~~^_^ Yes. Rather an insane chapter. I always wondered how Cloud simply
handed Sora Sonic Blade after
the battle with Cerberus, so I made a simple solution to the problem. Fans:
What? You insane
person, you're just too lazy to figure out a way to make it work! Me: Ah,
but I did. Happy reading!~~
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything except Corita! Corita: *feels special*
"Now where the heck are we?!" Donald asked.
"Good question." Goofy said.
They were standing on a set of stairs that they had followed to enter the latest world they'd found. Corita was leaning on Sora, looking pale.
"I...hate...gummi...ships..." she moaned.
"Well, I guess we should ask where we are." Sora said, pushing Corita away. They walked through the vast empty space there was to another set of stairs on the opposite side. They entered the door there, and came to what seemed like a lobby. Inside, there were various posters on the walls, there was a door across the room, and next to this door was a short satyr hanging up another poster. The gang walked over to him.
"Um..." Sora began.
"Good timing. Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me?" He said, and still looking at the poster, pointed to a pedestal and pointed to where he wanted it to be moved to. "I gotta spruce this place up for the games." With that, he continued to work on the poster that didn't seem to want to stay up. Sora walked over to the pedestal and tried pushing it, but from the look of it, it weighed about 50 tons. Corita tried, but no luck. Donald and Goofy each gave it a push, but no luck.
"It's way too heavy!" Sora said to the satyr.
"WHAT? Too heavy? Since when have you been such a little..." he said turning around. He took a glance at Sora. "Oh. Wrong guy. What are you doing here?" He said, jumping off the pedestal he'd been standing on. "This here's the world-famous Coliseum. Heroes only! So, run along, pip squeaks!"
Donald folded his arms angrily. "You've got heroes standing right in from of you!"
"Yeah!" Goofy said, putting his hands on Sora's shoulder. "He's a real hero, chosen by the Keyblade!"
"If it weren't for me, he'd be dead!" Corita said, standing next to him.
"Me and Goofy are heroes too! You should see what we do at Disney Castle!"
"HERO?? That runt?" The satyr said, laughing.
"What's so funny? I've fought a bunch of monsters!" Sora said, defending himself.
"Look kid, if you can't even move this-" He said, pushing on the pedestal with all his might. He kept pushing and groaning, but it didn't move. "Okay, so maybe it takes more than brawn. Well, let's see what you can do!" he said. "You can take the barrel-bashing challenge!"
"Barrel-bashing challenge?" Donald asked.
"Yeah. Smash 20 barrels in 30 seconds, maybe I'll consider ya." he said.
"Let's go!" Corita said.
"Not so fast, little miss hasty. Let the pip squeak take the challenge, since he's the hero of the group and all."
"But I'm his identical twin sister! I can do anything he does!" Corita said, pushing him aside.
"Corita, just let me do it. It'll save time anyway." Sora whispered.
"Fine..." Corita groaned.
"By the way, call me Philoctetes." The satyr said.
"Umm...how about Phil for short?" Sora suggested.
"That works too."
Phil led them through the doorway, and they found themselves in a huge arena. The barrels were already set up in the arena.
"Okay, ready, Mr. Hero?" Phil said sarcastically.
"The name's Mr. Sora to you!" Sora said, taking out the Keyblade.
"On your mark, get set, GO!" Phil said. Sora started bashing barrels as Corita, Donald and Goofy cheered him on. He finished with 10 seconds to spare.
"Not bad for a beginner!" Phil said.
"A beginner?" Sora said.
"Yeah, yeah. Alright, let's set up the next challenge.
The next challenge was set up, this time, it seemed much tougher.
"You got 1 minute, kid. 25 barrels. Good luck!" Phil said, starting the watch. Sora easily cleaned out the arena, and Phil took them back inside the lobby.
"You know, you ain't bad, kid." Phil said.
"Ha! Looks like I'm headed for the games!" Sora said happily.
"Afraid not!" Phil said.
"Why not?" Sora said.
"Two words: You guys ain't heroes!" Phil said.
"C'mon!" Sora said as Phil turned his back on them and Goofy counted out the words on his fingers.
