AN: Hey everyone, welcome to 2019, and sorry for the long wait, but now at last, we finally have another update for Hearts of Avengers, and even better, Kingdom Hearts 3 is just right around the corner! Yeah you heard me, as Woody had put it in Toy Story 3, IT'S RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!
[audience roaring applause mixed in with excited cheering from all KH cast members]
Oh yeah, you know that I was going to update at least one of my Kingdom Hearts stories before that came out, and I'm glad I finished this chapter when I did. I'm actually a little worried that I might not be able to update anything for a while because I'll be so busy playing that game.
Sora: Yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone would understand if that was the case, unless they're not a Kingdom Hearts fan.
AN: Well, here's hoping. Now, before we get into things, let's answer a review or two. Starting off with "theIrishWriter". To answer your question about Cap knowing any Irish or not...I'm not really sure if he ever did in EMH canon, and to be honest, I've never really thought about that too much myself. Now that you have mentioned it though, I'll have to remember that for later so I can work it in somehow.
I'd answer a few of "Dragon Rider 66"'s questions, but I think they've all already been answered by now. Though I will confirm that your guess about Ven's love interest is very accurate. And I will also say this: while some of Sora's classmates will be brought along for the ride on some of his other-world adventures, who says that it would happen while he's in the middle of class?
To the "Guest" of 7/18/2018, yeah, we've read some of Sword Art Kingdom, and to be honest, I'm really hoping we see some more updates for that series soon, because it is really good, and a nice take on the series.
"Twisted Pxl", glad to hear you're still going to be holding an interest in my work, despite knowing that we won't be seeing one without a SoKai pairing any time soon, and that you respect my decisions. That's always especially nice to hear from my readers and followers. As for the matter of Alien l'Cie, I am working on trying to get that out as soon as I can, but considering that I've got a lot of my focus on Kingdom Hearts stories or related titles, like anything involving Final Fantasy and Marvel, it may still be a while, but rest assured, I will try to get it out as soon as possible. Likely after my next update to A Spider's Focus, or even just a little while before that. Regarding your question about what show it would take place in, it would be in the style of Ultimate Alien, and takes place after said series. Omniverse will not have taken place in that story, but we will see some of the aliens from Omniverse; namely the good ones like Gravattack and Feedback.
Moving right along to "warrior of six blades", thanks for that little tidbit of info on the Heartless, but for the sake of this story, which is still technically quite the AU, we are most likely going to stick with what Yuffie had explained to everyone. Though that may change later on, given that a lot of what Yuffie knows is really just a theory that she had likely read from Ansem's research notes. Though the Avengers will have something that could potentially help Sora to deal with getting zapped away to another world when they might need him.
Iron Man: Hey, here's a couple of good questions from the guy called "Hotshot6".
AN: I'm getting to that, Tony! Ahem, to answer your first question, I most likely will not be including the world of RWBY in this story, as I have not really had the time to really look into that series very much. I'd hate to try my hand at writing something that I barely know anything about and end up with something that basically turns out as crap after all. Regarding your question about why I hate Deadpool...
Deadpool: Which is a mystery in and of itself, if you ask me. [gets blasted out of the room by several large satellite laser canons]
AN:...To keep it as short as I can: the big reason is that he kills people, not only without a care in the world, but he also laughs about it like it's the funniest thing ever. Not to mention he has several other qualities that I find distasteful, disgusting, or just flat out wrong. Plus there are also times when he leaves me feeling really disgusted, creeped out, or disturbed. I'm not saying that there aren't other heroes that are like that, but there's just something about the way Deadpool goes about it all that makes me hate him. You can say that's just me hating him for no reason other than just because, but I don't mind. After all, everyone's got at least one thing that they don't like just because, right?
Rolling it on over to "Guest" of 11/15/2018, I will indeed be trying to get a Stan Lee cameo into this story, as my own way of showing respect for the man who gave us such great marvels of heroes for so many years. RIP Stan the Man.
Finally, rounding out the review answers with "Fantasysword92375", the Disney version of Hercules will in fact be replacing the Marvel one in this story, but as far as Venom goes...well, I haven't really put too much thought about whether or not he would be in this story, or even how he would affect any of it. Maybe that will change later on down the line, but only time will tell in that regard. Also, on your guess about Sora's name...sorry, I can't say that in the story. Too big of a spoiler.
Wasp: You know, some people would say that's giving the answer away just with you saying that.
AN: Said the girl who's once again, not going to another world with Sora.
Wasp: [huffs as she crosses her arms and starts grumbling]
AN: Yeah, I think that answers "Spiderfan626"'s question on how happy Janet's going to be about not going to another world again. Like the story didn't already do that. Speaking of which, you've all waited long enough, so let's get on with the show. Pull the lever, Clint!
Hawkeye: [pulls the lever at the manual controls]
AN: [suddenly finds himself in the mouth of a Fishbone Dream Eater that drops down from above him] The other lever, wiseguy.
Hawkeye: I know. [grins with a smirk, indicating that was payback for all the times he had been caught in a spoiler-prevention gag and then pulls the other lever]
AN: [grumbles from inside the Fishbone's mouth] Someone get this thing off me while everyone enjoying the story!
I do not own anything from either the Kingdom Hearts or MARVEL franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter VIII
After his first trip to another world, and the success of his endeavors on that world, the Avengers were all sure that Sora would not be able to contain his excitement. Sure, they knew the kid had some semblance of self-control, but Sora did have a tendency to forget about certain details when something was especially amazing to him, and they were sure that would also include the fact that he was not supposed to bring up the topic of other worlds with just anyone. Thankfully, it turned out that they did not have anything to worry about in that regard. Sure, Sora did not hesitate to tell the story of his and Yuffie's adventure in Atlantis again and again when asked, but he did keep quiet about the whole thing whenever he was outside the mansion, even going so far as to not bring it up or say anything to his friends at Midtown. A lot of them thought it was a sign that Sora was much more mature than they gave him credit for, but they soon found out that there was another reason for his ability to keep it a secret.
It turned out that despite his claims, Sora was not able to get the Keyblade to send him to another world again, even in the case of Atlantis, as Wasp soon learned when she stumbled upon one of his attempts to go back to Atlantis one night after JARVIS told her that he was still awake on a school night. That had led to a meeting where Sora explained that he had tried just about everything to get the Keyblade to teleport him back to Atlantis, or even just any other world out there, but the Kingdom Key had done nothing but sit idly in his palm. This had once again raised everyone's worries about Sora being zapped away to another world right in the middle of something important, because if he could not make it happen willingly, it was going to be hard to keep it from happening at an inopportune time, like when he was in the middle of a fight against a supervillain, or worse, when he was in the middle of class. The last thing that the Avengers needed was having to worry about an entire high school classroom of students suddenly disappearing and ending up on another world with who-knows-what kind of dangers. That thought was what drove Tony, Hank, and Janet to all agree that the kid should be pulled out of school until Sora got a firm handle on that particular Keyblade power. Yuffie was upset when she heard that she still had to go, mainly to help explain the excuse for Sora's extended absence to his teachers and classmates, and she made it known to everyone in the mansion as often as she could, especially in the case of Sora.
Of course, whenever Yuffie did make a mention of how lucky he was to be out of school for a while, Sora was quick to argue that point and say that he was not getting it any easier at the mansion. Since his education was still important, the Avengers had all taken it upon themselves to home-school him, at least in the case of anyone who could do so, and when he was not studying school subjects, he was down in the training room for either practicing his combat skills with Steve and T'Challa, or trying to learn how to keep Kingdom Key from teleporting him to another world without his consent. Needless to say, Sora often had quite a few more bruises at the end of the day after a sparring session with Cap and Panther than he did when he had to attend classes at Midtown, but he did admit that it was cool to have Tony, Hank, and even Banner, when Hulk let him come out, teaching him a lot of cool science stuff. Given that they had all found various ways to apply school subjects that most kids thought were useless in real life in their hero careers, and in their normal lives, none of the three had any problem better explaining any of these things to Sora, or keeping him interested in them long enough for him to take notes and actually learn something without falling asleep. Now if only the same could be said for his history and English lessons with Steve and Janet.
At the moment, Sora was down in the training room, trying to focus on getting the Keyblade to teleport him to another world again, or figure out the exact feeling for when Kingdom Key was about to send him to a world in peril like it did the first time he went to Atlantis. Neither objective was going well for him, and Sora's frustrations were steadily climbing, but not just because of how little success he was having. The other reason was because the only people available to help him with that right now were Thor and Hulk, and it was barely even five minutes before the two were once again battling it out in an attempt to determine which of them was stronger. He was not even sure how it happened this time. One minute they were just casually talking, with the two, big bruisers sitting back as they carefully watched him attempt to teleport to another world, and the next minute, Hulk was roaring loudly as he punched Thor across the room. After that, Sora was forced to work on this with the added stress of avoiding the lightning strikes and flying debris that always seemed to follow when these two went at it, and after nearly getting turned into a pancake for the sixth time, and he was counting, or burnt to a crisp by a stray lightning blast, Sora finally had enough.
"Guys! I thought we were supposed to be helping me get a handle on my Keyblade's ability to teleport me to other worlds, not continuing your little grudge match while I have to run for my life," Sora irritably shouted as loudly as he could, hoping that the two could hear him over the booms and explosions that their battles always seemed to contain. Sadly, it did not seem to work, because the two just kept going, leading Sora to dodge another lightning blast from Mjolnir. "ENOUGH ALREADY WITH THE THUNDER!"
Sora had not realized it at the time, but when he was shouting that last sentence, he was also aiming the Keyblade upwards, and the minute he said that last word, a new blast of lightning came down from out of nowhere and zapped both the combatants. Neither of them was hurt, but they were both left just as surprised by where that last lightning strike had come from as the person who had called it down. "Odin's beard! Sora, you've gained the ability to command lightning magic," Thor gasped. "Truly your powers are growing stronger by the day."
"Yeah, no kidding," Hulk admitted. "This keeps up, and sooner or later, you might even end up getting almost as strong as me and Goldilocks."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Sora sarcastically remarked. "I mean, it's not like that's the whole reason why were down here in the first place. Oh wait a minute! That is the reason!"
Hulk and Thor had the decency to look sheepish at the boy's frustration, before Thor muttered, "Apologies, my friend. I'm not sure what came over us."
When Hulk mumbled something similar, all of Sora's anger quickly faded away, and drew him to sigh, "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be snapping at you guys like that. It's just…I'm really getting tired of having to figure out the magic powers that this thing has on my own, and nothing we've tried so far has helped. I know you're something of a magic expert, Thor, but you admitted on our first day at the mansion that you did not really know that much about the topic. Maybe if we knew where to find any of the Keyblade wielders that Fury and everyone else keeps talking about, I'd have better luck."
"Doubtful," Thor admitted. "I have actually spoken with Heimdall on the matter of locating either Terra or Master Aqua very recently, and he told me that even his all-seeing gaze has been unable to find a trace of either of them in the last ten years. It is most perplexing, and seems to have left him rather troubled as well."
"Great," Sora groaned in defeat as he plopped down on the ground. "So where else can we look? It's not like we know of any great trainers or teachers that know all about this stuff who can help me."
Hulk scratched his chin in thought about that before he revealed. "I may not know anyone who can help with everything involved with your Keyblade, but I do know someone who might be able to help with your magic a little bit. An old friend that Banner and I ran into a while back while we were on the run from Ross and SHIELD. I could try and give him a call for you if you'd like."
Sora just nodded in thanks to the Hulk, feeling a little too tired all of a sudden to really say or do much more than that, but before anyone could make any moves to leave the training room, the Keyblade suddenly jumped into Sora's hand again, and seemed to pull him up to his feet before the tip of the blade suddenly began to glow. "Uh-oh," Sora muttered, recognizing this particular glow in an instant. "I think the Keyblade's about to teleport me to another world."
"Try to hold it off until we've summoned the other Avengers," Thor commanded while reaching for the ID card in his belt.
