Re: Kingdom Hearts: To The Bitter End [Part One]

[Cracklord]

Ventus
Donald lowers his eyes, his bill comically turning down, and his lids drooping over his large eyes. "We haven't seen him in a long time. He disappeared in the Castle That Never Was with Riku and the king. I... I wasn't with him when it happened, you see. He went into the castle, and never came out. Sorry that I can't help you any more."

Fayt
"Ha ha, my boy, it's all the same thing!" He laughs. "Like your ship has something as simple as the wheel in it's ancestry, magic too follows the same path, however you channel it. It's just a matter of finding the right man to teach you. Give it a try!"

Lei Wulong
A work calloused hand grips your shoulder. You turn to see a man with short blond hair and stubble chewing a toothpick. "Calm down. You're just a little disoriented. It'll pass. This is Traverse Town."

Bridget
"Why, this is Traverse Town." He says, spreading his arms. "Welcome. WHat happened to your world?"

Son Son
You stand on a ridge overlooking a beautiful, tranquil valley bellow, when you hear a noise behind you, and you realize the birds have stopped singing, the insects stopped chirping, and the world has gone quiet.
You turn, to see a patch of darkness sliding towards you, that stops to reveal several tiny, dark creatures with humanoid body structure. They have round, spherical heads with glowing yellow eyes and twisted antennae sprouting out of the top of its head. With the exception of its eyes, their bodies are completely black.
They fan out, surrounding you and trying to push you further back towards the cliff.

Terra
The second page goes on to detail considerably more information on the nature of his experiments.
It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is. I shall conduct the following experiments:
Extract the darkness from a person's heart.
Cultivate darkness in a pure heart.
Both suppress and amplify the darkness within.
The experiments caused the test subject's heart to collapse, including those of the most stalwart. How fragile our hearts are! My treatment produced no signs of recovery. I confined those who had completely lost their hearts beneath the castle.
Some time later, I went below and was greeted by the strangest sight. Creatures that seemed born of darkness...What are they? Are they truly sentient beings? Could they be the shadows of those who lost their hearts in my experiments?

[Scene]

Zexion steps into the lab, pauses a moment to look around, then stares up at the tall blond man in sunglasses and a leather coat. "Alright, Wesker, you have two minutes to sell it to me before you get the plug pulled the hell out. And by plug, I mean your liver. Clock's ticking."
"You can't expect me to..."
"Tick-tock."
"Fine. As you know, I've been experimenting on the heartless."
"Please, spare me the recap. I was there. I gave you the orders. So just tell me what you found."
"Well I've been inspecting their seemingly endless diversity, and while they take certain shapes and not others. I've found that their context takes no part in their form. Rather, it is the subconscious of the being who draws and controls them, and the being that's heart they take form from."
"Huh." Zexion only acted stupid. "So we could, if we could control it, make them look like anything we wanted, any powers we want. Make super Heartless who can fly and shoot lazer-beams, or something. It's not just a lottery and a powerful heart."
"Ah... well, that's the principal."
"You just told me exactly what I wanted to hear. The next words out of your mouth better not be no results, Wesker. I don't think that's what I want to hear."
"No. A few, so far. But it'll take more time."
"Time we don't got. We are on a schedule. So hurry up and finish this, then get back to your real job."

[SeanHiruki]

((I edited Nobunaga, Zhuge, Yue Ying and Son Son's posts so they fit your post before. Sorry I had missed it. I'll wait for you to edit your post before replying))

[Cracklord]

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying
Your search only leads to more mysteries. The corpses do not show up, though the signs of a struggle become more fierce the closer into the town you go. You can imagine it with ease, the defenders pushed back, slowly forced into a final stand where they were cut down. But there is still no trace of them.
Furthermore, there has been no looting or other traits you'd expect in an occupying army. They just did whatever they did and continued on, leaving this behind them. You look down at your feet, to realize that, torn and trample into the mud, is an imperial yellow banner, torn and ripped. You don't recognize the heraldry, but this is the banner of an emperor, if an unfamiliar one.

Oda Nobunaga
"Taking this like a champ, aren't you big man?" He laughs. "Well alright then. Sorry about my ways, but I see so much royalty I just stop caring. See, I represent a very select group. We see what you're trying to do here, and we want in. So here's what is going to happen, I'm going to give you another army. And it will be the best army you've ever seen, they don't tire, they don't feel fear, they don't need food, or rest, or much of anything, really. And in exchange, you do what you're already doing. End the chaos and all that."
He pauses, and his smile widens. "Of course we're not doing this for free. There are a few favors you will owe us in exchange, but nothing a man like you will object to. Much."
He stops, speaking and leans forward. And just to show off, I'll prove how good we are by giving you Shingen's head tomorrow."

[AnimeKid]

Fayt

he nods with a smile on his face as the man infecious boisterous nature gets to him. He then closes his eyes as he aims his hands toward the ceiling and focusing on the energies inside him says, "Blizzard!" With that a cloud of frost as well as a few icicles race from his hands and impact the ceiling. He smiles as his accomplishment. "Wow you were right. Thank you Sir Merlin. I'll come back later with my friends but for now I need to get going." he runs out of the house violently bumbing into Terra on his way out as he cries out a quick, "Oops, sorry." and using his Dimension Door technique quickly teleports to the groups meeting spot.

