"Hehehe... looks like you're out of time." Retsam laughed, holding the full crystal in his palm, "I have collected what I need here, so goodbye for now."
As he finished gloating, both he and his heartless minions vanished back into the darkness. The hooded man sighed at the dark magi's constant actions, wondering if it was even possible to rethieves him from this madness. His thoughts were interrupted by the Wargoyle calling for his aid, and perhaps it was time to reenter the world.

The clouds broke as a calm breeze countered the conjured winds. The cloaked man flew down to the ground below and threw off his shroud. It was Ryteb... yet not. His hair, once flame like, we're now actual flames, and he had the ears and tail of a fox. Most of all, his eyes were now the same yellow as the heartless and dream eaters. He still wore a green robe, but this one was far more extravagant with a stylized golden version of the Dream Eater symbol on the chest, and his own seal on the back. It was clear for anyone to see that he was no longer human.

He looked up at the Walpurgisnacht and simply glared. Spears of flame from the heavens pierced her body, as the Wargoyle came down to land next to him. Reaching out his hand he petted the monstrosity.
"Good job Fluffy." He said as he patted it down, "You're a good boy!"
The Dream Eater yapped at this praise, and shot off its guns. After a few more moments of this, the two turned their attention back to their foes, letting off a volley of magical attacks.

Drake let out a frustrated sigh. This would be so much easier if I had my Shadow Nexus Drake thought before he shook the thought from his mind. Being freed from the Shadow Nexus was something he wished for, but once it was gone. It seemed that he relayed on it more often than his actual abilities. Now that it was gone he felt, broken. Like there was something missing. However, he also felt more relaxed that it won’t take control and attack everything around him. It was conflicting to say the least. On one hand he missed the Shadow Nexus, but on the other Hand he felt safer without it. Can’t think about that now. Have to focus. This thing is massive and its power is just the same. Wait!

“That’s it!” Drake yelled before he lifted his arm with his watch and the hologram menu appeared. He pressed a few buttons and a cranberry red cylinder appeared in his hand. The same one he gave to Mai before the battle. Drake turned to Mai and explained, “Mai, watch and learn cause you’ll need this against Alice when the time comes.” Drake turned back to Walpurgisnacht and a smile formed on his face.

“Hey Bitch! Why don’t you fight someone your own size!” Drake yelled before he twisted the top half of the cylinder clockwise and the bottom half counter clockwise. A small box appeared at the top of the cylinder and Drake placed his thumb on the box. It scanned his thumb before the cylinder began to beeps. He then ran towards Walpurgisnacht before he slid to a stop and chucked the cylinder. It twirled in the air as the beeping intensified before it suddenly stopped and hung in the air.

A dark blue portal appeared above it and sucked the cylinder inside before it disappeared. For a long second it seemed nothing was going to happen. Then a much bigger blue portal appeared and from it a blur shot out and slammed into the ground between the group and Walpurgisnacht. From the dust cloud a small orb flew out and began scanning everyone. It stopped at Drake and scanned before a bell ding appeared from the orb.

“Thank you for using Atlas Protection Unit Alpha 9-ADV3. Atlas Unit will operate as a minimum of 25 Minutes,” a voice said from the orb before flying back into the dust cloud. Glove materialized onto Drakes hands as a visor materialized over his eyes. From the dust cloud came a glowing red light as a 15 foot tall mech started to rise from it. Drake took a battle stance to which the mech mimicked.

“Time to get to work,” Drake said with a smile.

Natasha whooped for joy seeing the Walpurgisnacht being battered further by her attack. Pressing herself flat against the windows smooth surface Natasha tried her very best to not be pulled away into the merciless gale, a feat easier said than done for such a small creature.
The Walpurgisnacht was much weaker now, and becoming more so by the second, by her calculations Natasha doubted it could take any more than one or two more hits before it gave up the ghost. Even now the oppressive eddies of magic were dying down and chunks of debris were beginning to rain back down to the ground.

“Let me go you piece of…”

Natasha flew away from her chunk of building when it had begun to fall with a stomach churning sensation, back towards the others just in time to see Drake to summon what looked like some sort of ‘Gundam’. With furious fluttering wings Natasha managed to get back to the others and whilst she decided that the others could handle the last dying breaths of the Walpurgisnacht, there was something she very much wanted…

“Seth.” He would hear her voice, just a whisper, in the back of his skull. “Bring me the heart of the Walpurgisnacht.”

He still owed her a little favour.
@Double

When Drake's mech struck, it would be the final blow to the enemy, as Walpurgisnacht screamed one final time, then began fragmenting, dissolving completely except for a small, white 'bead' of what looked like ivory, which Kyoko rushed to catch, whooping in joy at her 'acquisition'. Natasha, meanwhile, might end up disappointed that Walpurgisnacht didn't have a heart...

"Anyone hurt?!" cried out Tocsax. "Despite all the effort we had to spend, we succeeded - we succeeded!" A look at Ryteb, then he would continue:

"You were great, Ryteb! You and Seth were awesome! Same for you, Drake! Now," the Nobody said, panting, "we need to rest, and of course, prepare for the next world..."

Timeskip

Once the group got back to the Gummi Ship, they would be allowed to rest and eat, and then sleep. The next day, however, a set of books would be sent to their quarters, detailing the next world, that of Panem.

Panem was basically the 'United States' of the Original Earth after a vaguely-described, but apolcayptic event that destroyed most of humanity. Centred around The Capitol, a mountain city and fortress filled with high technology, Panem ruled over twelve, once thirteen, Districts, each of whom were dedicated to a single area of production; District 1 produced luxury goods, while District 12 extracted coal from the Earth. A long time ago, there were thirteen Districts, but the ill-fated District 13 had led a widespread rebellion against The Capitol, and gotten 'crushed' for its trouble (the truth was, though, that it was allowed to go its own way as long as it did not interfere in the rest of Panem).

Either way, after the revolt of the Districts, the Capitol had decreed a most unique punishment for the former rebels; every year, each District is to send two teenagers from the ages of 12 and 18 as 'Tributes' to compete in the 'Hunger Games', a competition in which each tribute are sent off to a closed area of wilderness...and then ordered to kill each other, with the winner being allowed to live in comfort in their own district. And so it has been for the better part of a century.

