Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Well then, I guess this means we have our way in and out of the Realm of Darkness," Riku nodded to Roveth.

"Which just leaves finding Master Aqua once we get there," Mickey added.

"It might be a long trip so we're definitely going to need to be prepared," Riku continued. "The Heartless will be everywhere so we won't have any opportunity to rest either."

"And I'll see if I can't whip Sora into shape by the time you all get back," Crystal considered while thinking on how exactly she was going to accomplish that. "I just hope Shiro makes it back in time for the Games. Cloud and Leon will be so disappointed if they don't get a chance to fight him."

"Don't beat yourself up Axel," Roxas placed a hand on his arm. "You didn't know about any of this and it wasn't your fault. I mean, you kept it from me and Xion all this time that you knew someone else who looked like me, but I'll bet it must have been pretty weird that I looked like some kid you hadn't seen in more than a decade since he should have been a heck of a lot older so there was no way I could have been him, right?"

"And we're going to everything we can to set things right so cheer up, okay?" Xion also tried to help with cheering Axel up.

"Still, it seems like the next stop is going to have to be Olympus Coliseum, not just to find Shiro, but also so we can grab Sora," Crystal contemplated some more. "And I'll definitely need some help with that so he doesn't try to escape."

"Like he'll ever be able to outrun me," Roxas chuckled in amusement.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth hummed a bit, and lightly nodded to the others, while looking to Mickey and Riku more closely, as if tasting their signatures "one preparation would be clothing or armor of some type which negates the effects of the realm of darkness on you two, since while Riku's been in there himself, it was when he was wielding his borrowed darkness from Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and no offense your majesty... but you would be -extremely hampered- if not poisoned by the realm with your extreme light." he said, while rolling his neck a bit, glancing to Yen-Sid "i take it you know someone who can help set these two up with something like that?" he queried, since he figured not to leave the old wizard out too much on this, since -technically- he was the senior here and had the most experience. "as for finding this keyblade master, if she -does- have enough light, i might be able to pick up on her signature more when we're inside, but given with the heartless after us we're gonna be bogged down so be ready for a long haul and uphill battle.

Axel meanwhile nodded to Crystal a bit as well as smiled to Roxas lightly "thanks.." he said, unable to really get his head much into the game of things, but nodded at the mention of the coliseum being their next destination as Roveth piped up "oh, Roxas, Crystal, do keep yourselves out of trouble or any shenanigans~!" he said in a sing-song tone, causing Axel to look over to Shiro's dark half, who seemed to grin with an eye-smile and that trolling looking grin on his face.... yup, look at him go trying to lighten the mood up.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Indeed, I shall commission the three good fairies to fashion suitable garments for the journey ahead," Master Yen-Sid gave a nod to Roveth. "In the meantime, you should make your preparations and get your affairs in order," he added while giving Riku a knowing look.

"Right," Riku nodded. "I should head back into town to let Namine know what's happening before we head out."

Roveth's comment naturally got Crystal and Roxas blushing since they weren't exactly ready for it this time.

"Yeah, yeah," Crystal waved him off mildly. "So, what do you want for me to tell Shiro when we find him?"

"We'll try not to let him worry too much," added Xion.

"Although that's going to be easier said than done," Roxas realized.

"At least so long as I'm around Shiro should at least be reasonable about it," Crystal pointed out. "I mean, Roveth will be totally in his element so he'll be fine in the Realm of Darkness."

"What are we going to do about Gilgamesh?" Roxas wondered. "He said he was going to follow me until Shiro turns up again."

"Well, we can't just leave him in Twilight Town," Crystal responded. "We'll have to take him with us to Olympus Coliseum. Once Shiro turns up it'll be up to Gilgamesh to decide what he wants to do from there. Still, having him around will be a good diversion for Shiro. Gilgamesh isn't exactly someone he can ignore."

"So then I guess we'd better go find him," Roxas nodded. "Hopefully he's been staying out of trouble."

"He's a proud warrior, but he knows how to act civilized," Crystal mentioned offhandedly. "I just hope he hasn't run into Seifer's gang..."

"That would be bad," Xion agreed.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth nodded as hr rubbed the back of his head "which means i need to tell Isa, Ienzo, and Aeleus i'm going to be gone for a while too, as well as pick up some stuff i left at the mansion, like my more powerful monster cards and the likes." he said while snapping his fingers, and a Corridor of Darkness opened up for the path back to Twilight Town and stepping in, leaving it open for Riku as he headed back to the mansion to inform the people he needed to to take care of the mansion and for Ienzo to keep an eye on the basement while he was gone. after that he'd be up in his room packing his strongest Shadow Realm monsters as well as the fastest methods to get them out, meaning he was rebuilding that Pendulum Summon trick he used for the fireworks displays and all as he hummed in thought while doing so, as well as picking up a few little things that once he returned to the tower, he'd toss to Axel, one being a cylindrical shaped object, well, two of them actually "if you see Shiro, tell him those are from me as i've been meaning to give those to him for a while." he said, with Axel nodding a bit and putting them away in his jacket for now, letting Roxas and Crystal go hunt down Gilgamesh and all since he left the corridor open for Riku and the others.

