I'm horrible. It's been half a year since I last updated. I wouldn't be surprised if no one read this. All I can say is I'm sorry and continue to try to update when I can.

Chapter 3

Sho was enjoying his day off, even with nothing to do. There wasn't enough junk to pile in to his sculptures, like back in Shibuya. In fact, there really wasn't anything to do there. He had been dropped into a new world with next to nothing in common with Shibuya, besides air, night, day, and the other essentials. So, he decided to sleep. He did spend a lot of energy yesterday, so why not?

Unfortunately, his nap was short lived as Maleficent appeared in his room. Sho immediately woke up, sensing the other presence.

"What the factor do you want?" he asked upset that she had interrupted his sleep.

"It appears that we have another visitor, much like yourself. He too was dropped here from out of the darkness," she replied.

"And? It's my freaking day off," Minamimoto said, annoyed.

"Let us not forget that it was I who gave you your new powers. I can take them away just as easily. Now, bring him to me."

"Fine," he said, and walked off to the rising falls. His strength hadn't completely returned, otherwise he'd have just used a portal.

When he arrived, Sho found a teenage boy in almost the exact spot that he himself had appeared. The boy had silver hair and was wearing a yellow sleeveless shirt and blue pants.

The boy was looking around at his surroundings. "Where…am I?" he wondered to himself.

"Hollow Bastion," answered Sho as he jumped down to the boy. "The residence of Maleficent."

"Who are you?" the boy asked, surprised at Sho's sudden appearance.

"Sho Minamimoto," he replied, already bored with the kid. "C'mon, Maleficent wants to see you."

Sho motioned for the boy to follow, which he did. They walked in silence the entire time, as the boy could tell Sho did not want to be bothered. He did however look around a lot. Apparently, the unfamiliar world fascinated the boy. After about ten minutes of walking, they reached the chapel, where Maleficent awaited them.

"Welcome," the witch greeted, focused on the younger boy.

"You're Maleficent?" the boy asked.

"Yes," she replied. "And what would your name be?"

"Riku."

"Well," interrupted Sho, clearly bored, "as fun as this meet and greet is, it's subtracting from my nap time." And with that, he left the room.

Sho wasn't actually tired, he was just anxious to get his powers regenerated. He hadn't realized how taxing traveling that far using darkness would be on him. He hated it, it made him feel weak. As he got to his room, he began to wonder if all of this was really worth it.

Immediately after he closed the door to his room, a voice spoke. "Do you wish to gain power?"

Sho quickly turned around, searching for the source of the voice. "Who the factor are you?! Show yourself radian!" he demanded.

A robed figure became visable in the room. Its face was hidden and the robe covered all parts of its body. "I can give you what you seek."

"Sorry, already tried that," Sho said, feeling more confident now that he knew where the entity was. "It hasn't been too great."

"That fool, Maleficent, is merely being used by the darkness. She cannot begin to comprehend its full power."

"Let me guess, you can, right?" asked Sho skeptically.

"I can. Now I ask again, do you want power?"

Sho thought it over. Darkness didn't seem to be so powerful at the moment, but here was a guy claiming to know more than Maleficent. Well, he had nothing left to lose right? "Fine, I'll bite," he said. "What do I have to do?"

"It's simple, open your heart to darkness."

"Whatever," said Sho, ready to receive his new power. A dark glow enveloped him and the hooded being. The figure walked toward him slowly, and as they were about to meet, the figure vanished and the glowing stopped.

At first, Sho felt nothing, no change at all. But as he was about to dismiss the whole thing as garbage, a surge of power rushed through him. "Yeah, now this is what I'm talking about!" he said as he realized how much more powerful he had become. He concentrated his power and wings, exactly like those of the reapers in Shibuya, materialized on his back. Darkness surrounded his arms and created claws. And these merely represented a fraction of his new power.

He was about to show off, but decided against it. 'I'll just play along as Maleficent's apprentice until I can find Shibuya. Then I go after the Composer.' He made his wings and claws vanish and went to sleep as Maleficent had believed he did.

He walked to the chapel the next day, not wanting to make Maleficent believe he had completely recovered.

"Rested, are we?" she asked as Sho came in.

He shrugged with his reply. "Well enough, I guess."

"Then I shall send you on your next search. I'm sure you'll be more careful of how you return this time. You'll be going to-"

"Hello you two, how's it going?" interrupted a new voice. Sho and Maleficent turned to see a tall, blue-skinned man. He was wearing a black robe and where there should have been hair on his head was a cool blue flame instead.

