open Kingdom Hearts: The Stars of Fantasy

[Grace Braid 240]

OOC Thread

________

Heartless - They seem to be everywhere nowadays, thought Jarvan as he observed the inky black creatures in front of him. Their glowing yellow eyes glared at their victims - a couple of 20-somethings cowering in fear. In truth, it seemed like a rather small group of them - about 6 Shadows, 2 Soldiers (bearing their characteristic armor, of course), and a Neoshadow. He knew, however, that more could appear seemingly out of nowhere, especially with so many keyblade wielders nearby, and possibly overwhelm them if they weren't careful. Even if the group didn't grow any bigger, it would take at least a little bit of effort to take down the group without harm - Neoshadows, as Jarvan and several others had learned, were oftentimes much more dangerous than their allies.

Turning halfway around to the rest of his group, which contained all of the other apprentices, he said "Okay, the group isn't too big luckily, but large enough and dangerous enough to possibly cause problems, so no blindly charging into battle. Alright? We don't want Master to be disappointed in us." This was a group mission their Master - named Jiro, who was also Jarvan's father - had given them to do on their own, the first in a while. If they succeeded handily, they would get even more. If they failed, or barely succeeded, then it wasn't likely at all that they would get another mission on their own. Jarvan was the leader of the group this time, assigned by his father, who also said he had "high expectations" for the result of this mission.

Bah. Doesn't he always have high expectations? Like I would actually meet them. Silently grumbling to himself, he turned back to the Heartless - who seemed to have taken notice of the group of Keyblade Wielders and was advancing on them rapidly - and said "No more time for talk, it's time to fight!" before summoning his keyblade and getting into a battle - ready stance, ready to fight and fight hard. Edited April 18, 2012 by Skyman

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

The only lady of their motly crew stepped into the fray in a rather dignified stance. Well, not so much dignified so much as distant and somewhat goofy-looking. Arylett held out her hand as her crimson Keyblade materialized in a burst of flame. It was always her strategy to let the others fight more close range whilst she stood in the distance casting spells. She grasped her small hands around her weapon's guard tightly and nodded as he shouted that it was time to fight.

 

Evading the blows of a rather tenacious Shadow, the female Keyblade wielder released a moderately wide circle of flames around her as a makeshift shield for a few moments. The flames struck the idiotic and instinct-driven Shadow several times, until it dissipated into a small blackened wisp. Grinning in a satisfied way, she edged her way behind Jarvan to bat away another Heartless with her Keyblade that was jumping at him from behind.

 

As always when she had fought, she allowed her mind to wander onto other things. Things that she would not really speak in front of the other apprentices. It was her goal to prove herself as strong to them, as she was the newest to join the group, and hadn't had much more than a few weeks with the Master. These thoughts fueled the fire within her to a fever pitch, and she dashed rapidly behind some of the other apprentices to vanquish two more Shadows with a fierce barrage of lightning from the skies.

 

It was this time that she would defeat the most Heartless. She was determined of that. No matter how much she felt the slight tiredness building within her body already. Damn her not being the physical sort.

[Mr.Giggles 4]

A few days ago…

Gallid walked with a strut of confidence towards an old man sitting in the middle of a field,

 

“Master Jiro… You called for me?”

 

Master Jiro simply stood up and turned slowly to face Gallid, he stuck one hand in front of him and gestured to Gallid beckoning him while the other stayed and moved out to his side and summoned his keyblade.

 

Practice… Was Gallid’s only thought, it was the one thing he loved doing with Master Jiro but it was also one of the most painful experiences he had been put through. He has had to put up with this for a little over a year; however thanks to Gallid’s more… mysterious and darker side, he heals fairly fast with almost no repercussions. Gallid stuck his left hand out and summoned the beautiful Dawn Walker, which always seemed to bring a slight grin to the boy’s face as he walked forward towards his master. Master Jiro held up a hand and finally spoke,

 

“Gallid… You know well enough that you stand no fighting chance with only one.”

 

Gallid froze for a moment…he didn’t want to… he wasn’t going to, so he decided to close the distance. He twisted his body in a clockwise direction and threw the blade at his master, he then put both hands behind him.

 

“FIRE!”

