Alrighty! Here we go, the god-sized butt-kicking you've all been waiting for! Along with a twist I hope you'll enjoy, just to keep things interesting... So Phil, if you would please...?

Phil: "Sure thing, kid. Now listen here readers 'cause I've got two words for you: 'Don't' 'Own' 'ANYTHING!'"

You guys know that I couldn't just go through this whole story without throwing in that joke. ;)

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Chapter 43: To Anger a God

Ruxik blocked a strike from Yuffie's oversized weapon, and backed away. Behind her he could see the disturbing sight of their whole plan falling to pieces. Zeus stood high up on the mountain, and he had just destroyed the one remaining titan. Then Sora and some monster had destroyed the last of the Heartless he had brought here.

Most of his enemies were regrouping. He saw their former slave half-supporting the weary psychic as they walked toward Sora and the princess. They were all together again, except for Yuffie, whom he was fighting against now. And of course Riku, who was in combat with Larxene about twenty feet away.

This was going downhill too fast. It was time to get Hades and bail out. That was when everyone noticed the demonic chariot fly overhead.

Immediately, he opened up a corridor of darkness behind him and jumped in, avoiding a throwing star that nearly cost him a finger. The corridor opened up behind Larxene. She took the hint and jumped in before Riku could react to it.

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"Everybody alright?" Herc asked, stopping in front of Sora and Kairi. The others were approaching from other parts of the battlefield. Sora noticed that Nehrut seemed to be fading in an out of consciousness.

"You should have seen him!" Bariss exclaimed. "He took down two titans mostly on his own!" He shrugged weakly, smiling a little.

"Two?" Sora was impressed. He, Donald, and Goofy had had an extremely hard time fighting against one of them over a year ago. "Not bad!"

Nehrut chuckled weakly.

A shadow blotted out the sun for a moment as something passed over them. They all turned to look up, and saw the chariot flying away from Olympus at an impressive speed. Inside was Hades, looking infuriated. His 'hair' was burning bright red, and his skin was as well.

"After him!" Hercules shouted. He began to run toward the mountain's rim, calling Pegasus. The flying horse came out of the sky right toward him. He jumped onto his back before he had even stopped. Riku jumped on after him.

Sora mounted the Keyboard, and Kairi transformed into Angelic form. The four of them blasted off after Hades' chariot. Unfortunately, they were the only ones able to follow. The second they left the ground, a few Dark Knight Nobodies appeared around the group at Olympus.

"You know how I was saying we get the hard jobs?" Nehrut said to the King. He had straightened up a little.

"Uh-huh?"

"I think those four have it this time."

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As Hades' chariot broke through the cloud cover, Sora moved in toward it. He was just slightly ahead of his friends.

When he was about ten feet behind Hades, and slightly to the left, the god turned around. His eyes widened in surprise, and he snarled. Fire appeared in his right hand, and he fired it at Sora.

The Keyblade flashed horizontally, and the fireball dissipated. Sora kept flying, and shot a shard of ice from the Keyblade's tip. It brushed just over Hades' head, the ice turned to water, and put out the fire that served him as hair.

Hades' eyes bulged in surprise as he rubbed his now bald head. Sora laughed, nearly falling off the Keyboard.

Hades reignited his head, and reached down into the front of the chariot. He emerged holding Pain and Panic by their tails. He angrily pulled them up and tossed them both at Sora. They screamed, and then transformed into purple and green snakes in the air.

Surprised, Sora swerved under them. They flew past him at Pegasus. Hercules caught one in each hand. Before they could even think to bite him, he tied them together in a knot. He chuckled, and tossed them over his shoulder.

Sora turned back around in time to avoid another fireball. Hades continually tossed fireballs at the Keybearer, trying to dislodge him from his board. All the dodging and juking was costing Sora speed, and he was falling farther and farther behind. Then he got an idea.

He tossed Sleeping Lion into the air, and it changed into the Keywhip. He caught it again, and flourished it. He swung, and the whip's chain shot out toward Hades. He held up his arm to protect his face, and the end coiled around it. Sora pulled as hard as he could on his end, and Hades cried out as he fell off chariot. His mount let out a shriek, but kept flying.