But now, things were about to change, as the Tributes from District 12, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Meelark, managed to trick the Capitol into letting them both win the current round of Hunger Games, showing that its rules were not as ironclad as they seemed to be. This subtle act of defiance has newly emboldened the Districts, who were now plotting another rebellion. And that is where the group came in, for the Princess of Heart was Katniss' sister, Prim Everdeen, and the mission was to rescue her from the Capitol and the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness.

Two Weeks Later

The group would finally appear in the orbit of Panem's Earth...only to find themselves facing a fleet of black-and-white Gummi Ships, centred around a space station made up of shining metal that looked like steel, but was much tougher. This was Space Station 13, the private domain of David Galic, one of the Seekers of Darkness and who had control over the Human Form. Video feeds would then be sent to the Ruler of the Sea, showing the Capitol and Districts being occupied by legion upon legion of troops, the majority of them infantrymen clad in meta-material gear, but there were also many, many squads of power armored men and women, as well as tanks, hovering gunships, and of course, cyborgs.

"A combined force from the Fallout: Apocalypse Averted world and Space Station 13 itself," spoke Tocsax as the two fleets of Gummi ships exchanged fire. "Damnit, Panem was supposed to be easier!"

@Double@Arty Fox@Rex@Ryteb Pymeroce@ShadowVentus@supertinyking@SMS@Lady Athena@Nerevarine

@Double@Arty Fox@Rex@Ryteb Pymeroce@ShadowVentus@supertinyking@SMS@Lady Athena@Nerevarine

((Collab between Double and Letter))

All through the streets of Nexus Town, a hooded, weizened old man, whose face was covered by a mask of fur and leather, was limping, supported only by a staff. Breathing in and out, his keen, masked eyes observed everything that occured in this cold and damp place, hoping that his guise would disguise his investigations. Sighting an ambulatory suit of armor walking about, trying to help an old woman, the old, thin, reedy man would walk forwards, his staff making a small 'clack' as it hit the cobblestones of the ground. Once he came near, he would ask the moving suit of armor:

"Hello? I am new to this town; I don't know anyone here - can you help?"

The suit of armor might as well have been an animated statue. It turned its helmeted head to look at the hooded old man, but offered only silence in reply. Whoever or whatever was in the suit, they weren't much for conversation. The old man wasn't completely out of luck, for there was someone watching who proved far more talkative than the suit of armor.

"You can start by not acting so suspicious." a masked young man in a leather suit stepped out of the nearby shadows. His gas mask distorted his voice a little, but he was still perfectly audible in spite of that fact. In another world, in whole other life he answered to the codename Psycho Mantis. But here in Nexus Town, he was known simply as Mantis.

The suit of armor offered no comment, but instead silently continued on his way for the time being. As for Mantis, he stepped closer to the stranger and eyed the old man with a scrutinizing gaze kept hidden underneath his gas mask, "I can't read you... some kind of block is keeping me out. How very clever of you. Or so you think. No amount of mental barriers can protect you from this" without warning, Mantis gave a quick gesture with his hand that telekinetically picked up a crate from nearby. It would have soared through the air and crashed right into the side of the old man's head had another, more commanding, voice made its presence known.

"Enough, Mantis. Stand down." the voice belonged to a man who looked like a bhuddist monk, or at least a former one. His holy symbol was scratched, having been marked to brand him as a deserter of his faith. Even still, the years of his discipline never left him, and his body still appeared well trained and strong as ever, "Forgive us, strangers have rarely proven trustworthy, so some of us have become overly cautious of them. Mantis, go bring Ms. Megumi here to tend to our visitor's injuries."

Mantis turned his head, likely shooting him a dirty look hidden behind his mask, but complied nonetheless and vanished from the scene.

"Thank you," spoke Hakim the Wise, for that was who the old man really was. "I am new to this world, and not used to the habits of people here." Truth.

"My name is Ganma. We have no true leaders here, but I have always stepped in when needed, so you may think of me as the leader here if you must." spoke the monk, giving a short bow in the style of his former faith.

"The mind-reader is called Mantis. You'll have to forgive his distrusting nature, for his was a difficult and painful life before he found himself here. The walking suit of armor is Alphonse. Forgive his silence, he's hardly spoken a word since arriving here, having lost so much beforehand. You stand in Nexus Town, a connecting point that exists in all worlds, but also none. Those who survive their world's destruction tend to find themselves on our shores. We offer them safety and haven here from outside forces who would do them harm."

Hakim would remember, remember when Nexus Town was smaller, and most of the structures were from his world, Shining Field. For a brief moment, all pride was forgotten, and nostalgia filled him. He would then say:

"Outside forces? Are not the Heartless enough?"

"Heartless, outlaws, organizations... any who would inflict harm to further their ends is an enemy of Nexus Town. We pride ourselves on being neutral ground, a place that anyone from any walk of life can come to for sanctuary. But enough about us, you appear injured. Dr. Takani will see to you."

"Yes, she will, right after Ganma explains why he saw fit to wake me up in the middle of the night." as if in cue, Mantis had returned, accompanied by a Japanese woman in physician's clothes. She seemed nice enough, if a bit grouchy from having been suddenly awoken.

"My apologies, Ms. Megumi, but we have a visitor who appears to be in need of medical attention."

"Fine, fine. Let's have a look at the damage, then." said the physician, approaching the stranger.

Hakim had used genuine shapeshifting to make himself look like a weizened old man, and while there was nothing in his new form that can be described as an injury, per se, it was clear that his physique was that of someone who, if not for magic - if even that! - would be half-way to the grave already, someone who belonged in a nursing home, not in the streets.

After a passing glance, Megumi's eye twitched before she comically shouted, "You woke me up for NOTHING!" this was directed squarely at Ganma, "Sure, he should probably be spending more time in a bed than traveling, but apart from that there's absolutely nothing wrong with him. And I was having such a lovely dream too.." the lady doctor mumbled as she angrily stomped back toward her residence so she could go back to bed.

