This here, this was never supposed to exist, or to have continued its existence as nothing but another Word file on my computer. Yet, obviously, it still does exist and has actually been completed thanks to the malicious egging-on and wonderful support of fellow author Hondo-Okami. If you recognize that name, then you know what this is. If you don't…

WARNING!

INCOMING LEMON!

WARNING!

INCOMING LEMON!

What does this revelation mean about future scenes in Annals of Darkness? You tell me.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

-A-D-

Light's Growth

Chapter XLVII: The Zeus Cup: Prelims (Alternate)

1930hrs, Thursday, November 27, 2003
Olympus Coliseum
Kairi

Hercules and Hermes led them all out of the Coliseum and back through the thoroughfare of stalls that had been erected in anticipation of the Zeus Cup. The grounds were less busy now, with maybe half of the people there, but everyone looked at the throng of competitors and at Hercules and the Messenger of the Gods. At a place that Kairi was sure there had been nothing but a window to clouds before there was now a large wooden door that Hercules opened with a minimum of effort.

The Hero (and demigod), and Hermes led them on through the door, where they found themselves on a winding mountain road surrounded by clouds. The grey rocks of the mountain were hard, but it seemed almost mystical with the placement of the clouds. Far below them they could see rolling hills and green fields and towns stretching out across the horizon.

The neighing of a horse caught Kairi's attention, and she looked up into the sky and felt her jaw open in awe. Flying above them, magnificent in the night sky, was a winged white horse with a mane as blue as a mountain lake. Hercules stopped and whistled and the winged horse came down, and Kairi knew that it was Pegasus.

The Hero got onto his friend and steed, and smiled at them all. "Come on," he said, turning Pegasus around, "not much farther now. Hiya!" Pegasus took off into the sky on his mighty wings, and the silhouette of the winged horse and rider against the moon and stars was a grand sight. Hermes lifted off as well on his winged sandals and took off after Hercules, leaving them to catch up.

"Let's run," someone said loudly.

"Yeah," another one declared. "Last one there buys the drinks!"

"Or just plain loses," Sora said.

"Whatever," Naminé said, pushing her way through to the front. "Okay! Listen up!"

"Why?" someone asked.

"Rules for the race are simple!" Naminé declared, ignoring him. "Follow Hercules and Hermes up the road to the resort. You can use any means necessary known to you to achieve this. However, you cannot throw another competitor off the path to a horrific death below. First one there wins the title of being the fastest, because tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday we find out who is strongest! Agreed?"

"You're just a kid!" a big man in a leather jerkin and skirt exclaimed.

"You can't just judge people by their age or size," King Mickey said.

"Agreed?" Naminé asked again.

"Agreed!"

She raised her hand, and in it there was now a small charm. "Okay, on my count!" Everybody tensed, getting ready to utilize whatever they had to reach the top first. "5…4…3…2…1…GO!"

Legs pumped, and Sora and Kairi both disappeared as they simultaneously used Flash Step to get ahead of the others, but it was only a temporary boost, as many of the heroes that they would be competing against proved themselves to be very fleet of foot, maybe not on the same level as Achilles had been, but they were still able to run nearly as fast as a horse's full gallop. Riku was right along with them at the front, and so was Roxas, and Yuffie was popping up near Sora and Kairi with her near-instant smoke teleportation jitsu. But Sora and Kairi were still in the lead as Aiwemon and Menelmon flew between them and the rest of the crowd, Aiwemon in front of Menelmon with Menelmon just ahead of Yuffie.

Naminé tossed the charm she had held into the air, and cried, "Come to me, Nebulus!"

Her yell was not heard by Kairi or the others, already far ahead and with their eyes on the path. She and Sora had since stopped using Flash Step, now running as quickly as their legs could carry them. They were still in the lead, vying with one another for the top spot, but their lead was quickly shrinking. Kairi looked behind, and saw that everyone else was coming up fast. Aiwemon soared over her, and Yuffie vanished from behind and reappeared in a puff of black smoke, now in front of her. Riku then skated up next to her, black and orange energy at his feet as he used his sun skates.

Kairi glanced at Sora and Riku, and then she quickly shot her energy out down to her feet and Flashed again, this time pulling ahead of Yuffie. She smiled, gaining the lead once again…

And then someone flew above her, taking the lead away.

"Catch me if you can!" Naminé shouted, riding a flying winged horse that looked to Kairi like it was made of stardust. Naminé's face suddenly lost the triumphant look it had. "Huh?"

A blur passed right by Kairi and zoomed underneath Naminé, and Kairi strained her eyes to see what it was. Then it slowed down slightly, and she was able to make it out. It was Asterix and Obelix, each of them running easily and outpacing all of them as they ran up to the gates of the resort, where Hercules and Hermes were waiting with Pegasus.

Kairi just slowed down to a stop, staring in disbelief at the two gauls. Nebulus landed next to her, and then Yuffie appeared in a puff of smoke and Sora Flashed up to her. Riku then braked on his sun skates and Roxas stopped running, and all of them stared at Asterix and Obelix. "Huh?"

"How are they that fast?" Sora asked.

"Beats…me," Riku said, his pause for emphasis rather than breath.

The rest of the competitors showed up within seconds, and the whole lot of them stopped gawking at the speed of the two indomitable gauls and began to gawk instead at the resort in front of them. Behind massive iron-wrought gates in a marble wall was a facility so massive it strained the eyes to be seen. Essentially the building itself was in a giant block C shape, with Corinthian columns lining the exterior of the walls and supporting the auburn-shingled roof. How many rooms or just what all was inside was anyone's guess, but judging from the courts that could be seen outside the walls one could do anything.

"Welcome," Hermes said, waving his blue hand towards the interior, which was still lit like it was in the noonday sun while outside the sky was dark, "to the paradise of Heroes, Elysium!"

"Elysium!?"

"Okay, well it's not really Elysium," Hermes said. "We just named it that because we wanted it to sound like a great place. The Heroes of the Coliseum Games stay here during their training at the Coliseum and are lodged here during the Games."

"Wish someone had told us that before," Donald grumbled. Sora chuckled.

"It's not Spartan, let me tell you that," Hercules told them, smiling and giving them a thumbs-up. He pushed open the gates. "Have fun, and remember, the times will be posted at seven 'o clock tomorrow morning, back at the Coliseum."

-A-D-

"Would you look at this room?" Kairi asked Naminé, walking around the brightly lit space. Two beds with bright white sheets, a small patio, bathroom, and a great view of the massive pool, fountains, and gardens out between the two wings; she loved the room that she and Naminé would be staying in.

"Oh, thank Zeus we made it," she heard Naminé say. "I almost couldn't take it anymore."

Kairi laughed. "Couldn't take what anymo—(she stopped, her eyes widening) you've already stripped!?"

"I'm HOT!" Naminé replied.

"It's comfortable," Kairi told her.

"It's boiling!" countered Naminé.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She looked at her watch. "Okay, it's seven-forty-five now. You're already dressed for it, so what do you say we go for a swim?"

"Since when do I swim in a bra and panties?" Naminé asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"You mean you don't wear a bikini?" Kairi asked her, going into the bathroom with a thin black scrunchie.

"Not yet anyway," Naminé answered, somewhat embarrassed. "But it is a cute one-piece. Wait, you were wearing a monokini last time anyway."

"I got a new swimsuit and I want to try it on," Kairi answered, still in the bathroom. She was tying her loose hair up behind her head with the scrunchie. "Besides, I kinda want to see Sora's reaction when he finally sees me in a bikini."

She turned her head as she heard the door to their room open. "Oh good," a voice said, "I found the right room."

"Agatha!" Naminé said happily. "When'd you get here?"

"About two minutes ago," the eighteen-year-old servant replied. "I'm not a competitor, so I didn't go into the Coliseum with you all, but I'm still your handmaiden so I'm not going to let you and Kairi be here all by yourselves."

"Oh come on Agatha," Kairi said, smiling in amusement as she came out of the bathroom, now in a pink bikini and a white towel draped over her shoulder. "We have the boys with us and it's only for a couple of nights. We'd have been fine."

"I know that you would have," Agatha answered, "it's just that my place is with Princess Naminé. There's no point in Master Ur having trained me as well if I can't fight to protect my Princesses; I'm going with you Naminé, wherever you go."

"And what are you doing stripped down too?" Kairi asked, incredulously staring at her twin and at her twin's handmaiden.

"Uh, because it's hot?" Agatha replied, shrugging her bare shoulders while her tone indicated that it was the most obvious answer in the world. Kairi rolled her eyes.

"You're both insane," she said, grabbing an oversized white t-shirt and putting it on. She placed her towel on her shoulder again. "Coming for a swim?"

"Sure," Naminé said. "Just let me change. Oh, Agatha? Could you find the boys and tell them that we're going swimming."

"Sure thing," Agatha said, turning around and preparing to stride out of the room.

"Oh, Agatha," Kairi said quickly. "Wait!"

"Yes Kairi?" the servant asked, turning around with one hand on the doorknob.

Kairi shook her head. "Put some clothes on first. There are a lot more guys here than girls. And though they'd probably love to see girls running around in their underwear around them, we don't need to give them that pleasure."

-A-D-

CRACK!

Sora straightened up as he watched a white ball with an orange stripe roll across a green field. It bounced on a solid felt rim, and then rolled into a hole. Sounds of it dropping and rolling on tracks on the inside of a large table entered his ears as he smiled, twirling the stick in his hands around.

"Good shot Sora," said a teen with short brown hair in a jean jacket, blue t-shit, and blue jeans.

"Thanks Percy," Sora replied, moving around the pool table, trying to figure out his next shot.

"So…" Percy started slowly, "you're a Hero too?"

"Junior Hero Perce," Sora answered him. "We're not Heroes until Phil says that we are."

"And he's taking his sweet time too," Donald grumbled.

Sora leaned into the table, moving his pool cue back and forth between the forefinger and middle finger of his gloved left hand. "Actually," he began, "didn't Phil say that it wasn't his call?" He struck the cue ball with his stick and the ball rolled forward quickly before striking one of his stripes. It bounced off the rim just shy of the left corner back pocket. "Shoot! That was close. Didn't he say that if it was, he'd make us all Heroes in a heartbeat?"

"You might want to skip Phil and go to Chiron," Percy said, looking left and right around the table as he tried to figure out his own shot. "I think he mentioned a union once."

"You know Chiron?" Sora asked. "The centaur?"

"Yeah," Percy answered as he prepared to shoot. "For the longest time I thought he was just another one of my teachers, and a crippled one at that, since he looked like a human and was sitting in a wheelchair. Then the next thing I know, my pre-algebra teacher turns into a Fury and is attacking me, my best friend's actually a satyr, and Mr. Brunner turns out to be Chiron." Percy took his shot.

"Tell me about it," chuckled a brown-skinned satyr, about the size of Percy, with small horns jutting out of his frizzy black hair as Percy scratched. "You would not believe the look on this guy's face when he found out that he was the son of Poseidon."

"Whatever Grover," Percy said, scowling at his scratch.

