I liked this chapter ^^ I hope you do tooo~ Whoever you are~

Disclaimer: (Look in the first chapter)

The Fight Within the Fight

"No wait! Not here not now!"

I screamed, rising up from my bed to open my eyes to a shadowy torch lit room. My body shook of freight and a warmness that made me feel sweaty as I breathed in and out as to be out of breath. My heart rate beat faster and faster of what just happened and what was happening now. I couldn't ease myself down until my mind recalled to where I was. My eyes closed to compose myself once more, resting my hand on my damp forehead to make myself feel better. "Ugh…what the hell just happened?" I put my hand down and used them both to support my weight as I leaned back in thought.

"…a dream…?…but it felt so real…" My eyes widened as my heart skipped a beat. 'That dream…that man,' my face grimaced, 'that white haired old man…what a night mare…what made me dream of him and kingdom hearts?' I bent my body forward and turned to sit on the edge of the boulder with my face dropped down to the ground, just now realizing that my black cloak was sloped against the bottom of the bed. My hand gripped it up and sat it on my lap, wiping it of the dirt that was appended to it. I then looked up at the other boulder across from me that gave me the failed presence of Axel, who I last saw was eating the rest of my pasta last night.

"Hmmm-where did Axel go?" My head tilted in tune with that thought until the answer appeared in my mind, making me smack my forehead. "Duh Deonna! The games!" Stuffing my cloak in the bag, I dashed out of there with it in hand and into the hallway. The hallway was still dark with torches still lit; reminding me of the dream I had last night. That thought made me gulp, but I ignored it, looking for the door where the stairs hid behind like a secret passage.

"Dreams don't make sense-a dream is a dream that is only made up in your head…"

I found it and went down the stairs and found myself in the next tunnel; the fiery torches were gone, just now making the tunnel even drearier for the day. I went to my left, where I felt Phil should have been where the main entrance was.

"Phil! Axel!"

I yelled as I exited the tunnel and into the brown room; I felt so much livelier in here, like there was a bright aura of some kind that made me feel delighted for some reason, despite the lack of people in the space.

"G'moring Deonna," Phil said walking up to me on my right with a clipboard in his hand, a pen tied to the hole that hit the thin wood as he walked. He stopped at my feet with a concerned smile on his face wanting to know how I was doing. "You sleep good? I know that bath must've really knocked you out into wonderland." I chuckled sheepishly as I rubbed my right arm with my hand. "Oh, I wouldn't call it wonderland, just…uhm…hrm…I just slept good….ahem."

'Pttf more like the land of death and remorse…'

"Well that's good to hear!" he paused, raising the clipboard at me. "You know the games will be starting in a little while, so I want you to eat something to give you energy!"

"Uh yeah-right… but where-hey wait where's Axel anyway?" Obviously I just had to ask, since I haven't seen or heard his mouth since I came down here.

"Oh Axel, yea he went to town this morning, sayin he was goin to enjoy the scenery of this place before ya'll hit the street again." I nodded my head in understanding. "Oh."

'Hmm I wish I could see the city to…'

Phil turned his back to me giving me a clear view of his little tail, which I forgot he had at times. "I want you to get prepared for the games, so no dilly-dallying right?"

"Right Phil."

"Okay then, since we got that out the way, I'm going to check out the things in the arena for a while…" he walked pass me but stopped at the introduction of the dark tunnel, turning only his head at a profile. "Oh, almost forgot, Axel's bringin something for you, he should be back by now at least." Phil started to walk again into the tunnel, but I decided to follow him since I didn't know where to go.

'Hmm, I wonder what Axel's getting for me…I hope its food 'cause I sure am hungry…actually- I just realized it now when Phil mentioned the word 'food'.'

We soon made it out of the dark corridor and into the light of day. The sky was bluer than blue and the sun shone heat and warmth that I very much enjoyed for my usual mood. Phil walked ahead of me, scribbling something down on his clipboard with his pen, though I stayed stuck in my place. Inhaling and exhaling, I started to stretch my spine, raising my arms to the sky on my toes, feeling the shaking sensation and easing back down on the sole of my feet, closing my eyes. 'Ahh…' Suddenly, I had a bright idea that made my eyes gleam.

'Hmm, maybe I'll stretch for the games…yeah I just do that…I mean since I've got nothing else to do." With that I started to stretch in all the possible angles I could think of. I twisted my back, back and forth in intervals; stretched my neck to feel ease; lied on the ground to separate my legs to form a ray, leaning forward on them one at a time for a few moments. After that I made a split and leaned on it, feeling the relief of stress off my stiff legs. Just before I could lean off of them, a voice interrupted my stretch exercise.

