(And so we return. If you would like to join up, please do so here: http://kh13.com/forum/topic/70174-kingdom-hearts-vanguard-ii-sign-ups-and-discussion/ )

 

 

{Disney Castle, exterior}

Even, Somebody of Vexen, moved to follow Severa to engage ENCOM Programs, but yelled out in pain as something hit him from behind. He fell forward, a dart sticking out of his back. More programs crowded around, trying to hem Severa in. A red dot appeared on Severa's chest.

"Drop your weapon and surrender." A voice yelled out from the same direction the laser beam. "Or die here and now. Your choice."

More laser beams aimed at Severa.

 

{Disney Castle, interior}

Master Aqua took her old Keyblade from Luna. She took in a deep breath and smiled.

"It is good to have this back, thank you." She said, closing her eyes for a moment.

She reopened her eyes and nodded to Luna.

"We had better arrange a way to get wounded in here for us to heal. Maybe a few of the Guardians could-"

"Dilan to all available forces." The former Xaldin said via a wall mounted radio. "Evacuate! Repeat, evacuate! Four more capital ships warping in!"

Aqua gave the wall radio a shocked look.

"What is this?" She hissed and made for the door.

Before she got to it, it exploded inward with Dilan flying backwards and landing in a heap in the infirmary. From the out of the dust and debries, a man in a suit shot in and wrapped an arm around the stunned Aqua's neck, putting a blade to her neck. Four more people in suits came in and pointed various weapons at the Guardians.

"Don't try anything, Keybladers." The one who had Aqua growled. "We of the Ulthor know how to beat your cursed weapons."

In the ensuing silence, there was a metallic ping. The Ulthor agent in the back flipped a coin and caught it. A tallish man with short cut blond hair, goatee and with a number of ear piercings, he noted what it had landed on and put it away. A playing card appeared in his hand and he threw it at the agent holding Aqua captive. As soon as the card hit, the man holding Aqua turned into a card.

 

{Twilight Town, Old Mansion}

Elenar, formerly Larxene, managed to dodge out of the way of the energy blasts coming in from the digital battle cruise in the sky. Most of the young Keyblade wielders gathered at the old mansion were not so lucky and were thrown by the blast and killed. One lucky Wielder was snatched by Zion and Xion before the duo with their new patient disappeared in a flash of Light. As the smoke cleared, Aeleus (Somebody of Lexaeus) groaned and tried to get up.

Elenar readied herself to added some lightning to Celas's Duel Ragnoraks against the ship, but saw a red dot on the back of Celas's back.

"Look out!" She yelled and jumped in between Celas and where the beam was coming from, erecting a Barrier in the blink of an eye. There was a loud bang and Elenar was thrown back, hitting Celas. The Savage Nymph crumpled to the ground, blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth. For a moment before it faded, there was a neat little hole in Elenar's barrier.

Above, the capital ship rearmed its weapons for kill shots, but was hit by a beam from one of the mansion's 2nd story windows. The ship crackled with energy as its guns started moving erratically.

"Get inside!" Ansem the Wise yelled from the 2nd story window as he tossed out a smoking device he had just coupled together. "It will be back online in seconds!"

Over the the city proper, more capital ships warped in over hand and started landing Program troops, causing panic and confusion from the general populace.

 

{The Castle That Never Was}

Old Master Xehanort looked over his Organization with pride. He was beginning the final stages of his plan. The puny Lights would not be able to rest dancing to his tune.

"Friends" he called out in his cracked voice. "Soon, all our work will come to fruition, and Kingdom Hearts will be-"

The old man's speech was cut short as a massive explosion shook the castle, tossing some of the 13 Darknesses out of their seats.

"What was that?" Master Xehanort demanded as he pulled himself back into his normal sitting position.

Xigbar teleported back to his chair after he left to see what was going on.

"It's ENCOM ships opening fire on the castle." The one eyed sharpshooter reported. "I thought you said they couldn't come into our world."

Master Xehanort's face hardened.

"My Darknesses, prepare to defend the Castle." He ordered.

 

{Traverse Town}

Three figures in dark suits stood on top of the Gizmo Shop in Traverse Town, crowding around a small computer they had set up.

"Are you sure the Doctor said this would work?" A tall blond woman with a beauty spot below her left eye asked.

A man with a stubble and glasses rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Helga." He answered. "I was paying attention when the mad genius gave us this."

The color ran out of the man's face as he caught sight of the glare the blond woman was giving him.

"Um, Commander Sinclair." He corrected himself.

Helga Sinclair snorted her contempt and jerked a thumb at the computer.

"Then fire up our remote control monsters and sweep the city for Keyblade Wielders." She ordered." But make sure they keep civilian casualties to a minimum."

The man with glasses nodded and saluted, a poor think to do together, and typed in commands into the computer. When the last key stroke went through, the Gizmo Shop's front door burst open and Heartless Neoshadows with some sort of control collars on them bounded out, there keen senses looking for the strong hearts that Keyblade Wielders had.

 

{Radiant Garden}

Ienzo, Zexion's true self, finished transferring files and assembling various pieces of equipment he wanted before returning to the Old Mansion in Twilight Town when he heard a loud boom and some commotion outside the castle. Dashing outside, the Cloaked Schemer stopped suddenly when he saw three capital ships hanging over Radiant Garden. To his trained eye, he recognized the pattern of the digital ship.

"How did they get programs out of the computer?" He thought.

Ienzo heard a light laugh from behind him.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" A female voice asked. "Once we found out how to transfer Clu and his troops into our world, we could finally realize your plan. And how beautifully it is working, too."

The Cloaked Schemer turned to face the uniformed woman with glasses, a sly smile on his lips.

"My dear Jihl, did you doubt me?" He asked in a mock hurt tone.

Jihl Nabaat laughed again and stepped forward to place a hand on Ienzo's shoulder.

"The Decolor is grateful for your contribution." She said.

Ienzo's smiled remained, but took on a satisfied look. It was all working like he planned.

 

 

{Enchanted Dominion}

Maleificent stormed through her old castle. She felt degraded having to come back here, but a better hide out had not been available. Plus, the Decolor wouldn't try to bother her here on her own world.

She swiped into an inner room she had given over to one of her new allies and found him tending to his patient. King Candy squirmed under his physician's care.

"Easy, my code is sensitive, ya know." He whined.

"Silence!" Maleficent thundered. "It was your own foolishness that lead to your damage. I told you to avoid the heroes."

King Candy fell silent, too scared of the Witch to say anything. The middle aged doctor chuckled slightly as he straightened up and adjusted his glasses.

"Do not worry, m'lady." Doctor Cidolfus Demen Bunansa said in a calming voice. "This digital monarch will make a full recovery with some improvements."

Candy made to say something, but was glared into silence by the Witch. Maleficent looked back to Dr. Cid.

"And the other project?" She demanded.

Dr Cid's amused smile was replaced by a look of almost religious zeal.

"Ah, yes. I believe I have made the break through we required." He answered.

This time, it was Maleficent's turn to smile.

"Show me."

The Archadian scientist bowed and lead the way out of the room.

"The power requirements were astronomical." He explained as he led the way down a corridor. "I had to practically burn out a star to generate the power necessary and a fool would have let that power to burn out the project's systems before fruition,"

The Doctor paused as he placed a hand on a door's handle.

"But I am no fool." He declared and dramatically opened the door.

Inside was a room full of equipment, but was dominated by a giant transparent tube filled with a liquid. Floating inside was a girl off about 14 years of age and multicolored hair. Tubes extended from the top of the tube and into her veins while a breath mask rested over the girl's mouth. A plaque was placed at the base of the tube bearing the inscription "Project Lacuna."

"Our Void Witch is nearly finished." Maleficent said, dark intentions in her eyes.

 

 

(*Whew* did you see that, cause I will not be doing that again.)

{Enchanted Dominion}

Elenar sighed.

"Great." She grumbled. "No witch. Just her bug problem."

She and Aeleus shared a glance. The Cybug Candy hissed as he glared at Elenar and Celas in anger.

"Oh, I assure you, your victory was a glitch before, and now I'm even more powerful." He boasted. "Even more so when I eat you and absorb your strengths!"

The Cybug lunched itself off the wall towards the party, with Aeleus and Elenar starting to move at the same time. The two former organization members moved in unison, with The Silent Hero dropping low, then standing tall with his arms raised, while The Savage Nymph jumped up and back. Pieces of the stone floor rocketed up and smashed into King Candy, spoiling his dive. Three electrically charged daggers managed to stick into one of his arms and gave him a jolt. In a fluid motion, Leah summoned her giant Keyblade and transformed it into a whip. She cracked it out and caught one of Candy's legs and pulled him to the ground.

"He might be more powerful, but he is still an idiot." Aeleus stated. "Use that against him."

 

{Twilight Town; Beach}

There was a few more programs on the beach, but between Aqua, Raven, Hawk and Lightning, there wasn't much chance for them. Aqua looked up to see anything about Zion's progress. The cruiser was in flames and explosions from the inside were evident, but it was managing to stay aloft. The blue haired master was about to see if someone could contact Zion when she heard a low thrumming sound. Over the town, 3 air vehicle known as Recognizer in the digital worlds flew towards the beach, carrying more troops. A few antipersonal weapons on the Recognizer fired at the beach "party" as the closed.

