Chapter XV: An Inferno Fight at the Charizard Cup

The Toad Express barley made it out of the mess at the toybox. Upon exiting, our heros arrived back at Isle Delfino.

"What we doing back here?" Yoshi asked.

"I used the warp feature to bring us back here." Toadsworth responded. "The Toad Express would have been damaged if I didn't." Toadsworth then realized something. "Oh, dear! We were just an hour away from the next world."

"Yeah." Luigi groaned rolling his eyes. "Ya, think? Because of you, I have to wait another two hours before we arrive at the next world."

"Master Luigi!" Toadsworth snapped. "Goombario's life was in danger! If we didn't act, something terrible may have happened to him! You just need to have some patients!"

"Speaking of Goombario" Luigi began. "I hope he and the others are alright."

"Yoshi sure they fine." Yoshi said. "Maybe, they escape. Right, Sora?"

Sora was very glum. He looked out his window in silence. For a moment, nobody said a word until Sora finally spoke up.

"Riku..." He said. "What happened? You were my friend. How could you say these things to me?" Sora put his head down and sniffled. Yoshi jumped into his arms and hugged him.

"It okay." Yoshi said softly.

"Why is he acting so weird?" Toadsworth asked Luigi.

Luigi looked up at Sora and made a sad look. "Because he lost a friend back there." Luigi walked over to Sora and pat his shoulder. "Listen, Sora. I know you're sad about Riku, but we can't let that stop us. Maybe, the heartless are playing tricks on him."

"Y-you think so?" Sora sniffled looking up at Luigi.

"Of course!" Luigi said with a smile. "Kid, we don't know enough about the heartless, so it's quite possible. You just need to keep a positive attitude and build a bridge to get over your problem."

"Man, that sounded like an after school special." Sora chuckled. "What do you watch on TV?"

"Um...er...nothing." Luigi said nervously. "None of your business!"

"Barney." Yoshi giggled.

"I do not!" Luigi said angrily at Yoshi.

"Just joking." Sora laughed. He then put Yoshi down. "I'm not done yet! I'll find away to save you Riku. Even if it takes me forever!"

"That spirt!" Yoshi cheered.

"Besides, this adventure has been so much fun." Sora said excitedly. "I've never experienced so much before. Meeting new people, visiting new places, and Luigi falling and running into things. Its been great!"

"What do I have to do with anything?"

"I've never met such a klutzy person." Sora responded. He then turned to Yoshi. "And I've never seen a real dinosaur before." Yoshi blushed at the comment. "And a talking Mushroom? Unreal!"

"Well, thank you Master Sora." Toadsworth chortled. "There are many different things to see out there."

"I'm going to see them all!" Sora cheered. "And when I find Riku and Kairi, we'll go together!" Sora then was calm again. "Why are we back here anyways?"

"You did find some torn pages and another summon gem, did you not?" Toadsworth asked Sora.

"Yeah, I did." Sora responded. "Good idea. We should see Wiseman and Mr. Mumbo."

"Cid was kind enough to instal a water landing feature for the Toad Express." Toadsworth added. "So, we shall land right on the water, next to his house.

"That's cool!" Luigi said impressed

"Prepare for landing everyone!"

The Toad Express descended towards Pinna Park. As it landed, the pilot hit a switch which made a float appear under the plane. It slowly landed in the water and the plane pulled up to the beach. Sora's group exited the plane by jumping into the soft sand. They headed over to Wiseman's house and Sora knocked on the door. Wiseman's voice could be heard.

"Coming! Coming!" He said. He opened the door and chortled upon seeing the trio. "Sora! Well, what a surprise!"

"Knowing you, you probably already knew we were coming." Luigi grumbled out loud.

"As a matter of fact, yes." Wiseman said.

"How did you hear me?" Luigi said in shock.

"Luigi." Sora groaned. "You said that out loud."

"Oh." Luigi laughed sheepishly. "Silly me."

"Come in, gentlemen." Wiseman said walking into his house.

Inside, Mumbo was asleep on his skeleton chair snoring. It was so loud that Sora, Luigi, and Yoshi had to cover their ears.

"Holy, ravioli!" Luigi cried. "How can he snore like that? Not even my Nona could snore that loud!"

"It's so hard to sleep at night!" Wiseman sighed. "I tell him to get some medicine, but he doesn't listen. Wake up!"

