I am so embarrassed. I wrote that Azul was around 7 feet tall, but I recently read that he's actually 9' 5". In my defense, I don't see how it is possible for anyone to get that big even with genetic experimentation. Well, I went back and fixed it. It probably won't be that big a deal, but if you're a stickler for things like that, you're free to read that chapter again. Now, here's chapter 8. They're gonna be competing in the Coliseum, and they'll run into the first of the council of villains. And Sora will run into Cloud. That'll be interesting. Once again, I don't own any of these things.
-start chapter-
Sora had decided that he liked training to use Cure. It meant he could work out his aggression by hitting Donald over the head. The reason? You can't use a healing spell if you don't have an injury to heal. Donald had decided that Sora was suitably proficient in the spell by the fifth bonk on the head. Now, Sora was back to trying to get the anthros to let him drive the ship.
"Let me drive!"
"No!" shouted Donald. Goofy was being mature and ignoring them while driving the ship.
"Why not?"
"You don't know how to drive it!"
"Of course not! You guys won't let me drive! You won't even tell me how to drive it!"
"That's because you sent the ship crashing into that jungle world!"
"You were gonna skip it, and Riku and Kairi might've been there!"
Goofy sighed. Was this going to be a normal occurrence? He didn't really understand why Sora couldn't drive the ship. He was going to need to learn how to eventually. Goofy blinked as a world started to come into view. "Hey, guys..."
"Are we back in Traverse Town?" asked Donald.
Sora frowned. "But I didn't get to drive!"
"Well, it's not really Traverse Town." Goofy pointed at the world. It was sandy with a Roman-style building on the top. "I guess it's a world that's between Traverse Town and that jungle place."
"Well, are we touching down or not?" asked Sora, giving Donald a very pointed look.
Donald sighed, knowing that if he said 'no,' Sora would probably do something drastic again, and they might not be as lucky this time. "Fine, let's just go and see if there's anything useful." Sora grinned.
A few moments later, the three travelers walked into a large courtyard with two huge statues that looked like Roman soldiers. There wasn't really anything of note there, but they looked around for a moment. Donald found a chest of puppies and said a bad word, which amused Sora. After putting the puppies in the ship with the rest, they went through the small door between the two statues.
Inside was what appeared to be a fat cross between a goat and a man. Sora had started getting used to this, and cleared his throat. "Excuse me."
"Good timing. Give me a hand, will ya?" The goat guy hadn't even turned around. "Move that pedestal over there for me." He pointed at a large block. "I gotta spruce this place up for the games."
Sora looked at the block and poked it. The thing was solid stone, and probably weighed several hundred pounds. Now, Sora was much stronger than most people his size, but he didn't have any illusions about his strength. He knew he had his limits. Still, Sora figured he'd give it a try. Sora braced against the block and tried to push it a bit. Nope, nothing, and he tried for about a minute too. He straightened back up. "I can't push it. Maybe Azul, Zoro, or Seren could, but not me."
"What? ! Since when have you been such a little-" The goat guy turned and actually saw who he was talking to. "...Oh, wrong guy." Sora twitched as Donald snickered. The goat man crossed his arms. "What're you doing here? This here's the world famous Coliseum. Heroes only!" He gave them a look. "And I got my hands full preparing for the games. So, run along pipsqueaks." He made a shooing motion. When they didn't leave, he muttered something under his breath. "Look, it's like this. Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum," explained the goat.
Donald crossed his arms. "You got heroes standing in front of you!"
Goofy nodded and pointed at Sora. "Yup, he's a real hero, chosen by the Keyblade."
"Have you seen Riku and Kairi?" Of course Sora didn't care.
The goat guy snorted. "Hero? That Runt?" Then he openly laughed.
"Have you seen them? Riku's a guy a bit taller than me with silver hair. Kairi is a girl a little shorter than me with red hair."
Donald rolled his eyes. "Don't you care that he's basically saying that there's no way you can be a hero?"
Sora shook his head. "I have other things to deal with right now. Besides…" Sora clenched his fists and looked down. "Anyone who tries to be a hero becomes a monster or dies before reaching that point."
"Ya see? Kid's got the wrong mindset!" Looks like the goat guy was listening. "Besides, if you can't even move this..." He went over to the pedestal and started trying to push it. "You can't…call yourself...a hero!" He was making no progress at all. The three travelers gave him unimpressed looks as he gave up, panting. "Okay…so it takes more than brawn. Show me what you got."
"Now?"
"The tournament doesn't start for another hour. I can set something up. Just wait here." The goat man trotted through the opposite doorway.
"That guy is odd," said Sora. "Why's he testing me? I told him I'm not interested in being a hero."
Goofy put his hand under his chin in a thinking position. "I think that he wants ta change your view."
Donald rolled his eyes. "Who cares? Let's just prove him wrong." Sora sighed. He was sure Donald would point out that they'd had to go to the last world only because Sora had been too stubborn to take no for an answer. Now, it was their turn. Sora waited patiently until the goat guy came back in.
"Right, I set up the training course. Take 'em all out." Sora shrugged and walked out through the door. It led to an arena surrounded by stone seats. Set up around the arena were barrels, some on the ground, some on some blocks, and some on a moving platform. The goat guy came out behind him with Donald and Goofy. "I'll give ya minute."