"You really want to become a hero?" Phil said.
"Of course!" Corita yelled.
"Start by mastering this spell!" Phil said, handing them an instruction manual.
"An instruction manual on how to do a spell? That's insane!" Donald said. Corita was already flipping through the pages.
"A nice instruction manual is much better than being taught! You gotta do it yourself!" Phil said.
"So...when do the games start?" Goofy said.
"You don't get it yet, do you? YOU CAN'T ENTER THE GAMES! Not without a pass, anyway. So, bye bye, see ya, have fun somewhere else!" Phil said, pushing them out the door.
"Well, not much left here. We might as well keep going..." Corita said. The 4 friends walked towards the exit.
"Quite a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?"
Turning around, they saw a mysterious person with long black robes and blue flaming hair.
"Who are you?" Donald asked.
"Whoa, whoa, hold on there fuzz boy! Let me guess: you want to enter the games, right?" He put his arm around Sora. "Well, get a load of this!" An entry pass appeared in his hand in a flash of blue flame.
"A pass?" Sora said, taking it.
"It's all yours kid. Good luck. " The mysterious figure walked away.
Corita looked at the pass. "It looks real to me!"
"Are you sure we should trust him?" Goofy said.
"Sure we should! He seems much nicer than that Phil guy! Well, lets go show him the pass!" Donald said, marching back into the lobby.
"I thought I told you that you couldn't enter...hey! Where'd you get this?" Phil said, looking at the pass that Sora had just handed him.
"Does it matter?" Sora said. "Now we can enter the games!"
"Well.....alright. But watch yourselves!" Phil said, marching them out to the arena.
It was a bright, clear day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. "Perfect weather for fighting!" Phil said. "Now, you guys are going to be fighting right up to the end. You get short breaks, 3 minutes, in between each fight. During this time, you may restock on potions. If you die, you're disqualified."
"Um...If we die?" Corita said nervously.
"Don't worry. Only 13 people have ever died in the history of the Coliseum!" Phil said to encourage them. "Now, more about the rules. All magic is allowed, but be careful when casting, we've had the arena set on fire 2 or 3 times. That was one of the times 2 of the people died. Anyway, remember to fight to the best of your ability, and I'll be cheering you on."
"What do we get if we win?" Goofy asked.
"An all-expense paid trip to nowhere, I don't know!" Phil said. "Now, get out there and fight! Fight! FIGHT!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Whew! I didn't know we'd be fighting Heartless here, too!" Corita said.
"Yeah. I thought they might have some real competition." Sora said. They were standing around Phil, listening to another one of his pep talks.
"Now, listen! I think I've got a great new strategy to use!" Phil said.
As he spoke, the 4 friends turned their heads and saw a mysterious figure walking towards them. He had spiky blond hair and piercing blue eyes. Behind him trailed a long red cape. He turned his head and looked at them, and then continued on.
"Looks like he'll be some competition, eh, Sora?" Phil said. "Hercules would be proud!"
"Hercules?"
"Hercules. My best student. I wish you could meet him, but he's off visiting his father."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay! Your next battle is against Cloud!" Phil said.
"We have to fight a cloud?" Goofy said.
"NO! You're fighting against CLOUD the person!"
"Who's Cloud?" Corita asked.
"He's the creepy guy you saw earlier."
"He wasn't really creepy...just...okay, he was kinda creepy."
Phil was giving them one more pep talk before there last challenge. The fighters were pretty worn out by now, and they were taking the time to rest.
"Cloud looks like he's pretty tough. Hang in there guys. I know you can do it!"
The bell sounded that signaled that the next battle was about to start.
"Good luck you guys!" Phil cheered as the team ran out into the arena.
Sora and Corita stared at Cloud, the mysterious man they had seen earlier.
"You know what's creepy?" Corita whispered to Sora. "He seems kinda familiar...like I've seen him before..."
"Me too...but that's impossible! We've never been off our island..." Sora whispered back.
The bell rung that signaled the beginning of the match.
"Okay! Corita, you go over in the corner to heal when needed! Donald, you come near him but just cast magic! Goofy, you're going in with me!" Sora said, running forward.
