Credit to all respective owners!
I hope I did a good job on this chapter!
Merry Christmas! (and New Year's [depending on when this comes out])
-Y.A.R.N.
P.S. Edited (slightly)
I stretched a bit before our match with Cloud, if nothing else it would at least make sure I was limber for the fight up ahead. I summoned my keyblade, it's presence at my side made me feel a bit more at ease. In all honesty, I was more than a little worried of the final match. I had only seen a fraction of Cloud's power and that had left me reasonably cautious when it came to approaching him. Beyond that, I could also tell that the guy was using darkness or at least touched by it judging by the slight feel of the power that was emanating from him.
"This guy..." I muttered, "He reminds me way too much of Leon..."
"How?" Goofy asked in slight confusion, "They don't look that similar..."
"He's strong. Really strong." I replied quietly, swallowing around the lump of worry in my throat.
We made our way to the arena and saw Cloud already in his stance waiting for us. When the match began, we all sprang into motion, unwilling to sit still and be struck. Cloud circled to our right while Sora dashed at him. I dashed to the side and pivoted to leap at him. Donald raised his staff and Goofy held back waiting for an opportune moment. With a quick swipe, he slashed Sora away, and then used an upward swing to launch me away. Lightning came down, but he simply rested the flat of the heavy blade across his shoulders and crouched down slightly, ducking his head; he blocked the bolts on the flat of his blade but his eyes widened as he saw a shield heading for his face. Goofy uppercutted him with the edge of his shield and he staggered back, grunting a curse. Sora and I had recovered by this point and leapt so we stood shoulder to shoulder, both yelling, "Fire!"
Twin fireballs erupted from the tips of our keyblades and intertwined before slamming into Cloud in a explosion of fire. We barely waited a second before he came out of the smoke with that same lancing attack that I had seen him use in the previous matches.
He'd been holding back in just how much power he put.
He powered straight through our formation, knocking us aside as though we weighed less than air. I hit the floor head-first and my vision swam sickeningly as I tried to focus through the pain and fuzziness in my skull. I saw a blur heading towards me and I clumsily rolled to the side as it passed. I managed to focus myself enough to cast a cure and shook my head as sat up on my hands when he finished lancing around the stage. He planted a foot against Goofy's shield and with a sharp exhalation of 'ha!' and a push, sent Goofy skidding away. Cloud swung his blade around in a wide arc to force away Sora and followed up by leaping high into the air while flipping his massive sword so it pointed down.
I saw his eyes flit to Donald - he knew Donald was covering us every time we began to tire - and I screamed, "Donald, move!"
He same down like a meteor, Donald just barely managing to scramble out of the way. A plume of dust erupted form where Cloud landed and when it cleared his sword was buried a good few feet into the floor. Almost instantaneously, Sora was on him before he could fully retrieve his massive sword from the floor. Cloud hissed as Sora hit him with a heavy overhand before wrenching his blade out - flinging chunks of rock at me an Goofy, forcing us to move away- and rushing Sora. Sora began to block and divert Cloud's attacks, eyes wide with panic as he desperately tried to defend himself from the heavy strikes. He was pushed up against the barrier of the stage, sparks flying from their locked weapons as Cloud pressed down harder on him.
Sora fell to a knee and began to groan as the heavy weight of Cloud's weapon began to inch closer to his shoulder in what would definitely be a debilitating blow.
I roared as I used the Zantetsuken, dashing at Cloud and striking him with enough force to knock him a good few feet to the side.
"Back off!" I growled, setting myself back in my stance.
Cloud simply huffed and stood up, rolling his shoulders while he glared, "Hm..."
I calmed myself and took a slow breath as I thought about our chances. Thanks to my cure spell, I was pretty fresh, and I could hope that the damage that were inflicting on Cloud were taking their toll. I began to launch fireballs as fast as I could, screaming 'fire' at at every swing. Cloud spun his blade in one hand before beginning to slash and disperse my fireballs with ease. When I felt my magic run thin, I lunged forward and began to attack Cloud, swinging as unpredictably as I could while trying to duck around, under, or away from his blade when it swung at me. Cloud stood still, blocking my assault and beginning to push me back with an almost bored look on his face. I wasn't getting anywhere with this attack; Cloud was toying with me and when he got too bored he'd probably knock me out of commission, it was time for an all or nothing. I stepped back out of the way of swipe and leapt up, positioning myself in the air to bring my keyblade down in a heavy blow. Cloud dropped his stance slightly and set his sword to his right, intending to swipe me right out of the air.
His blade began to move from its set position and everything seemed to slow.
I brought my weapon down with a cry of, "Thunder!"