"Don't even think about blaming me..." Mantis muttered, "...getting the Doctor was your idea, not mine."

"Well, forgetting all of that, if you didn't need medical attention then what brought you here to us, then?"

"What I said was," some of the old testiness returned to Hakim's voice, "'Hello? I am new to this town; I don't know anyone here - can you help?' Nowhere did I say I needed medical attention, rather, what I wanted were directions to the centre of the town; to where, it is rumored, the Dar-al-Hikma still stands." This was a partial giveaway to his real identity, but not that powerful an indicator. "I wanted to see that place before I die for real, just like my world has..." Also the truth.

"For someone who claims to be new, you sure know a lot about the place." Mantis, unsurprisingly, was not too keen on trusting this stranger. Of course, he didn't like anyone he couldn't read, it made him uneasy.

"It's a ruin now, but yes, the place you speak of still stands. But I can't help but agree with Mantis this time, how is it you know of that place? You are new to here, are you not?" just because Ganma kept his suspicions hidden behind his politeness didn't mean they weren't there. He was simply better at hiding them than Mantis was.

Hakim gazed at Gamna through his mask, then said:

"I am new to this town, yes. But not this place; no, I was here when this was a place of hopelessness, of despair, of fighting over old rivalries and scraps of land and resources. Aka, when this place wasn't a town at all." A frown. "Back when 'Salted Earth' was still known as 'Shining Field'..." Truth, and a revelation that might cause more mistrust, but also an indication of ancientry and veterancy, basically, Hakim was now implying: 'You may be suspicious of me, you may even distrust me openly because of my revelations. But the fact remains, my world provided the bones for where you live; you cannot contest that.'

"Shining... what's he talking about?" for the first time this night, Mantis was caught off guard, "I don't suppose you have any idea?" clearly the psychic soldier knew nothing of what this land was before the town was built on it.

"I've seen the name before, but in ancient tomes and texts. This fellow is more than he shows us to be. All indications pointed to this being the remains of an old world, but beyond that I couldn't discover much information." with a gesture he pointed to a path leading through a distant mountain pass, "That is the direction you seek. Whether or not you once lived in this world is irrelevant. This is our home now, and I will tolerate no treachery, not even from you." Ganma was making an implication of his own. He acknowledged this was once another's home, but also asserted that such a fact would not stop him from doing what needed to be done to protect his town and its residents from any and all threats.

A nod of acknowledgement, and Hakim would limp to the ruins of the old library...

Within the depths of the ancient, ruined library, Hakim the Wise faintly smiled; thanks to Genghis Khan and the Mongols not rampaging through Eurasia in his timeline, his version of the Dar-al-Hikma was able to contain modern facilities, modern facilities much advanced by his and...his students' research into the forbiden arts. In the basement of the structure lay a giant, stainless steel globe of the Earth, wonderfully made by the best craftsmen of Modern Baghdad. On the surface of that globe lay a secret keyboard, a keyboard that, when he typed a complicated mathematical code inside, would reveal and activate his greatest creation; the Magitech AI, Asma Al-Jazari. This AI was made as a recorder, defender, and even as an elaborate security/traffic camera for Baghdad's roads.

Once he typed the code, the globe would shine with white light, projecting a hologram of a young woman who wore only the loosest, most transparent, and most colorful of headscarves, who would then say:

"My name is Asma Al-Jazari; what can I do for you today, Master Hakim?" Hakim would smile, then, still in his old-man form, would then say:

"Tell me, do you have magical surviellance of all that happened in this town since the founding?" The female hologram nodded.

"Good," Hakim said. "Now, bring me up all surveilance recordings of...this person." He would then pull out a photograph of Seth and hand it over to Asma, who replied.

"Very well, showing recordings of Seth's life in Nexus Town, his training under Ganma, and his coming and going to this world during his journeys to find his homeworld. At the end of it all, Hakim was...impressed.

"He may not have a Heart, but he has drive," said the old man. "And to be honest, seeing him as someone who didn't have any moorings, like I once had..." Then he sighed.

"Secondary duty, Asma; I am leaving you activated, as well as asking you to do something of your own free will. Guard this town; help the residents as best as you could. You have full permission to teach them the advanced magical, scientific, and engineering knowledge to improve their infrastructure and resources. Will you do it?"

"Of course," the AI said. "But why this new burst of compassion?"

"They deserve it," was all Hakim can say before disappearing into a Corridor of Darkness. "Besides, I think I found out enough about Seth for my purposes..." his voice trailed off even after he had vanished.

Pre-Timeskip

"Well it's about time." Seth muttered when the witch finally kicked the bucket. She also apparently dissolved before he could grab the heart, so unfortunately it looked like Natasha would have to hold onto that favor a little while longer.

A little later, as their vessel made way to leave this world's space, they found themselves under fire. An unknown vessel flying an unknown set of colors was shooting at them from the distance. As luck would have it, they were too far away to fully give chase, but that didn't stop the Ruler of the Sea from receiving a chilling transmission from their assailant, apparently captained by a woman of some kind. Her voice was bold and lacked any sympathy for those she considered her enemy. She was also straight and to the point. Her face appeared on the monitor, revealing a surprisingly young woman considering she was the captain of her ship. She also looked oddly like someone Tocsax and Seth had seen before but neither of them could place it at the time.

"Enjoy your escape for now, because it won't last now that I've caught his trail. I hope he's listening, because as of right now it's officially hunting season... and I never. Lose. My. Catch." end transmission.

Seth's reaction was simple enough. He looked to Tocsax since, well, who else could she have been talking about? Surely she was just another one of Leo's followers... right?

"Well, she sounded like a warm bed of roses, didn't she?"

A voice brought her out of her small bubble of doubt.

"Healing."

It sounded so simple that she wanted to smack herself for thinking that attacking or waiting was the only thing she could do right now. She mentally thanked her Nobody companion as he rushed forward before she could respond.

