HB: Eh… hehe… Hi! ::Hides behind Goofy

Goofy: ::Stands there, looking blank::

Riku: ::Sneaks up behind HB and kicks him:: Explain why you made them wait a month!

HB: To put it in words… Two sets of long-distance friends visit my house for a weekend each… I had a 2 1/2 week trip… Had another story to write in my Sonic the Hedgehog story… and the spawn of Hades known as Writer S. Block!

Okay, no excuse, right? Well, it's all got… Sorry! But hey! I got the chapter finished! And, by the way, Chapter EIGHT (Last chapter of Wonderland saga) was also posted quite some time ago, but I don't think many realized it. But it was! So for those who didn't know… you have two chapters to read!!!

And I'd reply to reviews… but I'm tired and wanna get this posted!

So thanks to all my awesome reviewers… YOU GUYS (And girls!) ROCK!

HB: ::Bows out of the room and then takes off in a run, trying to escape wild 'fans' that wanna hurt him for making them wait so long!::

Riku: …Harvestboy doesn't own—

Sora: ::Pushes him out of the way:: Harvestboy doesn't own me, Kairi, Riku, Goofy, Donald, or any of the other Kingdom Hearts gang! He just owns this really awesome story, with a really good-looking character… Who, of course, can't outshine the author and—

Riku: QUIT SUCKING UP TO THE AUTHOR!

Sora: Bye! ::Runs off as Riku chases him::

Chapter 9: Dirt, Heat, and Phil

On a world, far away and a few weeks in the past, a man with spiky, blonde hair lay facedown on the ground in a dark alley. The ground itself was covered with dirt, sand, and grime. He had long and spiky blonde hair that had been darkened by the dirt that he lay on. His eyes, which were shielded by his closed eyelids, were a deep blue, with a strange pigment in them that caused them to glow in the dark. He had light colored skin that continued on over his entire body, except on his back, where a leathery, evil-looking, black wing sprouted. His face was slightly triangular shaped, ending in a pointy, but strong chin. A gigantic black sword with a hilt covered with brown leather lied on the ground beside him, its silver-colored edge glinting brightly in the sun.

He groaned softly and tried to push himself up off the dirt, but a fiery sensation, even worse than that, it was a blinding pain, spread throughout his left arm as he pushed. The muscles in that arm failed him suddenly, and he collapsed on the ground once more, rolling onto his back in the process. Unconsciousness washed over him in waves and he succumbed to its pull, falling into a dreamless sleep.

***

"Hey, kid! Yo, kid, wake up!" The man opened his eyes and squinted against the light of a blue torch hovering over his face. When his eyes grew accustomed to the light, they widened a bit when he saw that the torch was actually a person. It was a strange person with blue skin and blue fire for his hair. The person was thin and bony, but he was quite tall. His face was oval shaped and he had a short but pointy nose. He had yellow eyes with black dots for pupils. He was clothed in a long black robe that extended all the way down to his feet.

"About time you woke up! I was almost getting worried! …Actually, that's a lie. If you died, it would benefit my plans for raising an army of undead and taking over Olympus. But you didn't hear that." He said, grinning to show his sharp, blackened teeth.

The formerly unconscious man frowned but decided to leave the comment alone and get right to the point. "Where am I?" His own voice surprised him. It sounded weak, barely audible.

The fire-haired man's grin never lessened. "Hell." At his look of confusion, the blue man sighed. "It was a joke. Get it?" He pointed to himself. "Hades. God of the Underworld—also commonly known as Hell." The man's confusion never left his face and Hades sighed, shaking his head.

"Stupid, unbelieving generation… Lack a lot of humor too…" He muttered. When Hades looked back up at the man, he was staring at his left hand… or where his left hand should have been.

But it had been replaced with a mechanical… claw of sorts. Where his wrist should have been, there were two rings with small bolts that stuck out lining the rings' outside edges. His hand was an even bigger change though. He counted the fingers and found there was still five, yet the hand was larger than it used to have been. The fingers were gold-plated and were more like claws than actual fingers. The hand itself was covered with a thick leather glove.

"It's mechanical. I didn't think your old hand looked as cool." Hades said with an evil glimmer in his eye. The man stared at him in disbelief and horror. "It's… a joke." Hades sighed. "When I found you, your hand was a stump! I fixed it up for you!"

