First Blood Shed

Safian:<On it!>

*Safian sneaks down behind the figure, using his smell to guide her. She then summons her keyblade, quietly sneaks up behind him, and hits him on the back of the head hard enough to knock him out*
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Artexi:<Then you can ride with Daisy. I'll take Nero.>

*Artexi hauls Nero onto her glider, then gets on herself and takes off. She waits for Daisy to lead the way*
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*Monu offers Lilith his hand, blushing faintly. Either way, he eventually follows Mikey*

Monu:<Does Master Psyche know of your efforts?>

When Not!Roatha is in view, Taiyo attacks with Bubble Blaster.

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This is how things get awkward. Nice going, Monu. Now can Mickey tell a convincing lie?

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I don't know how someone beyond the pilot is supposed to board that thing, but I'll assume he does. It's probably uncomfortable for both of them.

*Daisy holds out her hand to stop him.*

Daisy<It only fits 1 person. And it's too small for you anyway.>

*At this point, Nero is slightly more conscious than not. But only slightly.*

N"Could ride...on top of it...when closed...."

Daisy<I don't really recommend it, but I guess that IS possible.>
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*Mickey starts dropping like a fucking stone, jolting to a stop after regaining his flight abilities after about 30 feet.*

L"What was that about!?"

Mickey<Nothing! Nothing at all! We've...been in touch, yeah. Now c'mon, I wanna show you the Moogle Shop!>

L"Moogle shop?"

*He points down to street level, where there appears to be a Moogle booth much like the ones in Olympus Coliseum situated under a street lamp. Unlike those, this Moogle is not in costume, & the booth bears a sign overhead that reads, well, "Shop."*
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*Just because they heard voices behind them, it doesn't follow that they're surrounded. Thiera points the Keyblade back, releasing a cone of light & sound. Though invulnerable to physical damage, the pirates still shut their eyes & cover their ears, scrambling to get away.*

Th"It appears they are not immune to pain."

*After noting this, Thiera helps Ariel up the staircase, trying to get up to the fort as quickly as possible, keeping a wary eye on the Heartless flying about up there. From the ship, Barbossa shouts at the men to compose themselves & report. He sweeps a lantern across the scene, searching for why the pirates are acting so strange & not responding to him.*
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*Ira is, in fact, dumb enough to fall for this tactic. He slumps & his Keyblades fall towards the ocean depths, before disappearing in twin flashes of red light. Once he's knocked out, Euryale wraps an arm around his waist, making sure to trap his arms in case he wakes up, & swims him up into the light, where they can see that he has a reddish-black tail with a jagged fin, as well as silver hair.*

E"What the--did Senthose dye his hair? That's just weird...also, now what do we do with him?"

*As Safian is a dark user, she should notice that the stench of darkness coming off of him is much stronger than even the last time they met, to the point that it burned her sinuses when she was near him.*

Honestly Kyohaku felt fortunate that he was surrounded and didn't really have to go find another path of escape or anything like that. Exhaling deeply, he also considered himself fortunate that she was able to put them into a state of pain even if they would have been more or less immune to some of the other things that he might have tried. "Do you think that if need be any of my light attacks would have also worked or not?" Soon enough Barbossa was shining a lantern around and that was enough to make him shut his big yap all over again.

Taiyo swims up to the seen.

Taiyo: "What if it's not him?"

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Azuma: "Why the conspicuously?"

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Vega: "I'll walk."

*Safian jerks away, nostrils flaring. She follows the others up to the surface*

Safian:<The stench of darkness is a lot stronger than it was last time! There's something wrong...really, really wrong. Senthose did more to him then just change his hair color...>
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*Monu crosses his arms, not looking convinced by Mikey's explanation*

Monu:<Alright then...>
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Artexi:<...Ok, see you on the other side.>

*She starts flying over*

E"It can't be anyone else, Safian wouldn't have recognized his scent. Whatever is going on, we can't help him, and we still have to find Ursula. I don't think we have any choice but to take him with us."
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*Before Barbossa can spot him, Thiera uses wisdom shots to knock the lantern out of his hand, attaching a flashbang to cover her shout.*

Th"Come on, hurry!"

