Chapter XIII: Olympus Coliseum
Sora watched the stars flash past the window, but it no longer held the magic it did before Wonderland. Where was Alice? For that matter, where was Riku? Sora still had no idea whether Kairi was out there somewhere, or not on Earth, but the way it sounded, Earth wasn't there anymore.
And, he couldn't help thinking, maybe that was a good thing. There was always someone talking about how humans were slowly destroying the world. At least now they didn't have to take the blame.
"Whoa!" The ship lurched, and Sora was suddenly assaulted by small, furry brown things.
"Smile! SMILE DAMMIT!" One screamed in his ear, and Sora hurried to comply while the other pulled at the left side of his face. Sora could hear three sets of laughter from the other passengers and the pilot, Donald, sighing.
"I told you to smile. That's just Chip 'n' Dale, the Gummi ship mechanics."
"Right we are!" The one in his ear said, rather loudly and squeaky. "And we won't have you ruin the engine by POUTING!" Sora scowled.
"I wasn't-" That's all he could say before two pairs of tiny hand pulled the edges of his mouth up.
"SMILE! No scowling!" They finally let go, and Sora made sure to keep smiling.
"Alright! Alright!" They jumped off his shoulders, and Sora could see that the one who had been shouting was none other than Chip.
"Good. Now KEEP that smile until we land."
"Alright…" Sora slouched back in the chair, glaring while smiling. The combination made him look evilly insane.
"Well, it's an improvement." They jumped off and scurried away, going to do whatever they did, and the rest of the occupants went back to whatever they where doing.
"Hey, Donald…"
"NO!"
"Oh, just making sure."
Finally, no one remained awake except Sabrina and Donald. Sabrina gave Donald a reprieve from her torturing and instead turned to look outside. She watched as hundreds and hundreds of stars flashed past. Each concealed yet another world.
Who came up with all these worlds, she wondered. Every one is so different. You look at Donald and Goofy's world, apparently seeming like the very center of all the worlds, and it was ruled by various cartoonish animals. Then, there was Sora's world. Dominated by humans, nothing opposed them. Everything, even the very laws of nature, they bent to their own uses. Finally, there was hers and Jeremy's, what Sora referred to as 'a medieval world, but with differences'. Sabrina had grown up believing humans would kill you in an instant, but Sora was definitely different. He was almost normal, yet in a strange way. Were only the humans in her world like that? Or were only the humans in Sora's world like him? Or, could humans be diverse, ranging on murderous insanity and normal. Sabrina shook her head. There was no reason to ask questions she couldn't answer. Maybe Sora knew? She turned to look at the other boy. He seemed naked to her, lacking wings to wrap around his shoulders as he slept. How did humans survive without wings? She could only imagine what he thought of her. She had always known there were wingless people, where Sora hadn't even known anyone like her existed. Did she look like a freak? Probably. What did he-?
Her thoughts were cut off by the slowing of the ship. Sora suddenly jolted awake, not realizing Sabrina's thoughts had been focusing upon him. He yawned and stared out the window. Before them was a world that resembled the Coliseum in Rome, with clouds whirling around a large building.
"Yet another world to explore…" Donald sighed. "And if the last one taught us anything, it was that we should give up this whole trip." He squawked in surprise when Sora patted his head.
"Lighten up, Donald. This one is sure to be better." They filed off the ship, making quite sure of their footing before stepping down. Before them was a giant set of double doors. They pushed through into a large, dusty courtyard with yet another set of doors at the opposite end. On either side of the doors were giant statues of muscular men wearing togas and brandishing swords.
"Well, this is pretty neat," Sora said. "Reminds me some what of ancient Rome, if nothing else." The others looked at him strangely before shaking their heads. More of his rambling that they didn't understand…
The strange group stepped forward, walking to the front doors and inside. Upon stepping inside, they found themselves crowded in one side of a tiny, badly lit room, the other occupied by a large pedestal and a small wooly man who apparently had horns and tiny hooves as feet. He appeared to be painting some kind of sign.
"Oh, glad you're hear," he said. "Couldja move that block over here?" They looked at one another before Sora decided to have a go at the pedestal. However, no matter how hard he pushed, he couldn't get it to budge.
"It's too heavy!" He complained, still attempting to move it.
"Now, when has that ever…" The goat man turned around and stared first at the struggling Sora, then at the others, eyes widening at the sight of Sabrina and Jeremy, specifically Sabrina.
"D-demons!"
"Oh, shut up," Sabrina snarled. "You ain't so normal yourself, goat-man."
"Phil," the goat-man, or Phil, corrected. "Anyways, you guys can't join the games." Sora, having finally given up on the block, looked at him with confusion.
