cloud, "You're not the only one who wants to fight Hercules."
"We can't walk away after you said something like that." Philia finished.
"Big mistake." Cloud stated, before getting into his fighter's stance.
Suddenly, the atmosphere shined brightly, and the three blade-wielders found themselves in the coliseum arena. For Philia, it felt nostalgic to have this fight against Cloud once again with Sora.
"Come on. Give me your best shot." Cloud told the two, before leaping into the air, and unleashing a sword dive at the two, who dodged out of the way. Sora turned around and unleashed Fire at him. He used the card system to counter it, and combined cards together to unleash a pair of sword thrusts, striking Sora away.
"Back off!" Philia shouted, leaping forward, summoning a Blizzard card and two standard Attack cards, merging them together into her newer technique. Her dagger glowed blue, encased in an icy aura around it, and she unleashed her Blizzard Cross Dagger Skill, striking Cloud with a two-hit attack that froze the air into a cross form.
"Sora, switch with me!" Philia shouted, backing off as Cloud came in, gathering up three cards, forming the total of 15. This formed into his Omnislash, and he flew towards Philia, circling around and striking her from behind, striking her down.
"You're not going anywhere." He told her, as he flew after her and struck her again, but the third time was blocked by Goofy, who was summoned by Sora, combining him with two Attack cards, creating a total of 16.
"I gotcha, Philia!" Goofy told her, before going into a Goofy Tornado.
"Same here!" Sora agreed, running to unleash his other two strikes from his Keyblade.
"Thanks, guys." Philia thanked them, using a potion card to heal herself. She then saw a Donald card and raced off after it.
Sora got Cloud's attention on him, and the two used their cards to create a combination to attack each other. Sora combined a Blizzard card and two Attack cards to create a Blizzard Raid, while Cloud created a combination that formed Cross-Slash. Cloud came at the thrown ice-encased Keyblade, and the result? Sora's technique was 9. Cloud's technique was 13. Cloud blasted on through, and slashed down Sora with his technique.
"Better hold onto this." Philia told herself, holding onto Donald's card, before joining Sora in his fight.
Cloud was definitely skilled, using his cards to perform attacks such as his pseudo-Sonic Blade techniques, sword dives, Cross-Slash, and Omnislash. However, Philia and Sora were able to back each other up, and unleash their attacks to try and counter whatever Cloud had. It wasn't easy, and Sora was especially a bit too hasty in stacking three cards together to attack Cloud. Because of this, and after a couple of times recharging his deck, he was down a third of his deck.
"Sora, hold back a little!" Philia called out, using a couple cards together to counter Cloud's attack, "You're way to reckless with the card stacking!"
"Yeah, I'm kinda figuring that our right now." Sora admitted, shuffling through the cards he had, and seeing how limited he was. Fortunately, he was able to notice a Donald card nearby, and went to pick it up.
"Don't think I will make it easy for you." Cloud told Sora, unleashing a card with the number 9 on it, and unleashing his Sonic Blade technique on him over and over, which Sora barely dodged out of the way.
"Sora!" Philia called out, digging into her deck, and pulling out the Donald card she grabbed before, "I really hope this works. After all, we share our friends together." She then called to Sora again as he got close and shouted, "Catch this!" She threw the card like a throwing knife, and Sora caught it, seeing the Donald card.
"Thanks!" Sora replied, before using the two Donald cards together, forming a sleight technique, Donald Magic Lv. 2.
Donald reappeared, seeing Cloud come in, but Donald's card combination was 11, two points higher than Cloud's. "I've gotcha now!" Donald shouted, before unleashing a Fira and Blizzara spell, striking Cloud with the two magic spells together. The attack did the trick, as Cloud fell to his back, defeated by the attack.
"Way to go, Donald!" Philia cheered, as Donald looked smug at his win, before vanishing again.
Just then, a card magically produced itself in front of both Sora and Philia, and the two noticed it to be a picture of a Hi-Potion. "A new card to add to our collection." Sora stated, placing it away, before the area went bright on them.