"Looks like soon is now." Aqua muttered to herself as she cast a Thunder spell at one of the troopr carriers.

 

{Twilight Town; Damaged Ship}

As Zion wrecked havoc in the ship, two discs spun out of the shadows, deflecting her blades from an important looking control panel. The discs bounced off a wall before both returning to a dark, helmeted figure. Small orange lights showed up in the dark as the program assumed a battle position, emtting a low, mechanical growl.

Zion turned to face the figure, armor seeming to glimmer in the fire.

"Get out of my home." She charged, spinning. A wall of lights appeared, and fired. it was Wings of the Gospel, where she unleashed all the bolts she could around her, then fired them in a huge wall at a certain location.

Which hapened to be the helmeted figure in this enclosed space.

 

As Lightning saw the approaching Recognizers, she grimaced. Backflipping away from an explosion, she held a hand to her heart.

"Odin."

 

The Eidolon appeared in a flash of  Light. Grabbing her hand, Odin threw her skyward at one Recognizer. Using Ruinaga, she blasted into one, sword and shield raised.

Enemies everywhere. She...actually smirked.

"Let's show them who they are dealing with."

And Odin smashed in behind her. Time to screw up all the things.

 

 

Xion had waited, and as King Candy smashed into the ground, she used a Dawn Gate to close the gap. Now above King Candy, she dived down, Two Become One ready to stab.

Celas jumped into the air and unleashed her powerful Dual Ragnarok against Candy."Take that!" She yelled.Once Aeleus, Elenar and Celas' attacks hit their target, Noctis threw his sword towards Candy before disappearing. Once the sword made contact with the cyber king Noctis appeared once again."You should learn your place."The Prince said flatly before disappearing once again, only to appear in a different spot, holding a different weapon. Noctis repeated this for a while, hit the enemy only to vanish and appear with a different weapon and strike once again. Celas landed and watched how the Prince attacked the Cybug before he appeared next to her."Instant teleportation? I'm impressed." Celas said."You shouldn't be. This is just warm up." The Prince replied.

{Twilight Town; Beach}There was a few more programs on the beach, but between Aqua, Raven, Hawk and Lightning, there wasn't much chance for them. Aqua looked up to see anything about Zion's progress. The cruiser was in flames and explosions from the inside were evident, but it was managing to stay aloft. The blue haired master was about to see if someone could contact Zion when she heard a low thrumming sound. Over the town, 3 air vehicle known as Recognizer in the digital worlds flew towards the beach, carrying more troops. A few antipersonal weapons on the Recognizer fired at the beach "party" as the closed."Looks like soon is now." Aqua muttered to herself as she cast a Thunder spell at one of the trooper carriers.

 

Zion turned to face the figure, armor seeming to glimmer in the fire.

"Get out of my home." She charged, spinning. A wall of lights appeared, and fired. it was Wings of the Gospel, where she unleashed all the bolts she could around her, then fired them in a huge wall at a certain location.

Which hapened to be the helmeted figure in this enclosed space.

 

As Lightning saw the approaching Recognizers, she grimaced. Backflipping away from an explosion, she held a hand to her heart.

"Odin."

 

The Eidolon appeared in a flash of  Light. Grabbing her hand, Odin threw her skyward at one Recognizer. Using Ruinaga, she blasted into one, sword and shield raised.

Enemies everywhere. She...actually smirked.

"Let's show them who they are dealing with."

And Odin smashed in behind her. Time to screw up all the things.

[Twilight Town, Beach front: Within 100 feet of Zion's house.]

 

"Kiwi to others, be advised. Aerial units. Unknown ID."

"Sparrow here. Do they look dangerous?"

"I don't recall ordering girl scout cookies online and specifying a heaping helping of baddies to b delivered by air."

"....."

"Yes, Sparrow. Yes... They do look dangerous. They look like the enemies"

"Oh, ok then."

 

With the status on Zion's portal unknown to the Guardians, they all did whatever they could to help. In an unusual move, Kiwi was readying himself up for another cannon charge as he aimed for one of the program transport. Their leader Sparrow noticed the anomaly, then hailed the scout over the radio. "Oi! What gives, mate?"

"Trust me," Kiwi replied back, "I know when my body is ready for another shot."

"If you say so. Don't overtax yourself. Out." With the exchange over, Kiwi was finally able to divert all his attention to the approaching transports as he continued his charge, hoping that he could build enough before they land and give everyone below a major headache...

 

Luna and Ghost were staying near Aqua as they continued their support, making a clearing around the warrior and maintaining it to give them all some breathing room. It was a delicate dance as Raven and Hawk were just behind them, firing off arrows from their trusty weapons with deadly results, but at the cost of having some too close to call moments between the old and new guards. Hawk barely nicked Luna's hair when she went after a program, then immediately changed her direction as he fired, scaring the timid protector as she flinched a little before resuming her actions. It was a dangerous dance, but with patience and excellence that defined everyone in Nightwing Squad, a messy accident was the least of their concerns as they all focused on making sure Aqua wouldn't get hurt.

"Yo're right. Limited uses for the intel at this point..." Neena said, slightly exasperated. She worked a strand of hair around her finger, a gesture performed when she was thinking over something. Her eyes returned focus on Locke, and she spoke again. "But now the real question. What to do with the prisoner. I say we keep him around, who knows who good of a bargaining chip or tracker he could make." Neena continued, stating her opinion on the matter at hand.

~~~~~

Severa brushed some hair out her eyes, and leaned against a wall. "Nah, I'd be better off sticking with you. You'll need some brute force with ya if a problem arises." She said coolly and calmly. It was true. She had nowhere to go anyway, and this Ienzo guy was fun. So for now, she'd stick around. "Actually though, I need a new weapon. I left my sword back down on the world. Have any ideas?" She asked, coming to the realization that she was much less effective without her sword. She wouldn't make such a great bodyguard without a weapon.

{Twilight Town: Battleship Over Beach}

The program threw both his discs at once at the wall of light coming at him. They sliced through the light wall, bounced off a bulkhead and hit the wall again, creating a hole. He ran for it and dived through before it could close. With stunning acrobatics, he closed the distance between himself and Zion while dodging her projectiles. Once close enough, he slashed at her with a disc.

 

{Twilight Town: Beach}

Aqua kept using spells on the incoming Recognizers, till she realized Luna and Fhost were keeping enemies off her. She felt slow for not being able to deal with it herself. Maybe she still needed some time to recoup. The Recognizers were getting hit hard, one already invoking down with Lightning's Ruin spell and physical attacks. One was close enough to the beach that it opened its bay doors to drop more programs.

"Anybody know how long we have?" Aqua asked, preparing another Shotlock for the new enemy reinforcements.

 

{Enchanted Dominion}

Candy recovered from the blows Aeleus, Elenar and Leah had given him quickly and was grabbing at Leah's whip/blade, but wax interrupted by Celas's duel Ragnorak smashed into his hide. He grunted and readied himself to lunge at Celas, when Xion landed on him, her Keyblade cracking his carapace. Actually yelling in anger and pain, the Cybug reached around himself to grab at Xion, only to be hit by Noctis's first attack. Candy flailed wildly, trying to anticipate where Noctis would pop up, but without much luck.

Aeleus gave a rare smile.

"Keep him confused." He called out to the others. "Blitz the parasite."

He looked back at Elenar.

"Keep him charged."

The Savage Nymph smiled a little nastily and reached out a hand. Her daggers which were still stuck in Candy flared with energy and jolted the Cybug with a low electric shock, enough to be disorienting without endangering anyone touching Candy.

"I'll get you!" Candy roared, though to no one in particular.

Knowing that he wasn't on good ground, Candy went for the best option he could think of and reached back to grab Xion, hoping to get a hostage. Leah, wanting in on the action, twisted on her whip/blade, causing her to be drawn towards the Cybug. The end of the whip untangled from Candy's legs and her weapon reformed as a blade. She practically flew up to King Candy, readying her blade.

"Nope." She said as she smacked Candy in the face with her large blade, though only with the flat of her blade, much to her annoyance.

 

{Disney Castle: Holding Cell}

Locke glanced at the cell door, then nodded.

"I agree." He said. "We could use some bargaining chips with the loss of some of the Lights. We will need to see how many of Ienzo's old teammates he can recruit, as well, of we are going to start hunting for wielders in the worlds."

 

<"Oh, come on." The voice whined. "Just listening? Do something fun.">

 

 

{Disney Castle; Ship Tour}

"Oh, not a problem." Ienzo responded. "There should be an armory on this deck. With any luck, your sword might turn up there as well."

Ienzo waved a hand, causing the unconscious program to disappear then started leading Severa through the ship. Despite his previous request for a guide, he navigated the ship nearly perfectly, ending up in front of a door guarded by two programs.

"Councilman Ienzo, and agent, authorization alpha 5." He said.

The guards checked a pad, then parted. Ienzo opened the door and offered Severa to go ahead into the well stocked armory.

"Have fun." He said, smiling slightly.

"Now let's fight for real."The Prince said before many swords, lances and other weapons appeared in a blast of ice round him and he ran towards Candy. Celas on the other hand was about to follow Noctis when she put her hand on her chest and felt a slight pain.Thump Thump"What?" She thought. "Not now...It's too early!"Thump ThumpThe Dark Warrior ignored the pain and followed the Prince. Noctis was already near the cyber King, when his weapons flew towards his enemy, hitting him and disappearing, only to reappear once again and repeat the action."Do not bother trying to escape." Noctis said. "This will be your final resting place.""You made a big mistake when you choose to side with the Witch!" Celas said while she hurled her Keyblade at King Candy. "And that will be the reason of your fall!"

"Yo're right. Limited uses for the intel at this point..." Neena said, slightly exasperated. She worked a strand of hair around her finger, a gesture performed when she was thinking over something. Her eyes returned focus on Locke, and she spoke again. "But now the real question. What to do with the prisoner. I say we keep him around, who knows who good of a bargaining chip or tracker he could make." Neena continued, stating her opinion on the matter at hand.

