Alright, hello again it's me, Green Flame, with another Kingdom Hearts fanfic! This fic is just something I started a long time ago but never really finished. Then, at around 12am last night I reread it and thought, 'Hey, maybe I should post this.' The judging of whether to post this might have been altered by the state of my thinking in the middle of the night, but nevertheless, here it is. ANYway, I know NOTHING about court or anything, so PLEASE don't review me telling me I did something wrong. Please do review though. I'm not sure if I'll make or post chapter 2, but if I get enough reviews I might. Of course, flames are excepted. OK, now that you have politely read all that, without further ado, here is "Cloud's Trip."

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- - - - - - - - - - - - Chapter 1 - The Start of the Trouble - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Alright, are you two ready?" Phil asked Sora and Cloud. They both nodded, and Phil nodded back. He turned back to his small little desk with papers scattered all over. He shifted through them, and then picked up a particularly long one. Reading it over, he nodded and then turned back to Sora and Cloud. "All right, it looks like our first arena isn't busy for the day. I'll set you two up in there."

Cloud smirked and looked down at Sora. The kid looked back with a determined face. "Ready to lose?" Sora asked, and Cloud shook his head.

Hercules walked in from the door. "Are you two at it again? You guys must be our most competitive fighters. So who's trying to settle the score this time?"

"Well, Cloud managed to get the better of me last time," Sora said, "but that's not going to happen again. I've been training."

"I've trained to, you know." Cloud looked at Sora. "I practically live at this place, and it's the best for leveling up." Sora frowned at him.

"Ok ok, enough with all the talk. The arena's open now, so you two better start fighting before I decide I'm gunna start another tournament." Phil started. "Come on, Herc. Let's see how this fight goes." Hercules nodded, and the four left the room.

*

Outside in Arena I, Sora and Cloud had already started their battle. So far, the battle seemed even. Both fighters were equally matched. Hercules and Phil stood watching from the entrance. They watched as Sora took a swing at Cloud with his Keyblade, but Cloud swiftly brought his sword up and blocked the attack. The battle continued.

"Those two must fight here twice every week." Hercules said. "I've really never seen such competition between two people. And they never make it to personal, it's all just for fun."

"That's the way to fight." Phil agreed. "Go Sora! Hit him now! Ooh, no, that had to hurt." He winced as Sora took a direct hit from Cloud's sword.

In the arena, Cloud smiled as he jumped away from an attack of Sora's. "Had enough yet?" He swung his sword at Sora, but Sora blocked it with his Guard ability. Sparks flew from both weapons.

"You wish. Come on!" Sora yelled, as he leaped up and swung yet again at Cloud. Cloud was to slow this time, and Sora delivered a combo attack straight to his face.

"That's it!" Cloud yelled, as he prepared his Sonic Blade attack. Sora gulped. But right before Cloud launched his attack, the arena started to darken. The two looked around, a bit confused.

From the entrance, Hercules and Phil looked on in confusement. This wasn't normal. Something was entering the arena from the other side. All it looked like was a shadow, sneaking across the floor. It glided onto the battle platform and stopped next to Cloud and Sora. "Oh no." Hercules muttered, knowing what was coming. Sure enough, the shadow rose up off the floor and took the form of an old enemy. Hades.

In the arena, Cloud and Sora stared at Hades.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Sora asked him in a tone that said, Get out.

"Hey there kid, how ya been?" Hades asked in his carefree attitude as normal.

"I already defeated you, so what do you want?" Sora was getting angry. He didn't like Hades being around. He had learned that Hades was sneaky and tried anything to get his way.

"Listen kid, I got nothing to do with you anymore, ok?" Hades explained. Sora gave him a confused look, but Hades went on. "I'm here, for him." He said, pointing to Cloud.

"What?" Cloud couldn't believe what he heard. "You already gave me enough trouble. What are you doing now?" Hades simply laughed at his remark.

"Listen, we're right in the middle of a battle now, so why don't you leave us alone until we're finished, and then Cloud can kick your butt, alright?" Sora crossed his arms. "Unless you want to experience what a bunch of metal in the shape of a key can do to you, again."