Riku then began to move around the table, trying to figure out where he wanted to place the cue ball for whatever shot he was going to attempt. He and Sora were playing the game of pool against the teen, Perseus (Percy) Jackson, and his best friend and protector, the satyr Grover Underwood. Donald and Goofy were watching, and several other competitors were playing other games, chatting, drinking or eating in the large lounge room in the resort building's second level on the east wing. There was a nice view of the pool, fountains, and gardens below too.

"Son of Poseidon huh?" Goofy asked. "That makes you a debi-god like Hercules then."

"Demigod," corrected Donald.

"Right, ahyuk," Goofy said. "Demigod."

"Yeah," Percy answered.

"Well," Riku began, preparing his shot, "demigod or not, I hate to break it to you Perce, but you're not gonna win this one."

"And why not?" Grover asked, strutting up to Riku.

"Because I'm gonna take it," Riku said. His cue stuck the cue ball, and he cleanly knocked a stripe down into one of the pockets.

"Oho," Grover said. "Mr. Big Shot Riku here, gonna take down Percy Jackson, Hero of Olympus huh? Well I've got news for you: you ain't got nothing against my man Percy."

"Really?" Riku laughed, lining up his next shot. "And uh… why would that be?"

Crack!

"Because Percy's the son of Poseidon," Grover said.

"And I'm a Keyblade Master," Riku returned, raising his pool cue up as the ball he'd shot for just missed a side pocket. "What's your point?" The silver-haired youth tapped the satyr on the shoulder. "Your shot, goat."

"Hey," Grover said, placing his cue against Riku's chest to stop him. "I'm a satyr, all right."

Riku raised his hands apologetically. "Alright, cool." Sora just sniggered.

"My point is," Grover started again, "that unless you've gone up against monsters like the Minotaur, Medusa, and the Hydra, Percy's got you beat."

Goofy chuckled. "Well I don't know about Riku," he started, "but Sora, Donald and I have taken on Cerberus and the Hydra before."

"And I have gone up against the Minotaur," Sora added, smiling and beginning to count on his fingers. "And Talos, and the Chimera."

Grover missed his shot. "Say what!?" he said. "You've taken them all on before? Just you?"

"Well, no," Sora relented. "Against Cerberus, the Chimera, Talos, and the Minotaur, it was me and my girlfriend Kairi, and our digimon partners Ohtarmon and Soronmon. I haven't taken on any monsters one-on-one."

"To be fair," Percy added. "It was me, Grover, and Annabeth against Medusa and the Hydra."

"Who's Annabeth?" Sora asked.

"Daughter of Athena," Grover sighed. "Percy's got a little thing for her ("Do not," said Percy), but without her we'd have been screwed. Ha!" Grover laughed. "Don't deny it man, it's written all over your face."

Sora shot, and one more stripe went down into a pocket. He quickly went to the cue ball, and struck it with his stick. Down went the last stripe. "You know," Sora said, looking for an angle with which to knock the 8 ball in, "you guys really suck at pool."

Percy sighed and tapped his hand against the side of his pool cue. "Well excuse us for not spending our entire lives playing pool."

"Forgive me for not doing so either," Sora returned. "8 Ball, back left pocket." He struck the cue ball with a soft thump, and it darted towards the 8 and made contact with a sharp crack! Right on target, the 8 rolled in, and Sora raised his cue stick with a satisfied smile on his face. Riku slapped his left hand hard after Sora raised it towards him.

"Ow!" Riku muttered, shaking the limb. "I have got to remember to stop hitting that one." Sora just smiled and reached for his glass of coke. "You know," Riku said, putting away his pool cue. He picked up the cue ball and looked around for a crud table. "We should play crud. That'd be fun."

"There you guys are!" are female voice said. "I've been looking all over for you."

Sora frowned as he saw a pretty girl with long canary-gold hair and brown eyes striding towards them. She was wearing a brown skirt and white blouse, black shoes on her feet. "Agatha?" Riku asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting on my Princesses, Lord Riku," Agatha answered with a tiny smile. "They're not going to get rid of me that easily."

"I get that," Riku said. "But why are you here? In this room?"

"I've been looking for you," she answered, a small blush coming to her cheeks. "Well, you and Master Sora. You wouldn't happen to know where Sir Roxas is, would you?"

"He's in our room," Sora said. "Why?"

Agatha nudged her head to the side. "Look out the window and down." Sora just looked at her suspiciously while Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Grover went to the window to check.

"Hey," Riku began, "is Kairi in a bikini?"

"What!?" Sora asked, quickly turning around and going to the window. Down below him he could see the pool, a number of men and women swimming in it or lazing about on the poolside. Naminé was currently wading at the side of the pool while Kairi was standing next to the rim with Yuffie and another girl, this one with long brown hair. Both Kairi and Yuffie were smiling and waving up at them.

"Kairi is in a bikini," Sora muttered, his eyes getting as much as he could of her form in the swimsuit from this distance. And she has her hair up too. She looks great!

"I guess we're goin' swimmin' then," Goofy said.

"You're right about that," Grover said, starting to breathe heavily. "Some of them chicks down there could give nymphs and the daughters of Aphrodite a run for their money. And Annabeth doesn't look too bad either. See you later Percy." Without another word he went away. Sora tapped Riku's shoulder with a smile on his face. Though Sora himself wouldn't be swimming, or even taking off his jacket, he was still going to have a fun time.

And the next three days were theirs to enjoy.

-A-D-

"So they're here?" Hades asked.

Lady Morgana nodded her hooded head as she knelt before him. "Yes, they have arrived."

"Good," Hades said. "I have your tickets for you and a present as well."

Lady Morgana looked up. "A… present?"

"Yes," Hades said. "It was just finished this morning. Wear it to intimidate them, and make them wonder why you are not competing in the tournament. If you want to, duel one or two of them outside of the tournament grounds, but keep a low profile. You're just a warrior, come to watch other warriors compete. We don't want to attract my brothers' attentions."

"Understood," Lady Morgana said, bowing her head again.

-A-D-

0916 hrs, Friday, November 28th, 2003
Olympus Coliseum
Sora

The midway that had sprung up only seemed to have gotten bigger since the previous evening when they'd arrived, and again the scents and sounds rising from the stalls and vendors assaulted his senses. Even after having sated his stomach with breakfast just over an hour ago, his mouth was salivating and submitting its requests for some snacks that it would like to taste.

Sora rubbed his cleanly shaven chin as the faint clip-clop of Nebulus' hooves could be heard as Naminé rode on her Celestial Steed behind him, the blonde Princess with him along with Agatha, Roxas, Hayner, Selphie, Yuffie, King Mickey, and Asterix. Aiwemon was, as always, on his shoulder. The door to the mountain path to the resort closed behind Nebulus' swinging tail, and the astral horse snorted and waggled his head.

"Why are we here this early again?" Roxas asked, yawning.

"Because we need to check the times for the preliminaries," Yuffie answered.

"So why do the others get to sleep in?" Roxas whined. "Sora's here, he can get our time."

"Maybe I want to practice with you before we start," Sora said, turning around. "We haven't seen each other in a while Rox. We need to know what each of us can do before—"

A strange chill went up Sora's spine and he stopped talking, whipping around as the hairs on the nape of his neck stood on end. Roxas came up to stand next to him.

You felt it too? The blond asked. Sora nodded his head.

"What is it?" Asterix asked. "Something wrong boys?"

"Sora?" Aiwemon asked.

Sora didn't answer right away, just scanned what he was able to see in front of him with his cerulean eyes, but not even sure what he was looking for. That's odd, he thought, shaking his head. I coulda sworn…

"It's nothing Aiwë," he said, placing a smile on his face. "I just thought that I felt something was watching me."

"Are you sure?" Hayner asked. "I know a few people are staring at Naminé's horse, but I don't feel anything."

"I felt it too," Roxas said. "Sora's not making it up. It was like a pair of eyes keeping an eye on us, almost like we were prey."

"I wouldn't say that," Sora said, turning to Roxas. "It felt more like I was in trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Naminé asked.

"I don't know," Sora answered, holding his hands up in a defeated gesture. "Just, trouble. Like I'd been caught sneaking around or something."

Yuffie sighed. "I think Hat N' Clogs bumped you one too many times on the head," she said, rapping her own lightly with her knuckles. "Come on, I need to find out when Riku and I are fighting you guys."

"I don't think we'll be in the same block," Sora told her, heading after Yuffie while they kept as a group around Nebulus.

King Mickey didn't follow them right away. The smile on his face had slipped off with Sora's words, and he too was scanning the crowd. Then he saw someone that he think might have been the cause for Sora and Roxas' jitters. Someone was standing stock-still in the crowd, staring straight at Sora even as he was walking away. Heavy black and blue pauldrons with two spikes jutting away from the body near the end were on the warrior's shoulders. Thick darkest blue plate gloves and boots with dark brown fur interior-lining up to the elbows and nearly to the knee were on the person's hands and feet, and it was only through looking at the slender waist and chest that King Mickey was able to tell that the person was female. Leggings of the same very dark blue metal covered her hips and thighs, and probably went down to her ankles as well, and a belt with a bright blue skull on it was wrapped around her waist. The few inches of skin from just above the waist to a little past her bellybutton all around her abdomen was bare, but her chest and forearms were fitted with a chest-piece and solid rearbraces that fitted her body like a glove. Her chest armour was the same colour of most of the rest of it, a very dark blue, but a brighter blue accent was just above the woman's navel and beneath her bust. Behind her draped what King Mickey could see as a patterned grey and blue cape with a mighty large sword strapped to her back, but the helmet was what creeped him out the most. Her face, whatever it may have looked like, was completely concealed by it. What looked like a bright blue gem glowed on the forehead, and two dark horns with a gentle curve reached forward menacingly from each cheek of the greathelm.

King Mickey shuddered as he looked at her, and her attention turned to him, and the only part of her face that he was able to see was her eyes, eyes that glowed blue like they were possessed with living flame from Hades' own head.

"Your Majesty!" Sora called from ahead. He'd noticed that the King had fallen behind. "You coming?"

The King's head snapped towards him, then looked back at whatever he had been looking at. He shook his head, and the King hurried towards the rest of the group with a rushed. "Yeah! Just thought I saw somethin'; somethin' creepy."

"Like what?" Selphie asked.

King Mickey shook his head again. "Never mind," he said. "I probably just dreamed it up. It's too early in the day."

Sora glanced at Roxas. Do you think?

I don't know, Roxas replied. But if he did… I just hope that we aren't facing whoever in the tournament.

If we are, we'll beat him, Sora answered confidently.

-A-D-

There were no more random moments of what Sora was beginning to think of as just paranoia that Hades was up to his usual tricks as they went on to the front doors of the Coliseum. Right in front was a board posting the times for the eight preliminary rounds, as well as the names of the teams that would be in each round and the names of the members of each team. He quickly began to scan them.

"Okay," he muttered to himself. "First prelim at one, hey, Roxas, we're in the first one!"

"Oh great," the blond said. "I'm gonna spoil my lunch."

"Looks like Percy and his team are in the first one too," Sora said, "as well as five other teams. Don't know who those guys are though."

"Hey Menelmon and I are in the second one!" Aiwemon exclaimed. "And… Tifa and Leon?"

"What?" Sora asked sharply, looking at the paper. "How did I miss them last night?"

