Standing on your toes,

dreams so close to your fingertips,
and do you ever wonder?

Can you touch the sky?

character profile:

Name:

Age:

Bio:

Appearance:

Keyblade:

Here's mine~

Name: Rachael Hayes

Age: 15

Bio: Rachael's childhood wasn't anything special. She was just another kid in Twilight Town, playing Grandstander and going to school like anyone else. The real excitement in Rachael's life began when she was fourteen. A new man was in town, one none of them had even seen before. It was a mystery how he appeared, so being the bold and annoying girl she was, Rachael asked him where he had come from. But the answer she was given wasn't one she was prepared for. He was a Keyblade Master from Radiant Garden, a world that had been brutally destroyed by a new and confusing enemy. Rachael immediately told her childhood friend Dan about this, and soon they were both in training to become Keyblade Masters themselves.

Appearance:

Keyblade: Destiny's Embrace

Name: Dan Ross

Age: 16

Bio: Dan Ross lived with his parents in Twilight Town for many years. Around his 9th birthday, he learned he could use something that had always been used to scare kids: darkness. At first Dan was frightened, but he learned to like it using it. He kept it secret from everyone, even his friend Rachel. Almost a year later, Dan and his parents were on a camping trip. Dan took some of the time to practice with darkness. While he was doing that, he inadvertently summoned some heartless. The heartless attacked and killed Dan's parents and near him too if not for a park ranger. Most everyone thought it was a tragic accident and that it was a random attack, but Dan knew better. He knew that what had happened was because of him. He also knew that one day, he would have to make amends for what had happened. Since then, Dan has lived with his Aunt Dee. About a year ago, after Rachel had told him about her encounter with a Keyblade Master, Dan met the same man. He asked Dan if he wanted a way to atone. Dan said yes. The man said that he would help. Dan began to train under this Keyblade Master with Rachel.

Appearance: Similar to this picture:

Differences: Grayish-green eyes.

Lower half that is not shown: Black pants with black and white Converses.

Keyblade: Guardian Soul.

Rachael was spending her morning in the productive manner that she usually did--sleeping. She could distantly hear her alarm clock shrilling, but she just ignored it. After all, there was nothing special about today. Why couldn't she just sleep all day? Finally, she woke, someone roughly shaking her. "Dad..." She moaned, annoyed. "Why'd you wake me up?" "Simple, sleepyhead, you have to go train. I won't let you be lazy. Up, up, up!" Rachael sighed. Her perfectly dream-filled morning ruined by having to wake up. She summoned her Keyblade, waving it around lightly. "See, dad? It's all good." She yawned. "Breakfast is ready, and you better be downstairs for it in ten minutes." Annoyed, Rachael quickly changed into her usual t-shirts, shorts, and sneakers get-up, and stomped downstairs. Admittedly, she was a bit lazy. With a yawn, she opened the door. Might as well go find Dan.

Dan was already up and trying to wrap his head around a puzzle box his aunt had just bought. Aunt Dee collected puzzle boxes and Dan enjoyed figuring them out.

"How's it coming?" Aunt Dee said, bring a stack of pancakes and some fruit to the table for her and Dan's breakfast.

"Certainly not the easiest one you've got." Dan noted.

He smiles as he sidled a piece of the box back and hit a button. The lid of the box popped open.

"But not the hardest." He said, triumphantly.

Aunt Dee, smiling, nodded.

"Nice work. Maybe I should get harder boxes." Aunt Dee said. "Now eat up. You got some training to do."

Dan nodded and ate fast. After two pancakes, a grape fruit and some orange juice, Dan grabbed his coat and waved to his aunt.

"See ya when I get back." Dan called.

"Alright, have a good day." Aunt Dee called back.

Outside his aunt's house, Dan headed for Rachel's house. Seeing her open her door, Dan walked over.

"Morning." Dan said, leaving off the 'good,' knowing how Rachel liked getting up.

[sorry my reply is so late. Dx I'll try to post quicker next time.]