"Hey kid, I told ya, this has nothing to do with you." Hades said again. "Just go along and play with your toys, or whatever kids your age do." Now Sora was mad.

"Hey," Cloud tried to stop Sora from doing anything stupid. "Just tell me what you want so you can leave."

"I want our deal finished." Hades said simply. He saw by Cloud's shocked expression that he had to explain. "Hmm, remember? Our contract. You never finished the deal."

"What?!" Cloud yelled, enraged. He remembered how Hades had turned on him once he refused to finish Sora off for good. It was something he didn't like to remember, working with Hades.

"Hey, you signed the contract." Hades said, pulling the papers out of his pocket. "You're legally bound to it now."

"The deals off." Cloud was still mad. "You broke your end of the bargain. You were just going to get rid of me in the end anyways. I bet you weren't even going to keep your promise, were you?"

"Ah ah ah." Hades said, waving his finger. "I didn't do anything wrong. It was you who broke the rules."

"What? Are you doing all this just to try to get rid of Sora again?" Cloud took the contract from Hades. "Listen, I'm not working with you anymore. From what I read in it, the contract has worn out." He took the contract and ripped it up, throwing the pieces on the floor.

Sora gasped. "Cloud are you sure that was such a good idea?" But he was ignored.

"Hey! Now there was no need to do that." Hades exclaimed. He snapped his fingers, and the pieces of paper burst into flame. When the fire cleared, the contract was sitting there, all in one piece. Hades grabbed it, ignoring Cloud's shocked look. "You can't simply destroy these kinds of things, Cloud. Now lets see, I don't think you read the whole thing. Look at this print, right here."

Cloud took the papers again and squinted at where Hades was pointing. The print was so small. Hades handed him a magnifying glass. Cloud took it, and looked at the words under it. He could read them now. Once he was finished reading, he almost dropped the glass. "What the heck? I didn't sign to that!"

"Yes you did." Hades smiled.

"That print is so small! I didn't see it!" Cloud yelled. "You need a magnifying glass just to understand what it says!"

Hades shrugged. "You should have asked for one. But you did sign. That there is your signature." He reached over and pointed to Cloud's signature on the papers. Cloud just stood in shock.

"What's it say?" Sora asked. When Cloud didn't answer, he sighed and reached up and grabbed the contract and the magnifying glass. After he read it, he looked up at Cloud and then at Hades. "Oh, wait." Hades just let out a laugh.

"Hey, hold it!" Hercules and Phil were running into the arena. Once they reached the battle platform, they stood next to Sora. "What's going on here?" Hercules asked.

Sora handed Hercules the contract and magnifying glass. "Err, I think Cloud's in trouble. Read that small print, right there. Cloud signed to it." He gave a worried look at Cloud.

Hercules read the entire contract. Including the small print. "What? Why'd he sign to that? You can't even read it."

Cloud thought about what was going on. He couldn't imagine why he had overlooked that part of the contract. He was so cautious the day he signed it. he hadn't trusted Hades. The print said that Cloud was to become Hades slave. That couldn't be legal, could it? But then again, there wasn't much of a government here. And Hades was a God. What would happen now?

Hercules read the contract over again, looking over every part like a hawk. If he found something wrong with it, then he could get Cloud out of this mess. But, he couldn't. Not a word out of place. This was going to be tricky.

Hades only stood there with a smug look on his face. He knew he had this whole thing won. But he did expect Hercules to try and defend Cloud. 'Let them try.' He thought. 'They won't find anything to get his freedom back.'

"Alright, this can't be right." Hercules said. "Listen Hades, I've learned that deals made with you somehow change right when you want them to. I don't trust this, and I don't think your going to walk off with this deal won today."

"What are you going to do?" Hades asked. "The kid signed to it."

"I don't think he did." Sora said. Everyone looked at him. "Remember when Cloud tore up the contract, and then Hades made it reappear? Well, what if Hades somehow changed the contract while he was mending it. He could do that, right?"

"Hey, your smarter than we thought, Sora." Hercules said. Sora gave him a mean look. Hercules ignored it. "Sora's right. Although Cloud shouldn't have torn it up, Hades does have quite a bit of magic. It's possible that he did change it. Just a little."