when they did get to Twilight Town to look for the errant King of Heroes, well.. he was currently annoyed and holding a sword right near Seifer's throat, with many more bladed implements impaled in the wall around him much like an imprint of sorts "mark my words, Mongrel.. the day i let you besmirch the King of Sword's Honor with those disgusting lips will be the day you breathe your last, is that understood?" of course, small bits of crackling electricity came off the blade, almost as if wanting to be called on to slay the King's foe... yeah, he was not in a good mood, outside of being annoyed by Seifer's gang, the idiot had to once more badmouth Shiro now that he wasn't anywhere in town for the moment to hear him.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

As mentioned before, Riku would take the corridor to the mansion so he could explain the situation to Namine, although that was merely a formality given that she had probably already worked the whole thing out with her drawings. Really, he just didn't want to leave without saying goodbye because frankly he has more tact than Sora about things like that, at least so far as the girls are concerned. After all, Sora was being kept deliberately out of the loop on this and he'd probably be upset when he found out eventually, but it wasn't Riku's place to endanger Sora by filling his head with the idea that there was someone else who needed saving because then he'd want to come along too. When Riku did return to the tower through that same corridor of darkness left by Roveth it looked like the new garments had already arrived.

"It looks like that's just about everything," Riku glanced to Kairi. "It looks like it'll be your turn to take care of Sora once he makes it back here. With any luck, he'll have regained his powers by then."

"All the more reason why I'll be working hard on my training too," Kairi nodded.

Then Riku would look back to Roveth and King Mickey. "Okay, I guess we should probably get started.

*~Twilight Town: Sandlot~*

Crystal had left the tower with Roxas and Xion to go find Gilgamesh in the town proper. They wandered the streets for a little while until coming to the sandlot where they found Seifer at the mercy of the King of Heroes, having already wet and soiled himself in shock well before this latest blade was being held at his throat. Thus, Seifer was already stupid with fear by the time recognition dawned on him when Crystal arrived with Roxas and Xion to try to disarm the situation.

"Come on Gilgamesh, we're going back to Olympus Coliseum to wait for Shiro to come back," Crystal spoke out. "That sorry disgrace of a human being isn't worth the effort it would take to kill him."

"Is this psycho with you guys?" Seifer choked out his expression still crazed with fear. Gilgamesh had certainly done enough to traumatize him already.

"If you don't want to die today, Seifer, then I'd highly recommend you shut up and let me do the talking you worthless idiot," Crystal glared at him and in a surprising turn of events Seifer actually fell silent for once. Unlike Shiro's cold killer mode with his icy presence or Roveth's miasma presence of pure malice when angered, Crystal's presence in that brief instant would have felt like white-hot dragon fire. It wasn't rage or malice, just burning intensity like being too close to a small sun that threatened to go supernova. Of course, that was only how it would have felt to Seifer. To anyone else it would have been barely noticeable as nothing more than a modest increase in the localized temperature.

Roxas stayed back with Xion, letting Crystal take it from here mainly because she had some kind of previous experience in dealing with the King of Heroes and seemed to know what she was doing. At the very least she seemed calm about what was happening here. If there were any reason to be concerned, then Roxas figured he would have felt it considering what he had experienced these past few days. Suffice it to say, he was really glad to have her back. Still, of all the people for Gilgamesh to run into in Twilight Town, why did it have to be Seifer?  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Gilgamesh had narrowed his eyes when he had heard Crystal's voice, turning his head to match her gaze a moment before giving off a 'Tch' before the blade dimmed in his hands, and he let it, and the other swords that had impaled in the wall around seifer turn into golden particles, returning them to the gate once more as he ran a hand through his hair "fine... the mongrel and his... entourage.. will have their execution canceled this time." he said while at least perking up a bit more at the mention of returning back to Olympus to stay until Shiro returned, however reminding who -else- was at the coliseum just made him cringe "well.. let us be off then, even if i have to endure the presence of that disgusting death god..." he muttered, walking past Crystal, Roxas, and Xion, without killing Seifer at least.