When the light died down, Sora, Philia, Donald and Goofy found themselves back in the area they were before their fight with Cloud. The examined the place, noticing the spiky-haired swordsman was gone.
"Cloud! Where'd you go?" Sora demanded, looking about.
Jiminy hopped out of Sora's clothing, answering, "He headed for the finish line! We'd better go after him!"
"In the end, he did interfere with us." Philia muttered, before noticing a card on the flor, picking it up to reveal the Key to Truth, the card that'll lead them to the boss of this illusion of a world.
Philia and Sora continued the charge through the maze of rooms, fighting off Heartless, and getting a little stronger each and every time. Sora eventually relearn a new technique, the Stun Impact, while Philia was able to learn a new Dagger Skill, Dagger Throw, a long-ranged attack where she threw her dagger at an opponent.
"Sora, here's the door!" Philia called out, realizing that the door they needed to go through to chase after Cloud was right near the entrance, opposite to the door that led to the entryway.
"It was here the whole time?!" Sora questioned.
"Hey, I didn't know, either." Philia argued, using the Key to Truth, while Sora used one of the Heartless cards they gathered to open the door, and rush on through.
The moment they made it through, they were rejoined by Donald and Goofy as they entered into the arena itself. On it, they saw Hercules facing a crumpled Cloud, who looked like he took a beating from the Demi-god himself. However, by the look in his eyes, he certainly wasn't planning to give up anytime soon.
"You lost! Give it up, Cloud!" Hercules told him.
Cloud slowly rose up as he grimaced, "We're not done yet…"
"I can't guarantee your safety if we keep going like this!" Hercules warned.
"Better worry about yourself." Cloud retorted, "Looks to me like you're slowing down a bit." Hercules didn't want to admit it, but Cloud was right. The Survival Cup, plus the fight with Cloud, was taking its toll on him.
"Don't worry!" Sora called out, coming to Hercules's side, Keyblade in hand, "I'll back you up!"
"Wait a minute!" Philia called out, not wanting to fight against Cloud, but not sure how to stop the fight either.
"Get all the backup you want." Cloud scoffed, "I'm going to finish you and get back my memories!" The confession of Cloud's goal surprised the team.
"Your memories?" Philia echoed, hearing something that she could almost reminisce.
"Now, now, Cloud, we don't want to spill the beans." Said a familiar voice to Philia, and she turned to see none other than the lord of the dead himself, Hades, walk onto the scene, standing int he middle of the battlefield.
"Hades! You!" Hercules growled.
'Why am I not surprised?' Philia mentally asked herself.
"Looks like you oversold yourself." Hades told Cloud, "All you did was wear him down. This doesn't look good for your performance rating. Let me put it this way: You, my spiky-haired friend, are fired."
Cloud was startled at this, before calling out, "But…my memories! We had a deal!"
Hades turned to Hercules and the heroes, asking. "Did you really think you could get back your lost memories just like that? Get a grip!"
"Why, you-!" Cloud growled.
"Taking advantage of someone's lost memories to trick them into fighting the wrong people? That's a seriously low blow!" Philia barked at Hades. Her anger towards the god was palpable, as she also was in a similar situation as Cloud. However, she had never once encountered anyone who tricked her like Hades did with him.
"Out of the way!" Hades told Cloud, "I'll take care of Irk-ules myself!" The atmosphere started to darken, going from daytime to night, as Hades conjured up flames, and expelled it on the floor. The shockwave sent all except Hercules off the arena stage. However, enduring the heated shockwave did exhaust Hercules, as he fell to one knee.
"Your not even in the tournament!" Donald argued.
"Rule #5: It's never to late to enter the games." Hades informed them.
"Hades, you were behind this from the start!" Hercules grimaced.
"Cloud may have failed to take you out, but he did break you down." Hades stated, "Time for Plan B. Pack your pita, Wonderboy, 'cause you've just won a free trip to the Underworld, paid by me!"
