The trip back to Traverse Town for a pit stop was a rather quiet one, all things considered. Things seemed to start out grand as they had gone out into their first world, and they were so close to doing some good. But then the Syndicate showed itself and not only caused trouble, but had gotten away with kidnapping Alice in spite of their best efforts to rescue her. For what reason the Syndicate would kidnap her, they did not know. But they could only tell it was no doubt for nothing good.
However, all they could do right now was keep their focus and press onward. At the very least, they got more materials for the Gummi Ship and had sent the rest of the puppies they found in Wonderland back home. Not to mention with all the munny they accumulated during their venture in the peculiar world, they managed to buy Donald the only other weapon that his nephews had in stock for him. The Warhammer.
Donald held it in his feathered hands, looking the staff over. The long handle was brown and had a black, gold, and silver tip. Two small, white wings were present on the handle just below that section. The head of the staff was a bronze colored, double-headed, bellows-style hammer. Donald could definitely feel the weight into this glorified mace, but at the same time, it felt like his magic power was weaker.
"I'm not sure I should use this." Donald said. "I specialize in magic more than I do in physical strength."
"Aw, now that's baloney!" Goofy waved that off. "Remember all those times you lost your temper and–"
"We are NOT talking about those times!" The duck quickly cut Goofy off.
Quietly, Timmy whispered to Huey, "Hey, what's this about your uncle having a temper? Sure, he has a bit of an attitude with us, but…"
"Oh, it's hardly a secret where we come from." Huey answered. "Unca Donald's really well-known for having a temper so high that everything in his general vi… vicin…"
"Vicinity?" Spongebob helped.
"Yeah, that!" Dewey nodded. "Basically, everything around an angry Unca Donald is bound to get broken. And boy did they ever get broken."
"I'll believe that when I see it." Danny didn't buy it.
"Hey, where's your other friend?" The red-clad nephew noticed someone missing. "The one with the large hairdo?"
"Oh, he's over at the Accessory Shop with Sora and Cid." The number one fry cook answered that question. "Jimmy wanted to check on how progress on his portable UPM was going."
Speaking of which, over at the Accessory Shop…
"Gotta hand it to ya, Jimmy, you sure know to make a peculiar warp device out of the simplest materials." Cid said to the boy genius as he had the portable UPM on the counter.
"Glad to have hard work and effort appreciated," Jimmy said with no small amount of pride.
Cid continued with a pensive look, "That being said, it looks like your device has a fried circuit causin' some trouble. I could very well get it fixed up by installin' some gummies to make it easier to handle and less likely to malfunction."
"Gummi technology is that versatile?" Jimmy asked, surprised to hear that, his scientist side demanding to know more.
"Sure!" Gadget said as she hopped out of Sora's hair, standing on his shoulder near the child genius. "Remember, Gummi blocks used to be Star Shards, which were capable of teleporting people to other worlds at random if they didn't know how to use them. Since the purpose of your Universe Portal Machine practically works for the same purpose, the inherent nature of Gummi blocks should very well achieve the same purpose if applied correctly."
"That's a lot of words, but…" Sora tried to get the gist of it at least. Being surrounded by so many smart people made him want to try, "They're like all-purpose blocks, right?"
"In short, yes," Gadget beamed. "Golly, I normally have to try in even simpler words to explain this stuff to Chip and Dale at times. Cid could very well be onto something, though."
"Right you are, missy, you're lookin' at a bonafide rocket scientist right here. And around here, rockets are built from Gummi blocks." Cid chuckled with a smirk. "So fixin' up your UPM here should be easy if we put in the right blocks. Might make it look different than it had before, though, and it'll be an expensive job."
"Aw c'mon, can't you at least take this one on the house as a favor?" Sora complained about that. "We're barely making munny just destroying Heartless everywhere we go."
"Sorry, this ain't the house I can take it on." Cid shook his head. "You just focus on makin' the munny you think you need."
"The wonders of the business world." Jimmy sighed. "Anyhow, thanks Cid. We'll get back to you as soon as we can."
With Gadget hopping back into Sora's hair, the boys left the shop just as their friends came out of the item shop, meeting at the square. Donald showed off his new Warhammer as the boy genius explained to them how the portable UPM had a fried circuit and needed to be fixed up with Gummi blocks in order to be in working condition again. But of course, the mention of the price made the youths groan. It being expensive would have been an issue they normally dealt with; it was practically the bane of every young boy's existence when looking at something awesome they wanted. But not knowing the price in its exact form was even worse.
"And how much do we have right now?" Spongebob asked.
"Let's see," Jiminy Cricket hopped out of Goofy's hat and checked over their current amount with a tiny abacus at hand, "taking what we gathered from our trip in Wonderland, then subtracting what we spent on Donald's Warhammer… it appears we got 1928 munny. If the repairs to Jimmy's portable UPM are going to be as expensive as we expect, we'll probably need up to 5000 in order to expect that we have the amount needed."
"That makes it 3072 munny we still need." Timmy counted.
"You can do math that easily but still have trouble with homework?" Jimmy pointed out.
"Counting pennies is easier when you care about the next comic you want, especially with my allowance," the buck-toothed boy added with a groan. "Hopefully the next couple worlds we find will get us that much scratch."
"I wouldn't mind getting some scratch, either." Cosmo said. "I've been getting itchy all day just staying in this form!"
"Cosmo, you're in your normal form." Wanda reminded him.
Her husband blinked, then looked at the wand in his hand. He shrugged and began scratching his back with it. A contented sigh escaped from his lips as he scratched.
"Like I said, Timmy," Cosmo told his godkid, "glorified back scratcher."
"Anyhow, we finished all our business for the pit stop." The boy genius said. "It's time we got back to the gummi ship. Our next world currently awaits us."
As the group made their way towards the world exit, Donald grumbled to himself as he watched Jimmy take the lead once again. Personally, the royal court magician couldn't stand it. Here he was, on a mission to find the king alongside the captain of the royal knights to follow the one holding the key. Should have been as simple as that. But no, these other world travelers who didn't appear to care for the world order had basically wormed their way into their mission just because they had their own problems that were butting in.
And worse, despite his attempts to find reasons for them not to come, something always came up that gave them a bit of leeway to end up coming in anyhow! Was it so wrong for this mission to go just as he desired it to? Was it so wrong for them to at least give SOME consideration for the world order? To mind their own business? Why did he have to get stuck with all the bad luck?
Well, they only recently started. Surely once they got their warp device fixed, they can part ways and they can do their own thing. Donald surely could hold onto that. So, with that in mind, he went off after them through the exit. Boarding the gummi ship, he sat himself next to Goofy, though he did give Jimmy a narrowed eye as the boy sat with his friends. Sora stood at the steering wheel and pushed downward, moving the Gummi Ship up and forward from the dock.
"Hey, isn't space supposed to be dark, vast, and empty?" Danny couldn't help but comment as the ship went on its way. "So far, it seems like space has been colored blue with some teal, green and yellow auroras here and there."
