The next world seemed just as dark and dreary as Beast Castle had been. The rough walls were hewn from stone and an ominous green light filled the cavern. It looked like a great entryway with stone doorways leading deeper into the earth. X was almost certain he had never been here before.

"Are ya sure this is the Coliseum?" Goofy asked looking around the room. X suppressed a shudder, as a breath of cold wind passed them. He heard a faint murmuring sound coming from down some of the cavern tunnels.

"It's that way!" Donald said pointing toward a set of stairs. He ruffled his feathers up and began walking to the doors. Sora chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh, guess we were a little off," he said following Donald. X followed after him still glancing around. He had a bad feeling about whatever this place was. He didn't know what this had to do with the Coliseum, but it seemed a difficult mistake to make.

The group stopped when they heard the cry of a woman. Turning quickly they saw a woman with brown hair wearing a light purple dress on the ground a group of Heartless surrounding her. Sora drew his keyblade glaring at the Heartless who were yet to notice them.

"Heartless!" Sora yelled. He led the charge as he usually did, swinging his keyblade and sending the Heartless flying across the cavern.

It didn't take long to chase the Heartless away from the woman. Sora offered a hand to her as she looked up at them, pushing her hair out of her face. She looked at him for a moment with her violet eyes taking him in.

"Thanks, but I'm fine," she said as she stood up on her own. She crossed her arms and looked down at the group. "And you're supposed to be?" She asked.

"I'm Sora, he's Donald, that's Goofy, and he's X. We came to see how Hercules is doing," Sora answered, pointing to each member of the group. X gave a salute to her before looking away in disinterest. He didn't like the idea of hanging around down here any longer than necessary.

"You know Wonderboy?" the woman said almost in disbelief. X believed the name was familiar, but he didn't think he had ever actually met anyone named Hercules while here.

"Yeah, cause we're heroes, too!" Donald said puffing out his chest as he pointed to himself.

"Ya mean junior heroes, Donald," Goofy corrected chuckling a bit. Donald glared at him but no words were exchanged on the matter. X hadn't heard of this hero ranking before, but he definitely thought the trio deserved to be heroes. They had saved the worlds from Ansem already.

"Looks like we have a friend in common," the woman said uncrossing her arms, a hand resting on her hip. "Name's Megara. My friends call me Meg."

"So how's Herc?" Sora asked.

"Wonderboy? Well, he's duking it out at the Coliseum every day. You know, 'a hero's work is never done' and all that. He's ready to drop, but he keeps on fighting. Even Wonderboy has his limits, though. These opponents are bad news--special deliveries from Hades himself," Meg asnwered worry clearly showing in her voice. X frowned hearing the mention of Hades. He had only been in this world briefly, long enough for Terra to win a tournament, but he remembered the supposed God of the Underworld. And he was not impressed.

"Oh please no. Not that guy," X muttered.

"Hades!?" Donald asked jumping up. X was pleased to see he wasn't the only one who had a problem with this.

"Right. Lord of the Underworld. I was on my way to see him. Maybe I can get Hades to give Wonderboy a breather. If anything happens to that kid," Meg trailed off her eyes going to the side as her lips pressed into a thin line.

"Gawrsh, sounds like your more than just friends!" Goofy said. X shot him a glare, this was not a place for others to get involved. At least not in his opinion.

"Oh, uh, I mean," Meg said her face dusted with red.

"We'll go have a little talk with Hades. I'd hate for anything to happen to you on your way to see him," Sora said, saving Meg from having to explain herself. She looked at Sora with raised eyebrows.

"You really want to do that?" she asked.

"He does," X said. Meg smirked at the comment and nodded.

"Well, it looks like you know what you're doing. I guess I'll take you up on that offer. But, let's keep this whole chat-with-Hades thing our little secret, ok?" she asked leaning down a little as she placed a finger to her lips. X supposed she hadn't told Hercules she was going to be talking to Hades. Or hadn't said anything about knowing Hades.

"Our lips are sealed!" Sora promised. Meg chuckled before walking away, out of the Underworld.

