A/N: This chapter contains mild swearing.

A quick flash of darkness blinked into existence around Shade's hand, his Keyblade appearing pointed directly at us. A navy-blue circle rounded the blade's black hilt, leading into blackened iron that twisted around itself into a moon at the blade's end. "Now, who wants to test their luck first?" Shade dared, tossing his Keyblade from hand to hand.

Without warning, Cloud's sword nearly cleaved Shade in two as he blocked the attack. Cloud continued his onslaught, slashing furiously at Shade, who seemed unamused with the fight. "Boring. Then again, what would I expect from a brainless bedhead?" Shade taunted, dashing behind Cloud and planting his foot into Cloud's back and sending him to the ground. Rin, with a cry of rage, ran towards Shade and her fallen brother, Keyblade held high. "Rin, don't!" Sera shouted as Shade swiped his blade upward and created ice clones of himself that stopped Rin in her tracks. "Hold them off. I want a nice little chat with Bedhead here," Shade scoffed, turning his attention back to Cloud, still underneath his foot.

"Mathias, what are we going to do?" Eve asked in a panicky voice.

The roar of the crowd that had permeated the Coliseum earlier had changed into frantic cries and screams, making it hard to think straight. There were five clones, each fashioned to closely resemble Shade, but something seemed off. The clones' Keyblades didn't look as solid as the clones themselves, small cracks appearing in them as Rin held off two of them.

"Aim for the blades! Crack them and the clones should be defenseless!" I replied, running to Rin's aid.

As Rin pushed one clone back, I parried an incoming blade from the other she had behind her. The Shade clone started at me with its creeping glassy eyes, no hint of emotion at all to be found. It swiped left as I rolled under the strike and slashed up, making contact with the hilt of the blade, almost breaking it entirely. Jumping back, the clone spun around and lunged forward, catching me in the shoulder as the cold started spreading along my left arm.

"Mathias! DUCK!" Sera yelled, two balls of Fira coming at us.

Hitting the dirt, I watched as the clone faced the spell head-on, shattering it on impact. Eve quickly cast a healing spell on me, but the cold didn't dissipate. She tried twice more only to be met with the same results. "Crud, it's no use. Why isn't it stopping?" Eve cursed.

"Hold on, let me try something," I wondered aloud. With a grunt, I tapped my Keyblade to the ice, a small purple clock appearing on the ice, its hands slowly moving. I attempted to move my arm, but it wouldn't budge from my side. Standing up, I redirected my focus back to Rin and Sera, still locked in combat with the ice clones. Shoot, who do I help? "Mathias, go help Sera!" Eve commanded, running over to Rin and shielding her in an Aerora spell.

The setting sun cast a twilight tone across the Coliseum, filled with the clashing of metal against ice. Dashing over, I planted a kick to one clone's ribs. It toppled over and brought its companion down with it. Blasting their blades out of their grasp with a precise Thunder, Sera finished them off with another Fira. Glancing over, I saw Rin mercilessly break pieces of a clone apart, ice splayed out against the orange dirt. Meanwhile, Eve's Keyblade struggled against the remaining clone. "A little help!" Eve kept pushing but was overwhelmed, falling to the floor as the clone stood over menacingly, kicking her Keyblade away.

I knew I couldn't reach her in time. The clone would see me coming. I did the only thing I could think of; I threw my Keyblade. "Eve, catch!" Hearing my call, Eve's outstretched hand latched on to my blade and swiped at her attacker's legs, causing the clone to shrink from 5'4 to about 3'4.

Rin jumped on the clone, its entire body cracking from the pressure. She stabbed downward, the soulless face crushed. Rin panted, helping Eve get back on her feet. We looked at each other, nodding in agreement, calling my Keyblade back to my hand. We ran towards Shade and Cloud. Cloud's desperate tries at fighting hadn't turned out well, blood leaking out multiple slashes across his body. Shade turned to face us as our frantic footsteps came to a halt. "Aw, come on guys! I was just having fun!"

