First Blood Shed

*With nowhere to go, the Illuminator is quickly annihilated, filling the room with light again. This improves Hitomi's & Azuma's aim on the Heartless, & they now notice that they consist of 4 Pirates & 3 Air Pirates. Hitomi strikes an Air Pirate, sending it to the ground where it is destroyed with debris, while a couple of Pirates fall over from Azuma's attack, the other 2 guarding. Unable to swerve away from an Air Pirate's attack, Euryale just punches it in the stomach before it can punch her, causing it to tumble to the ground. Lilith shoots the other as it winds up for an attack on Safian. While it is stunned, she heads off for the chest.*

Jack<You won't be escaping this time!>

*Barbossa had parried his strike, shifting to the side & hitting him in the head with the hilt of his sword. As he tried running to the shadows, Jack stabbed him in the leg to pin him down. Barbossa turns & shoots him in the hand, doing his best to wrench himself free.*
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*Thiera holds her pose, because until the pirates are exposed by moonlight, she can't do much else. The Heartless floats ominously before them, but ultimately stops short. It spins its scythe, slashing repeatedly through the pirates. Cocking its head in confusion that their wounds close shortly afterwards, it repeats its attack, only a few feet separating Thiera's shield from that flaming blade.*
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*Senthose turns around.*

S"I'm glad you could all make it. Those stuck in Castle Oblivion will have this message relayed to them. I will need Vexen's expertise for this next mission anyway. Seeing as the Castle Oblivion team has made absolutely no progress on unlocking the mystery of its White Rooms, I think his talents are better spent. But before that, I will be handing off the floor."

*He steps aside, revealing an Organization Moogle hovering behind him with a paper of some kind.*

Moogle<Thank you, Kupo! We Moogles wanted to make you aware, if you weren't already, that we have opened shops across the worlds. They can be used free of charge to quickly transport you between worlds & to renovate your Gliders, Kupo. Of course, we can also trade & sell items. Any questions, Kupo?>

*Safian fires a fireball and shoots the Air Pirate with her glider's laser blasts before it can finish attacking her. She covers herself with her glider's leaves as a precaution*
===
*Monu sends a message to Lilith and Azuma*

Reaper here. Need coins asap.

*He waits for the moonlight to return before attacking*
---
*No one says anything*

Taiyo uses Hydro Pressure from one Keyblade, blasting Barbossa, aiming for his gun hand while with the other Keyblade casts Stop on the Air Pirate Euryale had punched.

While Hitomi casts Firaga on the Pirate Heartless, Azuma waves off Monu's message as it's probably hovering around in his face and being a distraction.

Azuma: "Let them distract the Heartless, we need to get away from it."

*Safian destroys an Air Pirate as the one Euryale punched is frozen in time, awkwardly sprawled out a second away from hitting the ground. The 3rd looms up on Taiyurle from behind, roundhouse kicking at Taiyo's chest while she's distracted. Lilith lands next to the chest, disengaging her Glider & tossing in the coin. Hitomi destroys the Pirate Heartless fairly easily. Barbossa holsters his gun, turning in the same motion to block the hydro pressure with his sword. As Jack used his sword to pin Barbossa's leg to the ground, he stands up & just punches him in the face. Unfortunately, the Grim Reaper does not stay distracted for long. Nodding in comprehension, it shoots up over Thiera & slashes down towards her with a flaming scythe. She disengages her shield in time to cast Reflect, but it keeps pounding away. She soon tires & falls, while the blasts from Reflect of course do no damage to it. The pirates resume trying to extricate themselves from the ground.*
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S<Right then. I have 2 important missions in mind. For the first, we've detected a signature of powerful ice magic from a relatively unexplored world. The signature is definitely biological in origin & very unstable, suggesting a magician with poor control over their powers. I want a team to find this person & convince them to join the Organization. Vexen & Eve have already been chosen to study this power, but will need combat support. For the other, I need a team to investigate an army of Heartless forming in an ancient world & handle it accordingly. I will need volunteers to pick their poison, as it were. The rest of you will return to ongoing missions.>

*Monu raises a diamond shield over Thiera, then summons his glider and pulls her onto it. He then teleports around to the other side of the stone wall, tossing his coin into the chest. If he can see Thiera's coin, he tosses it in as well*

Monu:<I think we just need Azuma's coin!>

*Meanwhile, Safian flies around to fire on the heartless attacking Taiyo*
---
*Artexi looks over at Nero, Daisy and Vega, then shrugs. Eve turns slightly to stare at the assembled Organization members*

Using the Keyblade she used to cast Stop which would thus be unencumbered, Taiyo counters the incoming attack with Prism Windmill.

