Chapter 4
Olympus Coliseum-Preliminaries
After a quick rest at Traverse Town Sora, Donald, and Goofy were off to the next world. They landed near a large stadium-like building and walked in. Inside were an empty trophy case and a few other things that would deal with a tournament.
There was only one person in the room and he was a short man that same up to only Sora's knees. The bottom half of the man was like the back of a goat and the top was that of a man but he had goat horns coming out of his head. The man's back was turned to them and he stood on a block working on something for the tournaments most likely.
"Um, excuse me?" Sora walked up behind him.
"Good, you're here," the man said without turning. "Do me a favor and move that block over there for me will ya?" He pointed to a large block near the trophy case. Sora shrugged to Donald and Goofy and walked over. He started to push but the block was made out of some kind of stone and much heavier then Sora thought.
"It's way to heavy," Sora told the man.
"To heavy?" the man sounded confused. "Since when have you been such a little..." As he finally turned around the man saw his mistake. "Oh, wrong guy. Why are you here kid? You lost or something?"
"Maybe I'm here for this tournament thing!" Sora said back.
"What? You?" the man chuckled. "Let me tell you something, this here is the world famous Coliseum! Heroes come from all over to fight monsters right here!"
"We are heroes!" Donald yelled.
"That's right," Goofy grabbed Sora's shoulders. "Sora here is a real hero chosen by the Keyblade." He said proudly.
"Hero? That runt!?" the man started to laugh loudly.
"What's wrong with that?!" Sora shouted at him. "I've fought a bunch of monsters!"
"Listen kid," the man walked over to the block Sora had been trying to push before. He started to push himself. "If you can't even move this then you can't call yourself a hero!" The strain was evident in his voice as he struggled to move it and it didn't budge an inch. The man flopped onto the ground.
"I guess you're no hero," Donald said.
"Watch it webfoot," the man said. "So maybe there is more to being a hero then brute strength. I'll see what you got. By the way, name's Phil."
"I'm Sora. This is Donald and Goofy," Sora pointed out.
"Lets go see the trials," Phil showed them the way to the fighting arena.
A man sat in one of the dark corners of the arena with his head down. He felt a great amount of potential power walk in and saw Sora.
"The Keyblade Master," the man ran a hand through his spiky blond hair. "If he would ever release his full potential he might even come close to me. This should be interesting."
"The object is to smash all the barrels," Phil pointed out to the barrels scattered across the arena. The arena itself was huge with many seats for spectators and a square ring about a foot high.
"Easy," Sora said.
"I'll be timing you for twenty seconds," Phil brought out an egg timer. "You have only twenty seconds to break all twenty-four barrels."
"That's all! That's less then a barrel a second!" Sora shouted.
"I know. Start!" Phil said.
Sora was off in a flash and on the first barrel. He used the Keyblade like a bat and knocked the first barrel into the one behind it. He ran past the barrels, each one destroyed with one or two strikes. With five seconds left there was still three barrels left. He knocked one into another and then used a Fire spell on the last with one-second left.
"I did it!" Sora pumped his fist into the air.
"Yeah, not bad," Phil said as he started walking back into the lobby.
"Looks like we're headed for the games," Sora smiled.
"I don't think so," Phil said.
"Why not?!" Donald yelled. "Sora beat your trial!"
"Two words!" Phil shouted back. "You guys ain't heroes!"
"That's not fair!" Sora shouted as Goofy counted his fingers in confusion. Phil had made up his mind though so Sora walked angrily out of the lobby.
Sora scoffed his foot in the sand while Donald and Goofy followed. He had half a mind to pull out his Keyblade and demand to be able to participate.
"Quite a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?" a sly voice came from behind him. He turned to see a man in all black robes with gray skin. He had blue fire on his head instead of hair. He was one of the men from the dark room.
"Who are you?" Donald asked.
"Cool it feathers," he said, getting Donald even angrier. "Name's Hades, Lord of the Dead. Hi, how you doing?"
"What do you want?" Sora asked, not trusting anyone who was called the Lord of the Dead at all.
"Hey, you wanna fight in the games right? Well get a load of this," Hades smiled and a slip of paper appeared in his hand.
