@Arty Fox@Letter Bee

v2 was taken aback by how easy that had been. He always hoped that people would behave in a logical and reasonable manner, but it was very rarely that people actually did. Of course, this could be ruined by something unforeseen and dramatic within the next millisecond, but that was true all the time. A gamma ray burst could wipe out the entire planet and everyone on it withing the next millisecond. Things just happened, that was fact. So he enjoyed the moment, while still trying to watch all the entrances at once.

"You live here?" He asked Mac and Cheese. "Perhaps the Princess would know of secrets in this building that you yourself are unaware of. Comparing the two versions would possibly be an enjoyable and enlightening activity."

Team Mai, Taka, Ryteb

Suddenly, the Reichstag building, where Furher Himmler was living in, exploded, the orange-red blast filling the view of the party, and distracting Restam at a crucial moment.

The three would then receive a communication from Tocsax:

"Sorry for the delay, had to close the world's Keyhole! Now Himmler is dead, and only Restam and Stalin are left!"

Team Drake and Seth

Lavinia screamed as the bullets entered her shoulders, causing her Key-scythe to disappear. Realizing she had lost, the Seeker of Darkness opened a Corridor underneath her feet, disappearing.

As for Stalin, Drake would receive a comm from the ship:

"A convoy of cars is heading outside from the Kremlin to Stalin's summer home! Stalin himself might be in that convoy!"

Team v2, Mac, and Cheese

A look of puzzled wonderment at that from Lucy, before she said:

"All right, we'll close up the place and go with you."

"Lucy!" Judah said.

"Why not?" spoke the young woman, "it sounds like an adventure."

"All right," spoke the young Jewish Keyblader, "I'll go make the preperations."

@Double@Arty Fox@SMS@Rex@Ryteb Pymeroce@Gentlemanvaultboy@ShadowVentus@supertinyking

@Double @Letter Bee

The man, with a gentle wirring sound drew an energy blade, the water in the air sizzling from the intense heat it gave off. Quickly he struck each bullet out of the air, those that he did not block being sent back to the sniper via small blue portals which opened up around him, the round heading straight though the scope of the weapon that fired them.

The masked man then stopped, and bowed. "I showed you mine, show me yours...blade, I mean....I guess if we're not doing the whole creepy masked murderer thing, I can go the wise ass route too..." He hums, his voice changing to a raspy, barely audible rattle.

"......Also..I'll be nice, and warn you...Stop your men's fire. It'll only end so well for them, and you..." He states, switching back to the monotone robotic voice. He shifts to a relaxed posture, his spine bending strangely, as he twists to look at Seth, the eye holes of his mask seeming to show two glowing blue dots.

@supertinyking@Letter Bee

With a snap of the Nobody's gloved fingers, Seth's Snipers disbanded. They appeared to each vanish into their own personal wormhole of sorts that vanished along with them. With a sigh, Seth let his head cock to one side, "Well you're no fun." he commented, then proceeded to crack his knuckles, and his neck a bit, "If you really wanna do this the more direct way, I guess I can oblige..." he stepped forward, as if to lunge for an attack... only to stamp his boot. On that command, waves of sand rose up around the masked man, ready to crash upon him with however many hundreds of pounds worth of weight they carried with them. That wasn't the main objective, though.

The sand waves were actually more of a distraction if anything. An extra wave of the stuff washed over Seth himself! When the Nobody emerged, he wasn't alone. He was flanked by a pair of living sand golems, each looked liked him and even flashed his usual unsettling grin, "Okay so... maybe I lied a little bit about obliging you." oddly enough, Seth's voice sounded like it was coming from all three figures at once. Seth himself was covered in a layer of sand, and so all three figures looked like identical copies. One of them had to be the real thing, but which one? All three lunged at once, separating and going in for the attack from three different angles. They didn't call or draw any blades, because Seth didn't own any. But they did punch, and punch very hard. In fact, anything the three sandy figures punched was almost literally reduced to dust and rubble.

"Fist of Destruction..." all three said in unison. Or rather, Seth's one voice came from all three at once, "...Pincer Strike!" this unusual technique normally required at least two practitioners to execute, and thankfully Seth's two sand golems fit that bill perfectly.

Mai shielded her eyes from the brightness of the Fire magic Ryteb had just unleashed upon their assailants. Once the Fire died down, the place smelled like ash and all that was left was the two of them.

"Heh, what took you so long?" For once, she was glad to see her sorcerer companion. She often saw him in an annoyed light, but this felt like genuine relief. "You should really keep your stomach in check. That could prove fatal for us the next time it comes up."

