Shadows of the Past

N"I don't know, let's go see what they're doing."

*He snaps his fingers, opening up a Dark Corridor near the edge of the balcony. Putting his hood up, he heads through.*
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*Both of those blow into pieces. Thiera flies in front of the 3rd Ahriman, stalling it & forcing it to turn around & speed off in the opposite direction. Roatha's Glider vanishes, the Keyblade reappearing in his hand. It turns back into a Glider & he speeds off after the Ahriman.*
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L"Let's go investigate."

*She swoops down towards that particular beach. As she gets closer, she steers towards an odd scene that she can see playing out on some craggy rocks. A man, looking out of place in his black slacks & cotton shirt, has apparently washed up, & is being watched over by 2 swimming redheads.*

Noct follows after him, putting her hood up as well.

--

Mortal follows down to the beach, and notices the man, "That man looks like he just washed up." She wanted to go and help him, but she wasn't sure if that would be a distraction or something, so she winds up just being captain obvious.

And so Taiyo follows, paying more attention to the redheads than some yob.

===================================

The two follow, Hitomi firing at the Ahirman.

*Artexi does the same*
---
*They both follow*

Monu:<I wonder why the other two haven't gone a shore yet
.>

*Hitomi's blast doesn't have enough range. Roatha eventually catches up to it & keeps bumping into it, trying to corral it over to Azuma.*
==========================
*Noctis, Nero, & Artexi appear from a hole in the space over the Land of Departure. Nero suddenly points to the east.*

"Roatha went that way. I can smell it."

*Where he's pointing, a Dark Corridor opens. The darkness spins around, forming a clearer tunnel, one which shows the space battle up above.*
==========================
"Better find out what's going on. We'll land over here & remove our armor, so as not to make a scene."

*Lilith does just that, descending almost straight down, backing off of her speed as she goes. When she gets near the ground, her Glider begins to unfold. When it touches down, it disappears, leaving her standing there. She touches her belt & the Armor disappears in a flash of light.*

Mortal swoops down as well, and hops off when she is about six feet off the ground. She lands without having to catch herself, and touches her shoulder, pulling off the top half of her armor. With that out of the way, she beings to head over to the group she had seen from the sky.

--

"That looks exciting," Noct said, watching the scene unfold, "Wait, who is Roatha?"

*Artexi looks around, stumbling a bit*

I'm finally back here...

<Should we help them?>
---
*Monu swoops down towards and lands herd Lilith, getting rid of armor and glider. Then he heads over to the man to check his pulse. Safian deactivates her armor and follows Mortal*

"No," Noct said flatly.

--

Mortal looks from the dead guy to the two red heads. Since Monu was confirming whether or not the dead guy was indeed dead, Mortal walked over to the red heads. "Hey there," Mortal said, squatting down, "Would you mind telling us what exactly happened here?"

Taiyo follows suit, landing and unarmoring then just kind of stares at the redheads, probably looking as out of place as possible much like everyone else.

===================================

Azuma presses forward, towards the Ahirman, bladed edge at the ready.

*Okay, so what actually happened[/i] is that, when she saw them coming, the one with the white skin & the longer hair dived. The one with the dark skin turned to follow suit, then jerked when Mortal questioned her. She slowly turns around, & they can see that she has a Bad Poker Face & a bra made of some very large seashells.*

E"Oh, uh, he was drowning, so my friend & I saved him."

L"And why did your friend run away from us?"

E"She's--uhh--shy?"

*She points at Safian.*

E"What the fuck is that thing?"
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*The Ahriman swerves to the side, but lacking weapons, there's not much it can do to retaliate. Roatha flies to its other side & Thiera flies towards it, angled in to its flight direction. This forces it to come to a complete stop & turn around.*
==============================
N"I don't think they really need it. Let's just go to that world they're heading towards."

*He snaps his fingers & the Dark Corridor seems to be speeding through space, until they're looking at the roof of a castle that is so tall that they can see the sea of orange-tinted clouds beyond the battlements.*

"Hm, oh, that is my friend Safian. She is a lion," Mortal said, "Also, there is no need to be worried. We just want to help. Would you mine telling me your name?"

--

Noct follows along, glad she doesn't have to wait for the others to fight things.

Taiyo bites her lip, but remains quiet although it probably doesn't matter now as their investigation is pretty much botched.

===================================

Hitomi moves in front of the Ahriman and fires.

*Safian grins at Euryale*

<Don't worry, I only eat mean people. What's your name?>

*Monu stands up*

<He's alive.>
---
*Artexi follows*

E"My name is Euryale &--wait, you eat people?!"

*Lilith glares at the retarded lion, then points down the beach.*

L"GO."

*Meanwhile, the man begins to stir.*
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*Though she really shouldn't be close enough to hit it, I'm tired of this fight being dragged on through general derpiness, so it blows apart as well.*

R"What the Hell were those?"

*Thiera passes over the area where they spawned.*

T"I don't know. There's a section of the barrier missing over here, but that's the only clue."

*She looks down to a city on the twilight line, one which features a tower that pokes out over the clouds.*

T"Maybe if we land, we'll find more."
=================================
*Sure enough, they wind up atop a tall castle tower, one which overlooks a sea of clouds.*

N"Man, I didn't know that castles could be built this high up...or maybe the sky's just really close to the ground in this world...."

*He looks up & points to what looks like a meteor shower.*

N"Lookie there, they had the same idea to land & check things out! But...how many of them ARE there...?"

