There was a violent earthquake flowing through the grounds of the train station's control room and even extending to the tracks. As Capell and Dia were shaken literally from their head to their toes, they stumbled for a nasty spill. Concordia had fallen into Capell whom had broken her fall, but firmly hit against the panel, pressing steadfast against her until it passed them by. Lasting what felt almost a full two minutes, the shaking finally stopped and the quake vanished leaving no signs of damage besides lost footing.
Capell quickly got to work, peering at the screen or at least what remained of it he'd attempted to input access codes in an attempt to change the guidance system remotely for the trains making its departure from Traverse Town. His comradery seemed justified, as he cared for Cort and Lissa. His frustration however had been getting the best of him this entire time. For every entry that he'd attempt, Capell met with the same blue screen of four zeroes. "Sonva- hunk of junk!!" He smashed his fist into the keyboard, splitting it in two.
At that instant all hell seemed to brake loose in the room as stuff flew around and exploded. "Whoa what the heck!?" Capell yelled dodging the date electronics. It was only when he noticed the man at the door that he got back to his senses, for a moment he thought the computer was exacting revenge. "Aww crap, who are you?" Capell asked with more annoyance than concern, however as he did so a dangling monitor flickered to life. On the screen was a makeshift execution ground near the prison.
There was no audio but he could see clearly what was going on. Clement himself was about to execute a woman bound in chains, a woman he recognized as Cort's mother. "Dammit, how did I miss this, I was just there!" Capell fell to his knees. "I can't protect anyone can I? First Hanako and now..." Slamming his fist's into the ground he thought about what he could do. If he ran back he wouldn't make it back in time... Well, he did have one idea. Getting to his feet he walked up to the man who had just entered. He didn't look like he was with the empire. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know how to drive one of those tanks out front would you?"
Dia's words for Capell were less than inspiring to motivate him. With a mind to hit him now with a sarcastic comment, the sparks reminded her differently of a memory. That of lightning, how she was displaced fearfully of lightning because of--but without much way to the thought. Briefly tucking her head and silenced by her self reassurance. She glanced behind, seeing a man in the room. The computers were no longer going haywire, and she spotted the screen. She didn't dare go any closer to the computers.
Dia looked at Capell with a blank face, his words reminding her of her world, her family and Daniel. She had thought of how it may have been different if she was strong enough to protect them. But the fact is that she wasn't, and she hated herself for it.
Turning back to look at the screen, she stared at it unblinkingly. "What if...it was better this way?" She mumbled softly, but didn't think anyone would be able to hear it. She closed her eye. She turned back to look at Capell. "Are you sure we can trust him?" She asked. "You must be naive, or dumb, to easily trust someone who you meet." She said bluntly to Capell.
His name was Ty Dex, he was the man standing in the room. Revered, the nature of his existence was a secret, truthfully he was a nobody. In a freak accident that occurred about twenty year ago he'd forfeited his heart, and manifested his current husk of a shell. As for why he'd appeared here today, well its been a bit over fourty-eight hours since Radiant Garden's lights when out. A vein pulsed on Ty as Concordia the cyclops sung like a song bird. He was a psionic, so naturally the mind was not beyond his reach, his natural reaction would've been to roll his eyes and say something spiteful, but he replaced it with pride filled meaningful words.
"Those feelings have nothing to do with it and in times like these trust isn't an issue. Either you have it or you build it through experiences. And last I saw in your head you can't run one of those monsters," silent for a second or so he decied to gain more knowledge on the situation through verbal means and spoke once more. "Well?? What is all of this about Capell and why are you so quick to judge Dia dearest..."
It was as if he'd struck a soft spot in the unlikely heroine, silence would've occupied the air if not for the two guards possibly drunken, fighting. Their arguement put the (now) trio on full alert, and they made their way for the final remaining tank.
Dia knew why she said what she said; she was too scared of trusting anyone anymore. She didn't have complete trust on Capell, and definitely not Tav. The truth is, she was scared of nearly everything, but being scared was a weakness. A weakness that should not be known to anyone or it could be the end of her. It would have been obvious that having only an eye was a weakness, but she could prove it wrong since she was adept in shooting.
Still, there was only so much that she could see.
Capell had walked off by then, probably to get to a tank. She glared at Ty. "Stop it." She hissed. "Don't look into my head ever again." She said, leaving. It was hard to keep her mind blank, with so many thoughts in her mind. And she knew that Ty would be able to read them. This is ridiculous. She thought irritatedly as she made her way to Capell, ignoring the two guards arguing.
Haste had been made after Ty Dex and his two newest acquaintances had made it to the tank and gotten inside and then after another quick chat and a detailed rundown of what the situation was and the actions needed to generate a quick fix solution; the trio sent off along their way with the tank rumbling down the street and over whatever was necessary to get to their destination. Ty Dex as the tank operator said little and he still felt a bit distracted upon this lady they had to save. "This woman. She is important enough to really risk all of this, yes?? Well then I'll help you guys more. Get ready to jump out the tank and don't freak out. Please."
The path travled was disticnt as they were headed toward a space that had a wall abnormally high and from a quick reading it was at least thirty feet thick too. "Heh that's not enough. Watch this." The tank looked like it was melting or worse as the shadows that had stretched alongside the tank had spread up the side and eaten a hole in the metal flesh of the exterior which produced a large enough hole for both Capell and his friend to safely get through as the tank became closer to the thick wall that blocked their path to justice or whatever idea they all had individually of such a promising but often broken down idea.
