The Worlds were once one, but became shattered into many in a catastrophe no one truly remembers. Since then, they have remained separate, with great distance between them until each evolved into an individual world in their own right. By present day, the times of the Worlds being one has been completely forgotten. Now they exist as if they had always been separate, and with no knowledge of the other worlds' existence. That all began to change when the Heartless started appearing. Within the Realm of Light, each World has a Heart, a Keyhole granting access to the equal-but-opposite Realm of Darkness. From these openings, creatures of Darkness were discovered by kind-but-misguided scientist named Ansem the Wise. Ansem studied the Heartless, and the Realm from which they came extensively. His research even went as far to create man-made Heartless that he marked with an Emblem so that they could always be distinguished from their Pureblood brethren. This obsessive research eventually led to the opening of the Keyhole of Ansem's world, Radiant Garden. With the floodgate opened, Heartless overran the once-beautiful Radiant Garden until only a hollow shell of the world remained.

At around the same time, a powerful fairy enchantress called Maleficent was preparing to make her move. She'd discovered the existence of other worlds nearly ten years ago, and was now in her final preparation to begin an invasion to rule all worlds. When Radiant Garden was overran by Heartless, Maleficent moved right in and took the castle and its world for her own, renaming it Hollow Bastion. From here, she contacted a select group of like-minded entities from other worlds. With promises of power and the right to rule their respective worlds, they came to align themselves with Maleficent's plans. Only one entity stood in their way. A world called Disney Castle - ruled by the kind-hearted King Mickey - discovered Maleficent's plan and began work to thwart it.

And finally, on a tiny world called Destiny Islands, there lived three children. These three children would eventually come to hold the fate of all worlds in their hands: Sora, Riku, and Kairi. With Kairi having mysteriously moved to Destiny Islands from parts unknown, the three children plan to set out on an adventure to discover Kairi's home, and any other lands and worlds they come across in the process. But fate had other plans. A a fateful night, a storm hit Destiny Islands, and from it Heartless began to emerge and swarm. Riku, viewing this as an opportunity to expand his horizons, dived headlong into the rising Darkness and vanished. Kairi, too, was also taken away by the Darkness. Standing alone, Sora managed to summon the fabled Keyblade and defeated the Heartless boss. But by then it was too late, and Destiny Island's fate was sealed.

Sora survived and found himself in a strange town. Here he made a slew of new friends. Leon, Yuffie, Aerith and Cid; who were all aware of the Heartless and the power of the Keyblade. It was here Sora met his closest friends and allies, Donald and Goofy. During all of this, King Mickey instructed Donald and Goofy to seek out a "key" and then guard it. This search took them to Traverse Town where they joined Sora for a quest to find the King as well as Sora's missing friends. A grand tale unfolded from there. The trio traveled from world to world, occasionally doing battle with Maleficent's allies and sealing the Worlds' Keyholes along the way to prevent them from being swallowed up by the Heartless. Eventually the quest took them to the ruins of Hollow Bastion. Here they confronted Maleficent directly, as well as Riku who had joined her side in his search for the missing Kairi.

After a fierce battle, Kairi and the other missing Princesses of Heart - whom Maleficent had gathered for her nefarious purposes - were freed and awakened. However Riku was not so fortunate. A ghost or spirit calling himself Ansem had taken over Riku's body and retreated to the ominous End of the World. Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed suit, and confronted Ansem deep within the End of the World at the ruins of Destiny Islands. What happened next is a blur. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and even Riku and The King never returned from End of the World. Their fates remain unsolved.

Nearly ten years have passed. Those remaining at Disney Castle and Traverse Town believed the battle against Ansem to have been victorious despite the loss of the heroes in the process. But a new enemy soon made their existence known. All at once, fleets of Gummi Ships emerge from where Hollow Bastion once stood and begin attacking worlds one after another. This force only calls itself The Empire, its ruler remaining unknown to almost everyone outside of it. Instead the Empire was mostly commanded by a set of hooded figures calling themselves the Imperators. In response, Disney Castle scrambled to rescue as many worlds as possible, managing to unite a number of them together into a World Alliance.

With a threat of war between multiple worlds looming in the near future, and heroic figures such as Mickey and Sora nowhere to be found, things have begun to look bleak. Now the responsibility of saving the worlds has fallen onto the shoulders of anyone and everyone willing to stand up and fight.


All was quiet in First and Second District. Recent influxes of refugees required the restoration and protection of Second District from Heartless attacks, and now only Third District was still dangerous to wander through. Being so close to Disney Castle in comparison to other worlds, Traverse Town was among the first that Disney Castle formed an alliance with. This came with a small deployment of Gummi Ships from Disney Castle to act as Traverse Town's defense against attacks from space. That also meant that the dedicated defenders within Traverse Town, led by Squall "Leon" Leonhart and his group, could focus on the elimination of Heartless within Second District - and hopefully Third District at a later time - with more impunity. Overall, Traverse Town was probably the most secured World besides Disney Castle itself. An attack here would likely be ill-advised.

All the more strange then when the Empire launched its attack. An assault against a world this close to Disney Castle? Clearly the Empire seemed to be looking for a quick and decisive victory. Up in space, the deployment from Disney Castle quickly found itself under fire from Imperial Gummi Ships, while down below the exit doors in First District burst open, followed by Imperial ground forces pouring into town. They were a mixed bag, half of them seemed to be humans in the armored uniform of the Empire, their faces partially concealed by the visors of their helmets. The other half was a type of enemy that had never been seen until now. Small, skinny creatures grey and white in color that slinked about in an inhuman way. The human soldiers had to enter through the gates, but the grey creatures seemed to appear out of thin air. They seemed reminiscent of Heartless, but bore no Heart-emblem and were clearly not attacking for Hearts. Heartless attacked randomly and in packs, whereas these grey creatures were clearly following someone's orders.

