Chapter 27: The Match Is On!

Sora came to in a place he recognized as Hades' Chamber. Or rather, it was upside down. Sora quickly realised he was strapped into 4 iron chains, each going off in a different direction, holding him in mid-air. He looked up and saw he had been stripped of most of his gear except his t-shirt and trousers. He was thankful being a vampire meant no sense of temperature, or he'd be freezing right about now. He looked below him, and saw what looked like a bottomless void of swirling black, like a whirlpool.

A puff of smoke indicated his captor had returned.

"Ah, so our star of the show is awake! How do you feel? Comfy?" Hades asked in his sarcastic manner.

"Oh yeah, I'm tied up and hanging above a pit. I'm real comfy here, Hades." He pulled a little at the chain on is left arm.

"Oh come on, a grown boy's gotta train! After all, the Underdrome tournament is right around the corner, and you need to be in fighting form if you're gonna do as well as you did last time you were here! I can see it now; ladies and gentlemen, the returning champion of the Underdrome; Sora!"

"I like the returning champion bit. Sounds cool. That's it though." Sora said.

"That's nice to know. I knew you'd love it!" Hades smiled at Sora's positive answer. "But I have told you already. I know you're planning something, and I am not falling for it. I'll give you the answer one last time: NO." Hades, disgruntled, clicked his fingers. It was followed with the chains tightening; now pulling Sora to his limits. He grunted in pain. "You are going to compete this year kid." He grabbed on to Sora's shoulder, and a red aura started to flow from Sora to Hades. "And this time, you are gonna do it MY WAY!"

Riku and the others were walking down the steps to the underworld, chatting about the upcoming event.

"…So Hades hosts this event every year just to try and put you down? The guy needs a hobby." Riku said to Hercules as they began to walk down the steps.

"Well, he is persistent. But I am surprised the gods haven't taken action." Cloud uttered.

"They don't take action because he is still the god of the underworld. Without him, we'd be in a deeper hole than we are now, and the underworld would have been overrun ages ago." Auron answered.

They continued to walk in silence until they reached the bottom of the steps. What greeted them was an unconscious Sophie. They rushed to pick her up and bring her back into consciousness.

"What happened, Sophie? Where's Sora?" Riku asked her.

"Hell if I know, I got knocked out before anything happened. But it was definitely Hades."

"Where is he?" Riku asked.

"Probably off hiding in his dungeon. Let's go." Cloud said. They all agreed and raced to the chamber.

Meanwhile, in a completely different area, Hades was talking to a lone figure, who looked hurt slightly.

"Sigh, this gets so boring, so let's skip the usual stuff, because I know your name, you know mine, yadda yadda. So here's the deal. I'll give you back your free will. No chains or anything. But you need to fight in the Underdrome tournament, and defeat everyone. Win again. Become champion twice. I can't see how that is possibly a loss in any way for you." Hades stated to the figure.

"But… they are… I can't…" The figure uttered, sounding weak and struggling to talk.

"Geeze, I hate doing this." He put a hand onto the figures shoulder and a red aura began draining from the man. "This is your last chance. You do this, or I will have your soul forever! Don't forget you are already technically dead. Now I will only ask one more time. Yes or no?"

The figure seemed to try and think quickly; knowing time was running out for him.

"Ok. You win. I'll… defeat them all. I promise. Just… promise me I can have my free will back."

"Of course. I stay true to my word, guaranteed." Hades produced a contract. "Sign here, please. In blood, preferably." He held the contract up for him to sign.

"A… Contract?"

"Hey, it's just business, kid. Now hurry up, I gotta get this show on the road."

The man used his nails to split his index finger open, before writing his name on the contract. Hades rolled the paper up and poofed it away.

"Ok, we're settled. A boat will arrive in a minute to take you to the Underdrome. From there, you will wait until you are called to fight. Ok? Now, I gotta get back to my business, so… Seeya!" And with that Hades disappeared in a flash of smoke.