Sora and Donald led the way deeper into the Underworld. X wasn't sure if they really knew where they were going, or if they were just winging it. X kept a dagger drawn and at his side. He didn't like the idea of wandering into Hades domain without being prepared. Hades himself wasn't much of a threat, but he could create some problems for them if he really wanted to.

They entered a long pathway that seemed to lead further down into the earth. A thin layer of white smoke hung over the ground and things constantly seemed to be moving in the corner of their eyes. Small wisps of light floated around, seeming like forgotten souls.

Sora gasped as a man cloaked in black ran past them. The group came to a halt looking where the man had vanished. He had been running too quickly for X to have gotten a good look at him. It left X unsure what they were going to walk into.

"The Organization!" Donald said. Sora nodded.

"Yeah," he drew his keyblade before following after the cloaked figure. X brought his other dagger to his hand and followed Sora deeper into the Underworld. The next section of the area appeared empty. X glanced to the side just in time to see the Organization member run out of a tunnel at the group.

"Run! Run away!" the member yelled as he ran past the group into a dark corridor and out of the Underworld. X stared blankly where the dark corridor had been. He glanced to the others, who were all staring a similar manner.

"Ok...?" Sora said looking around at the others. X shrugged.

"That was the least threatening member of the Organization I've ever seen," X said. Sora chuckled a little before once again leading them through the Underworld.

They soon found themselves at the edge of a throne room like room. They stood against the wall in the doorway, watching the room. Hades stood beside a swirling portal with a man dressed in red with a large sword on his back. A giant cat-like creature X was certain he should recognize stood pressed up against a wall looking on in horror.

"Let's cut to the chase. Here's the deal I'm gonna offer you. I let you out of the slammer- no strings- you'll be free as a bird. And all for one little job. Fight Hercules, in the Coliseum, to the death!" Hades said, his hands moving rapidly as he spoke. The dark-haired man stared at him for a moment as if considering the offer. His grip on his sword tightened as he came to a decision.

"This is my story. And you're not a part of it," he said, lifting his sword off his back and pointing it at Hades.

"I like this guy," X said to himself. Sora glanced at him for a moment before looking back to Hades and the dark-haired man.

"Did you forget who you're talking to? I am the Lord of the Dead!" Hades yelled in anger.

"No wonder no one wants to die," the man replied calmly. X snickered to himself.

"Now I really like him," X said.

"You are FIRED!" Hades yelled as he turned from his usual blue color to bright red, even the flames on the top of his head. He charged at the man, who easily held him back with his sword. Sora took the opportunity to run into the room, keyblade drawn. X and the other two followed him their own weapons at the ready.

"Hades!" Donald yelled. Hades glared at the group his skin returning to blue.

"You again?" he asked. His eyes landed on X and narrowed even farther. "Not you," he said angrily. X smirked at him.

"The feeling is mutual," X said spinning a dagger in his hand. The dark-haired man pushed Hades back from him taking advantage of Hades clear distraction.

"Fight!" he said.

Attempting to heed his words they began to fight. But X noticed within moments there was no way they could win this fight. Sora's swings were slow, Donald's magic was at half power at best, and Goofy was hardly strong enough to put any power behind his shield. X seemed to be the only one not having any problems. His blows were just as fast and just as strong. Though it seemed to do little against a god in his own kingdom.

"Something's wrong!" Donald said watching a weak thunder spell spark across the area.

"I feel kinda funny," Sora said, swaying a little on his feet. X came to his side, pushing him to a solid stance. Sora took a moment to get his feet underneath him, then shot a grateful look to X.

"That's right! See, that's the thing. In the Underworld, heroes are zeroes--comes with the territory," Hades said smirking. He brought a ball of blue flames to his hand and went to charge at the group. The dark-haired man jumped in front of them blocking Hades with his sword.

"Go now!" he ordered.

"But we've gotta talk to Hades!" Sora said.

"What was that?" Hades asked his fingers in his ears. X glowered at the god, behaving like a child. X shook his head tugging on Sora's sleeve.

"I wouldn't say he's inclined to listen," he said. "You can't fight him, and I can only do so much."

