First Blood Shed

*Nero falls into the Dark Corridor, ending up near Daisy, about half passed out & looking like a mess. Unless he plans to blast the burning trees to oblivion, I've no idea what Vega is doing, as Ira has already escaped & does not seem intent on coming back.*
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*The walls have no intention of giving way. The pirates have no concern for whatever she's doing, & quickly prove that a large enough amount of men can just plain stampede over a lion.*
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*Meanwhile, Thiera shouts in pain as a musket ball enters her shoulder, forcing them to drop the rest of the way into the water as her Keyblade disappears. After healing herself & sucking in a mouthful of water in the process, she starts transforming as rapidly as she can.*

E"That doesn't make any--hold on, Thiera & Kyohaku just fell in, I'd better keep them from drowning."

*She quickly swims over, & Thiera & Hinode find themselves lifted slightly out of the water from something from behind.*

E"We lost Ursula, & I'd hate to say it, but she's going to have to wait! Tell Safian to get Ariel out of the ship as quickly as possible, we'll get the pirate ship away from the wedding barge!"

*Meanwhile, Taiyo's attack jostles the pirates, but otherwise has no effect. Eventually, they break for the surface, & as they get farther up, the moonlight starts to touch them, seeming as if to melt away their flesh.*

E"Okay, I'm seriously confused about what abilities you land creatures have."

Th"I suspect--we're seeing--why--they keep failing--to die--!"

E"Should that really be considered a 'failure'?"
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*The Divine Rose finally appears in Lilith's hands, allowing her to shoot a bunch of seeds, 1 of which finally strikes the phantom. It whirls, its shield changing to brown.*

L"I was trying, she didn't seem willing to switch until just now. I'm guessing this one must be earth, but unless it tries a new tactic--oh, look at that, it's trying a new tactic."

*The Phantom had once again reached up towards its face, expelling a dark will-o-the-wisp.*
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*Mickey turns away from them.*

Mickey<...The Organization invaded the Land of Departure. I tried to help Master Psyche, but she....>

*He shakes his head.*

Mickey<Master Yen Sid doesn't want her daughters to know what happened to her. Not yet. He says we have to focus on the problems we can still change.>

As they're ain't anything she can do presently, Taiyo swims after Euryale.

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Azuma: "You just want us to not tell them their mother is dead?"

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

Unless the NeoShadows fled with him, they're being blasted back into oblivion from whence they came.

*Safian disappears into the shadows, following behind the pirates. She searches for any way to halt their progress*
---
*Monu tries to switch keyblades with Hitomi to get his own back. Presuming that he eventually gives it back, Monu sends diamond shards at the Phantom's heart*
---
*Artexi dismisses her glider*

Artexi:<Hey Vega, I'm going to go check on Nero and Daisy. Come meet up with us whenever you're done...with whatever you're doing.>

*She drops into her own dark corridor, heading over to Nero and Daisy*

Some days, well, things just didn't go your way, and for Kyohaku this certainly looked like it was turning into one of those days. He simply decided not to resist at this point and let himself get lifted up from behind. There wasn't much of a reason to still try and keep it up, especially since they were going to have to forget Ursula for the time being and change the focus of the mission thus far.

*Mickey turns to face them.*

<What would it help if you did? It won't protect them from the Organization, who will now be after you now more than ever.>
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~Phantom: 6/12~

*Fairly vulnerable while it's charging its blast, the Phantom is struck, its shield disappearing. With the 1st blast still up in Monu's face, the Phantom releases a 2nd blast, before doing its little twirl, changing its shield to red, & flying off. The clock starts up again, Lilith quickly summoning Thiera's Keyblade to stop the countdown at 3.*
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*Since no one else is going to, Thiera messages Safian. Once she & presumably Kyohaku are fully transformed, Euryale swims up, barreling through the pirates with a kind of water charge. As opposed to before, they disintegrate into a mass of bones, falling into the ocean.*

Th"Oh, oh, I see it now! The moonlight exposes their true forms, & it's only then that they can be harmed!"

*Just as soon as she says that, it goes dark.*

E"Of course it'd be our luck that it's overcast."

*Euryale then does a poor imitation of a whale song, but it seems to be enough, as the pod of whales comes to push the boats as far apart as possible. When the pirates start shooting, Euryale heads up to deflect the cannonballs back at them.*
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*Soon after going below deck, the pirates fan out, so Safian won't be able to follow them all.*

Retrieve Ariel.

