Shadows of the Past

Azuma Dodge Rushes past the clone coming right for him to close in on the original Avici.

Hitomi fires at the original Avici.

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Taiyo swings both Keyades in a wide arc, following it up with making it rain to heal herself and allies.

*One Avici Clone jumps in front of Hitomi's attack, spinning its blades to deflect the blasts back at her. As Azuma arrives behind Avici Prime, the 2nd clone sinks into the shadows, emerging behind him. It electrifies its hands & makes a grab at him. Meanwhile, Roatha blocks Avici Prime's slash & counterattacks with a lightning bolt that nearly slices off his hand.*
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L"Thanks, but we'll need more."

*Sure enough, there are still bleeding wounds in Lilith's back & stomach, & everyone is suffering burns from the Dustflier's attack. The Claymores are still intangible. Lilith puts an arm around Taio & jumps up, using vines to grab on to Safian's Glider & pull them up. Since the weight imbalances it, she quickly jumps back off, forming her Glider. She swings it around & continues firing at the Dustflier, who deflects her attacks by dashing towards them, prompting her to veer up to avoid getting crushed.*

L"We could also use a stronger attack!"

*By this point, window shutters can be seen moving aside for curious inhabitants to peak out at the fight.*
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*Thiera adds Blizzard, easily destroying the Thornbites. In the darkness, Mortal just barely grazes a Mandragora with her blast, which stumbles out of the burning bush, making a crazed dash at her. The other Mandragoras wait for the light to subside, then fire from their hiding places at the duo's front, & Mortal's back.*
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*Nero folds his arms behind the back of his head & rolls his eyes.*

"Hoh, whatever. Just because you're in the Inner Organization, it doesn't make you better than us. You're just some lab assistant, right? I bet I could easily kick your ass, on my own, to boot."

Mortal creates a fireball and launches it at the Mandragora charging at her, but she doesn't see the attack aimed at her rear, and does nothing to dodge it.

--

Noctis let out a groan, "I'm guessing you were told to keep it quiet, so I suppose there isn't a reason to pressure you into answering." She then shrugged, "Well, either told to keep quiet, or you don't know, and both will get us no where."

*Eve glares at Nero, then gains a haughty expression*

<I'm actuallythe head researcher here.>

Artexi:<Don't take any offensive, it's just how he is.>

*Eve shrugs*

<Though I'm not denying the fact he would easily win in a fight.>
---
*Monu uses Air Raid on the charging Mandragoras*
---
*Safian fires her laser again, then sends a sphere of darkness at the Dustflier*

Hitomi directs her Keyblades to shield her then counters. Azuma conjures up a shield of darkness to protect and counters with Brave Shot when the shield goes down.

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Taiyo gliders up and repeats the healing process.

"Top researcher next to Senthose. Which would make you a lab assistant."
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*Hitomi's clone keeps doing what it's doing, until a surprise disc to the face from Tron takes it out. Azuma's vanishes in a puff of darkness, but is immediately replaced by another.*

R"Seriously, quit wasting your time with them!"

*Avici Prime takes this opportunity to turn his Ethereal Blades into a series of bullets, which he blasts Roatha with. This successfully causes him to revert back to blue. His 2nd Keyblade vanishes.*

<It would seem that your upgrades make you difficult to derez. But not impossible.>
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*The Mandragora dissolves into darkness. Thiera uses another ring of fire to act as a shield, but can't protect everyone, so Mortal takes a bigass razor disc to the back.*

T"Look ou--! Sorry, nevermind."
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*With darkness oozing from a gash on its wing from all of the damn laser blasts, Dustflier stomps down on the town square, releasing a massive shockwave that blows tiles off of roofs, cracks walls, & shatters windows. Lilith promptly begins firing at its head.*

"We can't let it do that again! We have to kill this thing now!"

*The Dustflier once again breathes a stream of fireballs at the trio.*

Noct coughed to hide her giggle, "Right, well, this has been a worthwhile trip. What exactly are you researching anyway?"

--

Mortal lets out a yelp of pain, then turns around to look at what hit her with a pair of quite convincing angry eyes. The first Mandragora she sees is then treated to 3 fireballs launched at it.

Artexi:<Damn it, Nero.>

Eve:<You have noidea what you're talking about.>

Artexi:<Stop. Both of you.>
---
*Safian starts repeatedly firing on the head as well*
---
*Monu starts to heal Mortal*

Azuma spins, swinging at the clone and follows through with a horizontal slash to Avici's back.

Hitomi fires at the real Avici with one Keyblade and the clone with the other.

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Taiyo fires twin volleys of bubbles at the Dustflier.