Ventus
He smiles sadly as he looks at Donald and says, "Thats all right you've already helped me a lot. I will do my best to find and rescue Sora and the King." He then proceeds to the groups meeting spot

Group name: Dawning Light

With the final two members arrival the rest of the group looks up ready to convene. After the group shares all the info that they have gathered the then plan their next course of action. Ike speaks up first. "So from our information our current worlds of interest are Olympus and The world which never was; which is currently out of the question due to how deep in enemy territory it is." Xianghua then speaks up, "Actually could we go to the Land of Dragons? Lu Bu, if he is of chinese descent like I think he is, might be there. Which means that I could find Nightmare and by proxy Souledge." While this is happening Fayt is consulting his Scanner. After hearing Knuckles story he proceeded to scan the master emerald piece and after recording its energy readings tries to scan the town for any similar energy readings to see if the shards at the arena are fakes. Ventus then says, "I don't know that tournament on Olympus is scheduled to happen any day know. We might want to get is to see if we can find Riku." Xianghua then responds, "Well yeah, but you said yourself Hades is planning a coup. No offense Ven but you just regained your body a few months ago. I just don't know if your up to facing a god." Ventus then says, "Hm, you have a point. Alright we'll go to the Land of Dragons first. After we finish up there we'll head to Olympus. Lets try and make it back before the tounament just in case Hades does try something. He may be a god but we could at least help evacuate the people." The rest of the group nods as the agree on this plan of action and wait for Fayt's results before they leave.

[SeanHiruki]

Oda Nobunaga
Nobunaga listened to the man's offer. To a fool or an evil man, his offer was great. Perfect, even. "Interesting" Nobunaga purred. "So you want to give me an immortal army, work for you and your organization, do your dirty work for you and just to prove your ego you offer to kill my greatest enemy." He let out a roar of a laugh before giving the man a glare. That glare alone caused most to kneel before him out of fear and respect.
"Begone from my sight before I cut your head off." He said without an ounce of anger in his voice. "Your so called irrefutable offer has a few problems. First: An army such that you spoke of does not exist. Second: I am the Devil King of Owari. I serve no one. Third: Lord Shingen is my beloved enemy. More than that, he is a man whom I respect and honor. There is NO WAY I would let you kill him. Heh if you COULD, that is. You should have done your research on me before making such an offer. The first rule of negotiation is to know who exactly you are negotiating with. Now Begone"

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying
Yue Ying picked up the banner first. "This symbol. I do not recognize it. What sort of emperor ....Could this belong to whomever is responsible for this tragedy?"
Zhuge Liang nodded, "It is highly probable. I say we find any sign of civilization and locate someone who might know something"
Yue Ying nodded in agreement and the couple followed the road to the north.

Bridget
"Traverse Town, huh?" Bridget said. "Thanks for the Welcome, sir! I am Bridget, I come from a place called England which is a country on Earth. Can't say I know what happened. One minute I was hunting a bounty and the next POOF! Here I am! HAHA!"

Son Son
Son Son jumped back near the cliff and took out her staff from behind her ear. The staff grew from smaller than a thumbtack to full size in less than a second. "Alright, little demons! Mess with the monkey and you get cooked!" She smiled happily as she spoke. Oh how she loved fights!
"Who is first?!"

Lei Wulong
"EH!? What language are you speaking!?" The Super Cop cried as he shook the man. He then stopped and thought, shaking his head and sighed. "Sorry about that.Just got a little jumpy. Traverse Town, eh? Well looks nice enough. I am Officer Lei Wulong" He held his hand out to shake.

Ayane
The beautiful kunoichi ran across the rooftops of Traverse Town with less effort than it took most to breath. As soon as she found someone who looked trustworthy, she stopped and jumped down next to her.
"O'Haiyo. I am Ayane.I have some questions for you."

[Cracklord]

Oda Nobunaga
The man's smile does not budge an inch, though he does step back a step. "As if." He replies, with an accent a more cosmopolitan man would no doubt recognize as a Californian surfers. “You want to be that way? Well fine. Fortunately, I figured something like this was bound to happen, and came prepared for a demonstration. By the time the sun sets, I will take this castle from you. Put up a fight if you want, I don’t really care. Hope you don’t lose anyone too important to you. We’ll talk some more when I’m done. Ciao.”
With that, he turns his back on you, and swaggers back out the way he came, stepping around Katsuie as he does, not so much as glancing back at you. He's not a man to be easily intimidated.

Outside, he stops, and nods to the man in a nearly identical black leather robe, his hood down and shadowing his face. "Well, he wants to be difficult. Oh, he's got plenty of darkness, but he's too driven to be much use. But I found somebody else in the castle who'll do even better. That Akechi guy."

Dawning Light

Your Gummi ship is docked with the others, the most sleek and high tech looking of them all, thanks to Fayt's modifications. You pile in, a little squashed altogether in the small space, but comfortable enough as long as you don't try to stretch too much. It activates, and you leave Traverse Town, typing in the co-ordinates as you leave to bring you to the Land of Dragons.
It's important not to try to explore without directions. There is a lot more empty space then worlds, and the thought of wandering, looking for a world but never finding one is a terrifying prospect.

Emptiness

The ship takes off, opening into the strange vista's that lie between the worlds. It's like being inside tha Aurora Borealis, as colors swirl and blend, in a haunting and beautiful pattern. Swirling blocks and strange constructions circle you again. You don't understand it's purpose or why it all looks uncompleted, but somehow it all nauseats you. Such waste. Imagine the human suffering it must have taken to construct all this, and it is all so useless. The ways seem mostly empty, no other ships using them.
At last you come to the land of Dragons, Far larger then Traverse Town, and landing in the safest place you can find for the ship.

Land of Dragons

You are in a small clearing in a bamboo grove, with a large stone in the center, and wild grass up to your knees. The bamboo itself is forming an impassable wall alongside the narrow path, it's green, flowerless folliage everywhere. It's winter, but thanks to the conditions it doesn't feel particularly cold, and there is no wind. Fayt's scanner finds no traces of magic or Heartless, or sentiant life. Right now, you're alone.

