Disclaimer: I own nothing that isn't mine -.-
Ok, the next chapter is here. All I ask is that you review more, and I will shower you with shiny items and chapters XD. Recently I've only been getting one review per chapter.
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"Ok," said Sora determinedly as he arose from the huddle. He, Donald, and Goofy were debating which world to go to next.
Sora argued that we should go back to Traverse Town, ask Leon about the gummi blocks, and then leave again, as fast as that. "It wouldn't take any extra time," he had said.
"NO!" Donald had protested. "If we go back to Traverse Town, Leon's definitely gonna ask us how many worlds we've saved. And if we tell him two, he's gonna be all like 'We give you ALL this time and you only visit two worlds? Some Keyblade Master you are…' We've gotta visit at least three."
Goofy had argued that, "Aw, gawrsh, Donald! Leon ain't like that!"
I had simply sat back and sipped away at some soda I found in the gummi ship's mini-bar. I was letting them pick my poison. Leon was always grumpy, and Yuffie was so hyper it made my head hurt. Then again, adventuring was almost as tiring as watching Yuffie bounce off the walls. Either way, I had it pretty bad.
"We're going to one more world before we return to Traverse Town," Sora announced. Then he turned to Donald. "Just one."
"Fine," Donald replied. "One."
"But Leon wouldn't-" Goofy began. His comment was followed by a "NO!" from both Donald and Sora.
"So," I said. "Which world?"
"I'm not going to say anything," said Donald, who had obviously had enough arguing for the day.
"OK!" I screamed suddenly. "That one!"
"The little yellow one?" said Sora, pointing.
"Yeah, that one. Who's driving?"
Donald sighed. "It has to be me. If we let Goofy drive, we'll crash, and if we let Sora drive, he'll just go off looking for those other people."
"Riku and Kairi!" Sora and I screamed together.
"Yeah, whatever. So, anyway, Skyler can't drive because she's just a kid."
"HEY!"
Donald chuckled quietly. Then he sat down at the driver's seat and started the engine.
--
"What is this place, anyway?" asked Donald. We were standing in the middle of an immense plot of mildly dusty land. In front of us was a giant building bordered by two golden statues of warriors.
"It looks like one of those fighting places," mused Goofy.
"Coliseums!" Donald corrected.
"Oh! Right! Coliseums," said Goofy.
Donald sighed.
"Well, we should go in," said Sora. "Right?"
I nodded.
--
"Um…" said Sora. We were standing inside the Coliseum's lobby. A short, hairy man was fixing up a sign advertising the next tournament.
"Good timing," said the hairy man. "Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games."
Sora and I exchanged confused glances, but headed over to the huge pedestal the hairy guy had pointed to anyway.
"So…" I said. "He wants us to move it?"
"Yeah, I guess so," said Sora.
Sora leaned against it and pushed. The rock didn't budge.
"It weighs a ton!" he cried.
I tried pushing it too. "It won't budge."
"Well, that guy wanted us to move it," said Sora. "We have to help somehow."
"Hmm," I pondered. "Maybe it'll move more easily once it gets a taste of the Mystical Orbs…" I whipped out my Keyblade copy and whacked the pedestal as hard as I could.
The head of my Keyblade snapped off.
I gazed in shock at the pedestal for a moment, and then made my Keyblade disappear. I summoned it again. It was fully repaired.
"Ok…" I muttered to Sora. "Don't try that."
--
"It's way too heavy!" Sora said to the hairy guy.
"What?" said the hairy guy, still not looking at us. "Since when have you been such a little-" he turned around and saw us "-Oh. Wrong guy. What're you doing here? This here's the world-famous Coliseum- heroes only! And I got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pop-squeaks. Look, it's like this. Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum.
"You got heroes standing right in front of you," announced Donald proudly.
"Yup!" said Goofy. "She was chosen by the Mystical Orbs."
"And he was chosen by the Keyblade," said Donald. "We're all heroes!"
"Heroes?" said the hairy guy. "You runts?" He began laughing. "You runts? What kinda joke is this? Ok, ok," calmed his laughing. "Lemme get this straight: a dog, a duck, a kid, and a little girl are heroes. HA!" He began laughing again.
"What's so funny?" asked Sora.
"Yeah!" I put in. "We've fought a bunch of tough monsters!"
The hairy guy burst into laughter. "What? You guys? Heroes? HAH! I mean, if you can't even move this-" he began to push the pedestal "-you can't…call yourself…a hero!" However, the pedestal didn't budge.
"Okay," he admitted. "So it takes more than brawn. Well, let's see what you can do. I warn you though. The trial I'm gonna give you is tough. You got what it takes? You ready?
"YES!" screamed Sora at the top of his lungs.
"Hey," I added quickly. "Um…Mr. Short Hairy Guy? Wha-"
"It's Phil. Got that?"
"Um, ok, Phil. What kind of trial is this exactly?"