"Wow that looks like that hurt…" I shot my head up to the familiar voice to see Axel in view on my left a few steps away from me, holding a white paper bag in his arms that looked occupied of some sort of ware. I smiled at him, bending back up to sit upright on my elongated legs. Axel came forward, cringing at me from my stretching display of a split. "Man-it's like you're more flexible than any other cat, I've seen."

"Ha, ha! I bet if you tried doing this you would break!" I said, rising up off the ground dusting myself off with a snicker. He stopped in front of me, holding his finger to his chin with his brows arched as if to be contemplating. "Hmmm…and I think I can believe that." He smiled at me, handing me the bag that gripped from his hand. I giggled, taking the bag from him and peering inside. "So what you get for me this time?"

"Look and you shall find…" I grinned, seeing one of my favorite foods that I very much enjoyed. "Oh yeah I found something all right…" I said, pulling the plastic punctured bag of food out of the white bag. "A bag of grapes-purple colored!" I dropped the white bag to observe the bag of grapes that seemed plump and big for eating. My smile soon faltered with confusion as I looked up at Axel.

"Uh wait-this is my breakfast?" He brought his hand up to scratch his head, looking uncertain as to what to say. "Uhm…well, Phil told me to get you something light to eat for the games…so I knew grapes weren't heavy, so I bought that." He then shrugged with grin. "Besides, you like grapes right? And I know you don't eat a lot right? So this should be perfect for you." The nerve of annoyance ruptured inside of me, making me groan with sloped shoulders. I cocked my eyebrows at him.

"Axel-I can't survive on grapes alone for the games-use your head-a bag of grapes is not going to give me a lot of energy for the battles ahead! I need a real breakfast!" Axel's brows curved with a faint grin, holding his hands in front of him as if to calm me down.

"Okay, okay chill out, relax okay? Incase you were still hungry, I decided to get you some extra stuff to much on, healthy wise that is." I crossed my arms with my brow cocked in suspicion. "Uh huh, well where is this extra food? It's not in the white bag…" He then spoke as if to be unsure where this extra food was, with the signs of his brows curved downward and the pausing in his voice. "Uh, I…uh…it's…unpaid food that I haven't purchased yet…"

I gave out a groan of vex, lowering my head at his feet. "Axel…"

"Okay you know what, how about you eat those grapes and I'll be right back!" I looked up about to respond, but found myself being shoved by Axel to stand closer to the wall behind me. I felt myself almost trip, which made me more irritable as I already was, finally with my back to the wall. "Uh…" I began, but was hushed by Axel as he disappeared in a black ball. "Hugh…great…" With my hand gripped to the bag, I plucked a grape out and munched on it; it tasted really good, though I didn't show it in my face. I decided to sit down, eating and smacking on more and more grapes until I was satisfied. Soon enough, Axel came back, appearing in front of me with a grin, holding a wider white bag.

'Hmm, same bag, same person?'

"Okay Deonna, I hope you're satisfied with this because I'm not going back out again, so get that memorized yeah?" he said, reaching inside the bag, making it sound like was being crumbled. My brows curved. "You really mean that?" He didn't say anything as he pulled out a white wrapper that held something that resembled a rock. "Huh, what's that?" He bent his knees to give it to me, wanting me to continue the transition by standing up halfway.

"Here, it's a biscuit type food," he paused as I reached it out of his hand, "it's supposed to be filled with some type of filling." I unwrapped the wrapper, studying the lightly brown biscuit and what it harbors inside for eating. "Uh, okay thanks…" I licked my lips, finally biting into it to taste a jelly like textured squeeze out of it into my mouth, while the whole the biscuit in general was all around fluffy. My eyes closed as I moaned to the taste of the grape flavored jelly; it tasted good, just like my mothers biscuits. "It taste that good?" Axel asked, making me open my eyes to nod my head up at him. "Mmm hmm- not bad…"

"Heh, well then good, because I got a lot more in here." He knelt down in front of me, holding the bag open with his two hands to make it even wider for me to peek inside, viewing only six biscuits left uneaten. I smiled.

'Heh, he could have at least been creative with his food choices, but still…' I glanced up at him. "Thanks Axel." He huffed a little chuckle before looking at the ground with a mild blush. "Mmm don't mention it." That made me smile even more when he did that, making me giggle. He then brought his head up, looking upset and abashed. "Hey stop giggling and eat before I eat it all myself."

"But I thought this was all for me?"

"Huh…just eat all ready."

After a little while, we both finished eating what was in the bag and the rest of the bag of grapes. Axel was right though. I didn't eat all of the food like I said I would, only two biscuits and a few grapes, but then again, I already knew that would happen; Axel finished everything else. I licked my fingers of the spilled jelly and bread crumbs that stuck to my hand, trying to get rid of the dirty sticky feeling before it dried. Rubbing my hands together, I turned, asking Axel a question I've been wondering about.