The girl began to walk towards Ryteb, but in her fatigue, she stumbles onto her knees, barely catching herself using her Keyblade as her support. "Ow, ow, ow, ow..." Her body began feeling sore all over, but it wasn't anything a little break couldn't fix.

Her thoughts began to shift towards Taka as she remembered that she still had yet to confirm his location, but an explosion had suddenly occured. "What the-?" It was large, and most likely would have caught people in the blast. The building it originated from crumbling down onto the streets as it shook the earth from the impact.

Before she could get up and rush forward, Tocsax's message had relayed to her that the explosion was intentional, and was hopefully not within the vicinity of innocent lives. A small sigh escaped her lips, and after a moment, she turned to Ryteb. "So, who's Retsam again?"

"How's about next time, I fight the army and you break a spell cast by about 5 mages." Ryteb grinned, flopping down onto his backside. Taka could probably handle the Nazis while they had a short rest. The explosion shook him a bit, but he relaxed again as soon as Toscax revealed his grand plan.

"Retsam is the man who killed Terra Atum," Ryteb said, as he pulled himself up off the ground, "My home world. He was taken in by the allure of darkness, and drowned the world in the scourge of the Heartless. My Master, the only person who I could still call my family, was murdered by him. He is the one responsible for the sickness that plagues this world, and god knows how many others he has in his dark web."

"Now, now, that isn't a very nice way to talk about your senior, little fox." spoke a voice that came from the darkness, "Let's not forget the part you played in the death of our world." Out of the shadow of a building stepped out Retsam, his golden eyes almost seeming to shine.

Ryteb blasted Retsam with fire magic, but the dark mage simply absorbed it into a red crystal. From the looks of things, it was a Summon Gem. "You lie!" Ryteb yelled, continuing to blast fire magic even though it was ineffective, "I had no part in those events!"

"Oh, but you and Master Odin did play a part in the evolution of our drab and dreary world into something truly beautiful. After all, I never would have reached this point if we hadn't decided to research the Darkness together." He raised his empty hand, and several screens appeared in midair, showing Ryteb, Retsam, and an aged man performing magical experiments on the darkness.

Ryteb just blasted even harder, and the crystal began to glow with light. "It's a lie, it's a lie, it's a lie!" he yelled over and over as the attacks kept coming. Retsam sighed, and made a cutting gesture with his free hand. A blade made of air cut through the flames, and severed the clothing over Ryteb's left arm, revealing that the arm was almost entirely consumed by the darkness.

"It amused me to no end, your distate for that man... Drake was it?" Retsam laughed, "When you are no better than he is. A curious fox, who got burned by meddling in affairs he couldn't understand. Just like you are now, little Ry-Ry."

At this point Ryteb had broken down, just repeating the phrase; "It's lies, it's all lies." over and over with his head in his hands.

Cheese couldn’t resist squirming a little, a twitch of the finger and a shiver down her spine, when ripples of magic crashed against her like fiery pin-pricks. She supposed it was part of the other teams battle somewhere nearby and that it was a large one at that.

“Anything from the others?” Cheese faced Mac.

Resting against a countertop to steady himself Mac pulled out his phone, surprised that he still had signal to the ship in the old building. Now if only the same happened in his world.

“Nope, why do you ask?”

“Just wondering.” She eyed the amount of metal around with distaste.

“Need any help with anything?” Mac asked after Judah had left. “Packing your things or closing up the shop?”

No doubt with all of them chipping in they could be on their way back pretty soon.

@Letter Bee@Gentlemanvaultboy

Drake watched as she disappeared into darkness. When he heard about the Convoy he quickly rushed towards the door. He burst through the door and headed down the corridor. There were still soldiers standing guard inside the halls of the massive palace. Damn it, I don’t have time to deal with these people Drake thought before small sparks of lightning swirled around him. He used his Lightning Rush to shot past the soldiers. With each leap, he created a crackle of thunder.

With his final leap he burst through the front doors of the palace and into the front yard. Drake saw that Seth was in his own battle. However, he knew he needed to get to Stalin and kill him. He rushed towards where the convoy was heading. As he did he used the communication bug to speak to Seth, “We got eyes on Stalin. I’m going ahead to kill the bastard.” He quickly began pressing images that appeared from the hologram on his watch. A green slender cylinder appeared from his watch. He quickly reached into his coat pocket and took out the rust colored cylinder.