"Jump now." One would assume they did and right into the hole that melted part way into the wall." Like a portal or a bit messier door to somewhere else the trio landed unceremoniously inside the execution area along with the tank which now looked like a pulsing lump of metal and light. "Alright guys is this what you wanted??" Not that Ty Dex really cared but it was fun to be flashy which was why the tank self destructed!
Dia jumped, despite feeling a little uncomfortable with the sudden events. But what the heck, she's been through worse. She held in her breath as she jumped and shut her eyes, only to open them and release her breath when Ty asked if this is what they had wanted.
She looked around, and smirked. "Hm...Nice." She said with a satisfied look.
She would just do it since she's here. Besides, it's better to start taking down some of these people than just stand idly. She started shooting the soldiers that came their way, keeping in mind to shoot down those who were close to Capell and the woman. Seeing Capell fighting the executioner, she wondered if he needed some help. But she was pushed down by one of the soldiers in that moment. "Tch..." She turned and shot the soldier in the face, relentlessly shooting down those near her.
As Capell jumped out of the melting tank he was stunned to see that the prison was already in turmoil. "T-the resistance!?" A group of empire solders turned to face the three of them. They were about to attack when they noticed the bubbling mass of metal near them. Needless to say they died in the explosion with confused looks on their faces. "Nice, that will do Dex. That's her on the platform over there!" He said, pointing to Cort's mother, who was in the process of being saved by a group of rebels. They were having trouble getting past the executioner however.
Capell turned to Dex and Dia. "Alright guys lets do this! Just give me some cover while I help her." Spinning back around her sprinted off towards the platform, ignoring the empire goons chasing behind him. Leaping onto the wooden structure he helped Cort's mother to her feet. "Hello mam' don't you worry. You'll be safe in no time!" Ripping off her bonds her tired to lead her off the platform, only to run into the executioner. "Oh hey there. You wouldn't happen to be up to letting us pass would you?" The tall cloaked man simply grunted and raised his axe, ready to cut them down. "Tch, I thought not..." Letting go of Cort's mother Capell jumped up, sending a roundhouse kick to his chest. His opponent slid back from the impact, but didn't show any signs that he was hurt. "Tough guy huh?.."
This was the situation, as grim as it appeared. Upon the arrival of the traveler and shopper young Kulen had merely come to inquire items from the Accessory shop. Essentially his exposure to the developing situation, curiousity then fell upon Haruka. As he lay there sobbing, seemingly defeated, the teenager Derrick and Anya has proceeded with probing him for information. Haruka's sobs were strengthened by his stubbornness in stalling for time. His farce as a spy, attempting to side with them temporarily and providing them with all he knew of the empire was quickly dashed by Kulen's analysis of Haruka's deception. The note here was clear, but Haruka needed more time! Derrick attempted to incapacitate Haruka by stroking him across the head with his shadow's requiem's hilt, but to no avail.
Well this was quite strange.
Clement kneaded his forehead as he pondered the situation. Strictly speaking, mental communication with others only transfers pure information, no emotions involved unless the other forced them through. Normal contact had been established with the other world leaders... but Haruka was proving to be difficult. An unfortunate side effect of his spacial powers was his tendency to have added side effects with spells, and it seemed that Clement caught a glimpse of what Haruka was experiencing... and it didn't please Clement. Defeat was never something that pleased Clement.
With a sigh, Clement snapped his fingers, and then spoke into the air.
"
Pay Salforge his due, he has accomplished his mission. Tell him he is on standby as of now, unless something drastic happens like Capell driving a tank into the executioner's room. Then his mission is to disrupt the rebel's plans in whatever way possible. I will also be off this world for a short while - tell Viper and Bruno that they are momentarily promoted."
Two silvery wisps that had appeared near Clement's shoulder bowed slightly and flitted out the window, one in the direction of the trains, and the other one towards Salforge, carrying a small card. It would find Salforge and repeat what Clement had just said, and then proceed to give Salforge the bank card which he could cash in for a decent chunk of the Radiant Garden's treasury. And with that settled...
Clement stood up and touched the air softly, before attempting to make contact with Haruka again.
Haruka - This is Clement Capricious of Radiant Gardens. What is your status now: Have you found anyone of note in the area?
Even as Clement transmitted this to Haruka, he was concentrating on opening a dimensional portal. Movement between worlds, while not impossible for him, required more preparation than just short distance translocation. But it would be worth it if Clement found a nice Keyblade or something on the other end.
The blow to the back of the head hurt, for certain, but the pain was dulled out by the mental message from his master. This thought brought a smile to Haruka's face as he sent a metal reply back to the man.
This is Haruka of Traverse Town. My situation is one of failure. Keyblade Wielder found and engaged. Battle lost. Attempted to join his side as a spy to relay message to you in order to further the power of the Empire. Two others saw through my act and informed the primary target. Primary target is a complete idiot, should be easy to fool once you get past the two others. Target does not know about the Empire and thinks that I am one of the strongest. Idiocy of target confirmed with this statement. Learned something valuable for future battles. Never offer a break to the target at the sound of a bell. Our cultures are too different. To Haruka, the young man was truly an idiot for not knowing about the Empire. Still, the man knew how to fight, despite taking advantage of a culture difference.