"I think it might be a little too late for that," Hulk growled as the light from the Keyblade grew brighter.
"Here we go again," Sora shouted before the whole room was eclipsed in the Keyblade's light, and a moment later, the three had all vanished from Avengers Mansion, just as Yuffie and Sora had a few days ago when they were transported off to Atlantis. This time though, JARVIS managed to recognize this fact, and immediately informed the other Avengers of the three's sudden departure, giving Tony and T'Challa their cue to start analyzing the readings from the Keyblade that the AI had picked up at that point to see if there was some way that they could find a temporary solution for their young friend until he learned how to control the sudden trips on his own. They were just going to have to wait for the three to get back before they could tell him about any ideas they came up with, or even think of testing them.
When the light died down enough for the three to be able to see again, they found themselves in a place that was far different from where Sora and Yuffie had landed when they traveled to Atlantis. For one thing, the sun was shining brightly in a clear sky, and there was a large mountain towering over everything for miles. The area they were standing in looked to be the courtyard for a large building, and the entrance was flanked by a pair of statues that depicted two gladiators crossing swords with one and other. Looking around, they quickly spotted a few large boards that listed out several names, all of which had the names of what sounded like events, such as Pegasus Cup, Zeus Cup, and so on. On the doors both into the building, and out into the courtyard, there was also an emblem depicting a lightning bolt striking out from a cloud. The whole place was definitely something to behold, and for some reason, Hulk and Sora felt like there was some kind warrior waiting around every corner, though they could not explain how they could have known that.
Thor on the other hand did seem to know, as he started to grin in excitement at where the Keyblade had brought them. "Odin's beard," the Asgardian cheered. "We've been transported to Olympus Coliseum!"
"You know this place, Goldilocks," Hulk asked.
"Verily," Thor eagerly nodded. "My family and I visited this world many times while I was growing up. We're good friends of the rulers of this world, and like many other warriors of Asgard, I enjoyed participating in the Games."
"Games," Sora repeated. "What games?"
"The Games. A variety of tournaments that pitted the greatest of warriors and beasts against one another in an effort to determine who was mightiest, most worthy, and the truest of heroes," Thor explained. "Even I myself have participated in the games, and if I recall correctly, in one of my previous visits, I saw that Master Aqua and Terra had also competed and proved victorious in the games as well."
"Whoa! Sounds awesome," Sora grinned excitedly. Already he could feel his competitive nature beginning to ignite, because if there was one thing that Sora enjoyed, and that he shared with Hulk and Thor, it was a good chance to show he was the best fighter in the room. The only difference between the two bruisers and Sora was that he knew when the time and place for such things was, and right now, he knew that while this was most likely the place, it most definitely was not the right time. Upon remembering this, Sora quickly shook his head and said, "Doesn't matter though. We've gotta figure out what's wrong and then get back as soon as possible."
"What? Too chicken to try and enter one of these tournaments, Spiky," Hulk taunted, clearly eager to sign up for said competition.
"No. I just don't think this is the best time to be getting into the middle of a tournament when I can't fully control all of my powers, and there's also the fact that the Keyblade had brought us here for a reason. A reason that most likely has to do with the Heartless," Sora immediately reminded the big guy.
"Or perhaps there is another reason besides that," Thor offered. "This world is also known to be the home of many great heroes, and the great Philoctetes, the trainer of heroes. There could be a chance that the Keyblade brought us here so that you could receive some lessons from him, and learn better control over your growing powers, Friend Sora. And who knows? The Games may be an excellent training ground for you to improve your abilities in as well."
Sora was not as stupid as some people thought he was. He knew what Thor was actually doing from the moment he saw the gleam of excitement in the Asgardian's eyes. The blonde was hoping to enter the Games the moment that they had arrived in Olympus Coliseum, and it was apparent that the big guy wanted to do the same, since it would mean that the two could have another go at determining which of them was stronger. This was just another tactic in getting Sora to agree for them to sign up. Not that Sora really needed too much convincing, because he was already trying to stop himself from running into the arena lobby and signing up for one of the tournaments himself, but he was not going to just drop everything else for some silly fighting games when there was a chance that there could be Heartless lurking around any and every corner of this world. Still, he had to admit that Thor did have a point. If this Philoctetes could train Sora in order to help him better improve his abilities, then why not at least talk to the guy? After all, he was just saying that having a great trainer might help him to improve a lot more quickly not more than a few minutes ago, and if Terra and Aqua had been here, maybe Philoctetes picked up on a few tips from seeing them in action.
In the end, Sora could tell that he had been backed into a tight spot. It was either ignore this chance and just worry about the Heartless, or go with Thor and Hulk so that they could sign up for the Games while he spoke with Philoctetes to see if the trainer of heroes could help him to improve his control over the Keyblade's powers. Meaning, no matter what he did, there was a good chance that some, if not all three of them were going to be going into the arena, and knowing Hulk and Thor, Sora had a hunch that they were going to go in there with or without him, no matter what he said. These two and their rivalry was starting to become something that was hardly ever containable or controllable, after all, so it would probably be better if Sora made sure to go with them, just to make sure that they did not get into any trouble, or at least, not too much trouble. In short, these two had Sora beat in this argument.
"Okay, fine," Sora finally conceded. "We'll go talk to this Philoctetes guy, ask him if he knows anything to help me improve my abilities with the Keyblade, and sign you guys up for the Games."
"What? You don't want to compete too," Hulk asked.
"Against you two? No way," Sora immediately refused. "I don't have a death wish."
"Your loss," Thor shrugged. "But then again, you would likely get in the way of one of us."
"Thanks a lot, Thor. That makes me feel so much better," Sora grumbled under his breath before he followed the other two inside.
What the three Avengers did not know was that someone had been watching them from the moment that they had appeared in the courtyard, and after they had disappeared into the lobby, he decided to make himself known. The individual in question was a towering man with pale grey skin and blue flames for hair, with glowing yellow eyes and decked out in a long, black robes. If you came from this world, then you would know him as Hades, the Lord of the Dead, ruler of the Underworld, and most importantly, the sworn enemy of the greatest hero that Olympus Coliseum had ever known. It was actually the latter fact that had brought Hades up from his dark, vile kingdom, and the reminder of that fact only strengthened his anger of knowing that Hercules still lived the minute he saw a little announcement about the latest tournament to be hosted at the coliseum.
"'Enter now for a chance to face off with the greatest example of strength, gallantry, and true heroism,'" Hades read before his whole body erupted into red and orange flames to showcase his boiling anger to all. "Oh he's a great example of something alright. The perfect example of what is so INFURIATING! HE DRIVES ME CRAZY! JUST THINKING ABOUT THAT LITTLE SUNSPOT MAKES ME BOIL!" A huge plume of flames erupted upwards into the sky above Hades upon finishing that last statement, before he finally cooled down into his normal state, and said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Okay, fine, fine. I'm cool. Fine. There's no need to get all worked up. After all, Key-kid and his pals are here, along with the premiere golden boy of Asgard, so all I've gotta do, is let loose a few little monsters and my ace in the hole, and I'll get three, no four harpies with one stone. Still, better let a certain someone know about this."
With a wave of his hand, Hades then sent out a magic signal to the council of villains, and barely seconds later, Loki appeared in the courtyard beside him. "This had better be important, Hades. I was just in the midst of checking in on Enchantress and Night Hunter to see how their respective missions are going," the Asgardian rogue cautioned.
"Loki, old buddy, old pal, my absolute favorite Asgardian! Have I got news for you," Hades happily greeted. "Guess who just showed up on my doorstep. Huh? Come on, guess." When Loki remained silent, Hades just shrugged and said, "All right, you don't want to guess? That's cool. I'll just tell ya anyway. The Keyblade's chosen just popped in, and with the big green guy and your dear, brute of a brother in tow."
"Really," Loki smirked in intrigue. "Thor, the boy, and that rage monster are here? Right now? And knowing my brother, I can only assume that he's somehow managed to talk them all into entering the Games, am I wrong?"
"Got it right on the money there, pal," Hades confirmed. "I mean, talk about golden opportunities. We may not even need to wait for your big finale plan. We can just take out Thor and the kid right here and now, and we can do it while I'm bringing down Irk-ules."
"Yes, it would seem like quite the promising opportunity," Loki agreed with a sinister smirk. "While I would prefer to see my oafish brother finished in person, I will not deny that the sooner we end his interference, the better. Though I am a little skeptical about whether or not your plan to end Hercules will follow through, Hades. After all, your plans haven't really been all that…successful in the past."
"Oh, like you're one to talk. Remind me, how many times have you been hit in the head by that hammer of Thor's," Hades countered.
"At least none of my plans relied upon the whims of a mere mortal woman, while ignoring the fact she was becoming enthralled with the target of my vengeance," Loki argued, pointing out the major flaw of one of Hades's earlier schemes.
"Oh no, you just rely on the Asgardian Blondie who's obsessed with him on a creepy, stalker level, but can't get the time of day from the guy since he's got eyes for that nurse or the warrior goddess. Remind me again, how did that little scheme of cutting off Sif's hair end up going for you again," Hades retaliated in kind.
Loki took a moment to cool off at that point, and just shrugged as he said, "If anything, Sif should be thanking me for doing her a favor. Now she can make it more believable that she isn't a dumb blonde who's compensating for something by swinging around that sword of hers."
Both villainous gods laughed at the trickster's joke, until Hades calmed down again and said, "Well, either way, we can both acknowledge that we've made some mistakes, but this time, I've got a real winner, and a real piece of work who'll get the job done, with ending Hercules, the Keyblade's chosen, and his little friends in one, easy swoop."
"I don't think I need to remind you of the specific reason as to why you hired me, do I," a new voice interrupted, pulling the two's attention from each other, and over to the "piece of work" that Hades had been referring to just seconds ago. The person in question was a young man who appeared to be about eighteen to twenty years of age, possessed dark hair and blue eyes, which seemed to flicker with specks of red every so often, and every bit of his clothing was about as dark as his hair color. Everything from his shirt and jacket, to his pants and boots, to even the fingerless glove he wore on his left hand were all varying shades of black or dark grey, but what would really throw some people off would be the cool, calculating appearance he held in both his eyes and his stance that would give the impression of either being one of high authority, or just one who was aloof and highly withdrawn from those around him.
"And speak of the devil, or should I say speak of the prince," Hades started to say.
"That's king. I stopped being a prince the day my father died," the youth evenly corrected.
"Oh, right. The whole fall of Insomnia thing, with the soldiers, and the betrayal, and all that other jazz. I'd give my deepest condolences, but ya know, Lord of the Dead and everything. Seeing dead people is part of the job for me and all," Hades nodded in as close to an apology as he could honestly manage, which was saying something considering who he was. "Anyways, Loki, old buddy, allow me to introduce you to our ace in the hole: Nocty-Boy."
"It's Noctis. Noctis Lucis Caelum," the young king growled in a second correction. "The closest thing to a nickname that anyone can use with me is Noct, and only my friends are allowed to call me that."
"Right, right, whatever, kid," Hades brushed off, not the least bit phased by Noctis's irritation. "Anyways, don't worry. I haven't forgotten the deal. Just make sure you hold up your end of the bargain, and take out Hercules, the brat with the Keyblade, and those other two that just showed up with said brat."
Noctis just glanced at the door that Sora and his friends had disappeared through, and then said, "You're telling me that the great god of the Underworld is scared of a kid? The two bigger guys I can understand, but a kid? Sorry, but my contract says…"
"I know! You think I don't know? I wrote the contract," Hades raged before Noctis could finish. "I know it says you're only supposed to kill Hercules in the upcoming tournament if you want me to help you out, but guess what, with those three entering, you'll now have to fight them to get to him." When Noctis did not seem to change his opinion in the slightest, Hades just sighed and said, "All right, here's what: with their arrival, the contract just got a new amendment to it, so now, you've gotta get rid of those three as well if you want my help with anything. So guess what, you don't kill them and Hercules, and you can kiss any chances of finding your pals and your girl goodbye. You don't want that, do you?"
