AUTHORS NOTE: Let the games begin!
The two friends flew to the next world and landed in front of what looked like a Greek style coliseum. Kasai looked around and there were small stone buildings with old fashioned columns everywhere. Was this a new world or did they accidently travel back in time? Ventus and Kasai walked up toward the coliseum when what looked like a half man half goat ran passed them. "What was that?" Kasai asked, she had never seen a creature like that before in real life. But she recognized that it was a satyr; which was a mythological creature in Greek mythology.
"Oy, that kids relentless," he said as he ran toward a wall trying to catch his breath.
"Maybe he needs help," Kasai said not sure how to react.
The two approached the satyr as he held onto the wall, "Hey, whatcha doin' there?" Ventus asked, and when he did the satyr jumped up in the air and started to yell at Kasai and Ventus.
"I told ya, I'm booked solid. N-O spells forget it!"
"Uhh," Ventus titled his head to the side confused.
"No it doesn't," Kasai said with a smile.
The satyr realized that he was talking to different people, "And who in Halicarnassus are you? Can't you see I'm busy?" Kasai looked around and he looked like he wasn't doing anything.
Suddenly a boy in a white toga with auburn hair ran down the coliseum steps and toward the satyr. "Hey, Phil! I'm all signed up! Phil!" So the satyr's name was Phil.
Phil waved his hands as if to try and shush the excited kid, "All right, Herc, I hear ya! Now would ya keep it down already."
"Aha!" A voice said from behind them. Kasai turned around and saw a small solider, probably an older teen ran toward them. He wore a blue top, black pants, and had a metal helmet over his face.
Phil groaned and shook his head. He turned back to the boy and shook his fist, "Beautiful... You happy now? You blew my cover!"
The solider boy ran up to Phil and stopped to look down at him, "Okay, 'fess up. I asked around, and everybody says you're the guy. The trainer of heroes!"
"True heroes!" The other boy said flexing what little muscles he had.
Ventus and Kasai were shocked, how could you teach someone to be a true hero. From what they were taught it came from the heart. "Really? You can teach that?" Ventus asked the bumbling satyr.
"'Course he can. C'mon, Phil, please. I really wanna be a hero," the boy solider said, almost pleading to the satyr.
"Look, we've been through this... I got two words for you-student-teacher ratio!"
Ventus started to count on his fingers, counting the words aloud, "One, two. Uhh?"
"I'm pretty sure that's three," Kasai said with a smile.
Phil ignored her and continued to talk to the solider, "I already got my hands full with this one," he gestured to the boy behind him, "C'mon, Herc." The two began to walk to the coliseum but the solider followed, continuing to plead and beg. As they walked a group of unversed appeared in front of them.
"Unversed!" Ventus and Kasai said as they summoned their keyblades ready for battle.
"Monsters, huh... Hey Phil! Watch this! I'll show ya what I'm made of," the solider without thought ran to the horde of unversed trying to prove himself worthy.
"I'll fight too," Herc said as he ran in as well.
"Why don't the citizens ever leave the fighting to us?" Kasai asked as she and Ventus charged in.
The fight seemed easier with people helping you fight. The solider boy had killed two unversed by the time it was said and done, of course Ventus and Kasai killed the most. Kasai looked up and saw Herc loose his balance but then punch one of the unversed as it disappeared.
Phil smiled to himself seeing he had real fighters on his hooves here. But which one to choose was the problem. "Okay... Change of plans. The Games are comin' up. So, I'm gonna watch both of your matches...then I'll decide which of you rookies I wanna train."
"Sweet! Thank you, thank you! I'm gonna go sign up right now," the boy then ran toward the coliseum with great joy in his stride.
Ventus looked to Kasai with a smile, "The Games, huh? Sounds fun!"
"Sure does! Let's go sign up!" The two started to run to the coliseum when they were stopped by Phil.
"Sorry kids, Captain Eager there just took the last spot."