*This message comes just in time for some pirates in the next hall to her left to give a riotous shout & start chasing someone or something.*
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*With great effort, Nero pulls himself tremulously to his hands & knees, sweating like he has some kind of fever. Daisy holds up her creepy ass hands.*

Daisy<I didn't drain his blood, I swear! I have no idea what's wrong with him!>

N"Too much...darkness...haven't...mastered it...."

*And they hear the sound of Vega blasting a bunch of floating tree stumps, as the Heartless have already dragged Ira into nothingness. On the plus side, without anywhere to spread, the fires go out, & it looks like only a relatively small fraction of the Hinterlands have been destroyed.*

Taiyo follows after Euryale, however she did that, but being in the water ain't going to do any good. She returns to the Oblivion to Azuma and borrows the Diamond Dust from Hitomi who is now shackled with the Stormfall which is nice because blue is nice.

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Azuma: "That'd be the case regardless. Keeping secrets from them is going to do more harm than good."

Hitomi: "But it would distract them from the mission."

Azuma: "So would being unable to trust your teammates. No matter the outcome, the mission is still compromised. All that can be done is what's right."

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

As apparently these are some kind of pansy Neoshadow, Vega returns the keyblade to Nero and goes for a walk through the burning forest as the alternative is abusing the Dark Corridor.

Certainly Kyohaku had become totally transformed just like Thiera did in order to continue on in this manner, considering that it more than likely wouldn't have been fun for him to swim around very long in his previous state. Smirking at the fact that they had found a way to slay these monsters easily, Kyohaku looked back to Thiera for a split second. "Think that I should avoid using any of my glowing attacks then, or would that expose them too?"

*Safian bounds off, following Ariel's scent*
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*Monu uses Aero Shield to protect himself and Lilith from the blasts*

Monu:<Can you handle this shield?>
---
*Artexi blinks at Daisy*

Artexi:<He was like this before, but even if he wasn't, I wouldn't think you did anything...>

*She crouches next to Nero*

Artexi:<Can...can I do anything for you?>

~Phantom: 7/9~

*He deflects a blast, but the other rams into him & keeps hanging around like a bad odor, before burning him again. It's unclear how many times it will do this. Lilith creates a healing ring of flowers around him.*

L"I can try, but I'll have to get it to come closer. Fortunately, that doesn't look like it'll be a problem."

*Seeing that its "murder Monu with fire" plan is being ruined, the Phantom rushes towards them, at which point Lilith conjures a kind of flaming tower shield for it to run into. It twirls, creating a golden shield, but this time a quartet of strange batlike Heartless also spawn around it.*

L"I think it's getting desperate!"
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Mickey<Master Yen Sid thinks it's in their best interest to find out from him, when the time is right, & he & Master Psyche always trusted each other's judgment. I have to believe that this is what she'd want, & that her children would understand. I shouldn't have even told you, but someone had to know what you're up against, why you can't go back to the Land of Departure, & why Master-->

*He shakes his head.*

Mickey<No, why Keter can't be trusted. Besides, your friend is right, isn't she?>

*He gestures to Hitomi.*

Mickey<About this being a distraction? All the time we've spent arguing this, do you even know where the others are? If they're safe, or if they need help?>
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*In a twist that should be surprising to absolutely no one, Ariel is the thing that the hollering pirate group is chasing down the halls. From far off, down another hall, she hears Barbossa shout that the ship is moving, & to get back on deck. Ariel trips over something because she's pretty much useless, & the pirates close in on her fast.*
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Th"No other light source seems to affect them, for whatever reason--"

*Meanwhile, whales moan as cannonballs tear through them.*

E"Just help me with the damn cannons!"

Th"Er, short version, they should be no more resilient than ordinary humans whilst in the moonlight. Probably."

*As Thiera is not nearly strong enough to go smacking cannonballs around, she shoots the ones that come in her general direction out of the sky using seed shots. Unfortunately, more Heartless gather in the clouds, & seem to be somehow causing the winds to pick up & rain to start falling.*
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N"Light is fading...."

*Nero becomes surrounded with darkness, his form becoming fuzzy & indistinct.*

Daisy<Well, that isn't so bad, is it? Worst case scenario, you lose your heart & come back as a Nobody in a few weeks, tops.>

N"Maybe...but even if I have that time...Roatha won't...he's lost his...."