~~~~~

 

{Twilight Town: Battleship Over Beach}

The program threw both his discs at once at the wall of light coming at him. They sliced through the light wall, bounced off a bulkhead and hit the wall again, creating a hole. He ran for it and dived through before it could close. With stunning acrobatics, he closed the distance between himself and Zion while dodging her projectiles. Once close enough, he slashed at her with a disc.

 

{Twilight Town: Beach}

Aqua kept using spells on the incoming Recognizers, till she realized Luna and Ghost were keeping enemies off her. She felt slow for not being able to deal with it herself. Maybe she still needed some time to recoup. The Recognizers were getting hit hard, one already invoking down with Lightning's Ruin spell and physical attacks. One was close enough to the beach that it opened its bay doors to drop more programs.

"Anybody know how long we have?" Aqua asked, preparing another Shotlock for the new enemy reinforcements.

 

{Disney Castle: Holding Cell}

Locke glanced at the cell door, then nodded.

"I agree." He said. "We could use some bargaining chips with the loss of some of the Lights. We will need to see how many of Ienzo's old teammates he can recruit, as well, of we are going to start hunting for wielders in the worlds."

 

<"Oh, come on." The voice whined. "Just listening? Do something fun.">

 

 

 

[Disney Castle: Holding cell]

 

Oh, come on. Just listening? Do something fun.

 

Nocturne visibly frowned as he tried to make sense of his subconscious thoughts. On one hand, escaping the holding cell was a top priority, but on the other hand, holding cells are usually placed deep within enemy territory, in this case being a floating ship. It was suicide to think about escaping, but he had to admit: being locked up was boring. Well, maybe just as boring as the patrols he would do back at Destiny Islands, but still... boring. Puckering his lips, he decided to ping the walls with his index finger to find something in particular. As he listened in to the acoustics, a rather peculiar sound caught his attention as a slight grin formed on his face. There's an empty spot behind this wall. I wonder... Despite the rather barren layout of the cell, the guardian made a mental facepalm when he realized that the acoustics of the wall indicated that there was a point of entry into something hollow right behind the bed. I only thought something this convenient only happened in movies, not in reality. Oh well. At least now I get to be all stealthy and sneaky like-... wait... stuff like this is what I normally do... Why am I being so stupid today?! He moved the bed aside, and as he suspected, there was a grate near the corner of the wall that was level with the ground. Eager to jump on the opportunity, he silently rushed back to the holding cell door and listened in to anything on the other side. He heard the interrogator's voice, but it sounded distant even through the door. Perfect.

 

After walking back to the grate, he gripped one of the slats and gently tugged on it. Surprisingly, the cover snapped off with relative ease as he examined the type of fastener for it: A sturdy piece of plastic dowel for both sides. Reattaching the grate should be a snap. He slip into the rectangular hole about halfway through, then reached for the bed as he pulled it back to its original position directly in front of the makeshift exit. Satisfied with how untouched the environment seemed, he re-secured the grate as it snapped back into place. Finally out of the cell, Nocturne quickly examined his new surroundings and quickly realized that it wasn't a ventilation system. The place was actually slightly more roomier than he had anticipated. As it turned out, it was a dark, very narrow corridor with varying pipes that snaked in every direction he could see. The only source of illumination was a very faint, almost muted red light that barely lit an intersecting hallway not too far from where he was at. Hmmm... Considering that they locked me up, I must be on one of their ships that was floating above Disney Castle... So then... This must be a maintenance shaft. Even better. Plenty of nooks and crannies to hide in if I have to. Now to find out where is out of here. Keeping his footsteps dead quiet and remaining in the shadows, he slowly made his way to the nearest intersection, hoping to find a directory that would point out a direct shaft access to wherever the control center of this massive vessel was...

 

 

 

[Twilight Town, Beachfront]

On the nearby rooftops, Kiwi had finally finished charging up enough if his magic to allow another rifle-cannon shot. Unfortunately for the scout, his readiness came too late as one of the Recognizers successfully managed to drop its payload. Slightly furious for his obvious failure of defense, he aimed at the hovering vehicle and was about to fire, that is until his leader interrupted him on radio. "It's too late, Kiwi" Sparrow addressed, "Don't waste it. Focus on the other airborne transports." He growled, then obeyed as he twisted his body in the direction of the other approaching Recognizers and aimed at it. "Mess with the best..." he grumbled, then pulled the trigger. Immediately, his vision was blinded by yet another searingly bright white beam of light as it screamed towards the Recognizer, completely obliterating the vehicle as the remains fell from the sky. Satisfied at the sight, he lowered his rifle and kneeled while trying to recover from the pain of yet another heart-linked offensive attack. "....Fall like the rest." 

 

Raven and Hawk saw the attack and smiled, then brought their focus back to the immediate situation. "Be advised," Sparrow's voice cackled through their radio, "enemy reinforcements have landed on the beach. Raven, Hawk, Freelance! Freelance!" The two faithful guards looked at one another, then to Aqua, then back again before nodding. While Hawk kept up with his support, the medic bolted back inside Zion's house and made a beeline to the staircase. After reaching the top, he dashed towards the balcony door, then dived towards it so he could slide into a sniping position just before the doorframe. His bipod already set and enough cover from the enemies below not to worry, Raven assumed sniping duties as he started picking off the approaching new wave of enemies...

 

Miraculously, Luna and Ghost were still managing to keep and maintain a safe area around Aqua despite the rather overwhelming odds. But it was obvious that the battle was dragging out longer than some had trained for as Luna started to show a little fatigue with her attacks. "Focus, Luna!" Ghost shouted while downing another program, "We're almost there! Keep it together!" Fortunately for them both, Hawk's precision with the rifle was a welcome relief as yet another volley of shots took out several of the nearby programs. He was yelling at the enemy, venting his fatigue as he reloaded his weapon. "Alright, who's next!? C'mon, next?!"