That earned Hades a bit more of a reaction from Noctis, because the young king immediately fixed a glare on Hades while faint shards of light seemed to dance between his fingers for a minute, while the red sparks in his eyes seemed to grow in number. It did not last long though, as Noctis quickly took a deep breath to calm himself, and grounded out, "Fine, I'll do it, but don't even think about backing out on the deal or double crossing me. I've dealt with a trying jester once before, and he found out just what happens when you try my patience."
At any other time, Hades likely would have burned the young man alive for his insult, but at the moment, the Lord of the Dead needed Noctis, so he had to just let it slide and seethe in silence as the king of Insomnia marched into the coliseum lobby. Loki on the other hand, had no problem letting his thoughts be known, even if he did wait until Noctis was out of ear-shot. "Quite the charming young pawn you've found, old friend," the trickster sighed in annoyance.
"You're telling me. I swear, the kid's even duller or just flat out stiffer than the stiffs back home at times," Hades grumbled. He then smirked a little when he added, "Still, suckers like him are hard to come by."
"And just what of this…bargain, you've made with him. Do you intend to uphold it," Loki inquired, honestly curious if Hades would or even could own up to his end of that particular deal.
"Oh come on, Loki. You know I'm a god of my word," Hades scoffed in reply, like it should have been obvious. "I said I was going to help him figure out where his friends and his lady were. I never said that I was gonna give him anything too exact, or that I would actually know where to look for them. Besides, his home was lost to the Heartless ages ago, like the worlds of all the rest of those shmucks who ended up in that one border world, Traveler's City, or whatever it's called. If they aren't there, then who knows where they could be. Not that he needs to know that just yet."
Loki could not help it. He just had to let out a sinister chuckle along with Hades upon hearing that. "Now that is why you are my favorite Olympian immortal," Loki praised. "You know just how to sucker others without breaking your word."
"Naturally," Hades nodded along. "But then again, you should know, considering I taught you a lot of what I know in that regard, and after you became the best at it, I learned a few new tricks from you."
The two gods continued in their shared laughter, both very entertained by the blind faith that Noctis had put into Hades, and at the thought of the upcoming show that they would soon receive. Not that you could blame them, because in the end, as far as they could tell, no matter who won that tournament, these two were going to be the only ones obtaining any prizes, while the other heroes wound up with nothing but a trip to the realm of the dead.
What the three Avengers had thought was the door to the lobby, actually turned out to be the door to the arena where the preliminary matches was housed, and as a result, they had inadvertently placed themselves into the rankings of competitors who were trying to complete said matches by entering when they did. Not that any of them were complaining, mind you. Thor and Hulk both actually laughed a little as they bashed, smashed, and blasted many of the opponents who dared to try and challenge them, and even went so far as to keep score on which of them had managed to take down the most opponents. Sora, on the other hand, had a small panic attack when he realized where they had ended up, but it barely lasted for more than a minute, as he had soon joined in on blasting and slashing his way through the preliminaries, and on the shared laughter of his friends soon after. In another situation, someone might think that three were a bit crazy, laughing it up as they fought against a large number of foes, but considering that this was all in good fun as part of a competition, no one could blame them for enjoying themselves. To be honest, Sora actually kind of wished that some of the other Avengers were here right now to either see the three of them in action, or to join in on the fun. He was actually a little curious to see who would win in a fight between Yuffie and T'Challa, or Steve and T'Challa, or even Yuffie and Steve.
Beyond the stunning surprise entrance of the three Avengers, the preliminary matches were not much to talk about, as most of it was really just a simple obstacle course that no one really seemed able to finish due to it being really difficult, or because of how the competitors were apparently allowed to battle it out with each other in an effort to slow the others down. By the time that the three Avengers had finally gotten through the whole course, they had realized that they were the only ones left standing, and that had left Thor and Hulk in a bit of a sour mood, as they both grumbled about how there was so little of a challenge on this course. Sora had to agree with them on that, as the course did seem like it was not that much more difficult than the ones that he and Riku had run through on some of their races back on the islands, but the fighters that they faced off with were at least somewhat of a challenge, at least for him. Then again, he was not as much of a powerhouse as Hulk and Thor, even though he knew that he had the potential to be one someday soon, so he could understand why they found so little challenge in the preliminaries.
All of that was an aside for now, as they had more pressing matters now that they had entered the lobby, and judging by the fact that there was only one other person in the room, it seemed that the man they had to talk to was actually a satyr. "Hey kid," the satyr said before any of the three could even open their mouths. "I know you're eager and hoping that one of these decathlon shmucks will actually make it in, but from the sound of things out there, I wouldn't hold my breath. If anything, we may have to cancel the Games. Not much of a tournament if there's only one or two competitors."
"Seriously? No one else made it through that course," Sora exclaimed in mild surprise.
Hearing the kid speak made the satyr pause in his work before he turned to face the people he was addressing, and he immediately figured out his mistake. "Oh. Sorry, thought you were someone else," the satyr apologized. "What're you yahoos doing here? This here's the world famous coliseum. Heroes only."
"I was not aware that such a rule had been added since my last visit," Thor lightly protested. "Though if you consider those warriors we faced outside to be heroes, I cannot help but question your judgment, old friend."
Hearing the Asgardian speak made the satyr start beaming a little more as he faced Thor and said, "Well if it ain't Asgard's golden boy himself. Been too long, kid, and it looks like you really hit quite the growth spurt since the last time I saw ya. Then again, Herc hit a huge growth spurt of his own in that time, so maybe it's just something about you gods or demigods."
"You know this puny little goat man, Goldilocks," Hulk asked.
"Aye, Friend Hulk. This is the very trainer of heroes that I was telling you and Sora about earlier: the great Philoctetes."
"This guy is Philoctetes," Sora asked in disbelief.
"Call me Phil," the satyr told him, and as a result he was pulled into a particularly powerful handshake by Sora. "WHOA!"
"Boy am I glad to meet you," Sora practically cheered. "I'm Sora, and this is Hulk."
When Phil pulled his hand back from Sora, he turned to get a good look at Hulk, and did not seem all that intimidated at first, even as he said, "Well, you're big. And green."
"Got a problem with that," Hulk growled.
"Buddy, I've seen way bigger than you and in a lot of different colors too. If I had a problem with anything, it would be the lifestyle I've had to take on by training all the would-be heroes that came knocking on my door," Phil revealed. That earned him a small smile from Hulk before he turned back to Sora and asked, "So why would you want to see me, kid? If you're looking for some training, then you're outta luck. I'm retired from that kind of thing."
"But you might be the only person who can help me get a better handle on how to use the Keyblade, and I really need to learn how to control those powers better if I want to really help my friends or not get zapped to another world at a bad time," Sora protested, forgetting for a moment that other worlds were supposed to be a secret when he did.
Apparently, that was not the surprising part to Phil, because when he paused and looked at Sora again, the first thing he asked was, "You're a Keyblade wielder? Like Terra, Aqua, and Ven?"
"Indeed, Phil," Thor nodded with a bit of pride. "Young Sora is the newest wielder of the Keyblade, and despite his lack of experience, he has proven himself to be a mighty warrior in battle, and to be one of great, noble character as well."
Phil was silent for a moment as he appeared to process what he just heard, before he finally said. "Prove it. Let's see the key itself and maybe a magic spell or two."
Sora was a little hesitant about just showing off what little magic he could actually do, but after getting an encouraging nod from Thor, he was raising his hand up and summoning out Kingdom Key for all to see, leaving Phil shocked at the sight. Getting so much as one spell out was a little harder, but he did still manage to cast Blizzard once again after a few tries. Still, the fact he had struggled to cast a spell had left Phil a little less impressed. "This is part of the reason why we are here, Phil," Thor admitted. "Sora needs whatever wisdom you can provide him in order to gain a greater mastery over his newly unlocked magical abilities."
Phil stroked his chin in thought, before he muttered, "Well…I don't know…"
"Aw come on, Phil. Please," Sora pleaded.
"Look, kid, I would if I could, really, but I've got my hands full at the moment running things here at the coliseum these days," Phil admitted. "And with the Games going right now, I've got even less free time for making sure the champ is staying in shape. I swear, if it weren't for me and how I've drilled a lot of stuff into him over the years building up to his ascension to true hero status, I'm sure that dame of his would probably have him slacking off every minute of the day."
"Didn't you just say that you were probably going to have to cancel the Games though," Sora pointed out.
"Well yeah, but it's not my fault that no one else can get through that preliminary round," Phil shrugged. When he noticed Thor giving him a bit of a look, Phil had to shrug and admit, "Okay, so I did set up the course, and maybe, just maybe, it was a bit more difficult than I had thought it might be, but it's definitely not my fault that these rookies we've been getting in here lately don't have what it takes."
"Humph. It wasn't that tough. I got through it pretty easily, and even Spiky and Goldilocks were able to make it," Hulk huffed in dismissal.
"Wait, what," Phil gasped in surprise. "You guys went through and beat the course?!"
"Um…We may have taken a wrong turn in our attempt to get here, and gone through…by accident," Thor nervously revealed as he drummed his fingers against Mjolnir.
"Well why didn't you say so in the first place," Phil demanded. "I mean, the runt may not look all that promising…"
"Hey," Sora snapped, knowing Phil was talking about him.
"But you, Thor! Ho-ho, you and this big guy here, are definitely what I'd call prime candidates for giving these people a great show and proving your metal as heroes in the Games," Phil continued on, either not acknowledging Sora, or just pretending like he had not heard the kid.
Hulk smiled a little at hearing Phil call him a hero, mainly because it still felt really good to hear people honestly say that about him, but it was hidden behind the excited smirk on his face for a chance to get into this tournament. "Hey, I've been looking for a good challenge anyway. Kicking around Goldilocks while he thinks he can knock me down gets boring after a while," Hulk shrugged like it was no big deal.
"I do far more than just think, my friend," Thor fired back with the usual, challenging look of confidence that he always had whenever Hulk mentioned one of their spars. "Though I would not recommend writing off Sora just yet, Phil. As I said before, he has proven himself a mighty warrior."
Phil hummed in thought before he finally seemed to take Thor's word for it, and said, "All right then, you're all in. Besides, with four competitors in the Games, counting the champ, the crowd won't be bored."
"You may want to count again. The Games have a fifth competitor that was able to get through your preliminary," a new voice interrupted, turning the four's attention to the entrance, just in time to see a young man in all-black step through with a sword in one hand. The youth glanced at the three Avengers for barely more than a second until his eyes came to rest on Sora. Seeing that the mystery man was staring at him so intently, Sora could not help but meet his gaze with a steady one of his own, feeling like he was being measured up somehow. It was more than that though, because somehow, he got the sense that this guy was trying to figure out something else about him, like there was something about Sora that the guy found familiar. When he finally turned back to Phil, Sora was a little unsure as to whether or not the guy found it, but that was not high on the list of important matters for now. "My name is Noctis, and I'm here to compete in the Games."
"And just how did you get through the prelims," Phil asked, clearly thinking that Noctis was not all that impressive looking. The young man's answer was quickly starting to change that idea though.
"Very easily," Noctis replied, and though his tone was even as he gave the simple answer, there was a dangerous undercurrent to it that sent shivers up everyone's spines. It was not exactly the chill one would get from an evil villain, but there was no denying that the way Noctis had spoken just now was meant to imply that one should not cross him, carelessly, if they wanted to survive to see another day.
Hearing Noctis's reply and seeing the intense glare that the young man was giving out was enough to make Phil decide it would be better for his and everyone else's health if he did not question how Noctis made it through the prelims until later on, so the satyr decide to just move things along, and asked that everyone form a line in front of him so that he could explain the rules and layout of the main event. "Alright, everyone listen up, because I don't want to have to explain the rules of this tournament more than once," the satyr began. "First thing ya gotta know, this tournament is run like an obstacle course. The goal is to get through any and all obstacles and over the finish line first. These obstacles can be anything from some fancy traps and surprises, to even a few monsters that are similar to ones you may have seen around here lately. Don't worry, they're not the real things, just a few recreations of those monsters created by the coliseum's magic. Whoever makes it over the finish line, and manages to remain in good shape, will enter into a final, battle royale with the champ himself that any of the other competitors can enter if they cross the finish line in a similar state."
