Chapter 112: Trickery
No sign of Chris could be found after he had fled the scene of nearly murdering his opponent, all that Phil and Hercules hoped was that Sora and the others could find their lost friend and return him to the coliseum safety. Although promising to stay for Hikari's match, Riku quickly explained the situation to Hikari and Max while Sora called up the others to try and get a location on Chris' whereabouts. At first, Hikari offered to help the two boys, ready to throw her and Max's match away since Brian was in the semi-finals but after some convincing that Brian might not beat the champion or the fighter before that, Hikari agreed to stay behind.
Brian stood by the side-lines as he watched the end of Hikari's match, seeing both of his friends' flat face on the floor by the hands of Hercules. He chuckled at this slightly; it was ironic that she and Max stayed to make sure that there was extra support in case Brian failed in the next match only to watch them get beaten in their own match. He couldn't deny that it was a good match to watch, for some moments he thought that Hikari and Max were going to win with all of their combo attacks of working short and long range together. But despite their efforts, it looked like they just couldn't take on the mighty Hercules; it made him wonder if he would be able to take him on.
"Not a chance, kid." Meg stood next to him, clapping for another victory that Hercules had gained.
Brian only smirked at the woman beside him. "I have many many talents, Megara." He stretched his arms out, showing off the small amount of muscle that he had on his arm as he stretched out. There was the curious thought of how the woman next to him managed to guess what he was thinking but that passed by him quickly enough as he watched her turn to face him.
"Meg." She corrected him before turning to face him. "Listen kid, do you really want to try to flex your non-existed muscles while dear old Wonderboy could easily see you?" She pointed out to the hero on the arena, making the red headed teen drop his arms in disappointment. "That's what I thought." She simply turned to head back into the coliseum, flicking her ponytail in Brian's face as she walked by.
Brian only glared at the brown haired girl as she left before checking his arms self-consciously. "She's just jealous." He told himself, poking at his 'non-exist' muscles.
Hikari and Max sighed with exhaustion as they walked into the side-lines, only to see Brian poke at his own arms. "What are you doing?" Hikari raised an eyebrow at this strange behaviour that her friend was showing.
Brian looked away from his arm to look at her two friends before pointing to his arm. "You don't think my arm is non-existed with muscles do you?" He asked them self-consciously.
Max looked at him questionably. "Are you alright?" He watched as his mage friend shrugged as an answer. "You don't look it."
Brian sighed before looking away from them shamefully. "I'm losing my touch with the ladies." He said sorrow.
"For goodness sake, Brian! You sound like Zidane!" Hikari slapped him around the head, making the boy flinched in pain. "You looked like you were getting a couple of flashbacks while you were fighting with Snow. Maybe the flashbacks are beginning to set your old personality back into play." She suggested.
"Don't even talk to me about flashback!" Brian growled angrily as he looked at the arena, waiting for the next match to begin.
"Why? What happened?" Max asked him.
"It doesn't matter." Brian muttered.
"It's obviously making you upset so it does matter." Hikari pointed out to him, Brian groaned with frustration as a response. "Just tell us. We're your friends."
"Yeah dude." Max looked down at his friend with concern. "That's what we're here for."
"I feel so stupid for not even noticing." Brian whispered to himself before looking at his two concerned friends. "I'll tell you once we're back in Little Devon." Before his friends could question anything else, Brian quickly added. "We've got more important things to think about at the moment anyway."
Hikari only sighed with disappointment at the change of subject, even though he can't flirt as well as he could, the old Brian won't be ready to show himself yet. "You're right. We do."
Max nodded in agreement as he looked at his friend. "Any luck on Sora and Riku's side?" he asked him.
"Riku said that there is no sign of him in town." Brian reported to them, referring to their search for Chris. "They're going to the Underworld to see if Hades knows where he is."
"Well, hopefully we can find him before he loses control of himself." Hikari thought positively.
Brian nodded in agreement, the last thing they needed was a rouge Endless destroying their world from the discovery of their abilities. "There's one thing I don't get." Brian spoke out, earning curious glances from his friends. "There is no way that his virus could have grown that fast, not on its own at least." He told them. "There's only one way that Chris would be knocked into his virus." He looked at his friends. "His virus was speeded up."
Max looked at his friend with shock. "Is that even possible?"
Hikari wasn't any different from the theory. "How can that be?" Both of them waited for the answers. "Do you think that it was the same person that destroyed his home?"