Hades frowned. "Oh great. Well, now how do we prove all this?"

Hercules smiled. "There is such a thing as court here, ya know. That's what we'll do." Cloud gave out a huge sigh of relief. He could get out of this. "We'll have to hold it tomorrow, though." Hercules continued.

"Oh fine." Hades said. "See ya tomorrow, one and all." He happily waved goodbye and then just disappeared.

Cloud sighed again. "Now what do I do?"

"Your such an idiot!" Phil yelled at him. "When did you ever think it was smart to sign a contract with the lord of the UNDERWORLD?!?!?!?! The God of the DEAD!!!! I don't know but if you ask me there's something a little suspicious about a guy with his HEAD ON FIRE!!!!!!!"

Cloud leaped back, startled by Phil's yelling. "Well jeesh, I don't know. I was a little desperate. I don't think you could blame me if you knew the state I had been in." He turned and looked at Sora, who was laughing at Cloud for getting yelled at by the goatman. "Err, shutup!" Cloud yelled, and took his sword and chased after Sora.

"Uh oh." Sora gulped. "Ahhhhh!" He took off running, trying to avoid Cloud's blade.

*

Later that evening, Cloud stood leaning against the walls inside the Coliseum Lobby. He knew he was in big trouble. He hadn't gotten into anything like this before. He had to think things through to get out of this. But how do you outsmart a guy who's outsmarted millions? Cloud looked up at the ceiling. He couldn't become Hades' slave. He just couldn't. He still had to find her. The fire on the torches on the wall lit everything to a nice glow.

Phil walked in from inside the entrance to the arenas. He stopped and looked at Cloud, then sighed. "Ya know, you're in a lot of trouble." He shook his head.

"I know." Cloud answered. They both stayed silent for a moment, then Phil spoke up.

"Listen, I've seen messes like this with Hades before. The best thing to do is skip town for a while."

"What?" Cloud looked down at Phil.

"Get out of here and retreat to another world for a while. Trust me, it's the best thing to do." Phil saw Cloud's worried expression. "You won't get into much trouble for it here. People do it all the time."

"Really?" Cloud asked. Phil nodded. "Well..okay. But how do I get out of here? I don't own a gummi ship."

"You don't? Hmm." Phil stopped and thought for a moment. "Okay, I don't like you kid, but I'm gunna do you a favor. I have a gummi ship I made myself. She's kinda scrappy 'cause you don't find gummis here that often, but she'll fly." Cloud gave him a look. "Come on, I'll show it to ya."

The two left the Lobby and went outside. Phil led Cloud to the side of a wall, and then pushed in a block. "A lot of people don't know this is here, so you had better not tell anyone. Or I'll send Hercules after ya, alright?" Cloud rolled his eyes but nodded. Phil pushed in another block in the wall, and all of a sudden a secret door opened. "Come on, through here." Phil led Cloud through the door. Inside was a mess.

Phil walked up to a large object in the middle of the room. A sheet covered it. Phil ripped off the sheet, and Cloud had to blink a couple times to make sure he was seeing right.

"Behold, my pride and joy." Phil introduced Cloud to his gummi ship. Cloud walked up to it. He had to bend down to see the cockpit.

"Kind of small, isn't it?" He asked.

"What are you talking about?" Phil exclaimed. Cloud looked at him, and then at the ship. To Phil, the ship was normal sized, but for Cloud, it was a bit too small. It also looked like it could fall apart at any moment. "So, what do you think? Will you be the first one to take this baby for a run?" Phil asked, proud of his work.

Cloud shrunk back a little. 'It hasn't even been tested yet?' He thought. He gulped. "Uh, come to think of it now, I, uh, I actually know a guy whose gummi ship I can barrow."

"Ya do?" Phil asked.

"Uh, yeah. I do. I think I'll ask him for a ride. I mean, I wouldn't want to, err, um, ya know, accidentally break it or anything." Cloud said.

"Oh, yeah, I guess so. Well, if you still need a ride, come back and ask me."

"Yep, bye!" Cloud ran out of the room as fast as he could.