"And you would be?" Sho asked rudely.

"My name is Hades, Lord of the Dead," he said in a quick-paced voice. He held out his long-fingered hand, but Minamimoto didn't shake it. "Yeah, anyways," he continued, turning to Maleficent. "Could I borrow your little protegie for a while?" Hades asked, placing his hands on Sho's shoulders, who quicklu shook him off.

"And why do you need him?" asked Maleficent.

"Because," Hades replied, slowing his voice. "The kid with the key is coming to my world."

"Fine," she decided, and left the room to attend to other matters.

"Alright kid, let's go," said Hades. Sho decided to just go along with it and began to head for the hangar. "Woah, woah, woah. Kid, where're you going?" Hades asked, cutting off his path.

"Zetta duh, to the hangar. We need a ship right?" Sho replied.

"Y'know, you look like the kinda guy that prefers the faster methods." The blue god snapped his fingers and opened a dark corridor. Sho stepped in knowing he wouldn't be tired from traveling directly to another world this time.

When he stepped out of the other side of the portal, he was in a darker place. He looked up and saw stalactites hanging from the ceiling so he figured he was underground or in a cave. He was soon followed by Hades, who looked very at home in this new setting.

"Welcome to the Underworld," he said. They walked up some stairs into a room with a pedestal in the middle just like Maleficent's chapel. The room was smaller however, with a throne and two giant windows shaped like eyes.

"So," began Sho, after he finished surveying the room. "What's the big deal about this kid?"

"Right to the point, huh? Okay, here's the thing," Hades said. He made a figure appear on the pedestal. Sho immediately recognized him as the boy he saw on Destiny Islands, but said nothing. Hades took the boy's weapon from the figure's hands. "As Maleficent hasn't seemed to inform you yet, this is the Keyblade. It's a weapon that kills Heartless and locks the hearts of worlds, so basically we want it gone."

"So I just kill him when he gets here? Zetta easy," Sho remarked.

"Yeah, it's not that simple." Another figure appeared, this time resembling a very muscular man. "This wonderboy, Hercules, is a bigshot hero, and will come and try to save the kid."

"And that's a problem?" asked Minamimoto, materializing his claws.

"Well you see, he's got the strength of a god, so beating him isn't exactly easy. And then there's his dad, Zeus, the big god himself, with the power and the thunderbolts, so yeah, you don't wanna go through all that."

"So how am I supposed to crunch the kid?" Sho asked, annoyed.

"Ah, that's where this comes in." A golden ticket appeared in the Lord of the Dead's hand. In the center was a symbol of lightning coming from a cloud. "Y'see, topside they're holding a little tournament called "The Games" soon. Anything that happens in the ring is fine, so that's where you can do in the kid. This is the pass you'll need to enter."

"Tch, what a boring problem," said Sho, taking the pass. He turned and left down the path towards the exit to the surface.

"Okay then," said Hades to himself, "time to find my other pawn."

Sho walked out of the Underworld and through the gates of the Coliseum. The ground was simply dirt and there were torches spread throughout the area. The main building had two statues of warriors crossing their swords high above its entrance.

"Nice place," Sho said before entering the lobby. Inside he saw a small man with the torso of a man and the waist below of a goat. He was writing something on a slate hanging on the wall. "Hey, is this where I sign up?" he asked.

The goat-man turned to look at Sho. "You wanna sign up for the games? You don't exactly look like hero material," he said frankly. "Got a pass?"

"Right here," Sho replied, pulling out the ticket.

The fawn checked it for authenticity. "Eh," he said shrugging, "whatever. Name?"

"Sho Minamimoto."

"Alright, the preliminaries won't start for a little while. Go wait in the locker rooms 'till it's time."

Sho went out into the stadium to see where he'd be fighting. It was a very large area with stands enough to hold hundreds on each side. The normal ground was again dirt, but there was an arena in the center with four pillars at the corners. Sho turned into the locker rooms to find them almost empty, save for one man standing against a corner. He had gravity-defying spiky blonde hair, a red cape, and a metal claw on one hand. But the most notable thing about him was the giant sword on his back.

After a while, a group showed up as more competitors. One was a very tall dog in green clothing that carried a shield. Another was a duck dressed in blue with a staff. But the third person Sho recognized, the boy with the key. The three were talking to eachother about the tournament. The boy inparticular seemed to be very excited, thinking it would be a lot of fun.