Drake spun and chucked the two cylinders towards Seth and said, “Take these. The rust one has the Rapture pills. The nanobots will heal your injuries. The blue one has small robots that will grow and can be ordered to help you.” Drake then spun back around and rushed towards the convoy.

@Arty Fox@Letter Bee

"I would be happy to perform any task that expiated this process." v2 said. "If strenuous activity is required please leave it to me. I do not become tired, so such activity will not lessen my combat effectiveness."

An adventure, he thought. As though this were a vacation. How anyone could have such thoughts after having their own importance put so thoroughly into perspective he did not understand. Acting like this would be fun. His mind bogged at such notions.

Then against, he wouldn't know a good time if it snuck up and bit him on the can.

An oddly structured thought but not an inaccurate one.

Team Mai, Taka, Ryteb

A Corridor of Darkness would open up behind Restam, and Tocsax would hop out, saying:

"Master Apokaukos would be saddened at Odin's fate, although you should know by now that your job has been sloppy, Restam, if you cannot detect the fact that your master's Heart is still intact, and as long as the Heart exists, there is hope."

Before Restam can extend his magical senses around him, Ryteb would feel the slight touch of a veiling spell on him, before he can feel a warmth in his own heart, and his master's voice whispering to him:

"The other boy is right; I am here inside you, Ryteb, helping hold back the darkness in your arm." A flicker of light, and Ryteb can detect a smile from Odin's...Heart?

"There will be much to talk about, but right now, let me energize you and your spells..."

And with that, Ryteb can feel new strength flooding him; any battle spell he cast would have its force doubled, nay, tripled, while Tocsax distracted Restam more:

"Restam, you are very deficient in matters of the Heart, otherwise you should know that Hearts can never be truly destroyed; your master will persist in some form, and he will haunt you forever."

Restam might say some harsh words in response, but he would receive a message from the fragment of Leo inside his head:

<Time to go; our real plan is proceeding as scheduled...>

((Edited.))

Team Drake and Seth

Drake would reach the convoy; his increased speed thanks to Lightning Rush allowing him to catch up to the central car, where Stalin's mustachioed visage can clearly be seen. In a few moments, this will all be over...

Seth, meanwhile, would find another Corridor of Darkness opening beside him, and Hakim the Wise, his long, wispy beard white as ever, stepping out, saying to the Nobody:

"Seems you've made friends despite lacking a Heart and any right to be. Either way, I came to help you against this assassin; this mission needs to be over soon." And with that, he created several panes of translucent light that formed into several spinning blades, which he unleashed against the mysterious assassin!

Team v2, Mac, and Cheese

"Yes," spoke Judah, "I need you to pick up a box of mechanical equipment to my left."

After everything was packed, the group would be teleported to the ship once Mac, Cheese, or v2 had called for it.

@Double@Arty Fox@SMS@Rex@Ryteb Pymeroce@Gentlemanvaultboy@ShadowVentus@supertinyking

"Tch... more annoyances..." Retsam growled, pocketing the energised summon gem, "No matter, you can have this pathetic world. I already collected as much as I could from this barren place. Dark Elemental Arts, Refsnart Dlrow." As he spoke those last words, darkness similar to that of the Dark Corridor surrounded him, and when it dispersed, the evil mage was gone, leaving behind a stuffed fox toy. To anyone else, it would've seemed a random thing to leave behind, but Ryteb jumped over and grabbed it into a hug. Tears streamed from his face as he hugged the doll. Part of it was due to how shaken that last encounter had made him, but also due to the joy of being reunited with an old friend.

"Kitty, I thought you were gone with Terra Atum. I missed you so much..." Ryteb laughed, in a burst of pure childish innocence before realising that Toscax and Mai were still there. Pulling himself off the ground, he coughed slightly, and said; "Uh... this is Kitty the Fox. My mother gave it to me... a long time ago... excuse me."

Ryteb ran off from the others to go and snuggle some more with his newly reclaimed friend.

Mai watched as the man known as Retsam decide to suddenly leave them be. "Something's up. There's no way he's just leaving us here while we're in a pinch," as the girl thought they were too lucky if that wasn't the case. Before she could do anything, he was just gone. "Tch. There's always next time, I guess."

With a grunt and much effort, she pushed herself to her feet. Mai's legs were shaky as her injuries were still pretty sore, but she managed to maintain her standing posture.

