7 - Memories of Olympus Part I

Once again, a bright light consumed both Link and Mido. The two shut their eyes as the light enshrouded them. When the light vanished, they we're once again in a place Link could not recognize. The area they we're in looked like a massive entrance to a temple. They're we're two gladiator type statues in front of a massive stone door. Around them we're neatly made pillars and well designed lanterns all around the area. The desert sand was on they're boots as they walked in.

"So Link...do you know this place?" Mido began.

"Not at all." Link said. "I could say this was the Gerudo encampment, but it's way too furnished and elegant for that."

Link and Mido walked towards a sign that was nearby the door. It however was written in a language they could not understand. Link and Mido looked it at for a long time. Even Link was stumped. Link had been well educated after he moved into Hyrule and being administrated into the school systems by Zelda so Link was well rounded with other languages. But this one was something he had never seen before. Link looked at closely while Mido stood there confused.

"Ahhh...it's no good." Link said. "I can't read this language...we'll have to consult the book of Mudora."

"The book of what?" Mido asked.

"The book of Mudora." Link said, pulling out an old green covered book. "This is an magical ancient book that has all the languages of the whole universe in it. I just got to do a little searching and we should be good to go."

Link opened up the book and began to read it. After a few minutes, Link stood up and began to look at the wording while translating with the book.

"Olympus..." Link said stupidly. He said it all very slowly as if he was a moron. "Coliseum...survival cup. Contenders...have...to...run an...obstacle course...battling each other...along...the...way."

"Dude you sound like an idiot." Mido said.

"I know; but I can't be too careful with this." Link said. "The...great...hero...Hercules will also...be competing...for...this cup. Huh; it's a fighting tournament."

"Sounds like fun." Mido said.

"As much fun as fighting can get." Link said. "There's more to this though...Only contenders...who finish...the....pre...limi...nary course may...enter the main...competition."

"Must be up ahead." Mido said.

"Well, then that's where I'm heading." Link said.

"What; why?" Mido said.

"Why not?" Link asked.

"You're going to get yourself killed!" Mido shouted.

"No one's going to beat me." Link said.

"ARGH!" Mido shouted. "You're so stubborn! Fine!"

Mido stormed angrily alongside Link.

Why I put up with him I'll never know. He thought.

Link and Mido then found the prelims at a certain station. The preliminary qualifications involved a series of Olympic type events. Link and Mido did a series of exercises, most of which to test they're physical stamina. Link competed in a series of events such as boxing, wrestling, full combat against other warriors, javelin, discus throw, and several other events that are not needed to be discussed in these fan fiction.

Link and Mido finished the prelims with flying colors. Link had topped everyone who had competed in the preliminaries. Mido had barely qualified for the event. If it wasn't Link who had trained him when he ventured out into the Kokiri forest once in awhile, he would never have made it.

Link and Mido continued to walk in the hallways to find the qualification area. They saw many things: Treasure, trophies, stone carved images of battles long past. Normally, Link and Mido would have been lost. But thanks to the book of Mudora, they we're able to navigate around the entire area. Link was fascinated with this world called "Greece." He was enjoying all the sights it had to offer. Everything and anything in it. It was all amazing to him.

Mido didn't give a damn. But he did enjoy the fact that no Heartless was found on they're entire walk through the temple was enough for him.

Eventually they came to an open field like area. It was the actual coliseum. The place people went to in order to fight. It had stands all over. Primitive, but stands none the less. Link saw what appeared to be a half-man, half faun like creature. Link went over to it. The faun turned around and saw the three. His jaw nearly dropped.

"What!?" He said. "You already finished the preliminary!?"

"Too easy!" Link said. "Me and my friend here are competing for the cup now!"

"Well, you came to the right place!" The goat like creature said with a smile. "Not that you stand a chance against Herc."

"Oh really!?" Link said with a proud look. "Why not?"

Phil looked really proud at him back and got all in his face.

"Two words my dear friend: You ain't heroes!"

Link looked at him with a confused look. Link did a face palm on himself.

"That was three you idiot." Link said. "Point being though, how can you expect that if you haven't even given me a shot yet. I'm already a damn good fighter. And if I lose...then I can come back on the next time and have a better chance then after I know my enemy?"

"He's right Phil." A man said as he walked towards the group.

He was a tall, muscular man. He wore bronze armor that covered all of his body. A shirt of chain mail was at the waist of the armor. He also wore a headband and long boots. A traditional Greek short sword on his belt.

"I'm Hercules." He said going over to Link, giving him a handshake.

"I'm Link Galadanu." Link said. "This is my friend Mido."

"You're the champ?" Mido asked as he shaked his hand too.

"Yeah; that's me." Hercules said. "I saw you in the preliminary rounds. I got to tell you: it's been awhile since I met someone so challenging."

"Yeah well I hope we get a chance to fight." Link said. "I've been dying for a challenge against my sword too."

"Same here." Hercules said.

The man turned around and then looked at his friend.

"They seem like nice people." Hercules said. "Why don't we give them a shot?"

"You may be right Hercules." Phil said. "But still..."

"Or, we could always cancel the game." Hercules said.

"Cancel!?" Link asked. "For what?"

"Old Phil's Prelim course was so hard, no one could finish." Hercules said.

"Wow." Link said, putting his arms on the back of his neck and turning away from Hercules. "Didn't seem that hard. I guess all that fighting and training I did in the Kokiri forest paid off after all."

"And I guess listening to you was a good idea." Mido said.

"Told ya." Link said.