 

The blast from both his hands accelerated him forward just fast enough to keep up with the blade. Master Jiro simply raised his key blade and knocked the blade to his left side. Gallid twisted his body to face his master and aimed his right leg towards his master’s head; this was quickly blocked with Jiro’s left arm forcing the boy’s leg back. The push from his master’s arm made the boy twist in the air and he resummoned the keyblade to his left hand to swing, unfortunately Master Jiro counter attacked before he could finish the swing and landed a punch to Gallid’s solar plexus forcing him to fly a good 3 feet before slamming the ground.

Gallid quickly stood up and started forward once more, ignoring the pain by forcing it to become adrenaline. He brought the blade low to the ground and aimed it upward in a diagonal direction… CLANG! The 2 blades met and were sliding across one another; Gallid swung the blade over his head and brought it down towards the master…CLANG!! Another block, however Gallid had now aimed his right hand at his master’s chest.

 

“FIRE!”

 

The Jet black fire blazed forward at point blank range. However, it dissipated almost instantaneously and was replaced by what looked like a barrier of hexagons.

 

“Clever but your still far too weak for this.”

 

Master Jiro reached a hand forward and grabbed Gallid; he then threw the boy into the air and threw his keyblade at the boy. The blade spun 3 times, each spin cutting across the boy’s chest, and then Master Jiro jumped and grabbed the blade only to hit Gallid back down using the hilt. Frustration was now creeping over Gallid as he quickly got to his feet.

 

“Damn it!”

 

He knew there was no other way and it pissed him off, he wanted to stand a fighting chance but he didn’t want to use it. But if he didn’t use it, he wouldn’t stand a chance at all. Gallid charged forward one more time and swung from the side only to be blocked with ease, he twisted his body in a counter clockwise direction and took a swipe at his master’s legs. The old man gracefully jumped over the blade and noticed that a dark manifestation had started to grow out of Gallid’s right hand and spun in mid air to dodge a second key blade. Master Jiro then brought his own key blade down on the boy who proceeded to block it using both blades.

 

“…”

 

The old man took his free hand, put it on his keyblade and swung; the resulting blow forced Gallid slightly backwards even though he blocked it. Gallid swung the brighter blade onto his shoulder and the second blacker more cryptic blade he held low to the ground in a readied stance. He then pulled both blades over his head and leaped towards his master bringing both down on the master’s Keyblade. The darker blade created a shockwave that cut into the ground where the slash would have landed, leaving a blacked scar on the ground. The fight became more intense as master and student battled, Gallid was showing more signs of exhaustion and his swings weren’t as graceful, they had a rougher arch to them as they slammed into Master Jiro’s blade. Voices raced in and out of his head as he continued to fight.

 

“Free us, let us fight… we will win… free…”

 

NO! He will have none of that, if anyone will be doing the fighting it will be him and his own determination.

 

“Let us fight for you, let us win for you”

 

He kept fighting the voices but his vision was slowly fading… Soon he had lost the sight of color and everything was in a black and white tint. He continued to swing at his master and each clang seemed to draw the boy further into darkness.

The old man sighed and shook his head as he watched the brighter key blade begin to disintegrate.

 

“You’ve failed the test.”

 

He watched as his student was slowly being engulfed by the darkness in his right arm as the orange sweater began to rip and vanish as black vines pulsated along the boy’s arm. His eyes turned a crystal clear color and his hair became light silver. What was the boy now stared at the master with an evil smile on its face.

 

“Firaga”

 

Gallid Slammed the ground and black flames shot straight up and engulfed the area in a blackened inferno, the only thing untouched was the patch of grass under the master and his shield. Gallid came forward and swung with such force that master’s keyblade shook in his hands. Gallid’s right leg swept the old man off his feet with incredible speed and his left palm hit the old man square in the chest. However the master let go of his own key blade and put one hand on Gallid’s arm and the other on his throat.

 

“Holy…”

 

The resulting blaze of light slammed down on the boy and shattered the carapace of darkness bringing the boy back into the light. Gallid proceed to fall to his knees and brought both his fists against the ground.

 

“DAMN IT, IT HAPPENED AGAIN!!!”

 

Master Jiro pulled the boy up and then smacked him across the face.

 

“You are too rash; your stubbornness is what causes you to fall too fast, by focusing too hard on not falling to darkness you are inviting it in faster.”

 

He sighed again and cast Curaga on the boy, fully restoring his body to how it was before the match.

 

“I gave you this test because you thought I was giving Jarvan the position of leader on this mission because he is my son. The reason he is leader is that he doesn't let his emotions cloud his judgments.”

 

Gallid was about to object but was stopped with a hand.

