Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and everything else belongs to Walt Disney and Square-Enix.
The OCs and their alter-ego that appear in this story belong to their respective authors. More information about them are found in the "Original Characters' Intro" chapter.
::KINGDOM HEARTS III Online HD::
-Godly Tourneys-
-Mt. Olympus-
There was a party at Mt. Olympus and all the Olympian warriors, heroes and gods were invited.
Mt. Olympus. It's where everybody knew your name. And they were always glad you came to hang out with them; to go about their usual businesses like shopping, playing, gossiping, punishing humans for their evil deeds ect… and the Royal Palace Olympus was alive and well.
With the party going on, the sky gardens near the Royal Palace was swarming with gods from all over the world, gods like Kirin, Shiva, Ramuh, Odin, whatever. Some chose to enter the Palace to meet Zeus and Hera at the mess hall, while some chose to hang out in the gardens to enjoy the beautiful bright morning sun that glimmered up close like it was the afternoon.
"HERCULEEEEEEES!" a scream rented the high skies, catching all attention. The onlookers turn to the direction of the scream where they caught a glimpse of a star blinking from the distance, giving the sense that something life-stopping was coming.
Suddenly, a chariot zoomed right past the onlookers, leaving behind a powerful gust of wind that almost carried them off their feet. Then another chariot followed where the onlookers could hear the sound of screaming girls. It was deafening.
"Close the door! Close the door! CLOSE THE DOOOR!" barked Philoctectes from the chariot.
The driver of the chariot, Hermes, pointed at the two large double gates to the Mess Hall and slowly they closed into a thunderous bang. The other chariot stopped right in front of the gate and the gods could hear and see the screaming cheerful girls wooing in tears from behind the gates.
Hercules jumped off the chariot and looked up to face his father—the mighty god of Thunder Zeus. There was a strange silence between them, if one was to count out the screaming cheerful girls in the background.
Zeus cleared his throat and finally spoke in a calm tone, "Ok… ahem… Hercules…"
"Father…" Hercules grinned back.
"Yeah, hi…" Zeus grinned back then stopped grinning and went on, "So uhh… quick question here. Can you like please… ahem…tell me…" he inhaled and let out a roaring shout that blew away nearby gods from distance, "WHY IS HERMES' CHARIOT ON FIRE?"
All heads looked at Hermes' chariot. It rear was in flames. "Oops!" Hermes quickly scooped up a puff of clouds from where he was standing and like a wet towel, wringed water out of it, extinguishing the fire. Then Hermes looked at a god who looked like he was on fire but he wasn't. It was Appollo. He shrugged, "Hey don't look at me. You know how I get when I get startled. I shoot fire nonchalantly."
Hercules then faced his father again, "Well…" he scratched his head nervously, slowly beginning to lose his words, "Y…you see father. It's just that…"
Zeus looked away from his son and called out, "Hermes?"
Hermes quickly pointed inside the chariot, "It was him!"
A tiny hand reached out from the chariot and came out the tiny figure of Philotectes. The gods looked confused.
Phil glared at Hermes, "Whatchu pointin' the finger at me for?" he whined before facing the gods, "It was Hercules… and this guy!" Phil pulled out from the chariot a young man around the same age as Hercules. But he appeared different. His hair was spiky, pointy and black and he had blue eyes, a blue shirt, a silver armor underneath, and fancy Olympians loafers. The young man grinned and waved.
"Hi."
"Milord Zeus." Phil said grudgingly, "Meet Hercules's troublemaking best friend: Zack Fair."
xXx
"Aw, Father. Come on!" Hercules complained from inside the Halls of the Olympians, where Zeus and his Olympian god friends ruled Mt. Olympus. To Hercules, Zeus was like the largest mountain in the world. Even one finger was like a single palace's wall pillar. But of course, Zeus would morph into human shape whenever he pleased, or whenever Hercules wasn't comfortable with the giant size and would request him to change.
But in that case, Zeus was angry, and he'd preferred to stay magnum for Hercules to get to the point of his punishment.
"Life? In eternity? With you? …has GOT to be the worse punishment ever!" He frowned, "Come on… can you at least give me an exception? The Olympus Godly Tourneys is coming up and I wanna challenge you to a match-up."
"You could have thought of that before you disobeyed me, son." Zeus said, "How many times should I tell you NOT to provoke the multiple daughters of Aphrodite? They're your biggest fans for crying out loud!"
"And Zack's too." Zack interrupted the conversation, "Don't forget Zack."
Zeus glared at Zack, moved his fist over to his mouth and with a resounding blow cleared his throat, "AAAAA-HEEEEM!" and that almost got Zack off his feet.
"Sorry…" Zack grinned nervously, "but hey, the daughters! They are mortals out of those numbers, right?"
"GRRRRRRR…." Zeus sneered at Zack once more.
"But Father…" Hercules went back on the subject, "IF not Zack, why not Meg? I can't abandon Meg. And besides, Meg and I will always be faithful."
"OHHH!" Zeus barked, causing a powerful gust of winds that almost knocked Hercules off his feet, but sent Zack straight to a wall.
"So NOW I can't be faithful?"
"Oww… my head…" Zack held on his throbbing head.
The gods in the Hall were talking amongst themselves as Zeus then forged a smile, "Okay, since you're so desperate to disobey my orders, how about I make this fun for aaaall of you?"
Phil just peeked into the Hall when he heard Zeus's words and he turned nervous, "Uh-oh. This can never be good."
Zeus went on, "You two will partake on the Godly Tourneys, along with all the other godly warriors, heroes, and gods…"
Zack's eyes lit up, "So I get to participate in the Tournament too?"
"Tourneys." Zeus corrected, "And yes, you will participate…"
Zack clenched his fists together and near his chin, and danced on his tiptoes giddily, until Zeus said this, "…but on one condition."
His smile faded to a curious pucker. He and Hercules exchanged glances before facing the Thunder god.
"We're listening." Hercules's voice turned low. With Zeus, anything was unexpected. And the unexpected was always unpleasant.
Zeus swept his arms around his godly comrades sitting on their thrones around the Hall, "Battle all of us, Twelve Olympians, and you get to face me, the Thirteenth." Zeus said, "Defeat me, and I will relinquish your eternal punishment."
Hercules and Zack smiled once more. But then Zeus waggled his massive finger at his tiny figurine-shaped son, "BUT, if you lose…"
"I know, I know…" Hercules sighed, "Eternal life in Mt. Olympus."
"Sheesh." Zack shuddered, "It's like being grounded for life! I'm glad I'm no Olympian god's son."
xXx
Olympus Town Square
After a brief talk with Zeus, Hercules and Zack walked down the avenue of Olympus Town, town of the heroes and the gods.
"So, what are you going to say to Meg?" Zack asked Hercules, whose eyes were on the floor.
After much thought he shrugged, "Just… tell her the truth I guess."
"Gaaaaasp!" Phil gasped, "Liar!"
Hercules and Zack jumped when they heard Phil. Phil jumped onto Hercules's head and trampled his feet all over his orange hair, "Ow, ow, ow! Quit it Phil!"
"Liar!" he barked again.
"What?"
"You're supposed to be a liar!" Phil said, "Lie! Lie! Lie! That woman is poison! She could manipulate your mind and make you think that you belong to these human people!"
"Hey!" Zack exclaimed, offended, "I am one of these human people!"
"And I belong with the human people." Hercules added to Phil.
"That's what you said when she bewitched you, boy!" Phil argued some more.
"I thought you and Meg put your differences asides." Herc said to Phil.
"She did, but not me. I can't trust you all humans…" Phil then glared at Zack, "Much like I can't trust you…" he growled at Zack.
"What?" Zack crossed his arms, "Just because I got Hercules' fan club to come to the Olympus gods' party in honor of the Godly Tourneys, you can't trust me?"
Phil rolled his eyes, but Zack went on, "Plus, they were the daughters of Aphrodite. Beautiful and exquisite. What could possibly go wrong with them?"
Before Phil could respond, the intense screaming of excitement and ecstasy rendered the high skies of Olympus. All heads turned to watch the stampede of girls in the chariot again charging at the three heroes.
"They're coming right for us!" Hercules screamed and the boys took off running, so fast that the wind knocked Phil off Hercules' hair. Phil then trailed behind, but couldn't run fast enough on his hind goat legs and ended up getting trampled by the girls.
"IT'S ZACK FAIR AND HERCULES!" the screaming fan girls were heard all across the town.
Meanwhile, the heroes—Jean-Michel, Violet, Lightning, and Terra—turned to watch the screaming girls' coming out of nowhere charging at them. They then spotted Zack and Hercules running up front. They were being chased.
"Stand back." Lightning warned her comrades and was ready to pull out her gunblade. But she startled when she saw Hercules jump into her arms. Then Zack followed by jumping onto Terra's arms. They quickly dodged the girls' stampede. Violet moved out of the way also, but the stampede crazily knocked down Jean-Michel full-force and started massacring him with no knowledge that they got the wrong person.
