Chapter 29

Hero Training

Two weeks had passed within the Mirage Arena while only fourteen minutes went by in the Mysterious Tower. Continuous hours of sparring gave Sora the energy to test multiple Keyblade transformations, trying out the forms of a shield, a magic staff like Donald's, a frying pan, a Gunblade, and a Fuuma Shuriken, with the links of the keychain transforming into smaller shurikens. It took him a week, but Riku managed to regain control over his old dark powers, and he demonstrated by conjuring a dark fire shock blast from beneath Donald's rear end. Sora, Riku and Mickey taught Kairi many of their skills, then Sora, Mickey and Donald taught her many of the spells they knew. Kairi proved to be a prodigy and mastered the first-tier spells, leading them to teach her the second level of the spells' power. The party of six spent the following week training to work alongside each other, using the holograms created by the arena to recreate past battles against giant Heartless enemies. However, they found that there was still plenty of room to improve, and they could not do so on their own.

They left the Mirage arena, gave their respects to Master Yen Sid, exited the tower, and climbed aboard the Gummi Ship.

After leaving the world's atmosphere, everyone sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking of recent events. Jiminy climbed out of Sora's pocket and jumped over to the pilot's console.

"So, Master Yen Sid seems to know more than he's letting on," Jiminy began. The others simply nodded in agreement.

"Something tells me that he didn't want to, but he felt he had to," Riku said. "Which makes sense, if the stakes are as high as they seem, and whatever the artifacts are, they need to be scattered that thinly."

"So, then how are we supposed to beat the bad guys to the artifacts?" Donald asked.

"Maybe the bad guys are the key," Kairi suggested.

Everyone turned to her, curious. "What do you mean?" Sora asked from right next to her.

"Well, this Zeromast guy probably knows where the artifacts are, and he needs the bad guys to retrieve them. He would have told them what to look for and how to find them. So, we just need to track them as we visit each world. We're bound to find something eventually," Kairi explained. "Besides, there are only thirteen villains, including Zeromast and Maleficent, and there are who-knows-how-many worlds out there; it's going to take them a while to find them all."

They mulled over her idea, and realized that it was all they had to go on. Sora, Donald and Goofy were quick to concede, since running into their enemies as they traversed the worlds was exactly how they found out more of what was going on.

"And we could also ask around, like we did with King Frederic and Queen Arianna," Mickey added. "Sure, they couldn't help us, but someone might be able to, and possibly willing. We're bound to figure something out along the way."

The others voiced their agreement. "And I will gather whatever notes we find so we can piece everything together. Someone's gotta be able to keep track of what's going on!" Jiminy declared.

Donald raised his hand, still having a question. "So, what do we do next? Where should we go?" he asked.

That gave the others momentary pause before Sora answered. "Well, I think we could work on some of our technique, and train more to work better with our new skills. We'll only be able to improve so much on our own. I say we find someone who can train us properly," he suggested.

Donald and Goofy grinned widely and nodded excitedly. "Yeah! And we know just the person to train heroes like us," Goofy said.

Riku and Kairi looked at them, confused. Sora chuckled nervously when he remembered that they had not been there with him, and he may have left out a few details when recounting his adventures to them. Mickey, having read Jiminy's Journals, understood, however.

"Alright, fellas. Let's set a course for Olympus Coliseum!" the mouse announced. Donald charted a path, and Mickey launched the Gummi Ship onto that trajectory.

"Olympus Coliseum… That's the place where you guys fought in those tournaments?" Kairi asked for clarification.

"Yeah. There's this goat-man, Phil. He's a famous trainer of heroes. Though, it took him a while before he saw us as 'True Heroes'," Sora explained.

"Well, then I can't wait to start," Riku said.

"I suppose I'd better strap in," Jiminy muttered to himself as he dropped down and climbed into Mickey's pocket.

Riku and Kairi gaped in wonder as the party approached the coliseum. They admired the architecture with the Doric columns and tall, decorated doors, the fancy burning braziers, and the towering bronze gladiator statues.

Sora, Donald and Goofy admired the structure, but for different reasons. "Good to see that they put everything back together," Sora commented, earning surprised looks from Riku, Kairi and Mickey. "Long story," he handwaved.

They crossed the courtyard, and Sora pulled the doors open. They walked into the vestibule, a small room with alcoves in the wall where fires blazed in pits to keep the room well-lit. On the opposite side of the room, there was a passage leading into the arena. A sign tied to either wall by rope read "CLOSED". To the left of the passage, a bulletin board listed several rules, such as "Rule 95: Concentrate" and "Rule 96: Aim". On the right was a bulletin board depicting a tournament bracket. A short, fat man with the horns and lower half of a red-furred goat stood on a stool shaped like an Ionic column, facing the bracket and writing a series of names for different contestants.

"Hey," Sora greeted.

"Ah, good timing, kid!" the satyr said without turning around. Sora quickly realized that he was mistaking him for someone else… again. "I need a hand in setting up the next games. These are gonna be the first games since reopening, and I need it to be just right!"

Sora traded glances with his companions. "Well, I'm sure with a little heavy lifting, we should be able to get everything set in no time," he said, playing along, changing his voice so he sounded like a musclehead. In the meantime, he took on different poses, flexing his muscles playfully. The others struggled to hold in their laughter.

"That's great! We're going to need to work extra hard in bringing in new heroes, though. Thus far, most of the sign-ups are those Heartless things. I still don't know how they even know how to enlist themselves. Probably that hothead's doing. I hear Hades climbed out of the River of Souls a few weeks ago," the satyr continued.

Sora put his hands on his hips and put on a cheesy grin. "Well, I'm sure I can rope in a few guys to help put on a show."

"That's great to hear, champ! And don't forget how to encourage them. Four words: Determination is strength!"

Riku, Kairi and Mickey gave a look of utter confusion, then everyone burst out laughing. The satyr turned around to figure out what the commotion was, and he realized that Sora, Donald and Goofy, as well as three newcomers, were right there.

"Well, look who it is!" he jumped down and gave Sora a fist bump. "How are my new true heroes?"

"How's it going, Phil?" Sora asked. "I see you got everything put back together."

"Yeah. Took some work, but we're finally back in business. Now who you got here?" Phil asked, sizing up Riku, Kairi and Mickey.

Kairi in particular seemed to get his attention. "Well, hello beautiful! You here for the games, or…" he began, but he was interrupted when Sora cleared his throat and glared at him. "Oh, uh, is she with you?" he nervously asked Sora.

"Quite," Kairi said seriously, though she maintained a playful smirk. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Kairi."

"Riku," the silver-haired boy introduced himself.

"Mickey," the mouse greeted.

"Well, glad to see you brought some of your friends along. I'm Philoctetes, legendary trainer of heroes. You can call me Phil," the satyr introduced himself. "So, what brings you guys back here?"

"Well, we kind of have some new abilities to work with," Sora explained. "And Kairi's new to the whole 'hero' thing."

"And I see you got some new duds. We're gonna need new action figures, heh. So, you came all the way to me for some mentoring!" Phil laughed cheerfully. "Well, I'm sure I can make room for you. And hey, Herc and the others will be glad to see you. Now, wait here while I set up some barrels, and you guys can show me what you can do, and then we'll work from there."