"A most fascinating observation, Danny." Jimmy gave the halfa credit for noticing. "Yes, it appears that in this universe, space has a different color to it in comparison to the space we've seen in our own worlds."
"So what exactly is up with it?" Timmy asked.
"Hard to really say in this universe's case." The resident of Retroville explained. "For us, since space is a nearly perfect vacuum with exceedingly few particles and a lack of matter, there's nothing between stars and planets to scatter light to our eyes, thus appearing black. With this… honestly, the theory would be that there is more matter and particles scattering light, thus creating the colored space we see around us."
"For those of us who don't speak nerd?" The average kid no one understood amended.
"He means with more matter, there's more color." Gadget explained.
"Thank you, Gadget." Jimmy appreciated that.
"No offense, guys," Sora said as he steered the ship along, "but it kinda sounds like the space where you come from is kinda lifeless."
"I guess when you put it like that, it does," Danny shrugged, "but it's not completely dismal."
"Oh yeah," Spongebob recalled a fond memory, "plus there's nothing like looking at all the stars just illuminating the dark sky when you're up on the moon!"
"Or alien worlds in general." Timmy added.
"You got that right." Jimmy chuckled.
"Hold on, you guys went into space before all this happened?" The ghostly superhero looked at the three in surprise.
"Considering what we deal with, I'm surprised you haven't." The buck-toothed kid looked at the teen in response. "Besides, aren't you a superhero? How have you not gotten to space yet?"
"Ghosts tend to be an Earth thing." Danny stated plainly.
Goddard barked at the window, making everyone look towards the space in front of them.
"Alright, hold tight guys!" Jimmy told his companions. "Heartless ships and obstacles incoming!"
And indeed, they faced off against the likes of more Heartless vessels and maneuvering around strange formations, not to mention shooting down flat pieces of wall and even large asteroids blocking their way forward. Jimmy was quite excited, getting to gather more gummi blocks from the debris they left behind. The Kingdom 1.1 garnered a few scrapes and scratches here and there, but Jimmy observed the damage healing after some of the smaller asteroids they destroyed left behind small yellow and blue blocks that attached themselves to the ship and mended it. The boy genius mentally noted to himself to ask Gadget more about the different forms of Gummi blocks outside of the customizable ones later.
Eventually, their route appeared clear of enemies and obstacles, letting Jimmy check out the numerous blocks that they had collected on the way.
"With the amount of gummi blocks we have collected so far," he said, "there's no doubt that we can upgrade the Gummi Ship to a new level! Oh, I can just picture it! Better weapon systems, easier controls, faster speed, defense shields…"
"You've certainly taken to the likes of Gummi ship engineering quickly, huh, Jimmy?" Gadget couldn't help but giggle at his enthusiasm.
"But of course!" He eagerly answered the mouse. "I mean, just think of what the ship could do if it was fully packed with all the best blocks!"
"Hey, if you're done gawking," Donald spoke up towards the boy, "we're nearing the next world."
Everyone looked towards the world in question, and immediately the boys could feel themselves looking upon it in both awe and interest. The world was definitely less 'out there' than Wonderland looked from the outside. This one appeared as a grand colosseum building with large gold statues of Greek soldiers clashing blades, while statues of soldiers standing at attention with spears flanked them and the building. Majestically, this all stood upon a cloud with streaks that rotated, and sand pouring from it like waterfalls.
"Wooooooow…!" Spongebob's eyes sparkled. "The only place that I know matching this place in sheer splendor would have to be King Neptune's Poseidome!"
"You're not too far off the mark on this one, Spongebob." Jimmy told him. "Gentlemen… this is going to be a very interesting history lesson for us all."
At that, Timmy groaned, "You just HAD to make it about education, didn't you?"
"Oh, never you mind." The boy genius rolled his eyes. "Sora, let us disembark, if you please."
"Got it!" Sora gave a thumbs up and pressed the crown.
With that, our heroes once more vanished from the ship and made their way into the world proper. At first they assumed that they would have to again prepare for a rough landing the moment they appeared in the world. However, unlike Wonderland, they did not float down from the air towards the ground; they appeared on the ground proper standing like they hadn't moved one bit. After a moment of relief over having their feet still on the ground, our heroes looked around them in awe. As far as the eye could see, beneath a beautiful blue sky, in the prime of its time, was ancient Greek civilization in all its splendor. Walking around in droves, people were wearing togas of all sorts of colors and sandals on their feet. The buildings were large, practically looking akin to temples, and the trees stood proudly and beautifully as well. Here and there, there were urns and vases with portrayals of great heroes fighting against hideous monsters. There was even a large statue of a muscular man flexing his muscles towering over most of the buildings in the area.
"What is this place?" Spongebob held his hands to his cheeks. "There's so much heroism and romanticism in the air I would fit better if I had my Mermaid Man costume on!"
"Gentlemen," Jimmy began, "though this world may be different from what you know in class, take a good look. What you see before you is ancient Greece. A time that was considered the golden age of powerful gods and extraordinary heroes. A place where many tales and myths were born. Yes, the era of legends which stood the test of time."
"Wow, that sounds amazing…!" The bearer of the key felt just as amazed as Spongebob.
"Now I wouldn't be so eager if I were you, boys." Jiminy Cricket spoke up from Goofy's hat, addressing the pair. "While Jimmy is correct about the significance this time had and the impact Greece would leave on the world, its definition of heroism was vastly different from what you know."
"I got a good idea." Danny crossed his arms. "The 'heroes' were basically jerks who usually did as they desired at the whims of the Gods, who usually turned out to be much bigger jerks and usually messed with the world and its mortals for their own interests."
"Gee, well, that's pretty depressing." The kah-rah-tae enthusiast scratched his square head. "You can hardly tell that from how it all looks here."
"Eh, it's not that big a deal." Timmy waved it off. "It's probably like with Wonderland, where it's not exactly like how the books tell it back home."
"Have you even read the history books talking about it back home?" The boy genius asked him with half-lidded eyes.
"No comment." He deadpanned in turn.
"So where in Greece are we?" Goofy asked.
"You're in Thebes, of course!"
The group all jumped, turning to see an unexpected guest in their conversation. A rather tall, lanky man with messy black hair appearing like it was burnt, tan skin, a scar vertically over his left eyebrow, a set of mismatched eyes (his right eye appeared normal with a red iris while the left with just completely white with a single black dot as a pupil), an off color green toga on his person, and brown Grecian sandals. Judging by the expression on his face, he was no doubt a pretty eccentric individual. Of course, Donald would have a less kind description for this character, but he wouldn't say it around the younger travelers.
"Hey there, strangers! Name's Icarus, the Wax-Wing King!" The man introduced himself. "Pretty famous manufacturer and expert flier, at your service!"
"The same Icarus who flew too close to the sun?" Jimmy Neutron recognized that.
