AN: Hey guys! We're back again, and I'm gonna go ahead and say that this story is now just four chapters away from being finished. That's right, you heard me. There's just FOUR chapters left, and we can bring this bad boy to a close! Of course, I'm really just making a small estimate based on how I plan for the chapters to play out, and the number is also counting the epilogue where we see what had happened to everyone after the adventure had ended. Or at least, everyone who was not part of the main team.

Ven: Meaning guys like the Traverse Town gang, the Destiny Islands trio, Yuna, Aladdin, and all those other guys?

AN: Pretty much. But don't worry, Ven. You'll get to be in there too. Along with Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and a few other folks. Who are those people going to be, you may be asking? Sorry, but as I've said before...No spoilers!

Sora: Isn't this usually the part where you suddenly break out party supplies and start up a crazy party for all of us?

AN: I would, but I'm kinda saving the party supplies for when Avengers Infinity War finally comes out. That is only about a week away from when this chapter is being posted you know.

Riku: Hey, before we do anything else, I think we should at least answer one review or two. I mean, we can't just leave them hanging on some of the matters they asked about, right?

AN: Well we could, but most of the questions we were asked in the reviews are going to be answered in today's chapter.

Kairi: What about the questions that were asked by "Dragon Rider 66"? Or rather, his elaboration on a question and his newest question.

AN: Oh right. Well to be clear, Roxas will have two Keyblades instead of one like everyone else. And before anyone says anything, it's not going to be just because he's a lot more awesome with two Keyblades or something that's just based on a fan's opinion like that. I'm actually going to have...something of a reason behind that. Kind of. Look, it's a little hard to explain right now without giving away details about the sequel, so just settle for me confirming that Roxas will have two Keyblades and leave it at that for now, please?

Roxas: Can I confirm whether or not I will punch Riku in the sequel after meeting him in The World That Never Was?

AN: No. No you can't. Moving on to a question posed by regular...well, I'm sure we all know by now that "Monkey D. Conan" is a long-time follower, right? Anyways, to answer your question about Kairi getting some of her own summon charms after she returns Sora's to him, I'm afraid that Kairi will not be getting any in this story. That will more than likely not happen until the sequel. Sorry to disappoint you on that. Also, Riku won't be getting a master to train him. The only guy who really can train Riku at this point is Terra, and...well, if we don't already know what's going on there, you'll get a better idea on that after this chapter. In conclusion though, Riku's still going to be self-taught for the most part, but then again, from what many of us have already seen when it comes to the powers of darkness, learning how to handle them does seem to have more of a positive effect on the person when they're learning on their own.

Anyways, now that we've got questions answered and an estimate on how much is left in the story, let's get on with the show. And may our hearts be our guiding keys.

Ventus: Do you plan on working that line in at any point later in the story, aside from when Mickey says it in the Realm of Darkness after he and Riku meet up with Aqua?

AN: Oh definitely. Some people might think it's something of a Star Wars rip-off, but I happen to think it's really good and fitting for the Kingdom Hearts series, and that it's something that we all need to remember every now and then. Anyways...

I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.

Chapter XXII

It had not taken too much time for Sora and his team to get to Olympus Coliseum, and they likely would have gotten right to work if they had not hit a small snag in the form of a certain satyr. When they told Phil they were there to enter whatever tournament had most recently opened up, the trainer of heroes had immediately barked out several denials, right to the point where they almost started to think that he had actually studied up on all the different ways to say no. Thankfully, Sora did manage to find a moment where he could ask why they were not being allowed to enter, and Phil immediately explained that not only was their requested tournament the longest running one to date, but it was also one that had been started up by Hades. Hearing about the god of the Underworld being behind this instantly reminded the three about how Hades had tricked them into entering the games so that he could have Cloud or Cerberus get rid of either them, Hercules, or both, so to hear that Hades was the one behind a new tournament that had started up just after the recent spike in the powers of the Heartless and darkness just helped to further confirm that the Lord of the Dead was most likely one of the people who had been working with Maleficent. Still, that did leave them wondering why Hades was still going along with the evil fairy's plans when Maleficent was now long gone. Maybe he just did not know that Maleficent was toast, or maybe he was working his own agenda the whole time. Whatever the case, it did not matter. For now, they just needed to get into this tournament and beat whatever was waiting at the end of it before things got to the point where this world would drown in darkness, assuming that said threat was in the final round of the tournament. There was just the matter of getting Phil to change his mind, and that was not too likely to happen any time soon.

"Absolutely not," Phil half-shouted once more. "Kid, even if you were entering with Ven and both of his old pals, I wouldn't want to enter you into this tournament. It's full of monsters that will eat you guys alive as a small snack, and it only allows you a break every ten matches."

"We're not afraid of a few monsters," Sora bravely promised, with Donald and Goofy both nodding in agreement. "Besides, how many rounds could there be in this tournament?"

"Fifty in total," Phil informed them, and their brave looks were immediately replaced with disbelief. "The only upside is that most of the first few matches are against small mobs of monsters like the Heartless before you face off with someone that had beaten a similar group before that, or some mega monster like Cerberus, but that's a very small upside."

"Doesn't matter," Donald decided. "We've gotta get into that tournament so we can stop whatever's in it from causing anything really bad to happen here."

"What? What do you mean by that," Phil asked, having not heard about this little detail before.

Sora sighed in resignation before he said, "We didn't come here to compete just for fun. We think that something in that tournament could be a huge threat to everyone in the world, maybe even beyond this world, and if we don't stop it, there won't be any more games, training, or heroes to come to or from here again. Please Phil. Ven and so many others are all counting on us to make sure that this threat doesn't get loose, and the only way to do that is to defeat it in this tournament."

Phil stroked his chin in thought, thinking over this newest piece of information, until he finally sighed and said, "I will admit that I had a funny feeling about this whole thing, which is why I let Herc enter the tournament as well, even if it did go against my better judgment. I mean, sure, the kid's tough, but even he has his limits, and it showed when he finally conked out after making it halfway through, so I'll take whatever guarantees that I can get to knock that tournament off the board, even if they are long-shots. Seeing as you rookies are offering and are so sure about this…Ah, all right, I'll get ya all signed up so you can compete."

"Thanks Phil," Goofy nodded in reply, while Donald and Sora both smiled in appreciation as well.

"Yeah, yeah. Thank me after you get out of there alive, assuming you can," Phil told him, and he quickly set to work signing everything he needed to on a form so that the three could compete. "One last thing though: The minute you guys start your first bout, you won't be able to get any extra help, outside of a little healing during the breaks between every ten matches. That means that Ven won't be able to jump into the ring to back you up if or when he does show up."

"We can handle it," Sora reassured him. "We've already come a long way since we all first met, so I know we can handle this."

Phil nodded in reply to that and then walked off to turn in the registration form, leaving the three to themselves for a time. "Sora, do you really think we can win," Goofy asked.

"We're not technically here to win the whole tournament, Goofy. We just need to stop whatever it is that's causing that huge spike in the powers of darkness on this world," Sora reminded him, but neither of the other two missed how he had dodged the question.

"So you don't think we can," Donald questioned.

"No, I don't," Sora admitted, making Donald and Goofy frown in dismay. Unlike his friends, Sora just kept on smiling as he finished, "I believe that we can. Haven't we all learned by now that sometimes, just believing in something is enough?"

The Disney Town Duo looked to each other and nodded with a smile before exchanging a quick high-five with Sora to show that they were with him all the way. Right at that moment, Phil came back to let them know that everything was in order, and that their first match would begin once they entered the arena, so they immediately started making sure that they had everything they would need over the course of the tournament. When they were finished and felt satisfied with how their equipment was arranged, they turned brave faces towards the arena entrance and marched forward, ready to face whatever challenges were waiting on the other side of the door. Although, despite what he had told his two friends, a small part of Sora did hope that the others would get here soon so that they could see him win this whole thing, and that idea made him grin a little wider as the Hades Cup began for them.

When they had gotten halfway through the tournament, the three were starting to feel a little less confident, because they had found themselves struggling to just survive a lot of times, and that was without accounting for having to go another round against Cerberus. It was actually during that fight that they realized that when they fought the three-headed dog the first time, he had likely been weakened quite a bit by Hercules before they jumped in, but the fact that they managed to beat Cerberus this time around without any outside help definitely made them feel a little better afterwards. Of course, having Jiminy call in to let them know that Ventus and his group had finished up on Neverland and were now on their way here also helped in that regard, and with that in mind, they charged forward once again for the next round, eager to at least make it through to whatever round it was that they would face the monster that had become so infused with darkness by the time Ven and the others had gotten here, or better yet, have beaten both said monster and the entire tournament.

The bridge of the Shera was mostly silent, save for the hum of the engines, the sounds of the various control instruments, and an odd sound from the bathroom that made Leon and Cid smirk humorously a little bit. For most of the group, it was a testament to how focused, sure, and confident they were in their abilities and skills that would doubtlessly be put to good use in the coming fight, but for one particular person, it was more of an attempt to hide just how nervous she really was. Kairi may have given off a small air of confidence back in Traverse Town, but in full honesty, she was very worried about how well she would do in the coming fight. This would be the first time that she would be the only Keyblade wielder on a mission, and she was not entirely sure how well she could really do without Sora and Ventus to back her up. Sure, she was very skilled, magic-wise, and she had shown a few times that she could hold her own while simultaneously proving that she was no damsel-in-distress, but she was still just a beginner when it came to many things relating to being a Keybearer, be at wielder or warrior level. She knew that she probably should not be so nervous, and probably should be following Sora's advice and just remember to believe in herself and that her friends were with her no matter how far apart they were, but she would at least feel a little better if at least one of her friends were here with in person her right now. One would think the fact that these people were all from the world she originally came from would have been a small comfort for her, but considering that they were all such hardened warriors with years of battle experience under their belts, Kairi found it to be more nerve racking than anything. Even Aerith, the kindest and gentlest of the group had more battle experience than Kairi, and she admitted to typically being in a support role as the team's healer. How could Kairi really hope to keep up with these guys enough to really say she was pulling her own weight with them in the coming fight when they were all so much better than her in their own ways?