"What if we cross the finish line and we're in no shape to fight," Sora asked.
"Well then, you're out. The Games end for you right there, and if you think that you'll just be able to put up a front despite being too hurt or tired to continue, then think again, because I'll be the one that has the final say on whether or not you can keep going," Phil replied. When he saw that the kid was going to protest, he immediately countered, "Being a true hero means ya gotta be able to keep going and keep getting back up, while knowing when you're too hurt to do so. This little tournament makes that very clear to any who enter, because you never know when you might have to pull out in order to make sure you can fight another day, or when someone you know realizes that you can't keep going without killing yourself and pulls you out for the same reason."
No one could argue with that point, and from what Phil could see, they all agreed with him, too. Even Noctis seemed to acknowledge this as fact, if the far away, nostalgic look he developed was any indication, but from where Sora was standing, there was also a sense of sadness in Noctis's eyes, and it made Sora wonder just why Noctis would be so sad at the memory of his friends. At least until he came to one conclusion that stood out more than any other. "Is he…like me? Separated from his friends and with no way to find or get back to them," Sora wondered to himself. He had to put it aside though, as Phil still had a few rules to go over.
"Now, when you're out there, you'll be allowed to use any method you have at your disposal to get through the course. You can even attack other competitors if you think it'll get you ahead, but if that does happen, I don't want to see or hear of anyone taking cheap shots of any kind, and I'm sure you fellas all know what I mean by taking cheap shots," Phil informed them, and from the extra emphasis he put on the word "fellas," they were all able to figure out exactly what he was referring to. "Moving along, you're also not allowed to carry any items like potions, ethers, or anything else that can heal you, so you'll have to rely on whatever healing methods or spells you do know, and nothing else. Any attempt at using a potion or any other kind of thing like that will result in an automatic disqualification. Final rule: everyone's gotta give it everything they got!"
"That doesn't sound like much of a rule so much as a statement," Noctis muttered, not knowing that the Avengers all agreed with his sentiment.
"Any questions," Phil asked.
"Yeah. Can we get this started? I can't wait to show just what I've got," Sora stated, finally admitting that he was just as excited about entering this tournament as Thor and Hulk were, much to the smirking entertainment of the two bruisers in question.
"Nope, you've gotta wait a little bit," Phil denied.
"How come," Sora asked.
"Two words: Everyone. Needs. To rest. First," Phil sounded out.
Hulk could not help but count out the actual words that Phil had spoken on one hand, despite knowing that it was definitely more than two, which prompted Thor to say, "He does that a lot. He may be a great trainer of heroes, but I don't think it was ever due to his mathematical skills."
While Hulk could only nod in response to Thor, Phil still had his attention on Sora as he explained, "You can't give it everything you've got if you're not rested enough, and no one comes to the games to see the competitors slouch their way through the competition like they haven't slept in days. Hence the reason why we've got a thirty minute rest period between the end of the preliminaries and the start of the main competition."
Sora could see the reasoning behind that, so he just nodded and moved to find some place to rest up a bit. After hearing Phil mention a lack of rest, he did have to acknowledge he was feeling a little tired after that unexpected run through the preliminary course. What he did not expect was for Noctis to suddenly hold out a canteen of water to him, though all the while, never actually looking at him. "Take it," Noctis said. "You look like you could use a little drink."
"Uh…thanks," Sora nodded as he slowly accepted the canteen. He was not so eager to drink right away though, since he was not sure if Noctis had put something in it before hand or not.
Noctis must have realized this, because he smiled a little bit and said, "Don't worry. There's nothing in there besides water. I can always take a few sips first if you want me to prove it to you."
Sora just shrugged at that, deciding to take Noctis's word for it, and quickly swallowed a few gulps of water before returning the canteen to its owner, and then decided that he just had to ask the young man about himself. "So, how come you're entering the games?"
Noctis's friendly expression fell into a much more closed-off and hardened one, as he replied, "Personal reasons. That's all you need to know."
It was surprising that Noctis was just shut himself off so quickly, and Sora likely would have tried to press on in an attempt to get the guy to open up, but something about how the air around Noctis had suddenly grown cold made the wielder of Kingdom Key think better of it. So instead, Sora just shrugged and moved along, never knowing that Noctis was watching after him in an attempt to figure out how the kid could be such a threat to Hades or his friend in the green outfit and weird, horned helmet. From what the young king could tell, the boy was harmless enough, but then again, he of all people knew just how deceiving first appearances can be, so he made a note to keep a close eye on the kid once the tournament started.
Thirty minutes later, the main event had begun, and the four had raced into the arena, with Hulk and Thor taking an early lead. Noctis was not too far behind them, but that quickly changed, much to the two's surprise, as he seemed to suddenly teleport a short distance ahead of them after throwing a sword into the path before them. It was shocking to be certain, but neither the Asgardian nor the gamma-powered hero was going to question it right now. They were determined to make it through this course, no matter whom or what stood in their path. Any traps that they encountered were brushed aside as easily as the ones that they found in Avengers Mansion's training room, so the only thing they really bothered with fighting were the monsters, which turned out to be various recreations of the Heartless. Seeing the dark creatures in the ring left them a little apprehensive at first, but after remembering what Phil had said, all concern had quickly left them. All the while, their young friend was having problems of his own.
Despite his best efforts, Sora had actually had a very slow start, and it did not seem like he was going to be gaining any ground any time soon. Between Hulk's ability to jump great distances, Thor's flight, and Noctis's apparent teleportation powers, Sora was just not able to keep up as well. Sure, he probably could have used the Keyblade Glider, but he was not sure if that would count as cheating or not and there was also the fact that he could barely control the thing too well to consider, too. Besides, Thor was only getting airborne for a few short bursts of time, so Sora did have good reason to believe that he could not just bypass the obstacles so he could reach the finish line faster. Despite his competitive nature making him more than a little annoyed with how badly he was getting left in the dust, Sora's problems in keeping up were not his biggest concern.
What really bothered the Keybearer was the Heartless that were appearing in the arena. Even though Phil had said that the monsters that appeared here were just recreations, there was something about them that gave Sora a bad feeling, much like the kind of feelings he would get whenever he encountered the Heartless before. The fact that so many seem to come after him at once several times made Sora all the more sure that these Heartless were not just some kind of magical recreations, but the real thing. Add in the fact that he was getting swarmed by so many different types of Heartless at once most of the time, all of which being types that he had encountered before, and Sora's theory only made even more sense in his mind. Still, he did not let that stop him. If he was going to get through this and prove to Phil that he did have what it took to be a hero, then Sora had to get through no matter what, so he charged right into every fight, Keyblade in hand, and slashed his way through every dark creature that dared to cross him. There were a few times when he did manage to successfully cast a spell or two to aid in his efforts, but for the most part, he stuck to just using the Keyblade to slice and dice the various dark creatures coming after him until he finally reached an open area of the course where he felt that he could safely catch his breath for a little bit.
At least Sora thought it was safe, until he looked up and saw Noctis standing in the very same field, looking none the worse for wear and completely calm. In an instant, Sora was on guard once more, remembering that Phil said interfering with your opponent was allowed, and there was a good chance that the older boy was planning to try and sabotage him. That is, Sora was thinking that until Noctis glanced over at him and asked in an almost bored sounding voice, "What're you doing?"
"Uh…getting ready to defend myself from your attack," Sora hesitantly replied.
"Well then I guess it's a good thing I'm not planning to attack you," Noctis remarked, much to Sora's confusion. "I'm just taking a chance to rest up, same as you. Though if you wanted to, you could use this opportunity to get ahead of me and get to the finish line. I think your friends are almost there now."
"Oh…uh…okay then," Sora slowly nodded, and he quickly started to make his way forward again. When he walked past Noctis without any incident, he immediately started thinking something was very wrong though, and he quickly turned back to ask, "Are you sure you're okay with me just taking off like this?"
"Sure. It's not like it matters either way. All the rest of you are going to end up dead no matter what," Noctis shrugged. The only thing that was more disturbing than that sentence though was how nonchalant he sounded when he said it, and that probably rattled Sora more than anything else.
"W-what do you mean by that," Sora gasped.
"Exactly what it sounds like," Noctis said, apparently not knowing that you should not announce an evil plan to the heroes unless you wanted to be stopped. "Once you all expend your energies fighting each other in your little tournament, I'll be the one to swoop in and finish the job, sending you, your friends, and the mighty champion of Olympus Coliseum straight to the Underworld." At that point, a loud boom echoed through the arena, no doubt coming from where the final stage of the Games was, leading Noctis to comment, "And from the sound of things, I don't think I'll have too much to worry about, since they've already started."
"Why…why would you want to do something like that," Sora asked. "I thought you were just competing in the Games for the same reasons as all the rest of us."
"You thought wrong. This isn't just a game for me," Noctis revealed, but it was clear that he did not intend to say more than that. An instant later, a strange, one-handed sword with various mechanical parts attached to it appeared in Noctis's hand in a burst of crystals, much like how the Keyblade often appeared into Sora's hand in a flash of light. "You can't save yourself or your friends, kid. Not so long as I've got to do this job, but if you decide to give up now, I'll try to make it quick and painless for you at least."
For what seemed like quite a long while, Sora just stared back at Noctis, not saying anything, but not giving any other indications as to what his answer would be either, and though he probably would not admit it, part of Noctis was actually a little worried that he might have pushed the kid a little too hard, or just scared him stiff. Both ideas was soon abolished though, as Sora finally narrowed his eyes at Noctis in anger before dropping into a battle stance, with Keyblade coming into his hand, while he practically growled, "There's no way I'm ever gonna give up without a fight. Besides, you just made a very huge mistake."
"And what would that be," Noctis asked, honestly more curious than he was intimidated by Sora's sudden change in attitude.
"No one and I mean no one threatens my friends," Sora shouted, and before Noctis knew it, the boy had charged him with a mighty swing directed for his head.
In that instant, Noctis was quickly placing himself on defense, parrying or blocking every single sword strike that Sora threw out, but he was having a hard time keeping up at first, given how fast the strikes were coming. His surprise was eventually shaken off though, and he managed to slip away from Sora's next strike so fast that he left a faint afterimage in his wake, much to the Keybearer's shock. Noctis then took his chance to attack, and was soon laying several quick and powerful strikes of his own into Sora, coming at him from multiple angles at varying intervals, and preventing Sora from finding a pattern to Noctis's attacks. That did not keep Sora down for long, as he was able to at least block a good number of Noctis's attacks, and soon found a chance to roll clear of the other man's range of attack. Upon spinning around, Sora aimed the Keyblade directly at Noctis, hoping against hope that he would be able to call upon a spell that would blast the older man back a little further so that he had some more distance, but before he could even think of a spell, Noctis had banished his sword back to wherever it came from, and switched it out for a pistol that he immediately fired several rounds from.
"You didn't think that my Engine Blade was the only weapon I commanded, did you," Noctis rhetorically asked while dismissing the gun for a pair of daggers, before he charged Sora again.
Sora was quickly dodging left and right, calling upon every bit of skill that he had learned from Yuffie, T'Challa, and even Steve in order to keep ahead of the quick jabs and stabs that Noctis was now throwing at him, but eventually, he found that he had to dismiss the Keyblade so that he could better avoid Noctis's attacks. That turned out to be a bit of a mistake on Sora's part, as he was left with no way to defend himself when Noctis suddenly switched out his daggers for a large, greatsword, which Noctis did not seem to have too much trouble wielding, given how fast he spun around as he prepared to cleave Sora in two with the massive blade. It was only by a crazy miracle or dumb luck that Sora had managed to dive to the side in time to avoid being either cut in two or bashed in the head with the massive thing, but he did still end up receiving a blow to the head when Noctis swapped out his weapon again, this time replacing it with a polearm, the blunt end of which had been the part to hit Sora.