 

“I know you understand the pain of loss to a Heartless, however I feel that you are better suited for another task… I want you to make sure that all of them come back alive. As a reminder, you are forbidden to use the Soul Burn on any missions… Do you understand me?”

 

“Yes master.”

 

Currently

Gallid pulled out the Dawn Walker and walked forward, beckoning one of the soldiers to come at him. The Soldier seemed to accept the challenge and charged at the keyblade wielder in its regular goofy manner. Gallid simply side stepped the damned thing and brought his blade down on its hands and feet cutting them off the beast completely. He then grabbed it by the helmet and impaled it with the Dawn Walker. A horrid Screech came from the beast and voices ran into Gallid’s head.

 

“But…but… you are one of us… why….?”

 

One of them…? He was disgusted by those words, his right hand then light up and he burned the Soldier alive until it disintegrated into nothingness. Gallid then moved on muttering under his breath,

 

“I will never be one of you, not as long as the Dawn guides me.”

Edited April 18, 2012 by Mr.Giggles

[Klopp 2,050]

Kill all the heartless. This was the only thought in Tonitrus' mind as he and the other apprentices came face to face with the creatures. It was very difficult for him to restrain himself, seeing those black creatures of pure darkness bouncing around mindlessly as if they were some sort of clowns in a circus. His fists were clenched tighly together, The keyblade master's son, Jarvan, spoke, "Okay, the group isn't too big luckily, but large enough and dangerous enough to possibly cause problems, so no blindly charging into battle. Alright? We don't want Master to be disappointed in us." His voice calmed Tonitrus down a bit, but the insatiable rage in his heart was impossible to quell.

 

The group began to attack, and the first thing Tonitrus spotted was Arylett, the only apprentice to join after him and only female of the group, cast a fire spell which surrounded her with flames. This made Tonitrus feel rather useless, as he was still completely inept when it came to magic. All he had managed in the past were a few sparks of electricity, that would not even harm a butterfly. His feelings of worthlessness only magnified as Arylett ran passed and again used magic to take out another pair of the infernal shadows. That's it, time to prove that I'm not useless. Tonitrus turned towards the nearest soldier and ran directly towards it as quick as lightning, striking before the creature had a chance to even blink. The beast dissipated in a puff of black smoke leaving nothing but it's armor which fell to the ground.

 

Quickly after dispatching the soldier, Tonitrus turned to see another group of four soldiers emerging from the shadows up ahead. "Looks like we've got a few more heartless with a death wish!" After dispatching the one, Tonitrus was beginning to get cocky. This coupled with his rage he decided to charge towards them with the intent to destroy them on his own. This quickly turned into a bad idea, as the four heartless spotted him early on and acted quickly, surrounding Tonitrus on all sides, each ready to attack. He was completely vulnerable, and the only choice he had was to attempt that blasted thunder spell, and hope to god that it worked. He raised his keyblade up high, and yelled at the top of his lungs, "THUNDER!" A bolt of lightning rushed down from the sky, creating a thunderous clap as it struck the tip of Tonitrus' blade, creating a powerful shockwave that forced him to the floor, and knocked the heartless back ten feet. Tonitrus didn't have a clue what just happened. He quickly jumped upright and ran towards the other apprentices, while fatally striking the one soldier that was knocked in their direction.

[Dayzgone 2]

Ridere stands just next to Jarvan, arms folded and mind wandering.

 

“I rather like the somber purple dye in my hair right now, it fits with that jazz composition…”

 

Ridere cut his thought process short when he saw Jarvans face turn slightly more into a frown then it already was. Jarvans gaze fixed upon the heartless in front of them. Ridere had been with Jarvan longer than anyone else, and new exactly what that face meant, master had placed yet another burden on his shoulders.

A thunderous sound broke his concentration; Ridere tilted his head to watch as Tonitrus jumped up from his prone possession retreating from the three new soldiers that had appeared. The sound of a bell could be heard ringing as “Chime” appeared in his hand. A rather dazed looking smile spread its self across his lips.

 

“Show time” he exclaimed as he dashed to Tonitrus’s position, his feet gliding across the ground, sliding in to a stance just between the heartless. The sound of a violin could be heard as the 3 heartless soldiers were sent flying backwards. Followed by the pluck of a harp which split one of the soldiers in half, the other two stood back up jittering and dancing as they always do. Ridere laughed and called back over his shoulder. “Come now Tonitrus, what did Jarvan just say”

[Grace Braid 240]

As the monsters reached him, Jarvan noticed Arylett, Gallid, and Tonitrus all begin to take out the heartless swiftly, with Ridere joining in after a second. He gave himself a small grin. Maybe this will be easier than I thought. While they took on their targets, he rushed up to the Neoshadow and swung his Keyblade as fast as he could to its head.