*Nero stares at the darkness gathering around his hand with the kind of dumbstruck expression that suggests he just ate the world's biggest pot brownie. When the Darker Than Dark returns to his hands, he grabs the tip to steady it.*

N"One last time--don't fail me now!"

*Then he promptly stabs himself in the chest, at which point the Keyblade vanishes. Good news, the darkness surrounding him is gone. Bad news, he's unconscious at best. Daisy points at him.*

Daisy<So...is that supposed to happen?>

Taiyo reverts to human and gliders up, shooting Blizzara's at the cannon ports, smacking the Heartless with her glider should they be near.

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Azuma stops flying as now his pretty lousy moral views have hit a roadblock and it's pretty hard to think of what makes you happy when a part of your ideology has gone south.

Azuma: "We separated. They're elsewhere in the world while we came to investigate what was probably your arrival. Beyond that, we can only guess."

Since it didn't really look like Thiera was going to be able to help with the cannon balls, Kyohaku figured that he might as well have tried. It looked like it was going to be quite a challenge, but then again that didn't mean that he couldn't have risen to the occasion. Reaching out, he figured that he would have the power necessarily to shove them back just like Euryale did. Now if he didn't, well, he was going to be in for a big surprise but then again he didn't seem to even let that possibility faze him at all.

*Safian dashes towards Ariel, using the shadows to get around the pirates. If/When Safian reaches her, she grabs Ariel by the back of her dress and starts tugging her forward, looking for an escape route*
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Artexi:<Hey, becoming a Nobody is a huge deal. I should know.>

*She grabs one of Nero's hands with her own, then starts to pat his back with the other*

Artexi:<...I think he's going to be find now though.>
---
*Monu tries to trade Keyblades with Hitomi again. Assuming he does eventually get one of hers, he casts Thunderja on the Phantom and its minions*

Monu:<I think you're right!>

*Ariel would scream, but she can't, so she just opens her mouth wide & slaps Safian in the face a bunch of times. One of the pirates calls out, "shoot it!" & suddenly there are arrows & musket balls soaring after them. Unfortunately, the curvature suggests they are moving towards the front of the boat, & she cannot see any windows or entrances to the surface.*
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*Between the efforts of the 4 of them, the cannons are destroyed.*

Pirate A<Turn the ship around!>

Pirate B<Don't be stupid, we need to keep the ramp in place for the Captain to board!>

*Sure enough, Barbossa & roughly half of the pirates who boarded the wedding barge have re-emerged to find the ships drifting apart. They promptly race towards the boarding ramp.*

Barbossa<The squid-woman's on her own, this isn't worth it!>

Pirate C<What about the rest of the crew?>

Barbossa<Mayhap a dip in the drink will dislodge the wax from their ears, then they'll know to listen to my orders next time!>
==================================
*Daisy tilts her head at Nero, who is still out cold.*

Daisy<If you say so. We should probably get him to Dr. Finklestein's lab, especially since we need to talk to the doc anyway.>
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*Azuma feels as if he's been kicked in the head. Because he has.*

Pan<Don't you listen to ANYTHING besides your own moping? I gave them directions to London, just past that star.>

*He points, then inclines his head towards Tinkerbell.*

Pan<Tink, set the mouse up, will ya?>

*On cue, she flies around Mickey, sprinkling dust. The mouse naturally takes to flying, rising off of the ground & doing a roll.*

Mickey<Well, wouldja lookit that, I'm flyin'!>
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~Phantom: 8/12~

*The bats are destroyed, the Phantom quickly shifting to a gray shield & launching his next claw attack.*

L"Hey, watch it!"

*Lilith presses herself against the clock, on account of Monu almost burning her face off.*

Monu:<Sorry! I'm still not used to using this keyblade.>

*Since he doesn't want to leave the flower ring, Monu swaps keyblades to get his own back, then parries the claw attack. He then uses Eagle's Claw on the Phantom's heart*
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Artexi:<Will you help me lift him? My glider's pretty much toast.>

*She grabs Nero's arms and starts to pick him up*

Artexi:<...On second though, maybe we should take a Dark Corridor there.>
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*Safian ignores Ariel's attempts at escape, focusing instead on dodging the incoming projectiles and navigating through the ship. She does send a few shadow clones to crash into the pirates however. Safian looks for a window or any place where the ship's hull is thin, then summons her glider. She drags Ariel on board, while using the leaves and her laser to break through the wall. Then, she takes off into the sky*

While they might have been able to destroy the cannons and therefore it could look as though they were home free, Kyohaku continued to monitor the situation as closely as possible. Nevertheless, it had looked like Safian had everything under control for the time being, but he would have been able to move at a second's notice from the position that he was now in. Things were finally starting to look up for his side apparently.