The human soldiers concentrated on First District, while the grey creatures were appearing throughout Second and Third Districts. Also within Third District, a humanoid figure in a black hood appeared out of a dark portal. There was no doubt what this person was. He was one of the infamous Imperators, 12 hooded humanoids who served as the field commanders for the Empire's forces. It looked like the Imperator was the one commanding the grey creatures. Meanwhile in First District, another officer of the Imperial forces seemed to be leading the human soldiers. Like the others, he too wore a dark uniform, but his helmet completely covered his face and head. Furthermore, both the masked officer and the Imperator appeared to be carrying no visible weapons. If attacked, however, each would summon a weapon from thin air to fight with. The masked officer would wield a sword with a curved blade while the Imperator seemed to prefer a blue oblong shield with a sharp pointed end. To top all this off, the masked man fought with a discipline disturbingly similar to the warriors of the fallen world of Aumi.


Marchen only recently discovered Heartless for the first time. Unfortunately, its people weren't given long to learn more about them before another threat grabbed everyone's attention. Early one morning, the grey skies began to darken with the appearance of flying vessels. This sort of thing had never been seen in a world like Land of Fable before. The world itself was also a fair distance away from Disney Castle, so it had not made any contact with other worlds yet until now and it seemed the Empire was the first to arrive. It didn't attack immediately. Instead the ships were poised above key cities and castles. Places they could open fire on for a brutally efficient first strike. For now, though, it looked like only a threat. In truth, the Empire was preparing to send messengers into the castles and cities offer a chance of surrender before any attack had to be launched. The smaller towns and villages were not so fortunate.

Instead of flying ships, thin grey creatures appeared seemingly out of thin air and began their attack. It was a controlled assault, however, meant only to herd people into groups and prevent any from scattering into the wilderness. These grey creatures were not like the little black ones at all, as they clearly seemed to be following orders and commands. In fact, the one giving the orders could be found in one particular village, the home of young mage Mira. The figure, appearing to be a human masked by a black hood, looked somewhat short in stature, possibly indicating them to be in a similar age group to Mira herself. Either way, the grey creatures were following this person's command. Their identity was still unknown to the village, but they did seem to be a mage of sorts what with the large book the figure held and apparent dark spells they were casting.


It was early morning, Dawn to be exact. A very apt time of day for a place like Dawn Island. Over the past week, the island's Royal Family had been visited by a diplomat from a whole other world known as Disney Castle. Dawn Island had not yet been targeted by the Empire, and the visiting Emissary hoped to convince the Royal Family to ally Dawn Island with Disney Castle so a proper defense could be set up against the Empire's starfleet. Dawn Island wasn't completely defenseless at this time, as the Consular Ship from Disney Castle had been escorted by a pair of Gummi Battleships that now orbited the world in a patrol, vigilantly staying on the lookout for any signs of the Imperial Fleet.

Negotiations were beginning to wrap up when the alert signal was sent to the currently grounded Consular Ship. A fleet of Imperial vessels were incoming and would be in attack range within the hour. Unknown to the Alliance Ships, a ground invasion had already begun. Thin, grey creatures seemed to appear from out of thin air all over the island. They weren't like the Heartless, as they attacked strategically and clearly under someone's orders. Dawn Island's own military mobilized to deal with them, but the grey creatures were not alone. The hooded figure commanding them had also made their presence known, emerging from out of a dark portal that opened up right outside the government building where the negotiations were taking place. When attacked, the figure fought back by conjuring up a large scythe with which they fended off attackers with sweeping blows that seemed to conjure up blasts of wind and cherry blossoms. They were one of the Empire's infamous Imperators. And though there was no human ground forces appearing yet, there could well be some on the way as soon as the Imperial Fleet properly arrived.

---

@NobodiesHero@RyuShura@Renny@DangDude@Savo

Ashe was in one of her moods. Unpleasant imagery had plagued her last night. Memories of her lost world and the people who's fates she still didn't know. It wasn't uncommon that Ashe had these nightmares, but they always left her in a foul mood the next day. Snappy, extra quiet, and almost brooding the warrior's icy blue eyes kept a careful watch on the First District. Normally one of these moods would put Ashe in the Second or Third District, keeping the Heartless there at bay. But today, most of Leon's gang was there making sure things were safe for, and with, the newest refugees. So the warrior had accepted the far more boring, but equally important, task of patrolling the First District.

Because the district was so small, patrol usually meant standing in one or two different places for several hours. Right now Ashe found herself on the far side of the district, watching the coming and goings of people between the First and Second districts. She kept an extra watchful eye on the newest refugees, as you could never be too careful.

The boring of her patrol was interrupted by the sudden slamming open of doors. The warrior's hand was on her blade in an instant. In a split second her brain registered the fact that it wasn't the doors she was standing in front. That left only one set that it could be. A short string of curses escaped from her lips, ones that would make even Cid blush to hear. Still keeping her hand on the hilt of her longsword, Ashe bolted around the corner. Her steps faltered as she was met with the sight of human soldiers pouring through the doors to the world. Their uniforms told her that it was the Empire. They sure picked a bad day to mess with her.

Ashe's movement didn't stop until she was at the top of the stairs. There she unsheathed her weapon. Taking a moment to assess the situation she realized that she was likely the only defender currently in First District, but there were a number of innocents, including below trying to flee from the soldiers. Ashe was strong, but alone she wasn't strong enough to take on all of these soldiers. She would take as many as she could before going down, hopefully buying enough time for word to spread to Leon and the others.

Long, powerful legs carried her down the stairs in no more than three steps. Her first target, a man with a blade raised, ready to finish off a woman who had fallen to the ground. In a single moment, she closed the distance between them, and ran the man through. Icy blue eyes cold and unfeeling as she watched the life leave him. Her second opponent went down just as easily, his head no longer attached to his shoulders. In a matter of moments, Ashe swept through the soldiers, leaving a half dozen or so bodies in her wake. Human opponents were easy, her blade was made for carving through things that were much stronger.

