((I don't need a map, but it would be nice to have a description of how they are laid out.))
Not safe seemed like an understatement, but Markus had spent enough time on the receiving end of cannons not to be frightened. He rushed in between salvos of the firework-like shots and struck out with his keyblade, stretching his arm forward as he took a step in perfect form.
That perfect form saved him from a few explosions beside his feet. These heartless had poor aim and reckless behavior. Any real captain would command the cannons with refined accuracy. At least, that's the impression Markus would get from them. Out of luck on heartless was struck by his keyblade, knocking it back then bursting apart. As powerful as fireworks were, they were weak.
Asha walks through the door and sees all of the heartless swarming a lone swordsman. She thinks to herself " Here we off again." She takes a battle stance and activates her shaboteur set. Asha targets the suit of armour since it seems to be the toughest opponent. She casts deshell, deprotect and imperil on the huge suit of armour in an attempt to weaken it for the others to inflict more damage to it.
Asha quickly learns that her spells only affected parts of the body. When deshell activated it hit an arm. When deprotected activated it hit a leg. Imperil on the other hand struck the last arm. Now beginning to understand, that suit of armor wasn't just one unified creature, it was five independent parts. She was already helping as she would back at home, however, something was off. She would notice that expending this much magic was far more draining. To be precise, her saboteur set seemed to lack its former ease of use with chain casting spells. Taking it one at a time would be easier and less draining.
As Nero made his way through the door, his stance would be loose and relaxed. Though not completely unafraid, any sort of unnecessary tension in his muscles would only slow down his reactions. At least- that's what Yuffie taught him back on Hollow Bastion. As the visage of the heartless came into view, that's all Nero could think of was his former home, gripping the hilt of his keyblade tighter as that anger he held inside him began to bubble over. Yet, another vision would soon change his demeanor, as his eyes set on a familiar form.
"Leon!" In a rush of excitement, he began rushing towards one of his heros. Having grown up on the same world as the gunsword-wielding man, Nero had idolized Leon for his strength and his resolve to continue fighting. How they both came to be upon this world would merely be a question in the back of Nero's mind, more concerned now on just getting to the man. It was then he noticed the bigger heartless, unsure of the name- though taking not it was well armored and seemed to be an amalgamation of different pieces all separate and hovering about a central form.
Though Leon had ordered him to fall back, Nero could just leave him alone, "I'll take out one of the arms!" Taking a brief moment to turn his head to the others, "If you can, take out the ranged ones. The less there are, the less we have to worry about." With his attention turned back to the heartless, Nero would rush of, leaping into the air as his blade struck out at the same arm that Leon had parried not a moment before.
"Nero?" Leon could see him and seemed a bit surprised. "Survived the fall of Radiant Garden? Nero! A Keyblade?" The warrior was surprised to see the keyblade in Nero's hands. However his expression was short, only visible to those observing him.
Bringing his attention back to the Guard Armor, Leon looked sure that this encounter with the heartless would go well. Confidence in his eyes glowed with energy.
The boy's attack on the arm struck head one. However, the imperil status wasn't going to help him. But Nero did assure Asha that this enemy was in fact in separate parts.
Akira watched the others begin their fight with a grin. He noticed the gunblade and knew Leon the moment they came into view now seeing that Nero was taking off into the fray and ignoring his order only made him chuckle and head in after him. He moved and stood next to Nero as he gave the idea of taking out the ranged targets.
"Not a chance I'll leave that to the magicians for now." he said as he leapt into the air aiming for the other arm.
Striking the other arm, Akira's attack threw it off balance. Both arms now floating, the legs and main body were left to strike.
The deprotected leg flung itself at Nero but Leon leapt infront of him, countering the attack and obliterating the piece of the heartless. The black smog simply vanished as if an illusion.
"Another keyblade... you too Akira?" The warrior held his weapon high, but looked behind him to see the others.
Starting and drawing a panicked breath as she saw a fight against those monsters unfold, Tera backed away slowly, her hand pulling her data disk off her back. It flashed into her Keyblade as she took in the frankly horrifying sight ahead of her. The man with the gunblade, named Leon judging from the reaction of a young man that just ran by her, was battling a huge, dark armoured hulk that had backup in the form of smaller Heartless that fired fireworks out their mouths! She'd never seen such things in her life, even with the Light Cycles and the Disk Arena.
She didn't know how to fight. But her newfound companions did.