"He says it like I know what I'm doing..." Corita said.
Still, the strategy worked. For about 5 seconds. Cloud gave a huge burst of energy and plowed into Sora and Goofy, knocking them backwards.
"SORA!" Corita cried, feeling the familiar feeling in her body as the cure spell worked its way out of her staff. She cast the same spell on Goofy.
"Take this!" Donald said, shooting a fire spell at him. Cloud held his sword up and easily blocked it, shooting it back at Donald, who jumped out of the way just in time. This gave Sora enough time to give him a few slashes with the Keyblade. Corita started to run forward.
"You think you can beat me?" Cloud said, knocking Sora backwards with his sword. Sora was thrown against the wall with Goofy, who had also taken another hit.
"NO!" Corita cried, trying to cast another cure spell. But nothing came.
"No! I can't run out of MP! Not now!" She cried. Meanwhile, Cloud had taken care of Donald, adding him to his collection of Corita's friends thrown against the wall. He was now advancing on her.
"Where are my ethers?!?" Corita said, searching her pockets. "I used them all?!?" Suddenly, she felt a powerful blow to her back. Cloud had knocked her over with a charge attack.
"Well, nothing left now but...RANDOM ATTACKING!" Corita said, charging at him with her staff. She got in a few good blows before she was knocked against the wall by a powerful smack from the blunt side of Cloud's sword. Cloud then walked towards then with his sword over his shoulder.
"What now...?" Corita asked Sora.
"Well, I'm guessing we lost..." Sora said. Cloud then make his way towards them, ready to deal the killing blow to them.
"Is he allowed to do this?" Corita asked.
"I guess so." Sora said meekly.
"You and your games...." Corita whispered.
Before Cloud could finish them off, Phil ran out into the arena waving a white flag, surrendering. Cloud took a few steps back away from them.
Suddenly, a giant black paw appeared above him, landing on top of him with a sickening crunch. It seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Sora, Corita, Donald and Goofy lept up instantly, looking at who the paw belonged to. It was a giant three headed dog, all black with small, evil eyes. Its heads gave a huge roar as it plunged towards them, but it was stopped.
"Herc!" Phil called towards the man who was stopping the monster for the time being.
"Phil, get them out of here!" Hercules called, struggling against the massive beast. All of them took his advice and ran towards the lobby except Sora.
"Sora! What are you doing?!" Corita asked, pulling at his arm.
"We've got to help him!" Sora cried.
"Not right now!" Corita said, dragging him towards safety.
They all made it to the lobby, where Phil explained things in more detail.
"Whew! That was close!" he said.
"What was that?" Donald asked.
"That was Cerberus, the guardian of the underworld."
"Naturally he's here." Corita said, leaning against the wall.
"Hercules defeated him before, but Hades must have revived him..."
"Hades is...?" Goofy asked.
"The lord of the underworld."
"Wait a second. Is this Hades tall, dressed in black and has blue fire for hair?" Corita asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"No reason..."
The 5 of them stood in the lobby, waiting for Hercules to come out of the arena with Cloud. After 10 minutes, Phil started to worry.
"He's never taken this long before..." He said.
Corita walked over to Sora.
"Sora, I think we should go out there and help him!"
"Help him? You heard what Phil said, he's fine!"
"I've got this bad feeling...you know I'm always right anyway!"
"Grr...fine. Donald! Goofy!" Sora called.
"What?" They asked.
"We're going in!" Sora announced.
"WHAT?!? Kid, you can't go in there! You'll be killed!" Phil said.
"Well, if we die, we'll die trying!" Sora said.
"Oh, aren't we brave!" Donald said, handing ethers to Corita. "Don't run out this time!" Donald whispered to her.
"You're crazy, kid. This isn't some pretend battle or a game. This is the real deal!" Phil said.
"Listen Philoctetes!" Corita said, making Phil flinch. "We know what we're doing! If your 'best student' is in danger, we're going to help him! Now, LET'S GO!"
Her 3 friends stared at her in awe.
"Wow Corita! I never knew you were so...forceful!" Goofy said.