"Oh hey, you heard of me?" Icarus chuckled a bit. "Oh yeah, one of my finest moments back in my academy days. And hey, you can fly near the sun too with all these fabulous wax wings at a great price!"
Icarus showed off a cart filled to the brim with white wings made from wax. Sure enough, above the cart was a sign reading, "Wax-Wing King's Wax-Wings" in fine gold lettering. There was even a crowd of interested buyers all holding piles of drachma as he took a moment to trade a few of those wings for them. After the crowd dispersed, he immediately zipped back to the group, holding more wings.
"Care to try some yourselves?" He offered, though he continued as he looked towards Donald, "I don't think your siren friend needs it. But uh, you might want to tell him to be careful around here…" He added with a whisper into Sora's ear, "Male sirens have gotten endangered lately. Might even go extinct at the rate they're going."
Donald gave a confused qwack at being called a siren.
"Uh, aren't sirens supposed to be mermaids?" The ghost boy asked.
"Oh no, that's a common misunderstanding." Spongebob told Danny before Jimmy could. "Merfolk are genuinely pretty nice half-fish-half-people sometimes having powers while sirens are gilled temptresses whose voices can lure sailors out towards their doom. The rare males are called tritons."
"Huh, I guess it's no surprise that you'd know that, given where you live, Spongebob." Jimmy was impressed by Spongebob's knowledge of this topic.
"Oh it's nothing special." The number one fry cook laughed it off. "Mr. Krabs talked about them once in his tales about when he was out at sea."
"So what makes him think the duck's a siren, then?" Timmy asked while pointing a thumb at Donald, making him grumble.
"That one I can answer." The boy genius said. "You see, male sirens were similar to harpies, in that they were large birds with heads of men."
"That's weird." Sora stated.
"Mythology often is."
"So, what brings you people over to Thebes?" Icarus got their attention. "I get it's a pretty popular spot these days, but hey, it ain't the city of a million troubles and turmoil for nothing, I tell ya what!"
"Really? Sure doesn't look like it." Donald finally spoke for himself, looking around at the rather pleasant city.
"Yeah, well that was before the world's best hero cleaned the place up a bit!" Icarus chuckled. "And you boys are in luck! You're lookin' at the guy who knew him personally!"
"Really?" Sora asked.
"Of course! Hey, I was planning on surprising him with a visit today anyhow." The wing-maker said. "Here, I'll lead you to where he'll be. You're in time for the biggest event to come to Thebes to date!"
The heroes all looked to each other, silently deliberating whether or not it was a good idea to follow this eccentric fellow. Donald was shaking his head, Goofy and Spongebob were nodding theirs, Jiminy and Gadget didn't see much to distrust about the man, Danny and Timmy simply shrugged, and Jimmy seemed undecided, as if trying to consider other factors. Sora, however, ended up being the deciding vote, seeing as Goddard was simply looking curious and Cosmo and Wanda could only appear as faces in their disguised forms. It was no surprise what Sora was for when they looked back to Icarus.
"Sure, that would be awesome!" He said, much to Donald's annoyance. "So, what's going on?"
"Oh, just the newly announced battle games over at the coliseum!" The entrepreneur explained as he led the way and moved his cart along. "Warriors and heroes of all sorts gathering together to duke it all out in front of a live audience. People are so excited about it that they've already started selling merch to make a quick drach, myself included!"
"But aren't you already a manufacturer?" The halfa asked as they followed. "Why go for a quick bu– er, drach when you basically make enough money otherwise?"
"One simple thing, my white-haired friend." Icarus closed his eyes and pointed to the sky like a man with inspiration. "You can always make more drachma."
"Hey mac…"
Just then, the group was surprised when a pointy-nosed man wearing a red cap and a black cloak over his body popped up in front of them and flashed them! The heroes quickly jumped back in surprise, trying to shield their eyes from anything offending bits… but it turned out the man wasn't really flashing them. He was wearing a red toga while the underside of his cloak had a large number of gold sundials attached to it. He even had three sundials attached to his right arm and two on his left arm like they were watches.
"Ya wanna buy a sundial?" He asked, his voice a most seedy tone.
"Ooooooh, sundials?" Spongebob looked interested. "These might make good souvenirs for everyone back home. How much–?"
"They're not interested, bub! They're in a hurry!" The wax-wing maker quickly shoved the sponge away from the sundial dealer as the others ushered along around the man as well. "Might wanna be careful around here, boys. There's quite a few people looking to fleece newcomers in all sorts of ways here in the Big Olive. You're lucky you found me first."
"So, basically this world is a Greek version of New York City?" Wanda asked.
"Well, Wanda," Cosmo told her, "you know what they say about apples and olives."
So our heroes followed Icarus along through Thebes, being cautious of other rather off-putting characters looking to make a quick profit… or just being off-putting in general. Such as that one nut panicking about 'the end' while wearing nothing but the top part of an ionic column on his pelvis with overall-like straps over his shoulders to keep it up. While that image the group promptly tried putting out of their minds, they followed the Wax-Wing King up a long flight of stairs towards a large building with a grand wooden gate bearing golden designs of lightning bolts striking upward from the ground. The gates were open, of course, as they saw a long line of people by the score already formed and slowly moving forward. Once they passed through the gates themselves, they gazed up in awe of the building before them.
"There it is, fellas." Icarus told them with a grin on his face. "The Olympus Coliseum itself!"
The group all looked on with oohs and ahs as they stared at its sheer majesty. Two large golden statues of Grecian soldiers clashing blades over another gate leading to the inside of the coliseum. The gate itself was similar to the one they came through, though lightning bolts were striking towards the air above a metal gate that was formed at the lower half. Before the statues were two pairs of lit braziers, and they could see across from those were another two pairs of braziers that were lit. They could also see two sets of three banners colored purple on the rear walls, but they were also rather blank. The large line of people seemed to split into two more lines, each going into side entryways into the coliseum. Perhaps to get good seats to watch the coming battles or even meeting some of the contestants.
"Cooooool!" Sora could barely contain his excitement. "This place looks awesome! We have GOT to get in on this!"
"Wak?! Why should we?" Donald asked, clearly not sharing the same opinion. "Doing that won't help us find the king any faster."
"Or his friends, remember?" Goofy reminded Donald.
"Right, his friends, whatever." The fowl dismissed that a bit too easily to the quartet's liking. "Look, there's no point sticking around here. Let's just–"
But then, before they could say more, they heard the sound of something breaking apart!
"Hey! My cart! My wings!" They heard Icarus shout.
They turned around fast and saw Icarus' cart and his products reduced to nothing but a pile of broken wood and wax on the ground. Icarus was already freaking out over the damage, but the group responsible clearly didn't seem to care that little over what they did. Three similar-looking soldiers in armor stood at attention with spears in hand. Standing in front of them was a man who appeared like he was the epitome of male perfection. Long golden hair, "awesomely" tanned skin, a buff build, and chiseled features. On his being was a dark golden armored suit with a red cloth draped over his right shoulder, a red skirt just reaching above his kneecaps, and the usual Grecian sandals on his feet. Atop his head was a crown adorning a fantastic emerald as its centerpiece.