Edited May 30, 201411 yr by Javelin434

Neena nodded at Locke's words. He was correct of course. Hard to find a time when he wasn't. So calm and calculating, but not in the scheming way that Cid was. But in any case, she was glad he was on her side. "Alright. I will escort our visitor to a more premium cell, and you see if there are any special operations we could be on. I'm a bit anxious for some keyblade blood on my hands." Her words were anything but normal, but her tone could've fooled you. Neena clicked the keypad a few times, and the door opened before her. She walked in, and began to speak to the Guardian. "Now if you could..." Her voice trailed off as she realized something. Her prisoner was gone. She punched the wall in anger and cried out. How stupid was she! She had underestimated the resourcefulness of this Guardian. How frustrating. "Locke! We have a new concern. Put out a high alert. Our visitor is making himself a bit more comfortable than I intended him to be."

~~~~~

Severa smiled at Ienzo as she skipped into the armory. Oh, what a selection this Decolor had! She browsed the swords first. She did really like these. Always her first choice for a weapon. Unfortunately, her sword was no where to be found. But she had no attachment to it anyway, and there were more than enough weapons available here to make up for it. She grabbed a sword with a button affixed to the cross guard. She clicked it, and the blade lit on fire. She swung it. Well-balanced, sharp, and hot. Perfect. She grabbed the scabbard that came with it, and began to replace the one on her lower back. Realizing something, Severa turned rather red. She glanced towards Ienzo in the doorway. The wanderer snapped her fingers, and a curtain of flames became between the two. "Some privacy if you will." She said, trying to be calm and cool about almost changing in front of the boy, but her tone slipped a little. It had been a long time since she had been in the constant company of others, and a longer time since she had cared about other's opinions of her mannerisms. It felt... Strange to say the least.

 

-A Few Minutes Later-

The wall of flames, and Severa displayed herself proudly. She had switched from her suit of scrap armor into a much more complete suit of shining steel. On her lower back was the scabbard containing the flames sword she had picked out. Attached to her bracer was a detachable rapid-fire crossbow, that also folded back into the piece of armor. On her hip she had placed the holster to a gunblade, and on the other side of her body, a whip that froze the air around it. On the bracer opposite her crossbow arm was also a dagger that came past her hand similar to claws like a wolverine's. If needed, it would also slide back into the armor. And the last of her weapon selections, on her upper back was a foot-long rod that extended into a six-foot staff with blades on both ends. She smiled, and twirled around like a war-crazy ballerina. "How do you like me? Some alright choices?"

Neena nodded at Locke's words. He was correct of course. Hard to find a time when he wasn't. So calm and calculating, but not in the scheming way that Cid was. But in any case, she was glad he was on her side. "Alright. I will escort our visitor to a more premium cell, and you see if there are any special operations we could be on. I'm a bit anxious for some keyblade blood on my hands." Her words were anything but normal, but her tone could've fooled you. Neena clicked the keypad a few times, and the door opened before her. She walked in, and began to speak to the Guardian. "Now if you could..." Her voice trailed off as she realized something. Her prisoner was gone. She punched the wall in anger and cried out. How stupid was she! She had underestimated the resourcefulness of this Guardian. How frustrating. "Locke! We have a new concern. Put out a high alert. Our visitor is making himself a bit more comfortable than I intended him to be."

[Disney Castle, Decolor Ship: Maintenance access near holding cell]

 

Music if you wish...

 

 

http://youtu.be/M8x1sh0tSNo&autoplay=1

 

 

 

Seeing the dimly lit intersection of the maintenance access off to his left, Nocturne quietly made his way towards the only visible source of light. There were several other grates along the really narrow access, and now the fluorescent rays of light that peeked through the slats looked a little more hostile as he carefully approached each one and slowly peeked his eye into the rays to see out the grate. He saw that the access paralleled a hallway, which only made the newly liberated Guardian a little more anxious as he continued to crouch his way to the intersection. As he ducked under the third grate, several heavy footsteps echoed directly above and behind him, then got softer as whoever made the sound got further away. Must be the guards... Assume that they found out I was gone. Guards are now more alert and will be actively searching. Ok, stick to shadows and hidden corridors, find my rifle, and then bust myself outta here. Fortunately for him, the years of princess detection avoidance training was being helpful given the immediate situation as he made good time reaching the T-joint of the narrow confines while remaining deathly quiet. Well this is... different. The training helps but the environment... not so much. If I screw up on worlds, people will just give me a dirty look or think I'm weird. If I screw up just once here... game over...

 

When he finally reached the joint, the muted red light that illuminated the tiny area revealed arrows on the walls and labeling on the pipes that seemed to snake to unusual places. According to the labels, going left would bring him closer to the bridge, but the right would lead to the armory and general quarters of the ship. I'm not leaving without my gear he mentally remarked, missing his arrow-rifles and desperately wanting to be reunited with them once again. I got a feeling they'll keep it there. As he slowly crawled his way towards the supposed destination, the guardian could only silence his breathing and listen to the ambient noises on the other side of the grates, hoping that the noises would reveal some useful information and help him determine the alertness level of the ship, or maybe even hear how close his captors are to determining his exact location and re-capturing him again.

Edited May 30, 201411 yr by Javelin434

With practiced grace Zion dodged and blocked. She quickly snapped her feet up and did a viscous double kick to the program;s chest.

 

Outside, the massive gate was halfway out of the ocean. It was going slowly, but already charging.

 

 

Xion recovered, and on the heels of Leah's attack, launched her own. Keyblade aglow with blue white light, her speed increased tenfold; she was slashing and bashing the bug with everything she had, not giving him a moment to rest after Leah's strike. And after a minute of this, she rose to the air and dived, almost like Riku's teleport attack. Except every time to hit, a pillar of light slammed down upon the monster without mercy.

{Enchanted Dominion}

Aeleus didn't join in on the attack against the Cybug, instead watching the others attack with interest. They were proving to be quiet capable in battle, watching each others backs and almost seamlessly string attacks together. The Silent Hero found himself missing the days when things seemed simple enough to think that team work and devotion were enough.

Elenar fumed slightly as the pounding Candy was taking knocked lose her daggers. Summoning another batch, the Savage Nymph prepared to join in the up close fight. A moment later, she was stumbling against some debris, a hand to her head, trying to stop the dizzy sensation she was feeling.

King Candy flailed about, trying to catch one of his opponents, but just when he was about to close in on one, another hit him hard.

"No!" He yelled. "This isn't how it is suppose to be! The doctor said i would be stronger!"

Leah jumped up to bring her heavy blade down on the bug, but Candy's luck changed. He managed to grab her and throw her at Xion, getting both Wielders off him. With cracks in his carapace and Noctis still teleporting around him, Candy made a break for the interior of the castle.

"After him!" Aeleus shouted, but stopped as he noticed Elenar's condition.

She waved waved for him to go on and straightened up. She wasn't going to let some dizziness keep her from a fight. The Silent Hero Nodded and ran after Candy.

 

{Twilight Town; Beach}

Thanks to the Guardians' cover fire, most of the Recognizers were forced or shot down before they got too close to the beach. Aqua unleashed a Bubbleblaster Shotlock, hitting some of the advancing programs. While a little unhappy with the arrangement, Aqua was none the less thankful for Luna and Ghost acting as sentries for her. After her Shotlock was done, she joined Luna and Ghost in a melee against the programs already on the beach, seeing that any Recognizers or other vehicles that tried to close in would be taken care of by Lightning or the Fireteam.

The Blue haired master glanced back to see the gate rising.

"We are going good, keep it up!" She yelled to the others.

A building a little rather inland was hit by a wild tank shot. It confirmed Aqua's fear that more ground armor was in coming.

"Can we get a shield around the gate?" She asked as she used a barrier to block a program's staff before slashing through him with her Keyblade.

 

{Twilight Town; Battleship Over Beach}

The Program went flying from Zion's kick, but managed to twist in the air and land on his feet, using a hand to steady himself. The helmeted face looked up at Zion as his let out another mechanical growl. He then tilted his head as if listening to something, then sprang into action again. He threw his discs at key structural points, caps using the chamber he and Zion were in to start to calliopes around her. As a hole formed to the outside, the Program jumped through, starting a free fall to the beach.

 

{Disney Castle: Holding Cells}

Locke nodded his agreement with Neena, then started to head for his office, where he could ascertain where the next mission should take place. He was half way down the hall when Neena called out that the prisoner had escaped. His arm blurred as he slammed a fist into a control panel to sound a general alarm. He stood still for a moment to think of possible escape routes and objectives for the Guardian as an alarm klaxon sounded through the ship.

"I am going to the hanger, make sure he doesn't take a ship!" He shouted to Neena. "See if you can track him!"

A moment later, the older man was sprinting through the ship, holding his cane carefully in one hand, making for the hanger.

 

{Disney Castle: Ship Armory}

Ienzo smiled slightly at Severa's privacy measures. He hadn't really dealt with a situation like this as he was either too young or too Nobody to care that much about modesty between girls and boys. Still, there was a proper way to do things. The Cloaked Schemer turned his back to Severa and summoned his book, taking a moment to make some new calculations.

When he felt the wall of flames disappear, he turned to see Severa's new outfit.

"Well, I would say overkill," Ienzo said, chuckling slightly, " but in this situation, that might not exist."

