(Signup's are still open here- http://kh13.com/forum/topic/71543-kingdom-hearts-the-pit-rp-signups-and-discussion/)

 

Near the end of the Keyblade War, there was a great battle in Twilight Canyon, a special place that, although few had ever considered it significant, was home to a weak point in the barrier that separated the Realm of Light from the Realm of Darkness. Now two armies charge at each other in the valley, intent on defeating their enemies. This is where the great story of "The Pit" begins.

 

Max's blood began racing as he charged toward the enemy, ready to destroy the dastardly followers of darkness before him. Time seemed to slow as he came closer and closer to the enemy. Finally, one of the soldiers came within striking distance, so he summoned his keyblade, Explosive Justice, and attacked the soldier.

 

[Why did I sign up this?] Blight asked himself. There were plenty of ways to make money during a war. He could have sold weapons, or worked as a guard while most of the other able bodied fighters were away. But no, he'd been dumb enough to actually enlist in this stupid war! And now here he was, in the middle of a battle, guns blazing, fighting for his life!  He continued to shoot at the enemy soldiers from behind a large rock, hoping that no one would decide to attack him anytime soon.

 

(All right folks, let's start this RP off with a bang! Feel free to battle anyone who's not on your side, and have fun!)

The dark soldier turned a cool gaze over the two dazed soldiers.  It was true: if it hadn't been for Max and Braxen, both would've been quite likely dead from the impact of the fall.  Ari cocked a brow at Sparrow's question, her sleek black hair cascading in the wind.  Letting her Keyblade vanish to her side she walked over to them, stooping low so that she was at eye level with the speaker.  "Hard to say what happened, though if I didn't know better you were trying to fly . . . only failed."  Her eyes then darted to the light soldier's other companion, who seemed to be babbling incoherently to himself.  For a moment she thought she caught wind of something which piqued her curiosity, but then shook her head at the thought.  No, there was no way that he was making sense.  And, even if he were, there's no way that he possibly could've uttered her sister's name.

 

"Now then, mates."  She stood suddenly, mostly addressing Braxen rather than the others.  "What shall we do with these trespassers, eh?  Lock 'em up, keep 'em prisoner, tie them to the nearest tree and let the Shadows determine their fate?"  A part of her figured none of the above, but she had to keep an impression.  The moment anyone saw a softer side to the fierce dark mage would be her downfall.  And she had to keep up everything she had, especially now.

 

* * * * * 

"No!  Raven!"  Elia grasped at thin air as she watched with horror-filled eyes.  A terrible black inky Heartless had knocked two of the Nightwing Squad troops high into the air, sending them flying into what wouldn't have been much closer than next week.  They flew fast and furiously, and there was nothing that anyone could do nearby to help.  While she could only hope they would survive, at that speed, ferocity, and height . . . she didn't think it likely.  She barely knew them, and yet she mourned them.  Everyone still kept their pace down the mountain, however, and thus she proceeded to do the same.  Elia sniffed back tears as she raced down the steep decline towards the swamp that would be their haven.  Or so she hoped.

Locket purposely ignored what had just happened. She didnt want to start doing anything that could possibly hurt those around her, so she just kept focused on not falling and breaking her neck, though that possibility might just be better than what they might have to face soon.

The dark soldier turned a cool gaze over the two dazed soldiers.  It was true: if it hadn't been for Max and Braxen, both would've been quite likely dead from the impact of the fall.  Ari cocked a brow at Sparrow's question, her sleek black hair cascading in the wind.  Letting her Keyblade vanish to her side she walked over to them, stooping low so that she was at eye level with the speaker.  "Hard to say what happened, though if I didn't know better you were trying to fly . . . only failed."  Her eyes then darted to the light soldier's other companion, who seemed to be babbling incoherently to himself.  For a moment she thought she caught wind of something which piqued her curiosity, but then shook her head at the thought.  No, there was no way that he was making sense.  And, even if he were, there's no way that he possibly could've uttered her sister's name.