It took Sora a minute to shake out the cobwebs from that last blow, but by the time he did, he was resummoning the Keyblade in order to deflect several different arrows that were fired out from an auto crossbow that Noctis had switched over to after dismissing his polearm. When a pause in the rain of arrows finally came, Sora took his chance to turn his Keyblade on Noctis again, not even thinking too much as he called upon the power of his uncontrollable magic, and blasted the dark-clothed man with a burst of Blizzard. The ice shards that Sora shot out missed its mark due to Noctis dodging at the last second in the same way that he had before when he needed to get out of Sora's initial barrage, but Sora did not let that deter him for too long, as he was soon casting a blast of fire magic that was sure to hit Noctis. The stunned look on Noctis's face as the fireball closed in on him made Sora think that he might have gotten him with that attack, but after the blast had struck and the smoke cleared, Sora was shocked to see that Noctis had once again switched weapons and blocked his attack with a triangular shield.
"Okay, how many different weapons do you have? This is just getting ridiculous," Sora groaned upon seeing Noctis dismiss the shield for his initial sword once more.
"Said the boy who wears shoes that look like they were made for jesters," Noctis quipped in easy retort.
That got a very heated glare from Sora, while his Keyblade seemed to glow with a new energy and he shouted, "Don't. Ever. Say. I wear clown shoes!"
A minute later, Sora had rushed Noctis again, but this time at a speed that Noctis had not seen before, and he was soon raising his sword in defense again. He managed to parry Sora's blow, but what Noctis did not expect was that the boy would immediately spin around and charge him again, and again, and several more times over, ultimately getting past his guard, even when he had switched out his sword for a proper shield. When Sora came to brief halt behind him, Noctis only caught a glimpse of a faint glow of light before the kid charged one last time, with a powerful strike of his blade following in the wake of his charge. After the kid had passed, Noctis was not only overcome with a feeling of being slashed, but was also hit with an explosion of energy that knocked him off his feet while Sora swung his Keyblade down into a position of standing at ease. As a result, Noctis had dropped to his feet, with his shield dropping to the ground before it vanished, giving Sora the chance to get over the shock of his sudden new ability and then move to hold Noctis at sword point, just to make sure that he did not get up.
"I'm not going to let you hurt any of my friends, Noctis. Now stay down. This is over," Sora advised, his expression completely hard. On the inside, however, he was incredibly excited over how he seemed to have unlocked a new power, one that did not involve blasting someone with one of the elements, but seemed more in tune with his skills with a blade, but right now, he had to keep that inner party right where it was: inside. There were more important things to be concerned about, like the man who had said that he was pretty much hired to kill the Keyblade Samurai and his friends.
Noctis refused to admit defeat though, because he still had at least one trick up his sleeve. "I told you, kid, I can't stop. I've got too much on the line that depends on me finishing this job," the young man revealed as he fingered something that he had hidden in one of his pockets.
A minute later, Noctis had tossed out a smoke pellet that left Sora waving around blindly and in a harsh coughing fit. When his vision finally cleared up, Sora saw that Noctis had vanished, and he quickly started looking every which way that he could in an attempt to find him. Thankfully, he did manage to spot Noctis before he had vanished completely, but the bad news was that Noctis was already a fair distance away, and was quickly able to get further away when he suddenly tossed his sword forward and then seemed to teleport right over to where it had stabbed into the ground, much to Sora's surprise.
"Skilled with multiple weapons, able to summon and switch between them at a moment's notice, and he can teleport! This guy is just way too overpowered," Sora muttered begrudgingly. He shook it off though as he started chase after Noctis, but he could not stop himself from wondering aloud, "How the hell am I even going to catch him when he can teleport himself like that?"
It was at that very moment when yet another splitting headache suddenly struck him, and just like the last few times, he was soon finding his vision going black before the coliseum had faded away completely, while a certain trio that he was starting to get very familiar with came into his view.
The ring of metal clashing against metal echoed through the air as Aqua and Terra's Keyblades collided with one another in a fierce lock. After a few minutes though, the two broke the lock and jumped back, before Terra rushed forwards once again, determined to bring his blade down on the bluenette. Aqua easily leaned to the side to avoid the powerful slash and the next one, with a quick jump backwards placing out of a third strike's reach, but Terra had expected that, and he knew that his fourth swing would hit its mark without any problem. When he saw his blade closing in on Aqua, a part of him had to grin a little at knowing he was about to score a win against her, but his mood soon changed when he saw that the woman did not look the least bit worried. The next thing Terra knew, Aqua had vanished from sight, and his Keyblade only struck air, making him stubble as he tried to catch himself before he fell on his face. Just when he had regained his balance, the familiar tip of Aqua's blue Keyblade came to rest by his neck, and Terra could only groan in frustration as he glanced back at the smirking woman who wielded Rainfell so well.
"No fair. You cheated," Terra groaned. "We agreed that we weren't going to use magic this time."
"Actually, we just said no Shotlocks, Command Styles, or spells. We never agreed to not using magic that enhances our movements in one way or another," Aqua corrected, her victorious look not faltering in the slightest. Terra would have protested that if he could, but he knew that she was right, and he could only growl in annoyance at his carelessness in letting Aqua set such specific rules for their most recent spar, much to the woman's enjoyment. "Come on, Terra. Say it."
"No," Terra refused, only to see Aqua's Keyblade moving closer to his neck, as if she were reminding him that he would likely be dead by now if this were not just a friendly spar.
"Say it," Aqua repeated, still grinning.
"Urgh…fine. I yield," Terra sighed in defeat.
"And…"
Terra's only response was to raise an eyebrow in confusion until he realized what she was fishing for. "Okay, I'm definitely not saying that."
"Yes you are. We made a bet, and you lost fair and square," Aqua reminded him. "So come on…say it."
As much as he did not want to, Terra knew that Aqua was right, so he steeled himself for what was about to happen, and gritted out, "All hail Master Aqua, queen of the battlefield."
"And…"
"And maestro of magic."
"And…"
"Please don't make me say the last one," Terra almost whined. He refused to admit that he had been whining at all.
"Well you gotta, so you're gonna."
Terra knew he was likely about to lose a few masculinity points when he said this, but like Aqua had said, they made a bet and he lost fair and square. "And my superior in every way imaginable for now and all of time. Long may she reign. Happy now?"
"Delighted," Aqua chuckled as she finally lowered her Keyblade, clearly very amused by Terra's misfortune, and she was not the only one, as another person could not help but laugh as the view drew closer to them.
"Oh, she got you good, Terra," the voice of Ventus teased. "I should've brought my camera for that last part alone."
"Yeah, keep talking, Ven. You won't find it so funny when it's you who's on the other end of her Keyblade and being forced to say that," Terra grumbled in retort.
"Like that's ever going to happen," Ventus shot back. "Unlike you, I'm smart enough to not say things like 'boys are tougher than girls' and mean it. Especially not while Aqua is in hearing range, because I know she would put me in the ground several times over. You're the one who needs to work on that."
"Aw, isn't that so sweet," Aqua cooed as she rubbed the viewer's head. "Now if only Terra could be as well-trained as you are."
"Hey," Ventus whined, knowing that his teasing had just been turned against him, a fact that was only reinforced by Terra's small bit of laughter. He shook that off though as he asked, "But what was that you did at the end, Aqua? Was it like some kind of super-speed-dodge or something?"
"No. I just teleported," Aqua replied.
"Teleported? Like how the Keyblade can send us to a world in peril 'teleported'?"
"No, this is a different kind of teleporting," Aqua explained. "You see, Teleportation is actually a special kind of movement magic that's great for moving quickly over a short distance or dodging attacks like I did against Terra. The way it works is that you just have to picture yourself in the place you want to go to, or imagine that you're somewhere other than your current location, apply a little bit of magic, and then imagine yourself there."
"Think of it like the Sliding Dash or Aerial Slide abilities. Only instead of a fast paced run, or sprint through the air, you're basically jumping from one spot to another. Right," Terra picked up, only pausing to look at Aqua to make sure he was describing it right.
"Just about," Aqua nodded. Her eyes then became half-lidded as she pressed a kiss to Terra's cheek and cooed, "It's cute when you try to help me teach important lessons to our friend."
"So I'm only cute when I'm teaching Ven something, huh," Terra questioned in response, though his smile indicated that he knew that was not what Aqua meant.
"Well…you do have a few other moments," Aqua teased before she wrapped her arms around him and started to lean upwards a little more.
Terra was about to lean down and meet her lips halfway, when Ventus groaned, "Ugh, guys! I'm still right here, you know. Can't you wait until after I'm gone to start swapping spit?"
"Well, someone's jealous that he doesn't have a special someone," Aqua noted with a smile as she backed off, shooting her boyfriend a wink that promised they would pick up where they left off later.
"Yeah right," Ventus scoffed. "I may know better than to say things that would piss off a woman, but unlike you guys, I don't need to get together with 'the one' to be happy, or feel complete, or whatever you want to call it."
Aqua's smile did not falter in the slightest, even as she apparently hummed in thought and said, "Terra, I think Master Eraqus told me you had said something just like that once."
"Yeah, and then about a month later, you showed up on our doorstep and threw all plans I had for remaining a bachelor for life out the window. Thanks for that," Terra added in, knowing exactly what Aqua was implying when she brought that up.
"My pleasure," Aqua smiled in reply as Terra pressed a kiss to her cheek, much to her enjoyment.
"Guys, come on. Get serious. It's never gonna happen for me," Ventus insisted. "I mean, Aqua's the only girl around here, and I'm not about to go chasing after my best friend's girlfriend, and that's without the fact that she's so much…more mature than me."
Aqua had to give Ven props for not calling her old, even if it was not in the wrong way, but she was not going to let that stop her from letting Ven think he was going to be alone forever. "Hey, you never know. You may wake up one day and find her sitting at your bedside, eagerly waiting to meet you, and then end up completely under her spell just because of how beautiful you think she is."
"Okay, that seems a little creepy. Why would she be at my bedside, or even in my room? Doesn't that seem a bit stalkerish to you," Ventus tried to argue, but he really should have figured out that he was not going to win this argument.
"Who said she would be in your room," Terra asked. He then furrowed his brows in thought before he said, "But you know Aqua, maybe it wouldn't be a 'she'. Maybe Ven plays for the other team."
"That wasn't funny the first time, Terra, and it isn't any funnier now," Ventus snapped in response, and just like that, both of his friends were laughing their heads off at his misfortune. "Hey, come on, guys. I've told you that I do like girls, and besides, this is more than a little off track. I thought we came out here to do some late night training, not talk about whether or not I'd get a girlfriend."
The three all settled down after that, and returned to their previous activities of sparring practice and helping Ven learn about the Teleport ability just before everything went white.
Sora could not help but gasp as he came back to the land of reality from his vision, once again wondering why he had seen the whole thing through what he could only assume were Ventus's eyes. It just did not make any sense. Why was he seeing these visions, and why was it that they felt like his own memories when they were clearly someone else's? He shook that off though, because right now, he needed to catch up with Noctis before the older boy could hurt any of his friends. Just as he was about to start running, he thought back to what he had seen in his vision just now, and what Aqua and Terra had said about the ability that they were trying to teach to Ventus. It seemed a little crazy to think that he might actually be able to do that, since he had not even managed to handle casting a spell with any modicum of control, but then again, Noctis was able to teleport as well, and he made it seem pretty easy, so would it be the same for him if he tried?
"Well, what've I got to lose, other than my friends," Sora asked himself. He then looked to a spot a fair distance away from him, closed his eyes to better imagine himself over there, and after applying a little bit of the energy inside of him that he could only assume was his source of magic, he felt as though he was suddenly shifted away from where he stood at a fast pace. When he opened his eyes again, Sora glanced every which way to see that he had just moved from where he previously stood, and he could only grin before he looked forwards again, preparing to make sure it was not just a fluke of luck. The results were very satisfying, as he suddenly vanished from his current position in a flash of light, and then reappeared several feet ahead of where he was seconds later. Seeing this, Sora could not help but laugh in excitement as he cheered, "I did it! I actually did it! I can teleport!"
