Here's my next installment! I know it took a long time and blame that on a huge writer's block! But I'm back! But I have news. December 26th-January 3rd, I'm leaving town. Not much if any writing during that time. Before then, I'm going to try to get the next chapter of my Sonic story out and I'll try for this too, but I make no promises! I'll try though. And if I fail, I'll see you after Christmas!
Read on! It's a good one! And I don't own KH or any of the characters in it! Or anything Disney or Square-Enix either!
Chapter 10: Preliminaries
"Reckless… stupid… I have half a nerve to take that Hades out of the games! If that Heartless had attacked someone…" Phil said, now pacing back and forth from within the confines of the room they had previously been in. Sora, Donald, and Goofy had moved to the opposite corner of the room and were discussing the encounter quietly.
"Enough with the game stuff! We don't need to be in this competition! Not after that Heartless!" Donald said forcefully. Sora sighed in disappointment but agreed. He nodded.
Goofy, however, wasn't paying any attention to their conversation. He was eyeing Phil with curiosity. Somewhere within his small but wise at times mind, he got an idea.
Turning to his friends, he provided the other side of the argument…kind of. "I wonder who Hades is."
"Who cares?" Donald exclaimed, resisting the urge to forcefully shut Goofy up.
But Sora did. "Donald, quiet." He whispered thinking hard about the matter. "Goofy's right! All Phil's been talking about is 'Hades' Heartless'! I think this guy Hades somehow created that Heartless! If we can find him…"
"We can find out more about the Heartless!" Donald said, snapping his fingers—or trying to. After a few minutes, he gave up and stamped his foot instead. Sora grinned at the duck's willingness. "Sora, don't be stupid. We aren't here to beat the Heartless! We're trying to find the King!" And as an afterthought, he added, "And your friends."
Sora's grin faded into a frown. "Come on, Donald! Darn it, I know what the Heartless can do! They'll probably rip this world apart! Just like… they did with mine…" He grew unnaturally quiet. His lip quivered and his eyes were wider than usual. He didn't need to be thinking about his home. Not now. But… he was.
Donald watched Sora's face contort in pain and sighed, knowing he couldn't say no. "I guess… we haven't checked out this world enough anyway. Maybe the King is on this world and…"
He trailed off when Sora turned around and ran straight to Phil. "Can you tell us where Hades is?"
Phil stopped pacing and looked at Sora. "Huh? Why are you wanting to—"
"Just trust me! Where's Hades?"
Phil frowned and scratched his furry chin. "Well… Hades lives in the Underworld—the deepest, darkest pit deep under the ground of Olympia."
Sora fell silent, frowning. His journey was getting more and more weird with every passing moment. "The Underworld… Any way to get him to come up here?"
"He comes up every once in a while. Weird guy. Anyway, he'll be coming up most to fight in the games." Sora's lips curved upwards in a mischievous grin. Donald quacked a groan.
"So… did I do well enough in that obstacle course to gain entrance to the games?" Sora asked; his sly was smile still plastered on his face.
"Pretty good for a kid. Even better when that Heartless attacked." Phil said. And then his face hardened. "But you aren't playing in these games!"
"But why!?" Sora demanded angrily.
"Two words: You guys ain't heroes."
"Hey, wait, that's—" Goofy started but Donald stomped on his foot, causing him to yelp and fall silent.
"Come on!" Sora said desperately.
"Want to be a real hero?" Phil asked, suddenly serious and even compassionate sounding. "Start by observing some real heroes. Learn from them and maybe you could make it. You got the makings of a hero in ya, kid, you just gotta learn how to use them."
Sora stood there for a long time in silence. He was still silent after Phil had ushered the three out into the courtyard. He was confused now. What made a hero? Was it not about self-sacrifice? Wasn't it about helping others even when it was outright dangerous to one's self? That's how he had always heard a hero defined as. That's what he thought a hero was. So why was he not one?
