(KS/KH) Dodge Roll

[lanerose]

So, once upon a time, something like a year and a half ago, myself and my two good friends were watching the second season of Kaleido Star. They introduced a character named Leon, who shared a voice actor with Cloud Strife of FFVII / KH fame, and had long silver hair. A wonderful, cracktastic crossover idea was born. And now, it's finally a fic.

Title: Dodge Roll
For: ladylore
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts / Kaleido Star
Rating: G~
Summary:



Dodge Roll

"Oww…"

"Quaquaquaquaquack…"

"Gee, fellers, that sure was a rough one!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy stumbled from the arena after their third failed attempt at the Hercules Cup in as many days. They staggered into the lobby, propping each other up as they headed for the corner where people would patch them up. Only good thing about losing, really – they got fixed up for free. Sora slumped back against the wall, Donald and Goofy dropping to the floor in front of him.

"That was pathetic, kid!" The tiny red satyr looked a lot bigger when you were looking up at him. Sora watched as the creature paced back and forth, grabbing potions and shoving them at him and his companions. "Your movements were sloppy, you missed their vital points – you were a mess! I tell ya, it's just not worth gettin' outta bed in the morning if you're gonna come here and screw around like that!"

"Hey! We worked really hard out there!" Sora frowned as he downed another potion. Phil stopped mid-pace and whirled around to face him.

"Yeah? Well just workin' hard out there isn't enough to win! You gotta work hard every day, practice all the time so you can get that little teensy bit better than the other guy!"

"But Phil –"

The satyr shook a fist in his face. "Don't you try and tell me you've been practicing! At least, you're not practicing right. I'm telling ya kid, ya gotta play to your strengths! What are you thinking, running at 'em head on like you can just bowl 'em over? Those Big Bodies are three times your size!"

"Phil –"

"No, you listen to me, kid! I got a friend lookin' for a fighter who works well in the air to help out in one of his shows, said he wouldn't mind training someone up a little. When you remember your skills, you're not half-bad – I figure by the time you get back from Kalos's place, you'll be doing that sorta thing without thinkin' about it, which'll mean that I don't gotta explain to the organizers why you keep getting your rear handed to you out there!" The satyr turned his back. "Got it, kid?"

Sora blinked a couple of times, sitting up a little straighter as the potions began to kick in and alleviate some of the pain. "Ummm… Okay, I guess?"

"Good! Would've had to take away your hero-in-training license if you didn't keep up with the in-training part, you know?" Phil pulled a slip of paper from his pocket as he turned back to Sora, offering it to him. Sora reflexively reached out and took it. "Those are the directions to Kalos's place on Gaia. Just tell him Phil sent you, all right?"

"If you say so…" Sora said as Phil turned his back on them and returned to his post at the Coliseum's entryway.

((Somewhere, a tiny chime went off, and the words "Received Directions to Kalos's Place" appeared briefly before vanishing. Sora, predictably, did not notice them as he and his companions made their way back to the gummi ship and took off for the new world that awaited them.))

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"So you managed to find someone after all, Kalos?" A blond man shifted in his chair, leaning back as he tossed an arm over the back of the chair. Kalos, a tall man with red hair and glasses, rested his elbows on the desk before him and folded his hands before his mouth.

"Mm. I called in a favour with an old friend who –"

"What? I didn't think you had any old friends who were training new trapeze artists!" Sarah jumped to her feet and moved behind the desk to poke at Kalos, who lowered his head with a sigh. "Who is it? Why didn't you tell me sooner that you have –"

"I don't," Kalos said. Sarah stopped poking him and tilted her head to one side.

"But you just said –"

"Phil trains fighters." The room went silent. Kalos removed his glasses and wiped them clean with his shirt before sticking them back on his face.

"Will that really be all right?" Yuri asked after a moment, sitting up straight, his arm falling off the chair's back and down to his side. "We don't have the time to train someone from scratch, even if he is in decent shape."

