Sora and Auron both launched themselves up to attack Cerberus’s two uninjured faces.
“Let’s get out of here, Sora!”
“Right!”
Auron dashed toward the door with Sora at his heels. Behind them, the wounded Cerberus crept closer.
“Hurry, Sora!” shouted Donald.
They heaved the door shut in Cerberus’s faces.
Sora stuck his tongue out at the closed door and grinned. “So there!”
“Huh?” Donald looked this way and that. “Where’s Auron?”
Goofy scanned the cavern, too. Auron should have made it through the door with them—but he was nowhere to be seen.
“He’s gone…?” Sora searched the premises. No Auron. “Aw… Well, Auron’s pretty strong, though. I bet he can take care of himself. Let’s go find Meg! Then we can try again.”
Donald and Goofy nodded, and they climbed the stairs up from the gate of the Underworld to the shining Coliseum.
Beyond the door atop the stairs, the great stone Coliseum spread out before them.
“Gee, this sure is something else…” Donald sighed, gazing up at the towering walls.
“I wonder where Meg is?” Goofy started toward the center of the arena.
“I wanna see the hero!” Sora ran ahead. The two figures standing in the arena, one big and one small, seemed to be involved in a serious discussion.
“C’mon, champ…”
“Um, ’scuse us…” Goofy quietly spoke up.
“Be right back!” The smaller one went trotting right past the trio.
“Gawrsh, I wonder what’s going on?” Goofy mused aloud, just a bit nervous.
“Hey there. Who are you…?” Somewhat at a loss, the taller one looked down at the newcomers.
“I’m Sora!”
“Donald here!”
“And Goofy!”
The tall person smiled at their cheerful introductions. “I’m Hercules.”
“So, you’re the hero?” Goofy asked.
“Well… Yeah, I guess I am.” Hercules laughed bashfully. He wore brown armor over his daunting physique, his blue eyes and white teeth flashing. He gave off an imposing aura, every inch the hero.
Sora stared up at him in awe. “So, we’re looking for this lady called Megara…”
“You’re looking for Meg?”
“Yeah.” The boy nodded.
“Oh, then…” Hercules turned, but just then, someone appeared out of a dark mist.
“Hades!” cried Sora, taking a stance with his Keyblade.
“What’s wrong, your hero-ness? Feeling under the weather?” Hades said to Hercules, blatantly ignoring the trio. “I thought staying in perfect shape was part of the job description.”
“Hades, we gotta talk!” Sora insisted, but the Lord of the Dead continued to act as if he didn’t exist.
“I came to share a little rumor,” Hades went on. “Seems your darling Nutmeg went and got herself lost in the Underworld.”
“You mean you kidnapped her!” Hercules glared at him.
“Eh, why get caught up in the details?”
Hercules whistled and a winged horse swooped down into the arena.
“Where d’you think you’re taking off to? You’ve got a very important match today…against the bloodthirsty Hydra!” Hades gave him a wicked grin. “I mean, if you don’t stick around to fight it, who knows what kind of accidents might happen?”
“Not exactly accidents when you’re the one causing them,” Sora interjected.
“Like I said, details.”
Hercules clenched his fists. “You’re nothing but a coward!”
“Oh well. We can’t all be heroes.” Hades snickered and snapped his fingers, taunting the hero, then vanished.
Hercules groaned in frustration and hit his fists against his thighs.
“We can handle it!” Sora told him, absolutely confident.
“But… Are you sure? You kids don’t really look all that tough.”
“We’re sure!” Donald pounded his chest boastfully.
“Besides, we were just in the Underworld,” Goofy added.
Hercules regarded them anew. “You were?”
“Yup.” Sora nodded. “Except…we couldn’t really fight… Hades said it was something about the Underworld.”
Hercules folded his arms in contemplation and then spoke. “There’s a stone that guards against the curse of the Underworld—the Olympus Stone. The gods on Mount Olympus use it when they have to go down there. But…it was stolen.” He frowned.
“Huh? Who took it?” Sora asked.