"It's not them!" one of the fans yelled. She single-handedly pulled Jean-Michel off his feet by the shirt. He was all torn up and beaten to a pulp, "It's just an old man…"
"Awwww…" the girls whined.
The girl fan dropped the battered unconscious Jean-Michel back to the ground.
"Then WHERE ARE THEY?" one girl squealed.
Another girl approached the heroes. Lightning and Terra quickly shoved Hercules and Zack behind their backs as if hiding something. "Hey, have you guys seen two hunky heartthrob guys, Zack Fair and Hercules?" the girl asked.
"They're like the hottest stars on Earth." Another girl said articulately with her hands.
The heroes looked at each other then back at the girls and pointed, "They went that way!" Lightning and Terra pointed opposite directions. The girls looked perplexed. The duo noticed their mistakes and quickly pointed to the right direction. The girls and their chariot took off to their new direction, still screaming their guts out.
Lightning and Terra pulled Hercules and Zack out of their hiding places. Jean-Michel jumped back up his feet, completely dazed and seeing stars. He then glared menacingly at Zack and Hercules who just shrugged and grinned.
"You just enjoy rubbing your little fame of yours to my face, don't you?" He winced in pain, "…ow, my spine!"
"Oooh, jealous much, my old friend?" Zack replied.
"You have no idea." Violet smiled.
"Hey, I am NOT old!" JM snapped, "Tell your stupid girlfriends that!"
"Hey, thank you for saving us back here." Hercules said to Lightning, "I'm…" Hercules stopped talking once he noticed Terra. Zack also saw Terra, and both guys let out a big cheer, "TERRA!"
They greeted the puzzled Terra with clasp of hands and hugs, "It's good to see you buddy!" Zack said.
"It's been so long!" Hercules said, "Where have you been all these years?"
"…uhh…" Terra hesitated, "…yeah… I don't…"
"You know Terra?" Lightning interrupted.
"No duh!" Zack said, "We've known each other since Terra visited Olympus Coliseum years ago. Don't we buddy?"
His statement got Terra more confused, "Wait… I did?"
Hercules and Zack stared back at Terra.
"…yeah, you probably should know in advance that Terra doesn't remember most of his past memories anymore." Violet said.
Hercules and Zack looked at Violet, shocked to hear the news. "Memory loss?" Zack said, "Man, that sucks!"
"Yeah, that's a long story." Lightning said, throwing a dismissal hand, "Worth talking about it over a cup of tea, which we don't have time for. What is this place?"
"This… is Olympus Town." Hercules said with his arms wide open in glory, showing off the buildings, the markets, the streets and the Olympians people moving about to their busy errands. "Home of the warriors, heroes, gods, and the ever-loving Godly Tourneys."
"…which we are getting ready for in just a couple of hours." Zack said, "As you can see, people are prepping to travel to the Olympus Coliseum at the top of Mt. Olympus to watch the best warriors, heroes, and gods battling the Olympian gods for a beautiful prize."
"Battling Olympian gods?" Jean-Michel said, beaming, "That sounds excited!"
"Yeah… maybe for you, but uhh… not for us." Hercules said.
The heroes stared, puzzled, "Not for you guys?" Terra blinked, "Why would that be the case?"
xXx
Hades was on his throne back in the Underworld, mesmerized by the setting of Olympus Coliseum. Through an image hovering in the air, he watched a crowd of spectators taking their seats around the coliseum benches, surrounding a massive arena covered of hot sands and mahogany granite platform in the middle surrounded by a dozen of twenty feet pillars. This was the place where contenders—warriors, heroes, and gods—were to battle for the Godly Tourneys.
"Such a beautiful shade of gold." Hades muttered, grinning from ear to ear, "A true masterpiece like a chalice filled with fine cider. Exquisite."
He turned his head to the right, fixing his gaze on a mysterious man in a snowy white cloak, very similar to Organization XIII. He looked at him like he was a complete deaf person. He raised his hand upward and a large rock materialized above his palm. He launched the stone right at the mysterious man.
"Did you not hear what I just said?" Hades barked.
"Ow." The man grunted.
Hades shook his head, smiling, "No. Ow is what you said when you're expressing pain. Yes or No is what you say when someone is ASKING YOU A QUESTION WITH TWO CHOICES!"
The man with the snow-white cloak simply glared back at Hades. His blue eyes were seen under the hood, but his face was still deep under.
"Now." Hades went on, "With your little blade imbued in darkness, how about you join the Godly Tourneys? Y'know? For the prize? For the reputation before all the gods? And best of all, for crushing—!" Hades pounded a fist to his palm together.
The man simply stared with his deep blue eyes.
Hades cleared his throat, "…Hercules for me."
xXx
Olympus Coliseum
The Coliseum soon got filled up by a huge gathering of people assembled together to witness that noble contest of brute strength between warriors, heroes, and of course the Olympian Gods. The assembly on the Coliseum was well over a million people, and they sat so close together that there were little to no space for legs and arms to freely move.
The heroes were currently at the Coliseum Foyer. JM and Violet couldn't get their eyes off the sights in the Coliseum. Last year since then, they never thought they'd actually be inside the Kingdom Hearts universe. One that was supposed to be a fun-loving game and now turned out to be a real magical world, nothing seen before unlike Planet Earth. JM at first thought this was great special effect. But no special effects could outsmart meeting, seeing and feeling characters like Terra and Lighting, and to actually walking on the cloudy sands of Olympus Coliseum… a world away from home.
"This…" JM turned around to face his friends and Zack and Hercules, "…is amazing."
Zack and Hercules smiled.
"Have you guys ever been to Hollywood?" JM then chuckled, "No, wait. You haven't. Because you ain't celebrities. But here…? You are!"
"Is Hollywood a great place?" Hercules asked curiously.
"Peh…" JM scoffed, "Not after seeing THIS! Hollywood is nothing like Olympus Coliseum. Plus, I get to practice my martial arts skills." He tossed two kicks in the air and struck a Karate pose with a battle cry. "…and easily get celebrity love."
"Okay, enough of him." Violet shoved JM asides. Changing the subject she faced Hercules and Zack, "What's the deal with the Godly Tourneys, and what is Zeus is making you do?"
"Fight him." Hercules said, "Fight him for the right to get my freedom."
"Fighting for your freedom huh?" Lightning said, "Sounds like being in a war."
Hercules shook his head, "Not really. No. It's a great way to prove to my father that I am totally capable of surpassing him."
"That is every father's dream." Zack grinned.
"INDEED!"
The group heard the booming voice of Zeus resounding in the foyer. They quickly turned to face him along with his godly comrades the Olympian Gods. They appeared in human forms.
"It is a father's dream to see their son competing in the ever-loving ever-godly Godly Tourneys along with many other godly warriors and heroes and gods." Zeus fondly wrapped his arms around his son. Hercules grimaced, moving Zeus' arms away and blushing, "Father…"
Jean-Michel lit up at the sight of the gods, but Violet was less than enthusiastic as her mind was on a different subject from the thunder god's appearance. "Err, sir…" she said, "…you said godly twice in two words together and three times in a sentence with the word gods on it."
Zeus laughed wholeheartedly, "You BET I did!"
"Okay, Father. Weren't you mad at me for like, five minutes ago?" Hercules was curious, "What's with the cheerfulness now?"
"HO-OHH!" Zeus laughed again. "OHHH-OH-OHHH! OHHHHHHHH-OH-OH -OH -OH -OH -OHHH!"
On cue, the other gods who were with Zeus started laughing out loud. The laugh soon turned contagious. Everyone started laughing. First there were giggling, then it was hysterical, and soon after it was complete utter chaos. Even Lighting who had hard times laughing was actually laughing. Of course she wasn't rolling on the floor and slamming on the wall in complete hysteria, though that would've been really awkward and gotten twice the laughter. She merely chuckled.
"Oh my… oh my gosh… oh my gosh…" Violet wiped a tear off her eyes, "…why we… sniffles… are why we laughing?"
"I'm LAUGHING" Zeus proceeded, "because I THOUGHT I would make things interesting!"
Hercules and Zack's smile quickly vanished. "Oh no…" Hercules cringed.
"I am actually surrounded by complete loons." Lightning muttered as the smile vanished from her face.
"As you can see," the thunder god went on, "I and my…" he once again swept his arms around his godly comrades, "Twelve Olympians here—Hera, Poseidon, Dion, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Demeter—have decided, that he who defeats us—all Thirteen of us—would be granted the fabulous grand prize… of eternity."
There was silence among the group. Violet counted the gods one-by-one. "Err… Zeus? There're twelve of you."
"You BET there is!"
Violet shook her head, "No, no, no. I mean they are really twelve of you. Counting you of course, it's twelve. There're not thirteen. So, technically it's Zeus and the eleven Olympian Gods."