"Phil's got a fighter who's small, fast, and good in the air – he's got some experience, but we are going to have to train him." Kalos looked up. "That's why Leon will be partnering May in the upcoming show."

"Learning to catch the Demon Spiral would be a lot to ask someone new…" Yuri leaned back in his chair again, looking up at the ceiling.

"There's another reason, as well," Kalos said, and Yuri's head dropped so that he could look at Kalos. The red-haired man smiled. "We'll be able to do what we were discussing for Scene 11."

"Don't you think that's a little dangerous, Kalos?" Sarah asked, sitting in the chair opposite Yuri.

"The cast needs to be informed as soon as possible," Kalos said, not bothering to so much as look at Sarah. "Can you have cast lists up by this evening, and make sure that the principles all know right away? I'll speak to Jean and get him started on some set designs, but I'd like to start rehearsals immediately."

"Leave it to me." Yuri rose from his seat and headed toward the door, waving absently back at Kalos. He paused in the doorway and turned back to Kalos. "One more thing – what's the kid's name?"

Kalos smiled.

"Sora."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Well guys, I think this is the place!" Sora looked up at the brightly-coloured, tent-shaped building. Phil's directions had been pretty bad, probably because his penmanship was awful. He'd included a picture, though, and as Sora glanced back at the 3x5 glossy in his hand, Sora felt pretty sure he was in the right place. "Welcome to Kaleido Stage."

"Gawrsh, it sure is pretty!" Goofy said from his place at Sora's right side. "You think maybe they'll have something me and Donald can do, too?"

"I don't know, Goofy." Sora shook his head. When he stopped, he threw his arms up, locking his fingers behind his head. "Phil seemed pretty sure they could help me, though. Maybe there's something they can teach you, too."

"Uh-uh, Sora, Goofy and I don't need to learn anything." Donald hopped up and down as Sora and Goofy began to walk toward Kaleido Stage. He hurried to catch up to them, then slowed to a walk, puffing his chest out as he did so. "Phil already knows how hard we're working to be heroes. You're the one who's gotta catch up."

"Gee, Donald, d'ya really think so?" Goofy's eyes widened, a smile lighting up his face.

"Of course I do!" Donald said. Sora sighed, letting his arms fall back to his side. Donald smirked up at him. "Isn't that right, Sora? Sora?"

The brunet stopped, looking from side to side. "Hey, you guys, any idea where we're supposed to go from here?"

"SORA~!" Donald jumped up and down while Goofy laughed. Sora looked down at them and blinked slowly.

"What?" He asked.

"Sora!" A familiar voice called from the left side of the building.

"Cloud?!" Sora turned quickly, but couldn't catch sight of the blond man anywhere. He exchanged glances with Donald and Goofy, then gestured for them to follow him. As he headed off, he shouted, "This way, guys!"

They made it half-way to the back of the building before Sora suddenly stopped in his tracks. Donald and Goofy both ran into him and bounced back, Donald muttering complaints under his breath as he did so. Sora, on the other hand, stared wide-eyed at the silver-haired man in front of him for a moment before stammering, "S-S-Sephiroth?"

"Sora!" The silver-haired man shouted again, only he wasn't looking at the brown-haired boy, and he didn't sound like Sephiroth – he sounded like Cloud. Come to think of it, he wasn't wearing leather, either, but instead a shirt that actually covered his chest. Still all black, at least – the world would implode on the day Sephiroth wore color, but since five minutes ago Sora would have said the same thing about Sephiroth sounding like Cloud, he suddenly didn't feel as sure.

"Ah, sorry, Leon!" A girl with red hair replied as she ran up to the silver-haired man who was, apparently, named Leon. The two turned and walked through a back door marked "Performers Only," the redhead chattering away as they went.

Sora blinked. Beside him, Donald sputtered incoherently.

"You guys saw that too, right?" Sora asked after a moment.

"Well that sure was strange there, wasn't it, guys?" Goofy put his right hand against the side of his face, his left arm wrapping around his torso and supporting his right elbow. "I wonder what happened to 'em all."

