Chapter 34
The Prelims
Kairi stood her ground, waiting for her opponent to make a move. Bartz stood in a far corner of the square arena, his hands grasped onto a barrel as he waited for an opening. As he had discovered during their previous trial, their opponent could easily be stunned by a barrel to the head if he were distracted. Otherwise, he hoped to witness his enemy make a move that he could study and mimic in a way that would counter the opponent's immense strength and also break through the godly yellow aura that rendered him invulnerable. Phil had advised him to not use the tricks he had copied from the other heroes during the previous day's fight, so he was left with his own sword training and whatever abilities he could hope to glean from Kairi or his foe.
Hercules grunted and ran at Kairi, throwing a punch, which he had gauged so that it would not deal too much harm. Kairi smirked and ducked out of the way. As she did so, she stuck her Keyblade out in front of Hercules' legs, tripping him.
"Now!" Kairi shouted. Bartz lifted the barrel over his head and threw it at Hercules, hitting him right on the noggin. Having lost focus, Hercules' godly aura faded, signaling an opening to whale on him.
When Hercules' head stopped spinning, he swung backward with his arms, throwing Kairi and Bartz off of him. Bartz drew out his dagger and spun around on his heels, moving around like a top as he went straight for Hercules. But the demigod drew his sword and deflected the blade as it drew near, knocking Bartz off-balance. Hercules shoved him across the arena, forcing Kairi to catch him.
"Try this on for size!" Hercules shouted as he jumped into the air, his godly aura reforming around him. Bartz stepped back and let his eyes turn grey. Hercules came down, slamming his fists to the ground as he landed. A wide hemisphere of golden light shot out of him, shattering most of the barrels and causing Bartz and Kairi to tumble backward.
Kairi cast Cura on herself and Bartz and helped him to his feet. Bartz smirked. "You might want to stand back," he advised. Kairi complied. Bartz ran around the stage, kicking the remaining barrels at Hercules, who blocked them with his arms. But this was all the distraction Bartz needed, as he leapt high into the air, his eyes turning grey and his body emitting a golden glow. Hercules looked up to see what was happening, and gasped in horror as he realized that Bartz was using his own god-powered move against him. He backed away as Bartz came down, but the shockwave and aura blast that exploded outward as the boy slammed into the ground. Although it was not a direct hit, which might not have knocked him out anyway, it was still enough to blast him into the back wall, creating a sizeable dent in the bars closing off the entrance to the hypogeum.
Hercules regained his composure and brought himself back to his feet. He smiled at Bartz's strategy before charging back into the fray. Kairi, having charged her magic back up, used Aero magic to push back against Hercules' fists while she ducked out of the way. She cast Gravity, but he powered through the extra gravitational force as if it were nothing. She cast Thunder, but despite the fact that the lightning bolt made a direct hit it had absolutely no effect.
"Oh, sorry. That's kind of my father's area of expertise. Doesn't work on me," Hercules explained. Kairi hit him with Blizzard, which did have an effect, but not much of one.
Bartz ran in, his hand on his sheathed sword, to try to hit Hercules from behind, but Hercules ran up to Kairi and backhanded her back into Bartz. Both went tumbling down.
"Time!" Phil shouted as the two of them were struggling to their feet. The satyr stepped onto the square arena and addressed Kairi, Bartz and Hercules.
"You guys are fast learners. You recognized that your own skills held no weight against an opponent superior in strength and skill, but you watched and took every opening you could find. And although in the end it looks like you would have lost the fight, you held your own for five minutes against the reigning champ," Phil commended.
"Not bad," Sora congratulated, him and the others coming up and giving Kairi and Bartz some Potions.
"You have a lot to show, you two," Phil continued. "and I know a place where you can test your might. How would you like to sign up for the Preliminary matches?"
Kairi and Bartz shared a confused glance. "What are the Preliminary matches?" Bartz asked.
"I'm glad you asked. You see, before I can properly sign prospective warriors up for the real deal, I've got to see if they have what it takes to go up against a wide variety of competitors. When Sora, Donald and Goofy came in the first time, I put them through my training course to see what they could do, and then I signed them up for the prelims. The seven-seed run tests the mettle of the fighters, and the audience and I judge who has what it takes to get into the actual tournament. Usually, it's the last two or four groups, unless, in the case of some groups being Heartless, they don't live to the end of the match. But since this is the entry course, that only happens to the Heartless. So, what do you think?"
