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Kingdom Hearts: The Keyblade War Part 2



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Xblade13

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Ximálech watched as Darien lifted the hyena by the neck. At first he thought his companion was going to kill it, but Darien instead threw the creature away. For a moment she regained herself, and then followed the hyena he had defeated into the jungle.

Ximálech turned his eyes back to his companion and noticed that he too wielded a Keyblade. Very interesting...

Darien turned toward him and said, "Well, that was fun."

Ximi chuckled in amusement, then gestured at Darien's Keyblade. "Small world, huh?" He lifted his own so Darien could see. The crystal blade still glowed faintly, the light illuminating their surroundings enough to see.

-perhaps he can help me more than I thought-

---​

Zeri caught up to Grim, who had run just out of earshot of the men. Pain erupted in her side with every step she took. Grim too appeared weak, and a gash ran on his side, where that glowy weapon had hit him.

"Are you all right?" she asked, biting back her pain.

"Eh, I've been worse. Didn't expect them to be quite that strong." He chuckled dryly.

"Don't worry. They'll get what's coming to them. Nobody injures me without a just reward." She motioned for him to follow her. "The pack will hear of this."
 

SwagStarIV

I just logged in... And got so many trophies
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Chi saw the skill of the girl. She is agile, and quite capable of battle. I would expect the same from the mouse as well. So let's see if you hold the prowess that your arrogance portrays. Chi was lost in thought, and heard the plea of the girl. "Now your interested in what I'm doing? Please... I am here for one thing. I don't want to bring any peril to your pathetic excuse of a world. I want my key-" In explaining himself the heartless had jumped into the air and tried to pounce on top of him. Chi jumped towards the heartless and sliced at it during its fall.

Upon the heartless landing on the ground, Chi comitted towards an aerial dive, and charged towards the heartless screaming, "I want my key to return to its rightful elegance!!!!" Upon slicing at one of its arms he felt something. Like a growing flame in his heart... A warmth that he had not felt since the day he was entered into the games at his home town. It was a flame of ambition that burned wilder than before. A flame of life. Chi grabbed the keychain of his keyblade, and stated, "Trickery of Hades... Grant me your flame!" He shot darkness from his keyblade and stated to the girl, "You know nothing about me..." He looked down to the ground, then raised his fist as a glyph was on his hand and he began to glow with light. He continued saying, "So don't judge a book by its cover!" He slung his arm down and the light emitted six blades on his back.
 
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saphexteni

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Location: Traverse Town, 1st District

Seraphina heard the other strange floating creature call to the dark-haired wielder by his name, Renn, it seemed. Let's see how long I remember that, she thought, as she dodged another skeleton swing. The creatures didn't move too quickly, so she didn't have to work too hard to avoid being hit. However, their numbers seemed to finally be noticing the situation and moving toward her. She charged at a close one, about to slice its head again, when she noticed a sudden estranged look in its eye. What? She stopped right before, and used her keyblade to give it a sharp stab, instead. Not looking to see if it was unconscious, Sera dashed her way towards the front, where she knew Nihilus was, trying to avoid any more fighting with the soldiers, which she could now see used to be civilians. But could they be saved, either way?

No matter how she looked at it, it was all Nihilus's doing. His fault, all over again, and she could not let him get away again. As she looked up, past the fighting skeletons, she saw Nihilus, although he had a sudden lapse, and seemed to be talking to himself. Strange... what happened- Before she could wonder about it further, however, someone else appeared and seemed to be confronting Nihilus- he had flaming, spikey, orange hair and looked to be around her age. He seemed to have business with the dark "ruler" as well- though, didn't everyone?

The confrontation didn't last, however, as Nihilus kicked the orange haired youth away, and immediately began running into the crowd of skeletons.. Clearly trying to escape. It would be difficult to reach him in time with all those skeletons in the way. "NO! Nihilus!" she screamed, feeling a sudden surge of energy. Her keyblade began to glow brightly, and her hand gripped it harder than ever. The next moment, her body was moving on its own, with her hand swinging her keyblade in extremely swift and powerful strikes. Each strike moved her forward quickly through the crowd, though not mortally injuring anyone in particular, and she moved closer to where Nihilus was getting away. On the 13th and final swing, she let out a loud yell, only to have Nihilus disappear through a portal right where her final swing was.

She collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily, her hand fisted in anger. He had gotten away, the "emperor" who kept trying to corrupt innocent citizens' minds. She didn't know what the other wielders and warriors had against him, not that it mattered much to her. But it seemed like Nihilus had more enemies than she thought- to get that many, he must also be quite powerful.

"Grrrrrarrrggghh!"

Sera turned around at the growl, just in time to see a large soldier bringing its blade down on her. She managed to lift her keyblade just enough to deflect the attack, though her block was also nullified by the attack, and she herself was pushed back to the ground, probably due to her late timing. It caught me off-guard! Sera rolled out of the way of another incoming attack, just enough to dodge it by a few inches. Seeing the opportunity, however, she took her keyblade and swung it on top of the scythe, maneuvering herself into a standing position while keeping the skeleton's scythe to the ground. When she found herself positioned in front of it, she lifted her keyblade, freeing the scythe, but pointed it at the skeleton before it could lift it back up. A small fireball exploded right in front of her, at the skeleton's head, and it fell backwards. The damage was just enough to knock it out, she hoped, though she didn't get time to celebrate her victory as the other skeletons also closed in on her.
 
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Smoofy

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The kick caught Neku off guard. He left himself complete open, how foolish of him. After recovering from the blow, Neku turned to Nihilus. He saw him fleeing, ready to exit through a portal.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" Neku yelled, hurling a fireball. The man had escaped through the portal just in time for the ball of flame to miss. Breathing heavily, Neku turned around to face the commotion.

Calm down... Calm do-

NO!!

The fight was getting out of hand, and these light wielders were slaying these creatures with almost no remorse! They used to be citizens, simple, innocent,citizens! They didn't choose this! Why not hold them off and find a way to turn them back? Why did they fight back so relentlessly?! They were soldiers of the people, so why, then, do they resort to destroying these once happy humans, instead of trying to help them? These people had lives, families, mothers and fathers and children, and they'd all seek to take that away from others?

Through the relentless chaos, Neku spotted a girl probably around her age fending off the skeletons. She was almost overpowered but she had managed to fight back and escape. She countered with a fireball, and Neku was about to dive in and stop her, but he found that she had kept some level of restraint, all she had done was knock it down. At least someone here had sense like him. However more began to crowd around and like the selfless (most of the time) person he was, Neku dashed in to help.

He sprinted past the girl and the skeletons bore down on her, weapons ready. A large group of twenty or more were almost upon her. As they began to strike, Neku intercepted, blade raised. Metal met metal, and Neku pushed the creature back, sending it tumbling into a small group.

Sheathing his sword, Neku formed four handsigns. He inhaled greatly, puffing up his chest and exhaled. More and more skeletons were piled onto each other as their legs were swept from underneath them by the great gust of wind. With three more handsigns, Neku slammed his palms into the ground. Four walls of earth erupted around the pile of skeletons, with each of them climbing upwards the turning at a 90 degree angle to seal off any exit upwards. Now they were encased in stone and earth and hopefully, free from harm. Neku then turned his head to the girl.

"I'm no officer, but we need to restrain them, not kill them! They're people just like us, and we need to help them! Do what you can to prevent any more casualties!"

And with his order, Neku dashed back into the fray. He saw a light wielder ready to strike down a skeleton, but Neku shoulder barged the man, knocking him over. With two hand signs, earth wrapped around the downed enemy, constraining it's limbs. It would no do no one any harm.

Sprinting to the man he just knocked down, he grabbed him by the back of his collar and yanked him back up, yelling, "Sorry!" as he continued onward.

Hopefully Jayden was here. He has authority and they would listen to him. If he's the kind of man Neku thought he was, he would do all he could to save these people, too. Neku frantically looked about the battlefield, trying to find the blonde-haired soldier. Where the hell was he?
 

Story Keeper

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~- Show You A World You Can Understand -~

Squall listened as Jayden gave his piece, trying to make the man see reason. Nodding in agreement, his eyes were drawn to the one named Nihilus; it seemed he was having a discussion with one of his allies, how strange. Leon felt a bit better getting some information with this small exchange, 'cause at least than he wasn't in the dark. Looking over his shoulder, he felt a little shocked that Neku hadn't been hot on his heels; he'd almost expected the ninja to be behind him awaiting orders, or close to knocking them both down from being too close.

"If your companion's safety is your concern, I'll open a portal for her back to the headquarters."

"She stays, I'll be more distracted by her absence than her being here!"

That exchange dragged Leon's attention back to the situation at hand; glancing in the direction of one of the skeletal soldiers, Leon tightened his grip on his gunblade and waited for the starting signal. He felt his muscles tensing in anticipation of the upcoming fight; yet at the same time he felt nauseated at the idea of fighting innocent civilians. He distantly heard someone else speak, but he couldn't make out the words because of his mind slipping into "combat mode," as Cid described it. Instead, Leon braced himself for an attack when Nihilus started rambling, two different voices melding together.

No sooner had this happened before they were swarmed by the skeletal soldiers. Ducking underneath one, he felt a fireball jump to life in the palm of his hand. Shooting it off, he smirked a bit at the sight of the enemy being stunned; but shortly afterward Leon was dodging another, quickly losing sight of Jayden and catching the briefest glimpse of Neku moving through the crowd. He couldn't take the time to call out to the ninja, since Leon was forced to dodge a swing from one of the skeletal soldiers' scythes. Rolling across the ground, he heard the sound of a gun firing.

Looking up, he saw the soldier closest to the duo that had been talking to Nihilus fall to the ground, dead. Leaping back to his feet, Leon felt his heart freeze as a sound pierced the air.

Ding-dong
Ding-dong
Ding-dong


You're an idiot! Whipping around in the direction of the second district, Leon stared at the wooden doors. A cold sweat springing onto his skin, Leon hopped away, and swung his gunblade in a giant arc; a ring of energy surrounded him before he pulled the trigger, detonating it. Clearing the enemies from around him, Leon nodded at one of the keybladers and bolted toward the second district doors.

He dodged under the arm of another soldier; slipping past it, he hopped up to the part behind the accessory shop and glanced back briefly to see one of the keybladers holding off the ones that had been attacking him. Squall shook his head, dislodging his emotions before he finished running toward the second district doors; shoving the wooden doors open, he stepped through and saw the Guard Armor Heartless getting ready to attack a boy. His lips curled back into a snarl for a brief second; afterwards Leon shot off another fireball and hit it in the back.

Running toward the ledge, Leon jumped off and swiped at the Heartless's back; afterwards Leon landed on the ground and rolled, saving him from getting hurt from landing the wrong way. Jumping back to his feet, Leon quickly slipped into a guarded battle stance, eyes snapping to the mouse who was still near the fountain, and Llyndellia who'd just dodged one of the Guard Armor's punches.

Smiling softly, Leon fought back a laugh as Llyndellia shouted, "Are you insane or just plain stupid?"

"Either way, let's get this fight done Llyndellia." He commented calmly, looking at the Guard Armor he tried to think of how to best to go at it. "By the way, who was the moron that rang the bell?"