Sora took out his daggers and gave them a twirl. "This is nowhere near as bad as Seren's training." He then ran forward and started bashing the barrels, sending some crashing into other barrels and breaking those barrels. All in all, it didn't take him a minute to get rid of the barrels.
The goat raised an eyebrow. "Okay, not bad, but let's see if you can do the advanced course! Just hafta set it up..." Sora sat down against a wall while he watched the goat start setting up the barrels in places that would be harder to reach and in smaller groups.
"Hey, Sora?" Sora looked over at Goofy. "How come ya said all those things about heroes?"
Sora looked down. "Because it's true. Nothing good ever happens to those who dream of being heroes. All they experience is misfortune."
"Bad stuff is happening to you now," pointed out Goofy.
"That's just bad luck. Besides, I'm just trying to find Riku and Kairi."
"You helped Tarzan out when Clayton and the Heartless tried to hurt the gorillas," Goofy pointed out.
"..." Sora couldn't really come up with a good response to that one.
"Okay, course's all set up!" Sora looked up and blinked. He hadn't realized the goat had finished setting the barrels up. "This time, I'm giving you 30 seconds. Think you can handle it?"
"It's still not as bad as Seren's training." With that comment, Sora jumped onto the block and kicked the barrels into another group of barrels before jumping down and landing forcefully on another group of barrels. This sequence of events took around 5 seconds. The rest of the barrels were taken out in 15 seconds, and it only took that long because Sora had to run to a couple of groups. The goat took a look at Sora's handiwork.
"...Okay, you ain't bad kid." Sora smirked.
"Does that mean we can compete in your tournament?" asked Goofy.
The goat crossed his arm and shook his head. "Afraid not."
"Why not?" squawked Donald.
"Two words: You guys ain't heroes!" Sora sweatdropped.
"That's four words..." Goofy also seemed confused by this as he was counting the words Phil had just said on his fingers.
"Wanna become a real hero? Start by mastering this spell!" He threw a scroll at Sora, which was easily caught. Sora's eyebrow twitched.
"Didn't he get that I don't want to be a hero?" Sora took a look at the scroll. "How to Master Thunder. Well, I have been wanting to learn this spell."
"Now get out of here! I got 15 minutes to clean up before the games start!" The travelers obeyed and left the arena.
"Man, the nerve of that guy!" griped Donald. "I can't believe you just stood there and took it!"
"Like I said, I'm not interested in being a hero," said Sora. He was busy reading the scroll he'd gotten from the goat. "I don't know why he even wanted me to do that training of his."
"Hey Sora, did you ever know anyone who wanted to be a hero?" asked Goofy.
"Yeah."
"What happened?" Sora closed his eyes. It had been so long ago that he sometimes had trouble remembering. But whenever heroes were brought up…Sora's eyes opened with a look in them that was angry, sad, and lost.
"They…were monsters." He quickly went back to reading the scroll. Donald raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" Sora gave Donald a look, like he was about to try to kill the duck and was trying to decide what method to use.
"You wouldn't understand. Besides, I thought you were upset about that goat guy?"
"Rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?" The three spun around and saw a creepy looking guy. His skin was gray, his teeth were jagged, he had a black and gray tunic with a skull pin, and instead of hair, he had blue flames on his head. If that wasn't enough to worry them, he'd managed to sneak up on them, and that made Sora very cautious.
"Who are you?"
The man waved his hands in front of him. "Whoa, hold on there, chocobo boy." Sora twitched.
"My hair does not look like a chocobo! Yeah, it's spiky, but it's brown, not yellow!"
"Let me guess." The man took up a thinking position for a moment before holding up a finger in an 'I got it gesture.' "You want to enter the games, right?" He sidled behind Sora and put an arm around the boy's shoulders. The Tsviet just gave him a withering look. "Well, then, hey, get a load of this." He held up a hand, and a piece of paper appeared in it with a flash of light. Written on the paper were the words 'Tournament Pass.' Sora narrowed his eyes, now very suspicious.
"You're giving us a pass? Just like that?" They didn't know this guy. They'd just arrived in this world. Why would he give them a pass?
The man just shrugged. "I know a winner when I see one." He slipped the pass into one of Sora's many pockets. "Now, go get 'em. I'm pulling for ya little birdy." Sora twitched violently at this nickname, but the man left before he could protest to it. Sora pulled out the pass.
"Well, let's go show that goat the pass!" said Donald.
"I don't like this," muttered Sora.
"Don't you wanna prove that guy wrong?" asked Donald. Sora shrugged.
"I couldn't care less about being a hero," repeated Sora. He was getting tired of saying this. "I guess I could try out this new spell if we entered though." He knew Donald would never let him hear the end of it if he decided to not use the pass.
"Who do you think we'll have to fight?" asked Goofy.
"We'll find out in a few minutes," said Sora. They went back in the lobby of the Coliseum and Sora showed the goat the pass the creepy man had given them. "Here."
The goat gave the pass a suspicious look. "Where'd you get this?"
"Does it matter?"
The goat shrugged. "Probably not. Guess you're in. We start with the preliminaries! You ready?" The three nodded. "Some real weirdoes signed up for the games. Better watch yourself."
It turned out they were up first. They were rather surprised by their opponents. Sora twitched slightly. "Guys?"
