Rhiannon: I am so sorry that I well... died for a bit... I just got a bit lazy on my sad excuse for editing... so um... here is the next part! And I promise to get at least two more chapters up this week.

Chapter 14—Underworld

They'd set off with out much fanfare. Leon had set the coordinates for a planet not too far off. One that he'd been to ever so often called Olympus Coliseum. They landed in the middle of a vast sand yard in a Greece like setting. Sora was the first off the ship looking around with wide-eyes at things he'd only seen in his history book. Riku smiled brightly at the beauty of the place and then jumped when a large hand setting onto his shoulder.

He turned to see a large blond man with bright blue eyes and richly tanned skin. He looked Riku over curiously but didn't say a word, to say it unnerved the silver haired boy was an understatement. He walked around him slowly and the smiled at him brightly.

"My name is Hercules. What's yours?" He held out a large beefy hand, palm up.

"Ri…ku." He murmured and winced at the too tight grip around his hand as the large man shook the hell out of his poor hand.

"It's always nice to make new friends!." Riku's eye twitched when he finally got back his poor mauled hand. "Who are you're friends?"

"Sora, Kairi, Leon and Demyx." He shook each hand in turn, except Kairi's. He kissed her hand. Riku didn't know where to be jealous of the fact that her hand didn't get mauled or embarrassed for the poor girl as she stared at this weirdo who'd kissed her hand.

"So what brings you here?" He asked once he was done inspecting them.

"Erm… we're supposed to be… uh…" Sora tried not to look at his poor hand. "Are there any heartless here?"

"Heartless? Maybe in the netherworld… but not here on Olympus."

"Uh… the how do we get there?" Sora asked unable to resist at least holding his poor hand and rubbing at the bruised palm.

"Oh, over there." He pointed to the far side of the yard where there were large doors there were partially open with what looked like darkness leaking from within. Not exactly the happiest looking doorway to want to go through.

"Then I guess that's where we're going." Leon murmured and nodded to the large brute.

"You shouldn't go down there alone." He stated. They paused and looked at each other. Five people wasn't exactly alone. Then again, this guy wasn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box. He smiled at them brightly. "I have the perfect solution. I'm a hero, so naturally I should lead you down there to find this 'Heartless' that you're looking for."

"Well… I guess we could." Sora shrugged idly and looked over at the others.

"Not that we have a choice." Leon muttered under his breath and there was a collective agreement on that.

And thus, Hercules led them through the door and down a long flight of stairs into what the supposed hero had called the Road to the Underworld. At the bottom of the stairs was a large flat island in the middle of what looked like a dense river filled with sludge rather then water. In the center of the land mass was a rather thick pool of slime and on the other side were two large doors with odd markings. One was red and the other was green.

"Uh… we have arrived." Hercules scratched the back of his head. "That over there is the river Styx… and door number one is the Door to Death or basically where the dead and Hades resides."

"Um… well… maybe this is where we should part ways. We'll be fine on our own." Riku murmured trying to placate the man and get him to leave.

"I… I couldn't do that. Meg would get mad at me."

"Uh… okay." The silver haired teen replied realizing there was no way out of this. "Lead the way."

Apparently, the large man was good for something as he approached the door and pushed them open with the appropriate strain of someone who had more power then they knew what to do with. They followed him into the murky depths, strains of silvery mist floating by them as green smoke like chlorine gas settled in pockets along the ground. It was unnerving to say the least. They walked quietly along the path, no one daring to say a world.

Then the clanking noise started. Kairi whirled around calling Oblivion to her and smashed the broad side of her blade into a rather large heartless. It groaned in anger and just like that they were surround by all kinds of different heartless. In many shapes and sizes.

"I assume… that this is what you were talking about?" Hercules asked looking at them as they each drew their weapons.

"Unfortunately. Be careful!" Sora yelled before diving at the one in front of him and crashing his blade through a small flying one turning it into a puff of inky blackness.

Demyx once again leaned against a wall and watched. It wasn't like he was really needed… that and Sora forgot once again to release his powers to him. They were commendable fighters though. He'd give them that much. Kairi was currently dueling a rather large heartless and had managed with a hand from Leon to flip over it and send her keyblade though it's defenseless back. Leon himself being probably the most well trained fighter of them all was having no problem with anything that came his way.

Sora looked over at Riku as the boy swung his blade into a heartless and kicked at another to get it to back up before driving his blade into it. Sora was about to make a comment when he felt the ground shake under him lightly from the step of a Fat Body. He threw himself into a roll that sent him to its side and out of its view before jumping to his feet and slicing it down its back. When the dust settled, the hall looked exactly as it did before, almost as a fight hadn't taken place there at all.

