Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Ch.13 Separation
After Sora, Donald, Goofy and I escaped from the arena we were standing inside the vestibule. "What was that thing?" I asked. "That was Cerberus, guardian of the Underworld. Herc should be able to take care of him in a second or two. Then again, maybe not. This isn't looking too good..." Phil said, trailing off. While he was looking worriedly at the doorway, I looked over at Sora and the others. Sora had a look of determination in his eye, and Donald and Goofy were ready to go if we were. We all nodded, and ran for the arena. "Hey wait, kid! These aren't the Games anymore; this is real!" "I know that. I'm not afraid. You can decide of if I'm a hero or not!" Sora told him. "Relax Phil, I'm helping too. They be fine with me by their side," I said. He hesitated for a moment, and then said "Be careful, kid!"
We ran back into the arena just in time to see Hercules being forced back against a wall, Cloud over his shoulder. "Hercules!" I called, jumping and sending a Firaga spell at Cerberus. It hit him and the back and exploded, causing the canine beast to whip around to look at me, before Sora and the others took Herc's place and he ran for the vestibule. "Hey kid, I got two words for you! Attack!" Phil called. We did just that, and Cerberus began walking towards us with a hungry look in his eye. Sora jumped into the air and tried to swing at one of the heads, but just as he tried it spewed out a massive fireball that hit him straight in the chest. He fell back down, batting at the flames that had appeared on his sleeve while I cast Thundaga Shot.
A ball of electricity flew forward and hit the middle head, and when it did the ball exploded to hit all three with the lightning. Cerberus howled from the pin and charged at me, forcing me into a roll under its belly to avoid getting bitten three times at once. It whipped around to try and find where I was, but as I was under it they couldn't see me. Goofy ran forward and I decided to blow my cover, running forward and dropping to one knee. I formed a step with my hands and called "Goofy!" and he nodded. He ran up and jumped onto my hands, and I used my strength to throwing him into the air until he was level with Cerberus's heads. "Here you go!" he called, and slammed his shield down on the head to his left. It growled from the force of the hit and snapped its teeth at him, but Goofy had already fallen back to the ground.
"Freeze!" Donald called, and cast Blizzard straight at the head on the opposite side. It saw the ice crystal coming and caught it with its teeth, breaking it easier than a twig. It seemed like Cerberus was done taking the defensive, because it reared its head back before opening them and pointing at the ground. A black smoke poured out of their mouths and into the ground, and suddenly a dark circle appeared above me. I shouted and ran out of the way, and a spike of energy shot out of the circle just as another appeared beneath me. Sora and the others were similarly attacked, and we were all forced to keep moving unless we wanted to get hit by the attack. One managed to catch me and hit me in the gut, causing to double over before I forced to straighten as another hit me in the face.
Grunting angrily I cast Barrier and watched as it blocked the attacks, before turning to Cerberus and running forward. It saw me running towards it and stopped pouring the black mist into the ground, instead having its left head turn and bite at me. I dodged and swung with Stormfell, hitting the head directly in the eye. Cerberus whimpered and took a step back, rubbing a paw against the eye that I had hit before barking loudly and running towards me. I was going to dodge but it was too fast, and knocked into me hard enough for me to fall to the ground. It reared its heads back and was about to deliver the finishing blow when Sora, Donald and Goofy jumped forward, each of the attacking a separate head.
Donald cast Fire and Blizzard at the one on the left, Goofy kept bashing the one on the right while Sora attacked the head in the middle. "Come on, Dexal! Let's finish this!" Sora said, taking a temporary pause to extend his hand. I looked at it for a second before smiling, and I took it to haul myself up. "At have you got in mind?" I asked. "Remember when you were training me and said to make every hit count?" Sora asked me, and I nodded. He smiled. "I think it's time we did just that," he said. I nodded and we both readied ourselves, before running ahead. Donald had switched from casting Blizzard on the head to it feet, an and had successfully frozen one of Cerberus's paws to the ground. "Hey guys, it's time to deal the final blow!" I called. They nodded and jumped back, and Donald gathered all his not-inconsiderable magical strength before casting a single giant Fire spell.
Goofy threw his shield like a disc and Sora and I stopped , pulling out arms back before throwing our Keyblades, each one charged with energy, end over at end until all four attack hit Cerberus at once. The explosion was massive enough to make the ground shake, and within it we could hear the beast howling in agony. It turned way and bounded for the gate at the other end of the arena, running through and disappearing. I smiled and recalled my Keyblade, spinning it over in my hand and calling "That's what I'm talking about!" Goofy nodded and smiled too, while Donald smirked at the power of his spell and Sora struck a victory pose.