*Safian rolls her eyes then lands on the beach, then heads back to Euryale*

<They'd have to be really mean.>

*Safian grins, showing her sharp teeth. Monu stands up*

<Can you hear me?>
---
*Artexi looks down*

<I don't know...should we go investigate?>

Mortal looks at Safian, "Shh, you're not helping." She then turned back to Euryale, "Euryale, I'm Mortal. Would you happen to know of anything unusual going on. Uh, aside from Safian, obviously."

--

Noct just looked at what Nero was pointing at, feeling like unwanted work was soon going to be required of her.

Taiyo: "I'm Taiyo."

===================================

And so they begin to move in on this brave new world to find a place to land.

*Nero leads them back into the shadows as the Gliders come in closer. He bumps into something & looks back, noticing that a strange statue is sitting on one of the battlements. It looks like a broad-shouldered man with a square jaw & long hair adopting the "Thinker" pose & looking out over the city, but it has some very strange features, namely claws, a loincloth, & large bat wings. Nearby, Roatha & Thiera touch down, dismissing their Gliders & armor. They look around.*

T"Where ARE we?"
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L"You guys take care of this. Safian & I are going to have a little chat."

*She grabs the lion by the scruff of the neck & marches her some distance down the beach. Once she feels far enough away, she roughly tosses Safian to the ground & summons the Keyblade, pointing it at her.*

L"What the HELL do you think you're doing? Do you think that this is a game? Well, it's NOT. If you keep drawing attention to us, it doesn't just mean that we fail the test. It means the forces of darkness could be alerted to our presence. Damage that could take the Order YEARS to fix. We could all DIE because of YOUR stupidity. If you're not going to take this mission seriously, go back home, & quit dragging the rest of us down with you."
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*Euryale watches them go.*

E"Yeeeeaaaah...it looks like you have a bit of a personal problem to take care of, so maybe I should just go."

???<Wait...no...don't go...!>

*The guy abruptly awakens & holds his hand out towards her. He drags himself into a sitting position.*

???<If you have to go, could I please at least hear your name, & your song, one last time?>

E"Uh...it's Euryale, & um...la la la, la de de la, LA, LA, LAAAAAAAAAAA--"

*The man's frown deepens increasingly & he finally covers his ears.*

???<Okay, that's...that's good enough, please! I must say, you sounded...different when I was still out of it.>

E"Oh! That wasn't me, it was my friend, Ariel."

*The man looks over, before standing up & holding a hand out to Euryale, who reaches up to start shaking it, but does not get out of the water.*

???<Where are my manners! I am Prince Eric, it is very nice to meet you all, especially one of the women who saved my life. Would you please pass my regards along to your friend, along with my wish to see her again?>

E"Uh, yeah, sure."

Taiyo watches as Lilith drags the lion off for a scolding then back to Euryale.

Taiyo cringes a bit.

She can't sing...

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The two land and unarmor.

Azuma: "Somewhere with horrible decor."

*Safian snarls at Lilith, looking well more upset than angry. However, she turns away and slinks off towards the nearest shadows*
---
*Artexi hides behind the statue*

Noct inspects the statue, but quickly returns her attention to the Order members.

--

Mortal felt bad for her feline friend, but tried to mind her own business. When the scene settled Mortal went back to her line of questioning, figuring someone else would figure out what was going on with the Prince, "Well, that was interesting. But, uh, and I don't mean to interrupt, could you please answer my question..."

*Artexi notices that she's basically holding on to this thing to keep from plummeting a few stories onto the rest of the castle. Nero puts his hood up & advances, shrouded in darkness. Spotting him, Roatha & Thiera tense up, calling their Keyblades. Thiera holds hers in her right hand, out in front of her, Roatha in both hands, near his waist.*

R"Who are you!?"

N"I'm your worst nightmare!"

R"...Nero?"

*Nero pulls the hood down, snickering.*

N"You should see yourself, I swear you need a change of pants now."

R"How did you--does this mean you're--"

N"Yep."

*Nero holds his hand out in front of him & Darker Than Dark appears out of a cloud of shadows.*
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*Basically her closest option is a grass embankment at the edge of the beach. Lilith dismisses her Keyblade & starts to head back over, before she finds herself surrounded by a roving band of assholes wearing bandanas & dirty clothes.*

E"Would that count?"

*She points at Lilith. The pirates laugh at her as her Keyblade reappears in her hand.*

<What kind o' weapon is that? Does it smell pretty? Do you?>

*They laugh even harder.*

Noct lets out a sigh, and walks out as well. Unlike Nero, she never bothered to take down her hood, "So, this is your little friend. I was expecting..." Before she finished she realized the horrible cliche, and just chuckled.

--

"Oh, well, look at that..." Mortal stood up, and summoned Guardian Soul, "Excuse me for a moment." She begins walking over, "Hey! Where is the honor in outnumbering your foes?"

Taiyo looks to Euryale than the others as apparently keeping secrets is now disregarded and calls up her Keyblade.

Taiyo: "I don't think that's their thing."

===================================

The two call up their Keyblades, Azuma holds his at his side while Hitomi's kind of floats in front of her.

Azuma: "Your friend is kind of a dink."

*Artexi carefully moves herself back to solid ground, then walks out. She keeps her hood up and doesn't say anything*
---
*Monu summons Wayward Wind and starts towards Lilith*

<None of that now.>

*Meanwhile, Safian starts stalking the pirates, looking for a opportunity to strike. She also summons her keyblade*