The group arrived at the chambers, but found nothing.

"Dammit. We lost him. He's not here." Riku said, angry.

"Now Sora's gone and we have no idea where to look." Sophie added.

"Blaming me? Geeze, it's not like I wasn't looking for a fist in the face." Hades appeared in front of the crew. "As for where Sora is, I don't know. What I do know, however, is that I am here to commence the drawing for the Underdrome tournament! And of course, if Herc wants to avoid unnecessary consequences…" Referencing Meg, "…he'll compete. As will each and every one of you." Hades announced. The crew looked at each other and shrugged. "Ok, we're in." Riku said. "What are the rules?"

"2 members a team max. So you 4 gotta split. Also, no breaks in matches, if someone is hurt, they either continue regardless, or they leave their partner alone for the rest of the match. Finally, the match ends when someone is incapacitated, knocked out cold, or killed." Hades explained. "Personally, I'm hoping this year we get a few in the latter category." Cloud rolled his eyes at this. "Finally, if you are competing, you are only allowed near the arena when it is time for YOU to fight.

The 4 decided that Cloud and Auron would go better together, being that they were great swordsmen. Sophie decided to go it alone. Unfortunately, that left Riku and Hercules, and they didn't have much they could pair together. But still, they were all powerful warriors, and friendship as always would be their strongpoint.

After an hour of preparing, Hades brought the 4 to the leaderboard to see their standings.

They were:

Cloud & Auron

Vs

Fire Shower

Riku & Hercules

Vs

Clean Sweep

Sophie looked for her standing, and was confused to see what was written.

Sophie

Vs

Unknown

"Who am I facing?" Sophie asked. They all came close to see what she meant.

"Well, that's a shocker. Thought I had it all checked out or something…? Ah, what do I know? Any way, your first match is about to commence. So hop to it!"

Cloud & Auron made short work of their opponents, as did Riku & Herc, but they were only just small batches of Heartless. The next match had them wary about how Sophie would fare. Riku was also worried about Sora, so to calm Riku's nerves, Cloud and Auron both went looking for him while he and Herc fought, but Sora was nowhere to be found.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Auron uttered as he looked across the lake towards the Underdrome, as Sophie sailed off to fight.

"So do I. But we're in this now, guess Sophie should just win this match, then we can concentrate on finding him." Cloud replied. Riku looked on, worried of what had happened to his friend.

Sophie arrived in the Underdrome and looked around. Not as spectacular as she had hoped. She looked up to see Hades sitting in a throne. 'Show-off.' she thought.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Dead of all ages! It is time for our next bout! Standing to my right…" he stopped to whisper the next part "and hopefully the loser of this round…" then continued "is the lovely, Sophie!" He said, putting emphasis on the lovely.

'Heh, what does he think he's trying to do, win my heart? Sorry, but my heart has been frozen for a long time, and a sleaze like you isn't gonna heat it up anytime soon.' Sophie thought.

"And, in the left…" The gate to the left side of the arena opened. "The champion of champions…"

A figure was visible to Zoe…

"The only man here with the right to be called a true hero…."

Zoe froze in fear at the sight of who it was.

"The reigning Underdrome champion… SORA!!!"

She was so screwed.

She looked ahead, shocked at how Sora looked back at her with unemotional blood red eyes. She knew something was wrong. Hades had done something to him. But at the same time, she sensed something from inside him was assisting Hades in controlling Sora somehow. What could it be? She would need to work it out fast, as Sora drew his Keyblade.

"Get ready…" Sophie locked up her guns, knowing she couldn't risk killing Sora. She would have to fight hand-to-hand, and against Sora's swordplay with the Keyblade, she wouldn't last long.

"FIGHT!"

End Chapter

Authors Note: By now I expect only a few readers remain. But don't worry! Even though I now have a job (poor me ) I'm sure I can figure out something. I want to get at least another one out by Xmas, so I will try. No guarantees, but I will try.