Roveth nodded as they got their new outfits ready, he himself, well, he just brought out his morpher, and and summoned a key into hand, chuckling a bit "Legendary Ranger mode, Mighty Morphin' Green Ranger, it's Morphin' Time!" he called out, before a flash of green light and energy occurred and Roveth was geared up as the Green Ranger given it was one of the few he knew who had also been attune to darkness before being tuned to Light. once that was done, he'd summon his two deck-boxes onto his morpher belt, and nodded bit before turning to the wall as he brought back that black and blue orb of darkness in hand, forming a second in his opposite hand, and begun spinning them in a clockwise fashion creating a circular line with the black darkness, which quickly formed and etched into the wall, before slowly moving forward a bit and bulging slightly the area of reality, before Roveth reared his fist back and slammed it into the bulge, shattering it, revealing the portal to the Realm of Darkness, specially made so only the three of them could go inside, and nothing could get out, doesn't mean heartless won't be chomping at the bit to get at them the moment they step in "agreed, Riku, let's do this gentlemen." he said with a poise of actual grace despite the fact of how he became a spandex clad fighter.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

With the situation with Gilgamesh successfully defused for the moment Crystal would open the path to Olympus Coliseum and they would leave Twilight Town behind them for the time being.

*~Olympus Coliseum~*

When they arrived in the courtyard they would find Zidane engaged in a sparring match with a similarly sized boy whose most distinguishing feature was probably the fact that he had a small pair of angelic wings sticking out from his back. The two didn't seem to notice the arrival of the group from Twilight Town as they went back and forth, with Zidane alternating between wielding twin daggers and combining them into a double-bladed sword while his opponent did the same, although his double-bladed sword was actually a bow and he would occasionally fire arrows of light at Zidane which Zidane rather expertly deflected with his own weapons. The two would appear to be fairly evenly matched and seemed to be very much enjoying themselves.

Cloud and Leon looked more banged up than usual, being covered in bandages after that little visit from Sephiroth. There wasn't any sign of Sephiroth still being in the area so in all likelihood he must have left Olympus Coliseum after having his fun with Cloud. Poor Leon, for all the cuts and bruises he sustained for his good intentions, was really only an afterthought to Sephiroth. They were leaning against the wall, waiting in the shade, while watching Zidane and the mysterious angelic newcomer going at it. Hercules was still busy with his last minute training having lost none of his fervor even in Gilgamesh's absence. And then there was Sora who watched the group arrive from Twilight Town and immediately pounced on Roxas.

"Gah!" Roxas struggled as he was knocked on his back by Sora's boundless enthusiasm and unnecessary hugging. "Sora, get off of me!"

"Sorry, I was just really happy to see you again Roxas!" Sora apologized without removing himself in the slightest. "You know, you haven't been back to Twilight Town as often since you started traveling with Crystal and her friends and I've missed you."

"At least now we don't have to go looking for him," Xion pointed out as she watched Roxas trying to pry Sora off of him.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere for a while," Roxas mentioned as he tried to coerce Sora to stop clinging to him. "We're going to be staying for the Games and until Shiro comes back. Plus, Master Yen-Sid just put Crystal in charge of your training."

Sora blinked in confusion. "Wait, what? You don't mean he's suddenly giving me even more training, do you?"

"No, he isn't, but I am," Crystal smirked mildly at him. "Anyway, what you'll be getting from me is totally different from what you'll be getting from Phil's training methods."

"Yeah, she's going to be training you when you're asleep," Roxas decided to help with explaining it a bit. "Since you still haven't mastered that power of waking thing like you were supposed to."

Sora looked pretty embarrassed about that to say the least as he finally climbed off of Roxas and tried to help him up. "Oh yeah, that. I guess it just doesn't come so easily for me like it did for Riku."

"Well, we're going to get to the bottom of that and get you into shape for what's ahead," Crystal reiterated. "My methods will probably be a bit different than what you're used to so that might make a difference."

Xion glanced over to Cloud and Leon, as well as glancing a bit to Zidane still going at it with the angelic newcomer. "It looks like things have been pretty busy since we left."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth of course just turned his head to look at Riku, before reaching out and flicking him in the forehead rather calmly, no actual strength or force behind it, so it'd be a mere irritation to the forehead at least "extra protection never hurts, and it'd let me at least contain my own darkness while at the same time feed off the ambient darkness within the realm, so i won't spook our keyblade master we're sent to rescue due to me being a beacon of darkness."he said calmly enough, while idly summoning his own keyblades - Tenebrex and Lockdown before nodding to the king. "Indeed. let's do this." he said calmly enough, keeping the portal open even after he walked in, and immediately enveloped both his keyblades into larger blades with purple black flames, and begun slicing and immolating heartless down to release their hearts, once Riku and Mickey were in he would then slam the portal shut so no one tried to do anything stupid as to follow them.

meanwhile, Gilgamesh would look at Sora with a bit of disdain, probably from the fact that he acted much like an energetic puppy, however he didn't bother with that and instead focused on the two who had been sporting bandages and raised an eyebrow "you two look like you got into a fight with an abomination and lost, badly. what in the world happen to you?" he decided to ask, given from what he knew about the Coliseum, Leon and Cloud were top tier fighters, nothing like himself, Heracles, or even the King of Swords, but they still usually hold top ranks when there wasn't any of the biggest powerhouses attending.