"You need to be if you live with Sora." She said glumly.
They ran out into the arena, ignoring Phil's cries.
In the arena, Hercules was still defending himself with Cloud slung over his shoulder, unconscious. Cerberus had him backed into a corner. Suddenly, its ears perked up as it heard 8 feet running out onto the battlefield. It turned away from Hercules and faced its new challenge. Hercules took the opportunity and ran into the lobby with Cloud.
"Kid, I got 2 words for you. ATTACK!" Phil screeched, running back into the lobby.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Take THAT, You overgrown dog!" Donald said, casting fire at its middle head.
"Donald, Donald, Donald. Hit all of its heads at once, like so!" Corita said, flipping through the pages of the instruction manual Phil had given them. "THUNDER!"
Small bolts of lightning shot from the sky, hitting Cerberus's three heads all at once.
"Now THAT'S how you do it!" Corita said.
"Donald! Corita! Heads up!" Goofy called as Cerberus's heads came towards them.
"Scatter!" Donald said, and they ran apart just in time.
"Is he done yet?" Corita asked.
"Just keep going!" Sora called.
"I'm out of ethers again!" Corita said.
"Use this one!" Donald said, handing her one.
"Wow, thanks Donald!" Corita said.
"Yeah, well, you did heal me..." Donald mumbled. "Let's teach him a lesson!"
The battle raged on, and finally, Cerberus had taken enough. Sora delt the final blow, and the guardian of the underworld collapsed on the arena floor.
"Ha! Phil thought we couldn't do it!" Goofy said cheerfully as they entered the lobby again. They were knocked backwards by a flying satyr.
"Oh! You're alive! That was awesome!" Phil said happily.
"Phil...not to be rude but...STOP THE HUGS! I CAN'T BREATHE!" Corita said.
"Oh, right, sorry. C'mon! Meet Hercules!" Phil said, pushing them forward.
"Phil, we can walk by ourselves you know." Sora said.
"Oh, yes, sorry."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"And so, I hereby dub thee junior heroes. Further-"
"HEY! Whadda mean 'junior heroes?'" Donald asked.
"You rookies still don't know what it means to be a true hero!" Phil said. They were standing in the lobby, and after a small argument, Phil and Hercules had decided to give them privileges to participate in the games.
"So, what does it take?" Goofy asked.
"Well, that's just something you'll have to find out by yourselves. Just the way I did." Hercules said.
"No problem! We'll start by proving ourselves in the games!" Sora said.
"Well, you'll have to wait a while. Gotta clean up from the last mess first." Phil said, pointing to the 'NO ENTRANCE' sign strung up, blocking the way to the arena.
"No problem. We'll be back!" Corita said, and they exited the lobby.
"Hey guys, isn't that Cloud?" Goofy said, pointing to the opposite side of the arena.
It was true. Cloud was there, looking slightly beaten. He was resting his head in his hands.
"We should go talk to him!" Sora said.
The friends walked forward, and Cloud lifted his head up.
"Hey!" Sora said.
"Hey." Cloud said.
"You okay?" Sora asked.
"Yeah."
There was an akward silence for a few moments.
"So, why'd you go along with him anyway?" Corita asked.
Cloud closed his eyes. "I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help." He stood up. "I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired. I was lost in the darkness, and I couldn't find the light." He finished.
"You'll find it." Sora said. "I'm searching, too."
"For your light?"
Sora nodded his head.
Cloud walked forward, placing something in Sora's hand.
"Don't lose sight of it."
"How about a rematch sometime? Fair and square, no dark powers involved!"
Cloud turned his head. "I think I'll pass." He joked.
Sora smiled, and looked at what Cloud had given him.
"Another instruction manual?" He flipped through the pages. "Hey, this looks pretty cool!"
"C'mon Sora, read it on the gummi ship. Keep quiet on the ride." Donald said, pulling him forward to the place where their gummi ship was parked, waiting for their next adventure.
