Video Game: Kingdom Hearts SOS: The Road To Light

Before Luna could process it, she was in Olympus. She looked around and saw she was at a pier. She got off the boat as Balthier looked around in confusion. "I think it's safe to say we made it to Olympus." Luna looked around before looking down at her clothes, noticing her pirate's attire had vanished back into her normal dress. A sigh of relief left her lips as she placed a hand on her chest. "Thank goodness I'm out of that wardrobe. I appreciate that man's handicraft with that attire but it still felt uncomfortable to be in." Luna immediately placed her hands on top of her head and felt the crown on top. She let out another sigh of relief. She walked around, taking in her surroundings but remaining near the boat. Beuce then tossed the compass to Balthier before walking ahead in search of the other if they had arrived as well. "Hold on-!" She sighed as he ran off. "I was going to suggest we look around here first but I believe that's been thrown out the window." Luna then turned to Balthier and bowed her head in thanks. "Thank you for getting us here. I hope our paths cross in the future."

Before she could leave the pier, a puff of black smoke rose up in front of her. Luna took a couple steps as she stood in a defensive stance. The smoke cleared to reveal a tall grey figure. "What in the world?..." Luna was definitely puzzled to say at the least. The mysterious figure was annoyed to say at the least as he looked at the small group of three. The figure calmed down for a few moments before he had introduced himself. He had then extended his hand. "Hades; lord of the dead- Hi, how yah doin'?" The name definitely sounded familiar. She reached back into her memories for any recollection of the name Hades. After several moments, Luna spoke up. "Lord of the dead and God of the Underworld......Why are you here?" Luna kept her arms at her side, showing that she wasn't going to shake his hand.
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As Faust said, 'well, lady luck tends to take a whole lot more than she gives and some people cant let go of those binding chains when they lose someone.' He guessed that was true but it would not be the same just bringing someone back. 'Oh to one other thing to consider AJ is that the barriers between worlds seem pretty lax at times so it's not to impossible that this Hades guy might have visited your world for a tick sometime in your world's history.' "I am not so sure there is not any particular reason to go to my homeworld unless you want people that are selfish and only do things that befit themselves." Really it did not make any sense to go to his homeworld at least to him. Faust then left saying he was heading out. Aux then said, 'Still, any underworld is bound to know more about this place than we do... I was gonna head down to the pier to see if the others arrived. Maybe once we regroup, we can investigate the underworld.' "I am not really sure about the underworld but from what I know is that it is a dangerous place, not that anywhere we have been has been a walk in the park. Well if you are heading to the the underworld or trying to get there Aux just be careful." At this moment he was not really sure what to do with himself. He almost felt like he was back at square one. The people of SOS seemed more or less ready to do whatever. Kaida seemed really quit and he wished he could do something to cheer her up, but he was not sure what that would be.

 

“Yeah.” Steel deadpanned as they abruptly found themselves in an entirely different world. “That seems about par for the course.” Pulling up his hood, Steel gave a dismissive wave to Balthier as he exited the ship. “Enjoy your new compass then.” As far as he was concerned, Balthier wasn’t any better than Jack had been: He had admitted to being a bounty hunter, and their own groups’ mixed reactions and supposed tall tales had only seemed to leave the man thinking they were crazy, and probably that they were pirates. If Balthier thought it would make him some extra coin, why wouldn’t he turn in a bunch of mad pirates? Deal or no? In fact the man had already sounded like he had been searching for some kind of excuse to not go all the way with his end of the bargain, and Steel had almost laughed when he had been interrupted with a random inter-space worm-hole. He wasn’t sticking around to give Balthier the same chance they had given Jack.​

No sooner than they had set foot on dry land though then immediately meeting a local, who also just happened to be the Greek Lord of the Dead. Couldn’t they get a break? Maybe a vacation would be too much to ask for, but a good nights’ sleep in a fancy hotel with plenty of food and a bit of time to indulge in their hobbies would do them all wonders, he was sure. ​

Hades left them alone without too much trouble. He did however, leave behind some unwelcome gifts. Just the sight of them gave him a splitting headache… an unusually strong one. He felt it pulse through him and instinctively grabbed at his forehead. For a moment he thought he felt scales, but when the pain was gone and he looked at his hand, it was that of a normal human. When had he changed from canine anyway? Frowning in a thoughtful manner, a viscous pool of dread began to form in his stomach. He pushed his concerns aside for the moment though, more concerned about the immediate consequences of something Hades had said. It was unlikely anyone had noticed his minor episode anyway. ​

“A one way ticket, huh? I don’t suppose he’s particularly concerned with whether or not we can leave.” It smelled like a trap to him, and getting trapped in the underworld of all places seemed like a terrible way to move forward.​

 