 

Unfortunately, the Neoshadow seemed to have anticipated that, for it immediately dipped into a pool of inky black darkness right at its feet, disappearing from view. Blinking in minor surprise, Jarvan looked around for where it went. He didn't see it anywhere, and was about to think it ran away, when he heard a slight whish noise behind him, and suddenly remembered what happens when a Neoshadow dives into the ground.

 

Oh crap was all that he could think of in time before he had to dive onto the ground, barely avoiding the Neoshadow whizzed right above him, which was spinning upside down, claws stretched outward. Momentarily amused by the site from below, Jarvan got back on his feet as soon as it passed over and charged after it, slashing at it's chest. This time, the Neoshadow had no time to react, and as a result was cleaved right in half, before dissipating into nothing.

 

Feeling triumphant at his success, Jarvan turned back around to the group and saw that a couple more Soldiers had shown up. Seeing that Ridere and Tonitrus seemed to have them covered, he continued to look around for any more targets to take out and spotted a couple Shadows. One of them tried to come up and scratch him, but he simply jumped back a couple inches and, pointing his keyblade, said "Blizzard!" An ice crystal shot out of Dawn's Remorse and struck the Shadow straight on, instantly destroying it from the sudden cold and impact.

 

Grinning even wider to himself, he shouted to the rest of the group "There's only a couple left, so lets finish this up and go home!"

[Wolfe 71]

This needs no worry. Let's just get this over with and head back to the master...

 

He pulled out a small, palm sized book from his left pocket. It was titled "O'Malley's Guide to Swordfighting." It was a lot smaller than originally published, but Gravity easily took care of the former 5 pound, 450 page book. It was a lot more convenient for Dexter. He opened the book to a bookmarked page and read a bit from where he left off. He noticed the heartless that had spawned a distance away from him; 4 Shadows and 1 soldier stood at the ready. They took notice of Dexter. Oh come on... I just got to the technical part... He closed the book and returned it to his pocket.

 

He held his right arm out at shoulder height revealing his keyblade, Cosmos. The keychain, appearing as a bracelet on his right wrist also appeared. It made a tiny jingle as he moved his hand and gripped onto Cosmos. An aura arose around the keyblade that had the sense of a magical power. Even with the 5 years that Dexter has held onto the keyblade and trained under Jiro Arai, he has never fully understood it, despite countless hours of study with the blade. In fact, the keyblade looks more like a staff, but still acts like a keyblade. He lifted Cosmos and pointed the bottom end to the sky. He then threw the keyblade into the group of heartless. He obviously missed the heartless, but he wasn't aiming for them. His connection to his keyblade was strong to know what Dexter planned.

 

A large downpour of Thundara lightning bolts struck down on the heartless in the group and were stunned briefly. 3 of the shadows had been obliterated, leaving only one shadow and another soldier. Darn. Almost had them all. Need to focus a bit more. No matter. They'll be gone soon... He walked toward the remaining two with a straight, serious face. The heartless started charging, but Dexter seemed to move faster. As for Dexter, he saw the heartless as moving slow. He already had planned ahead. He had fused his Thundara with Slow, courtesy of his keyblade's ability. He quickly pulled out his book as he walked forward and turned back into the page he was at.

 

...Shift ye weight onto yer blade and follow through your attack. Reminds me when I was a wee lad when... Oh boy. Another tangent by O'Malley. He tossed the tiny book to the ground. Cost a bit of munny for that stupid book. Should have stuck with recognized and respected authors... Dexter extended his right arm once more and Cosmos returned to his grip. He walked forward and made a simple whack at the shadow using the end of the keyblade. It was a very weak attack compared to the efforts of Arylett, Gallid, Tonitrus, and Ridere. Only a few more attacks on the slowed and helpless shadow did it disappear in a puff of black smoke.

 

He turned to the Soldier who just made an attempt to swipe at him. He turned his keyblade to the side and effortlessly guided the claw away from himself. As the swipe finished, a fury of Fire balls flew out of the keyblade from the side and barraged the soldier with burns all over. Even though the soldier was more likely finished, Dexter continued the barrage. The indifferent look he gave was something that the older keyblade wielders were familiar with. The relentless face he gave whenever he fought heartless was cold at times. After a few more blasts, the soldier just burned away, rather than faded into a black fog. He brought his keyblade back to a standing position and looked at the burning that remained.