"What the heck, man?! You can't just destroy a guy's merchandise like that!" Icarus began telling off the other man.
"Oh, can't I?" The man checked his fingernails, finding this conversation hardly worth his attention. "Last I checked, merchants were not allowed to sell their wares on coliseum property. Why else were your lot selling their useless wares back in town with the pita carts?"
He also added with a chuckle, "Besides, I'm a king. I can do as I please."
Watching this, the group could tell this was trouble. After all, how else could they describe a brawny jerk using his status to bully the little man?
"I'm getting Dash Baxter flashbacks." Danny glared. "Who's up for stepping in on this one?"
"Are you serious?" The court magician could tell where this was going. "Once with the Queen of Hearts was bad enough. You seriously want us to get in trouble with another monarch?"
"That depends," Sora looked to Donald at that, "he's not your king, is he?"
"Obviously not," Donald shook his head no, "the king's much less of a jerk than this guy, but–"
"And just what have we here? A few more freaks on a hopeless bid for glory?"
But it seemed they didn't have to butt in, for the group had already gotten the attention of the crowned man and his dismissive glance.
"You certainly know how to pick them, don't you?" The king commented snidely to Icarus while keeping his eyes on our heroes. "Let's see what we got… a pipsqueak in oversized footwear and rat in his hair, a clumsy-looking mutt with a grasshopper in his hat, a pint-sized mallard of a siren bound to go extinct just by tripping on his own feet, a boy whose hair aged much faster than he has, a small-fry with hair bigger than his own being, a beaver pretending to be a human child, a walking talking piece of mold, and a rusted golem for a pet. Hmph. Talk about a band of misfits."
Already, the group did not like this man. Sora and Gadget glared while Goofy crossed his arms and Jiminy was not amused by the comparison. Donald's feathers were already turning a bit red, Danny's eyes glowed a bit green. Jimmy and Timmy also glared while Spongebob was offended over being called mold. Goddard growled, being a dog.
"Remember Donald, 'no meddling'." Danny said with air quotes. His glare was pretty strong though.
Donald rolled up his 'sleeves'.
"I think I can make an exception." For the first time, Donald felt okay with breaking the rules.
"Your highness, registrations are still ongoing." One of the king's men said to him. "We should hurry and get you signed up."
"I'm quite aware of when registrations close, thank you." He rolled his eyes in response. Then back to the group, he said, "Now, a word of advice from the king of Thrace. If you have any ideas about participating in the games, you'd best turn back. They're clearly out of your league. Not to mention you'd hardly stand a chance with me in the arena. Catch you fools never."
Then with a parting chuckle, the man walked off towards the coliseum, his men following behind him.
"...Well, that there's the rudest person I've met yet." Goofy couldn't help but say something about the man.
"Someone could use a lesson in good manners and goodwill." Jiminy agreed.
"Ten seconds of listening to him talk, and I already hate the guy." Timmy stated.
"And I'm not mold! I'm a sponge!" Spongebob concurred. "There's a cellular difference!"
They then heard Icarus grunting as he started collecting the wreckage of his cart and of his wax wings. Immediately, Sora went to help, and the entrepreneur was grateful for the help. Still…
"Well, good to know Adonis hasn't changed since the academy days." Icarus rolled his eyes at the departing figure.
"Adonis?" Jimmy recognized the name. "The mortal whom Aphrodite and Persephone fought over?"
"Yeah, that's definitely something he'd probably say about himself." Icarus chuckled at that idea. "But all joking aside, yep, that right there's Adonis, now King of Thrace apparently. Guess not even an extra semester at summer school was enough to make him less of a narcissistic jerk."
"Shouldn't be surprising that someone blessed with looks and status would have an unreasonably high opinion of himself." Gadget could tell.
"Beats me why he'd be here in Thebes wanting to take part in the games, though." The man who flew too close to the sun said. "Last I checked, even with his body, hard work was hardly his hobby. Unless something about that changed when he succeeded his parents, which I doubt."
"Hey, you sure you're going to be alright with all that?" Sora asked as he helped Icarus get the last of his stuff from the ground. "If you'd like, we could help you fix everything."
"Nah, I totally got all this handled." Icarus waved it off. "Remember, I'm one of the most famous manufacturers in Greece. I should have my cart and stock back in shape in no time! But you want to get into the games, right? You better get in there quick before registrations end."
"If you say so." Jimmy Neutron supposed that was reasonable enough. "See you soon, Icarus!"
Bidding Icarus farewell, our heroes moved along towards the gates to the inside of the coliseum, pushing them open and heading inside. They came into a lobby made of nothing but golden bricks and stone, with the walls having a long row rotating the room's area with infinitely coiling lines within. On the sides of the room were two rectangular holes that were holding one lit brazier each in the center of them, clearly meant to have items placed next to them. There was also a large stone block to the right of the room just in front of the right 'shelf'. In front of the way was another entryway, no doubt into the coliseum proper, but it was blocked by rope tied together and holding up a wooden sign reading 'closed'. And to the left of the entryway, standing atop an ionic column like it was a stool, was a peculiar creature currently handling a board labeled 'Rules'.
"Well I'll be! Isn't that a satyr?" Wanda observed.
"Pretty chubby for a goat-man, isn't he?" Cosmo commented. "Someone should tell him to lay off the grass."
"Cosmo!"
"What?"
The satyr, a half-man half-goat creature of myth, of course had the lower body of a goat with orange fur and brown hooves. His upper body was that of a short man with an enormous gut and some hair on his chest and arms. The top of his head was bald, save for four strands of orange hair, while the back of his hair was about shoulder-length and the same color as his fur. The group pondered if they should address the man, but of course Sora went with it first.
"Um…" He began to talk.
However, the satyr, without turning around or perhaps even registering his voice, said with a notable Brooklyn accent, "Good timin'. Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games."
"Pedestal?" Spongebob turned over to the large stone block. "This? …Well, alright…"
With a shrug, Spongebob went over to the block first, rubbed his hands together, and then began pushing the pedestal… Well, he tried to. The block was not moving an inch, in spite of the yellow sea sponge trying to move it with all his might. His legs were trying to move faster to increase his force, but all that led to was the fry cook falling on his face, having failed to move it. Getting up and catching his breath, Spongebob wiped some sweat from his brow as he looked apologetically to his friends.
"Sorry guys. No go on my end." He told them.
"It's okay, Spongebob." Sora told him, taking his place. "Here, let me try."
"I dunno, Sora." Gadget told him. "This isn't like pushing a wooden crate."
"Oh, it shouldn't be too hard!" The keybearer felt confident. "I've gotten stronger since wielding the Keyblade, right?"
So, Sora decided to try it himself. Perhaps with his taller height and somewhat thicker arms and legs, maybe he would have better luck. Sora indeed gave pushing it a go, and… nothing. Despite him trying to move against it and even breathing through his nose, it too was a no-go.
