Disclaimer: Not mine, yay!

Chapter 24- Beating the Odds

"Hey, hey, what do you know? The little angel comes back." Hades grinned as Iji stomped into the chamber angrily.

"Can it," Iji snapped back.

Hades raised an eyebrow. "Looks like she developed an attitude while she was away too." he commented as he noticed Iji's new looks.

Iji flipped some hair out of her face and glared at Hades. "Well, am I going to that contest or not?" she asked impatiently.

The girl's eyes made the god uncomfortable. "Yeah, kid, whatever you want. Your preliminary test starts in an hour." Hades opened a portal for them to walk through.

"Will Sora be there?" asked Iji suddenly.

"No idea." Hades shrugged. He tightened a fist. 'You had better not win Oogie Boogie; I want to take out the punk myself.' he thought.

*****

"Give me back that Heart!" demanded Jack, pointing up at the sack-like Oogie Boogie.

"You want it? Well, then come on over and get it!" Oogie Boogie grinned and swallowed the mechanical Heart. He laughed deeply. "Now, let's see if I can get their attention! Heartless! Oh, Heartless!" Two Heartless creatures appeared. Oogie Boogie stared in disbelief. "This is it?" His eyes narrowed. "Nobody disrespects me! Nobody!"

Sora summoned his Keyblade and ran onto the roulette wheel. "You're going down, Oogie Boogie!" he cried.

*****

Phil scoffed as a young girl presented a pass to him. "You're kidding me, right? You couldn't pass for a hero if you tried!" He laughed at Iji.

Iji grabbed the satyr by the horns until he was eye level with her. She glared angrily. "I'm entering the games, shorty. I gave you my pass, now let me in." She dropped Phil onto the floor.

Phil got up and brushed himself off. "Just don't come crying to me when you get beat." He unhooked the rope.

"No problems, I don't plan on losing." Iji pushed past him and entered the main arena.

Phil followed her out.

"Do I really have to beat all these weaklings to get into the main tournament?" Iji turned her nose up when she saw the board listings.

"Yeah, it's not called a 'preliminary' for nothing." Phil explained irritably. He smirked. "But, if you want... Maybe we could come to an agreement."

"You got my attention," Iji looked over to him. "So…?"

"How about we have a little bet? If you win, I let you let you in early. If you lose, you don't even get to try again from the beginning. All you need to do is just beat one of the guys on the top of the list." Phil poked his finger at one of the top listings that said 'Reverse Guard Armour'.

Iji smirked. "Piece of cake, I'll be seeing you again in a couple of seconds."

Iji walked onto the arena and summoned her weapons. Her opponent appeared out of the air and landed heavily with a clank. The Reverse Guard Armour attacked first, swinging a massive claw at the girl. Iji smirked once more and leapt onto the armour's hand. She bounced off it onto the Heartless's shoulder and shoved her Star Cutters into the creature's head via the face guard and twisted them brutally. Darkness poured out of the wound like a waterfall. Her opponent crashed to the ground in a pile of metal. The metal disappeared and a heart floated into the sky.

"Whoa, what on Olympus just happened?!" Phil watched in awe.

Iji casually strolled over to Phil. "I win the bet, right?"

Phil nodded and said nothing. Iji passed by him to head to the locker room.

"Call me when my next match is ready," she flapped a hand.

Hercules walked up to Phil's side. "That was amazing! I didn't think she had it in her!"

Phil sighed. "Seriously, Herc, I think it's only going to get worse from here on in."

*****

A bench clattered to the floor as Iji entered the locker room. A man with blonde hair was standing, his hand on the hilt of his bandaged sword.

"Did I surprise you?" asked Iji with an amused tone.

The man relaxed and fixed the bench. "No, but I wasn't really expecting anyone." He looked uneasily at Iji's black wing and sat back down. "So, are you here for the tournament too?" he asked calmly.

"Yeah," Iji nodded and held out a hand. "The name's Iji."

"Cloud." The swordsman shook her hand. She had a strong grip.

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Iji," Cloud said suddenly, breaking the quiet. "May I ask a personal question?"

The girl shrugged lazily. "Guess so,"

"Are you looking for your light?" He glanced at her tainted wing.

Iji paused to think. "I'm looking for a lot of things at the moment..." she said. "But I was once told that all my answers lie in the darkness."

*****

Jack sighed and hugged his love. "Sally, why didn't I listen to you?"

The rag doll smiled sympathetically. "Don't feel bad, Jack. We'll come up with another plan for Halloween. Next time, we'll do it together."

Sora looked on and smiled to himself. There were a couple of people he had to start searching for again.

*****

Iji powered her way through the Phil Cup. Compared to the Reverse Guard Armour she had fought, this was easy as.

"Take this!" she yelled as she sent a delivering blow to a Powerwild.

The monkey Heartless fell over, defeated. Iji had won all the possible battles in the first cup.

"You're doing well." commented Cloud from the sidelines.

"I know," Iji smirked. It faded as she thought about the listings, seeing Sora's name at the top. She still hadn't surpassed him.

Phil placed a new poster up on the side of the wall. Iji and Cloud went over to inspect it. On the poster was a winged horse carrying a trophy. Below it were the words; 'Pegasus Cup'.

Phil grinned at the pair. "Next cup's coming up soon. Think you'll be ready for it?"

"No sweat." said Iji. She took a side glance at Cloud. "Will you be entering?"

Cloud gave a shrug. "I don't know. Might pass this one though and wait for the next cup instead."

Iji smirked back. "Have it your way then."