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princess-of-the-corner · 2 years

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Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories Recap: 3rd Floor: Olympus Coliseum

Okay so, before we get started, I forgot to mention Agrabah's Attack Card: Three Wishes.

Compared to the Kingdom Key (which is not very strong, yet easy to handle), Three Wishes is fairly strong with a fast swing, and can be found commonly throughout Agrabah, and rarely in other worlds after Agrabah has been visited.

Now on with the show.

In the third floor Entrance Hall, Donald questions what made the journal pages vanish, and Sora pieces together what's going on.

After all, Goofy mentioned a castle they visited but don't remember.

They're losing their memories.

Jiminy brings up that they were told that, in Castle Oblivion "to find is to lose, and to lose is to find" and realizes that the man from the crossroads was talking about THEIR MEMORIES in regards to what they'd lose.

The higher they go, the more they'll forget.

Donald wonders if that means they'll forget everything and everybody.

Sora is forlorn at the thought of forgetting Riku and Kairi, and Donald asks if he wants to turn back now before they lose more memories.

Goofy assures them that they have nothing to worry about. They might forget the places they've been or the things they've seen, but there's no way they could ever forget who their friends are.

He even asks if Sora forgot about him and Donald after turning himself into a Heartless.

"Of course I didn't!" Sora answers.

Goofy takes that as proof that they won't ever forget their friends.

Donald decides that, if there's nothing here that can make them forget about their friends, then they have no reason not to press on and continue their search.

Sora brings up that, when he turned into a Heartless, someone took forever to notice and kept clobbering him.

Donald is incredulous that Castle Oblivion didn't erase THAT memory, and Sora and Goofy laugh at the ensuing tantrum.

The first room in the memory world takes the form of Olympus Coliseum's courtyard.

Jiminy Cricket reads the sign in the front, and reveals to the others that the Coliseum is hosting a "Survival Cup", a special race that's going to be part of the next tournament.

All they have to do to qualify is clear the obstacle course Phil set up nearby, and so our eager and competitive teenage protagonist races off with his adult supervision to sign up.

As soon as they leave the room, Hades appears and stews and rants about Hercules, before his new hire, Cloud Strife, brings up their deal: Hades will restore Cloud's memories, if (and only if) Cloud kills Hercules in the upcoming tournament.

Key to Beginnings retrieved!

The Attack Card introduced in this world is Olympia, which is powerful with a quick recovery from Card Breaks.

The Bounty is Blizzard Raid (requiring a "Blizzard" Magic Card plus two Attack Cards), a variation of Strike Raid that deals ice damage.

The Room of Beginnings takes on the form of the Coliseum Lobby, where Phil congratulates Sora, Donald, and Goofy for clearing the obstacle course, but clarifies that the tournament might be too advanced for them, at which point Hercules chimes in and explains that they're the only people other than himself who could actually finish the obstacle course. Phil MIGHT have made it a bit too hard.

So, the options are either let the kids compete, or cancel the Survival Cup.

Phil elects to let them compete (even after Cloud joins in), and explains the rules of the race:

Rule #1: First one through the obstacle course wins!

Rule #2: In the event of a tie, a battle will determine the winner!

Rule #3: You can interfere with your opponents on the course!

Rule #4: All challengers have to give it everything they got!

With that, he sends the challengers off!

Key To Guidance retrieved!

The Room to Guidance takes on the form of one of the possible Synthesized Room layouts for Olympus Coliseum in Chain of Memories (in order to represent the Obstacle Course), and Sora, Donald, and Goofy encounter Cloud.

Goofy's worried what Cloud is up to, since he is allowed to interfere with them, but Cloud clarifies that he's not after them, and let's them pass.

Our trio walk by him, but Sora asks if he's sure.

At this point, Cloud reveals that today, Hercules is going to lose more than the race in this tournament.

Realizing that he intends to kill Hercules, our heroes draw their weapons.

Cloud asks what they think they're doing, and Sora reminds him that they're allowed to interfere with their opponents on the course, and Cloud is technically still their opponent, and the Miniboss Battle begins!

Much like Axel, Cloud fights using a limited deck, allowing him to use Sleights.

UNLIKE Axel, Cloud only has access to Attack Cards (Vertical Swing and Sonic Blade, but either Attack Card can produce Climhazzard instead), and a Hi-Potion Card that lets him restock them.

His sleights are as follows:

Cross Slash (three Vertical Swings of any value): Cloud performs a three-slash combo.

Omnislash (three Sonic Blades of any value): Remember his desperation attack from the Hercules Cup? He can do that again.

