@Letter Bee

The subject of Nobodies intrigued Jupiter's ever curious mind and made her want to learn what Tocsax knew as he seemed to know a lot so she asked him," I will join you in this quest but I have questions, firstly, can a Nobody be consumed by Heartless as well once they have a heart again?" She looked at him with interest and then said," Secondly, what do yous know about these Princesses of Heart? How far is this 'Reign of the Confederacy'?" She thought for a moment before finishing her round of inquiries," What is in this other world that we are going to? Why are we going there?"

Flashback

"Yes, and the Princesses of Heart, besides what I've already told you, don't have to be literal Princesses," Tocsax was now answering Jupiter's questions. "The Reign of the Confederacy is, again, in another universe that can be reached some hours by Gummi Ship. What, or rather, who's there? One of the Princesses of Heart; we're coming there to get her."

@RavenTLark

Present Time

Jupiter would find herself wandering to the shooting range, where she would hopefully meet one of the others. Not merely that, but she found a book on the 'Original Universe/Timeline'; apparently, the most powerful nation in the Original World, the United States of America, had a Civil War in the century before it became a superpower. In this Civil War, fought over the issue of Slavery, the opposing sides were The Union, aka the Federal Government, and the Confederacy, a group of slavocrats. In the Original Timeline, the Confederacy lost and the slaves were freed, but the fact that the group's destination tomorrow was called 'Reign of the Confederacy' showed that it won't be the case in an Alternate Timeline.

Oh, and the Confederacy hated anyone who was not White, but the Gummi Cruiser had all sorts of disguises on board, as well as magic to strengthen said disguises.

Ninty left the group and the human named Jupiter to her interrogation of the royals for information. She had never been one to do in depth questioning of any kind, really all she did was just ask about things she knew would be useful to her, but if other people wanted to then she wouldn’t stop them.

Besides Ninty didn’t quite trust herself at the moment. She was still trying to process all this new information; different worlds, creatures of darkness, people being made from other people? (The last part she overheard as she was led away). All of it whirled and twisted inside her to the point where Ninty couldn’t decide if she should be angry, scared or a combination of them all.

She stayed broodingly quiet on her journey to the sweet and by the time she had arrived at the door to her suite there was a stabbing pain somewhere toward the front of her skull. The room itself was nice. It was much bigger than the room she had originally been ushered into upon her arrival for her new clothes.

The room was very wide with a mercifully high ceiling and the décor gave the room an air of regality and refinement. With a heavy sigh Ninty fell backwards onto the large bed, leaving her legs reaching the floor over the side, to enjoy the faint aroma of some sort of flower that arose from the sheets. But it did little to calm the angry thoughts snapping at each other in her mind. In order to try and focus them on something she turned to face the weapon still sitting in her palm, pressing it down into the plush duvet.

All the other people were humans and not one of them had hint of elven or any other race in them. Then there was also the level of magic displayed here being much more potent than what she saw in her world. Did all the other worlds have similar levels of magic to this one? What about races? Were all the other worlds just filled with humans? Was her world the odd one out? How the heck did she get rid of this weapon?

Ninty gave a growl of annoyance when the weapon flashed out of existence and she became aware of how stuffy the room was. So it was that Ninty placed herself into the courtyard under a large oak tree to avoid the harsh sunlight whilst she hummed a little tune to relax. She liked singing, she was very good at it, and it helped to calm her down.

“Oi.” She called over to Jupiter having spotted her not too far away. “Did you find anything interesting or anything?”

@Arty Fox

Jupiter had her head in her newly found book when she heard someone call out, she slowly looked up, it took her a while as she was trying to finish the page before she did so that she wouldn't lose her spot. When she did look up she saw the Elf girl from earlier looking at her which helped her to realise that the Elf had been calling out to her," Yes, actually, I have found many interesting things, most of them happen to be in writing luckily. Anyway, what about you, have you learnt anything more about well, anything?" As she said this she walked over to the Elf," Sorry, what is your name again? I don't remember receiving it." Jupiter looked at the Oak tree with admiration, she thought that it was strangely inspiring and made her want to learn more about it, she hoped that this place had a book with information on plants as well.