"A pass?" Sora read the front.
"For the games," Hades explained. "With this, even the goat man can't turn you down. What do you say?"
"All right," Sora said as he took the pass from Hades as their hands touched for an instant Sora felt the death that surrounded Hades.
"Good luck," Hades smiled and turned away. "I'm pulling for you little shorty."
"A pass?!" Phil shouted as Sora handed him the little slip of paper. Phil was now letting people in to watch.
"Now we can get in the games right?" Sora asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yeah," Phil sighed. "Watch yourself though. Some real weirdoes signed up this time."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy stepped into the ring ready for a good fight. However, their opponents were unexpected.
"Heartless!" Goofy shouted. There were some Soldiers and a new blue kind that looked like Red Nocturnes beside the color.
"Blue Rhapsodies," Sora said after using Scan. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Leon and Yuffie sitting in the crowd.
"Blizzard!" Donald started off by blasting a Soldier away. Goofy stepped up and sliced a Rhapsody with the edge of his shield. Sora quickly followed up by pulling out the Keyblade and slashing down two Rhapsodies. Donald used Fire against a Soldier and then knocked it away by a swing form his staff. Sora finished it off by catching it in midair.
The crowd cheered for them and Sora smiled. He twirled the Keyblade in a circle and put it over his shoulder in a victory pose.
"Not bad kid," Phil said, shock evident in his voice. Sora smiled but turned serious when the guy who was fighting next passed him. He had spiky blond hair and glowing blue eyes. He wore a blue, one-piece outfit. The pants were baggy and the top was sleeveless. He wore a long, blood red cape that had a collar covering his mouth and nose. His left hand was covered with a glove with gold fingers and he had regular boots. On his back was a sword as big as the man in length and almost a foot wide. The man broke the stare and stepped into the ring.
"Man, he looks tough," Phil pointed out the obvious. "Maybe you'll end up fighting him."
"Cloud?" Yuffie asked herself in amazement. When their world was destroyed she thought only Aerith, Cid, and herself had survived. Cloud was long thought dead.
"Who's Cloud?" Leon asked. That's right, Leon hadn't met them until they all arrived in a place called Hallow Bastion.
"He is very powerful," Yuffie said. "Unless Cloud holds back most of his power, Sora doesn't stand a chance."
"Wow." Leon simply said.
Cloud stood in the ring until his opponents appeared. Not one, but four Large Bodies came before him. He pulled his large blade, the Buster Sword from his back. One Large Body advanced on him but Cloud stood his ground. Just as the Large Body threw out its fist in attack Cloud jumped into the air and flipped over the Heartless. As he was coming down, Cloud rammed his sword into the Large Body's head and destroyed it.
The other Large Bodies were now on alert and approached Cloud carefully. Cloud ran at one and sliced at it. The Large Body jumped high into the air to dodge and came down with as much force as it could muster. A shockwave ran across the ground but Cloud jumped over it and sliced the Large Body clean in half.
As the third Large Body ran at him Cloud sheathed his sword and pushed his hands forward in one swift motion. A bolt of lightning came from the sky and struck the Large Body right in its face, making it drop to the ground and roll around in pain, its little arms not being able to make it to its face. Cloud mercilessly pulled the Buster Sword back out and rammed it into the Large Body's round stomach, killing it instantly.
The final Large Body stared at Cloud and made a run for the outside of the ring but a magical barrier stopped it in its tracks. Cloud walked calmly toward the Large Body and then stopped.
"Don't worry," Cloud said in a dark, cold voice. "This will be so fast you won't even feel it." Cloud brought his Buster Sword up and prepared an attack. "Sonic Blade!" Cloud was so fast he was just a blur as he ran past the Large Body with blade drawn and the now dead Large Body hitting the ground.
Sora stepped into the ring, a little shaken after Cloud's display of power. Even if he got past the next couple rounds of Heartless, would he be able to defeat Cloud? Sora shook it off and focused on the problem at hand. A couple Shadows and Blue Rhapsodies had appeared in the ring.