As much as she wanted to keep an eye on Walpurgisnacht, Natasha had barely managed to get herself back to where they were. Mai quickly went forward and caught her fairy friend as she collapsed before handing her a Potion that she was carrying.

"You did great, Nat."

Although she didn't see Natasha's efforts from their location, she could tell that the fairy had contributed to the fight as much as the rest of them barring the swordswoman herself. She wished she was holding onto something other than just a Potion, but it was hopefully enough to help the fairy get back on her feet.

Looking back at the gigantic monstrosity, it was finally going down. The girl wished she could have done something to help with it, but for now, she let her comrades have the glory of taking it down.

Timeskip

Mai spent the two weeks reading about Panem and discussing it with whoever she found herself with whenever she sat down in the lobby or at the cafeteria. Such a system disturbed her, especially given how children were being forced into the act just to try and survive. It sickened her even.

She was in her room when she heard Gummi Ships had begun firing at something. She ran towards where Tocsax and the others were at. "These aren't the same guys as the ones who ambushed us before we left Madoka's world right?" She asked as she came into view of them.

The visuals of hundreds of troops occupying the Capitols and Districts worried her as they flashed on screen. "There's so many of them...," her voice trailing off.

The control room was in its usual state of rampant chaos; Crew members at their desks speaking hurriedly into their microphones relaying information on their screens, and orders give from the higher ups.

At the centre of it all, with the main screen ‘viewport screen’ sitting oppressively above, there was the holographic meeting table displaying information for the team to review and decide what to do.

“Do we know where Prim is or if the enemy has her?” Natasha scrolled through the intelligence list from where she stood at the table. “It’s probably best if we can keep this entire escapade short and sweet. Might I suggest our big hitters go in and grab her while another team or distract the enemy?”

“Don’t worry Mai, it just means that they’re afraid of us.” Natasha flashed her friend a sharp grin. “Shall we remind them just why that is?”

“I’m going to make a guess that they’re using the space station as a base?” James spoke from the other side of the table, pointing towards the holographic symbol above him. “Maybe we could hack it or disable their ‘senor array’ or something?”

“As for whether they’re the same people or not Mai.” James turned to address her. “I’m going to say maybe, though I haven’t seen cold, bict-bitter and scary trying to take over our systems…” A quick hand movement brought up the system diagnostics into view for a double-check.

Since he had joined the journey James had become increasingly familiar with the ships computer systems and recently, after much pleading, had gained some administrator rights to tinker with some of the lesser systems as he saw fit. So far, only one injury had any direct correlation to this.

“…no, I’m guessing this is just our usual baddies right now. Hurray.” Jame decided to set another system check running. Just in case.

Falling...straight down into a seemingly endless abyss...

This feeling was all too familiar to the Nobody. Again, just like before, a ray of light would appear, enveloping his being. However, rather than develop in front of him, Taka could feel the warmth of the Light from behind him, its presence growing stronger as he drifted further downward. Soon enough, his body would safely land on the platform. He simply lays there at first, the Light lapping about his coat, gently washing unto him like waves on a beach. However, upon feeling another presence appear beside him, he slowly sits up, the Light clinging to him, feeling almost waterlogged.
He was surprised to see himself, garbed in completely different clothing. The other Taka was sitting upon the edge of the platform, simply staring out into the void. However, upon sensing movement behind it, the apparition looks right at Taka, a smirk forming upon his face. “You’re finally here...you’re rather late, you know. So late, in fact, that you’re probably confused as to what you’re seeing…” It says, turning to look back out towards the void. Taka moves towards the apparition, sitting beside it. “Who are you? ...Why do you look like me?” The Nobody inquires. The apparition chuckles in response, looking over at Taka from the corner of its eyes. “I am a Remnant of who you used to be. I’ve been residing within you for quite some time now. However, because of the darkness that had grabbed ahold of you, I was unable to fully awaken. Ergo, your memories, the ones of your life before you became a Nobody, have been withheld from you.” Taka silently thinks on what has been said, baffled by what this representative of his memories has to offer. “What must I do to set you free..?” He inquires.
The Remnant smiles, swinging its legs to and fro. “Well, it’s quite simple really. You have to make a choice. The choice between Light and Darkness. The seed of despair that was planted within you when you first lost your heart is the reason you’re even able to wield the darkness in battle. Your true path was one that is bathed in the Light, bringing hope to all. However, do not let the actions of your past influence this decision. The choice is yours and yours alone.” It explains.
Taka looks over at the Remnant, soaking in the reality of the situation. “...Neither path is mine to walk. They are two sides of the same coin..I shall forge my own path, using both Light and Darkness as my guides…” Taka pauses briefly as a memory flickers to life in his mind. The memory of his title. “I will walk the path...of a Twilight Knight.” The unlocking of this memory causes the Remnant to smile happily, dissipating into fractals of Light, starting from his feet, the fragmentation working its way upward. “A fine choice for a warrior of your caliber…” With this being said, the Remnant’s form disperses completely, only to suddenly reform as a new keyblade. Equipping himself with it, Taka eyes the weapon curiously, knowing fully well what it is meant to represent.

Timeskip

As these events transpire within Taka, the katana he had been pierced by in his fight, whether it still be plunged into him or removed and laid to rest nearby, begins to glow, pulsating with Light...

Drake let out a sigh of relief as he joked, “Man that bitch was harder to get rid of then my Ex.” Drake let out a chuckle at his joke as Seth mention, “it’s about time.” He nodded and joked again, “Nothing like the present to beat the ever loving shit out a giant woman.” He seemed cheery on the outside, but on the inside there was a sliver of doubt starting to form in his mind. Would this have gone any easier if I had the Shadow Nexus? Drake thought. He had hoped getting rid of the Shadow Nexus would make things easier, but it seemed without it he wasn’t at his best.

Time Skip

Drake lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. The thoughts of the last battle still lingering in his head. He had been so focused on wining he didn't see the rest of his group in danger. hell, Seth was flung into the air. he could have helped him, but instead he focused on actually winning then helping his comrades. He sighed when books appeared on the desk in his room. He sat up and walked over to them. He began reading through them as he took mental notes of everything that might come their way.