So much had changed in a mere few days.

Mira walked through the woods, basket in hand and her hood up over her head. Her basket was full of all sorts of fruits and herbs, miscellaneous items that she had spent the day looking for. The village had been low on medicinal herbs and whatnot, and given the events that had been occurring not many felt safe enough to leave the village. It was understandable, though… Ever since Mira had stumbled upon that creature in that barn, everything seemed to spiral out of control. It was an alarming sight, nothing she had ever seen before. It shook, hobbling about without any rhyme or reason before ultimately leaping for Mira. If had been one of the villagers at the time, things may have gotten out of hand, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t hand with a few cracks of her whip. Although… it certainly did not make it easy for her. After that, there were many sightings in villages all across the land, even in the better protected kingdoms…

“Kyuu, kyuu!”

Mira was pulled back from her dazed state of thought, the high pitched squeaks and the feeling of something nudging at her foot drawing her back to reality. She looked down to see a small foxlike creature head-butting her in the ankle. Its fur was white with its paws and the tips of its large ears fading into an ashy color. It had a large fluffy white tail as well as a bright blue feathery appendage coming up from its forehead, almost like an antenna. Mira couldn’t help but smile at the little creature as it leapt up to rest on her shoulder, sharing at her with its big blue eyes curiously.

“Its okay, Rider,” Mira reassured the small creature, leaning her cheek toward him so as to let it nuzzle her a bit. “Just a lot to think about I guess...”

Her voice trailed off as Rider’s ears twitched, his head perking up as his eyes darted about.

“What’s wrong?” she asked quizzically, though she hardly expected an answer. It was only a moment before Rider’s eyes fixated on something in the distance as he leapt off Mira’s shoulder and assumed a crouched, defensive position, a low growl resonating from the small creature. Mira tried to follow his gaze, one hand on the whip holstered to her side, but before she could even make it out, something suddenly flew toward her. She let out a small shriek, unable to mask her state of alarm as she instinctively upholstered her whip and swung for the mysterious object… But she didn’t make contact. She looked around frantically, though before she could make anything out the object came for her once more. The only difference was that Mira was not caught off guard this time. Without hesitation, she swung her whip upward with precision aim… but still, no contact. This time though Mira was sure not to let it out of her sights. It was still hard to make out, she could barely see the details of the gray creature as it slithered through the air. Was it some sort of serpent, though she could have sworn she saw limbs as it flew… toward…

“It’s heading toward the village!” Mira exclaimed as she began to give chase to the strange creature. “Rider!”

As she called for him, the little creature began running up from behind her, quickly gaining speed and catching up to Mira. In one swift motion, Mira leapt up into the air as Rider ran underneath her, it was at that exact moment that the small creature was engulf in a swirl of azure flames, quickly growing larger and larger before dissipating as suddenly as they had appeared. And it was in that moment the flames disappeared that a larger, ferocious creature was revealed; a large white wolf, with the same features as Rider, with large fangs bared and remains of the azure flames coming from its paws. Mira landed on its back, grabbing the fur behind its neck and holding on as tight as she could as the creature took off, running at an alarming speed.


The scenery was nothing as Mira remembered it to be; the bright blue sky was now a sorrowful grey, and the village… The village ransacked by them. The strange grey creatures dancing about through the air like whimsical puppets, yet they were slithering through the air as though they were serpents chasing after the villagers. Attacking them… Hunting them…

As Rider came to a sliding halt, Mira held out a single hand, gesturing toward one of the creatures as it chased after a small boy.

“Fira!” she exclaimed, sending forth a medium sized ball of fire, soaring straight for the creature and bursting upon impact. So she could hit them.

“M-Mira!” the boy cried out, rushing to hug her by the leg as she leapt down from Rider’s back. She shot the boy a warm smile, patting him on the head before pulling him away gently.

“It’s alright,” she reassured him, pushing him closer toward the large beast white beast. “Rider is going to take you and everyone else out of the village for a little bit while I clean things up.” She then looked up to Rider, putting a hand on his back as she looked him deep in his bright blue eyes, her expression serious. “Get everyone to safety.”

And with a snarl of confirmation, the great beast led the young boy away, staying ever so vigilant and making sure nothing and no one got near him. Mira turned away and ran toward the center of the village, knowing she could trust her companion. She slashed through creatures as best as she could, casting fire left and right as she went. Whether she actually made contact or merely bought the villagers some time, she did everything in her power to protect them. It was only a matter of time before she made it to the center of the village, spotting a man she had never seen before… or was it a man? She could hardly tell with his black cloak. For all she knew, it could have been a monster too, for the way the creatures acted around him… it was as if they weren’t any threat to him.

“Who are you?!” she shouted to the man, eying him up and down and paying special attention to the book in his hands. “What are you doing here?! If you are of no threat then leave this place.”

She gave the man but a moment, though it already seemed clear to hear what the situation was. She raised her whip above her head, the length of the leathery line suddenly swirling with flame as she swung toward the figure.

“I said leave this place!”

...

Raily blinked once. Then twice, before the situation truly dawned on her.

The little witch was in the middle of shopping and errand work, delivering letters and checking out her favorite stores when the attacks struck all across Traverse Town. The umbral Gummi ships flooding the sky like a curtain of darkness was unmistabkable. And even when the screams and alarms made it clear that this wasn't some heat-hazed nightmare, she stared for a moment in confusion. How was this happening? How did the Empire get this close without them noticing? And... What are those things? She thought, gawking at one of the strange gray alien-like creatures that attacked alongside the black garbed soldiers.

Wait, what was she doing?

She needed to group with the main defenders, not stand around like some useless little goon! They would need all the strength they could get to push them out of the main Districts. Or was it more proper to deal with the atrackers here first before moving on? Oh. What would the seniors do? Like cool-headed Ashe or their brave leader Leon. They surely would've come up with a clear plan by now.