Such insecurities were not good things to have when going into a mission, let alone a battle as serious as this one, and that was quickly proven when Kairi nearly missed Cid's announcement of their arrival at Agrabah. The only reason she had not was because Aerith had called out to her just as the others were heading towards the teleporter to head down to the surface, and the redhead was soon rushing to catch up with them. Shockingly, Kairi had not been the last one to arrive at the transporter. No, that honor went to Yuffie, who had sluggishly trudged into the room last while clutching her stomach a little with a groan. When the group teleported down, Yuffie immediately breathed a sigh of relief and started to straighten up a little until she had to cover her mouth in an attempt to keep anything she had recently eaten from coming back up.

"Ugh…I thought we'd never get here," Yuffie admitted. "My poor stomach couldn't take much more."

Kairi gave the ninja a curious look that did not go unnoticed, and Leon immediately explained, "Yuffie tends to get airsick really easily, especially on gummi ships. That's another part of the reason as to why she in particular had not left Traverse Town all that often in the last few years."

"And it's also why the threat of taking her for a joyride on one of my ships is the perfect way to make her either dial back or completely stop with her pranks for a good long while," Cid grinned almost menacingly.

"Hey! I don't airsick that easily, and that's not funny either," Yuffie protested.

"Neither was painting me pink," Cid retorted with a glare.

Aerith and Kairi both had to struggle to keep themselves from bursting out laughing when they heard that, and the redhead could have sworn that Leon gained a small smirk of humor as well, but all laughter was quickly put aside when the big, blue form of Genie suddenly popped up before them with a grin. "Oh thank Allah you guys are finally here! I was actually starting to worry a little bit that you weren't coming," Genie cheered with a smile. He then glanced around and asked, "So where are Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy?"

"They're not coming," Leon said, plainly. "We're all you've got for this one, big guy, with Kairi here acting as our Keybearer."

"Oh…Well…That's okay too," Genie replied, unable to hide his disappointment entirely. Clearly he was looking forward to seeing his four friends in Agrabah again after so long. "I mean, beggars can't be choosers, right? Especially since we've got such a dangerous contender to deal with in such little time and all, so better to have at least one Keyblade wielder than none at all, right? Even if she is still new at it all, and you guys seem pretty tough too, so…"

"Yes, okay, thank you! We get it," Kairi interrupted, not really wanting Genie to go much further, as she was sure that he would start voicing her own concerns for the world to hear, unintentionally though it may have been. Her rash interruption did not go unnoticed by the other four, but she quickly put it aside in order to keep their focus on task. "So where is the Heartless, anyway?"

"Like I said when Sora summoned me to that meeting with you guys, it's out in the desert. Made its own little arena and everything, like it was daring people to come and challenge it for a fight," Genie said. "It'll take a few days to get there on foot, and I get the feeling that we won't be able to fit everyone on Carpet."

"So we find some horses, Chocobos, or something to ride out there," Yuffie suggested, no one missing the look of relief on her face from being able to avoid anymore flying.

"I doubt that there are any Chocobos on Agrabah, Yuffie, and we don't really have time to find someone willing to let us borrow enough horses for all of us either," Aerith pointed out.

"Even if we did, it would still take too long to get out there even via horseback," Leon mentioned, crossing his arms in distaste just to show how little he liked their current situation. "Besides, how are we even going to find the place in the middle of the desert without someone who's been there already to guide us?"

"What am I? A cheap birthday party magician," Genie asked. "I wasn't exactly planning on letting you guys try to find the place on your own, you know."

Kairi immediately brightened up after Genie spoke up again, and she quickly asked, "Could you also take us there, Genie?"

"Hey, didn't Sora and the others tell you? I'm done taking orders from others," Genie huffed as he turned away with his arms crossed. "But…a favor, now that's an entirely different story. I'd be more than happy to help out the pals of my good buddies Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy."

"Don't forget Sora's girlfriend," Yuffie piped in with a teasing grin in Kairi's direction.

Kairi could only blush in response as Genie added, "Ooooh! Of course! How could I ever forget about you? Either way, your flight leaves now!"

"Wait, did he say flight," Yuffie asked, suddenly looking a little more worried. Before anyone could respond, Genie had transformed into a large jet plane with all of them strapped into seats inside of him, and Yuffie immediately paled a little. "Oh no."

"In case of emergencies, exists are located at each of the points designated by large red signs that say emergency exit, and emergency eject levers are located on the sides of your seats as well, but I would highly advise to only use them if we're about to explode, crash, or well, anything that would typically be involved in an emergency," Genie announced to the team. "Please keep your seats and all trays in an upright position until after we have taken off, keep all arms, legs, and personal belongings inside the genie-jet at all times, and we're…OUTTA HERE!"

As Genie took off in his jet form with all passengers safely secured, one could easily hear the sounds of Yuffie screaming a little while trying to keep the contents of her stomach down, all the while, Kairi was throwing her a smirk that said, "Serves you right for the teasing."

The flight out to Kurt Zisa's location was relatively smooth, even with Yuffie's airsickness, and true to what Genie had said, the group found themselves right in the middle of what could be counted as a large arena. Although to be fair, calling it a large area of the desert that was walled off by several large pillars was both too much of a mouthful and did not really seem to have the same effect when describing the area where they would be fighting the Heartless boss. The only downside was that Genie was unable to enter the arena due to a battlefield barrier being erected that seemed to keep him out, telling everyone that the only way Genie could help them in the coming fight was if Kairi were to use the summon charm that Sora had let her borrow. Leon suggested that they leave that option on the table for now, not wanting Kairi to expend any magic unnecessarily, and once they had all been dropped on the ground by Genie, they drew weapons and slowly made their way into the arena.

Once they had entered the area, they all quickly noticed how the battlefield barrier flashed afterwards, signaling that they were now locked into the action until they defeated Kurt Zisa, and they all quickly began scanning the area in an attempt to locate the Heartless. It should not have been hard to do so, since just like the rest of the surrounding area, the only thing in the arena was sand, sand, and yes, more sand, yet there was no sign of the Heartless boss anywhere. Cid quickly put in a call to Jiminy to ask if the Kurt Zisa could turn invisible, but the cricket immediately squashed that idea when he said that was not the case here. Still, it did make things a little easier knowing that it was not like the Stealth Sneak that the crew of the Kingdom had encountered in Deep Jungle, but it only made Kairi start to get a little more on edge.

Aerith quickly took notice and slowly edged closer to the redhead so that she could better speak to her, gripping her staff as she went. "I know you're nervous, but just relax. Even if the circumstances were different, Ven still would have trusted you to do this," Aerith reassured her. "Besides, from what Sora's told us, you seem like you can handle yourself just fine without anyone looking over your shoulder."

"You think so," Kairi asked, skepticism clear as day in her voice. "I'm not a fighter. Even back when we were all kids and just playing around on the islands, I usually just sat on the sidelines and watched as Sora, Riku, and all the others practiced their own fighting styles. Sure, I joined in once or twice because I got a little interested now and then, but I never really got that into it enough to really learn or improve like Sora did."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean you don't have some abilities going for you," Aerith pointed out. She then paused in thought for a moment, and then added, "Whenever I watched Leon, Cloud, or even Zack practice their skills, they would always tell me that sometimes, it's better to go with your instincts in a fight, because while the training does help, the real thing isn't going to be like what you learned in a classroom. Just trust your gut, and do what you can in the moment."

"Besides, you've also got the Keyblade to help you out," Yuffie added, joining in on the conversation from out of nowhere, and nearly startling the other two when she did. "I mean, didn't Ven say that you need to trust it like you would the people fighting beside you or something like that?"

Kairi thought over those words for a minute, until she finally smiled and gave both of the older girls a nod of thanks. The three then slowly started to move closer to the center of the ring with Cid and Leon, both of which were gripping their respective weapons a little tighter with each passing second, until they all felt a slight tremor beneath their feet. When said tremor suddenly grew more intense, they all quickly figured out what that likely meant, even before Leon had shouted, "Scatter!"

Everyone had immediately dived to the side in one direction or another just seconds before the multi-armed Heartless suddenly sprang up from the ground, spinning around several times over with its curved swords held out in an attempt to slash any unfortunate soul that had been too close to where it had emerged from. When it finally crashed to the ground again, the five all looked to see that the Kurt Zisa matched the description from Jiminy's journal to a tee, and the cobra head appeared to be hissing menacingly as it glared down at them, making them all tense up a little as it started to approach.

"Sheesh. Well this fella sure don't look like he's going to make it easy," Cid remarked as he readied his spear for action.

"Good thing we're not planning to do so either," Leon remarked with a confident smirk as he raised his gunblade over his shoulder, ready to swing it out towards a target at any moment.

A moment later, both sides were charging at one another, with Yuffie falling back a little to throw out some smaller shurikens as a small distraction while Aerith and Kairi both prepared to fire off a spell or two for the same reason. Neither of the last two girls ever managed to cast said spells though, as a second later, the Kurt Zisa had formed a pair of energy orbs in its two lower hands, and an odd energy seemed to wash over the area that gave Aerith and Kairi both an odd feeling. When they did manage to shake it off and attempt to cast a spell, they found their magic unresponsive. There was no fireball, no shards of ice, not even a small spark of lightning forming in the sky above the Heartless boss, and that was more than enough reason to be concerned.