 

"Now then, mates."  She stood suddenly, mostly addressing Braxen rather than the others.  "What shall we do with these trespassers, eh?  Lock 'em up, keep 'em prisoner, tie them to the nearest tree and let the Shadows determine their fate?"  A part of her figured none of the above, but she had to keep an impression.  The moment anyone saw a softer side to the fierce dark mage would be her downfall.  And she had to keep up everything she had, especially now.

 

* * * * * 

"No!  Raven!"  Elia grasped at thin air as she watched with horror-filled eyes.  A terrible black inky Heartless had knocked two of the Nightwing Squad troops high into the air, sending them flying into what wouldn't have been much closer than next week.  They flew fast and furiously, and there was nothing that anyone could do nearby to help.  While she could only hope they would survive, at that speed, ferocity, and height . . . she didn't think it likely.  She barely knew them, and yet she mourned them.  Everyone still kept their pace down the mountain, however, and thus she proceeded to do the same.  Elia sniffed back tears as she raced down the steep decline towards the swamp that would be their haven.  Or so she hoped.

 

Locket purposely ignored what had just happened. She didnt want to start doing anything that could possibly hurt those around her, so she just kept focused on not falling and breaking her neck, though that possibility might just be better than what they might have to face soon.

[sparrow and Raven]

 

Raven could only hear a continuous piercing, ringing noise as he stared at Sparrow and the two people who had rescued them. It was just one ultra-stressful event after another for everyone in the squad, and the repeated trauma was starting to take its toll on the medic as he blinked, with the voices of everyone around him sounding like a faint and distant echo. 

 

"Wha-.... what happened?"

 "Hard to sa--..., ing to fly . . . only failed."

"What shall we do with these trespassers--... tie them to the nearest tree and let the Shadows determine their fate?"

 

Still shellshocked, Raven saw Sparrow immediately take several steps back and leveled his rifle at the strangers. With his mind blank temporarily, muscle memory and instincts made the medic emulate the leader's action as he leveled the rifle at the same stranger...

 

Sparrow's gaze was visibly hardened, but his eyes gleamed of lingering trauma as he leveled his trusty weapon at the woman. "So then why did you save us, only to now determine our fate? With all due respect, we intend to go down fighting, and tying us up directly conflicts with our goals." He glanced over to Raven, then back to the woman. I may be missing half my squad, but that doesn't make us any less lethal. "We thank you for saving us, but if you're serious on assisting the shadows around us, I'll have no choice but to declare you a threat and take all appropriate actions.So... What gives? and will you let us go?"

----

[Kiwi and Hawk]

 

Hawk was struggling to get back on his feet as he propped himself on all four limbs, then collapsed back into the soft, dark sands of the darkness-infested hellhole. Kiwi meanwhile, had heard Elia's troubled cry as he looked ups, and saw two of his teammates being knocked airborne. Th-... They can recover from that. They have to recover from that...... He could only stare in disbelief for a moment, then returned his attention to securing the base of the mountain as his accuracy improved drastically. Venting his frustration, sadness, and trauma on the shadows around him, the scout let off a scream as shot after shot hit their marks on the surrounding enemies. "Help me out here, Hawk!" he pleaded, then grinned as he saw Elia and Locket approaching them. Sorry ladies, I haven't finished cleaning up the area yet. How very unmanly for me. But what can I say? I'm a guard, not a gentleman.

