About an hour later, Hercules successfully hauled Cerberus back to the Underworld and everyone was given time to relax. Back at the entrance to the Coliseum's arena, Phil, alongside a proudly smiling Hercules, addressed the seven victors of the harrowing battle with a scroll bearing a congratulatory essay.
"Thus, I do hereby dub the 'junior heroes' and confer upon the full rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further-."
"Hey! What do you mean 'junior' heroes?!" Donald angrily interrupted as an expression of shock and disbelief spread across the faces of the group.
Jaune, equally miffed, piped up with an indignant complaint of, "Yeah! After all we just went through, you telling me we're only 'junior' heroes to you?!" His complaining elicited a shake of the head from the satyr. Looking to them with a much more serious expression, Phil put the scroll away and pointed at his interrupting pupils. "You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a TRUE hero."
Ruby, Sora and Weiss were certainly less than happy for Phil's choice of words. He really was a stubborn old goat, after all. Goofy on the other hand wasn't exactly bothered, and more curious than anything else. "So, what does it take?" he inquired, much more levelheaded than everyone else.
"Well, that's just something you'll have to find out for yourself. Just the way that I did." Hercules answered, smiling encouragingly at the entourage of hopefuls. If their determination to run straight into something as dangerous as Cerberus for the sake of helping him and that Cloud fellow was any indication, Hercules was certain that they all could go the distance like he did, and become heroes in their own right.
Despite his initial irritation toward Phil's judgement, Sora felt reinvigorated in his desire to prove that he had what it took to be a hero. Perhaps it was Hercules' encouraging words, or simply his youthful vigor. But either way, he was eager once again to prove himself a hero. "No problem. We'll start by proving ourselves in the games." he said, pumping a fist optimistically.
"Yeah! We'll get in there and kick monster butt! Like WOOAAAA! YEE-HAIYAAOOOO!" Ruby said, striking a series of silly poses with over the top, falsetto, martial artist battle cries.
A display which made Weiss let out a groaning sigh. "While I may not be as keen on these games as these buffoons, I would be happy to show you just how exquisite I am in battle. A Schnee is nothing if not bearing potential for heroics." she said with a rather boastful flick of her side-hanging ponytail. A display which Jaune darn near swooned at, much to the disheartening chagrin of Pyrrha.
"There ain't gonna be any games for a while. Gotta clean up the mess from that last battle first." Phil said, gesturing to the 'CLOSED' sign hanging in front of the path to the arena.
An announcement which drew an saddened "Awwww..." from Ruby. She was really looking forward to getting in on the fun that Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jaune had. Oh well, there was always next time. At least they all took their first step toward being recognized as heroes.
"Okay, we'll be back." Sora said cheerfully, as he and his companions waved to Phil and Hercules, who waved back as the group of victorious Junior Heroes departed.
Jaune was the last person to leave in the back and smirked. "The next time you see us, Phil? We'll all be REAL heroes."
Smiling at his bravado, Phil gave a terse nod. "Looking forward to it," he said when waving farewell with Hercules. They were out of ear shot when he spoke again, sounding genuinely impressed. "I still can't believe those squirts actually beat Cerberus."
"Just between us?" Hercules whispered when leaning to Phil's ear. His satyr friend leaned closer with interest to listen. "I had already worn Cerberus down by the time those guys jumped in."
If that was true, then Sora and the gang might not have actually suceeded. At the same time, they still managed to handle themselves against such a ferocious opponent. Realizing that meant they had potential, that made Phil a little more assured. "My lips are sealed."
Everybody walked together, Ruby talking about how amazing Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jaune all were during the preliminaries and about how they took down something like Cerberus. She calmed at the sight of Cloud sitting on the stairway out of the Coliseum and hanging his head gloomily. Everyone stopped as Sora asked, "Hey, are you alright?"
Cloud briefly looked up at Sora, not saying anything for a moment before eventually responding with a half-hearted tone, "Yeah."
