A/N: Last chapter was cool :D! Probably because Auron is just a really cool character. Grrr, I'm playing Kingdom Hearts 2 right now, and I've beaten it like a billion times already, but I'm trying to beat Sephiroth. OH, WHY MUST YOU BE SO EPICALLY AWESOME, BUT EVIL T-T! AGH, I JUST DIED AGAIN! So, you guys are cool as always for reviewing. So, I'm super anxious about the chapters to come! Hopefully, they will be awesome! So, go enjoy this chapter!

Finally, we made it to the exit, only to be more disappointed.

"What? It's closed!" Donald exclaimed, trying to push the door open. Sora and Goofy moved over to the door to help him, all three of them trying to push it open. When the three of them couldn't do it, I moved over to help them.

"It's gotta budge!" Goofy exclaimed, his voice strained sounding.

"Come on! Open!" Sora grunted.

"Who knew that doors could be so heavy?" I mumbled, stopping and just leaning against the door, catching my breath. It looked like the door wasn't gonna open that easily. When Donald stepped back a few feet and looked up, something caught his attention. He pointed up at it, and I moved to stand next to him to stare up. It was a giant keyhole. "No wonder we can't open it. It's locked." I glanced over at Sora, and I got an idea. "Hey, Sora?"

"What?"

"Try using the Keyblade." I explained, pointing up to the keyhole. Apparently, he got where I was going with this and summoned the Keyblade, Auron walking over to stand with us.

"Will that open it?" Auron asked, the question directed at Sora, who gave a nod in reply.

"Yeah. I think so." Sora said, lifting it up and pointing it up at the Keyhole, only, we were interrupted by a loud growl.

We whipped around and I automatically summoned Hope's Sky. "Looks like we have company…"

Auron got into a stance, his sword drawn. "Hurry!"

Suddenly, something big, and I mean, REALLY, REALLY BIG, fell from above, causing the ground to shake. It was Cerberus, a giant dog with 3 heads, and believe me, it didn't look like it wanted to play fetch. It ran at me and Auron, one of the heads biting down on Auron's sword as he blocked it. I jumped out of the way and glanced over at the others, Donald and Goofy waiting for Sora and us on the other side of the door. Sora ran to them, only to stop and glance back at us, his eyes meeting mine. I sent him a quick grin, facing forward just in time to block Cerberus from eating me, only the thing was a lot stronger than I thought, and it managed to knock me down.

The next thing I know, Cerberus is trying to eat me, and Sora is standing in front of me, blocking it from trying to. I jumped up and ran over to stand directly in front of it with Auron, Sora coming to stand next to us. Cerberus let out a roar and jumped up in the air, getting ready to land right on top of us. The three of us all jumped up and out of the way, immediately attacking the three headed dog.

While Sora and Auron mainly focused on hitting it, I stood off a ways, using magic and throwing the Blaster Edge at it, being able to hit all three heads with it at once. Auron was knocked out of the way, and a giant boulder came falling down towards him. Instantly, I ran over to him, and used Reflega, causing the boulder to bounce off and go hurdling towards Cerberus, successfully hitting the dog and doing a bit of damage.

Sora lunged up in the air at Cerberus, only to be knocked back down to the ground, letting out a pained grunt. I ran over to him and blocked Cerberus from biting down on him before turning to face Sora.

"Curaga!" I shouted, a glowing flower appearing over Sora and opening up, Sora's health being restored. He thanked me quickly before we both went back to fighting Cerberus.

Things didn't get that bad until Cerberus started shooting fireballs at us. Luckily, none of us got hit, but we were beginning to tire quickly. That's when I got an idea. I ran forward, Cerberus seeing me right away, the head on the left and the head on the right both trying to grab me at the same time. I blocked both sets of jaws with my sword, putting it against the head on the right, while I held onto the other one, both lifting me up in the air. The middle head gave a roar, lifting up in the air and ready to come down on me. I jumped up in the air and stuck my sword between its jaws, stopping its mouth from shutting. "Wait for it…" I mumbled quietly. When the other two heads noticed me, they shot up, and I took that as my cue. I grabbed my sword and jumped up, smirking as all three heads hit each other. I spun around, the Hope sword glowing, before I fell down head first, hitting all three heads at once with my sword, Cerberus collapsing to the floor.

"Go!" I exclaimed loudly, Auron, Sora, and I all running forward and attacking Cerberus while it was down. It wasn't more than 10 seconds that it stayed down before it stood back up and started attacking again. I was beginning to grow frustrated, and I wasn't exactly sure how much more Auron and Sora could take. There had to be a more effective way to beat Cerberus. I watched as a couple more boulder fell down from the ceiling, a light bulb going off in my head.