Hades plummeted to the ground, dragging Sora behind him. He caught himself, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Ironically, Hades had been falling directly into the coliseum, and that's where he reappeared. He straightened himself up, and dusted himself off. A portal opened up next to him, and Ruxik and Larxene stepped out.

"It's over Hades." Ruxik said. "We have to get out of here."

"Too late for that." Sora landed in front of them, Oblivion back in hand.

"Do you really think you can take all three of us on your own, Keyboy?" Ruxik smirked, drawing Way to Dusk.

Larxene smirked too. She drew her daggers. "Now, little boy. You have two choices: come with us as a captive, or as a corpse."

"Cool, you guys have the same choice." Riku landed to Larxene's left, Way to Dawn ready. Kairi landed next to Sora, and changed back to her natural form. Hercules landed behind Hades. The seven faced off for a moment, waiting for an opening to present itself.

Larxene moved first, throwing a handful of daggers at Kairi. The girl swept them aside with her Keyblade, and rushed forward. She swung at her head, but missed. Larxene back flipped away from her and threw more knives, but Kairi advanced, dodging out of the way of projectiles and never slowing down.

Riku swept at Ruxik's legs. He jumped over the blade and kicked Riku in the chin, knocking him over backwards. Riku landed in a kind of handstand, pumped his arms and kicked the Nobody in the chest. He summoned his Keyblade back and unleashed a flurry of attacks at his head, neck, and shoulders. Most were blocked.

Hercules delivered a punch at the back of Hades' head. He ducked under it, and tried to throw an uppercut with a burning fist. He moved out of the way with surprising reflexes. He punched the god in the gut so hard he flew backwards into the stands.

Sora leapt up after him, bringing his blade down toward his head. Hades teleported to the top stands half a second before it struck him. Sora ran up to him, while Herc was jumping into the stands behind him.

From Hades' hands burst two long streams of flame. He waved his hands about, holding the flames like whips.

Sora jumped backwards just far enough to avoid the flames. He stretched out his blade a shot ice at Hades from his safe distance. Unfortunately, the fire was hot enough to melt most of the ice before it got too close. By the time it reached him, it was barely more than a pop-sickle.

Hades smiled, and retracted the flames. They became giant balls of fire in his hands. He held them in the air and fired them at Sora and Hercules. Sora jumped entirely over the one aimed at him and ran at Hades. Herc simply shouldered through the fireball with not a scratch. He bolted at Hades, and delivered a punch to his face.

Hades teleported away, though accidentally landed right in front of Sora. The Keybearer slashed him twice across the back, causing him to howl in pain. Herc came back down the stands and punched him hard in the chest. He stumbled down the stands, and fell back into the arena.

Meanwhile, Kairi was locked in a high-speed battle with Larxene. The Nobody's knives whistled past her head frequently, and she had no idea how she was able to keep dodging to safety.

When she got within three feet of Larxene, however, she was greeted by a huge burst of lightning. Acting purely on reflex, Kairi stretched out her hand to create a blast of flame. The two attacks met, and exploded. Being in such close proximity to it, Kairi and Larxene were thrown in either direction.

Kairi got to her feet as fast as possible. She ran at Larxene, and would have run her through the stomach if she hadn't dove to the side. She filled her fist with knives and swung a punch at her face. Her blade came up to smack the fist away, and the knives clattered across the arena floor.

She tried to shake the pain out of her hand, and backed away from the girl quickly. She stretched out her fingers, and lightning speared from the tips. Kairi dove to the right, and the lightning singed the arena floor. She lunged at the Nobody, Keyblade flashing left-to-right.

Larxene jumped away from the blade and kicked at her face. She shifted away from it and ducked under the follow-up punch. Kairi swept her blade, kicking her legs out from under her, and she spilled onto the ground.

Unfortunately, before Kairi could finish the fight, she sank into the ground via corridor of darkness.

Ruxik stabbed at Riku, who dodged to the side. Way to Dusk stuck into the stone wall of the arena. He yanked it out just before Riku could behead him where he stood. He fired a ball of darkness at his other, which he caught with his blade. The struck high, then low. He left a cut across Ruxik's left cheek, and on on his right leg. He followed up with a kick in the chest that made him stumble backwards.

