.X.
"That's him! That's Setzer!"
"Where?" Hayner demanded, shoving past others to get himself to the front of the crowd and in doing so completely blocking Roxas' view. After apologizing to the person whose toes he had inadvertently trod on—a glowering Fuu—Roxas pushed his way back through the crowd until he again stood shoulder to shoulder with Hayner and Pence. His eyes scanned the crowded sandlot, looking for the renowned Struggle champion whom he had never before seen.
"Where?" He asked Olette, who had made the initial statement and was standing on Hayner's other side. "I don't see him."
"There." It was Pence that pointed, and Roxas' eyes followed the direction his finger indicated to see nothing more than a large group of noisy girls. He opened his mouth to ask Pence if he was sure when suddenly the group of noisy girls began to scream in utter adoration.
"Setzerrrrrrr!"
And then he saw him, the Struggle champion many times over, standing in the midst of the fawning fangirls. From this distance, Roxas could discern very little about the man other than he was tall, had a full head of long, stylishly wild silver hair and …
Was dressed in purple.
"Are you sure that's him?" Roxas asked, confused.
"Of course it is!" Hayner said, punching him hard in the shoulder. "He's only been the champion for years—I can't believe you've never seen him before."
"Yeah …" Roxas muttered, eyeing the champion, but his reply was lost in another uproar of breathy cries.
"Setzerrrrrrrr!"
"C'mon!" Hayner grabbed Roxas by the wrist and began to tow him forth, glancing over his shoulder with a grin. "It's about to start. Do you remember our promise?"
Roxas nodded, but Hayner went on as if he wasn't sure his friend retained information well. "One of us has to make it to the finals, right? We can't let Seifer win!"
"Right." Roxas said, something purple catching his eye and momentarily distracting him.
"And just think," Hayner went on, having stopped in front of the scoreboard and releasing Roxas' arm. "If one of us wins, we get to fight—"
"Setzerrrrrrrr!" The Fangirls screamed right on cue.
"So good luck, okay?" Hayner held out his fist to Roxas, and Roxas knocked his own fist against it. Pence and Olette, who had followed, gave them both thumbs up as the announcer stepped up onto the fighting arena and began to speak.
"Welcome, everyone, to Twilight Town's annual Struggle! We have with us this year four promising contestants—give them all a hand and then we'll introduce them!"
As the crowd began to roar with enthusiasm—barring the occasional shouted derogatory remark and a harmonized chorus of "Setzerrrr!"—Hayner grinned at Roxas, and Roxas grinned back. This was the day they'd been looking forward to for most of their vacation.
.X.
If someone had ever asked Roxas what color befitted a Struggle champion, purple would not be on his list of answers. But having risen through the competition, defeating in succession Hayner and Vivi, Roxas now found himself face to face with said Struggle champion. And that champion was wearing purple.
Lots of it. Setzer wore a purple shirt, a flamboyant purple sash over black pants, and purple boots. Even his eyes were violet, and they stood out very vividly in compliment to the rest of the outfit. The long black coat trimmed in yellow draped over his shoulders and the dark belt with a skull as a buckle were more to what Roxas had envisioned the champion wearing, but even they couldn't offset the abundance of purple. As the announcer stood before them and bellowed out their names and various attributes, Setzer glanced down at Roxas and gave a very bright and charming smile.
"I won't hold back, you know." He said.
Roxas nodded. He'd expected as much. The announcer stepped down and the two opponents moved to take up their positions. Setzer dipped down in a courtly bow, inciting his Fangirls to cry out in admiration.
"Setzerrrrr!"
"Roxas? Is that your name?" When Roxas nodded, the champion eyed him almost thoughtfully. Around them the crowd shouted encouragement or insults, and Roxas could hear his name being chanted energetically by his friends. After a moment Setzer said, "Hey—do a favour for me? Throw the match."
"I—what?"
"I can make it worth your while," the champion said, eyebrows rising.
"Get real!" Roxas snapped, half incredulous and half indignant; Setzer threw back his head with a laugh.
"Alright, boy. Let's get this over with. I have some ladies waiting to attend to me."
And as they faced each other, weapons held ready, Roxas took deep breaths and focused one thing, and one thing only. If he won this match, if he became Struggle champion—
He wouldn't wear purple.
.X.
Sol's Notes: This, while being largely redundant, was based mostly on my own peeve about Setzer's clothing when I first started playing the game. I have since come to like it.