Henry took to the technology lessons well enough, with the education he'd received while working for the Followers. He found the idea of microwaves a bit strange, but was glad that hot food wouldn't be a scarcity for once. The briefing about their first destination got him curious, though, and he wondered if the Confederacy was the same one his World's Union had beat hundreds of years ago. He'd found out he was right, too, and that boiled his blood. Goddamn traitors and slavers didn't deserve a world to rule. His skin was no problem, but he figured it would be a good idea to keep his Catholic and Irish roots discrete.

What had made him uncomfortable, though, was the girl. Ursula was her name, but she called herself "The Scythian" too. The big man's cheeks had gone dark red when he noticed her, and just how pretty she was, and he was glad for once that his face was dirty enough to keep from being too obvious. She seemed tough, too, which was just fine by him. He hoped she wouldn't get into much trouble here, having to hide her skin like she would here. If she did...well, that was what he kept The Boomstick for. And that fancy new keyblade of his.

"Well...this oughta be an extra special kinda fun." He drawled, checking the straps and belt on his leather armor one last time. "Hopin' I gonna hafta use any of my buckshot here."

“Ninty Bat” She gestured at herself making the pearl bracelet twinkle pleasantly. “The most asked for local singer around the Brazen Docks.”

She had even stood up at this point with the other hand thrown out wide and a cocky but attractive grin. Ninty was a big fan of theatrics and being in the centre of the spotlight with adoring fans looking up at her, entranced in her voice.

“Well at least I was until all this load of bull happened.” She muttered returning to her slumped position beneath the tree.

“Plus I’ve today I learned that there are other worlds.” One finger struck out to count the fact “There are these weird things called heartless eating and killing everyone in my world.” Another joined it with a second fact and anger rising in Ninty’s voice “The Gods are real and finally I seem to be the only Elf currently in existence who isn’t about to get murdered by Heartless.” Both her hands were thrown up in the air in an effort to throw away all these horrible things that had happened to her.

But of course that didn’t work and Ninty still found herself in the garden in a very bad mood.

“Oh.” Ninty perked up in the most sarcastic manner she could muster. “And this world has a lot more magic than my world does, so good for them with their healing magic and such.”

@Arty Fox

Jupiter almost laughed at how badly Ninty seemed to of taken all of this but then she knew that not everyone had the same views as she did. To her this was a learning opportunity, to her knowledge was the most important thing as she had nothing else to care about. She understood what the Elf must be feeling but she had never seen the point in caring about something she couldn't change," It's not only Elves getting murdered, it's everyone. You have family, don't you? You said so before, family is important but not as important as surviving. That's my point of view at least" she knew that this was probably a dangerous topic according that Ninty might not want to talk about it, especially to a stranger.

The Next Day

Ursula and Rei had left; Emperor Michael had decided that those two would be useful for an ambassadorial job - aka increasing his influence on their homeworlds - instead. The remaining members of the group, Jupiter, Ninty, and Henry, were gathered near the Gummi Cruiser that they would stay on for the duration of the journey, where Emperor Michael would introduce a new member to them.

"Everyone, this is a late arrival, Mackinzie Little," the Emperor then gestured to a 17-year old who walked on artificial legs. "He isn't a Keyblader, but he is an expert in technology, and, like Jupiter, has a strong Heart that can manifest a Keyblade eventually." He then smiled. "Anyway, you'll find the required information about 'Reign of the Confederacy' on the ship."

And with that, the 14-year old left the group to get acquainted with Mackinzie, as well as enter the ship. In said ship, which was piloted and crewed by Moogles, were the same luxury facilities that were in the palace, as well as an arsenal, a navigation computer that controlled the larger guns and the stealth shield, and of course, a library that contained digital and paper versions of books.

Within those books, they would find out that the world of 'Reign of the Confederacy' diverged from the Original Timeline when Lee won at the Battle of Gettysburg, securing Confederate Independence. The Confederates then became a Pariah State due to their retention of Slavery, especially when they invaded Mexico on a pretext, winning large swates of territory, before failing at Cuba due to their undersized navy.