Sora quickly slayed two Shadows before dodging a shot of ice from one of the Rhapsodies. Goofy had already taken out the rest of the Shadows, the small Heartless almost becoming too easy to defeat. Donald finished off the other Rhapsodies and the trio was already done.
"That little squirt is you next opponent," Hades stood in the entryway to the Coliseum talking, to Cloud. "So don't play around; juts take him out."
"Sorry," Cloud said coolly. Cloud had to be one of the few people in this world not afraid of the ruler of the underworld. "My contract only says..."
"I know!" Hades yelled loudly. "You think I don't know?! I wrote the contract! I know it only says you have to beat Hercules in this tournament but you have to beat that kid to get to him!"
Cloud turned slightly away from the Lord of the Dead. His hard blue eyes focusing on Leon and Yuffie in the crowd. The memory of a certain person entered his mind. "Aerith."
"Besides, its like that old goat says," Hades continued, not hearing Cloud. "Rule 11: Life's a game, so let lose and have fun with it! I mean, a casualty or two along the way is no big deal, right?" Cloud obviously detested Hades look on life.
"Fine," Cloud said as he pushed himself of the wall he had been leaning on and walked toward the ring.
"Geez, stiffer than the stiffs back home," Hades said, "Still, suckers like him are hard to come by." A growling noise was heard from behind Hades and the Lord of the Dead chuckled slightly.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy had swept through their competition without much trouble. Now Sora was shaking in his shoes as Cloud stepped into the ring in front of them and drew the Buster Sword.
"It's test time Keybearer. I hope you studied," Cloud said as he crouched into a fighting position. Sora was a little shocked to hear that Cloud knew of him being the Keybearer but ignored it and prepared for the fight of his life.
"I don't like Sora's chances," Yuffie said from the stands. She stole some popcorn from Leon's tub of it and sat back.
"Hey, that's mine!" Leon said.
"What are you going to do about?" Yuffie asked. Leon sat back and rolled his eyes.
"That Cloud doesn't look so tough. I could beat him at my full power," Leon said.
"Squall," Yuffie said sternly.
"That's Le..." Leon cut himself off when he saw Yuffie's face. Yuffie never called him by his real name, Squall Leonhart, unless she slipped up or was deadly serious.
"Cloud is more powerful than most can imagine. Nobody can match him, except for one person," Yuffie face turned into a frightened one for a second. "But I don't want to go into that right now." Leon wondered about the other person but spoke no more of it. It was time to see what Sora was really made of.
Cloud started it off quickly by running at Sora and slicing downward with his Buster Sword. Sora was unprepared but Goofy wasn't and he quickly came in and blocked the hit with his shield. Donald stayed at a distance, waiting for a chance to use some magic. He used a Fire spell when Cloud moved back but Cloud brought up his sword and the spell simply bounced off. Cloud then jumped high into the air.
"Rocket!" Goofy yelled while Cloud was airborne and used the attack that had defeated the Trickmaster. Showing amazing agility, Cloud spun in midair and avoided the attack as Goofy almost flew out of the Coliseum. When Cloud landed Sora ran in quickly and slashed at him but Cloud blocked once again. Letting out a yell, Cloud ran for Sora but then changed directions and sliced at Donald.
"Blizzard!" Donald shot off and hit Cloud in the chest. Cloud shivered from the cold but quickly shook it off. Goofy ran back into the fray by hitting Cloud with his shield from behind and almost knocking him to the ground. Cloud quickly recovered though and attacked Goofy. Goofy blocked the strike from Cloud's sword but Cloud jumped up and landed a kick in Goofy's chest and Goofy was knocked to the ground.
"You all right?" Sora asked as he pulled Goofy to his feet.
"Felt like I was getting hit with a gummi block," Goofy tried to catch his breath but soon had to defend again when Cloud struck at them. Just as the blade would have hit them Cloud was knocked away with one of Donald's Fire spells. Cloud would not give up and hit Donald on the side of his head with the hilt of his sword. While Donald was falling, Cloud dropped low and kicked the Wizard across the ring and Donald was knocked out. Sora and Goofy raised their weapons and prepared for Cloud's next attack.