Once he's defeated, Sora is rewarded with a Hi-Potion.

The Hi-Potion, as mentioned above, reloads all of Sora's Attack Cards, including ones he wouldn't normally be able to reload.

Cloud manages to escape after Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeat him, and they realize that he's going to be waiting at the finish line to kill Hercules, and run after him to try and stop him.

Key to Truth retrieved!

The Room of Truth takes on the form of the Coliseum's Arena (at night), and it turns out that they had nothing to worry about, as Hercules can handle Cloud no problem, while Cloud can barely stand.

Herc, ever the hero, tries to get Cloud to stand down, noting that he can't guarantee Cloud's safety if he continues, but Cloud refuses to give up, he has too much on the line to quit now. He NEEDS to get his memories back.

At this point, Hades intervenes, criticizes Cloud's performance, and fires him on the spot for failing to kill Hercules.

However, Cloud DID manage to weaken Hercules a bit, which should make killing him easy.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy step in, refusing to let Hades kill Hercules, and convincing Herc to let them help since they're basically the only combatants in the room who aren't worn out by this point.

Cue the boss battle with Hades.

Hades only stocks his deck with the following cards (but in multiple copies):

Fireclaw: an Attack Card that lets him swipe at Sora. He only uses it when red.

A Magic Card that produces either Fira Shot (shoots a fireball at Sora) or Flamethrower (Hades glides towards Sora while blasting flames from his hands). He only uses single Magic Cards when blue.

An Elixer, a special Item Card that restocks both Attack AND Magic Cards (not counting cards used for sleights).

With three Fireclaws, Hades can perform Temper Flare: Turning him red (if he's blue) and causing him to spin around the room while blasting flames from his hands.

With three Magic Cards, he can instead us Firagaball: He throws two Firagaballs, one at Close Range.

He's weak to Blizzard and healed by Fire.

He also has two Enemy Cards in his Deck:

Hades: Boosts the power of Attack Cards when low on HP. Lasts for 30 attacks. Resistant to fire but stunned by ice.

Red Nocturne: Fire Boost: Boosts the power of fire-based abilities, but only lasts for a single reload.

Like Jafar and the Guard Armor before him, Hades drops his Enemy Card when defeated.

After the battle, the sun rises, and Phil announces that the tournament is cancelled on account of all particpants being exhausted, with Herc mollifying Sora by pointing out that he really SHOULDN'T fight Hercules in his current condition if he wants a fair match. It wouldn't be fun for ANYONE if Herc tried to compete in his current condition.

Jiminy Cricket announces that Cloud is regaining consciousness.

The group talks with Cloud, feeling sympathetic with him given that Hades basically extorted an amnesiac into being his hitman.

Still, to make up for the trouble he caused, Cloud gives Sora his Summon Card.

Cloud, when Summoned, performs a two slash combo with the Buster Sword.

Stocking two upgrades it to Cross Slash, a three slash combo.

Stocking three produces Omnislash, wherein Cloud flies around the arena, and the player has to push Triangle when prompted to damage the enemies.

Sora wishes him luck on finding his memories, and the two part on amicable terms.

In the Exit Hall, Donald states that he hopes the King is okay, in order to make sure that he hadn't forgotten him.

It worked! He remembers that they're on a quest to find the King!

Goofy adds that the King helped save everyone by staying on the other side of the Door to Darkness.

Sora is looking for Riku, he was with the King when the door closed.

Sora folds his hands behind his head as he declares there's no way they'll forget their most important memories.

When Sora scales the stairs to the next floor, we cut to another room higher up in the castle, where Axel and a blond woman (with weird antenna hair), watch a crystal ball, implicitly spying on Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

The woman remarks that Axel seems intrigued by Sora.

"Are you telling me you're not, Larxene?" Axel questions.

Larxene hasn't decided yet, but wants to know why Axel's so interested.

Axel explains that there was a time where Sora became a Heartless, and when someone becomes a Heartless...

"They lose their minds and their feelings..." Larxene finishes, "They're consumed by the darkness."

Sora, however, was not. He kept his emotions and sense of self even as a Heartless, something only one other man has ever been able to achieve.

Larxene concludes that it must be the strength of Sora's heart, and concludes that Axel's interested because he wants to know why the Keyblade chose Sora's heart.

"To unlock the mysteries of the heart," Axel notes, "Isn't that the Organization's mission?"

Larxene simply giggles with a sadistic grin.

That's a ride! Also another name I recognize from playing the whateverthefuckthenumberis/2 Days game!

#submission

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