"Oh dear." Hera then spoke, "There really is twelve of us." She blinked, "or eleven or whatever…"
"Yeah, Hades is not with us." Ares then added before rolling his eyes, "Tsk. Go figure."
The Olympian gods all agreed.
"Wait… Hades, the Underworld god is among one of the Twelve Olympian gods too?" Terra sounded surprised.
Hercules and Zack all nodded in agreement while Zeus breathed an exasperated sigh, "No kidding." He muttered, "That foolish god is always playing with us."
And once again the Olympian gods all agreed. But JM interrupted, "Hold up! We have a big situation on our hands!"
"You bet." Violet agreed with JM, thinking that he was talking about Hades being part of the Twelve Olympians.
"There's a grand prize with my name on it and I need to GET IT!" JM exclaimed in glee, "You DID say eternal life right?"
Zeus nodded his head, "Oh right. The prize of eternity. Eternal life. You'd get to enjoy it at Mt. Olympus. And by Mt. Olympus. As in ETEEEEEERRRRNITY—" Zeus' bellowing voice once again swept everyone off their feet and straight to a wall, except Hercules, "—AT MT. OLYMPUS!"
"Ow…" Violet groaned in pain.
JM who had a trophy stuck in his head, popped right out of it and screamed "What?" he glared at the gods, "JUST Mt. Olympus?"
"And you never leave." Zeus added.
JM cocked his head on one side, "Why?"
The Olympians hesitated. They exchanged brief glances at each other when the voice of Hades resounded in the foyer… but there was no sign of Hades.
"I can answer this question for you."
Hades appeared in combustion of flames, frightening everyone. The flames quickly vanished. Hades was with the mysterious warrior in the white Organization XIII robe.
"Ohh. Well look who finally shows up." Poseidon spoke, crossing his arms and glowering at Hades. "You know I could just turn you off right there where we're standing?"
"Pos." Zeus said to Poseidon, "Easy on the water threat."
"Ooooh~!" Hades mocked, "I'm frightened. Too bad for you I'm not here to stoop to your level." Hades then faced the heroes, Hercules and Zack, "I'm here to stoop to their level. Gentlemen… err…" he hesitated upon noticing Lighting and Violet, "ladies and gentlemen, allow me to meet your acquaintance. His name is Sin. Not his real name though."
"Hades, what do you want?" Terra said to him.
"A deal." Hades said, "That you will either work hard enough to earn the dullest grand prize in the universe… because to me it sounds like being grounded for life…"
"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!" Zack exclaimed.
Hades glowered at Zack for a second then went on, "…OR you get my grandprize: eternal life in Hell."
Silence again. The heroes frowned at that revelation.
"Eternal life in Hell?" JM blinked, "Wait… what's that like?"
Violet smacked JM on the head, "Ow!"
"Jean-Michel!" she barked. "Do you realize what he's sayin'?"
"Yeah. Eternal life in—!" JM then cut himself short, "…ohhhhhhh…"
"That's right party people." Hades smiled before pacing around the foyer, "If you win this tourneys, you will spend eternal life at Zeus' place, working for him part-time, no rest, minimum wage as his minion to his…" Hades paused once he noticed he was nose-to-nose with Zeus. Both gods glared at each other, "…miniature godly friends." He finished before moving away from the thunder god and paced again.
"But if you lose the tourney, you get benefit here. Eternal life in MY place, the Underworld, is like party at midnight 24-7. Full time fun, high salary and wage, and you get to create your own dirty work and operation to ruin humans' life. And get this: there's a promotion."
"What? Your throne?" Lighting said.
"Bingo!" Hades grinned, "Man, am I on fire or what? So—!" Hades clapped twice and a contract and a quill pen magically poofed besides the god. He waved his arms toward the gods and the contract and quill pen flew before them, "…how about it, Zeus? You just sign the contract and the rules and regulations of these godly tourneys will all be settled. Now I may be part of the Twelve Olympians but you need to know that I will always stay loyal to my turf no matter what. So how about it? Deal or no deal? If no deal, then I'll just quit being a member of your group, the godly Tourneys will be canceled, and I will be obliged to make all humans suffer."
Zeus turned to the heroes, and then the Olympians. The heroes were shaking their heads and making gestures, attempting Zeus not to take the deal. Zeus sighed and faced Hades again, "Fine…" he picked up the quill pen and signed the contract, "…but remember Hades, you're part of the Twelve Olympians, so NO scheming! Or face the consequences."
"Don't worry Zeus boy. My scheming days are over." Hades smiled.
The twelve gods took their leaves to the Coliseum arena at the sound of the anticipating cheering crowd. The heroes followed. The coast was finally cleared for Hades and he turned to Sin. The contract clutched on his hand morphed into a golden leaf crown.
"Put this on." He handed the leaf crown over to Sin. Sin took the crown and placed it into his forehead. JM once again entered the foyer but soon as he noticed Sin and Hades he quickly hid behind a wall to avoid being spotted. He watched.
"Oooh, beautiful." Hades clapped his hands joyfully, "It looks perfect on you. Now time to win this. And no dawdling this time."
"Don't worry, I will win this. You've said the words twice already."
"You bet I did!" Hades snapped. JM frowned, wondering what was going on.
xXx
The contenders of the tourney finally joined the coliseum arena before a massive wave of cheers and supports from fans on both sides of the coliseum benches. Battles kicked off at the mighty blow of a trumpet.
First match was Jean Michel against a centaur and an army of minotaurs. The centaur sent out his minotaurs toward JM, armed with their giant axes. Minotaurs went swinging wildly at Jean-Michel, aiming for his head, his torso, and such. JM ducked, jumped and flew over the charging creatures, letting them collide at each other instead. One minotaur went for a downward swing, but JM summoned his Keyblade, blocked, and quickly delivered a couple of hits. He then went for the other minotaurs with combos attack. He then watched a minotaur leaping toward him. He quickly casted Arcwind on the flying minotaur, freezing him in midair, then ran toward him, flipped in the air with his Keyblade like a Parkour acrobat and swung at the frozen minotaur. The frozen minotaur went straight for the centaur. The centaur quickly pulled out his axe and swung, shattering the frozen minotaur into pieces. Rains of ice pelted the centaur until he fell backward off the arena. JM landed on his feet and shook his fist in the air "OH YEAH!" cheering just as the crowd cheered on also.
Second bout was Violet against a horde of bow-wielding elves. Rains of arrows imbued in burning fire showered all over Violet. Violet countered most of the arrows with quick swings of her Keyblade as she was running and dodging remaining arrows. She skidded into a full stop to watch more fire-imbued arrows heading straight for her. She launched an Oil Spell with her Keyblade by using it as a pen to draw a circle around her. She then casted an Aero Spell at her feet and the winds picked her up. The fire arrows landed on the Oil circle she made and a massive column of fire combusted. The heavy fire quickly danced to the winds Violet made around her, following the heroine. She then stopped midair. Just as the column of fire was about to reach her way, she pointed her Keyblade at the elves. As if in response the wind guided the heavy column of fire straight for the elves. The elves scattered away, panicking. But the heavy fire struck the ground near the elves and exploded, sending the elves flying. The crowd cheered once more at Violet's victory.
Zack and Hercules, unlike the heroes, dealt with regular swordsmen in a tag team match. But when during the match-up Zack swung his sword, offing a swordsmen's head, it revealed to be a skeleton in disguise. Zack startled. The skeleton creepily moved his finger toward him and possessed his body. Zack screamed and the crowd went on their feet. Zack quickly noticed his body was decaying, turning into a skeleton. Hercules ran to help his friend. He jumped over Zack and with a downward swing of his sword slashed his opponent. The magic quickly vanished from Zack and Zack was relieved.
But the gods were still not relieved. They were still shocked by what they were seeing: warriors who were nothing but monsters?
"Yeah…" Hades said, divining into the gods' thoughts. The gods turned to his attention, "did I fail to notice that in this godly tourney, anything is fair game?"
The gods stared back at Hades.
Hades shrugged, "What?"
The latest bout was the Sin in the white Organization XIII cloak, against a horde of creatures the heroes never expected to see: Heartless.
The heartless charged at the hero. The hero stretched his arm to one side and a dark blade formed to his grasp. He swung, striking the heartless with sharp-sweeping strokes downward, sideways, and round-house swings… he even leapt over couple of heartless and swung from behind, striking them down.
