The new world Sora, Donald and Goofy looked around the new world they found themselves in. They were greeted by giant, bronze, blue sky silhouetted statues of warriors crossing their raised blades over the entrance to what looked to be a massive coliseum. The sight of the place alone left Sora feeling oddly eager for a good fight. Something Donald and Goofy were a bit more...levelheaded about, though they too couldn't help feeling the same ever so slightly as they looked about. Just...something about this place seemed to light a spark in them.
As they approached the gates to the coliseum, the trio jumped in surprise as suddenly someone came flying out of from the doors, right in their direction! "WHOAAAAAH-Oof...Owww..." Sora, Donald, and Goofy blinked with confusion when they saw, laying flat on his belly, a fair skinned boy of about seventeen years old with blue eyes and a messy head of blonde hair. His attire consisted of pieces of white metal armor along his chest and shoulders atop a black hoodie, a pair of jeans, and laced, short boots. Harsh as it was to say, he looked...rather unimpressive.
"I'm sorry!" Before any of the trio could ask if the boy was alright, a melodious voice rang out from the very doors he flew out of. Standing in that doorway was a young woman about the same age as the boy with fair skin, bright green eyes, and long, lustrous locks of bright red hair tied into a ponytail. Her attire consisted of a bronze, corset-like breastplate with gold accents that showed off a touch of her midriff and chest and a golden neckguard. Her arms were clad in black, thin gloves that ran up to her biceps, with her left arm having additional protection in the form of a golden bracer. On her lower body, she wore a red sash flowing down to her right hip over a pair of black spats, along with a pair of gold thigh high greaves.
Sora wasn't sure why, but the moment he saw her, he felt...an inexplicable pang of sadness. But...why? Maybe he was just imagining things. This castle had put him through so many strange things already, so maybe it was just messing with him again.
Shaking his head, he walked up to help the beleaguered boy up to his feet. "Agh...Thanks. And uhhh...sorry you had to see that." he said, rubbing the back of his neck with embarrassment.
"Jaune, are you okay? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to use that much force." the redhaired girl said when she reached his side and began patting him down.
"P-Pyrrha, really, I'm good. It'll uh...take a lot more than a little accident to put down Jaune Arc!" the blonde boy reassured her, trying to put on a macho display of flexing his muscles...which only ended up faltering with a silly little slump when he just couldn't keep it up. Clearing his throat, he turned toward the confused Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who...were once again treated by an inexplicable sense of deja vu. "But uh...my humiliation aside, who're you guys?"
Snapping out of their reveries, the three of them cheerfully introduced themselves. "I'm Sora."
"Donald."
"Goofy. Nice to meetcha both!"
Their two new friends greeted the trio with a smile as they followed suit with their own introduction. "I'm Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos." the red haired girl introduced with a small, polite bow of her head.
"And I'm Jaune...Arc. Of the, uh...Arc family, last-last name's Arc." the blonde boy introduced, his tone going from cheerful and confident to awkward and downright bumbling. Donald looked at Goofy with a raised eyebrow, wondering subtly if there was something wrong with this boy. To which Goofy simply shrugged and shook his head.
"So uhh...what were two doing before Jaune flew through those doors?" Sora asked, getting right down to business.
Though a bit reluctant to focus on that embarrassing little episode, Jaune answered, "Oh! Well uhh...Pyrrha and I were just training together."
"Training?" Sora asked curiously.
"That's right. Come over here. We'll show you why." Pyrrha ushered, leading the trio over to what looked to be a small, chalk riddled billboard. Upon it was an announcement of some kind in strange letters Sora, Donald, and Goofy weren't familiar with. Fortunately there was one passage at the top center portion of the billboard that they could understand.
Jiminy hopped put of Sora's hood to read the words aloud, letting out a small "Hmm...It's for some sort of contest. 'Olympus Coliseum Survival Cup. Contenders have to run an obstacle course and battle each other along the way.' And look at this. 'The great hero Hercules will also compete for the cup.' It says here he's never been beaten."
"So you were both training for this?" Donald asked, earning a nod of affirmation from the two youths.
"Well I'm sure ya both will do real well!" Goofy said encouragingly. While Pyrrha smiled in appreciation, Jaune's own smile was rife with doubt that could be seen from a mile away. And after his...unconventional introduction to their three new friends, who could blame him?
The tidbit about this hero who had never been beaten, Hercules, piqued Sora's interest as a competitive smile touched his face. "Sounds like fun. why don't we enter too?" he suggested enthusiastically.
Donald stared at Sora with a frown of disbelief, while Goofy let out a chuckle. "I thought you'd say that. Whenever there's a contest, you're always rarin' to join."
Donald of course was not as amused as he asked, "You're going to compete even if we don't, right?" To which Sora almost immediately nodded and said, "Uh-Huh." Donald sighed in defeat, not certain why he'd ever expect anything else from Sora. This hot-headed attitude was so typical of him. "Guess we'd better tag along, then." he said in a resigned manner. There was no talking Sora out of things when he got that look in his eye.
