Looming Shadows

They all land.

Hitomi: "Master Psyche is Thiera & Lilith's mother."

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Azuma backs off and moves to circle around and slash its back.

*Thiera's face reddens with indignance.*

Th"I said I didn't forget!"

*Euryale shrugs.*

E"Eh, she hasn't talked to you as much as I have. His name is Hinode Kyohaku."
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*Monu is too busy being knocked off of his glider by a punch to the face, before being obliterated. Lilith tries to swerve down, but is rammed by a Darkball. Others begin swarming around her glider & she can only shoot those in front of her. The Invisible that Azuma attacks recoils, then spins to slash with its sword, claws, & tail.*
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*A trio of Dusks drop out of the sky around her.*

What are your orders?

*Each time a Heartless rams into one of the cube walls trying to attack, they spin, obliterating the Heartless. Eventually, larger Neoshadows emerge. Senthose appears to be inspecting the base of Memory's Skyscraper.*

Azuma attempts to repeat the same tactic as Heartless are dumb.

With a bit of a huff combined with a pair of folded arms, Kyohaku looked back toward Euryale and nodded, "At least one of you cares about me; thank you, Euryale."

Could you guys protect me from the Heartless?
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*Monu resummons his gluder underneath him, then using Air Gyre on the Darkballs that Lilith can't hit. Safian also targets these with her leaves, but is careful not to hit Monu*

*That may be true, but a spinning wall of blades doesn't have to be a supergenius. After slashing Azuma up, the Invisible is destroyed by lasers. As the Dark Balls are destroyed, a ring of dark fire appears around Safian, Monu, & Lilith, the remaining Invisibles stabbing their swords into thin air & disappearing into dark flames. Additionally, from behind them & upward, a swarm of Gummi Ships resembling spiky red-orange balls emerges. Unfortunately for Lilith, being rammed also awakens Xshittyname.*
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Binah<Well, you'll be pleased to know that I conferred with Master Yen Sid, & he confirmed that he sent a Photon Debugger out into the Sea of Stars without my permission. It seems he was desperate to do something that Senthose hadn't planned on.>

Th"No offense to Kyohaku, but will that make a difference? Senthose's goal is to incite another Keyblade War. More Keyblade Wielders would only seem to expedite that process."

Binah<Perhaps. On the other hand, more Keyblades may allow us to purge Senthose's influence from more people. As long as we prevent him from forming Kingdom Hearts, a war is undesirable, but not apocalyptic. But we'd need to locate his base of operations first. Which brings me to my other news!>

*She claps her hands & Thiera leans in, excited.*

Th"You mean you found it?!"

Binah<Possibly. The world that your sister's team was on sent her to another--a world that's uncharted, relatively close to the Realm of Darkness, & defended by a multitude of Heartless.>

E"Hey, that's great. Should we go there?"

Binah<I would like to observe their exploration more before making a decision. You should stay here to rest up in the mean time.>
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With our very lives.

*The Dusks fan out, slashing at the Neo Shadows. Of course, Neo Shadows don't go down easy, & retaliate by slashing back. Additionally, their friends leap in the air, crowding around the Dusks.*

Xyukuse begins to squirm, looking to break free.

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If Taiyo's ears worked that way, they would perk up so she goes on beside Euryale.

Taiyo: "Do you want to hang out?"

Looking up, Kyohaku blinked for a moment, "Thiera; I admit that I am not nearly as skilled as either of you, but I think that this Yen Sid guy might have been onto something. There's an old story of two groups fighting a war by moving their troops based solely on computer calculations. The side that made an irrational illogical move based on a random event won, because the other side didn't know how to react. Maybe throwing another Keyblade into the sea just makes things less predictable from his behalf."

He then blinked, "Wait, rest? Really?"

Monu:<Lilith, he's awake!>

*Safian covers herself with her leaves, then fires on the incoming Gummy Ships. Monu uses Air Gyre on the assholes that rammed Lilith*
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Uh, thanks guys.

