Blake's eyebrows furrowed as she looked up at the taller boy, frowning at his response and the cnfusion on his face. "I thought - You're not with the UMMA?" She asked, a little incredulous. "What were you doing in the museum, then? I thought we cleared all teh civilians out."

"What is the UMMA? Well, after I crawled out of the T.V in the break room I started looking around. After I found out how to leave the ship I saw the fire and ran in to see if anyone needed my help." The cool guy grin was back on his face and it also appears he didn't see or think anything was wrong with running into a burning building.

Marisa folded her arms as best she could under all the bindings, looking down at the new girl with a small smile. At least, of course, she could take pride in something like this even if she was tied up in weird stuff that was kind of hard to understand. Oh well, time to clarify!

"All the stuff on the ground is mine!" she explained, "All of it."

Tails - close to Castle Tepes.

He had been exploring for a little while but still he had no idea what he was to do but he also was wondering what kind of weird beings lived here and quite frankly he was sacred of who and what he might meet in this place he still was crying a it but he was now using all of the knowledge he had to figure out what he was to do if he was attacked.

Tails was nearing what looked like a large castle of which he had never seen before but he was quite astonished by its beauty and the glory of its walls and decorations.

"Wow!"

Tails said to himself his eyes gleaming with wonder that only an eight year old could possibly portray.

He wiped the tears from his eyes and forgot his worries this place looked awesome to him and he was eager to approach but he instantly stopped and began wondering if it was a trap or if the people who inhabited the Castle were not friendly towards outsiders.

So Tails decided he was going to think this over for a short while and maybe even study the architecture and lay out of all of the surrounding walls and see if he can spot out any machinery.

Shivani - Castle Tepes Kitchens - Outside Castle Tepes

While waiting for a response, Shivani moved towards a window to look out. She saw quite a few people on the ground below her but none stood out more than a young anthropomorphic fox. "A kit?" she asked herself quietly. "What's a kit doing here?" She turned towards the maid and Dante with a look of concern. "I'll be back." she said, pulling out a pair of orcish daggers and using them to slide down the side of the building. Once her feet were on the ground, she sheathed the daggers and began walking towards the young fox. "Greetings!" she called to him removing her helmet.

Tails- Outside of Castle Tepes.

@Belwicket

Although he was very, very afraid Tails spoke up.

"Uh...Hello!"

He said shyly eyeing the weapons at the women's side he was worried about the weapons but he needed to know where he was.

"Wh-where am I?"

Tails asked the women who greets him although he was scared he needed to focus at the task he had to figure out and that was figuring where the heck he was.

And he was going to have to do a bit of independent work if he was to do this and he knew that he was getting older but he still was only eight years old so that was the downside of things.

Shivani - Outside Castle Tepes

The Khajiit shrugged. "I don't know what this place is called. All I know is there's a lot of people after this magic item so I have to protect it." She offered him her hand with a smile. "Let's go inside."

Tails - Outside Castle Tepes

Tails timidly took the women's hand and followed her.

He was interested in this magic item though he did not want to steal it from this place because they were protecting it from something.

@Belwicket

"What are th-they protecting it from?"

Tails asked the kind women who was leading him to the castle.

Shivani - Outside Castle Tepes - Castle Tepes Kitchens

Shivani led the child inside with a smile. "Some mean people who want to use it for evil. Reminds me of how Alduin tried to use the other dragons to take over Nirn, starting with Skyrim." She shook her head with a chuckle. "But you probably don't know anything about that, do you?"

Aegis - Outside of Yggdrasil

A flash of light. A tendril of darkness splintering the light, piercing the scope of his perception, invading him with a warm yet discomforting feeling of balance. Then suddenly, he began to feel as if he was burning. Unable to move his mouth or limbs, he suffered silently as he remained unable to see the portal that had materialized in front of him. Aegis struggled to breathe, the invasion of the darkness from its hidden valley in his heart enveloping him entirely.

From the portal stepped a woman. Slender in form, garbed in a sleek violet dress, tight to the body, she was adorned in a headdress in the semblance of the head of the fawn. Syndra, the foreteller of Fawnilicium, approached the man disabled by the darkness of his heart.

"You have trespassed into studies we have forbidden, young Master Aegis. You have awoken the Heartless of true darkness, the ones that cannot be destroyed, and in seeking your universal knowledge through the true Kingdom Hearts, have risked exposure of them to the other universes.