*Meanwhile, Barbossa rubs his eyes & massages his head.*

Barbossa<Argh, the lantern musta burst! But why did it make that ungodly racket?!>
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*Daisy climbs into the coffin, which closes with another creak, before taking off with purple thrusters. They fly about 10-15 feet, avoiding all of the things. With Nero flopping around, it's not easy for Artexi to stay on-course. Vega appears to just be standing there, after saying he was going to walk. Once her Glider has vanished, Daisy reaches out to open the steel vault doors that lead into the spacious interior of the tower. She points up the spiral staircase to a door that they can hear chatter & machinery noises coming out of.*

Daisy<The lab is up there.>
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L"What exactly do they sell?"

Mickey<Lotsa things! They can teleport ya between worlds, upgrade your Gliders with Gummi Blocks, and sell items.>

L"We're not exactly rolling in munny, Your Highness."

Mickey<That's the best part. Ya need munny to buy items, sure, but the services are free. Worlds like the Coliseum & my castle pay to host 'em.>

L"Wait, you started these? I thought we were supposed to keep the worlds a secret."

Mickey<Well, not exactly. A man named Cid found out about the Moogles, and they found out about Scrooge McDuck. He's the richest duck in Disney Town. They put this whole thing together. Master Yen Sid wasn't too happy about it, but he knows we've got no choice but to spread through the worlds, otherwise the Organization'll always be 10 steps ahead of us.>

Safian:<Oh, I have an idea!>

*Safian tries to exchange keyblades with Lilith. Assuming she accepts the trade, Safian grabs Lilith's keyblade in her mouth, and uses activates Resin Raid. Instead of throwing the keyblade, she holds it first against his legs, then against his arms, trapping both in resin*
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Monu:<Oh! I just so happen to have a Gummy Block with me. Thank you for letting us know, your majesty.>

*He flies down towards the shop*
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*Artexi lands, dismisses her glider, then starts dragging Nero up the stairs towards the lab*

While it is a terrible idea that will backfire on them spectacularly, it would incredibly out of character for Taiyo to cut his head off or even suggest doing so even though that would be beneficial for all parties involved. As if this whole thing hinges on holding on to the Idiot Ball as long and hard as possible.

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Think they're more than ten by now.

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It should go without saying he began walking once they took off as doing so prior would be impolite, but that's expecting too much.

Considering the urgency in Thiera's voice, Hinode followed along as fast as he could have, figuring naturally that her wisdom shots had knocked out the lantern but wouldn't have held him for much longer beyond that.

*It drips with agonizing slowness & is unlikely to work in combat, but does seem to be working. Eventually, he stirs, & when he realizes what's going on, begins to thrash wildly. But Euryale is the more experienced swimmer, & is able to easily put him in a choke hold with her other arm & wrap up his tail with her own so he can't break the resin.*

R"Let go of me, you sneaky little bitch!"

E"I don't think so! What are you doing here? Why did you come after us alone?"

R"Couldn't take on Thiera--ungh--without help--ach--so I struck the weakest link!"

E"Good plan. Worked out real well."
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*Once they're on the top of the fort wall, they see that the amount of Heartless have multiplied. Dozens of Pirates & Shadows surround them, while Air Pirates hover around from above. Even the cannons seem to have been turned into Heartless as they hop about, firing shells towards them in an arc. Thiera starts to use Reflect, but an Air Pirate swoops down to grab her weapon while assaulting her with a backhand strike to the face & a couple of kicks to the stomach. Ariel tries to hit it, but is knocked to the ground by the beating of its wing, whereupon a Pirate tries to slash her as the Shadows flit over the ground, invading their space.*
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*When they open the doors, they find out that the place is just packed with weird creatures, including a skeleton, a woman who seems to have been assembled from spare parts, 3 kids in costumes, a weird thing with snakes for fingers & spiders in its hair, a monster under the experiment table with teeth ground sharp & eyes going red, you get it, you know the cast. On the table is strapped a Tentaclaw, & a creepy, diminutive bald man is pouring different solutions on it, to no effect. He pops the top of his head open & scratches his brain. The mayor's face twirls from happy to dismayed.*

Sally<Daisy? Where have you been? Who are your friends? What's wrong with him?>

N"Don't worry, I'll be fine...just need time...."
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*Meanwhile, the 1st of many Tentaclaws promptly bites Vega in the face & pulls him into the air, shaking him around.*
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<What can I do for you, Kupo!>

L"These will be very helpful in the future, thank you. In fact, it looks like we'll have to get to Atlantica-slash-Port Royal very quickly. Something big is going on there, the others have been fighting it all night."