"Well, I think that proves that it can shut off our magic," Aerith remarked in a weak attempt at joking, mainly in an attempt to alleviate Kairi's worries after she saw a look of distress forming on the redhead's face. Not that she could blame the kid, since her magic abilities were currently her greatest strength as a Keybearer.

"And we also have a good idea on where to strike in order to get it back on," Leon added, pointing out the two orbs that the Kurt Zisa had formed in its hands when he did.

As soon as Leon had indicated the orbs to everyone, he and Cid immediately charged in once more, planning to strike one or both orbs as hard and fast as possible. Unfortunately, the Kurt Zisa was much faster than they realized, and they were only able to get close enough and strike the orbs for a few seconds before having to jump back in order to avoid being chopped up by the Heartless boss's large swords. When the spinning swords finally stopped, Kairi made her own run at the Heartless boss, ready to hit with everything she had despite whatever protests the others shouted out to her. Kairi managed to land a good few hits on one orb, destroying it completely in a few strokes, but since she put so much power she into her last strike, she ended up off balance afterwards, and completely open to another sword strike from the Kurt Zisa. Thankfully, Yuffie provided a last minute save by tossing her large shuriken into the beast's head, discouraging the Heartless from trying anything against Kairi, and Leon made sure to drive the point home by firing off a few rounds from his gunblade.

Once they saw that it was disoriented enough, Leon and Cid made another charge to take out the other orb, while Aerith and Yuffie both went to check on Kairi. The redhead quickly waved them both off though, insisting that she was fine, but she still downed the Potion that Yuffie gave her all the same, just to ease their worries. "You really shouldn't try to overextend yourself, kid," Yuffie cautioned. "Don't go and try something you don't the power for."

When she heard that, Kairi's mind instantly flashed back to what Ven had been telling her before, mentally slapping herself for forgetting that crucial detail so soon. To be fair though, she was more than a little nervous regarding the current circumstances, so it was a little hard to not forget a detail or two at times like that. With Yuffie's reminder though, Kairi found it in herself to take a deep breath, calm her nerves, and then muttered to herself, "Like water in a river. Be flexible with a steady flow, don't try to muscle your way through, and use what you can to your advantage."

A moment later, Kairi's gaze had zeroed in on the remaining orb, and she charged once again. This time, however, she did not get within striking range, but instead, she aimed her Keyblade towards the Kurt Zisa and the orb in its hand. She figured that there might be a chance that Shotlocks could still work right now, despite the fact that their magic had been blocked off. It was a bit of a long-shot, but at the moment, Kairi did not really know of anything else to try, or at least not anything that did not have a risk of her getting sliced up like sushi. Thankfully, it looked like she would not need to take that risk, because she was soon noticing the world slowing down around her slightly, and she quickly grinned eagerly before shouting for Leon and Cid to get clear. The two warriors just managed to do so right at the moment when Kairi had built up the power of her Shotlock to its maximum, and she immediately shouted, "Starlight Storm!"

A moment later, the rainbow aura of her Shotlock had completely coated her body, and she was quickly spinning out several waves of star-shaped projectiles which quickly destroyed the remaining orb. Not only that, but when the orb was destroyed, the Kurt Zisa dropped to the ground, stunned and completely limp, and the remaining waves of projectiles were sent flying towards its cobra head along with the powerful beam of light that acted as the finisher of Kairi's personal Shotlock. Even under such an assault, no one was going to kid themselves into thinking that this Heartless was down for the count, and they all quickly rushed in so that they could start slashing, stabbing, blasting, and bashing the Kurt Zisa's head with everything they had while it was still down. They must have done a rather significant amount of damage, but when Yuffie noticed one of its arms starting to move again, she quickly shouted for everyone to get back, and they all managed to escape being cut in half as the Kurt Zisa popped back up to its feet again.

They all expected it to recreate the orbs it had used to seal of their magic before, and Aerith and Kairi were both preparing to fire off the best spells they had before that happened, but what they did not expect was for the Heartless boss to suddenly begin hovering a few feet off the ground while a shield formed around it. When Leon tried to attack with his gunblade, he ended up unable to get through the shield, and ended up being blasted away as a result. The same thing happened to Cid when he tried, and Yuffie's shurikens all seemed to just bounce off the shield in random directions. Aerith was quick to use a healing spell on Leon to help him recover from the injuries he received when he landed from his unexpected flight, and once she was done, she fired off a blast of Firaga that actually managed to get through the shield, much to her surprise.

"Really? We try everything we can to hit this thing, and the only thing that actually gets through its defenses is a little fireball," Cid asked in disbelief.

"First off, that fireball was far from little," Aerith snapped in defense of her spell. "Second, I think there's a little more to it than that."

"Of course," Kairi exclaimed. "It's last defensive position prevented us from using magic, so this one has to make it vulnerable to magic alone. Anyone who knows any spells, start throwing them out now!"

The entire group did just that, save for Cid, who elected to make sure he was ready for when the shield went down since he did not know any magic at all, and when you added in the fact that Aerith was a very gifted mage in her own right, along with Kairi's natural talent for magic, it was easy to understand why the Kurt Zisa's shield was soon gone again, while the Heartless dropped to the ground like dead weight. Seeing this as their chance to go all out, Leon quickly infused some magic into his gunblade that seemed to make it longer and give it a faint, blue aura of magic, and he immediately charged in to hit with several slashes and attacks that were clearly much more powerful than his usual ones. Yuffie did something similar with her large shuriken, making it appear to get a little bigger as it was coated in light magic, and the next time she threw it, the weapon seemed to deal much more damage than before. At some point during the onslaught that the other two were unleashing, Cid finally acted and threw his spear at the Kurt Zisa's head as hard as he could, nailing it dead center as a result, and earning a loud hiss of pain from the Heartless boss.

Aerith was not about to be outdone by the rest of her friends, and she proved that by firing off a barrage of her most powerful spells after warning them to stand clear. When the barrage ended, the Kurt Zisa looked like it was going to get back up again, until a large glob of webbing suddenly kept it pinned down on the ground. When the others turned to see where the webs had come from, they all quickly spotted Spider-Man leap down from his perch up on one of the closer pillars surrounding them, and fire off a pair of web-lines so that he could slingshot towards the Heartless boss's head, proving that Kairi had just used one of the summon charms she had borrowed from Sora. When the web-head's strike had landed, Kairi took her turn to rush in, and immediately began slashing away with Destiny's Embrace once she was close enough. She instantly spun away from the Heartless when it tried to take a bite out of her with its snake head, and all the Kurt Zisa got for its trouble was a mouthful of webbing.

Seeing that it was still vulnerable, the others all threw everything they had left to give at the Heartless boss, until it finally reached a point where the Kurt Zisa was obviously on its last legs. When they noticed this, Leon turned to the Keybearer of their group and shouted, "Now, Kairi!"

Kairi did not spare any time to acknowledge the signal, and instead, just charged in so that she could land one final, leaping-strike on the massive Heartless, and it soon let out a loud noise of pain that sounded like a cross between a hiss and a roar. They all grinned in relief when they saw that the girl's blow had struck true, but their smiles faded a little when they saw the Kurt Zisa try to rise up again and make a final attempt to take them down with it, feeble it may have been. That did not stop them from rushing to get clear of the beast as it finally fell flat on its face and into the sand before it finally vanished in a faint shower of light while a heart-shaped crystal was released into the sky from its back. A minute later though, the group was having to dodge the surrounding pillars as they too began to fall like dominoes, until Spider-Man managed to pull them all clear just before the energy used to summon him had faded, and over to Genie, who immediately flew them away as fast as he could.

Looking back at their previous battleground, no one was able to fault the other for breathing a heavy sigh of relief. It was a hard-fought battle after all, and there was little doubt that it would have given someone else a great deal of trouble. Even Yuffie was smiling widely, despite the oncoming queasiness of her stomach, and she quickly looked to Kairi and said, "Nice work, kiddo. I knew you had it in you."

"We all did," Aerith insisted, and the others were soon voicing similar words of confidence to the redhead.

Kairi could only blush a little from the praise before she tried to insist, "Hey, don't sell yourselves short. This was a team effort after all, and I never could've beaten that thing if you guys weren't there with me."

"Maybe not, but you did still manage to win without Sora or Ven being here, so you should take that as a sign of your skills growing stronger," Leon encouraged.

"Not that one of those two pinheads would be that much help," Cid scoffed, but considering how widely he was grinning when he said that, they all knew he was joking. "Now, how about we get out of this sand trap already so we can meet up with Ven and Sora's groups?"

"Hey! This 'sand trap' happens to be my home you know," Genie reminded Cid in a jokingly warning tone, earning a few rounds of laughter from everyone in response.

Their laughter continued all the way back to Agrabah, and once they had arrived back in the bazaar, they quickly teleported back up to the Shera so that they could set out for their next destination after letting Jiminy know of their progress. "Nice work everyone," the cricket congratulated. "Ven just called a little while ago to say that his team managed to get their guy too, so they're all headed to here at Olympus Coliseum, right now. You should get over here as quickly as you can too."

"Roger that, Kingdom. We'll see you when we get there," Cid replied before closing the communication line, and with that, the Shera was getting underway once again, flying towards the home of Hercules while Yuffie had taken up residence near the ship's bathroom.

"Are you going to be okay to make it to Olympus Coliseum, Yuffie," Kairi asked.

"Ye…Yeah. I'll be fine," Yuffie groggily insisted. She then looked Kairi over for a minute before she finally asked, "Say, you're originally from Hollow Bastion like all of us, right?"