Now, it was twenty years after Gettysburg, 1883, and the Confederates have become a Police State as well as a Pariah Nation, using violence to cow both Black Slaves and Poor Whites, maintaining themselves only through political inertia on part of the Union...an inertia that is ending right this moment, as the Union readies a full invasion of the Confederate States in conjunction with a Black Slave Revolt.

However, the coming of Magic and contact with other Timelines was changing things; the Confederates were recruiting the traditional 'losers of history' from more 'modern' timelines to help them fight against the coming Union assault. South African Afrikaners, Neo-Nazis, French Algerians, and traditional Nazis were gathering at Richmond in a great symbolic 'White Alliance'.

But, at a plantation at the far outskirts of the city, Heartless were battling, and consuming the local guards, traditionally used to keep the slaves in line. There were Shadows in flying masses, and Air Soldiers, and Hook Bats in the air, while on the ground were Soldiers and Large Bodies, along with Red Nocturnes who were setting the place on fire. Not merely that, but the sensors can also detect the presence of a Princess of Heart there.

So it was time, time to defeat the Heartless and Slavers, and rescue the first of their targets, and perhaps (Henry would probably insist) a flight to Richmond in order to decapitate the burgeoning threat. Either way, they had to decide fast, not just on how to rescue the Princess of Heart, but also how to do so without attracting the attention of the forces mustering in the nearby city.

"Remember," said a voice over the Speakers; it was Emperor Michael, "I, Damianos, Giorgios, and the Senate-appointed commanders are coming close to you with a fleet of Gummi Ships and troops should you guys need it. I'm also negotiating an alliance with the Union and Mexico; it's not just the Confederates who are seeking allies. Nevertheless, do your best, and don't forget the disguises, should you need them!"

The plantation came into view; it was a paradoxically wonderful-looking victorian neoclassical mansion surrounded by fields of wheat and sugarcane, except for one quarter where the Slave Huts were. In these huts, the slaves were putting up as brave a defense against the Heartless as they could, although by rights, they should have fallen by now...fallen by now if not for a girl, of about 16 and wearing only rags, radiating a soft light that repulsed the dark creatures, while at the same time attracting their attention.

[@everyone]

Jupiter, after finding out everything she could and seeing the young girl, she instantly knew that this girl was a Princess of Heart, the girl wasn't exactly hiding the fact," We need to get in there, grab the princess and get out. Those are the basics but what we really need to know is how to obey those basics," she muttered to herself a little too loudly," only keybladers and Princesses of Heart can actually fight them so they would be good distraction, that would leave the others to get the princess but then there's the issue that said princess might not want to come for multiple reasons." Everything she said was loud enough for others to hear so, noticing this, she asked the others," Does anyone else have any ideas, preferably with less opportunity for failure?"

“Just go in and do what you said?” Ninty cocked an eyebrow towards Jupiter. “So what if she doesn’t want to come. I bet that once we tell her what’s going on she’ll thank us for it.”

“Besides you humans aren’t that heavy. I could probably pick her up” She added.

The ‘plan’ that had been brought up was simple and straight forward so Ninty saw no reason why it wouldn’t work. However after a moment of further thought, she had to agree that maybe adding a few more points to the plan might be a good idea. But what those extra points were supposed to be Ninty couldn’t quite figure out.

She gazed towards the ‘Tee Vee’ screens around them somehow displaying different scenes of the ongoing battle before them. Something easier said than done with her ‘disguise’ on which Ninty had been shocked to discover turned out to be more body-changing magic than anything else to make her look more human. Overall it was a rather uncomfortable spell the Moogles had thrown on her that made her entire body tingle constantly, and as a result of said spell she was a lot shorter than she was used to. Luckily her clothes had changed appropriately to fit her slightly smaller frame.

“I mean what else do you suggest?” Ninty then directly asked Jupiter, having come up with no ideas of her own. “Like you said there aren’t that many of us, and we need to be quick before she does get eaten by those things.”

