This was actually a pretty hard chapter to write, not gonna lie. Fight scenes aren't my strong suit. Sorry it took so long to get out as well, school is starting to kick my butt :/

Also, to the guest who reviewed the previous chapter, it will be explained why Xion is here, as well later characters, but now is not the right time to explain it, as its major spoilers.

"Wait, you're saying the whole reason you guys are here is because of this Maleficent lady?" Sora inquired, leaning slightly forward on the table.

"Bingo! See, Maleficent controls the Heartless. She has for years," Yuffie explained. "When she attacked our world, it was pure chance the four of us were at Cid's shop."

"It was even luckier that little Xion was there too." Yuffie ruffled the other girl's hair, making her giggle.

"Then again, it was routine at the point, wasn't it?" Cid said, " Xion would always hang around the shop 'til those three came around."

"That reminds me. I got that navi-gummi installed for you. And I went and installed a warp one since y'all be goin' around a lot, seeing how much you've been back here." Cid added.

"Awesome! We should probably head out soon, then." Sora said, beaming.

Kurow gave a small nod, eyes unfocused. "The sooner the better."

Sora poked the other boy's arm. "You're still upset about Riku, aren't you?"

"How are you not? He's your best friend, and he just disappeared like that." Kurow rested his chin in his hands. "It just doesn't make sense."

"I'm sure he had he reasons though! Riku had to be as worried about us as we were about him." Sora replied, his voice slightly wavering.

"Mm." Kurow rested his arms on the table, laying his head on it after a moment. "Where do you think he could be though? We looked all over town after we fought that Heartless."

Shrugging, Sora sat back in his chair. "I dunno. Maybe… he had to get here somehow, since he definitely wasn't here the first time we were here…"

It was Kurow's turn to shrug now. "I don't know. If he wants, Riku could probably find us. We should probably get some rest." Kurow yawned, "Let's go find that hotel Goofy was talking about."

"You guys be careful, okay? No putting yourselves in stupid situations." Xion said, leaning forward slightly and her voice deadly serious.

Shops around them had sprung to life, the fluorescent signs lighting up as they opened. A pair of Moogles stood outside of Cid's shop, going inside after a moment. Xion had come to see the group off, the others having things to do around the town.

"No promises with Sora around." Donald teased.

"Hey!"

"And Kurow," Xion took a step towards the silver haired boy. "Don't forget, okay? You're looking for a dorky blonde with perma-bedhead, and a redhead with no fashion sense. Tell 'em Xion's looking for them!"

Kurow nodded. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to keep an out for them."

Xion gave a wave as the four left, yelling after them, "See you!"

Soon, they were off in the Gummi ship, Donald looking over the radar with Jiminy, trying to plan their course.

"So, what was that about?" Sora asked, leaning back in his chair.

"If you mean what Xion said, she asked me to help her find her friends. From what she told me, they disappeared a little bit before they had to leave their world." Kurow replied, staring out the ship's window.

After a few moments, there was a comfortable silence, the only noise coming from the ship or Donald pressing a button or two.

"Do you think there's a way for broken worlds to come back?" Sora asked suddenly.

"What d'you mean?"

"Like Jiminy's world, or mine and Kurow's. Do you think we could bring them back somehow?"

Goofy scratched his head. "Well, I hope so. Maybe those reports that Aerith mentioned could tell us somethin'."

"We'll just have to wait and see. Now, get ready!" Donald said, glancing back at the other three. "We're coming up on another world. Be ready for anything!"

"What in the world…?" Kurow's voice drifted, scanning around the area.

"I wonder what kind of place this is…" Sora started forward, noticing the look of the place was similar to ruins he had seen in a textbook. It was a wide courtyard, multiple braziers lined by the wall leading up to a large door.

"I'm wondering what's with these statues," Donald said, crossing his arms and following after Sora.

"They look like some kind of gladiators." Kurow noted, craning his neck as they passed the giant statues.

Inside, torches burned in slots in the walls, pillars in all four corners. A large corridor was blocked off, a sign saying 'closed' draped across it. Sora tilted his head, as he noticed what looked like a goat man pinning up a sign, grumbling occasionally.

"Uh, excuse me?"

They jumped, tensing up. "Who -" They turned around, then looked down at the brunet. "Oh. It's just a kid. What're you doing here?"

They waved Sora away, jumping down from the pedestal. "Look, I don't know how you got here, but do you have any idea where you are?"

"Um, no, actually. That's what I -"

"This is the world famous coliseum! I've already got my hands full, preparing the games this year." They made shooing motions with their hands. "So, scram! I don't need kids running around underneath my hooves."