"A time trial. Each one of you has to smash each and every one of the barrels before the time runs out. When your done, run to your teammates. The next one in line should have his/her hand out. Slap their hand, and it's their turn."
Sora went first. Though it took a little bit of time running around and destroying each barrel individually, Sora passed and slapped my hand.
The method I used was quite different. I picked up one barrel and threw it at another, destroying both. Sometimes, if I was lucky, I hit two barrels instead of just one, destroying three. I beat Sora's time by about 30 seconds. Slapping Donald's hand, I took a seat next to Sora.
Donald went around and shot fire spells at each and every one of the barrels, but eventually, his staff ran out of power and he had to resort to smashing the remaining barrels by hand. His time was matched with mine.
Goofy (last but not least) threw his shield like a boomerang, cutting through several barrels at a time. At first, this method proved to be a better one than everyone else's, but then Goofy dropped his shield and couldn't find it. He resorted to running up to each barrel and kicking it until it broke.
Donald and I were tied, Sora was in second, and poor Goofy came in dead last. When we went back into the lobby, Sora was congratulating me, Donald and I were arguing, and Goofy was looking very confused.
"Wow," said Sora. "That was pretty good, Skyler."
"Thanks," I said. "Now, hold on a second. Donald, I'm telling you I WON! It was close but there was a millisecond's difference…"
"You're right," said Donald. "You took one millisecond longer than me! Therefore, I WON!"
"No, ME!"
"ME!"
"Gawrsh, guys. Stop it!" Goofy yelled out in frustration. All the arguing immediately stopped. "Aw, I don't get it," Goofy whined. "The numbers on that clock were bigger than everyone else's, but I lost. Shouldn't I win?"
Everyone looked at Goofy with pity. The poor dog couldn't even understand a time trial…
"Um…well…" ventured Donald, but he was quickly interrupted by Phil.
"Hmph. You kids ain't bad…for a bunch of rookies," he said with begrudging respect.
"YES!" exclaimed Sora, leaping up. He then pulled me up and gave me a high-five, then gave Donald and Goofy hugs. "Looks like we're headed for the games!"
"Sorry kid," said Phil. "Afraid not."
"What? Why not?" demanded Sora, his happy spirits dropping.
"Two words: You guys ain't heros."
"Uh…gawrsh," began Goofy. "That was four-"
"Oh, come on!" said Sora.
"You wanna become a real hero?" asked Phil. "Start by mastering this spell."
Phil handed Sora, Donald, Goofy, and me a small charm in the shape of a lightning bolt.
"What-" began Donald, but stopped abruptly as the charms floated into the air and disappeared in a flash of light.
"Ok," said Phil. "You heard me. GO MASTER IT."
--
"What's wrong, Donald?" I asked once we were outside the lobby. Donald was staring down at his staff unsurely.
"Well…it's just that…I feel…different somehow."
"What'd ya mean?"
Donald almost immediately resumed his grumpy attitude. "None of your business," he retorted, and walked firmly onward.
"Gawrsh, I feel fine. Maybe you're gettin' a cold, Donald, a'hyuk!" Chuckled Goofy.
"Goofy…!" squawked Donald, embarrassed about being fussed over in front of his rival. I grinned. "Goofy…you know I can handle myself!"
"Hmm…" put in Sora. "I dunno…I feel funny too."
"Exactly like me!" said Donald, shocked. "I just feel like…like…like I know…THUNDER!"
As Donald said those words, he held his staff above him and shot a beam of light into the sky. Dark storm clouds gathered overhead, and thunder rained down from the sky. And just as suddenly as the moment had come, it was gone.
"Woah!" said Donald. "That must've been the funny feeling! I can cast thunder spells! Sora, I bet you can do the same! Of course, Skyler's a little slow…"
"Am not!" I cried. "Watch this! THUNDER!" Holding my Keyblade copy above me, I cast the spell.
"And I can do it too!" said Sora, and he cast the spell.
"Hmph…" said Donald. "Well…Skyler, I bet you can't do this. BLIZZARD!" An icy snowflake shot past me. I had dodged it just in time.
"Rrr…" I muttered. "I so can cast that. BLIZZ-"
"Woah, woah, watch it," came a voice.
"Huh?" said Sora, turning around. Standing behind him was a tall man dressed in long robes with blue fire for hair.
"You guys watch it with the blizzard spells. You almost put out the hair, you know?" he said, pointing to his flaming hair.
"But, anyway," he continued. "That's beside the point. The point…is this." The man held out his hand and in a flash of blue flames, an entry card for the games appeared in his hand.
"A pass?" asked Sora in awe.
"It's all yours, kids. Good luck. I'm pulling for you."
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DUN DUN DUN! Yes, this chapter is a page shorter than what I normally do (which is 7-8 pages, by the way. I work hard!), but whatever. What's a lost page between friends?