Axel looked over to Cloud and Leon, before glancing to Gilgamesh with a raised eyebrow, before shrugging "huh, well.. i doubt it was from sparring with each other, since Leon typically doesn't fight Cloud unless it's in the Games..." he said, the King of Heroes shrugging off Axel's commentary and just waited for an answer in the meanwhile as he looked around a bit to see if he spotted Shiro anywhere, of course, a distinct lack of the white-haired individual made him shake his head a bit "well, least we know he's taking his sweet time in coming back..."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"It was Sephiroth," Cloud stated simply in response to Gilgamesh's inquiry about his and Leon's injuries. The name might not have any meaning to the King of Heroes, but the venom in Cloud's voice would probably tip him off that this was somehow deeply personal. "I'll definitely get him next time."

"But Cloud, you always say that!" Zidane chimed in while clashing blades with the angelic newcomer. "Say, would you mind if we pick this up again later?"

"No one asked you," Cloud muttered at Zidane before stalking off to brood about it somewhere more secluded and away from everyone.

"Not at all," his opponent replied with a smile while casually backing off. "Don't let me keep you from your friends."

"Thanks a lot, Pit, you're a good guy," Zidane grinned at him before venturing over to greet the band of travelers from Twilight Town.

Roxas, meanwhile, had flinched at the mention of Sephiroth recalling that one occasion when he had gone to Radiant Garden to find Crystal and Shiro both in bandages, although Shiro had been the worst for wear after having an encounter with that monster of a man. Based on what he knew about Cloud, the guy was completely obsessed with finding Sephiroth, but Roxas didn't actually know the reason behind it. And while Roxas hadn't personally met Sephiroth directly, he did possess a vague recollection of seeing Sora in his memories of having fought with Sephiroth so he did have some idea of what Sephiroth might look like. It was a very weird sensation and Roxas tried real hard not to think about it.

"Anyway, don't mind Cloud," Zidane went on. "I'm sure he'll come around once it's time for the tournament to begin. At least we managed to talk him out of chasing after Sephiroth so Tifa won't try to kill us for showing up at the tavern without him."

"What's the matter, Roxas?" Xion noticed he was looking a little uneasy at the mention of Sephiroth.

"I just remembered, I've seen Crystal and Shiro after they were in a fight with Sephiroth before," Roxas answered shaking it off. "It was the first time I had seen them after having been defeated."

"Really, you guys lost to Sephiroth?" Sora looked at Crystal in surprise. "I've beaten him twice."

"He probably let you win," Leon ruffled Sora's hair having come over to greet everyone. "Believe me, if he fought you seriously you wouldn't still be alive to talk about it." He then glanced to Crystal. "Mind if I have a word with you?"

"Um... sure," Crystal nodded and followed Leon off to the side while Sora, Roxas, Xion, and Zidane watched in mild confusion at whatever it was that Leon wanted to talk to Crystal about.

"So, I found out about you and Roxas," Leon started awkwardly. He wasn't used to having this kind of conversation, but it needed to be done. In fact, at the moment he looked even more flustered and embarrassed than Crystal did about it. "Are you really serious about him?"

Crystal was embarrassed and blushing too, but she still had more of her composure to work with. "Of course I'm serious about him! You know just as well as I do that it probably took longer than it should have for me to process how I feel about him. He's important to me and I love him. And you're just gonna have to deal with it!"

Leon recoiled slightly at that last part, clearly caught off guard by the sudden rebelliousness in Crystal's tone. After a slight pause he regained some of his composure so he could continue after clearing his throat. "And you're really sure you know what that means?"

"I know that what we have feels right and it's something I want to hold onto," Crystal stated simply as she met Leon's gaze. "I know the thought of me being involved with a boy, any boy, makes you uncomfortable because you were the same way about Shiro even though there was literally nothing going on between us. I know this is different and you're probably more worried than ever, but try not to hate Roxas over me wanting to be with him."

"I think I liked it better when you were being deliberately childish," Leon sighed while running a hand through his bangs. "It's too hard to argue with you when you're making sense." Next he folded his arms over his chest to keep from fidgeting so much. "Anyway, he managed to hold his own against me and Cloud. And I probably should have seen this coming. You've had a soft spot for him for a long time now, but at least you got to know him first before making any rash decisions so I guess I can't complain too much. Just, you know, be careful. We've talked about this before so I don't think I need to remind you."

"Oh, don't worry, I remember," Crystal went very red at the mention of that particular conversation. "And I won't soon forget."

"Right, well scram!" Leon waved her off. "Go catch up with Sora or whatever it is you came here for. I think I'd better go help Cloud to cool off." Thinking back to that conversation was every bit as awkward and uncomfortable for Leon as it was for Crystal, if not more-so, has he hastily went off to find the secluded corner where Cloud had hidden himself away to re-commence with his brooding.

Crystal watched him go and then once Leon was out of earshot would say, "I honestly don't know how he puts up with me."