"Yeah," Kairi slowly confirmed, not entirely sure where Yuffie was going with this. There was no telling what the ninja girl was going to say or do after getting that confirmation after all.

What Kairi did not expect was for Yuffie to smile nostalgically and reveal, "You know, I think I remember babysitting you a few times for your grandma when you were a kid."

"Really," Kairi asked.

Yuffie continued to study Kairi a little more while trying to keep the contents of her stomach in, until she finally said, "Yeah, I remember now. Your grandma once asked me to look after you while she made an emergency run to the market. Well to be more accurate, she tricked me into it by calling it a 'possibly dangerous mission that would require nerves of steel.' I was still training to become a ninja at the time, and I was really eager to prove myself somehow, so I immediately jumped at the chance for a dangerous mission. It turned out that there was no danger at all, because you were the sweetest little tyke I ever met. After that, part of me always got a little excited when your grandma called me up to ask me to babysit you again."

Kairi grinned at this, happy to hear that she had actually been a good friend to Yuffie even way back then and she would have asked Yuffie to tell her a little more about those days if the ninja had not suddenly dashed into the bathroom and began emptying the contents of her stomach at last. "Uh…I'll ask her about that stuff later," Kairi decided, moving to watch the lights of stars passing by the viewport as they flew to Olympus Coliseum.

Aqua may claim that she was losing her fight against the darkness, but she was certainly doing an impressive job of proving otherwise, given how many creatures of darkness she had felled since she had seen what she believed to be her dearest friends. Well, phantoms of her best friend and the man she loved, but they could still just as easily be something close to those two people, right? Whatever the case may have been, the fact of the matter was that Aqua was tearing through whatever despicable creature made to stand between her and them. Even when she ran afoul of creatures that were much bigger than any she had faced up until now, Aqua did not waver in the slightest. She quickly cut down each and every foe, be it with her fallen master's Keyblade or with some form of her own magic, and she did so in a manner that was befitting of both a Keyblade Master that was also a well-accomplished mage. When she happened upon a large grouping of the towering dark monsters and saw that they were starting to form a massive orb full of darkness, Aqua did not waver in the slightest. She just charged forward as fast as she could, fighting her way towards the clearing where the monster right in the middle of it all was holding the dark orb up, and made quick work of the creature of darkness easily before destroying the orb itself with a single swing of her Keyblade. When the orb was destroyed, the remaining creatures surrounding her soon followed, and now, all that was left for Aqua was to find her two friends. Not that she had to look too hard, because she quickly spotted their forms in the distance, just where the clearing narrowed into a small path that looked identical to the one that lead up to Maleficent's stronghold.

As she drew closer, Aqua saw the two figures becoming clearer, every detail growing sharper, until finally, when she came to a stop just behind them, she saw them both appear as the two people she had been chasing after, just as she remembered them. "Terra, Ven," Aqua called out, even though she was not really expecting an answer. None of the phantoms of her friends had said anything to her before, so why would that change now?

Something turned out to be different this time, because Terra slowly turned around to face her, and gasped, "Aqua, you're…"

"Terra," Aqua gasped in little more than a whisper, slowly approaching when she did, hope shining in her eyes. "You spoke?"

Apparently, Terra was not expecting her to respond, because a look of surprise quickly crossed his own face while a tiny spark of hope flittered through them when he asked his next question. "Can you see me?"

"Of course," Aqua exclaimed happily. "I see Ven too."

"Ven?! He's here," Terra asked, turning every way he could, almost as though he did not realize that the young man was standing right next to him, much to Aqua's confusion.

"Terra, what's wrong? Don't you see him," Aqua asked, now growing a little worried for the sake of her friend.

Terra brushed it aside though, and diverted her attention onto a different subject, asking, "Where are we?"

If Aqua had a problem with the change in topic, she did not let it show or even bother her in the slightest, because right now, she was just happy to apparently be talking to her best friend. "A world the darkness has consumed," Aqua explained. "It's Enchanted Dominion."

"Consumed? The worlds fell," Terra questioned, his questioning expression quickly turning more worried.

His worry was nothing next to Aqua's though, but her concerns were of a much different nature at the moment. "What's gotten into you," Aqua asked, crossing her arms in front of her as if she wished to shield her heart from anymore hurt that might come from the answer to her next question. "How do I know you're Terra, and not the weakness that's in my heart playing more tricks?" Before Terra had a chance to answer, Aqua remembered that another person she cared about was currently before her, and she immediately turned to him in the hopes that he could help. "Ven! Please say something," Aqua begged, coming around so that she could better face the boy. When she did though, something suddenly clicked in her mind. Earlier, when she had managed to contact Kairi on the other side, there was a brief moment when she was also given a glimpse of what was going on in the Realm of Light, one where she had seen Ventus, and while she never got a good look at him, she was still able to see enough to know that he had changed a bit since the last time she saw him. This person before her, however, looked exactly like Ven had when she had hidden him away so long ago, the same height, the same blank look in his eyes, and everything. "You're…You're not actually…" Aqua stuttered, hardly able to bear the truth regarding the blonde she was seeing.

"Aqua, listen," Terra called out, garnering her attention again. "I promise this is me, but I'm not myself."

"What do you mean," Aqua asked, not understanding and growing even more worried.

"You're using the name 'Terra.' That means you're seeing me the way that you remember me, but you're heart is just painting the picture that it so wants to see," Terra explained as best as he could. He hesitated for a moment after that, as if unable to admit what he was about to say, but in the end, he finally sighed and revealed, "The real me is lost in shadow."

"Then you're here, trapped in the Realm of Darkness," Aqua concluded, thinking that was what Terra meant.

Sadly, Terra had to disprove that conclusion. "No. My heart has ties to the dark. That must be why we can talk, but I can't see anything, Aqua. If you say Ven is there, then he's like me — an illusion created by your heart."

Aqua let out a sad sigh when she heard that, because it merely confirmed what she had already suspected when she had realized earlier why this Ven was such a contrast to the one she had seen earlier during her short link with Kairi. "Should've known," Aqua muttered under her breath as a small tear started to escape her eye.

"What," Terra asked, having barely heard her.

"It's a bit of a long story," Aqua admitted aloud. "I…connected with someone in the outside world earlier, and I was able to catch a glimpse of Ven through her. He was safe, but I could also tell that he had changed a bit since I last saw him. This one here, he's the same way as I remember him from the last time we both saw him."

"I see," Terra nodded, a small smile forming on his face. Clearly he was just as happy to hear that his little brother was okay as Aqua was.

Aqua then thought of something else though, because while she knew that Ven was safe, there was still another matter regarding her two friends that had not been cleared up. "So what about you? Are you also safe in the outside world?"

"I think," Terra nodded, not entirely certain of the fact.

"That's good," Aqua nodded, willing to take that for now. Still, one thing was on her mind that really bugged her. "But, how did you find me?"

"I looked here," Terra revealed, placing a hand over his heart. "And heard you in the darkness."

"Right," Aqua nodded, happy to hear that Terra still held a special place in his heart for the friends he cared so deeply about, but that did not absolve her of all her worries for him. "But why does your heart have…ties to the darkness now? What did you mean 'lost in shadow'?"

"Forget about me," Terra immediately brushed off, clearly feeling that his current state was unimportant compared to something else. "Aqua, Xehanort is trying to locate Ven."

Aqua just smirked in response to that, much to Terra's surprise, and said, "Then he must be looking in all the wrong places, because Ven's out there fighting to try and keep the worlds safe. Even if that wasn't the case though, Xehanort would never find him. I had hidden Ven well. I just wish I knew the reason why he was not talking to me here. He's clearly not still back there sleeping, but maybe it has something to do with the fact that he's so busy with something else right now."

While Aqua had returned her gaze to the phantom of Ventus, she never once noticed how Terra had suddenly started to fidget and grunt as if he were in pain, eventually grasping his head in an attempt to keep whatever was causing his agony at bay. "No. I can't control…" Terra muttered as his hair began to change from brown to white, while his eyes also changed from their rightful blue to an orange-yellow color. An aura of darkness slowly began to form around his body, until finally, Terra ceased struggling all together. The next time he spoke though, his voice had changed completely, now sounding much deeper and darker than before. "This 'place' where you had hidden Ventus. Is it the Chamber of Waking?"

Aqua would have answered immediately had she not immediately realized that something was off with Terra. The deeper voice was one thing, to be certain, but more than that, Terra had referred to Ven by the blonde's full name. The only times Terra ever did that was when something was especially serious or when he was upset with Ventus. More importantly, how could Terra have known about the Chamber of Waking? That was something that only she and Eraqus knew about, and her master had taken that knowledge to his grave. Knowing all of this, Aqua slowly turned her gaze towards Terra again, her expression now much more guarded than before as she subtly lowered herself into a defensive stance, until she finally faced her friend and saw how he had changed. "Who are you? Really," Aqua demanded.

A mocking smirk crossed "Terra's" face when he looked up at her again, as he began to say, "You don't know? My name…"

"Aqua! Get back," Terra suddenly shouted, having materialized behind the person who had suddenly seized control of him in a shower of lights, his body glowing with a faint aura of light even as he grabbed the evil being from behind, much to Aqua's shock and confusion. "I messed up. Xehanort is part of me. Now he's using me so you'll tell him about that place where you hid Ven! He must think there's something else there!"

"SILENCE," Terra-Xehanort shouted at his captor, and suddenly, a huge storm of dark energies began manifesting around them.

Aqua probably should have run at that moment. She probably should have tried to put as much distance between her and this place as she could, but at that moment, she was frozen where she stood, unable to really do anything right then as she watched Terra struggle against Xehanort's spirit. Terra must have realized this, because he quickly shouted, "I won't give in! Aqua, you have to…"

Whatever Terra was going to say ended up being cut off, as Terra-Xehanort suddenly grabbed him by the face, and managed to lift the Keybearer off him. "Still you struggle," the dark being snarled.