Kairi and Bartz traded another glance, this time a confident one. "We're in," they said in unison. Sora pumped his fist in the air and Mickey, Donald and Goofy chuckled.
"Great. Say, how 'bout another guy joins you? That way you have a party of three," Phil suggested.
Kairi and Bartz looked around at their friends for a moment, considering who to invite onto their team. But it was Sora who spoke up with an idea.
"Riku, how about you join them?" he asked his best friend. "You can get more experience with working in a team, and you also have more skills to practice with than any of us save for Kairi."
Riku smiled and shrugged modestly. "Okay, why not?" he replied. He raised his eyebrow at Kairi and Bartz.
"I'm game if you are," Bartz said.
"Welcome aboard," Kairi saluted.
"Ha-ha! That's the spirit!" Phil cheered. "I'll get it all set up. There aren't really that many guys flocking in to sign up, but I guess we can let the Heartless be placeholders. Whatever makes you stronger and keeps the crowd entertained, I guess." He turned around and walked off to the vestibule. "The matches start in the morning!" he called back.
The group laughed together and playfully showed off their moves. "So, anyone know a good place to spend the night?" Bartz asked.
"Actually, there is this inn we stayed at when we were in the Hades Cup. It was fifty seeds, so it went on for a few days. I'm sure the innkeeper will be glad to see us again," Sora said.
"Well then, let's go book some rooms for the night," Riku affirmed. The others agreed, and they exited the Coliseum and headed into town.
As it turns out the townsfolk were very happy to see Sora, Donald and Goofy again. Not only were they famous as champions in the Coliseum, but they were hailed as heroes who helped out Hercules and even saved the town from Cerberus and the Hydra, and more recently, Nessus the centaur. The trio's fans were eager to meet their friends who had come to join them in the Games. Mickey realized that with the crowd that had formed around them as soon as they entered town, Phil was going to have quite the audience turnout in tomorrow's Prelims and the upcoming tournament.
As they squeezed their way through the crowd and finally reached the inn, they noticed a woman in her mid-twenties leaning against the wall, as if she were waiting for them. She had a thin waist and arms and wide hips, as well as thick brown hair tied into a ponytail. She wore a long pink dress with shoulder straps, orange sandals, and a loose purple sash around her waist.
"Well, look who's here," the woman said. "Good to see you again, junior heroes."
"Hey, Meg," Sora waved back.
"Junior?" Riku repeated, surprised and confused.
"Hey! We really are 'true heroes' now!" Donald retorted.
"Yeah. Didn't you see the stars? And Phil even called us that yesterday," Goofy reminded her.
The woman mockingly recoiled as if visibly taking her words back. "My bad. So, you brought some friends with you this time. Hi. Name's Megara. My friends call me Meg," she introduced herself to the others.
Sora took it upon himself to introduce his friends. "He's Riku, she's Kairi, he's Mickey, and this guy's Bartz. Bartz actually came separately, but we ran into each other yesterday," he explained. Everyone traded pleasantries.
"I take it you saw the Coliseum," Meg guessed. "Back in business. Really takes a load off my mind."
"What do you mean?" Mickey asked.
Meg sighed. "If I hadn't let myself get kidnapped, then Wonder Boy wouldn't have had to leave the Hydra alone without making sure it was dead. Then it wouldn't have destroyed the place and killed who knows how many people."
"Hey, don't beat yourself up. You couldn't have controlled what happened. That was all on Hades, not you!" Sora consoled. "And Hades had been wearing Herc down with constant monster fights, so something like that would have happened eventually."
"He's right," Riku agreed. "You can't go blaming yourself."
Meg sighed and shook her head lightly. "I guess you're right."
"So, you're Hercules' girlfriend?" Kairi guessed.
Meg looked flustered, then chuckled. "Busted," she quipped, smirking. "And you're Sora's?"
Kairi threw her hands up as if she were caught by police. "You got me!" she replied.
Meg looked her over thoughtfully. "So, I hear you're signing up for the Games?"
"Prelims first, then Games," Kairi corrected.
"Well, good luck," Meg said, before she started to walk away. "I'll see you around." With that, she was gone, lost from view in the crowd.
Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Bartz watched her go, noticing at the same time that the sun was going down.
"We ought to get settled," Sora said.
