[Hades/Pain/Panic] The next in line

[Jason Arilani]

The Underworld. Surely a disgusting place. But there was one thing that made this place worth coming... Hades, the God of the Underworld. That was who Maleficent was coming to see. So far, she had spoken with Davy Jones and Jadis. Now Hades was the next person to speak with... Someone who had already been a part of the Hellfire Council. And so, she walked through the Underworld, headed directly for Hades Chamber.

Upon arriving, Maleficent waited a second before knocking on the door leading to his chamber. She knew that his tournament was coming up, but she also knew for a fact that Hades would be able to sense her presence, and know that she was in fact alive and ready to start their plans once more... Now she just needed the chance to find him and speak with him. She might even be able to watch the tournament and find some fresh people for her cause...

[Deleted]

(A PM would have been lovely...)

"Come on! No! No! Not that, don't use that you idiot!" Hades was somewhat yelling at the image being emitted from his cauldron in the center of his throne room. The image was playbacks of the last Hades Cup he had held, he was watching the fight between Xaldin and some-other-whats-his-face dude in armor, with Xaldin easily trapping the man in a bubble of air and burning him to a crisp, but while the fight was going on Hades was making fist pumps and jabs to the air as it went on. But slunk back down into his chair as it ended. He let out a sigh and a blue spirit wandered up to him as if on cue, which, on cue, Hades batted away with a motion of his hands when a knock on his chamber door echoed through the room.

A flick of his wrist and the door slowly opened to reveal....Maleficent? Great, what could that cut-throat little pixie want this time? But not wanting to ruin such enjoyable company(?), Hades rose from his throne and gave his hellos. "Well, well. Isn't this a pleasant surprise? Why oh why would Maleficent be doing in the Underworld? Oh, let me guess..." Hades smirked as he vanished in a puff of smoke and appeared right next to the Witch and gave a very slight nudge with his elbow and said, "You've finally given in to my charm haven't you? Don't blame ya, I find it hard to resist myself sometimes. Anyway, what are you here for Maleficent? Key-Brat? Herc?" the God asked as he made his way back to his throne expecting the Witch to follow.

[globber]

Pain and Panic marched casually into Hades' chamber, paying no mind to the dark witch next to them. In Panic's fingers was a clipboard and paper, over his eyes, some reading glasses. "Now, Hades, most things in the Underworld are running fine. But it seems to be dwindling down in population count." The blue imp mentioned, reading the statistics on the paper. Pain grabbed the clipboard away from Panic, also knocking his glasses off. "Plus, the gift shop is running EXTRA low on - Oh NO! MALEFICENT!" Pain immediatley broke out yelling and jumped away from the witch, with Panic next to him. "Uuuuh. Hello sir - MA'AM! Ma'am I mean ma'am!" Panic gave a salute to Maleficent. Pain saluted with the hand carrying the clipboard, accidently smacking himself in the face.

[Jason Arilani]

[OOPS! Man... I knew I was forgetting something... I meant to PM you, but I had a sprout of Maleficent muse and just acted on it. Sorry about that... Hope you aren't minding this thread too much.]

Maleficent listened as Hades seemingly... charmed her, yet she could care less about his words. And of course, his minions decided to march in at that point, acting like the bumbling idiots that they were. Maleficent sighed at their display before looking back to Hades. "Charming as always, Hades."[/color] She said, displaying a slight bow before uprighting once more and looking at Pain and Panic though still adressing Hades. "I'm surprised they are still around... I figured they would have provided a meal, or maybe a snack, to your lovely pet, Cerberus."[/color]

She then turned back to Hades, not entirely caring what they would have to say to that comment. "But quite the contrary, Hades. I am here for neither of them. They will get what they deserve in due time. No... I am here for you. For you see... The council is reassembling and your help will be required. With Jafar being unable to be found, I find you as my Second in command. The councils numbers have dwindled however... And all former members, save for yourself, have not been found as of yet."[/color] She said, wondering what the Lord of the Underworld would have to say to that. Most likely some type of sarcastic remark about how the other council members weren't good enough and they were actually destroyed. Maleficent had dealt with Hades on too many occasions, and usually knew how he would react. Then again... He had always been known to sprout a few... surprises....