Kasai looked at Ventus who seemed slightly disappointed. Did he want Phil to train him to be a true hero? Kasai on the other hand felt it was no big deal. She felt that true heroism came from the heart anyway.
"I don't understand! Phil, I thought you were my trainer!" Kasai looked to Herc who was now worried of losing his trainer.
"You wanna be a true hero, Herc? Then you're gonna hafta go out there and show me that everything I've taught you so far is gonna pay off." With that Phil walked off leaving the three kids behind.
Herc looked down at the ground sad, "But Phil…" He sighed as he kicked some of the dust with his foot.
The satyr stopped, turned around and said, "Oh...and no more trainin' sessions for a while. Wouldn't be fair if I helped you and not him," then continued to walk off leaving the poor boy by himself.
Ventus and Kasai walked over to him, "Hey, cheer up! So you gotta fight a couple of matches, no big deal." Ventus was trying to cheer him up but nothing helped. "I'm Ventus."
"And I'm Kasai. Want us to help you train?" She placed her hands on her hips and smiled.
The young boy perked up and looked at the two, "You'd really do that for me?" Ventus and Kasai nodded in approval to the young boy, "Thanks, Ventus and Kasai. I'm Hercules. Herc for short."
"Just call me Ven."
"I'll stick with Kasai," she said with a giggle, "And don't worry you're gonna do fine."
The three shook hands and Herc started to walk off to the coliseum, "Thanks. I'm gonna head over to the Coliseum and warm up. Meet me in the vestibule, okay?"
"Sure thing!" Ventus and Kasai called out to him as he ran off.
Kasai looked over to Ventus and she felt it was time to confront him, "Do you want Phil to train you to be a true hero?"
He shrugged his shoulders, "It would be nice to be a true hero. But I'm not sure where you would even start."
"Star with what you feel is right. If you follow your heart you can never go wrong." She began to walk to the coliseum leaving Ventus behind in town.
Ventus looked down at his feet then watched her walk off. "If I follow my heart, you won't be able to return to your world. I love you too much to let that happen to you." He said these words to himself too afraid to say them to her.
About an hour later the three fighters were smashing urns in the coliseum, practicing their fighting techniques. Kasai felt this didn't help much because urns didn't fight back. She stopped for a moment and looked up in the stands. There she saw Phil, but when she saw him, he stood up and exited the coliseum. Herc was enjoying this exercise he felt that breaking the urns gave him strength. Kasai kept her thoughts to herself and let the boy enjoy the feeling of being strong.
After practice, Herc, Ventus and Kasai walked out into the vestibule to rest. Ventus and Kasai both felt it was time to start some digging on figuring out why Herc wanted to be a hero and who he was. "You want to become a true hero, huh?" Ventus asked the first question.
Herc stopped and turned around with a smile, "More than anything! See, my father is Zeus, the king of the gods up on Olympus."
Kasai and Ventus' eyes both widen with shock, "Herc, you're a god?!" Kasai asked as she shook her head. She couldn't believe a puny guy like this was a god.
"No, no. I'm mortal. When I was a baby, somebody stole me from my parents, and...figured out how to take away my godhood," that explained why he was so puny, yet so strong.
"And this true hero thing?" Ventus kept trying to get information out of him.
"It's the only way I can become a god again. If I become a true hero, I can rejoin my father and go back to Olympus." Kasai frowned, she could relate to Herc. He wanted to return home just as much as she did. And becoming a true hero was the only way for both of them to make it back. Ventus looked to Kasai and knew that she felt the same way. But he knew he could help her, or he would die trying.
"Wow... I guess you really got your work cut out for you!"
"But what about you? How come you're here?" Now it was Herc's turn to do some digging.
"I'm...I'm just trying to make some friends," Ventus said with a small smile.
Herc then smiled and slapped him on the shoulder, "Well, hey! You've done that already."
"What do you mean?" Again Ventus was showing how much of a naïve child he really was.
"C'mon, we're friends, aren't we?"
This brought a big smile of the blonde's face, "You bet Herc!"