"You guys are an interesting group," Pit had been watching the whole thing since he didn't have anything better to do right now since Zidane was no longer sparring with him.

"Way to go Roxas!" Sora threw his arm around Roxas's shoulders with a huge grin on his face.

"Um... what exactly did I do now?" Roxas was understandably confused.

"Come on, Leon basically just said it's okay for you to be with Crystal and coming from him that's some pretty high praise!" Sora persisted in his enthusiastic encouragement. "It means he actually kind of likes you!"

"Well why wouldn't he?" Zidane chimed in. "Roxas is a good kid and he's proven that he's capable. And he seems like he'll do his best to treat her right so there's nothing to worry about."

"You've seriously lost me," Roxas responded as he slipped himself out from under Sora's arm so he could step off to the side.

"Anyway, Leon was right, we do have some catching up to do so why don't we take care of that while we're waiting for Shiro to get back and then maybe get back to work on training for those of us who are going to be competing in the Games," Crystal suggested.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Gilgamesh had a thoughtful look on his face at the mention of Sephiroth, he didn't really know the name well, but he has heard of him at least here in the Coliseum "ah, right.. that silver haired guy who comes in once in a while to trounce random mongrels whenever they get past the usual brackets." he said, shrugging lightly but he did raise an eyebrow at hearing about Sora defeating him, but at the same time the fact that Crystal and the King of Swords lost to him.. that was telling "i wonder if the King of Swords could take him on better now since he has grown quite splendidly..." of course, he didn't have long to wait as while Hades was no where in sight for now, the doors the the coliseum entrance did open once more, revealing two people who had been waited on to return from their trip.

of course said people.. were currently bickering at each other like brothers in spirit "as much as it was funny seeing you out-drink Cid and Jecht once we saved the latter, did you- have- to throw me into a pack of hungry ravenous behemoths?" Auron just adjusted his shades a moment before looking at Shiro with a sarcastic smirk. "you're still alive aren't you? besides, i could have done much worse and sent you into the Monster Arena at the Calm Lands." Shiro paused a moment, and deadpanned "not like you didn't try to get me killed through Ultima or Omega Weapons, but those things were a -joke-." Auron just eyerolled at Shiro behind his shades "how was i to know that you had long since maxed out your Sphere Grid along with training alongside Yuna as a Summoner? i figured they'd be a decent challenge, not for you to just start spam dual-casting Ultima in their faces." Shiro of course waved it off, shrugging "maa, well... either way... despite the fact you used me to save your world twice, and made me take in the Fayth at their behest.. thanks, Auron." Auron just smirked a bit, Shiro would be wearing what looked to be a set of black and blue robes not to similar to an ancient japan swordsman or summat, with intricate designs and arrays on it, not to mention his overly large staff he wielded, but with it, his presence seemed magnified in a more.. charismatic manner, more.. uplifting and upbeat? compared to the cold killer intent his presence usually brought when he actually got -serious- on someone. Shiro's prismatic eyes would gaze out away from Auron towards the others and smiled a good bit "well, seems a missed a good bit, hey guys~!" he said, giving off a wave, while Auron just gave off a smirk, and turned to walk off for now to at least to let them get reacquainted and all.

Axel had turned to see Shiro actually walking towards them after his greeting, and sighed, smirking "welcome back to civilization, Shiro. so how'd it go with Auron?" Shiro raised an eyebrow, before chuckling "it was... an interesting experience, that's for sure." Axel chuckled a bit before nodding as he pulled out the two cylindrical objects from his jacket and tossed them to him, when given a raised eyebrow after he caught both one handed Axel responded "Gift from Roveth, he's kinda indisposed at the moment so he couldn't give them to you directly, nor could he chew your a** out for disappearing like that." Shiro winced, rubbing the back of his neck while setting the objects within his robe sleeves hidden for now "yeah yeah, i know.. i'm sorry, but Auron was.. persistent." he said, while grinning afterwards "though i did play a crazy fun sport though." he said, digging in his other sleeve a moment, to pull out a recording sphere, grinning lightly "think of it as a video recorder and player, in a sense." he said, grinning lightly given he knew Roveth would be -all- over this.