"Not a chance!" Philia shouted, leading the charge with the boys behind her, brandishing their weapons, "You're dealing with us, first!"
"Sora, Philia, no!" Hercules called out, fearing about them facing Hades.
"Come on, Herc, how can we go one-on-one if you're in the Underworld?" Sora asked him, getting a surprised look from the man himself.
"Good point, kid." Hades agreed, "I guess you'll just have to go with him! Rule #6: There are no rules!" He laughed at this final rule he obviously made up.
"Then there's no rule saying we can't kick the lord of the dead's butt back to the Underworld, where he belongs!" Philia retorted. The area shined brightly, and suddenly, Sora and Philia stood alone on the arena stage, facing Hades, prepared to fight him.
"Feel the heat!" Hades called out, combining three cards together, and unleashing a pair of Firagaball at the two. The two rolled out of the way, with Sora immediately getting up and coming in with his cards, and unleashing several strikes with his Keyblade, before one of his cards got countered by Hades, who swung a flaming fist at him, knocking him back.
Philia took this time to collect the correct cards, and stack them together into a Blizzard Cross Dagger Skill, striking Hades with the attack, damaging him well thanks to the Blizzard-element attack. Hades took it hard, but was gathering up his cards before coming around with another pair of Firagaballs, and sending them one after another, point-blank at Philia just as she finished her attack. The result led her to fly backwards.
"Is that all you got?" Hades asked, before stacking three more cards, and making his way to the center of the field, he then created two streaming of fires from his hands, and started circling the stage with his arms outstretched. Philia and Sora reacted to the attack by running as fast as they could, avoiding getting burned by the attack, Sora instinctively grabbing a Goofy Card as he dodge-rolled. When the attack died down, Philia and Sora regained themselves, and continued the assault on him.
Hades had a mixture of both Magic and Attack cards at his disposal. With Magic Cards, he could either unleash a small fireball, or stack three of them to unleash a pair of Firagaballs. With the Attack cards, he either unleashed a flaming fist, or stacked them together to perform his fiery walls, also known as the Temper Flare. Sora and Philia, meanwhile, were figuring out Hades attacks, while also figuring out when to attack and what cards to use. Through a Donald card that Philia acquired, along with their Fire-element attacks, they learned that no other element of magic worked well against Hades except for Blizzard magic, or their Blizzard-element techniques. They fought, recovered, and did all they could to beat him.
"You pests are really getting on my nerves!" Hades roared, sending two Firagaballs at the two, Sora evading his attack, but Philia getting the full blast of it after a failed card counter. She fell back, but used a Hi-Potion to heal herself up.
Meanwhile, Sora took advantage of this, and used his Simba card to summon the said lion to his side, who used his Pride Roar to knock Hades back a peg. He countered with a high-number card, before punching Sora back and going into his Temper Flare technique again, spinning around with flaming walls, while Philia and Sora dodged.
'Gotta finish him off with one more attack!' The two thought together, as they ran while looking through their deck, creating a stack that could unleash their techniques to finish off Hades. Fortunately, the two found it. In fact, Sora found two sleights in one go, and readied them.
The moment Hades stopped his attack, the two turned in and went to work. Hades saw Philia come in closer, her dagger glowing, and was ready to slug her with his fist. Fortunately, Philia went faster on purpose, landing on one foot, and pushing herself back to evade the flaming fist that nearly got her. Sora got in close and unleashed a Stun Impact from behind, paralyzing Hades for a small moment. This gave Philia the opportunity she looked for, and her dagger glowed brightly as she backed away, and she threw it in a straight line, piercing right through the god. This was her Dagger Throw Dagger Skill.
Hades winced, but saw Philia call back her dagger via magic, before witnessing a painful and icy strike from behind, delivered by Sora, who threw his Keyblade into a Blizzard Raid technique. The impact enough to thoroughly take down Hades, as he grimaced, "This…isn't…happening!" From his body, two cards appeared, revealing them to be dark cards like the Guard Armor Heartless before, only they were pictures of Hades.
