Shadows Swarm

Azuma: "That's....Is that a common mode of transportation or....?"

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

Hitomi shrugs as best as a leopard can.

Hitomi: "Someone that knew Mufasa and Simba."

*Monu flies off in the direction of the roar*
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Safian:<sorry, we have more friends near and I was trying to let them know where we are. Nala, remember Mufasa's ape adviser? Who would only show up when something important was occurring?>
---
*Artexi waits for a good opportunity to open a dark corridor to take Nero and herself to a rooftop*

<There's that bastard.>

Nala<Not really, no.>

*Simba comes back up with the glasses in his teeth, slightly bent & covered in drool.*

Simba<'Ese 'at you 'anted?>

*The others eventually arrive on the scene.*
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Jack<Not especially.>

*Sally sits down next to Roatha, putting a hand on his shoulder.*

Sally<Euryale told us about what was in the mirror. I guess that would dampen anyone's Halloween spirit. Father offered his help, if you want to try that.>

E"...Hey, Roatha, are you listening? Hey. Hey!"

*She slithers up & starts shaking him. He jolts, then turns towards her.*

R"What? Sorry, I didn't hear you."
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"Hey, I think I see the Princess. She's pretty hot. Doesn't seem to like this guy, though."

*Someone starts throwing gold off of the elephant & the crowd descends to gather it up. Soon after, seeing the parade approaching the palace doors, Jafar & the Sultan head inside. The elephant kicks down the door & the parade heads inside.*

Chorus<PRINCE ALI, AMOROUS HE, ALIABABWA!>

*Monu lands on the ground near Timon and Pumba*

Safian:<Oh good, you found us. These are some old friends of mine, Simba and Nala.>

*She gestures with her tail*

<And, um, Simba's friends Timon and Pumba. These are some more of my friends, Lilith, Thiera, and Monu.>

Monu:<Pleased to meet you all.>

*He dips his head in greeting*
---
Artexi:<I, well, Tirea knew her. She's nice.>

Azuma: "Apparently the doctor might be able to help you out."

Probably not though.

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

Hitomi: "Yes, thank you."

Lacking the appropiate appendages the take them, Hitomi just kind of stares, helplessly.

R"No he can't. The Order knows way more about the Heartless than he does. If we couldn't fix it, then the only one who might be able to is the jackass who caused it in the first place."

Sally<Senthose. You mentioned him before. What's he like? Why would anyone want to spread Heartless?>

E"Hm...good question. He told me to follow my dreams like he did...& then he stabbed me. I guess it was...an experiment. To see how many of us he could infect with darkness."

R"There is a lot we can't tell you. The Heartless Invasion is the kind of thing that happens when this kind of information gets out."

Jack<That makes sense. I once had to learn the hard way that some things just aren't my place to interfere in.>
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N"How do YOU know a Princess?"

*With most of the parade having headed into the castle, the music returns to normal, but no one can stop talking about Prince Ali.*

<75 golden camels!>

<Not as impressive as 95 white, Persian monkeys!>

<And to view them, he charges no fee!>

<He's generous! So generous!>
==================================
*Lilith & Thiera do the same thing.*

T"The pleasure is all mine."

L"Likewise."

Timon<Hey, any friend of Simba's is a friend of ours.>

Pumbaa<Nice to meet ya!>

Simba<You're welcome.>

*He lays them at her feet.*

Nala<Simba, maybe you could show me around this place?>

Simba<Uh--of course.>

Safian:<Aw, you two always made such a cute couple.>

*Monu picks the glasses up in his beak and tries to place them on Hitomi's face*
---
Artexi:<My father was a lord.>

Azuma: "Then what are we to do?"

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

Hitomi: "....Thank you."

Although this does not change that they are bent and smeared with drool.