"The council has spoken. You once were a pupil of my tutelage. I watched you grow into the most wise scholar of your generation. And now, I have been ordered to enforce your exile to the In-Between." She raised her left arm gracefully, and with a flick of her wrist, a pale white Keyblade suddenly materialized in her hand. She aimed the head of the Key, which also resembled a fawn, directly at Aegis' chest. A ball of light began to form on the tip, as Aegis silently continued to tense as the darkness reacted to it.

"Your sentence: be banished from the realm of Kingdom Hearts until your heart has found the Way to the Dawn once more. You must find your own way back, even if it lasts forever. You are now near the castle between the universes - Yggdrasil. Find a purpose. Find your way. And perhaps this parting gift will help you." Syndra pulled her arm back as the ball of light suddenly became a vibrant shade of blue, and thrust forward. A beam burst from the edge of the weapon, piercing through Aegis's heart and enveloping it as a shield around it, holding the darkness at bay. Aegis fell to the ground, released from the paralysis of the darkness.

With her other hand, Syndra beckoned a second portal. "You will begin this journey in a place known as Castle Tepes. You will find that your home, your worlds, and your universe cannot communicate with you. You may find yourself there again once, or perhaps many times. This portal shall close once you pass through it. Farewell, my student." She backed away into her own portal, sheathing her Keyblade as tendrils of violet light danced around her inside the portal. She faded as the portal closed itself, leaving Aegis alone.

Still weak from the endeavor he had just been through. Aegis fell to one knee, breathing heavily. Sweat dripped down his forehead, falling in front of him onto the ground. After a few moments of panting, he rose from his position and looked to the portal. He had no words to say, no thoughts to express, other than a cold feeling of emptiness. He approached the portal, studying it intently, and then passed through. All went black, for a time, and he felt himself dissolve into nothingness temporarily as he traveled to his destination.

Outside Castle Tepes

The portal opened on a wall, and as Aegis stepped through, he found himself at a castle. Almost immediately, his Keyblade materialized in his hand, as it pulsated rapidly.

"There must be some sort of powerful object here," he murmured, as he looked at his surroundings. He was in a formidable structure, with a kitchen area nearby and a small balcony over the side of the hallway he had been transported to. It's so eerie here, he pondered. Not a single person to be found. Why would she send me to an abandoned castle... He noticed he was near a main entrance, it seemed. Suddenly, his Keyblade began to react even faster, and a revelation came to him.

It's not reacting to an object, he realized. There are people coming! He immediately heard a young, childlike voice say, "What are th-they protecting it from?" and a female voice give a response he could not understand. Aegis readied his weapon and turned around to where the voices were coming from, just as a small fox and a woman with the form of a feline entered the building. He stared at them as he attempted to make eye contact and waited for them to say something, anything at all.

@blackmist16 @belwicket

Tails - Now inside Castle Tepes

Tails shook his head then said.

@Belwicket

"Well I know what Dragons are but I don't know what a Skyrim is,"

Tails said pensively because he was considering the situation and where this women was leading him but he decided it may be good to let himself be known, so Tails continued.

"But I do know about many other things like how to make a robot!"

Tails said with joy and pride.

"I'm Miles Prower but most my friends call me Tails because,"

Tails demonstrated by spinning his tails around and lifting off the ground a little bit.

"I can fly and I have two tails but enough about me what's your name Mi-"

Tails halted his sentence as they walked through the grand halls of the castle when they met a strange man starting at them both, Tails stepped forward letting go of the kind ladies hand and curious Tails approached the man a bit.

@WinterLemur

"Excuse me mister,"

Tails said walking up close to the man looking him over and sniffing the air.

"You do not smell of this place,"

Tails drew back a bit from the man.

"Who are you?"

Tails tilted his head in a questioning manner.

Shivani - Castle Tepes

"Skyrim is the land I'm from." Shivani said as she stepped into the castle. Upon Tails mentioning robots, she looked at him confusedly. "What's a robot?" She continued listening to the boy, only looking up when he froze. As tails began approaching the man. Shivani quickly moved in front of him. "Stay behind me, Tails." she said, drawing her weapons. "Identify yourself." she said to the man, readying her stance. "I don't want to have to kill you." She glared at the man, her instinct telling her he wasn't as dangerous as he seemed.

