You know, I really hated the fact that the creators named this world 'Olympus Colliseum.' There's a lot more to it than just the colliseum, Nomura!
James Hook: "Aye. They did the same blasted thing with Neverland and Port Royal!"
Where have you been?
James Hook: "You don't need to know curr! DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else."
Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock.
James Hook: "AAAAAUUGH!"
--
Chapter 37: Return to the Colliseum
The group of ten appeared at the entrance of Olympus Colliseum. The huge, smooth sand-colored walls stood in front of them. The twenty-foot high doors were flanked on either side by giant golden statues of gladiators holding swords and shields.
The sky above them was a brighter blue then most worlds Sora had visited, the clouds were whiter, too. It was very warm.
"It looks as good as new!" Goofy exclaimed. Sora still remembered the destruction the Hydra had caused during their last visit. But Goofy was right, it was as good as new. The entire structure had been totally repaired. One would never have known that something unfortunate had happened.
"Nice place..." Nehrut said, taking in every detail of the gladiator statue he was floating in front of. "They allow anyone to enter the tournaments, right?"
"If you prove yourself, yes."
"Well, I know what I'll be doing!"
"Just don't let Phil call you a 'junior hero'." He smiled at the memory. "He wouldn't actually call us 'true heroes' until we had our own constellations!"
"Tough customer..."
The group pushed open the doors –with some difficulty- and walked into the small atrium outside the colleseum itself. On one of the walls were four trophies that Sora himself had earned in the Phil, Pegasus, Hercules, and Hades Cups. On the other wall was a sand-colored gold statue of the multi-headed Hydra that had caused so much destruction before.
Looking closely, Sora saw three tiny little figures standing in front of it, looking up at the monster without fear. He started when he realized that they were himself, Donald, and Goofy. On the plynth beneath it was engraved the words, 'Lest We Forget.'
They could hear the cheering of the crowd outside, and the continuous chanting of, "Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!"
"Sounds like Herc's pretty busy." Sora said, ignoring the 'Do Not Enter' sign by the door and walking through the doorway to take a peek at the action.
In the very center of the arena was Hercules, theatrically flexing his muscles for the crowd and smiling. They were eating it up, and Sora wondered if they had already missed the fight.
They definitely hadn't, Hercules's opponent was literally flying in. It was a creature he recognized from several old stories Hercules had told him: a Harpy. (1)
It was a ten-foot tall bird with wild grey and black plumage, a sharp beak, and piercing red eyes. It had a wingspan of at least twenty feet, and black talons designed by nature for the sole purpose of catching and grabbing their prey. "Prey" in this case, meaning humans. And this one looked ready for a fight.
"Ladies and gentlemen..." Came an amplified voice Sora recognized instantly, "The challenger from the other side of town: the Harpy!"
The boos were nearly deafening.
The Harpy wasted no time and dive-bombed Hercues with an ear-splitting shriek. He rolled out of it's path just a split second before it struck the ground, cracking the marble with it's talons.
Hercules lunged at the giant bird and put it into a headlock, cutting off it's air. The Harpy struggled to escape, flapping it's wings wildly and shrieking. But all it suceeded in doing was aggravating Herc.
He lifted the bird above his head, and promptly slammed it's face into the ground repeatedly. He did it seven times, before the bird finally got free. It flapped clumsily into the air, with much less grace than when it had entered.
Apparently, it wasn't very smart, because it tried the same attack again. But this time, the result was much more lethal. For the Harpy, anyway.
Hercules rolled to the side as before, and pulled the sword from his belt. With one clean slice, the Harpy's head was flying across the arena into the stands. Some in the audience were disgusted, but Sora could see one of them pick it up and wave it above his head excitedly.
"Barbaric... I like it!" Axel said with a grin.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Phil said over the intercomm (or whatever it was they used, Sora had never asked), "To nobody's great surprise, the winner is my champ, HERCULES!"