"What if we wanted to enter the games?" Donald inquired, crossing his arms.

They shook their head. "Don't make me laugh! You guys are nothing but pipsqueaks!"

"We've fought a ton of monsters though! We could definitely hold our own in something like that!" Sora assured, eyebrows furrowing.

"Sora-"

"... How's about this? I set up some trails for you four, and then we'll see how qualified you are for the games." the small goat replied, stroking their beard.

"Sounds fair enough." Sora said, grinning.

"Yeah! See, what'd we tell you, Phil?" Sora said, ecstatic. Sora directed his quip at a small satyr, who waved Sora away.

"It was the first match, pipsqueak. It's no surprise it was easy."

"You guys were still awesome." Kurow said, walking over from the stands, hands tucked into his jacket pockets. "Then again, they were just Soldiers and some of those bell dudes."

"Aw, come on Kurow!" Sora laughed.

"Still, not bad at all." Phil conceded, stroking his beard.

The sound of sand crunching came from the lobby entrance, and a person stepped into the light. They had blonde hair that was a mess that could rival Sora's, dark clothes mostly covered by a burgundy cloak.

They passed by, giving only a slight glance.

"Whoa…"

"I don't know about you, but that guy gives me a bad feeling." Goofy muttered, moving slightly to position his shield in front of him.

"He definitely won't be easy to beat, that's for sure." Phil said.

"You mean he's in the games too?" Sora asked.

Phil nodded. "He showed up not to long ago. Never says a word to anyone though." Phil shook his head and started over towards the rankings board. "I've never understood those loner types."

Sora glanced over at Kurow, whose eyes were still wide, looking off in the direction the person had gone.

"What's up, Kurow?"

Kurow flinched, "Nothing. It's just…" He narrowed his eyes. "I just felt something weird when he walked by."

"Like what?"

"Like… I don't know. Some kind of… pressure?" Kurow shook his head. "Just be careful, all of you. We don't know what kind of fighting that guy could pull."

"When are we not careful?" Sora paused. "Wait, no, don't answer that."

"Now, remember, those earlier rounds may have seemed a bit easy, but don't let it go to your head! You've gotta keep your guards up with this guy!" Phil advised.

"And keep communicating! You guys fight better when you let the other two know when you've figured somethin' out."

"Good luck, you guys." Kurow gave a small smile.

Sora nodded, gripping his keyblade tightly. The matches up until then had been nothing but Heartless but, now, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had made it to the match with Cloud, the person from earlier.

His heart pounding, Sora made his way towards the center of the Colosseum, where Goofy and Donald were waiting. Cloud's gaze seemed to to follow him.

"Everythin' alright, Sora?" Goofy asked, readying his shield.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's fine."

A bell chime sounded, and just as Sora and the others got into fighting stances, the match began. Cloud charged at them, attacking with blinding speed. Sora rolled back, just barely avoiding the blade, hearing Donald's loud voice as he was thrown out of the way. Cloud lunged again, this time making straight for Sora.

Sora raised his keyblade to try and block the blow, only to be knocked flat on the ground. Cloud drew his sword back, only to jerk forward as Goofy's shield hit his head.

Giving a small wave as his shield flew back to him like a boomerang, Goofy got into a defensive stance. Sora could see Donald at the other side of the battleground, raising his staff to cast a Cure, the last one they could use in the games.

Sora stumbled back to his feet, noticing Goofy and Donald were keeping Cloud's attention bouncing between them.

"That's it…" He can't focus on more than one of us!

After a few minutes Sora's chest heaved, breathing heavily. Cloud was still relentlessly attacking, seemingly no change in his composure.

The sound of fingers snapping rang through the Colosseum. Cloud flinched, turning around the way he had came from.

From the shadows of the pillars, a monster jumped out, knocking Cloud over and Goofy backwards. Three identical heads with beady red eyes looked in different directions, eventually settling on Sora and the others. Growling, the monster started towards them.

"What is that?!" Donald yelled, giving a startled cry as it breathed fire at them.

"Get outta there, pipsqueaks! You're no match for Cerberus!" Phil yelled, straining to be heard over the monster's growls and barks.

The monster lunged, and Sora braced himself - only for Cerberus to be held back by someone.

"Hercules!"

"Phil! Get these guys out of here!"

"Come on, Sora!" Goofy was at his side, pulling him along.

"But-!"

"No buts! You heard 'em!" Goofy was dragging him now, back into the lobby of the Colosseum.