Their blades locked together for several seconds, the two pressing against the other's blade with both hands. Their faces were close together, and they were scowling.

There was something in Ruxik's eyes, Riku noted. Something in those yellow eyes looked a bit familiar. For one split second, those eyes flashed, and they were no longer yellow, but orange.

Riku disengaged, and backed away quickly. He knew those eyes.

"Xehanort?"

But his eyes were yellow again, and he came charging back at Riku with an angry snarl. He leapt, and brought his Keyblade down hard on Riku's own blade.

"Xehanort? Riku repeated, "What gives?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He head-butted Riku, then came on once the blade was knocked out of his hands. It skidded across the ground, and came to a stop by the wall. He ducked under his blade, and covered his fist in dark fire. He punched him hard in the stomach.

Ruxik stumbled backwards, and Riku called his Keyblade back to his hand. He drove it toward his face. But it was parried, and Ruxik lashed out, clipping his shoulder. Riku grunted, but didn't slow down.

They met each other blow for blow, sparks flying from the impact. Riku jumped into the air and brought it down hard on his blade, knocking it to the ground. He spun around and kicked Ruxik right in the jaw. His blade flashed, and cut him across the chest. He staggered backwards, and Riku followed up with a blast of dark fire at his stomach.

Ruxik's Keyblade vanished, and he flew to the other side of the arena, hitting his head against the wall.

Ruxik put a hand to his throbbing head, and wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth. He started to get up, but then found Way to Dawn at his throat. Riku stood over him, glaring down at him.

"Never threaten my girlfriend." He growled.

As Ruxik caught his breath, he looked up at his other. His eyes closed, and when they opened, they had turned orange again.

Suddenly, a large black mass flew from behind the Nobody and grabbed Riku by the arms. It threw Riku into the air, and he fell to the ground several feet away. Riku started to get back up, when the thing was right in front of him.

Riku's eyes widened when he realized it was the Guardian.

Xehanort's old cohort was grinning at him from three inches away behind two thin bandages. It seemed to be saying 'Hello Riku! It's me! I'm back. How are you?' The Guardian delivered a single punch to Riku's stomach and backed away.

Riku clutched at his stomach and looked back up. The Guardian was gone. Ruxik was standing at the entrance to a corridor of darkness, leaning a bit on Larxene. The two glared at him (and Kairi, who had just walked up next to him). They backed up into the corridor, and were gone.

What was that about?

Hades was being beaten back by Sora and Hercules. Sora brought Oblivion down toward his head, but he caught it with both hands. Unfortunately for him, Herc used the opening to uppercut him in the jaw.

Hades flew into the air, and teleported in the air down to the ground. He stretched out his hands, they spewed a steady stream fire at the two heroes. Sora dodged to the left, and Herc to the right. Hades followed them.

They ran around the god, far enough to where he could no longer both of them. So he twisted around and fired at just Sora.

Riku came seemingly from nowhere and blocked the fire with a dark shield. Sora muttered a quick thanks before rushing out to join Hercules. The two of them ran at Hades, and beat at him before he could turn the flames back at them again.

Hades stumbled backwards, and the two of them decided to finish this whole messy business.

Sora ran forward, Keyblade held at his side, Herc right behind him. When they were almost right in front of Hades, and he was just about to burn him, Sora called, "Herc!"

Hercules came up from behind him and jumped over his head. He raised his fist and smashed it into the ground so hard it created a ten foot wide crater in the ground. The shock was enough to throw Hades backwards into the wall.

"Nice!" Sora said, as Hades pulled himself out of the wall.

Herc charged as he had with Nessus: head first, nearly horizontal. He was practically a blur. His head slammed into Hades's stomach. His cough could be heard from far away as he was thrown into the stands.

Just as he was getting up, Sora came charging in. He rushed at Hades, and held the Keyblade vertically above his head. He swung down, and started spinning like a wheel. He spun toward Hades, and smacked his head, face, and shoulders repeatedly with the Keyblade.