Herc then turned to face Kasai, "So why are you here?"
She was going to answer his question but was stopped when she heard the stone door behind pushed open. She looked back and saw the solider walk in from town. Then they heard the taps of hooves against stone, she looked and Phil entered from the coliseum. He stood before the two boys as they listened intently. "All right, you bunch of rookies. It's time we go over the rules of the Games, so listen up. All the matches are divided into two brackets-one for the East and one for the West. The winners from each bracket go head-to-head in the championship match. Now, I signed you two up up for the West...'cause they already got a heavy-hittin' contender cleanin' up over there in the East bracket. And if you wanna beat him, you're gonna hafta hustle in there. Now move those sandals."
Then the three walked into the coliseum together. Ventus looked to Kasai, "Heavy hitting contender?"
"Ven! Kasai! Come on!" They heard Herc call from inside the coliseum. The two walked into the coliseum and sat on the stands watching Herc and Zack fight. The two fought furiously. They knew losing wasn't an option and they would do anything to win. When it came down to it both had moved on to the semi-finals. It was break time and Herc was talking to Phil. Ventus and Kasai stood up from the seats and walked down to talk to them.
"Guess ya made it," Kasai said to the excited boy.
"Yeah and it's all thanks to you guys," Herc said with a large smile.
"Good! The other kid'll be happy to hear that," Phil said crossing his arms. He was really about to dump Herc for the other kid.
Herc jumped around and said beggingly to Phil, "No! I need you most of all, Phil! How else am I gonna become a hero?"
Phil turned his back to Herc, "Hmph! 'Bout time ya got it!"
Phil walked away and the solider walked up to them, "Whoever wins, no hard feelings." He offered his hand out to Herc who gladly accepted it with a warm shake.
"Course not. Holdin' a grudge wouldn't be very heroic."
The solider chuckled underneath his helmet, "Hey, just making sure. You're not a hero yet."
Herc laughed with the boy, "True."
"Better get back to the stands," Kasai said. She and Ventus ran back up to their seats and the match began. Herc charges at the soldier and tries to hit him, but the soldier jumps back. The soldier then jumps toward Herc to attack him, but he dodges as well. Things looked like they were neck and neck with the two boys.
"Man this is really close," Ventus said on the edge of his seat.
Suddenly Phil ran in from town, "Hey! We got trouble! There's monsters loose in town and if they gate-crash the Games, you can forget about the match."
"Real monsters?" Herc and the solider stopped their fighting and looked at Phil.
"We have to stop them," the solider said. But at that moment they realized that if either one of them left they forfeited the match and the other would win.
"Leave the monsters to us!" Kasai said as she and Ventus ran out of the coliseum and to town.
Once there they saw a whole horde of Unversed heading to the coliseum. Ventus and Kasai both held their keyblades tight in their hands as they stood strong ready to battle. "You won't get past us!" Ventus said but then looked to his right and saw Herc standing there ready to fight as well.
"Herc! What about your match?" Kasai said knowing that since he left he lost and that meant the solider won.
"Forget the match. No way I could let my friend fight alone. 'Cause I'm a hero! I mean, ya know...I'm gonna be one. Come on, let's finish this together!"
Ventus and Kasai both smiled, Herc was really acting like a hero now. They charged into the horde of unversed and began to slay them on sight. The three heroes really made a great team when they fought together. They looked out for each other and their weaknesses were complimented by the others strength. Because of this the unversed were quickly defeated with ease. Kasai stood up and wiped the sweat off her forehead as the three friends walked to the center of town each smiling wildly. But then Ventus and Kasai both felt bad, they knew Herc had lost the match and that meant his trainer as well.
"Sorry that we made you lose that match, Herc," Ventus apologized to their friend.
Herc shook his head and held up his hand, "Aw, come on, you don't have to apologize. It was totally my decision."
Kasai looked back and saw an unversed about to attack Ventus. "Look out!" She yelled to Ventus but then the solider came by and killed the monster.