"Wow. I wish I had his confidence." Jaune said enviously, earning a gentle rub on the shoulder from Pyrrha. As he looked over at her, his companion gave another reassuring smile. One that while he couldn't muster the will to match, he appreciated beyond words.
"Hold it, everyone. There's more." Jiminy interjected, hopping up to read more of the billboard. "Only contenders who finish the preliminary course can enter the main competition. It says the preliminary course is just ahead." he said, pointing toward the doors to the Coliseum.
Immediately, Sora turned toward the gates and exclaimed with irrepressible excitement, "Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go!" And with that, he was off like a shot, with Donald and Goofy rushing after him.
Jaune and Pyrrha blinked with surprise at the IMMEDIATE bolting to the doors. They hadn't expected their new friends to be competing along with them, but even less so was the snap-decision to join a contest that they JUST heard about. "Wha-Hey! Sora!?" "Sora, wait for us!" Jaune and Pyrrha exclaimed as they scrambled after the trio into the coliseum's vestibule.
What the fivesome didn't realize was that they weren't the only ones interested in this competition.
From out of the shadows emerged a very tall man with heavily gaunt features clad in black toga and matching robe held by a skull pin at one of his pectorals with dark, grayish blue skin, yellow eyes, protruding fingers and fang shaped teeth in his opened mouth frown. The most abnormal thing had to be the blue flames coming right out his head. He approached the billboard, reading the passage in the letters that the five friends couldn't understand with a deadpan tone. "Hercules is a model of true strength and gallantry - a perfect hero?!" As he turned to the side, his faded blue body became more of a deep red color with the flames on his head rose higher, turning to a bright yellow and orange as he shouted in pure rage, "Oh, he's perfect, all right. PERFECTLY INFURIATING! Just thinking about that little sunspot makes me boil! HOO, I'd like to drag him into the Underworld!"
"Which is why you hired me."
The voice of another approaching figure caused the fire-headed man to cool down, both figuratively and literally. He turned to look at a shorter, but still quite tall and lithely muscular man with blonde hair so spiky it seemed to defy gravity. His stoic eyes were a greenish-blue color that almost seemed to glow. He wore a black t-shirt tucked in dark blue pants held by a thick brown belt. The leggings tucked in his black boots and on his left shoulder was a pauldron with protrusions. In the respective hand was a golden clawed gauntlet and the lower portion of his face was covered by tattered cloth that was part of his long red cape. Strapped to his back was a massive sword that was about as big as he was.
"That's right. You're my man," the fire headed man said with a dark smile on his face. "Cloud, is it? Your job is to beat Hercules in the games. And once you've got him cornered, finish the job. Do that for me and-"
"You restore my lost memories. As we agreed." Cloud finished bluntly.
Though visibly annoyed by the interruption, Cloud's employer swallowed his pride and with the same villainous grin. "You have my word." he promised in a low, slimy tone.
Cloud said nothing else as he turned away from Hades, his eyes focused on the gates to the coliseum. He had his objective, and he wouldn't let anything stop him from achieving it. Not even Hercules.
Meanwhile, just inside, the vestibule had one resident before Sora, Donald, and Goofy entered. A small and heavy set person. His lower portion had dark brown fur and cloven hooves, as well as a pair of goat like horns coming out the top of his balding head. Sora, Donald, and Goofy felt an air of familiarity toward this person, this...satyr...but they couldn't quite tell why. Nor did they know why they knew what he was.
The goat-like man turned at the sound of someone entering, his face a look of amusement as he looked at Jaune and Pyrrha. "Yeesh, Pyrrha. For a second, I half expected I'd have to be scrapin' bits of Jaune Paste off the cliffs of Olympus."
"Phil!" Pyrrha objected, as the satyr's joke really didn't do much for Jaune's embarrassment, or his confidence if that downcast expression he had in the wake of it was any indication.
But before Pyrrha could say anything more in his defense, the goat-legged man's face took on an even more derisive expression laced with disbelief at the sight of the three newcomers. "Huh? Where did you come from?" He turned to Jaune and Pyrrha with a weary frown on his face as he asked them accusingly "Don't tell me you invited them into the games...!"
Brushing off their host's disbelief, Sora smiled confidently and answered, "Yup. And now we want to go for the cup!"
The satyr smirked and crossed his arms at the boy's enthusiasm. "Well ya came to the right place, not that you stand a chance against Herc."
His immediate, dismissive judgement made the trio blink with displeasure. "Why not?" Donald asked, trying to hold back his indignation.
The hoofed, horned fellow looked at each of them and said, "Two words."
"You! Ain't! Heroes!"
"You're wrong!" Sora exclaimed, refusing to hide his indignation toward the satyr's snap judgement.
"Yeah, he said three words." Goofy interjected, having been subconsciously counting the words on his right hand. Sure enough, he counted accurately. His prioritization made Donald and Sora look at him, the former with a frown and shake of his head.
"Exactly...but that's not the point!" Sora continued, trying to get things back on track. "How can we prove we're heroes unless you give us a chance!?"