As Tentaclaws are stationary and not at all subtle in their actions, it makes no sense that anyone would stand idly by and allow themself to be attacked by something they'd have seen well in advance, so he promptly Keyblades up and attacks with Malarith.

*Once enough resin has hardened around Roatha's arms and legs, Safian also ties him up with vines from Lilith's keyblade. She then trades Lilith's keyblade back to her*

Safian:<Should we knock him out again? I like him better quiet.>

*She grins, showing her huge shark teeth*
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Artexi:<He got kinda fucked up recently. Is there a place he could lay down?>
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*Monu summons his glider (which is hopefully fixed by now), then gets his Galaxy Gummy out and gives it to the moogle*

Monu:<Would you mind attaching this for me? Please?>

Kyohaku was next to get into the fray, and he had decided to try precisely what he had proposed doing before. He reached up, taking the Photon Debugger in one hand to go for a melee attack as he used his Star Formation attack in the other. He was determined to get back Thiera's weapon by way of the attack, hoping to either disable the pirate and therefore get a chance to remove it or alternatively outright destroy him and therefore get the opportunity to take it back from an enemy who no longer would have had any use for it.

*The Air Pirate recoils. Being a fairly hardy Heartless, it forgets Thiera & punches at Kyohaku, but being blinded, its attacks aren't that focused. Thiera fires a blizzard to push the pirate away from Ariel, then helps her up. The Shadows begin to rise out of the ground & a group of knife-wielding pirates approach them while slashing the air wildly.*
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E"No, we don't want to give him brain damage. Hold on."

*She dives, dragging Dark Roatha along until she finds a reef. Since he had of course immediately & ceaselessly started hurling misogynistic slurs at her, his mouth was wide open when she shoved a wad of seaweed into it, before tying more seaweed around his head to keep it in place. But if looks could kill, then...he'd probably still be impotently raging.*

E"There, now we can continue on to find Ursula. Our real objective."

*She looks him right in the eye as she says the last part.*
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Sally<We could take him up to my room.>

N"You don't sleep on a bed of nails, do you?"

Daisy<Of course she doesn't, that doesn't even make sense, it would tear her stitches.>

N"Oh, well of course I would know that."

Jack<Well, I did the best I could to get everyone in town to safety after the Tentaclaws went berserk, but I never could find Taiyo. Do you know where she is?>

N"Probably on vacation in Christmas Town."

*Jack scratches his chin bone as he ponders, elbow resting on his phalanges.*

Jack<Ah, that would explain that. She does like to go there. I'll just have to find a way to get a message to Sandy Claws.>

*Nero makes an incredulous face, as the "Christmas Town" thing was obvious sarcasm.*
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<Of course, Kupo! This is a Warp Gummi! It can create a portal to warp your Gummi Ship to another location! But careful, it can overheat & damage your ship if it's overused...Kupo!>

*It doesn't really take much work to attach it, mostly he just kind of presses it onto the underside until it mystically adheres with a "plop."*

<You can move it later if you'd like, Kupo!>

He had gotten fairly good at dodging and rolling with punches even before he met her, and thus Kyohaku was able to evade most of the damage. With the aforementioned pirate now having been pushed away by Thiera's blizzard, Kyohaku looked around and felt safe for a moment.

Soon, though, he picked one of the knife-wielding pirates instead and started to wail on him with his Keyblade, hoping to catch him off guard in the process by striking him from the side.

A side attack like this would have been more effective since he wouldn't see it coming. The pirate was slashing with a wild abandon, and he thought that meant it would have been easier to dodge the attack than if the other had been gunning for him directly.