Herc came back up behind him, and rammed him toward the arena, he smacked into the center of it, and was just getting up when they landed in the arena together. "You're going down!"

Hercules grabbed hold of the Keyblade, while Sora held it in the other hand. Together, they rammed it into the ground. Another crater was formed, cracks breaking outward from it, and pure energy spilled out of them, in enough quantity to be blinding.

The ground shook at their combined strength. Hades didn't stand a chance.

There was a loud pained shout, though it sounded like half disbelief.

When the light faded away, everyone saw Hades unconscious on the ground. He was sprawled spread-eagle in the center of the arena. His hair was out again.

Hercules wiped the sweat from his forehead, and then clapped a hand on Sora's back, nearly knocking him over. "Nice job, Sora."

"You too, Herc." Riku and Kairi ran toward them.

"You guys okay?" Riku asked them.

"Never better." Herc walked over to Hades, and scooped him up. He slung him over one shoulder. "Let's head up to Olympus. I have a feeling you guys have a lot of people up there who can't wait to thank you.

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'A lot of people' was actually something of an understatement. The second they broke above the cloud cover that evening, the god's cheering sounded like thunder. They soared over their heads, waving. Olympus was still a mess, but the buildings seemed to be repairing themselves somehow.

They flew toward Zeus's throne. He was waiting for them there, with Mickey, Axel, and the others around him. Sora noticed that Nehrut was holding a chunk of the Ice Titan to his head as if he had a headache. Megera and Phil were there as well, smiling up at them as they descended.

They landed in front of them, and Hercules dumped Hades uncerimoniously on the ground. One of the gods walked up and dragged him away to somewhere.

The four of them dismounted, and the second Herc was down, Meg jumped into his arms and planted a kiss on his lips. He nearly fell over, but then held her in the air while he kissed her back.

Feeling in the moment, Yuffie did the same thing to Riku, wrapping her legs around his waist. He did fall over, but that didn't seem to bother either of them.

So Sora shrugged, and pulled Kairi into his arms. He kissed her gently.

With all the love going on, Bariss blushed. No one noticed, but her eyes flicked ever so briefly toward Nehrut. Two seconds later, also unnoticed, Nehrut glanced at her.

The couples broke apart after a minute, and faced Zeus.

"Well done, all of you." He said. "You've done more than anybody could have expected, or asked from you. And despite what certain others may think..."

He threw an annoyed look at Phil.

"I'm proud to call each and every one of you True Heroes." He said with a broad smile.

The cheering became even louder. Sora embraced Donald and Goofy. They had waited a long time to hear that. And from Zeus himself it was unexpected.

Suddenly, Zeus's throne started glowing. It shone brightly, and the form of a Keyhole appeared on it's back.

Sora was about to call his Keyblade, when inspiration struck. He turned to Kairi and asked, "Would you?"

Destiny's Light appeared in her hand. She pointed it at the Keyhole, and silver light gathered around the tip. It came together, and burst out in a beam of light at the Keyhole. It emitted a flash of light, and vanished.

"Next time it's your turn." He said to Riku.

The cheering of the audience swelled. Far back behind them all, Sora heard the beginnings of amazing music. He could barely make out the shapes of five dark-skinned women.

"Hit it ladies!" Hermes called.

The five women –the Muses- walked into the crowd, and began to sing a beautiful song in celebration of their heroes. While the lot of them were pulled into the improvised dance, Zeus smiled, and wiggled his fingers. Glimmering silver light twinkled on his fingers, and he shot it into the sky.

The lights changed into hundreds of twinkling stars. They stopped in patterns around the latest constellations of Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

Now Kairi, Riku, Nehrut, Bariss, Axel, Yuffie, and Mickey stood beside their friends. They were perfect images of their real selves, and they each looked triumphant.

Those stars twinkle there to this day.

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There you go! This long section of the story is finally done!

Now, be on the lookout for a Christmas one-shot very soon. Just my little gift to all you KH fans out there!

So, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas! I hope you have a good time, but most importantly: Do not forget the true reason for the season.

And all I want for Christmas from you guys, is a review. Please?