. "You can still walk away." Hercules said. Alex grinned. "No way…" he said. Hercules looked at Ariel, Jack and Stitch. "What about you?" He asked. Ariel latched onto Alex's arm. "If he's going, I'm going!" She said. Stitch ran over and climbed up on Alex's shoulder. "Stitch go too!" Stitch added. "As if I had a choice?" Jack said as he walked over to the door. "Before you go" Hercules said. "Remember this; a true hero is measured not by the strength of neither their sword nor fists, but the strength of his heart" Alex nodded. "I'll be sure to remember that"

The door slowly opened up revealing a long dark staircase. "Wow…" Ariel said looking at the stairs. "Well guys, here go!" Alex said running down the staircase. Ariel and Stitch followed, as Jack reluctantly walked down the steps, into the black abyss of the Underworld.

Chapter 15: Blast from the past!

The stairs finally came to an end. The floor below them was invisible, shrouded by low fog up to their knees. "We can't even see thru the floor, we could fall thru a pit…" Alex said nervously. "I've dealt with worse fog…." Jack said following them thru the fog. Alex looked into the distance and saw a figure appear. As it got closer it appeared to be a "SKELETON!" Ariel screamed. The walking skeleton approached the group. Alex gripped the handle of his sword tightly. "I am Charon, the ferryman across the river of souls." The Skeleton spoke. "Fine, then take us to Hades!" Alex said. "We gotta bone to pick with him!" Charon pulled a boat up to them. "Climb aboard, I will take you to the other side, follow the path and you shall find Hades." Charon said. The team reluctantly stepped onto the boat and they were off. Ariel wrapped her arms around Alex's neck, as she looked over the side of the boat. "Alex…" Ariel murmured nervously. "I see dead people…" Alex looked over the side as well, and saw transparent images of people in the river. "I guess that's why it's called the river of souls" Alex shivered. But, down at the bottom of the river, a shadowy figure was watching them.

Jack couldn't help but cringe as well. "To think I'll end up here one of these days….." Jack whispered. "Don't worry Jack" Alex said. "That's not for a long time…" Stitch gripped onto Alex's leg. 'Water, bad for Stitch…." Stitch shivered. "What's the matter Stitch? Scared?" Alex teased. Stitch let go of Alex's leg and made a heroic pose. "Stitch never scared!" He said proudly. Jack crept up behind him and just said. "Boo" Stitch screamed and launched himself into Ariel's arms. Ariel giggled and patted him on the back. A rumble signaled that they made it to the end of the river. Everyone got off, when Alex turned around to thank Charon, he was gone. "Okay, that was weird." Alex said. Stitch jumped out of Ariel arms and climbed back up on Alex's shoulder. Alex noticed that one again; the floor was covered by fog. "Path? What path?" Alex commented. As they headed in a random direction Ariel thought she heard something. She looked back at the river of souls and saw a black shadow in the water; it emerged before Ariel which made her gasp in fright.

Meanwhile, Jack, Alex and Stitch hadn't notice Ariel's disappearance. "So, what's our plan of attack? Are we gonna surprise him? Or are we gonna burst in, scream like lunatics, charge and hope for the best?" Jack asked. "Well, the scream like Lunatics option got us this far!" Alex joked. Suddenly out of the fog they heard Ariel scream. "ARIEL!" Alex cried. He pulled out the Disney Blade and ran back for Ariel. Jack was about to follow him when he heard a growl. He looked behind him and saw the snarling face of a giant dog. As he backed up he saw that the giant dog had 3 heads. And they all looked angry. "Oh bugger…" Jack said in surprise.