The general alarm was pipped into the armory from a little box by the door. Ienzo frowned and put his book away.

"I should have told him to stay out." He muttered, as he came to a conclusion for the alarm. "Come on, Severa. Let's see if we can intercept Nocturne before the others can."

With a quick look out of the door out of the armory, Ienzo sniffed the air. He took on a puzzled look then sniffed again. He turned back into the armory and walked over to the grate for the air system.

"Cody?" He asked the grate quietly.

With his weapons floating behind him Noctis ran in Candy's direction."You're not going anywhere." He said before looking at his dark partner. "Are you alright?"Celas's Keyblade came back to her hand in the form of black mist before she pointed in front of her and looked at the ground. The Prince understood this as a sign to go after their enemy.The Dark Warrior was about to follow when the pain in her chest came back stronger than last time and she fell to her knees in a coughing fit.Thump Thump"...I'm not done..." She thought. "...not by a long shot..."Thump ThumpCelas used her free hand to stand up and, without her knowledge, left a bloody print of her hand on the ground. Giving Elenar one last look she ran to catch up with the Prince and the Silent Hero. Noctis was following close to the former Nobody while using his weapons in an attempt to slow down the cyber king."Why run from the inevitable?" He asked as his multiple weapons were thrown at the King. "No matter what this "Doctor" told you, you will be exterminated!"

With practiced grace Zion dodged and blocked. She quickly snapped her feet up and did a viscous double kick to the program;s chest.

 

Outside, the massive gate was halfway out of the ocean. It was going slowly, but already charging.

 

 

Xion recovered, and on the heels of Leah's attack, launched her own. Keyblade aglow with blue white light, her speed increased tenfold; she was slashing and bashing the bug with everything she had, not giving him a moment to rest after Leah's strike. And after a minute of this, she rose to the air and dived, almost like Riku's teleport attack. Except every time to hit, a pillar of light slammed down upon the monster without mercy.

 

 

{Twilight Town; Beach}

Thanks to the Guardians' cover fire, most of the Recognizers were forced or shot down before they got too close to the beach. Aqua unleashed a Bubbleblaster Shotlock, hitting some of the advancing programs. While a little unhappy with the arrangement, Aqua was none the less thankful for Luna and Ghost acting as sentries for her. After her Shotlock was done, she joined Luna and Ghost in a melee against the programs already on the beach, seeing that any Recognizers or other vehicles that tried to close in would be taken care of by Lightning or the Fireteam.

The Blue haired master glanced back to see the gate rising.

"We are going good, keep it up!" She yelled to the others.

A building a little rather inland was hit by a wild tank shot. It confirmed Aqua's fear that more ground armor was in coming.

"Can we get a shield around the gate?" She asked as she used a barrier to block a program's staff before slashing through him with her Keyblade.

 

{Twilight Town; Battleship Over Beach}

The Program went flying from Zion's kick, but managed to twist in the air and land on his feet, using a hand to steady himself. The helmeted face looked up at Zion as his let out another mechanical growl. He then tilted his head as if listening to something, then sprang into action again. He threw his discs at key structural points, caps using the chamber he and Zion were in to start to calliopes around her. As a hole formed to the outside, the Program jumped through, starting a free fall to the beach.

 

{Disney Castle: Holding Cells}

Locke nodded his agreement with Neena, then started to head for his office, where he could ascertain where the next mission should take place. He was half way down the hall when Neena called out that the prisoner had escaped. His arm blurred as he slammed a fist into a control panel to sound a general alarm. He stood still for a moment to think of possible escape routes and objectives for the Guardian as an alarm klaxon sounded through the ship.

"I am going to the hanger, make sure he doesn't take a ship!" He shouted to Neena. "See if you can track him!"

A moment later, the older man was sprinting through the ship, holding his cane carefully in one hand, making for the hanger.

 

{Disney Castle: Ship Armory}

Ienzo smiled slightly at Severa's privacy measures. He hadn't really dealt with a situation like this as he was either too young or too Nobody to care that much about modesty between girls and boys. Still, there was a proper way to do things. The Cloaked Schemer turned his back to Severa and summoned his book, taking a moment to make some new calculations.

When he felt the wall of flames disappear, he turned to see Severa's new outfit.

"Well, I would say overkill," Ienzo said, chuckling slightly, " but in this situation, that might not exist."

The general alarm was pipped into the armory from a little box by the door. Ienzo frowned and put his book away.

"I should have told him to stay out." He muttered, as he came to a conclusion for the alarm. "Come on, Severa. Let's see if we can intercept Nocturne before the others can."

With a quick look out of the door out of the armory, Ienzo sniffed the air. He took on a puzzled look then sniffed again. He turned back into the armory and walked over to the grate for the air system.

"Cody?" He asked the grate quietly.

[Decolor Ship above Disney Castle.]

 

Still within the narrow confines of a maintenance access, Nocturne heard voices and a burning smell coming from a grate that was embedded into a wall in front of him. His footsteps were deathly quiet as he carefully approached the opening and kneeled right beside it and pressed his body against the wall off to its side. He heard a conversation between a boy and a girl, and one of the voice was rather familiar to him.

 

"How do you like me? Some alright choices?"

"Well, I would say overkill, but in this situation, that might not exist."

A gentle beep was audible to the eavesdropping Guardian despite his relative location. "I should have told him to stay out. Come on, Severa. Let's see if we can intercept Nocturne before the others can."

 

He exhaled quietly upon hearing the last statement and gritted his teeth. So... the girl's name is Severa. ​Wanting to confirm his suspicions, the guardian very carefully peeked through the grate just enough to see who the other voice was before quickly retreating his head back into the shadows. Ienzo... Fortunately for him, the schemer wasn't looking directly at him when he peeked through. He doesn't know I'm here... So... What are you doing here, Ienzo? Whose side are you really on?

 

Suddenly, everything became silent as the ventilation system shut itself down. With the barely audible drone of the machinery now gone, the stakes were now higher than ever as the guardian remained quiet and still. His ears twitched trying to hear something, anything other than the eerie stillness that had now befallen him. Through the stillness, he heard the sound of skin rubbing against some fabric, and then another moment of silence. "Cody?"His heart skipped a beat for a moment as the person in question froze behind his supposed sanctuary in the shadows. He decided to remain quiet, desperately trying to figure out the schemer's alliance while waiting to see what he would do next...

 

[Twilight Town, Beachfront]

 

With the portal already surfacing and starting its charge, leader Sparrow grinned as he radioed the rest of his squads. "Keep it up, boys. The portal has breached the surface and is charging up. Looks like our work is almost over." Raven and Hawk acknowledged by clicking their radio button three times, but the silence from Kiwi was rather worrisome. He glanced over to the rooftop where the scout was standing not too long ago and saw no one. Uh oh... Feeling a tug from his heart, the leader forsaked his role of overwatch and hopped via rooftops to Kiwi's the last known location. Upon arriving, Sparrow was shocked to see the scout lying crumpled on the floor, barely whimpering and rocking a little to the side. "Kiwi!"

"Oi," the scout weakly replied back, "quit yelling, would ya?"

"I warned you about that cannon-shot."

"Sshhhhhhh... don't remind me."

As Sparrow kneeled over Kiwi and started healing, he promptly reached for the radio. "Sparrow to others, Kiwi is downed..."

 

"Everybody duck!" Hawk yelled to every friendly in the area as he spotted Aqua just about to use her signature attack. Luna and Ghost immediately obeyed as they threw themselves to the hard and sandy pavement under them. Almost immediately afterwards, several giant bubbles zoomed over the girls heads, one of them nicking Ghost's ponytail as they raced towards their targets. Right after the last volley zoomed past, the two girls were back on their feet and were ready to continue their support, only to figure out that it just might no longer be necessary. "We are going good, keep it up!" they heard the master yell. The two girls nodded, walking forward to establish a new perimeter around the master and continuing their support.

 

"Raven to Sparrow, roger."

The hard, sharp, and solid recoil of the arrow-sniper solidly impacting his shoulder was a rather odd sensation to the medic as he continued to support master Aqua below. Everything was going smoothly as far as he could tell; Luna and Ghost are moving forward to secure the new grounds, Hawk wasn't cursing yet, and the portal looks just about ready to do whatever Zion said it would do. It feels weird... having everything go smoothly. Maybe this will be the first tim-

"Can we get a shield around the gate?" the medic-turned-sniper heard their master ask from below. Perplexed at the question, it didn't take long for him to notice a rising plume of dust off in the distance. Well... That can't be good. "We’re on it, ma'am!" He shouted in response, "Hawk! Get up here!" The rifleman responded by firing off one last shot at a nearby program, then immediately retreated to the safe point of Raven’s little hideout. “So, whatcha need?”

“Send the shield. I’ll support.”

Hawk nodded as he secured his trusted weapon and summoned his keyblade. “Like old times, huh?” The two men giggled, then got serious again as he pointed his magical weapon at the distant portal. The tip of his keyblade lit up, then shot a brilliant green laser tinged with an aura of red as the directed magic sought its target.

 

As the bright green trail of light neared the portal, the tip of the beam suddenly dispersed. Slowly, a faint, honeycomb-like pattern started to encase Zion's portal as the defensive shield was established. But in order for it to remain effective, Hawk had to really focus to maintain the beam of light and thus had to stand his ground. With their lead rifleman continuously firing off a laser that can easily be traced back to him, Sparrow trying to wake up Kiwi, and an ominous omen getting ever closer to them, it didn't take long for Raven to realize that the squad was in a really tight bind. Lets hope that portal opens up in time. C'mon guys, we're almost there...