"Because you weren't paying attention," a male voice said from behind Sora. He turned and found himself looking right at the scarred gunblade wielder. He smiled. "How you been Sora?"

"Never better," Sora replied, smiling at Leon. He looked to his right. "Hey Tifa."

"Hi Sora," Tifa said. "So, we're in the second prelim then are we Leon?"

"I guess so," he answered. "I'll be looking forward to seeing you in the tournament Sora."

"Hold it Squall!" Yuffie said, jumping in front of him and jabbing her finger into his stomach. "What's this about you being teamed up with Tifa? You abandoning me?"

"Well I can't exactly pair up with you," Leon grumbled in annoyance. "You're with Riku. And it's 'Leon', Yuffie."

Yuffie grimaced. "I'm taking you down Squall, just for breaking up our team." She turned her nose up at him and swaggered back to the board while Leon just shrugged and shook his head.

"Nobody else that we know in number two," Naminé said, looking through it. "Oh, Kairi and I are round three, and so are… the Gullwings!?"

"Hey, thanks for finding that out for us!" Sora looked behind him again, and now next to Leon and Tifa stood Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. "Don't worry," Yuna said, "we'll be sure to put you through your paces. (She looked away from Sora and frowned) Selphie."

"Yuna," Selphie answered, deadpan.

"So where's Tidus?" Yuna asked.

"Asleep or eating," Selphie answered.

"So he's available?" Yuna asked.

"I never said that," Selphie returned.

"Sure sounded like it," Yuna told her. She and Selphie were face-to-face now, Selphie just a tiny bit shorter than the young woman with mocha hair and one blue eye and one green eye, the green eye having a spiral pupil that was only noticeable from such a close distance.

"I'm pretty sure it sounded more like 'get stuffed'," Selphie uttered quietly.

"Maybe you should do the same," Yuna retorted, poking Selphie in her chest.

Selphie's face turned red, but whether it was from anger or humiliation Sora was unable to tell. "Listen, he's mine you hussy, so drop it."

"You calling me a hussy, dink?" Yuna's hands dropped down to her jean-shorts, where her two pistols were holstered. "And Tidus isn't yours, he's mine."

"Wanna back that claim up?" Selphie asked her, her hands slowly moving towards the sword sheathed on her hip and the round wooden and steel shield across her back.

Yuna gave a dry laugh and her hands ghosted away from her pistols. "Nevermind," she said, turning around. "You're not even worth it, tedwo dfed."

A ringing note filled the air and Yuna felt a sharp point press slightly into the back of her neck. "If you're going to insult me," Selphie said, "do it to my face and in a language I understand you tramp."

"Desa du tea pedlr!" Yuna screamed, her hands grabbing her pistols as she spun around again. Both of her pistols struck against Selphie's sword in an X and brought it out and away from her. One of her pistols was pointed up at the sky, while the other was aimed right for Selphie's chest. She fired a shot from that one, but Selphie's shield was already up and absorbed the bullet instead of the girl's breastplate.

That was the last straw. Before either young woman knew what had happened, Sora had Flashed between them, pushing each back just below the neck with a firm shove of his hands. Silver wind swirled around his fingers and whirled around the wrists of the two females. With a tiny tug downwards they were brought down, and Sora gave each of them a serious look while his hands were still outstretched between them at the level of their collarbones. Hayner had placed a restraining hand on Selphie's shoulder, and Paine had done the same on Yuna's.

"That's enough!" he said, his chains of Twilight Wind still whirling around Yuna's and Selphie's captive wrists. "We're all here to fight Maleficent and her allies; we do not need to be fighting amongst each other all because the two of you like the same guy!"

"Well tell her that I got him first!" Yuna spat.

"Liar!" Selphie shot back, struggling against the bonds and Hayner's hand. "I've known him since we were four!"

"Here's an idea," Sora started. "Why don't the both of you have him? I'm sure Tidus would love that."

"Because I'm not sharing him!" shouted Yuna. "Not with her, not with anyone."

"And the same goes for me," Selphie added.

"Good, you can agree on something," Sora said, patronizingly. He opened his hands and the Twilight Wind blew away. "Sort it out amongst yourselves," he told them. "I'd prefer that you include Tidus in it and try to get along until he finally chooses one of you, or maybe he'll even choose both, or neither, I don't know. If you have to fight for him, then fight for him, but not to the death and I don't want to hear any whining or bitching, else I'll settle it. Do you get my drift?"

Stunned wasn't quite the word that one would choose when describing the reactions of Sora's friends when Yuna and Selphie both answered with a tiny "Yes sir," each; astonished that Sora had just acted so decisively to end it, without anyone prodding him to, would be a much more appropriate term.

The brunet Keyblade Master sighed and dropped his hands. Yuna started to walk away quietly with Rikku, and Paine came up to Sora. "Sorry about Yuna," she said. "But, you know how she is." Sora nodded his head and Paine left with the other two Gullwings.

He pinched the bridge of his nose before looking at Roxas. And you too, he said.

What do you mean? Roxas replied, the blond's brow furrowing.

"Hey Your Majesty," Yuffie said, "you, Donald, and Goofy are in round four, and so are Tidus, Olette, and Kia."

You and Riku, Sora answered Roxas, pretending to be interested in the remainder of the match-ups. You guys need to stop bickering too. It's driving me insane.

So you want me to just take it? Roxas growled.

No, Sora quickly answered, thinking that he'd given the wrong impression. I want you two to talk it over real soon. You're always insulting each other and picking fights.

He started—

I don't care who started it, I want it to stop! retorted Sora. How are we all supposed to be a team if two of our strongest guys can't stop fighting each other?

Roxas paused. "Alright," Hayner said. "Prelim number five has our name on it Selphie."

You really think that I'm one of our strongest? Roxas asked quietly. Come on Sora, I'm the weakest one of us all. Everyone else is better than me, especially Riku.

Not true, Sora told him. You beat Riku once too, remember?

And that's why he hates my guts, Roxas answered. But then he went and kicked my ass, and I haven't been able to knock him down since. I haven't been able to knock anyone down since.

You fought me to a draw, Sora reminded him.

That was ages ago too, said Roxas.

Dammit Roxas! Sora shouted, frustrated. You're not WEAK! No one who cares about his friends and subordinates as much as you do could ever be weak.

What are you talking abou—

I know about the Samurai Roxas, Sora said. They can talk to me too, and I've met Harima.

Sora's twin's cerulean eyes widened. When did you—?

Last night while you were asleep, Sora said, he came to me, and we talked. He told me everything that I didn't already know about what happened with you during your time in the Organization, and everything about what you were doing in The World That Never Was. You aren't weak Roxas, you never were.

Sora saw the look in his twin's eyes, and he could feel that Roxas was feeling lost and out of place. Harima decided that it would be better if I knew about him and the other Samurai as well, Sora told him. He told me that they know me, and will speak to me and do what I ask if I am in dire need, but that they follow your orders above mine. They are loyal to you Roxas, because you proved yourself worthy of their loyalty during your time in the Organization. And I know that you will do everything you can to fulfill their wish and dream of becoming whole again, just as you and Naminé and Lea have become.

But how Sora? Roxas asked suddenly, looking down. How can I do that when I can't even protect myself from one of Maleficent's Nobodies? How am I going to be able to when I almost died fighting Tismetrx, and the giant Boar Heartless in the Big Top? I can't protect myself; I can't protect anyone, not even Namin—

You know, Sora broke in, Kairi once said something to me that got me out of a funk like that, back when I was fretting about Anti. Roxas looked up, and Sora placed a hand on his shoulder, and stared at Roxas with cerulean eyes identical to the blond's. "If you're afraid of losing, just get stronger. If you're afraid of not being able to protect your friends, swear to get stronger until you can protect them. If you're afraid of Tismetrx or any other Nobody Maleficent has pulled in, just get stronger until you can crush him. And if you don't want to listen to me, then say those words yourself."

Sora smiled at the look that came onto his former Nobody's face and removed his hand, only to clap him on the shoulder again with it. "Besides, you're a knight," he laughed, tugging slightly at the purple and gold cape that he still wore over his back, "man up buddy." Sora stopped and looked towards Naminé. "Wait, what was that about Kairi?"

"I said that she's going to have a fit when she finds out," Naminé replied, still sitting atop Nebulus while Agatha had the lead of the reigns in one hand.

"Find out what?" Roxas asked.

"Whoa," Yuffie commented. "You two were seriously spaced out."

Naminé looked directly at Sora and answered her boyfriend's question. "Garda's here."

-A-D-

1230hrs

A 'fit' was hardly the word that Sora would have used to describe his girlfriend's reaction when she and the others finally came out and Kairi learned of her master's presence and that he was competing in the tournament. He would have said that she was having a panic attack.

"That's it," Kairi was whispering to herself, but more than audible enough for everyone else to hear her, as she sat down with one hand to her rising and falling chest. "I'm finished. I can't beat Master. Nobody can."

"Kairi stop saying things like that," Menelmon said from atop her partner's shoulder. "You're making me worried."

"Why's this guy such a big shot anyway?" Yuffie asked.

"He's the Chief Guardian Yuffie," Kairi said seriously, looking up at the raven-haired kunoichi. "Master's never been beaten by anyone before. Don't you remember? I couldn't beat him back at the festival."

"Kairi, you have your Shikai!" Naminé said. "You can beat him if we end up facing him. Besides, we're not even in the same preliminary, we might never face him at all."

"He'll go up to the top," Kairi said, convinced that he would. "And then we'll meet him there if not sooner. We're done for Naminé."

"You held back in your fight back then," Sora told her. "I heard him too. You. Held. Back. This time, if you do fight him, he's going to want you not to."

"Even if I don't," Kairi began, "I still won't be able to beat him. Master is Master, he is my Master. I can't beat him."

"What's with all the defeatist talk?" Riku asked rhetorically. "We sent Xarcs, Tismetrx, and Lexai packing, why are you so hung up on Garda? You'd knock him into the next century if you really fought him with your best." Kairi just gulped and shook her head.

Yuffie threw up his hands in defeat. "Alright!" she declared. "I give up. But don't come whining to me when we prove you right and you kick his ass."

Kairi didn't even flinch, as if she hadn't even heard him.

"But guys," Kia began hesitantly, "this is still Garda we're talking about. I saw him fight when Felra fell. He's just as good as the stories make him out to be. He probably did slay a Behemoth King single-handedly."

Hercules then came out of the Coliseum through the doors, and found the group standing or sitting on the steps up to the entrance. "Hey guys," Herc said. "The first prelim match is starting soon. You'd better all head over to the competitors tent; it's just inside of the Coliseum, through the trophy room."

"Alright," King Mickey said, nodding his head. "Come on fellas. Let's go have some fun today."

There were quite a lot of people already within the tent when Sora's group arrived, most of the other contestants, in fact. Agatha quietly mentioned that she'd take her seat and left, but not before wishing both Kairi and Naminé good luck. Kairi only nodded her head listlessly while Naminé smiled at the servant and thanked her.

"GIRL!"

"Yes Master?"

Sora continued to wonder just what kind of training Garda had used to get Kairi to prostrate herself on the ground before him every time he called her gendre. Every other conversation died out instantly as the imposing Islander with the great black claymore came up to his apprentice.