With that in mind he rises to his feet and pulls out both blades. Evidently the three had thought that Haruka was the one in need of a break, but that was not the case. In truth, he was only trying to be kind and have a little fun. Guess who won't be making that mistake again. He shakes the final bits of pain away from his head and lets his power surge. The flames appear on the blades once more, only with greater heat added to them. Evidently he has increased the level of magic from Fire to Fira with the evident need for more power.
Superior. Re-engaging primary target. Increased power to second stage. With that message sent, Haruka jets forth and spins at the last second.His speed creates a solid circle of fire and blades aimed directly at the center of the one with the keyblade. He wasn't out of the fight just yet.
Clement was about to stop Haruka when he realized that the rift was open. Capture at this point was unlikely - the Empire soldiers had yet to take over Traverse Town and the Heartless were being cut down left and right by the damned 'do-gooders'. And considering the number of enemies Haruka was facing - even if they could take the Keyblader, safe transport would be difficult, if not impossible, if they ended up with the whole population of Traverse Town jumping down their throats.
Bah, whatever. A rebel was a rebel.
Clement was tempted to riftwalk straight into the middle of the fight and blast a few holes into anything moving, but that was quite stupid. The Keyblader was, apparently, ignorant of the current situation, and Clement was not going to enlighten him sooner than necessary. Never stop your opponent when he is making a mistake.
Closing his eyes, Clement stepped forwards. A shudder ripped through his body, and he appeared on top of a nearby building, on top of the hotel Anya was on a second ago. As he did, he saw Haruka flash upwards, fire trailing from his weapons. With a tired sigh, Clement kneaded his forehead as he thought for a second. He was definitely not going to reveal himself straight away, hell no. Instead, Clement gestured towards the central area with a lazy hand.
The lights shivered, flickered weakly for a second, and then died out. From the ensuing shadows, multiple Heartless appeared, gathering around the fighters. There were Shadows and Soldiers and other low tier Heartless, but there were a few formless dark mists that solidified into more horrid creatures, unseen in such a safe world such as Traverse Town. A bear - but not really, all edges, blades, and spikes trundled in, along with three sleek panthers, so lean and quick they were but velvety black blurs.
Another wave of Clement's hand - the air around Haruka shimmered and stretched: Reflectara, capable of absorbing all but the most potent of spells and firing them back at the
caster. And lastly... one final wave of Clement's hand and the Heartless went into a frenzy, dripping their shadowy matter all over the ground as they launched themselves viciously upon the foolish defenders of Traverse Town. The bear and the two panthers immediately turned towards Derrick, eyes glowing ominously for a second before they rushed forwards, eyes trained on his Keyblade.
It was suicide, of course. With the Keyblade, these Heartless would be destroyed easily - though that was assuming Derrick had full control over the blade. Now, at least, it should be an even battle between Haruka and the others.
Moving backwards into the roof, Clement pressed his hand against the wall and teleported again, appearing inside the second floor of a dinghy
tea shop, startling the owner. He slapped down a few coins for a cup of tasteless tea, and a few more to silence the shop owner, and then strolled lightly out onto the balcony, sitting down elegantly into one of the straw chairs to watch the battle.
Taking a sip out of his cup, Clement made a face and poured the rest of the tea contemptuously onto the ground, before throwing the cup down onto the table.
Now... if Haruka managed to
tire out all of the fighters, Clement may possibly be able to slip in for a quick assassination...
The goggle-head figured that maybe the blow to the back of the head would at least knock him out or something. But that didn't seem to be the case here as Haruka started to get to his feet, rising from the ground slowly. It was a bit eerie at first but then it became a serious matter when flames engulfed both of his weapons. Growing hesitant, the boy took cautious steps backwards as he glanced up at the roof of the Hotel as he spotted Anya. He jerked his head to the side a few times, almost as though he was giving her a sign to get out of the District.
Suddenly, Derrick came face-to-face with several blades surrounded by a solid circle of fire that happened to be aimed right at him! Reacting quickly, he ended up rolling to the side to evade the attack. It nearly grazed him, feeling the heat of the flames as he tumbled along the ground before getting up on his own two feet again.
"Why are you here anyway?!" He ended up shouting out the question, wondering if the Keyblade was what Haruka was here for.
"Is it because of this stupid thing?!" he shouted once more, flailing the Keyblade in the air.
"I didn't even ask for this thing anyway! And to be honest, I don't even remember how I even got it in the first place. It. . . it just showed up on its own!"
The boy happened to speak the truth though, he was only using this as a way of distracting Haruka so that Anya could get out of there. From the looks of it now, their opponent didn't seem to back down at this point and he didn't want her to get harmed during the battle.
It mattered not to Haruka that the young man doesn't really want the keyblade, all that matters to Haruka is doing his job and taking out this boy with the infamous weapon. At first the boy's actions towards the attack are of no concern to him so he moves to launch yet another. This time around his concentration is broken by the sudden appearance of three Heartless and a type of shield being placed around Haruka himself. These simple facts leads him to believe that his Superior is in the area and watching the fight. The movement of the two panthers brings the thought of black water to Haruka with how fluid they dance about the area while the hulking bear of a creature moves almost as quickly but with more power behind the steps. This was going to be an interesting battle considering the fact that there are multiple targets for the warriors of the Empire.