 

"Hi." Rachael didn't mean to sound so irritated but, well, she wasn't exactly a morning person. "Are you ready to train? My dad's basically kicking me out of the house until dinner." She smiled slightly and glanced over Dan's shoulder. "Hey, what's that thing?" A dark plume was rising in the distance, almost like a smoke cloud. Was it a fire or something? Rachael waved her hand encouragingly. "Come on, Dan, we should go check it out. What if the school's on fire?" At that thought, Rachael's outlook on the day brightened some. "We should hurry!"

[That's okay. Life happens.]

 

Dan turned and looked at the smoke cloud. He squinted to try to see clearer. He chuckled when he heard Rachal's wondering if is was the school.

"Would make our lives simpler." Dan thinks.

A small part of Dan was worried, however. Unexplained events were never something he liked.

"We should hurry" rang in Dan's ears.

"That we should." he replied to Rachel.

Dan set out with a sprint to get closer to the origin of the smoke.

[My creativity died. You pick what the smoke is. Lol]

 

Rachael, as she ran, noticed the smoke cloud was getting larger. Even though it was terribly unlikely, a small part of Rachael still hoped that maybe it was the school on fire. Of course, it being morning and fate just having it in for her, the smoke cloud was on the complete opposite side of the town. Rachael sighed--exactly her luck. Having to wake up and run? Just perfect. Someone shoved past them, screaming. "What's going on?" Rachael asked, more people shoving against her and Dan. "What's everyone running from?" The question was mostly directed at any of the screaming citizens, but none of them seemed to pay her any attention.

[heh, I know the feeling.]

 

Dan pushed his way through the crowd.

"What the heck had done this?" Dan wonders mentally.

A big, burly guy slammed into Dan, knocking him to the ground.

"Hey!" Dan yelled.

"Run the other way, you idiot!" the man cried as he continued his run.

Dan jumped back to his feet. This was bad. It would take hours to get to the smoke through the crowd at street level. Dan looked around for a fire escape or a low balcony to jump to to get a better view and possibly a way to the roofs and travel by that way. Dan saw found one of the things he was looking for; a low balcony.

"Rachel!" He called to his friend.

Once Dan was sure he had Rachel's attention, he jerked a thumb to the balcony and headed towards it. Dan jumped up from the ground to the balcony in one easy jump. Dan was happy to see that the owners of this balcony had been so kind to install a ladder to the roof. Dan quickly climbed the ladder and surveyed the scene. He had a clearer view of the source of the smoke. From what it looked like, the smoke seemed to becoming from some sort of factory. But if that was it, why were people panicking?

"Poisons?" Dan asked himself.

He was about to ask himself more questions when what looked to be a gigantic hand poke out of the smoke for an instant then with draw.

"Did you see that?" Dan asked Rachel.

Rachael's eyes widened. "Was that a hand? Or am I just seeing things?" She quickly reviewed any kind of animals living in Twilight Town--not that many, according to her science teacher. And certainly none of them were so large. "What could be that big?" A monster could. A small part of her mind whispered, but Rachael tried to ignore it. A monster in Twilight Town? Impossible. It was so peaceful here, nothing dangerous anywhere. "Didn't that Keyblade Master who stopped here say that monsters invaded worlds? Maybe that's one of the monsters he was talking about. Nothing else could be big enough to have a hand that size and terrify so many people. It's got to be." Rachael summoned her Keyblade. "I think we might have to take care of this one." Her eyes lit up. "Oh! Then this will count as our training for the day! Yes! Then I can go take a nap," She said thoughtfully. "Mmm, I can get back some of the sleep I was robbed of this morning."

Dan couldn't help but smile at Rachel's comments. She always seemed to see the silver lining of a situation...as long as you didn't try to get her to see it too early in the morning. Dan summoned his own Keyblade. He stared at it for a moment. This was way he had this weapon. To help save lives. Dan chuckled as he thought of a comeback to what Rachel said.

"If this monster goes down easily, we still gotta go through some of the training." He said, his eyes darting around, mapping a course to get Rachel and himself to the monster.

Dan glanced back at Rachel.

"Then you can have your nap." Dan said in a kidding tone.

Dan returned to his mapping. A few seconds later, he had a route.

"Alright, follow me. I got us a path."

Dan jumped to the next building over and sprinted across it.