He sat down on one of the steps that led up to the inner ring and thought about it. Donald himself was pacing back and forth, muttering quietly. Goofy was polishing his shield. For some reason, he felt the calling of the Keyblade on his heart. It wanted to come out. It sensed… something. He held out his arm, palm open, and the Keyblade appeared in his hand. He wrapped his fingers around the hilt that seemed to be made specifically for his hand and looked around warily.
Heavy footfalls from behind Sora filled his ears. Donald stopped pacing. Goofy stopped polishing. They both looked at something behind Sora. Spinning around, Keyblade held out protectively, Sora was greeted with the sight of one of the tallest men he had ever seen in his life.
He was mostly covered with a huge, black cloak that reached the bottom of his legs—it was amazing he didn't trip himself up with it! His skin was an eerie blue color and his eyes yellow. His face was huge, extremely long, ending with a chin as long as the upper half of his face. He had no hair, leaving only his blue, cue-ball head.
Sora took a step back, his eyes sharp, looking for danger. The man however smiled, revealing ugly teeth. "Rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?" His voice was friendly, but there was something in it…
"Who are you!?" Donald demanded. The man, ignoring Donald, took another step forward and Sora, in turn, took another step back. The Keyblade was glowing dully.
"Yeah, stubborn." Sora said coolly, hoping to scare the man off. He turned to walk off.
"Whoa, hold on there, fuzz boy." Sora froze. "Let me guess…" The man said while seemingly gliding over to Sora. The teenager didn't turn to face him. "You wanna enter the games, right?" He put a hand on Sora's shoulder and Sora gasped slightly. His hand was both cold and hot at the same time. He couldn't explain it. It was a feeling unlike anything he had ever felt before. A sweat appeared on his forehead; cold chills ran down his back.
"Well, then, hey," Sora gasped quietly once more. His voice seemed to come from everywhere at one time. It was… mesmerizing. Any of his reservations about the man disappeared at that one moment and he felt he could trust him. "Get a load of this!" And suddenly, out of thin air it seemed, a slip of paper appeared in the man's other blue hand.
Sora knew what it was before the man even pressed it into Sora's palm. That same something that told him what it was warned him not to accept the man's façade. But Sora only listened to part of it.
He snatched it hungrily, staring at the wording on it. "A pass…" He whispered quietly. And, more than that, it was three. He looked back up to the man with a questioning look in his eyes and then gasped loudly. A flame had erupted on his baldhead. The man didn't look alarmed though.
Instead, he smiled again. "I'm pulling for you, little shorty." And then he was gone. As were any memories of the occurrence.
***
Sora rose from the step quickly when he felt the something in his hand. Opening his palm, he found three tickets crumpled up, but still in tact. "Where did these—"
"Sora! What are you staring at? Life lines!?" Donald quacked at him angrily. Sora looked up at him. Donald was standing in the sand, wings on hips, glaring at him with his eternal scowl. "We can't keep hanging around here all day long!"
"What do you have there, Sora?" Goofy asked. Sora showed them the tickets, still not understanding how he got them. "Gawrsh, does this mean we can play the games?"
"I—" Sora began, but Donald cut him off.
"What'd you do? Steal them?"
"What!? No, I—"
"Hey, little guy! What are you doing hanging around here?" Sora jumped and nearly fell down the stairs when the female voice interrupted him again. Whipping around, he was greeted with the image of a beautiful woman. She was thin and had all the curves of an adult woman. Her hair was a light brown color, pulled into a very long ponytail. Some was left out of the ponytail but styled so it wouldn't fall over her eyes. She was wearing a long, shimmering purple dress that reached all the way down to her ankles that was held up by two straps at her shoulders.
Sora blushed slightly and scratched the back of her head. "Well, I—"
"We were trying to get in the games!" Goofy said, cutting Sora off. "But Phil wouldn't let us in. But now we have three tickets!"