A sudden, loud boom brought Sora's cheers to an end, and reminded him that now was not the time to celebrate his success at learning a new ability. So, after shoving his excitement to the back of his mind for the moment, Sora instantly broke into a run, teleporting himself forward by several feet every few steps or so while hoping that he would not be too late to save his friends.
A Few Minutes Earlier
Thor and Hulk were a little concerned about Sora at first when they saw how far behind he had fallen after they started the race through the obstacle course, but any worries they had were immediately forgotten the minute they caught each other's gaze and decided that they had to gain the upper hand against the other. After that point, their minds were focused on nothing other than getting to the end of the course and facing off with the champion of Olympus Coliseum. No matter what got in their way, the two were able to bash, smash, or blast it aside with ease, and despite his slow start, they just knew that their young friend was likely to not be too far behind them, while there was no telling how close that other boy, Noctis might be, so they made it a point to make tracks for the finish line as soon as they were done with each battle. When they finally reached the end of the course, they came out into a much simpler arena where an entire crowd of roaring spectators was cheering loudly, while Phil stood up in a boxed off area to announce the competitors as they came out of the course. The minute the satyr saw them, he had to smirk a little before he grabbed the bullhorn to announce their arrival.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Give it up, for the first competitors to enter the final round of the Games," Phil shouted out to the crowd, causing the cheering to increase in volume. "First up, is the golden boy of Asgard, the master of Mjolnir, the Asgardian God of Thunder himself: Thor!" Phil paused for a moment to let the crowd cheer loudly as Thor lifted his hammer into the air with a grin to show his appreciation for their praise, and when the cheering had died down enough, he continued on. "Second is the bruiser of a new comer, the mean, green, rage machine, all the way from Marvel-topia, the incredible Hulk!"
While the crowd cheered almost just as loudly for him as they did Thor, Hulk let out a bellowing roar as he flexed his muscles, before he shouted out his famous catchphrase, "HULK SMASH!"
"Yeah, you can tell this big guy's ready for action any time," Phil commented as the cheering grew a little louder in response to Hulk's declaration. "But can either of them handle the champ himself? It's time to find out, because here he is now: the one, the only, the mighty…HERCULES!"
Bursting out through the gate on the other side of the arena came a tall, muscular man with rust-colored hair, clad in orange-brown that ended in a metal kilt, a blue cape hanging from the shoulders of his suit, brown knee-high sandals with brown cross-shaped straps with matching colored wristbands and belt, and a reddish-brown headband tied around his forehead. When he came to a stop in the middle of the arena, he immediately stopped to flex his impressive muscles a little while smiling the crowd, who were all cheering even louder than before, with some of the spectators even chanting his name a little. Thor on the other hand, merely stood where he was, appearing very shocked, and for a moment, Hulk thought that the Asgardian had lost his nerve. He was about to try and snap Thor out of it in the way that only the Hulk could, when Thor suddenly grinned widely and shouted, "YEEEEEEEEEEEES!"
The stadium grew a little quieter at that, but not completely silent, while Hulk just gave his friend an odd look for his sudden outburst. After a few seconds, Hulk just had to ask, "What's with you, Goldilocks?"
"We know each other," Thor explained as he indicated himself and Hercules. "He's a friend of the family."
"Oh," Hulk said in response before he looked between the two for a few seconds. Eventually he just shrugged and added only one additional word to his previous statement. "Cool."
Hercules seemed to pay the two little mind as he continued to flex and smile for the crowd, but when his gaze swept over in their general direction he paused for a moment and then looked back before a large grin appeared on his fast as he rushed forward to clasp hands with the blonde Asgardian. "Hey, Thor, old buddy," Hercules cheered happily. "It's been way too long, pal. How've ya been?"
"I have been rather well, Hercules," Thor smiled in return. "I have missed you as well, my friend, but so much has happened since we last met. Loki's recently in the midst of another banishment from Asgard, and hopefully this time he'll have learned his lesson, I've been keeping a strict and steady watch over Midgard these past few years, and I've found many powerful warriors during my time there, including my friend here, Hulk. He has not only proven able to hold his ground against an Asgardian, be it myself, Skurge, or Amora, but he's also shown to be one that many a villain or monster should fear, lest they suffer his wrath."
"Not exactly hard since just about everyone back home's afraid of me," Hulk grumbled.
"Wow, that's awesome," Hercules whistled, either having not heard Hulk's comment, or just too impressed by what Thor said to care. "Anything else?"
"Well, let's see," Thor scratched his chin in thought. "Um…Oh, I'm now part of a team on Midgard that's dedicated to protecting both her and her people from many great threats, and of course, there's also the fact that one my new allies is also…"
"Hey, ladies! You can catch up on the latest drama on your own time! In case you all forgot, there's still a tournament going on," Phil interrupted, bringing an abrupt end to the two's conversation. "So stop standing around gawking and gossiping, and get ready to rumble!"
The minute that Phil had said that, he had also hit a large gong as hard as he could, leading for a new eruption of cheers to spring forth from the crowd, earning Thor and Hulk a sheepish shrug from Hercules, as the hero of Olympus Coliseum said, "He does have a bit of a point. How about we save it for later?"
"Aye, that would be wise. Now come, old friend. Let us do battle once more, but just so you know, I am far stronger now than I was years ago, and I shall not hold back," Thor cautioned with an excited smirk while he gave his hammer a few simple spins.
"What a coincidence. I was going to say the exact same thing," Hercules smirked in return, while his body lit up with a gold-colored aura.
The two were immediately charging at one another, when Hulk suddenly jumped in between them, and clapped his hands together in a powerful thunderclap that sent them both sprawling back the way they came. "What? Did you think I was going to sit back and watch while you little girls were braiding each other's hair," Hulk joked to the two.
The gamma giant's remark just got him an excited grin from both Asgardian and Olympian, and like that, all three powerhouse bruisers were trading blows that shook the entire arena and beyond. Literally, they were shaking the entire arena, the town just outside, and even several other areas miles away with every blow they struck against one another. Even the Olympian Gods such as Zeus, Hera, Hermes, and Ares could feel the tremors that these three were causing with each blow that they landed, and almost sounded the alarm out of concern that the Titans were marching on their gates once again before Hermes took a look to see what was really going on.
Everyone witnessing this battle firsthand would say that it might as well have been a clash between the actual Titans, because these three were displaying a power and strength that could only have come from such beings. Every punch that Hercules threw was easily matched by an equally if not more powerful one from Hulk. Whenever Hulk tossed a particularly large piece of the ground at one person, Thor's lightning was quick to follow before it blasted both gamma giant and Olympian hero. To round it out, wherever Thor went into the air, Hercules was quick to jump towards in order to tackle the Asgardian back down to Earth once again. There were even times when the fight was a little comical, like when Hulk grabbed Hercules by his cape and flung him around several times over like a rag-doll before he finally threw him into a charging Thor, sending both of the two on a collision course with the wall. A bit insulting for the two, but they were having too much fun to really care about that, and to be honest, Hulk was enjoying himself a little too, even when Hercules paid him back for that little throw around by wrapping his cape around Hulk's head, and then proceeding to ride him like a wild, angry bull.
Still, there were times when the fight was also rather frightening. Due to the sheer power that these three were throwing out, the barrier that kept the audience safe from the combatants who were battling it out in the arena could not always stay strong, and thus, some cracks were formed that let some of the shockwaves from anyone of their colliding blows, Thor lightning, or even the occasional aura sphere from Hercules slip through. Luckily the blasts were not too serious, and so far, people were able to get clear before they were hit by the ones that were, but it was still cutting it close. It got even closer when Thor zoomed up into the sky to spin his hammer around, charging it up with lightning as he did, and several lightning strikes rained down around him, many of which either struck his two opponents or the barrier, but some did slip through and nearly zapped someone into a crisp. More often than not, it was Phil who ended up ducking down in order to avoid getting struck by Thor's lightning, and when he tried to shout for Thor to be careful, he ended up getting hit by one last bolt. Thankfully, it was one of the weaker ones, but it was still powerful enough to give him a really serious twitched while static electricity surged through him for several minutes.
"Hey! Would you take it easy on the spinning hammer of lightning thing," Phil shouted in frustration as his body jolted from the jolts that were running through him.
Thor did not seem to hear, but that may have been due to how he had to stop charging his hammer in order to deflect another aura blast from Hercules, and that opened up a chance for Hulk to lunge at the Asgardian and bring him back down to the ground again. As a result of Hulk's tackle, Thor ended up losing his grip on his hammer, and Mjolnir crashed to the ground with a powerful boom. Hercules was quick to rush over and try to lift the hammer, only to find it would not budge. That did not stop him though as he was sure he could lift it no matter how heavy it was, but no matter how much strength he used, or how hard he pulled, Mjolnir just would not budge. Eventually, it just got to the point where he should probably have stopped trying, but had not due to stubbornness.
Pinned as he was beneath Hulk, Thor could still glimpse his friend's predicament and had to smirk as he revealed, "Don't waste your impressive strength, old friend. Only those who are deemed worthy may lift Mjolnir, and despite your great power and reputation, you are not worthy of my mighty hammer."
Thor's smirk quickly vanished though, as he saw that Hulk was now grinning at him, and before he knew it, the gamma giant had lifted him up off the ground at last, and started dragging him over to where Hercules was. Hercules was then grabbed by the Hulk as well, once again by the cape, and Hulk then lifted Thor into the air as he pointed out one small flaw in Thor's reason for confidence. "Just because we can't hit you with the hammer, doesn't mean we can't hit the hammer with you," Hulk growled.
Before either immortal knew what was happening, they were finding themselves being slammed down onto Mjolnir several times over, and Thor was soon left wondering if the pain he was feeling from each blow was anything like what his enemies felt when he struck them with the hammer. It would end up being a mystery that would be solved another day, because at that moment, Noctis finally appeared in the arena in a haze of blue energy, and quickly summoned forth the sword he had used to direct his teleportation. He may have been a little tired from all the teleporting and his fight with Sora, but he still had enough strength to jump in and finish any one of the three when they were tired enough. The next time Hercules had hit the hammer, Noctis decided that now was the time to jump in, and he immediately jumped towards the battling three with his blade pulled back to its zenith. When the blade came down though, it met another with a powerful clang, and Hulk was blasted off his feet from the shockwave, releasing his hold on the other two bruisers as a result, while all three were momentarily blinded by the brief flash of light that had come just seconds beforehand.
"I won't let you do this, Noctis," Sora shouted, prompting all three to look and see that it was the Keybearer himself who was holding Noctis's blade at bay. "I get that you must think you have a reason for this, but nothing is worth taking someone else's life like how you're trying to take the lives of my friends and Hercules's."
When he first saw the young boy wielding a Keyblade, Hercules was left shocked and in awe, as it had been a long time since he had last encountered someone with a Keyblade, but Sora's words had come well before he could question either Thor or the young man on the matter, and he was immediately focusing more on them than anything else. "He does know that this is just a tournament, right," Hercules asked Thor. "No one's actually trying to kill anyone."
"That's where you're wrong," Sora revealed. "Noctis is here because someone hired him to kill you, me, and my friends. He thinks he doesn't have any other choice but to do so for some reason."
"Because I don't," Noctis shouted, startling everyone. "If I ever want to find who I'm searching for, I have to kill each one of you."
That left the other three heroes startled and a little confused, but Sora was more focused on Noctis's latest statement. Sora was not sure if the young man realized it or not, but with that simple declaration, he had unintentionally given Sora a better idea of why he was doing all of this. It may not have been all the details, but it was still enough for Sora to piece together more of a picture from this puzzle. A few more pieces quickly fell into place when Hades suddenly burst into the arena in his usual poof of smoke and fire, glaring a little at both Hercules and Noctis.
