Kingdom Hearts: Everybody Was Spartan Fighting in Gamer's Gaming

I guess for each of these, I will do a recap in the style of one of my favorite television series, Supernatural. Please, feel free to play “Carry On My Wayward Son” in your head while reading this…

The Road So Far…

A young boy named Sora has been having odd dreams lately about what is real and if there is more beyond his world than he could imagine. In short order, his world is attacked and swallowed by the darkness, as are his two closest friends, Riku and Kairi. In the process of the attack, a mysterious weapon known as a Keyblade appears in Sora’s possession. Apparently, Sora is one of the chosen, selected to fight the darkness with the power of the Keyblade. After the destruction of his world, Sora wakes up in Traverse Town, a kind of crossroads for people who have survived their own world’s being destroyed by the darkness. In his search around Traverse Town for Riku and Kairi, Sora meets many other refugees including Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie, who gave Sora some information about the possible origin of the darkness and about the Keyblade. They also introduced him to Donald and Goofy, subjects of Disney Castle and King Mickey, who had gone missing in an attempt to discover why worlds were being swallowed into darkness. Turns out that Mickey himself is also a Keyblade wielder. Sora joins forces with Donald and Goofy as they set out to find Mickey, Riku, and Kairi. Their first stop takes them to a mysterious world known as Wonderland where they find a girl named Alice on trial for supposedly trying to steal the Queen of Hearts’ heart. As a Keyblade wielder, Sora could sense an immense light inside the girl and set out to prove her innocence. The trio collected evidence from all over the strange land proving that the Heartless were behind the attack. Even with this evidence, the Queen became angered at the trio’s attempts to contradict her own theory, and sent her card soldiers after them. The trio defeated the Queen’s minions, but during the battle, Alice had been kidnapped. Sora, Donald, and Goofy set out after her and, with some puzzling guidance from the Cheshire Cat, managed to reveal the giant Heartless at the (pardon the pun) heart of the attacks, the Trickmaster. The trio defeated the Trickmaster only to be informed by Cheshire that Alice had been taken by the Heartless somewhere other than Wonderland. With yet another missing person to search for, the trio set off to a new world, one with soaring columns at two great gold statues locked in combat.