He suddenly heard the crowd cheering wildly. He turned around and there he stood before a thousand heartless, with the ghostly apparition of Ares, in his large god-form, hovering over the multitude of heartless. He smiled at his opponents. Sin stared back. His feet left the ground as he swam through the horde of heartless, hacking and slicing with his dark blade, heading straight for Ares. Ares didn't wait either. He twirled his staff—a large piece of wood the shape and color of a snake, with its mouth hanging on to a ruby sphere—like it was a parade baton and pointed, sending out a rain of Meteors to Sin's way. Sin continued running through the heartless, hacking and slicing, and now leapt over the meteors, jumping on them step by step as if they were stairs. One jump sent him high and straight toward Ares's ghostly god form. Ares suddenly vanished. Sin narrowed his eyes. He slowly crossed his arms and legs close to his chest like a shell, and then stretched out. A powerful gust of wind shot through him. Ares suddenly reappeared, and he was holding on his head crying in pain. He quickly reverted back into human form and all the heartless he had summoned vanished without a trace.
Sin dropped to the ground on his toes with bended knee. Perfect landing. But Ares crashed to the ground in a rough landing. The crowd went up to their feet, shocked to see what has happened to the god of war. More importantly, they were impressed with Sin. They were even more impressed once they noticed a dark aura emitted all over his body.
"Who is that guy…?" Violet wondered, "…but more importantly, why is Ares summoning heartless?"
Sin turned to the crowd to stare at Jean-Michel. Jean-Michel stared back, eyes narrowed. Both guys lock eyes for a second. The crowd kept on cheering. Sin walked away, once again without another word.
xXx
Couple of hours later, Jean-Michel was walking down the foyer to the other side of the Coliseum when he saw Zack doing some warm up squats. "Huff-Pff! Huff-Pff!"
"Hey uhh, Zack? Can I ask you some—!" Jean-Michel reached out his arm toward Zack's shoulder, when Zack jumped to his feet and with his summoned Buster Sword swung at Jean-Michel. Immediately Jean-Michel with his Keyblade blocked the attack. The two blades locked together.
"Well played my dear friend," smiled Zack.
"Right back at ya dude." Jean-Michel grinned.
Jean-Michel made his Keyblade vanished, and so did Zack. Zack quickly went back to doing more squats, "So you're ready for your battle against the gods?" Zack asked.
JM rolled his eyes, "…I wish." He said, "As fun as it sounds to battle the Olympian gods, to actually battling them is terrifying."
"You'll do fine." Zack reassured.
"I have to face Apollo." JM clarified, "Of all people! They stuck me in with the god of the Sun. And my specialty is Ice. How can I compete with that?"
Zack stopped squatting to face Jean-Michel, "Like I said." He patted him on the shoulder, "You'll do fine."
"And how do you know that?" JM crossed his arms.
"Just a hunch." Zack said, and went to do more warm ups. This time, he stood upside down and did more squatting this time with his arms. Jean-Michel frowned upon that.
Jean-Michel looked away and noticed Sin passing by. Sin and Jean-Michel locked eyes once again. Sin's dark aura was twice as large as and more noticeable than ever before. It was when Sin reached 500 feet that he looked away and proceeded. Jean-Michel watched him leave. And so did Zack who scoffed.
"Ugh… seriously Jean-Michel. I can't stand that guy." Zack flipped back to his feet. "You ever noticed something… different about that guy? I mean, anything. Like, creepy or freaky…?"
"Let me guess…" Jean-Michel faced Zack, "He has no talent?"
Zack shook his head, "No, I was thinking more like face recognition." He paused, "It's as if I've met him… somewhere. But aside from that, have you noticed his powers?" He turned to JM, "They keep growing stronger and stronger by the minute."
JM placed one hand on one hip, while the other on his chin "hmmm…well, supermodel bad-boyish wannabe asides, I did notice his powers growing too. Like not long ago."
Jean-Michel then gave Zack a worried look, "whoa wait…! You don't think he's gonna use that power he's harboring to do something truly evil now, is he?" He grabbed Zack by the shoulders, "Like steal my fame away from me? I need my fame!" he grumbled dramatically under his breath, "This guy is a threat."
The crowd was suddenly heard, letting out a massive cry. Jean-Michel and Zack whipped their heads to their direction. They watched from afar, Apollo the Sun god flying across distance, screaming.
"He is a threat." Jean-Michel said under his breath.
Zack and Jean-Michel quickly went through the foyer and reached the crowd benches to watch what was going on. But they stopped when Violet who was at the benches faced them with a shocked look on her face.
"You won't believe what just happened." She said, "That swordsman, Sin, just single-handedly defeated the god of the Sun Apollo." She pointed down the arena, "Look!"
The crowd's eyes were on Apollo on the ground. The mysterious warrior, Sin, approached the god of the Sun with his dark blade over his shoulder. His dark aura around him was now twice its size. He tugged his arm toward Apollo with a helping hand. Apollo reached out his hand and Sin pulled him up.
"Well-played." Apollo said to his contender. Sin said nothing, as usual. The god of sun departed from the arena, looking both disappointed and confused.
"But…" Zack blinked, "We just saw him like…" he blinked again, "…couple of seconds ago."
"What?" Violet said.
"He said we saw him couple of seconds ago!" Jean-Michel repeated in a loud voice over the cheering crowd.
"I heard you the first time!" Violet said out loud.
"What do you think that is?" Jean-Michel asked, "There could be one reason in all of this: Sin is a—!"
"—Heartless!"
"—Blackheart!"
JM and Violet said at the same time respectively. They stopped, staring at each other.
Zack raised eyebrow at Violet, "A blackheart?"
JM rolled her eyes, "Girl, don't be ridiculous. Sin cannot be a Blackheart!"
"Really? Think about it, hot shot celeb. The white cloak. It very similar to Organization XIII. The dark blade comes from darkness. It can emit darkness whenever he attacks someone. He extract it." She slammed her backhand on her palm, "Bingo!" she said, "That's Blackheart!"
"Yeah…" Jean-Michel said sarcastically, "…and Axel Joedo is from the Blackheart too. He wears the same cloak by the way."
Violet shook her head, "Nah, Axel is different."
"Then don't jump into conclusion." JM argued, "And by the way, the Dominion wear Armani."
"Okay!" Violet argued, "Then let's do this. We'll spy on Sin and we'll figure out who is he working for."
"Uhh…" Zack said, "He's working for Hades."
"Hades acts alone. As he usually does." Violet said, "We'll have to find out where Hades actually found this Sinful dude. My money is on the Blackheart. Hands down."
"Wait…" Zack said, "If Hades work alone. Doesn't that make Sin, his sole propriety and not the Blackhearts'?"
"Heartless!" Jean-Michel argued back.
"Heartless!" Zack corrected.
"Let's go!" Violet took off and JM followed behind.
"Hey, wait a second…!" Zack was about to follow when the crowd cheered on again. Zack stopped to watch. Sin was once again in the arena, and he was facing Demeter, one of the Twelve Olympians and goddess of the Seasons.
Demeter closed her eyes and raised her hands in the air. A powerful Blizzaga attack picked up. But it inflicted no damage on Sin. Demeter then switched seasons to spring, sending out Aeroga imbued with Poison scent. Nothing. The more attack she sent out, the more immune Sin became to it. Soon everyone watched Sin's dark aura growing twice as large. Sin aimed his palm at Demeter and a powerful dark blast shot from it. It struck her and she went flying. The crowd gasped, astonished. They cheered on as Sin walked away from the match. He then stopped walking. He turned his gaze back to the crowd, and once again he eyeballed Zack Fair.
Zack gulped. Sin slowly lifted his arm sideways toward Zack in the cheering crowd, a pointed finger aimed at him.
Zack whimpered, quickly got off his seat and took off in a mad dash. Sin grinned and suddenly vanished.
xXx
"Okay, it's official." Zack said, "Sin really creep me out."
"We know." Jean-Michel and Violet said to Zack, irritation sounded in their voices. The trio were crossing a long winding hallway which somehow bridged the Coliseum and the rest of Olympus.
"You said that thirteenth time already." Violet said to Zack.
"Really?" Zack cocked his head, "I thought I said it twice already."
JM shook his head, "No you didn't."
Violet stopped her paces and stopped the guys from taking another step. "Wait." She sounded alarmed.
The trio stopped with her as well. They were hearing faint whispers, gradually increasing into regular voice tones along with the echoes of footsteps.
"Someone's coming!" Violet hissed. "It's Hades and Sin!"
"Shh—!" JM almost cursed, upon noticing that the two walls on the large hallways beside them had no other way to quickly slip into hiding.
"What do we do?" Zack exclaimed.
"Quick!" Violet pulled out her Keyblade, "Hide!"
"Oh, that's easy for you to say…" JM complained, "…when there's no other way to—!"
Violet struck her Keyblade to the ground and a magical sigil appeared beneath their feet, "Keyblade Warp!" she said and their bodies enveloped into a glowing form and they disintegrated, just in time for Hades and Sin to waltz by.
Hades and Sin appeared to be too busy discussing schemes. Of course, Hades was the one doing most of the talking, while Sin remained quiet and listened in.
The heroes and Zack reappeared behind Hades and Sin. Zack was about to scream in panic when JM and Violet grabbed him by the shoulder and slammed their hands to his lips to shut him up. They quickly turned to face Hades and Sin.