*Safian starts sniffing around for Ursula's scent. When she finds it again, she leads the others in that direction*
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Artexi:<We...err...let her know already. Don't worry! I'll go lay Nero down upstairs.>

*She starts to head off in that direction*
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*Monu dips his head*

Monu:<Thank you for your assistance.>

*He turns back to the others*

Monu:<Ready to head to Atlantica?>

*Assuming they say yes, he tries out his new gummi by opening a portal there*

OOC: Putting a block on the Glider turns it into a ship?

Those in the Order wait for things to happen be it a portal opening up or Safian finding the trail while Vega presumably burns down plants.

OOC: The Moogles don't know what Keyblade Gliders are. They would assume that a space faring vessel that can interact with Gummi Blocks is a Gummi Ship.

*Seeing as I apparently forgot about Vega, the fire pretty much obliterates the Tentaclaw on the spot, followed by the 1 behind it, & the last remaining Fire Blade heavily damages a 3rd & also sets it on fire. Once the original Tentaclaw was destroyed, it of course dropped Vega, whose face is moderately torn up & has a worrying crick in his neck.*
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*It takes an annoyingly long time to squeeze through the crowd. Sally leads them to a tiny upstairs room covered in dust, difficult to navigate through because of all of the boxes. She & Daisy begin taking boxes off of the bed & onto the floor.*

N"This is your bedroom?"

Sally<Well, my old room. I haven't stayed here since Jack's Christmas. Father & I are just starting to speak again.>
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*Monu promptly disappears into a bright light, because it's designed to only open long enough to grant passage to the ship it's attached to.*

L"...You can teleport us where he just went, right?"

Moogle<To the nearest Moogle Shop, Kupo!>

*Since no one apparently has any business, they presumably group together, save for Pan & Tink announcing they need to get back to Neverland, at which point the Moogle casts a spell that causes them to disappear into a pillar of blue-white light. They emerge at a Moogle Shop along the wall of Port Royal, not far from a battle with a large group of pirates & Heartless, in pouring rain & winds that threaten to blow them off of the wall. Mickey immediately runs off towards the battle, shooting Pearls at the Heartless.*
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*With the moon not out, he is unable to damage the pirate, but it's enough to send him stumbling into his fellows. Thiera then uses Magnet to draw the Shadows into the air & protect them from the cannonballs, while drifting out of the way of the Pirate Heartless' attacks. The Air Pirate is flying off in completely the wrong direction.*

Th"If you can keep these monsters away from me for a few seconds, I think I may be able to throw them over the wall!"
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*Meanwhile, Monu had appeared over this battlefield. The Air Pirates who were about to dive bomb Thiera & Kyohaku see him & hesitate, before flaring their wings in an attempt to separate & surround him. There is also cloud lightning distressingly close to him.*
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*They pass through a mountain crevasse, entering into the abyss, where they can see nothing save for a pale red light emerging from the mouth of a whale carcass. That is, until they approach the entrance, and can see a trio of Search Ghosts rushing towards them with their arms outstretched, as well as several glowing yellow eyes rapidly approaching them from either side.*

E"We must be getting close!"

*Euryale was about to use her shield maneuver, until a Search Ghost teleported behind her & grabbed her, the color seemingly flowing from her skin & into its hands. Similarly, the other pair disappear & reappear behind Safian & Taiyo, reaching for their upper limbs. Ira uses this situation to maneuver so that the unseen spears of some of the Screwdivers, identifiable by the propeller noises & faint outlines, crack the resin in which he is held captive.*

"I'll get right on that for you, Thiera!" She asked him to keep those monsters away from her for a few moments. That was something that he could do. Turning to face the mass of them, Kyohaku struck down the Photon Debugger drawing it in a downward direction to unleash a bolt of Supernova plasma at the monsters. "Even if someone happens to be immune, that's headed right for them. It should be more than enough to keep them away." After he said that, though, he grunted. "I'm so gonna regret that later!"

Artexi:<Oh, I suppose that's nice for you.>

*Once the bed is clear, Artexi puts Nero down onto it*
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*Monu sends a quick "Sorry!" to Lilith, then teleports down to Thiera and Kyouhaku, dismissing his glider and summoning his keyblade. He then uses Tornado to push the heartless and pirates away from the group*

Monu:<Sorry we're late! Lilith and the others should be right behind me.>
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Safian:<Oh no you don't!>

*Safian shadow travels behind the Screwdrivers, then creates a shadowy aura around herself before crashing into them, snapping at the Screwdrivers with her shark teeth*

Taiyo casts Aqua Edge on herself and Euryale as using the Diamond Dust should allow her to cast things from her own repertoire forever.

