Kingdom Hearts II: Home Sweet Sanctuary

Chapter 51: The Underdome

We arrived back at the Coliseum, except we were in the Underworld again. We looked around.

"The coast looks clear." I said.

"Yeah, no sign of the Nobodies or the Heartless... for now, anyway." Sora said. That's when we saw some lights across the Sea of the Dead.

"What's that?" Donald asked.

"The Underdrome." a familiar voice said. We looked to see both Auron and Zack.

"All kinds of monsters from the Underworld would fight there—fight after fight." Zack said.

"But Zeus didn't like the senseless violence, so he locked the place up." Auron said.

"Who UN-locked it?" I asked.

"Someone musta broken the seal." Zack said.

"A fool, more than likely." Auron said.

"What an idiot." Sora said. Auron started to walk away. "Where are you going, Auron? We should catch up!"

"If you need something to do, go help your friends." Auron said. I looked toward the entrance of the Underworld and saw Hercules and Meg. Auron left and I turned to Zack.

"Piri, you look so different now." Zack said. I knew he met my hair.

"Yeah. Decided to make some changes. How's Hercules doing?" I asked.

"Not good. He still doubting himself." Zack said. We decided to walk over there to see if he was feeling even slightly better.

"Hey." Hercules said.

"Herc! You feeling any better?" Sora asked.

"Well... same routine. Wonderboy here thinks his hero days are over. And Phil thinks it's all in his head." Meg said.

"That's right... Blunderboy." Oh great. "How can you mope on this momentous day like today?" And then, the royal pain appears. "The Underdrome's back, and you're gonna fill the stands. After all, your fans won't settle for anything less than a certified hero." Hades said. Hercules got a angry look on his face, but that faded right away. "I mean, if you're not up to it, you could always just, I dunno, LOSE?"

"You'd like that!" I said.

"Excuse me? I'm not a selfish guy. I'm not like those high and mighty snobs on Olympus. I sand of the masses! And have I got a massive idea! The games, ladies and gentlemen... are back! Yours truly, Hades—the one and only Lord of the Dead—brings you the ultimate games, to celebrate the re-opening of the ultimate coliseum! We'll finally answer that old-age question: Who deserves the title of 'Ultimate Hero'? These game are gonna settle the debate once and for all! The winner reigns supreme. Of what? You guessed it! The Hades Cup! And I assure you that the 'Great' Hercules will be there. Otherwise..." Hades said. He look toward Meg. I stood in front her.

"Back off, you demon!" I snapped.

"Well, too bad! That's the deal. Fight or you never see your girlfriend again." Hades said. Then, he disappeared.

"Lowlife!" Zack yelled.

"You're too kind, kid. See ya Blueberry." Hades said.

I growled, 'Dammit, I thought he stopped that!'

We needed to enter the tournament with Hercules. He wasn't in mental condition to fight by himself. We fought several Heartless before finally making it to the finals.

"We've made it to the finals!" Sora said.

"If we win, we'll all be heroes!" Donald exclaimed.

"Oh, that's why you're so happy." I face palmed myself.

"Well, it seems that all that training is going to pay off at last." Zack said.

"Well, we can't be junior heroes forever."

"I'll try not to mess thing up." Hercules said.

"Enough already..." Donald said.

"Hey, look. Isn't that Auron?" Zack asked. We looked to see him standing near the door.

"Auron!" I called. As he turned, I could swear I saw some kind of dark aura around him.

"And you are?" Auron asked.

"Huh?" Goofy asked.

"Auron?" Donald asked.

"I must defeat you and atone for my crimes." Auron said.

"Hey!" He turned and walked away. "What was that all about?" Sora asked. The 5 of us followed Auron to the cave of the dead entrance. We hid and noticed he was talking to Hades.

"Okay, let's review. State your crime, prisoner." Hades said.

"I exist. That is my crime. It is... inexcusable." Auron said. Why was Auron talking like a robot?

"What's with Auron? He wasn't acting like that too long ago." Zack said. I gently shushed him so as to not reveal we were listening.

"Okay, so you made one lousy mistake: you exist. But hey, I'm a forgiving guy. You keep your end of the deal and I'm wiling to overlook a transgression or 2." Hades said.

"I understand. Defeat Hercules." Auron said. What?!

"And his meddling friends." Hades said.

"What? No, only Hercules." Auron said. Auron wasn't agreeing with him all the way.

"Oh, don't tell me you've forgotten who's in charge?" Hades asked. Hades placed a hand on Auron's shoulder and so kind of energy started coming out of him. In his other hand, Hades had a statue that look like Auron. The energy went into the doll. "Hercules and the other 5. Are we clear?"

"We're clear, Hades."

"LORD Hades." Hades enunciated.

"Lord Hades..." Auron said.

"Good. Now go." Hades said. We hid as Auron made his way toward the door. As we walked past us, I noticed the statue.

"That statue is how Hades is controlling him!" I said.

"We've got to get away from him." Zack said.

"We should stop Auron first." Goofy said. We hurried after Auron to try and stop him from fighting Hercules.