"Yeah?" said Donald.
Sora pointed at the 4 Soldiers and 3 Heartless that looked like Red Nocturnes, but with blue coloring. "Why are the Heartless competing? !" They weren't even attacking anyone when they weren't in a match. It was very odd.
Goofy scratched his head. "Maybe they have to fight by the rules here?" The other two gave him incredulous looks. That just sounded silly. The Heartless were tired of waiting for the travelers to make a move and attacked. Sora sidestepped a swipe and beheaded the attacking Soldier. He looked at the blue heartless as Goofy sent another Soldier to the ground with a bash to the head.
"Blue Rhapsody. Weak against Fire." One of them cast a Blizzard, but the spell was intercepted by a Fire from Donald. Sora cast another Fire, which hit the Blue Rhapsody and destroyed it. Then he spun and around and slashed the Soldier trying to sneak up on him. Meanwhile, Donald quickly cast another two Fire spells on the remaining two Blue Rhapsodies and Goof rammed the other Soldier a few times before spinning and bashing it in the head with the side of his shield. With all the Heartless gone, they walked out of the arena to where the goat was watching them. He nodded approvingly.
"You're no heroes yet, but you ain't doing bad." He grinned and jerked his thumb towards himself. "Lucky you came to me for coaching." Sora was about to make a comment about this, but a man walked by them just then. This man had blond spiky hair, blue, glowing eyes, a red cape, blue pants, a blue shirt, brown boots, some straps over his body, several belts, a metal shoulder guard on his left shoulder, a clawed glove on his left hand, and a huge sword with bandages wrapped around it in his right hand. As he passed by, he and Sora both looked at each other. The same thought went through both their minds.
"He has mako eyes." And then the man was gone, walking into the arena. The goat crossed his arms while watching the blond.
"Something tells me he'll be a tough one to beat. Who knows? Maybe you'll end up facing him." Sora continued to stare at the man as he easily wiped out his opponents. That sword was wrapped in bandages, but he recognized it, and that man looked very familiar, but Sora couldn't remember where he'd seen the older man before. He didn't have much time to ponder this because they had to fight another group of Heartless as soon as the blond had destroyed the Heartless he was facing.
Standing (or floating in some cases) in front of them were 10 Soldiers and 3 Blue Rhapsodies.
"Hey Donald, think you can take care of the Blue Rhapsodies for us?" asked Sora.
"No problem. Fire!" The fireball hit one of the Blue Rhapsodies, vaporizing it. The other Heartless immediately mobilized. Sora brought the Keyblade down on a Soldier, splitting it in two, and spun on the ball of his foot to slice the head off the one behind it. Goofy punched another in the face with his shield and then brought the shield down on the Soldier's head. Donald intercepted a Blizzard spell and vaporized another Blue Rhapsody. Sora took out another two Soldiers while Goofy started spinning around, using the sharp edges of his shield to slice the remaining Soldiers. Sora decided to try out his new spell.
"Thunder!" A small bolt hit one of the Soldiers, causing it twitch uncontrollably. "Needs a bit more work." Sora impaled the struck Soldier through the chest, destroying it. Goofy stopped spinning and struck the closest Soldier, sending it flying and destroying it. Donald cast another Fire on the remaining Blue Rhapsody and cast a Thunder that struck the remaining Soldiers and vaporized them.
"That's how you cast a Thunder," said Donald with a smirk.
"I guess I'll work on it between matches," said Sora. He walked over to the dugout and started reading the scroll again. The next round came very quickly though. This time it was five Red Nocturnes and five Blue Rhapsodies. Sora ran up to a Red Nocturne and split it in two. Goofy was right behind him and bashed a Blue Rhapsody to the ground. Donald quickly cast a Blizzard on a Red Nocturne and a Fire on a Blue Rhapsody. The remaining Heartless started gathering power for a spell. Sora quickly did a spin, hitting most of the remaining Heartless, but missed a couple of Blue Rhapsodies that finished casting their spell and fired the icicles at Sora and Goofy. Sora blocked them with the Keyblade. Goofy used his shield. Donald hit the two Blue Rhapsodies with a couple of Fires. Sora impaled a Red Nocturne. Goofy swung his shield-covered fist into the last Blue Nocturne, which was enough to destroy it. Donald cast Blizzard on a Red Nocturne getting ready to cast a spell. The last Red Nocturne cast a Fire, but Sora hit the spell with a Blizzard and then sent a Blizzard at the Heartless, destroying it. They walked out of the arena and were greeted by Phil again.
"Say, you're better than I thought kid!" Phil crossed his arms and looked up with a thoughtful look on his face. "Wish he was here to see this."
Goofy cocked his head. "Who?"
"Hercules." Phil looked rather proud. "He's a hero if ever there was one." He sighed. "Too bad he's off visiting his father."
"Maybe we can meet him when he gets back!" said Goofy.
"We probably won't be able to stay that long," said Donald. Sora was too busy looking at the Thunder scroll to talk.