"Aw, great," Rachael muttered. "Why is everyone running away? They're so lazy, leaving all the monsters to us." She huffed in annoyance. Rachael had been taking gymnastics practically since birth, so in typical Rachael fashion, she jumped to the next building by doing a flip, spinning while she was in the air. Always adding that special little touch that ticked people off. It didn't take the two of them long to reach the monster. Rachael's grip on her Keyblade tightened as she tensed for a fight. She hesitated, though. "Dan, wait," She inspected the smoke carefully. "That smoke is too thick. We won't be able to see a thing--we'd just be fighting blind. There's no way we'd win a fight like that. We need to draw the monster out to where we can actually see more than just a hand." Rachael quickly evaluated all the reasons the monster could be here, and narrowed it down fairly quickly. "Monsters like these are out simply for destruction, right? So if that's its goal, it'll come out of there soon."

As Rachel talked, Dan kept an eye on the monster. When Rachel was done, he nodded.

"Your right." Dan said, a little annoyed.

He wasn't annoyed with Rachel, just the situation. He didn't mind waiting for the monster to come out, but he couldn't be sure where it would go. If it choose to attack something out of his and Rachel's reach, it could cause serious damage. Dan stared at the problem for a moment. How to bring that creature out on his and Rachel's terms?

"Remove it's advantage." Dan mentally concluded. "Get it's attention."

Dan raised his Keyblade and focused on the tip.

"I'm going to blow a little bit of the smoke out of the way." Dan said aloud to Rachel. "When you have a clear shot, hit it. That should bring it to us."

Dan breathed and cast Aeroga, sending a small gale at the smoke, blowing a bit of it away.

Rachael took the opportunity to show off her acrobatic skills, doing a little flip and slashing at the monster. Her Keyblade, just before striking the monster, bounced back forcefully. "Huh?" Rachael slashed again, and then turned and yelled. "We can't hit it! It's got some sort of shield!" The monster swiped a clawed hand at her, and Rachael ducked, quickly backing up. "Is that shield always up?" Rachael could almost hear the gears turning in her head. "Maybe there's a way to force the monster to withdraw it." She squinted, carefully inspecting the small part of the monster she could actually see. Scaly, but with no visible shield. Well, it was there, either way. She tried a few distance attacks, but none managed to make it past the shield. "Hey Dan! I think, considering how big this thing is, that shield takes a lot of energy to keep up. It might just put the shield up to the side that needs defense, not nessecarily it's entire form. I'll distract it--run around to the other side and see if you can attack it."

(To sorakingdomhearts: thanks.)

 

"Got it!" Dan yelled at Rachel.

Dan glanced over at the buildings to his right, mapping a path over the roofs. He ran toward the right hand edge of the building facing the monster and jumped. He landed on the next building and rolled to a standing position. He raced across that roof and prepared to jump again when the ground quaked beneath him. He quickly turned around and saw that the monster was shifting, probably to get a better swipe at Rachel. Dan felt his heart rate go up. He would have to move faster to give Rachel support from the other side.

"Looks like I need a shorter route." Dan thought.

His current course took him in an arch around the factory. He looked for a more direct route. He found one.

"This is stupid." Dan said to himself as he prepared to take his new path. "Which is why it will work."

Dan jumped from the building, aiming for the next building on the old path, but instead of landing on the roof, he touched down on the wall. With his momentum behind him, he ran along the wall. He jumped when his momentum was starting to fail him. He soared between the large gap between the building he was on and the factory. He flipped his Keyblade around in his hand, so that its teeth faced away from him. He swung it and embedded it into the horizontal section of a light pole. He swung around the pole and ripped the keyblade from it. Dan flipped and landed on his feet on the factory's roof.

"Don't do that again." Dan told himself. He hoped he would remember that order.

He turned and looked at the smoke. He could just make out a form in the smoke. He lifted his Keyblade and leveled it at the form.

"Enjoy." He shouted at the creature, sending a Blizzara spell at the monster.