As she deliberated, a cry for help from nearby finally pushed her to action. A group pf the nasty gray things were tearing into an old antique shop, the poor victims barely able to hold the doors shut.

"Hold on tight!"

A loud yowl rang overhead as the young witch swung the black cat onto the broomstick alongside her, abandoning her sack of newly purchased bits and gizmos into the street. She couldn't help but think it was a shame to let such fine salvage go to waste. That was her months earnings right there. But without a town to call home or people to inhabit it, that would be more of a shame.

With a short utterance of a modified Aero spell, the pair was sent flying through the hodgepodge of buildings in Third District in a shower of purple glitter.

Dapper was clinging on the edge of the wooden stick for dear life, all nine of them. Raily tried to keep him calm by patting his little furry head, but her attention was busy on grey creatures that surrounded the little old shop.

"Oh, don't be a scaredy cat! Don't you trust me? I've practiced this maneaver too many times to flub it up now..." she said.

Though those words might've been more to comfort her than anything else.

With a sharp turn, and the war-cry of a screaming cat, the broomstick smacked into the group of alien invaders in a large crash, sending a majority of them barreling down the street. Raily had bounced off at the last moment, flying overhead with a magic-assisted flip. Landing on one of the nearby lamp posts she gave Dapper a happy grin.

"Ha. See? Nothing to worry about!"

But now that she was there, it was abundandly obvious the precariousness of their situation. Maybe the 'cool and flashy' entrance was only optional after all. She would need to have a word with her old mentor later, who always insisted otherwise.

A dozen or so of these creepy humanoids now encircled the lone witch, some vanishing into thin air and appearing elsewhere. It was a type of magic she had never seen before, so she needed to be careful. They've fully turned their attention away from the barricaded building to their juicy new prey, gazing up at her with eerily tilted heads. At least part of her plan was working, seeing as those inside have taken the distracton to organize an escape. With this, even if she would perish right here and now, it would be in peace.

Casting small magic missles from her shattered wand, Raily began her desperate cat and mouse game. Though with the so-called 'mice' chasing the cat. She leapt from lamp to lamp, trying to keep the invaders at bay with Aero spells while Dapper sat upon her large pointy hat hissing and swiping. More for moral support than any real help.

Yep, this was gonna be a good story to tell her friends. If she lived.

Peace and quiet... well, as much peace and quiet he would get with the whirring of his contraptions and the listless splurges of water traveling through the pipes. Adjusting his glasses, a young man sat at the forefront of this shop... if you could call such a place a shop. For the most part, he was busy making adjustments to a large, brass gauntlet, brushing away some sweat that trickled down his forehead as he tightened one of the braces on one of his weapons.

Of course, as he was working, something managed to break his focus on his work, causing him to scrunch his eyebrows as he looked up for a brief moment, eyes peering beyond the stained glass and bars outside his workshop... before swiftly getting back on track and back to work. Humming to himself he leaned in close, calibrating and modifying a few features added on - didn't want the thing to break from too much pressure and such.

And even after all that the noise he heard outside became even louder... seriously, what was going on that was so important?! Grunting and groaning, Ambrose mumbled a few curses as he gradually made his way towards the door, slouching over as he massaged the center of his temples with two fingers. Leaving behind a smudge on his forehead and peered out the smudged up window... and... uh...

"... well huh, that ain't something you see e'ryday," he mumbled, adjusting his glasses by gently pushing them to the bridge of his nose. Were these things heartless just like the rest?

Ambrose squinted, rubbing away at the unclean sheet of glass to get a better look... and from what he discerned, these things were in no way heartless... they weren't amorphous enough. He tilted his head, squinting his eyes as he stared as the plaza became overran with... whatever these uniform, gray things were.

He backed away, stretching for a moment. Looks like he was just going to have't wallop them, just like those bands of heartless he faced a couple of times on Ratcheon... shouldn't be too much of a challenge, bashing them over the head with a wrench would work.

Backing away from the glass, Ambrose lightly sprinted over to the table, discarding his greasy gloves and exchanging them both for a singular black glove. As he tossed them over the counter, he knelt down and began rummaging through the drawers and grasping at his huge wrench underneath and threw it onto the counter, causing some of the tools to abruptly cling and clang.

Bringing his right hand up, he began to rub down the gauntlet he was working on, the invasion of...

"Shambler's," he thought to himself, mentally recording that name base on the odd way they moved... speaking of.

As the bespectacled young man finished cleaning up, he heard some banging at his brass sutured doorstep. Musing to himself, he quickly shoved one hand into the socket and flipped a small switch inside. Suddenly, the gauntlet seemingly came to life, bursting with small tinges of light as it powered on.

Giving his right hand a few familiar swings, he set his glasses near the same place where he placed the grimy gloves and strapped his goggles onto his face. Moving his hand over, he tightly grasped the heavy, club like wrench and picked it up as if it was nothing and slowly made his way towards the door.

Bastards better of not screwed up his home...

---

As the houses were invaded from the outside, the thin gray creatures uniformly stayed in formation, save for a few who were prodding at the window, or the two that were banging on the door. Eventually after no answer, the funny little fellows proceeded to break from their original formation, forming a thin line of two, readying as if to ram the door over.

Of course, that plan when out the window as the brass door slowly creaked open with a loud squeak that probably wouldn't drown out the screams in the district... and hiding behind it all was the tall young man, Ambrose.

As he hid, his breathing was shortened, his pupils dilating a his heart pounded against his chest. His grip never faltered as he waited. Waited for them to march on into an ambush... well, as best of an ambush as he could set up.

His ears perked up to the sound of footsteps coming in... and the moment he saw one of the gray creatures, the formation mostly toppled over, most of the peculiar beings, retreating outside as a few of their allies dissolved into nothingness. His arm was stretched outwards after that pivot and punch... and he wasn't stopping there.

