Fans: Save me, please.
Naminé: Yay! I'm in this chappie! ...sorta!
Sora53: Ish.
Corita: Not really.
Sora: Naminé!
Naminé: Oh, dear, not again...-
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Corita. Hahaha-cough-
"Wahaha! I threw sand at Cloud's head!" Corita said merrily as she skipped along the path in the Coliseum.
"Is that all it takes for you to be full of yourself?" Donald asked.
"Aw, shut it, Duck Boy. Hey, Sora! That was an awesome battle! Looks like you're really getting a hang of the cards." Corita complimented.
"Thanks, Corita." Sora said, blushing. "Anyway, we need to keep moving. He's probably heading for the finish line."
"Maybe if you hadn't taken your eyes off of him after you beat him..." Donald muttered.
"Hey! It's not my fault! You guys reappeared...ON TOP OF ME!"
The group broke out laughing, and Sora started playfully throwing some sand at them.
"ACK! NO MORE SAND!" Corita moaned, brushing it out of her hair. "Besides, we need to hurry!"
Agreeing with Corita, the group hurried onwards, to the place where Cloud and Hercules battled.
"Look!" Goofy cried. He was pointing to an open area in the coliseum, where Hercules stood over Cloud. Cloud was on one knee, obviously in pain.
"You lost! Give it up, Cloud!" Hercules roared.
"We're not done yet..." Cloud muttered softly, standing up.
"I can't guarantee your safety if we keep going like this!" Hercules cried.
"Better worry about yourself. Looks to me like you're slowing down a bit." Cloud said, eyes closed.
Hercules took a step away from Cloud, and he turned his head as he heard Sora approaching.
"Don't worry! I'll back you up!" Sora called to him, summoning the Keyblade into his clutches.
"Sora?"
"Get all the backup you want. I'm going to finish you and get back my memories!" Cloud said loudly, causing Sora to drop the Keyblade on Corita's foot.
"SORA!"
"Your memories?" Sora asked.
"Now, now, Cloud, we don't want to spill the beans." said a cool voice. Walking forward was a tall man, robed in black. He had blue skin and blue flaming hair. He reached the 6 people and stood next to Cloud. He then turned his head to Hercules.
"Hades! You!" Hercules cried.
"Looks like you oversold yourself, Cloud." Hades said lazily. "All you did was wear him down. This doesn't look good for your performance rating... Let me put it this way: You, my spiky-haired friend, are fired."
"But...my memories! We had a deal!" Cloud cried in a voice uncharacteristic to him. Hades looked down at him in amusement.
"Did you really think you could get back your lost memories just like that? Get a grip!"
"Why, you..."
"I said, you're through! This time I'll take care of Irk-ules myself!" Hades roared. He surrounded himself with a barrier of energy, and shot it outwards towards those around him. Everyone was blasted away except for Hercules, who was thrown to his knees.
"HEY!" Sora cried as he, Corita, Goofy, and Donald were thrown against a wall.
"Rule 5! It's never too late to enter the games." Hades said matter-of-factly.
"Hades, you were behind this from the start!" Hercules cried. Hades moved slowly towards him.
"Cloud may have failed to take you out, but he did break you down. Time for Plan B. Pack your pita, Herc, 'cause you've just won a free trip to the Underworld — paid by me!"
"Hold it, hothead!" Sora yelled, getting up from the group against the wall. He began to run forward, but he was stopped by Corita's voice.
"SORA! Aren't you forgetting something?"
Sora turned around and saw that his sister was holding up the Keyblade, the silver and gold gleaming in the sun.
"Oh yeah..." Sora muttered. With barely any effort, the Keyblade master summoned his weapon, and it vanished from Corita's hands and reappeared in his.
"Thanks!" He said with a smile, and turned to face Hades.
"Humph...you could've walked 3 feet and grabbed it...show off." Corita muttered as she stood up along with Donald and Goofy. The 3 of them followed Sora's path to Hades, and stopped behind him.
"Sora, no!" Hercules cried.
"Come on, Herc-how can we go one-on-one if you're in the Underworld?" Sora asked.
Hades thought for a moment. "Good point, kid. I guess you'll just have to go with him!"
"What! The games are cancelled? How come?" Sora cried.
"Three words! Everyone's pooped!" Phil explained.
Goofy looked down at Phil. "Wait a minute, that was only two..."
"You gotta be kidding! What about my match with Hercules?" Sora moaned.
Hercules looked at Sora with his kind eyes. "I'm sorry, Sora. But you wouldn't want me to compete in this condition. Let's have a match when I'm fit again. Can you wait?"
"Okay. I'll hold you to that." Sora said after a moment.
"Then it's settled!" Hercules said merrily.