“This world sends youths to fight? What twisted kind of place is this,” Drake said to himself before he added, “However, I should be used to this type of crap by now. After all Chrono’s military enlisted kids after all.” He took a deep breath and sighed as he continued to read on about the world. Drake picked up the picture of Prim that was with the books and sighed again. Why must these kids be put through such terminal? They have yet to understand what joys life can bring and yet they’re thrown into someone else’s war. Drake thought.

Two weeks later

Drake stood with the rest of the group as they began to head towards the new world. In front of them where space ships and a battle station. The ship jolted as the firing started and the blasts hit it. Drake stood with his arms crossed and the ship rocked back and forth.

“Oh look. They rolled out the red carpet,” Drake joked. Another shot rocked the ship and Drake had to unfold his arms to keep his balance. A woman’s voice came over the transmission and started in on the usual bad guy (girl) speech and how she was some kind of hunter. He looked around and said, “OK, who’s the one with the crazy Ex? Cause it shirley ain't me.”

Drake’s watch began to blink orange and Drake looked down before a hologram appeared and he pressed it. Another of the round disks appeared and flew to the front as Drake said, “Now’s not a good time Jinx.” Another explosion rocked the ship just before the hologram started.

Nails looked into the camera and a wicked smile formed on his face as he said, “Then I guess you’re going to have to make time.” Drake tensed up as Nails began, “you see: I have a proposition for you. You see I have someone you want.” His smile grew as he stepped to the side. Behind him, chained to a chair was Prim. There was duct tape over her mouth and a blindfold covered her eyes. Her body was covered in scrapes and bruises.

“Damn it Nails you sick fuck! She’s got nothing to do with this!” Drake yelled.

“Oh but she does. For you see your little group wants her and so does the people you’re fighting. I wonder how much they’d pay to have her. Cause you know as well as I do Drake. The Red light District in Black Falcon City would pay high for someone like her,” Nails said before he added, “So? Do you want to hear my proposal?”

“I already know what it is,” Drake said before he added, “You want me to come back and in return you’d bring her to us.” Nails shook his head and chuckled.

“Come now Drake. You know that I’m more sadistic than that,” Nails joked.

“At least you admit it,” Drake mumbled.

“You see: I’ll trade one of my hostages for you,” Nails said as he pointed towards Drake

“Hostages?” Drake Asked. Nails smiled before he seemed to pick up the camera and move it towards another woman. She was older then Prim and looked to be in her late 20’s. Her long ruby red hair covered her face as her head hung down. Nails set the camera down and lifted the woman’s head up so they could get a better look at her. The women seemed unconscious as he violently grabbed her hair to lift her head up. she also had scrapes and bruises. however, over her right eye was a large scare in the shape of a lightning bolt.

“Now that you know the stipulations of my proposal. Let’s run down the rules. One: Drake is to come alone. No heroics during our little transaction. Two: Drake is to choose one of these two to be sent back in his place. Three: we all live happily ever after,” Nails said with a smile. The last rule sounded like he was mocking the concept as a whole.

“What happens to the other one?” Drake asked.

“I kill the one you don’t choose,” Nails said without any remorse. his smile seem to fade as he hissed, “You could have saved them both, but you decided to get rid of the Shadow Nexus. So now you’re only worth one life.” With that the hologram ended. Drake stood there glaring at where the hologram once was. His hand clenched into a fist as lightning started to spark around it.

Tocsax had spent most of his time in-between the trip, ashen-faced. He didn't recognize the woman who was after Seth, but he did know her as a Princess of Heart, and one who genuinely hated the group, instead of being forced to fight them, like Nora was. Nevertheless, he was still alert when Space Station 13 and its accompanying fleet of black-and-white Gummi Ships had appeared on the viewscreens. Replying to Natasha, he said:

"No, we don't know where Prim is; we expected her to still be in District 12, but that's being occupied right now -" The interruption from Drake's watch just made things go from bad to worse, as Nails appeared, made threats involving Prim and...someone else, and made Tocsax hate him more than he did already. Looking at Drake, the eighteen year old-looking boy would say:

"I insist on coming with Drake and offering myself up for the second hostage. What do I have to offer to allow you to do that, Nails-san? Well, I know where to get powerful Heartless and Nobodies - Shadows and Nexuses - to become the baseline for a new creation using Drake's knowledge. Additionally, I'll hand myself over to you for torture and save you the effort of chasing me down. After all, don't you hate me for helping Drake purge the Shadow Nexus for the first time?"

@Double@Arty Fox@Rex@Ryteb Pymeroce@ShadowVentus@supertinyking@SMS@Lady Athena

"Definitely," she replied to Natasha. Although she was a little worried at the numbers, she knew they can handle it if they were all together.

The conversations were cut off when somebody unfamiliar suddenly began talking over Drake's watch. It was taking all of her willpower to not suddenly lash out at Nails for what she was seeing. Her knuckles were white as her fingernails dug into her balled up fist, and white hot rage was oozing off of her as she observed what was happening. The girl almost lost it when the guy switched over to the other victim and lifted her up with her hair.

"You... sick..." Her voice was growling, and she wanted to just reach out to Nails and sock him straight on.

Tocsax had tried to negotiate for a bit, but the call was cut rather abruptly before any answer came through which left the room in a very awkward silence before Mai broke it. "Drake. I know I said I'll handle Alice, but let me hit this guy first when we meet him." She'll make him suffer first.

Her anger was dispelled a little when she felt a little blood trickle off of her fist and she quickly released her hand to stop her fingernails from further damaging it. She quickly hid it in her skirt, silently hoping she could treat it before they have to leave.

Natasha clicked her tongue and the air around her grew colder. She never liked hostage situations; a coward’s way of trying to get the upper hand, and given how ‘goody-goody’ a lot of the team seemed to be it appeared to be working. At the very least Tocsax appeared to have some sort of plan. All they needed now was the time and place for the hostage transfer.

A message silently appeared on the table in front of her, it didn’t float up for all to see when she opened it, from James.

‘slower, cutting’ Natasha understood.