Now that his concentration is complete once more Haruka looks to Anya and concentrates as he points a single sword in her direction. The flames rise in the concentration for half a second before a ball of fire shoots from the tip directly at her. There was a chance that the ball was going to miss the target, but Haruka is not counting on that. In truth he just wants the ball to land near the target because the resulting explosion would do the most damage seeing as how the spell is Fira and covers a rather large area with a high temperature. His attention is once again jerked towards Derrick so he launches himself in the air in a single back flip only to land in a crouch at the boy's feet. He spins around with one blade held out as if to sweep the legs and expels his Fira magic once more. This time a "blade" of fire shoots from the swords as they get near the boy and a shockwave erupts from where Haruka is from his landing.Anya stood by watching the situation unravel into a major battle. At first she was going to at least back away from the scene as Haruka started to revive his strength again until the heartless appeared. Her mouth opened lightly as she looked around at all of the heartless, since Haruka couldn't have possibly made that many heartless appear. Where was the other member of the empire? Responsible for the newly formed heartless? Derrick motioned for her to go and gave her time to leave, but she couldn't possibly now since the new heartless had appeared, if she left then she would feel almost responsible for if he was taken back to the Empires headquaters, or killed. She could never let that happen to anyone. Looking at Derrick she shouted in his direction,
"I'll take care of the heartless! You can focus on Haruka since he's trying to fight you!" Then, pulling out her dagger she ran into the fray of heartless, she immedatly felt weighted down from all of the darkness that was seeping from the area, but her fighting skills were defintely effective, the cloud of heartless was lightly dying down. Of course there was still the bear and the panthers, but she would take those down after the smaller heartless were gone. Using most of her defensives, she stabbed at the heartless rapidly in quick motions making them disappear into notihingness. The weaklings were going to be the easy part. Then she ran out for a second and saw Haruka point a single sword to her. A fireball came flying from the tip towards Anya, and she quickly shouted out,
"blizzarga!" An ice bomb flew from her own weapon into the fireball coming right in front of her. She rammed her dagger out in front of her face as a shield to protect it and slid back a ways before almost falling down. Her arm felt like it was on fire, which made her wince a little bit as she moved it around, trying to make the pain go away momentarily. A look of rage and annoyance covered her face.
"Well I stand corrected, so screw that idea. Now it gets personal." An almost wicked grin covered her face as she ran up the fountain and grabbed onto the railing, gaining enough momentum to fly back around and she landed on the ground behind Haruka, twirled to his side and took a swipe with her dagger casting lightning straight into his side. She then ran back at the remaning heartless and did the same manouver with the bear. No matter how long it took, she
would not lose this battle.
It became obvious that Haruka was no longer in talkative mood as he now forced Derrick on the defensive. Readying himself for his next attack, there was an interruption as the lights of every single shop started to flicker before they had gone out. The area grew dark yet still visible at the same time, the Heartless now spawning about in a large number. Something didn't seem right; there was no way Haruka could summon this many creatures at one time or perhaps he could?
Then came the new types of Heartless that made their appearance; one resembling a bear and the others taking after a pack of panthers. That ended up becoming a much bigger problem. . .
The bear-like Heartless was the first to attack, bringing up both arms above its head before bring them both down towards the boy, claws crashing onto the blade of his weapon. That was the cue for one of the panthers to attack, lunging towards the boy and succeeded in taking him down. However, Derrick landed flat on his back and managed to flip the Heartless off of him. As he stood up, he ran towards the much larger Heartless and attempted to strike back with a swift slash. However, this would attempt would only fail as Haruka landed in front of him, causing a miniature shock-wave to throw off Derrick's balance before coming into contact with a blade doused with flames.
Landing hard on his back, the boy doubled over which left himself wide open. Another one of the panthers pounced onto his back, claws digging into his back as its teeth then sunk into his shoulder. Grabbing the back of the panthers neck, he flipped it over as he then quickly stood up, Keyblade in hand as he then drove the blade right into its neck. Breathing heavily, he pulled the blade out and then focused his attention back to Haruka.
"What's the matter? Can't fight on your own?" Derrick taunted, twirling the Shadow's Requiem as he then rushed towards his opponent, evading another attack from the bear before lunging towards Haruka with a straight forward slash to the stomach. Yet, he ended up seeing Anya attacking from behind and took this opportunity to perform a double team maneuver. Canceling his previous attack, he ended up grabbing a hold of Haruka's shoulders, spinning in place as he locked his arms to prevent him from guarding against Anya's attack.
Was Haruka getting some sort of pleasure from this newly heated battle? Yes. Was it still going to be easy despite there now being two combatants against him? Possibly so. Was he worried about the pathetic Thunder cast straight at his side? Think again. He could see that his primary attack against Derrick had some effect to it and the boy even managed to grip Haruka's shoulder in an attempt to keep him in place so that the magic could strike him. Evidently the two were oblivious to the fact that Haruka was surrounded by a shield that not only stopped a lot of the magic that the girl could send at him, if not all of it, but also send it right back at her. With that as the base, the Thunder spell does indeed strike his side but is stopped by the advanced spell covering his body. As a result the lightning that was intended for him travels up the arm of the young woman while dealing the damage that was designed to hurt Haruka. This simple act brings a smile to Haruka's face as he moves his off-hand blade,the blade in his left hand, into a reverse grip.
"Now for some fun."
He quickly spins the two blades in arcing motions at his sides and sends his Fira magic through them to create lashing whips of flame. To those watching from a distance the flames would simply create a round wall on both sides of Haruka while they really act as super-heated blades themselves. This can be proven with the simple fact that each time one strikes the earth a gash of embers is left as the evidence. This, however, was only the beginning of the attack. The final stage sets in as Haruka begins to slowly spin in his spot which causes the fire whips to flail outwards. In this beautiful display of power, the heat ends up distorting what little light there was left in the area only to cause those nearby to notice that it appears as if Haruka is starting to split in two. Oh the wonders of optical illusions caused by simple light distortions.