Dashing just a hair, Ambrose quickly approached one of the fallen creatures and gave it a quick punt, causing a few of them to move out of the way of the tiny gray missile... which proceeded to slam and hit some of the others, causing them to disintegrate as well. He had to keep moving.

Ambrose proceeded to run forward, lunging at one of the creatures, who proceeded to dodge his obvious and projected attack... but that wasn't the point of his assault as he continued forward, interrupting a few of their allies as he blithely charged for a bit before stopping and swinging his fist around in a pivot, knocking away any potential creatures that might back attack him...

... and surprise surprise, none of them even tried to go in for the kill. Next thing he saw was them compiling into a small group, forming a small half-circle as they approached him. Ambrose could see where this was going... and looking around the rest of the plaza for a brief moment told him that there was no way he was going to get out of this unscathed due to the flood of them around here... even though some of them were preoccupied with barging in and rounding up some of the inhabitants here.

But there was one thing of interest as well as he began moving back, the remaining gray creatures whimsically striding toward him - the figure at the center of this all. Hm... Ambrose could only ponder on it for a brief second before he felt a sharp brisk bit of wind behind him. What the heck? Since when did he step into a downdr... oh. It was her.

Grimacing, as he eyed the young girl, he took note of the enemies behind him and began walking forward a bit, looking up as he endured one of the jabs into his back before jamming his elbow backwards, knocking it away.

"Ey' Twinkles, watch where yer aimin'," he shouted at Raily on the lampposts, wincing a bit after that attack as he kept tabs on the creatures now targeting him and her...

Of course, the group sulking towards Ambrose had now merged with the group that was trying to capture the magi, both being encircled and entrapped by the shambler's... well, mostly him. With his back against a lamppost, there was only one thing left to do.

Holding his right hand containing the gauntlet up, he spread his fingers out so the palms of the gauntlet could be seen. As he clenched his huge wrench with his left, he furrowed his eyebrows behind the goggles as he let out a small breath of air. Without uttering a single thing, his gauntlet whirred and sputtered a bit, causing seemingly nothing to happen...

... except the assailants surrounding the duo seemed to come to a full stop, animation suspended by nothing as they stood as still as a statue. Wouldn't be long until they started moving again...

@Savo...

"Ah... Sorry!"

Raily shouted apologetically, but she was more happy than anything else. She never thought she would find joy in hearing that grumpy, irritable voice in her entire life.

"Fancy seeing you here, Wallflower! Looks like all it took was an all-out invasion to get you to leave that dinky old shop of yours for once!"

The two of them weren't exactly 'friends', but she liked the loner mechanic well enough, finding his reactions funny. Though that feeling might not be reciprocated from the other side. She would go to his odd little pipe-shop once in a while for advice on machines. Whenever Raily was stumped about a design herself, she liked seeing things from an outside perspective. She didn't want to bother Cid with her novice questions, figuring the busy old geezer had better things to do. So she figured it was best to ask someone she viewed as a peer. Most of the time though, that 'advice' was just irritated grunts to leave him alone and offhanded remarks on how she was stupid for using sparkles as a power source. She can never see eye-to-eye with him on such matters, often leading to heated arguments. How could he not understand? Sparkles, when properly utilized, possessed a much stronger charge retention rate than any simple electrical battery. Even if using one did have a high risk of internal overloads. Maybe it was because of their vastly conflicting backgrounds, one being in magic and the other in science? Regardless, each encounter would end with the two of them bashing heads and Raily leaving the shop in a huff, vowing never to return. Only for her to show up a week or so later to show him another invention, already forgiving him for his mean comments.

Seeing Ambrose now, swatting away the alien invaders with great strength, Raily viewed him in a new light. He reminded her of some of the seniors members on the defense force, with how he stood stalwart in the face of many. She wanted to cheer him on, shout out to how cool he looked. But her smile quickly turned to a look of worry. The separate swarms that had been chasing the two of them had now combined into a horde that now surrounded Ambrose. It seemed they intended on picking off the easier target first.

She aimed her wand at him, hoping to lift him to safety with an Aero spell, but suddenly the horde froze around them. The trigger seemed to be the gauntlet device he was wielding. She was amazed.

"Whoa...! You've gotta show me how you do that!"

But judging by his serious expression, she knew there wasn't much time before the effect would wear off. Flipping over the mass of stilled gray figures, Raily landed beside Ambrose and gave him a quick wink.

"You're not the only one with tricks. Let's test that swinging arm of yours!" She says, tapping his shoulder with her wand, casting 'Cure' on him, and bounding straight into the gray mass in the same movement. She flew like a swift sparrow, squeezing through the narrow cracks between the bodies until she finally reached the center. Turning and facing Ambrose, she bent down to one knee and prepared herself. Dapper is now striking a pose atop her hat. The one-eyed cat was either now totally into it, or had already given up all hope of making it out alive.

With one last breath, she shouts at the top of her lungs. "Batter up!"

In a jumping twirl, she points her cracked wand to the sky and casts the biggest Aero spell she could. Immediately a small purple twister formed around them, with Raily in the center. The violent winds scooped up the surrounding Nobodies, helpless to the pull of the vacuum as she continued to suspend them there for Ambrose to strike. Raily could feel her mana depleting rapidly, so this was probably their only shot to clear out the horde. Otherwise she'd be stuck in the middle of all of them.

...

In First District, Ashe's actions got the attention of the invading soldiers and now more of them were turning their attention to her. But something stopped the men before they could attack as a group. It was the Masked Man, having caught a glimpse of Ashe for himself, he now also had an interest in fighting her, but appeared to insist on doing so alone. The other men appeared to adhere to the Masked Man's wishes, none of them daring to invoke his anger and so they backed off and returned to their previous actions. The Masked Man, not appearing to be wielding any weapon, walked slowly in Ashe's direction, remaining eerily silent and coldly stoic. When he was close, he reached a hand to his side and appeared to conjure up a curved sword from the Darkness as he then took a hauntingly familiar stance.