"So you're here," he stated, completely oblivious to the many pairs of eyes watching them.

"Yes Master," Kairi answered automatically, submissively.

"Up," Garda said. Kairi complied, rising to her feet and looking up into the granite-grey eyes of the man who stood just over six-foot-three. To Sora's eyes Kairi seemed to wilt while Garda surveyed her, his eyes combing over every inch of her, observing every change, every possible increase in strength, every possible crack in her armour. It seemed to Sora that Kairi believed he was finding her faults, because while she stood perfectly still, he could feel that inside she was having serious trouble staying calm.

"You still look a bit thin," Garda told her. "And you've lost a little size here and there, probably because you're not as fat as you once were. But there is muscle on you that I can see, and strength buried beneath your fiery skin that wasn't there a month ago. You have grown strong in my absence, my apprentice," Garda said firmly.

"Thank you Master," Kairi said, a small smile coming to her face.

Sora frowned. When had Kairi ever been considered fat, or even having fat? He came around and peered at her. Wait, her breasts were just a bit smaller than they had been a couple weeks ago. There's where the fat must have gone. And he didn't think himself a pervert for looking at his girlfriend's chest.

Wait…

"I don't care if you are the Chief Guardian," Sora said quickly, turning to look at Garda. "If you're looking at Kairi like that then—!"

Garda suddenly laughed, stopping Sora cold and surprising Kairi. "You have nothing to fear about your girlfriend's honour, Sora, so you can stop threatening me. I may be her master, but the girl is my apprentice, not my slave. Although, with the way she's devoted to you, she could as well be your slave."

"Master…" Kairi mumbled while Sora blushed and backed away. "Please don't say things like that."

"You and your sister are in the third round," Garda said. "I'm in the seventh. I'll be watching you, and looking forward to facing you again."

Kairi nodded her head. "Thank you Master."

Garda clapped a hand on Kairi's shoulder, and she swayed but stayed standing. "Just don't hold back this time, because I certainly won't be."

Kairi nodded again. "Yes Master." Garda walked away, back into the crowd in the tent, and Sora caught Kairi just before she fell down. Her face was white as a sheet. "I'm dead," she whispered. "He's not going to be holding back. Now I'm going to know how that Behemoth King felt right before Master cut him up into tiny bite-sized pieces."

"Kairi, remember what you said to me?" Sora asked. "You told me that as far as you were concerned that you were Kairi of Destiny Islands, daughter of Seymour and Janet, apprentice of Chief Guardian Garda, and the Legendary Crown Star Wielder of Light. Legendary Wielder of Power Kairi. You can beat him."

"I don't think you're getting through to her Sora," Riku said. "Remember how she was back at the Blitz Fest?"

"Hey! Sora!"

The Keyblade Master sighed and turned away from his unresponsive girlfriend and plastered a smile onto his face as he saw his cousins come up to him. "Sade! Sikora! How've you been?"

"Great!" the younger sibling Sikora answered. "While Garda actually turned out to be a stick in the mud and didn't train us at all, we learned a lot from the other Guardians."

"Yeah," Sade said, his voice less energetic than his sister's. He wasn't looking his older cousin directly in the eyes, the jade that was his directed more at the ground a foot away from Sora's right boot. "I—I've been thinking about what you said, Sora," he said. "And, seeing the way that the Guardians can fight, and all of the people here, it's making me doubt… but I still want to fight! I just—"

Sora placed his automail hand on Sade's shoulder, and the fifteen-year-old stared at the gloved appendage before looking into the smiling face of his sixteen-year-old cousin. "Sade," Sora started, "I know what I said back there. But you've come this far, so don't stop now. Show me what you can do, like you promised."

Sade smiled, and waved a hand through his jet-black hair. "Yeah… yeah! Alright! Don't worry Sora, I won't let you down!" Sora felt a prod on his shoulder and he turned around, and Naminé, Riku, Yuffie, and Roxas were all staring at him.

"What?"

"What's gotten into you?" Yuffie asked. "You've been acting a lot more mature today than normal."

Sora shrugged. "I don't know," he replied honestly. "Growing up, maybe?"

"Or maybe deep down," Naminé speculated, "you're finding within yourself the leadership abilities that can make you our leader."

Sora sighed. Leader of the Keyblade Wielders? It wasn't the first time the topic had been brought up. And while he knew that in the past the one who held the Kingdom Key was head of the Chasers, he still wasn't sure. "I don't know guys; I don't think I'm ready."

"Ready or not Sora," Riku began, "you know that the five of us would follow you anywhere. You may think of Mickey as our leader right now, but we'd probably do anything you asked us to do in a heartbeat, because we have faith in you."

"But the same goes for me," Sora returned solemnly. "I'd do anything for any of you too. I'd go to the end of the worlds and back for you guys." He didn't have to say that he'd already done it once. Sora leaned back against a pole and laughed. "What an odd reversal."

"Huh?" Naminé asked.

Sora looked at Riku. "All the time we've been friends Riku, and I've been following everything you say because you said so. Now you say that you'll follow what I say just because I said it."

"Within reason," Riku said, smirking and coming up to Sora. "I'm not gonna punch myself in the head just because you say so."

"Need I remind you that you, Naminé, Roxas, and Kairi all threw me into a hospital desk?"

"Then pick a fight with me in the final," Riku said, smiling. Sora clapped his hand together in a kind of handshake.

"That's a promise," Sora said. "Just be prepared for another ass-kicking, since I wasn't kicking your ass enough this past week."

"You really think that you and bird-brain over there are gonna take out me 'n Yuffie?" Riku asked. Sora lowered his eyes and pulled Riku slightly closer before his cerulean met Riku's aqua once again.

"Riku," Sora whispered. "Could you maybe stop insulting my brother and picking fights with him all the time. I know that you don't like each other because of stuff in the past, but could you both just let it go and get along? It's driving me insane and we don't need infighting in the team."

Riku laughed quietly. "And you say that you're not our leader?" His voice lost its mirth and he became serious as the volume dropped. "Alright. I'll work it out with him after the tournament, or maybe we'll resolve it during the tournament. But I see your point. Can we still be rivals though?"

"How 'bout the three of us be rivals?" Sora asked. "You, me, an' Roxas. All three of us should try to outdo each other, but for friendly competition only of course."

"Of course," Riku answered. "But why not the girls?"

"Because girls cheat," Sora answered plainly.

"And how do we cheat?" Yuffie asked casually, having overheard the entire conversation with her awesome ninja skills.

"Because you're girls," Sora answered, almost horrified. "You can be cute and beautiful; wonderful and deadly; sexy and shy—"

"And you have breasts," Riku broke in.

"You hold all the power," finished Sora.

Yuffie smirked. "That's just because Kairi's got you whipped."

Sora snorted and turned away. He looked at his watch as he heard trumpets begin to blare. "Come on Rox," he said. "We've got a prelim to win."

"Roger that Sora," Roxas said with a smile, bumping the knuckles of his twin as they strode out of the tent and into the sun.

"You can do it Sora!" Aiwemon called after him.

"Good luck Keys!" Menelmon added.

Yuffie was shaking her head along with Riku. "Alright," Naminé said, coming up to them after vigorously shaking Kairi and telling her that Sora's match was about to start, "let's see how they do."

-A-D-

Preliminaries: Round 1

The Key Masters was only one of seven teams within the first preliminary match. As Sora and Roxas walked out and into the open trumpets began to sound a familiar tune to Sora, one that to him was the hallmark of the Coliseum. The crowds cheered, recognizing him from his exploits in the first tournament he'd been in, as well as the Phil Cup, Pegasus Cup, Hercules Cup, and the Hades Cup. Sora could see Percy along with Grover and the girl with brown hair that Kairi and Yuffie had been talking to at the poolside, Annabeth Chase, a daughter of Athena. All three of them had leather breastplates on, along with greaves, vambraces, and spaulders. Percy and Annabeth each held a short sword, while Percy also carried a round shield, and Grover, funnily enough, had a pair of metal crutches in his hands and a dagger strapped to his chest. Four other teams were doubles, like Sora and Roxas, and the last team was a single. Most of them wore armour of the same fashion as Percy and his friends, but the single was in a loose-fitting black and white outfit, carrying a long spear. All in all, fourteen people.

Sora and Roxas looked at one another as they all took different positions within the ring, and both of them flashed with white light as the chain-mail and assorted pieces of the Acolyte Armour appeared on their bodies and their Keyblades came into their hands. Sora didn't need to go in with his full Knight Armour until he faced one of his friends. The rest of the contestants seemed a bit surprised when the armour and tabards appeared, along with their Keyblades, but then small smiles came onto everyone's faces as they got ready for battle.

"Hm," Naminé said, watching from her seat in front of the pavilion that the rest of the competitors were still in, "I think I might want to personalize my tabard if I get the chance."

"Huh?" Kairi asked, glancing at her.

"I want my own standard," Naminé replied simply, shrugging.

"Keep it clean everyone," Phil announced. "Blood may be drawn, but no use of lethal force and no killing. You kill a contestant and you're out of the games, forever. Kapiche?" They all nodded their heads and Phil left the ring. Trumpets began to sound again, another familiar tune to Sora, and he waited for the signal.

The trumpets ceased and a gong gave a clear BONG!

-A-D-

Lady Morgana sat in the crowd, a presence that few people wanted to be around but one that was tolerated as a mad cheer left from the voices of the plebes at the start of the match. Now then, Lady Morgana thought, let's see what you can do, Sora.

-A-D-

Holding Remembrance tightly, Sora dashed in with Roxas at his side. Two teams converged on them, and one team of them held swords while the other carried an axe and a sword. All four men were taller than Sora and Roxas, and came at the pair of Keyblade Masters with their weapons high. Sora swept Remembrance up at one of the swords as it came down towards him, blocking the weapon with a ringing musical note. He ducked underneath the second one, and used the opportunity to ram his body into the first, knocking his opponent back. His eyes shifted back to the other warrior, who had now circled to Sora's right side, and Sora swung Remembrance down like a golf club, striking the man in the shins and tripping his legs up. The man started to fall down, and Sora made him fall faster by bashing the tourmaline pommel of his Keyblade into the leather jerkin his opponent wore. Sora spun around, holding the long blade of Remembrance out in front of him towards the neck of the other man, and beating him with his blade's longer reach. The man raised his hands in a defeated gesture and dropped his weapon. A roar of approval came from the crowd.

Just as Sora had been blocking the first strike against him, Roxas had rolled to his left side to avoid the team that had come at him. There had to have been a silent pact between the two teams that had come after him and Sora, he decided, because they'd seemed to put facing each other aside in hopes that they'd be the two left standing at the end, so that they could continue on.

Roxas smirked as both the Oblivion and Twilight Thorn darted up and to the right to catch the sword and axe that his opponents held after they'd recovered from his dodge. "Not gonna happen guys," he said, twitching his wrists in a circular motion that caused his weapons to slap against the wrists of his opponents. Twilight Thorn's bayonet key-tip sliced just into the hand of the one who held the axe, and he dropped it in pain, but the one who held the sword pushed the Oblivion away with his vambraces and came at Roxas, swinging his sword down for the Keyblade Master's chest. Roxas stepped back and away from it, recovering his Keyblades into their usual positions at his sides. His opponent kept on coming, swinging his sword in precise arcs for Roxas' shoulders and chest. The blond kept backing away, waiting for the right moment.