Mumbo mumbled and then woke up. "Why did Wiseman wake Mumbo up? Mumbo just dream about kicking some ugly witch butt!"

"We have visitors." Wiseman responded.

"Ah, boy, dinosaur, and plumber!" Mumbo cried. "Have you come to see Mumbo? World's greatest Witch Doctor?"

"More like the world's greatest snorer!" Wiseman scoffed

"What? Mumbo not snorer!" Mumbo said offended. "Wiseman world's smelliest man!"

"What? I don't smell bad!" Wiseman argued.

Just then, Wiseman noticed our heros covering their noises.

"Smelly, sausages!" Luigi said in disgust. "When was the last time you bathe?"

"I haven't in the last two weeks." Wiseman said with a nervously chuckle. "I was too busy working on my next robot."

"That's just nasty!" Sora said in disgust.

"Okay, so I guess we both have some issues." Wiseman chortled walking up to the Witch Doctor. "Truce?"

"Truce." Mumbo said hugging Wiseman. He then whispered. "Take bath."

"Get some help." Wiseman also whispered. He then turned to notice Sora and the crew waiting impatiently. "Oh, sorry. I forgot about you three for a second there. I need to go put some deodorant on. Mumbo can help you with your summons." Wiseman walked into the next room leaving a confused Sora, Luigi, and Yoshi.

Sora rubbed his head. "Man, I never knew being a roommate would be so hard."

"It not so bad, boy." Mumbo laughed. "Mumbo and Wiseman chums. But Mumbo rather have him as roommate, then dumb bird from world. Mumbo now release new summon you brought. Mumbo call this one; 8-bit of Flatness."

Sora handed the new summon gem to Mumbo Jumbo. He chanted something strange and tapped the summon gem with his staff. The gem then glowed and Sora picked it up.

"I guess it worked." Sora assumed. "We need to test it though."

"How can we?" Luigi asked in confusion. "The heartless aren't here."

"Har! Har! Har!" Mumbo laughed. "You three come here to learn magic, right? Train with Wiseman!"

"Okay." Sora nodded. "Besides, I think my magic is better then Luigi's!"

"What?" Luigi exclaimed. "No way! Not in a million years!"

"Wanna prove it?" Sora said challenging Luigi.

"You're on!"

Wiseman returned into the room. "Are you boys ready to practice?"

"Yoshi ready!" Yoshi said.

Wiseman brought Sora's group out back where there were wooden targets set up. Sora and Luigi shot many magic spells at their targets. Sora fired his updated ice and fire spells, while Luigi used gravity to bring down wooden targets in the air. Finally, Sora decided to test his new summon. Luigi and Yoshi both were absorbed by the gem and in replace of them was a little man. The man had black skin and a skinny body. He had a round head and big noise. But the weirdest thing about him was the fact that he was flat.

"Mumbo? Are you playing a joke on me by any chance?" Sora asked Mumbo in shock.

"No, joke." Mumbo laughed. "He have strongest heart from his world!"

"This is Mr. Game and Watch." Wiseman told Sora. "I have the power to identify peoples' names. A very odd fellow, but can be quite powerful."

"Um, hi." Sora said with a crooked smile to Mr. Game and Watch. Mr. Game and Watch began beeping at Sora, but he couldn't understand a word he was saying. "Whoa! This guy defiantly doesn't speak English."

"He said 'please to meet you.'" Mumbo said.

"Y-you understand him?"

"Yes, Mumbo not sure why." Mumbo said in surprise. "He have special power."

"Really?" Sora said raising his eyebrow. "Let's see it." Mr. G&W took out a frying pan and began shooting sausages. Sora was not impressed. "Right. Is that all?" Mr. G&W took out a hammer and hit a log at it. What surprised Sora was that the log went so fast and far from the blow. "In the words of Luigi; Leapin Lasagna! Now, that is a summon." He shook Mr. G&W's hand. "Welcome to the team Mr. Game & Watch." Mr. Game and Watch made a happy beeping sound. "What did he say?"

"Um, you don't want to know." Mumbo said. "But he did extend his gratitude to you."

"Okay, I guess." Sora said unease. Mr Game & Watch disappeared back into his gem. Luigi and Yoshi popped out. "Hey guys! Welcome back!"

