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.
Chapter 16: Alex's strength of heart
The Hydra roared as it charged at Alex and Stitch. The two split up as it came at them. "STITCH! Think you can trip it?" Alex asked. Stitch nodded as he charged at the beast. They Hydra tried to stomp Stitch with its massive feet, but Stitch was too fast. Stitch crawled up its long neck and yanked hard on its head as he jumped down. The force of Stitch falling while pulling on its head was enough to get the creature to fall down. Stitch then grabbed a boulder and tossed it on the Hydra's body to keep it from getting up. "Good job!" Alex gripped the blade in his hand and brought it down on its neck, slicing its head off. "HA! I WIN HADES!" Alex shouted. "I wouldn't speak so soon, it's only half-time" Hades voice boomed. Another rumble came, which signaled that the Hydra had moved the boulder and was getting up. The stub where its head once stood suddenly burst open, giving birth to three heads! "Stitch?" Alex called. "Yes?" Stitch answered. "Run" Alex responded as he took off. Stitch followed him as the Hydra snapped it's fangs at the two.
The Hydra stuck its three heads in the ground like an Ostrich. "Where'd the heads go?" With yet another rumble, the heads shot out of the ground, right behind Alex. Stitch threw another boulder at the Hydra's heads, stunning them. "Stitch, if I just keep slicing off heads, more will grow back! I'm doomed…" Meanwhile, Jack was sitting was sitting in the audience trying to avoid eye contact with the monsters sitting next to him. "C'mon lad, show that monster whose boss!" Jack shouted out to Alex. Ariel was sitting in a cage next to Hades throne. "ALEX! I BELIEVE IN YOU!" She shouted. Alex had heard Jack and Ariel's cry. "They believe in me…" Alex said to himself. The Disney Blade began to glow again, just like it did when he fought Frollo in Paris. "I CAN DO THIS!" Stitch climbed up on his shoulder ready for battle. The heads sunk back into the ground as the body pulled them back out into the open air. "TIME TO FIGHT!" Alex shouted as he charged.
But something was happening; Alex was running faster than normal. "Since when do I have super speed?" Alex said to himself as he ran circles around the beast. One of the heads lunged at him. Before his mind could register what happened, he did a back flip out of the way. He focused hard and with a swing of his blade, he created a wave of energy which sliced off its three head on contact, but resulted in 12 more heads growing. "Since when can I do that?" Alex said in amazement.
Alex knew that the head slicing bit wasn't gonna work out. Suddenly he got an idea. Alex jumped up on one of the boulders in the battle field. "Stitch, throw me at the middle head!" Stitch got the idea and grunted hard as he lifted up the boulder with Alex on board. Stitch launched the rock at the head as Alex pointed his Disney Blade forward. The Monster bit down on the rock before tilting it's head upwards, swallowing both Alex and the boulder whole. "ALEX! NO!" Ariel cried. "ALEX!" Jack shouted. "ALEX!" Stitch cried. The Hydra burped in satisfaction "AND THE WINNER IS…" Hades started to say, but was interrupted by a loud cry form the Hydra as it fell to the ground. A small lump was visible in its neck, it moved closer and closer to its mouth until something opened its mouth, and out came… "ALEX?" Hades shouted in both surprise and anger. The Audience cheered including Jack. Ariel almost cried in happiness. And Stitch just jumped up and down shouting random things in a different language. Alex was covered in a green goo, and he looked extremely agitated. "HADES!" He shouted in anger.
The arena disappeared and they all reappeared in the throne room. He gripped the Disney Blade in his hands and approached Hades. "Hey buddy, c'mon, I'm a reasonable guy" Hades said stammering a bit. "We can work something out…" Alex pointed the tip of the Disney Blade at Hades neck. "I, have just been down the gullet of a 12 headed monster, and I am in no mood to haggle with you, let her go NOW!" Alex demanded. Hades gulped before laughing nervously. "Hey Alex, buddy, a deal is a deal." Hades snapped his fingers and Ariel fell to the ground.