His opponent yelled and stabbed down, and Roxas moved. He slid Twilight Thorn right alongside the sword that was diving for the image of the Star Seeker on the white tabard, and twirled his wrist. The sword wavered as Roxas' Keyblade forced it to move with it, and after a quick complete rotation the blade was only held loosely in the other man's hand with the tip pointed up and away from Roxas' face. The Oblivion rose up and slammed it away to the side, the blade flying away from its owner and landing outside the ring. Both of Roxas' Keyblades disappeared and he shoulder-checked his opponent in the chest, then grabbed his staggered foe around the shoulders and threw him into his teammate, who had been silently coming back with his axe. The crowd cheered.

Twilight Thorn and Oblivion reappeared in his hands and he turned to Sora, who had watched Roxas dispatch them after his own quick win. "And that's two of seven down," Sora said, bumping knuckles with his twin. Roxas smiled and glanced back at the groaning pair he'd just taken down. They hadn't been too difficult; maybe Sora was right. Maybe he wasn't weak after all.

"Whoa!"

Both of them turned to look at the rest of the ring. There were only four teams left now: theirs, Percy's, a double that was quickly falling to Grover, and the solo fighter with the spear. Grover made both Sora and Roxas raise their eyebrows. The brown-skinned satyr was using his crutches both as weapons and as props to keep him up as he kicked out with his goat legs and feet. Before they knew it, the double was out with hoof imprints on their chests, leaving the solo fighter against Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase while the crowd cheered for Grover's victory. The man was keeping both demigods on their toes, his spear flying about dangerously, yet smoothly.

"Percy!" Sora called, coming forward with Remembrance bared in front of him. "Want some help?"

The spear clanged against Percy's shield and he made a retaliatory swipe that was blocked by the bamboo haft of his opponent's weapon. "We've got this," he answered, "but if you're offering!" The bamboo haft then struck Percy in the face and the demigod backed away, and the man turned all his attention on Annabeth. Her footwork was impeccable, dancing back and forth and weaving her sword as quickly as the spear was that was coming for her, always turning it away from her body or slicing it backwards.

Percy came back into the fray, and the man looked back behind him and leapt over the shield-bash that the son of Poseidon would have made for his back. He flipped in the air, preparing to come down behind Percy, and so face all his enemies face-to-face rather than from two fronts.

Roxas was there waiting for him, and the man gave a yell and lunged out with his spear while still in the air. Roxas nudged his head to the side, avoiding the strike, and the man came down, swinging his spear for the blond's head. Roxas ducked under that too, and began to bat at the spear with his Keyblades, taking small, measured, steps backwards to avoid the spear-tip. Percy and Annabeth came in, their weapons flashing in the light, and the man suddenly became hard-pressed to keep them all away from him. The four swords were matching the spear, movement for movement, and driving it up with each hit they made; they always drove it up.

Grover came in as soon as the spear was up too high to do anything, but the satyr was caught by his own trick. The man used the spear's end as a brace for him to jump up and kick Grover in the chest with his sandaled feet. Grover staggered back and the man landed again and began to twirl his spear around his body in arcs from his shoulders down, spinning it like the blade of a circular saw. The others backed away.

Sora saw his moment, and swung Remembrance in a hard horizontal slash right as the spear was coming up behind their foe. The man was unprepared for the move, having not seen Sora nor anticipated him, and the spear flew out of his hands. He quickly looked at Sora, surprised, before looking back at Percy, Roxas, Annabeth, and Grover, and then ran for his spear.

Sora Flashed in front of the man, stopping him cold. "I don't think so," the Keyblade Master said, Remembrance prepped in front of him. The man nodded his head and looked around.

"You are right," he said, bowing. "I concede defeat." Sora smiled and dismissed his Keyblade and bowed his head as well before shaking the man's hand in sportsmanlike conduct.

The crowd roared once more as the man left the ring, and Sora and Roxas raised their Keyblade triumphantly along with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. The trumpets played a victory fanfare, and Sora hummed along while Roxas muttered a few words along to the tune ("You just got pwned ftw!").

Sora smirked and looked for Aiwemon and Menelmon as they sat on Naminé's and Kairi's shoulders as the two girls sat cheering and clapping and said, "Your turn partners."

-A-D-

Lady Morgana felt a small smile come unbidden to her face as the crowd around her erupted into cheers. "Hm, not bad boys," she said aloud to herself. "Not bad at all."

-A-D-

Preliminaries: Round 2

Aiwemon and Menelmon flew into the ring and landed close to Leon and Tifa. There were the same number of teams in this prelim round as the last one, seven, but instead of fourteen contestants there were sixteen. Tifa put her gloves on, tightening them with a quick jerk on the wrists, and Leon slung his gunblade over his shoulder in a casual display of nonchalant confidence.

"Are you ready?" he asked, looking towards the two small birds. Both digimon glanced back at the seats where Sora and Kairi were sitting side-by side, and all four of them had intense looks of confidence in their eyes while the two humans tightly clutched their digivices. The trumpets sounded, and then came the gong with its loud BONG to declare the start of the match.

Aiwemon and Menelmon both flew into the sky above the rest of the competitors, and Aiwemon's green eyes glowed with violent blue light. "Keen Sight!" Blue beams shot out from his eyes and down into the competitors, striking one down with a direct hit to the back, while a few other shots were deflected away by the swing of a sword or a club.

Menelmon was quick to capitalize on the bent back of the one who had been hit. "Snow Slurry!" she shouted as white snow began to spiral around her brown beak. The snow spiralled out, slapping against the man's back and sending him collapsing to the ground. More snow piled up on top of him.

Aiwemon swooped down, his clawed feet glowing with silver light. "Steel Talons!" He raked at the weapon that the downed competitor had held, and knocked it away before thrashing his talons at the sword of another who was now trying to cut him down. His feet worked frantically, keeping the sword at bay while he looked at the man's chest. "Keen Sight!"

An astonished gasp of pain left the man as the twin beams of blue light struck his abdomen and he fell backwards as Aiwemon flew into him, swiping at his chest with his talons. Menelmon then began to beat her wings harder, shouting "Ice Feathers!" Feathers from her wings flew down, laced in frozen ice and sharp as knives. They cut into the man's shirt and pants and dug into the stage, keeping him trapped in place. That made two down from them, and Leon and Tifa and the other teams had reduced the number of remaining competitors down to eight already.

Kairi suddenly gasped and rose from her seat as a man threw a club up into the sky, and it caught Menelmon in the back of the head. The ice-bird digimon let out a shriek of pain and began to descend in a slow and uncontrolled spin.

Aiwemon gasped and turned around. "Menelmon!" He started to fly towards her, but then somebody grabbed his leg. Since he weighed maybe five pounds, the man who had grabbed hold of his leg was able to swing the small bird around effortlessly. Aiwemon fought back though, turning his head towards his opponent as best as he was able to and firing off another blast of his Keen Sigh attack. The man dropped him and his hands went to his face, the twin beams of blue having struck him in the jaw and nose, and Aiwemon frantically flapped towards his downed teammate as she lay on the ground.

"Ow…" she mumbled as Aiwemon stood protectively in front of her, his wings outstretched and his eyes glaring at the other competitors with violent blue light in them. Leon and Tifa took on another pair of competitors from the back, but that still left three, or four as soon as the one Aiwemon had just blasted recovered, advancing towards the two Rookie-level digimon.

"Menelmon!" Kairi yelled from where she stood, leaning against a wooden railing that had been erected in front of the seats that were in front of the competitors' pavilion. "Digivolve!"

The ice-blue bird's head snapped up, her brown eyes full of energy. She started to glow with pure golden light. "You got it Kairi. Menelmon digivolve to, Soronmon!"

The four competitors who had been directly in front of Aiwemon and Menelmon, warily keeping away from Aiwemon's glowing eyes, were now staring up at the giant ice-eagle that was Soronmon with nothing short of trepidation on their faces. For such a small bird to go from being so small to so large in a glowing cocoon of golden light, it was unthinkable in their minds.

"Go get 'em," Kairi whispered.

Soronmon took into the air with a powerful spring of her legs and a mighty flap of her wings. The four competitors braced themselves as a strong wind generated from her takeoff blew into them. The ice-eagle digimon reared her head back, and her white mane of feathers bristled with chill energy. "Blizzard's Bite!"

A blast of chilling white energy in the shape of Soronmon's own head streaked down as she snapped her neck down towards the four. None of them were able to get away in time, and when the frozen image of Soronmon's head struck the grouping they became encased in a large block of ice, each of them frozen in place in whatever position they had been standing in. Their eyes blinked and roamed around, but they were all completely immobilized and out.

Soronmon landed back on the stage to massive cheers and applause and Leon shouldered his gunblade with a smile as Tifa placed her hands on her hips with a smile of her own. "Well," Leon said, coming up to the two digimon as a victory fanfare played, "I guess this means that we all move on." He looked into the throng of competitors still watching from their seats, and his eyes found the proud look on Kairi's face. "Alright Your Highness," he said, "you're up next."

-A-D-

Preliminaries: Round 3

Kairi and Naminé both stepped on, their mail armour already on and the tabards with the Star Seeker over the teardrop shield with its crown top on display and their Keyblades and Naminé's steely-blue shield, with the image of Roxas' pendant embossed in silver, out. After the first round, that look had instantly become a crowd pleaser, and the whole crowd was eagerly waiting to see what these two new Keyblade Wielders could do after what Sora and Roxas had exhibited earlier. The two princesses looked behind them, observing the massive piece of ice that had been removed from the stage, the ice slowly melting away while some others took chisels and hammers to it to speed up the process of freeing the four competitors who had been caught in it.

"I could do that," Naminé said, nodding her head in what could have been approval at what Soronmon had accomplished.

Yuna, Rikku, and Paine were across from Kairi and Naminé, the three Gullwings with their own weapons in hand. Yuna with her pistols, Rikku with her daggers with the circular hilts, and Paine with her sword with the skull on the hilt. The heroes that also stood in the ring numbered at ten, but Kairi had the feeling that between the infighting that would occur between the ten of them as well as the ones that the Gullwings would fight, those ten wouldn't last long.

Plus, Kairi wanted to show off a little. Her Master was watching, maybe if he saw what she could do, she'd feel better about the prospects of taking him on.

The trumpets took up the tune, and Kairi began to speak with Naminé as she started to count down in her head. Nami, do you think you can do something to keep those guys off me for a few seconds?

What's your plan?

Kairi lowered her head and stared at the middle of the ring. Skyfyre.

Naminé glanced at her. You really like that one don't you? Kairi sent a feeling of assent towards her sister.

BONG!

"You got it Kairi," Naminé said, letting go of the second strap of her shield and slamming her fists together. She brought both her hands back behind her, snowflakes starting to form around her fingers. "Ice Make… Serpent!" She thrust her hands back out in front of her, and from them a giant snake burst out, hissing in an icy voice as a chill wind blew around it. The others all stopped and stared at it for a few moments, the serpent lunging forward and hissing, snapping its ice jaws.