Donald couldn't manage a coherent sentence.

Sora lowered his head and rubbed at the back of it with his right hand. He sighed. "They're never gonna believe us about this back at Traverse Town, are they?"

"No, I don't reckon they will…"

"You there! What are you doing here?" A tall, leanly built blond in a tailored grey suit looked down at them through the dark lenses of his sunglasses. He strode forward from the doorway, his white-blond hair glittering in the sun. "This area is for performers only."

"Ah, sorry!" Sora said, laughing nervously as he smiled a little at the man. He walked a little closer, Goofy and Donald following as he met the man half-way. "Phil didn't tell me exactly where we were supposed to go when we got here, so I'm a little lost."

"You're Sora, then?" The blond snatched off his sunglasses and eyed him more carefully before nodding once. He smiled at Sora. "Kalos said you'd be coming soon, but he didn't mention when. I'm Yuri. I'll help you get where you're going."

"Okay," Sora said, his shoulders relaxing and smile widening. "Thanks."


~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"OWNER!" One of the doors to Kalos's office crashed back against the wall as a woman with red hair rushed in. It drifted closed as she headed straight for Kalos's desk, ignoring Yuri and the other occupants of the room. She slammed her hands down on the desk. "Owner, Leon just told me that he isn't going to be my partner in the new show and that you've found somebody new to replace him and that he doesn't know anything about him but I don't know why you'd want someone to replace Leon because Leon's fantastic and I love working with him and is it really true, owner?"

Kalos stared at her over the rims of his glasses. Sora remained where she was for a moment before blushing a little and stepping back. Kalos sat up properly.

"Sora, I'd like you to meet Sora," he said, light reflecting off his glasses so that neither could tell whom he was introducing to whom. "You're going to be partners for the duration of the next show."

The girl with the red hair turned, noticing the brown-haired boy for the first time. They stared at each other for a moment.

"Wait, you're Sora, too?!" Each exclaimed. Yuri, unnoticed by either Sora, began to laugh. "Wow, I've never met anyone else named Sora before!"

"DOUBLE DOOR – OPEN!" Both of the doors to Kalos's office slammed open again, admitting a dark-haired girl and Leon-who-looked-like-Sephiroth-and-sounded-like-Cloud. Both Soras turned, falling silent at the sound. The dark-haired girl took one glance at Yuri and stopped short, hands on her hips. Leon stood still behind her.

"Leon, May, good timing!" Kalos said, getting to his feet. "I'd like you to meet the newest member of Kaleido Stage, Sora."

"Umm… boss?" May began tentatively, her hands falling back to her side. She stepped closer, her brow furrowing. "We've already met Sora, and she isn't new to Kaleido Stage anyway. Why don't you introduce us to this new partner you've found for her instead?" She glanced oddly at the duck and the dog before turning to the brown-haired boy. "It is you, isn't it?"

"Hi, I'm Sora!" The brown-haired boy smiled. May's forehead furrowed as Leon arched an eyebrow.

"Boss?" A red-head in a yellow dress appeared in the doorway, followed by another girl with short hair. The first girl smiled uncertainly at the group. "You were looking for me?"

"Your name can't be Sora!" May crossed her arms over her chest and glared at brown-haired Sora. Kalos nodded at the people in the doorway. They came in as brown-haired Sora's eyes went wide.

"What do you mean I can't be Sora?" He stomped his foot. "That's not fair! I've always been Sora. I'm telling you, that's my name, and you can't make me give it up!"

"Yeah!" Donald jumped up and down for emphasis.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" May huffed, turning her head away from him. "Having two Soras would get confusing when one of you needed direction. Since she always needs direction and you're still new, you need different names. Sora – our Sora – has already been here awhile. Giving you a new name makes the most sense. And you need to train your pets better – they make too much noise."