With the last word out her mouth Ninty’s keyblade appeared once again in hand. Maybe after this battle she’d ask someone how she was supposed to get it to appear and disappear on command. Plus also ask about how the whole thing worked, and the name as well considering that it wasn’t really a blade as such but more like an ornate club used to bash someone’s head in.

(The flashback portion is a collab between myself and Letter Bee.)

San Fransokyo, a few hours ago:

For a global center of technology, San Fransokyo still had a surprising number of slummy areas. These types of neighborhoods were practically a breeding ground for illegal bot fighting. Personally, Mackenzie never did understand why bot fighting was illegal. It wasn't like anyone was actually getting hurt. Really, the only actual legally questionable thing about bot fighting were the people who bet on the battles, since gambling was illegal in California and all. But that was no reason to punish the actual competitors, or so Mach believed. Not that he himself was into Bot fighting, but he did find himself spectating a few matches over the internet on occasion. Bot fighters were a surprisingly good source of inspiration for his prosthesis project, and in fact the current one he possessed was inspired by a particular fight Mach had watched. Speaking of that, it was that very prosthesis Mach was currently fidgeting with. He was in the garage, his suit taken part and its segments spread out on a worktable, with Mach himself hunched over it on his wheelchair, picking and prodding here and there with various tools, a laptop with a blueprint image of the suit sitting not too far away as a reference guide.

"Alrighty..." Mach muttered to himself, "...just a few more calibrations and then we'll see what these babies can really do."

Suddenly, behind him, he can see a portal of pure darkness, from which emerged a young boy, with black hair and eyes, wearing a black-and-silver coat, carrying a blade that was a hybrid of key and sword. Before Mach can set off the alarms, Tocsax - we all know him by now - said:

"I don't think bringing others here would be be necessary; if I wanted to hurt you, I would not have spoken and instead attacked." He then smiled.

"Anyway, I come here on behalf of someone else, someone who needs your help."

In all honesty Mach barely even registered that someone showed up. He thought it was one of his parents at first and wheeled his chair around to tell them that he would eat dinner later, stopping when he realized it was a stranger. The strange kid carried some kind of key-shaped club weapon and basically may as well have said that he came in peace, "Riiiiight," said Mach, his sarcastic skepticism rearing its head, "and I suppose you want me to take you to my leader, then? Well, sorry, but I'm not personally acquainted with the guy, so I guess that means you'll be going to find someone else, right?" then he just... turned his chair back around and went right back to work.

"Zero Gravira," said Tocsax, pointing at the chair, which began to float up, with Mach still sitting on it.

When his chair suddenly rose up from the floor, Mach let out an exasperated sigh. The stranger was using Magic. Which meant he was one those types, the cool and hip kids who played with magic because they had the money to spend on it. Mach personally disliked Magic, instead firmly believing that his tech could do anything a spell could do, "Okay, so you know a little magic. So do lot of the hip kids on the block. Not impressed."

Tocsax opened an arm-sized portal, stuck his arm through it, then drew out...a small cube, which he then tossed at Mach.

"The Escafil Device, aka the Morphing Cube from Animorphs. Pure Technology that draws on Z-Space, not Magic; that said, though, it had to be modified to use other dimensions, as Z-Space doesn't exist here or any other universe."

"Uh huh," said Mach, staring incredulously at the cube, "and I helped Alice slay the Jabberwocky the other day and together we saved Narnia." he responded, then added with a completely deadpan tone, "See? I can pretend that fiction is real too."

In response, Tocsax, with surprising strength, grabbed ahold of Mach and tossed him into a Corridor of Darkness, which led him to a large, garden-like area filled with large fields of flowers, where the sky above was dotted with artistically shaped clouds and colors. But the beauty of this place was not the most surprising part, but rather the fact that the area was filled with centaur-like blue aliens with no mouths, four eyes, two of them in antler-like stalks, and whose tails ended with a scythe.

Oh, and they were also invisible.

"The Andalite Home World," the young boy said, lying down on the grass. "Happy?"

He went to grab something to defend himself with, but was too slow. No, instead he was torn from his wheelchair and essentially kidnapped into another dimension. Granted, it was a very tranquil and pretty looking place, but that didn't matter in the slightest when Mach was just kidnapped from his home, so one couldn't possibly expect his response to be happy in the slightest.

