Kingdom Hearts: Scattered Memories

Chapter 5

You guys walked through the small town as you made your way to the plaza. You looked at the buildings and the architecture of the town. Portorosso... I'm guessing this is an Italian town. You and Oswald made it to the plaza that was next to the ocean. You spotted a water fountain of a guy holding what seemed like a sea monster. "See any Heartless around?" Oswald asked. "No." You simply answered, though you weren't necessarily trying to look for them.

You looked to the side and spotted a group of kids surrounding a lady. You walked over to see the lady with a fake mustache and pitchfork. Oswald soon joined you. "Fellow Portotossans! It is I, Giorgio Giorgioni! Slayer of sea monsters and beloved purveyor of pasta!" The lady role-played. "Slayer of sea monsters?" A boy in front of you asked nervously. "Ah, that's just Signora Marsigliese. She works for the sponsor for the race." A girl next to the boy said. A race? The girl sighed. "This is gonna take forever." The girl said.

"The finest pasta in Liguria at a price every family can afford." Marsigliese continued. "Get to the rules!" The girl shouted. "Enthusiasm. Love to see it. To win my famous race, your team must be the first to brave the treacherous waters of the bay, devour a mystery bowl of my delicious pasta, and ride to the top of Mount Portorosso and back!" Marsigliese explained. So a triathlon. "That all sounds pretty hard." The boy said. "Yeah. Heard to lose. We're going to win." Another boy with them said. "I love your confidence. But don't forget, we're going to have to go through..."

"Champion coming through!"

You and Oswald turned to see a egotistical guy walking through, two boys following behind him. The girl groaned. "Ercole." You slightly glared at Ercole. I can tell that he's such a jerk. Ercole approached the registry table and placed down his entry fee. "Aren't you a little old, Ercole?" Marsigliese asked Ercole. "Signora! I am sixteen." Ercole answered. "You said that last year." Marsigliese said suspiciously. "But this year, it's true." Ercole said before turning to the crowd. "You might want to save your money, ragazzi. This year, Ercole's gonna break the record and make it six in a row." Ercole said.

As he walked by you, Oswald, and the three kids in front of you, he stopped and turned back to the three kids as he laughed. "Oh, no. I don't believe it. Spewlia, you teamed up with these vagrants?" Ercole asked in disbelief as he laughed some more. "Ignore him." The girl said as she crossed her arms. "Oh, I wish for you that you could. I'm afraid your friends still need to pay the out-of-town weirdo tax." Ercole snapped his fingers and one of the boys with him shoved the girls beanie down her face and took her entry fee. "Hey! Ercole!" The girl shouted.

Something in you snapped as you raised your voice. "Hey!" You shouted as you stepped forward. "Give her back her money right now!" You demanded. "Great. More out-of-towners. To make this clear, Ercole doesn't have to do anything. He's the Portorosso Cup champion, number one. And number two, his life is amazing and everyone loves him." Ercole said. "They don't love you. They're afraid of you!" The girl said. Ercole sputtered. "Raise your hand if you love me." Almost all the kids raise their hands out of fear. "See? Everyone. Even you. Bop!" Ercole said as he hit the boy's nose with a sandwich that was handed to him.

"Oh, that's it. Come on, Luca." The boy said as he got in a fighting position. "Hey! The vagrants want to fight. Wow!" Ercole said as he also got in a fighting position. "Alberto?" Luca tried to say. "Silenzio, Bruno. Remember, this is for our Vespa." Alberto said to Luca. Alberto was about to approach Ercole when Oswald held him back. "Stop right there, kid." Oswald said. "A Vespa?" Ercole laughed mockingly at them. "Trash like you can't ride Vespas." Ercole said. "You don't know that!" You said. "Of course I do. Ercole is the best at riding Vespas. " Ercole responded. "Ercole, you're just afraid we're gonna put an end to your evil empire of injustice."
"'Evil empire of injustice.'" Ercole repeated before sighing. "Got anything new?" Ercole asked. "Yeah. Here's a new one. You look like a, uh... Uh..." The girl stammered. "A catfish." Luca whispered to her. "A catfish!" The girl finished. The crowd was confused while Ercole scoffed. "Uh, they're bottom feeders, and they also have two sad little whiskers." Luca explained. Ercole gasped as he put a hand at his small mustache. The crowd began to laugh, and even you and Oswald began to laugh.

The crowd immediately silenced as Ercole threw his sandwich at one of boys that was also laughing. He then faced Luca. "Listen, piccoletto. I eat kids like you for breakfast. I dunk them in my cioccolata and..." Ercole mimicked chomping. "... finiti!" Ercole finished as he mimicked swishing a knife over his neck. Luca gulped nervously. Ercole wrapped an arm around Luca and handed him the entry fee he stole. "So, here, sign up. Mm? I'll make it my mission to destroy you." Ercole laughed as he stood up. "It's gonna be some race, huh? Sorry, no autographs today." Ercole said as he left. You shook your head. What a jerk. The girl laughed in triumph as she embraced Luca. "Luca! Bravo, we did it!" She said as she guided Luca to the registry table. Alberto stared at the two of them with a frown.

As the kids were signing up, Oswald pulled you aside. "There's definitely darkness in that Ercole guy. No doubt there will be Heartless here too." Oswald said. You turned back to the registry table before looking back at Oswald. You sighed. If I'm really going to go around to defeat the Heartless, then I mind as well do this whole 'World Order' thing. "Let's join the race." Oswald's eyes widened. "What!?" Oswald asked. "Think about it. We can say we came to this town for the race. If we join the race, we wouldn't be lying and can be used as a cover while we do our... 'business'. It be a way to protect the World Order." You explained. Oswald thought about it before smiling. "That's a great idea, Y/N!" Oswald said. You slightly smiled. "Let's go sign up." You said.

You two approached the registry table. "Ciao. Two entering?" Marsigliese asked. "Yep. He'll do the swimming and eating and I'll do the ride." You said. "You have your entry fee?" Marsigliese asked. You froze. You forgot about the money. You searched your pockets but couldn't find any money. Oswald did the same thing and managed to find the right amount of money. How...? Maybe Master Yen Sid put it there for us? Oswald handed the money to Marsigliese. "Names?" Marsigliese asked. "Y/N." You answered. "Oswald." Oswald answered. Marsigliese wrote both of your names down on a clipboard. "The race will be in one week. Hope you'll be ready for the race." Marsigliese said.

You and Oswald walked away when you spotted the three kids from earlier. Luca made eye contact with you and approached you. "Thank you for standing up for us." Luca said. "It was no problem at all. It was just the right thing to do." You said. The girl approached you next. "Yeah! It was amazing that you stood up to him. I'm Giulia." Giulia introduced. "I'm Luca." Luca introduced himself. "Alberto." Alberto introduced. "I'm Y/N. Nice to meet you." You said. "And I'm Oswald." Oswald said. "So, you entered for the race, huh?" Giulia asked. "Yep. We came here for the race. You know... how about we train together for the race?" You suggested. Giulia smiled. "That's a great idea! We can work together to take down Ercole! Come on, we can train at my house." Giulia said before walking to her home. You and Oswald looked at each other before following the kids.