Azuma passes the coin to Hitomi who nods, and makes her way to the chest while Azuma uses Dark Impulse on the Grim Reaper.

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

As it doesn't matter where he goes and will probably just be assigned to a world anyways, Vega doesn't add anything to the topic as it ain't his position. And he'll probably get shafted and stuck with some dinguses anyways.

*Neither Keyblade would be unencumbered because she would've had to use it to target the enemy to be Stopped, but the Heartless is stunned by Safian's attack, giving her time to eliminate it, which just leaves the awkwardly Stopped Air Pirate. Barbossa finally wrenches himself free, but Jack rubs his coin on a chest wound & throws it seemingly at random. He then turns & shoots Barbossa in the chest. Barbossa stares down at it in confusion, then laughs.*

Barbossa<Your time on that island must have addled your brain, Jack. I'm immortal!>

*What he doesn't see is that Jack had thrown the coin to Will, who was climbing through the hole in the wall. He then jumps to the pedestal, holding his hand over the chest.*

Will<I beg to differ.>

*He drops a pair of bloody coins into the chest, at which point Jack's & Will's skeletal visage fade, even though they're standing in the moonlight. Barbossa looks down at the bleeding hole in his chest, dumbfounded once again but this time with a more pained expression.*

Barbossa<I feel...cold....>

*He falls over backwards, killed off for real this time. Meanwhile, the Grim Reaper's ghouls evaporate away & the "flesh" of its ribs regrows, but it lets out an angry bellow & charges the chest, swinging its scythe at those clustered around it.*
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*When no one volunteers, Senthose stares at them, evidently intent to draw out this uncomfortable silence. Demyx chuckles nervously, but quickly shuts up & focuses intently on tuning his sitar.*

Artexi:<...I guess Nero and I can go check out the Heartless army.>

*She looks over at Nero to see if he objects*
---
*Monu takes off in his glider, still carrying Thiera*

Monu:<Thiera, are you with us?!>

*He flies around to avoid the Grim Reaper's slashes*
===
*Safian turns her attention to the stopped Air Pirate, firing on it as well*

Hitomi uses Deadwater Devastation on the Grim Reaper with both barrels while Azuma attacks with Darkness Raid and Taiyo casting Watera on it.

Th"Why are you shouting in my ear?!"

*The Air Pirate resumes motion just in time to die. Azuma teleports up close & personal with the Grim Reaper. Unfortunately, before he can attack, he is struck by Deadwater Devastation, feeling his vocal chords close up as he's pushed face-first into its ribs & buffeted, along with the Grim Reaper, from all directions by water columns. The Heartless shakes itself off & pushes him out of the way. There will be no power boost for him, as Thiera & Lilith both cast Cure, Lilith jumping down to move closer to him. As Euryale flies past, it takes advantage of the fact that Hitomi & Will are the only ones still on the platform to shove them off. Grabbing the chest, it begins guzzling the coins, regaining its undead form, albeit with a few broken ribs. The ghouls once again flare into unlife as well. Having finally freed themselves, the rest of the pirates take off running.*
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N"Fine by me."

*Senthose points to Vega.*

S<You can provide combat support in case things with the ice magician get ugly. If things get really bad, I may send more back-up. I'll open the Dark Corridors in a few hours.>

Azuma takes a swing at the Grim Reaper as I don't recall the motions for the Reaction Commands. That was a crap system.

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

Vega: "Understood."

*Monu lands by Lilith to Thiera get down, then takes off again towards platform Will and Hitomi were standing on. He then uses Avalanche to send rocks tumbling down on to the Grim Reaper*

Monu:<We need to get the chest back!>

Safian:<I'm on it!>

*She flies closer to the Grim Reaper, firing her lasers and leaves at the creature's arms, attempting to make it let go of the chest*

*The Grim Reaper just keeps doing what it's doing, only dropping the chest when it's struck by the rocks & lasers, at which point it coughs up a few coins.*

Th"Magic! Magic can make it drop the coins!"

*With that, she rushes forward, shooting it in the back with Blizzara. As it vomits more coins, Lilith stabs her Keyblade in the ground, causing branches to stab into it from the sides. By this point, it's no longer vomiting coins on the pedestal, but it's still undead. It breaks the trees with its scythe & flies into the air, spinning its weapon & drawing the coins towards it with a tornado. Euryale flies towards it, intent on intercepting it, holding out a hand to cast Blizzard.*
==================================
Daisy<I'd volunteer to help, but it'll be daybreak by then.>

N"I guess I'll just go take a nap or something...."

