“No way, nohow!” Donald agreed, and with a flick of his wand another turned to mist. “Anyway… D’you get the feeling we’re not as strong as usual?” Goofy examined his shield as if it would tell him the reason. “Aw, it’s just your imagination,” Sora replied breezily, and rested the Keyblade across his shoulders. “Or maybe it’s just you?” “Gawrsh, I guess so…” Goofy cocked his head, unconvinced. “About this hero, though… Hercules? I wonder what he’s like?” Sora gushed, obviously intrigued. “Well, gee…” Goofy folded his arms, musing. “Probably tall and handsome, and really nice…” “So, the complete opposite of Sora?” Donald jeered. “Wha—? Hey!” Sora began chasing him. “See? You attack your friends!” As Donald fled, he collided with something and fell back on his tail. “Quack!” “Oops… Sorry about that.” The person he’d run into bowed his head apologetically. “Huh? …Gah!” When the trio noticed the man’s organization cloak, they readied their weapons again, and he took a step back. “Retreat!” he shouted. At that, some squirming Nobodies showed themselves, but they simply continued down the passage Sora had just come from, completely ignoring the three. The organization man followed his minions. “What was that about?” Sora squinted after him. “Wasn’t that somebody from Organization XIII?” Goofy asked. “Must’ve been…” But Sora was confused, too. “Look, there’s a door!” Donald announced, peering down where the man had been. Sora and the other two stood before a huge door, much like the one at the gates to the Underworld where they’d found Megara. “Ya think…Hades is through there?” Goofy said. Sora and Donald nodded. They opened the door and peeked through the gap. “Someone needs help in there!” cried Donald. In the large round chamber, a man with graying hair was lying on the floor. Beside him stood another man, tall and bluish skinned. The trio scurried inside. “What do you think you’re doing?” The tall man had flames for hair, which blazed an angry red. Hades glared at the newcomers. “I could ask you the same thing!” Sora retorted, and dashed in front of the man on the ground to cover him with the Keyblade. Someone else popped out of Hades’s shadow. “It’s you pip-squeaks!” “Pete!” cried Donald and Goofy. “I knew you were up to no good!” Sora braced for a fight. “Hades!” Pete yelled. “It’s them! The ones tryin’ to interfere with our plan!” “Oh yeah? That so?” Arms crossed, Hades grinned viciously. “I take it you’re friends of Hercules or something?” “So, you’re Hades? Well, we’re here to talk to you,” Sora began. “No… Go, now…,” the fallen man muttered to him. “We can’t do that!” Goofy went to help him up, but Hades glided over and tossed Goofy aside. “Blizzard!” Donald flung out a spell, but the blast of ice melted away before it even touched Hades’s robes. “What’s going on…?” Sora sprang forward to attack—or tried to. The strength drained from his legs, and instead he tumbled over. “We can’t do anything!” shouted Donald, waving his wand in vain. “I feel kinda funny…,” Sora mumbled. He couldn’t even seem to get up. “You finally noticed! See, that’s the thing. In the Underworld, heroes are zeroes. Comes with the territory!” Hades crowed, and struck at Sora. “Ngh!” The one who blocked the attack from Hades was the man who had been on the floor. Hades laughed, knowing he’d scarcely have to lift a finger. “Still got that much fight in ya…?” “Run. Now!” the warrior in red shouted. “But—,” Sora protested as he finally got to his feet. “We can’t fight him here! Listen to me. We have to go!” Sora, Donald, and Goofy gave in and fled the chamber. “What about that guy back there?” Sora worried, checking over his shoulder—and the man in question was only a little ways behind them. Goofy swiveled his head, too, ears flapping, and grinned at Sora. “Oh, good, he made it!” Donald stopped to catch a gasping breath. “Did we lose him?” “Don’t count on it,” the man replied. “He’s right. C’mon, the party’s just getting started.” Hades had appeared beside the magician without a sound other than those mocking words. “Wak!” Pete brought up the rear with a passel of Heartless. “Hold it right there!” “Run for it!” Sora cried. The four of them started to do just that, only to find Heartless in front of them, too. “Whoa!” Sora skidded to a halt, but the mysterious man was already charging ahead to mow down the Heartless with one stroke of his huge sword. “Wow!” Donald marveled. “Let’s go!” The man wasted no time, and they scrambled to follow him. “Hey, mister, you’re pretty good,” Sora said as he caught up. The man cracked a lopsided smile. “Say, are you a hero?” Goofy asked, and at that the man stopped in his tracks. The other three paused with him as if following his lead. “I’m no hero. I’m just…Auron.” “Auron?” Donald echoed. “That’s my name.” He sounded a little embarrassed. The trio confirmed that they’d all had the same thought, then scurried around in front of him and stood at attention. “I’m Sora!” “Donald!” “Goofy!” They introduced themselves one after another, and Sora stretched out his arm to shake hands. But he’d reached toward Auron’s paralyzed left arm. “…Oh.” Seeing Sora awkwardly stuck there, Auron let out a tiny chuckle. “We must have been fated to meet. Maybe you need a guardian.” “Guardian? Thanks, but…pretty sure we’ll be fine.” Sora withdrew his hand and rubbed the back of his head, grinning. “Mm-hmm…” Auron laughed a bit more noticeably this time. “Anyway, let’s move.” “Right!” They plunged ahead again. Meanwhile, up above, bright sunlight filled the Coliseum. There were no games now, and someone from the organization crept through the quiet arena. Demyx hadn’t been able to use his power in those caverns, as if the place was under some kind of curse. Actually, come to think of it, before he came to this world Xigbar had been going on about some kind of talisman. The Olympus Stone—that was it. “I dunno. I’m just not cut out for this kinda work— Augh!” Suddenly, a stout little man with goat horns on his head was standing in front of him. “What’re you doin’ here?” demanded the satyr. “Uh, well, y’know…” Caught out, Demyx scratched his head. “You here for the games?” “Huh? Er…” “Name’s Phil. And you are?” “Um…leaving!” Demyx dashed for the stone building that served as a prep room for the contestants. “Hey! Hold it right there!” Phil started in pursuit but found himself beset by a ring of Nobodies. “What d’you think you’re doin’?!” Demyx ran inside as Phil shouted after him. “The gate!” Donald called and ran ahead to it with the party close on his tail. “Uh-oh… It won’t move.” He shoved the door with all his might, to no avail. “Here goes!” Goofy added his own strength, but the door still didn’t budge. Apparently it was not just closed, but locked. There was a sizable keyhole in the middle of it. “Looks like we’re stuck.” Goofy looked back at Sora mournfully. But Sora’s Keyblade gleamed. “Oh!” He held it up. “Can you open it with that?” Auron asked, watching their efforts. “Yeah. I think so.” But the moment Sora spoke, a dreadful growl sounded from behind them, accompanied by an even more dreadful stench. “Wak?!” Donald started at the sight of the source. It was the giant three-headed guard dog of the Underworld—Cerberus. Auron calmly faced the beast with his sword ready. “Go!” he shouted to the others, and leaped into action. Sora nodded and raised the Keyblade toward the keyhole. The weapon glowed and unlocked the gate. “C’mon!” Donald cried, and shoved the door open. “Auron?!” Goofy called. The warrior was busy doing battle with Cerberus. “Just go!” “We can’t leave you behind!” Sora charged at Cerberus and leaped into the air, slashing at one of its eyes. The giant monster dog roared. “Tch,” Auron hissed in frustration and charged from the other direction. 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…? Sora had never heard the name, if the word was even a name. Baffled, he cocked his head. “Excuse me?” “…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 20
18 min read