Kairi and Rena tried to pry much information as possible to Edea about the mysterious fairy, but she seemed angry every time they tried to make her speak. Kairi got tired of trying and left Rena to continue, while she went to see Phil and talk about the tournament. She soon found the faun, who was preparing the positions of the participants at the tables.
He was so distracted with his task that will not attend even if he wanted to Kairi, but she could look at ranking tables. There she could see that the qualifying was divided into two groups: A and B. She and the others would be in group A and thankfully Hercules in B. That's relieved her a little, not wanting to face in their official first round against a god, or demigod as some people say out there. Focusing more on group A realized that they could have two opponents in that round: Her opponent in the first round would Elrena, and in the second round, possibly Airy.
The redheaded girl knew about Elrena's skills after meeting her in the basement of Ansem's Castle in Radiant Garden but was sure she would have some hidden surprises. But she was unaware of the scope of the power of Airy; all she knew was that she defeated the Hellequin with a shot recently, and Edea seems to have her on a personal blacklist or something. As she thought, felt Rena approach her and she turned to the elf.
"Anything new?" Kairi asked Rena.
"Not much. She just said that we would understand everything as we saw how really fight the fairy." Rena explained. "And I think she put some emphasis on the term ' real fight' if I'm not mistaken."
"What will have this fairy of particular that has Edea like that?" Kairi wondered.
"I do not know, but maybe we'll find out in this round." The elf said, looking at the leaderboard.
Then Kairi went to Phil to ask him for some details of the tournament. He explained that before every major battle, all participants would have to face five groups of Fallen each one in close rounds. Clearly, if one of the groups lost in the fight against one of the preliminary groups, would be eliminated from the tournament. A very simple rule, to be exact. With that in mind, Kairi and Rena went to pick up Edea to prepare for the battles.
The five groups of monsters that participants faced in the first round were just these:
Boney: A group of six Skeletons and 3 Ignis Wraiths.
Body Rising: A group formed by 10 Zombies and 5 Skeletons.
Lethal Ice and Fire: A group made up of 4 Ignis Wraiths and 4 Nulla Wraiths.
Air Terror: A group of 8 Bats and 3 Cicero Wraiths.
Axes Dancers: A group composed of 7 Axe Armors.
During the battles, Kairi, Rena, and Edea did a great trio defeating their rivals, and also getting an idea of what each one could do and what was their weak point. Finally, they make it through all five battles and were now ready for the first official battle.
Kairi, Edea, and Rena were already waiting in the arena of the Coliseum, waiting to begin the fight. Suddenly, from the other side of the arena, Elerna appeared as if the earlier fighting hadn't done anything to her. Soon the four were in the middle of the sand when suddenly the god Zeus approached them.
"I just hope fair play. This is a competition after all." Said the king of the gods, and the four nodded, and this retreated to leave some space between them.
"I must admit, girls, you have surprised me," Elerna said. "I thought you wouldn't pass the preliminary groups."
"Thanks for the compliment," Edea said. "You didn't seem easy to deal with, seeing you're here." Elerna just nodded.
"If you're here, it means that there is something dark that the Fallen are here, right?" Kairi asked the woman.
"Yes, it's true. I just participated in this tournament to find their true intentions." Elrena said, soon revealing her daggers between her fingers. "While that means I have to disqualify you. Sorry, but you know I was a member of Organization XIII." Kairi nodded, knowing the history.
"I understand," Rena said with her hands on her hips. "But you should worry about yourself. We have no intention of losing."
"And if there is something strange in this, maybe we can bring it out if we stay in the tournament," Kairi said and smiled. "After all, they seem to focus on my death."
"That's right," Elerna said. "In that case, let the other participants think before fighting with us, and see who wins."
The three only nodded, and soon the four were placed in battle position.
"To all of you, the first battle of the first round! In this fight will confront Kairi, Rena, and Edea; against Elerna! Let's the battle be-"
"Wait a moment!" Rena said, silencing Zeus. Then everyone fell on their backs by the tension that was there before.
"What now?" Edea asked about the sudden interruption from the elf.
"It's something that I just thought of. We all use weapons that can kill. Is not it dangerous if there were a way to avoid this unnecessary harming?"
The others soon began to think about that possibility, trying to find an idea.
"Well, I do not mind at all," Elerna said.
"In any case, we forgot to mention that the fights are not fatal," Zeus said. "All fighters have a special invisible barrier that we put them to avoid such incidents. But of course, they don't block the blows of the attacks. Are you okay with that? "
"Yeah, okay," Rena said.
"As long as we start, I will accept whatever," Elerna said.
"Very well, then," Zeus said, clearing his throat. "To all of you, the first battle of the first round! In this fight will confront Kairi, Rena, and Edea; against Elerna" Then he looked with his eyes at the contenders for a while just in case they thought to interrupt. When he saw they wouldn't, he continued. "Let the battle begin!" Zeus said, and after slapping his hands over the head, he disappeared in a flash.