*Nero heads off to do just that.*

Artexi:<A nap sounds nice...I think I'll go take one too.>

*So she heads off towards her room*
---
*Safian circles around the Grim Reaper, still firing on it. Monu attempts to grab the Treasure Chest, sending diamond shards at the heartless as he tries*

Taiyo casts another Watera while Hitomi casts Maelstrom on the Grim Reaper. I guess Azuma is collecting coins or something.

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

Vega returns to his quarters. Perhaps to beat up a punching bag or sit in contemplation or something.

OOC: Sleep is strongly recommended, since he's been out all night. Also, I forgot Ariel again, but in my defense, so did Leafy when she abducted Thiera.

*When Euryale gets close enough, she grabs the scythe with both hands & uses the spinning motion against the Grim Reaper, slashing it up & hurling it away.*

E"Get the coins in the chest, we can't destroy this thing until they're in the chest!"

*Thiera uses Magnet to grab any loose coins, holding her Keyblade over the chest. Once she has them gathered, she deactivates the spell, dropping them in & leaving only the coins Azuma has gathered remaining.*

OOC: I only forgot her because she hasn't been mentioned since the fight began.

*Artexi heads to bed after checking her closet for creepers*
===
*Presumably Eve eventually goes to bed as well*
---
*Monu puts the treasure chest down, raising a diamond shield in front of it. Safian flies around the Grim Reaper's head like a fly, hoping to distract it. Once they are able to damage it, she breaths fire at its face*

Azuma presumably puts the coins in the chest before Monu shields it then turns to hurl the Keyblade at the Heartless.

Taiyo attacks the Heartless with Aqua Raid while Hitomi multi-casts Blizzara.

*Euryale scrapes the ceiling, before firing a barrage of rocks at the Heartless. Using a 2-handed swing, Lilith stabs down into it using a Stigma Stem from the ceiling. Thiera throws a ring of fire at it. Will shoots it while Jack tosses his gun at it. Under all of the attacks, it finally dissolves into darkness, its heart disappearing into a Dark Corridor. Euryale lands, deactivating her Glider. She looks around, running over when she spots Ariel cowering behind a rock wall.*

E"Are you okay?"

Ariel<I--I think so.>

*Euryale helps the former mermaid to her feet, who covers her mouth in surprise.*

E"Hey, you finally have your voice back! That's great!"

*She gives Ariel a [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]*

Th"Excellent. Now once we get her back to the wedding barge, our work here should be done."

Jack<You won't be sendin' me back to prison, then?>

Will<Elizabeth & I have talked about that. We've decided that some rules are meant to be broken.>

While this would be the time to suggest going home, Azuma & Hitomi are aware that is not an option and it's just kind of awkward. Someone else is sure to say something though.

*Monu and Safian head over to the others, Monu heading for Lilith's side*

Monu:<I think we could use a break. What do you all think?>

L"Euryale's right, we still need to get Ariel back to safety."

*Euryale summons her Glider & starts helping Ariel aboard, looking up at Taiyo halfway through.*

E"Taiyo, you don't mind riding with Thiera, do you? Just until we get to the barge. After this, I probably won't be seeing Ariel for a long time."

*Meanwhile, Jack & Will walk past.*

Jack<Lemme guess: The rest of the crew took off with the Pearl?>

Will<That they did. The Interceptor needs a Captain...what do you say?>

Jack<Only until we've caught the Pearl. You & your lady friend will be my crew.>

Taiyo: "That's okay."

Monu:<You're completely right. I should have specified that we rest after we escort Ariel back.>

*Lilith lifts up the visor on her armor, which is probably a thing she can do, before giving Monu a surprise kiss on the cheek. She then takes a few steps to re-summon her Glider. Euryale & Ariel gab away on her Glider, & presumably the rest fly as well, watching the Interceptor set sail below them. In less than an hour, they spot the Wedding Barge, which has been brought into Port Royal as 1 of the many ships needing repairs. The cover of darkness allows them to fly in low behind some crates & dismiss their Gliders & Armor, at which point Ariel takes off running for the ship.*

E"H--hey, wait up!"

*Euryale heads off after her, which means Thiera & Lilith eventually follow as well. Ariel is talking to some guard, who is barring her passage onto the loading ramp.*

Guard<...It seems the Prince has been unwell ever since his bride-to-be was abducted by pirates. A touch of lovesickness, you might say. It's as if he was unable to hear anything that wasn't his lover's voice.>