The duo were still walking away.
The heroes watched the two villains disappearing farther into the corridor, before they let out heavy sighs of relief.
Violet slapped Zack hard on the elbow, "Oy!" Zack hissed.
"Don't ever do that again." Violet chastised.
"Quick! To the Underworld." JM said and the gang slowly followed the two villains in a cautious manner, but were quick enough not to lose them.
Underworld, Hades Chamber
"There is a problem, Lord Hades." The mysterious warrior Sin informed the god of darkness.
"Oh?" he said.
"It seems that some of the outsiders from this world are onto us…" Sin said, "nay… some of Hercules' friends."
"Oh, really?" Hades smirked.
Sin curiously cocked his head toward Hades, "Care to do something about it?" he asked.
Hades turned to face Sin, "No, as a matter of fact, leave it that way. I'll take care of them. Now… how about we go onto our business?"
Jean-Michel, Violet and Zack sneaked into the chamber and hid behind a pillar to spy on the two enemies. Hades removed the hood from Sin to see his face. The heroes could only see Sin's true identity from his bushy hair, but they couldn't see his face. Only Hades could. Hades removed from Sin's forehead a golden leaf crown and raised it up. Thunderstorm sparked out of the leaf crown, dancing wildly across the chamber, zapping everywhere near and far from the heroes.
"With this crown," Hades cackled, "all the gods who signed on the contract for the Tourneys will unto you sacrifice their powers whenever you fight! And unto you, you shall receive the divine powers of all warriors, heroes and gods combined. You shall gather enough powers to finally defeat Hercules and his annoying father Zeus! And I shall once again take over my rightful seat onto the Throne of Mt. Olympus!"
"Uhh… Hades?" Sin spoke.
Hades stared, "What?"
"Stop speaking like that."
Hades paused, "…but it's my best impression yet of—! Okay." Hades stopped arguing upon noticing Sin glaring back at him. Hades put the leaf crown back onto Sin's forehead.
"Oh my gosh." Zack gasped under his breath, "This is worse than I thought."
"I know." Jean-Michel said, "Hades and Sin have trapped the gods' powers into a contract and have apparently converted that contract into a leaf crown. So now whenever Sin fights a warrior, a hero or a god, he saps onto him his opponents' powers, making them weaker and weaker by the minute. The gods become twice as worse in combat as he become stronger. It is then that once he faces off against Hercules and Zeus, he'll be able to crush them both, fulfilling Hades' dream of taking over Mt. Olympus!"
All eyes stared back at Jean-Michel. He turned his head toward his comrades then shrugged, "…what? It's basic villain plot in every Hollywood film."
"We've got to warn Hercules and Zeus before it is too late." Zack said and they turned around to flee.
"Going somewhere?" Hades asked, standing before the heroes. The heroes jumped, "AAAAHHH!"
Hades impatiently tapped his feet on the ground, his arms were crossed.
"We got lost on the way to the bathroom, and then we ended up here!" Jean-Michel lied. Violet agreed, "Yeah. Lost!"
"Olympus Coliseum sure can be a labyrinth!" Zack lied also.
"I know right?" Violet exclaimed with more lies, "So many long winding roads to choose from!" she giggled nervously, whilst Hades approached until they were all glued to a wall.
"Okay…" Hades smiled, "I see. So you want to find the bathroom, heh? You don't need to." He wrapped his fingers together, cracked the knuckles, and with a quick palm thrust, struck Violet and Jean-Michel's chests. The duo gasped as light suddenly emanated their bodies. The bright light proceeded to overwhelm the chamber. Zack dropped on his knees and shielded his eyes.
He blinked again and Violet and Jean-Michel were gone. Only two hearts were seen floating at their places.
"Oh my gosh…"
The hearts fluttered into Hades' hands and they slowly vanished into dusts on contact, "…beautiful isn't it?" Hades smiled, "Like priceless antique." He turned to Sin, "I think you will find these two powers very suitable on you."
Sin smiled back. Sin had his hood on again, shielding his face. Zack turned to Hades again, angrily, "What did you DO to them?"
"Hey, I didn't kill them if that's what you're asking." Hades said quickly before smiling, barring his sharp unclean teeth, "…but you however is a complete different story."
xXx
Zack soon found himself tied up on a large stick over a lake of lava, spanning across two pits. The stick twirled and twirled, slowly sizzling through Zack's skin like a slow pork roast. All thanks to Pain and Panic who were there to administer the cooking, by turning the stick with their twig-shaped skinny arms.
"Master Hades…" Pain grunted, "…are you… sure…? He's way too heavy…"
"Yeah! Can you…" Panic grunted, "…have Cerberus… do the cooking…?"
"Oh, cut the jibber jabbers lazy employees, and start cooking him!" Hades barked, "He's not that heavy! And Cerberus might as well eat him before he gets done anyway!"
"Okay…!" Zack gulped, "I think we can all establish that you're all trying to cook me! But what are you going to do to my friends?"
Hades shrugged, "Oh, Nothing. I already dealt with them…remember? Now all that remains are the gods' power." Hades glimmered, "Because soon, Zeus and his wannabe son Hercules will never know what will hit them."
xXx
"Hades!" Zack shouted at the god of the Underworld, "What the he'll are you planning on doing to my bud Herc? What are you gonna do to Zeus?"
Hades sighed, "Oh, you know me so well." he said, "I'm getting back what is rightfully mine. The throne of Mt. Olympus."
"Why?"
"Why?" Hades angrily barked, "Because a long time ago, I was the sole heir to Olympus kingdom until Zeus showed up and defeated the Titans, thus saving the world and taking over the throne. I want what he has! Not him, not anyone else! Now shut up so that you can be simmered and barbecued."
Hades left Zack, at the mercy of the boiling lava below him.
xXx
The godly tourneys were going wild. Warriors, heroes and gods were still fighting for the chance to battle Hercules and Zeus for the grand prize of life eternal at Mt. Olympus. Terra and Lightning were part of the tourneys and together they fought a great deal of monsters in the preliminaries and moved on to the next level to battle warriors and other heroes.
The next match was Lightning versus Sin. Lightning didn't know who Sin was and obviously she didn't care. But Terra, the moment he laid eyes on him, sensed something was wrong.
"Why do I feel like…" he muttered, "…I know him?"
Hercules who was by the benches with his father leaned toward him and whispered to him, "Father, this is the young man the crowd has been raving about." he said, "The one who defeated the Olympian gods with a single blow. His name is Sin."
Zeus and Hercules observed the one called Sin, standing still and staring right at Lightning. Lightning readied her gunblade.
"No kidding..." Zeus said, "His powers have surpassed those of the gods." he blinked, "...but they were empty before."
The crowd cheered on. Lightning dashed at Sin and delivered a two-hit swing of her blade at him before swinging up for a launch attack, expecting to see him flying into the sky... but the sword passed right through Sin at that launch attack.
"What?"
"Pathetic!"
Lightning looked up and Sin descended at her with his Dark blade. She cart-wheeled out of the way and fired her gunblade at him. He batted the fire shots out of the way with his blade and thrust his palm at her. A powerful gust of dark wind picked up Lightning in midair and drove her to the ground in three consecutive tumbles. She quickly broke her last tumble by skidding through the sand, but then watched Sin descended at her again with his blade.
"GRYYYYAAAAAHH!"
She jumped backward and spun forward with her blade, attacking Sin from all sides, then fired her weapon, knocking him backward. But Sin swept his arm forward the wall where he was about to get hit onto and zim! A Keyhole appeared, and he vanished right through it. Lightning gasped. Terra, Hercules and Zeus gasped. The whole crowd gasped.
"Could it—!" Zeus exclaimed.
Lightning spun around, searching for Sin. No sight of him. The keyhole reappeared behind her. "Gasp!" she alertly jumped back around and suddenly watched a powerful launch ball spawning out of the keyhole and nailed her full-force, launching her flying toward the crowd. The crowd spread out of the way, making way for Lightning to crash land.
Terra, Hercules and Zeus swiftly squeezed through the crowd to assist the wounded Lightning. Phil also came to her assistance.
"Light. Are you all right?" Terra asked.
"Say something!" Hercules begged.
Lightning pushed herself forward from the uncomfortable benches to slowly sit up, but the pain she got from that last blow was too unbearable.
"Hey Zeus! Hercules!" cried out the mysterious warrior from the arena. All heads whipped to his direction.
"You two and me! Right now!" He emphatically shouted, "I want to challenge you! My last challenge was simply a warm-up."
The crowd gasped and chatted worryingly as Zeus, Hercules, Terra and Lightning stared back at the opponent. "Warm up?" the furious Lightning struggled through the benches to stand. "LET ME AT HIM!" The heroes quickly restrained her.