The three ran to Elerna, but she raised her arms and suddenly lots of bolts began to fall from the sky, forcing them to deploy and run avoiding the countless falling thunder, but fortunately, Kairi managed to get close to her and was able to give her several hits with her Keyblade, just before the woman disappeared and reappeared elsewhere, this time throwing her daggers against Kairi and Edea, holding them off, but Rena started shooting magic arrows against it, although the agility from the former member of the Organization wouldn't allow her to hit as much as she wanted until fortunately, an arrow struck her in the shoulder.
Elerna understood what Zeus said about the barrier at that point and threw one of her daggers against Rena, hitting her in the hand and holding the bow to force her to fire away, missing the shot. Despite knowing that she was safe from cuts and others she could feel the damage from the impact, so had to be careful. Rena was prepared to shoot another arrow but rolled to the side to avoid a bolt.
While she was distracted by the elf, Edea jumped behind her and began beating her with her katana in various parts of her body, but she was about to strike a blow at her head with her weapon, she received a kick from a side that dropped her to the ground. When she recovered from the blow, she realized that there was now an exact copy of Elerna, and this copy began to attack physically with her electrically charged daggers, forcing the swordswoman to block and dodge the replica's attacks, although received some impacts from the electrified dagger, feeling the shock on her body with each impact.
Kairi went to help when Erlena assaulted her with another replica of hers, preventing she could move, forcing her to block the attacks with her Keyblade and use her magic to create a shield around her to avoid the attacks from different sides from Elerna and her replica.
Rena aimed her bow at her time and shots an arrow at the replica that aided Elerna, destroying it, but soon another four replicas appeared and attacked the elf, who began to evade attacks from each copy the best she could. One of them was about Rena hitting the back with knives, but she spots this one and sends her away with a back kick, turning towards it and immediately threw a straight arrow that undid the copy, although another hit her back throwing her to the ground.
Arlene stops attacking Kairi and left another 2 replicas continuing her work, trying to break their defenses with hits and bolts. "Is this the best you can do? This and nothing are the same! "
"Don't underestimate us! This is not over yet!" Edea said and after blocking an attack by a replica, she made a quick movement of the sword that puts her behind the replica, and the replica suddenly disappeared.
Rena rolled to the side avoiding the challenge of one of the copies and after standing, fired several arrows at the copies, forcing them to form a straight line in front of her. Then she pulled a magic arrow. "You shouldn't underestimate an elf." Then she shot an arrow more powerful than the other arrows, through the three copies at a time, disintegrating them at once. "Never."
Kairi continued to block the copies' attacks. "And you shouldn't underestimate me by just being a Princess of Heart!" She said and blew up the wall, pushing the replicas away. Kairi used that lapse of time to concentrate her magic and summon the Chocobo form, surprising Elerna a bit. Before she could do anything, Kairi lunged at the copies and soon destroyed them with quick blows, and then she got near Elerna, who was unable to avoid a direct blow to her stomach that pushed her back.
The Dagger user skidded several meters after the hit and began throwing bolts against the princess, but she managed to elude each bolt that was throwing up reaching her. At this time Kairi hit her with the Keyblade sending her up and she jumped in the air to launch an Ice spell, throwing her higher. In that circumstance, Rena pointed at her and fired a magic arrow at her, but passed her to a side, but without warning, it exploded forming a burst of wind that sent her flying towards Edea. She leaped into the air when she saw her near, and getting close enough, hit her hard with the sword, throwing her to Kairi. She was ready and when was about to fall to her side, the princess hits hard Elerna, sending it flying out of the arena, crashing into a wall.
Soon she fell to the ground, and Elerna struggled to get up after the series of hits, but she could see the three girls who were watching from the arena. She just laughed smiling putting a hand on her forehead. "This is the Fourth time I'm beaten by brats. What can I do?"
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Zeus said from the stands of the gods. "The fight is over! The winner, or rather, the winners are the team of Kairi, Rena, and Edea Lee! So they go to the next round!"
Everyone cheered the three youths, who observed around them. Kairi could feel what Sora possibly felt whenever he won one of his meetings in the same place before.
"You're not so bad," Rena said addressing Kairi.
"Yes, especially with that trick of transformation." Edea continued. "Where'd you get it?"
"It came by causality," Kairi answered smiling. "I still cannot handle this power to the fullest."
"And how long it lasts?" Rena asked when suddenly ceased the transformation, recovering her normal clothes. "It doesn't matter."
"Well, the time depends on what I focus on now," Kairi said smiling, with her eyes closed and her tongue protruding from her mouth.
"We'll have to take that into account," Edea said.
Soon they saw Elerna approaching them. "You have fought well, I congratulate you." She said extending her hand.