The fox plodded forward, raising his nose into the air and sniffing around Aegis. Though he kept his weapon at the ready, the fox seemed of no harm.

"Excuse me mister," it asked in a voice reminiscent of a young child. "You do not smell of this place." It drew back and tilted its head, asking "Who are you?"

Aegis looked down at the young fox for a moment, a hint of a smile forming on him lips. He then returned his gaze to the feline woman as she pulled the fox back and moved in front of him. Drawing daggers from her sides, she moved into a fighting stance.

"Identify yourself. I don't want to have to kill you," she said. Aegis looked her in the eyes with a hard stare. The two stood a mere two feet away from each other, both with weapons drawn. Yet, Aegis had a gut feeling that there was no need to fight here. He was too tired, and they seemed to have no darkness emanating from them.

Aegis lowered his weapon. "My name is Aegis.. I mean no ill will. I found myself here in peculiar circumstances. Where are we, if I may ask, and who are you?"

Tails was excited to meet someone in the same predicament as him so Tails said with a slight hint of relief to Aegis.

@WinterLemur

"Oh you were sent here as well?"

Tails walked to the side of the feline womens right leg and looked at Aegis curiously.

"My names Miles but you can call me Tails and I am a little lost,"

He looked at the large weapon that Aegis was holding and was very interested in it so Tails asked.

"Aegis what is that you hold it looks like a large key?"

Tails was mainly interested in how it works and if it has any mechanical functions and properties because it looked like a fine bludgeoning weapon to Tails but things can sometimes be much more if you look hard enough so Tails wanted to know.

"And if your lost like we are you should come with us because frankly I have no idea where I am other than in a Castle!"

Tails said looking at Aegis's weapon and also analyzing what else he had on his person.

Shivani - Castle Tepes

"I don't remember the name of the castle." she sighed, sheathing her weapons. "I am Shivani, a Khajiit from Elsweyr." She eyed the large key with a frown. Shaking her head, she continued on. "Come, let's return to the kitchens. There is a maid there who was telling me about the gem."

Lucina looked on the ground. Man, she had a lot of things. She fit all that under her hat?

Lucina glanced back up at Marisa. She looked at Marisa's hat, and suddenly had an idea. "Ma'am, do you mind if I borrow your hat for a little bit?" she asked.

Her intent was to scoop all of the things up using the hat itself as a vacuum cleaner. Certainly this would be easier than hefting each individual item...

For a few moments, Marisa hesitated. Her hat was part of the quintessential witch look, and therefore she usually only parted with it when she was wearing something else entirely. However, this was a different circumstance from usual, and that was all her stuff that needed very desperately to get back into her hat until she could return home. With a small sigh, she pulled her hat off and tossed it towards the girl on the ground.

"You better not miss anything!"

How could she possibly miss anything?

Lucina flipped the brim of the witch's hat up, and requested to Kakine that he keep an eye on Marisa while she worked.

"I'll be gentle," Lucina reassured Marisa.

Lucina then untied Falchion's scabbard from her belt and sheathed her blade, before tying with the leather cord the hat to the end of the scabbard, making some kind of weird metal-detector-looking thing. She then held up her makeshift magic vacuum-cleaner and proceeded to walk around, whistling a pleasant tune as she searched around with the hat-on-a-stick and magically warped Marisa's hat's contents back to whatever pocket dimension the witch kept them in.

When she was ABSOLUTELY SURE that she got EVERYTHING, Lucina untied the hat from Falchion's scabbard and retied the scabbard to her belt. "Okay, I think that's everything," Lucina declared, shaking the hat to make sure nothing fell out. A small trinket popped out of the opening, but Lucina caught that and stuffed it back into the hat. She tossed the hat back to Marisa; to her surprise, it was as light as... well, a hat.

Gintoki's spirits immediately fell as he heard Saber's recommendation to place him with that the little robot boy who could and his pet hologram thing. Of all the people to drop him with, he just HAD to be...
A large sigh escaped his lips, not concealing his distaste for the situation in the least. Like, it'd have been fine if he was alone, but with those two...?

"...Fine. Not like there's anywhere else you could drop me, if that's the case." he complained, shaking his head in disappointment. "I'll go along with whatever you'll say, because the sooner we beat up those invading idiots, the better."

Though his feeling about the situation were quite obvious, he was still getting paid in the end, and if he went through all of this crap with the ghosts and mansion and whatnot, he might as well do a good job of it.