"What the hell, man?" he shouted, finding himself on the grass and unable to get up for obvious, "You just freakin' KIDNAPPED ME! How the hell do you THINK I feel? What kind of jerk kidnaps a HELPLESS CRIPPLED PERSON, anyway? So I guess all that crap about you coming in peace and meaning me no harm was a giant load of bullcrap, right?"

"You wanted proof, I gave it," Tocsax was deadpan. "And excuse me for my lack of social graces; I spent most of my life as a child soldier, and one third of that without a metaphysical Heart." He then opened another portal, then, instead of using Magic, lifted Mach up and put the latter's arm around his shoulder, opening another Corridor, and dragging the tech-wiz back to his room, setting him back on his wheelchair.

"Look, Mach," the boy continued, "I'm a dickhead. I don't like it, but that's what I am. But, I genuinely have this Multiverse's best interests at heart, and I want to save it, and it's super urgent that I do."

"Sounds like you need some kind of warrior." responded Mach, still miffed by the whole kidnapping thing, "But, just in case you didn't notice..." he gestured down to his chair in a matter-of-factly fashion, "...wheelchair? You know, as in I can't walk... or fight... so I don't know what you think I can do for you. Like I said in the beginning, you've got the wrong guy."

Okay, fine, Mach was lying. His prosthesis suit did allow him to walk and fight and everything, but Tocsax didn't know that, and Mach sure as hell wasn't going to trust his kidnapper with his secret identity.

"Escafil Device; heals people after morphing and demorphing," said Tocsax, "of course, your pride might prevent you from using it." His tone then softened.

"Look, fact of the matter is, there are probably hundreds of kids like you, people who like Magic, people who are eager to fight for a cause. But, no offense, most of those aren't smart, most of them just coasting on people who are. You have brains, and a stronger Heart than you think. You break the traditional 'mold' of a hero without being a gun-toting serial killer killer, and, well, I like that. The person whom I was split off of was a person who tried to bring traditional hero tropes into a modern, real, world, and he suffered for it."

"But enough tangents. I'm sorry for kidnapping you, and for forcing this on you. But, there's an entire existence out there that needs to be saved."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose in thought. Now why did his jerk of kidnapper have to go be so sincere? Of course, ever the snarky bastard, Mach couldn't help but point something out, "Pretty sure morphing doesn't work that way. According to the books I read, I would need a DNA sample of my past self*, from before I was put in this chair. I'm pretty sure even you can't travel through time, otherwise you would have just used it to prevent your catastrophe from ever being possible." as he said this, he glanced over his shoulder at the suit in pieces on his table. Then he gave another exsperated sigh, "...Can't believe I'm doing this." he turned his chair around and, in moments, finished the calibration of his prosthesis.

"Okay, so, I may have been a little less than honest about the whole "I can't walk thing", but after kidnapping me I don't think you'd be in much of a position to hold that against me, right?" as he said that, he was gathering certain compents of the complex device on the work table. When he wheeled the chair back around, they were on his lap, "Just one moment..." he muttered, now fiddling with various pieces of the components, appearing to attach them to his legs, starting with his feet and working his way up to just past his knees, "...and Christ said, let the lame walk again." with those words, he stood up from his wheelchair.

"It's my own personal project. There's a bit more to it than just the legs, but I can put those on later." he turned around and started gathering the remaining pieces from the worktable and packing them into a storage unit that he then set on his wheelchair, "It's like I always say, anything a spell can do, my tech can do better. That includes healing."

"Point taken on the DNA stuff," said the boy, "and, thanks for agreeing to help me. It means a lot." He then opened another Corridor of Darkness, and led him through.

"You'll love the palace; there we can do some more exposition." Tocsax was happy, almost chirping. "We can also have a Gyro and some coffee together - not that way, just as acquaintances. And of course, the view is awesome..."

(*We changed how Morphing works so as not to provide an easy solution to the 'crippled party member thing'.)