"PET!" Donald pushed up his sleeve and started towards her. She jumped a little, and stepped back a pace. "I'll give you pet, you lousy –"

"Donald!" Goofy clapped a hand over his friend's mouth and pulled him back to his side. Male Sora sighed, and smiled at the dog. Donald subsided, pulling away from Goofy and turning his back on them with his wings crossed huffily in front of him. For a moment, the office was quiet. Then, female Sora clapped her hands.

"Oh, I know!" she said. "We should call him Riku!"

"WHAT?!" Male Sora, Donald, and Goofy exchanged glances.

"Well…" Brown-eyed Sora blushed and rubbed the back of her head. "I just figured, I mean, Sora is my name, but we look sort of like opposites, and we should have names that were sort of like opposites, and since Sora is sky then Riku would be a good –"

"It'll never work!" The other Sora protested, shaking his head. "My best friend's name is Riku. If you call me that, I'll think you're talking to him. Besides, I still don't see why you should get to keep your name and I have to change mine!"

"We'll use character names," Yuri said. The younger members of the cast turned to him. He looked back and forth between the two Soras. "That way, no one has to change their names, and there won't be any confusion. All right?"

"Sounds like a fair deal to me," Sora said, nodding his head.

"Yes!" His counterpart exclaimed.

"You brought the cast list, Mia?" Kalos asked. The girl in the yellow dress nodded, hastening over to give Kalos a piece of paper. "Right. Here's what we're doing…"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Let's start by running through the basics so that I'll have an idea of what to do with the choreography," Mia said from the edge of the practice mat. Some of the rest of the cast lingered nearby. On the mat, both Soras stood before her, waiting for direction. "How about you begin with a somersault, Orpheus?"

"Somersault?" Orpheus – that is, male Sora – tilted his head and looked at her, his brows knit together.

"You think you can be an acrobat and not even know what a somersault is?" May scoffed, throwing her hands in the air and shaking her head. "Hey, Ken, why don't you take his place? At least you know what a somersault is!"

"M – me?" The stage manager pointed at himself, incredulously. On the practice mat, Eurydice – or female Sora – looked to her male counterpart.

"Like this, Sora." She rolled forwarded along the ground a couple of times, standing up at the end. Then she turned back to Orpheus.

"Oh!" He exclaimed as he shifted his weight back and brought his right hand down in a fist on his left palm before pointing at her. "You mean a dodge roll!"

"Dodge roll?" The girl blinked at him.

"Right!" He duplicated her move and then smiled at her. "A dodge roll."

"Okay…?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He looked at the log floating innocuously on the small pool's surface, then turned to look back at the red-haired girl beside him.

"It's easy! Really, watch me!" She jumped into the air, twisting in a natural arc until she stood effortlessly poised on the log. Sora lifted one leg in front of her and slowly lowered herself down until she was almost sitting on the log, then straightened up. All the while, the log did not move a millimeter on the water. She put down her leg and flipped back to Sora's side. "Go on, give it a try! It's only hard at first!"

"All right, here I go!" Sora flipped out to the log. He landed on it not terribly, but nowhere near as neatly as she had. He turned to be parallel to the log, lost his balance, and fell into the cool water.

"Don't worry," she called as he came up sputtering. Sora smiled at him. "You'll get the hang of it soon!"

"Right!"

Four hours later, Orpheus still hadn't even managed to begin lowering himself on the log without falling off, never mind lowering himself without moving the log at all.

"I'll get it this time!" he swore nevertheless as he broke the surface and again clambered onto the log.

"You will!" Eurydice replied, clapping and waving at him. "This time for sure you'll –"

He fell in again. No sooner had he breached the surface than she was shouting at him, "Come on, you can do it! Three hundredth time's the charm!"

"Yeah!"

Donald and Goofy, who had been watching from nearby, exchanged glances.

"Those two deserve each other," Donald said. Goofy only nodded in response.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Oh!" Male Sora said one day after practice on the trampoline as he turned a corner and bounced off the very solid figure before him. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he looked up and smiled. "Sorry, Sephiroth."

"What did you call me?" The silver-haired acrobat asked as he stared down at the boy on the ground before him.