"Don't think you quite understand sweetie," Reni said tauntingly, blocking away another attack with a copy of Claire's shield. "I'm what they like to call a mimic." Reni continued, slicing through the one that had just attacked him. He continued to run alongside the two girls, grinning mischievously at Claire. Another shadow lashed out towards him, and Claire's shield dissipated, to be replaced by flames that shot out at his attacker. "See?"

~~~~~

Quint took a couple surprised steps back, watching the events unfold before him. How... Terrifying. Downright terrifying. Quint's mind flashed between his options, analyzing his environment. Fighting was clearly stupid, reckless and careless. And why would he avenge that idiotic dark Wielder, who had done nothing but insult him the entire time? There was no reason for that. So Quint ran, straightforward, past the large man in armor.

"So you take the coward's path. Such a shame. And to think I had so much to give you." the mysterious soldier said as Quint ran past him, and disappeared in a cloud of darkness.

***

Rain heard noises behind here, but dared not look. She had to keep moving, otherwise the shadows might close in on her.

 

It didn't take long before she made it away from the massacre, and to the fringe of the marshes. She looked around, but couldn't see any of her teammates. [Hopefully they'll get here soon.] she hoped, when a girl with a deformed face ran right into her.

 

"Watch it!" Penny hissed at her, behind her was what looked like a couple of other soldiers.

***

Max shot metaphorical daggers at Ari. With a couple of nasty comments, she had taken a reletivly peacefull occurence and turned it into a dangerous one. He didn't blame the soldiers, of course. They were shell-shocked, and would hopefully come to their sences before they started shooting. "Watch it Ari! We don't mean these soldiers any harm." he then turned towards Sparrow and Raven, "I'm sorry for Ari's empty threats. My name's Max Anderson. We're heading towards the forest. You can leave and go your own way, or you can follow us. Either way, the rest of us need to move." Max said, and continued towards the forest.

 

After a little more running, Max and the others made it to the edge of the forest. "All right, it looks like we're safe for now, but probably not for long. So, who's still with us?" Max asked.

 

"Don't worry, I'm still here. It'll take more that a couple of shadows to get rid of me." Braxen replied, rather proud of himself for making it out of there alive.

 

"Good," Max said, rolling his eyes, "anyone else?"

 

Meanwhile, Quint came running towards them.

Edited May 5, 201411 yr by Captain Arrowguns

Empty threats?!  Ari crossed her ams with a scowl, but said nothing to retort Max's deflating words.  She eyed the newcomers through narrow slits, taking them in with a swift glance.  Unlike most soldiers she'd encountered during her time with the dark army, these guys seemed like they meant business, and weren't the sort to be messed with.  She trusted herself to hold her own in a fight, but she wasn't in the mood for a blood bath.  Not now.  "Forget it.  I've changed my mind; I don't want to waste my time or energy flattening you."

 

She shifted her long black hair over her shoulder, fixating her gaze on the soldier that seemed the most coherent.  "What manners; aren't the two of you going to at least introduce yourselves?"

 

Before she had the chance to continue on with her conversation with the Nightwing Squad, more Shadows launched themselves at them, one towards the raven-haired woman directly.  Extending her palm, her Keyblade formed, and she wasted in time in slicing it straight through her enemy.  It disappeared in a haze of black smoke, with three more Shadows taking its place.  More continued to surround them, and it didn't take long for the truth to sink in: there was no way that they were going to eliminate them all.  She barely noticed Max beckoning them toward the forest, and when she looked up to respond he was already gone.  A low growl escaped her, watching the two Nightwing Squad members and wondering if the would follow and, if they had, if they'd be able to fight off the Heartless and make it to the forest alive.  One made a violent sweep for the medic's head, causing Ari to leap forward and slice it into oblivion.  She turned to the two.  "Go!" she shouted.  "I'll keep them at bay!"

* * * * * * 

 

Elia came skidding to a halt upon finding Kiwi, fighting for his life as Heartless outnumbered him.  He shouted for Hawk, only he never came to his aid.  "How curious," she thought, and it didn't take long for Elia to find the reason behind his absence: not to far lay Hawk, facedown on the ground.  Whether he was conscious or not, she didn't know, but she was going to find out.  Finding strength she didn't know she still had, Elia darted toward Hawk, turning him over and peering into his face.

 