Kairi began to chant. "Sing now the hymn of the phoenix, the eternal fires of heaven and of hell…"

Yuna opened fire on one of the competitors, the woman blocking with both shield and fast movements of her sword. Two teams of two made a silent pact and moved forward on the serpent, while another team of three tried to go around towards Naminé. One of them held forward a small staff, and cried out a word that was indistinguishable over the hissing of Naminé's ice serpent. A bolt of lightning shot out of the staff, and Naminé raised her shield up and the bolt struck the top left quarter.

"…let Tartarus be forever lit by your falling effigy…"

"You might want to hurry up Kairi," Naminé said. She pointed her Keyblade, and the serpent she had created lunged for the three that were in front of her. They all jumped back, but the four who had been warily pacing about the serpent now leapt forward, their swords reaching for the vulnerable body of the creature of ice. Chinks appeared in the ice-serpent's body as the swords struck it and small chips flew out.

"…I stand at the maw of the dragon of the skies to open its blazing gullet…"

The snake hissed and turned its head and lashed back at them with its tail. The construct caught three in their chests and pushed them back, while another rolled underneath and started to run for Kairi, yelling and raising his sword.

Naminé glanced back from where she had just blocked a hero's strike with Nobody's Pride. If he got to Kairi before she was done, the interruption could cause a catastrophic misfire, or the spell could just fail utterly. Naminé raised her shield in front of her, and the metal object blazed with bright golden light. The three opponents in front of her ducked their heads, blinded, and Naminé released her grip on it and directed her left hand out towards her sister. "Shielding Moonlight!"

A bubble of opal light surrounded Kairi just as the hero began to bring his sword down. It struck against the barrier, and the man found that he couldn't penetrate it.

"…Let the flame of the heavens rain down upon my enemy," Kairi finished, opening her eyes and glaring into the eyes of the hero that stood just beyond the shield Naminé had placed between her and him. "Flame Style 22, Skyfyre!" Her hands went up to the sky before dropping to her sides, her back arching forward. The blue sky became covered in dark clouds, flashing with red light like lightning in the clouds. All the combatants stopped and stared at the sky.

Naminé's ice serpent slithered into the centre of the ring and lashed out at the other competitors, spooking them and drawing their attention. Simultaneously, Naminé broke off from the three she had been fighting and rushed for Kairi, just as the girl had sliced Crowning Flame against the back of the leather jerkin the hero facing her wore. He collapsed to the ground and Naminé grabbed Kairi's arm. "Yuna, Rikku, Paine! Over here!"

"Why?" Rikku asked.

"Don't ask questions," Paine said, grabbing Rikku's arm. "Move." The three Gullwings came over to where Naminé and Kairi were, Naminé's serpent still keeping the others busy.

"Radiant Light," Kairi said, rapidly weaving a sigil in the air in front of them with the tip of Crowning Flame, the Keyblade leaving golden threads of light behind, "protect us." She placed the Keyblade flat against the sigil, and it pulsed with white light for a moment.

Naminé looked up. Fireballs as large as fully grown cows were falling from the sky, black trails of smoke following them. "Down," she said, dismissing her Keyblade and shield and reaching out with both hands to grab Yuna's and Paine's shoulders. Kairi grabbed Rikku, and she gave a small yelp as the two Keyblade Wielding Princesses of Heart dropped a foot as they knelt down. A transparent dome composed of honeycomb pieces of golden light formed above them. Naminé waved one last time at her ice serpent, and the creature knocked another two of the competitors aside with a lash of its tail before slithering up to the golden honeycomb dome. It wrapped its body around, and hissed at the competitors in the ring, flicking its forked tongue of ice.

Then the skyfyre hit, and the serpent began hissing and writhing in pain as the cow-sized meteors struck it, blasting chunks out of its body or otherwise melting the ice it was made of. Shrieks and cries came from the other competitors as the fireballs struck them, and the whole ring was obscured by the flames and smoke that remained on the stone that cracked beneath the fireballs.

They stopped falling, and the dome of golden light dissipated. Kairi got out quickly with a horrified look on her face as the smoke began to clear, her feet splashing in the puddles of water created from what had once been Naminé's ice serpent. The other ten competitors were all on the ground, moving very little and moaning. "I am so sorry," Kairi said as she came up to one woman who was lying on her stomach. "Are you okay? I overdid it, didn't I?"

"That was some meteor shower," someone groaned woozily.

"Nah, you didn't overdo it," the woman who Kairi was kneeling next to moaned as she started to pick herself up. "Well…" she raised her hand, showing her forefinger and thumb almost touching, "maybe just a little."

"Anyone need help?" Yuna asked. Most of the flames had died out by now. All around, the ten other competitors were getting back to their feet, or being helped up by Paine or Rikku.

"We're good," a man said, rolling his shoulders. "But, (he laughed) you won. That's for sure." He nodded respectfully at Kairi with a smile on his handsome face underneath a short crop of black hair, and the others did as well. A couple of people started to shake Kairi's and Naminé's hands, and the crowd, seeing that everyone was a-okay, cheered wildly as the trumpets sounded a victory fanfare.

Only then, after seeing that nobody was hurt badly, did Kairi allow herself to smile and bask in the triumphant feeling of victory in the Games. She pumped a fist and high-fived Naminé, and saw Rikku raising her hands and turning around, blowing kisses to the crowd. The auburn-haired princess then looked to the seats in front of the pavilion, and blew a kiss herself to a beaming Sora. Her eyes shifted right and she gulped, staring into Master's watching eyes. His expression was neutral, but then she was just able to see his mouth twitch into a small smile as he nodded his head.

Euphoria leapt up into Kairi's heart and she felt like dancing, but held back as she looked for the King. "You're up next, Your Majesty."

-A-D-

"See," Sora said as Kairi came and sat down next to him, Menelmon fluttering down onto her right shoulder, "told you you could do it."

"That was about taking on Master," Kairi answered him. "But, you were right, in a way." She leant forward, the mail shirts both of them were still wearing jangling as they touched one another, and shared a short one-point-five second smooch with her boyfriend. "Thanks for the confidence boost Sora."

"And you were great too Naminé," Yuffie added. "When did you learn how to make stuff like that out of ice?"

Naminé just smiled and sat down next to Roxas. "I spent a lot of time training this past month Yuffie," she answered.

Yuffie nodded her head, and then her eyes started to widen and she let out a small gasp. Kairi noticed the gasp and turned to look at Yuffie, then looked at where Yuffie was looking, and the auburn-haired princess gasped herself. "Naminé!"

"Hm?" Naminé asked. "What?"

"What are you doing?" Yuffie asked her incredulously.

"Oh she just does that," Riku said dismissively, "don't pay any attention to it, unless you want to of course."

"Doing what?" Naminé asked. She was still unaware that her hands had subconsciously gone to the hem of her mail shirt and had been pulling it up, revealing her alabaster skin beneath and just about to show the base of her bra-covered bust. Then she stopped, and noticed, and flushed as she dropped the shirt back down.

"What happened to the rest of your outfit?" Sora asked. Her bottoms, the yellow, white, and silver miniskirt, was still there along with the thick black edging above its back, but for the rest of her white dress and the yellow, white, and silver vest she had had with the attached black hood, there was no sign whatsoever.

"I don't know," Naminé said. "But thanks for stopping me. I didn't even notice."

"Apparently," Selphie muttered. "But," she added slyly, "I don't think that you should have stopped."

Naminé looked at her in surprise. "What are you—?"

She was cut off as Selphie suddenly leaned over two seats and kissed her right on the lips. Naminé gasped into the kiss, her eyes going wide with shock.

"Hush," Riku said. "They're starting so—" he stopped, catching sight of Selphie kissing Naminé. He didn't say anything more, but he did mouth the words, "What the fuck!?"

Naminé pushed Selphie off of her after her moment of complete shutdown. "What was that!?" she asked, or shouted rather.

"Would you mind telling me that too?" Roxas said quite loudly, getting into Selphie's face. "I'm sitting right here and you just went and kissed—" He stopped too as the brunette's lips were suddenly on his, and all of their eyes were now on Selphie with looks of astonishment.

Selphie pulled back, a smile on her face. "Relax Roxas and just enjoy this," she said.

"Enjoy what?" Roxas asked her, giving Naminé looks that showed that he was completely freaking out about what was happening and not in control in the slightest. Selphie whispered something into his girlfriend's ear, and Naminé suddenly got a devious smile on her face.

Kairi looked uncertainly at the evil look that had just come onto her sister's face. "Naminé," she began anxiously, "what did Selph just say?"

"It doesn't matter," Naminé said through a grin resembling the Cheshire Cat. "It can wait until they're… oh look, they're done."

The others looked around, and sure enough, King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were standing victorious in the ring, along with Tidus, Kia, and Olette. Both teams were going to go on through.

"Come on," Selphie said, rising from the seat she was in, "we're going."

"Going where?" Yuffie asked sceptically, but leaning slightly away from Selphie. At the moment, the brunette was unpredictable.

"Back to the estate," Naminé said, still with that wicked smile on her face.

"What's going on?" Hayner asked. "Selph, we've got our match next."

"Just go without me Hayner," Selphie told him. "You and Pence can handle things. I'm going to have a little fun first."

"Fun?" Kairi asked. "Selphie, honey, I'm concerned."

Naminé's voice sifted into her mind, and Kairi blinked a few times as she began to comprehend the words her sister was saying. Then it clicked, and the same evil smile came onto her lips as well. "Oh," Kairi muttered. She turned to Sora. "Sora, I'm getting cold. Maybe we should go back and warm up."

Sora raised an eyebrow. She had just said the code words. "Alright. Good luck Hayner. Come on Riku, Yuffie."

"What?" Yuffie asked, confusion settling in as Sora too rose and now began to leave with Kairi, Selphie and Naminé. "I don't get it. What are you talking about?"

"Riku, just bring her. Roxas, you're coming too," was all Sora said. "Naminé, pick up Agatha too."

"Hey!" Yuna said, suddenly standing up from her seat. "Where are you all going?"

-A-D-

Thirty minutes later Sora, Kairi, Roxas, Naminé, Riku, Yuffie, Selphie, Tidus, Kia, Olette, Agatha, and Yuna all entered a large room on the estate's second floor. There were three large and comfy queen-sized beds in the room, sunlight was radiantly streaming in, and the view of the pool from the balcony was exquisite. In addition to the marvelous beds were a bookshelf, dresser, a simple wooden desk with a straight-backed chair, two plush armchairs near an end table holding a reading lamp, and a large and expensive-looking flat-screen spherevision set with accompanying sphere player already set up.

"Excuse me," Yuffie asked, thoroughly put out that she and Riku were more than likely missing their match right about now, "but just why the heck are we here, and not there?"

"I'd kinda like to know that too," Yuna asked.

"You're the one who blindly followed us," Selphie said. "You didn't have to come."

"I'm curious," Yuna said, eyeing Selphie. "And I've got my eye on you, every single time that you're near Tidus."