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

Jarvan was such a show-off... he had to beat the strongest enemy of the bunch, of course.

 

Feeling herself being more and more shown up by the others, Arylett felt she had to step up her game. She rushed from behind Jarvan and hopped to a Shadow, giggling as she evaded its attempts to slash her. Too slow! Then the girl stepped towards it and surrounded her Keyblade with a sort of fiery barrier, which she then used to impale the Heartless. With another slash of her Keyblade, it immediately dissipated into a shadowy wisp.

 

However, in directing so much of her energy towards one and stepping into the front lines, she left herself exposed to another Heartless which had slashed her from behind. Grimacing in pain, she immediately turned around and furiously blasted that Heartless for an intense fiery barrage of several fireballs, creating a charred pit where the Heartless had previously been. However, in wasting so much energy on those two Shadows, Arylett panted heavily as she felt the need to recharge a bit before casting the next spell.

 

"Dammit... you guys'll have to finish this off."

[Klopp 2,050]

As Tonitrus regrouped with his allies Ridere stepped in to finish off one one the three remaining soldiers. “Come now Tonitrus, what did Jarvan just say?” Tonitrus turned to face Ridere and said, "What does it matter? I'm still alive." He then noticed one of the two remaining soldiers had left itself open for attack. Tonitrus dashed quickly towards the heartless, and struck the final blow on the small creature. His intent was to finish off the last soldier as well, but just as Tonitrus slayed the one, he turned to see Arylett, the lone female, attacked by a shadow from behind.

 

Tonitrus began rushing towards Arylett, but abruptly stopped to see the heartless was quickly turned to ash by the powerful flames erupting from the young woman's fiery blade. Even though the shadow was destroyed, Arylett had been injured and became exhausted from using too much powerful magic. Tonitrus, having a soft spot for girls and a burning desire to protect his friends, ran to her assistance. He leaned down to lend a helping hand as he yelled out, "Are you okay!?" while thinking to himself, Goddamnit, I'm so useless without magic, I can't even use a proper cure spell to help her out!

Edited April 20, 2012 by Klopp

[Dayzgone 2]

Ridere chuckled slightly “what a rambunctious one Arylett is” he thought to himself. He caught the final solider spring forth at him from the edge of his vision, claws flailing. Leaning back slightly, he let the soldiers attack pass just by his face, before it landed Ridere’s hand wiped out, grabbing the heartless by the wrist. Using its momentum he spun on his back heel bringing the poor thing with him. After a single turn Ridere let go, catapulting the heartless into the air. The bells on the end of chime jingled once when he stopped

 

“Heads up” he yelled, indicating the now airborne heartless

[Wolfe 71]

"Dammit... you guys'll have to finish this off."

 

Dexter heard Arylett in the distance. Followed by Tonitrus asking if she was okay. He started walking over. Not an ounce of urgency was seen. Fortunately for Arylett, no heartless attacked as he reached toward her. Noobie's mistake. He tapped his keyblade onto the ground sending out a cura toward Arytlett, Tonitrus, Ridere and himself. While everyone else was fine, healthwise, only Arylett needed the heal. Don't try to do things you think you can do, Dexter told her. Recklessness will lead to a fault that is only your own.

 

He tapped his keyblade again and a Aerora shield appeared around her. It also had a bit of fire swirling within it. It was another of Dexter's fusions, Aerora/Fire. Arylett could use this offensively or defensively, however she saw fit. He then shot her a very cold glare. One that seemed as if his glasses would freeze over. Every action you make is at a cost. Don't mess things up. Especially for the rest of us.

[Mr.Giggles 4]

Gallid calmly walked away from a fight after finishing a few shadows and looked up to see a..."thing"? being thrown into the air. Shortly after he heard Ridere yell “Heads up” ...O what fun, a freebe...Gallid rushed forward and slammed both his feet into the ground. At the exact time he aimed both his hands towards the floor and yelled out:

FIRE!!!

He launched himself straight at the heartless and twirled in an upside down corkscrew and cut the beast clean in half. He ended the jump by bringing both his feet under him and slammed straight down on another shadow leaving just a blacked charred circle where the creature used to be. He then stood up.... looked to his left with one eye brow raised, looked to his right with the other raised.. looked forward and nodded saying: Good stuff.