“Why are you people doing this?” She addressed the hologram with a slight quiver in her voice. “What have we ever done to you?”

One his side of the table James urgently ushered Mai over with a click of his fingers. He wore a look of deep concentration. The table top in front of his displayed a multitude of different windows some of which listed numbers and names whilst others flashed with frantic messages. He ignored the charts and windows hovering around him.

“Do you know if Drake is connected to the Network?” James whispered as quietly as he could.
His fingers danced across the table typing in commands to the system.

“I can still try to trace the signal if he isn’t but…” James bit his lip. “It’ll be a lot trickier, and I have no idea which of these devices is his…”

Nexus Town ~ Ruins of Dar-al-Hikma

After the stranger's departure, Ganma found himself in an almost constant conversation with the A.I. called Asma Al-Jazari. He found himself learning things that no tome or scroll could teach him. Whatever this old palace was, it apparently had a sophisticated security system.

"So you're saying this 'Master' of yours instructed you to share some your secrets with us?" Ganma asked, having wanted to ensure he was following all of this straight. Mantis was there as well, but he was more incredulous of the whole thing. Not that that was surprising, he was usually quite suspicious of everyone. An unfortunate side effect of being able to read minds it seemed.

"That was Master Hakim's instruction, yes." Asma's response was short and to the point. Also somewhat cold, which made sense given her computer nature.

"Well however you can improve things for the town, I'm all for it." said Ganma with a shrug, "Feel free to keep recording what happens around town, but in the future we should keep access to that information on some kind of password basis. Wouldn't want the wrong people being able to spy on us after all."

"Acknowledged. All surveillance access is to be locked behind a password. Please input new password to confirm command." the A.I. was surprisingly compliant with that request. Probably another of Hakim's orders.

"Let's make it... Outcast009A. That should suffice."

"Password confirmed. New protocol will begin immediately."

"Are you sure about all this?" asked Mantis finally, "Pretty sure I've seen this scenario in a movie once... it didn't end well for them." frankly, the A.I. woman gave him the creeps. Any sentient being without a mind for him to read just didn't seem right to him. Of course, there were those with strong enough minds to resist, but this thing was different.

A Corridor of Darkness opened up nearby, preventing them from continuing the conversation. A hooded figure stepped through wearing a familiar obnxious grin on his face.

"Well look what the cat dragged in." said Mantis in a snide tone, "You've been gone awhile this time - is that a good sign or bad?"

Seth shrugged, "Eh, little of both actually." and after a chuckle he got a good look at the hologram, "So uh... what's with the light show here?"

"My name is Asma Al-Jazari," the hologram answered, "I was activated by Master Hakim and instructed to protect this town. You are... Seth, correct?"

Seth cocked an eyebrow beneath his hood, "So that old bastard's been here, huh? He's pretty persistent to come back here to investigate me."

"Wait... you know him?" Ganma asked, having been quiet but suddenly taking an interest again.

"I guess," replied Seth with a shrug, "old man tried to test me or some crap like that. But, well you know how I am with tests. He said I didn't 'deserve the right to be' or whatever. Of course, it takes more than a salty old man to get rid of me."

This made both Ganma and Mantis tense up ever-so-slightly. Had they known the guest had been hostile to one of their own, they likely would not have given him nearly as much of a friendly welcome.

"So that's why he came here..." Ganma said thoughtfully.

"You never said why you're here now." Mantis pointed out, "Thought you were on some job?"

"Yup," Seth chuckled, "still am. But something important came up. For the first time since I left here, I may have actually found a real clue about my home world." this got their attention.

"Really? Well, by all means, we're listening." said Mantis, naturally incredulus. People he could read and those that could resist him were things Mantis could handle. Seth, on the other hand, was a weird case. Mantis could read the Nobody's mind, but it was always blank or a jumbled up mess at best. Imagine trying to read a book with blank pages, pages that had been torn out, and other pages that had been completely rearranged. That was Seth's mind in a nutshell.

"We were attacked by a ship we didn't recognize. We got away but they sent us a pretty bitter warning that we wouldn't escape next time. I dunno who she was, but according to one of my employers she apparently hates me something fierce. She may just be the clue I need to finding what I'm looking for."

"Fat chance of that," Mantis said, "you'd have to ask her, and she doesn't sound very talkative to me."

"I know that." Seth turned to Mantis specifically, "Which is why you're going to read her for me."

"Wait, what?"

"C'mon, Mantis, you said it yourself. She's not gonna share any information with me any time soon. I'd have to read her mind, and I just so happen to be good friends with a mind reader."

"You want me to just leave here? Pack up and go gallavanting around to other worlds like you? You don't honestly think Ganma will let me-"

"It's not an invalid idea, Mantis." it was Ganma. Normally, Ganma was apprehensive about letting people come and go. It was dangerous to travel between worlds. But he also knew that Seth had been doing it for five years and if he wasn't dead yet, that obviously meant he'd found a safe way to do it. So for this instance, Ganma was willing to make an exception.

"Ha!" Seth laughed, "Guess you can't use Ganma as an excuse now. So come on. My employers are waiting for me." a new Corridor leading back to the ship was already opening and awaiting them.

"I swear to God, Seth, if I die out there I'm going to kill you."

Back on the Ship

Seth had slipped out a little while ago. After chatting with Tocsax about their mysterious lady stalker, he told his fellow Nobody he was going to slip back over to Nexus Town. He was going to get some extra back up for the mission he told them. In actuality, he wanted to recruit Mantis in order to use his psychic powers to learn about the mysterious girl. Still, with Mantis around, they should have no problem sniffing out any traps or ambushes waiting for them.

"Yo, everyone. Guess who's back?" Seth quipped after he stepped through the Corridor that opened up right in the midst of everyone. He was without his coat, and he was soon followed by someone else wearing it. They immediately removed the coat and returned it to Seth.

This revealed his companion to everyone. A man in a black, sleeveless leather suit and a gas mask wrapped around his shaved head.

"And I brought us some extra back up. Everyone, this is Mantis." Seth said with a gesture, "Psychic soldier extraordinaire. As long as we have him, we can kiss running into traps and ambushes goodbye."