"Is... everyone alright?" Kurow asked, breathing heavily.

"Fine, but…"

"What was that?" Donald said, cutting Sora off.

"That, my friends, was Cerberus, guardian of the Underworld." Phil answered, still obviously shaking. "Herc can handle him though, no doubt about it."

Sora's hands balled into fists, his keyblade appearing again in his hands.

Kurow's eyes widened. "Oh, no, you are not going back in there."

"I've got to help them Kurow! I can't stand doing this, just sitting on the sidelines twiddling my thumbs while someone else is out there risking their life!"

"I know. At least let us come with you. You are not going to fight that thing alone." Kurow gave a small smile.

"Sora! Now's your chance!" Donald yelled, sending another Blizzard flying towards Cerberus.

"Right!" Dodging out of the way as Cerberus bit down once more, Sora raised his keyblade, and with a cry of, "Thunder!" streaks of lightning struck the monster.

Panting, Sora backed off, seeing the familiar sight of flames in Cerberus' mouth.

What else can we even do to this thing? Fire magic would be no good, Phil had warned against it, and even all of their attacks together hadn't seemed to do much.

"Aero! Sora, Go!" Kurow cried.

The defensive wind magic around him, Sora raced back towards Cerberus, this time opting to just attack the heads directly. Despite Kurow's magic, Cerberus ducked its head and pushed Sora away. Sora hit the ground a few feet away, the breath knocked out of his lungs and leaving him gasping. The ground shook as the hell hound stomped over to the brunet, flames growing in it's mouth again.

In a split second, Goofy's shield hit Cerberus with a sound whack!, the mist of ice still lingering where it hit. Growling, Cerberus drew back, the center most head shaking.

After a while, the four of them made out a pattern, rotating the monster's focus so it gave someone a chance to recuperate themselves.

Finally, after what seemed to be forever, Cerberus crouched, eventually falling to the ground with a loud crash.

"We… we beat it?" Sora gave a nervous laugh. "We beat it! I have no idea how, but we did it!"

"Everyone alright?" Kurow asked, glancing over the other three.

"More or less." Goofy said, a smile appearing on his face.

"We've gotta go tell Phil!" Sora exclaimed, beaming. "We actually did it!"

Kurow breathed a sigh, the heavy wooden doors closing behind him. He walked down the steps, sitting on the lowest one. The adrenaline from the battle was finally fading, and it left him with the exhaustion.

Unlike Kurow had hoped, there had been no sign of either of his and Sora's missing friends.

"Hey."

Kurow jumped, someone tapping him on the shoulder. He turned, seeing Cloud behind him, seemingly fully recovered from earlier. The blonde stepped down, sitting down besides him.

"What you doing out here? Shouldn't you be in there with them?"

Kurow shrugged. "Phil said it was stuff about the games. Sora and the others were the ones who were in it, not me."

"Hm. Fair enough."

"...If you don't mind me asking, why were you working with Hades?" Kurow asked, hesitant.

Cloud didn't reply right away, resting his head on his hands. "Hades said he could help me find someone." Cloud closed his eyes. "Because I tried to exploit the darkness Hades offered, I fell into it, and couldn't find the light."

"You can find it though. Light's everywhere. You just have to look." Kurow paused, thinking.

"We're looking for someone too. Well, three people, technically."

Cloud chuckled, and stood after a moment. "You'll find them. And when you do… Don't lose them again." Cloud walked away, the only sounds being the sand underneath his feet crunching and his cloak flapping in the wind.

Kurow watched him go, the pounding of his heart settling.

"Hey, Kurow! You ready to go?" Sora was at his side in moment, Donald and Goofy right behind him.

'Uh, yeah. Let's go." Kurow stood, rubbing the back of his neck as they started towards the exit.

"Junior heroes… As if we…" Donald shook his head, muttering to himself.

"What about that world? Kairi and the King might be there." Sora said, pointing out of the window.

"In a backwater place like that? There's no way the King would be there!" Donald replied, "We're not going."

"Why not? It'd be better if we just went and checked, you never know!" Sora insisted.

"I said no! We'll look somewhere else for the King!"

"What if King Mickey's down there, and you just went ahead and missed him because you were stubborn?"

Kurow shook his head, "I really hope we find someone soon."

"Hey, quit it! Sora, don't touch that!" Donald's voice was near panicking, and the Gummi ship shook violently.

"Sora what did you do?"

"I pressed a button! That's all!" Sora held up his hands in surrender, the shaking becoming more and more erratic as the ship barreled down towards the world.