"Terra," Aqua cried out. She would have rushed to help him had a sudden swirl of darkness not suddenly materialized behind her and allowed a large black hand to reach out and grab the phantom of Ventus, much to her horror. "No, Ven," Aqua shouted in horror. She knew that this was merely an illusion, but she did not care right now. This was the closest she had ever come to being near the man she loved in a long time, and she was not willing to lose it so soon. That ended up being a bit harder than she had originally though, because another hand like the one that had grabbed Ven suddenly shot out and grabbed her as well, lifting her up and away from Terra.

"Now you can be one with the darkness," Terra-Xehanort shouted, relishing in the way that the two Keybearers were currently struggling against the shadows that were holding them both captive.

Their struggling eventually came to an end though, but for Aqua, it was mainly because she was starting to feel any energy she currently had left in her fading away at last. Finally, after fighting for so long, Aqua could feel whatever resistance she had left crumble away into nothing, while her vision began to go dark. Terra on the other hand still had something left to give in his own fight, and he proved it by allowing his aura of light to flash brightly as he shouted, "That is enough!"

The next thing Aqua knew, bright chains began erupting from Terra's body and began wrapping around the area as it they were trying to latch onto something or tie it down, ultimately wrapping around Terra-Xehanort. She just barely registered Terra-Xehanort finally releasing his hold on her friend while the sounds of those same chains seemed to rush closer to her, but she could not be completely sure, as she soon lost consciousness after that, unable to put up any more of a fight against her own exhaustion now. The last thing Aqua saw before her vision became eclipsed in shadow was Terra leaning limply forward and fading away into the lights he had come from while Terra-Xehanort continued to struggle against his restraints.

Not too far away from where all this was taking place, Riku and Mickey were racing along their current path as fast as they could, each of them following after the light of Aqua's heart in an attempt to locate her. They suddenly skidded to a stop though when Riku picked up on the feeling of a sudden surge of darkness rising from the location they were headed towards, and quickly fell to his knees due to how intense it felt. Out of concern for his newest friend, Mickey immediately came to the boy's side and asked, "Riku, are you okay?"

"I'm…I'm fine," Riku grounded out, somehow managing to return to his feet again. "Whatever I felt just now though was unlike anything I had ever felt before. It was a lot like Ansem's darkness, only much more powerful, and it felt like it was fighting…something."

"That must've been Aqua," Mickey reasoned.

"No, it wasn't her," Riku denied. "Aqua was there, but it wasn't fighting her. At least, not her specifically. It was fighting someone else. I don't really know who, but this person definitely felt familiar. Not like Aqua, but in another way…Sorry, I know I'm probably doing a bad job of explaining this."

Admittedly, Riku really was doing a poor job of explaining what he felt, but Mickey was able to get something close to the gist of what the boy was trying to say. He proved that by giving Riku a friendly smile and a short wave to show that it was okay, but the king was more concerned with something else right now. "What about Aqua? Can you tell if she's okay?"

Riku reached out with his senses again, and he did manage to find what he and Mickey believed to be Aqua's light. The only problem was it felt much weaker than it had before. "She's still there, but she's fading fast," Riku informed him.

Mickey's face fell into an even deeper frown at that, because Riku had just confirmed what he was so afraid to be right. "We're running out of time then," the king determined, and he immediately raced forward with Riku hot on his heels, both of them praying that they would be in time much more intensely than ever.

On board the Celsius, everyone was all smiles and cheers, with Selphie and Wakka telling Yuna a few more stories about life on Destiny Islands, some of which were to Tidus's embarrassment. All the same, the summoner seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit, and Tidus was able to do the same after a little bit, feeling it better to let his friends get their laughs in before launching his own counterattack against them. Besides, he liked seeing Yuna happy, and her laugh was really cute too. Tidus was not the only blonde of their group that was enjoying themselves at the moment though, because Ventus could feel a joyful smile crossing his own face as well as he listened to the four having their fun while they could. After what they just went through with helping him to defeat the Phantom Heartless, they deserved a moment to just relax, joke around, and be kids for a little while.

Ventus was quickly pulled away from such thoughts, though, when he suddenly felt something vibrating oddly in one of his pockets. He would have cast it off as nothing, mainly because he was currently the one piloting the ship, had he not felt as though something sharp had just run through his heart. It was not necessarily a painful feeling, but it was unpleasant all the same, and that served as all the more reason for Ven to pull the vibrating object from his pocket. Much to his surprise, the object in question turned out to be his Wayfinder, and he noticed that it was not only shaking in his hand, but it also had a faint glow flickering about it, almost like a light that was seconds away from going dark. Seeing that made his concerns grow a little more and he could only think of one thing that it could mean, or rather, one person who could possibly be behind this.

"Aqua…Has something happened to you," Ventus muttered worriedly, praying that was not the case.

Apparently his moment of distraction did not go unnoticed by the rest of his party, because Wakka soon approached him and asked, "Yo, Old Man Spiky, you okay?"

"Huh? Oh…yeah," Ventus hesitantly replied, quickly pocketing his Wayfinder once again when he did. To alleviate the others of any further worry, he then put on a small smirk and added, "Aside from that 'Old Man,' comment, you little wise-guy surfer boy."

"Ha! You wish I was a surfer boy," Wakka joked in response, even though he was clearly feeling sheepish for calling Ven an old man. "Nah, that honor goes to Tidus and his spectacular, epic fail."

"Oh come on! That was one time, man. Can't you just let that go already," Tidus groaned when he heard that.

Yuna on the other hand, appeared to be very intrigued, while Selphie merely grinned like the Cheshire Cat, so needless to say, Wakka would not be letting it go today, despite Tidus's wishes. With the others now distracted by Wakka's newest, embarrassing story about Tidus, Ven was now free to let his mind ponder what could have happened to Aqua that caused such a reaction to form in his Wayfinder. Sadly, none of those conclusions were good, and Ven ultimately had to put them out of his mind for now. They still had some work left to do, after all, and the next part of that was meeting up with Kairi and Sora's teams as soon as they could.

Sora and his two best buddies from Disney Town were finally starting to feel a little frustrated, because they had gotten through nearly the entire tournament, and there was still no sign of whatever was causing the latest surge of darkness on Olympus Coliseum. All they found were a bunch of Heartless that, while stronger than normal, were still no different from the ones that they had faced before. Sure, there was a variation of both the Guard Armor and the Stealth Sneak in there, but they were clearly not powerful enough to be the big threat that Merlin and Cid had detected from this place. By the time they had entered the semifinals of the tournament that frustration had grown even more, partially because Jiminy had called once again and let them know that Kairi's team had completed their mission and were now on their way here too. This probably would not be a big deal to anyone else, but considering how competitive Sora could be at times, it was no surprise he would feel a bit upset at hearing he would be the last of the three Keybearers to finish his assignment, and the feeling was shared by both Donald and Goofy. Although, most of the latter two's frustration was due to the fact that they had seen either hide nor hair of this major threat.

That ended up changing very soon though, because said threat finally revealed himself when the sky above the arena suddenly became much darker, giving the whole area a very foreboding feel that left both the three competitors and the spectators feeling nervous. Their nervousness turned out to be well-founded, because Sora, Donald, and Goofy's opponent turned out to be someone that they had not entirely expected, even though they probably should have. After all, this tournament did have the guy's name literally written all over it. "Hey kid, whaddya know, you actually made it this far without Ole Venny boy looking over your shoulder. Good for you, but too bad, because, unfortunately, this is where you're going to be dropping out. And when I say dropping out, I mean right out of this tournament and down into the Underworld," Hades smirked with twisted glee, barely even fazed by the glares that the four were throwing his way.

"I'm surprised we're fighting so early, Hades," Sora commented. "I figured you'd be waiting for us in the final round, not at the semifinals."

"Well ya see, that actually was the original plan, but I came up with something better for the final match. Not that you'll see it, because, there's just one little, teeny-tiny thing ya gotta do before you get there," Hades explained. An instant later, his kin turned crimson while the flames that acted as his hair grew larger and turned a bright orange and red, all right when he roared, "You've gotta handle the heat and beat me!"

There was barely any time to evade the fireballs that Hades threw at them, but somehow, Sora and his two friends managed to do just that, only to find themselves scrambling to keep clear of the other flaming attacks that Hades was throwing at them. If it was not fireballs, then it was massive streams of fire from his hands, and any time that they tried to get close to him, the Lord of the Dead would summon a massive column of flames to keep him safe. The three were determined to not let that stop them though, and Sora easily knew of one way to get Hades to cool down. A quick look at Donald showed him that the duck had the same idea, and a moment later, they were both blasting Hades with a few rounds of ice magic, until Hades finally changed back into his usual, pale blue colors, albeit with a small shiver. Goofy immediately took that chance to rush in and slam his shield into Hades several times over, with Sora doing the same a minute later, but only the Keybearer managed to notice when Hades was starting to flare up again and get clear in time. Goofy, on the other hand, failed to notice until it was too late, and ended up getting caught in Hades's fiery counterattack.

"YEOW! My butt's on fire," Goofy hollered, running around the arena like a chicken with its head cut off in a panic.

"Hold on, Goofy! I'll save you," Donald called out, rushing over to help his friend. Of course, his help came in the form of an ice blast directly to Goofy's butt, and said blast may have been a little too powerful, because Goofy ended up turning a little blue with cold afterwards.