"It's alright," she whispered, placing both palms on his chest and closing her eyes.  A sound like a soft hum escaped her lips, as a ten-inch radius surrounding her hands began to glow a faint peach-color.  Sparkles appearing like tiny shards of diamonds lingered upon Hawk's chest before dissipating.  Almost as quickly as it happened it all faded; the sparkles blinked out of existence, and the warm peach glow disappeared.  Elia opened her eyes, watching his face anxiously.  "Please, please be okay," she thought.

Claire was about to respond to Reni, when Penny said "watch it." Claire slowed and lowered her stance, looking back at the other soldiers.

"Anything you can copy off them?" She hissed to Reni.

The Light Apprentice started to ease back.

"Anybody recognize these guys?"

Rain heard noises behind here, but dared not look. She had to keep moving, otherwise the shadows might close in on her.

 

It didn't take long before she made it away from the massacre, and to the fringe of the marshes. She looked around, but couldn't see any of her teammates. [Hopefully they'll get here soon.] she hoped, when a girl with a deformed face ran right into her.

 

Empty threats?!  Ari crossed her ams with a scowl, but said nothing to retort Max's deflating words.  She eyed the newcomers through narrow slits, taking them in with a swift glance.  Unlike most soldiers she'd encountered during her time with the dark army, these guys seemed like they meant business, and weren't the sort to be messed with.  She trusted herself to hold her own in a fight, but she wasn't in the mood for a blood bath.  Not now.  "Forget it.  I've changed my mind; I don't want to waste my time or energy flattening you."

 

She shifted her long black hair over her shoulder, fixating her gaze on the soldier that seemed the most coherent.  "What manners; aren't the two of you going to at least introduce yourselves?"

 

Before she had the chance to continue on with her conversation with the Nightwing Squad, more Shadows launched themselves at them, one towards the raven-haired woman directly.  Extending her palm, her Keyblade formed, and she wasted in time in slicing it straight through her enemy.  It disappeared in a haze of black smoke, with three more Shadows taking its place.  More continued to surround them, and it didn't take long for the truth to sink in: there was no way that they were going to eliminate them all.  She barely noticed Max beckoning them toward the forest, and when she looked up to respond he was already gone.  A low growl escaped her, watching the two Nightwing Squad members and wondering if the would follow and, if they had, if they'd be able to fight off the Heartless and make it to the forest alive.  One made a violent sweep for the medic's head, causing Ari to leap forward and slice it into oblivion.  She turned to the two.  "Go!" she shouted.  "I'll keep them at bay!"

* * * * * * 

 

Elia came skidding to a halt upon finding Kiwi, fighting for his life as Heartless outnumbered him.  He shouted for Hawk, only he never came to his aid.  "How curious," she thought, and it didn't take long for Elia to find the reason behind his absence: not to far lay Hawk, facedown on the ground.  Whether he was conscious or not, she didn't know, but she was going to find out.  Finding strength she didn't know she still had, Elia darted toward Hawk, turning him over and peering into his face.

 

"It's alright," she whispered, placing both palms on his chest and closing her eyes.  A sound like a soft hum escaped her lips, as a ten-inch radius surrounding her hands began to glow a faint peach-color.  Sparkles appearing like tiny shards of diamonds lingered upon Hawk's chest before dissipating.  Almost as quickly as it happened it all faded; the sparkles blinked out of existence, and the warm peach glow disappeared.  Elia opened her eyes, watching his face anxiously.  "Please, please be okay," she thought.

[sparrow and Raven: With Ari and Max]

 

With Raven still mentally incapacitated, Sparrow growled as he decided to conclude that it was just him against two strangers and an endless horde of shadows. They were all under extreme stress, and for once the leader felt the tell-tale symptoms of permanent trauma as he continued his aim on the girl. Fortunately for both guards however, she decided not to end their lives right then and there. "Forget it.  I've changed my mind; I don't want to waste my time or energy flattening you."

 

"Wonderful..." he whispered while backing away from the hostiles and regrouping with Raven. "Weapons down, Raven."

The medic blinked, his gaze distant and empty as his body instinctively reacted to the command.