"See how much fun you have when I kick that shit-eating grin off your face!" Rin charged, Keyblade over her head swinging in a downward arc. With a huff, Shade brought up an ice wall, jumping away at Rin carved through the air. I tried to shoot plasma towards Shade, but missed as Shade backflipped to dodge. In response, Shade shot a shard to ice. It connected with my already slightly frozen arm, a sharp pain blasting through my veins.

"Argh!" I fell onto the rough floor, my Keyblade vanishing in a light. I reached around blindly, grabbing onto something small and round.

"Ooh, that looked like it hurt." Ice flowed in a stream from Shade's blade that circled around him. As the clash of ice and steel filled the air, my vision began to flicker. Damn, not now, I can't black out. Feeling the round object in the palm of my hand, I opened it to see the Summoning Orb that the dream guy gave to me.

'Well, if this isn't the right time to use this, I'm crazy,' I thought to myself as I brought the orb clutched in my hand to my chest. "Warrior, please come to our aid!" I shouted, a burst of light emanating from my hand. A ring of light appeared around Cloud, green healing magic sewing his wounds as Cloud lifted himself off the ground. Picking up his Buster Sword, Cloud locked eyes with Shade, blue eyes filled with anger.

"I would pity you, but you're in my way!" Cloud fumed, swiping upwards and sending Shade flying. "Rin!" "Got it!" Rin joined Cloud as the two jumped into the air. Both relentlessly bore into Shade, countless slash marks appearing as Cloud and Rin moved as blurs. Shade roared in pain, cursing the two until they slammed him into the ground. Now who's the tough one? I wasn't one to talk though as the frost began extending to my torso.

"Rgh, now I'm pissed!" Shade stormed, a rush of darkness enveloping his body. Dissipating, Shade was revealed to be floating off the ground slightly, his robes becoming white with ice blue slash designs. He held a ball of black ice as his Keyblade was encased in ice along his back.

Shade slammed the ball downward, a force of ice blasting Cloud and Rin out of the sky as well as Sera into the stands. Eve stood over me, struggling to keep up her wind wall as the barrage of icicles flew towards us. "Eve, run! He's only after me!" I yelled over the constant cracking of ice.

"No way! I won't let you sacrifice yourself!" Even as she pushed with all her might, Eve's feet started to drag along the sanded floor. Ugh, why couldn't she just listen to me? Suddenly, I felt hands on my shoulders, looking up to see Sera, banged up from the stands. She began to drag me away from Eve as I tried to get free. "Stop! She needs my help!"

"You're just in the way right now! There's nothing you can do!" Sera's harsh words stung almost as much as the frost. I watched on helplessly as Cloud and Rin fought to say on their feet, slowly advancing towards Shade. Why is this happening? Are we going to lose?

"Your Keyblade is a special one, even among the Foretellers'. It can control time to a certain extent, but more than any other blade before it." The dream guy's words rang in my head. I summoned my Keyblade. "What are you-" Sera demanded, but was stopped as the whole arena fell silent, a purple atmosphere glazing our surrounding. Placing even more pain in my arm, by sheer force of will I pushed off the ground. Standing now, I dragged myself in Shade's direction.

Everything had frozen, not in ice, but in time. Never having tried this before, I felt like my body weighted a ton, placing all my energy into keeping up the Stopga spell and moving my legs. I passed Eve, her teeth clenched in a snarl as she blocked icicle after icicle. "I'm sorry. I have to stop him, for all of our sakes." I whispered. As I neared Shade, I howled in pain as I held my Keyblade with both hands, raising it over my head.

"Th-this ends now!" I roared, swiping down across Shade's face as the spell wore off, a rush of sound and movement happening all at once. Shade fell backwards, his Keyblade shattering on his back as the ice storm ceased. My friends stopped, shocked and staring at the spectacle in front of them. Shade glared up at me, a long scar crossing over his left eye. "D-damn. What the hell was that?"

"G-give up. It's o-over," I panted, my left arm going limp. Shade scooted backwards, a dark portal seeping from him. "For now, but you got lucky! The Clockwork will be his, and then you will rue the day!" Shade leapt through the portal, disappearing just like that. Completely exhausted from the spell and my injury, I fell on the ground.