The next round of the tournament came around before they knew it. This time there were 2 Shadows, 2 Soldiers, 3 Red Nocturnes, and 3 Blue Rhapsodies. Sora tried Thunder again. This time, the bolt was stronger, but it was still only one. At least it paralyzed the Soldier it hit long enough for Sora to behead it. Donald cast a Fire on a Blue Rhapsody and Goofy slammed his shield into one of the Shadows. Sora blocked a swipe from the other Soldier, used his foot to sweep its legs out, and plunged the Keyblade into its chest. Goofy did his spinning move again, slamming into all the remaining Heartless. Donald cast another Fire on a Blue Rhapsody while Sora blocked some Fire spells and a Blizzard spell for him. Then Sora cast Fire on the last Blue Rhapsody, and jumped back to avoid a lunge from the last Shadow before it was destroyed by a strong hit to the head by Goofy's shield. This left the three Red Nocturnes, which were quickly destroyed by several Blizzards from Donald and Sora.
The next match was against 10 Blue Rhapsodies. It was a massacre. Goofy didn't even get a chance to do anything. Sora and Donald just used a lot of Fires that destroyed the Blue Rhapsodies and cancelled out the few Blizzard spells the Heartless managed to cast. Watching this one-sided fight were the flame-haired man from earlier and the blond man with the cape.
"That little punk..." The flame-haired man gestured towards Sora. "...is your next opponent, okay? Now, don't blow it. Just take him out."
The blond man raised an eyebrow. "The great god of the Underworld is afraid of a kid?" Given there was something about the kid that seemed familiar, and he had mako eyes, but still... "Sorry, but my contract says-"
"I know!" The flame-haired man's skin took on a red tinge and his 'hair' turned orange and turned into a blaze. "You think I don't know? ! I wrote the contract!" His appearance returned to normal as he took a few deep breaths and calmed down. "I know it says you're only required to kill Hercules in this tournament, but you've gotta fight this kid to get to him. Come on. It's like that old goat says. 'Rule #11: It's all just a game, so let loose and have fun with it!' I mean, a casualty or two along the way is no big deal, right?" The blond just gave him a look before walking away. The flame-haired man rolled his eyes. "Geez. Stiffer than the stiffs back home." He smirked. "Still suckers like him are hard to come by." Behind him, something gave an ominous growl.
The group was up for the next round. This one had a Large Body, 4 Red Nocturnes, and 4 Blue Rhapsodies. Sora held the Keyblade up. "Thunder!" Several bolts of lightning came down and hit the Heartless. Sora grinned. "Finally!"
"Thunder! Don't get cocky!" shouted Donald. Goofy hit one of the Red Nocturnes into the ground, effectively destroying it. Sora jumped, destroying a Blue Rhapsody at the apex of his jump, landed behind the Large Body, and slashed it across the back, slashing it open and causing it to disperse. Donald cast a Fire on another Blue Rhapsody, killing it. Goofy threw his shield at a Red Nocturne, cutting it in half while Sora cut another in two vertically with a jumping slash. This gave the remaining two Blue Rhapsodies and Red Nocturne time to cast spells. Goofy blocked a Blizzard with shield. Sora dodged the other Blizzard. Donald wasn't fast enough and got hit by the Fire.
"You okay?" shouted Sora. Donald coughed up a bit of smoke and nodded before using Blizzard on the remaining Red Nocturne. Sora cast a Fire on one of the Blue Rhapsodies, and Goofy bashed the last Blue Rhapsody into the ground where it dispersed into black smoke. As they walked out of the arena, the goat was there to meet them.
"Nice job so far, but that guy with the huge sword is your next opponent. Registration says his name is Cloud."
"That name sounds familiar," muttered Sora.
"Ya think he's from your world?" asked Goofy. Sora shook his head.
"No, he's definitely not from Destiny Islands. Maybe he's from Gaia."
Donald raised an eyebrow. "Gaia?"
"It's where I lived before Destiny Islands."
"So, you're not actually from Destiny Islands?" asked Goofy.
"No. To tell the truth, the only person we're looking for who was actually born there is Riku. Kairi's from another world too."
"Then how did you get there?" asked Donald. He looked a little worried. Sora couldn't blame him. He was pretty sure he was about to confirm Donald's fears.
"Gaia was destroyed. When it was destroyed, Shadow Heartless appeared. I didn't think they were anything important. They just showed up. I didn't even know they were Heartless until I ended up Traverse Town. I hadn't seen them for seven years when they showed up on the Islands..."
Donald sighed. "That means the Heartless have been active for a while..."
"Gawrsh, were there any other survivors from your world?" Sora nodded.
"Yeah, my family, and I'm pretty sure Yuffie and Cid are from Gaia too. And then there's Cloud...I wish I could remember why he's so familiar..."
"Hey, enough chit chat, you guys are up next," said the goat suddenly. Actually, it was probably a good thing. The direction the conversation was taking was making Sora nervous. He quickly dashed into the arena where Cloud was waiting. The two chocobo-haired males eyed each other while Donald and Goofy came in as well.
"Were you in SOLDIER?" asked Sora.
"First Class," replied Cloud. Sora gave him a weird look.
"I don't remember any First Classes that look like you..." "Then again, he might've been promoted to First Class while I was in DEEPGROUND. No one ever told us any news about the SOLDIER units."
"I'll prove it to you!" And then Cloud rushed in, much faster than a normal human should be able to. Sora had been expecting this. After all, Cloud did have mako enhancements. Sora brought up his daggers and blocked the sword with a grunt of effort. Cloud was strong! Said blond frowned. "You're using a couple of daggers?"