"What kind of monsters will I be fighting exactly? Do you know?" I asked Axel, who was by now sitting on the left side of me, rubbing his hands together from the crumbs of biscuits that he had eaten. He turned his head to look at me, giving me a nostalgic answer. "Well, as I can recall, you're going to mostly fight different kinds of powerful heartless that appear in the different worlds that we will be visiting- which is what we want."

"Oh…how about any humans?" He looked down, turning away as he sprawled his legs up to a bend, resting his arms on his knees to grip his forefingers together, humming in thought. "Hmm…perhaps…maybe…we'll see…" A vague smirk was faint on his lips which I took notice of, but soon disappeared as he looked up to the sky.

'Hmmm…'

"Hey Axel! Good you fed Deonna!" Phil shouted, making me look from Axel to see Phil waking up to us, still with that clipboard in his hand. I turned and saw Axel looking at Phil, giving him a small grin. "Yea, my little babysitting grocery shopping is done," Axel said clasping his hands together. I shook my head from his mocking statement, brushing it off as I wiped my mouth from the feeling of crumbs in the corners of my lips. "Good! Now Deonna, the games will be starting in about an hour, so I need you to get whatever you are doing done, and to prepare for the games, for you will be the third contestant up!" My eyes widened with puzzlement, but excited at the same time that I will be part of a real fighting show.

"Wow, alright," I said, using my hands to stand up and to wipe the dirt that was probably on my butt. "Then I'll practice my techniques." Phil gave me a wink as he gestured his hand that was holding the clipboard at me. "Good kid! That's what I like to hear!"

I nodded, starting to stroll over to the other side of the arena to practice.

"Yo! Deonna!" Axel's shout stopped me, making me spin around to see what he wanted. We were feet's away from each other, which I realized why Axel shouted at me in the first place. He was now standing on his two feet, appearing as to shout again with his hand curving his mouth. "Don't burn yourself out too much kay! Save you energy for the real thing!" I grinned, shouting back as I waved my hand in the air.

"Yeah! I know!"

I continued to walk over to the other side away from them. When I did practice my fighting, I liked it when I was doing it reclusively where no eyes could observe me, so it felt awkward when I summoned my keyblade and began my routine when I knew Axel and Phil were probably watching me.

I was really into this practice run with my keyblade for a while now, but I really wanted to become better at using it and its hidden locked abilities that Axel told me about. Around this time, I noticed a few seats in the coliseum that have already started to fill up with a few audience members. There were even a few people working on the platform, setting up long boulders of stone for the upcoming fight that was to start soon. That was when I realized that it was probably time to get prepared for my time in the fight. I went over to where Axel was by the wall at the entrance of the coliseum, appearing to be resting with his head hanging low and his arms crossed. Too bad for him that I woke him up from my shout.

"Axel, the games 'bout to start now?" I yelled, his head rising up as to not be bothered. He looked up to where the seats were as I stopped in front of him, finally calling off my keyblade. "Yeah, it seems that way doesn't it?" I looked away to peer at the minimum of seats filled for the games; much to my surprise, it wasn't a lot of people, but it was just beginning to start either way. "So, you ready to fight?"

"Yeah, I am." I turned back at Axel who beamed me a smile. "Well, make sure to prove yourself in front of all these people today, but in the end, it's still you just learning of the different heartless that you will be encountering later, not showing whether or not your heroin because, you already know the answer to that," he pointed his finger at me, "Got it memorized?" My eyes gleamed at him; suddenly feeling encouraged to ease down my anxious about today. "Wow, thanks Axel."

"Heh, don't be so awestruck, I was just trying to give you a little reminder of our main agenda, but be my guess to think of it as something deep."

"Yeah, whatever," I said with a chuckle. "Deonna the games are starting now, so I need you to be sitting on the sidelines out of the way," Phil said from behind, making me turn to give him my attention.

'Am I already out of the way? I mean, I'm right by the wall…' Though without question, I complied. "Alright Phil." "Go and wait in the entrance, and I'll call you up when it's time." Phil started to walk away, but then stopped. "And Axel," Phil said with a turn, "I need you to go to the other arena on the other side."

"Another one? Wait there's two?" I asked, spinning my head to Axel and to Phil. "Oh sorry for not telling you about that," Phil said, fully turning to tell me of the other arena. "The other stadium on the other side is also a place for training other wannabe heroes who want to participate in the games, but the trainees in the separate arenas can't see each other until they fight against each other on the game day."

I nodded. "Oh…but why is Axel going over there?"