"We have to go- now!" the dark-haired man insisted. Sora looked at Hades frowning before he turned and ran out of the chamber they were in. Donald and Goofy followed him without any further objection. X and the dark-haired man brought up the rear keeping an eye on Hades who didn't make to follow them right away, which was odd.

The group came to a stop some distance away panting heavily. Sora leaned over with his hands on his knees looking the direction they had come from. X followed his gaze letting out a relieved breath. Hades was still yet to follow them.

"Is he gone?" Donald asked.

"Don't count on it," the dark-haired man said.

"Huh?"

No sooner had he spoken then Hades appeared leaning on the side of the wall, inspecting the long nails on his hand.

"Leaving so soon?" Hades asked.

The group did not answer and instead took off running again. This time it seemed the Heartless were aiding Hades. At every opportunity, they were attacked by groups of Heartless and sometimes Hades joined in the fight as well. X managed as many of the Heartless as he could, sending them away with silent orders, but he had never really mastered the art of only needing hand signals or glares.

They managed once again to escape Hades, but X suspected it was short lived. Sora glanced around where they had stopped, his eyes eventually falling on the man who had been helping them. He had managed to keep up the entire time, and even do more than Sora seemed capable of at the moment.

"You're really good. Are you some kind of hero?" Sora asked. The man shook his head slowly.

"No, I'm no hero. I'm just an," the man trailed off. Sora tilted his head looking at the man with curiosity.

"Huh?" Sora asked.

"Auron," the man said suddenly. Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at each other in question. Sora shrugged then glanced to X. X sighed heavily and turned to the man.

"Nice to meet you Auron. I'm X," he said with a small salute, his usual greeting.

"I'm Sora," Sora said practically jumping to be beside X. He stumbled when Donald jumped up on his shoulders.

"Donald." Goofy also seemed to think it was appropriate to jump on Sora's shoulders, making Sora stumble yet again.

"Goofy!"

Sora held them up for a moment before the group collapsed onto the ground. X stared down at them blankly. He sighed heavily before hiding his face in his hand.

"It seems we were fated to meet. Maybe you need a guardian," Auron said. Donald and Goofy got up off of Sora. Sora stood himself, brushing the dust off his clothes as he did so.

"Guardian? Thanks, but no thanks. That's what X is for, kinda," Sora said turning to X for confirmation. X looked at Sora before turning to Auron.

"Do you want them?" X asked.

"Hey!" Sora and Donald yelled in unison. X chuckled holding up his hands.

"Joking. Just joking," X said. Sora glared at him for a moment before grinning and laughing himself. Donald didn't seem as convinced and crossed his arms walking away from X. Goofy followed soon after and X followed him dropping his hands with a frown. Auron chuckled behind them before he too followed Sora toward the exit.

Reaching the exit, however, they were met with another problem.

"What? It's closed!" Donald yelled. Sora, Donald, and Goofy pulled at the door trying to pry it open.

"Come on, open!" Sora said as he pulled fruitlessly on the door. X took a step back to look up at the door. Clearly, you were not supposed to be able to open it with ease. It was the door out of hell, making it easy to open would defeat the purpose. Looking up X saw a keyhole clearly etched into the door. It couldn't really be that easy, could it?

"Keylock," X said pointing towards the keyhole. Sora stepped back looking up at the lock. He summoned his keyblade to his hand and looked down at it thoughtfully. His blue eyes hardened as he looked back up at the door.

"Will that open it?" Auron asked.

"Yeah. I think so," Sora said.

"It will," X said looking over his shoulder. It was weird they hadn't had many problems since they had reached the door. Hades wasn't one to just give up. His eyes widened when he heard a roar echo through the caverns loud enough to shake the ground.

"Hurry!" Auron yelled as he stepped forward to guard Sora's back. X stepped forward as Sora raised his keyblade to unlock the door. In front of them, the creature that had roared appeared. It was a giant dog with three heads and glowing red eyes. It snarled as it jumped at them, long white teeth similar in size to Auron's sword beared. X jumped to the side allowing Auron the chance to block the attack. X quickly gripped the dog's short fur and threw himself up onto the dogs back.