She raised an eyebrow when she spotted the stuffed toy lying on the ground. And subsequently rolled her eyes after Ryteb left with it. "I take it back, he's still annoying." The girl was irked at how Ryteb disappeared again after things died down to do things on his own. It made trying to talk with him difficult.

After taking her mind off of the mage, she gave a weak hand wave towards Tocsax. "Hey, glad to see you could make it." She wondered what he was up to this entire time since she didn't remember him mentioning what he was going to do for this mission.

Mai would then look over to Taka. "You alright, Taka?" The girl hadn't seen him since the battle started, but it looked like he was also fighting based on the part that his Keyblade was out.

The break room was surprisingly empty when Mac wondered in. But honestly he was somewhat glad for it as it left the best sofa, the one next to the plug sockets, completely free to lounge across. Being the first team back they’d been told to pretty much stay out of the way until they were either a) asked for, or b) the other teams returned. Mac had been all too happy to oblige as he had a few things to catch up with.

Once settled in comfortably lengthways across the sofa Mac opened his laptop and resumed what he been doing before the mission: staring at an email. The email in question was from one of his and Cheese’s friends back on their world who had even taken the time to take pictures of the various things that had happened while they were away. The problem for Mac currently though was that he had no idea what to write.

‘How are you?’ The words on the screen taunted him.

Mac stretched and drew in a breath without the foggiest of how to answer the question.

“Anyone around?” He called out. “Trying to write a letter and haven’t got any idea of what to say.”



Cheese was in her room sat on the floor surrounded by various objects both mundane and somewhat bizarre. Here with her wings unfolded and small orbs of magic casting soft light around the room Cheese was happily at peace as she crafted her spells.
From a small box beside her Cheese pulled out a memory and applied it to a candle turning it’s flame a vibrant red. Cheese waited a moment before plucking the flame from the candle wick and held it up to a light to examine the spells quality. Held between her thumb and index finger the flame had solidified and looked almost like a sweet. With a satisfied murmur and a nod Cheese placed the flame into a little bag beside her with the others.

Cheese reached back into the box only to find that she had run out of the memories she need to make that spell. She frowned into its depths as she thought of what she could make with the ingredients she had. Cheese then frowned some more having realised that those lucky charms had taken more of her ingredients than she had realised.

“Guess it’s back to the very basic stuff” Cheese sighed as she pulled a few more candles and cups towards her.

She also wondered when the other teams would be back, out of all of them Cheese very much wanted to see Taka, Mai and Ryteb the most to help her make more spells. The three of them were the youngest on the team, except V2 of course, and all reasonably gifted with magic. Children had the brightest hearts and the most active imaginations perfect for making spells with.

Drake founded the convoy and looked around before he found a good spot to take the target out. He used his Lightning Rush to skip up to the top of a building a few feet from the convoy. He chose a building that the convoy would be in front of so he’d have a clear shot. Once he reached the top, he took a few seconds to catch his breath. Using the Lighting Rush took a lot out of him when he used it for long periods of time.

“Getting to old for this shit,” Drake joked before he took his sniper rifle from his back and aimed towards the convoy. He pressed the side of the scoop and it began to scan the cars. After a few seconds he targeted the car with Stalin inside. He took several breaths before he hovered his finger in front of the trigger.

In that second, everything went quiet. The only sound was his coat flapping in the wind. It was a sensation he had felt many times before. It was the sensation he felt every time before he would pull the trigger. Every time he’d ready for the killing shot. The world seemed to fall deafly quiet. Almost like death hovered over him as he readied his shot, waiting for him to pull the trigger so it could follow the bullet to its next victim.

The world would explode with the sound of his sniper rifle going off as he pulled the trigger and the bullet left the chamber. As it soared through the air, the tip of the bullet spun counterclockwise while the bullet it’s self spun clockwise. It was a standard bullet in his world that was easy to manufacture and even easier to get your hands on. Since many of the creatures in his world had tough hides, they crafted a bullet that could pierce the toughest skin. he knew the bullet wouldn’t be left in the targets body to be examined since it would dissolve in the blood stream once it pierced into the targets body.

Drake watched through his scope as he hoped the bullet would find purchase. He pulled the lever on his sniper rifle and a shell flung out of his rifle as he readied a second shot should he need to try again. He might be a trained bounty hunter, but he knew he couldn’t count on the first shot to end a mission. Many times he had to take a few more shots to kill the target. He would wait until he knew the target was dead.

@Arty Fox

"Appraise them of your current state of health." Came a level voice from the break room doorway.