Meanwhile, once the two were through, the portal slammed shut, which was just as well as Roveth tossed his keyblades in the air, starting to use martial arts combat to beat a few Heartless down or toss the larger ones around to crush the smaller ones, , and then whipped out a couple of cards, bringing them up into the air "with this Scale one Stargazer Magician, and this Scale 12 Pendulum Statue Dark Sun... I SET THE PENDULUM SCALE!" he called out, the two cards flashing before dispersing into light particles as two pillars of blue light appeared from the ground, with both monsters rising within, revealing an umber 1 and a number 12 respectively, with a pendulum like pendant swaying in the background "Sway, Pendulum of my Soul! Draw an Arc of Light across the very Aether! Pendulum Summon! come forth, my monster partners!" he called out, each word swaying the pendulum side to side, before it started spinning around creating a circular portal in which five monsters came out, all looking to be Light based warriors: Black Luster Soldier - Sacred Soldier (3000 ATK/2500 DEF), Galaxy Knight (2800/2600), Gilford the Lightning (2800/1400), Luminous Soldier (2100/1400), and Elemental HERO Neos (2500/2000). once they were summoned, all five warriors got ready, and once Roveth caught his keyblades once more, all six people would charge in with a warcry, and unleashing blasts of light, sword slashes, so on, to start decimating the -crap- out of the heartless, leaving a trail of being released hearts in order to allow the trio to make headway in moving about the Realm of Darkness.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Crystal, Roxas, and Xion would have been getting caught up with Sora. Sora was letting them do most of the talking as it was common knowledge that he had been cooped up in Master Yen Sid's tower training while they were off exploring other worlds and generally seemed to be having a lot more fun than he had been having. And Sora really wanted to know what Roxas had been doing in particular since they so rarely saw each other anymore. This didn't go unnoticed by Crystal who could sense that there was a deeper reason behind Sora's clinging to Roxas than simply missing him while he had been gone for a while. Sure, he seemed as cheerful as ever, but Crystal had seen false smiles before and there was clearly something else hidden under the surface that Sora seemed to be keeping to himself.

This must be why Master Yen Sid wanted me to work with him, Crystal thought to herself.

Since the gossip had stopped for the moment Zidane had wandered off with Pit to resume their sparring match. Leon was still off somewhere trying to keep Cloud from doing anything too foolish like leaving the Coliseum to go chasing after Sephiroth while he still hadn't fully recovered from their last encounter. And not long after they all heard the bickering voices of Shiro and Auron having returned from their training journey to who knows where.

Sora's jaw dropped because Shiro seemed to be years older than the last time he had seen him. Given that Roxas and Xion had just seen Shiro a few days ago his latest transformation surprised them as well even though they had already seen firsthand that Shiro was fairly prone to sudden drastic alterations to his appearance whenever he adapted to anything new. It might have surprised them less if there hadn't also been such a profound change in Shiro's presence as well.

"Well, it sure looks like wherever you went without us, you must have had a good time," Crystal mentioned as she greeted Shiro. "Anyway, welcome back!"

She was actually dressed in one of the outfits she had acquired during that little shopping trip in Radiant Garden because she still felt a little put off by her 'battle outfit' since it was very similar to what she had been wearing in the visions she had seen. So, instead she was wearing black denim jeans, her silver tank-top, black and white sneakers, and a fleece lined black leather jacket with a fuzzy collar not unlike the one worn by Leon. Obviously, she could still fight easily dressed like this. She just needed a slight change for the time being so she could keep her head in the game.

"So, what kind of sport was it?" Sora managed to get over his initial shock as he listened to Shiro mentioning that part and then eyed the recording sphere that Shiro brought out with that look of really wanting to dash over to poke at it.

"Don't even think about it," Roxas reflexively grabbed Sora by the hoodie to restrain him from even attempting to touch the recording sphere. "You'd somehow manage to break it."

"Oh come on, I would not!" Sora struggled in protest. "I mean look at how cool it is! How can you not want to touch it?"

Roxas sighed in annoyance. "Because unlike you, I know better!"

"Anyway Shiro, you've only been gone a few days, but it looks like a lot more time passed for you wherever it was Auron took you," noted Xion.

"A few years from the looks of it," Crystal nodded in agreement at Xion's assessment while looking Shiro over herself. "I mean, most worlds can be expected to have their own flow of time, but that's some pretty extreme dilation going on there. Well, at least it sounds like Auron knew better than to leave you alone so that's one less thing for me to worry about. And you seem more cheerful somehow so the training must have been good for you."

Considering the way Crystal had acted when Roxas found her back on Radiant Garden he had been a little bit worried about how reuniting with Shiro was going to play out, but it seemed that speaking with Roveth about it had helped Crystal to sort out her feelings more or less to the point where she could still act normal in front of Shiro. That actually made Roxas kind of happy because it had been his suggestion for her to talk to Roveth about it in the first place and he was glad that he had been able to help in some small way considering he honestly didn't know how they were going to get through this if things hadn't gone smoothly. Because Roxas was watching Crystal's reaction to Shiro he wasn't paying enough attention to Sora who realized he could very easily slip free of his hoodie to make another grab at the recording sphere. Roxas groaned when Sora slipped away and was about to chase after him to grab him again when Sora suddenly face-planted after tripping over... a phonebook?

"What the heck?" Sora was even more surprised than Roxas was as he looked back to see what he had tripped on. "Where'd a phonebook come from?"

Roxas looked back at Crystal knowing she must have had something to do with it. She winked at him and carried on conversing with Shiro like nothing had happened leaving Sora too stunned and confused, for the moment, to make any further trouble.