Cloud was certainly a powerful fighter, but Sora felt he wasn't really a bad guy. Though something had been bothering him ever since Cerberus showed up. He remembered briefly seeing the flames of Hades' fiery hair when the bestial canine attacked. "So why'd you go along with him, anyway?" Sora asked
"Didn't we do the same?" Goofy asked, scratching his head. After all, they did use the pass Hades gave them. "No. He smooth talked Sora and Jaune." Donald corrected, glaring at the blonde boy who recoiled from the judgemental stare. "Huh?!" He couldn't exactly say much else in response. Especially when Weiss compounded the clarification. "In other words, he took advantage of the bright-eyed enthusiasts," she said, crossing her arms as she turned to look at Ruby while continuing. "People so soft and clueless are often naïve and gullible." Innocently, Ruby looked at her friend with confusion, asking, "Uhhh, why are you looking at me while saying that, Weiss?" Not even bothering to clarify, Weiss rolled her eyes as her point was proven. "I rest my case."
Cloud however was not nearly so naïve or gullible. His circumstances for going along with Hades were far different from theirs. Leaning forward and resting his face against his hands, he confessed his reasons. "I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help." Looking for someone? That certainly caught everyone's attention. Cloud was looking for someone?
"Wait...If you aren't really with him, then why did you have all that dark stuff when you were fighting us?" Jaune asked, remembering getting a whopper of a helping of said stuff from Cloud's jumping thrust.
"I tried to exploit the power of darkness...but it backfired." Cloud elaborated morosely as he stood up, looking past the heroic statues crossing swords with a faraway expression. "I fell into darkness, and I couldn't find the light." If she knew about what he almost did...would she have understood?...Would she have forgiven him?
Pyrrha could see the sincerity in Cloud's eyes, and heard it in his voice. Whoever this person was he was looking for, he really cared about them if he was willing to go so far. "Well...wherever that light you're looking for is, I'm sure they're looking forward to seeing you again too, Cloud." Her emerald green eyes shifted toward Jaune, as if she liked to think that it was that belief that brought them together again. Jaune of course, simply nodded in agreement, oblivious to Pyrrha's gaze.
Cloud wanted to believe Pyrrha's words, but the doubt continued eating away at him. The loss of his old friend, the destruction of his world, it left him more doubtful than he'd felt in a long time.
"Pyrrha's right. You'll find it." Sora's encouraging words drew Cloud out of his thoughts and his gaze back down to the brown haired boy who smiled up at him understandingly. "I'm searching too." Sora said, having a feeling that Cloud was looking for someone very special. Just as Sora was looking for Riku and...Kairi.
"For your light?" Cloud asked, drawing a firm nod from Sora. The determination and certainty in the boy's eyes stirred something in Cloud. This boy was still young but there was much elation and will in him. It somewhat reminded him of... that old friend of his. Were he still alive, Cloud was certain he and Sora would have been good friends as well. Stepping toward Sora, Cloud handed Sora something small and shimmering as he said, "Don't lose sight of it." then walked toward the entrance and exit of the Coliseum.
Everyone looked curiously at what Sora was given. It seemed like a large, smooth marble glowing with a faint energy of some sort. In Sora's hand, it almost felt alive. "How about a rematch sometime?" Sora called out to the departing Cloud. "Fair and square. No dark powers involved."
His enthusiasm made Cloud stop. With a wave of his fingers through his blonde bangs, Cloud looked back, and for a split second he had a small smile on his lips. "I think I'll pass." And with that, he left. Sora smiled, feeling confident that despite Cloud's words, they were certain they'd meet him again. Despite what happened and how he initially acted, Cloud wasn't a bad guy. He only got caught in a bad situation.
But with that out of the way, the rest of the group crowded around Sora to look at the object Cloud gave him. "So, what is that?" Weiss asked while curiously inspecting it. "Some sort of jewel?" Jaune inquired, resisting the temptation to touch it.
"It looks so pretty~." Ruby said in an awed, girly manner as her silver eyes fixed upon it intensely.
Pyrrha gave a hum as she looked at it with equal fascination. "I can't tell why, but I think it has some kind of power. I've certainly never seen anything like it back home."
"Well, either way, We're done here." Donald interjected, getting things back on track. "The games are over and we didn't find any sign of the King or Sora's friends, so let's get going." Donald said as he walked off back to the Gummi Ship.
Goofy followed his wizard friend, with an optimistic addendum. "But we did find some more of Ruby's friends. And that means we got more allies to help us out."