"Sora, Auron!" I shouted, both of them shooting me a quick glance before going back to fighting Cerberus. "Evade his attacks!" Sora jumped up, performing the same attack I had used earlier on Cerberus, effectively knocking the dog back down. I ran over to them and glanced at Auron. "Throw me up into the air!" I ordered. He didn't ask why, just threw me. I aimed blaster edge at the ceiling, throwing it and letting it hit all of the rocks before it came back to me. I landed on both of my feet and looked over to Sora and Auron. "Run!"

We all ran out to Donald and Goofy, glancing back just in time to see Cerberus stand up. Sora, Donald, and Goofy made faces at the dog while I simply smirked as the entire ceiling caved in on him, seeing it happen just in time before the doors closed.

"Whew!" Sora exclaimed, leaning back against the doors.

"Huh?"

I looked down at Donald as he glanced around. "What is it, Donald?"

"What happened to Auron?" Goofy asked us, looking around as well.

Auron was indeed no longer in the group, as if he had never been with us. It was like he disappeared into thin air.

"Should we look for him?" I asked Sora, who only shook his head.

"He can take care of himself. Let's go find Meg. Then we can try this again."

I groaned as we began to walk out from the underworld. "Again? Oh!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy only laughed at my complaint.

The group of four walked to the big doors of the Coliseum, Hope walking right up to the doors, the others lagging behind a ways, Hope getting ready to knock on the doors, when someone opened them, a well built guy with orange hair (A/N:Can it be classified as orange?) walked out, a tired look on his face. He let out a somewhat dejected sounding sigh before he looked up, his face gaining a surprised expression. "Sora! Donald! Goofy! When'd you get here?"

"Hey, Herc!" Sora greeted.

Donald jumped up and down, waving. "Hi!"

Goofy waved. "Howdy there!"

Hercules walked forward, stopping front of them. "You on another adventure?"

"Yeah, trackin' down some friends, wipin' out some Heartless."

"Junior heroes, always busy!" Hercules exclaimed, giving Sora a high five.

"You know it!"

Hercules laughed, straightening up, and noticing the one unfamiliar face amongst the others. "Who's this?"

Hope sent him a smile and a wave. "I'm Hope."

"You traveling around with these three and keeping them in line?" Hercules asked jokingly, earning a laugh from Hope, while Sora and Donald shot him a glare.

"You could say that, yeah."

The group traveled inside, where they met up with Meg, not acknowledging that they had already met her. "So, did you find those friends of yours?" Hercules asked Sora.

"Still working on it. When we got here, we ran into Meg-" Sora began, only to be cut off when Hope elbowed him slightly, causing him to look up at her. She sent him a look and his eyes widened in realization. "Meg-mega-trouble, I mean! So we had to help somebody out. We tried to go teach Hades a thing or two…but the Underworld drains away all our strength."

"You wouldn't happen to have any idea on how we can avoid that, would you?" Hope asked Hercules.

He nodded slightly. "Well, there is a stone that guards against the Underworld's curse. The gods on Mount Olympus use it whenever they have to go down there."

"Think we could use it?" Sora asked.

Hercules grinned. "Sure, why not! I'll go get it for you."

"Thanks!" Donald exclaimed.

"Real nice of you!" Goofy stated.

"But Hades is no pushover, even if you've got the Olympus Stone. And I have a match today, so I can't go with you…" Hercules said, Sora, Donald, and Goofy getting dejected looks on their faces. "Know what you need? Training! Why don't you go talk to Phil?" Hercules suggested.

"Hey, good idea!" Sora exclaimed, "C'mon, guys!" Sora ordered, grabbing Hope's wrist and dragging her with them, much to her pleas of letting her stay and rest.

Outside in the arena, there were a bunch of robot like top things, a goat man walking amongst them. Sora and Hope approached him, Sora opening his mouth to say something, only to have the goat man speak before him. "Hey champ, how ya feeling? Better rest up for tomorrow's match. Nobody's gonna pay to see a worn out hero…capiche? Remember what I told you. Victory in the games comes down to two simple words: Eat, bathe, sleep!" He explained, Hope frowning in confusion as she counted off her fingers, counting three words instead of two.

"Two? I counted three…" Hope mumbled to Sora and Co., the three of them laughing loudly at Hope's statement, causing the little goat man to turn around and face them. When he realized who it was, he got a happy grin on his face as he ran to Sora. "Hey, if it ain't the junior heroes!"

"Lookin' good, Phil!" Sora complimented.

"Never better! How you guys been? Have you earned your "true hero" wings yet?" Phil asked. Sora, Donald, and Goofy grew thoughtful, remaining silent, until Phil broke it. "Nope, you ain't got what it takes. So, what's up? And who's the broad?"

"Huh? Oh, this is Hope, our new travel buddy!" Sora explained.