"So, after all that training, I guess you must really be ready for the Games this time around," Crystal mentioned. "It sounds like almost everyone here has been wanting a chance to fight you."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro would of course chuckle a bit, idly pressing a couple of buttons on the Recording Sphere, and it would float up out of his hand before letting off a soft light, which began projecting around the area.. well... "this, is Zanarkand, a... well lost city, but i managed to visit it before it was destroyed, one of the sports they had going on there was called Blitzball, think of it like full-body contact soccer while in a giant sphere of magical water." he said, of course, the game playing was the one before the finals, which showed Shiro being touted as the Ace of the Zanarkand Abes along with a boy surprisingly similar in looks to Tidus in fact, but definitely much older than the Destiny Islands inhabitant. "trust me, both in Zanarkand, and around the rest of Spira... Blitzball is probably as popular as the Struggle Tournament in Twilight Town or of course, the Games right here in Olympus." he said, wincing a few times when he saw some of his more... well, less reckless plays not only getting blocked but he kept nearly getting slammed around "keep forgetting they usually targeted me as the greater threat of me and Tidus..." he said, shaking his head "Anyway... yeah, i did have a lot of fun, if not embarrassing moments, and a few rage inducing ones that'd probably anger even you Crystal." he said, scratching his cheek with his free hand "but i did learn a lot, both about my magic, the Drive forms i seem to use, as well as.. something special." he said, grinning "as for the Games..." he would at least use his other sleeve to store his staff away and proceeded to crack his knuckles, grinning a bit cheekily "bring it on, cause i've been wanting to take a crack at a few people here." he said, looking right towards Cloud and Leon especially with that challenging smirk.

Gilgamesh just chuckled a bit, hearing the Bravado of the King of Swords, and just walked over, smirking "oh-ho...! so the King of Swords is actually much more willing to fight?" Shiro had immediately paused, and looked to Gilgamesh "... nothing personal Gil, but if you and i fight, well... we'd have to hold back -a lot-, you know, otherwise i'd have to deploy my reality marble lest we accidentally destroy the coliseum, so let's avoid that shall we?" the King of heroes just gave off a head-shake and smiled a bit "either way, Shiro-san... i have a gift for you as well. consider it a token for beating me fairly like you did." he said, reaching behind himself to grab something from the gate, and proceeded to pull out the key short sword, which had Shiro on Guard for the emergence of Ea, but instead, Gilgamesh did two things, one, reach back into the gate once more to pull out a vial of pinkish red liquid, and after that, he would literally split the key sword in half, and Shiro would watch as the two halves rebuild themselves into two identical keys, only gilgamesh could do it, as he -was- the King, before he tossed the second one and vial to Shiro "that vial right there is a fairly strong youth potion i managed to find in my travels and stored within babylon, a few drops should reverse your age enough to what it would be normally, and given you -technically- don't have a high divinity rating like i do, the youth would actually stick, and make you age normally once you've de-aged." Shiro nodded while Gilgamesh continued "as for the key.. well.. you are worthy, King of Swords.. my treasures, the Gate of Babylon.. rests in your hands." Shiro went wide-eyed hearing that, of course, he just stared at Gilgamesh in shock as the former Servant turned reincarnated human just laughed "don't look so surprised, Faker! you did best me fairly, even if you used your Reality Marble to counter my gate, you still held your own fairly well against Ea, and my other attacks." Shiro of course just blushed at the praise, while shaking his head "it's not that Gilgamesh... i'm just surprised that you actually -would- do something like this, given you hated my mentor with enough passion that i thought you'd make sure to send me to the depths of the underworld." Gilgamesh had tilted his head, pondering it "well, you could say that i've had.. quite a few revelations ever since i started traveling beyond my original world. it has humbled me quite a bit, and seeing you, one of the most hard working fighters i know... struggle so much, and yet never falter or give up... you've earned my respect."

Axel whistled a bit, hearing the conversation ,but he was also curious on this Blitzball game, though he did wince in seeing some of the players sometimes might get tackled hard enough to be knocked into the stands from out of the play area, however Shiro seemed to do quite well underwater "huh, you did do pretty well in that huh? makes me wonder how everyone held their breath for so long though." Shiro looked over to Axel and answered "extreme cardiovascular and breathing exercises to maximize oxygen use for longer periods of time, especially when under exertion, our little... ragtag group during our journeys had at least four people, including myself and Tidus, who could sustain underwater battles against hard as hell enemies to defeat either underwater or on land, and sometimes those battles took an hour or -longer-, so yeah, breathing underwater as my normal self and not like when we're in atlantica has become quite the second nature for me, no thanks to Auron's training of 'throw Shiro into random den of monsters in a harsh environment and tell him to 'survive' whenever he pulled me away from the group." Axel nodded, shuddering a bit "while the sport seems fun if a bit.. brutal, i don't think i could stand being within water for longer than a few seconds if i'm not taking a shower or something." Shiro chuckled at that comment afterwards.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Me and Riku are pretty good at staying underwater so I think we could probably get the hang of it," Sora watched with obvious interest and curiosity. "It's so weird seeing another guy who looks so much like Tidus though."