They take flight, hopefully leaving Peter Pan on fire as that would be swell.

*Safian breaks a hole in the ship where it had previously been cracked by a canonball, & now they're out in the night air, Ariel struggling more earnestly & silently than ever. When Barbossa reels the ramp back in after his section of the crew had boarded the Black Pearl, the remaining pirates gave a shout & dove into the water. As the Pearl was still being attacked by whales, with a wave of his hand Barbossa summoned Screwdivers to jump into the water & spear them. The cetaceans fell back, the Pearl heading not into deep sea, but to Port Royal.*

E"C'mon, we've gotta save the whales!"

*Euryale flipped forward, her tail glinting in a patch of moonlight before it flicked & sank into the sea. With an undulating motion, she swam to the whales, lobbing large ice balls at the Screwdivers from her Keyblade as she did. Thiera did her best to follow her, using Ivybind on the Heartless.*
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*Daisy helps support his other side.*

Daisy<He just said that he's been overdosing on darkness, & you want to take him back into the darkness?>
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~Phantom: 9/12~

*Unfortunately, Pete & Tink have nothing better to do than to fly after them. Mickey activates the Star Shard to get them there even faster, & they suddenly find themselves awash in a dazzling light before zig-zagging off to London. They arrive at the back of Big Ben to find a Heartless with a kind of brown shield situated below its cape, which appears to be stealing someone's heart. Peter Pan tries to dive at it & stab it, but is promptly bitchslapped away before the creature works some kind of dark magic with its hand gestures, the numerals on the clock beginning to glow as a 12 appears over Pan's head.*
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*After being hit, the Phantom makes a beeline to fly around the clock tower. In its place appear 4 Invisibles, 2 of whom dive at each Monu & Lilith with their swords outstretched, while the others take to the air & twirl, firing off homing blades of dark energy. As they're busy blocking or evading the attacks, the clock counts down to 0, & Monu just catches Phantom reaching out. With a pull of its hand, Lilith jerks back as her heart flies away & is absorbed into the darkness of the Heartless's hand. As it disappears behind the tower, Lilith floats as if passed out in water, surrounded by a dark aura.*

Once Euryale had announced that they were going to have to save the whales, Kyohkau was naturally right there. Though his breach and flicker of his tail above the water wasn't as practiced as that of the natural mermaid's, he was surely getting the hang of this. Considering that his techniques used underwater might very well have created clouds of steam, he instead decided to use his Keyblade in order to carry out some melee attacks. It would have been safer than attempting to cast Pulsar under here or any of his other spells, and he was plenty practiced with them anyway.

Like putting down an intruder file in a secured gaming environment... he thought to himself.

This was actually going to be a ton of fun when he got right down to it.

Safian:<I'm a friend of Euryale's! Please, just hold on a little longer...>

*She flies down towards the water, firing on the Screwdrivets if she can*
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Artexi:<Yeah, ok, let's walk...>

*Presumbly they eventually head off, with or without Vega*
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Monu:<...NOO! Lilith!?>

*Monu flies forward, putting one of his arms around Lilith's waist.  He then casts Tornado on the remaining Heartless before taking off after the Heartless*

<I'll get your heart back! I promise!>

With the Diamond Dust, Taiyo casts Curaja for days on the whales while doing a fly over.

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Seeing the clock face being weird and the number above Pan going down as it moves, Hitomi casts Stop Frame on the clock as for once Pan being alive is a good thing. As for the Heeartless, having no inside knowledge of it, Hitomi casts Aqualung on it while Azuma casts Darkga.