"Ah, well, you'll find out later, but in the mean time, you got to be outa the way, so go!" My brows arched as I complied from his nagging. "Okay okay I'm going!" I went to get my bag to put it on my back and started to head into the tunnel.

"See ya in a while D."

"Yeah, you to…" I said turning in profile at Axel and into the stripped tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, I stepped into a room where there were five people present, standing around talking to each other about the games. They were pretty tall guys, probably close to my age, wearing brown armored breastplates, braces, greaves and silver swords that appeared clipped on their sides, topped with golden helmets on their heads that covered their faces; you could see their eyes and mouths, but that was all. Feathers stuck out in the center of their helmets like Mohawks. They also had shields in their hands, actually giving me the thought that they were indeed heroes, but then again, they're just trainees just like me. For some reason I felt out of place, like I should of had some type of armor on to, but I didn't need any armor because I knew I was a better fighter than all of them.

'Wait, let's not get cocky Deonna.'

One of the guys spoke to me from my right, pointing at me with his shield. "You're in the games to girl?"

'Girl?'

"The names not girl, its Deonna…' I said, switching my hips with my arms crossed.

"Ha, how can a girl be a hero? Girls shouldn't fight, they should be in the homes doing house work like they should!"

I retorted dryly, trying to stay calm though my nerves were about to pop. "Ha! Not this girl."

"Adrianus," a boy next to him said, raising his hand holding shied at the cheeky guy to calm him down. "Stop doing that, she has a right to participate in the games if she wants to." The guy Adrianus turned to look at him and growled. "Aetos, you know women shouldn't even be at the Olympics, better yet even participate in them!" He then turned to look at me, spiting at me as he spoke. "This girl shouldn't even be in a house, she should be a farmer working out in the sun!" My mouth partly opened from his deviant mannerism, making my heart burn with hate. My brows furrowed, clenching my fists for stress relief.

'Discriminating…against me? Sexist…'

Trying to keep myself together, I leaned forward with my hands on my hips, chuckling, that soon turned into a laughing fit. I heard murmuring from the guys, sounding shocked from my giddy display, despite being humiliated against.

"What's so funny girl!" the guy Adrianus demanded.

Waving my hand in midair, I crossed my arms, sneering at him with a grin. "And you call yourself a hero?" At that moment, his mad expression twisted into a dumbfounded look, while the guys looked at him with shocked faces. Another guy on my left spoke to Adrianus, agreeing to my questioned accusation. "Adrinaus, she's right, heroes don't treat women in the way you're treating her like this." Another guy complied. "Yeah, what would Hercules think?" Adrianus turned to look at them, barking in insolence.

"Shut up!" He marched into the tunnel, flouncing next to me with audacious mumbling. I didn't look back at him, but just breathed in and out to of relief.

'Hmmm, that should be something for him to think about…don't know what Phil was thinking of joining him up for this…' The stares of the guys were own me, I could feel it, making me feel out of place and nervous.

'Okay, I should go…' With that, I spun around, starting into the tunnel to sit on the hidden stairs behind that door to be alone.

"Hey wait!"

Startled, I turned back to see who called out to me, or who I thought did. It was the boy who stood up for me in the beginning, coming up to me to stop my walking motion. "Yes?" He had blue eyes and was taller than me by a few inches, which I took notice of when he spoke. "Sorry for Adrianus attitude…" I shrugged. "Uh, it's okay…"

'Of course it's not okay!'

I gave him a faint smile and waved at him with a turn. "Well, do well in the games kay?" Before he could say anything, I ran into the tunnel to escape his concerned shout. I didn't really want to be bothered since my mood was spoiled by that awful hero wannabe. 'Heh, I hope he fails…' I went into the door and sat on the dark stairs. I decided to put on my cloak since I was going to be fighting heartless anyway.

"Where she go?"

"I don't know, maybe to the arena." My ears heard voices from those guys, searching for me. I chuckled. "Man, are they really searching for me?"

'Now I hope they win the games, because they are indeed heroes…' I sat my head on my knees that were to my chest, waiting to be called out for the games. Time went by as I heard the boisterous horn and the name calling for the next competitor to go next in the games. I heard only two names go, as I finally realized the third one was my name that was just called. I stood up, smiling with pleasure. "Alright, time to dance…" I went out of the door and into the end of the tunnel where the seats were finally filled at last. There were soo many people that it made my nerves tingle with anxiousness. Ignoring that weird state, I saw Phil directing me to come to the center of the platform where he stood, calling me in the chatter of the millions of people seated above us on the sides. I strode up to him, as I felt my body over went a shaky feeling from all the eyes on me for my time in this fight, which usually happened when I was in the spotlight. I made it up to him; Phil had a cheeky grin plastered on his face, his hands on his hips as he spoke.