The two pocketed the cards, with Philia telling Hades, "That's for deceiving Cloud, and messing with us again." Her final words rang through as the field suddenly shined brightly, blinding the two.
Moment's later, back in the stadium, after the two recovered and Hades vanished, the scene went back to daylight again. Sora, Philia, Donald, Goofy, and Hercules circled around Phil, who heard the news about the defeat of Hades. As for Jiminy, he was taking care of Cloud until he woke up from being blown off by Hades. But after the explanation, Phil gave the two some unfortunate news.
"What?!" The two shouted together.
"The games are cancelled? How come?" Sora demanded.
"Two words! Everyone is pooped!" Phil answered.
"Wait, that was more than two-." Goofy started, but Sora interrupted by demanding, "You gotta be kidding! What about my match with Hercules?!"
"And what about our prize?!" Philia demanded, "Don't we get at least a consolation for knocking out Hades from the scene?!"
"I'm sorry, Sora." Herc apologized, "But you wouldn't want me to compete in this condition. Let's have a match when I've rested up a bit. Can you wait?"
"Same goes for you, sweet-cheeks." Phil told Philia, "You may have taken down Hades, but he ain't suppose to be involved in the Survival Cup. So no prize now."
"You gotta be kidding me…" Philia grimaced, looking depressed, "My treasure…"
"It's okay, Philia." Sora sympathized with her, "At least we stopped Cloud from doing the wrong thing, and we stopped Hades. And there's always next time, right?"
"Yeah, sure…" the treasure huntress sighed.
"As for you, Herc. I'll hold out until you're rested up." Sora told the Demi-God.
"Then it's settled." Herc answered, and the two shook hands.
Just then, they heard Jiminy shout out, "Sora, Philia, over here! He's coming around." Everyone wandered over to see Cloud sitting up from his resting position, still weakened.
"You okay?" Sora asked Cloud.
"Yeah…" he answered, slowly rising to his feet, "Sorry I messed up your games." With those last words, he turned and walked away from the scene.
"Hold it, Cloud." Philia called out, causing him to stop, "Just a friendly advice for someone who's also looking for her own memories; Creating bad memories in order to get old ones is not the way to do it. They are out there, but don't sacrifice others for it. Even small things can help you remember who you were, bit by bit. It's been working for me on getting pieces of my memories back, so far."
"Yeah." Sora agreed, "If it's an important memory, there's no way it could ever be gone forever. That's what I think, anyway."
Cloud paused on these words, before producing a pair of cards, and tossing them behind. Philia and Sora each caught a card each, showing a picture of Cloud on it. "That's for you. For helping me out."
They pocketed them before Sora asked, "Sure you don't want to just come with us, instead?"
Cloud paused again, before brushing his bangs as he looked at them and answered, "Not interested." With these words, he left the coliseum, leaving the others watching him leave.
"We should get goin', too." Goofy told the team, who nodded in agreement.
"We'll come back when you are ready." Sora told Hercules.
"And we'll win that prize, no matter what." Philia finished, looking to Phil.
"And if anything else, hope you don't mind me as a consolation prize." Phil added.
"Not interested." Philia repeated Cloud's words as she led the team out of the coliseum, leaving a dumbfounded Phil and a waving Hercules to see them off.
Moment's later, the team was able to leave the illusion of the world, back into the white hall of Castle Oblivion again. "Another world down." Philia muttered, looking back at the door they left from, "Although, it felt more like no one even recognized us like Leon and the others did in Traverse Town."
She turned to see Goofy stop and placed a hand to his head, thinking. Donald and Sora stopped to look at him as the former asked, "What's the matter?"
"It's that creepy castle that I was talking about earlier…" Goofy started, "I know I didn't imagine it."