"Let me see those." The woman said, snatching the tickets before Sora could reply. She studied them closely and then shrugged. "I don't know what a little tyke like you could do in the games—probably knocked out of the first round—but these are genuine tickets. Phil has no choice but to let you in…" She smiled, revealing pearly white teeth. "But you'd better be careful! All contestants of the games are required to allow their opponents to live… but accidents happen. And I don't trust those Heartless creatures."
"So we can get in?" Donald asked. "Phil would let us in?"
"He has no choice. Rules say anyone with a ticket can play in the games." The woman stated with a smirk. "He always hated that rule." She frowned slightly. "He may try to weasel out of it though…" She paused for a moment. "Are you absolutely sure you want to fight?"
"Yeah! We want to and we're ready!" Sora exclaimed, hope revealed in his voice.
Meg nodded and smiled. "Okay then! Follow me and I'll convince Phil just fine for you!"
***
"No! I told you—"
"The rules say they can, Phil!" Meg said strongly. Sora, Goofy, and Donald stood back and watched.
"I know what the rules say, but—"
"There's nothing that keeps them from playing but you!"
"And I'm in charge of this year's games! That means—"
"They have tickets!"
"I don't even know how they got those tickets! For all I know, they—"
"The rules say I can play!" Sora finished, jumping into the argument. Phil stepped back and held his chest, panting. Sora stood still for a while as did Meg, but her lips twitched.
Phil looked up at him and shook his head. "You got some nerve, kid. And you do too, Meg! But… You don't give up. I respect that." Sora's eyes began to shine and his lips curled upwards. "I'll let you… I'll let you enter the preliminary rounds. If you do well, I'll let you keep that ticket. If not, you're out. Got it?"
Sora was about to protest, but Meg put a hand on his shoulder. She answered for him. "Agreed. That goes for all of them, right?"
Phil nodded and looked at Sora. "You'll fight the preliminaries as a team. If you earn yourself entry to the games, you'll be fighting mostly other fighters who've excelled in their categories as well as some more powerful Heartless just to fill in for fighters who cannot fight because of injuries."
"Do you actually trust the Heartless?" Sora asked, the question gnawing away at his mind.
Phil scratched his chin. "Not at all. But Hades has been warned. If his Heartless severely hurt anyone, he'll have a hefty price to pay."
"And you trust Hades?"
Phil smiled sadly. "I trust him less than I trust his Heartless. But I really can't do anything about it. I'm just in charge of this year's games—not the games as a whole. The higher ups of Olympia have decided to allow him to fight in the games and I can't do nothing to stop it."
Sora's team looked at each other with slight suspicion. They all came to the same conclusion. Sora looked back to Phil. "Think he's bribing them or anything?"
"Wouldn't put it past him. But stop worrying about that! You'll be getting enough of him if you hold your own in the preliminaries. Now, get ready. I want to get this over with."
Sora looked to his team and they both nodded. He looked back to Phil. "We're ready." Phil looked at them with smirk and then he walked out into the inner ring, the four others following him.
***
Three blue versions of the Red Nocturne called Blue Rhapsodies floated above four Soldier Heartless. Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood back, weapons out and ready. The Keyblade held out to the side, ready to strike without mercy. The Magic Staff pointed forward, already the end was glowing red with the Fire magic, ready to blast away the Blue Rhapsodies quickly. Goofy seemed to just hide behind his shield, but Sora knew better than to underestimate the power of Goofy and his shield.
"Go! Fight! Have at it!" Phil cried from behind them and, like robots, the Heartless charged at the trio in fury.
They never stood a chance. Fire exploded from both the Keyblade and Staff, taking down two of the blue Heartless. The last retaliated with the frigid Blizzard magic. It aimed at Goofy, however, and his shield protected him from the magic. And the Blizzard had an adverse effect of Goofy's shield as well. Ice formed on it, making it denser, as well as its already sharp edges were sharpened. Goofy dove into the fray. Attacking the Soldiers, he knocked them down with his shield and then finished them off with its sharp edges.