Now:

By now, Mach had been introduced to the rest of his companions for the journey. There was Jupiter who, apart from a few small differences, was pretty much exactly like Mackenzie himself. Well, at least he knew there would be at least one person who might understand his technobabble... maybe. Then there was Ninty who, in all honesty, Mach didn't quite get. She was an elf, which in itself was strange, but she also came off kind of abrasive. Then again, Mach had basically taunted Tocsax into kidnapping him so he didn't exactly have a right to judge. Finally, there was Henry, or Hank, as he apparently preferred to be called. Hank looked like he was brought in as muscle, supposedly from a Post-Apocalyptic version of Nevada. All of them, except Jupiter apparently, could summon and wield those Key-shaped things that were supposedly swords of some kind, although Mach swore up and down that there was no way those clunky looking things could actually cut anyone, the physics just didn't make any sense. Then again, it was magic, so trying to explain it with logic was probably an exercise in futility.

After a few hours, the group found themselves on the first stop of their little adventure. The Reign of the Confederacy was, according to the Emperor, a version of the world where the South won the Civil War. Didn't exactly sound like a pleasent place to visit or to live, but the first "Princess" they needed was apparently some escaped slave on this world. Finding said girl wasn't the difficult part, no that would be successfully convincing her that they weren't raving lunatics and that their story about a multiple universes being threatened by a megalomaniac trying to become God was true and not nearly as insane as it sounded. But while the others discussed how they could approach the girl, Mach had his own idea. Best way to prove a case was to provide evidence, and Mach's mechanical legs were a pretty convincing piece of evidence that he wasn't from around here, "You know, my prosthesis would probably do a pretty good job at proving our story to her," he said with a shrug, "just saying..."

Jupiter knew that trying to take a girl who didn't want to be taken was a bad idea, especially a girl that was part of some major weapon, but if she was't convinced then they would be forced to. "I'm not entirely sure that the prosthesis will convince her to come with us but it's the best idea so far and we don't have time to think of another so that's what we will do. First, I'm thinking that the keybladers should keep the Heartless distracted while the non-keybladers should try to convince the princess to get into the ship and come with us. Does anybody have any objections to that ridiculously simple plan?" Jupiter babbled, adding the question at the end as an afterthought.

Jupiter was worried about this plan, to her it sounded too simple," It sounds too easy," she muttered nonchalantly.

Henry couldn't help gawking for a moment at the scenery before him. It was the first time he'd seen American soil in its unirradiated state, even if it was traitor soil right now. The plantation itself earned his gaping attention for nearly three minutes. The closested he'd ever seen to something like this kind of greenery was Arroyo, and even then he'd never seen anything like cotton.

He heard Jupiter speak her concerns about getting the Princess to come along with them, and the giant paused for a moment, considering.

"Could always jus' so some magic in front of her. Did a pretty good job convincin' me." He drawled, lighting up a somewhat bent cigarette and taking a slow, satisfied drag. He paused again, considering.

"More concerned about the goddamn traitors. I got caps says we'll be going' through lotsa rebs to get to her, an' even more when we got her an' start headin' out. Also wouldn't mind paintin' a wall with Jefferson Davis' brains if we got the time to swing by Virginia. But no objection to the plan."

The time for discussion was over; it was time to get out of the Gummi Ship, and everyone in the group would realize that. So, the Moogles on the ship, with their wings, would fly down those who were not already able to fly, setting them down among the group of black slaves and the Princess of Heart, who were so occupied fighting off superior numbers of Heartless, that they barely took any notice of the newcomers...at least, until a new onslaught of Heartless attacked.

Ninty and Henry would be the first targeted, the Shadows and Air Soldiers swooping down to take them from the air, but Henry's Irradiation spell would put him in slightly better stead than the disguised Elf. Their first battle, especially with them being so uncoordinated, would be stressful and frustrating for the first few seconds...before they heard a voice, a voice that was undoubtedly from the young girl radiating light.

"[Southern Accent: I make you strong.]"

And with that, Ninty and Henry's Keyblades began glowing, and Ninty suddenly found herself able to shoot beams of light from her Keyblade, while Henry's free hand suddenly glowed with electricity. However, the Red Nocturnes were already finishing off the last of the Black Slaves with a volley of fire, and the Soldiers and Large Bodies were rushing at them now!