Now…

The group disembarked their gummi ship and set foot in this strange new world. Standing in front of them was a giant gate and the same two statues they had spied before landing. Bronze braziers surrounded the open area they had stepped into that looked almost like an ancient training area of sorts: just an open area covered in sand. There were boards lining the walls, but at the moment, these boards were blank. What could they be there for, Sora wondered to himself. Searching around the area, they came across a green trinity mark. As the trio still could only interact with the blue trinity marks, they took note of this green one for later study and moved on. Behind the columns on one side of the door, they discovered a chest containing a mega-potion. In the center of the area, they discovered another of the white trinity marks and had Jiminy make a note of it’s location also. Finally, in front of the statue on the other side of the gate, they found a blue trinity mark. Activating this mark made a small chest appear behind the trio. Inside, they found three more dalmatian puppies. Donald quickly sent them on their way home. Nine down, ninety more to go. With nothing else to discover in this spartan entryway, the trio finally decided it was time to see what awaited them on the other side of the gate. On the other side of the gate, they found a small vestibule. On the floor, they spied a yellow trinity mark. Jiminy has been quite busy keeping track of these marks. Otherwise, the lobby was empty…well, except for the satyr standing on a small column scrawling something on the wall. For those not in the know, a satyr (Greek) or faun (Roman) is a mythological figure with the lower half and horns of a goat, but the upper body of a man. I may be wrong, but I actually cannot think of an instance where I have read about a female satyr. But listen to me rambling. In any case, it was certainly not something Sora and the group knew about, let alone expected to stumble upon in this new world, but after the events in Wonderland, little truly surprised them anymore. The group slowly approached the satyr while he remained busy scribbling on the wall. Sora started to speak to get his attention, but the satyr cut in quickly, asking Sora to move the pedestal over on the other side of the room for him so he could get this place ready for the Games. Geez, it’s kind of a big rock. Who does he think he’s talking to? Hercules or something? Sora pushed the stone with all his might, but it wasn’t budging. Defeated by the rock, Sora went back to the satyr and told him it was way too heavy. The satyr became incensed, confused how the rock could be too heavy…until he turned around and looked down at Sora. Apparently he mistook Sora for someone else. The satyr asked the trio what they were doing there. He informed them that they had arrived at the world famous Coliseum and only heroes were allowed on the grounds as he was busy preparing for the Games. He told them to run along as heroes would be coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters in the Coliseum. Donald, short tempered as ever, told the satyr that he had heroes standing right in front of him. Goofy chimed in that Sora was indeed a true hero as he was chosen by the Keyblade. Of course, Donald made sure that he and Goofy were also recognized as heroes…only to be met with derisive laughter from the satyr who couldn’t believe a runt like Sora could be a hero. Tough words coming from a 3 foot tall goat man. Sora asked what was so funny, stating that he had fought a bunch of monsters. The satyr told them that if they couldn’t move that stone, that there was no way they could call themselves heroes…not that he was making any headway moving the damn thing himself. After failing to move the stone, the satyr relented, allowing that being a hero meant having more than brawn and challenged Sora to show what he could do. The satyr offered to give Sora a trial run in the Coliseum to see if he had what it took to be a hero, warning Sora that it would be tough. Sora was up for the challenge however and made his way into the Coliseum itself to prove his worth…against a bunch of barrels. The satyr challenged him to break all the barrels within thirty seconds. Sora took down the first set of twenty barrels with time to spare. The satyr congratulated him, telling him that he had done pretty good for a beginner. The next challenge had twenty five barrels and a minute to destroy them all, however they were spaced much differently than before. Sora charged in and, while he had some difficulty, he still prevailed in his challenge. Finally, the satyr conceded that Sora had some skill. Sora assumed this meant he would get to compete in the Games, but the satyr shut that down quickly. Sora was incensed, but as the satyr said, he still did not consider the trio to be heroes. Sora pleaded, but was told that if he wanted to be a real hero, he should start by mastering a spell, at which time the satyr bequeathed him the power of Thunder and introduced himself as Philoctetes, or just Phil for short. Phil apparently was a trainer of heroes an came out of retirement to train Hercules himself many years ago. These days, he runs the Games at the Coliseum. However, no matter how much pleading they did, Phil would not let Sora and crew into the Games. He offered to help Sora train more, but that was all he would do. Dejected, the trio exited the vestibule back to the entranceway. As they made their way back towards the entrance of the world, a figure with a head covered in blue flame appeared behind them, calling Phil a stubborn old goat. Donald, suspicious as ever, asked who he was. Instead of answering, the figure approached them and guessed that they had wanted to enter the Games at which point he produced an entry pass and gave it to Sora before walking away. Jiminy meanwhile had identified the figure as Hades, king of the Underworld. Though suspicious of Hades’ intentions, the trio was delighted to have a way to participate in the Games and made their way back through the gate to Phil. Phil asked where they had gotten the pass, but Sora shrugged off the question and asked if they were allowed to enter the games now. Phil, befuddled, had no choice but to let the trio in, proclaiming they would start with the preliminaries…