The last Rhapsody disappeared in black smoke.
Sora became a blur, slashing at the remaining Soldiers with deadly accuracy.
The battle was over merely a few minutes after it started; yet the group felt the exhaustion of it. Sora sat down on the ground, breathing heavily.
"Not bad, kid!" Phil said, walking up to Sora. "You ain't a hero yet, but not bad at all. Good thing you came to me for coaching!"
Sora stared at him incredulously. He opened his mouth to speak, but found that no words came out. No, instead, he watched as a dark figure walked out of the room and into the ring.
He had blonde spiky hair. His eyes were a piercing blue color. He reminds me a lot of Riku… he has that same air around him. Even the eyes are the same. Sora thought to himself while inspecting the newcomer. He wore black or dark blue clothing. His pants were loose fitting but his shirt tight and sleeveless. He wore at least five visible belts. Two were wrapped around his waist, one was high up on his left leg, and the last two were wrapped around his pants right above his ankles—probably to keep his pants from billowing too much in a fight, Sora thought. A utility pack was also wrapped around his waist the strap to it reaching across his chest to his left shoulder. A protective plate protected his right hip as well as one for his left shoulder. His left hand seemed to be artificial, more like a robotic hand ending in golden claws instead of real fingers. He wore a long, red cape that covered most of his mouth. The cape ended frayed and tattered. But this man had two very startling aspects on him. One was the black, leathery wing that jutted from behind his left shoulder blade. It was almost like a bat wing, only it looked much more dangerous. The other aspect was the sword the man carried. Huge would be a major understatement. The fact was, the sword was bigger than any sword Sora had ever seen before! It looked to be at least as long as Sora was tall. The blade itself was very wide, at least a foot wide and a few inches thick. It was covered in some sort of tape or threads that wrapped around it from the base to the tip. The blade was deadly. And so was the man. Sora didn't need to even see him fight to see that.
The man passed, his eyes locking on Sora's for just a second. And then he walked on until he reached the shadows. He disappeared from sight and Phil finally spoke.
"Something tells me he'll be a hard one to beat." Sora tore his eyes from where the man had been standing seconds before and looked at Phil.
"We're going to have to fight… him? When?"
Phil smirked. "He's your final match in the preliminaries." Sora nearly swallowed a lung. "Don't worry. He's not gonna go all out and you don't actually have to beat him. Just give it your all!"
Sora sighed heavily. "Right. Let's start the next round."
***
The next few rounds got harder progressively, each taking a bit more energy out of the trio. But regardless, they destroyed the opposition quickly and suffered little injury.
Meanwhile, two dark figures watched them closely…
"That little punk is your next opponent." Hades told Cloud with an evil glint in his eye. "Now, don't blow it. Just take him out!"
Cloud chuckled softly. "The great god of the underworld afraid of a kid. Will the wonders never cease? Sorry, but my contract says—"
"I know!" Hades said sharply. "Think I don't know? I wrote the contract! I know it only says you have to kill Hercules, but you gotta fight this kid to get to him!" Cloud's eyes narrowed and his arms crossed his chest. "Come on! It's like that old goat says: Rule Eleven: It's all just a game, so let loose and have fun with it! I mean, a casualty or two along the way is no big deal, right?"
Cloud's icy eyes seemed to turn even colder. "Whatever." And with that he walked off before Hades could even try some more.
"Geez…" Hades said. "Stiffer than the stiffs at home. Still, suckers like him are hard to come by…" He shook his head. "Too bad for him. If he fails his mission…" Hades cracked his knuckles. "He'll pay for it."
***
The next battle for Sora was a much harder one, considering the number of Heartless and their difficulty. Four Red Nocturnes. Four Blue Rhapsodies. One Large Body.