Arcs of yellow electricity began to rain down on Cloud as his eyes widened before flicking up as I felt the last of my reserves vanish. I shifted so that I more less was applying all of my weight into keeping his sword locked down with the teeth of Abaddon Plasma and away from his body to maximize the amount of damage he could take. The bolts of lighting struck him and he let out a cry of pain as the lightning crackled across his body. His suddenly furious eyes fixed on me and his foot lashed out, slamming into my ribs and kicking me all the way across the stage. I landed with a painful thunk and curled around the pain in my stomach, groaning miserably.
It felt like I was hit by a prize blitzball player's fastest hardball right in the gut.
I cracked an eye open to see Cloud stalking towards me, murder in his eyes and his massive sword in a white-knuckled grip. I planted my keyblade into the floor and used it to push myself up and held it with my right hand out while covering the pulsing pain in my torso with my left. It was hard to keep myself from crumpling and my legs shivered, but it didn't matter. I had to find a way to slip away and use a cure spell, I needed mobility more than magic in this situation.
But I had no magic, and if I tried to reach for a ether or a potion in my current state, Cloud would strike the moment my attention shifted.
Before he could get any closer though, Sora and Goofy crashed into him with the force of a car - Sora using the Zantetsuken and Goofy with a Knocksmash - sending him towards Donald, who staff was glowing with a harsher red glow, brighter than anytime I'd seen before.
"Fire!" The duck sorcerer exclaimed.
And why he was considered the royal mage truly showed.
A sphere of almost-liquid, wild, and swirling flame - that put any of Sora's or my attempts at the spell to absolute and disgraced shame - soared from the tip of the sorcerer's staff, and erupted into a explosion as it hit Cloud squarely in the chest. Cloud let out a shout of pain and tumbled across the stage from me, trailing smoke from burnt patches of his skin and clothes. He groaned in pain made to get up but fell to one knee. He panted and his head hung low as he accepted his defeat.
"Damn." He growled.
Sora walked up to him and I followed, surreptitiously pouring a potion on myself that helped soothe away the pain in my side. I grimaced at the utter depletion of my magical energy but forcibly ignored the feeling of discomfort. I sighed and dismissed my keyblade just in time for him to give us a rather cold look before he suddenly stiffened and glanced up. Just then a shadow loomed and huge black paw smashed down on Cloud, squashing him to the floor. Sora and I gasped at the large three-headed dog that was spewing black vapor from its mouths and growling down at us. It lifted itself slightly - rocking back on its hind legs - and then descended down on us. I fell on my butt as it loomed closer but there was a gust of wind and a blur and suddenly it was raising itself back up again.
No, someone was there, holding the beast back from landing on its front paws and attacking us. A guy was wearing bronze armor with a blue cape, sandals, had orange hair, and was ripped.
Like muscles that would probably be able to crush solid rock to dust with barely any effort.
"Herc!" Phil cried.
"Phil, get them out of here!" Herc ordered.
We all got out fo the stadium as fast as we could, only pausing when we were more or less safe in the lobby. I panted and nearly stumbled as my drained reserves twinged as they began to slowly build back up. I slumped against the wall and sunk to sit against it.
"Whew, that was close!" Phil exclaimed.
"What in God's name was that thing?" I panted.
"Cereberus, he's the guardian of the underworld. Herc should be able to handle him. Then again, he might not, things don't look too good..." Phil fretted.
"Why not?" Sora inquired.
"Cloud's still in there." I realized as I downed an ether, feeling my drained reserves swell back to full, "Cloud's probably out cold and severely injured. Even more than that, Hercules has to probably fight while making sure that Cloud won't be trampled or eaten. Dividing his attention like that against something that literally guards hell? He'd be in some serious trouble."
I growled to myself at just how miserably bad the situation was. We had no way of knowing that someone who could command Cerberus would let it loose at the end of our bout.
"Who controls that thing anyway?" I asked Phil.
"Hades." Phil replied, still glancing at the door, "Black robes blue skin, blue fiery hair."
Our group collective jaws dropped.
"He's the guy who gave us the pass!" I howled, his plan immediately coming together in my head, "He was waiting for us to be exhausted from the matches and then he tried to kill us! We were being played, and now Hercules is paying the price!"
Sora and I shared a look, and nodded to each other. Sora casted a quick cure on himself and then downed and ether. We summoned our keyblades and began to walk over to the door. Donald and Goofy took some potions and immediately followed, war faces on.
"You guys aren't going to the arena, are you?" Phil demanded, "This isn't a game! This is for real!"
Sora frowned, "You can decide if I am hero material or not!"
I scowled, hand tightening on the handle of my keyblade, "Frankly being a hero here doesn't even matter to me, I am not going to just sit by while I can do something to help! Even more so, I hate being manipulated, and I am not going to let Hades know he picked the wrong person to screw over!"
When we dashed back into the arena to help, Hercules was backing into a corner, an unconscious Cloud slung over one shoulder. The hero looked pissed, grimacing as he felt the wall behind him brush his elbow as he tried to make more room.
We ran onto the stadium as Phil bellowed, "Squirts, I got two words of advice for you: ATTACK!"