At eleven o'clock, the seats were filled with chattering people. Men, women and teens had come to see the seven-stage tournament that would introduce newcomers into the line-up for the Games. Though the Preliminary matches were rarely as exciting as the main Games, they were something to look forward to as they introduced new competitors into the public eye. Those who earned the approval and applause enough to be allowed to compete in the Games were brought to the attention of the plebes, and some, such as the super-strong hero Hercules and the synchronized trio of Sora, Donald and Goofy, and the brooding Cloud had become dark horse contenders among the audience. And with three new competitors, all of whom appear to be friends with Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Hercules, the people were excited to see what they had to show.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and Hercules sat in the club seating section in a balcony above the vestibule, watching as Riku, Kairi and Bartz stepped out onto the field. Phil stepped out into the center of the square stage.
"Welcome, all. Today, we introduce some new fighters. Will they make it into the Games? Or will they be ejected in humiliation? Well, I certainly hope you nincompoops didn't come all this way for such a disappointment. Now, let the matches begin!" Phil shouted, his voice carrying out to everyone in the Coliseum. "For the first matchup in the first seed, we have the newcomers Riku, Kairi and Bartz!"
This was met by an enthusiastic peal of cheers and applause from all around them, particularly in the balcony above.
Phil waited for the cheering to die down before continuing. "And on the other side of the field," he announced as the bars, which had been replaced or beaten back into shape so they appeared good as new, rose up to open the entrance to the hypogeum, "these little devils call their team 'Soldier Legion'. Let's see how their military might stands up, eh?"
Five Soldiers and an Armored Knight stepped out of the shadowed chamber. The Armored Knight brandished its sword. In response, Riku and Kairi summoned their Keyblades and Bartz drew out his sword. The humans and Heartless all stepped onto the stage. Phil looked back and forth from one team to another. He then raised his arm, indicating the beginning of the fight. He then turned and ran past Riku, Kairi and Bartz, heading for the door so as to stay out of the way.
The Armored Knight charged forward and swung its sword at Riku, but he deflected and pushed back, knocking the Heartless off-balance. Two of the Soldiers ran for Kairi and clawed at her, but she deftly dodged their swipes and hit one of them back with her Keyblade. The other one tried to strike at a perceived opening, but Kairi cast Aerora, creating a tornado around herself that lifted the Heartless off of its feet and spun it around her before throwing it away. Bartz defeated a Soldier with a sword strike and closed in on the one Kairi knocked away. He made sure to keep the other Soldier that had been targeting him within his peripheral while he matched his current adversary's claw swipes with his dagger. When the other Soldier spun on one foot and threw itself in a sideways flip, swinging its other foot at him, Bartz jumped back and let it hit the Heartless that he had just been fighting.
The crowd cheered at his cunning, but he was not done. While the Soldier was delivering the cyclone, Bartz had studied the move with his Mimic ability. When he had backed up a good enough distance, he turned to the side and replicated the move. He vaulted himself in on the Heartless, who were struggling to separate themselves, and struck one in the head with his ankle, sending it tumbling away. As soon as he landed, he brought his sword out and cut through the other Soldier. This was met with even louder cheers.
The Armored Knight backed up, then jumped, and thrust itself toward Riku, pointing its sword for a stab. However, Riku dodged the attack and brought his weapon down on the Heartless' blade, forcing it to go down and get stuck in the ground. While the Knight struggled to pull its sword out, Riku sliced it in two with his Keyblade, then spun around to obliterate the Soldier behind him.
Kairi delivered several quick strikes to her opponent, ultimately damaging it enough that it could not hold its body together and letting it disintegrate. She turned to the last Heartless, the one that Bartz had knocked away with his Mimicked Cyclone. It was trying to pick itself up and attack Bartz again, but Kairi cast Gravity, pinning it to the ground. With that, she strolled up and stabbed down into it, finishing it off.
The crowd broke into more cheers, rooting as Riku, Kairi and Bartz won the first match. Phil ran out to meet them and address the crowd. He declared the obvious, and led them back into the vestibule to make room for the next set of contestants to duke it out and see who moves on to the next seed.
The tournament continued, though whenever the main team of focus was not on the pitch it was either warriors fighting against the Heartless or Heartless fighting each other. There was one instance where human warriors went up against other human warriors. Whenever a Heartless team won the match against a human team, Hercules had to step in to make sure that the Heartless did not consume their opponents, much to the shadows' evident frustration.
The second round put Riku, Kairi and Bartz against a team called "Wild Pride", consisting of two Shadows, two Powerwilds, and two Bouncywilds. The main team got to show off more of their skills, such as by deflecting the Bouncywilds' slingshot bolts, and Bartz even got to Mimic the attack to get one over on the hairbow-wearing Heartless, conjuring a slingshot with similar ammunition. Riku countered a Powerwild's fierce attacks with his Dark Shield, and even cut through it with a darkness-infused Keyblade slash at superhuman speed. Whenever the others needed a pick-me-up, Kairi cast Cure. Bartz prevented a Shadow from escaping into the ground by throwing an Aero spell beneath it, lifting it into the air and allowing Kairi to finish it off.