*So Tirea sets off after Senthose, looking around for anything of interest*

Th"Perhaps. I don't really know much about how Senthose thinks."

Binah<Yes, of course. You've all been active for almost 2 full days now.>

*Euryale looks at Taiyo, surprised at having been all but pounced on.*

E"Uh, sure. There wouldn't happen to be a beach here, would there?"

Binah<There is a lake at the bottom of this hill. Should you follow the path, you can't miss it.>
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*There are no Dark Balls anymore, so there's nothing to ram. Once they get close enough that they can be destroyed, the Bomb Gummi Ships start shooting Large fireballs at them.*

L"Not much I can really do about it! I say we just avoid the ships & land!"

*As such, she dives into the atmosphere. Being rammed also snapped a couple of the vines, so while he's struggling, Xshittyname discovers that he has slightly more leeway around his shoulders.*
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*While Senthose bends over to run his hand along the staircase, Artexi happens upon a faint but rather large footprint in the thin layer of dust. Frankly, it looks like it was left by a clown, except that the pattern is more like boots or sneakers.*

Senthose<Xigbar was wrong. If he'd hit the ground, there would be blood. Not to mention a smashed-up corpse, since he wouldn't live long enough for the Heartless to take him.>

*While they're speaking, the Dusks slash a few of the Neoshadows around them, but they aren't strong enough to put the Heartless down. The Neoshadows then grab them, drag them to the ground, & claw at them. The Sorcerers ignore all of this, maintaining the cube wall.*

"Maybe I should stick around here, what do you guys think...? I trust you know that I usually don't consider it the best idea to go near water." Hinode smirked and made one of his mock salutes again, "What else is there to do around here beside go swimming?"

To be honest, he wasn't sure if it was safe to do so in this form or not, though he did figure that Euryale probably needed it. At this point he really believed she was a mermaid like she had said she was.

Xyukuse tries to free his arms for some Keyblade stabbing into them action.

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Hitomi: "Rest."

*Artexi uses Spark Raid on the Neo Shadows*

<I found a foot print that could be his.>
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*Monu and Safian follow Lilith*

Binah<Actually, I wanted to ask you something. Thiera informed me that you are from a digital world. Is there someone there named Avici?>

Th"I could use a nap. Maybe afterwards I'll work on improving the communication spell."

*Thiera heads into the Hall of Masters. Euryale stares at Taiyo, standing there not doing anything.*

E"Uh--are we going or not?"
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*The Neoshadows dissolve, quickly replaced by more Shadows. Though having huge holes ripped into their weird jumpsuit bodies, the Dusks slither across the ground, slashing at them. Senthose walks over.*

S<...This is obviously not his footprint. Though it does resemble an Organization boot. Clearly, there was an imposter here, & he took Nero away.>
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OOC: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

*It's not easy, but Xshittyname is slowly pulling his arm loose. Lilith lands in an alley with an aqueduct & dismisses the Glider. Xyukuse is no longer tied to IT, but he DOES still have ivy wrapped all around him. Of course, just as she summons her Keyblade, 6 Shadows rise out of the ground, followed by 6 Dark Corridors opening, out of which drop 3 Soldier Heartless & soar 3 Air Soldiers.*

While struggling to get one arm free, he tries summoning the Froloc Flame to cut through the vines.

Azuma calls up his Keyblade and uses Darkra on an Air Soldier.

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Taiyo: "Of course."

So Taiyo begins leading Euryale to the lake.

"I am from what you would call a digital world. Avici? What do you know of Avici?" Hinode exhaled and nodded, "He's this jerk who runs the show there. Avici is a piece of software who is starting to take everything over. I was hoping that some day, after I get out of all of this, I could head back to my world and free the place with the Photon Debugger."

Hinode looked up, hopeful again, "If you have any information about a possible weakness, like...I'd kill for it, okay?" That aggressive streak was back in Hinode's eyes again as he started to think of the possibilities all over again.