"Hmm, I wonder who this 'friend' of Cloud's is?" Phil wondered to himself after Cloud left.

*

"Sora, I need a favor."

"What?" Sora asked. "Cloud, you're in enough trouble already. Now what are you going to do?"

"Please?" Cloud begged. "I need to barrow your gummi ship."

"What?!?" Sora couldn't believe it. "You're leaving?"

"Just until this mess is over. Phil said it was the best thing to do. Please?" Cloud asked again.

"No, you're not taking my ship. I don't want to be stuck here until this is over." Sora said. He looked at Cloud.

"Well, umm, maybe you could give me a ride then?" Cloud asked.

"A ride? There's no room. Not with Donald and Goofy onboard to." Sora explained.

"Oh, well then." Cloud thought for a solution. "I know!"

"What?" Sora asked doubtfully.

"Well, Donald's kinda small, right?" Cloud said. "We could always just stuff him in the storage compartment. He'd fit, right?"

Sora started laughing. "Yeah that would work, but Donald would never agree to it!"

"Who said he had to agree to it?" Cloud smiled. "Please Sora? Just this once? I won't bother you again."

"Yeah right, you won't bother me again." Sora said. Cloud gave a sad look. "Ok, I'll agree to it, but you're the one who has to explain to Donald where he has stay for the ride."

"Just leave it all to me. We'll leave tomorrow mourning, ok?"

"Alright." Sora left the Lobby, and Cloud smiled.

*

Sora walked into the Coliseum courtyard. It was a beautiful morning and the day looked like it was going to stay that way. He saw Cloud standing next to his gummi ship, smiling. Sora walked up to him.

"Good morning!" Cloud said, a little to cheerful.

"What's up? What'd you do now?" Sora asked. The only reason Cloud would be this happy is if he just got away with something.

"Nothing. Why do you think I did something?" Cloud asked. All of a sudden, a bunch bangs came from inside the gummi ship, followed by someone shouting, "Get me outta here!" It sounded like Donald.

Sora looked at Cloud and crossed his arms. Cloud just smiled again and shrugged. "Let's go, shall we?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "You just stuffed him in there, didn't you?" Cloud nodded. Sora let out a sigh, and turned back towards the doors. "Goofy! Time to go!" Goofy came walking out the Lobby and up to the two.

"Good mornin'" He waved to Cloud. Cloud smiled back. "Uh, where's Donald?" He asked Sora. Again, more bangs came from inside the ship. "Oh." He said, suddenly understanding.

"Come on, let's go." Sora climbed into the ship, followed by Cloud and Goofy. Once Sora got in, he looked at the storage compartment. It was sealed shut with duck tape. He rolled his eyes again. "All right, let's get flying."

Cloud moved to the controls. Sora looked at him doubtfully. "You know how to fly one of these?"

"Sure I do." Cloud said. "I've never flown one before, but this can't be much different from the other stuff I've flown."

"Ok then, go ahead." Sora said. Cloud nodded. Sora waited.and waited.and waited. "Well? Aren't you going to start it up?"

"Yeah! Just give me a minute!" Cloud looked at all the buttons. Which one? Ah, there. He pushed a yellow button. He was pretty sure that's what started the ship. Sure enough, the engines sputtered to life and the ship took off into space.

The steering part, however, was a little different. Cloud wasn't used to the controls. The ship rocked back and forth and back and forth. Cloud wasn't good at steering.

"Ah, get off of there! Your gunna make me hurl!" Sora ran up and pushed Cloud out of the seat. He grabbed the wheel and tried to steady the ship. He looked back and gave Cloud a mean look.

"Sorry." Cloud said sarcastically.

"Umm, Sora." Goofy said. "I hate to point this out, but you don't really know how to drive the ship either." Cloud looked up at Sora with a shocked expression. Sora gave a nervous laugh. "Last time you drove, we crash landed, remember?" Goofy went on.

"Ok yeah I remember Goofy. Thanks." Sora said nervously, eyeing a mad Cloud sitting in the corner. Sora tried to drive the ship, but it was harder than he thought. He swerved and just missed a space rock. He finally got the hang of it, though, and started driving right.