"Lightning! Hey! Whoa, lady! Don't force yourself!" Phil exclaimed, "You're in bad shape!"
"I don't care for the pain I have, but for the number of bruises I would LOVE to inflict on Sin right now!" Lightning barked out loud, intent to do just that.
"I'm waiting…" Sin beckoned with his finger, as if taunting Zeus and Hercules. The crowd suddenly started to chant, "ZEUS! ZEUS! ZEUS! ZEUS! HERCULES! HERCULES! HERCULES! HERCULES!"
"ZEUS! ZEUS! ZEUS! ZEUS! HERCULES! HERCULES! HERCULES! HERCULES!"
"ZEUS! ZEUS! ZEUS! ZEUS! HERCULES! HERCULES! HERCULES! HERCULES!"
The Olympus ruler and Hercules exchanged glances then faced Sin, still awaiting their answer. The crowd went on chanting. "ZEUS! ZEUS! ZEUS! ZEUS! HERCULES! HERCULES! HERCULES! HERCULES!"
Hades watched from a corner of the sidelines, impatiently tapping his feet and gritting his teeth, "Come o-o-o-n-n-n-n! Come o-o-o-n-n-n-n! Just take the Olympus-damn bait already!"
"We'll accept your challenge." Zeus replied, as if to answer Hades and the crowd's plea. And the crowd cheered on. Hades pumped his fist in the air squealing, "YEEES!"
Zeus turned to face Hercules and said, "Hercules. Let's go." He snapped his fingers and an explosion of light overwhelmed his body till he was gone. Hercules stayed behind with the crowd.
"Oh boy." Hercules sighed, "Zack's not gonna like this." He was ready to descend to the arena when he stopped to look around, searching for his friend, "… hey, speaking of Zack, where is he?"
The heroes looked around as well. "Your boy ain't here, Herc." Phil confirmed, "But who cares?"
"I do!" Hercules emphasized, "He's my best friend!"
"Jean-Michel and Violet are gone too." Terra confirmed, noticing the two Keybearers are missing also.
"Well, that's bad…" Phil said.
"Terra! Can you go look for them please?" Hercules commanded, "I don't want them to get themselves into any kind of trouble. Especially Zack."
Terra stood up, "Count on it. I'll go search for them." And he was off.
Hercules then turned to Phil, "Phil. You look after Light. I don't want any drama from her."
Lightning squinted, "Drama?"
Hercules was off. Lightning stared darkly at Phil.
"What he's trying to say is… you need to…" Phil hesitated, "…you need to uhh…"
Back in the arena, Sin swept his finger across his forehead, making it gleam under the sunlight. Hercules approached Sin, but stopped to face him couple of feet across the arena. Zeus reappeared as a giant spirit hovering behind Hercules. Hercules posed for combat. Sin summoned his dark blade.
"Show me what you're made of, Hercules." Sin said.
xXx
"Can I get a glass of water? I'm dying in here." Zack complained. His skin was roasting like bacon besides the fact that he was sweating up a storm, while being twirled above the hot boiling lava by Pain and Panic.
"You are dying." Pain said to Zack, struggling on the stick that had Zack's muscled body attached into.
"It means the food is working." Panic rejoiced, "Master Hades would be so proud of our cooking skills!"
"I am NOT food!"
Pain and Panic heard the pounding of heavy metal shoes on the underworldly concrete floor echoing across the Underworld. They turned around, just in time to see Terra coming in from an upper level of the underworld. Terra looked below and spotted the creatures and Zack.
"Great! We got company!" Pain exclaimed.
"Time to panic!" Panic panicked.
"Terra!" Zack called out to the Keybearer. Terra jumped down to the level and summoned his Keyblade. Pain and Panic didn't wait either to charge at Terra and annoyingly flew around him.
"Hey!" Terra swung his arms around his face, shooing off the creatures. But they won't back down. They started kicking his head, face, neck with their tiny feet. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow."
Terra angrily slapped around his face and sputtered. The howling Pain and Panic landed on their tiny feet. Terra blinkedwand notice his Keyblade was gone.
"Hein?"
"Lookin' for this?" Pain said to Terra while Panic cackled. They had Terra's Keyblade lifted above their tiny heads.
"HEY! Give it back!" Terra went for the Keyblade, but the creatures fired a projectile from the Keyblade at Terra. Terra narrowly jumped back but the projectile struck him on the shoulder. "Ow!"
Pain and Panic cackled, running backward and shooting more projectiles at Terra with the Keyblade. "Yeaah-Yeach-Yeach-Yeach-Yeach!"
Terra ran in pursuit. The creatures kept firing the Keyblade at him and he kept dodging every bullet with jumps, rolls, and shifts, and continued chasing them. But they were too fast for him to catch.
He stopped to catch his breath. Pain and Panic stopped to laugh out loud.
"Don't you just stand there!" Zack shouted, "DO SOMETHING!"
"I am..." Terra breathed out loud, "...but those frigging creatures are way too fast for me to-!"
He paused. "...wait a minute." a smirk passed down a corner of his lips. "I am smart."
Pain and Panic continued running backward with Terra's Keyblade when the blade suddenly vanished from their tiny hands. They froze up and stared at their hands.
"What the-?"
"It's gone!"
"Back where it belongs, boys." Terra said.
Pain and Panic looked up and saw Terra with his Keyblade. He aimed it at them like a gun. Pain and Panic screamed and ran. Terra fired his Dark Volley attack at them, pelting many blast of its dark projectiles. Pain and Panic kept running and jumping, barely dodging every hit landing near them until they felt no ground under their feet. They were now suspended in midair. They looked down at the lava below, stared at each other, and finally they screamed as they plummeted into the boiling red ocean. "KYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Terra made his Keyblade vanish and ran up to Zack. He crouched before him, "Hey, you're okay? Where are the kids?"
"…well, let's see…" Zack began sarcastically, "I am sweating, I am thirsty, and I smell like bacon… so yeah, everything's peachy."
"Good looking out." Terra patted Zack's shoulder then proceeded to untie him, but Zack cried out, "NO! NO! NO! NO! Wait!"
Terra stopped.
"You're gonna make me drop into that lava pool!"
Terra quickly moved away from Zack, "My bad."
"…go find Jean-Michel and Violet." Zack nudged his head toward an opening of the chamber not far from him, "Their hearts are in the next room."
Terra raised an eyebrow, "Hearts?"
"Yeah…" Zack said, "We just found out that Hades is using Sin to suck up the gods' powers in the tourneys to make himself powerful. The more power he gets, the more powerful he become, powerful enough to defeat both Hercules and Zeus in a single blow. He's planning to take over Olympus!"
"So that's what's been going on?" Terra said, "A rigged tourneys. That's against the rules."
"You bet it is!" Zack said, "So now when Hades found us, he stole the guys' Hearts and put me in this very awkward…" he gulped, "…delicious… position."
Terra jumped back to his feet, "A'right, you stick around. But don't be too sticky. I'll restore the others' hearts."
Terra was about to leave when he and Zack noticed the two hearts slowly floating from inside the cave and gliding toward them. The two hearts stopped gliding once it was before Terra. Terra smiled.
"Looks like I don't have to take a trip." Terra raised his Keyblade and pointed, "Heart of Pure Bravery. Be reborn into your Dweller, I command thee!"
And once again, a strong wind picked up and Terra's Symbol appeared under his feet. His Keyblade blinked a bright light and so did the two hearts. The chamber quickly got overwhelmed by a powerful light for a split second.
The two hearts were gone. Jean-Michel and Violet were back, taking their places.
They looked around, "Uhh…" Jean-Michel looked around.
"What's going on?" Violet asked, looking around as well.
"HEY!" cried out Zack, catching their attention. "This is no time to restore lost memories! Get me outta here! We gotta rescue Zeus and Hercules!"
xXx
"Wwhm-mmhm-gghhh… Wwhm-mmhm-gghhh…"
Lightning had Phil's face shoved on a bench. Phil struggled for air, screaming. The crowd no longer was paying attention to the battle in the arena but the losing battle of Phil to Lightning by the bench.
"Quiet you incompetent beef feet!"
"WWHM-MMHM-GGHHH!"
Terra, Zack, Jean-Michel and Violet emerged back into the tourneys. They watched Hercules and Zeus battling Sin. It looked to be a losing battle as Zeus and Hercules struggled to land a hit at Sin.
"Are we too late?" Violet said.
"Zeus could lose everything if we don't step in." Zack said.
"WWHM-MMHM-GGHHH! WWHM-MMHM-GGHHH!"
The heroes heard the crowd going wild and the struggling muffles of Phil not far in the benches. They saw Lightning and Phil.
"PHIL could lose his LIFE if we don't step in!" Jean-Michel screamed and ran down the benches. Zack and Violet followed. Zack grabbed Lightning by the shoulder. Violet joined in, grabbing her by the other shoulder and JM grabbed her from behind. They struggled to pull Light off Phil, "HEY! Let… him…GO!" JM screamed.