Mach and Jupiter would be stuck with the Princess of Heart...

This entire escapade was absurd! Why did she agree to this Ninty would never know, but the whole shooting streams of light from her Keyblade was pretty cool.

Ninty had been in fights before, she had even been in brawls as a youngster as well but never a war. She’d never heard someone’s dying shriek, never seen their body being ripped apart by shadows before it even had a chance to hit the ground, never smelt flesh being burned to barely a few ashes upon bone.

“Get away from me!” Ninty shrieked and swung the keyblade at a shadow far too close for comfort.

She was wearing a dress. Of all things she had decided to wear a dress thinking that she’d be more than a match for these things. But she was paying the price now. Even after such a short time being on the ground her limbs were dotted with small cuts from the little soldiers giddily running circles round them.

As Ninty was firing another round of beams up at the flying Nocturnes (though Ninty herself called them annoying pepper pots), pressed so tightly against Henry’s back that she was regularly dealing and receiving volleys of elbows to the ribs, the many bells ringing in her skull drew her attention to her left. The flood of jittering heartless before her was being parted by the a large body charging full pelt towards them, sending the heartless between them up into the air.

“Fatso to the left!” Ninty shouted, not at all concerned that her left was Henry’s right. “Move!” She struck out her bum with enough force to send her and Henry away from each other.

The Large Body tore through the space they had been just moments before whilst Ninty slashed apart the Heartless she had tumbled into. And the next, and the next, and the next Ninty continued to swipe vigorously at the Heartless surrounding her.

“By the Thirteen how many of these things are there!?” Ninty cursed loudly.

The team was, more or less, airdropped onto the field from the Gummi Ship. Seriously, they may as well have been paratroopers, only with Moogles in place of parachutes. Well, the others had Moogles, Mach frankly had no need for them. Just before the drop, he had enough time to fully suit up in his gear and, when offered to be carried by a Moogle, he held up his index finger while shaking his helmeted head. After that, he waited for the Gummi Ship hatch to open and made sure he was the first one out, looking a lot like a chute-less skydiver.

His suit didn't have full-on flight capabilities per say, but what it did have was smaller scale thrusters on the boots, along with some good old-fashioned shock absorption. With the two combined, making a safe jump from the ship wouldn't be a problem. The only real issue Mach caused was the small cloud of dust he kicked up around himself upon hitting the ground. But damn if he didn't look like a complete badass when the dust cleared to reveal his armored self in a kneeling position as if he'd just punched the very earth itself.

But even his entrance did little to catch the attention of the slaves, and for good reason. It was a war-zone after all, the creatures Mach had been briefed on - the Heartless - were attempting to overwhelm the numerically inferior force of slaves with the ever-useful power of numbers. Thankfully, these slaves just received a hell of a reinforcement in the form of Mach and, well, the team in general. The Heartless wasted no time in targeting Henry and Ninty, what with them having Keyblades and all. They likely perceived them to be the bigger threats, which honestly was just fine with Mach, as it would give him time to come up with a battle plan of some sort. This also meant that he ended up sticking near the supposed Princess. As such, he took a moment to make a brief intro, "No offense but you guys looked like you were pretty screwed, so my buddies and I figured we'd even the odds a little."

While he spoke, he fiddled with something on his helmet. From Mach's perspective, the Heartless in the immediate area became highlighted by a scanner linked directly with the cruiser's database. Apparently Michael had been collecting an impressive amount of battle data on various types of Heartless, and as long as Mach had access to it, there'd be no Heartless he couldn't identify and keep track of. Speaking of which, a trio Red Nocturne's managed to get close enough to try throwing fireballs at the would-be Princess. Thankfully, she currently had Mach at her side. He pressed something on the centerpiece of his belt, and a small object shot outward a few feat and suddenly generated an electrical wall in front of Mach, who had put himself in front of the Princess. The fireballs collided harmlessly with the shield and dispelled, the shield then retracting and the device then shooting itself back onto Mach's belt like a magnet of some kind. With his prosthetic legs, Mach made a superhuman leap at the Nocturnes, easily catching all three of them in a spinning kick that was made all the stronger by his mechanical legs. Mach landed with style and put himself near the Princess again, "Anything spells can do, my tech can do better."