"Alright you two." Phil said calling out to Link and Mido. "You guys have me caught in a pickle so I guess I have no choice."

"Alright." Link said. "What do we do?"

"Well..." Phil said as he twirled his beard on his neck. "Link; since yours and Herc's team are the only ones competing..."

"Hold it." A voice said somewhere nearby.

The whole group turned to see a blond haired man at the door. His hair was spiky and pointed upwards and in all other directions. He wore a large reddish scarf/cape, blue armor with many belts around it, and held a large sword that seemed to be wrapped with many bandages all over. He also had a devil's wing growing on his side. He wore fingerless gloves, and had an eye-line that was so deep, you could feel as if he peered into you're soul.

"These games have a new contender." The man said. "My name is Cloud Strife."

"Wow." Phil said. "All right; the more the merrier. Now these games we'll really be a sight to see."

"Awesome." Link said. "Ending it now would boring. Some excitement would do nicely."

"Well good luck to all of you." Hercules said. "Don't expect me to pull any punches."

Hercules left the area, leaving Phil to do all the work.

"All right you guys; here's how it works." Phil said. "One 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! And finally...Rule #4! All challengers have to give it everything they got!"

"Got ya." Link said.

Link turned his attention towards Cloud.

"Good luck man." He said.

"Whatever." Cloud says.

"Oh not a nice guy I see." Link said. "Fine how about this: See you at the finish line."

Cloud turned to him. He stared at him coldly, but gave a nod of approval. For Link did not break his grin even when he got close.

"Try and keep up with me." He said.

A whistle was blown and the two ran into the obstacle course. Link and Mido ran into they're section. It was a freaking maze. Everything around the area seemed to similar to the next. Link and Mido found themselves returning areas that they had already been to. Link was beginning to lose patience with the whole section of where he was traveling.

Eventually, Link came up with a brilliant idea. Link drew the Master sword and slashed at certain sections of the area. Each area served as marker to show that they had passed that one specific area before. Suddenly after a few other trial and error portions of the temple, Link was able to use this to deduce the path they needed to go. Mido was throughly impressed with Link's intelligence as Link seemed to become smarter with each time. Eventually Link and Mido got through the puzzles and we're on they're way to Hercules. They ran outside one section in the middle of a desert field in the temple, only to find Cloud there, as if he he was waiting for them.

"It's Cloud!" Mido said. "What's he doing here!?"

Link ran next to Mido and drew his sword and shield.

"Rule #3!" Link said. "You can interfere with your opponents. You won't find me easy prey."

Cloud looked at the two with a cloud stare and then turned around. Link look confused, expecting to be in a fight.

"Put that away." He said. "I'm not looking for a fight with you."

"Really?" Link asked. "Surprising."

Cloud turned around and continued to walk away. Link knew something wasn't right. He kept the Master Sword out and began to walk over to where Cloud was. Cloud stopped as he walked and turned around.

"What?" He asked.

"What are you here for?" Link asked.

Cloud turned around and closed his eyes as he continued to speak.

"My business is with Hercules." Cloud said. "Not the cup."

"You got an vendetta?" Link asked.

"Business." Cloud said. "Today, Hercules loses more than the match."

"Loses...more...than...the..." Link began.

It didn't take long for Link to realize he intended to kill him.

"But why!?"

"I already told you." Cloud said. "Pure business. Nothing against him. Go win you're cup."

Link stood there. He didn't know what to do. Sure winning the cup would be nice. But Link did not approve of this method. It was wrong. He didn't want to compete. On the other hand, Link didn't know Hercules so it wouldn't effect him. He stood there, all confused.

What would I do? A thought that was not his own crossed his mind said.

Link went and acted on it. He charged at Cloud. Cloud quickly turned around when he heard the footsteps. With a persistent speed, Link flipped towards Cloud and used both of his legs to kick Cloud off his feet. Cloud didn't have any time to react so he was unable to block this sudden attack. Cloud got back to his feet though and drew his blade to deflect three sword swings from Link. Cloud went on the offensive then and pushed Link back over by Mido.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Rule #3." Link said. "I want to fight Herc too. But if you kill him, I"m not going to get that shot. Got to go through me first."

Cloud stared at Link with confusion and pity. He closed his eyes and lowered his head a bit.

"Big mistake." He said.

Cloud then put his Buster Blade into a fighting position. Link readied his Master Sword. He at first reached for his shield, but then quickly decided not to use it. He saw from Cloud's three attacks that the sword was heavy, but Cloud swung it like a short sword. The shield that Link carried would merely weigh him down. Link grabbed the shield and tossed it to the side and put the Master Sword in a fighting position. Mido went right next to Link, but Link put his arm in front of him, forbidding him to fight.

"Just stand off to the side Mido." Link said.

"But Link..." Mido said.

"Look at Mido." Link said. "I'm a swordsman. I have the talent to know how much one is skilled. His eyes don't lie. You don't stand a chance."

"But I..." Mido said.

"Stand down." Link said.

Mido, looked at Link with a desperate look. He then however, looked at Link admirably. Link was staring at Cloud, not changing his own look in the least. Mido looked at Link with a small bit of admiration. He knew Link could do this. Link had the talents necessary to beat him. It wouldn't be easy. But Link stood better of a chance than he.

"Yeah." Mido said. "You're right. I'll probably get in the way. Good luck."

Mido backed behind Link, but he kept the Gilded sword out, just in case Cloud decided to pull some funny business. Link then at that point charged at Cloud, of which Cloud did the same.

Then a massive sword fight began.

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