Son Son
In answer, they all depress themselves, becoming no more then shadowy blots once more and closing on you, attempting to pop out behind you and hamstring you. Shadowy claws rip at your skin from all sides as they pop out at once, attempting to bring you down and throw you from the cliff.

Lei Wulong
"Cid. I make things." He replies, shaking your hand. "So, law enforcement? Good for you. Things are pretty quiet here for the most part, everyone's quiet, depressed or both. 'Cept those kids who want to take over, but nobody pays any attention to them. Come on, I'll buy you a drink and fill you in at once."
With that, he takes off towards the bar.

Ayane
The man you meet happens to be The Nameless One. How you constructed him as appearing trustworthy is a good question, and one I have no hope of answering. Perhaps their mutual confusion appeals to her.

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying
North leads away from the mountains, and across the snow. After a days walking, you find yourselves alone in the wilderness, with little provisions, no decent provisions, and still no sign of civilization. This land is clearly sparcely populated in places, though the ground seems fertile enough.
The wind is cold, though the sky is clear. There will be a cold change coming in the next few days. You'll need to find shelter by then.

Bridget
"It happens. Your world is dying. And so your heart was pulled here. If it hadn't been, you would have fallen into darkness. This is where people who go through that end up. Welcome."

[SeanHiruki]

Oda Nobunaga
Nobunaga said nothing and let the man walk out He could tell that the man's words were not an idle threat. "Mitsuhide, gather the defenses and prepare for an attack" He ordered casually.
"You have a stratagem, dear husband?" NoHime asked.
Nobunaga smiled, "Indeed I do. We are going to give this Organization our castle"

Ayane
Ayane paused. Something was not right with this woman. Nameless and silent, she had become a man. The kunoichi took a step back, glaring at whatever it was.

Bridget
"EH?!" The cross dressing youth all but cried. "What do you mean? Last I saw it the Earth was fine! And what do you mean by darkness? Can you tell me why all this is happening?"

Lei Wulong
"Nice to meet you, Cid. And a drinks sounds nice right about now." Lei followed Cid to the nearest pub where a man is talking to a blond girl in a nun's habit.
"Well Hello, little lady!"

Bridget
Bridget turned to see a Chinese man. "Um, I am a boy. Now shush, men are talking important things!"

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying
"Maybe we should have gone South!" Yue Ying sighed.
"Perhaps you are correct, dear. It seems there is no civilization around here. Let us turn back and then go West."
His red headed wife nodded, "Yes, let's hope the Gods grace us with some results"

Son Son
The Monkey Princess grinned and swung her staff like a baseball bat. Mid-swing the staff extended to reach far past the shadow beings, hitting them all and then some
"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUR!!!!"

[Cracklord]

Oda Nobunaga
Mitsuhide Akechi nods silently, then straightens his shoulders and walks out, pausing only to help Katsuie Shibata to his feet. The massive man doesn't thank him, he's still dealing with his wounded pride, but he does nod respectfully, then approachs you.
"My lord, I must beg you to reconsider. Surrendering so much as an inch to that man would be unaceptable. Allow me to teach him some manners."

Bridget
"I do not know much about the heartless myself, I am afraid. All I know is that everyone here lost an army to the shadows called the heartless. I suggest you see the Hollow Bastion Restoration Comitee, they are the experts. Or Cid!" He adds, pointing to the tinkerer leading Lei Wulong to the bar, who he just brushed off. "He'll tell you everything."

Lei Wulong
Cid buys three beers, giving you two. "Trust me, the more you hear, the more you'll want to drink. How many stars would you say there are?" When you explain this as often as he does, you learn how to do it very quickly.

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying
As you tearn, you catch a glimpse of something in the corner of your eye, and turn, just in time to spot the swooping form of a pengerine falcom with evil yellow eyes that had gone directly for your face. With a fierce kreeeeeee sound, that contains more hate then you'd previosly been aware dumb animals were capable of feeling, it banks, turns and glides past, heading away into the distance.
In the instant you got a glimpse of it, you noted amidst the flashing talons and cruel, hooked beak that it had a collar. Somebody owned it.

Son Son
One mannaged to lower itself in time, the other three dead the moment your staff hits them. The sole survivor has a moment to return to normal before it is hit by your return stroke, dying the same way. The things collapse into wispes of darkness that fade quickly, leaving you alone on the mountain again.
Not a ver satisfying foght. But maybe there will be a better one later, if you find whatever sent those things.

[SeanHiruki]

Oda Nobunaga
Nobunaga raised his right hand to silence his well intentioned General and friend. "Usually you would be right. But this time I have something special in mind. We will trick his army into the castle and then burn it to the ground. His army will be wiped out and though it will cost us a castle, it will be worth it. We can procure another castle with ease. We will show him that we are not to be underestimated."

Bridget
The boy nodded and followed the two into the pub. Taking a seat next to Lei, he ordered milk. "So Cid, what are these heartless things? And why are they destroying the Earth?"

Lei Wulong
Lei took the beers with a nod. "Thanks." He took a moment to think before giving his answer, "I would have to say there are a few billion stars in the sky. If not more."

Ayane
The kunoichi vanished, not wanting to spend another second with whatever it was she tried to talk to. She appeared inside the pub the others were drinking in. Now, she was not much of a drinker, but with the weird things that have been occurring around here, some sake sounds nice.
"Sake please" she said as she sat on the other sde of Bridget just as they began talking about creatures called Heartless.

Zhuge Liand and Huang Yue Ying
((They never think of animals as dumb.))
Now the couple knew a lot about birds of prey, but this was new. The creature was attacking them with more fury than a mother bear protecting her cub. They dodged the bird and Zhuge Liang responded by slashing his fan at the bird, causing the wind to fluy towards it, sharp as a sword.

Son Son
She sighs as the fight ended sooner than she wanted. So unsatisfying! "Finishing quickly is no way to please a lady!" She returned the staff to its tiny size and put it away. "Well, time to find the baddie boss man!"