Overkill? Pssh, this was nothing. She was just evening the odds a little bit. She watched Ienzo head over to the grate, and ask it something. That was a little odd, but if Ienzo was doing something, their must be good reasoning behind it. Severa walked towards the vent herself, and lightly pushed the Schemer out of the way. She extended her wrist blade, and stuck it between the grate and the wall. She pried, and a screw came loose. Rinse and repeat, until the final screw came out, and the grate cover clattered to the ground. She peeked into the shaft, and found that Ienzo was right. There was someone inside. Severa quickly spawned a wall of flames behind the man, blocking off his escape route. "Your decision Ienzo." She said, backing away from the shaft.

{Enchanted Dominion}

Elenar shook her head one more time, finally clearing the dizziness that attacked her. Maybe the old man had been right and she should have taken it easy. The Savage Nymph took a few steps, then stopped dead. Her breath caught inher throat as she saw the bloody handprint left behind by Celas.

"No." Elenar breathed. "Not you too."

With that, she took off after her friend.

King Candy scurried into the castle and down its halls as fast as his legs could carry him. Noctis's attacks were making it hard for the Cybug to get a reasonable lead on his pursuers. Fear showed in Candy's eyes as he looked back to see Noctis, Aeleus and Celas almost directly behind him. The lab. He needed to get to the lab. Sometimes using the walls to run on, Candy ran through maze like system of corridors, till he finally saw the archway to the Doctor's lab. There had to be something there to boost him.

Aeleus slowed down upon seeing King Candy's prize and threw his tomahawk. It whizzed by the Cybug and smashed into the arch, collapsing the entrance.

"No!" Candy cried, but didn't stop.

A new, more desperate plan took hold of his mind and he pressed on past the collapsed lab.

"Keep going." Aeleus told Noctis and Celas as he stopped off to retrieve his weapon.

After another turn, King Candy was found trying to break down a metal door with heavy bars and locks on it.

 

{Disney Castle: Armory}

Ienzo was about to speak again when Severa stepped in. He sighed when he felt magic stir up for Severa's wall of flame.

"Pardon my colleague's enthusiasm, Cody." Ienzo said dryly. "If you want to stay in the vent, that is fine."

He waved a hand at Severa, trying to get her to dispell her wall of flame.

"I understand if your wary of me, but we at least need to talk."

Doing some reasoning, The Cloaked Schemer glanced around, spotting a satchel in a locked cage. He stood up and walked over to the cage. In an instant, Ienzo was holding a copy of the Kingdom Key Keyblade. He gently tapped the lock on the cage. Nothing happened.

"Oh well." He said, then cleaved through the lock with his replica.

Letting the replica fade, the Schemer reached in and pulled out the satchel. Giving its contense a look as he returned to the vent, Ienzo carefully place the satchel inside.

"I believe that is your equipment." He said into the vent. "Call it a peace offering."

 

{Twilight Town: Beach}

Aqua jerked around when she heard someone was down. She caught sight of Sparrow up on the roof.

"Wasn't there another up there?" She thought. "Kiwi, wasn't it?"

"Can I help with the man down?" She called out, hoping one of the Guardians knew the answer.

She spun around a blasted a closing program full in the chest with a shard of ice.

Noctis was the first one to see Candy trying to break down a metal door before he launched his weapons at the cyber king."Not so fast!" He yelled. "Whatever you're trying to achieve will fail."The Dark Warrior, once in place, pointed her Keyblade and summoned chains of Darkness that wrapped around Candy to stop him from further damaging the door."What are you trying to find?" She asked before smiling. "It's useless! Whatever it is or whatever you do...you will die..."Celas' eyes glowed in a faint gold light for a split second before channeling thunder magic through the dark chains in an attempt to stun Candy, another one of the chains was touching the metal door and fusing it with electric power that would hurt the King with every physical attack he gave to the door.

Overkill? Pssh, this was nothing. She was just evening the odds a little bit. She watched Ienzo head over to the grate, and ask it something. That was a little odd, but if Ienzo was doing something, their must be good reasoning behind it. Severa walked towards the vent herself, and lightly pushed the Schemer out of the way. She extended her wrist blade, and stuck it between the grate and the wall. She pried, and a screw came loose. Rinse and repeat, until the final screw came out, and the grate cover clattered to the ground. She peeked into the shaft, and found that Ienzo was right. There was someone inside. Severa quickly spawned a wall of flames behind the man, blocking off his escape route. "Your decision Ienzo." She said, backing away from the shaft.

 

{Disney Castle: Armory}Ienzo was about to speak again when Severa stepped in. He sighed when he felt magic stir up for Severa's wall of flame."Pardon my colleague's enthusiasm, Cody." Ienzo said dryly. "If you want to stay in the vent, that is fine."He waved a hand at Severa, trying to get her to dispell her wall of flame."I understand if your wary of me, but we at least need to talk."Doing some reasoning, The Cloaked Schemer glanced around, spotting a satchel in a locked cage. He stood up and walked over to the cage. In an instant, Ienzo was holding a copy of the Kingdom Key Keyblade. He gently tapped the lock on the cage. Nothing happened."Oh well." He said, then cleaved through the lock with his replica.Letting the replica fade, the Schemer reached in and pulled out the satchel. Giving its contense a look as he returned to the vent, Ienzo carefully place the satchel inside."I believe that is your equipment." He said into the vent. "Call it a peace offering."{Twilight Town: Beach}Aqua jerked around when she heard someone was down. She caught sight of Sparrow up on the roof."Wasn't there another up there?" She thought. "Kiwi, wasn't it?""Can I help with the man down?" She called out, hoping one of the Guardians knew the answer.She spun around a blasted a closing program full in the chest with a shard of ice.

[Decolor Ship]

 

Still within the confines of the maintenance access, Nocturne tried to think of his options as he heard footsteps coming closer to his shadowy sanctuary. No point trying to run away. I've already been detected. Unsure of Ienzo or Severa's intention, he decided to call upon his keyblade and readied himself for a pre-emptive strike as he held the weapon high above his head, with his arm poised like a scorpion's tail ready to strike as he stood there and watched the screws of the vent cover become loose. As the cover was removed, he gripped his weapon a little tighter and waited until whoever the perpetrator was peeked their head inside. Just before swinging the weapon down on the girl, her red hair made the guardian hesitate for a moment, but that was all the girl needed as she immediately conjured up a wall of fire between him and the only escape route. Wh-... why did I hesitate? She looked at him; Her red eyes seeming to have touched the guardian at some fundamental level as he stood there with his weapon, speechless and... breathless? "Your decision Ienzo." he heard her say as she backed her head out to the other side. Ienzo was quick to explain her actions. "Pardon my colleague's enthusiasm, Cody. If you want to stay in the vent, that is fine." But with the wall of fire still there, the only realistic option he had left was the vent opening. 

 

"I understand if your wary of me, but we at least need to talk." The guardian quietly growled, cursing the unspoken chivalry that accompanies anyone with a keyblade as he saw a package being slipped through. "I believe that is your equipment. Call it a peace offering." Wanting to make sure, he promptly reached for the package and opened it up. Sure enough, the unmistakable glint of his sub-rifles gleamed through the rather dimly lit access, and for once the guardian was finally at ease. After re-securing his weapons on his sides, peeking out the vent to see if the room was clear and weighing his options, he reluctantly decided to accept Ienzo's offer as he quietly slipped out of the access and back into the main area of the ship. He looked at Severa, then back to Ienzo. "You haven't attacked me, and your colleague hasn't offed me yet. So... what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

 

[Meanwhile... back at Zion's Estate on Twilight Town]

 

Upon hearing Aqua's question, Raven was yelling over the rather loud and obvious beam of light that Hawk was dutifully maintaining. "Uh... Don't worry about him!" As the master whirled around to combat yet another program, the medic once again rendered his assistance to her as he fired off another shot towards a nearby program. "Focus on yourself first! Don't worry about us!" It was then that he heard Sparrow's voice over his earpiece. "Raven, get over to my location and patch up Kiwi. I'll take your place next to Hawk." Relieved at the change of roles, he happily complied and started making his way towards their downed scout. Hopping rooftop to rooftop, both Raven and Sparrow met each other midway and gave each other a high-five before resuming their change of positions. They were quick and efficient, and it wasn't long until the two men were in their new positions. 

 

Arriving at Kiwi's spot, Raven chuckled and sighed as he kneeled next to their downed man. "You gotta be more careful, mate. You know what they say: you can use some of your heart some of the time..."

"I know..." Kiwi weakly replied, "Just... help me back up, please. I don't want to miss the finale." The medic smiled, and promptly got to work. Hovering his hands above their scout, a faint green aura started to envelope the downed man as the healing magic started to take its form.

 

Luna and Ghost were trying their best to keep a secure area around the master, but it was apparent that fatigue was really starting to take its toll as Aqua slashed at a program that managed to slip between their defenses. Luna was barely hanging on at that point as he attacks got exponentially weaker, an alarming condition that Sparrow noticed as he decided to jump off the balcony of Zion's house so he could help. Whatever happened to to 'one guardian was enough for whatever darkness decides to throw at them?' What's with this girl? The thought gave him an idea as he shouted to the timid protector. "C'mon, Luna! You're a Guardian! This should be a cake walk for you!" The girl responded by taking several steps back from the battlefront so she could catch her breath, but the words of tedious confidence seemed to have backfired as he saw the girl crying through gritted teeth. Oops... I didn't mean to make her sad. Ghost meanwhile was picking up the slack as Luna rested, obviously frustrated at the girl and yet still managing to remain effective in her attacks despite the prolonged battle. Now at the scene, the leader of Nightwing Squad was ready to assist the ground effort with an arrow-rifle in one hand and his keyblade in the other. Ghost barely acknowledged his presence as she went after another program. "Glad to have you with us. We needed the help." 