X did his best to slow the dog from where he was. He didn't know when, but at one point Sora joined the fight, helping him and Auron subdue the dog. X had a strong feeling if Y had caught him in this fight she would not have been happy. She would have wanted to reason with the dog first.

X slid off the dogs back as it collapsed onto the ground. He brushed himself off glancing to both Sora and Auron, both looked significantly worse off than him, but they had been in the range of its teeth and claws.

"Come on!" Donald yelled drawing their attention. They ran through the gates out of the Underworld as the dog got back to its feet. Sora, Donald, and Goofy made faces at the dog through the closing doors. X sighed heavily shaking his head.

"Whew," Sora said turning away from the door.

"Huh?" Donald said looking around.

"What happened to Auron?" Goofy asked. X glanced around, seeing, in fact, Auron was nowhere in sight. X looked back at the doors. Hades had seemed to be pulling Auron from somewhere. Maybe he wasn't able to leave the Underworld.

"He can take care of himself. Let's go find Meg. Then we can try this again," Sora said walking towards the stairs that led up to the Coliseum. X frowned but followed the other three.

Reaching the Coliseum X looked around. It hadn't changed that much from the last time he had been here. He dared say it was the same. The same statues and charts. The names might have been different, but X didn't know. He wasn't going to take the time to check.

"Gawrsh, this sure does bring back memories!" Goofy said happily. X's frown deepened. It certainly did bring back memories. And not the good type. He remembered Terra falling deeper into his lies and Hades almost tricking him to use the darkness. He remembered a threat against Hades with confidence he no longer had. Powers he couldn't use anymore.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a man exiting the arena. He was tall and well muscled with ginger-colored hair and blue eyes. He wore a sort of armor that was actually pretty common in the world.

"Sora! Donald! Goofy! When'd you get here?" the man asked with a smile.

"Hey, Herc!" Sora greeted.

"Hi!" Donald said with a wave.

"Howdy there!" Goofy said.

"You on another adventure?" Herc asked wiping his hands off.

"Yeah, trackin' down some friends, wipin' out some Heartless," Sora said putting his hands behind his head with a broad grin.

"Junior heroes, always busy!" Herc said with a laugh.

"You know it!" Sora agreed. They shared a laugh before walking into the foyer area of the Coliseum. It, like everything else, looked almost exactly the same as it did before. X hung back from the group listening but not partaking in the actual conversation.

"So, did you find those friends of yours?" Herc asked.

"Still working on it. When we got here we ran into Meg--meg-mega trouble, I mean! So we had to help somebody out. We tried to go teach Hades a thing or two...but the Underworld drains away all our strength. Don't suppose you have any ideas?" Sora asked. X was grateful he managed to pull off that save on his own. Though if anyone had been paying attention it would have been clear that Sora was bad at lying.

"Well, there is a stone that guards against the Underworld's curse. The gods on Mount Olympus use it whenever they have to go down there," Herc explained.

"Think we could use it?" Sora asked.

"Sure, why not! I'll go get it for you," Herc said with a shrug.

"Thanks!" Donald said.

"Real nice of you!" Goofy said.

"But Hades is no pushover, even if you've got the Olympus Stone. And I have a match today, so I can't go with you," Herc said, worrying crossing his face as he tapped his chin. "Know what you need? Training! Why don't you go talk to Phil?" he suggested. X hardly thought they would need training, Sora was fairly skilled. Even for having almost no formal training.

"Hey, good idea!" Sora said brightly.

Herc took the group to Phil, who turned out to be a small Satyr for training. X decided to sit out, only watching Sora run around the arena to destroy barrels in a set time limit. Herc stood off to the side with X watching for a moment, casting X sideways glances a few times.

"I feel like I've seen you before," Herc said suddenly. X didn't cast him a glance, his eyes still following Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"Hm, weird," X said. "I mean, I have been here before. But that was a long time ago." He knew what the likely reason for the familiarity was. Y had been here too, and when you met one, you seemed to think you knew them both.

"Really? How long?" Herc asked.