The man clenched and unclenched his fists, listening at the clacking sound that the fingers made as they touched each other. He didn't say a word though.

"What are ya, mute? How'd you end up out there on the street like that?"

The man frowned, racking his brain for an answer. "I was looking for someone…" He said softly, but a bit stronger than before.

"Who ya looking for?" For some reason, he couldn't remember anything about that 'someone'. All he knew was that the person was…

"I'm looking for…" He looked straight at Hades, his piercing blue eyes betraying his pained emotions. "I'm looking for my Light."

Hades frowned and pondered that for a moment. His eyes rested on the man's huge sword. An evil smile formed on his face and he looked back at the man. "What's your name?"

The man looked at Hades for a long time and replied quietly. "Cloud. Cloud Strife."

"Well, Cloudy, have I got a proposition for you…"

***

"We're comin' up on Traverse Town!" Donald quacked as he buckled himself into the pilot's seat. Sora watched the oncoming hole in the air with excitement and slight apprehension. Goofy was sleeping again.

He saw movement out of the corner of his right eye, but he ignored it, thinking it was just Goofy shifting in his sleep. It only took a few seconds to realize that Goofy was on his left side.

Sora looked to his right, but he didn't see anything. He looked out the domed windshield, but it yielded the same results. "You're getting paranoid, Sora…" He whispered to himself.

BLIP!

At first, he didn't notice it.

BLIP! BLIP!

It was louder this time. "Hey, what's that?"

BLIP! BLIP! BLIP! BLIP!

"Just the radar." Donald replied, keeping the ship parallel with the entrance to Traverse Town. Then his eyes widened at his own words. The BLIP-ing got more and more urgent and the radar showed an unknown ship approaching from behind.

"Probably just tourists…" Donald said quietly, not fully believing himself. He piloted the Gummi Ship to the side because the unknown ship was approaching with alarming speed.

The unknown ship simply shifted its course so that it was right behind them again. "What the…?" Sora wondered. He tried to look out the domed windshield to see it, but it was to no avail. The ship was directly behind and below them, just out of visual range.

"It's as if it's hiding!" Sora said to Donald. The duck merely quacked in frustration and pulled the ship in sharp climb, giving Sora a visual of the ship following them.

It was a deep blue color and its windshield was tinted black. It was very simple in its design, a thin box with triangles on the ends. From the side, it would have looked like a diamond.

But regardless of its simple design and small size, it sped up quickly, following them. As it got closer, Sora's blood froze. He saw weapons mounted on it. Sure, the Enterprise had weaponry of its own, and he was sure other Gummi Ships did too, but the way it was coming at them…

"It has weapons!" Sora cried. It had guns that were like rail guns, six barrels in each, shaped like an octagon. There were two guns. And by now, Sora could make out the little details on the ship… such as the Heartless emblem painted on the windshield!

"D-Donald…!" Sora cried as he saw the guns begin spinning rapidly. He wasn't a fool; he knew exactly what that meant. "It's shooting!"

Donald quacked and looked back, just in time to see blue laser bolts splatter themselves along their domed windshield. He gave an angry quack again and threw the joystick to the ship forward, sending them in a steep dive. The Heartless ship followed.

All the while, Goofy slept.

Donald forced the stick to the left, barely avoiding another barrage of fire, and Sora watched in dismay when he noticed the portal to Traverse Town was no longer in front of them, but to their right.

"Sora! Wake up Goofy!" Donald quacked, forcing them into another steep climb, just avoiding another barrage of laser fire. Sora gave him an incredulous look and Donald glared at him. "Find a way! I don't care how!"

Sora slowly climbed out of his chair once Donald leveled out and rushed to Goofy's side. He shook the Goof violently, but he kept on snoring. "C'mon, Goofy! Wake up!"

"Heads up!" Donald cried and then he sent the Gummi Ship into another dive. Sora stumbled back towards Donald and the pilot's seat because of it, but then Donald leveled out just long enough to pull up again. This time, Sora's little balance gave out and he tripped, flying forward, straight into Goofy and his chair.

Goofy finally woke up in a fluster and he looked down at Sora, who was currently sprawled on his lap. "Gawrsh, Sora, what'cha doin'?"

"You big oaf! Look around! We're under attack!" Donald cried from the pilot's seat, not bothering to look back at Goofy.