"That's right, I forgot. Sorry, Cloud – I mean, Leon!" The boy jumped to his feet, shaking his head. "Sorry, Leon. It's just… you remind me of a couple of friends of mine."

"Friends?" Leon asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. Behind the boy, the duck and the dog were quacking and braying in a way that reminded Leon very much of laughter.

Sora nodded emphatically.

"Yeah, see, you look like Sephiroth – it's kinda scary how close to twins you to are, except you don't wear as much leather, which is probably a good thing cause I always thought that was weird on him anyway." He shrugged, and continued, "But then, you sound like Cloud, and we've got this other friend whose name is Leon, too, and –"

Sora trailed off. Leon stood silent, watching him. After a moment, Sora smiled again.

"Anyway, I'm glad you're all right! I'm going back to practice now, so wish me luck!" He turned and ran off, his pets following in his wake. May, who had been watching the proceedings from nearby, came to stand at Leon's side.

"That is one strange kid," she said quietly.

"Yes."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Gawrsh, Sora, you sure have been working hard!" Goofy commented after rehearsal a few weeks later as the three gummi travelers wandered around the Kaleido Star complex. They paused near the pool at the Kid's Stage, where Marion and Jonathon were working on a new trick.

"Yeah, Sora," Donald said after a moment, "we're proud of you."

"They're right!" Jonathon added from the water as he balanced a ball on his nose. He tossed it into the air, went underwater, and came up to knock it through a ring before turning to Sora and smiling. "You should keep working hard, though. It's almost opening day."

"Yeah." Marion retrieved the ball and threw it back to Jonathon. "We should all keep working hard until then."

"Right!" Sora replied.

A short distance away, the other Sora exchanged glances with the stage manager, Ken.

"Does this mean he understands Jonathon too, and Marion really meant it when she said he was talking to her?" She asked after a moment. Ken's eyes were wide as he shrugged and pulled her away from the half-unintelligible conversation between the seal, the duck, the dog, and the two humans.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first act had gone better than Sora had thought it would on opening night, or at least it had so far. The basic story was pretty good. Orpheus and Eurydice mainly reminded Sora of the Coliseum, because it was so… well, the costumes and choreographed battles would have fit in at the Coliseum, that's for sure. So far, he and the other Sora had fallen in love.

Brown-haired Sora watched from the wings as Eurydice confronted Aristaeus, the shepherd who claimed to love her. Yuri followed Sora around the stage on the trapeze, at first in a teasing sort of way. Slowly, as they went around, the lighting grew darker. Yuri chased after her more quickly. Sora's movements grew jerkier, speedier, and she began to glance back over her shoulder. One by one the trapeze bars lifted, until at last Eurydice could go no further. Aristaeus flipped high into the air, a burst of light obscuring him as his costume changed to that of a snake. He grabbed the bar Sora was sitting on. He flipped up onto it with her and wrapped himself around her, his fangs at her throat as all the lights went red.

Eurydice slipped from the bar, falling straight toward the floor as the audience gasped. The lights went out.

"Every time she does that, it reminds me of that time with Leon…" Anna mumbled under the threatening hum of the music as she and boy-Sora took their places on the trapeze for the ferry scene. The lights came up just as the trapdoor snapped closed over female Sora's head, cutting off the questions he wanted to ask.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Good luck with the next scene," Anna said as her character bowed a goodbye to his. Sora blinked.

"Isn't it intermi –"

GRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…

"Aw, man!" A familiar flicker went up around the edges of the stage floor as a Coliseum-like force field activated. The audience gasped as Sora stared up at the three-headed black dog. Then he summoned the Keyblade into his hand and started thinking of ways to kill Phil as he went after Cerberus.

It was weird to be fighting after practicing nothing but jumps and leaps for so long. Weird, but nothing his body didn't remember. He flipped easily onto Cerberus's back, running up its neck until he could start knocking the monster out again. Sora found he could hit Cerberus's vital points more easily than he ever had before, and that he didn't fall off as often as he once had.