The third round brought in "Spell Squad", consisting of all of the spell-slinging Heartless that the team had faced thus far, along with a new breed called Violet Waltz, which even Sora and Mickey failed to recognize. However, from the color, Kairi correctly deduced that its specialty was in Gravity magic, and extra g-forces would heal it, so she decided to counter its tricks with a Magnet spell. Riku dispatched the Blue Rhapsodies with a barrage of Dark Fire spells. In the process, Bartz was able to learn and Mimic all of the basic spells. Physical attacks served them well as well, particularly against the Green Requiems, Emerald Blues and Violet Waltzes, and they let their magic recharge and whaled on the enemies whenever they ran out, with Kairi only using one Ether on herself.
The fourth round pitted them against "Shockwave". This team was made up of two Large Bodies and an Assault Rider. All of their previous opponents were apparently ground-based fighters and Heartless, allowing them to take full advantage of their shockwave-inducing attacks. Since contenders rarely took the time to heal in between matches, particularly not the Heartless that did not have a Green Requiem, the damage dealt by previous opponents who had managed to get around the Large Bodies' protected fronts allowed for one of them to be vanquished by a single attack from behinds courtesy of Bartz. Fortunately, the Large Bodies' armor did not defend against magic spells, so Kairi and Bartz took the last one out with Fire and Blizzard magic. Riku then fought against the Assault Rider. While its frontal attacks were a pain, Riku managed to keep it busy and draw enough attention so that Bartz could attack from behind. When it hopped up to create a shockwave, Kairi called down a bolt of lightning, and Riku sent a dark orb that dispersed the lightning to all over the Heartless' body, frying it.
The fifth round brought in "Death from Above", consisting of four Aerial Masters and two Yellow Operas. Well-placed Gravity and Magnet spells completely took away what had given them an advantage in previous fights.
By the sixth round, Riku, Kairi and Bartz were the new sensation, to the point where the cheering was so loud that nobody could hear Phil announce the name of the rival team, but those that had paid attention to the matches where the Heartless won knew that they called themselves "Cold Death", a rather chilling name but a befitting title for two Trick Ghosts and four Blue Rhapsodies. But the audience only cared to see their warriors win, which was exactly what happened.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey met Riku, Kairi and Bartz in the vestibule after their last fight. The V.I.P. audience congratulated the competitors for their skill and performance, though Donald appeared nervous. The court wizard was thinking of the monster that was likely to be their next opponent.
"The duck's right," Phil agreed. "I've never seen anything like it. It's supposedly called a 'Mistodon'. I have absolutely no idea what that's supposed to mean."
"It doesn't look like a Heartless," Sora noted. "And it's pretty powerful. We saw it shred an Assault Rider with a single swipe from its claws."
"Then I guess we'd better give it our all," Riku said. Kairi and Bartz nodded in agreement.
"Good luck out there, fellas," Mickey told them as Phil led them out onto the field.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey returned to their seats on the balcony, their gaze focused on the stage below. Phil stepped into the middle of the stage while Riku, Kairi and Bartz approached the square.
"And now," Phil shouted for all to hear, "the match you've all been waiting for. The final round in the Preliminary tournament. In this corner, we have Riku, Kairi and Bartz! And in this corner, is the menacing Mistodon!"
But rather than the gate opening and the monster stepping out, a plane of air appeared to solidify, then shatter as a hideous monster crawled out. It appeared to be a shambling mass of blue scales, onion-red flesh, red and white feathers, and green fur. It had five scaly green spikes sticking out of its "head". The "face" consisted of clouds of shadow in which hid roughly a dozen yellow eyes. Rather than feet, six enormous, bony fingers protruded from the base and pulled the body along, letting the tail drag along the ground.
Riku, Kairi and Bartz could feel a strange energy in the air, apparently emanating from the monster. Riku sniffed, then shook his head.
"Uh, what's that mean?" Bartz asked.
"It means it's not a being of darkness," Kairi answered, worrying that they were facing something beyond their frame of reference.
Behind the gate to the hypogeum, Hades and Kuja watched with anticipation. "Hoo, boy. This is going to be a doozy of a fight," Hades said with an evil grin. "You save any of that popcorn?"