Well, this was a big of a pickle Beuce had gotten himself into. With ever word she added onto her sentences Beuce grew increasingly uncomfortable. He did care about her and her well-being, just maybe not in the same way she did about him. He couldn't help but wonder if this was somehow his fault. Was he leading her on by going so out of his way to help her? At the time he hadn't even considered it, but now he wasn't so sure. He'd do the same for anyone in the SOS. Well, most of them anyway. He decided that in any case, how he got here was less important than what he was going to do going forward. He obviously couldn't continue to just lead her on, but at the same time, it probably took a lot of courage to confess to him like that so he didn't want to just shut her down to harshly. "Yeah, hmm...I uh...might need a bit to return with your answer to that." ​

 

Stratos was around. Yeah, he sure was. He was, in fact, so around that it was possible to assume that he wasn't around at all. That's how around he was. It had been like this, more or less, since Neverland, where he had been around the whole time. As evident by him fighting the pirate captain. While he was around. That was him. Mr. Around. So around that he now was perfectly aware that he was in a Colosseum of sorts. Or a world that had something related to that. What a time to be alive. Which he was. And around. With that in mind, Stratos knew in his heart of hearts that he had to go to this colosseum. Alongside all of the party members that were also around him. Two of them, he presumed. As such, the around boy Stratos said, "alright, guys. Tournament neat. Me go." The boy paused, shaking his head and wondering why it sounded like his brain stopped functioning for a second only to say, "well, uh, let's get going."

 

Kaida kind of snapped out of it a bit when she heard Aux ask if she was alright and she smiled saying, "I'm fine... I just keep getting a bit distracted. I think I had a dream or something and I can't remember it though I want to." she rubbed her forehead and said, "Probably best to keep going instead of worrying about me, alright?" waved her hand a bit and said, "I'll probably stick around at the shops rather than go to the underworld. I don't need that on top of overthinking."

 

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He watched as Stratos left without saying to much. Kaida then said, 'I'm fine... I just keep getting a bit distracted. I think I had a dream or something and I can't remember it though I want to.' At this point he figured that it was close to the time to figure out what was going on in this world. Aux then said, 'I'm going to the pier to get the others. Parrot girl, you're with me. You can find out if they're dead or evil.' With more or less everyone gone he figured that it was time to get going himself. "Well Hades it more then likely up to no good so because he is hosting this tournament that would be the best place to start. Divide and concur I guess." He said this to who ever was paying attention. The tournament or the underworld was probably the best place to figure out what was going on in this world. He felt like he was more or less following the motions as he walked off by himself off in a random direction towards the tournament.

 

Ananta stewed in her own head for a moment, trying to calm herself down from whatever she was worried about. Being worried about what others thought of you kind of sucked and she wished she could get over it, but she still made mistakes. Mistakes she had to own up to and receive or never receive forgiveness for. Sighing, she saw Kaida and Aux talking. She kind of hung back a moment and considered her options. She could follow AJ, Faust, or Aux. AJ was weird and seemed too worried about...whatever else. Faust was odd, but an okay kid. At least Aux was an adult....to an extent. Soon enough, he called for her as he wandered off. Ananta obliged, giving Kaida a pat on the shoulder. "See ya later, Kaida." she said, hurrying along after Aux.

At the pier, she noticed Steel, Luna, and Marx. Smiling, she gave a wave to Steel and Luna....and a new mask kid. it was like Steel all over again.....sort of. Stopped in front of the others, she looked to Steel and gave a thumbs up. "How are you doing, Steel?" she started off. She glanced over to Marx and gave a nod. "So, we picked up another...kind of like you?" she asked, tilting her head at Steel. "Except, he's more human looking than you..." she trailed off. "N...Not that that is a bad thing, after all." she waved her hand.​

 

When they arrived at Olympus, Marx was quiet for the most of the time on the ship until they docked. Seems everyone was heading out to explore. Marx; just really wanted a break. Chilling out by the docks and helping with Balthier’s ship were the only pass time he did active. It was nice to get a break from fighting Heartless, he was hoping to chat with some of the other wielders but they seemed preoccupied within their own talking moments. Would he ever fit in? Who in the hell would know hopefully later on. Speaking of hell, Marx saw a blue-grayish figure with fire appear out of nowhere and walked over next to Luna to hear what he was saying. “Lord of the dead...?” Saying quietly to himself before feeling Hades nudge him a little which made him roll his eyes in disgust. Seeing the keychain given to Luna and Hades disappearing into thin air made him think a little. It wasn’t until he turned to see Steel, Aux and Ananta enter the pier and wondering about the keychain. “I was here most of the time so I don’t know where Beuce is. As for this, Hades said it was a one way ticket to the underworld. I’m Marx by the way, sorry if we haven’t been properly introduced.” He explained before nodding to Aux and Ananta.​

 

Luna shook her head as she corrected Hades. "It's not so much as your reputation as it was someone warning me." She crossed her arms as Hades scoffed. He then continued speaking but Luna was a bit uncomfortable over a few of his comments. "Please refrain from calling me 'babe'." She scowled a little bit. Hades then went on to talk about some tournament he was planning. He was going to pit the deceased versus the living. Luna was definitely concerned to say at the least. A tournament that pitted the living against the dead? That was a tournament that definitely did not need to be held. Hades then gave Luna a small keychain. The keychain was a one way ticket to the underworld. With that, Hades had disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Luna looked at the keychain in her hand as Steel had then spoke up. "A one way ticket, huh? I don’t suppose he’s particularly concerned with whether or not we can leave.” Luna looked at Steel as he made his comment. "No....I don't believe so....However, the thought of a tournament pitting the dead and the living.......It doesn't sit well with me. I want to put a stop to it."

