Shadows of the Past

Mortal giggled a bit at Thiera's struggle, "Do you want some help?"

--

"Nero had some questions," Noct said, "Then again, an angry mob could be fun. Anyone want to throw bricks through windows after this?"

*Eve nods at Senthose, a small smile crossing her face*

<Welcome back.>
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*Monu slashes at the branches with his keyblade*
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*Safian resummons her glider and joins the others in the air*

*Thiera dismisses her weapon & crosses her arms as Monu whacks a couple of branches down.*

"You don't have to make fun of me."
===========================
<Yes, thank you. Now, these questions?>

"Why are you still making Heartless?"

<You heard about that? It was supposed to be a secret. Well, no matter.>

*He folds his arms behind his back.*

<Increasingly powerful Heartless are being born, even as we speak. That is a fact. It is important to understand the conditions that make them, in order to know how to stop them.>

"Funny you should mention that. We went to 2 worlds where Heartless were being made. The first time, we were attacked by a Heartless that was obviously too strong to have been made recently. Oh, & here's the kicker: It was wearing Keyblade Armor. In the 2nd world, the guy said that he was told that Keyblade wielders were coming. Got any explanation for that?"

<As a matter of fact, the 2 are related. Do you mean to tell me that you haven't noticed, after all of this time? No...you really haven't, have you? That Keyblade Armor is mine. I lost it years ago, along with my heart, after I tried using the Keyblade to release my powers. The Heartless knows everything that I did at the time when I formed the Organization, & has surely been spying on us since.>
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*Everyone gawks at the lion piloting a UFO as the trio speeds off towards the canyon.*

*Eve shrugs, then crosses her arms in front of her*

Artexi:<You're a nobody?>
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*Monu starts trying to cut a path*

<I'm sure that wasn't her intent.>
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*So they do*

"So, there is a remnant of your past self just wandering about, causing stress for us?" Noct asked, "Wouldn't it be a good idea to kill it, or capture it? If you want to know about powerful heartless wouldn't that be a great place to find answers?"

--

"It wasn't," Mortal said, frowning a bit, "I was just joking, but if it offends you I'll stop. It isn't nice to offend a friend, even when unintentional." As she was talking she began to help clear the path with Monu.

*Thiera doesn't say anything, until they're almost through the thicket. When she finally does speak, it's almost at a whisper.*

"...It's okay...I didn't think that you thought thaAAH!"

*She changes tone when an arrow hits her in the shoulder. In a panic, she pulls it out & promptly becomes dizzy at the sight of her own blood. More arrows are shot at them from the direction of the castle. Behind the arrows, Archravens fly towards them.*
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*Lilith lands, dispelling her Glider & armor.*

L"The townspeople will probably be coming to investigate. We need to get the others, & get out of here.... Maybe if we blast off into the sky, they'll will follow us."
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"Let me put it this way: If you wanted to find me, let alone defeat me, how would you go about it?"

Mortal steps in front of Thiera, and deflects a few of the incoming arrows with her keyblades, "Use the trees as cover from the arrows."

--

"The real you? We were just doing that. I suppose if we were in desperate need of finding out where you were we could have just beat the answer out of Eve, but as far as killing or capturing you, that is a different matter entirely," Noct said.

Taiyo: "What if they're waiting for us?"

*Eve glares at Noctis*

Artexi:<Yeah, I'm not sure what other Inner Organization member we could threaten.>
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*Monu raises an earth shield then casts a healing spell on Thiera*
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Safian:<Who knows if they can see the sky right now.>

"But...but don't we have to--"

*She covers her mouth & gulps, looking like she just swallowed something nasty.*

"--have to get to the castle?"

*Meanwhile, the Archravens fly over the rock wall & start pecking at them.*
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<I only told Eve that I'd left, not where I was going, or what I was doing.>

N"What WERE you doing?"

<Hunting the Heartless. It seems to be forming its own group, though much less organized than ours.>

N"What's it want?"

<Kingdom Hearts, just as all Heartless do.>
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"We don't have a lot of options, right now. We can't stay in this world."

*A sympathetic expression crosses Eve's face*

<Did you find him?>
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*Monu slashes at the Arch Ravens*
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Safian:<I guess.>

Noct shoots Eve a glance and shrugs, "You said it yourself that we were stronger than you, though I apologize for the hypothetical beating, since you didn't know anyway."