"Well, you can count me out," Crystal mentioned as she also watched the Blitzball recording. "I'd be okay with watching, but I'm really not a strong swimmer and I definitely can't hold my breath anywhere close to that amount of time."

"Something tells me I probably wouldn't have the knack for it either," Roxas admitted while watching the Blitzball recording. "Although, just imagine the kind of performance Demyx could put on in an arena like that."

"You're right, it could be the perfect stage for him," Xion agreed with some amusement.

Sora made an unpleasant face recalling how he had been juggled around by those pesky water clones when he'd had the misfortune of having to actually fight Demyx when he was with the Organization. Still, Sora had to admit that Demyxs's ability to control the water element was the real deal and that thankfully he wasn't an enemy anymore.

Leon swiveled around when he heard Shiro issuing his challenge and merely folded his arms over his chest with an amused expression. "It sounds like you've gained some confidence while you've been away." He then glanced at Cloud who shrugged mildly. "But sure, we'll take you on in the arena."

"Just remember, you're the one who asked for it," Cloud would add with a slight smirk of his own. Cloud was still sore about Sephiroth getting away again, but seeing Shiro so determined did manage to cheer him up a little.

Xion's attention went back to Zidane and the winged newcomer he had been sparring with. Pit, she thought she had heard Zidane call him. "Okay, I have to ask. That boy definitely has wings, right?"

Roxas nodded. "I was sort of wondering about that myself. Do you think they could be real?"

The two combatants once again broke off from their sparring match since it sounded like the others were getting curious about this new friend Zidane had picked up since they were last at the Coliseum.

"Pit here is what you might traditionally call an angel," Zidane explained with some amusement.

"Yep, and these wings are 100% natural," Pit chimed in. "I'm a servant of the goddess, Palutena, from Sky World, but every now and then I get some time off from my duties and I like to come here to fight in the Games."

"So then, can you actually fly with those wings?" Sora had to ask.

"Um well, not exactly," Pit ran a hand through his hair looking a little embarrassed. "You see, I can't actually fly on my own. My wings aren't big enough. But, with Palutena's help I can be given the Power of Flight to get to wherever I need to go so I can fulfill my assignments. But, I can't fly for more than five minutes at a time, usually only once per day, otherwise my wings would burn off and then I'd be pretty useless as an angel."

"That sounds pretty rough," Roxas nodded in understanding. That sounded not only unfortunate, but also like it would seriously hurt. Pit certainly had his sympathy.

"So Crystal, you're not fighting in the tournament?" Zidane inquired sounding a little disappointed. "I'm sure if you asked Phil would still be able to sign you up."

"Sorry, not this time," Crystal waved him off. "I've got other things to be taking care of and I'm not really all that into competing in the first place so I might as well let you guys have your fun. Of course, I will be watching from the stands to cheer for everybody."

"No preferential treatment for your boyfriend, huh?" Zidane winked at her while gesturing toward Roxas making Crystal flail mildly.

"Of course I want for him to do his best, but it's not like he's doing this to impress me," Crystal was all red in the face as she went off at Zidane now. "He's been training hard and the tournament just happens to be a good way for him to test himself. Roxas doesn't have to prove himself to me. I already believe in him."

"You know, I was skeptical at first and I still don't completely get it, but it sounds like whatever is going on between the two of you just kind of works," Sora smiled while patting Roxas on the back. "Now you definitely can't let her down!"

"I don't need you to tell me that!" Roxas rounded on Sora who only continued to seem amused.

"So, are you two brothers or something?" Pit inquired curiously.

"Well, kinda," Sora answered with a shrug.

"No way!" Roxas immediately protested. "Um... it's complicated."

"Well, the way you both argue, you might as well be," Leon interjected. "It would be easier to explain than the alternative."

"So then, would that make Xion my sister?" Sora wondered as he started thinking it over more.

"If you like," Leon responded. "I mean, it makes about as much sense as anything else."

"Why would you put these kind of ideas in his head?" Roxas stared hard at Leon.

"If it makes things easier for Sora to understand, then I say go for it," Cloud would add.

"You too?" Roxas was staring at Cloud now, more surprised than agitated at this point, although there was certainly still plenty of that in his system.

"Yay!" Sora simply hugged onto both Roxas and Xion looking entirely too pleased with this arrangement as Roxas looked absolutely dumbfounded and Xion seemed even more surprised than he did.

"What just happened?" Xion wondered aloud.

"I have no idea," Roxas shook his head. This conversation was getting way too weird. Hopefully things would start making sense again once the Games got started.