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

Seeing Tonitrus' reaction of concern, Arylett reacted by nodding her head. He always seemed a bit oddly protective of her. Though she never really quite figured out why. "It's just a bit of... exhaustion. I'll be okay. I used too much of my magic all at once. But nothing's hurt."

 

Feeling her energy revitalized by the Cura of Dexter, she stood up a little taller but rolled her eyes at his scolding. She was never one for confrontation, so she didn't say anything to it. Though it was quite evident by her snorting that she didn't really appreciate his tone. The girl only grumbled a disgruntled thank you as the air shield surrounded her and the flames licked her body slightly. They tickled.

 

Being used to dramatic tones of foredooming, she also disregarded his cold look and saw that the Heartless numbers had dwindled down to one left. However, that one was quickly dispatched by Gallid, meaning that she wouldn't get to use her new awesome shield.

 

"Well... I think that about wraps it up, yeah? Should we go back to the Master now?"

[Klopp 2,050]

Tonitrus watched in amazement as Dexter's cura spell encircled the group, followed by an odd burst of flaming wind which appeared in a sphere around Arylett. Only then to see Gallid use a fire spell to propel himself skyward with a direct trajectory leading to the final remaining heartless. Seeing spell after spell, Tonitrus' jealously and anger at his own feeling of worthlessness built up in his heart, but for now he managed to control his emotions.

 

Knowing all the heartless were eliminated, he turned towards Arylett, and became transfixed on the mysteriously breezy shield that was somehow set ablaze. He stepped closer to get a better look,with a very curious finger lifted up and pointing directly towards the female inside, however with his focus on the shield he forgot that she was still residing inside. Tonitrus' finger eventually found it's way to the shield, "Ahhyyouch! That stings!" He quickly jerked his arm backwards as the feeling of the piercing wind, coupled with the intense heat of the flames, tore through the skin of his finger. Shaking his hand furiously in an attempt to quell the pain, then placing his finger onto his tongue after the it refused to go away. He then began to speak in an attempt to cover his embarrassment with humor, "Yes, let's get out of here before I manage to hurt myself again."

[Mr.Giggles 4]

Gallid walked over to Dexter and gave him a heavy pat on the back, Oy, if it wasn’t for the bookworm over here you’d still be dragging your sorry carcass around... Why don’t you just be a good little girl and wait for when I need a cigarette lighter. Besides, we only need one hotshot in the group. He then gestures to Jarvan and started to lean on Dexter.

Oy, Poindexter, mind lighting me one?

He took out a cigarette and held it a little in front of his face which held a big smirk.

 

 

He then simply glanced at Tonitrus, and said, Careful Boy o, idiots are like moths; They are drawn to flames.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Mr.Giggles

[Dayzgone 2]

Chime jingles as Ridere steps past Gallid.

 

“No need to be so mean to everyone Gallid, I’m sure you had just as much trouble starting off.”

 

Ridere smiles once more, then turns around and moves to Jarvan. Stopping for one second he seems to count to an imaginary beat in his head, satisfied he continues to Jarvan’s side and speaks to him in a hushed tone so the others can’t immediately hear, as if purposely allowing ease droppers to listen in.

 

“Something confuses me Jarven, the amount of heartless and strength of them was not very much. Not coming anywhere close to warranting all of the apprentices to come. This could have easily been handled by 2 or 3 of us. Yet here we all are, is the master planning something?”

[Wolfe 71]

I hardly doubt this is quite the end. All of us keyblade wielders and such few heartless. Means there's a sign that the Master has something planned. From all my studies, one keyblade wielder would take on a number of heartless, such as this. So don't count on going home just yet.

 

He then felt a bit of pressure on his back. It was Gallid, he knew right off the bat. His glasses were knocked down his nose a bit.

 

Oy, if it wasn’t for the bookworm over here you’d still be dragging your sorry carcass around... Why don’t you just be a good little girl and wait for when I need a cigarette lighter. Besides, we only need one hotshot in the group. Oy, Poindexter, mind lighting me one?

 

Dexter sighed a bit. He twisted his keyblade on the ground so it faced Gallid. He let out a fire that blasted the cigarette to charred remains, leaving his fingers untouched, fortunately. He kept his eye contact away from Gallid.

 

Do you really want more cancer than you already have? It looks like your arm could be amputated any day now. And don't ask me to use my magic on such trivial items.