"Whatever happened to that Zack kid?" X asked instead of answering. Herc whistled to himself.

"Whoa, that is a long time ago," Herc said. He didn't say anything else for a short moment. X wasn't sure if it was because he was lost in thought or if it was him waiting for X to say something. "Don't know, he just disappeared," Herc finally said.

"Too bad, that kid was something," X said. He remembered the way he had set Terra back on the right track with a few words. Back away from where X had been leading him.

"Yeah. You know, you look a lot like a friend of mine," Herc commented. X chuckled.

"I suppose you mean Y?" X asked. He chuckled as he heard a shocked intake of breath from Herc. "Twin sister," X explained. Herc chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh, I guess I should have guessed," he said. X only shrugged. It seemed Herc knew that was all X would say for the day and left to find the stone like he had promised he would.

X continued to passively watch Sora train, occasionally calling out advice when Sora fumbled on a task. Sora always took the advice without questioning it too much. Occasionally he would ask for more explanation since X would give vague advice such as 'hit harder' or 'that was not right' but regardless he tried to listen to X's advice.

Sora paused in his training when he saw Herc return, banishing his keyblade away. He approached Herc with a weary smile, apparently a little worn out from all the training. X suspected in about ten minutes he would regain his energy and be bouncing all over the place again.

"Sorry, guys. The Olympus Stone has been stolen," Herc said as the group gathered around him.

"What!?" Sora and Donald both shouted jumping back.

"By who?" Goofy asked.

"We don't know who did it yet. All we're sure of is it was a guy in a black hooded cloak. And he had accomplices--a bunch of creatures in white," Herc explained. X frowned standing up and joining them as the group exchanged a look and nodded. "Someone you know?" Herc asked.

"I think so," Sora said. "Hey, if we get the Olympus Stone back, can we borrow it for a while?" he asked.

"Sure. By the way, you haven't seen Meg around, have you?" Herc asked. They all shook their heads. In fact, X couldn't remember seeing the woman since they met her in the Underworld. "Oh, ok," he said looking down.

"What's wrong, your hero-ness? Feeling under the weather?" Hades appeared in a cloud of dark smoke placing a hand on Herc's shoulder. Herc ducked away from the god, turning to face him with raised fists. "You know, I thought staying in perfect shape was part of the hero job description, you know what I'm saying?" Hades continued unphased by Herc's reaction to his presence.

"Oh right," Sora said seeming to remember something. He stepped forward looking up at Hades. "Hades, we gotta talk!" Hades only reply was to flick Sora in the head and send him stumbling backward.

"I came to share a bit of mildly interesting news:" Hades said as Herc tried to sneak up behind him. He teleported behind Herc as Herc threw a punch, sending the hero off balance. "Seems your dear, sweet little Nutmeg went and got herself lost in the Underworld."

"You mean you kidnapped her!" Herc said taking a step toward Hades. Hades shrugged.

"Well, maybe," Hades admitted. "But why get caught up in the details?"

Herc whistled calling to him a white horse with a blue mane and large white wings. He went to mount the pegasus, and X assumed go after Meg, but Hades seemed to have predicted that much already.

"Uh-uh-uh! You can't leave now, ok?" Hades said. Herc stopped and glared at Hades. "You've got a very important match today against, um, the bloodthirsty Hydra! I mean, if you don't stick around, who knows what kind of "accidents" might happen." Hades went on. X assumed this Hydra was some sort of monster of this world. At least he hoped as much and it wasn't the Heartless of the same name. That could complicate things quickly.

"Yeah, accidents you cause," Sora said angrily.

"Like I said: details, who needs 'em?" Hades said with a shrug.

"You're just a coward," Herc said. Hades once again only shrugged in reply, the words clearly not bothering him at all.

"Ah well. Can't all be heroes," he said before vanishing in a puff of black smoke. X frowned looking at the group. They had few options here. Either leave Meg to Hades, or leave the Coliseum to an angry Hydra.

"Can you handle this?" Herc asked looking at Sora.

"You got it! We're heroes!" Donald said.

"Junior heroes, Donald." Goofy corrected.