Later on, after we had gone back to the vestibule, we stood in front of Phil while he read from a scroll. "Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes, and confer upon thee all rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further..." he began, before Donald interrupted him. "Hey, what do you mean 'junior heroes'?" he demanded. "You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero," he said, his eyes glancing at Hercules next to him. "So, uh, what does it take?" Goofy asked. "Well, that's something you'll have to figure out for yourselves. Just the way I did," Herc replied. Taking it in stride, Sora said "okay, we'll be back," and began walking for the door.
I sighed. "It's too bad we have to keep moving, Herc. I really wanted to catch up on things- take care of that ten years since I've been here," I said. Hercules smiled. "Don't worry, we can talk more next time," he promised. By now Sora, Donald, and Goofy had already walked out, and Phil was stroking his beard. "Even with your help, Dexal, I still can't believe that little squirt actually beat Cerberus," he commented. Herc tilted his head in and said "Just between us, I had already worn Cerberus down by the time the little guy jumped in." I raised an eyebrow and looked at the exit, and nodded when Phil said "My lips are sealed." "Well, see you guys," I said, and walked out.
Sora had just finished talking to Cloud, and flicked his hair and said "I think I'll pass," before walking away. With nothing else to do in this world, we left and boarded our Gummi Ship.
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Despite not having seen hide nor hair of Riku, Kairi or the King, we kept flying through the space between worlds, until another one greeted us. I had never seen it before, and from fist glance it didn't appear as if there was much to look at. It seemed like a giant tree-house, with waterfalls flowing a bot hanging out to the side. "Hey Donald, maybe King Mickey's down there," Goofy suggested. Donald looked at him. "In a backwater place like that? No way!" he said, turning back to the controls. "Hold on, Riku and Kairi might be down there. Let's just check it out," Sora said. I shrugged. "Not a bad plan. Some things- or people- are often in the last place you look," I said. "Forget it! We're on an important mission!" Donald said sternly.
"Just land!" Sora implored him, and he replied "No!" "Come on!" Sora said, and I added "Let's at least take a look." "Aw, phooey!" Donald told both us. All was silent for a moment, until Sora jumped up ran towards, Donald, grabbing the steering mechanism. "We're landing!" he declared firmly. "Don't touch that! Nooo!" Donald ordered him, and suddenly the ship swerved from the left to the right before plunging forward towards the world in front of us in a corkscrew. I gripped my chair and yelled "Hey! Stop fighting!" but my words fell on deaf ears. Beside me Goofy was clutching his seat as well, taking an extra safety belt and wrapping it around his waist.
We entered the world and there was a flash of white, before resolving itself into a massive,endless forest. We kept getting lower, and just barely managed to dodge some of the smaller trees, until we crashed right into one so hard that we were all ejected out of the ship and into the air. Sora was the closest to me, so I grabbed his hand while Donald and Goofy flew in the other direction. Below and ahead of us was a large dilapidated tree-house, which Sora I shouted before falling through the roof of. For me the going through the roof didn't hurt, but what did was landing on my right arm on the more-than-sturdy floor below. There was a large crack and pain burst from my arm so quickly that tear were brought to my eyes.
"Oww... my head..." Sora said, rising onto his hands on knees and looking around. I tried to focus through the pain and managed to cast Cure, which healed the broken bone in my arm. A large bruise was left though, and it hurt whenever I moved it too quickly. "You okay?" I asked, and Sora nodded. Suddenly we heard a large roar, and in front of us a huge tiger leaped down front the upper flow. It's fur was yellow with countless black spots, and both its fangs and claws were sharpened into perfection. It growled and Sora summoned his Kingdom Key, but when I tried to call Stormfell the pain in my arm flared and I stopped, gasping. "Sora, I can't call my Keyblade!" I told him.
He looked back at me in shock, but then was forced to roll to the side as the tiger pounced at him. "Can you still use magic?" he asked. I held up my good rm and concentrated, and a ball of wind appeared in my hands. Smiling, I called "Sure can!" and threw the Aero spell. The blast of air caught the tiger's attention and it looked at me, but jumped away when I cast Triple Blizzaga. Sora slashed with his Keyblade and the animal clawed at him, both of them scoring a few hits on the side. I cast Thundaga and shot a bolt of lightning, which it didn't dodge fast enough and was struck with. The beast jerked and twitched before stopping, glaring at me before pouncing,
It knocked me to the ground and I gasped, the air driven out of my lungs by the weight on my chest. Less than a foot above me were the beast's massive fangs, which glistened with saliva as it reared its head back and shot down.
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Ha-ha; I left you all with a cliffhanger! But stayed tuned and you'll see how this fight finishes, along with what happens next!
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