"Now's our chance!" some of the town's security were springing into action, and a group of them thought that now was a good opportunity to catch the Masked Man off guard while he was watching Ashe. Unfortunately for them, the Masked Man was not so easily surprised. As the group lunged for him, the Masked Man made a gesture with his free hand to cast a spell: Zero Graviga. Suddenly the attacking group couldn't move as magical forces lifted them off the ground and held them helplessly in place in the air. The Masked Man struck, lunging straight through the trapped group with his sword and appearing to kill them all in a single stroke. But a moment later that proved not to be case as the bodies of the men reacted more like they had been struck several times each instead of just once. The brief distraction gone, the Masked Man focused his full attention on Ashe... and lunged.

Back in Third District, the hooded Imperator watched the battle against his forces with what seemed like minimal interest. So far it looked to be no different than any other resistance he had encountered in previous battles. But then, something mildly interesting finally happened. Two young people were actually putting forth a legitimate resistance against the Dusks. Rather than be intrigued, though, the Imperator became increasingly annoyed by this. More resistance meant this mission would take longer, and the Imperator had better things to do than spend more time here. And so, the Imperator made their move. Having grown tired of watching from his perch atop the corner of the stairs, the hooded figure literally leaped into the fray. In midair, the hooded person performed a front flip and summoned his shield to bare just in time to slam it front first into the pavement. When he did, it released a blast of cold that trapped both the young people in ice in an instant. They weren't dead, but would still be aware enough to realize the trouble they were in.

"How amusing, that a pair of worthless peons thought they could possibly emerge victorious against the brilliant mind of Vexen." by this time, the Imperator had pulled back his hood to reveal a smug-looking man with long blond hair and almost elvish looks, "But look at where you are now. Trapped, at my mercy. I can kill you at my leisure now... or perhaps add you to my growing 'collection'? I've all the time in the world to decide." Vexen's gloating soon proved to be detrimental. An oversized shuriken flew in from the shadows and would have struck Vexen square in the back had he not managed to deflect it with his shield in time. The shuriken seemed to have a mind of its own as it returned to the girl who threw it.

"You talk too much!" announced the ninja in a loud voice, "But let's see how your "brilliant mind" stacks up against the Great Ninja Yuffie!" fortunately for Ambrose and Raily, Yuffie didn't come alone. Another woman, this one with longer hair and a pink and white dress made her presence known and broke the ice spell with her own magic.

"Are you two alright?" Aerith asked, her voice soft and sweet as always, "Don't worry, you aren't alone now. The enemy is in First District as well, but Leon is making his way over there now."


The hooded person said nothing in response Mira's demands. Even as she threatened him, he remained perfectly calm and showed no reaction whatsoever. It was only when Mira went to attack him that the Imperator finally made a move, "Useless..." he said in a cold voice as he whipped around to face the young mage. As her fiery whip came closer he reacted by seemingly throwing his heavy book out in front of him. Except... was the book growing bigger? The tome seemed to become more giant sized as it came closer to Mira until it was able to close its pages around the mage like a monster closing its massive jaws around its prey. For the mage, things sort of blacked out.

She found herself in some kind of void. There was absolutely nothing around her, at least not until grey creatures started to appear and attack her. Every once and a while, the Imperator himself would appear briefly, but only to taunt Mira for he would simply vanish whenever hit by a spell or attack, and appear again, "You may as well surrender..." he advised in a cold tone, "...A novice like you couldn't hope to match me in a contest of illusions." by now the Imperator appeared to have removed his hood, revealing what looked like a teenager with short blue hair and bangs that appeared to cover most of his face.


The invading force remained unchanged by the time Yon-Ging arrived outside. He would be met by a group attack from the grey creatures. For now, the hooded figure commanding stood still and did not get involved, "Resistance is futile. Soon enough the fleet will arrive, and your island will fall just like the rest." he removed his hood to reveal to a man with long pink hair, "But if you must insist on fighting..." he held out his hand and summoned his wicked-looking scythe, "...then I hope you have prepared yourself to face the specter of death."

It all happened so quickly that Mira had hardly even realized what had happened. The second her whip was supposed to make contact with the mysterious man, his book came flying toward her, absorbing her whip into the pages as grew larger and larger until-

CLAP!

Mira couldn’t help but cringe, shutting her eyes as the book slammed shut around her and half expecting to be crushed by the pages, but… she wasn’t. Her eyes shot open in shock looking about to see, well, nothing. Nothing but black void surrounded her no matter which way she turn. She wasn’t even quite sure if she was truly standing on anything.

“Where…?” she murmured, though her moment to process anything was short lived for it only took a moment for the strange creature to appear, as though they had slithered out of the nothingness itself and leaving her surrounded before ultimately luging toward her. Mira was quick to react this time, though. She had been watching closely as she went about the village, and though at first it seemed as though they moved about without any rhyme or reason, she could predict where they were going. With a flick of her wrist she sent her toward one of the creatures, wrapping around what she could only assume was its torso. And with a mighty pull, or as mighty as she could muster, she sent the creature flying into one of the others behind her.

"You may as well surrender..."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the mysterious… boy? He didn’t even look much older than Mira, so how could he be such a skilled mage? She swung around with her whip, suddenly engulfed in flames once again as she went to strike the boy, but as soon as it should have made contact, he suddenly disappear, her attack striking through a creature instead. Mira must have been caught off guard by the boy’s disappearance, for a creature struck her from behind, sending her tumbling forward. It only took her an instance to regain her composure, rolling back to her feet and out of her tumble, lunging for the creature and blazing through it with yet another fire strike.

"...A novice like you couldn't hope to match me in a contest of illusions."

He appeared again between two creatures as they danced about like puppets. Was he toying with her? She gestured toward the boy with a single hand, sending forth a blast of fire. Yet again, though, the boy disappeared, and the attacked merely sent the surrounding creatures ablaze. He wasn’t wrong, though, Mira was still but a mage with the status of a mere apprentice. Though most would actually need a mentor to even be considered an apprentice. So how in the world could someone so young have such prowess as a mage? Something did not feel right… But she couldn’t let that get to her, and she could not let on that his tactics were working. She had to focus on the task at hand.