“We don’t know yet, but Phil said he saw someone fishy.”
“Who’s Phil?” Donald asked.
Hercules looked in the direction where the small stout person had run off. “I was just talking to him. He went to follow that man—I couldn’t stop him.”
“What was this fella like?” Goofy asked anxiously.
“Phil said he wore a black cloak with the hood over his face, and he had an entourage of these quick little minions in white.”
The trio looked at one another. A black cloak and quick little creatures in white?
The organization!
“Somebody you know?”
“Sounds like he’s one of the bad guys we’re fighting,” Sora said bluntly.
“Really? Well, maybe I should ask you to help Meg, then.” Hercules finally seemed to accept that the newcomers were going to save her.
“Say, if we can get back that Olympus Stone, d’you think we could borrow it for a while?” Goofy asked gingerly.
“Sure… After all, you’ll never be able to face Hades without it,” Hercules told them with a smile.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy all nodded, determined. “Okay. Don’t worry, we’ll save Meg!” Sora announced.
“I’m counting on it.” Hercules shook his hand.
“Let’s go after Phil!” Sora said, and they descended back into the gloomy caverns.
And there, at the gate to the Underworld, they found Phil sprawled on the ground.
“Phil!”
“Ugh… Huh? Oof…”
Goofy ran over and helped him up.
“You okay?” Donald anxiously peered at Phil.
“Yeah, more or less… But who are all you people?” Phil glared, apparently taking them for suspicious characters as well.
“I’m Sora, and this is Donald, and that’s Goofy! Hercules sent us after you. We’re gonna catch the Olympus Stone thief and save Meg!”
Phil skeptically raised his eyebrows. “Really? The champ sent you?”
“He sure did!” Donald bragged.
“Anyway, leave the guy in black to us,” Sora said.
Phil still appeared uncertain at first, but then he finally seemed to give in. “Okay, then. If the champ said so, guess I gotta believe him… That guy I was following ran straight into the Underworld.”
“Thanks!”
The trio headed for the stone door.
On the other side, they felt weak again—even weaker than before. But the Heartless kept on attacking them.
“This Underworld curse is really getting to me…” Sora sighed, finally finishing off the Heartless in front of him.
“We’ve gotta get that Olympus Stone back, fast!” Donald clobbered a Heartless with his wand instead of using magic.
“What if we don’t find that organization fella before we run into Hades?” Goofy worried.
“Then we’ll deal with it somehow!” Sora proclaimed with confidence he had absolutely no reason to feel.
“Hey… It’s you!” called a boyish voice.
“Huh?” Sora spun around, and standing there was a man in the organization-issue black cloak, flanked by Nobodies.
Going by the voice, this wasn’t the same one they’d spoken to in Hollow Bastion. He didn’t give a very threatening impression, and his hair was almost too long to stand up in spikes the way it did.
“Um… Roxas?” Demyx said timidly.
“…Roxas?” the man asked again.
“What’s he talking about?” Goofy whispered to Sora, who shook his head.
“Who knows?”
Donald raised one eyebrow. “He’s bonkers!”
“Oh well… No use, is it?” Demyx shrugged, plainly ignoring Donald.
“What’s no use?” Sora demanded.
But he seemed to ignore that, too. Demyx took out a piece of paper, skimmed it, and then rolled his eyes. “‘If the subject fails to respond, use aggression to liberate his true nature’? Boy, did they ever pick the wrong guy for this one…” Distressed, the man scratched his head.
“You’re not making any sense!” Sora burst out.
Again, Demyx made no reply, but only held up a round stone that resembled a medal.
It had to be the Olympus Stone, Sora thought.
“He’s the thief!” Goofy declared.
Demyx hunched his shoulders as if offended. “Now that’s just plain rude!”
In his hand, the Olympus Stone gleamed.
“Wa-wa-waaak!” Donald started at the gang of Demyx clones that appeared. But the doubles weren’t solid—they were transparent.
“Let’s get this party started!” he crowed, and three of the look-alikes started whirling around.