After making sure the princess and her bodyguard were settled in her room and confirming the other princess had not suffered some sort of horrific book related accident while he'd been away v2 had again been left at a loss of important tasks to attend too. As it was clear that there were probably no hidden assassins or dangerous corners on this ship he had felt that simply guarding a princess in this environment would not be the most productive use of his time and, recalling the bodyguards comments about where to find heartless on the ground, had been on his way to ask their leader permission to head down and clear them out a bit until the others returned and they could move on to the next stage of their mission.

His way there had taken him close to the break room, where he now availed his expert opinion to Mac as someone that had pondered at length the theoretical idea of "having friends" but had never put his knowledge into practice.

"Inform them to your comfort level of the things that have happened since your departure. Make light banter about their day. Lie and use humor as necessary to prevent unnecessary anxiety on their part." He continued, walking into the room and looking down over the screen. "Send photos? Forgive my inexperience. Is this not what you are supposed to do?"

@Double

As Seth began to close in, the strange figure began to shift, and glow with a gentle blue glow. He held up the palms of his hands, and three portals opened, causing the fists to find their ways into the stomachs of each of them, save for the real one, the true Seth being left unharmed. The strange man vanishes in a gentle blue glow, appearing away from the sand. He makes a loud noise...."Tsk, Tsk, Tsk....." while wagging his finger. "You should know better. You saw me do that before, and I was able to react to bullets coming my way...you honestly think your punches would do better?" The man asks, in more so a teaching tone, rather than a taunt. "Come on, stop joking around..get serious. No cheesy yelling your attack's name, or the smart ass remarks....I want to enjoy this...it's one of the few times I can." He wheezes out, drawing his blade again. "After I kill you, or you kill me, I'll not feel...until the next hunt..."

With that, the figure began to shoot blue blasts of energy at Seth, warning shots, deliberately off target, and slow. He was holding back, and it was obvious. He had on him no trace of sand, the teleporting process destroying it, leaving small bits of smooth glass, as if a river had rounded the edges. The assassin breathed, but not of his own will. He felt the wires creeping in....they'd take him again, unless this man got serious. He needed him to be serious. It was his last hope, before he lost himself again...

Seth caught both cylinders without a second thought, and quickly pocketed them. They'd come in handy, if not in this mission then at a later time. It never hurt to have extra tricks up one's sleeve after all. Alongside Drake's brief explanation of them, a Corridor opened nearby and produced Hakim of all people, "Great, that's just who I needed..." he said, not very subtle with his sarcasm. The two of them simply did not get along, and now Seth had accept help from him? Well, better that Hakim see this than the previous battle in Glory of France. The absolute last thing the Nobody needed was Hakim finding out about that and preaching at him some more.

"Come on, stop joking around..get serious..."

The Nobody sighed. This guy was just no fun at all, "Serious isn't exactly my forte..." he muttered, looking down at the ground briefly. Then - without warning - he shot his gaze back up at his would-be killer. Except... it wasn't a gaze, it was a full blown glare. His blue eye? It flared brighter than it ever had before. His grin? Still there, but it wasn't playful nor was it merely unsettling... it now looked outright sinister, "...but I hope you like having a bad time, because you just asked for it." No jokes here. No pranks. And no snark. Just an all-out declaration of war. For the first time since his recruitment into this little crusade... Seth was completely and utterly serious, and the assassin was about to pay dearly for it.

Without even needing a command, hordes of Snipers popped into existence around the trio of combatants. This was nothing like any previous action, where they would appear ten or twelve at a time at most. No, this was Seth's entire army. Every. Single. One. There were enough Snipers for it count as a whole legion, in fact. And every single one of them instantly put the assassin in their cross-hairs. Before they acted, Seth thrust his left hand forward and balled it into a fist. Sand floated up from the ground, and after that previous wave of the stuff from before, there was a lot of it. Again without warning, Seth swirled his arm in front him. Faster and faster until looked like a blur of motion. The sand he took hold off responded in kind, creating a killer sandstorm centered squarely around the assassin himself. It wasn't lethal to him, not so long as he had those portals defending him, but the storm did create another desired effect. It pretty much blinded anything and everything caught within it. Only then did his legion of Snipers open fire.