Kairi closed the door behind her, the last one in, and with a flash of light and a familiar sound she summoned Crowning Flame into her hands. Olette looked like she was about to ask why Kairi had just summoned her Keyblade, but then the girl pointed it at the door and a beam of light shot out of the blade. The door sealed shut with a loud click.

"What was that for?" Roxas asked. Kairi didn't answer him, and instead she dismissed her Keyblade and went right up to Selphie. There was only a half-second's hesitation before she was locking lips with her best female friend, their tongues visibly thrashing between their two mouths, like they were at war with one another.

"Uh…" Yuffie blanched, "say what?" Her eyes dropped out as she noticed that Naminé was caressing Riku's cheek with one hand, and he was a little startled himself. Then her hands went to the base of the chainmail she was still wearing, and this time she deliberately brought the shirt up and over her head. Her tabard dropped to the ground in the same jingling heap as the mail, and Naminé turned around as a number of people were stunned and she faced Roxas directly, blushing slightly. Her hands went to the round tops of her dainty breasts, delicate fingers ghosting over the blue lace that partially concealed them.

"Well Roxas?" she asked shyly, "do you like them?"

Roxas couldn't seem to stop staring at Naminé's chest, his face growing redder and redder as he looked between them and the shy expression on Naminé's petite face. Sora came forward, smiling confidently. "Well, if he doesn't, I do Naminé." He cupped her chin with the gloved fingers of his left hand and tilted her head up. He captured her eyes for a moment before their mouths met one another.

"What's going on?" Olette asked, her eyes now wide and freaking out as the concept of what was really going on here started to enter her brain. Sora's hands slipped to Naminé's waist, and she sensually waved her hips back and forth as he pushed the girl's white shorts down, or tried to anyway. They got past her waist, revealing the lacy blue panties she was wearing to match her bra, and down her thighs, but they would go no further until Naminé's bronze greaves were unlaced and removed from her shins. Her shorts refused to slip off over them.

Laughing a little in embarrassment at one another, Sora broke the kiss and knelt down, pulling up the shorts that sat at knee-height as he went to give his fingers access to the strings of the greaves. At the same time, Naminé busied herself with removing the bronze leaf-shaped bracers that still lay on her forearms to protect them and her wrists. She gasped and felt a moan rise through her throat when Sora suddenly placed a wet kiss against her bare thigh, and felt the weight of one of her greaves leave her now trembling legs. The other went soon afterwards and Sora rose up again, his mouth locking with hers again. Naminé closed her eyes as she chucked her bracers away and shucked off her shorts from within booted feet, all without breaking her tongue tango with her boyfriend's brother.

Selphie and Kairi broke apart from their mouth-to-mouth battle, breathing heavily. A dribble of saliva rolled down Kairi's lips to hang at her chin, and the red-head slowly wiped it away with the back of her hand, licking the spit up as her hand passed by her mouth. She directed her head towards the brunette who had posed the question, pausing only slightly to watch her boyfriend make out with her former Nobody. "Haven't you ever wanted to experiment before Olette?" Kairi asked mischievously as Selphie's hands started to pull at the chainmail and tabard Kairi herself had on. "Well think of this as experimenting, only with eleven other people." The mail went over Kairi's head, leaving her in the padded jack that had been beneath the mail. That went too, revealing that Kairi had still been wearing her pink zippered dress and white halter-top underneath. Down to the dress with greaves and bracers still on un-armoured shins and wrists, Selphie was there at Kairi's mouth again, kissing her and cupping her cheek with one hand while the other grasped at the zipper to the princess' dress, and slowly began to pull it down.

Kairi brought her arms around Selphie, solidifying the bond between them while the auburn also planted her feet down. One of her hands went across Selphie's shoulders, while the other snaked its way south of the brunette's waist and pressed against her firm ass. The red-haired princess giggled through her kiss while her fingers melded into the skin of her friend's fine rump. All of that physical training the army was putting her through was serving the girl well.

Selphie broke from kissing and grinned at Kairi. "Ooh, you've gotten really naughty haven't you Kairi? You used to be such a sweet little thing."

"I've always been sweet Selphie," Kairi answered as her dress dropped down around her ankles. "Just ask Sora."

The Keyblade Master moaned around the kiss he was now planting on Naminé's neck, sucking hard at the skin there. "She's right," he said. "Kai's very sweet down there." Naminé gasped as Sora's kiss on her neck intensified, his teeth nipping at her flesh.

Kairi blushed at Sora's comment, and her cheeks grew even redder and hotter when Selphie's hands ventured to a new place on her body. "Ooh, these can't be the same boobs they were when I last saw you, can they?" the brunette asked, her palms grasping at Kairi's breasts through the material of her shirt and bra. "I'm sure they've gotten a little bigger. Must be from Sora palming them from what I've heard." She giggled, and Kairi bit back a moan as her friend's index fingers and thumbs came together around the nubs of her concealed nipples. "My, just look at these Kai, your nipples are already so hard."

Roxas suddenly released a frustrated growl. "That's it, I can't take this anymore," he announced, staring hard at his brother who was now eagerly swapping spit with Naminé.

"Roxas, what are you talking about?" Olette asked.

He answered while quickly striding towards his girlfriend. "I have no idea what insane thought sparked this, but I'm not just going to stand back and watch it happen." He tapped Sora on the shoulder, and gave the other spiky-haired Keyblade Wielder a look when the brunet reluctantly ceased his kiss with Naminé. The poor girl was breathing heavily and a minute whine passed through her throat as Sora backed away. Naminé was left standing in front of the blonde, clad only in her lacy light blue bra and panties. Roxas' hand came to her face and he whispered her name.

"Roxas," Naminé answered in a breathy whisper, "kiss me, please."

As their mouths mashed together and hands clutched at each other's faces, Yuna asked, "So what the hell is really going on here?"

"A celebration," Selphie answered breathlessly. She took a few moments to regain her air, and drew another pitiful squeal from Kairi as she gave the redhead's nipples a particularly nice twist. "A celebratory orgy for all of us getting through the Zeus Cup's preliminary round, joining us together with the bonds of friendship, love, and hot, sweaty, passionately wild sex! Kairi, let's take this fucking shirt off!"

"You don't even know if your team passed, Selph," Kia muttered under her breath as Kairi's white halter top hit the floor in a crumpled ball. "We left when you guys were up…"

"An orgy?" Olette asked, glancing around. Yuffie's eyes were sparkling and were already looking hungrily at Riku, while Agatha Quin was now sporting a smirk that made shivers run down Olette's spine. "Are you sure about this? I mean…what if?"

She left her sentence hanging in the air, only able to watch as Sora made his way back to Kairi and stealthily unclipped her bra from behind, letting the princess' marvelous C-cup breasts fall free of their restraints. "Olette," Kairi began in understanding, her voice hitching a little as Sora pressed a kiss to the sweet spot on the back of her neck, "if you're worrying about losing it to someone besides Hayner I'm sure that we can all respect your desire to save yourself. It's just that-ah!" she gasped, Sora's mouth now nibbling at her earlobe while Selphie had swooped down and latched her mouth upon the girl's left nipple. She was sucking at the nub like a parched traveller in a desert's sands. "I—I'm sure that, that the boys can res-respect your, oh Selphie don't stop, wishes. There are plenty of holes here for them to fill."

Naminé broke apart from her kiss with Roxas to glance at Kairi. A trail of hot saliva dribbled down from the side of her mouth and stuck against her chin. She didn't even care to wipe it away as she said, "Wow Kairi, listen to you talking dirty like that."

"Kai's got a point," Tidus said lustily, his eyes now looking over each and every one of the girls like a predator surveying its prey. "If we only count one of Olette's, then there're twenty-two of them here." He paused as a hand pressed against his crotch. Yuna was right there, a sweet smile on her face.

"Would you like one of them now?" she asked, and her tongue exited her mouth to circle her lips. "Remember the time we spent in Macalania?" The look she was giving him was enough to make any celibate man hard, and Tidus' memory of that incident sent all his blood rushing straight to his loins. With fumbling fingers, Yuna quickly undid his belt and brought the zipper to his issued grey pants down.

Olette found that she couldn't help but stare at the bulge that was trying to rip its way out of Tidus' boxers. In fact, while looking around at the madness that was starting to unfold around her, she wasn't sure where she could safely look. Riku and Yuffie had already engaged in a vicious battle of tongues, and Selphie was leaving Sora and Kairi to their erotic fate as he dragged his princess towards one of the beds by her breasts, the brunette girl going instead towards the object of her own affections in an attempt to show him that she could make love to him better than Yuna could. Agatha was drifting towards Sora and Kairi as she let her brown vest fall to the ground, her voluptuous hips swaying saucily. Naminé's moans were mounting as Roxas ceased his tongue-play with her, dropping his mouth to her jaw-line and driving her voice skyward while rough hands massaged her bosom. The only one who was just as wide-eyed and unsure as she was happened to be the archer Kia, the golden-brown-haired youth gradually shifting towards Olette's position of supposed sanity.

"What are we supposed to do?" she asked Olette in hushed, and marginally freaked out, tones.

Olette wasn't even sure that she had an answer for the girl; furthermore she was not even sure if she was able to think clearly anymore. The moans coming out of the depths of the souls surrounding them were beginning to mount as feelings and hormones took over their bodies, and another pair of breasts was released as Roxas suddenly tore Naminé's bra from her body and attacked them like a starving vampire.

Dampness touched at Olette's thighs and she blushed as brightly as the pale Naminé was, Roxas' fingers now sliding underneath her panties and presumably stroking her core. She caught herself unconsciously reaching for her crotch, recognizing the desire to stroke herself. Dammit. They're turning me on. Olette glanced at the door and remembered that Kairi had locked it fast with her Keyblade.

She made her decision.

"Help me out of this armour," she told the archer, turning towards a figuratively floored Kia. "We're locked in this madhouse with them, so we might as well enjoy ourselves."

Yuffie removed her lips from Riku's, a thick strand of saliva joining their tongues together until it fell apart and coated each of their chins. "That's the spirit." Yuffie let out a breathy moan and glanced around, taking a quick look at what the others were doing, before mashing herself even closer to her boyfriend. Their chainmail clinked with jingling rings as the pieces rubbed against one another, and Yuffie clutched at Riku's. "I agree with Olette," she declared insistently, "let's get this damn armour off."

Riku wordlessly agreed with her while his head was bent down to gaze lustily into her eyes of hazel. His fingers left her face in the dust as they rushed to assist her in taking off the cuffs upon her wrists. Yuffie had put hers on tighter than the others, he'd noticed, making it more difficult for her chainmail shirt to be removed without first taking off those blocking bracers of bronze. The process was more difficult than he'd anticipated, even with Yuffie trying to help out; his hands were shaking in anticipation and nerves. Long had Riku fantasized about lying with a woman, and the gods knew he had many female admirers, but never had he truly realized that those feelings that welled up within him every time he and Yuffie made out could become so much more. The love for the girl in front of him that he'd discussed with Sora was becoming much more tangible far quicker than he'd expected it to, and the suddenness of it after his realization of his true feelings' existence brought an eagerness to his body that he hadn't even known was possible. Riku was already thick and engorged with blood as the smell of what was to come entered his nostrils.