~~Me: ^_^ Instruction manuals! Hey, it works! Fans: THERE ARE NO INSTRUCTION MANUALS IN KINGDOM HEARTS! Me: This isn't actually Kingdom Hearts! This is my fanfic! I RUN THE SHOW! WAHAHA! Fans: X_x why are we even your fans...?~~
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything except Corita! Corita: *feels special*
"Now where the heck are we?!" Donald asked.
"Good question." Goofy said.
They were standing on a set of stairs that they had followed to enter the latest world they'd found. Corita was leaning on Sora, looking pale.
"I...hate...gummi...ships..." she moaned.
"Well, I guess we should ask where we are." Sora said, pushing Corita away. They walked through the vast empty space there was to another set of stairs on the opposite side. They entered the door there, and came to what seemed like a lobby. Inside, there were various posters on the walls, there was a door across the room, and next to this door was a short satyr hanging up another poster. The gang walked over to him.
"Um..." Sora began.
"Good timing. Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me?" He said, and still looking at the poster, pointed to a pedestal and pointed to where he wanted it to be moved to. "I gotta spruce this place up for the games." With that, he continued to work on the poster that didn't seem to want to stay up. Sora walked over to the pedestal and tried pushing it, but from the look of it, it weighed about 50 tons. Corita tried, but no luck. Donald and Goofy each gave it a push, but no luck.
"It's way too heavy!" Sora said to the satyr.
"WHAT? Too heavy? Since when have you been such a little..." he said turning around. He took a glance at Sora. "Oh. Wrong guy. What are you doing here?" He said, jumping off the pedestal he'd been standing on. "This here's the world-famous Coliseum. Heroes only! So, run along, pip squeaks!"
Donald folded his arms angrily. "You've got heroes standing right in from of you!"
"Yeah!" Goofy said, putting his hands on Sora's shoulder. "He's a real hero, chosen by the Keyblade!"
"If it weren't for me, he'd be dead!" Corita said, standing next to him.
"Me and Goofy are heroes too! You should see what we do at Disney Castle!"
"HERO?? That runt?" The satyr said, laughing.
"What's so funny? I've fought a bunch of monsters!" Sora said, defending himself.
"Look kid, if you can't even move this-" He said, pushing on the pedestal with all his might. He kept pushing and groaning, but it didn't move. "Okay, so maybe it takes more than brawn. Well, let's see what you can do!" he said. "You can take the barrel-bashing challenge!"
"Barrel-bashing challenge?" Donald asked.
"Yeah. Smash 20 barrels in 30 seconds, maybe I'll consider ya." he said.
"Let's go!" Corita said.
"Not so fast, little miss hasty. Let the pip squeak take the challenge, since he's the hero of the group and all."
"But I'm his identical twin sister! I can do anything he does!" Corita said, pushing him aside.
"Corita, just let me do it. It'll save time anyway." Sora whispered.
"Fine..." Corita groaned.
"By the way, call me Philoctetes." The satyr said.
"Umm...how about Phil for short?" Sora suggested.
"That works too."
Phil led them through the doorway, and they found themselves in a huge arena. The barrels were already set up in the arena.
"Okay, ready, Mr. Hero?" Phil said sarcastically.
"The name's Mr. Sora to you!" Sora said, taking out the Keyblade.
"On your mark, get set, GO!" Phil said. Sora started bashing barrels as Corita, Donald and Goofy cheered him on. He finished with 10 seconds to spare.
"Not bad for a beginner!" Phil said.
"A beginner?" Sora said.
"Yeah, yeah. Alright, let's set up the next challenge.
The next challenge was set up, this time, it seemed much tougher.
"You got 1 minute, kid. 25 barrels. Good luck!" Phil said, starting the watch. Sora easily cleaned out the arena, and Phil took them back inside the lobby.
"You know, you ain't bad, kid." Phil said.
"Ha! Looks like I'm headed for the games!" Sora said happily.
"Afraid not!" Phil said.
"Why not?" Sora said.
"Two words: You guys ain't heroes!" Phil said.
"C'mon!" Sora said as Phil turned his back on them and Goofy counted out the words on his fingers.
"You really want to become a hero?" Phil said.
"Of course!" Corita yelled.
"Start by mastering this spell!" Phil said, handing them an instruction manual.