"It weighs a ton!" Sora breathed after giving up. "No way can this be pushed by anyone normal."
"I did tell you." Sora's mouse companion reminded him, making him sigh.
"Well, good thing I'm not exactly normal then." Danny was next up to bat. "Being a superhero, this should totally be a piece of cake."
Famous words. Cracking his knuckles, Danny gathered his own ghostly strength and began pushing against the stone block. With his spectral abilities, moving this simple stone block should have been simple… but to his surprise and no one else's, it unfortunately was not. But Danny didn't give up so easily. He floated up in the air and tried pushing it again. No success. He tried pulling it from the other side. Not even an inch. Soon, even the halfa himself fell onto his back, trying to catch his breath after failing to even move the pedestal.
"Ok… that… is NOT… a regular stone block." Danny got up, having his hands push against his back to re-straighten his posture. "Anyone else want to give it a go?"
"Sadly, I think I have a feeling I know where this is going, so I'll have to politely refuse." Jimmy shook his head.
"Same here." Timmy shook his head as well.
"Nuh huh." As did Donald.
"Well gawrsh, fellers," Goofy spoke to the group, "why don't we all just–"
"Hey!" Sora called over to the satyr before Goofy could finish, "It's way too heavy!"
At that, the satyr seemed to stop what he was doing, apparently having heard something ridiculous.
"What? Too heavy?" He actually had to stifle a chuckle as he was turning around. "Since when have you been such a little–"
But when he turned, apparently expecting to be facing someone taller than him, he cut himself off when he found that the person he expected wasn't there. He in fact looked down and finally saw the entire group looking at him. None of which he recognized. He had a curly goatee and five o'clock shadow over most of his lower face. His nose was pink and bulbous, and his ears were pointed. He had black eyes and a thin, brown uni-brow. Finally, there were two brown goat horns sprouting out of the top of his head.
"Oh. Wrong guy." The satyr seemed to understand immediately, but he wasn't impressed by what he was looking at. "What are you doin' here?" Jumping off of the podium, the satyr continued as he walked towards them, "This here's the world-famous Coliseum– heroes only!" He continued, making Donald back away from him, "And I got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pip-squeaks."
"Says the guy about our height." The buck-toothed boy deadpanned before Jimmy lightly elbowed him. "What? It's true!"
"No offense, sir," Spongebob spoke to the satyr, "but considering that people are lining up in droves to watch these games or even participate, can't anybody come in? What's this 'heroes only' issue?"
"Look, it's like this." The satyr replied as he walked past them. "Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum. Many people may sign up, but not all of them can get in. That's just how it works."
Surprisingly, it was Donald who first voiced his discontent about it.
"You got heroes standing right in front of you." The royal court magician told the satyr.
"Yup." Goofy put his hands on Sora's shoulders, making him smile. "He's a real hero chosen by the Keyblade!"
"Yeah, and we're heroes, too!" Spongebob agreed, gesturing to himself and his friends.
The satyr listened to all this with closed eyes. Then he simply stared at the entire group. After a moment of further silence…
"Heroes?" He echoed incredulously. "You runts?"
And then he began laughing uproariously, holding his gut as if he was going to bust it from laughing so hard. At that, the heroes couldn't help but feel a little insulted. It wasn't like what they said was a lie. But there they were. Being laughed at by a goat man.
"What's so funny?" Sora asked, definitely feeling slighted. "I've fought a bunch of monsters!"
"Yeah, so did we!" Timmy Turner agreed. "We even fought giant ones!"
Eventually, the satyr's laughter finally began to run its course, and with that he gave them a serious look as he gestured towards the pedestal.
"Hey, if you can't even move this…" He told them before starting to push against it…
But not even he could move it. It was a pretty humorous display. Well, if one would define humorous with a dry sense. The group watched with mostly unimpressed looks on their faces. Some even had smirks and raised brows.
"...you can't call yourself…" the goat man shifted himself so he was pushing the pedestal with his upper back and shoulders. Again, nothing really doing.
Sora couldn't help but cross his arms and look away awkwardly as they all looked at each other with awkward expressions.
"... a hero!" But they had to give him credit for trying, at least. After all, they did the same too.
But he couldn't try forever, and so he ended up slouching and laying on his furry bottom, catching his breath. He held his chest, panting deeply while the buck-toothed boy walked up to the pedestal and leaned against it, looking down upon him.
"So," Timmy Turner began, "are you any better at this hero thing?"
"Okay," the satyr began to pick himself up, using the block for support, "so it takes more than brawn. Well, well let's see what you can do."
"You're willing to let us into the games?" Spongebob asked, optimistic as ever. "Oh boy! Wait 'till Sandy hears about this! Perhaps I could ask the other heroes for pointers for our ka-"
"Not so fast, yellow boy!" the satyr poked him in the nose, making it sink into the sponge's face. "Before that, you guys are going to take on a trial. And you're all going to take it separately. That way I can better judge how good you are. Especially since you're already a big group."
"That sounds fair." Jimmy conceded as the satyr stepped away from the sponge, whose nose popped back out. "Doing too many people at once would make judging difficult."
"Now, this trial is tough. You got what it takes?" the goat man asked.
"I'm ready!" Sora nodded.
"We're ready!" Spongebob added.
"Okay, kids. Let's see what you've got." The satyr then moved over to the sign and undid it, allowing them to go through. "Oh, and before I forget, I'm Philoctetes, trainer of heroes. Call me Phil."
They followed the satyr, Phil, out into the arena proper. It was a pretty simple setup. An arena set up three by four with audience seats to the sides, apparently empty at the moment. At the far side of the arena was a dark entryway blocked by a steel gate. Currently set on the arena were a few pillars along with a bunch of barrels placed next to each other, on top of each other, and even across from each other. Sora volunteered to go first to take the trial, so he was already holding his aptly named Lady Luck Keyblade at the ready.
"The rules are simple:" Phil stated as he stood to the side of the arena to watch, "Bust all the barrels within the time limit. 20 in all, and 30 seconds to beat. Ready? Go!"
With that, Sora rushed through the trial, striking the barrels as quickly as he could to destroy them. Certain swings, he destroyed multiple barrels at once, or even sent a barrel flying into another set to destroy them from a distance. In practically half the time he was given, Sora made it through the trial with ease, giving his friends a smile while running his finger under his nose.
"Not bad!" Phil said. "For a beginner, that is. Alright, now, weird cheese thing…"
"My name's Spongebob, Mr. Phil, sir." The fry cook corrected him.
"Right, whatever. You're up next." Phil had the barrels replaced as Spongebob got into the arena. "Same as before. Go!"