*Peter Pan sits at 10 on the Doom Count & the Heartless is unharmed. Pan tries to stab it, but just bounces off of the shield. Phantom claws him again, & he holds his wound, sagging pretty heavily. The Heartless then starts flying towards another side of the clock, making more distance.*
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*Monu catches the Heartless closest to him in the tornado, which being cast so briefly, leaves them disoriented but alive. As he's speeding off after Phantom, another Invisible sword-dives him from behind. The final Invisible sticks its sword into thin air & disappears into black flames, at which point a ring of dark fire appears around Monu.*
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*Ariel seems to calm down. Beneath the waves, the few Screwdivers which are left try to grapple with Euryale & Hinode. Euryale blocks a slash. Other Screwdivers try to flank her, but a swish from a whale's tail sends them bouncing end over end. Kyohaku is in a similar position, a whale knocking aside the ones approaching him from behind, but he is still faced with a Screwdiver trying to skewer him with the spear. From the Black Pearl, oars enter the water, allowing it to pick up speed as it heads towards Port Royal.*
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*As they get into town, passing Taiyo's house with the smouldering wreck where her bedrooms used to be, they find that the music has changed to the much faster-paced & more desperate Spooks of Halloween Town.*

Daisy<Oh no, that's the alarm!>

*She then points to a wrought iron platform near the wall that blocks off Curly Hill, with a caged lantern beneath it.*

Daisy<If you light the lantern, it'll take us to Curly Hill.>

As the whales are presumably healed, Taiyo disembarks her glider, diving to the ocean below, changing back into a mermaid.

Under the water, in tandem with the Diamond Dust, casts Aqua Edge on both Euryale and Hinode as they are closest to the Heartless.

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Hitomi casts Curaja on Pan as keeping him alive keeps everyone else out of his predicament, so he's actually useful for once.

As Monu is their best bet and figuring out how to defeat the Heartless, they fly to assist him.

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Unless it took three days to get out of the woods, Vega lights the lamp with Infernal Torrent as he really has nothing of the simple variety and he's the only one around that can use fire.

*When he sees them, Monu yells and gestures wildly*

Monu:<It's got Lilith's heart! We need to hit it with the element that matches its shield!>

*While he says this, Monu casts Hawk's Dive on himself, then speeds out of the circle and away from the charging Heartless, parrying any blows that reach him*
---
*Presumably they then get on the platform*

Artexi:<You've got to be joking!>
---
Safian:<Don't worry, I'm not going to eat you!>

*She continues flying to Euryale and co, firing on any screwdrivers that she can*

For the time being, Kyohaku kept up the melee attacks, sort of performing a type of underwater fencing routine with his keyblade against the Screwdriver that was trying to skewer him. Eventually he sought to get an opening so that he could have stabbed the creature in lieu of having it get him, though he was of course quite grateful to the whales thus far for having saved him like that. Receiving Aqua Edge from Taiyo was a hugely welcome addition at the current time to say the very least, considering what was going on under here. It gave him the edge that he needed to keep going.

*Short work is made of the remaining Screwdivers, Thiera taking out any stragglers by ramming into them with a ring of Fire. Euryale swims towards her.*

E"You got your Keyblade back, does that mean Lilith's alright?"

*Seeing the look on Thiera's face, she puts a hand on her shoulder.*

E"If you want to go to her, we should be able to handle things here."

*Thiera shakes her head.*

Th"No, I would never arrive in time to help with...whatever is going on in Neverland. Besides, there is still much to do here. Both the pirates and Ursula are still on the loose, and need to be stopped. We will need a plan."

E"I'll have the easiest time going after Ursula, since I know this world the best. And Taiyo's abilities are still the best help down here."

Th"Agreed. You should take Safian with you as well. In her shark form, she may well be able to track Ursula by scent. That will leave Kyohaku & myself to escort Ariel to safety & track the pirates."
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*The flame ring closes in around Monu, damaging him. The other Invisible whirls, trying to slice him with its sword & tail. He can see the injured Invisibles regaining their senses & flying towards him, only to be destroyed as Mickey's Pearl passes through them, while the Invisible that just reappeared flies overhead. The Phantom grabs Peter Pan by the throat & slams him against the clock face, swatting Tinkerbell away when she tries to help. Pan struggles uselessly.*

Pan<But I don't--ungh--have any magic!>
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Daisy<This is no time for jokes!>

*Once they're back on Curly Hill, they're promptly attacked by a Tentaclaw that Ira had not destroyed previously, which snatches Nero out of their grasp & attempts to chew him.*