"N-now I've got b-b-brain f-freeze," Goofy chattered, rubbing his arms in an attempt to warm back up again. He put it on hold though when noticed Hades moving towards the center of the ring before throwing his arms out to the sides, indicating he was about to unleash a rather deadly and fiery attack, and shouted, "Look out!"

Once again, Sora managed to evade the initial blast, and continued evade Hades's attack as he started to slowly spin around the arena, turning his stream of flames closer to the heroes as he did, but Donald did not end up being so lucky, a fact that he quickly realized when he noticed too late that he was right in the path of one of the fire streams. "Uh-oh," was all that Donald could say before warbling in pain as he was hit by the flames. Donald's rear was not the only thing that had been lit; the duck's fiery temper had also been ignited as well after that attack. "Why you stupid, underhanded, low-life, flame-brain," Donald roared. "I'll show you! Take this!"

An instant later, Donald had unleashed the most powerful ice spell in his arsenal, certain that it would extinguish Hades's flames for a good long while. Unfortunately, no one was ready for when Hades suddenly flared up hotter than ever, melting the ice in Donald's magic before it could even touch him. "Pft, please. Do you really think I'm gonna let you do the same shtick, the same tactic, the same cheap attempt at weakening me twice," Hades asked in disbelief. "Come on. I'm the Lord of the Dead, not the Lord of Idiocy."

"Then how about I give you a taste of my own brand of ice," Sora retorted, causing Hades to turn towards the kid just in time to get a face-full of rapidly-fired Blizzaga spells. The downside was that Hades did manage to flare up again before the ice could hit though, but on the plus side, Sora got what he was actually aiming for with those ice blasts: the energy necessary for the Diamond Dust Command Style, which he did not hesitate to activate.

A minute later, the kid was throwing everything he had at the god of the Underworld, and since all of his attacks had an especially chilling touch to them, Hades was unable to get hot enough to keep his flames from going out. When he had finally transformed back to normal, Sora finally unleashed the Diamond Dust Command Style's finisher, blasting several large ice shards into Hades at once, and nearly knocking him out of the arena when he did. Hades was not going to let himself go down so easily though, as he proved by standing back up once again, albeit with a little more wobbly than before, but Sora was not done with the Lord of the Dead just yet. He still had more than a few tricks up his sleeves, and the young Keyblade Warrior proved it by unleashing Typhoon Barrage on Hades before switching over to a rapid barrage of Strike Raid and Sonic Blade attacks.

After one last Strike Raid, Sora had finally built up all the energy he needed for his personal Command Style, and he instantly unleashed it with a loud yell. "Command Style: Destiny Blaze!"

At that moment, hearing the name of that particular Command Style, something suddenly seemed to click for Hades at last, and the next time he turned to face Sora, he did not see the young boy that he had tricked into participating in the games the first time he had come here. He saw a Keyblade Master from ten years ago who was almost a dead-ringer for the boy before him. Hades would admit that said master was at least a little bit older than this kid in front of him, but when you changed the armor on the kid's left shoulder a little bit, added a bit of height, and changed his attire to match that one master's, Hades was certain that you would see a perfect match between them. "Y-You…" Hades muttered. "Impossible. How're you here now?! I thought you had been destroyed forever!"

Sora paid little mind to the rather confusing statement that had slipped out from Hades, and instead put all of his focus into one final attack against the ruler of the Underworld, Oathkeeper swinging right alongside the Ghost-Keyblade that had materialized into his free hand. Hades's shock made him unable to really do anything in an attempt to defend himself from the barrage of sword strikes that Sora threw at him, and in the end, he was also unable to stop the Command Style's finishing move from blasting him out of the arena and ending the fight in the heroic trio's favor. Hades's trip did not end after he was out of the arena though, because from what everyone else could tell, the Lord of the Dead had ended up getting blasted all the way back down to the Underworld he came from, and judging by the sounds of protest and struggling that they heard from him afterwards, they had a feeling that he was not going to be putting up any more of a fight after this.

"Well, I guess now we know who was causing all that extra darkness to appear here," Goofy determined, having finally gotten back to normal at last.

"What I don't get is why Hades was still trying to do something anyway. I mean, shouldn't he have quit after Maleficent was destroyed," Sora asked, his confusion on the matter showing through as clear as day.

"That's bad guys for you. They never learn when to give up, no matter what happens," Donald mused. "Either way, we won and everything should be a-okay now."

"Hold on there, fellas. You're not done yet," Jiminy suddenly announced over their radios, surprising them all and ending their early celebrations. "Yeah, the darkness levels down there have dropped, but they're still really high. Hades may have had a part in whatever it is that's causing this surge, but it wasn't just him alone. There's something else down there that's still a problem."

The three moaned in dismay when they heard that, but they figured that they might as well grit their teeth, bear down, and deal with it. After all, they did just defeat the ruler of the Underworld, so there was no way they would not be able to handle whatever came next. Their confidence in the matter quickly started to drop though when the small arena that they had been fighting in faded away so that they now had the entire arena floor to work with and a few small quakes suddenly shook throughout the coliseum. It did not take much more guess work for them to figure out that those "quakes" were actually heavy footsteps, and whatever it was that could make the ground shake like that, definitely had to be really big. When the three turned to see just what it was that was walking towards them, their jaws all dropped at the sight of it, because calling this beast a mountain of a monster had not been more literal for them until now. The monster was in fact a massive, living mountain of a beast, completely made of stone, and it towered over the arena despite its rather stubby looking legs. From they were standing, the three were just barely able to see that this thing had two heads sticking up from its massive, rock body, and both of them were glaring down at the trio with all four, red eyes.

"Hey Goofy, remember when you said back at Hollow Bastion that you were going to need a bigger shield," Sora asked, his voice carrying a tone of fear in it.

"Yeah," Goofy replied, his own fear at the sight of this monster showing much more clearly than Sora's.

"Something tells me that we're all going to need bigger weapons for this guy," Sora finished, raising Oathkeeper up so that he was holding it in his usual ready position.

"Hey fellas! That thing's the source of the darkness spike, only it's not a Heartless. It's one of several beasts from Olympus Coliseum known as the Titans," Jiminy reported from aboard the Kingdom. "This one's called the Rock Titan, and while it doesn't have too many special powers like some of its brothers, it does still possess an incredible amount of strength. As in enough strength to make massive earthquakes just by stamping its feet. Oh, and watch out for those fists of his. They'll send you clear out of the atmosphere with a single hit if he gets a chance to swing at you. It's main weak points are its stubby legs and two heads. If you can hit the former two enough times, he'll drop down onto his back and give you a better chance to hit it in the head. Just make sure you're not too close when it does fall, or you'll get hit by a small shockwave when it lands"

"Oh well thanks for that," Donald remarked, his sarcasm just oozing through each word. Clearly he felt that, while Jiminy's information was a little helpful, it did also served as an unnecessary reminder of how dangerous their current situation was.

There was not any time for someone to reprimand Donald for his remark or add on to it, because a minute later, they had all needed to scramble away before getting crushed under the Rock Titan's foot. Just like Jiminy had said, the thing moved slow, but it made up for that in the amount of power and strength that it possessed, a fact it proved when it slowly swung one of its fist at Goofy. The knight had just barely managed to raise his shield in time to block the attack, and even with all the power that Save the King possessed, it proved to be almost nothing next to the strength of this massive titan, because Goofy was still sent flying into the back wall of the arena. Donald had immediately cast his best healing spell to relieve Goofy of his injuries, and then turned to throw out as many offensive spells as he could at the Rock Titan, pausing only to provide himself and his two friends with Aeroga Shields. It was actually during his pause to cast such a shield around Sora that the Rock Titan finally managed to land a hit on Donald, but thankfully, it was just a small kick that the Titan had barely managed due to his body's much more massive size when compared to his legs. Of course, that did not mean that Donald was left unscathed by the attack, as he was sent flying almost as far back as Goofy had been earlier.

Seeing his two friends getting swatted aside so easily caused Sora to narrow his gaze on the Rock Titan and then start throwing everything he could at the massive beast, from spells, to regular and special attacks, and right up to Shotlocks. He would have thrown in a Command Style or two if he could, but after using two nearly back-to-back against Hades just seconds ago, Sora was not entirely confident that he could do so effectively at the moment. Despite those doubts, his barrage of attacks proved to be enough to knock the Rock Titan down onto his bum, and Sora immediately climbed up the massive monster's body so that he could reach its heads and begin smashing his Keyblade against one or both of them. That proved to be a bit easier said than done though, as the Rock Titan showed it was not afraid to try and literally take a bite out of Sora if he got too close. Luckily, Donald and Goofy were soon right next to Sora, and helping him in fending off the monster's chomps while bashing it in the head right along with Sora.

Nothing lasts forever though, as was quickly proven when the Rock Titan slowly rose up off the ground again, and the three found themselves dropping down to the ground. While Donald and Goofy ended up in landings that were far from graceful, Sora was able to react quickly enough and use Glide so that his descent was a bit more steady. At least, it had been until the Rock Titan took a swing at him with his massive fists, knocking Sora out of the air and into the side of the arena. When Sora stood up again, he did not do so very steadily, and it was not until he paused to cast Cura over himself that he finally managed to regain a strong footing again, proving that this fight was going to take quite a bit out of them if they wanted to win. Then again, they were already throwing out whatever they could against this thing, but when you consider that they had just gotten out of a hard fought battle with Hades and had very little time to really recover, it would be easy to understand why Sora was now getting more than a little worried about their situation.

His confidence had definitely hit a new low, and Sora was slowly starting to bow his head in defeat, until someone suddenly shouted, "Come on, Sora! Don't give up yet!"