From there, Spongebob took on the trial, karate-chopping barrels and kicking them to make it through as fast as he could. Once he was finished, one by one, the others took the trial as well and finished with varying degrees of success. Danny used his ghost powers to take out the barrels in one hit for most of them. Donald used his fireballs… although his magic would run out so he would have to resort to swinging his Warhammer in order to break them. Goofy bashed them with ease with his shield. Timmy blasted them with stars. Jimmy blew them into each other with the Tornado blaster. Sure enough, they all managed to beat the trial by the time's limit.
"Alright, good start with the first trial. But let's see if you can handle the second one!" Phil said as the arena was adjusted so it had extra platforms, including one that was just floating in the air, much to Jimmy's confusion. "This time, you gotta break 25 barrels all over this arena all in a single minute. Ready? Go!"
Starting again, Sora ran to the first set of barrels he could and struck at them with a combo. Seeing a barrel to his right and a stack of two barrels across from it, Sora of course sent that barrel flying into the stack and broke all three at once. He then moved onto the first raised platform, destroying the barrels there, and went up the next one to destroy the next set, and yet again with the next. That left him with just one more barrel placed conveniently across the floating platform with a seemingly unreachable barrel. Doing a combo seemed like it'd waste time, so Sora lifted the barrel and threw it by hand, managing to destroy the other barrel as well.
But noticing Phil hadn't called the trial off, Sora looked around for any barrels he missed and saw a pair at the back of the arena just across from each other. So, Sora did the lift-and-throw combo yet again, and finally, the trial was over.
"Hey, you're better than I thought!" Phil sounded impressed. "And with only 22 seconds to spare. Alright, you know the drill. Sponge, you're up next!"
"Spongebob." The fry cook reiterated as he took Sora's place and the barrels were replaced as well. "Hm, must be some magic keeping this set up together."
"Ready, go!"
And thus, Spongebob, having watched Sora the whole time, got to destroying the barrels quickly while he could see them. Sure enough, he managed to do it in good time, but by the end, the poor sea sponge was exhausted. Sure enough, the others followed in their trials, managing to beat the trial only just barely… well, save for Danny, who beat it in record time with his powers. All in all, the trials were finally done and they all went back into the lobby, standing before Phil who looked pleased by their progress.
"You know, you kids ain't bad." He had to give them credit where credit was due.
"Nice work, boys! You did really well!" Gadget praised as she poked out of Sora's hair.
Sora, who couldn't help but scratch the back of his head with sheepish pride while the others were also feeling good about their chances, couldn't help but chuckle as he said, "Looks like we're headed for the games."
But sadly for Sora…
"Afraid not.'' The trainer of heroes stated immediately, making the whole group gawk at him.
"Why not?" Sora asked.
"Two words:" Phil held up two fingers to the whole group, "Only one passed."
"Come on!" The keybearer complained while Donald sulked and Goofy was busy counting his fingers.
However, the others noticed something else about what Philoctetes said.
"Wait, only one passed?" Jimmy asked. "You mean only one of us gets to go into the games?"
"That's right." The satyr nodded. "Out of your entire group, I decided only one of you even has a chance at stickin' around for the games."
"Well who is it?" The captain of the royal knights asked.
"Him."
Everyone looked to where Phil's finger was pointing. Their eyes soon fell upon their resident white-haired, green-eyed, ghostly superhero. Danny blinked at their stares, looked behind himself, then looked back at Phil. Then he pointed at himself with surprise.
"Wait, me?" He asked.
"That's right." Phil nodded. "Out of everyone here, you're the only one who seems to fit the bill of 'hero material'."
"Okay, first of all, congrats to Danny at least." Timmy said, to which Danny smiled in appreciation. "Second of all, what the heck?! We all passed those trials too! What made us less 'hero material'?"
"I'll tell ya." The satyr came up to Timmy first. "Startin' with you. Don't think I didn't notice the faces on your weapon and on your back. You had whatever they are helpin' you the whole time and as such didn't pass the trial on your own. Without 'em, you're just an average kid."
At that assessment, Timmy couldn't help but look down. Cosmo and Wanda also looked a little guilty. They didn't mean to be the reason their godkid failed.
"Next, there's you," the trainer looked to Jimmy next, "I'll give you props for knowin' exactly where to go and what to do, but when it came to doin' it in time, you practically took too long just lookin' for the right angle and barely made it with one second left, BOTH times! A real hero has to use his brains, sure, but not to the point of takin' too long to do anythin'."
Jimmy too felt rather sheepish, holding his arm as he looked to the side. Goddard whined sympathetically towards his master.
"Gettin' to the sponge here…" He came up to Spongebob next, "Spirit's nice, but at the same time, you barely managed to break the barrels with those stick arms of yours. It's like you're a weenie or somethin'. You're definitely not ready for this place."
"But I'm not a weenie!" The fry cook replied while Phil moved along to the next one. "I'm tough! Really!"
"You got magic, but you also don't have much of it." The satyr lectured Donald, though that lecture also put the mage off. "And when you ran out of it, you could only swing your staff around wildly tryin' to do some real damage and eat up more time from there. It's the same deal as the sponge here!"
Donald grumbled in response as Phil moved towards Goofy next.
"You… well, you at least got the muscle." Philoctetes said to him. "You kinda know how to work a shield. However, you got no stance to go steady with. If anythin', it's like you're goin' all over the place without any control."
"That's how I usually move." Goofy blinked.
"And last, there's you." Phil poked Sora's shin.
"What about me?" The keybearer crossed his arms. "I'm totally a hero!"
"That. That's your problem right there." The satyr replied. "If you think you can call yourself a hero just because you can swing a weapon around and fight monsters, then you still have a long way to go. So, no entry pass for you. Wanna become a real hero? Start by masterin' this spell."
Just then, Sora felt a bit of a zap in his hand, making him look to his Keyblade and see the tip of it sparking with electricity. Normally, this would have been when Donald would explain that he had just learned how to use Thunder. However, most of the group wasn't feeling all that great after the lectures they were just put through.
"Now, as for you." Phil went to Danny Phantom next. "Out of all of them, you were the only one not only to be able to beat the trials in record time, but you also got the power and wits to back it up. As such, you're ready for the preliminaries. I'll need you to stay here so we can sign you up."
"Hey, are you guys okay with this?" Danny couldn't help but ask the others.
"Uh, sure, we'll be fine." Sora told him, though hiding his own disappointment. "We'll probably just kill some time out in Thebes."
"Yeah, we'll be fine, Danny!" Spongebob assured him. "Don't worry about us, you'll do great!"
"A-Alright, if you say so…" The ghost boy could only answer with that as he watched his companions leave the way they came in. "...Well great. Now I feel like a–"
"Alright kid," he heard the satyr call him, "just gotta get you to sign these forms here…"
Danny sighed. Why did heroism have to involve paperwork?
As for the rest of our heroes, they were heading out of the coliseum to make their way back to Thebes. Of course, their spirits could have been better.
"This stinks!" Timmy of course said it as Cosmo and Wanda poofed into their normal forms to float near him. "We do all this cool stuff and fight a bunch of monsters and save the world a few times in our experience, and we still get judged as 'not hero material' by a chubby goat-guy!"