And the best thing she did was learn.
Tera would hang back, observing the fighters in play as they fought. Her keen eyes would focus on Leon, Markus and Nero in particular, each and every move they made being analysed, recorded and stored within her memory for use. Every action, every parry, counter swing, attack, dodge, analysed and stored, just like a computer would.
She was an ISO, after all. A computer was at the heart of her very being.
Her grip on her Keyblade tightened. A few more minutes and she'd be ready, hopefully.
Simply observing she noted a few details on her own. This heartless armor was five pieces with one already defeated. Because the attacks of Nero and Akira were unsuccessful in shattering the hands it was assumed the keyblade alone could not defeat it. When she saw Leon's counter attack there were considerable factors, the first being that Leon was far stronger than her new companions. The second was Asha's spell. Heartless were vulnerable to maigc which had to be analyzed at another time. For now she could record Leon's response time and strength, Nero's and Akira's eagerness to jump into the fray, and how their attacks could be used to defend themselves from the guard armor. However, it seems to be only Leon who is defending against the attacks. Tera would be wise to assume this enemy might be a bit much for her keyblade wielder companions.
Something inside of her would click.
"
Guardian. To take the blow for an ally who is attacked. Response time is the first prerequisite of this ability. The second being the obligation to take harm for another person thereby protecting them. Understanding that she couldn't yet use this ability, Tera knew she needed a higher response time and an obligation to protect an ally.
Something else inside of Tera clicked. Using Observation drained her energy, which wasn't the same as when she used it in the Grid. She could assume this was because of her present location in another world, but she was open to new hypotheses.
Fion wasn't quite sure how to respond seeing as everyone was rushing in without a thought of the danger did they even notice the armours parts aren't even attached chances are it could move it parts around freely the only way to beat it properly was likely to focus on the head and main body as they looked attached.
Fion wasn't really in the mood to get involved with the large fight everyone was involved in or going in from the front would be a poor decision at any rate it'd probably be best to just double back and get the jump on his enemies. so he ran into the second district and quickly found a side path leading to the back of the third distract and quickly entered. Fion then found himself near a ledge looking down at all the enemies he then decided while the others were distracting it he'd jump slash the head of the armour enemy.
Being very intuitive Fion's thought was assured when Leon destroyed a leg. It seemed he knew what he was doing at least. When he left the area it was easy to discover an alternative route. However, understanding the risk of leaving a battle Fion would not yet understand the consequences of being alone in a world where the Heartless attack on impulse.
That consequence pending, getting to the ledge then leaping down to strike the head directly proved to be very difficult. The arms swung up, protecting the heartless and preventing Fion's Keyblade from reaching its face. This would no doubt put him in a predicament, the other arm reached for him, but flames of magic washed over that oncoming hand, destroying it.
Fion would land on his feet with ease. Then something inside of him spoke. Without an audible sound the voice simple said, "Clever but I'm watching this unfold myself." Fion would not yet understand where this voice came from. But judging by the expression of the others, he was the only one to "hear" it. Perhaps freaked out, an attempt to say what just happened would be impossible for him. Fion would not be able to explain this soundless voice, as if by magic his own voice was unable.
Niinii was taken aback by the large amounts of Heartless in the district and the single man holding them off, a Hume with a strange but fascinating weapon that's in the shape of a sword with odd parts of a gun. But he will have to study the seemingly impractical weapon later once the Heartless has been dealt with. From what the Moogle can gather that several of the Humes has went up ahead and started their assault on the biggestest of the heartless the one cloaked in purple armor and the arms and legs flying around haphazardly and several smaller turrets are aiming their sights at the group. Niinii was nervous, this was the first time he will fight them head on, without fear backing him up, he was standing next to the blond hume who held her Keyblade and seemed to be studying the group it was clear in the way she looked over everybody, it was something the Moogle was good at. "Huh... Blonde Hume whose name I didn't catches, if you need help just yell out to me and I will run back to you and help, It looks like we're both new to this, Kupo." Niinii spoke up to Tera, in a supportive tone with a wide smile on his face to hide his worries.
Niinii suddenly jumped towards one of the turrets shaped heartless and when he was in range he started to smack one of them repeatedly with his short keyblade, while his hits are weak, he makes up for in amounts of hits he can get in. hopefully he doesn't hit by one of the Turrets rockets he wouldn't be able to survive too many hits.