Jaune let out a sigh as he leaned toward Pyrrha and whispered, "We...probably should've warned them about Phil first." A sentiment Pyrrha echoed with a nod. They were likely to be here for a looong time.
Before the satyr could say retort, from further within the Coliseum entered a tall, top heavy, bulky man with muscles that could only be considered carved to perfection on his broad frame. His handsome, chiseled face was accentuated by a short head of curled, orange hair. He wore a brown armor guard similar to what the statues outside the Coliseum wore, as well as a dark brown belt with a matching headband, wristbands and buskin footwear. And hanging off the shoulders of his armor was a short yet heroic looking blue cape.
"He's right, Phil. If Pyrrha and Jaune vouch for em, I think they deserve a chance." the well built man said with a sunny smile.
Phil still seemed reluctant, however, as he drummed his chin while looking to the ground. "Hmm... you gotta point there, Herc. But still-"
Seeing the old goat-man was going to be stubborn about this, Hercules got a mischievous gleam in his eye. "Of course, we could always cancel the games." he said, crossing his arms with a disappointed tone and shrug that screamed 'oh well'.
Jaune and Sora's eyes widened as the two almost looked heartbroken. "What?! "Cancel them? What for?" both boys said respectively.
Giving the satyr a nudge with his hefty hand, Hercules explained apologetically to the boys with a shake of his head. "Old Phil's prelim course was so hard, no one else could finish it."
For a moment Sora and Jaune seemed upset, but then they realized what Hercules was getting at. Both boys looked at each other with sly grins as they took the opportunity Herc presented them with. "Is that right? Well, if you let us compete, you won't have to cancel the games! How about it, Phil?"
"Yeah, it'd be a real shame if the games got cancelled because of a small oversight in difficulty, wouldn't it Pyrrha?" Jaune said with a shrug.
Pyrrha blinked at the unexpectedly devious look Jaune got, but realized with a smile of her own just what was going on. "Oh absolutely, Jaune. All that work and preparation undone by something like that? It'd be such a waste to throw it all away." she said in agreement as everyone's eyes fell upon Phil.
Phil knew exactly what they were doing...And despite the infuriating aspect of his pride demanding otherwise, he knew couldn't argue with them. So after contemplating his options, he shrugged with a sigh of defeat and said, "Okay, you got me over a barrel, so fine. Here's how it works, kid-"
"It's 'Sora'. Not 'kid'."
"Sure, sure, kid," Phil replied, not concerning himself over Sora's correction. "You're gonna be on Jaune and Pyrrha's team since they're vouchin' for ya. And since you mugs and Hercules are the only contenders-"
"No, they're not," Everyone turned with surprise at the stoic, as-a-matter-of-fact toned voice from the entryway of the vestibule. "The games have a new challenger. Name's Cloud."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at the blonde newcomer with a faint shiver. Something about this guy seemed...serious, to say the least. They weren't sure how to describe it, but he clearly was no ordinary warrior. Especially if that utterly massive sword on his back was any indication. Jaune felt a great wave of nervousness run through him as his blue eyes met the bluish green of Cloud's. This game just got a whole lot more complicated.
Phil however was a bit more excited seeing that they had more competitors for the Survival Cup. "The more the merrier! Now the games will really be something to see!" he cheered.
Hercules seemed to have gotten even more into the competition too as he looked between Cloud, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Sora. "I'm looking forward to this. Don't expect me to pull any punches." he said cheerfully.
A huff of confident laughter escaped Sora. "Hey, as long as you don't expect me to take them!" he said before turning to Cloud, Jaune, and Pyrrha. "Let's give it our best."
"R-...Right. We've got this, Sora." Jaune said, taking a moment to calm himself down. It was game time...and he was nervous as could be.
"You'll be fine, Jaune. I know it." Pyrrha assured him with another squeeze to the shoulder. It was almost like a great deal of that tension just...melted away the moment she touched and smiled at Jaune.
And as Jaune smiled back at her, Sora couldn't help looking over at them and...feeling that odd pang in his chest again. He couldn't fathom why he was feeling so...sad. But now wasn't the time to think of such things. They had a game to win.
Cloud simply gave an unconcerned, stoic huff at Sora's well-wishing. Clearing his throat, Phil got things back on track for the games that awaited the five contenders. "Okay, let's get this show going. But first, I gotta explain a few rules. Rule #1! The first one through the obstacle course wins. Rule #2! In the event of a tie, a battle will determine the winner! Rule #3, you can interfere with your opponent on the course! And finally...Rule #4! All challengers have to give everything they got!" Not wasting any time, Phil hopped out of the way as the five competitors lined up to begin. "Alright, enough of the spiel. On your marks...get set...GO!"
And with a silly little flourish from the satyr, the competitors dashed off as fast as their legs could carry them. Except for Cloud, who seemed to not be in a hurry much to Phil's surprise. He either didn't care, or had something up his sleeve. Whichever the case, he hoped Hercules would be alright.