Chapter XIV- Olympus Coliseum (Part Two)
"Sora! Sora!"
"Koga! Koga!"
Motivated by the cheers, Sora deflected a Large body that tried to swipe at him. The recoil stunned the heartless. A Red Nocturne and a Blue Rhapsody flanked in and charged up their spells. Koga dashed forward and used a Blizzaga on the Red Nocturne. The Blue Rhapsody jumped out of the way of Sora's Keyblade.
"Thunder!" Sora said as he brought his Keyblade up to the sky. Then bolts of lightning strikes all around him, destroying the ice Heartless. The Large Body recovered and glowed in rage. It charged at Sora but he dodge rolled out of the way. The Heartless looked around confused and Koga took the time to sneak up behind it.
"Home run!" He said as he swung with all his might. The Large Body got flung into the air where it exploded. Sora and Koga then did a victory pose. Sora spun his Keyblade and rested it on his shoulder, Koga put his hand on his hip in a sassy pose and pointed his Keyblade upwards. Sora and Koga then high fived each other as the crowd went wild.
Sora and Koga were going through the games as a dynamic duo. Phil was apprehensive about letting them join the games but he couldn't deny them if they got a pass. They sliced through the Heartless opponents like they were nothing. Round after round they climbed their way up. And Koga was staying true to his word. He tried using Shooting Star in it's regular form, switching to it's gun form when necessary. He was still clumsy but every time he learns a little more how to handle it, he figured out that it could work more as a bat to compliment his hard swings. They even figured out how to do Thunder, though Koga got the stronger one.
It feels strange how easily magic comes to Koga. It's just feels so natural casting spells even though he knew nothing about magic before this entire adventure.
By the time they reach the semifinals they were a sweaty mess. They were allowed to have a break before it begins. Sora looked at Donald and Goofy from the sidelines. They were cheering him and his brother on.
"If only Riku can see us now." Sora said.
"He'd be so jealous of us." Koga agreed, drinking some water.
"You did good out there kids." Phil said walking towards the group. "You may not be heroes but you ain't too bad. Good thing you came to me for coaching."
Koga rolled his eyes. "Sure..." He said as took the time to rest before the next match starts. Then an thought came to mind. "Hey Phil how did the Heartless get into the games?"
"Well they just came to the Coliseum and they had passes with them. It's weird but I can't deny them if they're wanting to participate."
"Really? Where'd they get passes?"
Phil shrugged. "Beats me, but they took up nearly all of the slots for the games. The only non-heartless that were part of games were you two... and him." He pointed behind them. They turned and saw a blonde spiky haired person walk by carrying a huge sword. He stopped right next to them and stared at the twins through the black cape covering him. The twins narrowed their eyes as they stared back. Everyone could feel the tension as sparks came between them. The man said nothing as he continued walking on. The crowd cheering as he stepped onto the arena.
"Who is he?"
"That's Cloud Strife. He's a mercenary-type around these parts and he's your next opponent." Phil said stroking his goatee.
"He looks tough..." Koga murmured.
"What having cold feet?"
Koga snapped his head to Phil about to say something but bit his lip. He looked to Sora and then back to Phil. "No, we got this right Sora?"
"Yeah, lets go!" Sora pumped up his fist as they stepped into the arena. They faced Cloud who stood there. The twins took their fighting stances. Cloud pulled back his battered red cloak revealing his fighting garments underneath. They could see he had a lithe but muscled body and he had a clawed gauntlet on one hand. He held his heavy sword in front of him with no struggle. His scowling but stoic face unnerved the twins.
And the match started.
Cloud charged forward with his blade pointing at them. They were caught nearly off guard as they jumped aside. Immediately he preposition himself and charged at Koga. They did not expect him to be that fast.
"Firaga!" Koga said as jumped back and fired at his opponent. Cloud brought his blade up and blocked it.
He smirked at the amateur kid. "That the best you can do?" Koga glared and fired rapidly at him getting closer as Cloud deflects the shots. Sora was running up from behind Cloud to prepare an attack. Cloud waited for them to get close enough and attacked. He swung his blade in a spinning slash. It knocked the brothers back and they hit the ground painfully. Koga knees shook as he got back on his feet and faced Cloud. The mercenary swung his blade against the ground and a beam of light came flying towards him. Koga quickly turned his Keyblade to it's default form and blocked it. Cloud dashed close to him and slashed his blade over and over again in a cross slash. Koga finally gave in to the pain and collapsed.