Rachael pointed attacks at the monster, though she knew it was pointless. She just needed its undivided attention. "Hey, ugly!" She stuck out her tongue and danced in a little circle. "What are you, a chicken? Just standing there watching me? You're such a baby!" The monster roared in anger. "Aw, isn't that cute? I upset you?" Suddenly, the monster cried out. It stumbled towards her. Rachael pulled herself onto someone's roof, just in time. The monster crashed down, screeching so loudly she was tempted to cover her ears. The monster's weight was enough that the dust on the ground rose into the air, creating a bit of smoke. Rachael coughed, waving her hand to blow some of the smoke away. It looked like Dan had injured the monster at least. So that was the key--the shield was only up when the monster was prepared. She jumped lithely to the next rooftop, squinting through the dust. Eventually, after working her way around a wide half-circle of roofs, she found Dan. "Hey!" Rachael shouted. "I think we got it!" She glanced over her shoulder again. The smoke was clearing some, so they could see the monster a bit clearer. It was basically a dragon. Which, as far as Rachael knew, weren't real. "This day is getting kind of interesting." She murmured. The monster's screams slowly subsided. A moment later, there was no monster. Just a puff of black sparkles. "What on Twilight Town was that?"

Dan stared at the fading dragon for a moment. He had studied some of the off world records concerning monsters, and as far as he knew, only Heartless and Nobodies faded like that. The dragon didn't seem to be a member of either group. What was it?

"I wish I knew." Dan tells Rachel.

Dan jumped down into the factory. Did that creature come from here? Dan could see damaged machinery and a few bodies. Not everyone had made it out. Dan looked closer at the bodies. As he studied them, they started to slowly fade as well.

"What the heck?" He breathed.

"Hey, Rachel!" He shouted. "Come look at this!"

Rachael didn't move, though. "No! I'm not going in there! If there are people who didn't escape, I don't want to see it. I'll have nightmares about that forever. I just don't want to know. I don't want to feel responsible." She stared up at the sky. The sun was only half-risen. The day already seemed over to her, but it was still morning. After all, it hadn't taken her and Dan long to walk here and defeat the monster. She took a deep breath. The bright, blue and pinkish sky was was gorgeous, making the town look as peaceful as ever. That's if you didn't count the dust still clogging the air and the destroyed factory. It took Rachael a moment to realize she still had a death grip on her Keyblade. She loosened her grip, and it faded away. Rachael sighed softly. She already knew what this meant. They had to find out what that monster was, and the only place that could help? The library. "Ugh," Rachael muttered. "I don't want to waste my day there."

Dan darted over to one of the fading bodies. He checked for vital signs. He was surprised to find some.

"Rachel!" Dan yelled. "They're still alive! I think they are being taken some where. Give me a hand!"

Dan looked at the fading man in front of him, racking his brain to figure out what to do. He stopped himself and breathed in.

"No time to panic." Dan told himself.

He opened his eyes and leaned down and sniffed at the man. He knew that smell. The smell of darkness.

"Okay, I know the what. Now for how to stop it."

Dan did the only thing he knew to do against the darkness. Use Light. Dan summoned light and touched the darkness that was taking the man away. The darkness dissolved and and the man was wholly there once again.

"Now for the others."

Rachael glanced disapprovingly at the factory. But if people were still alive... She swallowed her irrational fear of injured people, and pushed through the smoke to help find people. Using Dan's technique, Rachael helped heal a few people. When she couldn't find anymore people, she stood, squinting through the think layer of dust coating the air. The factory was completely obliterated, but from what she could tell, that was all the creature had managed to destroy. She spotted Dan a few yards away. "Hey," She called, blowing smoke away from her face. "I think we've gotten everyone." The people she'd helped rescue were stumbling around the smoke in confusion. She blasted an Aeroga, and the smoke started to clear some. "We should patrol the rest of the town. If there was one, there might be more. And there might not be, but better safe than sorry."

Dan nodded his agreement.

"Lets stick together for our patrol." Dan suggested. "Just in case we see another one of those things."

Dan sighed, knowing what he would say next would not make Rachel a happy camper.

"Then we need to do some research."

Dan quickly moved out of the factory. He stopped and listened for the tell-tail screams of an attack. He didn't hear any, but that didn't mean anything. Twilight Town was a big place. Dan turned to face the way he and Rachel. He shifted 90 degrees and pointed to a street heading the same direction.

"Let's head that way."

(Ignore this. Accidentally double posted.)