Alex still kept the sword at Hades neck. "Now then, about the Syndicate…" Alex glared. "Hey, hey, I don't even LIKE those guys! They give me like, zippo respect! I want out!" Hades said. Alex titled his head to the side, he was still suspicious. "What do you mean, "You want out?" Alex asked. "I'm saying I hate them! Especially that Jafar character!" Hades muttered. "Jafar?" Alex asked again. "Yeah, Mr. High-and-mighty-vizier is always showing off, I swear if I gotta listen to that guy rant about that Aladdin guy again I'll kill him!" Alex lowered the Disney Blade. "Where is he?" Alex asked. "Some dump called Agrabah, now can you all PLEASE leave me alone?" Hades said getting agitated.
Alex stepped down, not taking his off Hades. Ariel ran over and attached herself to Alex. "ALEX! I was so scared that I lost you when you were eaten." Ariel cried with tears running down her cheeks. "Isn't this precious, I haven't been this choked up since the time I got a Baklava stuck my throat! Huh?" Hades said waiting for a response. Al was silent form the team. "Tough crowd…" Hades said to no one in particular. "C'mon guys, let's head to Agrabah..." Alex said to his friends. They all nodded and left Hades throne room.
When they were gone, Maleficent appeared out of a black mist. "I don't like that fool Jafar as much as any of us do, but suppose Alex and his companions defeat him?" She asked. "Mal, Babe, the way I look at it, we'll have one LESS problem no matter who wins!" Hades said placing his hands behind his head. Suddenly, the booming voice of the Syndicate Leader echoed throughout the room. "Excellent work Hades, leading those fools on, I expected no less from you…" The leader complimented. "Hey, always happy to help Boss man, but don't forget our deal…" Hades reminded. "Of course, Hades." The Leader responded. "Once I achieve my goal, you will receive your reward by ruling on Mount. Olympus…"
Our heroes had left the Underworld and were heading back to the Coliseum to Hercules. "So, do you think Hades was laying us for saps? Jack asked. "If he was, his butt is officially mine!" Alex said gripping his fists. Ariel rested her head on Alex's shoulder. "Alex, I noticed you were doing some crazy moves out there, like those back flips and running at incredible speeds. How did you do that?" Ariel asked. "I think it was my "Strength of Heart" like Hercules said." Before they knew it, they were back at the Coliseum where Hercules was waiting. "Your back!" He said. "Yeah we made it, and I think I figured out the source of my Strength of heart." Alex said. "Oh, and what's that?" Hercules asked. Alex went over to Jack Ariel and Stitch. "My strength of heart comes from Jack, Stitch, and Ariel. With these guys at my side, I'm ready to take on anything!" Ariel kissed Alex on his cheek. "Alex, that's so sweet!" Ariel sighed. Stitch licked his face. "Alex, Ohana" Stitch said. Jack pretended not to be interested, but deep down, he was touched. "Th-thanks mate" Jack said.
That wasn't exactly what Hercules had meant by Strength of Heart, but whatever worked. "So, does that mean your leaving?" Hercules asked. "Afraid so" Jack said. "Like the wind, we must blow onward." The group said their goodbyes before heading back to the Black Pearl. "Wait a second; we're still low on food!" Alex remembered. "I took care of that when we split up to ask about the black gem." Jack reassured. "You mean you stole it…" Alex said. "Pirate" Jack responded as he walked back up to the steering wheel. Alex just groaned as he rested against the mast. Ariel joined him. "You ok?" Ariel asked. "Yeah, why?" Alex asked. "You were seemed pretty mad when you confronted Hades" Ariel responded. "You'd be mad too if YOU went down the gullet of a 12 headed demon!" Alex said. "So, how do you think you did those moves?" Ariel asked. "I guess, somehow the sword fed off Jack and your positive energy..." Alex yawned. Ariel sighed. "This has been some crazy adventure huh?" Ariel turned to see Alex was asleep. "He must be tired after fighting that beast…" Ariel said to herself. She rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his chest. "Good night Alex…." She murmured before drifting into slumber.
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16 chaps, wow, I never thought I'd make it to here… R&R