“And a professional wouldn’t rely on minions and cheap tricks!” she retorted, tightening her grip on her whip. “Who are you? What do you
want with my village?”

Ashe's murderous dance lasted for a short time longer, before the enemies surrounding her suddenly stepped to the side. Their leader seemed to have taken an interest. That was fine, she'd leave the small fry to Leon and the others. She'd handle the one on one with the leader. Maybe seeing his severed head in her grasp would make the small fry think twice about attacking a world that was protected by a warrior like Ashe. The thing about her that made her so powerful was the fact that she wasn't afraid to kill, and she certainly wasn't afraid to die. She saw Leon and the others hesitate when they had to fight humans.

Ashe kept her face perfectly blank as he advanced, muscles relaxed, not tensed. The world around her was silent, as if they were the only two people left. Every fiber of the warrior's being was focused on the masked man. The grip on her sword tightened as the masked man summoned his own weapoon and took up a battle stance. One that was oh so familiar to Ashe. One that was impossible to see on this masked man. If that man was really who he had to be to have a stance like that, then he wouldn't dare turn his blade against Ashe. There was only one thing she could do to find out, rip that damn masked off his head.

The warrior took her own stance, one that nearly mirrored the one that the masked man had. The difference in weapons meant their blade heights were different, but that was about it. Once again, the silence was broken, by this time by voices. Several of the town's defenders tried to do some sort of sneak attack, but failed miserably by announcing their presence. The hair on the back of Ashe's neck started to stand, but the masked man was too fast. She could barely get the word "Idiots!" out before they were trapped by magic. The masked man tore them apart.

Then, it was her turn. Assumingly before any more interruptions could happen, the masked man lunged at her. By this point, Ashe was nearly certain that this wasn't who she thought it was. The people of their world didn't use magic. Ashe stepped to the side, bringing up her blade to deflect the man's blow. Then, using the man's own strength against him, took a single step in and thrust her longsword forward, taking full advantage of the reach that the thinner, longer, bladed sword gave her. If that display of power said anything, it was that this was going to be a long fight.

Ambrose shook his head, turning his head up to coolly eye the much younger and very, very annoyingly peppy magi. Frowning, he shook his head as he primed his gauntlet to give a good swing as he pivoted around. "There's no way in hell I could teach this to you, you would never learn it," he dryly spoke before turning his attention to the peculiar gray creatures.

Before he could react, he heard the younger announce her own plans in a sense, not bothering to acknowledge her... before flinching at the sudden tap on his shoulder as a warm sensation filled him. The minor amounts of pain in his back had dissipated... did she just? Ambrose shook his head as he tapped the wrench at his side. What a waste...

Regardless, the girl had her own plans, and as much as Ambrose preferred to not take any chances, he was content to do so this time. Hey, maybe she might drop her overly irritating enthusiasm to normal levels after getting slapped around for a bit. Standing in place, Ambrose tensed up a little as he watched the little magi and her cat did a little pose in front of him, rolling his eyes at the over-enthusiasm radiating from her and her cat, watching as it all came to an end.

Time began to move again for the shamblers...

Of course, as it did, he suddenly felt an updraft? No, downdraft? Whatever, she just casted that same spell, but bigger, causing the surrounding shamblers and a few others who got too close to be scooped up into the impending flurry. So this was her plan then, huh?

... hmm, that wasn't to bad of a plan; this was something he could work with. Squeezing his gauntlet tightly, Ambrose cracked his neck, giving his wrench a good twirl as the girl made them both the center of attention, causing the young man to shake his head.

Time to get t'work!

Using all the strength he had within him, Ambrose grasped his wrench tightly with both of his hands before running near where the storm was taking place. Swinging with all his might, he felt the tension in his muscles increased as the mechanic tried to push forward, as each smack resulted in a little recoil - and another destroyed shambler.

As the winds and shamblers died down, the horde surrounding them were cleared out for the most part... great, but now there were the others. "That was a decent plan Twinkles," Ambrose grunted as he rotated his shoulders, grunting as little. "... but we still have others that want our head on a platter."

Ambrose let his gauntlet arm slip off his wrench as he gestured to the other gray creatures. "Hope y'still have some juice in-"

Before he could even react, he suddenly felt a chill run up his spine as he found himself and the magi ensnared in ice! How did, what the... wait, the guy in front of them did that? Oh great. Staring daggers at the hooded individual as he unmasked himself was honestly the only thing he could do at this point...

... AND DEAR GOD, HE WAS WORSE THAN GABS! Seriously, with a face like that and the way he just... presented himself just made him look very punchable... if he wasn't subjected to either being killed or turned into a lab rat. Gods, he just wanted to tell this... whats his face, calls himself Vexen? Babel's to shut up! Honestly, if he was smart enough to finish them off why gl-

... and great, the cavalry is here. The ice immediately broke around him in chunks as they clunked around him. Ambrose couldn't help but shiver a little, giving the younger girl a frown as his teeth shattered behind his lips.

"Yeah, yeah, we're fine, Flowers, thanks for the rescue," he said to Aeris in a nonchalant manner, lacking any sort of venom he would normally have towards most people. Clenching his wrench, he wasn't going to spare any time for any more talking. Focusing on Vexen, he squinted at the man as he balled his gauntlet-hand up into a fist.

"Chatter later, beat down Babel's," he shouted, tossing his wrench directly at Vexen, putting as much force as he could into his chilled arm. "Gab's, with me," Ambrose spoke as he rushed at the Imperator, his gauntlet-hand spread out wide.

And in those seconds, as he supposedly reached out at the man, the machine whirred and sputtered lively as it did before with the shamblers.

@savo@double...