Now, Goofy may have been slow. Maybe dumb. Some would even call him stupid. Whether that was true or not depended on the situation. But, regardless of all that, the pacifistic Knight Captain knew one thing for sure. And that was what attack meant.

He got up quickly, dropping Sora to the floor in the process. He grinned and helped the teenager up, saying a soft, "Sorry." while doing so and then scrambled into the co-pilot's chair.

Sora sat into the chair that Goofy had just been in and put on his lap belt. "Hit that switch!" He heard Donald yell from the pilot's chair. Goofy did so and Sora felt the Gummi Ship shudder slightly.

"What was that!?" Sora wondered aloud.

"That was our cargo being dropped! It gives us better speed!" Donald muttered from ahead of Sora.

"…Cargo!? Like our supplies and everything!?"

"Just the nonessential stuff." Donald replied, before pulling the Gummi Ship in another maneuver, avoiding another barrage of laser fire.

"What's nonessential?"

"Clothes, food, water… tooth brushes, tooth paste… clean underwear—but that's okay! We'll go to Traverse Town and stock up!"

Sora sat back in his chair and grumbled slightly. He had a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach that no matter how close to Traverse Town they were, they were farther than ever from it.

"Okay! Let's take this guy out!" Donald quacked. "Goofy, hit the blue button!" Goofy reached forward and pressed a button. The ship launched forward with a large burst of speed. Sora was pressed into the back of his seat, his lips forming an O.

"No! Not the purple button!" Donald quacked, punching Goofy in the arm. The taller one rubbed his arm, saying an apology while doing so.

"What does the purple button do?" But Sora had already gotten a good idea of it. The stars of Interspace became lines in the window. And the ship was going many, many times faster.

The Heartless Ship disappeared amongst the stars and Sora sighed in relief. "It sends us into warp speed." Donald said, quacking loudly. He started flipping some switches and pressing buttons.

Sora was about to ask why it was so bad, but Donald answered his question before he could even ask. "The problem is, we don't have a good Navigation Gummi, or Navi-G. Without one, we won't know where we'll turn up!" He quacked loudly. "Why did the King put a Warp-G on this stupid ship without a Navi-G!? And why can't I stop this!?" Donald slammed his fists to the control panel in front of him and, suddenly, the ship shuddered.

It slowed, the stars becoming bright dots again. "Gawrsh, Donald! Ya did it!" Goofy said, patting his friend on the back, probably a little too roughly.

"Hey! Look at that!" Sora exclaimed, pointing out his window. Directly in front of them, not even a minute away, was a familiar hole in Interspace.

"It's a world!" Goofy gave a whoop and he pumped his arm into the air.

"Thank you, Mister Obvious…" Donald muttered and then piloted the ship towards the world's entrance.

***

It was a small world, Sora noticed. It had many different climates. Huge lakes were around some areas. Spots of lush grass and wildlife in others. And in others, there were large areas of dirt and sand.

Cities, most of which looked to be small villages and communities, dotted the world. But there was a larger one too. It was between a forested area and a large body of water. The city itself was situated on a flat plain. Around it were small farms and such, using the surroundings to the fullest.

And in the center of the huge city was a gigantic, round coliseum . As they got closer, Sora realized that the coliseum, itself, was made up of two rings, one inside the other. The inner ring was like a huge stadium, with places for viewers and guests to sit lining the walls. It looked to house thousands. And the outer ring wasn't really a ring at all. It was more like a semi-circle. But before Sora could examine it any further, Donald announced that they should get ready to teleport to the ground.

Before, however, Sora looked to the ground still far below them. He could just barely make out the forms of hundreds, if not thousands of people milling around. "Here we go…" He whispered and then started getting his equipment ready.

***

The world was dirty. It was filled with the sounds of poor people too. Beggars were at every corner. And the heat—and there was plenty of it—was terrible! It was hotter then than it ever had been in Destiny Islands! Even the hottest day on the Island couldn't match this, and it was nearing dusk in this world!

But the city wasn't all bad. All kinds of shops and carts lined the roads, each having a funny merchant naming off his items for sale. Sora saw everything from actions figures to roast ducks (Sora and Goofy had to restrain Donald when they walked past that cart). And their art was amazing! Large pots in all colors were everywhere, each having an inscription in it. Some even had certain events painted on it! Beautiful paintings were displayed in windows and the smell of freshly baked bread filled the air, making Sora's stomach growl loudly.