Cerberus turned to face us and Herc dashed past us to get Cloud to safety, more or less leaving us to deal with the beast. I only hoped Hercules had managed to wear it down a bit before we came.
I infused my keyblade with a bit of power and flung it at the three-headed dog, smacking the beast right in the middle head with my strike raid. It howled in rage and only grew angrier as I repeated the action twice, hitting the other two heads. Sora and Donald both strafed to the side, calling down lightning. Despite the strike from above and the lightning coursing through its body. Its right head focused on me and spat a fireball at me, which was stronger than I was going to be able to block. I gathered my magic and prepared to blast ice to lessen the pain, but Goofy was already in front of me. Seeing him flick me a look, I nodded and spun as I pressed my back to his and dug my keyblade into the floor. He caught the blast on his shield and the forced pushed him against me, but my bracing managed to keep us from sliding back.
"Keep moving around it and strike with single hits, we need to stay out of bite range!" I called as Goofy and I separated to dodge another blast.
Sora nodded and moved in, jumping to swing his keyblade across the beast's left face before lading in a roll and dashing away. Donald was next, strafing to the side and letting out a wave of ice bolts that impacted Cerberus' middle head. Goofy leapt high and brought his shield down in a two-handed swing against Cerberus' right head before landing and leaping away. I tried to get in close to attack again, but the dog simply stomped around, its enormous size and footfalls keeping all of us from moving in to attack. I rolled back as a mouth came down on me, digging into the ground and chomping with enough force to crush the tournament floor like kibble.
Sora quickly seized the opportunity and scrambled up Cerberus' back. He leapt into the air and using hurricane period, smacked the middle head repeatedly.
Donald waved his wand as he quacked, "Blizzard!"
Stronger bursts of frost erupted from his wand, hitting Cerberus with enough force to make the beast stagger to the side as frost crawled up over its right face.
"Thunder!" I roared, and lightning flashed down on the beast.
The Beast howled its pain as lightning coursed through its body and all three heads simultaneously rose and fell with their mouths wide open. The mouths began to vomit streams of smoky darkness out and into the ground. I was knocked back as explosion of darkness began to erupt out the ground around me. Scrambling out of the way of another eruption, I began to run around the stadium and leapt into the vacated stands as more explosions rumbled around me. Sora, Donald, Goofy were likewise being pursued by the darkness that was blowing craters in the ground behind them. I tried to keep my steps and movements unpredictable but the explosions doggedly followed right at my heels.
As if that wasn't problematic enough, Cerberus began to launch more spheres of flame, and even we weren't able to fully avoid all of them. I threw myself to the side as an ball of fire exploded next to me, sending me crashing into the wall of the coliseum from the extra force. I thought I may have heard my name but I wasn't quite sure. I lay stunned for a moment trying to think through the chorus of bells in my ears and the phantom heat stinging my skin. I struggled to rise and managed to get to my feet right as Cerberus turned my direction, snarling in fury.
"Oh god dammit." I groaned.
I staggered out of the way just as Cerberus' mouths descended. I raised my keyblade and cast a cure just in time for a head to hone in on me. I jammed my keyblade right in between the teeth that were about to close on me in a desperate gamble. I fully expected the keyblade in my hand shatter or bend before being spat out like an seed of fruit, taking the top half of my arms right along with it.
But it held.
The teeth strained to close on the weapon but the keyblade wasn't even shaking, bearing the full brunt of the guardian of hell's bite like it wasn't containing enough force to probably crush and grind a normal person into paste.
I let go of my weapon and ducked under the beast, diving and rolling under the beast before scrambling out from under it. I held out my hand and as the keyblade began to reform in my hand I heard the 'clack' of the teeth crashing together. I skidded to a stop and spun holding my keyblade back in my stance. My magic was already beginning to wane from use and I cursed at just how tanky this damn monster was.
It was beginning to turn to face me when it stumbled, all of the damage it had been taking finally catching up to it.
A hand lightly patted against my back and I jerked slightly at the feeling before realizing it was Sora giving me a concerned look.
"Are you okay?" He asked as he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me.
I took a deep breath and nodded, "Yeah. Together?"
Donald came to my right and nodded, "Okay."
We gathered as much magic as we dared, and raised our weapons to the sky as Cerberus began to shake off the pain and stalked towards us.
"THUNDER!" We roared.
A shower of painfully bright lightning fell from the sky with the might of heaven's wrath. Lightning arced from body part to body part as they struck Cerberus, lighting up the coliseum in front of us with a blinding light. The beast howled as the magic coursed through its body and it finally slid to its stomach in pain. The heads snarled and it's paws tensed against the floor - loudly making to rise - before the monster abruptly fell to the floor, heads and muscles twitching as small sparks of lighting darted from them.
We all stared at the felled creature, as thought waiting for it to rise again.
Nothing.
We won.