"You mean Hollow Bastion?" Philia asked, walking to their side, looking at all of them, "Are you telling me none of you actually remember it?" The puzzled looks said it all. Her expression fell as she continued, "Guys, I am worried. Hollow Bastion was very important to all of us. We defeated Maleficent, stopped Riku, and Sora even used that special Keyblade to free Kairi's heart. That…" Philia paused, thinking on that day, when Sora used the Keyblade on himself, and the results that came afterwards. "…That moment you vanished scared me."
"Me, too. I was so worried." Goofy added, "How could I ever forget that?"
"Oh! It was when I turned into a Heartless!" Sora finally remembered, before stopping and thinking again, "Wait. That happened…in a castle?"
"Aw… You forgot that?" Donald asked, "'Cause I remember perfectly."
"Really?" Philia asked in a dismissive tone, "Cause I remember you not even recalling the name until I told you it. Do you remember anything else about the castle? The layout?"
"That's easy. It looked like, uh…" Donald started to make an argument, before asking, "Jiminy, help me… Is it in your journal?"
Jiminy hopped out of Sora's clothing again, smiling as he answered, "Every word. I finished the first volume right before we got to this castle. Now then, if I can just find it…" he dug into Sora's clothing, causing him to giggle from the slight tickling, before Jiminy called out, "Oh, here we go!"
He hopped off of Sora onto the floor, everyone surrounding him as he opened up and started, "Let's have a look…" He blinked, then looked shocked as he gasped, "Oh! How can this be?!"
"What's the matter?" Goofy asked.
"All my entries; they're gone!" He answered, raising his tiny journal for all to see the pages blank. He flipped through the pages, adding in, "Every page is blank!"
"No way!" Philia gasped, clearly remembering from time to time seeing Jiminy hurriedly writing in his journal about their journey.
"What'll we do?" Donald asked in a shocked manner.
"How could this have happened?" Jiminy asked, "I'm so careful with the journals!" He looked down, and started to sob. "All that hard work is gone…"
"The journal's blank… What's going on?" Sora asked, looking up in thought.
"Now I'm getting more concerned." Philia muttered, "Journal pages can't just fly away."
"And I know Jiminy wouldn't erase his own journal." Donald added.
"First your guys' memories, now this." Philia started, pondering on a conclusion.
"What if…" Sora started, "It's more things?" Everyone looked at him with questioned looks. "Goofy was telling us about another castle we'd been to, and Philia clearly remember it being a place called 'Hollow Bastion'. But apart from her, none of us really remember it. Do you think…" His eyes lit up as his mind came to one conclusion, and he wondered, "Could it be that we don't remember because we're losing our memories?"
"Losing…?" Donald started.
"…your memories?" Philia finished, very concerned.
"Hold on!" Jiminy gasped, "Remember what that mystery fella said? In this place, to find is to lose, and to lose is to find. It musta been our memories he was talking about losing!"
"So if we keep going, we'll lose more…" Sora understood, "Guess it really is Castle Oblivion."
"Hold on a moment." Philia stopped them, "That may be a good explanation on why you guys are forgetting, but what about me? All my memories on Hollow Bastion, and everything in it, are still there. How is it my memories aren't vanishing like your guys' are?"
"I dunno…" Goofy answered.
"How do you know you do remember?" Donald asked.
"How can I even answer that? Because I do!" Philia argued, "I remember everything! From Beast, to Riku taking Sora's Keyblade, Maleficent, fighting Riku, Ansem, the Princesses of Heart. Heck, I even remember Gilgamesh and that hooded man!"
"Then…what's so different between you and the rest of us?" Sora started, thinking for a moment, before realizing, "Wait, didn't that guy, Axel, say that you were tested differently from us?"
"That's right! He said that you will soon start to learn about who you really are, and whether or not you can be friends with the rest of us." Jiminy recalled. Philia's stomach lurched again at those words, thinking back on it. While it was a clue, that wasn't a good explanation as to why her memories were intact, but the boys lost their's.
