Shadows of the Past

Mortal turns and slashes across at the shadows. After she does she takes a few steps back to establish an advantageous position on higher ground.

--

Seeing that Thiera was the one being targeted, and that she was otherwise preoccupied doing some shit with Roatha, Noctis takes a defensive position next to her, then lunges forward to slash at the Heartless.

Monu:<We..we have to help Safian. There's no way she can win on her own.>

*Safian lands in the water, desummoning her glider and donning her armor, then jumps at Senthose, darkness covering her claws*
---
*Artexi also slashes again*

Taiyo spins around and swings, going further up the stairs.

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Hitomi turns around, the Keyblades floating around her.

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Azuma takes a swing at it from as far as he can be in the event of getting hit by some jag off again.

*As Shadows aren't very strong, Mortal's explode into darkness quickly. Of course, since it's a staircase, there are still more coming from behind her.*
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*Since Taiyo's not fighting them all, she manages to make more progress. She notes the music getting louder. However, this also means that there are a growing number of Shadows around her. With the next pedestal in view, there are 8 Shadows in front of her. Half attack low, half attack high. Some of the veritable carpet of Shadows that have been pursuing her also make their moves at this time.*
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*Senthose crosses his Keyblades, intercepting Safian, & slashing her away.*

L"There's nothing I can do! If I don't keep doing what I'm doing, Euryale will turn into a Heartless, & there's a good chance we'll lose Taiyo & Mortal, as well!"
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*Nero lands on the pedestal, although nowhere near as slowly or gracefully as Hitomi. He stumbles & looks around.*

N"Hey, you're not Roatha!"
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T"...Thank you."

*The Heartless spins to block their attacks with its Ethereal Blades.*

Taiyo presses on, blasting bubbles at the Shadows in front of her.

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Hitomi: "You're not to be here."

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Azuma raises his Keyblade to his shoulder and strikes with Guard Break.

*Safian snarls as she's pushed away, then summons her keyblade and slashes*

Monu:<I know. Thank you for doing what you can.>
---
*Artexi tries to grab it with her vines again*

Mortal turns, and cuts through a swath of Shadows so that she can open up a hole and press on, "If there is no end to them, then I'll just have to keep their numbers from overwhelming me as I advance."

--

Noctis waits for Azuma's, and Artexi's attacks to miss, and attacks wherever she sees the Heartless dodge.

OOC: Fun fact, Darkside appears in every KH game.

*The Heartless appears to decide not to bother dodging their attacks. It only takes about a second for it to break out of the vines.*
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<There is no end to darkness, but it may be pushed away by the light.>

*As they ascend, not only does the music grow louder, before abruptly [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], but Binah's voice gradually changes to Triton's. Taiyo & Mortal end up at opposite ends of a new pedestal. Starting about halfway up the station from the left & going diagonally, there is a sudden split. The background above here is red, & this is where Mortal emerges. Below it, the background is blue. A semicircular cross-section near the bottom, where Taiyo is, shows King Triton's Palace. Euryale, mermaid, swims towards the "sky." Her arms are behind her, her tail is curved slightly back, & she is facing forward. However, the section over her chest has a gaping crack in it, & darkness is spewing out like oil, obscuring the glass that it falls on. Hanging in the redness of the sky, like stars, are blue circles with smiling busts; Mortal closest to the left, Ariel at the center & hanging slightly higher than the others, & Taiyo closes to the right. A thin line in a wave pattern rings the whole thing, red in the blue region, blue in the red region.*

"Taiyo? Mortal?"

*They look up to see Euryale floating near the eyes of a [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Heartless that they amazingly didn't spot before, although this may be because it blends in with the dark background. She aims a punch at it, but it gives no fuck, intercepting it with its massive hand by swatting her like a fly. When she hits the Station, the Darkside's claw still pressing down on her, it cracks slightly.*

"L-look out, behind you...."

*Of course, the Shadows haven't forgotten them, & make more leaping attacks.*
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N"Well, too bad. I'm here now, so where is Roatha?"

*His Keyblade hand jerks up & fires a beam of light into the sky, which pushes away the darkness as it passes, revealing stairs.*

N"Huh...well, that's convenient."