"Maybe." Brian told them. "If it is and this Endless is still here then he could easily try to control me and Sora like Skullo had control over me." He looked away from them as he noticed Hercules coming towards them. He looked at his friends, the expression on his friend telling them that they will continue their conversation later before facing Olympus' Hero. "Hey Hercules! Congrats on the win! I don't know what these guys were thinking." He grinned, earning a punch in the arm from both of his friends.
"Well, they fought really well." Hercules grinned. "It was good fun to fight them."
Max grinned at Hercules' sportsmanship as he spoke. "We'll get you next time though." Max challenged. Hikari and Max grinned as they quickly posed together, showing their enthusiasm for the possible rematch, causing Brian to gasped into laughter from their made up pose.
"Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for the final match of the Quarter-Final!" Phil's voice echoed through the coliseum, making the crowd go wild once more as the excitement blast through the entire arena, grabbing the attention of the fighters on the side-lines. "Now lemme introduce to you an Olympus Coliseum's old favourite. Our great hero, Zack Fair!" They didn't think it was even possible for the crowd to scream any louder out of pure excitement as they watched a black spikey haired man appear onto the arena.
"C'mon Zack!" Hercules yelled to his friend, earning a confident smirk from the fighter. He grinned in returned before facing Brian and the others. "So, I heard you guys were asking fighters if they knew about keybearers."
Hikari nodded. "At first it was to try to clear Sora's name but we also wanted to know if anyone had possibly run into any in the past." She looked back at Hercules. "Do you know any, Herc?"
"Yeah I do." Hercules smiled as the memories returned. "Ven and Aqua. I didn't get a catch to meet Terra but according to Zack, he managed to save him from Hades."
"When was the last time you saw them?" Brian asked, his voice lingering with hope.
Hercules only shook his head. "Last time I saw them was when me and Zack were kids." He answered, earning a sigh of defeat from the three. "Ven did say that he would come back though. Once me and Zack are true heroes, we know that he'll come back."
"So you and Zack have been training together ever since?" Max asked him.
"Zack got himself a master so he was off-world for most of the time." Hercules told them before facing the arena again. "This is the first time I have seen him. It's good to see him again after all these years." He smiled.
"And now, his opponent! Give it up for Nightmare!" Phil announced, allowing the other fighter to appear, making his way to the arena.
Brian watched the fighter with a caution as the full armour fighter made his way to the fight. There were a couple of times that Brian had managed to catch Nightmare looking at them as if he was watching them prey ready to drop their guard. He also noticed the fighter give deathly glares to Chris before he ran away. Despite the fighter looked like he was from this world with his greek like armour covering his entire body, he couldn't help but feel that they should be careful of this character.
Zack grinned as his opponent came, placing his right hand out. "May the best man win!" He said.
A smirk was hidden behind Nightmare's helmet as he gripped Zack's hand in a firm handshake. "May the best man win…" He repeated in a deep voice before letting go of the hand and taking his place.
"Does anyone know much about that Nightmare guy?" Hikari asked, only to see the two boys beside her to shake their heads.
Brian looked back at the fighter with caution. "I don't trust him." He spoke out. "There's something similar about him." No more could be said as the match started in front of them.
Much to everyone's surprise, neither of the fighters moved, the only thing that was different was that Zack had a shocked expression on his face, looking at Nightmare with pure horror that he dropped his weapon, watching his lips form a name, shaking his head urgently. "Zack! Come on!" Hercules encouraged, sensing that there was something wrong with his friend.
It ended all too quickly as Zack looked at Hercules with confusion. Nightmare had managed to appear behind the confused puppy as he struck him in the head with his fist, knocking him out completely.
Nightmare only hummed at the unconscious body on the floor. "I guess even heroes have fears." The figure chuckled, making his way to the lobby; he needed to wait for the next battle, leading the crowd into silence as confusion, awe and shock muted them.
Hercules and the others quickly rushed to Zack's side, helping him off the arena as he began to mutter the name ' Angeal'. As they set the fighter down, Brian shot back around to where Nightmare was seen walking back into the Coliseum. He gnarled madly at the man; it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened but the question was what he was doing here and what did he want in this world.