"You take care of the Hydra. We'll handle the rest," Sora said.

"I'm counting on you," Herc said. The group nodded and without further word found themselves back at the entrance of the Underworld.

Inside the entrance, they found Phil on the ground looking like he had just been in some kind of fight. Sora ran over to him with Donald and Goofy on his tail.

"Phil!" Sora said. Phil groaned as he pushed himself up looking at the group with heavy eyes. "What happened?" Sora asked.

"I spotted this strange guy all dressed in black. I chased after him, but he turned on me. Next thing I know I'm seeing stars," Phil explained. X frowned looking around. The Organization seemed to have weird goals in this world. Stealing a stone they wouldn't even need and causing mayhem for the inhabitants.

"All dressed in black!?" Donald said in shock.

"He's the one who stole the Olympus Stone," Sora said.

"Where did he run off to?" Goofy asked Phil.

"To the Underworld. He's a bad apple, all right. And all I wanted was to find a backup hero. Just in case Herc needed to take a break," Phil said. X frowned, chasing random strangers was hardly a way to find heroes.

"Heroes, eh? You could've just asked!" Sora said puffing up his chest.

"You know someone!?" Phil asked hopefully. Sora and Donald both pulled out their weapons. Phil looked at them in disbelief and shook his head. "Oh, good one," he said.

X held Donald back while Sora and Goofy sent Phil back up to the mortal side of things. After Phil was gone they made their way into the Underworld caverns searching for the man in black. They fought Heartless as they went, though it was harder than it should have been for Sora, Donald, and Goofy. X found himself taking out a great number of the Heartless they encountered.

They soon found themselves in an open area with the Organization XIII member right in front of them. As they drew their weapons the Organization member turned to face them. He jumped back in surprise, almost cowering away from them.

"Huh? Ah! You!" Though his hood was still up covering his face it was clear where he had his attention focused. X could feel the gaze from his companions shift to him. The hooded figure took a moment to look around relaxing as he took off his hood. He had blonde hair cut in a mullet and blue eyes. "Wait a sec, Roxas?" he asked looking at Sora.

"Excuse me?" Sora said lowering his keyblade in confusion.

"Roxas?" the Organization member X realized was Demyx asked. "Oh, it's no use," he said when Sora only continued to look at him blankly.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Sora asked. Demyx ignored him and pulled a note card out from his pocket. X remembered Axel claiming Demyx was hopeless many times, but he hadn't thought he was this hopeless.

"Let's see, here. 'If subject fails to respond, use aggression to liberate his true disposition'. Right. Did they ever pick the wrong guy for this one," Demyx said putting the notecard back into his pocket and looking away.

"You're bizarre," Sora said slowly watching Demyx. Demyx ignored Sora pulling the Olympus stone from his other pocket and twirling it between his fingers.

"He's gotta be the thief!" Goofy said pointing to the stone.

"Now that's just plain rude!" Demyx said putting a hand on his hips as he leaned forward.

"Don't like being called out?" X asked with a smirk. Demyx stepped back and held up the Olympus stone. A light came off of the stone and covered him in what seemed like a protective barrier. He summoned his weapon to his hand, a stringed instrument of some kind X wasn't familiar with and played a series of notes.

"Dance, water! Dance!" Demyx called. As he did several water clones rose from the ground and launched at Sora and the rest of the group. Fortunately, the water clones didn't seem to be that large of a threat. In a few hits, they exploded into a fine mist thoroughly soaking whoever was the one to defeat them. The problem seemed to be in the number of them. But together it took a minute or so to destroy all the clones Demyx sent after them. "Not bad, Roxas!" Demyx said smirking. His smirk dropped as he gripped his shoulder. "Roxas, come back to us!" he pleaded as he vanished. X frowned glancing at Sora.

"Guy's a broken record," Sora said crossing his arms.

"Hey look!" Donald said pointing to the ground. Sora walked over and picked up the small flat stone marked with a cloud and thunderbolt. The same light that had covered Demyx covered them. From their reactions, X assumed they felt their power returning.

"Let's go! Meg needs our help!" Sora said, once again taking the lead as he led the way deeper into the Underworld.

