Sorry this one was a little late, I didn't have as much time to write during this week. Anyway, I hope all of you still enjoy.

Inverted Sky: KH 358/2 Days

Chapter 5: The World That Never Was part V

Xion's Log, Day 58

Had I known that Lexaeus would demand for me to fight him after our mission was over, I probably would have pretended to be sick or something. Although, he did give me a lot of really good advice afterwards, especially his awesome line of; 'Integrity, humility, respect, and honor are the foundation of a true warrior'. Man...he really is the definition of the strong and silent type.

On another note, my research into finding out who I was created from was far less fruitful than I hoped. Though, I did at least get a name...which I kinda already knew, but it's still nice to have confirmation. Now I just need to find out who this 'Sora' actually is.

On the other hand, my plan of putting Xaldin out of commission went perfectly! I'm genuinely proud of myself for succeeding as well as I did.

I used the days leading up to our mission together in Wonder Land to set up a bunch of traps just for him. I loosened some rocks and snapped a bunch of branches, so that they would end up hitting him when he used his wind abilities. And since we had already drawn the Heartless into a compact space, he wasn't able to resorted to his melee attacks as well as he normally would have.

It even made sure that when he became frustrated and destroyed a bunch of the forest, he got hit by a lot of the falling debris. So in the end, he needed to take a long break to heal up, which gave me the perfect moment to 'scouted ahead' and dig up some info. But while the amount of effort I put into all that wasn't worth what I got in the end, it was incredibly satisfying to to watch everything come together.

I might have to do this sort of stuff more often.

Xion let out a soft yawn as she slowly got up from her bed, getting ready to go about her usual day. However, she quickly paused and looked up in thought; "Oh right...there aren't any missions today." she muttered silently, sitting back down on the edge of the bed.

'The Superior mentioned that he was having Saix doing some important work in Castle Oblivion. As for why he decided to give everyone else a break...it's admittedly a bit suspicious.' the teen mused to herself, looking down at the floor.

As she continued to contemplate, Xion didn't even notice the passage of time, that is until a knock echoed from her door. Snapping out of her own mind, the teen blinked a few times and gazed to the door directly ahead. "Yes?" she uttered out.

"Hey Xion..." Roxas' voice spoke up from the other side.

"...since we don't have a mission today, do you wanna just hang out? I have an idea for somewhere we could go." the boy continued, making Xion herself smile and approach the door.

"Sure." she stated, opening the entrance as she did.

This brought a similar smile to the boy's features, as well as to the red-haired man's, whom was standing beside the blond. "Would you mind me tagging along?" Axel asked, his smile widening slightly.

The raven-haired girl looked back to him with a nod in response; "It wouldn't be as fun without you there." she claimed as she stepped outside the room and closed the door behind her.

"So...where are we heading?" Xion questioned while glancing between the pair, both of whom looked to one another before back to her.

"Olympus Coliseum. I heard they're holding some games there, so I figured we could all have fun participating together." Roxas suggested, to which Xion blinked a few times before quickly gaining a wider smile.

"That sounds like it could be fun." she answered enthusiastically, to which the group then headed off on their way.

Upon arriving in this world via a dark corridor, the trio found themselves outside of the arena itself. While Xion had come to this world a few times before, she had mainly stuck to the town outside the coliseum. So as she gazed up to the high walls and tall statues on either side of the entrance, she just blinked many times in awe. But as Roxas led the pair forward, he glanced over to them and spoke in a hushed tone. "By the way, the guy who runs this place is a satyr named 'Phil'. Just make sure not to comment about his height...or his weight. He's a bit touchy about those." he stated before opening the doors and heading inside.

Upon doing so, they walked through a hallway that eventually brought them into what appeared to be a display room. Multiple trophies lined the out coves in the walls on either side, though there seemed to be one that was missing. This brought their eyes down to the satyr, whom stood in front of this spot with said trophy in his hands. Him appearing to be polishing its golden surface with a rag, all while humming to himself. "Zero to hero in no time flat~." he sung silently, tapping one of his hooves on the floor.

Once he seemed satisfied with the shine of the trophy's surface, he blew on it briefly and then reached up to put it on the shelf. However, he was too short to do so, and ended up straining to get any purchase to put the object back. Xion blinked a few times while watching the short man, her trying her very best not to speak up with all the comments she was musing to herself. 'I have so many snarky quips I could say, but I don't wanna ruin our chance at entering these games by doing so.' she thought to herself in a sigh.

Almost as if hearing this, Phil turned to face the three with a raised brow. "Well well...looks like you went and brought some friends this time around, huh?" he questioned while shifting his gaze specifically at Roxas, whom nodded in response.

"Yeah...I figured we could take part in the games taking place today." the blond suggested with a small smile.

"Sorry to burst your bubble kid, but the games are probably gonna be delayed." Phil claimed, causing the trio to blink in surprise.

"What? Why?" Roxas asked, suddenly realizing that his plan for today might not happen.

"The damage from the last series of games is still being cleaned up. Herc and one of his old buddies are out there right now clearing it all out. I figured I'd give them one more hour, but I get the feeling it ain't gonna happen." he stated with a shrug.

"What if we helped?" the teen boy suggested, gesturing to himself and the pair at his sides.

"I suppose if you're offering." Phil started, looking between the other two as if determining their strength.

However, now that he was getting a better look with a more examining gaze, he swiftly focused fully onto Xion. His eyes slowly narrowed and he rubbed his bearded chin; "Hmm...funny, you kinda look like someone I know." he muttered, mainly to himself.