Anya smiled widely as she noticed that Derrick was going to help her out with her attack, but her mood quickly change as pain flashed across her face. Nothing happened to Haruka, the spell almost rebounded off of him into her arm. The same one that felt slightly burnt on the edges. Like baked alaska struck by lightning. She shook out the pain as much as she possibly could in such condition and looked at Haruka. Instead of dropping back in the fight, Anya turned her head to look at Haruka with the corner of her eye, that way she could see only one of him.
That magic was just the problem. Now if she tried to break through his fire whipping things with a blizzard shield, then it would only do damage to her. In her mind she just wanted to learn that advanced spell so that she could use it for later battles. Hopefully her arm would recover after this was done. She shielded her face from the heat by taking a few steps back and putting her hand instinctively out in front of her face as she thought of another plan. None of her own magic could be invloved. Then she got one.
"Derrick be ready to get to him as quick as possible, you'll understand in a second how you actually can hit him." She ran over to the fountain and put her dagger back in its place on her waist. As strongly as she could she placed her hand under the fountain and covered the spout. As soon as she did, she felt an overwhelming amount of pressure on her hand coming from the spout as she held back the water. She also told a basic reflecting spell to back the water up in the fountain as much as it could, sending it to where the water was supposed to come from in the ground. Then she pulled out her weapon again and flipped it upside down so that the blunt side was facing towards the ground.
"I think its time for a little introduction now. God/demon-made fire, meet natural water that came from the earth. I hope you two will be very happy together." Anya said grinning as she hit the spout of the fountain containing the held water with her dagger. With the amount of strength she put into the hit, the spout flew off and so did the hand that Anya was holding it back with. Using her hand she guided the water where she wanted it to go. At Haruka's fire whipping heat things. The pressurized water shot straight out into the middle of the square in a splashing spray of liquid soaking anything in the area. Evaporation was out of the question since there was too much water. She didn't even want that much, it was the rest of the districts water would be gone for a while. Oh well, it was for protecting them anyways. Since their enemy was the only one using fire, it would be gone in a matter of seconds, leaving him open for attack. Which is hopefully where Derrick would come in. The main ground was now holding various puddles of water and the three fighting were probably now sopping wet, but to their advantage at least. Just not Haruka's.
Believing the attack would surely hit, Anya's spell grew closer and closer. But something went wrong as the spell itself appeared to be repelled, striking her instead of Haruka! Something was definitely wrong here as Derrick then shoved their opponent forward and backed away. Fire entered the area all thanks to Haruka who began to spin in place, the flames now whipping about as then held up his Keyblade in order to defend himself.
Brow quirked, the boy's head tilted to the side a bit as he was confused at first but after watching Anya run over to the fountain and now looked as though she was going to use it for her next attack. Whatever it was, it sure did seem like it would involve water; a lot of it too. Ironically enough, that became the case here as the girl ending up releasing a large amount of water that flew towards Haruka. Luciky enough, it put out the flames that he had been casting this entire time yet at the same time, managed to leave the area soak and wet. Despite the ground now being a slippery mess, the boy who was now drenched completely from head to toe rushed towards their opponent after the fire had been put out.
Yet nothing happened. No slashes, no sounds of a retaliation, nothing at all.
Steps slowed started to cease, coming to a complete stop as Derrick noticed something a bit off about the area. It wasn't just the Heartless that bothered him, something else ended up drawing his attention to it. There was a boundary encasing them within the District! Electricity was what made up the boundary, making it impossible to leave the battle! That and there was a much larger being made up of armor, which surprised the boy even more. What were they supposed to do now? First the Heartless, then Haruka, and now a giant armored creature was there too!
"Dammit..." he scoffed under his breath, glancing over at Anya.
"We can't stay here much longer! We have to push and cut our way through!"
Admitting the water was somewhat of a good idea, Haruka smiles at the attempt to put out the flames that he was using in his attacks. The blast of water had done what it needed to and even threw him back several feet from the sheer force of it all. He was officially having fun with this battle, still the girl obviously didn't know her magic. He quickly rises to his feet and looks to the area that is now covered in the giver of life and looks to the one named Derrick as he slowly begins to realize what is going on. Have to admit, the boy is smarter than he lets on. Haruka just smiles again at the duo and looks to the armored Heartless as it appears and a message is sent to his mind from Clement. Haruka knows what his mission is now and plans to fill it out to the bitter end.
"Learn your magic, Anya. Water is only temporary for this fire, or should I say Fira?"
At the last word his swords once again ignite and send waves of heat through the area. He first looks to the most important person and devises a way to keep the wielder of the keyblade within the barrier, the girl was of no real importance, just another rebel. With that thought in his mind he charges at Derrick only to stumble a little in the water. He manages to catch himself and devices a way to use the water to his advantage. At that moment he changes how it is that he moves and takes on a bit of a skater's movement while adding a little bit of magic to his feet to increase his movement speed over the water. It's when he gets next to Derrick that he releases the magic on his feet with a simple jump to send him into the air, but only by a small degree. He uses the advantage of height to shift his weight and perform a simple kick aimed at the back of Derrick's head followed by another shift in his weight to send his other leg down into an ax kick. He finishes off this combo with a flip backwards that sends both blades of flames across the ground and upwards towards the torso of Derrick. Should this attack hit, it was sure to cause a good amount of damage followed by a bit of a stun from the kicks.