[Cracklord]

Oda Nobunaga
Katsuie pauses, then lets out a barking laugh. "Good plan my lord. Good plan indeed." He says, lowering his head, and once more you've proven yourself to your retainer, the only lord with the ruthlessness and brilliance to unite all Japan.
"You will need to leave men to ensure he takes the bait, and that it is as convincing as possible. I beg my lords permission to lead them."
Mitsuhide is visible in the courtyard, removing everything irreplaceable and ensuring the famalies and children gather first.

Bridget and Lei Wulong
"That's what I'm doing. Now be patient, and let me speak. Each star is the fragment of one specific world. Yes, I know that doesn't make scientific sense. And yet here you are, what do scientists know. Should a star stop shining, that would mean that particular world has disappeared from existence. That has been happening a lot, recently."
He leans forward. "It's due to the darkness. The darkness is there in everyone's heart. Sometimes it takes over, and when it does, it consumes you. You become part of it, nothing more then a tiny part, one ant in a nest. And so you do as the rest of them, conquering world after world. You want to know more about them, I suggest you read Ansem's Report to learn more."

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying
(My mistake. I meant in the Disney sense, as in an animal that cannot talk, sing or dance)
The bird dives, so that the strike clips it's right wing rather then bisecting it neatly as you'd intended, but it still turns the birds controlled dive into a spiraling fall. At the end of it's trajectory, just as it should hit the ground, a gloved hand snaps out and catches it. A massive and bulky figure, hooded and cloaked, stares at you, and you feel it's baleful green eyes from this far away.
All arond you, the night seems to be closing in, the air growing heavy and the shadows growing longer as darkness looms. And then the shadows begin to twist and flicker, gaining lives of their own.

Son Son
The Heartless came from a cave a bit further up the mountain. You can jump up there and land inside if you wish it, or approach it up the long, winding track that was most definately not designed for humans. Either option has it's dangers. The rocks are hard and jagged, and while you doubt the fall will kill you it will most definately hurt, as well as set you back at the bottom of the mountain, and take another day to climb up.

[SeanHiruki]

Oda Nobunaga
Nobunaga nodded with a grin, "Lead well,Shibata. I know you will show our enemy what fear is." He trusted all his men and women under his command to do what needs to be done. That was yet another way that Nobunaga was unique.He ruled through trust rather than fear. He accepted all those that could fight and council, man and woman alike.
"Nohime, are your kunoichi ready?"He asked his wife
"Yes, dear husband. They are ready to send your enemies to oblivion."

Bridget, Lei Wulong and Ayane
The three listened to the mechanic with open ears. By the end, Lei had already finished the first beer and was working on the second.
"Holy crap" he said simply.

Bridget sipped his milk eagerly as he listened. He processed all that he had learned in the short period of time since arriving in town. "So basically" He said finally, "These Heartless are world consumers. Is there someone controlling them?"

"I find it hard to believe otherwise" Ayane chimed in. She had been listening as well. She shuddered to think of such shadow beings taking over her beloved home. "If these heartless are as you say, than they have no ambition of their own. To conquer one needs to have an ego, pride, greed and a lust for power. It is possible that if the controller is killed, the heartless willbe no more."

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying
Something was very wrong about the cloaked figure. As the night closed in, Zhuge and his wife could feel a pressure that they only felt once before when they faced Cao Cao at Chi bi.
"Who are you?" He asked the figure

Son Son
Two paths froth with more dangers than she cared to trifle with, Son Son took the lazy way out.
She walked on clouds. Using the clouds as a staircase, she walked up into the cave. Seeing the heartless, she grinned playfully and yelled "Lunch time!" as a giant kettle pot appeared into her hands with fire cooking under it. The pot acted as a vacuum as the opening was aimed at the heartless, sucking them in.

[draxx]

Metaknight
The knight spreads his cape, taking flight on it as it formed into something like wings, and soared up the stairs and into the magicians house, landing behind Terra. "You want answers. But searching in that way leads only to new questions. If you want to learn more, follow me."

Terra
Confused but eagre, he follows the little knight down to the underground chamber, where he meets Vincent. Terra is currently driven by a compulsive need to learn more about the shadow, after all.

Zhou Yu
The strategist finishes his drink, then gets to his feet and walks out.

Nameless
Ayane tried to dissapear, but the massive immortal had unusually keen senses, strong enough that he was able to track her, despite her considerable talents. Shadowing her with more stealth then you'd expect in such a bulky, savage looking man, he follows her to the bar, listening in on the coversation as Cid explains what's happening, occasionally frowning. He does not drink, as he just did.
...why does it sound so familiar? Why does all that seem to click easily into place? Maybe the shadows have something to do with his past.

[Cracklord]

Oda Nobunaga
Mitsuhide returns, lowering his eyes as he does. There is something different about him. He seems... larger, almost. As though he has finally stepped out of a shadow. "My lord, all is prepared and in readiness. I have set up the traps and prepared the tactics, as well as selecting our best fighters to hold the castle as long as possible. The families and supplies have been evacuated, and all the treasure that can has been removed. However, there has been no sign of this promised army or Xigbar."
He pauses. "All that remains for now is to escort my lord himself out of the castle. If you are ready?"

Bridget, Lei Wulong, Ayane and Nameless
"We believe them to be driven by a hunger of their own, but yes, those of particularly dark hearts draw them as moths to the flame, which leads to a world being infected in the first place. Eventually, however, these individuals get absorbed by the darkness and become Heartless themselves. If they have some overall goal we do not know it. But yes, they do have leaders. And we have killed them, though it never seems to last."