"An instruction manual on how to do a spell? That's insane!" Donald said. Corita was already flipping through the pages.
"A nice instruction manual is much better than being taught! You gotta do it yourself!" Phil said.
"So...when do the games start?" Goofy said.
"You don't get it yet, do you? YOU CAN'T ENTER THE GAMES! Not without a pass, anyway. So, bye bye, see ya, have fun somewhere else!" Phil said, pushing them out the door.
"Well, not much left here. We might as well keep going..." Corita said. The 4 friends walked towards the exit.
"Quite a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?"
Turning around, they saw a mysterious person with long black robes and blue flaming hair.
"Who are you?" Donald asked.
"Whoa, whoa, hold on there fuzz boy! Let me guess: you want to enter the games, right?" He put his arm around Sora. "Well, get a load of this!" An entry pass appeared in his hand in a flash of blue flame.
"A pass?" Sora said, taking it.
"It's all yours kid. Good luck. " The mysterious figure walked away.
Corita looked at the pass. "It looks real to me!"
"Are you sure we should trust him?" Goofy said.
"Sure we should! He seems much nicer than that Phil guy! Well, lets go show him the pass!" Donald said, marching back into the lobby.
"I thought I told you that you couldn't enter...hey! Where'd you get this?" Phil said, looking at the pass that Sora had just handed him.
"Does it matter?" Sora said. "Now we can enter the games!"
"Well.....alright. But watch yourselves!" Phil said, marching them out to the arena.
It was a bright, clear day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. "Perfect weather for fighting!" Phil said. "Now, you guys are going to be fighting right up to the end. You get short breaks, 3 minutes, in between each fight. During this time, you may restock on potions. If you die, you're disqualified."
"Um...If we die?" Corita said nervously.
"Don't worry. Only 13 people have ever died in the history of the Coliseum!" Phil said to encourage them. "Now, more about the rules. All magic is allowed, but be careful when casting, we've had the arena set on fire 2 or 3 times. That was one of the times 2 of the people died. Anyway, remember to fight to the best of your ability, and I'll be cheering you on."
"What do we get if we win?" Goofy asked.
"An all-expense paid trip to nowhere, I don't know!" Phil said. "Now, get out there and fight! Fight! FIGHT!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Whew! I didn't know we'd be fighting Heartless here, too!" Corita said.
"Yeah. I thought they might have some real competition." Sora said. They were standing around Phil, listening to another one of his pep talks.
"Now, listen! I think I've got a great new strategy to use!" Phil said.
As he spoke, the 4 friends turned their heads and saw a mysterious figure walking towards them. He had spiky blond hair and piercing blue eyes. Behind him trailed a long red cape. He turned his head and looked at them, and then continued on.
"Looks like he'll be some competition, eh, Sora?" Phil said. "Hercules would be proud!"
"Hercules?"
"Hercules. My best student. I wish you could meet him, but he's off visiting his father."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay! Your next battle is against Cloud!" Phil said.
"We have to fight a cloud?" Goofy said.
"NO! You're fighting against CLOUD the person!"
"Who's Cloud?" Corita asked.
"He's the creepy guy you saw earlier."
"He wasn't really creepy...just...okay, he was kinda creepy."
Phil was giving them one more pep talk before there last challenge. The fighters were pretty worn out by now, and they were taking the time to rest.
"Cloud looks like he's pretty tough. Hang in there guys. I know you can do it!"
The bell sounded that signaled that the next battle was about to start.
"Good luck you guys!" Phil cheered as the team ran out into the arena.
Sora and Corita stared at Cloud, the mysterious man they had seen earlier.
"You know what's creepy?" Corita whispered to Sora. "He seems kinda familiar...like I've seen him before..."
"Me too...but that's impossible! We've never been off our island..." Sora whispered back.
The bell rung that signaled the beginning of the match.
"Okay! Corita, you go over in the corner to heal when needed! Donald, you come near him but just cast magic! Goofy, you're going in with me!" Sora said, running forward.
"He says it like I know what I'm doing..." Corita said.