Rolling out of the away as he asked, the heartless having took a swing at him, Leon hopped back to his feet; he glared at the creature in mute fury. He looked at the mouse and asked, "Can you fight? If not, then please remove yourself from this situation miss, I'd rather not be held responsible for your injuries."

~- You're Afraid To Come Clean -~

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

Lumie felt a little relieved, even if it was hinted that Kataki was frustrated. She heard his response, and couldn't explain the flare of anger that clutched at her that he planned on returning to Darien's side. She didn't really know him; she couldn't care about a complete stranger. And that's exactly what Kataki was; a stranger, despite what they'd learned about each other.

"Stay with your sister, I'll go check."

Before Lumie could fully register the order, Kataki was up and walking away from her, heading outside no doubt. Suddenly annoyed, Lumie huffed angrily when he was out of earshot; wrapping her arms around her knees, Lumie felt her anger grow at her lack of complaints or desire to fight back.

She didn't think much when after a few minutes Aries rolled over, blinking the sleep from her red eyes. Lumie didn't even say anything as Aries rose to her feet and moved over, sitting down next to her when the younger girl reached her destination.

"You like him, don't you?"

Lumie glared at her, knowing that it was futile but it sure as heck helped. Aries just looked at her in minor exasperation, unable to understand why she couldn't see the same little warning bells. This only served to annoy Lumie, which is a rare thing in regards to her sister. Hearing a soft scuffling, scraping noise, Lumie rose to her feet and summoned her keyblade, standing between Aries and the entrance to the their hiding spot. Holding her keyblade to the right side of her body, her stance spoke of defensive fear; but it seemed like whatever had been coming had halted in its tracks.

"Kataki?" Lumie called, waiting in silence as she awaited an answer from the ninja.

Instead of answering, the unknown noise maker started moving closer, setting every hair standing on end. Bracing herself even more, Lumie snapped, "Kataki, if this is your idea of a joke, it's not funny!"

"Why would he joke like this?"

That question barely escaped Aries before a cry of fear escaped the pink haired girl; Lumie's eyes snapped from her sister to the strange creature in front of her. It was small and a deep purple shade; its red eyes caught the firelight and bounced it back in an eerie echo. It had two horns at the back of its sharp looking head; hearing a noise behind her, Lumie spun to see that more of the same creatures had slipped up behind them. This promptly earned an aggravated scream from Lumie.

She blocked one as it lept at her face. Shoving it backwards, she looked around to see that they'd been backed toward the wall. But when this had happened, Lumie wasn't sure; bracing herself for the fight to come, she nearly summoned a ball of fire before it caught up to her what could happen. "Son of a---!" She bit out, but she stopped herself before she could finish the curse.

Hearing a soft muttering behind her, Lumie glanced over her shoulder, saw the soft, fiery red glow surrounding Aries and rolled out of the way.

"Fira!" Aries shouted, sending the medium sized fireball soaring toward the creatures.

Lumie watched as a fireball shot from Aries's hand and exploded near the creatures; leaping forward, Lumie grabbed her sister's hand and bolted for the way outside. Hearing another scuffling noise behind her, Lumie spun fast enough to make Aries release a startled squeak; letting go of her sister's hand, she slipped into a defensive stance and ordered sharply, "Get outside to Kataki! Now!" Lumie knew that Aries would be surprised, but she also knew that her sister wouldn't question her.

Lumie felt some of the tension leave her body at the sound of Aries's retreating footsteps; looking at the burned creatures, Lumie smirked as she again braced herself for the fight that was about to unfold.

~- That Does Not Begin To Justify You! -~

Amalia glanced around her, listening to the conversation Nihilus had with Umbra and the snappy retort her guardian gave. She felt a thousand and one threads begging for her attention, growing harder and harder for her to ignore, until she couldn't any longer. Closing her eyes to block out the citizens of the world, she missed the sight of a boy with fiery orange hair confronting Nihilus. She heard Umbra's muttered curse, causing her to open her eyes and summon her bo staff, holding it at an angle so it blocked the soldier's scythe, she frowned at the creature.

She heard the familiar, deafening "ang" of one of Umbra's pistols firing. Ducking underneath her opponent's scythe, Lia hooked her staff underneath it and flipped the others weapon out of their grip. She than went for an extremely hard thrust to the soldier's jaw, frowning as it crumbled to the ground, unconscious but still alive. Wheeling to face Umbra, she saw that he had his back to the wall as a circle of soldiers moved toward him.

"That's enough!" She shouted, glaring at the creatures as they spun to face her. Keeping a tight grip on her staff, Lia's eyes drifted from one pair of trouble makers to the next. "You all should know better! Leave Umbra alone; fight only to protect yourself. Heck, just block for cryin' out loud!" She snapped, her eyes quickly snapping around her to see the chaos surrounding them.

She couldn't stop Nihilus from doing this, and that made her feel horrible.

Lia shook her head and bolted toward a boy with fiery orange hair and another boy with brown hair; but she stopped when her path led her toward a girl that looked three years older than her. Coming to a stop next to her, Lia was a little startled by the skeletal soldiers that moved closer to them. "Get down!" She said sharply, reaching out a hand to help her down as Lia dove for the ground, rolling to the right to avoid injury.

Jumping back to her feet, Lia glowered at the fights going on around her. "Barrier," she whispered, throwing up a veil of protective magic around her and the other girl, her eyes searching for the blond from earlier, upon her eyes finding him, Lia shouted, "How can you fight them? They use to be innocent bystanders!"

~- Don't Lie To Me -~

Aries ran outside into the pouring rain; sliding to a stop, her eyes took in the chaos of the creatures fighting. Her lips tightening into a thin line, her eyes scanned her rain soaked surroundings. She thought she caught a glimpse of someone fighting with a golden key, she even saw Kataki fending the creatures off with his back toward her and the hut. It didn't take her long to see the same creature trying to sneak up behind the ninja; an annoyed sound escaping her, Aries summoned her guns and fired off three bullets toward the creature.

All three connected; two hitting it in the back of the head, and the last one hitting it in the back. "Triple Firaga," she whispered, firing off three balls of fire from the tip of her keyblade; having swapped it with her left gun. Red eyes tracked the balls as they went soaring toward three different creatures. Her eyes scanned her surroundings, searching for a sign of anything else near by.

Hearing the barest sounds of someone breathing, Aries raised her gun in her right hand and called, "Show yourself, I know you're there. So, we can do this the easy way or the hard way; which do you prefer?" During this whole time, her eyes darted around her to prevent any creatures from ambushing her.
 
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Eternal Dream

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~- Static -~

For a moment, it seemed as if the rightful heart was about to break free as, seemingly goaded on by their words, another's voice came from the emperor's lips, requesting... no, pleading for them to end him. But then, a shout rand out from the crowd, causing the skeleton soldiers to renew their assault. Mere moments later, a young man charged Nihilus, a blind rage flashing in his eyes.

Whatever presence that had taken over the armored man seemed to fade as, kicking the boy aside, he snarled something at the boy, malice dripping from each word, before rushing through the crowd. Spinning on his heel, Lucien made to pursue him; but a dark corridor soon swallowed the man, making further pursuit impossible as the swirling mass collapsed in on itself. Lucien might be an angel, but even he couldn't divine where another would will a portal to take them to.

Gritting his teeth, the angle gave up on the emperor as a lost cause for the moment as he turned his attention to the matter at hand. With Nihilus' retreat, the skeletons went into a frenzy, their attacks morphing to deadly efficiency. Lucien felt the sorrow of wrongful death rising in his chest, making it a challenge to suppress his wings. But it was a challenge he had become use to during his time traveling the worlds; instead of giving in, he called his lance and shield to his grip, raising the latter just as a skeleton brought its scythe down to cleave the angel's head in two.

For a moment, the combatants tested one another’s strength, until, a gleam entering his eyes, Lucien shoved up and back, destabilizing the skeleton's center of balance. "Don't ever try to best me with a scythe; you'll always fall short!" With that, he ducked and swung around behind the transfigured being; rising swiftly, he struck at a pressure point, causing the soldier to crumple into an unconscious heap.

A wall of earth rose up, forming an effective prison around the fallen soldier. Following the magic to its source, Lucien saw the boy from moments before use the same spell to incarcerate even more of the soldiers, removing them from the fight without killing them. The angel smiled, pleased with the boy's tactics; his attack against the emperor had been fueled by reckless rage, but the imprisoning of the skeletons showed that he still remembered that they were innocent souls transformed into hellish demons against their will. Acts like this always reaffirmed the angel's faith in humanity, despite the boy's recklessness; if anything, he reminded Lucien of Varen in that regard.

Sparks danced across Lucien's hand, the intensity of the magic crackling in his eyes as he called more of it to him. Thumping the shaft of the lance against the ground, he discharged the magic, sending static racing toward several of the soldiers; many of them crumpled to the ground, paralyzed from the force of the lightning magic. Some of the skeletons tried to resist the effects, but the angel's magic was too strong, and soon they succumbed as well, a few of them even gaining an earthen seal as the boy's magic incarcerated them.

Releasing another wave of static, Lucien sensed that the situation Mira was in was escalating as well; several deep, echoing chimes seemed to back this thought up, filling the air with a sense of foreboding. However, there was nothing he could do to help the mouse unless he wanted to reveal himself to all of the mortals nearby. For now, she was doing fine, with the fight she was in being nothing she couldn't handle on her own. So for now, he'd keep a watch on her battle and consider it an impromptu test to evaluate her abilities.

~- Firewall -~

"This is not mine... Its power is flawed. Its beauty tarnished... I must restore it back to its gracious glory. I know its here... The keyhole that is. I also know the wrath it may wrought on this town of serenity and boredom, but my key must no remain the same."

That, thought the little mouse, watching Chi walk away, Is not a very good or comforting reason to want the Keyhole. Yeesh, no reason's a good reason; they're all either deeply wrong or desperate denial!

"I don't like the look of that guy. And I'm Llyndellia. Nice to meet you."

Turning back as Llyndellia gave her name, Mira resisted the urge to make a joke about it being a mouthful. Actually, with her mind occupied by Chi's ominous quest to restore his Keyblade, it was pitifully easy to keep the jokes in check as Mira said, "You and me both, sister. Listen, I really need to get going; that guy's giving me..."

Her words were cut off as a deep, throaty peal rang through the streets. Confused, Mira whipped her head around to face the Gizmo Shop; to be more accurate, she was looking at the bell on the shadowed rooftop. Hadn't she heard that it was boarded up? So why was it ringing now?

Two more peals rang through the air, filling the little mouse with dread as several pedestrians stopped in their tracks, raising their own eyes fearfully to look at the bell tower. For a moment, time seemed frozen as the bell's echoes faded away; but then, a rumbling scrape shook the ground as the mural behind the fountain slowly turned, revealing a new painting and, Mira sensed, the Keyhole.

A triumphant shout echoed through the air as Chi almost flew back toward the fountain. Readying herself, Mira was a breath away from calling her own Keyblade to stop him; but the appearance of a large, armored Heartless stopped all three of them in their tracks, though Chi did have some choice words for the monster. Come to think of it, Mira had a few of her own she'd like to say; but between the fact that this was neither the time nor place, and she honestly didn't want to antagonize the mentally deranged boy, she bit her tongue and chose to save the tirade for a later date.