Son Son
The smaller heartless are all sucked in, netting you an easy twenty without any effort. But the massive one at the back of the cave doesn't even budge. It's a black sphere with several twisted black tapering into orange tentacles sprouting out of it. Two of these are large, each sporting two metal bands around them, while the rest are smaller and placed more haphazardly around the Heartless's body. It's jagged maw is red on the inside, and its eyes are eerie, glowing, yellow circles with pitch-black rings around them. The most prominent feature of the Heartless are the two chains wrapped around its body, with each end of both chains attached to a conical weight that has been driven into the stones.
The thing roars, a chain is pulled taut, and the mouth of the cave collapses, trapping you within.

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying
The large, muscular figure pulls back it's hood, to reveal a primitive face with greyish skin, thick brows, and a black Fu Manchu mustache. His eyes peculiar colors; the irises are an eerie orange color and his sclera are black. The top of his head is bald, but the hair on the back of his head is quite long and black. With his free hand, he draws his long, wavy sword, brandishes it above his head, and points it at you.
And then all hell breaks loose.
The shadows deepen and intensify, gaining shape and cohesion, then taking form and manifesting into eerie beings composed of shadow. First to form is a massive hovering shape, a long, tattered, black cloak with long sleeves that gradates into a light aqua color from the waist down. It has a long, pointed hood and it doesn’t seem to have a face or body of any kind. Only its clawed, five-fingered hands are visible, but even they seem to be wrapped in the cloak. Around it form dozens of smaller shadows, hunched little creatures, vaguely humanoid with antenna and glowing yellow eyes, which scuttle about, surrounding you.

[draxx]

Nameless
He pauses. Then he shrugs. What did it matter. Leaning over their table, he clears his throat, then begins speaking in his deep voice. "These... Heartless. What happens to them? I mean, can they be freed from the darkness?"

Zhou Yu, Vincent, Meta knight, Terra
The four are conversing softly, trading information and observations to try to come to a conclusion. Meta knight keeps to himself, but has told them enough to draw them along and keep them interested. For instance, he has told Terra about Ventus, and has told Vincent about the known members of the organization. For the most part, however, he keeps his cards close to his chest.

Zhou Yu offers opinions and observations, but sits back, observing and reaching conclusions about his companions. He was considered one of the foremost strategists for a reason, and his greatest skill was understanding people, seeing who they were and what motivated them, making them all the easier to mannipulate in war. He'd need to know his companions, when they could be relied apon and when they couldn't.

Terra talks, but holds himself back, unwilling to form an emotional connection just yet, or reveal too much about himself. He's too busy learning about himself for the moment. The only time he does honestly seem to feel something was the mention of Ventus, and that fades all too quickly.

And Vincent is quietest of all, in his own world for the most part, simply moving forward because there is no other direction to go, but weighed so heavily down by his sins and percieved failings that every step is weariness.

As such, it is a small miricle on it's own they come to any conclusions at all. But at long last, they do. They're going to Mount Olympus for the tournament.

[Cracklord]

Nameless
Cid looks up, starts, then shrugs. "Lord I hope so. We've all lost friends. But if they can, it must be hard to do it." He's not evading the question, he really doesn't know. He pauses, looking you up and down, then ventures "So are you new here as well?"

Zhou Yu, Vincent, Meta knight, Terra
Meta-knight lent out the Halberd to Marth, however he shouldn't have left quite yet. If you hunt him down you should be able to leave with him.

[SeanHiruki]

Oda Nobunaga
"In due time" Nobunaga said.Something was wrong with Mitsuhide. He was impatient and in a hurry. He was never like that before. He had become not unlike a shadow. Nobunaga did not like this sudden new change in his most trusted friend. In order to keep others from worrying, Nobunaga did not voice his concerns, nor did he show any changes.
"I am ready to leave. Come with me, Nohime" He picked up his sword as he stood and walked out, wife in tow.

Bridget, Lei Wulong and Ayane
"Knew it!" Bridget said happily.

Lei sighed, "I understand what you are gong through. Every time I take down a drug runner or gang lord, two more take their place. The battle against evil is an everlasting one"

"There is a code we Shinobi go by, that is the same code that the Shinsengumi used. AK SOK SAN. Destroy Evil Immediately. I for one will not stand by and watch as evil conquers the just. I will slash this darkness by the root and kill it for good." Ayane declared,not out of pride or overconfidence, but as a statement of pure fact.
She turned to the Nameless One. This Nanashi (Nameless Stranger) was skilled indeed. She had not noticed he had followed her. Maybe he was a Shinobi as well. Her actions earlier might have been unwarranted.
She was about to apologize to the nameless man when Bridget interrupted her.

"Say I got an idea! How about we form a team and take these bad guys out together!"

Lei raised an eyebrow at the feminine boy and smiled,"And what shall we call ourselves? The Fellowship of the Ring?"

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying
Neither could recognize the attacker in front of them, but they could easily gather that the man did not wish to chat. He wanted to kill them.
He would find that they are not so easily vanquished.
Yue Ying drew her dagger-axe and quickly began slashing away at the shadow beings with grace and skill.
At the same time, Zhuge Liang wielded the wind like a sword and cut down all beings near him.

Son Son
"That was eas..Oh crap" As Son Son unsummoned the pot and flame, the cave mouth closed like as mouse trap. "Oh that is just not fair!"
Good thing she, like her father, had fiery golden eyes that could see through darkness. Best thing to do now was to go through the cave and see wear it leads, destroying any shadow monster that got in her way.
Easy enough

[Cracklord]

Nobunaga
Mitsuhide steps in front of you. He seems a bit to eager now, though he seems unaware of it. He hasn't changed. Not really. It's just that what was always here has began o eclipse the rest of him. "My lord, forgive my presumption, but I intended to bring you through the escape tunnel we built when we first rebuilt Gifu. It is important they do not see you leave. White Mint is saddled and ready to ride. I shall leave with..." He stops talking, then steps back.
For a moment, you wonder what confused him, then it hits you. You smell smoke. Looking down, you see it seeping through the cracks in the floor, and your ears catch the crackling sound. Nohime coughs a little as she takes a deep breath and inhales too much. The fire has begun early. Much, much too early, keeping you trapped inside along with many of your men.
Sabotage? Was somebody working with that Xigbar, helping him deal with you? But who would...
"My lord! Quickly!" Mitsuhide says, drawing his sword and cutting through the doors leading downwards to the lower levels.