Still, the strategy worked. For about 5 seconds. Cloud gave a huge burst of energy and plowed into Sora and Goofy, knocking them backwards.
"SORA!" Corita cried, feeling the familiar feeling in her body as the cure spell worked its way out of her staff. She cast the same spell on Goofy.
"Take this!" Donald said, shooting a fire spell at him. Cloud held his sword up and easily blocked it, shooting it back at Donald, who jumped out of the way just in time. This gave Sora enough time to give him a few slashes with the Keyblade. Corita started to run forward.
"You think you can beat me?" Cloud said, knocking Sora backwards with his sword. Sora was thrown against the wall with Goofy, who had also taken another hit.
"NO!" Corita cried, trying to cast another cure spell. But nothing came.
"No! I can't run out of MP! Not now!" She cried. Meanwhile, Cloud had taken care of Donald, adding him to his collection of Corita's friends thrown against the wall. He was now advancing on her.
"Where are my ethers?!?" Corita said, searching her pockets. "I used them all?!?" Suddenly, she felt a powerful blow to her back. Cloud had knocked her over with a charge attack.
"Well, nothing left now but...RANDOM ATTACKING!" Corita said, charging at him with her staff. She got in a few good blows before she was knocked against the wall by a powerful smack from the blunt side of Cloud's sword. Cloud then walked towards then with his sword over his shoulder.
"What now...?" Corita asked Sora.
"Well, I'm guessing we lost..." Sora said. Cloud then make his way towards them, ready to deal the killing blow to them.
"Is he allowed to do this?" Corita asked.
"I guess so." Sora said meekly.
"You and your games...." Corita whispered.
Before Cloud could finish them off, Phil ran out into the arena waving a white flag, surrendering. Cloud took a few steps back away from them.
Suddenly, a giant black paw appeared above him, landing on top of him with a sickening crunch. It seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Sora, Corita, Donald and Goofy lept up instantly, looking at who the paw belonged to. It was a giant three headed dog, all black with small, evil eyes. Its heads gave a huge roar as it plunged towards them, but it was stopped.
"Herc!" Phil called towards the man who was stopping the monster for the time being.
"Phil, get them out of here!" Hercules called, struggling against the massive beast. All of them took his advice and ran towards the lobby except Sora.
"Sora! What are you doing?!" Corita asked, pulling at his arm.
"We've got to help him!" Sora cried.
"Not right now!" Corita said, dragging him towards safety.
They all made it to the lobby, where Phil explained things in more detail.
"Whew! That was close!" he said.
"What was that?" Donald asked.
"That was Cerberus, the guardian of the underworld."
"Naturally he's here." Corita said, leaning against the wall.
"Hercules defeated him before, but Hades must have revived him..."
"Hades is...?" Goofy asked.
"The lord of the underworld."
"Wait a second. Is this Hades tall, dressed in black and has blue fire for hair?" Corita asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"No reason..."
The 5 of them stood in the lobby, waiting for Hercules to come out of the arena with Cloud. After 10 minutes, Phil started to worry.
"He's never taken this long before..." He said.
Corita walked over to Sora.
"Sora, I think we should go out there and help him!"
"Help him? You heard what Phil said, he's fine!"
"I've got this bad feeling...you know I'm always right anyway!"
"Grr...fine. Donald! Goofy!" Sora called.
"What?" They asked.
"We're going in!" Sora announced.
"WHAT?!? Kid, you can't go in there! You'll be killed!" Phil said.
"Well, if we die, we'll die trying!" Sora said.
"Oh, aren't we brave!" Donald said, handing ethers to Corita. "Don't run out this time!" Donald whispered to her.
"You're crazy, kid. This isn't some pretend battle or a game. This is the real deal!" Phil said.
"Listen Philoctetes!" Corita said, making Phil flinch. "We know what we're doing! If your 'best student' is in danger, we're going to help him! Now, LET'S GO!"
Her 3 friends stared at her in awe.
"Wow Corita! I never knew you were so...forceful!" Goofy said.
"You need to be if you live with Sora." She said glumly.
They ran out into the arena, ignoring Phil's cries.