"By the way, who was the moron that rang the bell? Can you fight? If not, then please remove yourself from this situation miss, I'd rather not be held responsible for your injuries."

Llyndellia and Chi went at the Heartless almost instantly, still trading verbal blows. Mira hung back, for a moment, calling magic to her as she weaved her spell. Jerking her head in Chi's direction, she answered the brunette's question, "That guy's one that rang the bell. And I can fight just fine, so don't worry about me, worry about yourself!"

Feeling the current peak, she released the spell; instantly, a ring of flames appeared around the four of them and the Heartless. The flames were cold to the touch of all but the beast, so the fire wall wouldn't hinder them; but it kept the Heartless from getting away and attacking any pedestrians while forming an arena a hundred feet out, giving the Keybladers and the new guy ample space for spells and techniques.

Mira's shoulders itched, but she kept a tight hold on the wings as she jumped from the fire wall seamlessly into another spell. Crouching low to the ground, she centered the flow of magic into her fingers and palms; placing her hands against the round cobbles of the street, she intoned, "O sorrowful waters, I want to end this!"

Raising her hand from the ground, Mira released the magic as a great geyser of water erupted from the fountain. Directing it to surge, she sent it straight at the Heartless, knocking it apart from the force. Looking to Llyndellia and Chi, the mouse called, "Whenever you're ready; save the clawing of each other’s throats out for later!"

~- Darkness -~

Varen threw a look at Ivy, but hung back all the same. Studying her face, he could see that the Druid girl looked pale; gently, she hopefully wouldn't notice, he focused on her mind, tuning into her thought to try and find out why...

Nice try, Noctis, but I know you're there. I think I recognize one of them, maybe, but that's not enough to be the cause of whatever made you decide to try a mind probe. I'm fine, so focus on the matter at hand!

Man, those sisters could be scarily similar when they wanted to be. Smiling slightly, if still worried, he turned back to watching the two guys in the clearing; a but a soft rustling in the jungle on the other side of the space drew his attention. Varen's eyes narrowed as he watched the spot, waiting.

Suddenly, two hyenas burst from the tropical undergrowth, racing for the two in the clearing. Varen was tensed, ready to race into the clearing, when a hand wrapped around his forearm, fingers gripping him in a vice of steel.

Looking to the clearing, he saw that the two were handling themselves well enough that they didn't need his help. Turning to Ivy, he placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to steady her. Feeling how cold she was, he drew her cloak tighter around her as he studied her stark white face. "Seriously, what's wrong, little sister?"

Shaking her head, the girl closed her glassy eyes, hiding them as she bit out, "Don't leave me."

Rubbing her shoulder to try and warm her, Varen started talking softly, just trying to keep the normally serene girl calm. They way she was staring, he felt almost certain that she was having a vision; but at the same time, the thought made no sense. Ivy's visions always came to her as dreams; why the change now?

A low crackling sound reached Varen's ears, setting him on edge. Squeezing her shoulder, he whispered, "I'm not leaving you, I swear. But there's something stalking us..."

Snarling, a hyena burst from the bushes; sensing the girl's weakness, the animal went for Ivy, the hunt blinding it to Varen. The hyena was reminded painfully quick of the young man's presence as, growling himself, Varen tackled the beast, sending both of them crashing into the clearing.

Rolling on his shoulder, Varen used his momentum to throw the animal off of him. Clambering quickly to its feet, it watched with hungry eyes. Using a trick he picked up from Jordon, Varen adopted a threatening posture and growled at the hyena, a clear command for the animal to get lost. It watched him a moment longer, but the hyena turned around and ran off, no doubt following the scent of its fellows.

A soft rustle had Varen turning around, but he relaxed slightly when he saw Ivy picking her way delicately into the clearing. Her face looked drawn and pale, but her eyes had regained their trademark calm, displaying none of her fear or weakness of a little while ago. Shoving aside his curiosity for a better time, Varen laughed softly in an attempt to dispel the tension that was slowly building in the air, as well as to draw the other two's attention from Ivy. "Fist time I've seen those animals since I've been here, and they seem out for blood; terrific. Mind if we share your campsite for the night in keeping with the safety in numbers philosophy? It'd give you a couple more sets of eyes, in case they come back with their pack."

Waiting for their reply, Varen's eyes went to the dark haired mind, his senses on high alert. While the boy didn't concern him at the moment, Varen could feel the Darkness clinging to this man as easily as he could feel his own. But unlike Varen's, which Willow had described as feeling like a warm summer night, the shadows around this man were a malignant miasma, as cold as midnight in the dead of winter. Varen wanted to let Ivy recover first, then ask her opinion.

He was sure they'd found their man.
 
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Shinra

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Renn heard as Seraphina screamed and turned his head toward the podium. In the chaos of the hurling civilians he saw the Skeletons group up around her.

Oh no! He thought as he advanced but suddenly Mog charged in with a courageus cry.



"KUUUUUUUPOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" He screamed as he went into the fray of skeletons. Renn followed, but Mog's flight reached Seraphina faster. He raised his staff and said: "Zero Gravira!" And a purple disk extended out, swallowing the skeletons and lifting them a few feet off the ground, incapacitated and disabled.

Renn signalled Mog and Seraphina to get out of there and Mog extended his Staff down to Seraphina.


"C'mon! Get out of there!"


"He's right Kupo! Kupo?"
He suddenly changed his reaction as the ground moved from underneath him slightly. "No... someone opened the way to the keyhole!"

Renn soon turned his head toward the door he and Mog came through to sense a huge source of darkness. He soon took off as he was surrounded by heartless, those of the same variety he encountered at olympus as he dashed through the gate. But he could sense the prominent darkness ahead of him only to see a girl had knocked it apart with an aqueus-type spell.

"Whenever you're ready; save the clawing of each other’s throats out for later!"

He soon spotted two other girls, just ahead, closer to the big heartless.

Renn's instincts just kicked in and he jumped right over the ornaments of the fountain and his keyblade, cloaked in the veil of contrast, Renn threw it at the biggest piece of the heartless, the Torso. The weapon spun until the blade spun so fast, the weapon looked like a sawblade of multiple rows of gray, white, and black. Renn landed infront of Mira, and the keyblade reappeared in his grip. He rose and took a breath... "Whoa..."
 

SwagStarIV

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Chi watched as a new warrior cut his way into the fray and the mouse from before entered the battle as if she was a mage of sorts, but none the less the radiance from his key chain does not lie. After looking at his key chain, which was now seeping darkness and shining brilliantly with light, he thought to himself. She has a keen sense of magic. I guess her mental capacity is not one to be underestimated. This new guy seems quite capable of battle himself. I'm guessing this town wasn't the most peaceful place after all. Well that was... Wait a sec... He just said... He said... I was a... Chi began to say to the swordsman, "MORON!?!?!?" Chi stopped for a second, took a breath, then calmly stated, "That would happen to be-"As Chi was completing his sentence, the heartless began to rumble in a manner only expressed as spiteful. The heartless pieces were scattered, but they shot to the air and came crashing down. It had seemed a little different though. Its body parts had switched places. The helmet of the heartless then dropped open revealing its true form. Of course its not over. It couldn't be that easy. If it was ever going to reset the battle, might as well do it after you get trampled on. Ok well let's see if I can do this correctly.

Chi sent his keyblade away and removed his key chain from his pocket and stated, "Mother... Grant me your grace!" The white wing on his key chain began to shine even brighter and his blades began to shine just as vibrant. His hands and light swords were surging with the energy of pure light. Chi raced towards the heartless, removed 2 of the six blades floating behind him, and jumped towards the torso. He began with an aerial assault, but then the heartless split apart and the various pieces began to act separately. The torso that he was attacking began to vigorously spin, causing a tornado type effect, and drawing in nearby enemies. The feet began stomping around as if it where trying to crush all in its path, and the hands where spinning and slicing any and everything in their path. Chi tried to repel the torso, but was to close to ultimately get away. Instead, he used it as momentum and cast an aeroa spell on him self, to block the attack of the torso. Chi then lunged at it and began to attack regardless of its spinning attack. While his shield of wind was weakening, he stabbed on of his light swords into the torso, and summoned the 4 light blades on his back, to spin around his wrist in an X formation. As they span and tilted forward, the elemental swords began to carve into the torso of the heartless. They span in a clockwise rotation, continuously damaging the heartless. Chi waited for the aeroa spell to deplete. In a synchronized fashion the aeroa spell depleted and Chi shot the spinning light blades, along with the 2 he had in his hands, into the heartless. The force from the shot resulted in pushing Chi off of the Heartless armor. Chi was now out of the drift caused by the torso, but could not get something off his mind. He was lost in a mental drift, and was staring at the ground. He summoned his keyblade, and continued to mentally drift.
 

saphexteni

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Location: Traverse Town, District 1

Seraphina gritted her teeth
as she prepared for the oncoming fight. Her mind spun, thinking of a way to subdue them quickly but also not too harshly, while also avoiding being beat by the bunch of soldiers. No matter what they had become, it was clear that they were the innocent civilians. It definitely explained why there weren't any people walking around when she arrived. They were all here, and probably turned into skeletons while their attention was caught. By Nihilus, no doubt.

Before Seraphina could figure out what to do, though, great walls of earth and rock arose around the enemies, folding up in a box-like structure, and essentially trapping them. Sera looked up, in awe of the structures, and turned to see the person who had cast the spell. Or whatever you called it. It was the fighter with the spiky orange hair, and he got up, lifting his hand from the ground where it had been placed.

"I'm no officer, but we need to restrain them, not kill them! They're people just like us, and we need to help them! Do what you can to prevent any more casualties!"

Sera nodded before he dashed back into the fray. A part of her marveled at the skill and technique that was used. Clearly there was much more diversity in the worlds than she had known, even through reading about them.

Launching herself at the army, she found herself instantly surrounded all over again, and she let out a loud cry of determination, her arm swinging and blocking, while her mind thought of how she should try to restrain them without killing them, while also escaping reasonably unharmed herself. She defended herself against the skeletons' blows and sent out a few stabs occasionally, but realized how foolish she was in thinking she could take on more than a few of them at a time- she hardly had any real experience in battle, and it was only now that she realized how important that was.

Suddenly having an idea, she did a backward flip back farther from the skeletons, hoping that her spell would work. She raised her keyblade, focused, and yelled "
STOPRA!" The very first skeleton froze midswing and midstride, causing Sera to think that her spell had succeeded. However, the second one suddenly appeared, swinging at her unexpectedly, to which Sera dodged, but found herself back against a wall. The spell only half worked... it came out as a weak stop instead... Normally, a stop spell wouldn't be too bad but with the amount of enemies boring down on her, a stopra would have had a better range.

"KUUUUUUUPOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

Before the skeletons could get closer, though, the strange floating creature came towards her with its wand raised, and he yelled out a magic command, to which the skeletons were lifted off the ground, incapacitated. His accompanying friend, Renn, called for her to get out of there, and the floating creature reached out its staff to help her. Flushed, and a little annoyed that he had to come and help her, she took it quickly, only to let it go as soon as she stood up straight. Second time today someone else helped me today...