"It's you're time Deonna, make me proud you hear!"

"Yeah, I will!" I felt myself smile, hearing the cheers of all the people erupt from their seats. I took a deep breath to keep myself dignified and calm instead of feeling the nervousness that I pitted down inside me, closing my eyes. 'Okay Deonna you can do this…it's just me and the heartless, no crowds in sight for me to please, just myself…' I opened my eyes, taking my book bag off and tossing it to an overworking Phil.

"Hold it for me will you?" He gave me a sullen look.

"Yeah, yeah sure…" He walked away off the platform. My brows stitched in thought. 'Hmmm is Axel going to watch…?' I spun around to see was he on the sidelines, by the entrance, by the wall where the seats were, anywhere I could spot red hair. "Mmmm…" I moaned, "no Axel." But my eyes did fall upon those guys who I saw earlier; they were clapping and cheering as well, which made me feel encouraged. A horn blew in the stadium, making my head turn up at the sky. My heart felt grief, like there was darkness near by. My brows arched as I looked ahead to see heartless pop up out of no where like flies. Deserters, Axel called them, were running around the platform, about seven were, while a blue canon heartless was in the center.

My feet spread apart, summoning my keyblade in my hand to pummel them to a pulp. 'This shouldn't take long…" I formed a smirk, heading straight for the blue canon before it could even utter a speck of smoke. Since I knew deserters weren't going to touch me unless provoked, I just stayed on the canon, striking it and dodging its missiles until I saw a heart float to the sky. It wasn't hard to destroy, for fighting it made me more aware of its capable functionalities, like Axel said would happen. When I was done with that heartless, I went after the burdensome deserters who had nothing else to do but to just run around like mindless maniacs, and indeed that were just what they were. I swung my blade at one, calling the others to join in on the party. My feet ran to avoid there hard kicks; better to run than get hit by those feet. A cast of fire shot out of my blade at two heartless, making the others come at me once more. I jumped in the air, striking them from above until I landed on my feet. My eyes landed on one more that was running around looking scared, but I knew that was not the case. I smirked, narrowing my eyes at it as I ran up to it to send it to nothingness. "Ha! Die!" Striking it three times with my blade, it did as I predicted, vanishing as it released a stolen heart into the sky. The crowds cheered tremendously at my first performance. Wiping my forehead with a grin, I started to remember the nostalgic feeling of entertaining in front of others when I used to dance; it felt good.

After about a few more minutes, the horn blew again, rupturing heartless to reappear. My brows cocked at the heartless that looked like a plant, a blue plant and one that was opposite that; a red plant. There was two of each of them rooted to the ground. They all had the heartless symbol on their chests and four big flower petals connected to their heads with yellow eye balls and squiggly like mouths. Up came two black globs that appeared to be real like dust bunnies, just that they were both black and had two yellow eyes and red open mouths. My brows furrowed as I mumbled.

"Great-just how do they fight…" With out warning, both of the red plant spitted out balls of fire at me from afar, as did the blue plants that shot balls of ice at me. My feet jumped out of the way, not only to avoid the homing shots, but also the black globs that were approaching me from ahead. I landed in a summersault behind the black globs, ignoring them to head to a red plant that was just about to give me another shot. I took the risk of blocking the plant to see would it work, but as a result, I yelped from the pain of being burnt and hit by the ball that overcame my blade, pushing me back as I skidded on the platform. Rubbing my arm from the hit, my teeth grind from that unfortunate outcome. 'Okay that didn't work…' An ice ball came at me on my right as did another on my left. My eyes closed, stepping back, blocking them both. 'Huh?' I didn't feel any pain. I observed how the ice shots returned to their originators, having them hit by their own weapon. 'Alright!' Energy flowed out of me from pressured grasp on my back. I turned and saw the black heartless on my back, sucking the daylights out of me.

"Holy crap!"

Instinctively, I tried jumping out of its grasp and avoiding another spat of fire from a fire plant. It released, giving me the chance to strike it out of anger. Surprisingly, I struck it just enough times for it to vanish, but no heart came out. Sparing the confusion, I blocked another ice ball, sending it flying back at the plant. I then went at it, striking it down, avoiding its many head-butts until it disappeared for a heart to escape. Before a fire ball could get me, I jumped out of the way, heading for the red plant to destroy it. The red plant didn't inflict any head-butt's on me, but it's constant fire balls kept trying to burn me, which only happened every few times. The heat of the plant began to transfer to me, starting to make me feel warm with my encounter with it. An ice ball was being shot at me in the corner of my eye on my left, making me jump over the red plant to bring damage on it by the ice plant's part with its ice ball. I smirked; striking the red plant from behind for it was easier this way to do it. Before it could turn all the way around, it disappeared, sending a heart up to the sky. The black glob came at me in trying to jump on me when the plant vanished, making me step back with swiftness and leaning forward to strike it back. Dodging a fire ball, I hit the black glob four times, sending it to nothingness. "Huh, finally," I turned to looked at the two remaining pants, "two more." Breathing through my nose, I kept myself at ease when I struck the ice plant, avoiding its head-butts in the process. I decided to end it with a fire cast, making it rupture a heart as it disappeared. I turned to my right, looking at the last fire heartless for this round.