"Hey there, kid." Luigi said greeting back. "Glad to be back. It was getting boring in there. So who is the new summon?"

"Well, let's just say he's 8-bit happy about joining us." Sora joked.

Everyone then started laughing at the joke.

"That's not fair!" Luigi said annoyed. "The kid cracks a pun and you all start laughing! I give you gold, and I hear dead silence! I'm out of here!" Luigi walked back to Wiseman's house.

"Luigi, wait up!" Sora cried chasing after Luigi."You're just not gifted like I am!"

"Wait for Yoshi!" Yoshi said following.

Back at Wiseman' house, Wiseman gave the trio some tea and dumplings to eat.

"This is good." Sora said eating away.

"I hate to admit it, but this is almost as good as pasta." Luigi said. "But still, nothing can beat pasta."

"So, I heard you found some of the torn pages." Wiseman said. "May I see them?" Sora handed the two pages to Wiseman. He observed them for a second. "These pages are blank. But, I heard once that a child of the heart can unlock the story."

"What that mean?" Yoshi wondered.

"I'm not too sure." Wiseman shrugged. "I've done research on this, but I could never find the answer. Perhaps, if we gathered all the missing pages together something is bound to happen. That's my theory."

"It's worth a shot." Sora said standing up. "We'll keep our eyes out. " He then turned to his party. "You two ready?"

"I am." Luigi sighed rubbing his stomach. "It's so nice to eat something else besides pasta for once."

"That's all you eat, Luigi?" Sora exclaimed. "Man! I'm even more surprised you're so thin after eating all that pasta!"

"Trust me." Luigi chuckled. "I'm still trying to figure that out too."

"But Yoshi not full." Yoshi whined. "Yoshi hungry!"

"And how can you eat so much eat?" Sora continued. "Man, I've met some interesting characters on my journey, but you guys take the cake."

"Cake?" Yoshi said excitedly. "Where?"

"Well, thanks kid." Luigi blushed. He then made a suspicious look. "Wait a minute. In a good way or a bad way?"

Sora looked at Luigi with his famous goofy smile. "I'll let you decided that, Luigi." He then turned to Wiseman. "Thanks for the help, we'll come back later." He then walked out of the room. "Come on, guys!"

Yoshi ran out the door and Luigi followed with a worried look.

"Kid! I want to know if you mean I take the cake in a good way or bad way!" Luigi cried. "Sora! Sora! Stop leaving me hanging!"

The trio arrived back at the Toad Express and boarded it. Upon entering, Toadsworth greeted them with a mailed letter.

"Master Sora." Toadsworth said. "You got a letter from Professor Oak."

"He sent us a letter?" Sora asked. "I thought he was suppose to phone us?"

"The phone lines went down their he said." Toadsworth said.

"That's what I hate." Sora sighed with disappointment. "Why do people always have to open personal letters that don't belong to them?"

"I'm sorry, Master Sora." Toadsworth apologized. "I only took a peek."

"Then why is the letter all crumbled up?" Luigi asked Toadsworth suspiciously.

"Oh...well...erm...well you see." Toadsworth said clearing his throat nervously.

"It's alright." Sora said warmly taking the letter. He then read it. "Dear, Sora...stop. Another round of the Human vs. Pokemon competition is beginning...stop. You can come anytime...stop."

"Kid, stop reading the stops." Luigi yelled annoyed.

Sora nodded and continued reading it. "We hope you'll get here soon. Sincerely yours, Professor Oak. P.S. This Message will self-destruct." Sora paused and then looked at the last part with confusion. "Huh?"

"He's probably pulling a prank." Luigi said rolling his eyes. "Here, I'll throw this in the garbage."

Luigi took the letter and walked to a garbage. Sora turned to Toadsworth.

"Let's go fight for a little while." Sora said. "It would do us good."

"Okay, I'll tell the pilot to..."

Everyone then heard a explosion. They turned to see Luigi covered in ashes.

"Whoa!" Yoshi exclaimed "Letter really did exploded."

"Thanks for pointing that out, kid." Luigi groaned. Luigi fell down and was smoking.

"Luigi, never gets any rest, huh? Sora chuckled.

The Toad Express flew back to Pokemon Coliseum. During the time, Sora and Yoshi finally got Luigi back on his feet and brushed the ashes off. When they landed Sora's group said good-bye and left. The trio arrived at Pokemon Coliseum a few minutes later where Professor Oak greeted them.