"Goofy! Watch out!" Sora cried as the Large Body charged at Goofy, using its huge belly to throw him backwards. The Goof hit the ground hard, but got up quickly enough. Goofy downed a healing Potion and jumped back into the fray.
A fireball flew directly to Sora's right and he whipped around, shooting off a Blizzard at the red Heartless before it could get a better aim. He then switched it around and shot off fire magic at a Blue Rhapsody.
Suddenly a sharp and hot pain flew up his left leg and he wasn't able to hold in the scream that erupted from his lips. "Sora!" Both Donald and Goofy cried at the same time. Sora stumbled forward and fell to the ground, reaching down and desperately slapping his pant leg, trying to put out the fire on it. The attack had come from a lone Red Nocturne that had managed to zip around behind Sora. A Blizzard attack slammed into the Heartless moments later, freezing it and then causing it to disappear before Donald reached him.
Donald quickly put his staff on the fairly bad burn on Sora's leg caused a very weak Blizzard spell to form on its tip. The burn was quickly cooled and then he used Cure magic to make it disappear almost completely, only leaving a faint red mark on Sora leg.
But Sora had no chance to thank Donald. The ground beneath him began shaking with a rhythm of BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Sora quickly got to his feet, ignoring the soreness in his leg and faced the Large Body.
He thanked Donald by pushing him out of the way of the Large Body and then himself jumped, using the power of the Keyblade to further his ascent, landed on the shoulder of the Large Body and then nimbly leapt off again, landing on his feet easily.
There's one thing about Large Bodies that makes them easy to defeat. That's their stupidity. Simple moves such as the one Sora pulled throws them off completely, making them disorientated and completely open to attack. And as the Large Body scratched its meaty head with an equally meaty hand, attack is just what Sora did.
Lightning crackled on the tip of the Keyblade and Sora leapt forward, burying the blade in the Heartless' back. And with a explosion of black smoke, the Large Body disappeared.
Sora straightened himself and looked to his comrades. They were busy tending their own wounds with curative magic and Potions. Sora himself drank another Potion for added measure as well as an Ether to regain some spent energy. But he was afraid nothing could prepare him for his next match—the final match.
Phil ran out into the inner ring. "All right, this is it, kid! Final match! Finish this one and you're done!"
No duh, you stubborn old goat. Sora thought with a smirk and then shook his head. Stubborn old goat? Where have I heard that before…?
"Hey! Kid! Dozing off or something? Well, wake up! Here he comes!" Sora watched as Phil ran off the field and the blonde man step onto it.
"Here we go, guys." Sora said as Goofy and Donald gathered at his sides. "Get ready, this will be tough."
The trio stepped forward to meet the man in the center. Sora and the man stopped when they were a few feet away from each other. Goofy stuck out a hand to be shaken, but the man merely looked at it, to Goofy, and then to Sora, not bothering to shake the Goof's hand at all.
"I'm Sora." Sora said, forcing himself to look the man in the eyes. Those Riku eyes. He didn't bother shaking his hand though, not after what the man did to Goofy. "This is Goofy and Donald."
"Cloud Strife." The man—Cloud—said quietly in reply. "Are you sure you're up to this? I can't go that easy on you." Not according to my contract… He finished in his mind.
Sora's eyes narrowed and he grit his teeth. Was he sure? Not really. But…
"You can do it, Sora! I believe in you!" Sora found comfort in Kairi's voice. Somewhere deep inside him, he knew he was probably going insane for some reason, but he didn't pay that any attention. Instead he trusted Kairi's word and the Keyblade appeared in his hand with a flash.
"Up to it or not, I'm not backing down." Sora said strongly. The man's face betrayed no emotion, but his eyes seemed to soften just a bit. And, without another word, he walked back to the other side of the arena.
Sora watched him as he walked and looked to Donald and Goofy. "No matter what, don't give up, guys. We can beat him if we keep fighting!" Donald looked a little unsure of that, but Goofy gave them both a thumb's up.