Her idea had worked momentarily, but even though Derrick had rushed Haruka, nothing happened for a mere second. The area became uneasily eerie, and Anya shifted herself awkward as she stood on the field. She could hear her own heart pounding through her chest and her slow, heavy distressed breathing. Small amounts of pain radiated from her arm, and she was getting tired. Yet she knew it wasn't over. She walked a little to try and go up the stairs but she couldn't, she felt a shock go through her and she jumped back in surprise. Then a giant heartless appeared on the field that controlled the barrier around the group, along with Haruka preparing to re-engage combat. Failure seemed evident.
Come on, we can't lose now. If they lost who knew what would happen to them now. Probably nothing good.
Gritting her teeth and wheeling around she viciously stared at Haruka, which the whole concept of scary was new to her, still, she was good at it.
"At least I know more than one kind of magic! You had to have someone else do all these boundries and heartless masses for you, huh? I'm just curious as to who it is, I mean someone with that kind of power must be really important in the Empire." She listened to what Derrick said and decided to finish her statement.
"You know Haruka, I might not know magic, but I can figure things out easily. That was your superior correct? I kinda wish he was here for when you were bawling like a child." Then she smiled back at his own corny smile and turned to Derrick sharply.
"We can try, but I think if we take out the Guard first then we'll be able to escape. We can get away from Haruka once the barrier is down." She hit the barrier with her dagger and it didn't do anything, then she ran over to the giant heartless and ran up it's body to the head and she jumped up into the air, coming back down onto the head seperating it into different sections.
This ought to be exciting.
~~~~~~
Problems Become Complications!
[Theme Music
]YouTube - Xenogears OST - Awakening ~ Deus Battle Theme
There was something wrong about the sky today. A buzzing sound could faintly be heard above the prison. Suddenly it got louder and louder until a rather large straight object could be seen extremely close. Slamming into a part of the prison, it exploded, destroying a tower that sat on top of the prison. One large ship surrounded by three medium sized ships began descending from the atmosphere. The resistance decided to make it's move upon the prison now but, it was a desperate move. Landing right in front of the prison, rebels began pouring from the medium ships while the much larger ship kept a safe distance away from the prison. The prison base alarms went off as the rebels began making their move upon the prison. Prison personnel were also rushing forward to confront the rebels. Two pods were shot forward from the large ship, slamming into the upper part of the prison. Two groups with a high rank rebel emerged from the pods in order to save Cort's mother and any that were imprisoned.
Cort's eyes widened as he say the ship. "Oh my god. A Memorian battle cruiser. The last one I presume. We gotta get to them as fast as possible. Sorry Lissa but, i'm going to have to carry you a little farther." Cort commented as he picked up his pace. Even though his leg was hurting deeply, Cort could still run as high speeds. It took quite awhile but, Cort had reached the prison since the prison wasn't that far away. Luickily he and Lissa hadn't been seen just yet so, he took his time to scour the area. His eyes finally met with a familiar face on the battlefield that ordering a group of people. Running inbtween the explosions and battle, Cort reached the familiar face. "
KURT!" Cort yelled out and the man turned around with an amazed look. "Prince Cort De Memoria. It has been a long time since you left the rebel base." Kurt responded, "I'm glad that you've shown up though and witha beauty in your arms. We have decided to have major battle here and save all the rebels and your mother."
Cort's face tensed up and he replied rather quickly, "I'm also glad that your here. I'm going in to get my mother and my friend. Take this girl with you and get her to the healing bay. Dont not let her follow me. That's an order from your prince." Before giving Lissa to Kurt, Cort whispered into her ear, "Don't worry Lissa. I will be back. Let them take care of you." Handing Lissa over, Cort grabbed Kurt's sword from his sheath. It was a broad sword adorned with gold lining and a titanium handle. It was a royal weapon given to Kurt upon Cort's departure and now the Memorian prince would take upon the weapon in battle once again. Turning around, Cort dashed toward the prison, cutting his way through prison guards with a fierce determination in his mind.
Kurt on the otherhand spoke a command into the headset on his head. "Use the transporter for the main ship. It's an emergency. It seems the Prince is here and he's left me something." Kurt spoke to the Memorian Battle Cruiser. A beam of white light shined upon Kurt and Lissa and their bodies instantly dispered into small orbs. These orbs made their way into the ship, and ended up in a very advanced looking room. Carrying Lissa, Kurt walked feverishly into the medical bay that sat beside the dimensional movement room. Laying Lissa on a long, black table, Kurt grabbed upon the lid that covered the table and closed it around Lissa. Pressing a button on the lid, the whole thing began to glow a bright green as it healed Lissa's body. "Well Cort is bringing home women now. I hope the prince knows what he is doing. Powerful bastard." Kurt muttered as he left the room to go back to the battle."
What."
Clement's frozen whisper crept from his lips as one of his underlings contacted him - a battle cruiser, Memorian, had landed in the middle of
his city, to spread their pathetic resistance even further. And here he was, half the universe away, chasing a Keyblader, of all things.
Clement slowly closed his eyes and reopened them again. He was furious. How
dare these rebels....