Before getting a chance to exchange words, however, Seraphina heard a commotion come from behind the District 2 doors, and the Renn guy turned to look there, his eyes suddenly looking very alert, and he didn't waste time to run through the doors after saying something about a keyhole. A keyhole... who would open it at this point in time? She cursed, thinking that it might have been more useful for her to stay and help incapacitate the other skeletons (although honestly, the magic that could do that wasn't exactly her cup of tea, and she might've been useless there, too), but at the same time, could not ignore the curiosity that was gnawing at her- seeing a real keyhole. After putting a few more skeletons under her stop spell, and hitting them with a quick aim to knock them out once they regained their speed, she ran off after where Renn had gone.

Sera's keyblade flared in her hand, and she stopped when she came through and saw the huge armored creature standing near the fountain in front of her... or at least, she thought it might've been an armored creature....pieces of it were floating around the district, attacking a couple other fighters- Renn stood not far from her, and there were a couple others, and... a mouse...? One of them was attacking the larger piece that looked like a torso, though the torso was spinning at an incredible speed, make it incredible difficult to land any good hits, and causing a tornado-like effect. The wielder was right above the torso, seeming to be floating due to the effect caused by its spinning.

Unfaltering, and determined to make up for her mess-ups with the skeletons, Sera launched her keyblade at the torso with all her strength. Her key was engulfed in flames as it
spun towards the armored torso, bounced off of it, and came back to her hand. She saw a glimpse of first catch onto the torso before being put out by its spinning. This time, she raised her keyblade, calling out "Crawling Fire!" which caused a few small fireballs to come out from the tip of it, "crawling" close to the ground, steadily towards the armor's torso. When reaching its target, it came out of the ground, attacking it directly below it. She wasn't sure if the fire was really damaging it, but it did bother it, in which the torso piece slowed down and glanced around. Will taking out that torso piece take care of the limbs as well? Well, only one way to find out, I suppose.
 

Key Wielder

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”Increasingly.”

Darien eyed Ximálech’s Keyblade with something akin to surprise. Of all the people he would have expected to have a Keyblade, this kid certainly wasn’t one of them. Then again, it seemed like just anyone could wield them these days. The incompetent light wielders, the misguided dark wielders, and all the motley in between—what happened to the days when only those worthy of the honor held a Keyblade?

They died, just like everything else.

Still, this wasn’t an altogether terrible turn of events. In fact, he even surprised himself slightly with how perfect the plan was forming in his head. Taking a moment to look at his companion’s Keyblade, ignoring the reminiscence that he knew wasn’t his own, Darien smiled in relief.

“I wasn’t expecting this, but… I’m glad you’re one of us,” he said, nodding genially. After a moment, he frowned, seeming to battle with himself over something before speaking again, his voice hesitant.

“I didn’t want to say anything without knowing, but…given the circumstances… I’m not just looking for my friends.” The word nearly caught in his throat. “We were looking for something called a keyhole. They’re in every world, sort of like a doorway to its core. If a Keyblade locks it, the world will be protected; if it opens it…unspeakable things happen to the world. My friends and I have been sealing as many as we can, what with the dark wielders all over the place, but we got separated after the last one. I don’t know if they made it here yet, but I have to keep going anyway. We don’t have time to waste.”

He paused, anxiously awaiting some kind of answer and banishing his Keyblade. Shrugging, Darien continued, “You don’t have to help if you don’t want to. I know your friends are important too…” He cleared his throat. “Maybe we should move on anyway, and you can think about it. I just don’t want to wait around for those hyenas to come back with friends.”

”You’re despicable.”

Darien pulled his jacket tighter around himself, zipping it up and putting his hands in his pockets. Why was it that deserts were so blisteringly hot in the daytime and freezing at night?

Before he could start moving, a commotion nearby had him drawing his Keyblade again, watching warily and then in dismay as two more came barreling through the undergrowth. It looked like their hyenas weren’t alone.

"First time I've seen those animals since I've been here, and they seem out for blood; terrific. Mind if we share your campsite for the night in keeping with the safety in numbers philosophy? It'd give you a couple more sets of eyes, in case they come back with their pack."

No way I’m getting lucky enough to deal with all of them tonight. Still, I can’t show this kid anything but light wielder kindness. Blech.

”You made your bed, now you lie in it.”

What will it take to get rid of you?!

“Of course.” Darien let his arm fall to his side, but his Keyblade remained in his tight grip in spite of the slight smile on his face. It seemed a little too convenient that these two were suddenly here and he hadn’t heard or seen them approach. “We should probably move somewhere else, though. I’d rather not stay where they found us last time, and we might find a place that will give us more opportunity to hear them.”

. . .

"I want my key to return to its rightful elegance!!!!"

…What an idiot.

Llyndellia could only watch as Chi went full force toward the Heartless. Apparently he wasn’t done making a fool of himself yet, though.

"You know nothing about me... So don't judge a book by its cover!"

Isn’t it great how people who judge you tell you not to judge them?

A blast of fire caught her off guard and she looked around the Heartless to see Leon joining the fray, leaping down to where she and Mira were situated near the battle.

"By the way, who was the moron that rang the bell?"

Smirking, Llyndellia let Mira answer that one. She knew she was going to like Leon. She could dwell on that later, though.

Mira’s spell was powerful, far more so than she would have expected, and the force of it blew the Heartless apart.

"Whenever you're ready; save the clawing of each other’s throats out for later!"

Llyndellia nodded, rushing forward. Something went whizzing past her head, almost looking like a saw, and crashed through the Heartless’s torso before vanishing in a flash of light. The creature was changing, shifting; Chi scattered it again, heading for its torso while the rest of it went on a mad tirade around the fountain. As she ran, Llyndellia flung her Keyblade out; it spun in a circle around her.

When it returned to her hand, ten more hovered around her. Now that’s more like it.

She could hear more than see Chi attaching the Heartless, heading in the opposite direction toward the hands and head. Moving a hand, she sent the ghostly copies of her Keyblade ahead of her, and the crashing sound of the helmet bashing against them rang out through the district. Ducking, she slid underneath its arc and came out behind, jumping high to slash at one of the gauntlets while a copy did the same to the other. Under the barrage of attacks, the gauntlets scattered, the head floating in the air for a moment before falling back down to earth. Llyndellia was waiting: she put all of her strength into a swing and felt her blade make contact with the helmet, knocking it toward the flame-encrusted torso of the Heartless. The spike of the helmet sheared through the metal with a resounding crash and stuck grotesquely.

Well, that’s one thing taken care of, anyway, she thought as the gauntlets took to the air again, spinning so rapidly they were a blur of purple. Her Keyblade copies came back to her, hovering above her head as she prepared another attack.

. . .

Jayden had been about to make a run for Nihilus when a flash of orange swept past him and he was knocked to the side, losing his balance in his moment of distraction. A curse escaped his lips as he saw Neku approaching Nihilus, shouting words he couldn’t hear, but there was no time to intervene before the boy did something stupid. Another skeleton was in the way, swinging a sword downward. At the last second, Jayden rolled to the side and kicked the creature’s legs out from underneath it. He hoped that it would just stay down for once so he wouldn’t have to do more damage, but the creature was relentless.

It was on its feet a second later and Jayden dodged again. It came careening around, lost its balance, and fell forward. Jayden had only jumped aside in the nick of time, but he wasn’t lucky enough to come away unscathed. The sword fell from the creature’s hand, slicing through the knee of Jayden’s pants. He bit his lips against the cry, ignored the blood that poured slowly from his leg, and stumbled away from the struggling creature.

"How can you fight them? They use to be innocent bystanders!"

Jayden looked around, one hand gripping his Keyblade while the other squeezed his leg futilely to stem the quickening blood flow, and saw the girl Nihilus had spoken about glaring at him. Is she serious?

Something struck his back and he fell on his stomach, rolling over in time to avoid the blade that nearly severed his head. Holding his Keyblade before him, he shouted, “Fire!” The spell knocked the creature back; it didn’t get up.

It wasn’t the only one. Jayden struggled to his feet but only managed to make it to one knee, the other leg stretched uselessly in front of him, and he surveyed the girl with equal distaste.

“If you have a better idea, feel free to try it!” he shouted back at her. Of course, it wasn’t her fault. He knew that well enough. Nihilus, however, was nowhere to be found, undoubtedly having escaped while chaos reigned around him. He could hear bells in the distance but paid them no mind. He had to stop this first.

Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn…

Putting the point of his Keyblade on the ground and leaning heavily on it, Jayden managed to get to his feet, keeping his weight off his injured leg as he surveyed the situation. Most of the citizens had run through to the Third District, which was a blessing. The few who were left could fight, an impressive bunch from what he could see, and it didn’t take long to see Neku battling his own men to keep them from harming the skeletons. He appreciated the sentiment, but there was an easier way.

Jayden held his Keyblade in front of him, took a deep breath, and murmured, “Water.”

Jets streamed out from his weapon, moving in all directions. They whirled around the skeleton creatures, dragging them toward the center of the square. He had hoped to round all of them up in one go, but his strength was waning already and some were too far away for him to manage. The others could handle them, though. At least two dozen of them were caught in his trap, and as they floated in the air, a surge of energy burst down his arms and through his Keyblade, a maelstrom surging forth and creating a tank with invisible walls around the skeletons he had managed to capture. It worked far better than when he’d tried it against Pepper, and luckily he wasn’t being electrocuted this time, but he was finished as soon as he cast the spell and fell to his knees, pain shooting through his injured one. The creatures—former innocents—would be fine.

“Damen!”

A lieutenant nearby heard him, although his voice wasn’t as loud as he had hoped, and he motioned the man over. Blood was gushing out of his leg now, but he put a hand over it and paid it no mind. Well, almost.

“Yes, sir?”

“Capture, not kill. We need to see if we can turn them back. Give the order.”

Damen nodded and ran into the thick of things, shouting. “CAPTURE, NOT KILL! Round them up!”
 

Grandsword

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~from dreaded darkness..to hollowed light.~

as Ordias fought through the unversed, he captured glimpses of others fighting the creatures as well..a pink haired girl blasted away at the creatures with a combo of fire magic and guns while giving backup to.."wait..brown hair, gunblades..and an overwhelming stink of voideus..yep, it's him." he thought aloud, resolving to give the group aid against the onslaught he leapt to kataki's side, letting off a burst of lightning to deter the unversed which were amassing on their position
 

Shinra

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"Kupo? Capture? not kill eh? Maybe I could help with that..." Mog said as he looked at the skeletons. "Okay... I guess I'll have to use the big one... but I'll only have one Chronos Tear after this... STOPJA!"
It froze every single skeleton in the first district around him and he saw the remaining civilians recoil with surprise as all the Skeletons stopped dead in their tracks.

His body suddenly felt heavy as he fell to the ground into unconsciousness his last word being a drawn out: "Kuuupo..."

Renn was surrounded by heartless and he gritted his teeth. Mira hadn't done anything yet so he had a feeling that he'd have to work his way to the big hartless that changed it's form. "Great. Let's do this."

He charged headlong into the swarm of shadows toward the reverse armor. As he fought off three shadows trying to get the jump on him, He thought That spell seemed different compared to regular fire... maybe because of the crystal in my chest? does it influence it? let's try it again.