Sora's eyes locked with the man's once more and the acknowledged each other with a nod. And that was all they needed to begin this fight. Before Phil was even able to command the start, both Cloud and Sora threw their arms holding their respective weapons out to the side and charged forward.
The two met with a clash, weapons creating sparks as the owners pushed themselves, trying to overcome the other. The Keyblade was sharp and in 'battle mode' and Cloud's Buster Sword was the same as always—deadly. And, at that moment, both of them realized how hard this battle would actually be.
Sora was the first to blink, leaping back, barely avoiding the Buster Sword as it crashed to the concrete ground of the coliseum.
Sora looked back to Goofy and Donald and, at that moment, realized they weren't going to be much help during this battle—this would be one fought between him and Cloud. It was going to be a blade-to-blade match. Goofy would not be able to join because of the sheer speed of the fighters. And Donald wouldn't be able to use his magic lest he risk hitting Sora.
"YAAAAAH!" Sora pulled himself from his thoughts just in time to see Cloud charging at him with nearly inhuman speed, Buster Sword low to the ground. The sword was barely above ground level and at times Sora saw sparks erupts from its tip when it would scrape the ground.
He back flipped out of the way. The blade was so close that he could feel the breeze from it as it sliced through the air as fast as the eye could see. Sora had no time to relax though because Cloud seemingly effortlessly changed the direction of the heavy Buster Sword so it was flying down to Sora just as fast. Sora brought the Keyblade up to meet it and when they met, there was a bright flash as both weapons seemingly repelled each other, causing both owners to stumble backwards. And Sora could see that's just what they did. Bright light covered the Keyblade and it hurt his eyes to merely look at it. However, covering Cloud's weapon was a purple energy. A purple energy that somewhere inside Sora, he knew was dangerous. It was almost like… physical darkness.
The Keyblade pulsed with energy as if that darkness caused hidden power within it to flare up. And it gave Sora energy. It gave him power. He was more ready for this battle than he thought. He wouldn't lose.
His eyes locked onto Cloud's once more. "Let's take it up a notch." He said courageously. Cloud's face, once more, betrayed no emotion whatsoever. However, he nodded in agreement and tightened his grip on the Buster Sword.
The two charged forward once more, weapons a blur in the daylight. CRASH! The slammed together once… twice… three times before the two leapt back again. But they didn't pause for formalities.
Sora ran forward again, jumping high over Cloud's head, landing behind him. He somehow sensed Cloud's movement behind him and spun around, Keyblade out. The two weapons clashed once more. Cloud and Sora both pulled their weapons away. Sora leapt into the air once more, bringing the Keyblade down in an arc. It met the metal of the Buster Sword. Cloud's arms didn't even quiver.
Cloud's feet got into the fight, doing a sweeping kick that landed Sora on his rear. The younger teen rolled to the side. The Buster Sword slammed into the concrete where he just was seconds before. It left an actual indentation in the ground.
In a darker area of the arena, Hades watched with a scowl on his face. Either Cloud was still holding back or Sora was a much better fighter than expected… Or, what Hades figured most—a mixture of both.
And in a lighter area of the arena, quite a few people watched. Phil, Meg, Donald, and Goofy all watched, not paying much attention to anything else. Someone came up behind them, but they didn't turn to look at him. "Hey, who's fighting?"
Meg's attention was finally ripped from the battle and she grinned. "Hercules!"
Sparks flew when the swords crashed into each other once more. This time, however, the weapons stayed connected, each fighter trying to overcome the other. The light that had been seen before was now shining brightly as ever. It was so bright and powerful that they couldn't even see each other, and if they could, they'd see that sweat poured from their pores. But neither gave up. Even as the force that caused the weapons to mystically repel each other tried to force them apart, they kept pressing on.