"I want you, Keybearer!" Cloud yelled and ran behind Goofy so quick he was a blur. Before Goofy realized it, Cloud pinched a place on his neck and the Knight was sound asleep. Sora looked on nervously as Cloud turned toward him.
"You won't get away with that!" Sora yelled trying to sound confident but the shaking evident in his voice. Sora remembered back to the attack Cloud had used against the Large Body Heartless.
"Come on, Keybearer," Cloud started to walk forward. Sora raised the Keyblade as Cloud had his Buster Sword.
"Sonic Blade!" Sora used his magic to speed himself to a blur and Cloud, apparently, was not prepared for this and was struck across the chest and thrown to the ground. Sora stopped himself and turned to the fallen Cloud before turning to the crowd for his victory pose he had been using after every match.
"Not bad, Keybearer," Cloud's voice made Sora jumped. Cloud stood with barely a scratch on him but clearly injured. "But now..." Cloud was cut off as a large, black paw landed on him. Sora looked up to see a three-headed dog, almost as big as the Coliseum.
"Oh yeah, one more rule I forgot," Hades showed up near the exit. "Accidents happen. Go get 'em Cerberus!" Hades walked away and Cerberus turned to Sora. He brought up one of his large feet and aimed for Sora. A figure, quick as lightning, entered the arena and held up Cerberus' foot with his bare hands.
"Herc!" Phil shouted when he saw the man.
"Phil, get them out of here!" Hercules shouted while he tried to keep Cerberus under control. Sora scooped up Donald and ran back into the lobby while Phil dragged the semi-awake Goofy out.
"Come on guys! I need you for this one!" Sora shouted and tried to shake them. Leon and Yuffie ran through the door and stood over Donald and Goofy.
"Cure," Leon said as that green light washed over the two of them and Donald and Goofy hopped to their feet.
"We really have to learn that," Sora said. "We also need to get back in there." Donald and Goofy nodded and they made for the arena.
"Hey! You can't go in there!" Phil shouted at them.
"You can decide whether I'm hero material or not!" Sora shouted over his back as they ran in. Hercules had Cloud slung over his shoulder. As Cerberus turned his attention to them, Hercules ran into the lobby. Sora whipped out the Keyblade and dropped into his fighting stance. "Let's go!"
"I'm going back in there!" Hercules shouted as he placed Cloud down. Before he made it to the door, Leon stood in his way.
"I know how you feel but this is not your journey," Leon sighed. "It's theirs." Hercules looked like he was deciding for a second but then slumped his shoulders.
"Fine," He sighed.
"Don't worry," Yuffie jumped in, "I don't think any of you are giving those three the credit they deserve."
Sora slammed into the Coliseum wall and hit the ground. He looked up to see he had made quite an impression in it. He shook the cobwebs from his head and charged back into battle. Goofy tried to trip Cerberus up by slamming into his feet but Cerberus would not be brought down that easily. The giant dog snapped at Goofy with one of his heads but Goofy jumped away quickly.
"Fire!" Donald hit the middle head with his spell and singed the fur but did little less. Cerberus obviously did not like this and went straight for Donald but Sora stood in his way and sliced at one of his snouts while he was close to the ground. Cerberus examined the small cut on his left head then growled at Sora in anger. Cerberus drew his heads back and then spewed what appeared to be some type of black energy into the ground.
At first Sora wondered what was happening as the energy disappeared into the ground. Then a swirl of the black energy erupted from under Sora's feet and pain ran through Sora's body. The black energy swirled around him like a small tornado and he knew he had to break free or he would be killed.
Meanwhile, Goofy was on the offensive again and he used his Rocket attack, slamming into the dog's right head and it was snapped back. The other two quickly retaliated and the middle one knocked Goofy away with his snout. Goofy hit the wall but got back up as fast as he could. A blast of cold hit Cerberus in his middle head courtesy of Donald's Blizzard spell. Cerberus once again growled at the two and went back into battle, now full of anger and rage.