But he was suddenly overcome with shadows and one of the hands-turned feet stomped down at him and a sense of desperation overcame him and he felt the magic welling up in him. Just before the foot landed, he jumped back and pointed his keyblade at the general area. "Amaterasu!" And a black fireball launched itself from his keyblade hitting the hand-turned foot and knocking it backward. the explosion destroyed some of the shadows around it as well.
Renn's feelings as he landed turned from desperation to wishing of balance once more and he felt a new power well up in him, not magic, but very similar. The cryst almost felt to be suffusing him with new power. His keyblade flowed like water out of his grip and right before his eyes it split in two, one completely black, one completely white.

"Yin and yang... Light and darkness, forever a balance." The twin blades placed themselves into his grip of both hands. And his attacks began flowing like water from a stream endlessly toward the large body of the transformed heartless/He jumped with serene grace and spun clockwise with both keyblades striking at the same time, the implements clashing against it produced a tone similar yet of a higher note than the bell that rung it and he landed again but as expected the shadows would not falter in their ranks. Renn frowned and then hoped that the light in the cryst would react to his frustration. but underlying that was hope and faith that all the fighters here would survive this ordeal and it shone through. He spun counter clockwise killing the shadows around him with a ring of light and his twin keyblades recombined into the original tribute and a orb grew at the tip the orb grew and Renn let go as it reached a maximum size. the orb split into tiny beams that killed all in it's way. In terms of shadows anyway. he fell to the ground not a metre in front of the body of the armored enemy. His arms and body felt heavy and he backed off toward Mira again.
 

Smoofy

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Kataki had just finished eliminating yet another of the new enemies when he felt a surge of heat behind him. A young girl with long, pink hair had just eliminated more of his foes.

"Aries?" Kataki questioned, lowering his blade for a moment. "Where's Lu-" He was cut off, forced to parry more attacks from the creatures. They were near endless! Kataki made a break for the young girl, joining her. In the clearing, Kataki saw strikes of gold. Then, in a moment, the person leapt to his side and shot off a bolt of lightning, eliminating more of the creatures.

"Show yourself, I know you're there. So, we can do this the easy way or the hard way; which do you prefer?"

Kataki paused momentarily, who was she talking to? The new stranger? Kataki relaxed for a brief moment. If she was sensing someone then...

Ah. There it was. Kataki could sense the presence. Whoever else was here, Aries wasn't speaking to the stranger fending off these enemies.

--

Well, it appears the young girl is far more perceptive than initially believed.

With a swipe of his hand, the Unversed withdrew their attack, leaving those in the area safe from harm, for now. Astex stood erect on the branch now, but as he did so, the branch made no indication of the weight-shift at all. He stepped forward towards the two, out into the clearing. It seemed like he was walking down a grandiose set of stairs. If he was going to make an entrance, he may as well encapsulate them. He continued walking until he was a few feet from them. He remained unarmed.

"Evening." Astex said, stepping into the dim light. The light of the moon accentuated his frail, haggard features. Even more so as he strained to smile. "I hope that was as fun for you to participate in as it was for me to watch." He continued in a light-hearted manner. His eyes traveled across the man in the distance, towards Kataki, then the young girl, his eyes narrowing. At this, he saw Kataki flinch forward slightly in a protective stance.

"Calm down, the girl is capable enough. I wasn't aware you had become her babysitter." He said in a chiding tone. Irritation was evident on the boys face, but he didn't move, weapon still in his hands. "You are however, smart for being cautious, as would anyone." He continued, transitioning once again to a softer tone. "Then again, that really does deserve no real merit." He finished, eyes locked on the boy. After a couple of moments, his eyes wandered to the young, pink-haired girl.

"Now, in response to your question, girl: I'll do things my way. You have no say in the matter, as it is far out of your control." He spoke in a condescending tone, slowly hunching his back. Without the support of his magic, it was difficult to stand straight.

"What were those things that attacked us?"

Astex raised a disinterested eyebrow at this question from the boy. He needed to learn not to interrupt. This will be a lesson he will learn very soon.

"Oh? I thought you would know. They're Unversed, they feed off of negativity, mainly. Rather useful, if I say so myself. There is a plenty of negativity in the World, as for every Heartless that a single heart would make, I could probably make tens or hundreds more Unversed. Also, just as a forewarning, young ninja, you may want to be careful with who you grow attached to. Who knows what might happen to you or them... And you should be especially careful, considering your current situation... The fact that you stand here in front of me right now is a terrible mistake." He said, his lips growing into an ominous sneer. "And your brother... Oh what a terrible mess he turned into. And it never would have happened to, if it wasn't for you." He let out a slight laugh, clearly amused by his own words. As he restored his original stature, he then spoke to the new warrior.

"You. I feel a strong sense of Light within you, yet you ally with this soldier of darkness? That is a crime punishable by death, I'll have you know. To stand by this... filth is inexcusable!" His face contorted into a disgusted sneer through the last few words. "In any case, you shall meet your fate soon, I guarantee it."

--

This asshole's words sent Kataki on edge. What the hell was his problem? So with a loud yell, Kataki dashed towards the man, weapon raised. But his attack never struck, as he hand was cut by a sweeping vacuum of wind. He flinched in pain and dropped his weapon, and let out a gasp of pain as he gripped his bloodied hand.

"Calm down. You don't stand a chance anyway. You're all more than welcome to try however. Or you can simply give up now. I'll consider letting you go, unless you want to risk these people's lives."

The man seemed to stand up with a lot more ease now, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He stood with his arms slack. He slowed raised them both, so that they made a loose "C" shape.

With that, floods of Unversed emerged between Kataki and the man, all poised to strike. Kataki looked on in disbelief. Who the hell was this guy? How did he know so much about him? And at that, what in the hell was he even talking about? Kataki looked back down at his bloodied hand. No time for first aid. Kataki picked up his blade with his free hand as the Unversed closed in on them. He looked back to Aries, the man, and then to the hut where Lumie was. Why hadn't she come out yet?

"I won't fight. At least let the girls stay safe." This new stranger seemed chivalrous enough to agree. The man let out a short laugh in disbelief.

"Oh my how you've gotten soft! I just can't comprehend how pathetic you sound! Oh fine, fine, but only because I haven't laughed like that in a while!"

The man continued to laugh as he swept away the Unversed. There was no way they could have handled that many. The man turned around and began to walk away.

"Remember the name Astex, kids. You'll probably hear a lot about me soon."


With that, the man opened up a strange portal. It seemed different to the regular corridors of darkness in that it looked like a simple puddle rather than a vortex of swirling darkness. Astex floated off the ground slightly as he lowered himself down.

Kataki, immediately wanting to know everyone's status, swung around toward the girl and the man as he clutched his bloodied hand.

"Thanks for your help. I'm Kataki." He said to the new stranger. " You're welcome to join us over here, now if you'll excuse me, come on Aries..." Kataki beckoned the girl to come with him as he half walked and half ran to the hut, simply wanting to make sure Lumie was safe. Why did they have to get dragged into this?

"Lumie? You alright?" He asked as he stepped through the door. It was rather silly, really, what with Kataki asking Lumie if she's safe with blood dripping down his arm. Still, it wasn't fatal nor dangerous, and could be taken care of later. He got them into this mess, so it was his duty to make sure they were okay.

--

Neku tripped over his own feet as the entirety of the Skeleton population simply stopped moving.

With a painful sounding thump, he collided with the ground then slowly stood back up, rubbing his right elbow with his left hand.

"Oww..."

A small, fluffy moogle then fell in front of him and thanks to his ninja reflexes, he caught the little dude.

"Wow. Powerful magic for a little guy." Neku said, looking around the First District. It had become almost silent after that bout of confusion. The soldiers had stopped fighting and everyone else seemed safe. Neku just hoped the spell lasted. Neku walked over to one of the lamp posts, and set the moogle down in the little patch of grass. He returned to the Skeletons and began to conceal them in rock again, restricting any further movement. He continued this at a slower rate than before. Still, it was just a slight precautionary measure. As he continued, he spotted Jayden. Neku stopped what he was doing and ran towards him.

"Jayden... What the hell happened?" He asked, very obviously baffled. "All those people..." He continued. It was heartbreaking at how many lost their lives in an instant. "Why did that man do that to all those innocent people?"

Neku couldn't understand it. Why did people have to be so cruel to one another? Why couldn't Jayden and Llyn get along? Sure, they were two different people with differing opinions, but what kept them from being so civil about it? Why was everyone so stubborn, so rude, so... wrong? Why do these people fight? Why do they want to obtain or protect Kingdom Hearts so bad? What pushed these terrible people to do terrible things?

I just... don't get people. Why do I let them do these terrible things to one another? Why do I let them hurt those around them? Why do I let them hurt me? I don't...

Neku's head was awash with confusion. Why was there war? Why did everyone cause so much suffering? Is it possible at all to do any real good? No matter who wins, someone gets hurt. No matter who wins, countless will die. What was the point in all this?

Neku closed his eyes for a brief moment, and the shadow of his mind, he saw Kataki. He saw Kataki like he had never seen him before. He stared straight back at Neku, but he looked sad. Overwhelmingly sad.

I need answers. I just need answers. Then I can be happy. I won't need to fight anymore. No matter who I fight for, people are just gonna die. I just need to find Kataki... and I can be done.

His eyes snapped open after a few brief moments. Some skeletons remained unrestrained, but the magic seemed to hold for now.


 
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Grandsword

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as the haggard old man appeared and began speaking, something went off in ordias's head.
it was as though he could feel something off about the man..

this feeling was confirmed when the man summoned those creatures...those..unversed?!
he had read of such creatures in his studies..
fledgling emotions...
given form in a shell of darkness. "you speak of serving the light..yet you toy with matters of the heart!"
memories of nihilus's deeds, of his twisting and corrupting of countless innocents flashed in his mind.
and Ordias had to suppress his rage "you're no better than Nihilus!! you twist a natural force to your own ends, just to destroy something you hate! it's people like you..who need to disappear!"

he yelled, pointing his keyblade at Astex.
who then disappeared in a portal.

shaking his head of anger, he proceeded to follow kataki.

"i apologize for the outburst..people like him.they disgust me. anyhow, it's a pleasure to meet you in person. my name is Ordias, Ordias Wilson."

he said, partly to introduce himself to kataki.

and partly to let voideus know that he was there, that he hadn't been broken by his influence. that should shake him up a bit, or at the very least piss him off, since few have resisted him in such a way.
 

SwagStarIV

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Chi was lost in the statement from before... How could someone call me a Moron!? As unbelieveable as that may be for him to conceive, he had to consider the fact that they didn't necessarily know him... Or the fact that he constructed his own little hideout in the key of their town. How could I be so stupid!? The bell was the key the whole time. No wonder it never rang. Well... This thing is good as gone. I wonder if I should... Hmmm. Ok. That could work. But i doubt it. That thing seems to be some guardian of sorts. I must do this quickly though. The torso of this armored shadow had taken quite a beating, but the rest of the armor still remained. Chi knew that something had to be done. This thought helped him formulate a plan. Chi watched as the beast had seemingly been goin all out, but the head had seemed more like an observer. The attacks of the heartless wasn't anything different from any other low level heartless, yet... Its protecting the keyhole? Somethings not right. It was holding out.

