Takeo: A Fractured Heart (Wattys 2019)

Chapter 7: Olympus Coliseum

               Within minutes, Takeo arrived at a new world, dressed in the clothes that Master Yen Sid had provided him. He opened a large set of doors, and inside was a large courtyard, with two giant golden statues on either side of another door. However this door was normal sized, and led inside to another building. 

               "Whoa... This place is massive. What am I even doing here? Just training?" Takeo thought to himself. He walked to the building that was in front of him, opened the door, and walked inside. It was a small room, it didn't really warrant having this big of a building surrounding it. 

               Once inside, Takeo saw a short, red person attaching a plaque to a wall. He was standing on top of a large block of what seemed to be sandstone. Takeo decided to speak up, "Uh, hello? Sir?" The man seemed to be surprised, and jumped around.

               "Whaddya want? Wait, who are you? Where did you come from?" he said, scratching his head.

               "My name is Takeo. I came here to train." Takeo said, looking at the advertisement for something called The Games. "I want to compete in The Games." 

               "Sorry, no can do pipsqueak. No more spots in the games." said the short man, turning his back to Takeo.

               "Wait, no more spots? What do you mean?" Takeo said with a shocked tone in his voice. The short red man turned back around.

               "Two words. The Games are full. There aren't anymore spots. You're gonna have to just watch kid. Maybe you can pick up a few things from watching real heroes fight each other." said the man.

               Takeo groaned, and walked through the door labelled 'Spectators'. Once through, he found a seat that was almost in the front row, and sat down. The Coliseum was so full, there was barely any room to sit!

               The rounds came and went as if it was water passing by. Nothing really exciting was happening, and the winners were predictable. But once the semi-final matches came up is when everyone was really excited.

               But it was one match Takeo was curious about. It was between two competitors who hadn't competed throughout the entire duration of The Games! One was a girl named Emileigh. But her opponent was even stranger. She was going up against some man in a black coat. You couldn't even see his face, assuming he had one.

               After two exciting matches, the moment Takeo had been waiting for arrived. Emileigh stepped into the Coliseum with a thunderous applause. Had she been here before? Is that why she was automatically pushed into the semi-finals? Takeo wasn't sure, but he was getting so excited that he realized he had forgotten why he was even at the Coliseum to begin with.

               Suddenly, a dark tear opened up out of thin air, and the man in a black coat walked through it, and stopped and stared at Emileigh. Takeo suddenly felt a slight tightness in his chest. What was this feeling? He had never felt it before, so he had no idea what to think of it. Being as careless as he was, he decided to ignore it, and continue watching the fight.

               The two competitors readied themselves. The girl pulled out a weapon, and it kind of looked like another Keyblade! "A Keyblade? I thought I was the only one who had one..." Takeo thought to himself. The tightness in his chest returned as the man in the black coat held out his hand, and a Keyblade formed in it.

               It was the same exact Keyblade that Takeo had! Suddenly, Takeo's chest felt as though it was going to explode, and he collapsed into the ground, clutching his chest, trying as best as he could to get the pain to stop. Why was this happening again? It HAS to do with that man summoning Takeo's Keyblade.

               The girl charged at the man, but to no avail. He seemed to vanish out of the way, causing Emileigh to trip and fall due to the power that was behind her swing.

               "What? How did he do that?" Takeo thought to himself as he was picking himself up off of the ground.  The figure re-appeared a few feet to the right of where he was originally standing. Emileigh turned around, and threw her Keyblade at him, but the figure caught it, and got into a stance that showed he was ready to charge.

               "I've gotta help her!" Takeo thought to himself. He jumped out of the crowd, and into the middle of the two competitors. His Keyblade materialize, and he stopped the figure in his tracks. Emileigh looked up with a shocked expression on her face.

               The impact from the Keyblades had such force behind it, that the figure's hood blew down. Takeo's mouth dropped, and confusion took over his focus. The figure chuckled with a deep tone.

               "So, it is true..." said the figure. His face seemed pale, and his pupils were blood red. He also had these strange black markings shooting out from his eyes. They almost seemed as though they were cracks in his face. It looked like there was black smoke seeping out from the cracks as well.

               The figure released from the lockup, dropped both Keyblades, and snapped his fingers. Takeo shouted out in pain, and collapsed onto the ground. Emileigh looked down with a worried look at Takeo, then back up at the figure. She summoned her Keyblade back to her hand, and swung at the figure. But once again, the figure vanished, and left a cloud of black smoke.

               She looked back down at Takeo, and knelt down next to him. "Are you okay?"

               "Please... make it... stop..." Takeo said, putting his hand on her shoulder, then going limp and falling unconscious.

               The phrase that man said was echoing in Takeo's unconscious mind as he fell further into a dark void. What did that man mean by "It's True?" Takeo wondered.