Hope waved, smiling at Phil. "Hi!"

"And as for what's up, we're gonna try to teach Hades a thing or two." Sora explained.

Phil was silent for a moment before bursting out into fits of laughter. "Ha ha ha! You four are gonna take on Hades?"

"What's so funny?" Donald squawked, frowning slightly.

Phil stopped laughing. "You got nerve. I like that. Hey, you never know-stranger things have happened, right? Better get cracking!"

"Right!" Sora exclaimed, running out to the field, Donald and Goofy right behind him, Hope staying behind to watch.

"Are you gonna just sit around here, or help him train?" Phil asked her, crossing his arms and frowning.

Hope sent him a smile. "Sora doesn't need my help with training. See, Sora always uses the Keyblade and magic when he fights. I use a Rapier, magic, and hand to hand combat when I do, along with a Blaster Edge. I don't think Sora is ready to go up against me in a battle. I'm afraid I might hurt him or something." Hope said, watching as Sora took down a group of robots, Donald and Goofy right behind him. "Besides….He's got Donald and Goofy to help him out with training. He doesn't need my help with it just yet."

"So, if you're not gonna help him out with anything, why'd you decided to stick around with him?" Phil asked, giving Hope the idea he was bit more nosier than she had thought.

Hope frowned at the question. She was with Sora and Co. so she could go to different worlds to make amends for the mistakes she had made. She was also with them so she could stay safe, and everyone else back home at Hollow Bastion would be safe, too. But she was also here because Axel told her to go with Sora…. 'No. I'm not here because Axel told me to go with Sora. I could've very well have just ignored that order and gone traveling on my own trying to find him. Only thing is…I don't even know where he's at. But I'm still looking for him while I'm with Sora…And I think I only wanted to go with Sora is because…I'm lonely.' And like she always did, Hope already had a back-up plan if this plan didn't work out. If it got to where the Organization was fully targeting Sora and Co., she would leave. Because Sora was the Keyblade master, and his safety was a bit more important than hers.

"Well…Sora, Donald, and Goofy helped me out, so I felt obligated to return the favor. I decided to go with them and help them out with getting rid of the Heartless. Plus…I'm searching for some friends, too."

Phil's frown disappeared, a small smile coming over his face. "Really? Well…If I know anyone who're good guys to be sticking with…it's those three right there." Phil stated, gesturing to the three out on the field.

Hope smiled, nodding in agreement. "Yeah. You're right. They're the best guys to be friends with."

"You've got a lot of faith in them. I like that. Say, unlike the junior heroes over there, do you think you know what it takes to become a true hero?" Phil asked, the question surprising Hope somewhat, a memory coming back to her.

Flashback~6 years earlier~

Hope grunted as she successfully pushed Sephiroth back with her sword, grinning slightly as she did so. Sephiroth smirked slightly at her progress, lowering his sword and straightening up. "Impressive. I don't think you'll require my services much longer now."

Hope recalled her sword. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

Sephiroth gave a slight nod. "You've asked me questions before without asking for permission to. I don't see why you feel the need to start asking for permission now."

She ignored his words. "What's it like to be a hero?"

"A hero?"

Hope nodded. "Yes, a hero. My mom used tell me that my dad was a hero for what he did to help our world and others out there. So does grandpa. And everyone says that you're a hero, too. Actually…I think the real question that I wanna ask is this: What does it take to become a hero?"

Sephiroth had a blank expression on his face before a very small smile tugged up the corners of his mouth. "I had a friend once that believed your Honor was the most important thing to live up to. And he told me this: Embrace your dreams. If you want to be a hero, you need to have dreams…and honor."

Hope looked up at her teacher in wonder, memorizing the quote. "Embrace your dreams, and have honor. You forgot 'protect the things that matter the most.'" Hope stated, watching as Sephiroth walked away.

"I didn't forget. You just reminded me."

End Flashback~

Hope smiled as she recalled the words her old mentor had told her. "Do I think I know what it takes to become a true hero, huh?" Hope asked aloud, Phil nodding his head. Hope began to walk off and towards the field slowly. "Embrace your dreams. If you want to be a hero, you need to have dreams…and honor. And whatever happens, protect your honor and the things that matter the most."

Phil watched her walk off in silence and wide eyed, speechless. If there was one thing that the satyr knew it was this: "That girl is definitely hero material. Wouldn't doubt it if she became a true hero before the rookies."

A/N: This chapter was a bit boring somewhat, but I liked how the ending turned out! So, how much longer are we gonna be in Olympus you ask? I'm thinking the next chapter will be the last one for Olympus, until you have to go back a couple more times later on in the game. So, I hope you enjoyed the little bit of Crisis Core I gave you at the end and you enjoyed this chapter! LATER TATERS!