Chi began to shoot various magic spells at the legs. When he fired a gravity spell the feet seemed to stop moving. Chi took this chance to try and take them out while it was vulnerable. He began to glow a strong white color and unleashed a fierce combo on the grounded feet of armor. He started saying, "Destiny!" Upon his last attack the boots tried to continue rampaging, but his upward swing repelled their continuous havoc and sent them in the air. He tried to finish his limit technique, but they held to much weight and instead he ended up diving into the, once again, grounded boots. Chi continued to attack the boots and saw the armor had began to move faster. He came to the assumption that it must be fighting for survival now.

The battle between the boots occurred closer to the gizmo shop. Now they were storming towards the rest of the keybladers, the torso and spinning hands. Chi provoked the armor so that it would attack him with all it had. Coincidentally he caught the attention of the battered torso. The torso had flipped in a horizontal position and began to charge a blast. Chi noticed that the Mouse and one of his fellow combatants where in the path of the blast. Chi pushed the keyblader into the mouse from earlier saying, "This is gonna hurt!" They had successfully been moved out of the way, but Chi had to act. Chi burst in light and entered his purge form. He braced for impact by simply putting his hands behind his keyblade, and was blasted into the fountain. Chi exited out of his form by dispersing the huge amount of light contained in his body upon impact with the wall. The blast form him dispersing his energy canceled the damage from the wall and destroyed the armors feet. He slid down from the wall containing keyhole, into the puddle of water with a devious smirk hid by his bodies lifeless expression. Now slumped over with his hood raised, Chi could do nothing but wait.
 

Key Wielder

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Jayden watched as the rest of the skeletons in the First District froze in their tracks, nodding to a few of his men as they glanced questioningly at him. “Round them up and bring them back to base.”

“Yes, sir.”

They moved immediately, almost hilarious as they attempted to find a way to move piles of bones that were larger than themselves. The men who surveyed his water prison, in which the ones he’d managed to trap were swimming awkwardly, were in a particularly interesting bind. Jayden would have chuckled on another day. As a particularly painful throb went through his leg and he spotted Neku running towards him, however, he found he wasn’t in the laughing mood.

"Jayden... What the hell happened? All those people... Why did that man do that to all those innocent people?"

Using his Keyblade as a crutch, Jayden pushed himself to his feet, swayed slightly, and waited a moment until he felt steady enough to answer. Unbeknownst to Neku, his words had struck a chord that Jayden had hoped would be dulled after battle. Innocent people…

“Because this is war, and assholes abound,” he said, the words bitter in his mouth. “Some don’t care who they hurt to get what they want. What that particular asshole wanted, I have no idea. It’s generally better not to understand the thought processes of the insane. But anyway…”

He cleared his throat and looked around. His men were making a fair amount of progress in at least gathering the skeletons together, but transporting them was going to be an issue. The little Moogle from before was lying under a streetlight, recovering from the magic he had used. Most of the others he’d vaguely noticed before were gone, Leon included, and Jayden narrowed his eyes slightly. He could have imagined the others might run when things were at their worst, but Leon was a warrior, there was no mistaking it. Which meant…

A sudden blast in the distance caught his attention, and his men stopped what they were doing and followed his gaze to the door to the Second District. He glanced down at his leg and sighed. Dammit. Should have brought a potion with what rubbish I am at healing spells…

It made no difference. The blood was slowing and he was beginning to lose feeling in his limb anyway, so he took a few experimental steps forward, gaining courage as he neglected to fall to the ground. Okay, let’s go!

. . .

Llyndellia fell back as the Heartless charged, frowning. She didn’t have time to figure out what was happening, though, and couldn’t have said what the blast was that sent her staggering backward. Ducking behind the ledge of the upper level (How did I get up here?), she peeked over the top to see the Heartless’s feet had been destroyed, but the gauntlets had divided and were spinning around the district again. It suddenly struck her that she didn’t even know why she was fighting this thing—it wasn’t any of her business what happened to this world. In fact, she of all people had good reason for wanting this world and everyone in it wiped out of existence.

Neku…Leon… They didn’t do anything wrong.

Grumbling at her own weakness, she only just spotted a gauntlet coming straight at her when, in the corner of her eye, she glanced Chi, seemingly unconscious, leaning against the wall right next to the keyhole. Ever so conveniently. Oh, he thinks he’s so clever.

Still, she had no time to think about him as she ducked, the gauntlet tearing into the storefront behind her instead. Glass shattered, covering her in glittering fragments, and she took a swipe at it with her Keyblade before running back toward the door to the First District where there was more room to work with…

…And ran headlong into Jayden. The commander stumbled backward, and Llyndellia instinctively grabbed his wrist and yanked him upright again. His leg was bleeding, drenching his trouser leg, and he looked even paler than usual, but she quashed her distant concerns straightaway. He doesn’t deserve it, she reminded herself forcefully.

“What the hell is going on here?” he asked, glancing down at the Heartless and its detached arms.

“You’ve missed all the fun,” she replied coolly, raising her Keyblade as the gauntlet made a dive at the others and continued on its path straight towards them. Jayden scoffed.

“I could say the same to you, if you’re into mutant skeletons.”

“Mutant what?”

“Never mind. We’ve got to stop this thing.”

Now it was Llyndellia’s turn to scoff. “What do you think we’ve been trying to do? But if you think you have a better way…” She motioned him toward the Heartless, raising an eyebrow. He just looked at her, trying to bite back a sarcastic reply. She had more right to be angry than him.

“Let’s bicker later, yeah?”

“…Yeah.”

“Thank you. Now, where did this thing come from?” His tone didn’t change, calm enough to have been engaged in a casual discussion over tea as he shot a ball of water from his Keyblade. The liquid enclosed the gauntlet as it moved to strike, and they stepped aside as its motions, while not stopped, were slowed sufficiently.

“Some idiot was looking for the Keyhole and found it. That bell is the key,” she added, pointing at the Gizmo Shop. Llyndellia moved aside but still couldn’t put Chi back into her line of sight. It was frustrating, but she didn’t want to test Jayden’s leg just yet. “He said he wanted his Keyblade to go back to the way it was, whatever that means. He’s busy hiding until this thing—“ She swung her Keyblade wide to knock the attacking gauntlet back across the district toward the torso. “—is finished.”

Jayden sighed. He wants the keyhole? And he found it. Odai’s going to have my head for how badly this day is going… Still, a plan was forming in his head. He used their moment of safety to his advantage, lowering his voice.

“You said he used the bell to open the way to the keyhole?”

Llyndellia frowned. “Yeah.”

“Then maybe that’s the way we put the Heartless back in the box.”

“Bad pun.”

“Whatever, just pay attention,” he brushed her off. “If you can get to the bell and ring it again, that should close the keyhole and take care of our friend down there.”

“Brilliant idea,” she replied, the sarcasm oozing from her tone. “Just one problem: the fool can just ring the bell again.

“Not if you take care of that.”

They stared at each other, his face deadly calm while she stared skeptically. He couldn’t possibly be asking her to…

“You want me to total the bell tower.”

Jayden nodded slowly. He hated the idea as much as anyone, but something had to give and if lives could be saved by destroying one landmark, he would make the same decision again. They had to try whatever they could. The keyhole had been sealed for longer than anyone could remember—it must not be opened.

Watching him carefully, Llyndellia nodded. “No changing your mind later,” she said as she sprinted away, passing by the hotel and cutting through the Gizmo Shop to the ladder up to the roof. She could survey the entire district from here, spotting the others still engaged with the Heartless, Chi sitting suspiciously near the keyhole, Jayden watching her while firing spells at the Heartless. This had better work.

Turning away from the scene, Llyndellia stepped into the gap under the bell, pushing the rubble from the broken barrier to it out of her way with her foot. She looked at the rope for a moment before grabbing hold of it and yanking as hard as she could. The ringing overhead was deafening, and she covered her ears as it echoed throughout the district. One look over the edge of the tower was enough to tell her that Jayden’s plan had worked: the panel in the wall with the keyhole creaked and groaned as it rotated shut once more. Now or never.

Without thinking, without reconsidering, Llyndellia sent a ball of fire blasting toward the bell rope, burning it until dust and ash fell to the floor in its place. She exited the gap in the wall, sending more fire spells up toward the wooden beams holding the bell. She distantly wondered how long they had been here, serving to guard the keyhole, but it was no matter. They fell away as they burned, and the bell came to ground with a resounding clang! Before she could do anymore, she felt the whisper of something behind her and dove out of the way as Jayden’s spell blasted through the top of the tower. The blond was standing by the door of the hotel, controlling the maelstrom as it tore the bricks apart. The bell floated on the wind, and he directed it over the edge before letting the spell go. It dropped to the ground and shattered loudly, the door to the keyhole closed.

“You could have warned me,” Llyndellia said as she came to the edge of what was left of the tower and glared down at him. He just shrugged.

“You’re a smart girl, I knew you’d get out of there.” His smile was both conciliatory and cheeky. Llyndellia couldn’t help smirking slightly before she looked over at the other side of the First District.

“Looks like your plan only half worked, though.”

Jayden nodded, glaring at the Heartless as it continued to attack. “One thing at a time, I guess. Shall we join them?”

Slipping over the side, Llyndellia jumped down onto the lower level and nodded, Keyblade in hand.
 

Eternal Dream

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~- Sorrow -~

Finally, the need to subdue and restrain the skeletons rippled through the crowd, causing many to switch to clever restrictive spells. Most impressive perhaps, was a small moogle that pulled off a stop spell that had even Lucien’s admiration, although it tired the little guy to the point that he passed out. Seeing the boy catch the creature, Lucien turned his attention to buffing the moogle’s spell. Whispering one word in Angelic, he made sure that the spell would hold until they could turn the civilians back.

"Jayden... What the hell happened? All those people... Why did that man do that to all those innocent people?"

Turning at the boy’s questions, Lucien saw that he was talking to the blond Keyblade captain. Jayden, he’d called him? Sorrow for the wrongful deaths rose in the angel’s chest, tingeing his words as he said, “Because his man’s coercion didn’t work; too many refused to be led like sheep to the slaughter, so he turned to a terror attack when words failed. Some people…”

The angel sighed, a thousand years of sadness in his eyes. “Some people have lost themselves so far into the darkness of their greed and hatred that they don’t even realize their lost; not many ever have that revelation, not even when it’s too late to change things.”

Closing his eyes, Lucien searched for a hold on his crumbling control. The souls were calling to him, begging assistance in passing on; he rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the ache of his wings as they tried to appear. Searching out Mira, he saw that things had escalated in the next district, the Keyhole shining behind the fountain as a Heartless loomed down on the young mouse and the other combatants. Focusing on them for a moment, the angel noted that three of them were Keybearers; the weapons power sparked in their hearts, illuminating them from within to varying degrees. They still had much to do before their life threads were cut, and Lucien prayed that they would be able to accomplish what needed to be done before he had to come for them.

The brunette with the Gunblade though, was a blank spot. Lucien saw him through Mira's eyes, but the angel couldn't get a read on him; not when his life was supposed to end, or even when it had begun. The teen was an anomaly, piquing Lucien's interest.