The raven-haired kunoichi's bracers were off! No sooner had they hit the floor than had Yuffie's fingers trapped his wrists in her grasp, already starting at his own laces. There was a mad gleam in her eyes, and her pink tongue swirled around her lips. She could already almost taste the skin of Riku's chest underneath her devilish tongue.

Kairi dropped backwards onto the bed as Sora dropped her to it. A squealing giggle left her mouth and Sora stood above her, devouring her body with his eyes as he casually removed his own armour. The princess lowered her head a little, looking up at him with a 'come-hither' look that she knew for a fact would send him into a craze. Her smile increased just a little, and Sora felt a pat on his shoulder. He turned his head, seeing Agatha standing there, the nineteen-year-old grinning at him.

"You're a hero, Sora," she said, providing unlooked-for assistance in the removal of his abdominal protective devices. "You've saved the worlds, twice, reclaimed the home we people of Radiant Garden had feared lost forever, and protected our long-lost princess from harm. The women of Radiant Garden owe you their…" she paused, letting her hands touch the sides of his now-naked shoulders with only her pinkie finger tapping against the plate that connected his automail left arm to his body. Agatha brought her head in close to his, exhaling warmly against his ear, "gratitude." She nipped at his earlobe before he could blink, and stars popped in front of Sora's eyes when he felt her hand grasp at his crotch. She started to rub it up and down against the fabric of his black trousers, feeling the excitement of his rapidly hardening length.

Agatha glanced back at her mistress, Kairi watching the proceedings with a sultry smile on her face. The auburn-haired princess shook her head slightly, however, and told her, "Agatha, what you're touching belongs to me. Royal privilege grants me first right to my boyfriend's cock." She slipped off of her back and onto her knees, slowly padding forward with her ass up in the air, blood-red panties riding into the crack. Agatha whined pitifully, an action that sent a spasm through Sora's now decidedly diamond-hard member.

"However," Kairi purred, "I don't mind sharing him with you while I'm at it. Us women of Radiant Garden should work together to show him our gratitude for his faithful service."

"Just doing my job," Sora replied with an amused smile on his face. Damn, Kairi was always such a little cat whenever they decided to partially follow the urges their hormones had pressed on them while they'd been sharing a tent while training under Hat 'n Clogs. Sometimes it made him just want to plunk down a pair of cat ears and tail on her and let her go, "Nyaa, nyaa," while he kissed her.

"Well," Kairi answered, now right up at the edge of the bed. Her face was only inches away from the distinguishable bulge in his pants, and her smile was filled with wicked playfulness. Fingers grasped at his belt, seeking to undo it, and she continued where her voice had left off, "I think that it sure doesn't pay enough; rescuing princesses and saving worlds from everlasting darkness and all that sure shouldn't pay you with just munny and fighting experience."

"What about all those friends I've made?" Sora asked jokingly.

Kairi exhibited an amused grunt while she looked up at him. She'd finished unlatching his belt, and now her hand had overlaid Agatha's and together they were slowly pulling down the zipper of his fly. "Friends forged in fire or not," Agatha replied, the older teen watching excitedly from over Sora's shoulder, "I don't think any of them have been giving you your just rewards for saving their lives."

He scratched his chin. "No, they really haven't been. Hey, Tidus!" he called, starting to turn his head towards his blond friend, "did you get any sort of reward for saving Spira while I was busy saving the entire freaking universe?"

Tidus moaned in response, his hand held out in front of him to gently hold Yuna's mocha-coloured hair as her mouth lathered the head of his penis with her tongue; both of her hands clutched the shaft in a firm embrace as she methodically pumped them back and forth along the length, and underneath Selphie had her lips pressed against his testicles, vying with the Summoner to please the Blitzballer more. Tidus caught sight of Sora and recognized the words of his question.

He smirked, and pointed down towards the two girls playing with his junk. "Getting one now," he answered.

Yuna removed her mouth from his head with a wet pop and ran a hand through her hair. She slurped at some of the mixture of drool and precum that was leaking out of her mouth to dribble down her chin while her other hand continued to pump Tidus' shaft. "You could have had this more often, if you'd only asked." She smiled at the stunned look on Tidus' face, and kept him from offering an astonished retort by suddenly lunging forward and taking his long length into her mouth almost to the hilt. The tip of her nose just barely brushed against the skin buried beneath the small muss of blond pubic hair, she was that close.

"Well that settles it," Kairi announced, drawing Sora's attention back to her as she, quite suddenly, yanked his boxers down and released the impressive sign of his manhood. She had to blink and shuffle back an inch, the monster slapping her in the face for being so eager, and then her smile returned as her dainty hand gripped it around the shaft. "It looks as though you've earned proper compensation for your troubles." Without anymore preamble, besides a devious eye flicker up at her boyfriend's face, she stuck out her tongue and licked the underside of his shaft all the way from base to tip. A quick kiss to the head, and then Kairi enveloped the top third with her mouth.

Sora gasped softly as the sensation of Kairi's hot mouth and rough tongue over the moist glans of his penis. This was not the first time that the fiery redhead had given him head, the second actually, but boy howdy did she already know how to make his head roll with her spinning tongue. Sora felt a soft prodding against the side of his cheek, so he took heed of it and found a use for his own tongue that was flicking in pleasure by joining it with Agatha's in an over-the-shoulder kiss.

Naminé moaned in pleasure and clutched at Roxas' hair as her boyfriend continued to assault her body. His rough tongue traced circles around the hardened nipple on her left breast and his mouth sucked at it as though it would give him nectar of immortality, and the fingers of his right hand were getting her panties thoroughly soaked while they rubbed up and down against the soft folds between her legs, occasionally pinching and twisting at her clitoris while they worked. His left hand massaged the other half of her bosom, thumb rotating around in clockwise circles and always, always, running over the pink nipple jutting out from the mound.

This whole situation was so sudden that her mind wasn't even sure what it should be telling her to think. Just a few minutes before Naminé didn't even know if this insane plan the mastermind Selphie had concocted was going to go anywhere, but now the plan had succeeded better than Naminé could have ever imagined. Who knew how much longer it might have taken them to reach this level of intimacy, or that either of them would even consent to performing such lewd acts in the presence of their friends and kin?

"Roxas!" Naminé gasped suddenly, his name being wrenched from the bowels of her being as his teeth lightly grazed her sensitive nipple. Naminé could feel the fire in her belly beginning to build, slowly mounting with every passing second of Roxas' ministrations. Only once before had Naminé brought herself to climax, and Roxas was quickly bringing her towards that euphoric peak with fingers, mouth, and tongue alone! Naminé had yet to even behold his instrument of power that, if all the stories she'd heard about such things were true, would have her begging for more until the end of days. Her nerves were on overload from so much foreign stimulation, and she could feel just how wet she was making Roxas' fingers as more juices passively flowed out of her.

Naminé threw her head back and moaned. She couldn't take much more of this. She was going to…

She shrieked as his hands and mouth suddenly ceased in their tender deeds. Roxas' dripping hand exited her drenched underwear and passed behind her legs. Taking advantage of her sudden shock at the loss of his amorous actions, Roxas scooped her up into his arms and planted a kiss on her lips. Naminé was too slow to return it, missing after Roxas had already chuckled into her reddened face. "Why don't we continue this on the bed," he said, now taking her towards them. "Hey, Sora, why don't you help me push these together?"

Sora sucked back a sigh as Kairi slurped at the pools of saliva leaving her mouth and coating the shaft of his penis, his instrument bent upwards in one of her hands so she could lick the shaft up and down while her other hand gently clutched his jewels. Agatha had already stripped herself down to her panties, allowing total freedom of her generous D-cup breasts, and had slowly been moving her kissing lips down and around his back and side to join her mistress up front. Currently the servant had reached the front of his hip, but Sora tapped both Kairi and Agatha gently on their shoulders. "Sorry girls, but Roxas is too much of a pussy to move the bed himself."

Kairi leaned back from his crotch, only a tiny amount of disappointment buried beneath her amusement. "Well, alright then," she relented, "but he'd better find a way of paying me back for this later." Her sister was dumped unceremoniously onto the next bed with a laughing shriek, and Kairi turned her head to look at Naminé's sweating red face while Agatha crawled onto the bed next to Kairi. "How are you enjoying it so far, sis? Roxas pleasing you?"

"I was soo close," she whined pitifully, harshly turning her eyes away from her boyfriend to look at her sister and handmaiden, "and then he stopped!"

Kairi eyed her boyfriend's brother with annoyance. "Roxas what's wrong with you?" she asked. "She was about to cum and you stop? You're not winning points with any girl here, you know."

Roxas grunted and heaved, and pushed the bed he'd placed Naminé onto towards the other one. "Just means Naminé's going to want me to do more," he replied cheekily.

"Or that she's going to turn to the rest of us," Sora chortled. The two of them got the second bed adjoined to the first, and Sora looked at the third. "Think we should bring it over too?" he asked.

"You might as well," Olette said, finally speaking up with a nonchalant tone. She and Kia had both completely divested themselves of their armour, and the magician came forward to lounge between the first and second beds. Despite her tone of voice, her body language still showed signs of her hesitancy: a hand covering the space between her legs here, an arm crossed over her nipples there. "Hey, these are quite comfy," she added, taking some of the sheets into her hand, "and it feels so nice on my skin." Signs of her trepidation slowly left as he luxuriously enjoyed the feeling of the sheets against her nude body, the girl lifting her pert buttocks into the air slightly.

Yuffie halted all action with a sudden exclamation. "Riku wait!" she cried, stopping him just as he was about to remove his boxers. Everyone stopped and looked at her. "Why are we doing this?" she asked him seriously.

Yuna answered cautiously. "To celebrate getting past the Zeus Cup's prelims?"

"But we haven't done that yet, have we Riku?" she returned, fixing Riku with a look.

Riku gasped exasperatedly, his mind only half there. He gestured wildly, first at her bared C-cup breasts with pointed, hardened nipples and then down at his very erect penis. "At this point, does it really matter Yuffie?"

"Yes it does!" Yuffie retorted. "I want the prize munny and the opportunity to be a goddess for a day! And I won't get that if we don't do our prelim!"

"But Yuffie—" Kairi began while Riku appeared to be speechless given the context. Yuffie's resultant snap silenced the redhead and set the wheels of Riku's mind turning at full speed.

"Dammit, Riku! If we win I'll even be the Goddess of Anal Sex and let you fuck me there all day long so long as we get out of here in order to compete!"

"Bye guys!" Riku announced, his whole body pulsing with white light as the armour that had already been removed reappeared on his body. A moment later the same occurred to Yuffie, who then squealed as Riku snatched her up and placed her over his shoulder. "See you in a bit. DON'T start again without us!"

Naminé was the only one whose cognitive processing didn't halt entirely at the turn of events, and she quickly called for them to wait for a second while she dove to her pants. Quickly extracting Nebulus' summon charm, she tossed it at the pair and wished them luck as they made a hasty exit.

Riku and Yuffie had left the scene for only a few seconds before Kairi sighed and dropped back down onto the bed, head hitting pillows. "Fuh, well that killed the mood."

-A-D-

To be continued...in Part 2

May the Grace of the Valar Protect You

Shire Folk