"So the higher we go, the more we forget?" Donald asked, thinking on their own problems, "Does that mean everything and everybody will be forgotten?"
"Riku and Kairi too…" Sora noted, realizing who he might forget if they continued.
"Sora, I don't know what drew you to this place, but forgetting everything is not worth it!" Philia argued, "Maybe…we should turn around and get out of here."
"Hey, don't worry, fellahs." Goofy assured the team, "We might forget about where we've been or what things we've seen, but we won't forget who our friends are."
"I don't know…" Donald muttered.
"Same here…" Philia agreed.
"C'mon, Sora, when you turned into a Heartless, did you forget about me, Philia, or Donald?"
"Of course I didn't!" Sora answered almost immediately to Goofy's question.
"There ya go!" He called out, "No matter what happens, you won't forget your friends."
Sora paused on that realization, looking to Donald, to Goofy, then to Philia, who looked very concerned. He then smiled as he stated, "You're right. Thank you, Goofy."
"So, if there's nothing here that can make you forget about your friends…" Donald started, "…then we have nothing to be scared of! Let's go!"
Donald started to wander off before Sora asked, "But when I turned into a Heartless, who was the one who took forever to notice and kept clobbering me?"
Donald froze for a second, before squawking, "How come you didn't forget about that?!"
He got into a hissy fit as Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy laughed at him. Philia, on the other hand, was still worried. 'I'm glad they can laugh about this, and I can see the reason in Goofy's words. But even so, the fact is that they are losing their memories. And what's more…' Her thoughts went to Axel's words about how she was tested, '…knowing who my friends are, and whether or not they will be friends when I learn who I am…was I someone that they considered a friend?'
"Philia?" Sora asked, seeing her expression of concern and worry. She looked to him, then to Jiminy, Donald, and Goofy. She shook her head, before saying, "Well, I know who my friends are, too. And no matter what, we'll stay friends, right?"
"Of course!" Sora answered, with the others agreeing with him.
Philia smiled and nodded to them, before finishing, "Well, I guess as a friend, I'll just have to remember for all of us about how we became so close." Jiminy hopped back into Sora's clothing, as they continued on towards the staircase, towards the next floor of Hollow Bastion.
In another room:
Axel was just making his way back to the meeting room, having just recently finished his fight with Sora and Philia.
"So, did you coax him enough?" A voice spoke up, and Axel stopped to see the hooded man that he replaced before approach him.
"Sure did. A little too easy, in fact." Axel answered, "Right now, he should be going down his memory lane of worlds to make his way up to find his most precious memories."
"Very good." The man answered, "We must make sure he continues this path, but do not be lax on him. He needs to be strong in order to achieve our goal."
"I don't know why you guys are so interested in that kid." Another voice spoke up, and the two looked to see a man leaning on the wall in the hallway. His face was unmasked, revealing the tan-skinned man with ample dark hair, as well as the blue scar-like tattoo on the right side of his face.
"It is not the boy who intrigues us, but the weapon he wields." The masked man told him, "Surely, you know how important it is to our Organization, PHox."
"Yeah, that weapon is great and all. But the kid? Not so much." The man called PHox stated, waving off the masked man's words, straightening himself up, and walking to the group, "It's nice to see him with scrambled memories, but he's not the target that intrigues me. Speaking of which, Axel, you made sure to deliver my message?"
"Yeah, yeah. I made sure to tell Philia about her own test." Axel answered in a whatever kind of way, "The one you plan to set up for her. But listen, shouldn't you just follow orders and help us with Sora?"
"Hey, it's not like this won't affect the kid, either." PHox stated, walking past them, "But in order to set up a party, one must make sure the guest of honor is slowly led to where it is held. You gave the invitation. Now's my turn to lead her to the next step." He walked away from the duo, putting his hood over his face, but still leaving a bit of his malicious grin out to see. "It's showtime, Philia." He stated, before creating a dark portal, and walking through it.
Next Time on Sword Art Kingdom: Path of Memories:
Promise of Hollow Guidance