--

"Of course we do," Mortal said, launching a fireball at one of the ravens, "But you just took an arrow, and more are coming, so lets just take a second to think about this instead of trying to turn ourselves into pin cushions."

*And so Lilith blasts off, hoping that the others will notice.*
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R"They're blasting off again. Are they leaving the world?"
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*Thiera rubs her shoulder. It's healed, but still hurts, & features a nasty stain. The remaining Archravens fly away, clearly no match for these freaks.*

"What about the armor & gliders?"
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<Of course not, it's like trying to capture your reflection. You may see the signs, but there's nothing to grab hold of.>

N"So...do all of the Heartless come from your experiments?"

<Not exactly. As you know, there were others working on creating them. My own experiments were really just a part of Ansem's. Plus, you have other enemies, such as the Unversed & the Order.>

*Monu shrugs and summons both*
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*Safian follows*
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Artexi:<The Order wouldn't create Heartless.>

"Pretty sure he wasn't implying they would," Noct said.

--

Mortal nods, donning her armor, and hopping onto her glider, "Good call. If you're alright to continue lets press on."

Azuma: "Looks like that. So do we follow them or...?"

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

Taiyo follows.

R"I'd say so."

*He stabs his Keyblade into the ground, whereupon it changes into a Glider.*

R"Guess it's only blocked on the Grid."

*So he boards it & takes off.*
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*Thiera deploys her Glider's shield to help deflect the arrows. As they fly over the castle, a bunch of armored warthog things squeal & run around, dropping their bows. Below, in front of the gate, are a group of very confused Scrappers & Bruiser Unversed. The Scrappers huddle together, looking around & shivering, while the Bruisers scratch their heads.*

T"We should probably destroy the Unversed on our way out. If I know castle architecture, then the dungeon should be somewhere under the main keep."

*Coincidentally, more of those warthog things are gathering in front of the keep's gate, these ones alternately wielding maces or pikes.*
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<No telling what they will do to you. Though I suppose the fact that they can't imprison you leaves them with few options.>

The two Glider up and follow.

"Why don't we just give them a taste of their own medicine, and lay waste to our enemies from up here?" Mortal said, trying to figure out which of her glider's attacks would be better for racking up multi kills.

--

Noct just shrugged.

Artexi:<They wouldn't hurt anyone.>
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Monu:<Maybe. We need to focus on speed here.>

T"I don't have any weapons on this, & my magic doesn't have much range, either."
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<They don't carry weapons for no reason.>
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*And so they meet up in outer space. Roatha kind of leans over on his controls.*

L"Did you find anything?"

R"Yes, we're okay, thank you for asking."

L"Hey, we had some fighting of our own to do. Giant flying Heartless. I think someone was waiting for us."

R"Yeah, we were--like--sent into a computer world, by one of the castle's guards. But they all split after we came out."

L"What? What happened in there?"

Monu:<My only attack involving ramming the enemy so...>
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Artexi:<Still. They're good people!>
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Safian:<That sounds...pretty cool actually.>

Azuma: "Nothing cool about being locked in a computer by some dick and being left in a world of bad costumes and tyrants."

Mortal frowned, "I apologize, I didn't know I was the only one with the means to attack from this range. Lets get going then."

--

Noctis furrowed her brows in confusion, "Wait, are these the same people we've already seen being assholes, and only working with us through clenched teeth, and have been told that they're now considering us enemies and trying to attack us? Perhaps I'm being a bit sophomoric here, but if you like them so much, why not go join them?"

N"Yeah, not to mention that they yelled at you for being a traitor, & who knows what they would have done if you hadn't ditched them."
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L"Tyrants?"

R"He calls himself Avici. He's a program that somehow looks exactly like Senthose. He's trying to take over the whole computer world thing, & he...he killed Tron."

L"Who is Tron?"

R"He helped us escape...and well, he's not dead, exactly, more like...turned evil."

L"Like a Heartless, or like he just betrayed you guys?"

R"Neither. It's hard to explain. Avici got a Keyblade, & then he just...reprogrammed him, maybe?"

L"Why do I get the feeling that this story doesn't end with 'And then we defeated Avici & everyone lived happily ever after'?"
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*As they swoop down, Thiera covers them. Once they're near the ground, she transitions to her normal Keyblade, & surrounds them with fire. The goons run around the outskirts of the flames, waving their weapons, but obviously wary about approaching.*