Entering what had to be close to the deepest part of the Underworld they could get to the group was met with a rock with an image of Meg outlined upon it around a keyhole. Sora held up his keyblade and shot a beam of light at the keyhole. The rock broke apart as the energy pillar behind it changed from black to light green. X frowned, the placement seemed odd, and intentional in some way.

"Almost there," Sora said with a nod.

They entered the light and on the other side found Hades with Meg who was all chained up. Despite being caught Hades was laughing with an evil grin the unsettled X.

"Now that's what I call a key. Gee, thanks for your help! Now have a nice day," he said vanishing. Meg stumbled forward the cloth that had previously been covering her mouth fell to around her neck.

"Sora, behind you!" she said. Turning they saw the cat creature from earlier with a large group of Heartless beside him. X frowned trying to remember where he had seen him before. He blinked in shock when he realized it. Disney Town, all those years ago.

"This guy, seriously?" X asked. He had been nothing but an annoyance before, and it didn't look like he was going to be a major threat anytime soon. It amazed X the Heartless even listened to him.

"What's wrong? Can't fight in the Underworld? Ohh, boo-hoo-hoo!" the cat taunted. Tried as he could X could not remember what his name was.

"Better think again!" Soar said readying his key. The cat looked between the Heartless and Sora, worry clear across his face. He had been banking on their inability to fight. And now that was ruined for him.

"Charge!" the cat ordered before backing away quickly to avoid fighting himself.

The Heartless charged at the group and the fight began. Once again it seemed the enemies themselves weren't much of a problem, but the sheer numbers of them quickly wore the group down.

"There's too many!" Sora said.

"Let's go!" Donald responded motioning towards the door. Sora nodded and broke the chains on Meg with his key. Before they could run, Pegasus arrived carrying Herc on his back. Herc jumped down and knocked the cat back with a punch.

"Sorry I'm late," he said. He whistled, calling down Pegasus who had been circling above them. As the winged horse landed it kicked the back of the cat's head knocking him to the ground again. Herc lifted Meg up onto Pegasus' back and patted the horses side. "Get Meg out of here. I'll meet you back at the Coliseum," he said.

"What about you?" Sora asked.

"I'm gonna show these guys what happens when you mess with a true hero," Herc said with a smile. Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran into the pillar of light as the cat got to his feet. X stayed beside Herc spinning his daggers in his hands. Herc cast him a glance but didn't say anything.

"Now, wait a sec!" the cat objected. He went to chase after Sora and the others but Herc and X jumped in his way, occupying him with a fight. X did his best to keep the Heartless away while Herc fought the cat himself. The cat seemed to think it was acceptable to constantly be summoning more Heartless, an underhanded move in X's opinion.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy rejoined weapons drawn. The fight went much smoother with three other companions against the cat and his Heartless. The cat stumbled away from them, looking for an escape.

"This place gives me the creeps. I'll deal with you nitwits next time!" the cat said before running away. As he did so the cave shook beginning to collapse. The group ran for the pillar of light that led to their escape.

They raced through the Underworld to escape. There was really no reason, nothing was chasing them. They just clearly were tired of the dark gloomy place. They reached the entrance to find Hades waiting for them. X glared reaching for his daggers.

"Well, if it isn't everyone's favorite hero washout. You really blew it this time," Hades said. X frowned, what on earth was this guy talking about? They had beat him. The cat had given up and run. There was nothing he could have done.

"No one likes a sore loser, Hades," Sora said.

"Can it, keyboy!" Hades snapped.

"Then let me," Herc said taking a step forward. "No one likes a sore loser, Hades."

"Yeah, yeah, Styx and stones," Hades said dismissively. "Hey, maybe you should go check on that Hydra you neglected to finish off. I hear things are really falling apart up there, champ," he said and vanished into smoke. X frowned looking up the stairs. If the Hydra hadn't really been beaten, what was it liked above ground?

"Wait!" Sora yelled.

"Hate to run, but I've got another little diversion to attend to," Hades voice said, though he was already long gone. The group exchanged a look before running to the Coliseum. When they got there they were greeted by a scene of chaos.