*Roatha adds a fire funnel to the attacks, & Tron throws in his discs. Avici's clones disperse into darkness. When the dust clears, Avici stumbles back, red cubes spilling out from gashes on his torso & missing hand. In is other hand, he holds both Ethereal Blades. As Tron's discs soar into his hands, Avici tracks their movement, an expression of rage growing on his face.*

Tron<The balance of power has shifted.>

*At that moment, Avici's ethereal blades glow & fuse together. The handles contort, one sliding up the combined blade. Energy spins at the end, accompanied by a ticking, as 4 cubes from Avici's wounds fall into place at the pommel, linking themselves through purple lightning. In a flash, Avici's [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] is revealed, & he smirks.*

Avici<Indeed it has.>

*The lightning that Roatha aims at him, & indeed every other attack undoubtedly aimed at him, strikes only empty air as Avici suddenly disappears & reappears in front of Tron, barely giving him any elbow room, & holding him by the throat so he can't jump back. Avici raises the Keyblade to his chest & stabs him, at which point the blue energy from Tron's gridlines flows into the blade & becomes purple energy which restores Avici's wounds. Avici drops the now monochrome Tron to his feet. Roatha tries to run to him, but falls over & drops his Keyblade, which vanishes into thin air.*

R"Tron!"

Avici<It is too late. Just as I have faced death & been reborn, so too shall Tron cease to be, & Rinzler rise up in his place.>

*The color continues to fade from Tron's armor until it turns black, & begins contorting to something like the armor of the Black Guards. The few gridlines remaining recharge themselves. As red.*
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*Once the shockwave starts to clear, Dustflier rockets towards Taiyo, now sporting darkness-spewing gashes all along its face, wings, & back. As a minor note, they can also see that the Claymores are stabbing it in the stomach & legs. Seeing as they've just been pummeled with a ton of fireballs & are, in fact, on fire, Lilith generates a shower of pollen from her Glider & flies around to heal them.*
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*Nero starts walking away.*

N"Whatever. If talking to her is the only thing to do around here, I'm headin' out."
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*Thiera uses a blizzard spell to put out the bush that just got set on fire, sacrificed to slay the beast within.*

T"Careful. This may be an evil forest, but we don't want it to spread. There are 2 more! 1 is behind you!"

*When she sees the Mandragora in front of her spinning its blade around, she holds her Keyblade in a blocking position & charges at it.*

*Eve turns to Noctis while Artexi runs after Nero*

Eve:<Oh, sorry, I was distracted. I''m researching heartless.>

Artexi:<Nero, wait. You just got off on a bad foot.>
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*Monu uses Air Raid on the monadragora Thiera is fighting*
---
*Safian starts firing at the gashes*

The two begin attacking Avici.

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Taiyo flies above the Dustflier, blasting it with bubbles.

*Avici smacks the attacks out of the way with his Keyblade & creates more clones of himself, 6 in total, each wielding his Ethereal Blades. Rinzler also stands beside him, brandishing his blades. To make matters worse, a fleet of Recognizers approaches overhead.*

R"There's...no hope."

*Looking at the shattered barrier of the I/O Tower, Roatha nods. Summoning his Keyblade, he fires a beam of light that strikes the spiderweb fracture & enters the tower. The next thing Hitomi & Azuma know, they're speeding away from Avici, Rinzler, & the city in a beam of light. Below them, the I/O Tower falls apart, a tidal wave of glowing cubes spilling throughout the streets. In a flash, they find themselves back at the computer room in Radiant Garden, in the same positions as when they left. Roatha immediately hobbles over to a steel door & smacks it with the Keyblade, causing it to open.*

"Come on! Once he gets to another Tower, he'll be able to target us again!"
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*Meanwhile, the Dustflier's body breaks apart, shriveling away into nothingness. As the shadows dissipate, a large, glowing heart takes to the sky. As they watch it, the sun begins to set, the sky turning a kind of purplish-blue.*

"That's odd...I could have sworn there were TWO stars a minute ago, but now I only see this world's northern star."
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*Because this part isn't important, one assumes they eventually kill the monsters & are now working their way through the forest, the tip of Thiera's Keyblade emitting a light to guide their way.*

"I think I see a castle on the other side of this thicket."

*She points to a thicket, beyond which a [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] can be faintly made out. Behind the castle, a star blinks out of existence.*
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N"Don't care."
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*Meanwhile, not long ago at all in a galaxy moderately far away, Senthose stands with Braig in front of a steel door, featureless except for a giant keyhole at the center.*

Braig<'Ey! You sure you wanna do this?>

"They already know who developed the prototypes. No sense in hiding it. Time to move on to mass production. The Unversed lack the means to reproduce, so I can't keep their numbers up forever."

Braig<That's not really what I meant.>

"Do you have a better way? Or perhaps second thoughts?"

Braig<Uh...neither, I guess. Just felt like something I should say.>

"That's right, you were a guardian as well. Old habits die hard, I suppose. But apparently not TOO hard."