"Hmm, last one…" My feet ran at it with intense speed, going around it to hit it from behind. It turned around, seeing a homed a fireball at me, but it missed as I ran around it to the back, striking it once more for it to leave the peace. It finally disappeared. The crowd cheered for my diligent effort, making me smile as I inhaled and exhaled air to catch my breath. The sun's radiance was not helping me to cool down; fanning myself didn't quite help either. The wetness of sweat was apparent on my forehead, making me wipe it before it rolled down my face. 'Man it's burning up in here!' My hand scurried into the hidden pocket of my cloak, grabbing a potion to pour on myself for more energy. The container disappeared out of my free hand, so I grabbed my cloak with it to fan myself for cool air on my chest. My tongue itched for thirst, but I knew there was no way for me to get any water now. My mind then began thinking.

'…is Axel here now?' My body spun around to see if Axel was insight yet. To my surprise, he was coming up to me, clapping both of his hands with a satisfied smile plastered on his face. I couldn't hold my grin down from seeing him, which I showed to him when he spoke. "Wow that is very impressive Deonna," Axel said, tossing me a water jug that I caught with my hands.

He spoke again, gesturing his hand in the air. "You are definitely killing them out there." My eyes gleamed at his compliment as I felt myself blush, looking down at the top of the water jug. "Thanks Axel…but it sure is hot." I twisted the top off that hung to the side, closing my eyes to gulp down the water to quench my thirst, spilling some of the water as I drunk it. "Whoa, don't choke now; it's more reasonable to die from drowning in water, but to die from drinking it?" I let the container down from my mouth to wipe my lips from the water that spilled out, giving a reply to Axel's logic.

"Axel, that's stupid, ain't no way I'm going to die from drinking water like this." He waved his finger at me in disagreement. "Ah, but if you keep at it like that, you could choke, geez are you thought outa it!"

"Mmmm, maybe, you just have to be in my position right now so you wouldn't understand."

"Oh, I do understand-just take caution alright? In whatever you're desperately needing, even water." I groaned, tilting my head to the side. "Yeah, okay, fine…" With that, I drank some more water until my stomach was full with water. My body was finally cooling down from my little water break. I gave the jug back to Axel, beaming him a grin. "Done."

"Alright, so you ready to whip some more heartless?" he said, taking the bottle from me. I gave him a doleful tone as I slopped my shoulders. "Yeah, I guess…" His eyes narrowed at me, resting his hands on his hips as to see what's with me. "What's with that tone? Come one, let's here a cheerful enthusiastic attitude," he said, gesturing his hand in the air.

"Yay I'm ready to kick some butt!" That sounded so fake.

Axel scratched his head with disappointment looking down then up at me. "That…was horrible…" I covered my mouth with laughter, while Axel chuckled to himself. The horn blew, meaning that it was time for the next battle. My laughter soon stopped, looking at Axel who looked ahead of me to see his eyes widened slightly, then back to a relaxed state.

"Oh, looks like I gotta jet," he said, walking away. He turned in profile, saluting me with two fingers. "Do your best!" I smiled with a nod, spinning away.

My eyes landed upon five tin cans hovering in the air with two angled hands pointed at me ready to fire something, while there were about three ice like heartless in cubes. 'Oh, now I see why Axel left…leave it all up to me.' I summoned my keyblade, shooting a cast of fire at the ice cube heartless.

Time went by as I learned of my opponent's strengths and defenses. The flying heartless were definitely a mess, shooting lasers at me like I was the bull's eye, but to them of course I was. So were those cubed heartless; smashing against the ground trying to land on me or to freeze me at the least? This battle was pretty difficult because it was hard to focus on all of them at the same time. Tin can here, tin can there, ice cube down there and over there…most annoying battle ever. But eventually, I devised a plan. Blocking those canned heartless worked; using fire worked against those ice cubes. Things didn't seem too bleak for me, especially when I was down to the last tin can heartless that was present. My breathing was heavy, my body was achy and hot, but jumping this last time at this heartless should blow it away.