Aux and Ananta had then arrived at the pier. Aux looked at Luna and asked about Beuce's whereabouts. "He left before I could suggest that we stick together in case we ran into any of you guys. So I don't know where he is at the moment." Aux then asked Luna about the keychain that Hades had given her. "Given by Hades, Lord of the Dead and God of the Underworld. It’ll basically take us to the underworld. However, once we step foot in there, we have no way out." Luna looked at the keychain for a few moments as she recalled the conversation she had with Hades. "In the midst of all that, he mentioned some tournament he was hosting. However, it's not an ordinary tournament. Hades is basically going to pit the deceased versus the living. I want to put a stop to it. It's just something about that doesn't sit well with me."
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As he walked towards the tournament he tried to think of what Hades could possibly be up to. The only thing he could really come up with was that Hades knew that they were here, that the SOS group was in Olympus and he wanted to want to split them them. This in of its self was not much of a stretch but what he did not get was the splitting them up thing in the same world. There had to be something more going on then simply splitting them up and a trap for them. The whole idea did not seem very Hades like. As he got close to the tournament entrance he stood in a way so that he could see what was going on. He watched as Pain and Panic, were accepting bags of coins while they let contenders enter. Panic then said, 'too bad Hades doesn't care about money. He'll probably make us throw it away or something when he sees how much we made.' Getting into the tournament without spending anything looked like it was not going to be to difficult. The others were not far off. Faust, Laguna, Jecht, Beuce and the stranger Karina was talking to was not far off. He just stood there trying to gather information that would be useful. He was also trying to figure out what Hades was up to. He did not say anything because he did not see a reason to do so.

 

Not much had happened between Stratos beginning to make his way to the arena and actually getting there. He was still, truthfully, feeling a bit out of it and didn't quite know where it was he was to begin with. But, that was likely all about to sort itself out. Instead, as the boy made his to the arena proper, he noticed not only some strange people standing at the front of it but also a plethora of others walking around. Though a lot of them definitely had a vibe about them that they did not belong here - like how most keyblade wielders felt. Including the people he knew to be keyblade wielders. His eyes lighting up as he made his way over, the boy called out saying, "hey Karina, Beuce!" Running over to the two, he said, "man, it's been forever since I last saw the two of you. Time sure does fly when you're being ejected out of a whale doesn't it?"

The boy then noticed that one of the foreigners was actually right next to them and was talking to Karina. Looking to the man, he said, "oh, sorry about that, was I interrupting something?"

 

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Admittedly Kel was a bit curious about why Karina had dragged Beuce away and thought about it slightly as he walked. It wasn't on his mind for long, mainly due to his level of curiosity, but long enough for the rest of the walk to coliseum gate to be over a lot faster. By the time he had gotten there, there were already some of the other presumed participates. He didn't know what to think of them at first glance. He wasn't the best at gauging one's strength at a glance, but the man with the tattoo looked to be fairly strong. The same could be said about the cloaked guy that Karina was talking to. Speaking of, the more he looked around, the more spotted people he did know, Like Karina, Beuce, and Stratos. And people he knew to varying degrees, this being AJ and...Faust? After taking a quick headcount Kel ended up walking over towards AJ, waving once he got close enough, and asked: "How have you been since getting out to that whale?"

 

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Stratos showed up before to long and starting talking to Karina, and Beuce. He then spotted Kel and he started waving at him for some strange reason. Out of all the people Kel knew he wondered why he would come up to him. This was the first time he could recall someone out of the group coming up to him and not the other way around. Sometimes he felt like a ghost and he did not mind as it let him observe and find out more then others might find out. It was kind of his thing back on his homeworld too. Kel then said, 'How have you been since getting out to that whale?' He was not particularity sure how to answer the question. "To be honest I am not sure how to answer that question. Ever sense I landed in Neverland, a land that was cursed or said to be, made everyone look younger but it turned out to be something that a hellfire member did. I have felt different. I do not know if it is the worlds or something else. I can not help but shake the feeling something is off. I came to this area to see if I could figure out what Hades is up to. So far from what I gathered and what I know about Hades is that if he planned all of what is happening this whole plan just does not seem very Hades like." He let what he said sink in. Then said, "Something about this world or what is going on just does not feel right and off. What about you and your travels" He was still trying to think trough this whole thing with Hades and trying to figure out any information that would be useful.