And with a sigh, Sora couldn't help thinking of how much Kairi would love to see all of this.

"I am seeing it, dummy!" Sora froze at the voice. He looked around quickly.

"Kairi…?" He whispered. But Kairi wasn't there. All that was there was a large crowd, looking at the various items and crazed venders nearly begging people to buy from them.

"Equipment! Armor for the tournament! Impossibly low prices! Come get it now or you may lose the chance to! Supplies are going fast!" A vender yelled.

"Sora!" Donald said, tapping his foot on the ground. "Aren't you paying attention!?" He demanded. Sora smiled sheepishly. Donald quacked loudly and showed Sora his magician's rod, which now had a large crack in it. "It broke during that fight with Trickmaster." The duck said. "And I need a new one!" And in the next few seconds of shopping, Sora shrugged the voice off as just his imagination…

***

Sora, Goofy, and Donald all walked into the coliseum's outer semi-circle. It was even larger than Sora had thought, the wall to the inner circle towering over him.

The entrance to the inner ring was on a raised platform. A series of steps led up to the large double doors. On either side of the stairs was a huge, golden statue of an armored man. Each statue had a shield in their arm that faced outward while the arm inward was outstretched at an angle, holding a golden sword. The swords just barely crossed the each high in the air.

At the bottom of the stairs was another statue, this one life-sized and made of marble. It was of a handsome man, fairly strong looking, with his hands, which were balled into fists, on his waist. His legs were spread, shoulder length, apart. He was dressed in similar armor to the large statues, the shield strapped to his left arm. The sword was kept in its scabbard.

There was an inscription on the statue and Sora got a little closer to read it. "Hercules. The son of the supreme god, Zeus. Half-god, half-mortal. Hero of Olympus. Destroyer of Hydra, the Four Titans…" Sora stopped reading there and shook his head in amazement.

"This guy's popular around here." With that, he started walking around some more. His attention was drawn to four large torches lining the edges of the semi-circle.

On the curved wall was an assortment of chalkboards. Sora got closer to them and studied them. They seemed to be for some kind of upcoming tournament. Each board had a different tournament bracket on it, each were filled with the names of various contenders.

He noticed that as the brackets got higher in the ranks, new contenders joined from a bracket of their own. He saw that these ones were actual teams. He figured it was made that way so teams wouldn't overwhelm the others from the beginning, but they'd be pitted against the hardest fighters near the end instead of easy opponents that had no real reason to be fighting in the tournament.

"Lots of people…" Sora said quietly. He looked around some and found that there was no one around. "Strange…" His voice was a whisper as confusion racked his mind. "I suppose they're all staying in the town then."

After debating it some with his teammates, Sora, Goofy, and Donald walked through the double doors into the 'inner ring'. Or, at least, somewhere in between.

They found themselves in a dimly lit room, the sources of light being a few candles strategically placed to allow the most light in the room. It was a square room with solid stonewalls. Large tapestries covered the said walls; each depicted a battle or an event of sorts. Sora noticed with a shake of his head that each of them had the character Hercules in it. Directly across from the trio, on the back wall, was an opening to a dark tunnel. But at the end of the tunnel, Sora could see a small slit of light. Sora realized that it led to a door that led outside.

A large stone block sat on the ground to the right. On it was painted another scene with Hercules. This one showed the god's son fighting off a large lion with a scar across his face. And then at the bottom of the scene, it showed the man wearing the lion's skin like a headdress.

He noticed a banner hanging over the tunnel entrance. In bold, black letters, it said Participants for the Phil Cup welcome! And then in smaller letters underneath the bold ones, it said Signup for the Cup ends soon. Sign up now or you'll have to wait until later Cups!

One of the banner's sides fell suddenly and then there was a clatter. A bulge appeared in one of the tapestries. The bulge moved to the floor, where a small creature rolled out from under it.

The creature grumbled something about a broken footstool and moved the tapestry aside to show a footstool that had fallen to the ground. He climbed back onto it and grabbed the banner, hammering it into the wall again.

He was a strange creature. His bottom half was covered with thick, brown wool of sorts. He even had a stubby tail. His legs were like a goat's (or some animal similar) legs, the knees reversed and they even ended in small and sharp hooves.