"Yah! Take this!" I yelled, flying into the air at the tin can before it could fire a laser at me. With one slash of my keyblade, it at last disappeared, sending the heart to wherever it was to go. Landing on my feet, I knelt down to reduce the pressure on my legs, hearing the chant of the cheers from the crowd of people echo the arena. I stayed that way for a while before finally standing up. "Whew…" I breathed, wiping the sweat off my forehead. I turned around, wondering if Axel was in the area.

'Mmmm where is my water boy?' No spot of Red hair in sight. I groaned, pouting my lip. 'Great he's not here…' Before I knew it, the horn blew again. My eyes widened as I turned back around, my brows arched as to be confused at the fast pace of the games.

"What! This is too fast!"

My fists tightened as my teeth gritted together, to see one large heartless body come out of a black ball and two flying purple heartless in the air with dark blue wings that appeared to be sturdy curved limbs. The large body heartless was covered in armor with the colors gold, red and silver; a small head and two giant arms. 'Hmmm that one seems strong and tough…but there is only one way to find out.' I started at the giant heartless that has begun to forward at me with its slow steps. I hit its armor, which seemed defective from my strike and ignoring it as it continued at me like it was trying to run me over. The flying heartless above swooped down to give me a massive headache with its balled up fist to my head, which I surprisingly felt even though I ducked my head; instead, they hit my back. My body crashed to the ground, sending my keyblade a few feet away from me. Using my hands to brake my fall, my brows arched even more as I jumped back up to land on my feet. I brought my blade back to me into my hand. Right after I got hit by the heartless, all the invisible punches and kicks from my first fights started to come back to me. Avoiding the swinging punch of the large heartless, I summer saluted to the side, grabbing a high energy potion from my pocket to release its contents on me. My frown turned into a faint grin, liking the feeling of refreshment my body went through. My eyes scanned the heartless position, slightly grinning at them solemnly. They were all coming at me like the target I was. 'Okay, now let's really fight Deonna…'

The fight lasted for I don't know how long, though the important thing was that to learn of their fighting strategies. The big heartless armor was defective of the strikes I bestowed up upon, trying to knock me down with its huge elephant arms in swinging punches. It even would do a stomach hit as it tried running at me. When I toppled it over to the ground, I learned that its head was the most vulnerable spot on its entire body. That gave me relief, knowing if that was all I had to do, it would be an easy win against this heartless. But I had to put that heartless on hold and try to defeat the flying purple heartless, which I didn't very much enjoy at all, since I had bad blood with anything that attacked me from the sky. They flew with swiftness in the air, making it hard for me to get them at the height and speed, but I learned that when they came close to the ground, I could smash them there. The more I fought and observed the heartless, the less damage they ingrained into me since my knowledge was building up on how to defend myself from each different kind that I fought. The battle soon ended. The crowds cheered once more from my fantastic win.

Though I used that high potion earlier, my body was just about to fall out. "Man why am I so weak like this…why now?" Though I felt that way, I stayed up on my two feet, slowing my breathing to normal and wiping my forehead with my hand. Once again, I was deprived of thirst. The horn blew two times, which I failed to know what it meant. I silenced my keyblade, turning around to see what was up. With my eyes squinted, a guy in brown-golden armor was running up to me, the leather like straps at the bottom ruffling in the wind. 'Oh, is that the guy from earlier?' My observation was correct as he came closer enough to me to speak, talking in mild pants of air.

"D-Deonna is it?" My head nodded. He gave me a glimpse of a smile through his over-sized helmet. "Alright Deonna, Phil told me to get you since you weren't aware of what was happening at this moment."

"Wait, what is going on then? What do the two horn blows mean?" He raised his hand to rub his neck, while the other was on his hip, his lips pursed looking disappointed about something. My face was blank, not sure what he was thinking about.

'Uh was it something I said?' He sighed, shaking his head, grinning. "Can't believe Phil failed to give you information of how these games worked."

"Oh, well, I just started training yesterday so-"

"Yesterday!" he blurted, leaving my sentence unfinished with a pause. My brows curved, grinning sheepishly as I scratched my head.

"Yeah?"

His arms fell to his sides as his head dropped to the ground, speaking as to be ashamed. "Man, I practically had to beg him to let me enter the games."

"Oh, well at least you're here…" He looked back up at me with a shrug, turning around to gesture me to follow him. "Well, let's go, you got about ten minutes to reboot yourself for your last battle, so let's not waste it talking on the battle floor." I smiled at his back, following his smart gesture. "Okay." We went to the wall near the entrance where the other guys were, talking until they saw us coming up to them. They were all standing up, beaming me grins as if to be honored to be in my presence.

"Hey, good job on you victories so far!" one of the guy's exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's very impressive to see a girl fight at the Olympics!" the next guy cried, who stood next to the first one who spoke.