"Aw, it's not so bad, guys." Goofy said. "I mean, at least Danny made it in."
"Fat load of comfort that is." Donald grumbled. "It's not like we can just leave this place now. We'll have to wait for who knows how long for the games to end!"
"Man, I just wanted to get into the games." Sora sighed. "It all looked so cool just from how much Icarus hyped it up. I mean, think about it. Crowds watching you win? Looking awesome in front of people? That would be the best!"
"Well, there's always another chance to show what you can do, Sora. No need to get down about it this one time." The gummi ship mechanic told him.
"So are we not going to question how he said three words instead of two?" Cosmo asked.
However, an intrigued voice made itself known in their ears and the group all froze mid-walk.
"Rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?" The voice asked as they all slowly turned to face the source.
A blue-gray humanoid with literal flaming blue hair, wearing a black robe and a smoky base. He had yellow eyes sunken deep into their sockets and sharp teeth. Considering how it looked like he was wearing a black toga with a skull acting as the pin, it was kinda clear this guy had the word shady written all over him.
"Who are you?" Donald asked with suspicion.
"I can tell you what he is." Timmy said. "Obviously evil. Just look at the guy!"
"Bing bang boom, pink kid got it in one. I'm not exactly trying to hide a thing. What about you? Have any fun storing nuts for the winter? Bite into a thick delicious block of brie cheese?" Pulling out a roll of pale gray cigarette paper, a small pouch of bitter smelling powder, and rolling it before lighting it up with his thumb, the figure gave a sinister little chuckle. "Now you can shut me down, ignore me, or you know just listen to what I have to say. Wannabe 'heroes' like you could learn to listen to the call to adventure, right?"
"Just what do you want?" Wanda asked defensively in front of her godkid.
"Ah, love the shirt. You wear that every day or what?" He teased Wanda, although his tone harbored utter sarcasm, "Your husband notices the smallest things too. Must be that 'fey' stuff. Tiny bodies, lotsa power. But hey, what do I know about power?"
"Hold it, answer the question!" Timmy pointed at him, " Also an apology! Now!"
"Hades, God of the Dead, the Dying, the Underworld, lots of sweet gems and gold. Actually that last part isn't so bad. Just kind of hard to wear the bling when HEY! I'm on fire!" The God, Hades rattled off with a laugh until he thought out loud at the last one. He pointed at himself with his other thumb, an oily crooked grin on his face. "Also, sorry kid. I don't apologize. Let's see, what else do I do? Oh. I keep a running tally on souls. Would you believe that some saps in cloaks keep trying to steal them? Drab bunch of lookers. They somehow got the two things, similar but not the same mixed up. Oy vey, what a pain in the keister that was."
He liked to hear himself talk, and at the same time the level of his verbosity was in a way soothing to listen to.
"Wait a minute." Jimmy finally managed to get a word in edgewise. "Hades, Lord of the Dead? Hmmm... This might be beneficial to us after all."
"Really?" Spongebob blinked, not the only one surprised to hear the boy genius say that about someone who so obviously looked, well, bad to the bone.
"Indeed. Well, you see-" Jimmy was about to explain, but then he realized Hades was still there and sheepishly coughed into his hand. "Er, excuse us, this will only take a minute."
With that, Jimmy gathered the group into a huddle so their discussion would be kept private. Of course, none of them noticed Hades chuckling a bit before putting a hand behind his ear to listen in.
"Listen guys, we should give Hades the benefit of the doubt here." The boy genius told them.
"Are you serious?" The duck asked incredulously. "For once, Timmy's right. Just look at the guy! He's completely untrustworthy!"
"Hey, what do you mean 'for once'?" Timmy got distracted by that part.
"Look, there's precedent." The Retroville civilian explained. "In the original legends, out of all the Gods of Olympus, Hades is practically the only one who does nothing to harm mortals. He takes his job seriously and is a man of his word. If we just word it right, then we could possibly get him to help us in exchange for something reasonable."
"It is also not okay to judge people by their appearances." Jiminy Cricket concurred. "God of the Underworld he might be, but it's not likely that makes him automatically evil."
"But are you sure about this, Jimmy?" Gadget asked. "Of course we trust you with your knowledge of mythology and history, but this guy comes off like a used car salesman."
"I'd say he comes off like Norm the Genie." Wanda also wasn't moved. "He's just as rude, too."
"You guys know a genie?" Sora asked in interest.
"His name is Norm?" Goofy blinked.
"Long story. You wouldn't be interested." Timmy said.
"I respectfully disagree with that." Spongebob held up a finger.
"Look, the point is, we just have to listen and hear what he has to say." Jimmy Neutron decided to go for the bottom line. "From there, I can handle the finer points of creating a fair deal."
"Well, I suppose if you can make it work…" Sora figured.
"It will be smooth sailing. Trust me." The boy genius insisted.
Of course, Hades heard the entire thing. He smirked. Seemed that they hadn't fixed the habit of keeping their 'private' conversations private. Well, all the better for him to work with. Especially with the supposedly 'intelligent' boy thinking he had it made.
"Sorry about that, Lord Hades," Jimmy of course appealed to him, "we just had to have an important talk. So, is there something you want to talk to us about?"
"Ah, but of course." The Lord of the Dead confirmed, coming up to them. "Now, let me guess. You want to enter the games, right?"
"Well, that was the plan." The boy genius admitted. "But as I'm sure you know, we got pushed away since we 'weren't heroes'."
"Oh yeah, I totally get it." Hades said, circling the group before coming up behind Sora. "And after all that hard work, only one of you gets in. Talk about a bad hand dealt to ya. But hey, get a load of this."
And then, with a flick of his hand, a single piece of paper appeared in his hand. The back had the emblem of a bolt of lightning striking from the sky while the front had a very obvious label. 'Olympus Coliseum Entry Pass.' Sora looked surprised as Hades gently placed it in his own hands.
"A pass?" Sora was at least glad to have one.
"It's all yours." Hades told him with a toothy smile. "Good luck, kid. I'm pulling for you, little shorty."
"But no doubt there is a catch." Jimmy got to Hades. "After all, this is a pretty decent deal."
"Deals always have a catch, you know?. Didn't your mom and dad ever tell you nothing is for free?" He told Jimmy, then gave a smug laugh. "Of course I want something. But I'm not sure any of you are up for it. It's for real heroes after all."
"Hey! We are real heroes!" Donald's complementary squawk came fast, "We're up for whatever you want!"
"Whatever I want? Careful beret-boy. You're saying the kind of things you'd regret. Take it from a guy like me, you want to read the fine print 'fore you go trying to sign every contract from every Joe-schmoe. Every liiiiiittle detail. Consider it a freebie. Since I like you twerps. You've got moxie." He said with a hint of genuineness.
"Perhaps, but-" Jimmy was about to try poking for more details. However…
"Um, Jimmy?" Spongebob pointed over towards the coliseum gates. "Sora's already heading back in."