Less than a minute later, Sora had the three-headed dog laid out cold, even without Donald and Goofy's help.

"WOW!" Goofy said as Sora slipped backstage when the curtain finally closed, the audience's applause chasing after him. "Looks like Phil really knew what he was doing when he suggested this here place for training, Sora."

"You really think so?" The brown-haired boy looked down at his companion, blue eyes wide.

"I sure do!" Goofy elbowed Donald in the side. "Isn't that right, Donald?"

"Well…" Donald said, crossing his arms and looking away. "I guess you didn't get any worse than you were, Sora."

"DONALD!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Let's do this!" Female Sora said as the lighting shifted around them. Hades (Leon) had given his permission, and it was time for Orpheus (male Sora) to lead Eurydice (female Sora) out of the underworld and back to the land of the living.

"Yeah!" Male Sora replied. They nodded at each other, and ran for their first marks as the music around them slowly began to build. Stage left, Orpheus flipped up into the air, twisting and arching his body to fall amid the stalagmites Jean had built to represent hell. Stage right, Eurydice did likewise before landing on the trampoline and bouncing higher into the air, towards center stage. Male Sora did likewise until both were standing on tightropes center stage. They stayed there only a moment, just long enough to poise on tiptoe and spin in place, male Sora ever so slightly higher than female Sora. Orpheus kept his head carefully up, afraid to look down – to break the deal and lose Eurydice forever to the Elysian realm. She focused intently on him – because only by following him would she ever escape the darkness.

A crescendo built as they traded sides, Orpheus flying to stage right as Eurydice went stage left. The crossed back and forth across the stage several times before Orpheus began to see a light, shining above them, drawing ever nearer. Male Sora hit the last trampoline stage right and threw himself into the air, turning a triple-tuck somersault – because triple aerial dodge roll was awkward to think, never mind say – and flying over the trapeze bar, catching it with his knees at the last moment. He let his head fall back then, looking for his Eurydice and stretching his arms out to her. She reached for him –

And the smile on her face froze as Hades tugged on a thread that tied her to him, pulling her back under.

Orpheus didn't even hesitate. He stretched back further, falling until he hung only by his ankles, and snatched Eurydice's hand from the air. Female Sora worked with the flow of his movement, and together, they threw her high into the air to initiate the Angel's Act.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"So, you're sure you can't stay for another show?" Female Sora asked a few weeks later, when Descent into the Underworld had closed. Male Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood together in the middle of the bridge outside Kaleido Stage, looking at it. The weather obliged them, with a perfect orange-pink sunrise glowing behind the big top.

"Nah." Brown-haired Sora shook his head. "We've got some stuff we need to do still – people to find. Unless you've seen a silver-haired boy named Riku around here anywhere?"

She shook her head. "No. But we'll be sure to let you know if we do!"

"Thanks." He smiled at her, at the other members of Kaleido Stage behind her. "We'll see you guys later!"

"Take care!" "Bye!" "Come back soon!" "Don't forget – somersault, not dodge roll!"

The three adventurers vanished back to their ship.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kalos answered his phone on the third ring.

"Kalos! My man!" An exuberant voice shouted. Kalos winced. "Listen, you did a great job with the kid. Not that I'd expect anything less from a cousin of mine, but still – great! Such a great job, in fact, that I was thinkin' maybe we could work out an arrangement with another guy I've got training. You'll love him. His name's Hercu-"

Kalos closed the phone, turned it off, and stared at it for a moment before tossing it in the garbage on top of the expense bills for everything Cerebrus had destroyed.

And Sarah wondered why he never took her home for the holidays.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Sora!" A voice called as Sora, Donald, and Goofy left the Coliseum in triumph.

"Leon?" The boy asked, turning around to look for the silver-haired man.

"Huh?" A familiar blond man said as he raised an eyebrow at the boy. Donald and Goofy snickered as Sora shook his head.

"Never mind, Cloud. Just - never mind."