"Bro... You're starting to scare me." With the two at a relatively safe distance from the strangers, Sparrow decided it was safe to lower is guard as he gently shook the shell-shocked medic and addressed him in a soothing, calm demeanor. "Raven? Raven? C'mon man. Snap out of it. You're scaring me." It took a moment for anything to happen, then suddenly the medic exhaled sharply and abruptly shook his head. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes, then groaned. "What... What happened?"

 

"Glad to have you back, man." Sparrow breathed. "We're not out of the frying pan yet."

"I'm... I'm so sorr-"

 

A sudden swoosh of a keyblade mere inches from them caught their attention as Ari attacked a shadow that had targeted Raven. The two squadmates were so desperate for a lull in the battles that they didn't notice the swarming shadows around them. "Go!" the girl who just moments ago threatened to end their lives yelled,  "I'll keep them at bay!"

Once again, battle instincts kicked into high gear as the two light soldiers flinched, then nodded without question as they spotted Max motioning them to the forest. "Get to the swamplands!" Sparrow yelled to the distant boy, pointing in the opposite direction of where the stranger was gesturing to. "Reinforcements are waiting for us there!" Raven meanwhile, started back-peddling as he summoned his keyblade and started cutting a path through the horde of shadows towards their initial rally point. But with both men severely fatigued and their medic having no time to heal himself and others, the situation was deteriorating fast...

 

[En-route to Swamplands, Kiwi and Hawk with Elia and Locket]

 

Despite his whimsical and comical nature, Kiwi was surprisingly doing a great job securing the immediate area around Hawk and Elia. But fatigue was starting to overtake the scout as he started to miss some of his shots, not that it mattered since it just hits another shadow instead. "Uh oh..." he mumbled before glancing over to Hawk. Elia was kneeling right beside him, gently cradling the boy in her arms as she attempted to wake the seemingly unconscious rifleman up.

 

Hawk was out cold as Elia tried to wake him up from his premature slumber party of one. "It's alright..." she whispered to him, trying her best to heal the banged up squadmate. Thankfully, Hawk slowly opened his eyes as he groaned, then rolled away from the girl as he once again tried to stand back up. He was shaky, but a little bit stronger than before as he propped himself up on all four limbs, then very slowly got back on his feet. "I uh... Thank you... Miss." Hawk weakly whispered to the girl. 

"About time you got up!" Kiwi shouted over his shoulders, "now quit being lazy and help!!!"

Despite being a little dizzy, the rifleman reached for his arrow-rifle that was resting in the darkened sands next to him as he quietly addressed the two girls. "We should get moving." Gripping his trusty weapon once again, adrenaline and training kicked in for the hardened guard as he once again contributed to the defense of everyone around him. With the two buddies back up and kicking, the posse slowly but surely started fighting their way towards the supposed safe haven of the swamplands ahead of them...

[screw it, I'm gonna metagame here to speed things along...]

 

[Raven and Nightsparrow]

>>>Live Datalog Battlefeed. Location: Unknown. Elapsed time of Deployment: 42:53:04 Elapsed Battletime: 04:32:09<<<

 

The two keyblade riflemans were furiously beating a path towards their designated rally point, trying their damned best not to stumble or stop while doing so. With Raven finally out of shell-shock, the extraordinarily tiring prolonged sprint was the only semblance of respite the two Guards had as they ran past the spawning heartless that were relentlessly spawning around them. "Try and keep up!" Sparrow yelled back to him, reminding the medic that he was lagging slightly behind. The only thing keeping them going at this point was the sheer adrenaline rush; they had reached their limit long ago running up the mountain-top. Remembering the tip he gave to Elia not too long ago, the medic started his breathing cycles as he closed his eyes, his mind desperately trying to recuperate from the relentless trauma. One at a time. Just focus on one thing at a time.... Get to the safe point... Get.... to the.... safe point.... The sound of his heavy bootsteps forcefully impacting the sands below started to become wet, and as the medic opened his eyes he suddenly realized that they had made it. There was knee high vegetation all around him, and the smell of damp decay was more than enough to confirm their location. Sparrow gave the order to halt, and soon enough both collapsed to their hands and knees trying to catch their breath. The leader chuckled between breaths. "Oh man... That was... Insane... I wonder if we lost our captors?"

 

Meanwhile...

 