"Hey-ya, champ. What's the hold up? I figured you would've ended it, wrapped up, put the old kibosh on Wonder Boy and the rest of these shmucks by now," Hades told Noctis, with a very noticeable angry tone. "So maybe you could explain to me why it is that you're taking your sweet time trading glares with the Keyblade kid instead of just ending it like you promised you would?"
Hades should have been a little more careful with what he said, because the minute he heard the word "Keyblade", Noctis's push to get through Sora came to a grinding halt, and he immediately broke off from the sword lock he had Sora in so that he could jump back and give the kid a new, wide-eyed look of surprise. A second look would have allowed one to see that it was not just Sora that Noctis was studying, but the weapon that Sora was holding as well, almost as if he had only just realized what it was and needed further confirmation to prove that it was real. With every passing, silent moment that Noctis looked at Sora, the tension seemed to increase almost tenfold, leaving everyone wondering what was going to happen when Noctis finally acted again, and even more so on what he was going to say next. When he finally did speak, all four combatants were surprised to hear him stutter with a tinge of horror in his voice that could only come from someone who had realized that they had nearly made a grave mistake.
"Y-you…Th-the Key…You're the…You're the Keyblade wielder of legend," Noctis had finally asked Sora in barely more than a whisper.
At this point, Sora probably should not be too surprised that someone was placing him on such a huge pedestal, but at the moment, he was more concerned with Noctis and what he may or may not do with the answer that the Keybearer gave him. So, after gathering his courage and bracing himself for whatever may or may not come, Sora hefted Kingdom Key upon his shoulder and stated, "I don't know about being the wielder of legend, but I am the newest wielder of the Keyblade. Hence part of the reason why some people call me the Keyblade Samurai."
When he heard the boy's answer, Noctis's face immediately tightened into a dark, vicious scowl, but it was not aimed at Sora, Hercules, or any of the other heroes that he had previously been targeting. No, his glare was fiercely locked onto none other than Hades, and his words were laced with so much venom, you likely could have killed a few giants several times over with them. "You hired me to kill the person who is most likely the worlds' only hope against destruction that the coming darkness promises to bring," Noctis had snarled.
"You say that like you're surprised," Hades scoffed. "I mean, hello! Lord of the Underworld and God of the Dead here! Come on. It should be obvious that I wouldn't want someone to stop major death and destruction, 'cause safe worlds and all that is bad for business. Like I'm really going to just sit back, chill out, have some snacks, and basically just let some goodie-goodie do-gooder prance around and keep people from meeting their ultimate fate of falling into the Underworld. Now, if we're done criticizing and pointing out obvious stuff, how about we all just get on with our lives, or afterlives as it will soon be in some cases, and you can just use your sword, or one of them other fancy weapons, or even that armiger thing you do, and put kibosh on Irk-ules and all these other heroes?"
Noctis did in fact call forth his sword again, but it was not to attack Sora and the others. No, this time he aimed it right at Hades as he snapped, "Forget it! The deal's off!"
"Eh-hehehe, I'm sorry," Hades chuckled as he picked his ear a little bit. "Do you mind running that by me again? I must've had a chunk of brimstone in my ear or something."
"I said the deal is off," Noctis repeated, slowly for extra emphasis. "None of my friends would want me to take the life of someone who holds the potential to be the greatest light in all the worlds for them, and especially in the case of Luna." He then smirked a little bit as he moved his sword into a ready position and said, "If anything, they'd all probably kick my ass for not pounding you into whatever counts as your afterlife for even suggesting that I do so."
Noctis's words had grabbed Sora's attention, as it confirmed what Sora had already suspected about the kid, but what was really more attention grabbing was the fact that the boy had gotten Hades really riled up, not that anyone really needed to be told that considering his flames went from blue to red once again while he roared in anger, "You'll wish you hadn't done that you little, ungrateful twerp!"
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Hercules quipped as he moved to stand alongside Noctis, with Thor, Hulk, and Sora not far behind. "Now you've gotta deal with all five of us."
"Oh, and you think I'm worried, concerned, or even the slightest bit unsettled by that," Hades chuckled as he cooled off. "Please, don't make me laugh."
Just to prove his point, Hades let loose a powerful fireball right at the five heroes, but Noctis immediately swapped out his sword for a large shield to block the blast and keep both himself and Sora safe, while the others dove to either side to avoid it. Normally, Thor and Hulk probably would have just stood there and took the blast, thinking that they could handle it, but after their past experiences with the likes of Enchantress, they knew it was better to err on the side of caution. As the smoke from the explosion faded, Sora leapt out at Hades, with Keyblade in hand, and let loose a powerful swing on Hades. The Keyblade did not seem to do too much, as Hades barely even flinched when the attack landed, and then merely swatted Sora aside like he was a fly. Thankfully, Sora was saved from a painful landing, as Noctis teleported into his path and caught the spiky haired teen before he could hit either the ground or the wall. Sora could only smile in thanks to Noctis before they rejoined the fight as Hulk and Hercules both charged Hades, each with a powerful punch at the ready.
This time, Hades felt a great deal of pain, as indicated by how he was forced to revert to his normal state, and not only was he the one sent flying, but he was sent flying right into the path of Thor's hammer. The Asgardian did not hesitate to bash Hades as hard as he could, sending the Lord of the Underworld high into the sky, where Sora had teleported to, and was waiting to hit him again with his Keyblade, this time determined to make it hurt. Thankfully, Sora succeeded in doing so, and he quickly teleported back down out of the air before he could fall to his death. Hades would likely have done something to help him recover from the combined assault, had he not suddenly been struck by several arrows, courtesy of the crossbow that Noctis had just summoned forth. A minute later, Noctis had dismissed the crossbow, and his eyes glowed red while what looked like several, crystal weapons took shape and began to rotate around his body, much to Hercules and Thor's astonishment, and Sora and Hulk's amazement. The latter two because they had not seen very many things like it before, while the former two due to how they could only think of one person that could possess such power.
"I warned you, Hades. I've already dealt with one trying jester, and now, you'll not just see, but experience what happened to him firsthand," Noctis growled, and a minute later, he had charged and began unleashing all of the crystal weapons on Hades at once, be in the usual fashion of grabbing one of the spinning weapons to attack with, or by simply waving his hand at Hades while sending a mental command for the weapons to attack him on their own.
The others could only look on in amazement as Noctis literally flew around the arena while laying into Hades with a fury unlike any they had seen before. "Should we…do something to help him," Sora finally asked after a few more minutes of watching.
"…Nah. I'm actually enjoying the show," Hulk shrugged.
"I agree. It is not often one witnesses the power of the King of Lucis in action like this," Thor nodded along.
"Yeah, he's got this covered," Hercules smiled in final agreement. "Besides, Thor's the only one who can fly, and even if he wasn't, we'd all probably just get in his way right now."
That last one was probably the only one that Sora could agree with, but he was curious on how Thor had referred to Noctis as a king. It was actually more than a little surprising to Sora, because aside from the way he would sometimes speak and carry himself, Noctis had not really given any signs that Sora could see of being a king, or at least not the kind that Sora normally thought of, but then again, it was probably rude of him to base such ideas off such a simple stereotype. He probably would have questioned Thor on the matter a little more had Noctis not suddenly found himself in trouble.
The young man had been doing well against Hades, but he had also allowed his anger at the Lord of the Dead to blind him a little too much, and as a result, Hades was able to find an opening in Noctis's rapid, powerful attacks and then begin his counterattack, starting with a stream of fire from his hands. Noctis barely managed to raise a shield in time to protect himself, but even then, he was still left with quite a few serious burns, and the pain from that alone managed to make him lose all concentration before he fell from where he was in the air. Thankfully, Sora teleported up to catch Noctis and then teleported them both back to safety on the ground, effectively returning the favor from earlier, leaving the other three to make another run at Hades while Sora did his best to move Noctis clear.
Sora did not have to do too much to make sure that Noctis was safe, as Phil had just entered the arena and volunteered to watch over the young man while Sora helped the others. The Keybearer did not hesitate to take the satyr up on his offer, and immediately turned to help the other three in taking down Hades, his Keyblade already charging with the same energy he had used against Noctis earlier. Thor was the first to notice Sora charging up, and he immediately signaled for the other two to move back, giving Sora the perfect opening to rush in and slash at Hades several times over. When he came out of his final slash, an explosion of energy followed as he lowered his Keyblade, just like last time, and Hades was immediately blown out of the arena completely. The heroes all had to wince a little when they heard strange moaning sounds coming out from the darkness, among which they could hear Hades shouting in what could most closely be considered fear.
"I get the feeling he's not going to be too happy when he gets out of wherever we blasted him to," Sora noted.
"You mean if he gets out of there," Hercules corrected.
Sora was going to argue that, but he soon paused to think about it, along with how hard it was to fight Hades just now, and had to agree with that idea. "If…If is good."
Despite how great the fight was, even Thor and Hulk had to agree that they did not want to fight Hades again if they could help it. That did not stop anyone from thinking that this was not going to be the last they heard from the God of the Underworld.
"What?! What do you mean the Games are cancelled," Sora demanded about an hour later when everything had calmed down and some healers had finally had a chance to see to Noctis and the others' injuries.
"Exactly what I said, kid. The Games are cancelled. End of story," Phil informed him and the others.
"But how come," Sora asked.
"Two words: everyone is pooped!"
"Oh come on. Even I've never been that dumb," Hulk grumbled, knowing full well that was not just two words.
"You gotta be kidding," Sora complained, still hung up on the Games being cancelled. "After everything we all just went through, you're gonna cancel the competition just like that? I never even got a chance to face off with Hercules."
That got a smirk from Hulk, and he could not resist teasing, "Hah! Knew you wanted to get into the competition with us."
Sora just huffed in response, not willing to admit that Hulk was right, while Hercules came forward and said, "Sorry, Sora, but you wouldn't want any of us to compete in this condition. Besides, from what Thor told me, you've still got a long way to go before you've even mastered some of your powers, so why don't we have a match after I've rested up and you managed to at least master the basics of being a Keyblade wielder."
That got the wielder of Kingdom Key thinking for a minute, and he had to admit that he did like the sound of that a lot better than trying to have a match with anyone here right now. Even without Phil's comment, Sora could tell that everyone was tired, though some were better at hiding it than others, like Hulk, so in the end, Sora could only smirk to Hercules as he said, "Okay, sure, but don't think I'll be holding back if that's the case."
Hercules had to let out a chuckle when he heard that, and said, "You know, you really remind me a lot of Ven. He said the same thing when he helped me out with my training a few years back."
Sora could not help but grin when he heard that. Sure, it was a little annoying to be compared to Ventus like that, especially when you considered the fact that it seemed like everyone and their grandma knew said boy and his friends, but then again, considering what he had heard about the guy, it would be hard not to feel a little flattered by the comparison. At that point, Thor came over to the others, shouting, "My friends, he's starting to come around!"
Everyone knew that the Asgardian was referring to Noctis, and they quickly made their way over to the young king, just as he had lifted himself into a sitting position. Most of the group was not sure what to make of Noctis, considering he had just been trying to kill them a moment ago, but before anyone could voice their concerns on that matter, Sora stepped forward and asked, "You okay?"
"Yeah," Noctis nodded, though he could not help but look away from them in shame. "Sorry about…well, trying to kill you guys. If I had known before…"
"Hey, don't worry about it," Sora reassured him, surprising Noctis a little. "Having people trying to kill you because of what a bad guy said is just another part of being a hero, right? Besides, you learned the truth and helped us in the end, so I'd say we're cool."
Noctis nodded in thanks to that, before Hercules decided to ask the big question. "Why'd you agree to help Hades any way?"
That prompted Noctis to look away, clearly not sure if he could answer in a way that the four would understand. Any such ideas were quickly forgotten when Sora answered in his place. "You were separated from someone important to you and Hades promised to help you find them, didn't he," Sora asked.