Lightning finally let go off Phil. Phil rolled over to his back, gasping and coughing dirt, "I help you recover from losing your life…" he said with a wheezing tone, "…and THIS IS HOW YOU THANK ME? BY TRYING TO TAKE MY LIFE AWAY FROM ME?"
"Oh be quiet." Lightning grumbled.
"You're welcome!" Phil replied bitterly.
"Guys, this isn't the time!" Jean-Michel exclaimed, "We gotta rescue Hercules and Zeus before they lose their powers!"
And the heroes descended down the benches in single file, squeezing past the packed crowd.
Sin, cloaked in a veil of darkness, charged at Hercules multiple times, then proceeded to charged at Zeus as well. He then flew above the sky and shot many blast of dark energy, targeting Hercules. Zeus waved his arms and a Reflect spell shielded his son, reflecting all the dark energy blasts back to Sin. Sin vanished and charged down again with a Keyblade stab, shattering the Reflect. Hercules tumbled backwards. The crowd gasped.
Sin landed on the ground and thrust his palm forward Zeus. A powerful beam of light shot out from his palm and struck Zeus. Zeus cried out in pain and soon began to lose energy.
"Time to depart, Zeus." Hades was heard laughing in the background. Zeus' godly form shrunk into normal form. The god went on his knee as Hades laughed, "…the throne will soon be mine."
"STOP!"
Sin whipped his head to his side and watched a Keyblade coming at him like a boomerang. The Keyblade struck his hand and the beam vanished and released Zeus. "OW!" Sin cried.
"KYAAA!"
Sin looked up again and saw Violet, in her Keybearer form, Flora! She charged at him with her Flashin Dash attack, violently swinging her Keyblade in a multiple combo strike that released rose petals in the process. Sin is sent flying to a wall.
Jean-Michel's Keybearer Form Arctic joined Flora also; Zack, Terra and Lightning as well. Hades stared with jaws on the ground. The crowd cheered on wildly.
"Damn those fools!" Sin hissed through his teeth.
"It's over now, Sin!" Arctic said to his opponent.
"The jig is up!" Flora replied, "It's now seven against one!"
"Au contraire, my dearest friend…" the heroes heard Hades speak. All turned toward his direction. "It's seven, against me, Sin…" he snapped his fingers and the ground violently shook. The heroes lost their balance. The ground suddenly split in two and all witnessed in the coliseum, massive claws gripping onto the splitting ground and rising from the depth of the hole it created. A massive head emerged from under the depth. It was covered in solid ice. A monstrous shape with sharp icicle teeth and a furious roar that sent chills down everyone's spines. The Ice Titan!
The Titan finally stood, its shadow overwhelmed the entire coliseum like a cockroach motel. Everyone spread apart from the coliseum, screaming in blue panic. The heroes however stood their ground.
"…and my baby, the Ice Titan." Hades finished his sentence.
"HADES, YOU BETRAYER!" Zeus barked at Hades, "From here on in, you are FIRED from being member of the Twelve Olympians!"
"Uhh…" Hades said calmly, "…actually it was Thirteen Olympians. Sheesh, you may be a god, but you suck at math."
The icy beast yowled; its cry pierced the skies so much that it shook the earth, terrorizing everyone.
"Everyone, take charge!" Flora commanded and the heroes charged at the beast. Arctic leapt at the Titan, but Flora yelled "Watch out!"
Before he could reach the creature, an iceberg shot out from under the ground and struck Arctic on sky high. The titan then proceeded and swung his arm at Arctic, sending him flying. Flora casted Aero on her feet again and propelled into the air to deliver combo swings at the titan's face. The titan didn't flinch. The Titan spewed out cold chill fire breath, overwhelming Violet. Violet is sent backward. She quickly recovered midair and charged. The Titan swung its arms again, conjuring up a rain of ice cubes coming Flora's way. She teleported out of the way to dodge the attacks. The Titan shot its fire breath again.
"Hot battle with a cold boss! Enjoy that, Zeus!" Hades cackled. The underworld god appeared behind the thunder god. Zeus turned around and Hades conjured up two massive fireballs from his hands. He propelled them toward Zeus. Zeus vanished, teleported behind Hades and raised his right arm up high to conjure a large staff filled with thunder sparks dancing at his fingertips. The staff grew into a thunder bolt and he swung his arm, sending the bolt straight into Hades. Hades got sent backward. Hades growled. He began to shot multiple fireballs, while Zeus countered the fire balls with merely his hands and shot a thunder beam from his fingers. Hades reflected the attack.
Hercules threw a punch at Sin who dodged. Zack slammed his buster sword at Sin, but Sin teleported. Sin reappeared behind Zack and got him in a chokehold. Zack struggled, "HEYYY! L-LET GO!" Zack quickly sent an elbow on Sin's chest, knocking him backward. Zack flipped out of the way and delivered a sword uppercut at Sin. Sin blocked with a Reflect Counter. Zack flinched. Sin took that chance to grab Zack by the face and pinned him to the ground. He flipped forward and came down with a sword slam, but Zack quickly dodged-rolled the blow. Sin whipped around and thrust his palm toward another opponent charging from behind—Lightning—and shot more dark fireballs.
Lightning swung her blade, knocking every fireballs out of the way, whilst acrobatically dodging the ones that were near. She leapt, "This is gonna sting!" She yelled, creating columns of lightning bolts toward Sin. Sin back-flipped, and dashed at Lightning with three-more combo hits, propelling her skyward toward the Ice Titan.
Flora had tried all attacks to at least make a dent on the Titan, but the monster remained intact. The Titan swung his arm toward her, but she quickly teleported using her Keyblade Warp. The Titan missed the blow, and just in time for it to see Lightning flying. Lightning broke her fall and purposely dashed straight into the Titan's left eye with a kick. She crashed right through the Titan's eye. The titan bellowed in pain, holding on its shattered face. Lightning landed in a roll, breaking her fall. Arctic struggled on his feet, amazed by what Lightning just did.
"What the…?"
"Just shattered its face." Lightning said.
"That's it!" Arctic glowed, "That's what we need! He's made of ice! We need to break that ice!" Arctic quickly went up to his feet.
Hades who was dealing with Zeus turned their attention to the Ice Titan, "NO!" he screamed. Sin who was dealing with Zack and Hercules also turned their attention to the Ice Titan as well. Flora reappeared behind them. She and Zack took off toward the Ice Titan. Sin followed but Hercules grabbed him by the cloak hood and pulled it off. Sin turned to face Hercules. Hercules froze up, startled by the sight of his face. "You…"
Sin threw a punch at Hercules, knocking him backward, pulled his hood back on to hide his face, and shot off from the ground like a rocket with his dark blade. Hercules watched him vanish into the dark sky.
"HEEEEYYY!" Hades screamed as he just saw his accomplice vanish. He screamed to the sky, "Where do you—? YOUR CONTRACT IS NOT FINISHED YET, YOU TWO-TIMING QUITTER! COME BACK HERE SO THAT YOU CAN FINISH THE JOB!"
Shatter!
The painful growl of the Ice Titan caught Hades's attention. Hades witnessed the Ice Titan suffering under a league of seven warriors. Shards and bits of icicle rained down from the creature as he was being destroyed like a hammer on glass.
"GRAAAAAOOOOWWWWLLL!"
"NOOOOOOOOO!"
Hercules threw an uppercut, launching the Ice Titan into air and followed with an Air Combo, Marvel vs Capcom 3 Style, while Zeus shot out thunder bolts straight into the Ice Titan's heart. Hercules then finished with a meteor slam. The Titan landed in a very loud crash. Flora delivered her Dancing Breeze Mode attack at the creature. Arctic followed with his Diamond Dust Mode attack at the creature; Zack unleashed Cloud's famous Omni-Slash, Lightning and Terra respectively delivered their Zantetsuken attack.
All these attacks coming from the party has shed the Titan off its cold and icy form enough that the Titan, screaming in pain was beginning to fade, cold vapor exhaled out of its cold body, its claws clenched on its head. The cold vapor overwhelmed the entire coliseum and it turned into a foggy arena. The fog stayed like this for a while.
"NOOOOO! OH-OH-OHHHHH…" Hades cried out. He suddenly sensed the blue flame on its head go out like a candle, "WAAAAH!"
Zeus approached him through the swirly thick fog, "It's over Hades. You are finished." He said, "You and…" Zeus spotted something on the ground. It was the leaf crown Sin sported. He picked it up and showed it to Hades, "…your monstrous days…" His fists clenched over the leaf crown and it shattered into pieces like glass. "...are over."
Hades screamed, "OHHHH!"
The thick fog began to fade, and everyone could see each other again. The Keybearers were back to their regular forms and the crowd slowly but surely came back to their benches, clapping and cheering victory for the heroes.