<No wonder people love to work for him!>

"Whatever. Let's just find somewhere to turn our cloaks back before some drunk shopkeeper tries to buy us from Prince Ali."
================================
*So now she has drool on her face.*

Simba<What? No. She's my friend.>

Nala<Yeah, it'd be weird.>

L"Wow, hey, this is REALLY not the time to be arguing about this. King or no King, we still have to do something about the Heartless."
===================================
*Roatha stands up & turns around, looking & speaking like he's answering a simple math question.*

R"There's only one thing TO do. We find Senthose. And kill him."

Azuma: "Easier said than done. It's not like his address is in the phone book or anything."

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

And so she wipes her face with her paws. Not at all accustomed to doing such things it is weird.

Safian:<You've been saying that since we were cubs. Anyway, Lilith's right. Simba, if you won't help us, we'll have to defeat Scar some other way.>
---
*Artexi wanders off to a dark alleyway to do that*

*Nero follows. When he gets there, wisps of darkness consume him & fade away, returning his outfit to normal.*

"You can do whatever you want to Jafar. My new target is that jackass genie."
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Simba<Okay.>

*Simba wanders into the jungle with Nala.*

Timon<Uh-oh. I've seen this before. Looks like our trio's down to 2.>

L"If we can't depose Scar, then our best bet would be to cut off his Heartless supply by finding this black lion. But if we go back into the Pride Lands, there's a good chance that the Heartless will be tracking us by our Keyblades, with or without Scar's orders. If Senthose is sinking entire worlds into the darkness, that's a game changer, there could already be huge amounts of Heartless in some worlds, all of which would be after us once we entered."
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R"If you don't want to help, that's fine. I'll find him myself. He's been here. I can tell."

*He looks back to the mansion & begins crossing the bridge.*

*I guess the same thing happens to Artexi's coat*

<As long as we kick Jafar's ass first.>
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Safian:<I don't know any black lions, so he's probably a member of the Organization. I kinda assumed he could be Senthose himself.>

Azuma: "No one said that."

Taiyo: "Wait, don't go off by yourself."

Taiyo follows after him.

N"I just told you, I don't care what you do, but I'm goin' after that jackass genie."

*He starts to open a Dark Corridor, but it flickers as he coughs. As he tries to force it, he doubles over in a coughing fit & the Corridor slams shut. More dark tendrils float off of him, even though his cloak has already been changed back.*
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L"I suppose that's possible. Maybe Rafiki could help, if we could find him."
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E"I think we can handle this. Why don't you 2 go back & make sure the town's okay?"

Sally<If you're sure.>

*So Jack & Sally head back as Euryale follows. Somewhere along the bridge, Roatha jumps off, landing in front of the doors below. Taiyo notices that it resembles a guillotine with Oogie's face on it, before Roatha summons the Keyblade & whacks it. The doors slide open, opening up on to the abyss.*

Taiyo: "We shouldn't go in there."

Azuma: "What do you hope to find here?"

*Artexi drops to the ground beside him*

<God, Nero, what;'s wrong?>

*Her expression alternates between worried and pissed*

<And I have gone along with your dumbass plans before, so you're going to do this with me.>
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Safian:<To be honest I don't know where he lives...>

L"He said that he was going to be coming here to look for Simba. I'm sure he's around here somewhere."

T"We could probably see him from the air, unless he's in the jungle."
===========================
R"He was here. I can smell him. Besides, what's the worst thing that could possibly be in here?"
===========================
"Sh--shut up! Just...must have just...used a bit too much...darkness. I just need more power."

*He stands up, dusting himself off.*

"And for the record, I never made you do anything. I don't care about your little grudge against Jafar. The genie is my target. So there."

*Artexi stands up slowly and silently*

<Little grudge?!>

*Artexi kicks him in the groin*

<The genie didn't do anything to you like Jafar did to me. Way to be an absolute prick. Go fight the genie and lose.>

*So she walks over to the nearest busy street*
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Monu:<Thiera and I  could do that while everyone else comes up with plan C.>

Azuma: "And he probably isn't here now."

Taiyo: "Anything of Oogies."

R"He was clearly here for a reason, & we won't find out what that reason was just standing around out here, scared of our own shadows!"