“Donald, Goofy—let’s get ’em!” Sora rushed the doubles and brought down the Keyblade. They splashed like liquid and scattered.
“Are these things made of water?!” Sora spluttered, soaked in what used to be his opponents.
“Let’s see how they like getting frozen! Blizzard!” Donald flung a spell at them. Goofy spun around, whacking them with his shield.
“Aw, man… I told them this isn’t my kinda job…” Demyx clutched at his head in frustration, watching one after another of his doubles splashing to the ground. Sora took the chance to charge at him, weapon at the ready.
“Eep…” Trembling, Demyx backed away. “Hey, c’mon… Roxas…”
“Look, nobody knows what that means!”
“Well, uh…” Demyx cocked his head to one side and then the other, cracking his neck, and brought his face closer to Sora’s. “I’ll just say it—Roxas, come back to us!”
“Who in the world is Roxas?!”
At Sora’s obvious irritation, Demyx scurried backward and vanished into darkness. In the same moment, the remaining doubles lost their shape, dissolving into ordinary puddles on the ground.
“What a funny fella,” Goofy said.
“Yeah…” Sora lowered the Keyblade and stared at the ground.
Roxas… It felt like he’d heard that word, but he couldn’t put his finger on where.
And yet he already knew what it meant, or he wouldn’t have asked that question—Who in the world is Roxas?
It was someone’s name. Someone he knew probably. Except he’d never met or heard of anyone called that.
“What’s wrong, Sora?” Goofy asked, his expression filled with concern.
“Oh… Nothing.” Sora laughed it off. “That guy really was weird!”
Goofy smiled, too, while Donald scrutinized the cavern floor.
“Oh yeah—the Olympus Stone!” Sora ran over to Donald.
“Didn’t he take it with him?” Goofy said.
“It’s right here!” Donald picked up the shining stone and handed it to Sora.
He held the Olympus Stone aloft, and the light emanating from it surrounded them.
“Gawrsh, did that get rid of the curse?” Goofy wondered as sparkles rained down on them.
“It must’ve! Let’s go—Meg needs our help!”
Donald and Goofy nodded, and the trio ran down farther into the Underworld.
And deep in the darkest pits, they found Megara being held prisoner.
“Meg!” As they dashed toward her, they realized she was chained to a rock.
“Sora—behind you!” she cried.
The trio turned and came face-to-face with Pete.
“Gah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Can’t fight in the Underworld, can ya? Well, well, isn’t this my lucky day!” Pete stalked closer with a swarm of Heartless in tow.
Sora grinned and readied the Keyblade. “Not that lucky!”
“Chaaarge!” Pete commanded, pointing at the trio.
“You want a fight? You’ll get one!” Sora and Goofy took on the horde, while Donald stayed behind to work on freeing Meg.
“Ha! Hya! Take that!” Sora cut down Heartless after Heartless and soon had a path straight to Pete.
“Hey—weren’t you supposed to be all weak and wimpy down here?” Pete complained.
“Sorry to get your hopes up!”
At Sora’s self-assured reply, Pete broke out in a cold sweat and began to back away. “Eh, this place is a dump anyway. I’ll get you twerps next time!”
With that parting shot, he turned tail and ran.
“Hey! You’re not getting away!” Sora tried to chase him, but yet another enemy rose up in his path in a billow of smoke. “Hades!”
“Hmm, would you look at that? Buncha tough guys now, huh?” Hades sneered.
Suddenly a bright voice echoed through the dungeons. “Sorry I’m late!”
The one making his gallant entrance was Hercules, along with his winged horse Pegasus.
“Oh, at last, our hero. One little problem, though—down here you’re a zero!”
“You’re about to find out how wrong you are!” Hercules charged him at full speed, sword in hand, and attacked.
“Wh-what gives?!” Hades yelped.
“Whoa!” The battle ended as quickly as Sora’s exclamation, and Hades collapsed to his knees.
“All right, you win—at annoying me!” Hades roared, and blue-white light spouted from under his feet, swallowing him up.