The ate broke free and was high in the sky. As shots crashed against it, finally it flickered. The center tinged blue, then flared.

"Ten seconds!" Lighting shouted. "Just ten more seconds!"

 

Zion shot through the hole and didn't freefall.

 

She rocketed down and tackled the program. Wrapping her wings around him she fired her Albion Strike point blank range and sped downwards, aiming to slam into the ground. For Zion...she wouldn't really get hurt. She's crazy like that.

{Enchanted Dominion}

King Candy saw Noctis coming and reacted by twisting himself as best he could in the tight he was in, to dodge the launched weapons. He yelled out in pain as a few thudded against him, but most missed him and imbedded in the door.

"P-p-perfect." The Cybug studdered and reached out to use Noctis's blades to slice the door open.

He was inturpted by Celas's Dark Chains, which snaked around him and bound him. He shrieked as he was hit by Thinder magic through the chains.

"I don't think so, dear." King Candy replied at last to Celas. "What ever was inside here was powerful enough for Maleficent and Cid to lock away. Which means its gonna make me strong enough to kill you!"

He threw himself back and into the door. He yelled as another bout of Thunder magic courced through him, but his body weight plus previous damage dealt to the door caused it to buckle and crash in word. Still being shocked by Celas's enchantment, Candy barely managed to roll of the door in time to save himself. He lay on the ground panting.

"Celas!" Elenar yelled, running up behind Celas and Noctis. "Are you alright? I saw the bl-...what is that?"

The "that" Elenar was referring to was the object in the direct center of the room beyond the broken metal door. It was a large glass tube that extended from floor to ceiling, with cords and pipes coming in and out of its top and base, connecting to tanks and computer displays. Inside the tube floated a girl. From body size, she looked to be in her early teens. She wore a skin tight jump suit that some of the wires connected to. Over the suit was a straight jacket that bound the girl's arms firmly. Over her face was a tranlusent breath mask, the straps of which held her multicolored hair away from her face. As one looked closer, even with the mask on, it was easy to see that this girl was a spitting image double of Xion.

At the base of the tube this girl floated in was a plaque with this inscription: "Project Lacuna." Taped to it was a sigh which said one word.

"Unstable."

 

{Disney Castle; Ship Armory}

"First of all, how are you?" Ienzo asked politely. "Neena has a rough reputation, and Locke likes to make sure his prisoners can't cause trouble. I might be able to find a potion, if you need one. Secondly, I need to know what you've told them."

 

"Ho, ho." The voice in Nocturne's mind said. "I figured he was working multiple angles. I've always like this guy. Play along. Knowing what he knows can only strengthen your position.

 

 

{Twilight Town; Beach}

"Easier said then done." Aqua murmured to herself after Raven's reply.

She had been worrying about people since the day she became a master. Still, she took Raven's advice and kept working on keeping the beach clear. She glanced over at Luna, as the girl backed out of the fight.

"Luna!" She called out as she lunged at a program, bypassing his defenses and skewering him. "We need you. Your friend my be lost for now, but we will find him! Please, believe me!"

The program flipped around impossibly fast midair, bringing his discs up to block the point blank throw.

"Predictable." The program rasped.

He then put all his strength into slamming one of Zion's wings, causing her to roll half way under him. He hit the wing again, causing the wings to part briefly. In that instant, the program threw one of his discs out, directly at Hawk. Both He and Zion hit the ground a second later, causing a spray of sand explode out. Coughing, Aqua stumbled over to them.

"Zion?" She called.

The program appeared to already be recovering, as it was in the process of flipping up.

With a flash Zion dropkicked the program right in the face without giving him a chance to let the dust settle.

"JUST LOSE YOU JERK!" She shouted, twisting to unleash Albion Strike again. "Just die!"

 

That was when flashes of light erupted and filled the sky. The gate spat these lights out, and they faded to show warships. Of all shapes and sizes, bristling with armarments, the fleet opened up on the Recognizers, ripping them apart. One of the smaller frigates made a pass on the beach, missiles ripping apart the ENCOM troops. It settled to a hover over the cabin, laser beams lancing into tanks.

"This is the Avalon Flagship Yggdrasil to all surviving allied forces. Avalon Navy Third Assault Fleet has entered Twilight Town airspace and deploying troops. Reinforcements ten seconds to ground, and air support has arrived. The cavalry's arrived - let's take back Twilight Town."

 

Fights streaked by and headed for the ENCOM battleships currently in the air. Soon explosions dotted the skies as Avalon engaged the enemy.

 

Xion, recovering her breath and magic, charged at Candy...then stopped.

She looked upon Lacuna with some measure of fear.

The Void Witch.

"It can't be. It can't."

 

Xion backed away fearfully. She wasn't strong enough without Zion. Not against the monster in that tank.

Noctis took the chance once Candy was on the floor to cast an ice spell, creating a sphere and trapping Candy inside of it."Stay there." Noctis said. "Any attempt of struggle will end up with you being frozen to death."Celas knew what Elenar was going to ask, but choose to ignore it. Perhaps that way the pain in her chest would go away. Instead, the Dark Warrior slowly walked towards the large glass tube, she also noticed how Xion backed away fearfully after the replica noticed the Void Witch."She wasn't lying" She muttered. "It was true that there was another version of herself in this dimension."The young Wielder noticed an inscription in a plaque and moved closer to read it."Project Lacuna...Unstable?" She said before looking at the girl inside the tube. "Who and what are you?"Noctis saw Celas' behavior change and walked towards her."Do you know her?" He asked. "A friend of yours? We could free her and take her back once we are done here."The silver haired girl looked at the Prince with a troubled look on her face. For the first time in a long time she didn't knew what to do."She is neither friend or foe of mine." Celas said. "Although we had to fight another version of her who came from another reality."At this the Prince raised an eyebrow."Yeah...I don't get it myself. I don't know what we should do with her...perhaps...there is hope for this one."

Severa snapped her fingers. The wall of flames dissipated. She wasn't sure what Ienzo was doing, but she had to trust him. He was way smarter than her anyway. Then she heard loud footsteps outside the room. Oh no. This was not good. Neena was coming. Severa whispered in Ienzo's ear. "Be done with him quick, I'm not sure how long I can keep Neena busy." Severa rushed to the door, reaching it at the same time as Neena. The Scorned Ranger tried to push Severa out of the way, but Severa stood her ground, and put on a face of distaste. "Why'd you just push me?" The Wanderer asked Neena. Neena sighed angrily.

"Because I need to get in there. I tracked his light, and it led straight here." Neena said, steaming mad. Severa shook her head.

"Sorry, but he's not here. It was a false trail. Ienzo is trying to back trace it to the source, but he needs some quiet. Neena looked over Severa's shoulder, and aught sight of Ienzo standing at the vent. Neena nodded agreeably.

"Then let's go elsewhere. There's no way he made it off the ship." Neena replied, leaving the doorway, and turning right down the hallway. Severa also stepped out the door, but glanced back to Ienzo, and mouthed, "Hurry!" Then turned left down the hallway, pretending to search for Nocturne.

{Disney Castle; Ship Armory}

"First of all, how are you?" Ienzo asked politely. "Neena has a rough reputation, and Locke likes to make sure his prisoners can't cause trouble. I might be able to find a potion, if you need one. Secondly, I need to know what you've told them."

 

"Ho, ho." The voice in Nocturne's mind said. "I figured he was working multiple angles. I've always like this guy. Play along. Knowing what he knows can only strengthen your position.

 

 

{Twilight Town; Beach}

"Easier said then done." Aqua murmured to herself after Raven's reply.

She had been worrying about people since the day she became a master. Still, she took Raven's advice and kept working on keeping the beach clear. She glanced over at Luna, as the girl backed out of the fight.

"Luna!" She called out as she lunged at a program, bypassing his defenses and skewering him. "We need you. Your friend my be lost for now, but we will find him! Please, believe me!"

The program flipped around impossibly fast midair, bringing his discs up to block the point blank throw.

"Predictable." The program rasped.

He then put all his strength into slamming one of Zion's wings, causing her to roll half way under him. He hit the wing again, causing the wings to part briefly. In that instant, the program threw one of his discs out, directly at Hawk. Both He and Zion hit the ground a second later, causing a spray of sand explode out. Coughing, Aqua stumbled over to them.

"Zion?" She called.

The program appeared to already be recovering, as it was in the process of flipping up.

 

 

With a flash Zion dropkicked the program right in the face without giving him a chance to let the dust settle.

"JUST LOSE YOU JERK!" She shouted, twisting to unleash Albion Strike again. "Just die!"

 

That was when flashes of light erupted and filled the sky. The gate spat these lights out, and they faded to show warships. Of all shapes and sizes, bristling with armarments, the fleet opened up on the Recognizers, ripping them apart. One of the smaller frigates made a pass on the beach, missiles ripping apart the ENCOM troops. It settled to a hover over the cabin, laser beams lancing into tanks.

"This is the Avalon Flagship Yggdrasil to all surviving allied forces. Avalon Navy Third Assault Fleet has entered Twilight Town airspace and deploying troops. Reinforcements ten seconds to ground, and air support has arrived. The cavalry's arrived - let's take back Twilight Town."

 

Severa snapped her fingers. The wall of flames dissipated. She wasn't sure what Ienzo was doing, but she had to trust him. He was way smarter than her anyway. Then she heard loud footsteps outside the room. Oh no. This was not good. Neena was coming. Severa whispered in Ienzo's ear. "Be done with him quick, I'm not sure how long I can keep Neena busy." Severa rushed to the door, reaching it at the same time as Neena. The Scorned Ranger tried to push Severa out of the way, but Severa stood her ground, and put on a face of distaste. "Why'd you just push me?" The Wanderer asked Neena. Neena sighed angrily.