"Sora! Glad you made it!" Oak said greeting the trio. "I've been expecting you."

"Where's Ash?" Yoshi wondered.

"There's a new Pokemon competition coming up next year and Ash went to look into it." Oak said. "He'll be back later. By the way, I heard that in the new cup a friend of yours is entering."

"A friend of his?" Luigi gasped.

"Riku?" Sora asked Oak.

"The man that entered said he knows you." Oak said shaking his head. "His name was Leon."

"Leon!" The trio exclaimed.

"And a young girl named Yuffie." Oak added.

"So, both Leon and Yuffie are entering the tournament." Luigi gasped.

Sora cracked his knuckles and smirked. "Perfect. I have score to settle with Leon. Before I went totally out cold when I first faced him, I heard that he went easy on me. But this time, I'll show him what I can really do!"

"You sound a lot better now." Luigi said to Sora happily.

"I am." Sora nodded. "Come on guys! Let's go kick some heartless tail!"

"The match is going to start, so get ready boys." Oak said.

The trio entered the ring where the crowd roared with cheers and yells. They saw the referee holding up his two flags.

"May the opponents enter the ring." He announced. A group of heartless entered the ring and Sora's group got ready. "Let the match begin!"

The heartless charged at our heros with full power but Sora's group easily took them down with no problems. After winning, they went onto the next 8 matches fighting old friends such as Gerudo Thieves, Fat Bandits, F-Zero Racers, Space Pirates, etc. The group used their weapons and spells to defeat the heartless of each round. Yoshi of course ate the heartless and spat them at others. He also used some of them as eggs to fire at others. Sora used some new badge abilities such as Slide Dash, Vortex, and Blitz. Luigi used magic spells to destroy the heartless and used cure spells to restore his allies and himself. They finally made it through the next round and entered the ring to see Leon and Yuffie waiting for them.

"Hey, strangers." Luigi chuckled to them.

"What a surprise." Leon said with a smile.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sora asked approaching them.

"Is it a crime for us to have fun?" Yuffie said putting her hands on her hips. "We needed to stretch our legs out, so we decided to come here."

"Is that true Leon?" Yoshi asked.

"Actually, Yuffie forced me to come here, but when I heard you were entering I had to come." Leon explained. "You see, I want to find out how much you've improved."

"Oh, yeah!" Sora cheered. "I heard you that went easy on me last time."

"Yes, I was barley warming up." Leon nodded.

"Ah, don't listen to Leon." Yuffie laughed. "He was sweating the whole time."

"Be quite, Yuffie!" Leon snapped. He then noticed Sora's group snickering. "Very funny! So, are you ready for our rematch?"

"Yoshi bet!"

"Guys, you deal with Yuffie while I deal with Leon." Sora instruction. The two nodded back and they stood ready to fight.

"Let the match begin!" The referee announced.

Sora charged at Leon while Luigi and Yoshi took on Yuffie. She threw ninja stars at the duo. They quickly avoided the attack, but one is able to take a tiny tear out of Luigi's shirt.

"Shocking, spaghetti!" Luigi cried. "That thing is sharp!"

"Ha! And I'm only getting started!" Yuffie laughed proudly. "I believe now would be the time to start running."

"Yoshi, no scared." Yoshi cried bravely.

"I am." Luigi gulped. "I'm making like a drummer and beating it."

Yuffie threw another star at Yoshi, but he ate the star. Yuffie's mouth dropped

"No way!" Yuffie said in shock. "How can you eat that?"

"That kid has a trash can stomach." Luigi responded. Luigi took off the P-3000 and ran at Yuffie. Luigi threw a punch but she did a back flip and kicked him down. Luigi got back up and sent a kick at Yuffie, but she side stepped it and tripped him. "She's good."

Meanwhile, Leon swiped at Sora but he rolled out of the way and slashed at Leon's side. Leon hit the ground, but he hit his hand and pushed back up. Leon shot a fire spell but Sora countered with his own fire spell. Sora clashed with Leon and they both struggled. Leon pushed back and tripped Sora. While he was falling, Leon kicked Sora in the side and he slid across the floor but jumped back up and charged again. The two got into a violent sword fight, clashing and dodging their attacks. Leon slashed at Sora who jumped over the attack and he tried to kick Leon, but he did a hand stand dodging the attack. Sora slashed rapidly at Leon which caused pain and he went flying and crashed into a wall. Leon weakly got back up and panted.