Hercules turned to the trio with a grin. “So, what do you think? Was that heroic?”
“It was amazing!” Donald hopped in delight.
Megara, finally out of her shackles, flew into Hercules’s arms.
“Gee, it feels like we didn’t even help that much,” Sora mumbled, a tiny pout twisting his mouth.
That moment, the Olympus Stone gleamed and floated into the air, where its light became a keyhole.
“Another gate’s open…!” Sora lifted the Keyblade and shot a bright beam at the keyhole, and they heard it unlock.
After the light dissipated, the air in the Underworld returned to its usual gloomy state, and the Olympus Stone, as if having finished its work for the day, tumbled to the ground.
“Here, you’d better take this back.” Sora picked it up and handed it to Hercules. “Thanks.”
“But who are you three?” Hercules wondered.
“We’re heroes!” replied Donald.
Meg smiled at them. “Sure looks that way to me.”
“Okay, sure,” Hercules said. “Junior heroes.”
The trio exchanged glances and grinned, too.
“Well, time for us to go,” Sora told Hercules, and then they set off on their journey to another world.
CHAPTER 4
TWILIGHT TOWN
THE GUMMI SHIP ZOOMED THROUGH THE OTHER SKY.
“It’s over there this time!” Donald called, peering out the ship’s window. They could just see a planet in the distance.
“Say, isn’t that Agrabah?” Goofy remarked as he tried to discern it. The desert and palace looked familiar.
“I wonder how Aladdin and Jasmine are doing,” Sora said, also casual, as he looked down at the desert world. The Gummi Ship slowly descended to Agrabah.
This place was called the Corridors of Darkness. Stairs and more stairs and pitch-black gloom.
It was connected to all the different worlds…and closed off from them.
Riku walked and walked.
“Help! Please!”
At the shriek from behind, Riku whirled around. It was the second time he’d mistaken th
at voice for someone else’s. “Naminé…”
She flung herself at his back and clung to him. He pulled away for a moment as he moved to face her and gently rested his hands on her shoulders.
She bowed her head for a moment, then raised her eyes to meet his. “Please, Riku—you have to help Axel.”
“What happened?”
Naminé’s clear, bright blue eyes reminded Riku of her…of Kairi.
“The organization is after him.” She hung her head again. “He made sure I could get away.”
Pursued by the organization—he had expected that, more or less. If he’d been branded a traitor, they weren’t going to let him off lightly.
“I can’t do anything to help him,” Riku said.
“Why not?”
He didn’t have a good answer for her.
Why couldn’t he help Axel?
If he decided to, he ought to be able to do something…but what good could it do to help a Nobody?
“Is it because Axel’s a Nobody? If so, then why were you willing to help me? Because I’m Kairi’s Nobody? Because if I’m gone, Kairi will be incomplete?”
“Naminé…”
She was facing downward, her shoulders shaking. He drew her close and held her.
“Axel’s heart is hurting,” she said.
“I thought Nobodies didn’t have hearts.” As soon as Riku said it, he doubted his own words.
Did Nobodies really lack hearts? What about Naminé? And Roxas?
As DiZ had told him, those two had both come into being in a special way. Did that mean that they were different?
The members of the organization were also unique among Nobodies—that was obvious. But was that all there was to it?
“Axel’s heart says he’s lonely.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” Naminé shook her head. “I don’t understand it, either.”
Maybe he needed to have another talk with Axel. Riku let out a small sigh and bent down to look Naminé in the eye. “Who’s after Axel?”
“One of the men from the organization… He was listening to us.” She picked her words carefully.
“What were you talking about?”
“About…Kairi.” She said the name softly but clearly.
Riku’s shoulders tensed slightly.
“I’ve wanted to meet her. I thought that I had to, and I asked Axel to take me to her. But…the man from the organization heard me, and he tried to capture me. Axel held him off so I could escape.” The story poured out of her, and then she raised her head, realizing something. “…Is Kairi in danger?”
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