But while Roxas and Xion appeared a bit surprised by this comment, Axel's features hardened for a split second. "Well, if you're anything like 'that' runt...you should do just fine." Phil continued in a dismissive tone, to which he just placed the trophy he had been holding onto a pedestal.

After doing so, he led the three further through the path where daylight could be seen at the other end. As they moved though, Axel simply let out a heavy sigh. "And here I thought today was our day off from doing work." he muttered silently, making Xion just laugh softly, and for Roxas to whisper his apologies.

As they reached the end of the hallway, the group emerged into the open sky arena. Though the surrounding stone seats were untouched, the actual arena itself indeed looked heavily damaged. There being all manner of cracks in the ground, heavy scorch marks, broken stone tiles, and all manner of rubble scattered across the area. Currently cleaning some of this up however, were Hercules and Zack Fair. The former of whom was balancing multiple large stone slabs in one hand, while the latter was using a wheel-barrel of sand to fill in a few cracks in the ground.

"Good news boys~!" Phil called out to the pair, both of whom immediately looked toward the satyr.

"I got you some volunteers to help out~!" he continued, making a quick hand motion to the three.

As Hercules and Zack turned in their direction though, both their gazes swiftly drifted over to Xion. Whom glanced between them curiously, yet was obviously making a mental note to come back to this place at a later time. 'It seems Wonder Land was simply a bad choice to search for information about Sora.' she mused with a faint smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Though, after some brief introductions, they were each put to work. Thankfully however, Hercules and Zack seemed to have done most of the heavy lifting already, allowing the three to just pick up the slack. And after the hour was up, the games were ready to start. As a reward for helping out, Phil even offered to train the three whenever they would like. It being a 'rare honor', from what both Hercules and Zack mentioned.

But as the games officially started, the trio made their way through all manner of challengers. Some were typical warriors, looking to prove their strength. Others were simply there for sake and spirit of the games. Two groups in particular though, were quite strong. The first being the obvious fan-favorites, Hercules and Zack. The second however, was the odd and unlikely team of Lexaeus and Larxene. Yet while the former didn't appear surprised by the three's inclusion in the games, the latter almost seemed agitated by it. The two groups set to face off in the semi-final, as there was little doubt in the other results.

"As if I needed more competition." the blond woman muttered to herself in a huff, crossing both arms in the process.

Xion blinked a few times to this before approaching Larxene and offering a small smile. "Next time, lets team up against the boys." she suggested in a soft chuckle.

As the woman turned toward the teen, she could only blink a few times in response. Even though she looked as though she wanted to tell the girl off and possibly even insult her, she just remained silent. A few seconds passed with Larxene simply gazing at Xion, before she finally let out a sigh and shook her head. "Man...looks like you'll be a pain no matter what." she whispered while looking down, an ever so faint smile appearing on her features.

Despite Xion smiling to the blond's words, she could once again tell that the woman wasn't actually talking to her. It making her, for the first time, a little jealous of Sora. 'I didn't expect for so many of the people around me to have been affected by her so much. It honestly almost makes me feel like I can't compete with her.' she mused inwardly, almost seeming a bit bitter about this.

'Ah~...what am I talking about? Sora is Sora...I'm me, I don't need to compete with anyone but myself.' she declared in her mind.

However, Xion's attention was quickly grasped once more as Larxene spoke up with a nod. "Yeah, sure. That sounds like it could be fun." she claimed while gaining a slightly wider, but more mischievous smile.

This expression being one that the teen herself adapted on her own features; "Perfect. For now though, lets put on a good show." Xion stated in a bit of excitement.

It wouldn't be long before the semi-final would begin, pitting the two groups against one another. While there was a lot of back and forth in terms of how close the match was, the team of Roxas, Axel and Xion won out in the end. Thanks, in part, to a bit of preparation by the latter of the three. Something that came as a bit of a surprise to the others, and even the crowd. Xion having been using ice magic exclusively for every other match, causing specific areas on the arena floor to become slippery. Which had provided an edge to her group, allowing them to pick up the win.

"She's certainly just as resourceful as the original, though I think this one is even better at planning ahead." Larxene whispered to Lexaeus as they stood to the side while the winning group were cheered by the crowd.

"It seems that way. Perhaps the different environment has caused her to think differently than the original." the man responded while nodding slowly.

"It's almost scary to think of what this one could be capable of if she had the original's power." the blond continued, letting out a sigh as she shook her head.

"I'm more curious as to what she'll be capable of with this new mindset of hers. As it's very clear she doesn't even need to be powerful to be a threat." Lexaeus claimed with his eyes narrowing slightly on the raven-haired teen.

Whom just waved to the crowd with a happy smile on her face, the pair beside her doing the same. Yet as they eventually made their way into the waiting room, one spectator in the crowd had their eyes narrowed fully on Xion. "She looks like the one...but there is something off about her." they muttered under their breath, their slit-shaped pupils thinning slightly.

"She might be a fake." they continued, tapping their chin briefly.

"I suppose I'll just continue to observe for now." were their last words before suddenly disappearing, a single black feather drifting through the air in their place.

Almost in the same instant, Zack swiftly turned his gaze in the direction of where this person had been. His eyes shifting from side to side as nearly every muscle in his body tensed; 'I'd like to think it was my imagination...but that's never been the case before.' he thought with slowly narrowing eyes.

Yet he turned to Hercules as the man patted him on the shoulder, it being their turn to win their own semi-final. 'I hope they were just here for me. If not, then whomever they have set their eyes upon...is in a lot of trouble.'

Yes, this part was supposed to have a bunch of foreshadowing, but I dropped all of the ideas to get through it faster...one of my biggest regrets. Anyway, I hope all of you liked this chapter and will let me know what you thought. Until next time.