"Games? What games?"
"THE Games!" He exclaimed. "The Games that come once a year that heroes from all over come to compete in! But, I can't let you join. You aren't heroes. You can't even move this." Phil proceeded to try and move the pedestal that Sora had tried to move, but failed worse than even him, if that was possible.
"Well, brawn isn't everything," he said, giving up. "But that doesn't change anything. You still aren't heroes. Heroes defeat monsters and evil and the like."
"Sora has beaten tons of monsters!" Donald said, patting Sora's shoulder.
"Yeah! He's the Keyblade Master," Goofy added. While they argued over being heroes, Sabrina looked at the pedestal. It didn't look too heavy. She walked up to it, rubbing her hands together, and began to push. At first it didn't move, but it soon gave way, going forward much faster than Sabrina intended. It hit the opposite wall.
"Oops," Sabrina said while everyone turned to her. Their eyes all opened wide, except Jeremy's.
"Now look. You've gotten it stuck in a corner." He shook his head. Phil, a little startled, turned back to Sora.
"Well, I guess I can give you a chance. Let's see how you do on the training court." He led the group through a black doorway. The other side revealed a brightly lit arena surrounded by bleachers for spectators.
"Wow," Sora said.
"It ain't too special, but it works out okay. Now, for the training course." Phil went over to one wall where some buttons were. He pressed one, and platform and barrels rose from the bottom of the arena. He walked back over and pushed Sora forward.
"You've got a minute to break all them barrels. Starting… Now." Sora raced forward, first breaking the barrels on the lower platforms before working up to the higher ones. He easily finished before time was up. Phil nodded.
"Not bad, kid, but there's more." He pressed another button, creating a more complex set of platforms and barrels.
"It's still a minute. Go." Sora once again raced forward, hitting all the barrels in front of him. He thought he had finished until Sabrina shouted, "One more barrel! Above you!" Sora looked up. Sure enough, there was another. Gritting his teeth, he climbed onto a taller platform to reach the one above him and jumped for the last barrel. He did not make it, falling to the ground below and jolting his knees. A horn was blown, signaling the end of the time limit.
"Not too good there, kid. Go ahead, give it another try," Phil told him. Sora tried again and again, still missing the side of the platform by inches when he jumped. His whole body hurt from hitting the stone ground. Sora finally decided to try another tactic. He broke the rest of the barrels and climbed upon the other platform, like always. But instead of jumping, he pointed the Keyblade at the barrel above him and shot off a Blizzard. It hit the barrel, frozen shards of it flying into the air.
Sora jumped to the ground in triumph. Phil nodded.
"Good, good. Only this time, remember that real heroes don't rely upon magic." Sora glared and tried one last time. He imagined that each and every barrel was Phil, destroyed them faster than he had before. This time, he managed to grab the edge of the platform with the last barrel and demolished it with extra gusto.
"There," he huffed. "Now I did it."
"Yep, you did. Only, there's one thing. Ya see, you don't have a pass, so I can't let you in," Phil replied. Sora's face turned bright red with anger.
"Why you…! You made me do that, for, for noth-!" The others dragged him away and out into the main courtyard, where they sat on the steps.
"It's okay, Sora," Sabrina said, trying to be comforting. "We'll just go on to the next world." Sora sighed.
"Awww, rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?" Sora looked up. Someone walked out of the shadows, and Sora felt his mouth go dry. The man wore a long black and navy blue toga, his skin only a slightly lighter blue. He seemed to be muscular with a long chin and nose. His eyes seemed sunken in. His mouth, while he was grinning, had almost the opposite effect with dark blue lips and razor teeth. Long fingers were tipped with long gray fingernails. The most shocking feature of all, however, was his hair. It was leaping blue flames. With the site of this man, Sora immediately put everything together and saw that this was yet another Disney movie. The man was Hades, and he was in the movie Hercules.
Sora immediately felt his heart drop. Alice in Wonderland hadn't really had a villain, unless you count the idiot Queen. No, Hades was a full-fledged bad guy. Was Sora ready for this?
Sabrina glared at him with narrowed eyes. "Who are you?" She demanded to know.
"Whoa, whoa, hold on there, dragon girl. Wait, let me guess. You want to enter the games, right?"
Sora nodded, but barely. He didn't want anything to do with this particular God. He flinched when a cold hand was set on his shoulder.
"Well, then, have I got something for you." Hades held his other hand in front of Sora's face. With a flash of light, a small slip of paper appeared between his fingers. Sora blinked.
"A Pass?"