Sora fought to release himself from his painful prison only succeeding in making it constrict around him, hurting worse. Sora reached deep down inside himself to find the determination that had helped him find the courage to face Darkside back at his island. He used that quick burst of strength and freed himself but dropping to the ground in an injured heap in the process. It was up to Donald and Goofy now.
Donald had hit every head with a Blizzard spell now, all part of his plan. But now he was afraid he didn't have enough magic energy left to pull it off. Goofy was busy jumping to the bleachers and then leaping onto Cerberus' back. He smashed Cerberus in the head with his shield as many times as he could but it didn't seem to have any lasting effect. Cerberus reared back and the flung Goofy upwards and into the top bleachers.
"Fire!" Donald shot off once again making the bits of snow and ice over Cerberus' heads melt into water from the heat. He was ready for the last part of his plan but was ready to pass out from loss of energy.
"Donald!" Goofy yelled to him as he stumbled down the steps of the stands and back to the ground. Donald helped his friend up but could barely stand himself.
"Goofy, do you have any magic left, at all?" Donald asked.
"A little," Goofy said.
"Give it to me. Trust me."
"Okay," Goofy focused and transferred his magic to Donald. At the loss of the only energy he had left, Goofy fell to the ground, once again asleep.
"Let's finish this!" Donald yelled as he summoned up the energy Goofy had given him and focused on using his new spell. "Thunder!" Lightning rained from the sky and struck Cerberus in his faces. The water that had been on him thanks to the melted Blizzard spells conducted the electricity even more. Cerberus hit the ground, finished. Donald also fell to the ground next to Goofy and, like his companions, fell fast asleep.
"Due to your efforts, I Phil place upon you the right to fully participate in the upcoming games," Phil read from a scroll. "As Junior Heroes you have..."
"Wait!" Donald yelled. "What do you mean Junior Heroes?!"
"Please," Phil told them, "You don't know what it means to be a real hero yet."
"Well, what does it mean?" Sora asked.
"That's something you'll have to find out on your own," Hercules cut in. "Just like I did."
"All right, we'll be back," Sora said. Goofy pulled a small device from his inside pocket.
"If you need to contact us, just press this and talk into it," Goofy explained. This world obviously had very little technology and they seemed confused. Phil shrugged and placed it down next to him as they said their goodbyes.
"I can't believe those kids beat Cerberus," Phil shook his head.
"Just between you and me Phil," Hercules leaned down. "I had already worn Cerberus down by the time they got there."
"My lips are sealed," Phil smiled.
As Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked toward the exit to the Coliseum they found Cloud sitting on the exit's steps. As they walked up Cloud looked at them.
"Why'd you do it?" Sora asked. He no longer had a reason to fear this man but he still proved very frightening at times. "You know, get involved with Hades."
"I tried to use the powers of darkness, and it backfired," Cloud said in his calm voice, never once sounding anything but calm.
"But why?" Sora asked again.
"I'm searching for someone," Cloud got a distant look in his eyes. "My light."
"I'm searching for someone too," Sora smiled. Cloud seemed to know what he was talking about already and probably knew the answer to his own next question.
"Is she your light?" he asked. Oddly enough, Sora never told him about Kairi but Cloud already knew it was a she. Very frightening man for being so perceptive.
"Yeah, I guess," Sora said.
"Good luck," Cloud said as he stood and started to walk away.
"How about a rematch sometime?" Sora shouted to him. "Fair and square, no dark powers involved!"
"I'll think about it," Cloud said and walked away. Sora smiled again and the three of them left the Coliseum.
Later that night, Hades stood near the entrance to the lobby. In his hand was a small image of Hercules.
"He's strong, smart, caring, and handsome to boot. He's perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfectly infuriating!" the fire around Hades went from blue to red as he crushed the image in his hand. "Wait! What am I so worried about? I'll let Hercules train the kid. In the next games, I'll crush them both." Hades felt the dark presence behind him. "Hey, what are you doing here? This is my show."
"Do as you wish," Maleficent said. "But be careful not to plunge to deep into darkness."
"I know what I'm doing," Hades said as Maleficent nodded and disappeared. "Crazy old witch." Hades said as he walked away from the Coliseum, ideas of defeating both Hercules and Sora cultivating in his mind.