"No," Kuja answered. Hades growled, causing Kuja to smirk.
Phil raised his arm, signaling the moment in which the match would commence. Riku, Kairi and Bartz brandished their weapons. A hush fell over the audience, as everyone wanted to see what would happen. Phil ran back to the door to watch the event from afar.
With a terrifying pace, the Mistodon scurried forward. Kairi and Bartz dove out of the way, but Riku stayed behind. He stabbed his Keyblade into the ground, the weapon wrapped in a dark energy. As soon as the blade sunk into the stone, a pillar of dark flame shot up from directly beneath the monster. It was pushed into the air, but it did not go far and landed soon after. Instantly concerned by the durability behind the creature, Riku ran to the side. Fortunately, this trick had managed to disrupt it enough that it paused for a moment to figure out how to walk again.
It scurried right at Bartz, who dodged out of the way at the last moment, but it spun on its fingernails rapidly, hitting Bartz with its tail and smashing him into the wall beneath the audience stands. Bartz conjured the Way to the Dawn and repeated Riku's trick, but this time jabbing at the edge between the ground and the wall, creating a pillar of dark flame that launched it several feet away. While it was regaining its mobility, Kairi struck down on one of the fingers, slicing a gash into it. Riku launched a Dark Fire blast into its "face", which caused it to recoil. Kairi immediately jumped up to take advantage of this moment of vulnerability, leaping into the air and thrusting her Keyblade into the Mistodon's face. She pulled back out and cast Fire in the same spot. When she landed, she and the others prepared to launch another attack, but they suddenly felt a strange disorientation, the strange energy that they had felt when the monster appeared being increased exponentially. This gave it time to recover and scurry backward, before going right back to charging at Riku and Kairi.
Phil clambered into the stands to get away from the monster attack. Kairi ran out of the way while Riku ran up the wall and leapt off and over the monster, swinging his blade at the spikes on top of its "head". He managed to chop off the top part of the center spike, but the monster did not seem to react to the amputation. One of the beast's fingers scraped Kairi's leg, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground. Before the Mistodon could think to bear down on her in her weak state, Bartz jumped in, spinning a copy of the Assault Rider's staff fast and hard enough to cut off two of the monster's head spikes. It turned to face him, but Bartz thrust the head of the staff into its face.
Free to act without threat of harm, Kairi cast Cura on herself. The green light washed over her, filling her with an energizing warmth and closing up the cut on her leg. However, her moment of tranquility was cut short when she heard a terrible squeal coming from the Mistodon. She turned and saw that three of its fingers had shriveled up as bright tumors exploded from various parts including the joints, causing the fingers to crumple up.
While disturbed by the sight and curious by the incident, Kairi quickly realized that this had limited its mobility, and it was open to attack. "Boys, now!" she called out before downing an Ether.
Taking the hint, Riku and Bartz both stabbed their version of Way to the Dawn into the ground, creating an even stronger dark burst, which Kairi boosted with an Aerora spell, sending the Mistodon high into the air.
"Watch and learn, Bartz!" Riku called out. His aura turned purple and he began to float above the ground, his arms outstretched. A dark energy emanated from his body, depleting the ambient light. "Welcome, oblivion," he muttered as soon as he was at the same height as the Mistodon.
Then, faster than anyone could realize it, he dashed right through the Mistodon. He teleported to a different point and shot through it again, wrapped in a powerful dark aura. This repeated eight more times, dealing painful-looking damage to the monster, before Riku at last appeared above it. "It's over!" he shouted right before dropping straight through the creature, driving right through and striking the ground with a shockwave that shot rows of dark energy in all directions.
Bartz wasted no time in repeating the process. The barrage of dark cuts was just as brutal as before, even though they were not as strong as Riku's. The audience stared in awe as the vicious attack cut pieces out of the Mistodon and bludgeoned it to a pulp. When Bartz finished the attack, the Mistodon crashed to the ground, slain, and disintegrated into fog.
The crowd cheered, enthusiastically applauding the trio. Sora, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Hercules traded high-fives. Down in the pitch, Phil climbed back down to the ground and led Riku, Kairi and Bartz onto the stage. The three fighters took in all the applause they were receiving.
Hades was fuming. "Are you kidding me, Pretty Boy? You promised me something that would crush them! But it hardly gave them trouble at all!" he complained.
Kuja smiled and brushed his hair back. "Calm down, my flaming friend. There's more where that came from, I assure you. I simply wanted to see if they were worth the trouble for my Mistodon creations," he told him. Hades raised an eyebrow at this.