But Sora's arms gave out first. He stumbled back, hitting the ground hard, and the Keyblade flew from his hand, clattering to the ground ten feet away. Cloud was thrown off balance slightly, nearly falling forward onto Sora, but he regained it in time. But this delay was enough for Sora to begin scrambling backwards.
Cloud didn't chase him this time though. Instead, he closed his eyes and the dark energy covered his entire body. The Keyblade appeared back in Sora's hand with a flash of light, and Sora slowly rose to his feet. What was Cloud doing?
The teen got ready to attack again, but froze. Cloud's eyes opened suddenly and he could see that the darkness had even extended to his eyes, changing them from aqua to completely violet.
"Sorry, kid." Sora heard the man say. And then suddenly, he flew forward, feet not even touching the ground. His sword was not pointing directly at Sora, but, instead, the side of the blade was. But that was all Sora could see before Cloud collided with him in a speed not even the Keyblade could accomplish. Sora flew backwards at least twenty feet, crashing into the ground roughly. And before darkness overtook him, he could have almost sworn he heard a sonic boom…
Suddenly, a green light washed over him. All at once, the soreness in his muscles disappeared and consciousness came back to him. His eyes fluttered open and he saw Cloud with his own eyes tightly closed. His right hand no longer held his sword, but was clenched over something so tightly his hand was shaking. And then Cloud relaxed, exhaling deeply. He opened his palm and Sora saw a small green spherical object the size of a large marble in his hand.
His eyes locked on Cloud's. "You healed me?" Cloud pocketed the marble object and looked at Sora, nodding his head. Sora smiled slightly and got up. He stuck out his hand to be shaken and Cloud looked at it warily. Finally, Cloud took Sora's hand in his own and shook it.
Sora's heart fell when it finally dawned on him that the match had been lost. "I guess I'm not good enough to beat you." He let go of Cloud's hand. "You fight really well." Cloud didn't answer though and Sora looked up at him. He was looking towards the shadows. In the shadows, Sora could see a dim blue light. And then a large gate on the other side of the ring lifted loudly. From somewhere in the darkness behind the lifted gate, a monstrous roar was emitted.
Cloud's eyes widened quite a bit. "No! Run, kid! Move!" He charged forward and Sora found himself just barely running ahead of him. He heard heavy footfalls, causing the very ground to shake. Ahead of them, Goofy, Donald, and Phil were all waving their hands frantically, beckoning them to move faster. Meg looked terrified and furious at the same time. And there was another man—a familiar man that Sora was sure he had seen before—running straight towards them.
The footfalls continued, even worse now. Sora spared a look and nearly fell over in surprise and fear. Three heads… it's a stinking three-headed dog! I'm going to die! Sora kept running. The Keyblade appeared in his hand and he used its power to speed himself up quite a bit. And then he froze when he heard a cry from behind him. It was a cry of surprise and pain. Sora whipped around and was horrified by what he saw. Cloud was in the three-headed dog's middle head. The head thrashed back and forth. Cloud looked like he was in obvious pain and Sora could have sworn he heard bones crunch. And then the head let go. Cloud flew through the air and crashed into the stone ground, bouncing once… twice… and finally rolling to a stop well away from the dog-beast.
And now the dog's attention was on Sora. The Keyblade shone brightly, but Sora had no reservations of defeating this beast. And, all of a sudden, a hand was placed on his chest and, like he was weightless, it pushed him back so roughly that his feet left the ground and he was midair for a split second before he hit the ground and tumbled to a stop. The man that had been running towards them now stood in Sora's place. One of the dog's heads snapped down onto him, completely enclosing the man in its mouth. "No!" Sora cried in desperation. Suddenly the dog yelped loudly and spit back out the man—saliva and all—who landed with a roll and sprung back to his feet, facing the beast.
"Phil! Get them out of here!" Sora heard the man yell. And all of a sudden, Goofy's hands grabbed Sora's arm and forcefully pulled him back towards the safety of the lobby.