"So what happened back in the day?" I said. I had just seen a picure of Mickey on Olypus' Hall of Fame. We were stalking the halls of the collasium looking for some guy named Philoctetes.
"I told it's not me in the picture." he was getting angry.
"Micey, your not that ordinary in appearence. I'll ask again. Why are you in the picture."
"I was in the picture because I won, okay. No drop it!."
"C'mon, why won't you tell me?"
"It was a long time ago. And thats not a day that I'd like to remember."
"So what happened?"
"I said I don't want to talk about..."
Mickey couldn't finish that sentence on account that we heard a voice come from under the stands.
"Look. All I need you to do is kill Hercules and we're done. Gone. We can go back to never knowing each other." Said the voice.
We peered our heads thourgh the door and saw two familiar faces having a tense chat. It turns out Hades was trying to bribe Vincent Valentine to enter the competition and kill Hercules.
"I'm no hit man. I'm done with those days. Forget it." Said Valentine.
"Ya see, that's the thing. If you don't do this, I'll curse you for life."
"My life couldn't get any worse."
"Well there is plan B. I could kill you girl if you refuse."
Vincent's eyes widened.
"That's what gets em," said Hades, "They always try to be the hero. They always save the girl. Well let me tell you something. There are no heroes. You're the bad guy either way."
"I don't care what you think. Just don't hurt her and I'll do it."
"Good. So we have an understanding. Now let's get out to the sign-ups."
With that sentence, they left.
"Did you see that?" I screamed. "We gotta stop him."
"I know. But how" Mickey's face curled up into a thinking position.
"I don't know," said Phil when Valentine handed him the registation in the foyer. You look kinda shadey.
"So I've been told." He said.
Mickey and I entered the foyer just then.
"Pihil," said Mickey, "Howya been old pal?"
"Ehh. Aint to good." He said.
"Why is that."
"Well my main squeeze, Herc's, out for the count. He's feeling a little sick."
"That's odd."
"It can only mean Hades is casuin' trouble butno other heroes feel a thing."
"Well Hades is up to no good. We caught him bribing Vincent Valentine to do off with Herc."
"You gotta be shittin' me, Mouse." He always had a bad habit of cursing.
"Nope. We saw the whole thing."
"So that's what that little so of a bitch is up to. Aww crap. I just gave Valentine a ticket of entry."
"I'll face him." I said.
Phil looked at me like I was crazy. "You do know that Valentine is a trained Assassin, right."
"If it means keeping order, then I'm in."
"Well you got guts kid, I'll give ya that. But Valentine. He won't hold back.
"Listen, i have the keyblade. I won before. I can beat him."
"Phil, I think you should let him try."
"Ehh, why the hell not. You in kid.
"I won't let you down sir. But My I talk to you in private."
"Sure. Anything for a fighter like yourself."
Mickey looked worried. He knew what Phil and I would talk about. "I guess I'll go then." He left.
"Phil, did anything odd occur on Mickey's stay?"
"No, but I do remember the fellow with him."
"Anything strange."
"Yeah, he was the most well-known scientist at the time."
Anse the Wise?"
"How'd ya know."
"Lucky guess. Continue."
"Ok, well this guy was a genius. He let Mickey fight. Now you gotta understand that Mickey was an apprentice of Yen Sid at the time. And an apprentice never does recreation on an assignment. Mickey's assignment was to protect Ansem. Well after Mickey won, he celeberated. During the party, which is trown after every win, it happened.
"What?"
"Ansem was stuying that dark arts and hearts. Now he claims something was calling him from the undercroft. So he went down there. When we found him, he had the shit beat out of him. My guess is Hades. Hades has a collection of hearts from fallen heroes. It's comepletly normal for them to have called Ansem. After that Mickey took every assignment seriously. And he was rarley seen here again. He blamed himself. He thought he failed. Now in his masters eyes, he did. But there was no stoppin' the Wise from finding those hearts. That all?"
"No. I want to hear about Terra."
"TERRA! He was one of the best keyblade wielders I know. He could move the move, he could stike the stike, and he could knock the shit outta ya. He was a true master. Smart guy, too. With a girl with the body of a godess. Never heard of him after that though.
"Do you know where he might be?"
"Well, he was bent of ridding the world of the Unbirths. Which were similar to heartless. I guess he did it since there're no more of them around. I'm sure he's still alive. Nothing could take him down, not even all 5 titans at once. Which he proved to me 10 years ago."
"So this guy was the real deal. I think it'd be an honor to learn from him."
"Damn right. I remeber his knock-out move: The Keyblade Cannon."
"Keyblade Cannon?"
"He'd use some trick and make his keyblade shoot a huge ball, 5 feet in diameter, and blaslt his opponent into next week."
"Sounds cool. Well, thanks Phil. That's all.
"Any time. And good luck, kid."
"Thanks."
"So how good is Valentine?" I asked Mickey.
"Strong. He relies on guns and far-ranged attacks."
"So all I have to do if make it close-range. Piece of cake."
"It's not going to be that easy. Valentine is incredibaly fast. You'll have to keep chalk on your heels to catch up"
"So concentration is key."
"Of couse. And use you heart to read his eyes. It can detect his next move."
"Got it"
"And remember. We don't want to kill him. You just have to milk the fight out to keep hades attention while I look for his girl."
"How'll you know where she is."
"I have my ways. Now the rounds are beginning. You should go."
The first few rounds were easy. They were just stuck-up boys attempting to be heroes. It take more than them to be heroes. The entire time I fought I couldn't help but think of Terra. The way Phil described him, he was a real hero. I tried to practice eye-reading and speed. I was doing well. Phil said Terra used his keyblade as a cannon. Maybe I could try that on Valentine.
The time finally came. It was the final two. The winner fought Hercules. It was me and Valentine. No one else. I had to say, he looked tough, but I was ready. As soo as Phil started to game, Valentine unleased some killer combos. Mickey was right, he was quick. I chased after him and got a few hits. Mickey always told me to count steps and strikes. By then my step count was up to 122 and my hit count was 2 and my attempt count was 19. He was tough. He had over 50 hits on me. I had no choice. The fight was already lasting long. The 2 hour mark to be exact. I jumped into the air and glided in place. I put all my heart into one powerful strike. I could see a ball a blue lightning at the end of my keyblade, it was light blue. It shell-shocked valentine. Once it got big enough, I unleashed it. it hit Valentine right in the chest. It knocked him over 20 yards, right into the stands. He was breathing, but now getting up. I had won.
"WINNER!" Phil sounded so excited to see the Keyblade Cannon again.
Mickey was running up with a girl with dark long hair who immediatly ran up to Valentine. We conqued Hades once more.
"Do you have to go so soon?" Phill asked at the docking bay of our ship.
"Yeah, but it was fun." I said.
"And you tell us if Hades is causin' any more trouble." Now that we were leaving, Mickey was back to his old self. It was best not to bring up the incident here.
There was no sign of the Organization's castle here. So we took our leave and headed toward a new world.