"Well, what about you, then? Standing guard out front or something?" he asked Saber, though mostly out of halfhearted curiosity. It was likely that she'd be there anyways considering that Excaliblast thing would probably blow away half the mansion if she ever had to use it.


Kakine nodded in confirmation to Lucina's request to stand by to keep an eye on Marisa as the former went off to gather whatever magical goods (or not) that were lying all across the floor. The sight of a blue-haired swordswoman vacuuming up the items, with a blue-haired nun complaining all the while, was quite an amusing thing to see. Though the group had been lucky not to attract too much extra attention (mainly thanks to the extra effort of the Sisters working for their sake), nobody else had come across the strange scene. When all was said and done and Lucina handed Marisa's hat back to her, he breathed a sigh of relief. FINALLY. The issue was resolved and Touma wouldn't be dragged into yet ANOTHER mess. Every time that dense person was involved, things always seemed to get more complicated than they had to be.

"My apologies for taking your time." he said to Touma, still facing the Windowless Building. "We'll be off, the-"
"Wait a moment." Touma said, taking a step towards Kakine. "What does Aleister want with Marisa, anyhow? Is it just-"
"A meeting. It's a meeting. You know, like the one your sunglasses-wearing friend conducts every so often. Anyways, don't you have more important things to worry about? You know, like that little nun about to bite your head?"
"What are yo-"

And as Kakine said as much, Index immediately took the opportunity and pounced into Touma's back, chomping down on his head as she complained about not stopping Lucina as she cleaned up the mess that he had technically made.

"Well, I think that's enough fooling around." Kakine finished, reeling Marisa in and changing the net into a pair of handcuffs as he dragged Marisa down to the ground and confiscated her broom, opting to wrap it in Dark Matter and causing it to look more like a solid cylinder of the material than a cleaning tool. "Didn't want to have to treat you like a criminal, but if you're gonna act up..." he shrugged before beginning to walk towards their INITIAL intended location. Luckily, they were close enough now, given that they were all right outside the Garden...

Why the heck was Touma here, anyways?


Hazama's eyes shined with malice as he took a good look at the soul, glancing at it from all angles as a devious smile inched its way onto his face.
"Oh yes. This will do. This will do QUITE nicely." he laughed as he continued to observe the soul from all directions he possibly could without actually removing it from the Leader's hands. "But though I really do appreciate you having such a thing, the question still remains as to how I'm to forge this signature. Furthermore, if the letter inside is a kill order..."

Hazama trailed off and shook his head, trying to conceal his building animosity towards that bitch if it really was one. In that case, he'd just have to beat her down until she complied; this was the age of goddamn gender equality and all that, so hell if he didn't beat her up just as badly as he would someone like that freaking Hakumen or that damn Valkenhayn.

"Well, we won't know until we see it. In any case, if it's an actual letter, then I guess it'll just come down to how well we can have someone mimic that signature. Right?"

Hazama continued to hesitate to even touch that soul; it looked so full of energy that he wasn't sure if he could contain it all without the right equipment. How the hell could this girl do it, then?
...
Well, whatever. If he got access to that thing... Hoo boy, this'd get really nasty real fast.

Aegis - Castle Tepes

@belwicket @blackmist16

The fox boy introduced himself as Tails, and asked Aegis what the Keyblade was. Raising it slightly so he could look at it as he spoke, it glimmered in the light of the corridor they were in.

"This is known as a Keyblade. It can open almost any door, and is the key to protecting the hearts of people, worlds, and universes." He figured it would be best to not explain further what it can do to people he did not know at all.

The feline woman introduced herself as Shiviani, a "Khajiit," whatever that meant. They must both be from different universes as well, he thought to himself. The Khajiit shook her head.

"Come, let's return to the kitchens. There is a maid there who was telling me about the gem."

Realizing that in his current state, travelling alone with such exhaustion probably was not a good idea. Sheathing his weapon once more, he looked Shiviani in the eyes, feeling that the gesture could be taken as a sign of friendship and respect.

"If I may, may I accompany you? I am in no state to be alone at the moment. I have very little energy left and I have no perception of where we are in this castle. I promise not to be a burden." Maybe too, if he stayed long enough, he could hear about this gem that had piqued his curiousity. However, he kept that to himself and smiled slightly.

"Besides," he said, looking at Tails. "It's always better to go on explorations with friends."