Artexi:<An imposter...the Order?>
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*Monu and Safian dismiss their gliders. Monu sends duamonds at the solider heartless while Safian sends a blast of darkness at Xshittyname's head*

Binah<I was hoping you would be able to tell me that, actually. Some of my students came close to destroying him once, but he obtained a Keyblade &, with it, the power to manipulate time. My own magic is more than sufficient to destroy him, but in his own world, where he can simply reprogram the environment, he has thus far proven unbeatable. I thought of dragging him into the physical plane, but his technology was evidently able to block my spell.>
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Senthose<As a matter of fact, Yen Sid's student has feet this large. I don't know how he managed to get into The World That Never Was, but I will ensure that he never comes back.>

*Senthose reaches out with arched fingers & tears open a Dark Corridor to a world [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].*
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*The Soldiers are knocked into the Darkra, causing both them & the Air Soldiers to be throttled into oblivion. Lilith slashes a Shadow that jumps at her before double-jumping to avoid the others, at which point she aims down, charging a poppy.*

L"Drag him over to the Shadows, & I can put them all to sleep!"

*There may be some complications in this plan, seeing as Xshittyname has now freed his upper body.*
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*As prophesied, the grass eventually gives way to sand, with a beach beyond that. Euryale keeps walking forward.*

"So I was thinking about things. So many of us have gone missing, we don't know how much time we have left."

Xyukuse blocks the retarded lion's attack with the Frolic Flame and calls the Chaos Ripper to cut the vines around his legs.

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Hitomi goes to her quarters.

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Taiyo: "We should spend as much time as we can with those we care about."

"Well, let me think for a moment. Software has one major weakness, and in fact it's the reason we so admire users. If you could gain access to the computer in the organic world that his software is stored on you could simply delete him with a command. We wouldn't even have to fight him, but we'd have to find a way to seize control of the machine that actually operates his program."

Hinode frowned for a moment and then smirked in his usual sarcastic way, "That, or find a way to pour a ton of water on him. Remember he -is- a being made of energy. Salt water would probably kill him."

*Artexi stares nervously into the portal*

<Do you...uh...want me to come with you?>
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*Seeing him about to escape, Monu goes ahead and sinks him in quicksand as deep as possible*

Monu:<No time!>

*Safian breathes fire in the direction of the remaining shadows then tries to lure them over near Xshittyname*
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*Eve takes a break from work*

*And so he's able to cause Xyukuse to fall into quicksand before he can free himself. 2 of the Shadows just burn up in the flame, the remaining put to sleep by Lilith's sleeping gas. When she lands, she aims her Keyblade at Xyukuse.*

L"Try to hold down his weapons!"
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Binah<It may be possible for us to fight our way past the security system & use the Keyblades to access the terminal, but even if Senthose doesn't counterattack, would we be able to locate the correct program?>
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"Yeah."

*Upon reaching the water, she keeps walking. She looks back over her shoulder.*

"That stuff you said back in the Coliseum--is that still true?"
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Senthose<This tower is the home of a powerful sorcerer & ex Keyblade Master known as Yen Sid. It could be dangerous.>

Taiyo: "I didn't say anything."

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He throws the Frolic Flame at the ginger whose brilliant plans may not have been the result of a failed lobotomy.

"Well, I didn't always run with the best crowd when I lived there so I learned a few tricks about how to get in places that I don't belong in. Euryale or Thiera can probably vouch for me after what I did with this one computer terminal before. If we could get past security like you said and use the Keyblades to get the terminal, I'd find the program. Trust me...end of line!"

Hinode smirked and drew his thumb across his nose, seeming unusually confident.

*Monu raises a granite shield in front of Lilith to block the keyblade, then destroys it to give her a clean shot Safian burns up the sleeping shadows with more fire*
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Artexi:<Is that a yes or a no?>