'Not for long,' thought Sho.

After a while, the goat-man came in. "Alright guys, tournament time." They all emptied out of the room into the stadium. The fawn first called the boy's group to the arena to fight some Heartless. After a few more rounds, he finally called Sho. He went out to the arena, but no opponent showed.

"What gives?" he asked.

"Looks like you don't have an opponent. Guess you'll get a by," the fawn replied.

"That's not very fair to the other competitors, Phil." Sho and the fawn turned to see the man whose figure Hades showed Sho, standing in the doorway to the lobby.

"Hey Herc, you're back already?" asked Phil, apparently very familiar with the man. "So what do you think we should do then?"

"Well, I could face him," Hercules said jokingly.

"Ha, 'cause that's fair?" Phil responded.

"I'll do it." Phil and Hercules looked over at Sho. "I'll fight Hercules," he said, wanting a test of his new strength.

Phil laughed. "Kid, do you know-"

"Alright then," accepted Hercules.

"You sure Herc?" asked Phil, wondering why the hero would face a rookie.

"I'll go easy on him," Hercules replied low enough so Sho couldn't hear. He stepped into the arena and the magic barriers activated. Both fighters got into their respective stances.

"Begin match!" yelled Phil.

Sho wasted no time in attacking. "Infinity!" he shouted, shooting a burst of darkness at Hercules. The hero blocked the attack but was forced back, surprised at how strong the blast had been. Sho followed it up with a darkness powered kick, but Hercules was ready this time and had no problems blocking it and grabbing his leg.

"You're pretty good for a rookie, but now it's my turn." He threw a punch at Sho's gut, but it never connected. Sho teleported out of Hercules' grasp and behind him.

"Zetta slow," Sho remarked and repeated his kick, this time to the hero's back. Hercules was sent flying into the barrier on the other side of the arena.

Hercules slowly got up, not used to being hit that hard. "So much for going easy, I'm gonna have to really try." He concentrated for a moment and was surrounded by a golden glow.

Sho could sense Hercules' power increase and was excited. "Now this is zetta fun!" he shouted. He shot another burst of darkness at the hero while running at him, ready to make another attack while he was distracted. To his surprise, not only did the burst not affect Hercules in the slightest, but neither did his kick. The hero used this opportunity to land a blow and this time Sho was knocked across the arena. He hit the barrier hard and fell to the ground.

"Give up?" Hercules asked, a little worried he had taken it too far.

Sho stood up, clutching his gut. "Damn, you zetta son of a digit." His wings and claws materialized and Sho looked up at the hero. "It's x 2 DIE!" he yelled. He flew at an extreme speed to catch him off guard and knocked Hercules into the air with his claws. The hero had no time to respond as Sho snapped his fingers and dark lightning struck him into the arena floor. Sho flew over, ready to kill. "Die, radian!" His claw flew at Hercules' neck and the hero clenched his eyes shut, expecting his death.

But it never came. He opened his eyes to see Minamimoto frozen in place. 'What the factor?! Why can't I move?!'

'You borrowed my power and now I've come to collect.'

Sho recognized the voice from the day before. 'You?! What do you want?!'

'I needed a body in which I could accumulate my power. Now I can reform myself.'

'Not with my body you 000!' Sho shouted in his mind as he tried to regain control, but to no avail.

'Don't bother, you opened your heart to the darkness. You cannot break my influence. Now I take control.'

Sho felt a force push him back as darkness surrounded him. The entity's laughter echoed in the darkness. "Damn it, let me go!" he shouted. He no longer felt constrained, but he was merely floating in darkness. He looked around but he couldn't see anything but his own body.

"Is this what I get for seeking power?" he asked himself. "Is this what I get for using darkness? Everything I've ever done, was it all for nothing? for someone else to come out on top? Damn it, this isn't fair!"

Suddenly, he felt something in his pocket. He reached his hand in and pulled out a red pin with a black skull on it. "An O-pin?" Sho wondered. He couldn't remember ever using one, he'd never believed he would need it. As he stared at it, the pin began to glow. Brighter and brighter it shined until light was all Sho could see.

"Arg," the entity let out, sounding as if in pain. "I-Impossible…"

Well, in truth I've had this chapter done for a while, but I've been debating on whether to merge it with the next chapter or not. In the end I figured it'd be better to post them seperately so at least this part will be out faster.

Again all I can say is I'm sorry and keep going. If anyone is still reading this, please don't abandon me.