"Yup! And I'm sure we'll find even more of them out there too!" Ruby said cheerfully as she and Weiss began following as well. "And I have a feeling it means our ship is going to get cramped." Weiss, of course, was not looking forward to that.
"Wait, what's this about a ship?" Jaune piped up, finally snapping out of his little examination of Sora's new item.
"Oh yeah, that's right! We never told you guys how we got here." Ruby said. She couldn't believe it took this long for her to realize they'd yet to tell them about the Gummi Ship. "Just wait til you see the ship we came in on, guys. It's awesome!"
Realizing what this meant, Weiss and Donald both let out a groaning sigh, realizing that Pyrrha and Jaune seemed to be coming after all. Weiss's sigh was directed toward Jaune of course. Hopefully Pyrrha could reign him in.
"Oh? Where is it?" Pyrrha asked, smiling softly at the two younger teens. "Just past the main gates. Come on!" Sora said encouragingly, waving for Jaune and Pyrrha to follow.
"Wait a minute!" Donald exclaimed, rushing after them indignantly.
Of course, Goofy wasn't without his own worries, despite enjoying how enthusiastic their new company was, along with Sora and Ruby. "Gawrsh, I hope this doesn't cause any problems. We've already gotta worry about accidentally middling with other worlds as it is." he said, tugging on his green sweater.
"Um, I believe you mean 'meddling', Goofy?" Weiss corrected with a raised eyebrow. "And I have to agree. I don't really see how the problems of these worlds we've been to should concern us."
"Well Weiss, it's not just that. Ya see, these worlds weren't exactly meant to be known by everybody. They were all a secret, before the Heartless came and began causin' trouble." Goofy elaborated.
"That's certainly one way to put it..." Weiss commented morosely. The first memory of these creatures that she had was of them destroying not only Vale, but all of Remnant. Not exactly a good first impression. "And us simply being in these places leaves the potential for a lot of problems if we aren't careful." she added with a stroke of her chin.
Goofy however seemed to immediately shift from worried to not in a split second. "But I like to think Sora will find a way to make things right again." he said optimistically as he walked toward the gates after everyone else.
Weiss's eyes shifted to the boy who held the figurative and literal key to making that happen. As she followed after Goofy, she couldn't help feeling...doubtful. "What a ringing endorsement..." And a bit sarcastic.
As night eventually fell over the Coliseum, The dark blue sky made the shimmering bronze statues and the stone architecture give off a dim orange glow. One further emphasized by the crackling warmth of the lit torches along the walls. Among them however, was a blue flame that belonged to the head of Hades as he looked to a tiny illusion of Hercules in his hand. Flexing and showing that dazzling smile that made the girls go wild with 'oohs' and 'ahhs.'
"He's strong. He's kind. He's always there for you and he's handsome to boot. He's perfect. Perfect," he said, sounding impressed at first, before his smile slowly turned to an enraged sneer. The fire on his head flared into a bright yellow and orange, and his pale blue body changed to an intense orangish-red color. "Perfectly INFURIATING! HE MAKES ME CRAZY!"
An eruption of his rage, and a literal eruption of the fire from hades, towered the skies above Olympus. The fact Hercules wasn't vanquished by one of his schemes for the umpteenth time truly riled him up to say the least. A moment later, he recalled the plan he and his little group of allies had, giving the self assurance he needed to calm down. "Wait a minute. What are you worried about? All the pieces are in place. Relax." he said after taking a calming breath before coming up with his own scheme if he ever saw them again. "Here's what you do. Let Hercules train those kids. In the next games, I'll take care of them all."
Confidence flowed through him, letting his fiery hair and body shift back to the more calm, blue color. Suddenly, he perked up as he sensed somebody. He knew who it was before he even needed to turn around and look at her. "Who invited you to the party? Stay out of this. This is my show."
It was Maleficent. Having overheard him, she would normally be angered about somebody focusing on their own agenda. Since Hades was one of the few in her group of as much power as her though, she didn't dare chance losing such a powerful ally. Especially with somebody as temperamental as he was powerful. "As you wish. Fight to your hearts content." she said before turning and leaving.
No matter what came of the boy's adventures, no matter how many new friends he made of the red caped huntress's own group, she was absolutely certain that he and his Keyblade would never be enough to stop them.