Son Son
The massive thing slowly sinks into the floor, like a snowball melting in the sun, until it's totally gone. However, you feel the ground stir slightly, and get a sense it's moving beneath you.

Bridget, Lei Wulong and Ayane
Cid strokes his chin. "Well, if you do go through with that, I suppose I could help you out a bit. Get you a gummi ship maybe, help you navigate... why not? The world needs heroes. I'll even extend you credit as long as you're fighting the shadows."

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying
Heartless are hard to kill with nonmagical attacks, or even hurt. It's debatable whether they can even be destroyed at all, and don't simply decorprealize to reform back in the shadow. But the two of you, quite unknowingly, have the surest weapon against them. The two of you love and trust each other, and fight to keep the other safe as much as to defend yourself, and so the light burns the heartless, inflicting damage where normally nothing would occur. Both of you take out seven in quick succession, defending each other from the counter-attacks and not taking so much as a single blow in retaliation.
And then the phantom strikes, summoning a pair of dark, entropic bolts that looked like dark fire that cast no light, and tossed them both at you with a sound like ripping fabric.
As the fight continues, the barbarian warlord leaps atop his horse, and spurs it so that it rears. He raises and brandishes his blade above his head.

[AnimeKid]

Dawning Light

Ventus ever the optimistic one walks forward as he speaks, "Come on guys lets get going if we keep moving forward we're sure to find something." Ike sighs at Ven's simpleness but upon realizing that he doesn't have a better idea he relunctantly follows bringing up the rear of the group. Eventually after walking Fayts scanner whirs to life as it detects heartless. Hearing it the group knows whats going on as Fayt takes the lead and says, "Lets move, there are sentient life signs near those heartless!" The group runs and eventually comes across a couple holding their own against the heartless Fayt detected. The group runs down to join them as Ven sees something out of the corner of his eye as a hulk of a man charges forward on horseback towards the couple murder in his eyes. Ven then says, "Knuckles!" He then responds, "On it!" Ven summons his keyblade and calling upon his element sends a burst of wind at Knuckles as the echidna jumps into the air and glides towards the barbarian using the extra lift from the wind. He then attempts to knock the mans block off while Fayt tries to use his Deep Freeze symbology spell to create a shield of ice around to couple to protect them from the energy blasts the Heartless just threw at them.

[Cracklord]

Dawning Light
Ven's improvised use of an aerodynamic echidna works wonders. Knuckles flies at the hun warlord so fast he's barely more then a blur, driving a fist into Shan-Yu with a thunderous crack, and knocking him from the horse with that single blow. The hun goes flying twenty feet and lands in a roll, getting unsteadily to his feet and swaying like a drunkard but still clutching his sword.
Fayt's spell works as well, and a meter thick, four meters high wall of transparent ice forms in moments in between the powerful heartless and the battling couple, blocking the dark fire for a moment, but the deadly stuff was only slowed, eating it's way through the wall with a hiss of steam, looking like nothing so much as boiling lead eating through ice, leaving huge, jagged gaps in it.
The Phantom turns, and points at Ike, who feels a sudden burning pain in his forehead. The number five is branded into his skin, and will slowly count down. When that number reaches zero, if the phantom is still alive Ike will die.

[AnimeKid]

Dawning Light

Xianghua turns as she hears Ike scream and when she sees him her eyes widen. She may not have known much about magic but she knew a doom spell when she saw one. With that thought in mind Xianghua pulls out her weapon, the holy sword Soul Calibur. She quickly approaches the phantom heartless and takes multiple fluid swings at it in a graceful combo. Fayt joins her in her combo using his Blade Of Fury skill to coat his blade in light energy and attack it as well. Ven however instead of charging in looks towards the colored heart that should be below the phantoms robes to see what color it is. Sora had fought this one before and it was a bitch to kill, and goodie for them theres no clocktower to cast stop on to slow down its Doom spell. Knuckles however is having a good time fighting the Hun. "Come on buddy can't you take a hit? I could go all night here," he says as he winds up his fist so fast it becomes a blur. Then then lashes out with a punch towards the man's face.

[SeanHiruki]

Oda Nobunaga and Nohime
"HMPH!" Nobunaga grunted in slight anger. Someone had betrayed him! Once he found out who, he would kill them slowly.
"This is unacceptable, Mitsuhide! Though I suppose I am partly to blame for not taking sabotage into consideration!" He growled as they ran through the lower levels.

"It seems our opponent has a few tricks of his own up his sleeves." Nohime said. Her coughing had stopped awhile back, her lungs getting used to the smoke. "What do you suppose we do now, husband? We will lose many in this fire."

"Indeed. The locals spoke of a Town they call Traverse. We shall head there first and rebuild our army. Heh, there might be some strong warriors there, if we are lucky."

Bridget, Lei Wulong and Ayane
"Gummi Ship? HAHA! You mean like the bears n' worms! Yum! But how is that supposed to fly?" Bridget laughed

Lei raised his eyebrow once more. He has been doing that a lot lately. "Mighty nice of you, Cid."

Ayane smiled a little, "Alright. I'm in. How long will it take for you to build this gummi ship of yours?"