"You better not crash into anything, Sora." Cloud said, a little angry. Sora turned and smiled at him, a look that said, Ya never know. Cloud narrowed his eyes.

"Umm, does anybody know where we're going?" Goofy asked. All three realized that they really didn't have a destination. They all sat in silence. A few bangs came from the storage compartment.

"Err, of course I do." Sora said nervously. "Yeah, we're going to the nearest world."

"What world is that?" Cloud asked.

"You'll see. Yup, we're here now. Look out the window." Sora said. Cloud got up and took a look outside. All he could see were trees.

"Looks like the middle of nowhere." He muttered.

"Everybody off! Well, except for those sealed in storage places." Sora landed the ship, and they all got off.

Cloud looked around. Everywhere he looked he saw trees. He turned to Sora. "This is where I'm staying?" He asked.

"Yup. Umm, it's called the Deep Jungle. Err, have a nice stay." Sora went to go back in the gummi ship.

"Wait!" Cloud stopped Sora. "Umm, how will I know when everything's safe for me to come back?"

"Well." Sora thought for a moment. "I know. Here." He handed Cloud a phone- like device. "A friend gave these to me. Whenever you want to talk to me, you just press that button and talk into the microphone. I have the other one. I don't suggest calling me, though. I'll call you when everything's safe, ok?"

Cloud looked at the device. "Umm. alright." He kept studying the phone. Suddenly he realized he had another important question. "Sora?" He looked up. They were gone. He looked at the sky just in time to see the gummi ship zooming off. "WAIT!!!" He called. "You could have at least told me where to go from here." It was to late. The ship was gone. And Cloud was literally in the middle of the jungle somewhere.

Cloud looked around. There wasn't even a path to follow. 'Sora probably did this on purpose.' He thought to himself. 'Great, now I'm lost. I guess I'll just have to start walking.' So he began walking.

He walked, and walked, and walked some more. He made his way through the trees, and continued walking. Two hours later, he decided to stop walking.

"Great! This is just great!" He yelled out. "Where the heck am I?!?" The only thing that answered was his echo. He sighed, and sat down on a rock. He was tired, thirsty, and hungry. He hadn't come across any sign that any humans lived here. 'Sora probably did this on purpose.' He thought again. 'That little rat. Just wait until I get a hold of him.'

All of a sudden, something moved to his left. Cloud sat up alert and ready for battle. He stared at the bushes where the thing had moved. Nothing happened. And then, something came out of the bushes. Not something, someone. Cloud looked at him. The guy barely had any clothing on, and he walked like an ape. Cloud just stared.

The weird monkey-man walked up to Cloud. He sniffed him, then stood back. Cloud wondered if he could talk. Maybe he could. Then he could give Cloud some directions. It was worth a shot.

"Hello." He said slowly. "Do you understand me?" The man just stood there. Cloud sighed. "Can you help me?" He said again slowly.

"Help." The man said. Cloud brightened up. So he could talk!

"Yes, help. See, I'm lost." Cloud said.

"Lost. Help" The man said again. Cloud nodded, but realized that they weren't getting anywhere. Maybe the guy was just repeating whatever Cloud said. "Friend?" The man said.

Cloud smiled. So he could talk! "Err, yes, friend." Cloud said.

The man smiled. He pointed to himself. "Tarzan." He said.

Cloud understood. Tarzan must be his name. Tarzan was looking at him now, and he realized he must want to know his name. "Umm, Cloud." Cloud said pointing to himself and feeling awkward.

Tarzan smiled. He pointed to himself again and said, "Tarzan." Then he pointed to Cloud and said, "Umm cloud."

Cloud blinked. What? "Oh no no no. My name is Cloud." He said pointing to himself again.

"No no Cloud?" Tarzan said, confused. Cloud sighed.

"Cloud." Cloud pointed to himself. Then he pointed to Tarzan. "Tarzan." He repeated this a few times, and finally Tarzan understood.

"Cloud." Tarzan said. "Cloud lost?"

"Yes. I need help." Cloud tried to talk as easily as he could so Tarzan would understand him.

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Ooh, cliffhanger! If you want me to continue folks, remember to REVIEW! ^_^