"Koga!" Sora screamed running to his brother's side. He swiped at Cloud but he jumped over him like he weighed nothing. He glowed with a red energy.
"Farewell." He said as he zoomed towards Sora as if he was flying, blade cocked behind him. He swung his blade hard as he flew around Sora from all over. Sora could do nothing as he was pounded over and over, bruising his body. Cloud finished with an overhead Slash that slammed Sora flat on the ground next to his brother. The crowd went silent watching Cloud point his sword at them.
"Sora, I'm sorry." Koga said.
Sora smiled weakly at his brother. "It's alright. You tried your best."
Suddenly Cloud winced and clutched his head.
"Come on, we're almost there!"
"It's no use Cloud... *Cough* *Cough* I'm not gonna make it."
"No, you can still move! Get back up!"
"Sorry but I'm at my limit."
"No..."
"It's alright. You *Cough* you tried your best. The other's managed to evacuate, hopefully there's still time for you if you just leave me here."
"...That's not who I am."
"No you're not. You are a good person Cloud Strife but you're also a survivor. Now go."
"I-"
"Just go!"
"... I'm sorry V-"
"-incent."
Cloud silently holstered his sword as the boys slowly got back up. They were still dizzy from getting their butts kicked. They looked at Cloud with skepticism. Cloud looked back with a solemn and apologetic expression.
And then a giant black foot stomped on Cloud.
Sora and Koga's eyes followed the foot up to 3 pairs of red eyes. They were facing a giant three headed dog monster with large razor sharp fangs. It growled looking at them with rage.
Koga almost wet himself at the terrifying sight.
The crowd ran away screaming "Cerberus". Goofy and Donald jumped from the benches and ran towards Sora and Koga. The monster reared it's head back to attack. Sora and Koga were too weak to defend as the heads came charging at them. But then someone ran in front of them and stopped the heads in their tracks. They looked and saw a very muscular man with a bronze breast plate and a battle skirt holding all three heads back with his bare hands.
"Herc!" Phil yelled surprised.
"Get out of here!" Hercules said to the boys. Sora and Koga nodded and limped towards Donald and Goofy, still in a slight daze.
"Heal!" Donald said as the two felt the energy return to them. They then processed what's going on and turned to Donald and Goofy.
"We gotta help him!" Sora said.
"Sora, I don't think this is a good idea." Goofy said.
"This isn't a Heartless, it's something more dangerous!" Donald squawked.
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't help. That Hercules guy can't fight that monster and protect everyone at the same time." Koga said.
The two agreed and called up their weapons. They all ran to the monster.
"Kid... I got two words of advice for you, Attack!" They heard Phil shout.
They ran up to Hercules who punched one of the heads back. "You get Cloud out of here while we handle the monster." Sora said.
Without a second thought Hercules quickly nodded and ran to Cloud carrying the unconscious body out of the stadium.
Cerberus snarled at it's opponent running away. Then it turned all it's heads to the four that challenge him. It roared and lunged it's heads. Goofy blocked one with his shield, Sora jumped away from another. Donald and Koga fired a blast of fire at the third head. The third head roared in pain and backed away. One of the head fired a powerful fireball at Donald which knocked him back. Goofy threw his shield at the left head which bounced between all three and back to the knight. Koga fired at the monster from a distance but it doesn't seem to hurt it as much as it does the Heartless.
Sora used his Keyblade to block another bite from Cerberus but it got stick between the jaws of the middle head. Sora tried to pull it out but it wouldn't budge. He smelled it's breath blowing into his face, it smelled like something putrid and noxious. Cerberus lifted it's head up and took Sora with him, trying to close it's jaw.
"Batter up!" Koga shouted as he swung his Keyblade hard on the nose of the right head. The three headed dog yelped and snapped all it's heads back. The sudden movement made Sora let go of his Keyblade and fly high up into the air. When he reached his maximum height an idea popped in his head. He summoned his Keyblade and as he was falling he put all his weight on the blade pointing down. He gave out a loud battle cry as he landed on the middle head of Cerberus.