"Well, Sora." Leon panted. "You've improved! But play time is now over!"

"Look at you, Leon." Sora smirked. "You're already worn out and I doubt you can continue."

"Think again!" Leon said putting his sword up. "Power!" Leon's Gunblade began glowing and grew to over 10 feet.

Sora gulped very nervously. "I think it's time to run!"

Sora ran jumping over one of Leon's sword swipes. Luigi kept dodging Yuffie's punches and kicks but still couldn't lay a finger on her.

"You're good." Luigi said impressed. "I'm glad we had a chance to spar."

"Yeah, you even showed me a few good moves." Yuffie nodded in agreement. "But I'm dominating you so far and I can't let you win."

"We'll see." Luigi smirked. "I'd look behind if I were you."

"Huh?" Yuffie turned around to see Yoshi running at her. He bent down and rammed his head into her stomach. She flew into a wall and fell down. She got to her feet and groaned. "Okay, that was lucky. But I won't let the same mistake happen again." Yuffie charged again at Luigi, but Yoshi tripped her with his tail and Luigi uppercut her. She threw more stars at Luigi who quickly got the P-3000 back on and sucked up the stars. "Darn it! Why do you use that corny vacuum?"

"Hey! This vacuum saved my life a whole bunch of times!" Luigi said angrily.

Luigi shot gravity at Yuffie causing her to fall down. She got very weak giving both Luigi and Yoshi the chance to strike. They both gave a hard kick at her, sending her flying across the arena. The audience went ooh upon seeing that. She crashed into a wall and fell down. She weakly got back up only to see Luigi and Yoshi surrounding her.

"Yoshi got you." Yoshi said putting his fists up.

Yuffie fell down and hit the ground. "Give me a second to get back onto my feet."

Luigi rolled his eyes. "Kid, forget about it. There's always next year. Yoshi! Sora's going to need some help."

Yoshi nodded and they both ran at Leon. Sora dodged some of Leon's strikes but the sword was so big, that he got knocked aside by one of the attacks. Sora kicked his feet up and charged at Leon.

"Pathetic." Leon scoffed. "You haven't changed one bit." Leon jumped into the air and was about to land his sword when Sora clashed with it. "No way! How could you block that? This sword has the power to break anything in half."

"Guess I'm the first." Sora said struggling with the attack.

Sora pushed the Gunblade back up and Sora quickly ran and kicked Leon in the gut. He want crashing into a wall. He quickly got up and was ready to attack again when Yoshi knocked the Gunblade out of his hand with an egg. The trio got together and charged at Leon. Leon rolled out of the way of their attack and slid across the floor, grabbing his Gunblade. He shot another fire spell but Luigi used FLUDD to counter the fire attack. Sora and Leon clashed again and sparks started flying from their attacks. Leon struck at Sora but Sora dodged rolled it and kicked Leon in the side. Leon tried to attack again but when he brought his Gunblade down Sora countered and the Gunblade stopped glowing and returned to normal. Leon made a nervous look as the three heros charged at him. Leon attacked again and Yoshi head butted in the stomach knocking the Gunblade right out of his hand. Luigi shot an ice spell making Leon shiver and Sora used a new magic spell called stop to freeze Leon in his tracks. He then struck Leon with a hard slash sending him crashing into the wall where Yuffie was.

"No way!" Leon cried falling down. "I can't lose!" Leon weakly tried to get back up but was so tired that he collapsed.

The referee held up a red flag and pointed at Sora's group. "Team Leon is unable to battle! Team Sora is the victor!"

The crowd roared into cheers and Sora's group celebrated.

"We won!" Luigi cheered.

"Yoshi!" Yoshi said also cheering.

Sora walked over to Leon and bent down to him. Leon weakly looked up at Sora extending his hand to him. Leon took the hand and Sora helped him up. Yuffie also was cured by Luigi and she joined.

"You truly are a great fighter." Leon smirked. "You've impressed me!"

"The funny thing was, I was only warming up." Sora chuckled rubbing the back of his head.

"So you were." Leon replied with a smile. "Now, we're even."