"Because I need to get in there. I tracked his light, and it led straight here." Neena said, steaming mad. Severa shook her head.

"Sorry, but he's not here. It was a false trail. Ienzo is trying to back trace it to the source, but he needs some quiet. Neena looked over Severa's shoulder, and aught sight of Ienzo standing at the vent. Neena nodded agreeably.

"Then let's go elsewhere. There's no way he made it off the ship." Neena replied, leaving the doorway, and turning right down the hallway. Severa also stepped out the door, but glanced back to Ienzo, and mouthed, "Hurry!" Then turned left down the hallway, pretending to search for Nocturne.

[Decolor Ship, DIsney Castle]

 

Nocturne's gaze was cold and distant as he stared at Ienzo, unsure what to make of the cloaked schemer's question. Fortunately for him, the ever helpful voice in his head managed to sedate whatever doubts he had. Know what he knows... I don't think it's gonna be that simple. How am I gonna extract information out of him? "I wouldn't know how to answer that," he started, "I guess I'm a little banged up... And the interrogator was a little unfriendly to say the least..."

"Neena has a rough reputation, and Locke likes to make sure his prisoners can't cause trouble. I might be able to find a potion, if you need one. Secondly, I need to know what you've told them."

"So that's her name... I've only disclosed the general name of my organization, and went as generic as possible with the descriptions. I've told her that our purpose in the organization is to serve as the last line of defense for the light, that we train for everything that can be useful to combat dark forces, and that we aren't given the title of Guardian until we absolutely excel at it. I've also told her we use keyblades." Now analyzing how the interrogator could interpret the information, Cody decided to ask a question of his own. "So, Ienzo. What's your reason as to why you're here?"

 

​It was then that Severa whispered something to the schemer, then bolted towards the door. Expecting the worst, the captive guardian moved off to the side of the room, away from sight from anyone on the other side. He listened in to the conversation, confirming his suspicions. Stand and fight, or continue with evasion? She can... She can track my light?! How am I supposed to counter that?! He stayed quiet until he heard the captors went away, leaving the two alone. Severa... Unknown alignment, but she just bought me some valuable time. I wonder what's her story? With the imminent crisis now over, the stoic guardian once again returned his attention to the schemer. "Whenever you're ready, Ienzo. I really don't want to start a fight in here."

 

[Meanwhile, back in Twilight Town...]

 

As Zion's fleet emerged from the portal, Sparrow looked back towards Hawk, and nodded. "We're finished with our objective" the leader reassured his companion over the radio, "All you have to do is fall. We're all here to support you." Seeing the warships manifesting, the rifleman finally stopped the rather obvious beam of light emanating from his keyblade towards the portal as he call away his weapon. He took a couple steps forward, but stumbled with every step. "I'll move..." his voice was getting weaker with every second over the radio, and in that very instant, a program disc landed a solid blow on the faithful rifleman's head. Hawk doubled over, collapsing onto the balcony floor without even trying to catch himself. He stretched his left arm toward the edge of the balcony, trying to continue his oath of support, but his efforts were in vain as his body fell limp. One last sigh, and Hawk was effectively downed for the fight. Upon hearing a thud coming from behind, Sparrow looked back and up towards the overhanging balcony, only to see no one there. "Hawk is downed" he addressed over the radio, "but it was worth it. Patch him up whenever you get the chance, Raven."

 

 

Raven had just finished healing Kiwi, and it wasn't long before their bubbly scout was back in action and contributing to the battle. "Yay! Just in time for the after-party!" The medic chuckled, then radioed his leader with the good news. "Raven here. Kiwi's back."

Funny enough, Sparrow's voice sounded more annoyed than relieved as he acknowledged. "Great... Nah I'm joking! I love that kid! Now get back to Hawk!" The medic acknowledged the new orders, and once again hopped to his new location via rooftops. Arriving back to the balcony, the medic was a little horrified to see Hawk's crumpled body on the floor, but shook off the feelings as he promptly got to work getting their rifleman back into fighting condition...

 

Luna and Ghost were managing their roles rather well, and with Sparrow on the ground with them, the two girls could finally relax for a bit as the old guard started to prove his worth to the others. It was a mesmerizing spectacle, watching the guard using both a rifle and a keyblade in his attacks, essentially taking out two programs with every move. He glanced over to the master out of habit, and saw a program recovering a little too fast for his tastes. "Look out!" he yelled, slashing at an attacking program next to him in a powerful uppercut. Using his natural momentum, he brought his rifle up to a decent firing position and sent yet another arrow-shot towards the threatening program near the master. "Luna! Get some support magic on the master! Fall back and regroup!" The timid guardian nodded, then slowly retreated to the relative sanctuary near Aqua while casting MP Hastega. White sparkles enveloped the master, Ghost, Sparrow, and herself as she took up a defensive stance, readying a healing spell for everyone around her. Ghost meanwhile started to stay behind the old guard as she let Sparrow spearhead the assault on the remaining enemies, but still managed to hack and slash at several programs of her own. 

(A fearful reaction to one of my characters. I'm so proud, I'm tearing up here. *Sniff*)

 

{Twilight Town: Beach}

The Program tried to counter Zion's kick, but he was still in the middle of getting up. He hit the ground heavily, but wasn't out. He managed to bring his remaining disc up to block one of Zion's blade, but the other smashed into his helmet. In a nearly impossible feat of acrobatics, he went from laying on his back, to a hand stand, to landing on his feet a couple of yards away from Zion, managing to twist in the air to face her. The cracked helmet revealed half of a face underneath, with a fresh crackling wound along his face and head. He glared at Zion, offhandedly caught the returning disc he had used against Hawk, then took off running for the town.

With the arrival of the 3rd Fleet, the forces closing on the beach was either being cut down and/or retreating. Aqua nodded her thanks to Ghost before firing a Blizzard spell at the retreating forces. She noticed a few programs trying to rescue the Ulthor agent that they had captured.

"Keep them away from him." She called to the Guardians as she used a Fira spell against the rescue party.

She was aware that another one of the guardians was injured. She wanted to go deal with that herself, but it was best to let the healers of the team deal with it.

Above, the air battle was going the 3rd Fleet's way. The ENCOM Cruisers and Fighters were out number, but were putting up a valiant fight, returning the hits they took with some good ones of their.

 

{Enchanted Dominion}

Leah followed behind Xion and nearly crashed into the raven haired girl when she stopped. Leah looked confused ahead.

"What?" She asked. "What's going on?"

She noticed Xion's reaction and looked alarmed.

"Do you know her?"

"Crap, I thought we dealt with this already." Elenar complained.

To do some venting, she kicked an exposed leg of Candy's. He grunted, but didn't move, being both too hurt and too trapped to try anything. Aeleus walked past Xion and Leah, stopping when he had a good look at the girl in the tube.

"Even mentioned this one." He commented. "He would have likely given a great deal to study the Lacuna you met before. Perhaps Master Ansem could make some sense of what she is."

He pushed past the others and looked at the controls linked to the tube.

"She appears to be sedated. I will attempt to get her out of there in the same state, then we can take her and Candy out of here. Both could prove useful."

"Whoa, hold on." Elenar objected. "Last time we met anything with the name Lacuna, we were left wondering if we had won or lost. Not to mention we gave her some pretty good licks, and she still duped us."

The Savage Nymph strode forward to prevent Aeleus from doing anything with out talking it out when another wave of dizziness hit her. Shooting pains hit her from where she had been shot. The pain and dizziness caused her to stumble and fall against the tube. Instantly, the girl inside the tube opened her eyes.

"Oh crap." Elenar managed as she looked up at the girl.

With her eyes open, it could been seen that her eye sockets were empty, leaving people to stare into a bottomless abyss. She started thrashing and struggling against her straight jacket, throwing her head back to scream. No sound escaped the tube, but the glass began to vibrate from the sound waves.

"Whoa!" Elenar exclaimed as she scrabbled away from the tank.

The water in the tube began to boil as the girl struggled against her restraints. After a few seconds, jagged void blades extended from her fingers, destroying the sleeves of her straight jacket. Once her arms were free, she started swinging wildly, cutting the wires and tubes connected to her and weakening the glass. A moment later, their was an explosion of glass, water, and steam as the glass tube gave into its occupant's onslaught.

Aeleus looked at a piece of glass that embedded in his arm, then looked up to see Lacuna standing in the wreckage of her tube. A jagged claw made of Nothingness extended from each of her fingers , which she held behind slightly behind her. A few tatters of the straight jacket remained and the breath mask she wore was now half off her face and still slipping. The new Void Witch wildly looked around at the people gathered around her. Her "eyes" fixed on the closest, a hurt Elenar who was nurse a few cuts from the glass. Lacuna let out a feral screech and lunged at The Savage Nymph.

 

{Disney Castle; Ship Armory}

Ienzo's face went rigid when he heard Neena's voice. He had hoped she wouldn't be able to track Nocturne here. Severa's distraction gave the Cloaked Schemer some breathing room, but there still wasn't a lot of room for a plan. Of course, that was usually the basic situation in which a masterful plan was concocted. He looked back in the vent at the Captured Guardian.

"There isn't time for a full explanation, so I'll boil my reason down to one word: prevention." He said quickly. "Now, if you can, go up. If you can make it to the upper decks and out on the haul, your chances of survival will increase. I will try to help you as I can, but don't push it. Good luck."

Ienzo pulled back from the vent and accidentally ran into someone behind him. He turned suddenly, readily img himself to strike out with a spell, then stopped. He looked surprised only for a moment.

"I may have someone who can help you." Ienzo called as The Graceful Assassin Luminara looked in on Nocturne.