The shoddy teacup shattered in his hands and Clement slammed the table with his clenched fist. The table itself exploded into three different pieces silently, fracturing as if space had snapped around it. The shopowner protested for a second, before he was blown against the back wall. Crawling away quickly, the shopowner left the store in a hurry as Clement turned and faced the battlefield.
Focusing for a second, Clement reached out into a dimensional rift and drew out a few tools. Four large silver crosses the size of full grown men fell in a square surrounding the battlefield, glinting in the night light. They hummed softly as they started shining, quivering to themselves as magic charged up.
Haruka. I leave these rebels to you. In three mintues, this area will be teleported to Disney Castle, into the heart of the Empire. Make sure none of them leave the area.
Fingering a dark black shard of metal in his pocket, Clement thought for a moment, and then decided to use it for good measure. Tossing it down from the balcony to the first floor, the metal shard seemed to slip into the ground without resistance.
In the background, the Bell in Traverse Town started ringing.
The air around the crosses shimmered and wavered, creating a square boundary field around the 'arena'. The boundary field glittered with electricity - anyone running into it would be electrocuted and thrown back. In three minutes, the area would be teleported to Disney Castle.
In the center of the arena, the shard of metal appeared, glowing and growing, absorbing all of the other Heartless and leaving the bear and panther until it solidified into a large armored figure - a figure that looked like Guard Armor... but the Heartless was much too big to be a normal Heartless. It was massive, not to mention that it was shooting electricity from its armor. The electrical boundary field was tied to this Guard Armor - if it was somehow defeated, the boundary field would fall the Keyblader and his friends could simply walk out. Of course, that was much harder than it sounded. Clement made a nice few modifications to the Heartless. But that was for the Keyblader to find out.
Satisfied, Clement turned a stepped into his awaiting rift, back to Radiant Gardens. He had a few pests to deal with.
Ty Dex watched as the skirmish started to unfold and his eyes took in all that was hapening with an air of heightened disgust. The soliders that were running around trying so hard to killthemwere dropping like flies in radiation and he wasn't enjoying at all seeing Dia shoot down hoardes of foes at at time,but only because he wasn't fighting with her and Capell.
"Eyy let's kick this up a knotch shall we?? I think these punkes need a lesson in who to screw around with." He glanced at Dia and ran her form through with an overpowering link tot the darkness that would channel her energy through the gun she fired. It was possible that she didn't catch on at first but the increased exansion of her shots and the dark force that tore through her foes was enough to make the soliders slow up a bit, but theirnorders were clear....
Capell was fighting the executioner by himself, so Ty went to help but another flock of soldiers advanced and blocked his path. "Move. Now." His words echoced around the soldiers and with his hand and a waving moion from it four men in frontof him snapped in half and the otherswere met with a wall of psionic force thathummed and then imploded back near them, which ended up causing all of them but one to get crushed into horrible and bloody misconfigurations of what they looked like before.
"Heyy Capell I got your back, get him!!!" Ty Dex switchd his stance and jumped over the bodis strewn before him and cut down the remaining soldier with a diagonal slice and then dropped down in front of the executioner and Cort's mother.
"Shadow Bind Transfer."
Darkness quickly imposed itself upon the man holding the axe and right then he was bound by darkness and was unable to move.
"Come on do it now."
Still fighting the executioner Capell was surprised to see Ty Dex jump up to the platform to help him. "
Huh? What about the sold-" He looked down to see the path of destruction that Dex had caused on his way to him. Now that he thought about it, Dex seemed to be seriously powerful and it made him wonder just where he came from..
"R-right!" Slamming his fists together he used a thunder spell to surround his arms in a coating of electricity. Judging from the look on the executioner's face he knew what was coming. "Eat this!" Capell yelled, sending a flurry of punches so fast that his arms became a blur. Electricity flashed with each strike as he wailed on him. Stopping for just a second Capell pulled his right arm far back. Focusing his strength he sent one final blow to the man's face, shattering his jaw and sending him flying across the grounds right into the far wall. The electricity went away as he sighed in relief.
"Thanks Dex, and it looks like the rebels have this wrapped up too." He said, noticing that the empire solders were dwindling in number.
Such chaos is such a relatively small place was unnerving to Ty Dex because there were always bigger battles and if this much destruction could be caused in one place as tiny as this; he could could easily imagine and remember the terror that went on in some of the other worlds where heartless were so terrifying that people didn't even dare enter such a place. Disturbed thoughts of blood and rampage flitted through Ty's mind and he held it in at first but the idea was so livid to his being that soon psionic impulse holding the images burst from his head and there was little doubt that Capell had been safe from these thoughts.
A crazed look spread across Ty's face and the platform started to vibrate and break apart but then he thought about Tyra Zen and his drama ceased.
"I. I....damn. "Umm what we we talking about??" The complete look of confusion and emptiness that Ty was experiencing was normal but nevertheless outrageous in its own right.
"So are we parting ways here or is there more to your story...more to what I can help you with..."
Dia halted. She was puzzled to where the dark power came from. It was not hers, she was sure. She wouldn't rely on the darkness. But there were still a few soldiers coming at her. She shook off the thought and glanced at Ty, who moved towards Capell's area. She wondered whether he was the one who did that. But it was really unnecessary for him to do that. She stayed silent, shooting down the remaining soldiers.
Just when she was done, she saw a man fly and crashing into the wall. She looked at Capell and Ty. Walking over to them, she looked at Ty rather uncomfortably but grinned at Capell. "
Well done." She said.