However, despite his curiosity, Lucien knew that the real danger lie in the Keyhole’s revelation. Learning that one of the boy’s fighting the Heartless had caused its appearance made the angel’s alarm spike higher. Defeat that creature, and keep that young man away from the Keyhole. I’ll be along as soon as I can.

What do you think I’ve been trying to do? Let me tell you, it’s not hopscotch!


Opening his eyes again, Lucien realized that the Keywielder’s attention had been drawn to the Second District by the fight going on there and had left. Turning to face the orange haired boy, Lucien saw the look of horror and quiet despair that had come to rest in the child’s eyes as he watched the Light Wielders try to move the skeletons so they could try to find some way to help them. Despite the gravity of the situation, he smiled slightly; letting the boy that he was no threat to him, Lucien said, “I have a friend that might be able to help the transformed civilians, but it might take a little time for them to get here. My name’s Lucien, and thank-you for remembering that all they needed was to be restrained; it makes my job much easier.”

~- Barrier -~

Really now, how many more were planning on sneaking past her barrier?! It didn’t matter to Mira that four of them were keywielders while the last seemed pretty strong in his own right; that two people snuck in under her spell was still a blow to her pride.

Focus, Mira. You can have the tirade against them and yourself later!

The Flood spell had been quite the success; with a loud clang, the Heartless fell apart, becoming nothing but a pile of lifeless armor. But this state didn’t last long; rattling, the Heartless sprang to its feet again, revealing its true strength and form. Personally, Mira wasn’t impressed, but that wasn’t the point; the point was that it was time to go another round with Joe Palooka.

Centering herself, the mouse began calling together magic for shields. As she gathered enough for each one, she released the energy, allowing the barriers to snap into place around Llyndellia and the others, offering them some protection. Then, reaching for a vein of pure light magic, Mira let it fill her, the familiar warmth bringing a smile to her face. This same smile stayed on her features until one of the others was thrown into her, sending both of them flying. Instinctively, she released her wings in a flash of light, using them to break her fall and regain control. Banishing them after a brief second, she leapt to her feet, intent on causing serious injury to the culprit. She just saw Chi go soaring over her head; a loud splash told her the boy had landed in the fountain. Perfect.

But still, Heartless first. Finally releasing the magic, Mira cried out, “Pearl!” Instantly, multiple small, luminescent orbs of light surrounded the young mouse. With a wave of her hand, she shot the orbs at the torso and head of the Heartless. It was probably a little much, but they needed to finish this fight quickly.

A great, echoing peal rang through the district, causing Mira's head to whip toward the bell tower. A wild laugh escaped Mira when she saw Llyndellia jump down from what remained of the landmark. The girl was smart, and she had the guts to do something that seemed like a bad idea even if it was the only one that would work.

Turning at the sound of stone scraping across stone, Mira saw the mural in the fountain turning, slowly blocking the Keyhole from view; but was it moving fast enough? Finally calling her own Keyblade as her eyes flicked to the boy lying in the fountain, Mira erected one last barrier, placing it around the Keyhole to give it one final edge of defense.

And then, she started ranting.

"Seriously, just how the hell crazy do you have to be to want to unseal the Keyhole just because your Keyblade changed on you? Newsflash, dummy; you want to get its old form back, how about you see what's changed inside of you before you condemn a world and thousands of innocent people to death? And how stupid do you think we are to believe that your own attack knocked you out? 'Cause from where I stand, you don't look unconscious, but you do look like a mentally deficient dumb ass!"

~- Waterfall -~

“Of course. We should probably move somewhere else, though. I’d rather not stay where they found us last time, and we might find a place that will give us more opportunity to hear them.”

Despite how much the vision had taken out of her, Ivy barely managed to suppress an eye roll. Great, I just had to get put in the party that would wind up having two guys with a distrust of strangers, didn't I? Why do guys have to get pegged with so much testosterone anyway?

Keeping her thoughts off of her face, Ivy smiled sweetly and said, "Thank-you; if you'll follow me, I think I might have an answer on campsites as well. Varen and I passed it just a little while ago, so we should be able to get there fairly quick."

Reaching down, she scooped up a stick from the fire, turning it into a torch; whispering a soft word so that the rest of the fire would go out if all four of them left, she turned away from the two strangers, winding her way through the jungle foliage. She kept the torch held high, although it was mostly for show; she knew Varen didn't need it, she doubted the dark haired man needed it, and she had enough power over Twilight that she could see just fine in the night's darkness. But she was unsure of the boy, so the firelight was meant for him, so that he could make his way through the overgrowth with confidence.

After a short trek, the trees thinned out, showing a spectacular view of the night sky as a waterfall tumbled into a clear pool before continuing its journey over the cliff. Though as relaxing as it was beautiful, the rushing water wasn't the reason Ivy had brought them here. The oasis dropped off into sheer cliffs, with the only real entrance point being the way they had come; unless one had wings like she and Varen did. The area was wide open, allowing plenty of room for them to move, making it easier to defend themselves if something did come at them.

Sticking the torch into the ground as Varen went to gather more firewood, Ivy smiled over her shoulder. "This spot should work for the night, wouldn't you agree? My name is Ivy, and my friend is Varen. What brings you two to the Pride Lands?"

~- Reunion -~

"Don't even think about saying we're lost; I know where I'm going!"

"Would it help you're pride if I just think it then?"

Jordon rolled his eyes, but kept scanning the ground below while Willow watched from his back. Seriously, just because he could shift forms, did she honestly think she could bum a free ride and make him do all the work? He hoped they found what they were looking for soon; Jordon preferred it when Willow was his partner in crime instead of him being her verbal pincushion.

A sharp cry from Kitty made Jordon swallow the pointed remark coating his tongue as he said instead, "This way; hold on!" Feeling her fingers thread through his mane, Jordon banked to the right, using his wings to stabilize the stallion's form just as much as he did for flight. Flying low and fast, it didn't take them long to reach the sight of what had been a fairly large fight.

Touching down, he waited until Willow slid off his back before he shifted back to his human form. Feeling Kitty land on his shoulder, he knelt down, examining what remained of the body of a small, purple beast. "Was this an Unversed? Why would they...?"

"Lumie? You alright?"

His hearing still sensitive from his time as the stallion, Jordon's head whipped around, following the sound of that voice. "Lumie?" he whispered, eyes narrowing. It couldn't be, could it? Even with how rare the name was, it couldn't be her....

But even as that thought went across his mind, the young man still found his voice rising as he called, "Lumie Nightsong?"

At first, Jordon resigned himself to disappointment as his question went unanswered. But then, a soft creak had his eyes narrowing on what he now realized was a shelter just a little ways ahead of them. He had just enough time to realize that someone had opened a door, and that that someone had bubblegum pink hair, before he was tackled, a hug crushing him as a voice squealed, "Jordon!"
 
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Ðari

Look at you, armor-less
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Traverse Town: 1st District

There he sat, in at the highest vantage point that he could find. In his perch, the scarfed man that weighed a pound or two over two-hundred looked down. Clad in veil of darkness, it ebbed and flowed off of him as the roof tiles rustled slightly beneath his feet. He never really saw the need for shoes, but he kept a pair laying around somewhere. A scratch of his head as he touched the yin-yang emblem that hung from his tattered scarf.

Every moment, every action, each was special and worth special attention. There were a gleam in his eye, before he'd shut them both down, held his palm to wave across the first district. Ripples of reflective though invisible glass spread around the very rim of this district alone. A pause came as the outbreak of violence had ensued, he'd already began his study.

In his palm, a block no bigger than the average rubix cube was floating in his palm. Standing on both of his legs now, he looked down as they carried on, and he'd merely been a fixture as a silhouette in the shadows of the rooftops not far from the entrance to the alleyway. Metal, how mundane the sounds were, when rattling the cages of bones and skeletons. He turned his head, clutched his fist breaking the cube on a whim and jumped to the next building that overlooked the doors to the 2nd district.

The sounds the echoed from the gizmo shop's bell tower were extraordinary, loud that is. His dominant foot first, the figure gazed down below dauntingly. One of those giant monstrosities he'd encountered in the previous world he'd landed upon. It looked like a nice drop from the high rooftop, but there were a number of youths running around this town. It seemed alive, but his attention swayed at the sound of a boy crashing into the water fountain. The hollow armored enemy's legs were already a smite of his wrath, credibility was rewarded for blind courage.

"Maybe I should help out, just this once." he said descending from the roof.

As he was dropping, the sound of the bell rang again, he looked up. A female this time, but she did something rather insane. The pillars of cherrywood and cobblestone that held the beams in place, wrought to her means of justice. By this time the bell had fallen to the street level, the loud clang, awakening the dismembered armor's remaining limbs. The stranger himself had jumped over the metal beams with use of his blocks to give his jump a boost over the edge. Landing face first in front of the injured youth.

"You look as if you could use a potion or two." he said making brief eye contact, "let me see what I have..."

PING!

As if to be stabbed in the back, the armor's sharp glove had been met with the stranger's makeshift armor. Clutching onto the tip of it's finger, an image of hands sprouting from his back as he was searching for a potion while this was happening. The hands became arms, and arms into a full torso identical to his. The blocks he controlled registered as an invisible barrier applied to his own body. Eventually standing with a strong stance that gripped the armor's hand with its bare hands, before tossing it back at the torso.

"Doppelganger. Pretty useful, I must admit it took me years to get that defensive technique down in areas of...oh here we are. One hi-potion." he said with some spirit this time, offering it to the injured youth.

As the doppelganger stood, with readied fist. It had the applications and likeness of it's master's will, all but the bracelets' individual features. Remembering the force that collided with the cubes was invaluable to even a doppelganger, because it could hit back with that same information. It's master raised his finger, 'Wait.' it registered this thought command and stood in a defensive position.

The stranger offered his hand to the youth in the fountain to pick him up. "Shall we?"
 

Story Keeper

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~- I Feel The Angels Come And Fill This Room -~

Aries's eyes snapped to the trees as a man appeared out of them; shying closer to Kataki, the pink-haired girl peeked out from behind the older boy, her fingers grabbing a hold of some of the ninja's shirt. She didn't notice Kataki shift into a more protective stance because her eyes were glued to the stranger's frail appearance. She could sense the corrupted light rolling off of the man in waves, making her feel sick to her stomach as the man spoke in a condescending tone, "Now, in response to your question, girl: I'll do things my way. You have no say in the matter, as it is far out of your control."

Her eyes drifted over her shoulder, searching for any sign that Lumie was okay, but her focus snapped back in front of her at the angry shout from Kataki as he lunged forward; between surprise and his speed, Aries lost her grip on the boy's shirt. She stood in open horror as Kataki was attacked by wind magic, halting his assault on the strange, dangerous man in front of them and leaving the ninja's arm bloodied. A shriek clawing up her throat, Aries nearly leapt forward herself when the stranger said warningly, "Calm down. You don't stand a chance anyway. You're all more than welcome to try however. Or you can simply give up now. I'll consider letting you go, unless you want to risk these people's lives."

Aries tensed as floods of Unversed sprang to life between Kataki and this stranger; tightening her grip on her keyblade, Aries was vaguely aware of her pistols hovering in the air around her, awaiting her mental command to fire. She held Kataki's gaze when he looked back at her considering; she even saw his concern for Lumie since she still had yet to set foot out of the hut. Don't worry, Lumie's fine, she mouthed, a soft, small smile spreading across the girl's face in an attempt to reassure her new friend.