"And you're using the Buster Sword!" Sora jumped back as Donald cast Fire. Cloud used his sword like a shield while Goofy came in to try and ram Cloud with his shield. Too bad Cloud's reflexes were too good for that. He brought his blade around, hitting Goofy with the side and sending him flying several feet until the anthro hit the ground with a sickening crack. Donald's eyes widened.
"Goofy!"
"He's not dead!" shouted Sora while blocking a horizontal slash from Cloud. This guy was trying to kill him! "He's just unconscious!"
Donald raised his staff. "Cu-" Cloud suddenly dashed in front of Donald and kicked him in the solar plexus. Anyone with knowledge of fighting and/or the human body knows that this is a good way to knock the breath out of someone and maybe even knock them out. In fact, hitting there with enough force can kill a person. The same held true for Donald. He lost all breath and collapsed trying to get his breath back. Cloud then spun around as Sora came down from a jump, plunging his daggers down, only for Cloud to block with his sword. Cloud then swung his blade back, sending Sora flying. Sora grit his teeth as he landed.
"Okay, I have to go all out!" Sora ran up to Cloud, much faster this time around, and managed to get a cut in Cloud's shirt before Cloud made a swipe with his sword that forced Sora to jump back. Then Cloud ran forward, jumped, and buried his sword into the ground where Sora had just been standing. Sora took a glance at his two companions. Goofy was still unconscious. Donald couldn't seem to recover from Cloud's blow. Sora couldn't do anything about either because there wasn't enough time between attacks to cast a Cure or use an item. As he finished that line of thought, Cloud came in with several consecutive slashes, each one jarring Sora's arms and shoulders as they were blocked. "This guy is strong. I better use it." Energy started smoking around Sora. Cloud's eyes widened and jumped back, not knowing what sort of limit break was about to be used. The smoke almost completely disappeared, taking on a red hue as Sora's clothes and pupils turned red and fleur-de-lis appeared on Sora's jacket and sides of Sora's pants.
"What kind of limit is that?" wondered Cloud. His question was answered when Sora suddenly appeared in front of the blond. It seems Sora was now much faster. Sora made to stab Cloud, but was blocked by the Buster Sword. Cloud briefly noted that Sora also seemed much stronger before swinging his blade to knock the boy back. Electricity crackled over Cloud's body and he floated off the ground as the wing growing out of his left shoulder spread out behind him. Sora's eyes widened.
"A wing? ! Is he a Genesis copy or something? !" Then Cloud literally flew towards Sora, and the young boy had to block several strikes from the sword before Cloud hit the ground, causing a shock wave of energy that caught Sora off guard and knocked him to the ground. Cloud took the advantage and lifted his blade to stab Sora. Sora looked up and saw what was happening. He remembered the last time he'd been in a position like this, eight years ago. Then Sora's eyes widened as he realized just why Cloud looked so familiar. "You're from Nibelheim!"
Cloud froze up. "Wh-What?"
Sora nodded and pointed at him. "Yeah, I remember now! You're the guy that stabbed Sephiroth!"
Cloud's eyes widened. "How-" A giant three-headed dog appeared behind him. Sora's eyes widened.
"Behind you!" Cloud turned, but he wasn't fast enough, and was knocked to the ground and pinned to by the giant dog's foot. One of the dog's heads grabbed the sword and threw it to the side. Sora took a quick glance at Cloud and noted that the Blond had been knocked out. Off to the side, an amused flame-haired man observed all this with a smirk on his face.
"Oh right, there was one other rule I forgot: Accidents happen." He faded into the shadows with a sinister chuckle. Back in the arena one of the heads came down on Sora. Sora threw himself back hopefully enough to avoid a mauling, but he wouldn't need to worry about it. An orange-haired man suddenly ran between the two and stopped the jaws with his bare hands.
"Herc!" shouted the goat. Sora blinked.
"Hercules?"
Hercules looked over his shoulder at the goat. "Phil! Get them out of here!" Phil, who was apparently the goat man, started gesturing towards the exit. Sora, who was thankful that he was still in his Valor form, ran over and grabbed the two anthros. He paused and looked over at the discarded Buster Sword before putting Goofy over his shoulder, running over to the sword, grabbing it, and running to the exit. Once inside the small lobby, Sora put Donald, Goofy, and the Buster Sword against the wall across from the podium. He finally turned back to normal at that moment and pulled out a hi-potion which he poured into Donald's beak. The duck coughed as he finally seemed to recover from Cloud's strike. Sora turned towards Goofy, who was bleeding from the head.
"Cure." The magic went into the wound and knitted it up as Phil came in running and panting.
"That was close! That was Cerberus, guardian of the underworld!" He wiped his forehead with his arm. "Herc should be able to handle him." A loud roar came from the arena. "But then again, maybe not...This doesn't look good..."
Donald glanced at the sword leaning against the wall. "What'd you grab that for?"
Sora looked at the sword. "It's their sword..."
"Huh?"
"I need to know where he got this sword!" Sora started shaking Goofy. "Wake up! C'mon! We need to go back in there!" Donald's eyes bugged out.
"What? !"
"You wanna take on Cerberus? !" shouted Phil. "Are you nuts? ! Even Herc has trouble with him!"