 

He lifted his glasses up his nose to fix them as he said this to Gallid. He moved forward away from Gallid, letting him fall to the ground if he didn't recover his balance in time. Dexter then brought his other hand to the keyblade in order to charge up and recover his mana pool. A light blue aura encircled around himself and the keyblade. Given that he used many other spells, he could have used a bit of a charge. He still had quite a fair amount of mana still in him, but Dexer was very calculating in combat and never left it to chance to 'see if this would be enough.'

Edited May 5, 2012 by Wolfe

[Mr.Giggles 4]

Gallid immediately summoned his keyblade to stop his fall,he spun the blade and planted in the ground. during this he twisted himself so that he could sit on the hilt of the blade as it dug slightly into the ground. He glanced over at Dexter with a smile on his face and called after him saying something along the lines of They Don't come cheap fairy boy! Gallid then took out another cigarette and lit it with a black flame from his index finger. He knew something was wrong in this situation... the only time Gallid ever smoked was if he had a lot on his mind or believed something bad would happen, which seemed to happen quite often.

Edited May 5, 2012 by Mr.Giggles

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

She snorted at the blatant insult of Gallid and did not respond. Remember to remain professional, and keep a level head. It was something the Master had told her, and something she had known for several years. it was best not to cause conflict in spite of her team mate being extremely annoying with his smokes. Arylett's nose cringed in a disgusted fashion as she turned her back on him and ignored the entire situation regarding the cigarettes.

 

"I don't think cigarettes are... relevant to the discussion," said Arylett coldly. "I suppose you're right though. Maybe there's more... though if there were, they would've been here by now. Maybe the Master is just giving us a little practice run before the Big Assignment." It was a reference the girl made to a large and upcoming assignment that their master had in mind for them. It was kept under a veil of secrecy that she was sure not even Jarvan was aware of. She had recalled on that day that the master had told them that one day, they would face a massive threat, a huge assignment beyond anything the likes of what they had seen... and at that point, they would have to keep their wits about them. It was something she scarcely liked to think about, not having the confidence to know how she would fare in a situation like that.

[Strong Hooves 289]

As the group spoke, they could hear heavy foot steps approach them. If they were to look, they would see a large, muscular male, a huge metal keyblade slung across his back, as if he never wasted the time to summon it when needed and had it with him at all times. He wore a sleeveless shirt and ordinary pants, his steel toed shoes made the thumping noise as he walked.

 

He looked at the group as he approached them, sizing up all of them, even the girl. "It seems I missed the excitement" he said, his voice low but young sounding at the same time.

Edited May 6, 2012 by Strong Hooves

[Klopp 2,050]

While waiting for the rest of the group to make a decision Tonitrus just stood back, finding a nearby bench to sit on, and listened. He just shook his head at the silliness between Gallid and Dexter, and focused more on talk of a hidden agenda behind their current assignment. "What else is there for us to do? We come. We kill heartless. We leave. Besides, the master told me I wasn't going on anything more than 'simple missions' until I got the hang of this magic nonsense." After he spoke, he tried to conjure up a small fire spell. "Fire!" He yelled, pointing his keyblade skyward, as to not harm anyone or anything around. A pointless act as nothing happened. "And as you can see, it's not going well. Let's just get out of here so I can get another terrible nights sleep."

 

As he finished speaking he heard the familiar sound of a loud, booming stomp approaching the group. It was that strange Brutus character, arriving late to the scene.

 

"It seems I missed the excitement".

 

"Excitement? All we've been doing is waiting around for something to happen! Jarvan isn't telling us what's going on and, worst of all, my magic isn't even worth calling a joke. The only excitement we've had is Dexter trying to blow up Gallid!"

 

Quickly realizing he may have come off a bit rude he looked forward and curtly said, "Sorry, I've had a bad month." Then Tonitrus turned and rested his hands and head upon his keyblade, as his thoughts slipped back to that dreadful night one month ago.

[Grace Braid 240]

As everybody around him moped off the rest of the heartless, Jarvan seemed to start to...drift off. He was alert enough to his surroundings that a heartless or person couldn't sneak up on him, but otherwise he became almost completely oblivious. It was a bad habit that he had developed, created due to not wanting to listen to his dad when he was trying to lecture him on some very minor thing he messed up. Now it happened any time he thought that he wasn't really needed for a little bit. He knew he should probably break it at some point, but then he went Eh. It's not that important really, I do just fine with it.