"You are definitely going to be the talk of the town alright!" the last guy said who stood next to the second one, giving me a thumbs up.

I felt myself blush, holding my hands together as I looked down with a shy smile. "Thank you very much…but you don't have to say I'll be that popular…"

"Ha, are you kidding," the first guy's began, "once the town's heard of a girl fighter at the Olympics, they'll go all conservative, thinking you've been chosen by the gods!" I looked up at him with wide eyes, moving my arms to the sides.

'What?'

"Really? Why would they think that?" The guy who was standing next to me stepped up, trying to get a better view of my face as he spoke a reply. I forgot what his name was. "Why do you think? People here believe that the gods give people special privileges or powers if they think the person is worthy enough. Seeing a girl present at the Olympics is indeed weird and strange, but Phil did choose to train you either way, so that means something right?" All of this stuff about gods and special powers left my mind blank of confusion. I just looked at them with my brows curved, speechless.

"Uh…" I gagged. The guy next to me crossed his arms with his brows cocked; grinning, looking dubious of my reaction as he crossed his arms. "Heh, your not from around here are you?" My shoulders shrugged as I tilted my head to the side as to be unsure myself. "Heh, apparently not…"

"Yeah, you do dress differently from the women I've seen all my life," the guy in the middle said, resting his hand on his hip with his shield. The three guys turned to each other with a typical look in there eyes as they chanted, "Definitely from the gods." I chuckled as I shook my head, placing my hands on my hips.

'I guess they could think I'm from the gods, but still, it wouldn't be right if they didn't know the truth.'

"We'll, sorry burst ya'll bubble, but I'm not from the gods, okay? So stop saying that."

"Yeah right."

"Don't be so modest about it, you should be proud to declare it!" the guy on the right said, peering up to the sky, placing his fist on his chest like a hero. I sighed, closing my eyes as I dropped my head in defeat.

"Okay, fine, believe what you want to believe…" My eyes opened to look at the guy who I forgot his name was. He was laughing with the guys about his friend's silly pose. I tapped his shoulder, having him turn to face me while he was still shaking in chuckles. I smiled sheepishly at him. "Uh, what's you're name again?"

"It's Aetos."

My brows cocked, confused at how to say his name as I brought my lips together to give it a try. "Ai-e-toes? Have you seen a tall man with red hair?"

He held a snort as the other guys began laughing at my messed up name calling. Abashment came over me, making me feel warm from the laughter that I caused. My head dropped, bringing a small grin on my lips, though, I felt embarrassed myself. A hand rested on my shoulder, making me bring my head up to see Aietoes with a friendly smile on his face. "Hey, don't worry about it…and, yeah, I've seen a guy with red hair, your guy friend right?" He brought his hand down as I nodded.

"Yeah, y'know where he is?"

"Well, I saw him leave into the tunnel, but wait a sec…" He went over by the wall behind the guys, gripping something off the ground. My eyes lighted up when I saw my black bag in his hand, all dirtied up by the sandy dirt at the bottom of it. "Here, I think there is the some water in here for you…" I smiled as he came back up to me to give it to me in my hand.

My hand scurried in the bag. "Thanks Aietoes." And again, the guys started laughing at Aietoes, leaving Aietoes to stop their teasing titters. Feeling for the familiar water container, I pulled it out and opened the top off to plunge my forgotten thirst into the cool liquid of water. I drunk and drunk until the container was halfway full. I wiped my mouth from the dripping water on my lips, feeling more than refreshed by water than anything else. "Ah…" The horn blew, making me flinch from the rowdy sound.

"Ah, looks like it's your time Deonna!" Aietoes said smiling, his hands on his hips. I could feel my heartbeat faster and faster at this moment.

'My last fight…'

I looked at him, returning him a smile as I placed the water container in my bag. "Yeah…it is…" The three guys in the middle then gave me words of encouragement.

"Don't doubt yourself for the gods are own your side!"

"Yeah, do your best and don't give up!"

"Were cheering for you!"

My smile widened, handing my bag to Aietoes as I started on my way; I looked back, waving as I went. "Thanks a lot guy's. I won't bring ya'll down. I promise!" There voices became mute as the crowds ruptured cheers in the stadium.

As I ventured out further into the center of the platform, my eyes landed upon the guy who I was looking for all along, standing in the middle of the platform, his black cloak reminiscing with my black cloak. The guy who cared enough to give me water earlier. My water boy…the red head…Axel. He stood, legs spread apart as if ready to fight, grinning at me like everything was alright, but to me it was not. My heart jumped as my brows twisted in bewilderment and confusion. 'What…?' I stepped back, dazed and speechless for words.

Man! What was Axel thinking? But then again...it's sometimes hard to know what that one is thinking... Axel don't hurt her to much!