BOWBOWBOW
Down below within the Underworld, where the souls of the dead screech and moan to escape their enteral prison of death. The atmosphere was just as eerie as it was the last time Sora had come down here to help his friends, if not eerier. The Underworld looked just as creepy and deadly as it was before but the two keybladers spotted a couple of Unbirths on their way towards the Valley of the Dead to reach Hades' Chamber as well as seeing familiar blue like shadows consuming the cavern walls and ceiling. From the sight of this, Riku and Sora quickly made their way towards Hades' Chamber, hoping that they could reach him before any Endless did.
"Look kid, just because you're in charge of the Order, doesn't mean that I'm gonna take orders from you!" Hades voiced was heard from a distance, they were getting close.
"Let's go!" Riku said as the two of them snuck by the last door, slowly making their way towards Hades Chamber. Riku quickly looked back at Sora as he whispered. "Let's wait see what they are talking about until we go bargaining in." He suggested. Sora nodded with approval as the slowly popped their heads from the side, allowing them to see Hades talking to a black armoured figure. "It's Vanitas." He hissed, memories of their last encounter flashed his mind.
"That's him?" Sora said in disbelief, looking at the muscle armoured teen. "He looks like one of the Endless' Neutrals." He said to himself, more focused on what Hades and 'Vanitas' was saying.
"Why refuse this offer, Hades?" Vanitas asked him calmly, his voice sounded dark yet eerily familiar to the Keyblade Master. "I would of thought you was smarter that Maleficent."
Hades glared at the Order leader in anger. "Just because you've took out that dark fairy and just swats your way into this world, doesn't mean that I'm gonna just hand over my Underworld to you." Hades told him. "Give me one good reason why should team with you?"
"It's simple." Vanitas pulled out his black shadowed claw with a small device on it. He threw it onto Hades' desk as it produced an image of Hades ruling Olympus. "Thanks to Jones, I already have half of the Underworld anyway." He pointed out before placing his deal. "You hand over your Underworld and I'll send my army to your side, allowing you to not only defeat the Mighty Hercules but also the gods from above as well. You would control the entire world along with the Order's rule."
Sora only shook his head at this. "Hades won't fall for that." He whispered. "The Gods could take out Unbirth."
"Not if the Colonel aids with the attack." Riku pointed out. "The Unbirth would just revive like dead soldiers. If the Order gets control of the Underworld then the Colonel could create his own army if he wanted to." Just the mere thought of the Undead army made the boys gulp with fear.
"What about the brat and his friends?" Hades questioned. "They seem to deal with your Unbirth as if they were nothing."
"Don't worry about them." Vanitas assured him. "Olympus' uprising hero will deal with them." He chuckled as he created a portal. "Hercules will be dealt with. All you have to do is agree."
"Sorry twerp but I rather not get involved with your kind." Hades creating a puff of smoke within his hands that easy formed into a cigar, placing it inside his mouth as he quickly lit it with the flame enlighten on his thumb. "I know for a fact that you won't keep that little deal of yours."
"Is that so?" Vanitas said with humour.
"Yeah." He puffed on his cigar. "I already have two of your precious members in my Underworld, including your dear old master."
"So you assurance of your safety is from pathetic members and an old man?" He questioned in disbelief before turning to face his portal. "You're an idiot, Hades. You will see your fall like the others." He turned to face him. "By the way, you have guests." A single click of fingers created a huge gust of wind through the door, forcing two surprised looking keybearers to crash into the room. Vanitas only huffed at the teens. "To think that you're the ones causing all the trouble, you're even weaker than the last three." He turned away from them as he stepped through the portal.
Hades only sighed in relief at the disappearance of the portal. "Damn that kid, I thought he never leave."
Riku looked at Hades in disbelief as he pushed himself up. "This is unlike you, Hades. I would have fault you would have taken him on." The silver haired keybearer mocked.
"Yeah Hades." Sora stood beside him. "Since when did you turn into a coward." He smirked.
"I AM NOT A COWARD!" Hades quickly raged as flames surrounded him, causing the two to summon their Keyblades. Much to their surprise though, Hades calmed down and took his place back in his seat. "For your information, Land and Sky, I am in the process of trying to get rid of the Endless so I can go back to plotting to get rid of Hercules!"
"Then what was you doing dealing with Vanitas?" Sora questioned.
"He was trying to gain control of the Underworld so that his precious Colonel doesn't get hold of it." Hades informed him.
"Wait! If it isn't for the Colonel to gain and unlimited of revived soldiers then why get it?" Sora asked out loud.
"Another world." Riku answered. "In the Order's control."