*He holds out his hand. Once his Keyblade appears, he fires a beam of darkness into the lock. With a clicking noise, the door flies open, & a torrent of darkness covers everything.*

The two follow him out.

Azuma: "Does he have any influence in the outsode world?"

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Taiyo watches the heart fly off.

Taiyo: "That's a good thing, right?"

Noctis looked at Nero with a small smirk, amused at his annoyance, then looked back at Eve when she started to talk. "What have you found out?" Noctis asked.

--

Mortal furrows her eyebrows, "Don't you think that castle looks a bit... uh... precariously situated? It looks like it could snap right off the mountain."

Eve:<Well, I'm research methods to create stronger, more durable heartless.>

Artexi:<Don't be this way.>
---
*Monu points to the spot where the star was*

<Did anyone else see that?>
---
*Safian lands near Lilith*

<Huh?>

"Don't tell me what to--"

*Nero stops & turns around.*

"...Why would Senthose want to know how to do that?"
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*Lilith isn't even on the ground.*

"I don't know enough about Heartless to say, but we might be able to find out at the library in the Land of Departure. But if a star disappeared, that's bad news. It means that a world has been erased."
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"Not necessarily. The mountain looks like it is formed of black granite. Granite usually has a compressive strength above 200 megapascals, meaning that the mountain could support forces of over 200 million Newtons per square meter. By my estimate, your magma blast would need to be at least 50 times more powerful, in order to destroy that mountain. The disappearing star is a more serious matter. That means that an entire world was destroyed. I can't think of anything that could exert that kind of power...although...with a Keyblade, one could destroy the world's heart, & the rest would follow."
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"If he can get to an I/O Tower, he can control the computer, which I'm now thinking controls the rest of the castle. That would explain why the security system isn't after us right now. Also, if we can go to the computer world, maybe he can follow us to the real one."

*As they keep going, he keeps unlocking security doors. Eventually, they wind up back in the library.*

Azuma: "Maybe that dick who sent us there can tell us something."

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Taiyo looks up at the sky.

Taiyo: "A star disappeared?"

Noct nodded, "Yeah, what Nero asked. Is he trying to build some Heartless army? I thought that is why we had nobodies."

--

Mortal drifted off slightly as Thiera prattled on, only really catching the last of what she said, "Do you think that Senthose is behind it? Who else could kill a world's heart like that?"

*Eve shrugs*

<That's for Senthose to decide.>
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*Monu grips his keyblade tghtly*

<He's the most likely candidate. I wonder what world it is.>
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<I guess so.>

L"On a less imperative note, the music is calm again."

*Hearing the sounds of opening doors, she looks down.*

L"And we're pretty exposed out here."
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*Nero jams his hands in his pocket & stares off to the side, overall looking almost as surly as Noctis.*

"Then I guess that just makes it more important that we find him, doesn't it?"
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"It would take a Keyblade Master with a very dark heart, so yes, it was probably him. Should we...should we stay here, or...try to find him?"
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"We can't just search the castle at random, the security system would turn on long before we ever found him, & if we tried to turn it back off, we'd just get digitized again. Not to mention, Avici might follow us with his army, & there's no way we can beat that right now. We need a smarter plan."

Eve:<You'll have to talk to him when he gets back.>
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Monu:<I am biased towards saving my home, of course.>
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*Safian looks around to see where the opening doors are*

Azuma: "Regroup and come back when we have more than just us?"

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Taiyo: "We should go to the castle then."

"So we've heard," Noct said, "Do you know where he went?" Even before she got an answer Noct stretched, and added, "I'm not really in the mood for a long journey, maybe we should just wait for him to get back."

--

"Well, he already killed that planet, so there isn't anything we could do about it now," Mortal said, "I say we finish up here, then maybe we could try to go to that planet and see what clues we can find."

OOC: [url=http://th02.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2013/122/c/e/minecraft_kingdom_hearts__radiant_garden_by_zimfan508-d63tuyq.pngThis seems like an accurate enough rendering of Radiant Garden.[/url]

"Alright, that makes sense. I guess we have to go through this, don't we?"

*Thiera swings at one of the branches. She promptly makes it halfway through, before getting stuck. After tugging a couple of times, she lets go of her Keyblade so that she can re-summon it.*
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*Coincidentally, Senthose steps out of a Dark Corridor nearby. After closing it, he spots them.*

<Well, this isn't good. Large gatherings mean you either want something, or are forming an angry mob. So, which is it?>
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*She sees the rest of the group just coming out of the castle. Lilith looks around, & sees the same thing. She then looks down to see people gathering in the square & looking around.*

L"Don't forget, we still need to find the others--oh. But let's fly back to the back gate & ditch these Gliders, first."
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R"Well, there are the others, just floatin' above the middle of the town, in plain view, where everybody can see them. And there are no guards, so I'm thinking they're in league with that guy, & they probably all skipped town."