@Letter Bee@Arty Fox@Rex@SMS@ShadowVentus@Lady Athena

Drake took several breaths to calm himself down as the lightning sparking around his fist slowly died down. Seth walked from the dark corridor and introduced a new member of the team which lifted a small weight off his mind. He knew what had to be done, but knew the team would be a member down. With Seth introducing Mantis, he knew he could go with the demands Nails laid down.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mantis. However, I do apologize that I must leave before we get to fight side by side,” Drake said before he turned towards Tocsax and explained, “neither you nor anyone else will be going with me to meet Nails. When he said I’m only worth one life without the Shadow Nexus. It proved that he has no knowledge of the Shadow Nexus Primal. Therefore I’ll use that as a bargaining chip to bring both hostages back safely. Nails might be sadistic, but he also has a thing for equivalent exchange. If I show him the Shadow Nexus Primal, he’ll release the hostages without incident.”

“Every one of you is needed to stop the Seekers. You all were chosen to stop them. I on the other hand was hired to help you get to your goal and make sure you are prepared for the fight ahead. I can safely say you all are ready to stop them,” Drake said before he removed his hat and let it digitize into his watch before he continued, “I do have to say it was fun while it lasted though. With my track record of working with groups I was a bit skeptical, but you all aren’t like the Surge Guardians.”

“Guess I won’t need this anymore,” Drake said as he held his hand out and his Keyblade appeared. He placed the keyblade against the wall and continued, “Now where are the ships? Going to need one to get down there. Might also bring some of that blockade with me to help you guys out as well.”

"Pleasure to meet you as well, Mantis," said Tocsax, before the eighteen-year old looking boy turned towards Drake.

"Anything I can give is yours'; shuttles are in the Ruler of the Sea's hangar bay - there are a few starfighters as well."

Then, a message will come from Space Station 13, saying:

"To the Guardians of Light, I would like you to surrender. If you don't, well, there is a massive civilian populace I can transform into cyborgs or just murder. So please, measure your choices."

@Double@Arty Fox@Rex@ShadowVentus@SMS

“Well that plan went swimmingly.” Natasha grumbled.

“Ever heard of subtlety?” James called from where he stood, and received rude gesture in reply.

“Make sure you keep in contact with us at all times if you can. Don’t be one of those ‘Most Honourable of Soldiers’ you Humans are so obsessed with.” She threw Drake a condescending grin filled with sharp little teeth. “Plus, use Marks name if you see him. Just like I told you.”

The more magical power a person had the more they could influence a person with their Name, but as far as Natasha could tell Drake had barley any Magical power that she could recognise. Although Natasha didn’t feel that Drake needed to know that last part, after-all he had gotten out of a few tight spots all by himself without magic.

“Wait, psychic?” Natasha tried to hide her unease. “As in ‘can read minds’ psychic?”

The ‘warm welcome’ they received only further darkened her mood and she growled, glaring to the heavens for strength.

It’s either all or nothing round here I swear! Natahsa took a very deep breath.

“Can’t we just hack the prats and be done with it?” Whilst she was asking the room at large Natasha did shoot a glance at James.
James returned her look with a stormy one of his own. “And risk them killing a whole load of people? No way.” He scoffed.

“So we can hack them.” Her tone lifted slightly but more in disbelief than anything else. “So why aren’t we doing that now and turning their own weapons against them?”

“Anything can be hacked given enough time, which is the problem here; it would take too long!” James brought up several diagrams above the table. Some showing messages with red X’s and graphs listing multitudes of data.

“Station 13 encrypts everything, every signal they send out and our systems haven’t found a way to decrypt them yet. Even if we threw our best decryption software at it their systems could hold us off for days. Weeks even!” He ran a hand through his hair with a grimace.
“Like in The Imitation Game?” Natasha liked movies about Human war times. She rubbed her eyes. “uhg, what can we do then?”

James drew in a breath through his teeth. “As I said we can intercept their signals…we could block them I guess? With such a distance between Station 13 and Panem there’s already going to be some latency, just like on Earth or Enchanted Globe or whatever.” James frowned several times finding it very odd referring to Earth as anything else.

“If we’re lucky they’d just pass it off as interference or something? I’m not expert on space so I dunno.” James shrugged with a perplexed look about him. “But I can only really see it giving us a few minutes at the most.”

Natasha turned towards Tocsax. “A few minutes is better than nothing, and could give us some extra time to blow them apart.”

Meanwhile James was already training one of the ships many eyes towards Panem; a fairly advanced world in a technological sense despite its moral shortcomings. It had radio, television, and even its own equivalent of the Early Internet in secluded areas across the planet. In theory he only needed to find one unsecured network and he could slip right into the crowd of twisted bits and bytes flying across the continent. Additionally, there were some automated satellites sitting miles above the planet’s atmosphere, but there old and dead things from an age before Panem became the sole civilisation of the world. A little window sat above James searching over each hunting for a glimmer of life.

Mai quietly walked over to where James was motioning her. The girl didn't understand what was going on with what he was looking at, still very much out of touch with this technology. "Uh James, I think I might be the worst person to ask about that," she whispered to him while covering her mouth with her hand as she leaned closer to him. "But if you had to make me guess, probably?" She continued while tilting her head to the side a little.

A few moments later, Seth had walked in through a portal with somebody. "Another one?" The crew was certainly getting crowded with each passing day. She still hadn't found out who that other girl was back when they were fighting against Walpurgisnacht. Since that day however, they didn't reappear again and she thought if they were still hiding somewhere. The swordswoman raised an eyebrow as she scanned the features of the newcomer. "Suspicious." Although, the gas mask was what probably bothered her about the new guy. Nevertheless, she waved to him in a friendly manner. "Hi, welcome to the team."

For the next few minutes, she kept quiet as Drake pretty much decided to offer himself for the hostage. It was dangerous and was obviously a trap and she wanted to protest about it, but she wasn't one for politics such as what was happening. If she opened her mouth, she probably could just make the situation worse. "Just be careful, Drake." She forced out as she battled with her inner turmoil about the situation.