His upper half was more human like. He had a large potbelly that had straggly hair on it. He was a very round creature, except for his pear-shaped face. He had a large, red beard that extended out from under his chin. The portion of his beard directly under his chin (although it was hard to say where that was because it was nearly covered up with fat) extended much longer and curled inward. He had a bulbous red nose. He was bald on the top of his head—which was very ironic to Sora—but he had two brown horns that extended up and then back. And the last notable parts of his face were his pointed ears and his beady black eyes.

Sora looked at his companions in a little bit of confusion. Donald pushed him forward towards the creature. The boy turned back to the creature and cleared his throat loudly.

"Ahh!" The creature suddenly said, making Sora jump slightly. "Great timing! Move that block over there to the left, would ya? It's in the wrong place." The creature merely motioned for the block with a casual wave of his hand, but he never even turned to acknowledge the trio.

Sora looked back at his companions and scratched his head. Donald's face was contorted in anger at the rude greeting, but Goofy had clamped a hand over his beak. The boy stifled a laugh at Donald's angry glares and walked over to the block.

He placed a hand on the cool stone and pushed… and pushed some more… and some more…! The trio took turns pushing the block, but it didn't budge. Sora gave one more time, letting out a loud grunt. "It's way too heavy!" He hissed through clenched teeth as he pushed as hard as he could.

The creature's pointed ears twitched. "What? Too heavy?" His voice betrayed a tinge of worry and he turned to face them. "Since when have you been a little—?" He suddenly blushed when he saw Sora and his group. "Oh. Wrong guy."

Sora stared at the creature. The creature stared at him. Sora opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly the creature cut him off. "What are you three doing here?" He hopped off the stool. With an air of pride, he said, "This here's the world-famous coliseum! Heroes only!" He waved his hands wildly, trying to shoo them out of the room.

The trio didn't move. Donald crossed his arms across his chest and tapped his webbed foot on the ground. The creature moved closer to him. "Listen, I've got my hands full preparing for the games! I don't have time to baby-sit!" Donald simply snorted. "So you pipsqueaks run along!" At the word 'pipsqueaks' Sora chuckled slightly. The creature was, at most, as tall as Donald. Goofy and Sora towered over him!

"You've got heroes standing right in front of you!" Donald said as-a-matter-of-a-factly. He turned his beak up in pride.

Goofy grabbed Sora's arm and pulled him towards the creature. "Yeah!" He blurted. "And Sora here's the Keyblade Master! He's the hero that was chosen by the Keyblade!" Sora blushed slightly.

The creature looked Sora up and down and raised an eyebrow… and then he burst out laughing. "This runt…? A hero?"

Sora's eyes narrowed and his hands clenched. "I am a hero! I've fought tons of monsters and—"

The creature waved his hand dismissively and walked to the block. He placed his back to the block and pushed… to no avail. "Hey, if you can't even move this…" He dug his hooves into the ground and pushed with all his might, grunting loudly. The block didn't move. "You can't… call yourself a…" He turned around and pushed on it, still trying to dig his hooves into the ground. "Hero!" He finished. And, as if on cue, he lost his footing and fell flat on his face, not before hitting his head on the block though.

Sora snickered, Goofy covered his snout and chuckled, and Donald let loose a flurry of quack-laughs.

The creature got back up and brushed himself off. He gave the block a swift kick. His eyes widen and he cried out in pain. Jumping up and down, holding his hoof, he glared at the trio.

***

"Okay, it takes a little more than sheer brawn to be a hero." The creature known as Philoctetes, or just plain Phil, said. Sora smirked in his direction. The half-goat, half-man creature glared. His foot was now wrapped tightly in gauze and he was leaning on a walking stick.

"So, you'll let us fight in the games?" Sora asked.

Phil rubbed his furry chin. "The trial's tough. I don't know if you shrimps could handle it." The Keyblade materialized in Sora's hand. Donald and Goofy brought out their own equipment. "Well… I guess I could let you try…"

But it was too late. Sora and his group and already left the room in the direction of the inner ring…

***

"Okay, here's how it'll work. You see that obstacle course? Well, you gotta navigate through it!" Phil pointed to a large obstacle course off to the side of the inner ring.

Sora's eyes widened. The obstacles were impossible! He saw everything from huge pendulum-swinging blades, crocodile pits, spikes, and, strangely enough, monkey bars on it!

"Are you trying to kill me!?" Sora cried, his face white as a sheet.