[Deleted]

Hades sighed as the two imps entered the room blabbering about something or another, like he cared about what the gift store was running out of. More or less them being here could actually help, since they couldn't convince Marluxia to make it to the Underworld (which Marluxia tried to make a counter-deal but that didn't seem likely it was going to happen soon).

"Oh they still have their uses every now and then. Besides, who will I find to replace them. Coming across loyal subjects is a chore in itself am I right or am I right? But you'll come around to me eventually...' Hades gave his signature chuckle as he took his place on his stone throne. The flames on his head flared slightly at the mention of the Hellfire Council. Was she really getting them back together to fight the Heartless and Nobodies? Hades needed a distraction these days so this might just be the thing he needs.

"The Council huh. Sure this is the right time to get those bunch of useless baboons together. Only ones who actually did anything were you, Jafar, and myself. But with you saying all former members haven't been found means you've found some other replacements. How interesting." Hades got up from his throne and the clipboard Pain was holding appeared in his hands he started looking through it. Yeah, population was down, yeah the shop is out of whatever but Hades was looking for a name. Kian was crossed off because he left sometime ago, Auron...lets not go there. Here! The list of competitors for the Hades cup. He made the piece of paper with the names of the Hades Cup participates appear in Maleficent's hand and spoke up about it as he walked to her.

"Those are the names of the people in my next Hades Cup. I take you up on your offer, being second could be fun. But look at the names. Marluxia, Elaeus, Relena, Braig and several known Keybearers on that list. Some how I knew you were going to be here because of these people."

[globber]

Pain and Panic sat down, playing with a Sora action figure that was beating up a Maleficent action figure .... "Paaaaaiin! You're ruining the dolls!" "They ain't DOLLS, they're action figures!"

(A "skip me" post with added detail)

[Jason Arilani]

Maleficent looked at Hades as he continued to talk to her. He still charmed her, as he always did, stating the fact that good help was hard to find. Though Maleficent wondered if maybe they would be of, though little, help to her. She continued to ponder that for a moment before listening to the rest of what Hades had to say. He was correct in his assumption that new people had been found. Davy Jones and Jadis so far had been spoken to, though Jadis had not quite confirmed her membership into the council. She still needed to find more, but she felt that Hades would be of help to finding people.

And with his next words, he was just as helpful as she expected. She took the list from Hades and looked through it, seeing everyone that was on it. Several Dark XII members as well as Organization XIII members were on that list, confusing her as to why they were there. Other random people, including keybladers like Hades said, were also on the list. So... What was Hades' plan for this tournament? Random combat or recruitment? Maleficent was unsure, but she would continue to look at the list, making sure to make note of every name that was on there. She quickly glanced to Pain and Panic who were playing with action figures of herself and Sora. She snapped her fingers, engulfing the Sora action figure in Green flames.

"So... Tell me. What exactly is the point of this tournament of yours? Recruitment or is this merely for your own personal entertainment?" She said, still holding the clipboard. She would wait until it was requested back before handing it over, or until it was time for her to leave. She did have a parting gift to give to Hades, but this conversation was not quite finished. So she would wait until it was before giving this gift to him.

[Deleted]

Hades smiled as the action figures burst into flame and Pain and Panic where sent into a fright. With a snap of his fingers the two imps where engulfed in smoke and once it cleared they were no longer there. Information these days was on a need to know basis and those two idiots definitely did not even need to know where Cerberus sleeps. Hades cast his gaze back onto Maleficent and answered her question.

"Imagine this," Hades began as smoke bellowed out from behind his throne and soon all the contestants images where surrounding the room. "An epic tournament, filled with the strongest people from all factions. Good guy versus good guy, baddie versus baddie. The occasional Good vs Bad fight. But all in all, see this." the Lord of the Dead waved his hand and an image of Demyx appeared in front of Maleficent. The image flickered and Hades explained, "This little guy died last time I held this thing and I gave him an ultimatum. Serve me or stay dead. He chose the latter and now I have eyes and ears inside Organization XIII. Of course the information I would let leak would be minimal to the..." Hades let out a fake cough, "Help around here but things in the Underworld are as lively as ever for what I have planned. With this Hades Cup, I expect blood shed to be the main attraction. After all, getting rid of a few enemies for the sake of entertainment is my job right?"