Sora chuckled and shook Leon's hand.

Oak walked into the arena congratulating Sora's group. "Well done, boys! You are the winners! The administrators have an award waiting for you. And as for you two, I have a surprise. There is a way for you to get back into the games."

"How?" Yuffie asked curiously.

"We are holding a special raffle and if you draw the right card you could return." Oak explained.

"Which means we have a second chance at you three!" Yuffie said excitedly.

"You're on your own then because I'm going to ask Cloud to be my partner." Leon said with a smirk. "Sora! Good luck! Maybe we'll face each other again."

"I'd look forward to it." Sora nodded.

Leon left the arena with a panicking Yuffie following. "You can't do this to me, Squall Lionheart! You're nothing without me! Don't do this! That's not fair! Squall, come back here!"

Everyone could then hear Leon yelling. "YUFFIE! IT"S LEON!"

Sora's group made shocked looks upon hearing Leon screaming.

"I thought big guys like him were the strong silent type." Luigi said confused.

"Don't stereotype, Luigi." Sora said shaking his head. "I'm sure Leon has screamed real loud once in a while. Let's go claim our prize."

Sora's group headed out to the main hall where Oak was waiting for them.

"Excellent job, Sora." Oak said shaking Sora's hand. "You've been doing so well in the tournament. I'm so pleased with the progress you have been making. I feel sorry now for not letting you in sooner."

"It okay." Yoshi nodded with a smile.

"So, here is your reward." Oak said proudly handing Sora a badge.

"What kind of badge is this?" Sora asked looking at the badge.

"Wow!" Luigi exclaimed. "That's a really rare badge. The legendary Strike Raid badge allows you to throw your keyblade more then once at a fast pace. That could be extremely useful to us."

"So, are we close to becoming heros?"

"Not yet." Oak said shaking his head. "You have a long way to go."

"Mama-mia." Luigi sighed. "This is taking forever."

"Be patience man." Sora said to Luigi. "We'll become heros soon. Just you wait and see."

"Then I hope to see you three soon." Oak nodded.

Sora's group boarded the Toad Express and headed off. Using the warp feature, they warped back to Shy Guy's Toybox where they continued their journey. For the next hour our heros sat around and didn't do much. Luigi played his Gameboy Advance and even let Sora try it. Sora beat Luigi's hi score in seconds flat.

"How did you do that?" Luigi asked Sora in shock.

"Beginners luck." Sora chuckled nervously.

Toadsworth entered the room. "Master Sora, we're approaching a world."

"Cool! Let's check it out." Sora said approaching the window. He looked out the window to see a tiny star which was probably about 50 feet. "That's a world? That thing is so small."

"This world is called Dreamland." Toadsworth explained to Sora. "Home of the Cappy's of Cappy Town. Although, the inhabitants are rather odd but friendly creatures, I may suggest changing your appearance to be safe."

"Then let's-a-go!" Luigi cried.

"Hold on!" Sora said stopping Luigi. "If you took the time to notice, we have two problems. Number 1: We're too big! We'd squash it! Number 2: We can't change our appearance."

"That's were you're wrong kid." Luigi chuckled. "Wiseman taught only me a special ability."

"What that?" Yoshi asked.

"The power to change our size and appearance." Luigi responded.

"Is it safe?" Sora asked nervously.

"It's not tested but I'm going to give it a shot." Luigi pointed his finger at Sora and snapped it. A smoke poofed in front of Sora and he then was wearing a Little Bo Peep costume. "Luigi, I think you need work on this magic thing."

"Work nothing, kid." Luigi said breaking into hard laughter. "I wanted to make you look stupid!"

Both Luigi and Toadsworth rolled on the floor with laughter and Yoshi giggled.

"Sora, so pretty in pink." Yoshi giggled.

Sora got red in the face and walked over to Luigi and bonked him on the head with his staff.

"You better change me back or else!" Sora snarled.

"Okay, okay." Luigi gulped. "I was only fooling." Luigi snapped his finger and Sora turned back to normal. "Least it works. Now, I'll use my magic to shrink us to the size of a mini meatball and when we arrive, I'll change our appearance."

"Then let's go!"

Luigi snapped his finger shrinking himself, Sora and Yoshi. Toadsworth picked them up and put them in a warp pipe. They were on their way to Cappy Town.