"How about you two key-brats get out of here now?" Hades commanded them as he paid attention to the figures on his desk. "I have to figure out a way to get rid of this Endless, they're ruling my Underworld." To prove his point, more of the blue shadows began to enter into the chamber at a slow rate.
Riku looked at the shadowed infection in confusion. "Why is this happen?" He asked. "This world isn't under the control of the Order."
"Yeah but Davy Jones' locker is." Hades informed them. "And because his stupid locker aids the dead souls I collect into the afterlife, the two worlds connect meaning that I have to deal with the infection." His voice got louder as he ended the sentence, blasting a piece of the infection at the doorway. "Just because I want to control my world doesn't mean I'm gonna give in to follow another group of bad guys, Maleficent was bad enough."
"What happened to Maleficent and her group?" Riku demanded, hoping to get a better answer than what Hook gave.
"The Order attacked them. What more can be said?" Hades simply shrugged.
"There had to be a reason!" Sora exclaimed before placing his claw to his chest. "Even though they were our enemy, they didn't deserve to go out this way, not like this." Sora looked back up at Hades. "We can get rid of them, just help us this once Hades." Sora looked at Hades with the sign of help.
Hades huffed at this. "I can't believe I'm saying this." He muttered before looking at the two keybladers. "The reason he got rid of Maleficent was so that he could create more light into the balance, so that his Unbirths become stronger." He told them. "If the Unbirths are stronger then the Order get stronger, Vanitas gets stronger."
"So he just defeated them to create more light into the world." Sora said with confusion. "But why?" Why would the leader of the Order take over the worlds but aid them in getting rid of the darkness? It didn't make sense.
Hades growled at this. "Do I need to tell you everything? Do you even know anything about that damn weapon you carry around with you?" Hades pointed to their keyblades before moving out of his chair. "It doesn't matter anyway. I'm sure you want to get back to your friends now. They will be in a good fight soon."
"Why?" Riku raised an eyebrow at this. "They're just in the tournament."
Hades only chuckled at this. "Who do you think Olympus' uprising hero is?"
BOWBOWBOW
"Get ready for the beginning of the Semi-finals with the first semi-final match with Brian Devon and Vincent Valentine!" Phil announced, the crowd screamed with excitement.
"C'mon Brian!" Hikari and Max shouted their encouragement as they watched their friend come onto the arena while Vincent took his time, hanging in the shadows of the gateway that lead between the halls and the arena.
Max looked over from his prepared friend to his opponent, seeing him remain in the shadows. "Isn't he coming out?" He said.
"GUYS!" Hikari and Max turned their attention away from the arena, only to place their sights on a familiar blonde haired fighter run towards them. "That isn't Vincent!" He burst out.
"What are you on about, Snow?" Hikari looked at Snow as if he was mad before looking back at Vincent. Even though the older man remained in the shadows, he still looked like the same yellowed eyed pale man that looked like a vampire. Hikari shook her head with confusion; didn't Vincent have red eyes before?
"I ran into Vincent just now. He was taking care of some Unbirths that were trying to sneak in to the Coliseum." Snow told them.
"So if Vincent is out front, who is Brian fighting?" Hikari said with confusion.
A sound of an explosion caught the group's attention as they glazed back at the arena, only to see dark smog left behind from the blast. Brian flew back from the unexpected attack, groaning painfully as small amounts of darkness surrounded him, affecting his hidden claw slightly. He looked up to see his staff was only a few metres in front of him. Pushing himself to crawl on the sandy surface, the Aversion Endless reached out for his beloved staff, only to watch it fly into the dark smog. "What the-"
"Take this!" Brian looked up at the familiar voice, only to be blasted back once more by a sphere of dark energy.
"What's going on?" Phil hollered by the side line as he placed his sights on the figure. As soon as he saw the attacker's face, he gasped with shock. "Chris? What happened to-" The satyr didn't get a chance to finish as the attack blasted his former teacher with another dark sphere, sending the goat man in a pile of training vases. "Now, that hurt." Phil groaned before falling into a deep sleep.
The boy only smirked at his attack before his golden yellow eyes glazed at his new opponent. "The name's Crush." He smiled shady, his sparks of his heroism vanished from his eyes.
A/N: I don't know why I haven't be working on this. I guess I've just had the time to draw instead. Head on my DA to check out some new pictures of Brian. Hopefully I can get around to drawing Nikolai soon.
Kingdommad