Sora's head immediately snapped up and to his right, and much to his surprise, he saw Ventus, Wakka, Selphie, Yuna, and Tidus all up in the stands, with the last of the five being the one who had shouted down to him. When they had arrived, Sora was not sure, but what he did know was that they were all currently shouting various words of encouragement for him. "Don't tell me you're gonna let yourself get beaten by this guy after you were able to beat me, Tidus, and Selphie all at once on your own, and this was before you ever even had the Keyblade, ya," Wakka grinned as he pumped his fist in victory for Sora.

"I may not have known you for long, but with what Tidus told me, and what I've seen, I feel like I can safely say that you never quit when your back's against a wall, no matter what enemy you're facing," Yuna encouraged.

"Besides, you can't get beat now! Not when you and Kairi just got together. Think of how sad she would be if you did lose here," Selphie teased. Sure, she was probably aware that there was not too much danger of Sora actually dying in this fight, but considering that this was Selphie, there was just as good of a chance that she would not have cared if it meant she got in another bit of teasing in regards to Sora's relationship with Kairi.

If Ventus was going to say something, he ended up having to wait, because someone else beat him to it, and that person was actually watching from the stands on the other side of the arena. "Sora, win this! You've already beaten a lot of tough opponents with your own strength. This guy shouldn't be a problem," Leon's voice declared, and Sora turned to see the Gunblade wielder up in the stands on the left side of the arena along with Cid, Aerith, Kairi, and a slightly sick-looking Yuffie.

"Come on, kid! Don't tell me some overgrown pile of rocks is going to be the thing that finally does you in," Cid remarked with a teasing grin.

"You can do it, Sora! We all know you can," Aerith encouraged.

"Yeah, I mean, it'd be stupid to think that this guy could beat you when you've already taken down Heartless that could make this guy look like a kitten, right," Yuffie added on. It may have been a little less energetic than usual, but Sora could still see that the usual Yuffie-spirit was in there. It was probably just having a hard time reaching the surface due to her currently queasy state.

Sora's gaze slowly trailed over to Kairi, who was beaming with pride and joy, as she said, "Just believe, and you can do it. Even if you can't find the strength to believe in yourself, I will always believe in you, Sora. I know you will win."

Sora then turned back to Ven, and saw that his master was smiling just as confidently as Kairi was, and when the blonde saw that his apprentice's gaze was fixed on him, Ventus took the opportunity to finally say what he was going to before. "You know that you have the strength to win this, Sora. Just like you did back in Hollow Bastion. After all, you have the greatest power of all right inside of you."

When he heard those words, Sora smiled a little wider, and repeated what he had said to Riku at the time that Ven was talking about, albeit with a little extra addition. "I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power, and I'm theirs!"

An instant later, a strong aura of energy surged forth from Sora's body, coating him completely, until it finally solidified as the aura of his Unique Command Style, and Sora instantly charged in to slash at the Rock Titan with everything he had. Ven was a little stunned when he saw this happen at first, especially since he knew that such a thing should not be possible for someone who had not yet become a full-fledged Keyblade Master, but his surprise quickly disappeared and became replaced with pride when he reminded himself just who that was down there fighting against the Rock Titan. He knew that Sora had the potential to be a living embodiment of how one's friends could give you great strength in a true moment of need, and this was but the first step in the boy's journey to proving that. Sora continued to show how true this was as he used Destiny Blaze's power to topple the Rock Titan after a few more strikes, and he then leapt high into the air, and over to the Titan's head, where he unleashed several different strikes from both Oathkeeper and the Ghost-Keyblade that had appeared in his other hand.

While Sora was continuing his attack, he signaled for Donald to blast the Titan with as many of his most powerful spells that he could still manage, and the duck immediately started out with a blast of Thundaga. The lightning spell easily zapped the Rock Titan's second head, just as it was preparing to take a bite out of Sora, and when the one that Sora was currently focusing on tried to chomp down on the boy, it ended up getting knocked in the side by Goofy's thrown shield. When Save the King returned to its owner, Goofy had already joined Sora on top of the massive beast, and began bashing his shield into the second head, while Donald kept up his magic barrage from the ground. The two close-combat fighters did not stop their barrage of strikes until the Rock Titan slowly started to stand up again, and they immediately jumped clear before they could be shaken off again.

Donald did not just stand back and wait for his friends to return to the ground though, but instead, he made a mad rush for the Rock Titan's legs and started hitting them over and over again with his staff, knowing that Save the Queen was able to deal much stronger close-combat damage than his usual staff. His strikes ended up being enough to actually take a small chunk of rocks out of the Rock Titan's leg, and it turned out to that he had knocked out just enough rocks to make the living mountain stumble back a little. Goofy immediately rushed forward to help Donald capitalize on this moment, while Sora stepped back and started aiming his Keyblade at the Rock Titan, already feeling the energies of a new Shotlock starting to flow through him. When he made sure that he had completely locked onto the Rock Titan, and with the energy of his ability at full power, Sora immediately unleashed his newest Shotlock without any hesitation.

What followed next was actually a little surprising for everyone, as they could all sense the sheer power behind this Shotlock, even without the visual effects that it possessed. While Sora was coated in a bright gold aura, a massive sphere of light erupted forth from his Keyblade that he immediately sent into the air above everyone in the arena. After that had happened, they all watched as Sora leaped up into the air, far higher than they had ever seen him jump before, and then rocket back down to the ground with Oathkeeper's tip pointed forward. When the Keyblade finally stabbed into the ground and a large, elaborate rune sprang forth, covering almost the entire area, while Sora spun himself around his Keyblade until his feet were planted firmly on the ground again. With the wielder of Kingdom Key landed, the sphere above them released a massive explosion of light so brilliant, that some would have gone blind if they were looking directly at the sphere itself, and it did not stop with just one burst. No, it continued on several times over with multiple spheres of light rocketing down from the larger one, and impacting the Rock Titan several times over. When the barrage and the intense light both finally faded, they all watched with baited breath as the Rock Titan stumbled over his feet more and more, until he finally felt flat on his face with a roar of agony, creating a massive dust cloud from where he landed that hid him from view.

When the dust finally cleared and everyone managed to wipe any dirt from their eyes, they all saw that the only thing left of the Rock Titan was a pile of boulders of various shapes and sizes. Seeing the state of Sora's previous opponent, Phil quickly ran over to the gong and hit it as hard as he could, signaling the end of the tournament, all while he shouted, "It's over! It's all over! The winners are Sora, Donald, and Goofy! THE JUNIOR HEROES WIN!"

Like clockwork, the entire audience erupted in loud, excited cheers, with Ventus, Kairi, Yuna, the Traverse Town gang, and the Islander Trio all cheering louder than everyone. The whole time, Sora, Donald, and Goofy could only beam with excitement, even as Hercules came down to hand over the Hades Cup trophy to Sora, who raised it high into the air, and proudly shouted, "We're the champs!"

It was a little over an hour or so before the excitement of Team Kingdom Key's victory in the Hades Cup had finally died down, and even then, it was still a long while before Sora saw an end to the excited hugs, high-fives, and pats on the back that he received from all of his friends. Although, he definitely wished that his victory kiss from Kairi could have lasted a little bit longer. He blamed both the need to breathe and Selphie's teasing for that one. Once things had settled enough, Ven took the time to comment to Sora how his newest Shotlock looked a lot like a special Keyblade wielder ability known as the Trinity Limit, a very powerful ability that is incredibly difficult to learn, and Sora could only comment that he was not too surprised about that, since his newest Shotlock was actually named Trinity Force. Both of the Keyblade wielding boys knew that there was little chance that was just a coincidence, but they were definitely not complaining. After all, with all of that power Sora's newest Shotlock had to be the go-to ability when they were up against an especially powerful opponent from now on. Though Ven did caution Sora against using it as anything more than a last-resort move until they understood the full scope of what Trinity Force could do, both in terms of its positive effects and its drawbacks. When their excitement finally settled, everyone was prepared to either return to Traverse Town or just head on to Hollow Bastion, but they quickly found another delay in their path. Unlike the last few though, this delay was much more pleasant.

After seeing Sora's last match, Hercules felt that he could not wait any longer and practically begged Ventus to have a match with him. The hero of Olympus Coliseum also said that he wanted to have a match with Sora too, on the grounds that he believed the kid would prove to be a great challenge. Normally, Ven would have said no and that they had much more important things to take care of, along with reminding Herc that Sora had just finished a tough fight and needed the rest, but this time, he had to admit that he was feeling especially charged up after seeing his apprentice win that last bout, and he was more than eager to finally test his old friend's new strength against his own. That did not mean he was going to let Sora participate if the kid did not think he was ready yet, and he immediately made that clear when he asked Sora if he was up for it. Sora's response was an excited grin with a confident nod, and after downing a quick Elixir or two, the Keyblade Warrior was ready and raring to go once again.

The match between the two Keybearers and Hercules was an impressive one to say the least, because the two found it quite difficult to land a solid hit on Hercules that actually did any damage without first dispelling an aura of energy that he would summon to his body every so often. Add in the fact that they saw Hercules blast through several different walls of solid concrete when they were sure he was still pulling his punches, and Sora and Ventus knew that this they were in for a fight unlike any other. Oddly enough, that was actually the part about the whole match that made them the most excited. For so long now, they had been facing powerhouses that were always trying to kill them or take their hearts, but this time, they were up against an incredibly powerful opponent who was only interested in a fair fight with a purpose of doing nothing more than testing their strength for himself. It really was like a breath of fresh air to them, and they had the feeling that Hercules felt the same way, if not at least similarly as them, so they both determined to grant Herc the honor of giving this nothing less than their absolute best.