"You bet. And it's all yours." With another flash of light, the paper was in Sora's hand. "Good luck." He turned and walked away. Donald and Sabrina glared at his back suspiciously while Sora gaped at the Pass. Why? What could Hades possibly gain by giving him a Pass?
"Don't use it, Sora." Sora was brought back to reality and looked at the speaker, Jeremy.
"That guy's bad news. The way he looked at you, I'm willing to bet he's somehow arranged something in the Games. You are just one part."
"Aw, c'mon, Jeremy, it's just for fun," was Goofy's obviously oblivious answer.
"Goofy, I'm not so sure that-" Donald began, but Sabrina's voice drowned his out. It was sharp, and although quiet, deadly serious.
"I don't care who he is, I promise you, if you join those Games, I'll kill you myself, Sora." Sora looked into her yellow eyes for a moment, then shook his head. Whatever the consequences, Sora somehow felt he had to do this. He had to prove himself in some way, show he wasn't just some idiot kid who got shoved into something he couldn't handle. Show everyone he was worthy to be the Keyblade Master, young or not. If he didn't take this risk, he knew he'd always consider himself a coward. He had to.
"No, Sabrina. I'm going."
After a period of screaming, yelling, slapping, hiding, and other similar activities, the group split. Sabrina, red faced with anger, wanted no part of this escapade and was returning to the Gummi ship with Jeremy, who insisted upon making sure she didn't hurt herself. Sora, with a large, hand shaped red mark on his right cheek, walked into the room where they had first met Phil. He was still there, arranging a sign.
"We have a Pass," Sora announced. Phil whirled around and looked closely at the slip of paper.
"Yep, it's a genuine Pass. I guess you can enter, then." He looked again at the group.
"Hey, where did your dragon friends go? And how did you get that big mark-"
"Can we go ahead and go?" Sora said impatiently. He didn't really want to talk about the fight.
"Alright, alright. Anyway, you are just in time. The Games have just started." They walked out into the arena, as they had before. It looked exactly like it had before Phil had set up the platforms. As they walked over to the side lines, another man walked past. He wore all black clothes with a scarf covering most of his face. All you could see of it were blue eyes and his impossibly spiked blonde hair. Worn on his back was a sword with a blade as long as one and a half men. The blade was wrapped with bandages, giving it a dull appearance. Somehow, Sora guessed that it would be the exact opposite.
"A lot of weirdoes signed up this year," Phil mumbled. "Like that guy. Who knows, you might even fight him." Sora paled at even the thought.
Shortly after, Sora found himself in the arena for the first round. Before him was a mottled group of Heartless.
"I'd like to know how those Heartless managed to get a Pass," Donald mumbled. Phil started the round by pressing a button and brining up a force field all around the arena, most likely to catch stray magic. They beat the first of the Heartless with ease.
If nothing else, those easy battles against the Heartless that came round after round was a bonding experience between Goofy, Donald, and Sora. Sora had spent most of his time in Wonderland depending upon Sabrina, while Goofy and Donald, along with Jeremy, had been held captive. This gave him a chance to better understand their distinct fighting styles. Goofy tended to plow right into combat, while Donald was more of a sideline person, handing out potions and taking out enemies from afar. Sora came to depend upon them in those battles like he would Sabrina. So, by the last round, Sora was more exhilarated than tired. At least, until he saw who their opponent was.
It was the man with the big sword.
Sora stared shakily at him from across the arena. They had no chance. From the looks on the faces of Donald and Goofy, they didn't know this yet. Still, Sora would do his best. Before the force field went up, he drank a potion.
As soon as the round started, the man was moving. He inched slowly to the right at first. Goofy charged him with his shield held out, but was easily swatted to one side, like a gnat. Donald ran forward next in a fit of rage, Fire spells bouncing of here and there. The man hit him away as well.
All this time, Sora had been slowly backing up. Now, he jumped forward to meet the man, but was met faster. That sword hit him squarely in the chest, throuwing him backwards. Sora tried jumping to his feet in order to retaliate, but was held down again by the sword. How could this guy move so fast?
Sora looked past him for Donald and Goofy, but all he saw of them were their limp forms on either side of the arena.
"I-I yield," Sora stuttered. "I give up. You win!"
"Not yet," the man said in a cold voice. The cold blade touched Sora's throat, and he knew Sabrina had been right. This guy was going to kill him, and there was nothing he could do about it. He closed his eyes, waiting for the final stroke.
It never came.
He opened one eye a crack. The man had backed away, the sword at his side. He was shaking his head.
"I… I can't do it." Out of nowhere, a giant black paw smashed down on the man.
"Of course you can't." Sora looked up. The paw belonged to a giant black dog, with three heads. Three drooling, sharp teeth filled heads. And, strolling next to it, was Hades.