When Alex found Ariel, he was shocked by what was attacking her. "Ursula?" Alex said in shock. The sea witch stopped her attack and glared at Alex. "That's right boy!" Ursula growled. "Because of you, I'm stuck here for all eternity." Alex pulled out the Disney Blade. Ursula wrapped one of her tentacles around Ariel's wrist in an attempt to pull her in. "If a human enters the river of souls for to long, they'll die, take another step and your girlfriend is done for!" Ursula threatened. Alex growled. 'You know boy" Ursula said. "This place isn't so bad, I've made some new friends..." out of the fog came two all too familiar figures. It was none other than Shere Kahn and Frollo. "Well, isn't this ironic…" Alex muttered as the two approached him. Stitch jumped off his shoulder and onto the ground. Suddenly, three spikes shot out of Stitch's back, and he grew a pair of antennas and an extra set of arms. "Meega Nala Cresta!" Stitch shouted in rage. Alex grinned. "Showtime!" He shouted as he charged at Frollo. Stitch growled as he lunged at Shere Kahn. Frollo drew out his two swords and attacked. Shere Kahn swiped his claws at Stitch; Stitch then rolled out of the way and jumped on his back, biting him.

Frollo and Alex duked it out, sword against sword. "Hey grandpa! You got a blind spot!" Alex taunted. "Where?" Frollo asked as he swung his sword at him. Alex ducked and then kicked him in the side, sending him into the river of souls. "Right there!" Alex said. He looked and saw Stitch lifting Shere Kahn over his head and throwing him into the river of souls. Alex ran over to Ursula who was still trying to pull Ariel in. Alex sliced the tentacle holding Ariel off. Ursula screamed in pain. but was drowned out when Alex grabbed her by her neck. "Why do you have to make me beat you outside the ocean. That's just embarrassing!" Alex taunted. Ursula wrapped her Tentacles around him and began to crush him. Alex gasped for air. "Ursula, you know what calamari is? Stitch does." Stitch looked at Ursula, licking his lips. He dove at Ursula, knocking her off Alex. The two tumbled toward the river of souls. Alex was able to grab Stitch before he fell in.

Stitch licked Alex's face before crawling up on his shoulder. Ariel ran over and hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much Alex!" She cried in happiness. But unfortunately the force of the impact from Ariel caused Alex to lose his balance, and all three of them went hurdling towards the river of souls. But just as they were about to be submerged in the river of souls, they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Jack ran for his life, as the three headed dog known as Cerberus chased him thru the underworld. Jack tripped over a rock and landed on the ground. As Cerberuses middle head was about to take a bite out of him, Jack too, disappeared in a puff of smoke. Everyone except Ariel re-appeared in what looked like a throne room. Sitting on the throne was a man with flames for hair and a dark robe. "I take it you're…" Alex started but was interrupted. "Hades, lord of the dead, hi how ya doing?" Hades said stretching out his hand to shake Alex's hand. Alex just glared. Around Hades neck was a necklace, on it, was the black gem. "So, I take it YOUR that kid everybody's talking about." Hades said pointing to Alex. "I'm famous?" Alex asked. "I've been getting a headache listening about you!" Hades said grasping his forehead. "You'd think lost souls would have something DECENT to talk about. I mean c'mon listen to this!" Hades opened a window and the sounds of numerous voices were indeed chattering about him. "Wait a second? Where's Ariel?" Jack asked.

Alex looked around and Ariel was indeed gone. "Hades! Where is Ariel?" Alex demanded. "Buddy, relax! She's fine!" Hades said. He snapped his fingers and Ariel appeared in a cage. "LET HER GO!" Alex shouted pulling out the Disney Blade. "Whoa there fella! You want her back? Fine then…" Hades snapped his fingers and Alex and Stitch appeared in some kind of arena. Surrounding them in the audience was zombies, monsters and skeletons. Hades voice boomed throughout the stadium. "LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!" He shouted. With a rumble a weird monster appeared in the stadium. It's serpent like head and massive body was enough to scare anyone. "In this corner, fighting for his life and girl, the one, the only, DISNEY WARRIOR!" Hades shouted as half of the audience cheered. "And in this corner, the multi-headed nightmare, the dreaded, HYDRA!" The monster roared as the other half of the audience cheered. Alex pulled out the Disney Blade with Stitch at his side. "Ready Stitch?" Alex asked. Stitch laughed in agreement as the two charged at the Hydra.

---------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- -------------------

CHEESY SUSPENSE! R&R please!