When the match finally ended, almost everyone was surprised to see that Ven and Sora stood victorious over Hercules, but despite losing, the hero was still able to happily laugh right along with the Keybearers, showing that he was happy to have a friendly sparring match like that after so long. Their laughter did not even cease when they finally came back into the lobby where their friends were all waiting, and Hercules was just barely able to suppress his own chuckles to say, "Wow, Ven! You really have gotten a lot stronger than before, and Sora…you've gotten a lot better since you were last here! I mean, that was incredible, and I didn't even hold back!"

"Oh really? Come on, you were going easy on us at first, and you know it," Ven teased.

"Okay, maybe a little bit, but only for the first few minutes. When you guys managed to knock me down a couple of times, I finally decided to stop holding back, and yet I still lost," Hercules admitted, and yet, he did not sound the least bit ashamed or upset at all. "Seriously, you were both incredible!"

Sora just beamed at the praise, until he noticed Phil, and immediately went over to the satyr so that he could tell him something important. "I finally know what you meant about strength of heart," Sora announced to the trainer of heroes. "Mine comes from Donald, Goofy, Ven, Kairi, and all my other friends."

"Come again," Phil asked, completely caught off guard by the kid.

"If we all stick together, we're unbeatable. Not even Hercules stands a chance," Sora explained, with his friends all slowly smiling in both pride and thanks to him as he continued to speak. "With all of these guys beside me, even if they're not actually there in person, I'm ready for anything!"

While Phil was proud to hear the kid had learned such an important lesson, he was not quite willing to admit it just yet. "But that's not exactly what I…"

"Of course. Your friends give you strength. Isn't that right, Phil," Hercules interrupted, lifting Phil up so that he could give his best friend and trainer a quick hug to help emphasize his point. After putting Phil down, he looked to the group before him, and stated, "Even if I haven't seen all of you in action, I can tell that all of you together make great heroes, and as a team, I'm sure you can overcome anything."

Sora and Ven both clapped hands with Hercules to with a grin, just as extra confirmation of that, while the others simply smirked or grinned in response, happy to hear Sora once again admit that he had learned such a valuable lesson. After getting his hand free from Hercules's strong grip though, Ven looked over to the pedestal that Phil had asked Sora to move when they first came here, and said, "With that in mind, Sora, how about we try moving that pedestal again?"

"Huh? Why," Sora asked, not really getting the reason why they would need to do so now, of all times.

"You'll see. Besides, I did say that we were going to move it this time," Ventus pointed out, stepping up to a position next the pedestal, with Sora quickly jogging over to him soon after. Donald and Goofy both joined them next, with Kairi rounding out the end of their group, and on the count of three, they all shoved as hard as they could. Slowly but sure, the pedestal slid over from its original position, and when they finally stopped pushing, the two kids and their friends from Disney Town were all shocked to discover that the Keyhole had been lying right underneath the pedestal the whole time.

"I guess that explains why you were so sure that the Heartless wouldn't find the Keyhole here," Goofy figured after a minute or so. "You knew that the pedestal couldn't be moved unless someone was as strong as Hercules, or if they didn't move it with all of their friends working alongside them to help."

"Mmm…Something like that," Ventus shrugged with a smile. He then looked to Sora and asked, "Care to do the honors?"

Sora nodded in reply, and after summoning out Oathkeeper once more, he immediately sealed up the Keyhole, ensuring that Olympus Coliseum would be forever secured against the Heartless now. With that done, the five adventurers all knew that there was only one thing left that they needed to take care of, and from the looks on the other four's faces, Ven knew that they were more than ready to get right to it. So, the blonde looked to the rest of their rather large group, and said, "Well, now that all of that is done, you all take the Shera and the Celsius back to Traverse Town. Make sure that Merlin was able to keep the town secure and clear out any Heartless that could prove to be a serious threat before heading out again."

"And what about you," Yuna asked, indicating Ven, Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy as a whole when she did.

"Simple," Ventus replied, a confident and serious look firmly on his face. "We've still got work to do, and there's only one place left for us to go right now to make sure that this threat is stopped. We're going back to Hollow Bastion."

"Then what're we waiting for," Kairi asked, with Donald nodding along with her.

"Let's get back there, seal the Keyhole, and stop Ansem," Sora declared.

"Xehanort's Heartless," Ventus corrected.

"Same thing in this case," Sora waved off, and Ven could only nod in fair agreement with that reply.

The five all turned to lead the march out of Olympus Coliseum and back to the ships, but just before they had gone through the gates, Wakka called out, "Hey Sora! Make sure you guys get Riku back in one piece, ya?"

"Why? So you can hit him some more for how stupid he was," Sora asked, although from the way he was smiling, anyone could tell that he was joking.

"Lots, lots more," Wakka confirmed with a similar smile.

Sora and Kairi both nodded in agreement, silently promising that they would all come back from this alive, and with that, the next stage of their journey had begun. They all knew that this was going to be just the beginning of their toughest challenge yet, but as the ships pulled away from Olympus Coliseum, no one found a feeling of dread or fear falling onto them. In fact, the only thing they felt was confidence and sureness that they would survive, and see each of their friends again when this was all over. Only the next time they all met, it would be to celebrate their victory over the Heartless.

AN: Okay, I doubt this needs repeating, since I mentioned this in the last chapter's ending note, but originally, the secret boss battles were all going to be separate chapters, except for the one you face in Hollow Bastion. So yeah, Kairi and Team Traverse Town's fight with Kurt Zisa and Sora's ultimate victory over both Hades and the Rock Titan were going to be separate chapters, but after writing out both, I felt that they were just too short, and elected to put them both together. Speaking of the Kurt Zisa team's mission, yeah, I worked in the fact that Yuffie gets airsick. Anyone who's so much as seen some videos of anything from the FF7 Series knows that Yuffie does indeed get airsick, and I thought it would only make sense that her airsickness would real its head while aboard a gummi ship. On the subject of Yuffie, of course I would have her mention that she babysat Kairi all those years ago back on Radiant Garden. I mean, Kairi's teaming up with people who are from her birth world. Do you really think that the chances of at least one of them recognizing and remembering her would be that low? Besides, being the youngest of the group, it made sense that Yuffie would probably remember Kairi a little better than the others. Too bad the two couldn't talk about those days a little more before Yuffie found herself unable to keep her lunch down.

Yuffie: Come on! That was not funny!

AN: Nah, it is a little funny. Sorry, Yuffie. Ahem, anyways, we also got another look into Aqua's journey through the Realm of Darkness, and I know some people are probably a little disappointed that we didn't see Aqua basically own a bunch of Darksides and a mega-attack that they were building up, but the main point of showing that was to show how things have changed in that story because of the differences brought on as this story had happened. I really hope you all enjoyed that interaction she shared with both Terra and Terra-Xehanort. It was a little heartbreaking at some points, but such is the need for story progression. And yeah, Mickey and Riku were able to feel Xehanort's darkness all that way away from the area, and are now hurrying more than ever since they realize that they're running out of time. Oh, and what's this? Ven must be sensing something is wrong too? Yeah, that's a thing. I mean, if Aqua could be saved from a squad of Darksides because the bonds she shares with Ventus and Terra called their Keyblades to her aid after she was trapped down there, then surely someone on the other side of the wall between the two realms would be able to sense when something has happened to Aqua, right?

Finally, Sora's newest Shotlock. Yeah, it's based heavily off of Trinity Limit, and I'm sure we've all seen other people do a spin-off of said ability for Sora before, but I...honestly couldn't think of anything better for Sora's third and final Personal Shotlock. Plus, considering that Trinity Limit on its own is typically an ultimate move that can defeat most enemies in an instant, why wouldn't I do some small variation of it here? So yeah...Trinity Force. There's your three Personal Shotlocks, Sora. Congrats. And of course he would unlock it while in the midst of such a serious battle, because, hey, if it ain't broke...

Speaking of fights we highlighted on, yeah, Ven and Sora had a sparring match with Hercules (to be clear it was Sora&Ven vs Hercules, in case that wasn't already obvious) that they won. I did want to include a face-off with Herc in here with full details, but it honestly felt like too much of a side detail in comparison to the main story. Granted, a lot of the things that they do on other worlds could be considered as side details, but this was one of the cases where it's just...needless extras.

Ven: I don't think anyone's going to be that upset about it. Well, except Herc.

AN: And to be honest, it was really just a way to lead into Sora proving that he had learned that big lesson to Phil and then sealing Olympus Coliseum's Keyhole, cause as we all know, we can only do so after we've beaten the Hercules Cup. I just figured that we'd skip the cup and go straight to the fight that's actually important. You know, the fight that actually teaches the big lesson.

Well, all those secret bosses are dealt with, along with Hades and his evil tournament, so now, it's back to the main mission, and the second trip to Hollow Bastion next chapter. Want to get a better idea of what will happen there? Well, you can either wait for the chapter itself to come out, or you can take a small glimpse by going Onto the Preview!...

The crew of the Kingdom returns to Hollow Bastion at last, and after reuniting Beast with Belle, said princess immediately explains why neither she or any of the other Princesses of Heart had returned to their worlds after being set free, along with why the darkness had not grown stronger than they were expecting it too. More reunions await the adventurers, along with not one, but two battles against powerful foes, but with one of those two leaving them with a baffling mystery. Though that is little in comparison to a revelation that awaits them after defeating the guardian of the Keyhole to Darkness. Meanwhile, Riku and Mickey finally meet up with Aqua, but are they too late? Just what sort of revelations await out heroes in the coming battles? Find out how strong their lights will shine in the face of such adversity, next time.

Now if that's not a sign that we're nearing the end, I don't know what is. Can't wait for when we finally get to see all the final fights that we're just itching to see, but until then...

Please read and review, and see ya real soon!