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Azuma grabs holds of Hitomi and they both move to get off the wall and down to the battlefield.

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Vega dismisses his Keyblade for the Darkest Fear and uses Center to heal himself then uses Demon Fist on the burning Tentaclaw.

OOC: Wow, Forumsmotion just loves to not tell me when people have posted, doesn't it?

*There are 2 groups of Screwdrivers, & whichever ones Safian just attacked turn, slashing & stabbing wildly at whatever destroyed their brother. She quickly works out that there were 6 in total, split into groups of 3. Meanwhile, the Search Ghost that attacked her grabs empty air as she swims away. The Aqua Edge forces the other Heartless back, stunning the other 2 Search Ghosts, but it also forces Euryale to let go of Roatha, which they can see by the light of him summoning his Keyblades, before spitting out his gag. The attack that shattered the resin came at a price, as he is covered with bleeding lacerations, but he seems heedless as he throws a Buzzsaw Raid at Taiyo. With the Ultima Weapon, he stabs at the back of Euryale's chest, but she ducks & rolls in the water, grabbing his tail with her own & blocking with her Keyblade, before forcing his attack upward & socking him in the jaw with her guard. She twists aside as he aims a downward stab at her chest, & looks over, noticing that the Buzzsaw Raid also appears to be aimed at Taiyo's heart.*

R"That's right--I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to free you! You want us on the same side again? Haha, why the Hell not?!"
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*Several Heartless explode violently, the pirates pushed back, before being swept up in the tornado. Thiera shoots several splashes of ice on the ramparts, strafing as the canon Heartless shoot at her, causing the Heartless running over it to slip & fall to their presumed deaths. On cue, Lilith runs up, dispatching the Shadows floating around in the Magnet with a Bramble Bomb.*

Th"Great, now that we've managed to clear a path, we should quickly--"

*She is cut off as Lilith wraps her arms around her & hoists her off of her feet, choking on her words.*

L"You're okay! I was so worried about you!"

Th"Heartless still alive! Touching reunion later!"

*She accentuates her point by indicating the Air Pirates, now flying down to attack them.*
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Sally<It's a very long story. I'd tell you, but I don't think we have time for it right now.>

*Nero sits there, looking slightly dizzy, but otherwise fine. As Sally goes to leave, Nero grabs her arm.*

R"Wait! Before you go, I need to ask you something very important: Does the name 'Roatha' mean anything to you?"

Sally<We've met before, but I haven't seen him around since. I don't know why you ask, but....>

*She shifts her gaze to her arm, which is still in Nero's hand, but no longer attached to her.*

N"Oh--uh--sorry. Anyway, he hasn't been himself lately. If you see him, don't trust him."

*He awkwardly hands her her hand. She presses the straw stump to it, then pulls a sewing needle out of her hair to repair herself.*
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*Meanwhile, Vega destroys another Tentaclaw. If he intends on massacring every plant in the Town Square, there are 7 left: On the stairs a few feet in front of him, near the guillotine, 2 near the fountain, & another 3 on the opposite side of the circular walkway.*

Taiyo launches the discs from Aqua Edge to intercept the incoming Keyblade and swims downward and towards Euryale.

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Presumably on the ground below, Hitomi multi-casts Thunder from her Keyblade on the Air Pirates which with the rain should be more potent while Azuma uses Wolf Storm.

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As clearing the entire square would be time consuming and those not in the direction of the laboratory are not immediate threats, he rearms himself with the Keyblade and goes towards the stairwell, attacking the Tentaclaws with Malarith.

*Monu waits until the Air Pirates get slightly closer, then uses Tornado again*
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*Safian had attacked the Screwdiver nearest Roatha. When they start to attack her, Safian shadow travels around them, waiting in the shadows until she has the opportunity to pick one off, which she continues to do until she is out of Screwdivers*
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*Artexi turns her attention to Nero, looking very concerned*