This was nothing like the start of the battle. Deflecting or avoiding a dozen shots or so was one thing. Good luck to anyone who had to try and do the same when that number multiplied exponentially, that's not even mentioning the factor of the sandstorm blinding their vision. One would think that would be enough for an opening move, but they'd be wrong. After the first two or three volleys, Seth held his free hand straight up above him. Nearly a third of his Sniper legion ceased their fire and floated over to him, forming up and converging a few feet above their commander's head. Their silvery white forms seemed to melt together, forming what looked like an oversized cannon that had a striking resemblance to Tocsax's Ultima Cannon. Seth stopped whirling his arm, which meant the sandstorm would slowly start to die down. He then lowered his other hand, point his finger directly in the assassin's direction in the shape of a gun, the cannon - called the Chaos Buster - charging up for a shot, "...bang." he muttered under his breath, which was apparently enough of a signal for the Chaos Buster to fire its powerful energy beam at the assassin. And yes, it's firepower could easily match the Ultima Cannon, perhaps even surpass should Seth decide to include more of his Snipers in the convergence. Oh, and by the way, the remaining Snipers that did not help form the Chaos Buster never stopped firing volleys at the assassin either.

"Serious enough for you?" Asked Seth, letting a Corridor open behind him, "I've got places to be. You can handle him from here, right old man?" he glanced in Hakim's direction briefly before hopping backwards through the Corridor. When Seth left, his Snipers all left with him, warping away through their personal wormholes no differently then how they arrived.

A Corridor opened just behind Drake's position, and produced Seth who appeared to have hopped through it backwards. He slowly turned around to face Drake and... his old playful grin was once again plastered on his face, "Whelp... we done here yet? Just say the word and I'll get us topside on the ship in a jiffy."

Team Mai, Taka, Ryteb

"If you want your own stuffed fox, I can get you one," spoke Tocsax to Mai. "I mean, if you want one, of course." The young man was earnest.

"Anyway, will give Ryteb some time, then we can try and help Seth; someone's dueling with him."

Team Drake and Seth

And with that, Stalin was dead, but his bodyguards were firing back at the direction of the shots, regardless of whether Drake was there.

Hakim, meanwhile, chose to wait for the mysterious assassin and Seth to end their battle.

Team v2, Mac, and Cheese

"What about a note on the scenery?!" cried out a nearby Moogle. "Or, you know, do what the robot said..."

"Also, v2," said another Moogle, "you might be needed to help Seth; someone just picked a fight with him, someone unknown..."

@Double@Arty Fox@SMS@Rex@Ryteb Pymeroce@Gentlemanvaultboy@ShadowVentus@supertinyking

-Collab with @Arty Fox-

Ryteb was back on the ship, decided to return to his room to do whatever it is that he does in there. Of course, in a fashion that had become fairly typical for the forest boy, he was lost again. Why did all the corridors look the exact same? And why was the map written in some form of moonspeak? These were the questions running through the young mage’s head as he ran through the various hallways on the Gummi Ship. Finally thinking that he had found the right door, he flung it open and said: “Kitty, welcome to my- the hell is this?”

Cheese blinked and stared at Ryteb standing in the doorway to her room. She had left the door open for when he and and the others did finally arrive but she hadn’t expected quite the entrance.

“Finally. You’re here.” A twist of her wrist brought one of the floating orbs of light to her. “How’d you mission go? Aren’t the other two with you?”

Ryteb shrugged, and replied: “I don’t know about Taka, he’s been pretty quiet for a while now, but Mai is with Toscax. The mission went… alright. Himmler is dead, and Retsam isn’t returning to this world. But on the other hand, the bastard’s still alive.”

Cheese shrugged in acceptance. “Fair enough. Mind sitting just over…”

She gently pushed the orb of light ahead of her and it drifted lazily through the air before finding a comfortable place to hover.

“There.” She finished. “And thank you again for offering to help me gather ingredients. With a bit of luck it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Ryteb stepped over to the marked out area, and sat down, with his fox toy still in hand. “I’m happy to help. Your spellweaving seems similar to a branch of magic on Terra Atum, though it seems to have taken a different direction on your world.”

“Really? How so?” Cheese enquired as she drew the remaining orbs to circle around her, though her eyes were intently locked upon the stuffed fox. “May I see that for a moment.” Her hand already outstretched.

It was more of a demand than a request, but she had been told many times it was polite to make demands sound like requests.

Ryteb glared at the fae woman, before reluctantly handing Kitty over to her. “I swear if you hurt him, you’ll learn how much pain an elemental mage can inflict upon a person. On my world, there were a sect known as Dream Catchers, who could bottle abstract concepts like hope and fear to create wonders. They were pretty few in number though, most people tended to draw towards more tangible magics like Black and White magic. Plus in a world where you could literally bend the laws of nature, dreams never really seemed that far away from life.”