"That was an excellent workout!" Hercules murmured before he waved them on forward.

"Where are we going?" Sora cocked his head to the side.

"Maybe Hades knows about them."

"Um… is Hades on our side?" Demyx asked as they walked.

"Not… necessarily." He smiled sheepishly.

"So this could be a trap?" The former Organization member asked.

"I don't believe it is." Hercules replied firmly.

"Knowing this moron it probably is." Riku muttered under his breath.

"Well… uh… I don't know." The blond demigod admitted and they all shook their heads. "I guess we'll just have to find out."

"Oh joy… I always knew my life would go out with a big bang." Kairi muttered under her breath.

"How about a blaze of glory instead of a big bang?" A voice asked behind her and she whirled, Oblivion ready but was stopped by a firm hand. "Take it easy there girlie. I'm offering you a chance of glory and flame and you try to decapitate me. What kind of attitude is that!"

The speaker was for lack of a better description… blue. In fact other then his black robes the human like figure was completely blue, hair, eyes and all. Sora was unnerved and Kairi could admit she was a bit freaked out by it too.

"Who the hell are you?" Leon asked leveling his gunblade at him.

"You must be off worlders to not know who I am! I'm the greatest, the best, the only God of the Underworld. The ever suave Hades."

"We'll… take your word for it." Sora laughed subconsciously and leaned against the wall.

"So… any takers? Fame, fortune! All that good stuff." He waved his hands wildly and they all stared at him various stages of amusement and annoyance.

"We'll pass." Riku waved a hand at him. "We currently looking for Heartless." He assumed like Hercules that he'd have no clue what he was talking about. Unfortunately, he did.

"I think not." He smiled at them piranha like. "I'll make you a deal. I'll let you search out your little heartless friends if you compete in the Hades cup."

"We're not competing." Sora stated firmly and Hades laughed in his face.

"No trust me. You'll be competing." He paused and looked at Sora with an appraising face. "Well not you… but somebody."

"Not me?" Sora asked confused and then gasped as Hades grabbed his arm and dragged him forward before spinning him around.

"Not you." And then Sora disappeared. "Now, now." Hades murmured as he was suddenly on the business end of more then one weapon. Even Demyx had managed to get out his sitar. "I need incentive to get you to fight apparently. No harm will come to the spiky haired child."

"His name is Sora." Riku growled and Hades merely rolled his eyes.

"Whatever… Anyways… let's see… There's five of you counting Hercules… So um… Only two of you can compete and by yourselves. I want to see real heroes out there in the Hades Cup!" And he disappeared.

"That bastard." Riku growled under his breath.

"Ah… I'm sorry… He's… he's like that." Hercules apologized, but no one paid any attention to him.

"Thanks for the warning." Kairi breathed as she looked at them. "Well… we might as well get the hell out of here."

"What's stopping us from beating the shit out of Hades?" Riku asked staring at them in shock at the thought of leaving.

"This is his Underworld. Leaving would be our best bet." Hercules murmured. "We can't harm him here."

"Dude Riku, didn't you pay attention at all when we studied the Greeks in middle and high school?" Kairi asked rolling her eyes at him. "I assuming this works rather like that."

"Oh! Ah…. I guess that makes sense." The silver haired teen replied as they headed back the way they came. But he couldn't resist looking back and hoping that Sora was okay.

Sora was in fact, not okay. Sora Miryoko was pissed. He stood in a cage, high off the ground, and he had shrunk over half his original body height, not that he was tall to begin with mind you. He called the Sleeping Lion to him and attacked the cage but it did nothing, clanging off it useless as if it were a toy sword instead of the powerful weapon that it was. He sunk down against the side of the cage and closed his eyes.

"Don't worry kiddo." Hades appeared before him looking in with a cunning smile on his face. "What's happening is very simple. Two of your little friends will compete separately in the games. One will lose and hopefully one will win. No one will die. Maybe. Can't be too sure though. Some of the other competitors don't exactly know the meaning of the words 'fair fight.'"

"I'm sure that's what your hoping for."

"Well, if they both loose then I can personally hand the keyblade master over to Maleficent and be in her good graces again. It all works out." He waved his hand away. "I'd do it now, but I have to follow the rules of the Gods… so think of this as a bet."

"Betting people's lives isn't right."

"I'm the God of Death my boy! What else is there for me to bet!"

"My friends will save me." Sora growled gripping the bars almost painfully.

"So you say." Hades waved him away. "But trust me… It's more in my favor if they don't."

And the young keyblade master was left to wonder what exactly he meant by those words.

Rhiannon: Well... um... there's not really much to say I guess... um.. r&r? I'm not very talkative am I?