"Sora! He's coming around!" Corita called out. She and Jiminy were crouched near Cloud, making sure he was okay. Cloud's eyes opened, and he looked up into Corita's. He then turned over and got to his knees.
"You okay?" Sora asked as he walked over. Cloud merely stood up and turned away from him.
"Yeah. Sorry I messed up your games." He said calmly, and began to walk away.
"Hey! Hope you get your memories back!" Sora called, causing Cloud to stop dead in his tracks. "Forget about what Hades said. Sometimes the tiniest thing can make you remember stuff you forgot years ago. If it's an important memory, there's no way it could ever be gone forever. That's what I think, anyway." Sora stated, causing his friends to once again look at him in awe.
Cloud stood in silence for a moment. Then, he turned around to face Sora. He looked down at the Keyblade Master one last time, and tossed him a card.
"That's for you. For helping me out." Cloud said, and he turned around once again.
"Sure you don't want to just come with us instead?"
"Sorry. Not interested." Cloud said cooly. He walked past Corita and Jiminy (who was perched on her head) and didn't look back.
"FINALLY! NO MORE SAND!" Corita said, dancing in the middle of the bright hallway. Her friends could only watch with odd expressions on their faces. Sensing that they were watching them, she stopped and looked at them. "What? Do I have something on my face?" Corita asked.
"Well, we know that Corita here is not okay..." Donald said slowly, "But I sure hope the king is okay..."
"Why bring that up all of a sudden?" Sora asked.
"I just wanted to make sure I haven't forgotten about him." Donald explained.
"And?"
"I still remember perfectly! Goofy and I are on a quest to find him."
"Yep! The king helped save the world by staying on the other side of the door to darkness." Goofy said confidently.
"If Goofy still remembers, then I won't forget anytime soon." Donald muttered.
"And me and Corita...are looking for Riku. He was with the king when the door closed." Sora said to himself.
"That was easy. I guess we really can't forget the most important memories." Corita said.
"I hope not..." Donald muttered, his voice echoing through the hallway.
"Wow, Axel, you seem pretty intrigued by this Sora kid." A tall, blonde-haired woman said, her voice cutting though the still air like poisoned honey. She, wearing a robe not unlike Axel's, was standing in a medium-sized room with an orb in the center on a small platform. Axel was standing to her left, staring into the orb, distracted.
"And you're not?" Axel asked as he looked away from the orb.
"I haven't made up my mind...but I'd like to know what's on yours." She said lazily. Axel turned towards the woman.
"He became a Heartless, Larxene-and you know what happens to people who do."
"People who lose their hearts also lose their minds, their feelings...They're consumed by the darkness." Larxene said. Axel nodded.
"Right. But that didn't happen to Sora. He held on to his feelings, even as a Heartless. Only one other man ever managed to do that."
"So it's the strength of his heart that intrigues you...the heart chosen by the Keyblade." Larxene thought aloud.
"What makes his heart shine like that? What sleeps in his most secret depths?" Axel wondered.
"The heart is a mysterious thing, Axel."
"Maybe so. But unlocking its secrets is the whole reason we, the Organization, exist."
"So except for our friends, we're forgetting everything bit by bit..." Donald muttered as they came to the next hallway.
"Hmm... I wonder what we just forgot." Goofy said. The four of them looked down and thought for a few moments.
"I can't think of anything. Guess I musta forgot it..." Goofy mumbled.
"Thanks for that, Goofy." Donald sighed.
"But whatever it was, it must not have been that important, a-hyuck!"
"Right, or else you wouldn't have forgot it. See, look at this." Sora said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small, star-shaped blue charm.
"Oh, that's Kairi's charm!" Corita said, and Sora smiled, staring down at it fondly.
"Yep. It's special to her, so I promised I'd return it." Sora said, turning away from his 3 friends. "I'll never forget that promise. That's why I'll never forget Kairi. I wonder what she's doing now..." He muttered as he placed the charm back in his pocket. Sora closed his eyes. He could almost see her there, with her dark red hair and beautiful smile.
Or...did she have blonde hair?
"What-" Sora cried as he opened his eyes and fell back towards the group. "Oh... Who...who was that?"
"Hello? You still with us?" Donald asked. Corita walked up to Sora.
"Sora? You okay?"
"Yeah...it's nothing. Never mind."
"Well, let's keep going." Goofy said merrily.
-Naminé: Happy Chinese New Year!
Sora53: You're not Chinese.
Naminé: So what? I SHALL MAKE YOU BELIEVE I AM!
Corita: Aw, Sora's seeing things!
Sora: Ish.
Riku Fangirls: WE WANT RIKU! WE WANT RIKU!
Sora53: STOP THE CHANTING! You'll be very happy with the outcome of the story, I promise.
Corita: Meh. DON'T TRUST HER!
Naminé: ROOSTER'S RULE!
Corita: Meh...Larxene.-