“Bottled Hope?” That had taken Cheese’s interest. “Couldn’t do anything like that in my world. Sure we could create it or even take it but could never actually bottle it or anything like that.”

She then went very quiet so as to concentrate upon the stuffed animal in her hands. Cheese held in up to one of the orbs and tilted it from side to side and even seemed to be listening to it when she held it to her ear. There was a loose thread of silver poking from one of tattered ears that hadn’t been there before.

“He says he enjoyed playing pirates.” Cheese smiled softly. “There were dream catchers in my world too. At least my grandfather said so somewhere on the....Southern Plateau I think. They caught the Dreams that floated through our realm and sent them back to communicate with the Humans in the Mundane.”

Ryteb pouted slightly. “Of course he did, he always got to be the captain…” he said, “Literal Dream Catchers then. I’d compare ours more to alchemists of the mind. Very bookish, and having that madness which comes from handling poisonous substances for far too long, though I only met them the once at a council of Archmagi.”

Cheese had taken hold of the silver thread by wrapping it around her finger. “Well, handling anything vile or poisonous for long enough and it will poison you. That's why if you ever craft spells you should always have a box of tricks.” And with that Cheese tugged at the thread.

With a sound of fabric being torn several objects were ripped out violently from the stuffed fox. Some looked like little light bulbs, some like spikes, a few cubes, but the majority looked like small blobs. The fox itself however was pleasantly unharmed, though looked a little bit perplexed by the whole ordeal.

“Vibrant Fancies, Prickly Fancies, Grim Figments and a whole load of Malleable Fantasies.” Cheese nodded approvingly at each of them in turn as they drifted above her though kept close by the spinning orbs she had set. “Not bad for a childhood toy. Just need a few more things from around the ship and I can put those to good use.”

Ryteb took the stuffed fox back from Cheese and looked him over. “Pretty impressive magic.” he remarked, “Though it does currently seem like a parlour trick. What things do you need to complete the spell?”

Cheese bristled. “Depends on the spell, or curse even.” Another flick of her wrist and the ingredients from the toy tumbled into the box beside her. “Sometimes simple things like thimbles and lightning, or even hearts and livers. Sadly I’m not allowed to make spells that are too violent or endanger human life.” Again Cheese bristled and made a face like someone had stepped on her foot.

Ryteb flashed her a cheeky grin. “I guess compared to elemental magic, your fae sorcery is pretty lacking in that respect.” As a gesture, he waved his hand and snow began to fall from the ceiling.

“Count your blessings that Mac ordered me to not use your name.” Cheese let her eyes flash dangerously violet. She didn’t like being teased.

Ryteb simply laughed. “I lived in a world of magic. The first rule they teach you growing up is to never give your birth name to anyone. Ryteb is no more my real name than Cheese is yours. Trust me, it took at least a hundred demon summoners before people started learning that rule.”

“At least in one world humans learn.” Cheese shrugged, slightly impressed. “But having a fake name can’t save you from everything, didn’t do Mac much good against The Goblin King.” As she said his name, a kaleidoscope of emotions flushed over her face, ranging from respect to outright hatred for the being.

From Ryteb’s view, the woman obviously had very mixed feelings about this ‘Goblin King’. “You are right. Many of the greatest magi have been felled due to the weakness of their birth name. But without the risk of failure, without an Achilles Heel to remind you of your mortality, you become a god. And that is something no one wants to see happen again.”

Cheese raised an eyebrow, and snorted. “The heck are you on about? Mac knew our laws and all. Even as just a hobby thing the laws of humans in the fae realm are pretty simple and he followed them to the letter. Truth is the Goblin King had just set up the poor idiot.” She gave a short sarcastic laugh. “He lost his name the moment he fell into the Fae Realm. Damn idiot wouldn’t have survived a minute in the forests without some force leading him along. And that’s without even coming across any Grimm or hags that live within.”

She placed the lid on her box preferring to look at it’s familiar worn carvings and chips on the corners than anywhere else.

“Lost his face to boot. Gained a decent control over magic in return but he doesn’t use it.” She shrugged and turned back to Ryteb. “He made a mistake. That’s all there is to it.”

“At least his mistake only lead to some personal loss…” Ryteb muttered, looking into the eyes of Kitty, “You should count your blessings instead of lamenting your failures.” He could feel the darkness pulsating on his left arm, as the darkness continued the slow movement towards his death.