*He begins running up the newly revealed stairs.*
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*Senthose simply disappears & reappears behind her.*

Noct tries to come to grips with the fact that the enemy was now tanking hits simply because it was less effort than to dodge. She doesn't dwell on it for too long, and tries to slash at the Heartless' head before it can break free of the vines.

--

"Euryale! Hang on!" Mortal stabs her keyblade into the ground spawning an eruption of molten rock where the Shadows had begun to follow her. She quickly pulls free her keyblade and begins to make her way over to the center, creating a fireball with the Majesty of Apollo, and launching it at the Darkside's head.

Taiyo goes and attacks the Darkside's hand that has Euryale trapped.

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Hitomi follows up the stairs.

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Azuma attacks it some more since it doesn't seem to be trying to go on defense.

*Of course, the music gets louder as Shadows drift down past them. Nero ignores them until they start to emerge, then pushes through, lashing out with Dark Raid. The ones behind him attack Hitomi, most heading low, a pair leaping high.*
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*Mortal's Shadows are destroyed, but Taiyo's continue to follow her. The fireball exploding over its eye & the ugly ass house key digging into its wrist force the Darkside to back up. Euryale flicks her tail, weakly rising off of the ground.*

E"Thank you."

*The Heartless's heart-hole glows & begins firing blasts of darkness at each of them. Euryale punches a pair of Shadows that leap towards her, only causing them to land on their backs & getting scratched on the stomach by a 3rd. The others hang near Taiyo's feet, looking around.*

E"I can't do anything against this beast, & I can barely fight its pawns. If only I had more power...."

*Spaces that aren't covered by darkness glow. A trio of pedestals emerge from the light, holding a sword, a staff, & a shield.*
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*The Heartless, after being clonked on the head, promptly shoves Azuma off of the roof, & turns towards Noctis.*

"I suggest you grab a weapon," Mortal said, launching another fire ball at the Darkside while diving out of the way of its blast.

--

Noctis takes a few steps back, and motions towards Artexi, not really wanting to be chucked off a building.

Taiyo swings at the nearest Shadow to her and helps get Euryale up much as possible. She then raises her Keyblade and it starts raining on the two, reviltalizing them and healing any wounds they may have.

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Hitomi flicks her wrist and the Keyblades fire on the Shadows.

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And so Azuma gliders up to return to the rooftop.

*The Shadow explodes & Euryale touches the spot where the claw marks were.*

"Thank you, Taiyo!"

*She swims to the Dream Sword, grabbing it by the handle.*

<Strength to-->

*Triton's voice stops as she shoots back towards a Shadow, stabbing & destroying it. The pedestals sink back into the Station floor. Darkside stops shooting them & stands up, passing its hand through the plume of darkness & making a fist.*
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*Turns out Wisdom Shot isn't very effective on shit right in front of you, or many targets, even with 2 Keyblades. Several of her shots don't even hit anything, she fails to take the Shadows out, & now she's got 2 on her back scratching the shit out of her. Nero continues on without even looking back.*
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*It jumps at Azuma, slashing at his Glider.*

"Good choice," Mortal said, "Now, lets stop this thing. We must beat back the darkness." Mortal rushes towards the Darkside, and leaps up to slash at it.

--

Since Noctis was really only concerned with keeping Thiera safe until Nero returned, and they could all get out of there, she stayed put and let the Heartless beat up on Azuma.

Taiyo blasts Darkside with bubbles.

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Hitomi directs her Keyblades to attack the Shadows behind her.

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Azuma rams it with his glider.

OOC: Only because I'm pressed for time. In the future, excessive fanciness & vagueness will constitute a reason for me to fuck your shit, particularly because I know you have a history of not reading what's going on.

*The Shadows are destroyed. The ones in front of her, bless their empty little shells where hearts should be, make an attempt to jump at her & claw her face off.*
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*It clings on to the underside of the Glider, like a boss.*
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"Thanks. Boy, I'm saying that a lot lately."

*Darkside being tall as shit, Mortal is unsuccessful. Ignoring the bubbles spamming its face, it punches at Taiyo, releasing a shockwave as its fist cracks through the glass & sinks into the darkness underneath, more Shadows pulling themselves out. Euryale swims high to avoid the shockwave, & then low, to start hacking at the Shadows.*

Taiyo jumps to avoid the shockwave, firing more bubbles.