Dia looked at Ty. His behaviour seemed different. Not that she cared. "
Well...you better get her to a safe place first." She said, looking at Cort's mother.
Lissa closed her eyes as Cort ran toward the prison. Something big was happening. As they reached the prison, a huge ship had crashed into. Lissa anxiously watch chaos persue. Thinking it best to remain quiet, Lissa didn't even whisper and left watched eveything with wide eyes. She watched Cort closely. He ran into someone he knew who called him a prince. He was a prince? He never mentioned this too her. Cort handed her off to the man named Kurt. Lissa was so incredibly exhausted, she didn't protest. He took the sword and dashed off. She wished she would have told him to be careful or to be safe but she couldn't manage the words. Part of Lissa dreaded that she might never see him again. She bit her lip as she watched him disappear and Kurt sent them up into the ship.
In the ship, Kurt placed Lissa in a healing pod. She took a deep breath before he closed. Small spaces always made her uncomfortable. As soon as he turned it on, she could already feel the her body healing, her strength returning. Lissa heard Kurt mutter something about Cort bring home women. She could feel her ears get hot. She looked around the ship and gazed at all the computers, lights, buttons, and gadgets. It reminded her of her father's lab. She shook her head to remove the thoughts of her family from her head and thought of Cort again. She hoped that he was okay.
Once her body was fully healed, the lid of the pod opened and Lissa sat up. She looked around, unsure of what to do. Those left aboard were busy following commands and speaking into headsets, but to Lissa, it simply looked like they were button mashing and talking to themselves. Lissa walked through the ship until she found a small, oval window and stared at the chaos outside. Soldiers and rebels battling. Smoke, debris, blood, and more littered the area below. Lissa clenched her fists as she felt completely useless. What would she do down there. She didn't even know how to use any kind of weapon besides what Cort had taught her. She would just get hurt again and someone would have to save her. She was just a stupid damsel in distress recently. She rolled her eyes at the thought. She turned from the window and started pacing to think of what she could do to help.
~~~~~
Anger That Becomes Darkness
Back in his office, Clement had to only open his door to his balcony before a literal wall of sound hit him, as those useless soldiers and officers ran around, confused and desperate. Reports were flying in - soldiers dispatched were dropping like flies, with next to no casualties on the enemy side. With a tired sigh, Clement took a step forwards and opened his mouth.
"QUIET!!"
Clement waited for a second as the army suddenly shut up as his tones echoed throughout the large chamber. A few motes of dust fell from the ceiling as Clement surveyed the scene with an annoyed eye.
"
As you may know, we are under attack. The rebels, though, are few and unorganized. If you all stopped shouting and each other and did something, maybe we can accomplish something. Squads 1 to 4 - you will come from the North and South sides. Squad 5, 7, take the trains and block any avenues of escape or entrance. Aerial 2, 4, 5, and 7, you are assigned to destroying the Memorian cruiser. Assault 3 and 4, initiate attack on the main rebel force. Be ready in 10 minutes. Any soldier left without a job, find one within the next minute."
Turning, Clement stepped away and walked back inside the building, disappearing into a portal. Really, what morons.
In truth, the soldiers were useless. Or, more accurately, they were only useful as a distraction and as a shield. It was the
Heartless that Clement preferred to use. Much less messy, and no stupid emotions like fear inhibiting them.
Stepping out the portal, Clement surveyed the wall in front of him as he pondered this, stroking the dusty metal. The wall in front of him was ancient, yet it glinted in the dark, as if an unknown source of light fell on it.
He was in the heart of Hallow Bastion, the castle in the middle of Radiant Gardens and the literal heart of thisworld. In front of him was the Keyhole, the source of the Heartless appearing throughout the world. It was funny how the rebels were running themselves ragged trying to kill all his troops when the real source of his army was hidden here. All they had to do to retake Radiant Gardens was to somehow lock this Keyhole, denying Clement his source of an army and destroying all the Heartless in one stroke. But the only known Keyblader so far was in Traverse Town, much too far away to interfere. After he dealt with these annoying flies, he would see to the Keyblader...
Lifting his hands, Clement felt the flow of space coming from the Keyhole, and started chanting. Watching closely and at his side, his young ward. A boy no older than the age of fifteen, a tender child that though young was quite powerful. The youthful O'nam, not quite up to match just yet, but he was a mere rank below Lieutenant at the current time. For the time being, as the power billowed from the keyhole, the world as they knew it would soon be overrun with heartless at his master's command.
As he did so, the foundations of Radiant Gardens trembled as sleeping powers awakened...
~~~~~
Chapter 3 End
Author's Notes:
The "So This Is Human Nature?" segment was completely redone from scratch, with the exception of Cort's assail from the train, that part is completely original to King Kittan's character's actions.
@Piercing Light. I think I am going to omit Salforge's train ride to the mysterious tower for the time being to focus more on the Capell/Concordia/Ty Dex side and Derrick/Anya/Kulen sides for the time being.
As far as empire activity goes, I feel like Clement was multi-tasking hardcore here lol. Good ol' Akans! As a good grace I did the first cameo appearance for a later character to be introduced later. If not in Chapter 4, then chapter 5 will introduce Lumine's character Ciel alongside kingdomkeylight's Ocean and Artem (oh god thats gonna be fun to rewrite lol)
Just a note about text/font colors. Certain roleplayers preferred to have colored fonts to make their replys significant, the ones that used font colors I chose to keep the same ones to distinguish their characters' dialogue midst others.