“So, you doing anything about that poisoned magic running up your arm?” Cheese jabbed a finger at the affronting affliction of Ryteb’s appendage. “You keep feeding that thing and it will eat you up, trust me my friends aunt got devoured by something like that when I was a child. Although you’ve lasted much longer than she did.” Cheese leant forward slightly and brushed her hair out of her eyes. “Guess it’s because this world is at a lower frequency than the Fae realm or something.”

Ryteb sighed, and removed the gauntlet from his left hand, revealing something similar to that of a Heartess claw. “It’s no poison… or rather it’s the ultimate poison.” he explained, “This is pure darkness from the aptly named Realm of Darkness. It is my curse for meddling in something I couldn’t hope to ever understand, and the only reason I’m not a mindless Shadow is because of my now deceased master. Best guess, I have about 3 weeks left to live, at most.”

Cheese resisted a roll of the eyes, this child was nearly as ‘edgey’ as the kids who tried to get into her and Mac's club. But given the state he was in she supposed it was only forgivable.

“No I don’t mean it’s poison, but it feels like poisoned magic.” Cheese chewed her lip as she tried to explain. “I craft spells so I know what magic that's gone wrong feels like and this feels...very similar. Not the same of course but maybe...No, nevermind.” Cheese sighed, frustrated. “Guess it’s just different types of magic.”

“When are the other two going to get here anyway?” With their mission complete Cheese had assumed they would’ve all arrived at the same time.

Colab post with Letter Bee.

"Exceptional Danger detected. Overdrive, enabled. Ceribral Limiters, disabled." A robotic voice would chime, directly into the assassin's ear. Everything began to slow down, as through the torrent of sand a thousand shots appeared. He saw each one, and drew his energy blade. In a scene befitting a science fiction movie, the figure began to quickly block shots, his blade spinning around as his wrist twists exceptionally fast. It takes a few moments, before the sand vanished, and he saw the absolutely huge blast fired at him. In a moment of quick thinking, the assassin vanished as the blast would of connected, giving the illusion that he had been reduced to nothing by such an attack.

He waited for Seth to leave, watching from a near by building, hiding. "Come on now. You've let me free...leave....and I'll let you live..." He thinks to himself, and indeed, Seth would leave. "...New target aquired." He would process, looking at Hakim. He would then make himself known. "Your friend..he's strong. That would of killed me...Are you as strong as him?" He asks the new man who had arrived. "I hope so. That fight was getting fun, save for the high concentration of bullets, to open space..." He says, looking at Hakim, with a gentle smile under his mask.

"Not really," admitted Hakim, "but, I know someone who is...hopefully." He would then open a Corridor to Tocsax and Mai's position, and shout through the portal:

"Tocsax, you and your girlfriend get over here! Or rather, you get over here, while your girlfriend keeps safe, she -"

The assassin raised an arm, and from it, fired several blue bolts of energy, aiming them down the Corridor, at Mai. The fool had blabbed about a tactical weakness, and now was time to punish such behaviour. While firing, he would draw his blade in his other hand, and rush Hakim, ready to stab. "Not so fast!" He yelled, moving unnaturally fast, his robotic parts kicking into overdrive. "If you think you're making this a two on one, you're sadly mistaken!" He roars, hoping his surpressing fire would be enough to prevent the Corridor from being of much use.

"Damnit!" Tocsax said from his end, parrying the blue bolts back across the Corridor back at the assassin, while Hakim created a shield made up of several panes of light arranged in an eight-pointed sun shape, then another shield, and another, creating three strong barriers against the assassin's knife. This allowed Tocsax, once his deflection was done, to close Hakim's corridor, then conjure up one of his own behind the assassin, before the other Nobody then activated Holy, creating one column of light that split up into a circle of smaller columns, three which would be hurled at the assassin!

"Damn it!" The assassin growls out, ducking under the reflected shots, which collide with the holy blasts, seemingly making them vanish. He slides his way away from Hakim, pushing off of the shield. "....Fine then. I'll deal with you all, later." He growls, before in a collum of blue light, he would vanish, leaving behind a small note.
"Thank you"- Martin, is what would be written on the note, in the standard, black ink of regular, modern pens. With that, the Assassin made his way out of the world he had been sent to. "I've limited time..I need to make this count." He would mutter, as he set his eyes on another world. One, that maybe can help him...but one, out of the view of everyone else.

@Double@Arty Fox@SMS@Rex@Ryteb Pymeroce@Gentlemanvaultboy@ShadowVentus@supertinyking