In the arena, Hercules was still defending himself with Cloud slung over his shoulder, unconscious. Cerberus had him backed into a corner. Suddenly, its ears perked up as it heard 8 feet running out onto the battlefield. It turned away from Hercules and faced its new challenge. Hercules took the opportunity and ran into the lobby with Cloud.
"Kid, I got 2 words for you. ATTACK!" Phil screeched, running back into the lobby.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Take THAT, You overgrown dog!" Donald said, casting fire at its middle head.
"Donald, Donald, Donald. Hit all of its heads at once, like so!" Corita said, flipping through the pages of the instruction manual Phil had given them. "THUNDER!"
Small bolts of lightning shot from the sky, hitting Cerberus's three heads all at once.
"Now THAT'S how you do it!" Corita said.
"Donald! Corita! Heads up!" Goofy called as Cerberus's heads came towards them.
"Scatter!" Donald said, and they ran apart just in time.
"Is he done yet?" Corita asked.
"Just keep going!" Sora called.
"I'm out of ethers again!" Corita said.
"Use this one!" Donald said, handing her one.
"Wow, thanks Donald!" Corita said.
"Yeah, well, you did heal me..." Donald mumbled. "Let's teach him a lesson!"
The battle raged on, and finally, Cerberus had taken enough. Sora delt the final blow, and the guardian of the underworld collapsed on the arena floor.
"Ha! Phil thought we couldn't do it!" Goofy said cheerfully as they entered the lobby again. They were knocked backwards by a flying satyr.
"Oh! You're alive! That was awesome!" Phil said happily.
"Phil...not to be rude but...STOP THE HUGS! I CAN'T BREATHE!" Corita said.
"Oh, right, sorry. C'mon! Meet Hercules!" Phil said, pushing them forward.
"Phil, we can walk by ourselves you know." Sora said.
"Oh, yes, sorry."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"And so, I hereby dub thee junior heroes. Further-"
"HEY! Whadda mean 'junior heroes?'" Donald asked.
"You rookies still don't know what it means to be a true hero!" Phil said. They were standing in the lobby, and after a small argument, Phil and Hercules had decided to give them privileges to participate in the games.
"So, what does it take?" Goofy asked.
"Well, that's just something you'll have to find out by yourselves. Just the way I did." Hercules said.
"No problem! We'll start by proving ourselves in the games!" Sora said.
"Well, you'll have to wait a while. Gotta clean up from the last mess first." Phil said, pointing to the 'NO ENTRANCE' sign strung up, blocking the way to the arena.
"No problem. We'll be back!" Corita said, and they exited the lobby.
"Hey guys, isn't that Cloud?" Goofy said, pointing to the opposite side of the arena.
It was true. Cloud was there, looking slightly beaten. He was resting his head in his hands.
"We should go talk to him!" Sora said.
The friends walked forward, and Cloud lifted his head up.
"Hey!" Sora said.
"Hey." Cloud said.
"You okay?" Sora asked.
"Yeah."
There was an akward silence for a few moments.
"So, why'd you go along with him anyway?" Corita asked.
Cloud closed his eyes. "I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help." He stood up. "I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired. I was lost in the darkness, and I couldn't find the light." He finished.
"You'll find it." Sora said. "I'm searching, too."
"For your light?"
Sora nodded his head.
Cloud walked forward, placing something in Sora's hand.
"Don't lose sight of it."
"How about a rematch sometime? Fair and square, no dark powers involved!"
Cloud turned his head. "I think I'll pass." He joked.
Sora smiled, and looked at what Cloud had given him.
"Another instruction manual?" He flipped through the pages. "Hey, this looks pretty cool!"
"C'mon Sora, read it on the gummi ship. Keep quiet on the ride." Donald said, pulling him forward to the place where their gummi ship was parked, waiting for their next adventure.
~~Me: ^_^ Instruction manuals! Hey, it works! Fans: THERE ARE NO INSTRUCTION MANUALS IN KINGDOM HEARTS! Me: This isn't actually Kingdom Hearts! This is my fanfic! I RUN THE SHOW! WAHAHA! Fans: X_x why are we even your fans...?~~