"I need to talk to Cloud. It's really important." Sora continued to shake Goofy until the anthro groaned and rubbed his head with a wince.
"What happened?"
"You got hit by a First Class SOLDIER, or at least someone at the level of one," explained Sora.
Goofy cocked his head. "SOLDIER?"
"They're part of the military division of Shinra, from Gaia," explained Sora. "I'm gonna go keep Cerberus from killing him. You wanna help?"
"Sure!"
"What? ! He tried to kill us!" shouted Donald. Sora shook his head.
"No, if he'd wanted you dead, he'd have done it with no problem." Donald frowned and pointed at Sora.
"What about you?" Sora nervously rubbed the back of his head.
"He might've been trying to kill me. I'm around the level of a lower-ranking First Class SOLDIER. He'd have more trouble with me."
"And you still want to save him?" asked Donald in disbelief.
"Normally, no, but I have some questions for him." With that, he ran back into the arena. Not having much of a choice, the two anthros followed him into the arena. Phil darted out to see how it was going. Hercules had Cloud slung over a shoulder, and seemed to be doing well against Cerberus, who was growling ferociously. When Sora's group ran up with their weapons drawn, Hercules retreated. Phil was close behind him, but had one last thing to say before he left.
"Kid, I got two words of advice for ya: Attack!" And then he was out of there.
Sora looked up at Cerberus. "Its aura's been pretty heavily depleted. I guess we have Hercules to thank for that." Then the giant dog tried to take a bite out of them, but they jumped back enough to avoid it. Sora twirled his daggers, ran in, jumped at the left head, and started slashing it as quickly as he could. Then the head tried to bite him, but Sora pushed himself away by kicking off its chin. Goofy tried to copy this by jumping up and hitting the right head in the chin with his shield. Cerberus growled and each head suddenly shot a fireball out of its mouth. Each fireball followed one of the travelers. Sora ran a few feet forward, then spun, and slashed his daggers in an 'X' formation across the fireball following him around. This effectively dispersed the fireball. Goofy blocked it with a shield, and Donald managed to get rid of it with a couple of Blizzard spells. Cerberus growled and dashed towards the closest thing, which happened to be Goofy, and tried to take a bit out of him with all three heads. Goofy actually managed to keep the right and middle head from getting too close. The left one though...
* Crunch! *
Goofy took a look at his shield, which now had a chunk missing from it. The left head spat out a piece of metal. Goofy only had one thing to say.
"Uh oh."
Fortunately, Cerberus was hit by a couple of Thunder Spells, courtesy of Donald, and several slashes to its right side, courtesy of Sora. This distracted it enough for Goofy to move back and take in the damage. The upper right part of the shield was missing in a mess of jagged edges and Cerberus saliva. This was throwing off the balance that he usually had with a symmetric weapon, but he could probably still use it. He just wouldn't be throwing it again. The damage assessed, Goofy decided to join back in the fight. That was when a shadowy mass started leaking out of the mouths. Then they vomited the shadowy mass onto the ground. The mass instantly started following the three travelers. They didn't know what it was, but it couldn't be good so they ran. Sora grit his teeth for a second before a crazy idea came to him.
"I got an idea!" And then he jumped onto Cerberus's back. He ran up to the base of the left head and started slashing away. Cerberus of course didn't like this, but only the middle head could get to him in this position, and Sora was able to easily dodge its attacks. Then a pain suddenly lanced up his right leg. Sora glanced down and saw that shadowy tendrils were climbing up his leg. With one last block to the teeth, Sora jumped down and off Cerberus. The shadows separated easily from his leg, but it was still smoking.
"Are you crazy? !" shouted Donald.
"I thought that the shadows wouldn't follow me up there!" shouted Sora. Donald rolled his eyes. "Cure!" Sora quickly healed his leg. "Well, at least its aura has depleted a lot." Goofy suddenly rocketed up from the ground and into the right head. Sora was pretty sure he saw some teeth get knocked loose. "Shouldn't take much more to kill it, if you can kill the guardian of the Underworld." Sora jumped up and slashed his daggers in an 'X' formation across the middle head's face. It roared in pain, and the other two heads tried to bite Sora, but he put a foot on each nose and jumped up. "Thunder!" Lightning hit the three heads. Cerberus shook its heads to try and clear them, only to have Sora come down on the middle one with a drop heel kick. This was too much for the giant dog. It fell to the ground with a loud thud and didn't move. Sora kicked the head again for good measure. "Well, its aura is gone." "I think that did it."
"Show off," muttered Donald.
"Wow, what a mess!" said Goofy, looking around the arena. Several of the seats had been destroyed, and there was a large crater in one spot. "You think they'll be mad?"
"A giant three-headed dog with supernatural powers just attacked the place. I think they'll understand," said Sora, looking around. "Sheesh, it did almost as much damage as Azul in his Arch form." This got him an odd look from the two anthros, but they decided not to ask since Sora probably wouldn't explain.
A few moments later found them standing in the lobby with Hercules and Phil. Phil was reading off a scroll. "Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes, and confer upon thee all rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further-" Donald had just realized what Phil said exactly.
"Hey! What do ya mean 'junior heroes'?"
Phil rolled his eyes. "You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero."