Noctis immediately gave the kid a surprised look, wondering how he could know that, and all but confirming that Sora's guess was right. "Yeah," Noctis finally nodded. "To be more accurate, I'm looking for my brothers in all but name and blood, and my wife. We were separated after our world fell to the Heartless. I've been chasing after even the smallest clue to their whereabouts ever since. After all of this though, I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever find them."
"You'll find them," Sora reassured him. When Noctis looked at him in confusion, Sora explained, "I'm searching too."
"For your friends," Noctis asked, though there was an underlying message that asked if Sora was also searching for someone who was more than just a friend as well. Whether or not the kid got that message was hard to say, but either way, Sora still nodded in reply, prompting a smile from Noctis before he handed Sora a small gem with his family crest on it. "Don't lose sight of the light, and when you find them again, don't ever let go of them."
Sora studied the crystal for a minute, wondering what it was for, and immediately looked to Noctis for an explanation, asking, "What's this?"
"Just a little something that you can use to call for backup if you ever need it," Noctis replied. "After all, if the legends are to be believed, you're going to need all the help you can get in the future."
Hearing Noctis mention a legend again reminded Sora of what he had said to Hades, and he had to ask, "What legend were you talking about earlier any way?"
Noctis hesitated for a minute before he finally fixed a powerful look on Sora and said, "Let's just say that if it is to be believed, and you are the chosen one, then you may very well be for all the worlds what I once was for my kingdom: a powerful light of hope that will shine through the deepest darkness."
It would have been hard for anyone to come up with words to say in response to that, and Sora was no exception to that rule, so he just nodded in reply, and Noctis took that as his cue to leave, albeit at a much slower and steadier pace than you probably would have expected. Just before the young king was out of the arena though, Thor called out to him, "A moment, King of Lucis. If your friends did survive the Heartless as you claim, they may be somewhere on another world. A recently made friend of ours claims that there is a world out there for refugees that many people are said to be transported to when their world falls to the darkness."
Noctis looked to Thor for a minute, gauging how much of the Thunderer's words he could believe, before he finally nodded in reply and said, "I'll look into it."
With those final words, Noctis parted from the arena with a smile of thanks, and the others could not help but smile a little as he left. All they had left to worry about at that point was sealing the Keyhole, because Sora was definitely planning to lock it shut before they left, given how the Heartless were obviously a much bigger threat to this world than some of the people here probably realized. Thankfully, Hercules was able to help them out with that problem, and before the Avengers knew it, they were standing in the temple of Hercules's father, Zeus. Upon entering the temple and speaking with Hercules's dad via the massive statue of Zeus, the three were able to find the Keyhole easily enough, and Sora did not hesitate to seal it up, ensuring that the Heartless would never be a problem for this world, and guaranteeing that they could now go back home.
Just before Sora was about to teleport the Avengers back home, Phil came over to him to offer up a small piece of advice on mastering his magic. "I may not know much about the Keyblade wielder stuff, but here's something that I know is true about anything that you need to train for: mastering your basics is always the best route to take. If you get the basics well under your belt, everything that comes after, while slightly more difficult, shouldn't be too hard to handle. If I were you, I'd start off by mastering the Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder Spells before messing with too much of your other spells, because from what I do know about the Keyblade stuff, those three are always the most basic spells that every one of you guys are supposed to know."
"Got it," Sora nodded in reply. "Thanks Phil."
The satyr nodded in return, and with that, Sora summoned forth Kingdom Key, and the Avengers were soon teleporting back to Midgard, hoping that they had not been gone for much longer than Sora and Yuffie had been when the two had been sent to Atlantis.
"Half the day?! We were gone for half of the whole day," Sora exclaimed when Tony told him how long he and his most recent world-traveling companions had been gone an hour after they had returned. Thor and Hulk had already helped him to explain everything that had happened at Olympus Coliseum, and while Hulk had left a short time ago to call up that friend he mentioned who could help Sora master his magic, and Thor went to either meet with his friend, Jane Foster, or do some other Asgardian thing, Sora had elected to stay behind to see if the team had figured a way to help him handle his surprise trips to other worlds better, and figure out how long they were gone for. Needless to say, he was more than a little surprised by the answer to the latter question.
Tony just shrugged in reply as he pointed out, "Well, I did once tell you that time passes differently when going from one world to another."
"Forget about that," Wasp interjected. "I'm still stuck on the fact that you went to another world without me again!"
That prompted a tired sigh from Sora as he once again asked for the size-changer to let it go; knowing that she most likely would not. Ever since they got back, Janet had been whining and complaining about how she had been left behind once again, despite Sora promising that she would go along the next time he went to another world, or so she claimed. In truth, Sora never actually made that promise, at least not word for word. What he had actually promised was that he would take her to another world at some point in the future, and after he figured out how to really get a handle on traveling between worlds. That did not mean that Janet was going to let up on her complaining though.
"Despite Wasp's disappointment at missing another adventure on a different world," T'Challa interjected with a slight bit of teasing, earning him a mild glare from Janet. "Your most recent transport did give us the readings we needed to help you better ensure that you can travel between worlds safely, or at least as safely as possible."
Tony nodded in response to this, and produced what looked like a gauntlet for Sora to try on. "I've been working on these gauntlets as the next piece of your partial armor. They were originally designed to work as extra protection for you, since the sleeves of your jacket and shirt don't cover your arms, and they even extend over the palms of your hands to give you a low-grade repulsor. Nothing too big like the ones I use, but they'll definitely be enough for you to be able to at least stun someone who's wearing armor."
"Cool," Sora grinned excitedly as he strapped the gauntlet onto his right arm. "What's the new feature then?"
"It's now got an energy scanner that should be tuned specifically to the energy frequency that the Keyblade gives off when it's about to teleport you to another world," Tony replied. "With that scanner, you should know in advance when the Keyblade's about to zap you to another world, and with enough time for you to either call us before it happens, or at the very least, so you can get away and prevent any civilians from getting brought along for the ride. Well…in theory, anyway."
"In theory," Janet questioned, suddenly feeling a little more worried for their youngest member.
"To be fair…it's not like we can really test it, since Sora hasn't mastered teleporting to other worlds on his own, and we've only got two sets of readings on the energy that the Keyblade gives off when it's doing that to go off of," Tony reasoned. "But I'm very sure that it should work like it's supposed to."
It seemed like that was good enough for everyone, as Wasp was soon changing the topic to something else, "Speaking of teleporting, Thor mentioned that you've got a new power now, Sora."
"Oh yeah! I can teleport now," Sora exclaimed happily.
"Yeah, we know about that one," Tony reminded him, thinking that Sora was referring to how he traveled between worlds.
"No, not that kind of teleporting…I mean…well here let me show you," Sora decided when he failed to think of a better way to explain it in words. An instant later, the Avengers were all shielding their eyes a little as Sora disappeared from where he stood in a flash of light, and then reappeared on the other side of the room with a wide grin. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Yeah, I'll say," Janet agreed.
"Agreed, especially since it should help make sure you get to class on time tomorrow," Tony revealed. When Sora gave him a confused look, Tony explained, "Now that you've got that gauntlet on you, it should be at least closer to safe enough for you to attend your classes like normal, so guess who's going back to Midtown tomorrow."
While Sora let out a small whine at that revelation and Yuffie cheered about "no longer having to endure the torture alone", T'Challa had fallen silent as he puzzled over how Sora had learned this new power all on his own, because he doubted that something like that just came to the Keybearer. It just seemed a little too much like how Sora learned to get something closer to better control over his magic on his first day of school, and that was all the more reason for T'Challa to ask, "How did you learn of this new ability, Sora?"
The minute that T'Challa asked that question, Sora had fallen quiet once again, and that was all the Avengers needed to become concerned. Not that he thought that the team should be worried too much, because he doubted that it was really that big of a deal or really anything that could be a cause for concern, but still, Sora was not so sure that they would believe him if he said that he had been having visions of Ventus, Terra, and Aqua, or even how he was seeing some of them from Ventus's point of view. Yes, he had told Thor about them, but the Asgardian was more open to that kind of thing than the others likely would be, and to be honest, Sora did not want the team to worry anymore about him than they already were.
With all of this in mind, Sora elected to give something of an evasive answer and said, "Let's just say that it sort of…came to me after I saw how Noctis could teleport a few times."
The Avengers seemed to take that for now, and Sora could not help but breathe a quiet sigh of relief at that. Sure, it was not entirely a lie, but he still did not enjoy omitting certain parts of the truth either. He knew he was going to have to come clean about his visions eventually, but for now, Sora felt it was better to play it safe and wait a little bit longer before he said too much or anything about them to the rest of the team. Then again, Tony did mention that he had met Ventus in person once, so he figured that it would be best to reveal the truth about his visions if he ever saw one of that particular time in history. He just hoped that it was not going to come any time soon, because right now, Sora was tired and just wanted to go to bed.
AN: Game, set, and match. In case it was unclear, this time around, the story of Olympus Coliseum was heavily based on the one you went through in Chain of Memories. And before anyone asks, yes, that was indeed our old pal Noctis from Final Fantasy XV. But better than that, it's a Noctis that got a much happier ending than the one he received in the game, most notably due to the fact that Luna is in fact still alive in this story's continuity. She's just MIA at the moment along with the rest of Noctis's pals. Three guesses as to where their kingdom is from in this story.
Sora: Considering how many of the Final Fantasy characters come from there, I don't think they'll even one. Plus, you also made a slight reference to Traverse Town too. That's pretty cool.
AN: Yeah, I know, but don't think that means we're going to see said world any time soon. Also, yeah, we got in another reference to Thor: Ragnarok in this chapter. You all know the one I'm talking about.
Spidey: What I'd like to know is why you had Sora take time off from school like that and ended up sending him back, despite the fact he technically can't control his world-hopping powers?
AN: Well, now that he's got a snazzy new gauntlet that's designed to warn him in advance if the Keyblade's going to send him to another world, I think he should be more than okay to attend class without too many worries. Besides, it's not like you could tag along with him to another world due to being zapped away with him while in class. You two aren't even in any classes together. Remember, the only Spider-Man character that does share a class with Sora, besides lunch period, is Miles Morales, so it's kinda hard for Peter Parker to join in on an adventure on another world in that case.
Oh, and let's not forget we saw another vision of the BBS trio, plus the first take down of a member of this story's Villain Council. Sure, taking down Hades isn't ever really a permanent thing, but keep in mind, Hades doesn't show up as a major threat again until the next game in the KH series, so for this story...I'd say we're good to call that a win for the heroes. And before anyone asks, yes, the things that were mentioned about Loki in this story did happen. Look it up if you don't believe it.
Wasp: Can I please be one of the ones going to the next world?
AN: Sorry, but no. For one thing, the next time we go to another world won't be until after the Gamma World adventure, and for another thing, I've already got the characters for that world lined up. But you will go to another world eventually.
Wasp: But when?
AN: You'll know when it happens.
Wasp: [grumbles under her breath] Yeah, meaning it'll be practically time for the next story when it happens.
AN: It won't be that long. Just keep your skirt and wings on, and wait.
Hawkeye: This is going to become a running gag, isn't it?
AN: Well, I'm certainly aiming for that. As for everyone else, you should all aim to move Onto the Preview!...
The Avengers are forced to break off their latest pursuit of a Breakout escapee when SHIELD comes along to request for their help in containing a situation that has developed at the Cube. It's bad enough that the prison has been seized by supervillains, but the fact that a gamma dome is expanding outwards and turning everyone inside of it into horrible monsters that are similar to the Hulk only makes it worse. Hopefully the Heartless and Night Hunter stay out of this mess, but just how long will it be before Sora actually finds himself wishing that he was dealing with them instead of this? And can the team handle battling an entire prison full of Hulks before they are turned into gamma monsters as well? Stage one of the Leader's ultimate plan begins, in the next thrilling chapter.
Yep, Part One of Gamma World is coming up next, but for now, we join the masses in waiting for the big release of Kingdom Hearts 3, and until that day, and once I find the strength to pull myself away from said game to work on another story...
Please read and review, and see ya real soon, fellow true believers!