The Coliseum was in ruins with boulders still flying as the Hydra thrashed and hissed. X couldn't hear any screams, so he decided to take that as a good sign rather than a bad one.

"This can't be," Herc said falling to his knees. Phil, Pegasus, and Meg joined them as another boulder went flying. X thought this was hardly a time for a conversation but he didn't make the comment.

"Champ! You're safe!" Phil said shaking Herc.

"I failed," Herc said.

"It's not your fault!" Meg said quickly.

"I left everyone unprotected," Herc said he slammed his fist on the ground angrily. "Hades was right. I'm just a, a washout."

"In my experience, Hades is never right," X said softly. Phil nodded in X's direction.

"Come on, champ! I didn't train you to think like that," Phil said.

"Wonderboy," Meg said.

"Phil's right. There's no time to beat yourself up," Sora said. Herc shook his head.

"I'm some hero," he said. The ground shook as the Hydra pulled itself from the wreckage seeing the new targets to attack. Meg grabbed onto Herc and dragged him off to the side.

"Herc needs help!" Donald said turning to face the Hydra. Sora nodded turning as well.

"Yeah!"

"Don't suppose you've got room for one more?" Phil said joining them, preparing himself to fight. X appreciated the effort but he doubted things would work out with something as small as him trying to fight the Hydra. Meg and Pegasus also joined the group, Pegasus standing as if it would fight as well.

"We're in," Meg said strongly. X again thought the notion was kind enough, but he didn't think any of them were qualified to fight the Hydra with them.

X was soon proven right as the fight began. Phil stayed off to the side yelling bits of advice while Meg and Pegasus stayed near Herc being sure he didn't get hurt during the fight. X threw himself up onto the Hydra's back digging his daggers into one of the Hydra's neck.

"Get up on the Hydra's back!"

"Where does it look like I am!?" X yelled back. The Hydra lurched throwing X off its back and onto the ground. X groaned pushing himself up. He swore under his breath and rolled to the side as the Hydra stepped forward.

"Get up on the Hydra's back!"

X glared and jumped back up onto the Hydra retrieving his daggers that were still dug into the Hydra's neck. Sora was on another part of the Hydra, beating it with his keyblade. X was again amzed by the ability of the blunt weapon to cause such severe damage.

The Hydra soon fell leaving the group to rejoin Herc who was still sitting with his head hung low.

"I let you down. I'm just, no use," Herc said shaking his head again. Meg crouched beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It's not your fault. Hey, even a god would be exhausted," she said. Herc only shook his head again.

"She's right. Give yourself a chance to rest," Sora said.

"There won't be any games for a while, anyway," Goofy said helpfully. X wasn't sure if it was actually helpful or if it only furthered Herc's guilt.

"Don't worry about Wonderboy here. I'll look after him," Meg said looking at the group. X smirked.

"Then he'll be in good hands," he said earning a soft smile from Meg.

"Sora, Donald, Goofy, X, I owe you big time," Meg said.

"Hey, it's no big deal. Just let us know if Hades or the Heartless start acting up. We'll take care of it," Sora said.

"Yeah, that's what heroes are for!" Donald said. Meg laughed crossing her arms.

"When did you four make hero?" she asked. X chuckled.

"We didn't. Donald is making things up again," he said. Donald glared at X, but X ignored him.

"We have to hit the road," Sora said looking to his three companions. X nodded in agreement. They had spent plenty of time here and shown very little for it.

"Okay. Don't be strangers," Meg said.

"Gwarsh, I hope ya feel better soon, Hercules," Goofy said. Herc shrugged keeping his gaze down.

"Yeah," he said quietly.

"Phil?" Donald asked looking to the satyr.

"Oh, well, take care you guys! Stay a little longer next time. We got some serious training to catch up on," Phil said waving a finger at the group. Sora laughed a little and nodded.

"Well, time to go. Oh, I almost forgot," Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out the Olympus stone. Herc reached out to take the stone and Sora was dragged into his usual trance that signaled a gate was open. With a few more farewells the group was off, onto the next world.