Hades turned red with fury. He would have exploded but Zeus just turned off his powers, so now he was still blue and vulnerable, "you pathetic insect, Zeus! Someday I will have my revenge! I SWEAR ONTO YOU, SOMEDAY!"
Violet looked down and spotted the Ice Titan. It was now the size of a minidoll. The Titan looked back at Violet and squealed. No longer crying the bloody cry for murder, but was now crying a cry of panic and pity. Violet picked up the creature with her finger while the rest of the group examined it.
"That someday is coming." Hades went on, while the heroes were distracted, "May not be today or tomorrow. But IT WILL!"
"Okay then." Zeus said, "But in case you didn't know, I have my someday too." he grinned, "My someday is now."
Zeus faced the heroes and gave them a nodding signal. On cue, Violet tossed the Ice Titan in the air and Jean-Michel swung his leg high, kicking the creature flying into the arena with Zeus and Hades. Hades was appalled. Then Zack turned to face the audience that have returned and shouted.
"HEEEY! Daughters of Aphrodite!" Zack cried out in the audience, "Hades and the Ice Titan tried to kill us! What are you gonna do about it?"
Hades suddenly heard horror screams rendering the high skies of Olympus. All heads turned to watch the stampede of girls in the chariot charging, coming full force to the arena. The heroes and Zeus quickly got out of the way.
The girls paused. They stared coldly at Hades, who stepped back. The Ice Titan seemed to be afraid as well.
"THESE GUYS TRIED TO HURT HERCULES AND ZACK FAIR!" one of the screaming fans pointed the finger at the two villains.
Hades shook his head and his hands in denial, "No, no, no. It's not what you think…!"
"GET 'IM!" the girls stampede squealed and they went after Hades and the Ice Titan. The Ice Titan was quick to its feet and flew out of the coliseum like a quick rat. Hades trailed behind, screaming like a girl for his life as the crazed fan mob daughters of Aphrodite went after him. But they too were screaming: they screamed bloody murder.
The crowd cheered on for the group, cheering, clapping, and hooting for their victory, as confetti began to fly over their heads. They chanted for Hercules, Zack, Jean-Michel, Violet, Terra, and Lightning. They cheered on for just about anyone.
"We did it!" Jean-Michel let out a sigh of relief. "I can't believe we did it."
"I know!" Violet smiled, "Now thanks to our effort, Olympus is safe again! The gods have their powers restored, the tourneys can finally resume…"
"…and no need for that contract anymore." Hercules waved the contract that Hades had the gods signed before the tournament. Apparently it has taken the place of the shattered leaf crown, waiting to be retrieved. Hercules tore the contract and the crowd cheered on again, twice as loud.
xXx
Royal Palace Olympus
Once again there was a party at Mt. Olympus, and all the Olympian warriors, heroes, and gods were invited. And the sky gardens and mess hall of the Royal Palace were swarming with them. They were enjoying delicious meals and joyful conversations with one another in the aftermath of the Godly Tourneys that has almost destroyed the gods forever.
…but everything turned out great, thanks to the Keybearers. So the party was on, in great honor of their bravery and their involvement in saving the gods. The gods cheered, chanted their names, offered them services, bear them gifts… they even danced with them. Violet was getting reaaaally dizzy from all the partying. But for Jean-Michel, he felt like he belonged here. In fact, he was talking with the multiple daughters of Aphrodite.
"…and then he said, 'The name's Axel… got it memorized'?" Jean-Michel exploded with laughter.
The daughters stared, confused. JM laughter slowed down. "Get it? He said his name and he wants us to memorize it?"
The daughters looked at each other, then laughed along, "HAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Oh my gosh, that was SOOOO funny." One of the daughters cackled.
"I know! Right?"
The daughters continued to laugh as they started to walk away from him. They turned around and their feigned laughter quickly faded into frowns and eyerolls.
"Good talk!" JM cheered on. Violet approached him. She blinked, staring at the daughters who were now miles away from him. She could have sworn she just saw them getting up and take off seconds before she came in.
"Jean-Michel. You do realize that they're not digging your jokes, right?" she reminded him.
"Violet, trust me." Jean-Michel reassured, "As long as I am a celebrity, they'll ALWAYS like my jokes." He raised himself up from the sofa to face his friend, "Now, what's up?"
Violet was about to speak when Zeus and the Olympian gods materialized behind her. Zeus replied, "Just wanted to give you thanks…"
Violet jumped back, startled. Zeus went on, "…for not only helping me and my boy Hercules defeat Hades and his creepy companion, but for saving Mt. Olympus and its godly kingdom all on your own."
Violet and JM grinned from ear-to-ear and together spoke nervously, saying things like how they couldn't have done it without their supports and also mentioning Zack's involvement in this. They then proceeded to add Hades' intent to overpower Zeus' country as immature and unfruitful, wondering when he will ever stop.
"Well then, enough of that." Zeus raised his hand up, silencing the two Keybearers. Terra and Lightning joined in at that moment. "I now want to make a formal announcement." Zeus cleared his throat and faced the other warriors, heroes and gods guests at the party.
"Everyone guests of Mt. Olympus!" he began, "For their genuine effort to help Mt. Olympus and save the Olympus Coliseum, I now would like to crown our winners of this year's Godly Tourneys. Each will receive a special gift from yours truly."
Zeus did a quick wave of his hands and—ping—four objects magically floated besides him: two of them were charms; the other two were leaf crowns.
The charms gracefully approached Jean-Michel and Violet as Zeus spoke, "Jean-Michel and Violet. Also known as Arctic and Flora of the Thirteen Keybearers, please accept these gifts."
"What are they?" Violet asked.
"These are called Charms: the Speedy Charm and the Secret Charm. They are the gods' most sacred treasures. Legend has it that they hold great powers beyond all else. Use them at your greatest need on your adventure."
"Sweet!" Jean-Michel said, "Now that's what I call fly!"
Zeus then turned to Terra and Lightning, as the leaf crowns flew toward them, "Terra and Lightning. I want you to have these."
"You want to suck our powers?" Terra asked bewilderedly.
"That's the plan, says Zeus." Lightning replied dramatically.
Zeus let out a hearty laugh, "HO, no! I would never do that! Unless you were titans! Oh!HO!HO! Actually Hades inspired me. Instead of sucking power, it boosts power. Go on, try it!"
Terra and Lightning nervously sported the leaf crown on their foreheads. The leaf crown suddenly sank into their forehead, like a heavy object to a pool of water. Terra and Lightning's body glowed in an instant, and they suddenly felt energetic.
"Whoa…" Terra gasped, staring at his hands, his arms, everywhere. So did Lightning. They felt tingling sensation everywhere.
"I do feel stronger already." Lightning said. She smiled back at Zeus, "Thank you for the gift."
Zeus smiled back, "Oh!" he said, "And I forgot…" he then faced Hercules and Zack, "Hercules and Zack. Because of your grand effort at the Tourneys, your punishment for eternal life has been relinquished."
Hercules and Zack smiled broadly in surprise.
"YOU HAVE YOUR FREEDOM AGAIN!" Zeus added.
"Really? That's… that's so great, father! Thank you!" Hercules cheered, holding his ground. But Zack, unlike his friend, ran up to Zeus and violently shook the god's heavy hand.
"Oh my gosh, thank you so much, sir!" he squealed, "You have no idea how awesome you are, sir! How totally cool you are! How totally—!"
Zeus pulled his hand off Zack's grasp, "Yeah!" he barked, "I think we can all establish that I'm awesome, cool and whatever. Yeah?"
Zack backed away like a punished puppy.
"Now," Zeus said, "That all prizes have been given, let's party!"
The gods cheered.
"YEAH, LET'S MAKE SOME GODLY NOOOOISE!" Jean-Michel cheered and all—the warriors, the heroes and the gods—screamed out loud in cheer, and once again the party resumed. The party across the Royal Palace and Mt. Olympus, trumpeted, drummed and sang all at once, overwhelming the Kingdom Hearts world in glorious victory.
xXx
Keyblade Graveyard
A dark portal opened up in the middle of the Keyblade Graveyard and spewed out Sin from out of the void. Sin roughly landed on his knees. He gasped in pain. The blood stains and gashes have ruined his fine white-colored organization XIII outfit. How could he be defeated so easily? He wondered. He thought…
He summoned his dark blade and stared at it. All of the sudden, bits of darkness began to immerse out of the blade. He gasped, as the dark blade was slowly changing its form. The blade, no longer a massive double-edge two-handed sword, was now turning into something he never seen before… a Keyblade!
The dark figure glared at the key-shaped sword: none other than the Oathkeeper. He slowly breathed, struggled up to his feet, and with one deep breath, he sighed.
"Who… am…I?"
He briefly looked around. He then faced the Keyblade again. Then as if deducing his true identity, he stripped himself off the white Organization XIII cloak and pulled the hood off his face…
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