 

Thus, he noticed absolutely nothing that happened near him for a couple minutes; not the minor insults that were being thrown about, nor Tonitrus burning his finger on Arylett's new Aero shield, or even Dexter blasting the cigarette out of Gallid's hand. Indeed, the thing that brought him out of his period of blankness was Ridere saying something to him directly.

 

“Something confuses me Jarven, the amount of heartless and strength of them was not very much. Not coming anywhere close to warranting all of the apprentices to come. This could have easily been handled by 2 or 3 of us. Yet here we all are, is the master planning something?”

 

 

At first, Jarvan only went "Huh...?" before he shook his head and said "Sorry, I was zoned out for a moment there," putting on an embarrassed-looking smile at the same time. "Anyways, I am not sure why Master sent so many of us for so few Heartless. Perhaps he thought there were more around...?"

 

Then he heard Arylett mention the "Big Assignment", and smacked himself on the forehead. "Of course, that. Now that I think about it, this probably was more of just having us practice working together instead of an actual threat."

 

It was at that point that Brutus arrived and, along with Tonitrus' reply to what Brutus said, caught Jarvan's attention.

 

"Yes, yes you missed all of the excitement here. All of the heartless are gone, and apparently Dexter tried to blow up Gallid, although not anymore. Either way, we should head back now before a ton of heartless become attracted to all of the Keyblades here."

[Strong Hooves 289]

Brutus showed no signs of offense toward Tonitrus' reply, he simply raised a hand and said "No need to apologize, we all have our problems."

 

He couldn't help but chuckle at Jarvan's comment, "Why does that not surprise me that Dexter would do such a thing? No offense of course Dexter." Upon mention of more heartless coming, he smirked, "Let them come, I need a little something to keep me busy anyway. The masters been keeping me behind to work more on my magic. You say your magic is bad Tonitrus? Try being able to conjur only a simple cura spell, then you can complain."

 

He then looked back at Jarvan, "So were leaving almost as soon as we arrive Eh? Ah well, next time I'll be the first to be at the scene I guess"

[Wolfe 71]

The light blue aura dissipated after a while. Dexter felt regenerated and ready to take on another batch if they so decided to show up. He heard Brutus' comment and turned toward him.

 

None taken. With what Gallid puts me through, I have to blast him three times daily. For Pete's sake, the kid causes more problems than he solves..., he said in his usual cold voice.

 

Once he heard Jarvan say to head out, he started walking. Not one bit of hesitation was seen in his face or in his movement.

 

And good riddance. I can finally go back to studying... Or do I have to teach you two how to use magic...

 

He referred to Brutus and Tonitrus, after seeing Tonitrus' failed attempt to cast a simple fire spell and Brutus talking about casting cura. Cura? Learned it ages ago... People and their "troubles" with magic... Magic isn't for anyone. So they better pick up their pace and be serious about it.

[Mr.Giggles 4]

Gallid heard the snipes at him from his perch and muttered something along the lines of, I'm glad I bring such joy to your lives. Hearing Jarvan say they would be heading out, he quickly unsummoned the keyblade and rolled backwards onto his feet. Gallid wandered away from the rest of the lot, he was preoccupied with the fact that he could hear the heartless again. He stared at his right hand and muttered to himself, A "Simple Cura" huh... bet he wouldn't be saying that if he knew.

 

He winced in pain slightly as the vines seemed to pulsate on his arm. You will not have me...His arm twitched slightly. I will not be your puppet again.. Another sharp pank went up Gallid's arm. I SAID BEGONE!! Gallid slammed his fist against a wall leaving an imprint, and after much heavy breathing he calmed down again and began to light another cigarette.

 

 

After he finished it, he sighed and decided it would be better to catch up with the lot of them. He paused briefly and raised his arm, let's try something shall we... what did master say he did...After a brief pause.. he snapped his fingers and said, FIRAGA!! He somewhat regret doing this... a small orb of fire appeared in front of his hand for a second and then became a massive explosion that catapulted him across a couple roof tops. Damn...damn...damn...DAMN!! SLAM!!! Gallid came straight through the roof of a house into a bathroom where an old man was in the tub who was just as startled as Gallid was.

 

After a brief period of quiet stares.... Er.... Good day to you sir!! He then slammed through the door and jumped out a window on the far side and began running to where the rest of the keyblade wielders would be. He knew his back would be killing him for a few days....

Edited May 22, 2012 by Mr.Giggles