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Hitomi casts Blizzard, a volley of ice smacking into the Shadows. She presses on, directing the Keyblades to hack and slash at the Shadows.

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And so Azuma drags the bottom of the glider along the rooftop.

*Artexi slashes if she gets the opportunity to*
---
*Safian turns around and fires several dark spheres at him*

OOC: Is that meant for me?

Mortal jumps into the air again, this time to avoid the shockwave, then continues on behind Darkside. She uses Majesty of Apolo to create three fireballs, then launches them at the back of Darkside's head, hoping to topple him since he should be leaning forward from punching the floor.

--

Noctis rests her keyblade on her shoulder, then looks at Thiera, "So, any idea when they're going to be getting out of there?"

OOC: It's for Harley, Hitomi in specific.

"No clue."
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*Senthose reappears behind her again. He chuckles.*
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*Darkside convulses & explodes, covering them all with dark ooze.*
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*The Heartless falls back down, its arms, legs, & head twisted into awkward positions. Artexi apparently smacks it. It stretches its limbs, which pop & crack as they snap back into place. Once it stands up, it readjusts its neck. Noting its torn up cape, it waves its hand, & wisps of darkness repair it.*
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*Of course, the music changes when she reaches the top.
The center is dominated by a red fleur-de-lis, while the rest of the background is blue. At each tip of the fleur-de-lis is a circle containing a smiling bust of someone. Starting from the bottom, going clockwise; Nero, Lilith, Roatha himself, & Thiera. The station is ringed by red Mark of Mastery symbols. A crack, running over Nero's face, splits the Station in 2. The glass is discolored on the smaller portion, as though covered in grime. Nearby, she sees Roatha clashing blades with a figure in an Organization Cloak, wisps of darkness coming off of it. Its weapon seems to be a black sword carved in the general outline of the Ultima Weapon. Nero warps behind it & slashes its back.*

*Safian stops attacking, as she's just wasting her energy. She stares at Senthose, growling*
---
<Seriously?!>

*Artexi attacks. Again*

Mortal tries to wipe it off of herself, then looks around to see how the others were faring, "Euryale, Taiyo, are you alright?"

--

"Oh, alright," Noct said, looking around.

Taiyo tries to shake the gross off of her.

Taiyo: "Yeah. Are you okay, Euryale?"

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Hitomi takes position and fires at the one in the cloak that's not Nero.

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Azuma flies above the Heartless and degliders, bringing his Keyblade down on it.

OOC: Specific. I like.

*The figure is smashed into the ground, but rolls. When it gets up, its blade fractures, & then shatters, exposing the Omega Weapon.*

N"A new Keyblade? What IS this thing?"

R"I don't know, but I want it out of my heart!"

N"Easier said than done, when it can redirect most of our attacks."

R"Yeah, but right before you knocked it down, I saw a Wisdom Shot hit it. I don't think Hitomi's affected by it."

*Noting this, its head jerks towards Hitomi, & it swings the Keyblade, red lightning lancing out of the darkness towards her.*
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*The Darkness eventually seems to thin & dissipate, though it's not clear where it goes. Euryale frowns & clutches her chest with her free hand.*

E"Sorry, but no. Even though that thing is gone, I keep feeling worse. This is, like, my soul, or something, right? Then maybe it's that."

*She gestures towards the fountain of darkness with her sword.*

E"But what can we do about it?"

*Said sword [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], changing to the Ends of the Earth. Before she can get out more than a surprised "wha--" it fires a beam of light at the darkness, which evaporates instantly. The glass all around her glows, a large Keyhole shape within the light. When it clears, Euryale's Station is restored to normal, & she lets go of her chest."

E"...What just happened?"
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*It blocked every other time, it blocks again.*

T"...There's absolutely no way that a monster like you could just go on a rampage without anyone knowing. Did Xanatos create you? If so, why didn't he use you against us before he was arrested?"
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*Senthose tosses Monu's Keyblade on the ground, where it vanishes in a flash of light. He then turns, using his free hand to open a Dark Corridor.*