She continued to stay silent when the message from Space Station 13 arrived. This time she couldn't hide her frustration and anger. "It's not like they got us pinned down, but what can we do about this?" The whole statement came out perhaps a little shakily. Hostages weren't a thing that she liked dealing with, and with an entire populace resting on their shoulders, it wasn't an easy choice.

Drake nodded at Natasha and said, “Yeah will do. Even though you explained it to me on how you can control people with their name. I still don’t understand how you actually do it.” Drake then thought for a moment before he added, “if knowing a name has power over them then you can use mine as well. Not sure if you’ll need it, but it might be a good incurrence to have.”

“Being careful is going to be the hard part of this,” Drake told Mai before he added, “Knowing Nails: If he gets a hold of the Shadow Nexus Primal. He’ll see how powerful it is and that means experimentation. Which means I’m about to find myself under the knife again. “He would have left there, but as they talked about hacking into the fleets mainframe. Drake snapped his fingers and knew what he could do before embarking to meet Nails.

Drake looked through the hologram from his watch until he found what he was looking for. He pushed a few images before his watch’s clock face lit up and a small egg made of green and white ones and zeros appeared in front of him. Drake lightly poked it, but nothing happened. Drake sighed and poked it again. There was a groan, but nothing happened.

“Blair, wake up,” Drake ordered. There was a small whine before the egg started to float away. Drake’s right eye twitched before he ordered again, “Wake up!”

“Five more minutes,” a female voice whined from the egg.

“Now!” Drake ordered.

“Fine,” the female voice sighed. The egg of white and green ones and zeros began to morph and twist until it changed into a two-foot tall woman. The green ones made up her figure while the white zeros made what looked like a dress over her body. She stretched and yawned before she looked at Drake and a smile formed on her face, she floated over to Drake and asked, “I take it you need my help?”

“What gave you that idea,” Drake sarcastically said before he added, “I just needed someone to talk to.” Blair blinked at him for a second before she burst out laughing.

“You? Talk?” she laughed. She flipped through the air laughing for several seconds before she corrected herself and noticed everyone else around her. She looked at Drake quizzically and asked, “I thought you were done with working with other groups?”

“Things change. Now can you hack into that,” Drake said pointing towards the fleet outside. Blair floated over to the window and looked at the massive fleet and its base.

“I don’t hack army CPU’s, Drake. I’m an elegant hacking A.I. I don’t dabble in these kinds of things,” Blair said matter-a-factly. Drake didn’t seem to argue as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Well if you don’t have the capability to do it. I guess I can get Blake to do it. He has a better variety of skills in his programming,” Drake said with a smile.

“Excuse me?!” Blair asked as she continued, “Blake couldn’t get through a simple .36 radio modulator if the instruction manual was downloaded to his memory!”

“But you just said,” Drake said as he tried to hide his sly smile.

“I’ll do it and prove I’m a better hacking program than that bulk of ones and zeros,” Blair huffed before she floated in front of the window and looked back at the group and added, “What are we looking at? Did we get any type of communication from the main base?”
Drake shook his head and walked out towards the hanger. There he found a small fleet of gummi ships. He looked at each one before he chose his ship and climbed in. he then looked for the training manual.

“Probably should have read this before shit went down,” Drake sighed before he began to flip through the manual

Tocsax, recovering his composure, replied to David Galic, the commander of Space Station 13.

"You're a recent recruit of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness, right? It seems you don't know what those who consume the Darkness to turn it into Light are capable of." And with that, Corridors of Darkness opened up all across Panem's surface, letting out legions of Samurai Nobodies who began engaging the ground troops from Fallout: Apocalypse Averted and Space Station 13. "There's a reason why Leo the Second Mathematician wanted me to be his Thirteenth incarnation."

"Indeed," David said through the comms, nonplussed as he gave the order for his own fleet of Gummi ships to engage Emperor Michael's own in battle, causing the sky to be criss-crossed with lasers and railgun fire. "It seems that your power is not only rumor...is it the same for your lack of skill?"

Then, Space Station 13's cybernetic-magical defenses would suddenly shut down for two seconds, thanks to Blair's hacking.

"What was that?! More dirty tricks?!" the shout came through the comms. "Very well, come at me; I will show you the wrath of someone who has full power over the Human Form!"

"Oh," said a tiring Tocsax, "it's not just us who will be coming at you...you've noticed that whatever Drake did weakened whatever you're doing to prevent teleportation, right?" He would then slump to the floor...just as the ground forces Emperor Michael and Empress Maria had been holding back teleported to Panem's surface to reinforce the Samurai Nobodies, deploying Infantry, Tanks, APCs, and Artillery that, though inferior, were still dangerous if used right. And of course, Battle-magi that can still grant an advantage.

"All right, people!" Damianos Sardis' voice can be heard all over the comms, "you guys teleport to Space Station 13, while Giorgios, Basilieus Michael, and I take down these occupation forces!"

"And I'll lead this Gummi fleet to victory!" Empress Maria replied in an open channel.

-------

David Galic, meanwhile, awaited the enforcers of the 'Tyranny of Light' in the depths of Space Station 13. Looking around his chamber, his gaze dwelt upon a tube of clear fluid, in which yet another young man who looked like an eighteen-year old was suspended, wearing a wetsuit and an oxygen mask. The young man had dark blue hair, and his eyes were closed, although David knew they were golden.

"My secret weapon, No, I," the cyborg smiled as he looked at the Replica. Originally one of Leo's projects to create another Tocsax, 'No, I', turned out to be a miserable failure, a copy and experiment that didn't pan out as well as Leo hoped. So, the Circle 'killed' him, only to cause one of the incidents that finally caused Tocsax himself to turn against their faction. But now, David Galic had brought him back, in order to use as a secret weapon against the group.

Oh, and as someone whose Element is literally the 'Human Form', he can change the properties of his brain to resist psychic powers, but as he didn't know of Mantis' existence, he did not do so, meaning that Mantis can tell the group the details of this ambush.

@Double@Arty Fox@Rex@ShadowVentus@SMS