I blinked, my vision fading. "Why would you do that, you heroic idiot?!" Eve cried, a tear falling on her face. "Sorry, had… to save…you…" I muttered, closing my eyes as the voices around me grew further and further away.

At this point you would think I'd be used to hospital beds. I opened my eyes lazily, my sight blurry without my glasses. At first, I could only see outlines, but as they drew closer I recognized them as my friends along with Cloud and Master Ira. "M-morning," I greeted them groggily. "Hm, seems like his sense of humor is still intact," Cloud noted.

Rin elbowed Cloud's ribs lightly, shaking her head in disapproval. "How are you feeling, Mathias?" "Well, I did just kinda get the crap beat out of me, so not great." I noticed Eve was sitting in a chair to the right my bed, a solemn look in her eyes. She stood up, walking a couple of steeps forward, but wouldn't meet my eyes.

"What's wrong Eve? Are you hurt?" I asked but already knew that wasn't why she looked so sad. She sniffed, looking at me, her teal eyes reddened from crying. "It's all my fault… I'm so sorry Mathias." Suddenly I felt a breeze of air on the left side of my body. I looked over. I understood why she was crying now; she was crying because my left arm was gone. All that remained was a stump where it had once been.

I felt… incomplete. Part of me that had always been there was gone, just like that. I sighed, shaking my head. "It isn't your fault Eve-" "YES IT IS! I should have been stronger, protected you better! If I was, you wouldn't… you wouldn't be hurt," Eve's sobbing continued, a silence of dread settling across the room. Sera had her hands on Eve's shoulders, rubbing them in an attempt to calm her down. Rin stood by Cloud, her face almost buried in his sleeve. "Mathias, forgive me. What kind of teacher stands idly by as his students fight alone?" Master Ira grimaced.

"Everyone, please. It was my choice. Now I have to live with the consequences." I sat up, the blankets shifting in the bed as I reached for my glasses on the side table. Their sad faces looked up at me. "The strength of our friendship is what kept me going. I knew I couldn't give up, and we are safe for now. So please, don't cry, okay?" I asked, a sad smile on my face.

"He's right. Mourning like this does no good," Cloud finally spoke up. The rest looked at each other, nodding in agreement. "So now what? Back home?" Sera asked Master Ira. "That would be best. We should get Mathias back, so he can rest." Master Ira waved his hand, a portal of light opening in the doorway.

"Wait!" As Eve helped me stand up, Phil came through the other door, panting heavily. "As the winners, I proudly present the Zeus Cup!" Phil handed me a trophy in the shape of a lightning bolt, engraved with the words, "Team Key Summoners: Winners of the Zeus Cup". "Thanks Phil," I said tiredly. "You four are welcome here anytime! Same goes for the blondie!"

Cloud nodded in thanks, walking away from us. "Cloud, you're not coming? B-but I just found you!" Rin sniffed, grabbing his sleeve. "I wish I could Rin, but I have to go. Our own world needs its own savior. I promise I'll come back." A thought occurred to me as I felt that the Summoning Orb was once again in my pocket.

"Rin, take this. I think you should have it. It's what I used to help Cloud." I said, placing it in Rin's hand. She smiled, giving me a small hug. "Thank you, Mathias. Now I can always see my brother again." As we departed, Cloud patted me on the back. "You did good, Clock-boy. Don't let this set you back too much. Stay strong." "You too, Cloud. Good luck." Facing the portal, Eve helped me walk through it, a portal back to the safety of home.

A/N#2: And so another chapter is here after 2 long months!(Again, sorry about the wait!) Coming back to this from a break was a bit hard, especially since most of this was fight scenes. But either way, it feels great to continue this! D23 is coming, and with it hopefully a new trailer for KH3! Hype is real, so you can count on me to keep this story going! Once again, please leave a review with your thoughts, questions, and critiques if you feel so inclined! Now, as always, have a wonderful morning, afternoon, evening, or anything in between!