"Of course." Jimmy shouldn't be surprised Sora, all heart and no thought, would just go ahead with the plan before they were ready. He then sighed and said, "Come on, let's go catch up."
With that, Hades watched as our heroes made their way back towards the gates, practically watching them walk right into his little plan. Of course he then heard the sound of a portal opening and someone walking out of it.
"Ah, nothing like having teenagers and children dancing to your strings, isn't there?" Vlad Plasmius chuckled.
"Hey hey hey. I never lied or said a thing they didn't want to hear. I was honest! As honest as I can be." Vlad didn't buy it, and just chuckled underneath his breath. Hades tapped the side of his head with a long pointy finger. "What a buncha saps. Still, a few have potential. I like the brain on that one kid. Give him a cookie, he at least knows I got a raw deal."
"Well, he is not used to your side of the story," Vlad pointed out.
"Mythology, it's kinda messy! You want to know how many things I saw little ole Zeusy do before he got married? All the things he got up to before Hera straightened him out… No? Guess not everyone has an ear for gossip." Hades offered jokingly, before sighing when Vlad ignored him. "Geez, does everyone have to be a stoic stick in the mud!?"
"Oh, don't take this to mean I'm ignoring you. Far from it." Vlad replied. "I'm just busy pondering on how Riku's doing with his training."
"Oh yeah, the other new kid, forgot about him." The Lord of the Dead recalled. "I'll admit, no idea what Mal' was thinking when she took that kid in. But hey, since we're dealing with a bunch of kids anyhow, might as well take what we can get, right? I mean, making him more useful is only a boon for us, I guess. Tempt him to the darkness, get him all up in that, and boom. Instant power tool. Not to mention, a good counter to the wannabe heroes."
"Yes, but unfortunately the darkness can only give him so much." The ghost villain said. "It's akin to a drug. Take too much of it and you're bound to become an addict with no way back to clear focus. That's what his current training in anti-ghost technology is for."
"And you don't think that could basically backfire against you?" Hades asked.
"Oh, don't worry." Vlad assured him. "He's with someone who's practically just as malleable as he is."
—-
He could hear the sound of a whip cracking against his back.
"Talk!" He heard the yellow-skinned woman demand before he felt the whip's lash once again.
"Tch!" Tidus grit his teeth. How long had he been in this room? He had long ruled out this being a dream considering the pain was definitely real.
"Huh. Strong resilience from this twerp." The teenage girl commented as she watched him have yet to break from their torture methods. "Are you sure he actually knows anything? He probably would have said something a while ago if we just went for real hardcore stuff to start with."
"The fact that he's resilient to everything we've done so far only proves that he's from another world." The yellow-skinned woman replied, seeing her handiwork with a plasma whip had shockingly left barely any marks on his back. "We simply haven't found a method extreme enough to do it."
"Why not just go with your flaming sword?" The 16-year old pointed out.
"Hmm…" The yellow-skinned woman actually looked at her sword and took it into consideration. "Perhaps I could stand to use it. However, too much and it will no doubt kill him and I won't get the information I– ahem, we need."
Not that Tidus even knew what information these two crazy girls needed and thought he had. What was all this about other worlds? The only people who talked about that were Sora, Riku, and Kairi, and they were so set on them that they actually worked on making a raft to do it. He, Wakka and Selphie just figured they were bored of sticking around one place and would grow out of it when they got older. Did this mean he was in another world and they were right all along?
And what the heck was that freaky bug lady talking about with a boy in a mask?
"Hey, are you done with the weakling, yet?" Some thuggish voice called from outside the room. "We got another nerd ready for the rack."
"Tell him to wait." The woman replied. "We're not finished with this one."
"Well you are now." The thuggish voice retorted. "If the wimp has nothing, then get to the next prisoner!"
The woman with the flaming sword growled before snapping her fingers. On cue, a couple of grunts came up to Tidus, took him off the rack and began dragging him off. Though his vision was admittedly blurry, he eventually found himself thrown back into the familiar stone in his cell. Not to mention the clang of the cell door closing, locking him in. He got up, dusting himself off as he heard the yellow-skinned woman calling from outside the dungeon.
"This isn't over, boy!" She was definitely addressing him. Then he heard the door slam.
"Wow, you actually survived?" Tidus turned to see Chester coming out of hiding alongside A.J.
"That's amazing!" A.J. concurred. "Nobody survives under Vicky's wrath!"
"Which one's Vicky?" Tidus asked.
"She's the lady with the green shirt and black pants." The braced boy said. "She's basically the most literally evil babysitter ever!"
"She made every kid she babysat miserable long before that got her into Crocker's graces." The bald one explained. "She loves being cruel, and she tricked all the parents into thinking she was a good babysitter every time, so she got paid for it, too!"
"Not helping that parents around here would rather just go do their own thing rather than deal with their kids." Chester crossed his arms.
"Wow. Kinda sounds stupidly abusive." The islander blinked.
"Still man, amazing that you could handle whatever she could dish out!" The trailer boy told him.
"Honestly, it wasn't that big a deal. I'm pretty tough. If anything, the other lady had more force on her." Tidus shrugged. "Speaking of which, do you know her? What's her deal?"
"Not really." A.J. shook his head. "Pretty sure I heard her name as 'Mandy', but she pronounces the 'y' part literally."
"Her name is Mandie. Pronounced 'man-die'."
The trio turned to see the girl in the other cell, still sitting pretty and patting a powder puff against her cheek.
"Just like you, she's not from around Dimmsdale." The girl continued. "Probably a foreigner from Europe or something. Thing is, she's incredibly ruthless and she's one of Crocker's top enforcers, working with Vicky. Thing is, she's usually muttering something about finding a boy in a mask when she thinks no one can hear her. Probably some boy she's stalking or something."
"That's… certainly a thought." Tidus responded slowly. "And you are?"
"Trixie Tang. Super popular girl when this was still Dimmsdale Elementary." She introduced herself. "Also, obviously pretty. Isn't that right, everybody?"
"Gosh, you're pretty!" A whole crowd of voices rang out to confirm it.
Tidus blinked a few times, registering the odd event.
"Sooooo… was this school a joint middle school, high school thing?" He asked.
"No, it was strictly an elementary school." Chester responded. "Why?"
"So Miss Popular over here was held back or something?" The otherworlder asked next.
Of course, when she heard that very question, Trixie couldn't help but give an offended scoff and glared at him. This was also joined by shocked gasps from the rest of the voices, Chester and A.J. included.
"I'm in my proper grade, thank you." She told him.
"Are you kidding?" He rebutted. "You're about as tall as I am. You gotta be 14, maybe 15 tops."
"No, I'm 10."
…
"HUH?"
—-
Thanks again to The Swordslinger for helping beta this chapter, and thanks to The Lord Of Pages for helping write some of Hades' dialogue. Great to have someone hash out the details of a massive talker like James Woods.