"You didn't save any for me," the solider then walked up to the three friends.
"Hey, you're here," Herc said with a small smile.
"Hey, I've set my sights on being a hero, too. I just don't run as fast, that's all," Kasai felt that wasn't entirely the case. But then something hit her, if they both ran away from the match, then who won?
"So you both threw the match? Who won, then?" Apparently Ventus felt the exact same way.
Herc and the solider looked at each other but then Herc sighed, "I left first, so it's not me."
"Yeah, but I was only seconds behind you," the solider said trying to cheer him up.
"Still," Herc was cheering up, he knew he lost and that meant he lost Phil.
"Hey! I never said I'd coach the winner," they all looked back and saw Phil walking down the stairs to the town, "All I said was I'd see the match, then decide. Look, bein' a hero takes more than just muscle. Ya gotta have heart and care about people. And sure, you both get high marks for that. But this time, only one of you cared fast enough-and that makes all the difference."
Kasai and Ventus both smiled as they looked at Herc, "Then that means..."
"Herc, you get to train with Phil!" Kasai finished Ventus' sentence.
The solider then snapped his fingers in frustration, "Oh man, I was this close!" He groaned but then perked up instantly, "Well, that's life. I never really introduced myself." Kasai watched as he took off his helmet. Underneath was a boy with jet black hair. "The name's Zack." He then walked over to Herc and reached out his hand to him. "Congratulations, Herc."
Herc took his hand again and shook it softly, "Thanks, Zack."
"Yeah well, we'll see if you're still thankin' him when I'm through with ya. You got a long road ahead of ya, champ," Phil said to Herc. Who smiled from ear to ear when he heard Phil call him champ.
"Hey-don't count me out. I've still got plenty of big dreams to go with my lousy luck!" Zack said as he began to do some squats. The two boys began to laugh as Ventus and Kasai walked over to Phil.
Kasai looked at the small satyr with her hands on her hips, and she had a smug look on her face. Ventus on the other just looked at Phil with a smile. "Okay, be honest... You weren't really gonna stop training Herc, were you?" Ventus said for he and Kasai knew the truth all along.
The satyr smiled and shook his head, "Of course not. I know that kid's gonna go the distance. But he was stuck in a rut. He just needed a little incentive. Its Ventus and Kasai, right? Well, thanks to you two, Herc here has really shaped up. I owe ya."
Kasai and Ventus shook their heads, "Nah, I'm glad. I made a really good friend. Somebody to share a laugh with. Like Terra and Aqua... We'll patch things up." Now seeing these knew things Ventus had that glow around him again. That hopeful glow that everything would be okay.
"Come on Ven. We better get going," Kasai said as the two began to walk off.
"You're leaving?" Herc asked he ran to the two.
"Yeah, our journey's not over yet," Ventus said to him.
"But you'll visit, right?"
"We will stop by once you're a true hero!" Kasai said pointing her finger at him playfully.
Zack walked up and stood beside Herc, he wrapped his arm around his shoulders and said with a smile, "Stop by once me and him are both heroes!"
"Oh so you mean never come back," Ventus asked with a smile. Kasai's heart soared, her Ventus was finally back. He was finally joking around again and being his fun loving self.
"Hey watch it!" Zack said as the four friends all laughed together.
"See ya around guys," Kasai said as her and Ventus walked down a street and out of sight. "See what did I tell ya?"
"What do you mean?" He looked at her with an eye brow raised.
"Herc followed his heart when he came to help us. And Phil said that was what made all the difference. Like I said, follow your heart and you can never go wrong." She put her armor on and hopped on her glider as the portal formed.
"I guess you're right," Ventus said as he did the same. Kasai flew through the portal and Ventus sighed, "I just wish I could tell you how I feel But my heart says to help you get home. And that's what I will do." He thought to himself and then flew in after her, following her to the next world. Of course he would follow her anywhere. As long as he was with her, he was truly happy.
AUTHORS NOTE: then tell her man! Tell her you love her!