We'll Meet Again

Chapter 5

"Who are you two and why are you here?" a small, half man half goat said as Riku and Sora came through the doors. "If you two aren't part of the games, then I want you two out of here!"

"I'm not gonna let an obnoxious goat boss me around." Riku said, kicking him.

"Ow!" the little goat man shouted. "You bastard! Just leave me alone, ok? I'm trying to set everything up for the tournament. But not just anybody can enter. You gotta be strong and bold. And judging by the looks of you two I don't think you have what it takes. So get lost!"

"Are you kidding me?" said Riku. "Sign me up."

"And me!" said Sora.

The young goat man began to laugh. "You two can't handle the games! This torunament has heartless in it! There's no way you two could handle anything like this."

"As if you ever fight heartless, Phil." a young muscular man said as he entered the room. "Hi there. I'm Hercules. And I think you deserve a chance to participate in the games."

"But, Herc!" said Phil. "They're just a bunch of stupid kids! They don't know any better!"

"Shut up." Riku yelled to Phil. "We can handle it."

"Go ahead." said Hercules. "It's right this way."

Sora was surprised at how many heartless were in the tournament. There were more than there were back in that other world where they found Aerith, Leon, and Yuffie. Each round had even tougher heartless than the last time and it seemed like the tournament would never end. For the final round, a huge heartless known as Darkside appeared.

"Finally, the last round." said Riku, preparing himself.

Sora squinted. He saw something up on top of the heartless, but he could not tell what it was. Suddenly, he realized that it was Kairi! He could see her waving to him.

"Kairi...?" he said. Once again, she disappeared.

"Turn around." he heard her voice. He spun around, and there she was again. And once more, she vanished.

"Sora, what are you doing?" Riku called to him. "Stop standing there and help me out!"

"What?" said Sora. "But it's just---"

"Are you imagining things again?"

"No. I--"

Riku noticed the heartless about to attack Sora. Luckily, he pulled Sora out of the way just in time.

"Seems like I'm always saving your life." Riku said.

"Not always!" Sora pouted.

Riku smiled. He couldn't help it. He loved the way Sora pouted. "Ok Sora. Let's beat this thing. Together."

Sora smiled and nodded. And so, after working together, they defeated the heartless and won the tournament.

"That was amazing!" exclaimed Phil. "I was wrong about you two. You guys rock! What are your names?"

"Sora."

"Riku."

"Sora, Riku, I want to fight against you two." said Hercules. "You proved how strong you were in the tournament. Now let's see how you do against me."

At first, it seemed exciting, but by the time they started fighting Hercules, they were just dying to quit. They refused to give up so easily though. They had actually managed to hit Hercules a few times, but shortly afterwards, they had lost.

"Don't worry about it." said Hercules. "I didn't expect you to win anyways. I'll admit though you two are very strong."

"Herc!" Phil shouted as he entered the room. "Cerberus has escaped from the Underworld! He's destroying everything!"

Without saying a word, Hercules immediately ran off to take care of things.

"Who's Cerberus?" asked Sora.

"He's a vicious dog!" replied Phil.

Riku laughed and walked ahead. "You're kidding me, right? How bad could it be?"

"Wait up!" Sora ran to catch up with Riku.

"SHIT!" Sora heard Riku say. He then finally caught up with Riku.

Ahead of them was an enormous three-headed dog. Each of them had large, sharp teeth and red eyes. Suddenly, before Sora, Riku, or even Hercules had the chance to attack the dog, a strange man suddenly appeared. He had blonde, spikey hair and a weird cape. Unfortunately, the man was knocked out by Cerberus instantly. The dog then began heading for the man's unconcious body. Hercules immediately ran to get him.

"We can take it from here." said Riku, pulling out his weapon. "Don't worry Hercules. We'll be fine."

"Are you insane?" Hercules said as he picked up the man. "This is the dog of the Underworld!"

Riku shook his head. "Oh for God sake. Just get the man to safety and you can take it over from here when you return."

Hercules did so. He had faith in them and knew they would be able to manage for a while. But to his surprise, when he returned, they had already defeated Cerberus. Hercules just stood there, staring at the now dead Cerberus.

"I don't believe it!" he said. "How did you--I--but--wow! You guys really are tough!"

"We may not be able to beat you," said Sora. "but you can tell how strong we are now."

"It's not like I ever doubted you." said Hercules. "Anyways, that guy who was injured earlier is ok now. I'm just glad Cerberus is dead now. That was definitely the work of Hades, Lord of the Underworld. He's always doing stuff to destroy this place. Without Cerberus he's nothing though."

Riku and Sora felt proud to know they were able to help out another world. They headed towards the exit to go to another world, but they then saw the young man sitting on the steps in front of the exit.

"Are you ok now?" Sora asked. "Who are you anyways?"

"Cloud." he replied. "I was helping Hades, Lord of the Underworld. You probably have heard of him though. Anyways, he sent me with Cerberus to destory this world along with Hercules. But, once Cerberus started destroying everything, I realized I couldn't go through with it."

"Why did you help him?" Riku asked.

Cloud sighed and said, "I'm looking for someone and Hades said he could help me. I haven't seen the one I'm looking for in a long time and I'm starting to worry."

"I'm sure you'll find who you're looking for." said Sora. "Ya know, we're not even from this world. We have ways to travel to other worlds. Maybe you could come with us."

Cloud stood up and walked away. "That's nice of you and all, but I can't. I gotta do this on my own in order to find the one who means the most to me. Thanks for the offer though."

"Come on." said Riku. "Let's go. We got other worlds waiting for us to discover."

"Right!" Sora said. As they headed towards the exit, Sora could have sworn that he saw Kairi out of the corner of his eye again. He was too afraid to check this time. He decided to continue walking.

While they were in the gummi ship, Riku noticed a sad look on Sora's face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I kept seeing Kairi." he replied. "I know you think I'm imagining things but--I really did see her! I remember her saying something to me. That I forgot about her. But that isn't true! I---...I dunno..."

"I didn't see her, that's for sure." said Riku. "I was looking right at you the first time you said you saw her. I didn't see a thing."

Well if Riku didn't see her, Sora thought. maybe I really am losing my mind.

"You may just be stressed and upset that you don't know where she is." Riku said. "So who knows. That might be why you think you're seeing her. Wherever she is, I'm sure she's fine."

Sora smiled. "You're right. She probably is somewhere safe. I'm sure we'll find her soon!"

And so they were now off to another world, hoping to find Kairi. Not long after, they spotted another world that was just ahead!

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What world is it that awaits them next? What will happen? Stay tuned!