"So, what does it take?" asked Goofy. Hercules chuckled with a smile on his face.
"Well, that's just something you'll have to find out for yourselves, just like I did."
"Maybe we can participate in the games some more," said Sora.
"There ain't gonna be any games for a while. Gotta clean up the mess from the last battle first," said Phil.
Sora shrugged. "Well, we'll come back when you've cleaned up. It was fun fighting in your tournament." That said, the travelers left that lobby. Phil rubbed his chin absentmindedly.
"I still can't believe that squirt actually beat Cerberus."
Hercules bent down so he could whisper to Phil. "Just between us, I'd already worn down Cerberus by the time the little guy jumped in."
Phil grinned and made a zipping motion with his fingers. "My lips sealed."
Outside with our heroes, they were having a different discussion.
"So, what do you think it takes to be a true hero?" asked Goofy.
"I dunno," said Sora. He looked up at the sky with a thoughtful look on his face. "If a couple of First Class SOLDIERS couldn't figure it out, I kind of doubt that we have any chance of figuring it out."
"Again with the SOLDIER thing?" asked Donald.
"They're a big deal where I come from," explained Sora.
"Hey, how come you were moving so fast when you were fighting Cloud?" asked the duck.
"You were still able to watch?" Donald nodded. "Huh...Well, I can actually move pretty fast. I just don't move that fast so you guys can keep up with me."
"How come?" asked Goofy.
Sora rubbed the back of his head in an embarrassed manner. "Well, it's sort of embarrassing. My family was doing a team sparring exercise. I got teamed up with Azul. He doesn't move as fast as the rest of us. I ran in front of him, but he didn't see me and kicked me. It broke four of my ribs and caused some internal bleeding. I wasn't allowed out of bed for two weeks. Then Seren made me make up for the training I missed in the space of two days. Since then, I try to move at the same speed as the people I'm fighting with so I don't get hit with their attacks."
"He just kicked you, and that broke your ribs and caused internal bleeding?" asked Donald.
"Yeah, Azul is capable of lifting a tank with one hand. You do not want to get hit by him," said Sora.
"But it only took you a couple of weeks to recover?"
"Mako exposure increases a person's natural healing rate, plus Chris is in charge of medicine and she is really good at recovery spells." Goofy suddenly hit his fist into the palm of his hand.
"Hey! You know, you say you don't wanna be a hero, but you didn't complain when Phil made ya a junior hero or try to stop him. I bet that you still wanna be a hero deep down." This was an odd thing to say just out of the blue like that, but oddly insightful. Donald blinked. Sora blushed slightly.
"Wh-what? ! Don't be ridiculous! I don't wanna get killed or turn into a monster, and that's what happens to anyone who tries to be a hero!"
"That could happen to anyway with the Heartless around," pointed out Donald.
Sora looked down as several memories flashed through his mind. "Yeah, but at least I'm doing what I want, not what people think I should do." Sora walked away from them, trying to put some distance between them. As Sora looked up, he saw Cloud sitting in front of the exit of the world. He seemed to be in thought. "Hey!" Cloud looked up. Sora took a look at him, trying to get another look at the wing from earlier, but the red cloak was hiding it. "Why do you have a wing? Are you a Genesis copy?" Cloud looked confused.
"Genesis copy?" Cloud honestly didn't seem to know what that meant. Along with the fact that he had blond spiky hair and looked nothing like any Genesis clone Sora had ever seen, Sora decided that Cloud was most likely not a copy. This still brought up the question of the wing though.
"Nevermind. But why do you have a wing?" Said wing suddenly unfurled from Cloud's cape. It looked more like a ragged bat wing than anything else. Cloud gave it a confused look.
"I'm not sure. It's just there. I think it's because of Sephiroth..." At this, Cloud's eyes widened suddenly. "How did you know about what happened?"
"Oh, I guess you don't recognize me either. I was at Nibelheim too." Cloud gave him a confused look.
"And I stabbed Sephiroth?" Now Sora was confused.
"Yeah...What I want to know is how you got that Sword."
"I got it when I reached First Class." Sora was getting worried. Yeah, the guy was good, but he had been a cadet in Nibelheim. He couldn't have become a SOLDIER and reached First Class in just a year. Something was off. Cloud suddenly gave him a weird look. "I don't remember ever seeing you in Nibelheim when I was growing up."
"Well, yeah, I didn't grow up there. I just came with the SOLDIERS."
"Why would SOLDIERS bring a little kid with them?" Sora sweatdropped.
"Zack explained it, remember?" Cloud cocked his head.
"Who's Zack?" Sora's eyes widened as realization hit him.
"He has mako poisoning! Shit! I can't tell him anything about what happened or it'll mess up his memories! Great...I can't find out anything when he can't remember what I'm talking about." "Nevermind. Just forget about it. Not like it matters..." Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Why were you trying to kill me?"
Cloud sighed. "I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help." Sora figured that Hades was the guy with the flaming head. "I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired." He stood up. "I fell into darkness, and couldn't find the light." Sora thought for a second, thinking of DEEPGROUND. Sora had only been there for a year, but he had almost lost his light. If it hadn't been for Kimihiro...
"You know, the darkness is pretty strong, and I can see why you would want to use it, but I like the light better." Cloud gave him an odd look.
"Light?" Sora nodded.