"Bah! I can't watch any more of this," the god grumbled before he vanished in a puff of smoke. Kuja conjured a Corridor of Darkness behind him and backed through, not taking his eyes from the winners of the Prelims until he was enveloped in darkness.
When the cheering finally died down, Phil addressed the crowd. "Now, wasn't that a show?" he asked. This was met with more cheering. "Give it up for Riku, Kairi and Bartz, our new Coliseum contenders!" He turned around to face the three fighters. "You'll all be back for the next Games, right?" he asked.
They nodded. "Wouldn't miss it," Riku answered. "And I'm sure Sora, Donald and Goofy will be happy to join, too."
"That's great to hear," Phil said. He looked back up to the audience. "Thank you all for coming, and thanks for your support. Be sure to come back here for the first tournament of the re-opening season, the Phil Cup! Stay tuned!"
The uproarious cheers resounded around the Coliseum. Kairi and Bartz waved to the crowd, with Riku resisting but joining in within moments. They looked up to the balcony and saw their friends applauding them as well. This made them smile even wider than before. Phil soon led them back into the vestibule, which signaled the audience to begin filing out of the arena. The V.I.P. guests went downstairs and met their friends in the vestibule. When they met, Sora, Donald and Goofy could not contain their excitement.
"That was awesome! You were like, BAM! Then again, BAM!"
"Then you went up and whoa! Then SLASH!"
"Then you went and did that spinning-thing, then POW!"
"And man, that darkness rush attack. That still haunts me from when Ansem did it, but you did it back-to-back and it was epic!"
"You did great!"
"Nice work out there, pals!"
Megara, who had been standing in the back corner next to the door, chuckled. "Not bad, you three," she commended.
Kairi giggled. "Why, thank you," she replied.
"We did our best," Riku said modestly.
"That Mistodon thing really was something, right? My dad's seen a lot of monsters, but he never mentioned anything like that," Bartz said, thinking back to the nature of the fight. "And you're right, it was nothing like the Heartless."
"Maybe one of Hades' new allies loaned it to him," Mickey guessed. "If so, then this guy must have access to a power we've never seen before."
"So, what do you mean, 'new allies'?" Hercules asked. "I know you mentioned that Hades was part of a new evil alliance, but who are they? What are they after?"
Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy turned to Hercules. Bartz simply looked confused, as he had forgotten that Sora had said such a thing due to it having no relevance to him.
"Well, someone teamed up with our old enemies Maleficent and Pete. You remember Pete," Sora explained. "And they recruited a bunch of other bad guys, one of them being Hades. We don't know who the others are, though one of them claimed to be a god from 'Asgard'. Anyway, from what we understand, they're after a bunch of artifacts, one on each world, and if they get them all together, somehow they'll …" He trailed off and decided that Phil and Bartz are better off not hearing the last part. He inched in closer to Hercules and whispered into his ear. "They'll have the power to change reality."
Hercules' eyes widened in shock at this. He thought over what he was saying for a moment. "Well, I haven't heard of anything like that. But I'm sure my father, Zeus, would know. I'll ask him when I get the chance," he told Sora. Sora nodded in thanks.
"Well, I guess we'll be seeing you at the Phil Cup," Phil guessed.
"I suppose so," Sora said. "We've got quite a mission ahead."
"Well, I know whatever it is, you can handle it," Hercules assured them. "In the meantime, we have someone to start training. Isn't that right, Bartz?"
Bartz's eyes lit up. "Yes, sir! Glad to be on board," he said enthusiastically.
"Good luck out there, heroes," Meg said. She locked eyes with Kairi. "You keep him out of trouble, understand?"
Kairi nodded. "Don't worry. I will."
"You gonna take the Safe Point?" Phil asked, gesturing to the swirling circle of green light surrounding Meg's feet.
Meg raised an eyebrow, confused, but then she realized where she was standing. "Oh, my bad. Didn't realize this was here." She stepped out of the circle and moved to the other corner.
Hercules nudged Bartz with his elbow. "Check this out," he told him with a knowing look in his eye.
Mickey stepped into the Safe Point, with the rest of the party standing around him. He took out his device and sent a signal up to the Gummi Ship. A pillar of green light enveloped them and carried them away. Bartz stared, mouth agape.
"Alright, chump, quit staring! We've got to set some regulations for the training," Phil barked, snapping Bartz out of his shock and making him stand at attention.