It wasn't a pretty sight.
Cerberus howled in pain writhing around madly. Sora fell off the head, he and the others back away from the monster. It slammed it's right head on the east wall of the coliseum while the left head barked in protest. They seemed to be having an argument among themselves. Finally it ran past them and jumped over south wall in a hasty retreat.
Sora sighed as he looked at his friends. "Is everyone alright?"
"We got a few bruises but nothing serious." Goofy said.
"That thing was tough." Koga said.
"Is it over?" They turned to see Phil walking in looking in shock at the damaged arena. Sora and Koga chuckled nervously.
"Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes," Phil said reading out of a scroll. "and confer upon thee full rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further-"
"What, junior heroes?" Koga said. Hercules smiled at his outburst.
"We're real heroes!" Donald stomped his foot.
Phil rolled his eyes. "You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a real hero. You may fight impressively but it takes more than just winning."
"Well what does it take?" Goofy asked.
"Well that's just something you'll have to find out for yourselves. Just the way I did." Hercules said.
Koga looked at him curiously. "You're the current champion aren't you?"
"Yep, and I'm a real hero. It wasn't a easy task and even with my strength it wasn't enough but I figured it out." He smirked at them. "Speaking of which you guys did a really impressive job with Cerberus, though I did tire him out before you stepped in. I'm sure in time you will figure it out, I see the potential of a hero in you, right Phil?"
"Um yeah, sure."
"Well we will prove ourselves next time in the games!" Sora declared
"Kid there ain't gonna be a next time for a while. The place needs to be repaired first."
"Then we will be back when the next games starts up." Sora said. "Let's go make ourselves heroes guys!" The group cheered and marched out of the coliseum.
Then they came face to face with Cloud again. He was sitting against the exit doors of the coliseum. He didn't look up at them but they could tell he knew they were there.
"Hey, you alright?" Koga asked. Cloud didn't reply. "I just asked because you looked really hurt when we last saw you."
"I'll live." Cloud said almost quietly. Koga smiled, 'Oh good, he talks.' he thought.
"You fight pretty well." Sora said putting his hands behind his head. "I didn't expected you to move so quickly with that big thing you're carrying."
"It's called a Buster Sword." Cloud said, there was a bit if mirth in his voice. "I'm sorry about our fight."
"Wouldn't be the first time someone with a big sword tried to hurt us but at least you apologized." Koga grumbled. "Um, so Donald and Goofy said that you were about to kill us but stopped at the last second. Why is that?"
"I had made a deal with Hades to eliminate Hercules in the Games, then he decided to change it to you guys all of a sudden."
"Hades?"
Cloud finally looked at them his eyes were bright blue but there was also something glowing in his eyes, like some kind of energy. "The lord of the Underworld, god of the dead. He's where the monsters for the games came from, even these Heartless.
"Wait, does he have blue fire for hair?" Cloud nodded. Koga turned to Sora with a expression that says 'I TOLD YOU SO!'
"What was Hades going to give you?" Goofy asked.
"My memories." The group looked at him confused. "A while ago I lost my memories. I remember nothing more than 10 years ago, the only thing I did remember was my name. Hades promised to restore it. I was going to fulfill my deal but..."
"But?" Sora tilted his head.
"When I fought you I remembered something. A person who owned this cape and gauntlet." He said clenching his fist. "And a name, Vincent. He was... a friend. I don't remember much else but I'm pretty sure he sacrificed himself for me. And then I had a revelation. I wasn't the kind of person who would do what I do. I was a..."
"A hero?" Donald said.
Cloud shook his head. "I don't know but I know the previous version of me wouldn't do this, wouldn't give in to darkness." He stood up. "I don't need Hades, I'll find the rest of my memories on my own."
"Well good luck with that." Koga said. "We're trying to find something we lost as well."
"Don't lose sight of it." Cloud said. "And don't lose sight of yourselves." And with that he began walking out of the entrance.
"How about a rematch sometime, without any dark powers?" Sora asked. Koga smiled as well, silently agreeing
Cloud turned his head back at them and had a small smile on his face. He chuckled and pushed his hair away from his face. "I think I'll pass."