Against the odds, Hawk and Kiwi had finally arrived at the outskirts of the swamplands while still escorting Elia and Locket. Whether the group had managed to wipe out their pursuers remained to be seen, but for now the two faithful friends were worried about regrouping with their other friends more than anything. Amidst the sparse shrubbery of the swamplands, Kiwi managed to spot a figure barely peeking through the landscape. Weary from their escape, it took a while for the two guardsman to identify the colors of the figure. "Oi!" the scout shouted, "Raven? Sparrow? Is that you?"

"What took you guys?!" the figured replied back. Fatigue quickly turned to joy as both Hawk and Kiwi made their way to their brothers-in-arms and promptly dog-piled. "Man, I thought you were goners!""We almost were. Are the two girls ok?"

"Yeah, they're fine. Hey, what's up with Raven?"

"......"

"Poor kid needs to rest. Badly."

 "I think we all do, mate. Now do me a favor and get off of me!"

(I'll come play, too!  Here's hoping that more may follow our lead and come join us. ; ))

 

The Shadows attacked relentlessly.  Never in all of her days had Ari encountered an enemy quite like them.  Every time she'd wipe a group out more would crop up from the ground shortly thereafter, batting at her ankles with thin claws.  The raven-haired woman turned a sharp glance toward the others, whom she had only assumed were busily combating these menaces in like.

 

"It's no use," said Ari at last.  "We're going to have to make a break for it."  Without awaiting a response, she did just that.

 

Pumping her arms frantically along her sides, Ari made way to the safe grounds of the forest Max promised.  The Shadows, however, were relentless.  They leapt on her back and bounced off her legs, and she could've sworn that the ground felt uneven under her feet.  She dared not pause, however, for fear of their retaliation.  Finally the forest loomed into view, as did Raven and Sparrow.  Breathing heavily, Ari dropped her hands to her knees, catching her breath before offering a word to either of them.  "Well, we're here," she said finally.  "Now I only wonder how long it'll be before this places becomes a mad house of fiends."

Edited July 6, 201411 yr by Mystics Apprentice

Locket stared at the swamplands for a moment and looked back at two that had just arrived. She took a deep breath and held her head in one hand. It had started into a bad headache, feeling like there were heartless inside her head, screwing her up and banging at the walls of her skull. But she chose to keep quiet about it; she didn't want to cause any trouble to the people around her by complaining. "So were at the swamplands.." She uttered, finding it almost difficult to speak. "Now what?"

(Never mind; I'm going to go ahead and post as Elia separately.  Hopefully I'll be able to join posts with my two characters next time.)

 

Elia glanced around tentatively, placing one foot in front of the other as she slowly made her way forward.  The place was dark, albeit not quite as dark as their prior surroundings had been.  The good news was that no Heartless seemed to be nearby.  A promising matter, yet it was impossible to guesstimate how long it would remain so.  It was much to her relief to see Hawk walking again; she had gravely worried about their injuries.  Having seen too many a people die in her past, death was no stranger to the small young teen.

 

Beside her, she heard Locket speak the very words that were prodding within her own mind: "Now what?"

 

This was a horrifically good question, and she rightly didn't know.  Heck, she didn't even know how she had gotten there.  Letting out a sigh, Elia helped herself to the dampened ground, bringing her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth.  Exhaustion seeped over her, and at that very moment she felt that she could succumb to a deep sleep.  For a moment she closed her eyes, opening them to realize both Raven and Sparrow were standing there, alive and unharmed.  All exhaustion that had plagued her earlier had ceased at that moment, and in less than a moment she was up on her feet and darting across to the swamp to the other two.

 

"Raven, Sparrow!  I'm so glad that you're--I thought you were"--her voice cracked as she smiled at the two of them, her long dark bangs falling into her face--"thank goodness you survived."

(Well guys, it's been fun, but I'm afraid I have to officially end this RP. Thank you to everyone who participated, and I'm sorry I waited so long to post this.)

(Well guys, it's been fun, but I'm afraid I have to officially end this RP. Thank you to everyone who participated, and I'm sorry I waited so long to post this.)

(Tis always saddening to see a game end. If you ever feel like trying again, give me a ring.)

(Tis always saddening to see a game end. If you ever feel like trying again, give me a ring.)

(Will do.)