In the preliminary matches, Sora, Donald, and Goofy fought through wave after wave of Heartless foes. They fought through Shadows and Soldiers, Blue Rhapsodies and Red Nocturnes. During the course of the prelims, Phil was telling the trio how lucky they were to have come to him for coaching. While Phil went on, a new fighter arrived in the stadium. He was a man with spiky blonde hair wearing a blue uniform with a billowing red cape with holes trailing after him. As the man walked by, the trio was left to wonder who this mysterious new contender could be. Even Phil seemed intrigued, guessing this man would be difficult to beat. As the round progressed, Phil became more and more impressed with Sora’s performance, telling him he wished Hercules was there to see his battles. Hercules, however, was off visiting his father Zeus on Mt. Olympus. As Sora and crew continues to win battles, Hades observed from underneath a nearby platform with the mysterious man nearby. He informed the man that Sora would be his next opponent and not to blow the fight, just take him out. The man seemed amused that the God of the Underworld should be afraid of a kid before reminding him of his contract. Hades blew up at him. Of course Hades knew what the contract said. He wrote it. The man had apparently been hired to kill Hercules in the tournament. Hades, Captain Obvious moment in 3…2…1…, reminded the man that he had to go through Sora to get to Hercules, so he might as well have fun with it. After all, what was a casualty or two along the way? Makes sense. The guy is God of the Underworld. More casualties would make him stronger I would guess and death would be fun in his book. Anywho, Sora and crew progressed on through the tournament to the final match against the mysterious man, who’s name was Cloud. Cloud Strife to be exact. For those not in the know, Cloud is the protagonist of Final Fantasy 7. Back to this series, the trio faced off with Cloud in quite the battle. Cloud was definitely the superior fighter, but with a combination of tenacity, magic, and numbers, the trio defeated Cloud. As Phil celebrated the trio’s victory, a huge three headed monster attacked!. Hades laughed and walked out of the Coliseum, proclaiming he had forgotten one rule of the Games: accidents happen. Just as Cerberus, the three headed guardian of the Underworld was set to attack, Hercules showed up to combat the threat, telling Phil to get everyone out of the Coliseum. Everyone managed to escape and Phil told the trio that Herc ought to be able to handle Cerberus, but then again, maybe not. Not wanting to leave Hercules to a potentially gruesome fate, Sora and crew charged back into the Coliseum to help Hercules. Inside the Coliseum, Hercules had managed to save an unconscious Cloud only to be cornered by Cerberus. Just as Cerberus was getting set to strike, the three heads turned in unison, scenting a new arrival. As the group distracted Cerberus, Hercules made a run for the exit with Cloud slung over his shoulder and Phil gave Sora two words of advice: ATTACK!!! Cerberus stomped around the arena, snapping at our heroes, spitting fireballs, and blasting darkness into the ground that rose in ebony columns to attack Sora, but in the end, with a combination of magic, timely dodging, and some solid attacking from Sora and Goofy, the trio felled the giant, three-headed doberman. Cerberus reared up as if to make one final attack before collapsing to the ground. Back in the vestibule, Hercules stood by as Phil read a declaration naming the trio as junior heroes, which gave them full rights and privileges to participate in the Games. Donald butted in, asking what Phil meant by “junior” heroes. Phil said that they still didn’t understand what it took to be true heroes. When Goofy asked what it took to be true heroes, Hercules explained that was something they would have to find out for themselves, just like he did. Sora was undaunted, saying they would just have to start by proving themselves in the Games. Phil told them there wouldn’t be any Games for awhile, however, as it would take some time to clean up the mess from the battle with Cerberus first. Sora and crew walked out, saying they would be back. As they left, Phil exclaimed that he couldn’t believe the three of them had beaten Cerberus. Hercules leaned down and told Phil that he had already worn Cerberus down a little by the time Sora and company had jumped in, but they agreed to keep that secret between them. With their newly won Hero License in hand, the crew took off toward the gummi ship, but found Cloud sitting on the stairs leading to the gate of the world. Sora stopped to ask Cloud if he was alright and ask why he went along with Hades’ plan. Cloud revealed that, he too, was searching for someone. He had tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired. He fell into darkness and could’t find the light. Sora attempted to comfort Cloud by confiding in him that he was searching too. Cloud warned him never to lose sight of the light and walked off past Sora back toward the Coliseum, placing a small trinket in Sora’s hand. Sora yelled back asking for a rematch sometime. Fair and square, no dark powers involved. Cloud stopped and smiled, saying “I think I’ll pass.” Sora was not dissuaded, however. Part of him knew they would meet the enigmatic stranger again and this time, they would be on the same side of the battle. Sora placed the trinket from his newfound comrade in his pocket and, along with Donald and Goofy, exited the gate to the world and boarded the gummi ship. As the door to the world closed behind the trio, a darkness shadowed the Coliseum. Hades appeared, bemoaning the heroic qualities of Hercules: his kindness, strength, and constant appearance when friends are in need. The more Hades spoke, the less control he had, finally blazing red all over and blasting fire out of the top of his head. He finally calmed himself, reminding himself that all the pieces were in place. All he had to do is let Hercules train Sora and, when the next Games rolled around, take them both out himself. Suddenly, Maleficent appeared behind Hades. Hades told her to butt out, that the Coliseum was his show. Maleficent ceded, telling Hades to fight to his heart’s content and walked back out of the world. Hades seemed almost offended by her willingness to let him fight, but let her walk out without a word. Back in the gummi ship, Sora and crew realized there was only one other world they could access at the moment and set off in search of what this new world had to offer. While the Heartless resistance was somewhat stiffer than before, the crew still had little difficulty making it to this new world that, from their vantage, looked like a vast jungle. Since it was their last possible stop, Goofy posited that King Mickey might be down there. Donald, however, seemed skeptical that Mickey would be found in a backwater place such as this and suggested moving on. Sora wanted to land, though, as he figured that it was possible that Riku and Kairi might be there as well. Donald would not relent, stating that they were on an important mission. Sora became angry, telling Donald to just land. Donald vehemently refused until Sora made to grab for the controls of the ship. Sora hit a button and the ship began to shake and drop toward the planet. Out of control, the ship crashed into this new world and scattered it’s crew to the winds…