Kairi was thought to shake her hand and seemed Rena doesn't want to for some reason, but Edea extended her. "You're welcome." Just holding her, Edea received an electric shock that rattled in and forces her to release her grip, leaving part of her hair curly by the discharge.
"Forgive me, but I'm a bad loser." She said with a sinister smile.
"I saw it," Edea said shaking the electrocuted hand.
"I had already noticed the electricity in your hand," Rena commented.
"Well, you could have warned before, right?!" Edea asked annoyed.
Kairi couldn't help but laugh at seeing how funny was the situation. Then she looked at Elerna. "Do not worry. If there's something weird, we will deal with it."
"I hope so. I was once with the dark as Nobody." Elerna said. "And I can feel the shadows surrounding the Coliseum."
"Don't worry, we will be vigilant," Kairi said nodding.
The three girls were already sitting in the stands next to Phil and Hercules, waiting to see the next fight.
"To all of you, the second match of the first round!" Zeus yelled in the center of the arena. "In this fight will face 'The Three Unbeatable'..." Zeus said signaling to a side showing three warriors totally covered in armor. Everyone seemed to have a huge shield with a spear, a large sword, and a wizard wand each other. "... Against Airy!" Zeus drew the little fairy on the other side. "Now..." Zeus looked both ways in case someone wanted to say something suddenly and give the same problem as before with the question Rena. "Let's the battle begin!" The king of the gods shouted before disappearing and reappearing with the other gods.
"What do you think, brother?" Hades asked Zeus. "I have gotten them out of the very Abyss. Among the best they had. Even your son can't overcome them." The god of the Underworld said, watching as his champions were preparing themselves to attack the fairy.
"Now we will see her true colors," Edea said coldly, observing the battle, capturing the curiosity of the other two girls.
Before the three warriors could do anything, Airy smiled evilly and soon became embroiled in a sphere of darkness. This soon spread causing a dark cloud that hid part of the arena. When the fog disappeared, all gasped to see what happened.
Where was Airy was not a fairy, but a monstrous multi-limbed insectoid, with several small red butterfly wings on her back. The creature smiled mischievously at three warriors who were in shock at the sudden transformation.
"But what is that?" Kairi asked, almost terrified by the change.
"That is the true face of Airy, the Boundaries Destroyer," Edea answered
"By all the gods! It's the first time I see something like that in my life!" Exclaimed Phil, as Hercules didn't answer by the surprise.
The creature looked at the three warriors. "What do you waiting for? An invitation?" Airy asked with a demonic and distorted voice.
Hades was puzzled until he woke up and looked at his champions. "What are you doing?! Attack!" The God of the dead ordered.
The Three Unbeatable jumped over Airy intending to prove that they didn't have fear, but it was too fast for them. She, with only three heavy blows of her arms, threw out of the arena the three Hades' champions, one above the other.
"Shame that they're already dead," Airy said, having heard the Hade's comment to Zeus recently. "I would have liked to shred them and send them directly to the Underworld."
Everyone was silent, unable to do anything, wondering whether to applaud, cheer Airy, boo the three warriors or Airy herself, or who knows what they could do.
"This... the winner of the battle is Airy!" Zeus announced, still in shock from what happened.
Airy just started a macabre laugh in the middle of the arena. Many of the competitors began to look at each other, wondering if it was a good idea to stay in the tournament. They already have enough with dealing with Hercules and his divine strength, but this was too much!
"It will be a difficult opponent surely," Hercules commented.
"It will be a miracle if she doesn't kill you," Phil said, now worried about what he has seen.
Rena and Kairi looked at Edea, who was observing Airy seriously. Kairi looked Airy, realizing that this creature would be very dangerous and would be hard to beat. Basically, she wished that Sora and the others were there, but she knew that if she tried to warn them, could be the end of that world.
"It seems that our friend has impressed everyone." A voice said in the shadows of the Coliseum, with Medusa.
"Yes indeed, Shaft," Medusa answered. "Surely with this, we get rid of several of the participants. That will save us a lot of problems. "
"Yes. And when she wins the tournament, we will acquire our reward: The total control of this world" Shaft muttered aloud. "Although we have to think on a plan B if she fails, or if she betrays us." Then the man-cheetah looked from the shadows to Kairi. "Or be surpassed by her."
"Don't worry, Shaft. I have it all planned." Medusa said, looking at the background of darkness. "If she fails, we would make a very hot runaway," Medusa said, and soon a demonic roar in the darkness was heard, followed by a breath of fire.
"Good." Shaft said, unsure of her plan. "And the girl's Gummi Ship?"
"The one she uses? Right now they're looking for it. Although she spoils our plans she will not leave this world, if her ship is destroyed." Medusa said, beginning to laugh, nobody of them knowing that someone was listening to them behind one of the pillars.