"Yeah, all you need is a little light, even in a sea of darkness. That guiding light...as long as you can see it, there's nothing to worry about because you'll always know your path, and you won't lose yourself to the darkness. You just need to find yours." Sora smiled. "I'm looking for mine too."
"For...Your light?" Sora nodded. Cloud looked thoughtful for a second before nodding. "Don't lose sight of it." He started to walk away towards the lobby. Sora turned to look at him.
"Hey!" Cloud stopped. "How 'bout a rematch sometime? Fair and square! No powers of darkness involved!" Cloud was silent for a moment.
"I think I'll pass." And then he continued walking away. Sora heard the sound of someone clearing their throat to his left and turned towards it. Donald and Goofy were standing there watching him. Donald had a smug look on his face, and Goofy looked happier than usual.
"Golly, that was some pep talk Sora," said Goofy.
"And you said you weren't hero material," said Donald. Sora blinked as the two anthros went ahead back to the gummi ship. The Keyblade Master looked up at the sky with a dreamy look in his eyes.
"A hero..." He shook his head and looked down. "No...I'm a Tsviet. From DEEPGROUND. I kill with neither discretion nor morals, even if I cling to my light. I can never be a hero. An over-sized key won't change that. " With that mood dampener, Sora followed his traveling companions out of the world to the gummi ship.
A certain firey-headed god of the Underworld looked at a Hercules action figure. "He's strong. He's kind. He's always there for you, and he's handsome to boot. He's perfect. Perfect." Then Hades's hair and skin turned red as he got angry and the action figure melted. "Perfectly infuriating! He makes me crazy!" He took a couple of deep breath to calm down and ran his hands over his 'hair.' "Wait a minute. What are you talking about? All the pieces are in place. Relax. Here's what you do. Let Hercules and the kid do whatever they do. In the next games, I'll take care of them both." He stopped his self monologue when he saw that Maleficent was watching him with an unreadable look on her face. He twitched slightly. "Who invited you to the party? Stay out of this." He pointed at himself. "This is my show."
"As you wish. Fight to your heart's content." And then she teleported away, back to Hollow Bastion. Hades rolled his eyes.
"Some people...Oh well, as long as I get rid of the hero, I could care less."
-Line Break-
There you have it. Can anyone guess why Sora is so dead set against being a hero? And can you guess the reasons? I certainly hope that you liked this chapter. It was boring doing all those fights. For the next tournament, I may not go into as much detail, except with boss opponents. There's not really a lot to talk about in this chapter. It's a lot shorter than my last one. Well, leave a review for me. I'll be waiting. But first, here's another omake concerning one of the other Tsviets.
Omake: What about the Rest? Part V
Seras Victoria stared. She felt she had the right to do that, even if she was a vampire. This was just scary. She and Alucard had been dispatched to a town that had been overrun by ghouls and, presumably, a vampire. Their orders were to destroy all the ghouls and the vampire. This would have been very simple, if not for the fact that they had already been destroyed by a scantily clad red-haired woman in the oddest outfit Seras had ever seen with a very strange looking double-bladed weapon. Said woman was covered in ghoul blood but was calmly star/moon gazing. Alucard seemed unusually interested.
"Well, you did quite a number on them."
The woman turned to face them with an odd smile. She had red glowing eyes. Seras tensed up. Such a trait usually meant that the individual was a vampire. "Hello. Are you vampires like that other man?"
"Hmph. You took care of him?"
Rosso sighed and shook her head while shrugging. "When he said he was a vampire, I thought I'd have a fun fight, but he was so pathetically weak. Oh well, at least I was able to bathe in the blood of these ones. They're not exactly human, but they'll do."
"Wait a minute! Are you saying you're not a vampire?" Sure some people could go toe-to-toe with the nocturnal monsters, but they were few in number, and this woman seemed terrifying enough to be a monster herself. She seemed amused by Seras's statement.
"A vampire? Me?" She laughed. "Is it because I have red eyes? Or because I enjoy the sight and feel of blood? Or maybe both? Little girl, shouldn't you be able to tell when you are a vampire yourself?" Seras started a bit at that. How could that woman tell? Alucard stepped forward with a grin. Then he took a sniff and frowned.
"Your blood is filthy." The woman shrugged.
"The result of two decades of experimentation. What? It puts you off?"
"Drinking your blood would be like drinking poison. What a shame. I was looking forward to drinking the blood of a worthy opponent." Seras wondered what could be in the woman's blood that her master wouldn't drink it. He'd drink almost everyone else's, except for children. He seemed disgusted by the idea of drinking a child's blood.
"Oh, so you want to fight?" The woman seemed excited by the idea. "Wonderful. It was far too easy to wipe out these pathetic bags of flesh and blood." She brought her odd weapon in front of her. "It is common courtesy to share your name before a fight to the death, is it not? That way you will know who killed you. I am Rosso. Rosso the Crimson."
"Well, that's fitting. You may call me Alucard." And then he shot at her with Jackal. Rosso hit the bullet out of the air with her blade and used her inhuman speed to get close enough to Alucard to cut him in half. Fortunately, Alucard was also very fast and was able to jump over it. Seras decided it was in her best interest to go take cover behind one of the nearby houses. This wasn't just a fight to the death. This was a fight between monsters.