"What?" Phil asked. Then he laughed. "You're looking at the wrong obstacle course! That one belongs to Hercules, the greatest he—"

"We know all about Hercules." Sora half-lied. "Where's the other course?" Phil smirked and started walking towards Hercules' obstacle course, motioning with his for Sora to follow.

***

"This is going to be easy, guys." Sora said, giving his friends a big grin. Phil had refused to let the other two go on the course, saying that it couldn't handle three people on it at one time. And the teenage boy couldn't disagree. It looked like it couldn't even handle his weight! "Just like back at Destiny Islands! Nothing to it!"

"Okay, the goal to this is to be quick, nimble, enduring, and strong. You get more point for doing it gracefully too!" Phil said. He went over the course's rules, which there were few of, and ended with saying, "Make up some stuff on the way. You don't have to do everything just the way everybody else does!"

Sora nodded and readied himself. He took off any equipment, such as his pouch full of supplies, and any other things that could weight him down. He reached up to his neck and found his silver crown-shaped necklace. It was a fairly heavy piece of jewelry, considering it was made of pure silver, but he stopped. No… that stays. He told himself.

"Ready…" Phil said, holding up his stopwatch.

The teenager bent down low, touching the dirt with the fingertips of his right hand. He dug the ball of his right foot, which was extended out, into the sand, and positioned him in such a way that his center of gravity was centered on his left foot.

"Set…"

Sora stared at the course in front of him, running through his mind all of what he could do on this course. He, however, didn't notice the black Shadow, sliding across the ground, moving towards him quickly.

"Go!" And Sora was off. Running across the sand with speed and nimbleness that years of racing Riku had perfected.

"Go, Sora, go!" Kairi's voice. But, this time, Sora embraced it. He knew Kairi wasn't there in person, but maybe, just maybe, wherever she was, she could see him and was cheering for him just as that voice had.

He reached the first part of the course, a simple rope that he had to climb up and ring a bell at the top. It was maybe twenty feet tall—a piece of cake for the island boy.

Soon enough, he was racing across the ground again. A rope ladder was directly in front of him. He launched himself onto it, scrambling up it as fast as his legs would take him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something black moving across the sands, but he passed it off as the shadow of a passing bird.

The ladder led to a small bridge. The bridge led to a thin and long board that connected to another bridge. Sora began edging across the board, moving quickly but cautiously, making sure not to lose his balance.

"Sora!" One of his friends called from behind him. By now, she had seen the Heartless moving swiftly across the ground towards him. But Sora ignored them, pouring his concentration into his stepping. One false step and… he made it!

He bolted across the bridge and found himself at a fairly long set of monkey bars. He grabbed the first one and began crossing them. But what he didn't expect was spinning monkey bars! His eyes widened as the bar under his right hand began to twist. He reached out and grabbed the next, and it too spun as he left go with his right and reached out for the next bar.

Two yellow eyes… "A Heartless!" He yelled when he spotted the black spot that was directly underneath him now. The black spot changed forms and began a Shadow Heartless. It leapt into the air, clawing at Sora's feet, prompting the boy to keep moving.

The next bar he grabbed with both his hands and tucked his legs to his chest. He used the momentum of his speed and twisting bars to his advantage and swung up. There was just enough room between the bars for him to slip through. He swung up… and around, stretching his legs out just in time so he crashed onto the bars body first, now on top of them.

He cried out in surprise and pain when his shins hit the bars first, shooting pain up his legs, but he grit his teeth and pushed himself up, standing on the bars, trying not to move lest they twist again.

Now Goofy and Donald were racing towards him as fast as they could.

The Keyblade appeared in his hand with a flash and he tore off, across the spinning bars, not slowing long enough for them to cause him to lose his balance. When he reached the last bar, he leapt off with a flip, landing gracefully on his feet on the ground below, making sure to bend his knees slightly to absorb the shock of the fall.

He spun around immediately, just in time to see the Shadow leap at him, claws reaching wildly for his heart.

SHING… The Heartless exploded in a puff of black smoke right after Sora swung the Keyblade into it. Goofy and Donald arrived seconds later, weapons ready, looking around for any other threats. Phil followed as quickly as he could, grumbling about someone named Hades. But Sora ignored them all, and just stared at where the Heartless just was… and the lack of what wasn't there…

All the other Heartless he had destroyed in the past died, releasing the heart in them. But this Heartless… didn't.