The crowd's cheering was so loud that even Hercules was forced to cover his ears to keep from going deaf. Nevertheless, he gave the crowd one of his usual winning smiles, and waved to them. Then he flexed his muscles, adding to the delighted shrieks of the fangirls in the audience. He began to walk back to the Colleseum's exit, where Sora and the others were.
He walked in, and his eyes widened in shock when he saw them all. Then he smiled.
"Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, everyone!" He greeted, walking over to them. "Welcome back!"
"Good to see you, Herc!" Sora shook his hand. "Looks like you fixed things up around here."
"Thanks." Then his face became a bit more serious. "If you're here, does that mean that the Brotherhood's around here?"
"Well, things seem pretty calm around here." Mickey said.
"But we did detect some dark energy coming off of this world." Riku added. "Something's about to go down."
Hercules put his fingers to his chin in thought, "Hey, I know. We'll go see Zues!"
"Zues?" Kairi asked. "You mean, your father?"
"Yep. King of the Gods." He said proudly.
A few of the others –namely Kairi, Nehrut, Bariss, and Axel- looked a bit uncomfortable. But Hercules didn't seem to notive their discomfort at the notion of other gods. All of them had been raised to beleve differently. Sora tried to get around it.
"Then lead the way, Herc." He said.
"Wait a minute, it's not that simple. First I have to convince the gods to allow you up there at all. They have a rule against mortals on Mount Olympus, but I think they might make an exeption for you guys."
"Well, what do we do until then?" Riku asked.
"When the colliseum empties out, why don't you go talk to Phil?" He suggested, "It wouldn't hurt to train yourselves up a bit."
"Sounds fun." Nehrut said.
"I'll head up the mountain now, I'll be back when I have Zues's answer." He gave Sora a pat on the shoulder that nearly knocked him over, and walked out the door.
The ten of them waited for a while, speculating on what Olympus was like (and trying to make sense about why the real God put so many other 'gods' on other worlds), (2)until the colliseum emptied out completely. They walked into the large arena strewn with sand and surrounded by huge marble stands and columns. A few of the Harpy's feathers were strewn around.
In the center of the arena was Philoctetes, the tan-skinned, red-furred satyr, and Hercules's personal trainer. He turned at the sound of their approach, and his face broke into a wide smile.
"The honorary heroes!" He exclaimed, trotting over to Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
"And don't you forget it!" Donald quacked.
"And who are all these guys?"
"This is Kairi, Riku, King Mickey, Axel, Yuffie, Nehrut, and Bariss. Think we can train here for a while?"
"Are you kiddin'?" He smirked. "I live for this! You sure you're up for it? 'Cause I got something special in mind..."
"Sure we're up for it!"
"You're fighting each other." Phil said with a smile at their expressions.
Their eyes grew wide. They looked at each other. And then they smiled.
"Perfect."
They all walked into the center arena and made sure to stay ten feet away from anyone else. Sora summoned Oblivion. Way to Dawn appeared in Riku's hand. Kairi called Destiny's Light. Donald brandished Save the Queen. Goofy held Save the King in front of him. Kingdom Crown appeared in Mickey's hand with a flash. Nehrut unsheathed Presul. Bariss unrolled her whip (Rose Thorn) with a crack. Axel's chakrams popped up in his hands. Yuffie pulled out her shuriken and twirled it between her fingers.
"Okay everyone," Phil announced, "The magic in the arena will prevent any deaths, but try to keep it clean anyway."
"Aw man." Axel looked a bit crestfallen.
"It's every man for himself –or woman for herself- now duke it out!"
--
I know, it was a short and thoroughly pointless chapter. The next one is better, I promise.
(1) Also appeared briefly in the movie.
(2) Heathens and the Christian god in Port Royal, Greek ones on Olympus, Spirits in Land of Dragons and Pride Lands. Anyone else getting confused?
Review please!
(P.S. Gunslinger 117, you have your Private Messaging turned off, I can't reach you until you enable it again at your settings page.)