Then, to Aries's surprise, Kataki focused back on the stranger and said, "I won't fight. At least let the girls stay safe." Even stranger was when the man laughed and called off his pets, mocking Kataki before he said he'd agree just because he hadn't laughed like that in a while. Clenching her fist, Aries glared at the man as he retreated, shaking her head in disgust, she quickly fell into step with Kataki as he headed to the hut, nodding distractedly at Ordias in greeting.

Pausing mid-step just inside the hut, Aries cocked her head to the side at the soft sound of wings beating; it could be a bird, but it'd have to be awful big. Almost human size...

A smile spreading across her face as it clicked, she spun in a different direction and ran off. She was positive she knew who it was; and if she was correct that meant she could tease him!

~- Hold Me When I'm Scared -~

Squall ducked as one of the Heartless's hands went soaring toward his head; twisting around he conjured a ball of fire to his hand and shot it off. What the heck are you thinking Squall? Use ice! he snapped mentally, rolling out of the way as it rushed toward him again. Seeing that the mouse from earlier was working on casting another spell, he spun around, causing several red orbs to form a circle around him in a horizontal fashion.

Placing his hand on his arm to brace himself, Leon pulled the trigger and watched as the orbs detonated. Looking back to the mouse for a brief moment, Leon's attention was drawn away as Chi went flying against the stone wall that held the keyhole. Catching the mouse's attention, he mouthed, Watch him, I don't think he should be left unguarded.

On one hand, if the boy was truly unconscious he was an easy target at the moment; but on the other hand he could easily be faking it. And if he was faking it, then the boy wasn't to be trusted. Looking back at the Heartless, Leon's eyes quickly tracked the torso and head, trying to judge what it was going to do next. Damn it, we'd never encountered this form before! he mused silently. He tightened his grip on the handle of his blade as the Heartless came at him again; dodging quickly to the right, Leon fired off a medium sized ball of ice, then chuckled lightly as a thought crossed his mind, but refusing to be distracted, he banished it to enjoy the comments later.

Leon watched as the torso spun toward him, seeking to get a shot in on him; and it got it too when the bell near the Gizmo tower crashed to the ground, distracting the brunette temporarily. Great, Seifer ever hears about that brilliant lapse, I'll never hear the end of it! Slamming against the wall, Leon slid to the ground; grumbling softly as he rubbed the back of his head, he tried to get the world to stop spinning. Shaking his head, Leon climbed back to his feet, trying not to fall back down in the process; well, shit.

Moving his gunblade to in front of him, Leon's eyes tracked the Heartless as it moved towards Mira. "Be careful!" He called; shaking his head to clear the minor fog, Leon again focused his magic to the palm of his hand. Shooting off another fireball, he watched as it went racing toward the Heartless.

The fire spell connected at the same time as Mira's Pearl spell, causing a nice little light show; he watched as the Heartless shuddered before it hit the ground, disappearing into wisps of darkness and releasing the heart it held. Looking over to the other combatants to make sure they were okay, he rolled his shoulder from the tightness of his muscles tensing.

Squall's attention was quickly drawn back to the usually (or so he was willing to bet) cheerful, upbeat mouse as she shouted crossly, "Seriously, just how the hell crazy do you have to be to want to unseal the Keyhole just because your Keyblade changed on you? Newsflash, dummy; you want to get its old form back, how about you see what's changed inside of you before you condemn a world and thousands of innocent people to death? And how stupid do you think we are to believe that your own attack knocked you out? 'Cause from where I stand, you don't look unconscious, but you do look like a mentally deficient dumb ass!"

Leon raised his hands up in a nonthreatening manner and took a step back, suddenly being reminded of the few terrifying occasions when Yuffie would lose control of her temper and start chewing everyone out. Looking over his shoulder to see if Jayden and Llyndellia were anywhere close by, he lowered his hands after he was sure that the little mouse was distracted by the boy.

He almost walked away to check on the dalmatians, but on the other hand he couldn't just leave without saying something, could he? And besides, from everything he'd been seeing, he was starting to think that the dogs wouldn't be there anyway; 'cause even though it looked like Kansas, he was pretty sure he'd crossed over the rainbow into Crazy Town.

Clenching his fist, Leon turned back toward Chi and said indifferently, "I agree with her; revealing the keyhole was reckless and by no means should have been done. Do you have any idea how many lives you could have destroyed? Sure, no one likes being forced to use a weapon that isn't truly theirs; but that isn't a good enough reason to threaten countless innocents and tear them away from their home, especially when it could be all they have left for whatever reason. This world is a refuge for those that have lost everything they've known to the darkness; they don't need some psychopath with a superiority complex destroying what ever life they've managed to rebuild in this place."

Leon felt the weight of his weapon in his hand, giving him an odd amount of comfort. Keeping his face expressionless, he tried not to let the aggravation that hung in the air show on his face; instead, he stayed ready, waiting and watching for the first signs of hostile action. I've already had two homes torn out from under me; I'm not going to let them destroy this world, he thought coolly, the briefest flicker of agitation flashing across his eyes before they went carefully neutral again.

"Shall we?"

It was only when the person spoke that Leon finally noticed them, although how he missed them in the first place? He didn't know. Looking at them warily, he asked, "And you are...?"

~- There Goes My Attitude! -~

Lumie rolled to the right in the the narrow corridor, the claws of the monster closest to her digging into her left shoulder; leaving three long, jagged scratches running from just under her collar bone to her shoulder blade. Biting back a cry of pain, she shot off a fireball from the tip of her keyblade before leaping back to her feet. Raising a hand to her shoulder, Lumie looked around her at the half dozen that remained.

"Triple Dark Firaga," she whispered, shooting three balls of dark fire from the tip of her keyblade. All three orbs quickly homed in on the six creatures; wiping out two each before they exploded, sending Lumie flying against the dirt well. "Ah!" She yelped; falling on her bum, she felt a rock bite into the skin of her lower leg. A tight frown crossing her face, Lumie banished Lunar Flower and glanced down at her appearance, checking herself for injuries.

Aw crap. Her clothes were shredded!

Sure, Lumie wasn't vain; she quite often grabbed whatever was comfortable and threw that on instead of what was fashionable. But this? No way! Her jeans had distressing up both lower legs to her hips, thankfully though it was up the side even if the lower legs were basically torn all the way around. Her shirt, meanwhile, had been mauled in the back from the heathen's claws, turning into more a halter top; although there was a particularly bare spot from where one of the creatures had clawed her just moments before. Huffing angrily, Lumie headed back toward the center of the hut, searching for something she could use to cover up some of her features.

Wincing slightly as her various cuts started stinging, she raised her right hand to her cheek as she felt blood trickle down it. She was a mess, that was for sure. Sighing in reluctance, Lumie gave up and turned toward the entrance, deciding to head outside to see how Kataki and Aries were fairing. She got halfway to outside when she came face-to-face with Kataki; taking a step back to give him breathing room, Lumie's eyes were instantly drawn to the blood dripping down his arm.

"What happened!?" She asked, shocked; reaching out a hand so she could inspect his hand, not even paying attention to the cuts and dirt that was obvious on her skin, and the first hints of bruises starting to blossom on her skin; the most visible one being one that danced across her right cheek. "Are you okay? What about Aries? Is she okay?" Lumie asked hurriedly, her eyes wide with concern as she searched his own for answers.

Her eyes snapped over his shoulder at the high-pitched shriek that reached them; tensing slightly, Lumie looked from Kataki to back over his shoulder. "Are you strong enough to walk?"

Lumie stopped speaking abruptly at the sound of something outside; summoning her keyblade as the muscles across her shoulders tensed, she felt her mind trip over itself as her thoughts began racing. Where's Aries anyway? she mused silently, aggravation lending her restless energy. Moving cautiously forward, the tension was washed away only when a delighted squeal pierced the air. "Jordon!"

A skeptical look crossed Lumie's eyes; looking back at Kataki, she frowned softly before she focused back ahead of her and bolted out of the hut. Scanning the surrounding area, her eyes landed on a familiar figure with a set of blue grey eyes. A smile quickly replaced the frown as Lumie walked over; catching Jordon's attention, she was quickly scooped up into a hug by the slightly taller boy.

Remaining quiet, Lumie raised her hand and cracked it against the skin of Jordon's right cheek, leaving a bright red hand print. She felt the startled jerk from Jordon as he put her down carefully, though the pleasantly surprised grin stayed on his face. Dusting herself off, Lumie didn't look at him as he asked, "What was that for, Lumie?"

Glancing at him wordlessly, Lumie smiled slightly as she threw her arms around him. "Easy; you scooped me up into a hug like I'm some kid! In front of strangers, no less!" She teased quietly; a mischievous gleam in her green eyes, she released him from the hug and took a step back. Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, she asked, "How's things been going? And where's Varen?"
 

SwagStarIV

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Chi grabbed the mans hand, but felt a warth under himself. A warmth that was similar, but not exactly the same as his original key. As he rose with no apparent problem, he looked back to the fountain and saw the shining keychain he was sitting on. He attempted to summon his own keychain and the keychain sitting in the water spawned in his free hand. Chi said to the stranger, "My greatest thanks to your assistance. I do really appreciate the warmth shown by your kind spirit." Chi turned towards the two scolding him as if he were some ignorant child. He hopped out of the fountain and held his keychain towards them. It was different. The keychain which originally resembled two wings connected to a crown, now was two wings connected to the symbol representing the Kingdom which held the cornerstone of light. Which was vaguely the same shape as the mouses head. Chi summoned his new keyblade and surged with his new found power.

Chi then stated, "I am a guy who likes to do his research. Once i figured that the keyblades where connected to the heart, and the hearts are connected to the keyholes, I found a connection that not many venture into. With each keyhole being inadvertently connected to the heart, yet directly linked with the keyblade, I figured the heart of a world must also be able to change the image of the very thing that unlocks it." Chi smiled and continued, "You all may continue to do as you please. Not as if i plan on stopping you. Just remember this. There are two sides to everything. You have seen my worst ambition, but you see the result of my ambition none the less. So while you search for whatever you are searching for in your personal universe, i will continue to strive for my goal."

Chi jumped onto the ledge above the fountain, began to talk in more of an announcing tone than a personal one, "We all destroyed that enemy with no problem. Why must we continue on as rivals of a broken cause? We can solve each of our issues united. Call me what you want, but you see I am no fool, unless thats what you call someone who follows their heart. I am simply a wielder of twilight trying to solve my own dilemma. What will you do? Continue to be tricked by the temptations of the darkness? Blinded by the obsessive justice of the light? Turned to darkness or nothingness in the process? No. I will fight beside who ever believes in their being another way of life. One of harmony, unification and balance! I will not present you with my proclamation yet, but as you have seen, something must be done before the obsessive over bearing rays of light shines as a beacon for the darkness to shroud and extinguish like a flame at a bonfire!" Chi slammed his keyblade into the stone and began to walk way from it as he continued, "Who knows... A Force of Rebels may be needed in this day and age." Chi walked towards the doors of the first district. His keyblde disappeared after finishing his declaration. One thing was for certain in his head. There was a dire need of change!
 
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