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying
A moment before the dark flame was formed, the couple each charged their mousu, turned and shot their strongest mousu attack at the flame and the horseman.

Son Son
Son Son grinned as she felt the shadow giant moving under her feet. Time to have a little fun. She took out her staff again and put some of her energy into it as she stabbed through the ground at where the shadow might be

[Cracklord]

Oda Nobunaga and Nohime
In the shrine at the lowest levels of Gifu, where the passage that leads to sfety begins, with fire crackling along the paper walls and filling the air with a haze, a shadowy figure is waiting for you, smiling his hatefully happy smile. As you step in, he uncrosses his arms at waves his arms in a vaguely menacing fashion. His two weapons manifest in a puff of smoke. They are purplish, strangely shaped weapons that appear to be somewhat similar to crossbows.
"Well then that wasn't so difficult, was it?" He drawls. "Going to make this a fight, or should I just execute you and move on?"
Mitsuhide blinks, then steps in front of you, sinking into a fighters crouch, his hand opening and going to his sword, as he prepares and iajutsu strike. He knows he'll only get one chance to save his master. "You shall not harm my lord!"
"There is a term for this. Assisted suicide, they call it. I mean, over your dead body isn't too hard to arrange."
Mitsuhide lunges forward, drawing his blade in a single flowing movement, but Xigbar is faster, and shoots him in the neck, just below his chin, taking out his throat, laryx and most of his spine. When your retainer manages another shaky half-step, propelled by his unshakeable duty, Xigbar shoots him again, right between the eyes with his left Arrowgun.
"Boom. Headshot." He says, looking down at the body. "Shame about that, we were going to use you. But I guess your heart will have to do." He says, as with a grating clank the two weapons reload themselves.
He looks up, a gleam in his eye. "So, you japs have this thing about politeness, right? Bow all the time, always be respectful, yadda yadda yadda. So help me out. Which one of you is it polite to kill first? Do I let you watch your wife die, then kill you? Or do I kill you, and let you live just long enough to know she'll soon be following."

Bridget, Lei Wulong and Ayane
"Look, product of a different culture here. "Scuse me while I don't get your references. But that Gummi stuff is the building blocks of creation, the purest manifestation of matter, that is essentially the barriers between worlds." He replies. "Anyway, I'm stuck in this universe too, so I'm as much threatened by the shadows as the next man. Call this an investment." He replies, finishing his own beer. "Anyway, I can have it done tomorrow. Problem is, I'm running short on navigation blocks. I got a few, but you won't be going very far unless you find more. I'll find you a manual or something."
He gets up to leave. "Come to my shop around dawn tomorrow. It's the accessory shop with the big green doors."

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying/Dawning Light
As you release the ambient energy, for a moment time seems to slow as you slide into huyperfocus. In that moment, posing back to back, you see every detail, every sense picks up every detail. And then the moment fades, and the two of you part, into the remaining heartless and cutting directly through them.

Shan-Yu, having regained his composure and balance, or at least most of it, manages to slide around the blow, then brings his forearm up hard in a cruel disemboweling strike at the echidna's unprotected belly.
Ventus notices that the orb is currently white, so they are doing the right thing anyway. However, it is slowly turning red.
The phantom slashes at Xianghua, who of the two is having the most effect. Whenever the holy sword touches the thing, the affected part dissolves with a hiss of black smoke. However, it's blows are not particularly dangerous or co-ordinated, so that's not a threat for a swordsman of her skill.
Fayt is finding it harder to hurt. His blows cut through it, but it doesn't seem particularly affected, simply loosing a few wisps of essence with every strike. At this rate, you'll be fighting it for a long time, and Ike cannot afford that.
Ike feels cold. Like all the heat has been leached from his body, leaving him numb and clumsy with no sense or feeling.

Son Son
The thing comes out of the ground like the world's deadliest mole, it's massive jagged jaws closing like a bear-trap. But as you were prepared all it gets is a hard stick shoved down it's throat, keeping it from closing them, and displacing some of the shadow stuff inside it. You think that means you hurt it. It's hard to tell with these shadow things.
It's eyes narrowing at you, it sinks back into the ground, this time taking advantage of the stalagmites a a little deeper in the cave. With a snapping, tinkling sound they detach themselves from the back of the cave and drop on you like a rain of blades, filling the air with deadly sharp fragments as they shatter on impact.

[AnimeKid]

Dawning Light

Knuckles having fought with Sonic many times before is able to dodge the attack with a quick spin to the side which he then uses to flow into a backhand strike. Seeing the heart turn red Ventus shouts, " Hey guys the things heart at the bottom turned red, you have to use fire magic to hurt it now." This thouroghly stumps Xianghua as she has no magic spell that she knows at the moment. Fayt however smirks, " Alright Ven leave it to me. Xianghua I need to get back a good distance." He and Xianghua take a leap backwards away from the creature as Fayt point his hand at it and cries out "Explosion!". With that a large orb if fire appears in the sky and quickly descends onto the phantom engulfing it. The fireball then starts rapidly imploding as is expands outward, stopping short of the couple and the team. After about about 12 implosions, or explosions, the fireball dies down.

[SeanHiruki]

Oda Nobunaga and Nohime
Nobunaga glared at the man. This man. This Xigbar is man with no honor. No respect for warriors. This man knows not who he just pissed off.
"It appears that this child wishes to die at the hands of the Demon King. You will find,dear fool, that my wife and I are not so easily killed. Even my dear retainer caused you a little trouble and all he had was a sword. Why do you insist on angering me so? Do you not know that the Gods chose me? My people and I will only continue to surprise you,dear fool."
He took a knee next to Mitsuhide's body and closed the man's eyes. He whispered a prayer and ended it with an "Amen" He then stood, glaring at Xigbar without an ounce of respect.
"So how shall I kill you? With Musket? Katana? Or perhaps with my personal sword?" He drew the blade in a manner fit to show it of, not to use. "This is the perfect mixture of Japanese and European Sword smithing. This is the perfect long sword. The Scottish call it a Bastard Sword. We call it an Odachi." He sheathed the blade in an instant, never once looking away from Xigbar.
"This is your last chance. Leave now and you will live. If only for today. You who have cost me a dear friend and a castle, will live but a little longer."