*So he heads inside.*
================================
*Nero sees fit to call up the Keyblade to block that shit. Without a word, he heads off in the opposite direction. No one seems to pay attention to Artexi as they go about their regular fruit-buying activities.*
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L"I don't see what else we could try, but alright."

*So Thiera flies off, away from the setting sun.*

*Artexi wanders over to the nearest fruit seller to buy some fresh fruit to eat*

Guess I forgot that I have no friends. I hope the genie kills him.

*She looks down at her clasped hands*

Maybe I'm over exaggerating just a bit.
---
*Monu follows her*

Azuma: "It's not the shadows, but what's in them."

Against all proper reasoning they go inside.

*Axel walks past Artexi & towards the big, bulky vendor with the turban, pointy mustache, & goatee.*

Axel<2 of your best mangos, if you don't mind.>

Vendor<You sure you got the munny for 'em?>

Axel<Yeah, yeah, sure.>

*He shrugs & plops a bunch of gold marble things on the counter.*

Axel<Tell ya what: Keep the change. Buy yourself somethin' nice. My treat. And here you go.>

*He takes a mango in each hand & holds the left one out for Artexi.*
==================================
*It being a jungle, it takes a long time for them to break the tree line. When they finally do, it is dusk, & they see Simba running, desperately trying to keep up with Rafiki, who leads him through the reeds towards another part of the river.*
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*Meanwhile, Nala returns to the rest of the group.*

L"Things didn't go well with Simba?"

Nala<Not exactly. We got into a fight over how he won't come back to the Pride Lands. He just won't tell me why not.>

L"If we can't get him, do you think that you could convince the other Lionesses to rebel against Scar anyway?"

Nala<Not without another rightful King, no. It's true that most of the lionesses don't particularly like Scar, but he's still Mufasa's brother. It would be like betraying his memory.>
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*Once Taiyo & Roatha are inside, the doors slams shut & the lights flash on, casting the room in an eerie green glow. In this room, they cannot hear the music outside. Roatha looks around, noting that they are on a giant roulette wheel, surrounded by some kind of observation platform blocked off by shadows like flames. They can see what appears to be a fat man moving behind the shadows, dancing around.*

Oogie<Well, well, well, what have we here? So you're the ones everybody's been talkin' 'bout? Hahaha, ooooh, I'm really SCARED!>

*He leans forward, allowing them to see his sack face more clearly, & holding the sides of his head with his weird, flipper-like arms.*

R"You reek of Senthose. How do you know him?"

Oogie<Eh? Who? What? Don't you know who you're dealing with, here?>
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*Meanwhile, Euryale tries to push the doors open.*

E"What the--it's like something's holding it closed!"

???<That'd be my friend on the other side.>

*From around the tree steps what appears to be a tall, thin black man wearing a purple suit that exposes his midriff, a tophat with a skull & cross bones, & either a skull mask or a skull that's painted on the top half of his face. He leans on his cane & holds out his hand.*

???<Dr. Facilier, at your service. Also called the Shadow Man.>

*Euryale smacks his hand away, grabs his neck with her other hand, & slams him up against the tree so that his feet don't touch the ground. The doctor grimaces slightly & his hat falls to the ground, revealing messy hair with way too much product in it, but he quickly regains his composure, grinning. There is a slight gap between his top incisors.*

E"What are you doing to our friends?!"

Dr. Facilier<Why, nothin' at all, Darlin'. Just made a deal to keep out trespassers. But I like you, you look like you wouldn't do a thing to anyone. So I'd be glad to let you on in there. Whattayasay?>

*She drops him. He lands on his feet, using his cane to pick up his hat & flick it back on his head.*

E"Obviously I say, 'Do it, or you'll be sorry!'"

Dr. Facilier<Of course, of course. You too, Friend?>

*He turns to Azuma, once again grinning & holding out his hand.*

Azuma: "Why should we trust you?"

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Taiyo: "Oogie's alive?"