The flurry of strikes caused the heartless cannons to break apart. With the joint effort of markus those two were able to vanquish the smaller ones. However the moogle would feel something in his chest. There was something forming there, intangible and obviously not painful, but like a memory it felt old. As if knowing it all along, Niinii would see a quick image. Hearts flew into the sky, disappearing into the air.
And that too was happening in front of him. The cannon heartless exploded into hearts, however, in this memory they were not cannons but instead mere shadows. Unable to see what caused them to fall apart, Niinii would simply feel as if the keyblade was responsible.
Tera also noticed this when Markus and Niinii broke apart the cannon heartless. Leon's blade didn't cause a release of any hearts but with those who wielded the keyblade they did. A correlation was there, however, causation was not.
The guard armor rose a bit higher from the keybladers and warrior. Its arm and leg remained near the party however, swinging around and spinning in various patterns. Leon was easily able to strike them, countering and causing them to break apart.
It seemed Nero and Akira wouldn't be able to break any heartless apart.
"I doubt that this is a normal Guard Armor. It isn't attacking us yet." Leon said. "Heartless are reckless, mindlessly attacking. This is especially true if its enemy has a keyblade. But with seven of you that heartless shouldn't be able to ignore its instinct to attack." Leon's assessment would be vital later, those who listened would realize that their enemy wasn't going to fall as easily as the cannons.
"I congratulate you children." A voice said, coming from the Guard Armor.
Lean got in front of Nero and Akira. With an arm stretched out he motioned for them to back away. However, his eyes were locked onto the heartless floating above. This wasn't normal in any way, fitting no description of a mindless attacker.
"Children chosen by the keyblade. Why is it that they are always so young?" The voice was a man's. He was perhaps Leon's age but the deep tone and slow speaking held confidence. Fion would recognize the voice, even though he didn't hear its sound until now.
"Innocence? No. Wielders of the Keyblade are far from that." The Guard armor burst with a strong aura. Black mist flowed from its body, rising into the air like smoke and flames.
"Potential? No. Countless wielders were nothing but fools." The heartless's head and body vibrated, then a crease appeared like the strings of a bow on a gift box. It separated into four parts, the top parts tipping over. Inside it exposed a floating heart surrounded by a cloud of darkness gripping it with long fingers and piercing it with sharp nails.
"It is the strength of their Heart. Why else would the Heartless fear the wielders yet crave their hearts despite the obvious danger?" The Heartless's former body burst as it did with the legs and arms. The only remaining part was the black aura of fire and the heart within its control.
"Blessed are those who are cursed by the Keyblade. You will have the strength to fight the heartless but you will have the attention of the darkness. This is the Heart of a strong child who would have lived an adventurous life had it not been for the fall of his world."The Heart flew higher into the air, spinning as if the most valuable item in a shop.
"Should you visit a world, you endanger those who live there. If all you wish is peace and safety for those people then there is nothing you can do but despair. You are a beacon to the heartless, harbingers of destruction to these worlds. However..."The heart dropped back down to the ground, causing a mist of darkness to spread out around it.
"If you master the darkness in your heart then you control the darkness."Leon readied his weapon, holding it above his head. A strong wave of magic burst from it, making the blade even longer and also shining.
"Come closer wielders of the Keyblade. Accept the darkness into your body. With it you will have new potential and new power."Leon's weapon came down in a single slice, striking the heart head on.
Fire and sparks of light exploded around the heart. It still spun, however it was within a sphere of darkness that protected it. Leon wasn't able to free the heart from the darkness.
"By unlocking this heart you will save this child from eternal despair. Doing so is the first step in mastering the darkness.""Don't let him lie to you! The darkness is nothing you should play with. It is..." Leon's weapon bounced off the sphere. His strength could not win the battle. "It is dangerous to everyone. No one can master it, only suppress it so it can't control them. Don't think that you can't save this heart though. The keyblade can unseal any lock, this one is no different."
"The offer does stands, but soon enough this heart will fall back into darkness. It is your only chance to save it, children."The spinning stopped but the sphere around it moved, pulling it upward into the sky. Above it an oval shape appeared, what seemed like a hole in the sky. It too had flames of darkness and smoke spewing from the center. It was only a matter of time before it would enter the horrizon of the void.
Then a large hand reached from the portal, bigger than Leon's blade. Its fingers wrapped around the Heart, squeezing it like a water balloon.
[What will you do?]