The giant was shouting and doing everything in his power to get the attention of as many of the Heartless as he could. He was the biggest, and he figured stongest, so it was his duty to take the most of the beatings here. He'd already dropped three Soldiers and sent a Large Body staggering and poisoned with a blast of Atom's Irradiate spell. Several of the remaining Soldiers and Shadows were surrounding him now, and he thought for a moment he thought maybe this was a bad idea.

Then the girl showed up, and he felt an unbelievable surge of power course through him. His fist was crackling like a Tesla coil. He grinned wide, an turned to smash that fist straight into one of the soldiers. It exploded into a dark cloud on impact, and he nodded in satisfaction. He let out another roar and turned to face the rest of the horde around him.

"C'mon you ugly son'bitches! You wanna fight, come get some'a Big Hank Sullivan!" It was the best be could think of now, but he needed to get as many of the bastards away from the slaves as he could. Looking like the biggest threat in the crowd was usually the best way to go about it, in his experience.

The Princess of Heart looked at Mach's armored form with a mixture of shock, fear, and most importantly, amazement as the tech-wiz as the latter rescued her from almost certain doom. She shrank a little from the young man, but it was more in embarassment than because she was afraid. Either way, there were going to be...developments, for after the battle.

-------

Ninty and Henry were in the thick of the fighting, already sustaining several cuts and burns, but no serious injuries yet. Ninty was having a harder time of it, but Henry's aggressive behavior against the Heartless would soon relieve the pressure on the Elf, allowing her a few stolen moments of rest. Perhaps it would be better if she focused on the attackers from the air; the Shadows and Air Soldiers, and let Henry focus on the ones on the ground? Simple division of combat/labor might yet turn the tide...especially as they were making a dent in the numbers of the enemy.

@Letter Bee

Jupiter had has to be dropped down by the Moogles as she had no other way of getting down safely. Once she wae ground she pulled out her gun although she knew that it wouldn't be of too much use which she didn't mind as she was more focused on convincing the princess to go with the team than killing. Luckily for her she happened to of been dropped right next to the Princess of Heart so she was about to try and talk to her when she was nearly blasted, only nearly as she managed to roll out of the way.

Jupiter had never been one for violence even though it was needed a lot for protection, she had never before seen a full on war like this battle against the Heartless was turning out to be. She was starting to wonder why she had ever joined his fight in the first place but she did know why, the thought of what the Heartless had done made up her mind as she got back up and went over to the princess where she could see Mach already talking to the the girl.

As she got to a position close to Mach and the Princess of Heart she told the girl," Look, all of us, the group of people that literally just dropped in are all from different worlds or in my case many worlds. There is someone who has very bad intentions when it comes to you and the other Princesses of Heart which I hope you know very well about. In other words we need you to come with us so that we can keep you as safe as humanly possible, okay?" All that talking had made her out of breath so she was a little puffed. Usually it wouldn't affect her but she was under a lot of stress which changed her normal breathing pattern.

Jupiter dearly hoped that the princess would believe her and agree to go with them but she doubted that it would be as easy as that.

“Have we got the brat yet!?” Ninty shrieked amidst mid swear.

She hated these things, she loathed them and felt quite a bit happier whenever she saw a puff of black smoke when they died.

While Henry took care of the Heartless on the ground Ninty tried to turn her focus to the skies; sending out volleys of light at their attackers and thinning them out. Sadly with so much going on and having to keep dodging, and of course retaliating against, attack from other heartless Ninty wasn’t much of a good shot. Even so the flying Heartless themselves didn’t have much chance of their own to attack as they jittered and jumped around above their targets.

Another few Heartless became puffs of smoke above her whilst Ninty continued to threaten those around her with promises such as;
“Touch me and I will shove yer friends head over there, up yer arse!”

Thankfully though, for the Heartless, Ninty stuck to either shooting or beating them instead.