As her husband spoke, Nohime had already drawn two of her flintlock pistols, already cocked and loaded,with several on standby in easy reach. She aimed one at Xigbar, her eyes a cold fire.
"Shall I take your eye? Or should I go for your legs first?"

Bridget, Lei Wulong and Ayane
"Well I guess we gotta go on a quest to find you more blocks! Where can we find some?" Bridget asked, getting excited. It had been a long time since his last adventure.

Lei finished his last beer, "Well at least we got a plan...Kind of. We will try and find some of those navigation blocks for you by tomorrow." He gave Cid a pat on the shoulder "Your a good guy, Cid"

Ayane looked at Bridget, "Well I hope she isn't the team leader"

"I'm a boy, darn it!" Bridget snapped

"Lets just say we have no leader. We can decide things Democratically." Lei suggested.

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying
Well this was unexpected. It would seem a small group is helping them. Zhuge nodded to his wife and the two charged at the man. Zhuge slashed the wind between the people that were helping them. Yue Ying used both blade and staff of her dagger axe to attack the enemy.

Son Son
Her staff grew just in time to knock the fragments away. "WHOAH! Easy there, pal! Let's just talk about this! Maybe we can mole over our relationship!"

[Cracklord]

Oda Nobunaga and Nohime
""See, that would work... if I were just any old dude. 'Cept I'm not. I'm with the Organization. Nothing 'any old' about me."
He replies to Nohime, throwing up his hands in theatrical frustration. "Too many details! Lesson time!" He says, and fires a single shot. If the laws of action and reaction had anything to do with it, the shot would have harmlessly hit the ceiling, doing no damage to either of you.
Nobody was listening to them, however. Least of all Xigbar. Instead the path of the shot turns in an arc, leaving a red trail behind it, and hits Nohime’s shoulder, knocking her off her feet and pinning her to the wall. The second shot takes her in the belly.
“Right. Now it’s your turn.” He says, smiling at you now, and slams the two weapons together with a complicated motion, with a clicking noise, forming one large, long weapon that needed to be held in both hands. It somewhat resembles a rifle, but with elements from a crossbow and spear thrown in as well.
He laughs, then points it at you, aiming from the hip. You’ve seen people aim like that before, and they never had a hope to hit anything, but somehow you don’t doubt this man won’t have those sort of problems. He was without honor, pride, respect or anything that a man should value, but for all that his skills were certainly formidable.
“So, then, give that sword a try. Come on, your very best shot. Let’s see if your destiny planned for me.”

Bridget, Lei Wulong and Ayane
Cid shrugs. "Take it easy, I'm not that good." He replies, though you can tell he was happy to hear that, no matter how much he tries to hide it. "More blocks... well, your best hope is trying elsewhere. This place doesn't have any of them, what with the being assembled from all the worlds and people to fall to the Heartless and such. But I have enough to get you to a few places, and you might be able to find out more there."
He stands up. "Anyway, I'll be at my place. See you all tomorrow." With that he walks off, leaving you alone in the bar (after fixing his tab). The one block he does provide you shows four worlds. The first is Traverse Town, detailed to minutiae, and you suspect that if your eyes were strong enough and you looked close enough you'd see yourselves through a window, looking at the block and seeing the exact same thing, and so on until the world curled in on itself like a spiral.
Paradoxical shit right there.
Then there is a world that seems to be jungle, or maybe rainforest, with heavy trees, underbrush, and nature untouched by man. It seems to be all hills and valleys, with no signs of human habitation. However on closer examination you note a few crude tiny structures of timber atop the trees.
Then there is a world of hazy desserts, where a sun burns the sand, the wind blows forming dunes, and dessert people build wonders of cities and tombs at the cost of human misery.
The next world is rolling green hills and white marble structures, columns and vineyards, scattered on islands along an archipelago. Of the four, it seems the most advanced, though that is not saying much, as it is still primitive when compared to what you are used to.
And finally there is nothing more then a blank circle. Apparently details are locked. Perhaps something is hidden there, or there is a problem with controls.

Son Son
It doesn't laugh, or show any ammusement at your one-liner. It doesn't even aknowledge it, it simply continues dropping them on you, as well as other, jagged bits of rocks formed by the fault lines in the roof. He might bring the entire mountain down if you do not find some way to stop him.

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yue Ying/Dawning Light
He shoves Knuckles aside as the two round on him, his eyes suddenly glow with an eerie purple light, his body pulsating with dark energy. he lifts his sword, taking it two handed, and roars.
The entire ground seems to quake beneath him, the roar seeming too loud, too intense, too primal to be human. It stretches on, and on, and on, until just as you begin to think it shall never end, it stops, leaving him breathing heavily. His pale skin has black veins thick with corruption pulsating in time to his heartbeat, and his body is vibrating slightly.
He smiles, and attacks, bringing his sword in a terrible swipe at the master strategist, leaving Knuckles on the ground behind him.

There is a sudden blast of heat and fire that hides the phantom, blasting the area so hot that the stones run together, hardening into something simmilar to black glass. The sudden whooomph of air nearly knocks Fayt, Ventus and Xianghua off their feet. When the smoke finally clears, the phantom looks tattered, and has whisps of smoke clinging to it. It's robes are ripped and tattered, and it seems barely able to hold itself together.
The orb changes to white.
Ike's counter creeps down to four.

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