Raily was breathless, sitting there on the street panting heavily after the bigger spell was finished. Still, she couldn't help but show a small celebration at how well her plan actually went, letting out a pleased giggle. Or maybe she was just happy to still be alive. She even got a compliment from Mr. Serious-Wrench too. Sort of. Well, it was better than the usual scoff and rapport he gave her.

"Haha... Thanks! Couldn't have done it without you and your freaky gizmo, Wallflower!" she grinned.

Noticing the look Dapper gave her, the black cat folding its arms and pouting off to the side, she gave him some love too, scratching between his ears.

"I didn't forget you, silly.~"

But time for celebration was short. Before Raily even had time to react, a strange indivdual appeared from above and she was trapped in a shard of ice cast from his shield.

She should've been scared at the thought of facing someone of high rank as an 'Imperator', but she couldn't help but roll her eyes as they spoke. Their new adversary seemed the typical kind of person who aligned themselves to the evil Empire out of pure selfishness. Sleezy and completely unaware of their own general creepiness. They weren't even a good enough villian for her to despise. Not to mention thesw type's bad habit of always talking far too much.

"Ugh. Just kill me now..." she thought as this 'Vexen' began to go on a sadistic rant about their sick hobby.

Luckily, a better alternative was granted to them. Raily felt the ice melt around her as a familiar giant shuriken attacked the Imperator.

"Yuffie!" she shouted, immediately turning to their two rescuers who stepped out of the shadows. Dapper let out a yowl from being freed too. Both the willy black cat and Raily gave Yuffie a pump of their fists, showing their appreciation to her bold and loveable senior. When Aerith addressed them, Raily can't help but give her senior an apologetic look.

"Yeah, I'm fine but... Sorry... You're always covering for me when I keep getting myself into messes..."

But with Ambrose charging right back into the fray, she realized now was probably not the time for petty sentiments and emotions. Instead, she needed to prove herself now more than ever.

With her mana being low, Raily signalled for Dapper, "Quick, mana potion!" who whipped out a small blueish vial from his little pouch and tossed it to her. Downing the liquid in one large gulp, she made a sour face.

"Bleh. Still tastes like squid. Gotta fix that..." she says.

But regardless of the unsatisfactory taste, she could feel her strength slowly returning. It wasn't anything like the effect of a'super' potion or 'ultra', so she wasn't fully restored, but it managed to pick her back on her feet again. The light-haired witch then struck a casting pose, joined with Dapper holding out a toy wand, and began casting a Hex onto the crude blonde Imperator. She hoped it would have some effect in slowing him down for her allies to attack, even if it was marginal. This was all she really had to offer as an offense at the moment.

...

The Masked Man was nothing if not committed. His initial attack failed, but unlike most grunts and peons he was well versed in turning a blunder into a blessing in disguise. The woman fought with an identical stance, so it should have been no surprise that even a counterattack could be turned on its head. And that was exactly what the man did when he stepped forward and into the woman's thrust, effectively allowing her blade to stab him through the shoulder! The Masked Man acted fast, raising an empty hand that suddenly ignited a black fireball that he quickly hurled forward at point blank range. The size of the blast, comparable to the advance level Firaga spell, coupled with the close range meant that the blast was nigh impossible to avoid and both combatants were flung back away from each other.

The Masked Man stood to his feet, blood dripping from one shoulder while the other appeared to have been dislocated by his landing on the pavement. He had to have been in pain, but if he was he sure as hell didn't show it. His masked face remained cloaked in mystery, whatever expression was worn under it remaining unknown. The man reached a bloody hand over to his located shoulder and forced it back into place. The bones made a sickening pop as the joint was put back into place, but again the Masked Man showed no visible reaction or even fatigue from all of this. Was he even human? After he re-summoned his sword, Darkness itself seemed to wash over his body and empowering him even further. With no words still, he lunged to attack again with much greater strength and agility. But before his blade came too close to its mark, a silvery blade appeared to deflect the attack. Someone else had entered the fray.

"Sorry I'm late, Ashe." said Leon, who now stood at Ashe's side and pointed his Revolver Gunblade in the Masked Man's direction. He wore his usual attire, a white shirt underneath a black jacket and black jeans on his legs. He used a free hand to push some of his long brown hair out of his face, revealing the long scar that made it's way down his forehead and across the bridge of his nose, "Had some cleaning up to take care of. Second District is safe now, and the others should be taking care of Third District. That just leaves this guy." he knew Ashe could be somewhat prideful and not likely to be receptive to being helped, but it looked like the Masked Man was becoming too much for anyone to take on alone.


"How quaint, the gang's all here now, I presume?" asked Vexen, acknowledging the four opponents he now had to deal with instead of just two, "Good, saves me the trouble of hunting you vermin down. Now I can kill you all in one fell swoop!" unlike before, this wasn't just empty gloating. As he spoke, the Imperator began to levitate upward. Multiple copies of his shields began to appear around him, moving with a mind of their own to block and deflect incoming attacks, one of which was a oversized wrench thrown by the the boy. The tool's size and weight would have packed a fairly decent punch against a non-physical combatant like Vexen, but fortunately for the Imperator one of his many floating shields took the hit for him in his stead. The shield in question shattered into ice shards from the impact but at least there was no harm done to Vexen, at least not this time anyway.

Vexen's other shields began floating in rhythmic circles, as if preparing for something. In the meantime, one of the girls cast a spell of her on at Vexen, one that did minimal harm to him but the Imperator did feel other effects from the spells. Perhaps the girl was trying to weaken him? But soon enough he would prove the futility of the effort. Yuffie had been throwing smaller shurikens at Vexen in rapid succession, but his floating shields had been able to move quickly enough to deflect them harmlessly away. And by now, the rhythmic floating of the shields was beginning to pay off. They began acting as makeshift launchers that fired off sharp, jagged icicle projectiles all around the arena in Third District. Now everyone would have divide their attention between attacking Vexen and avoiding being skewered by ice projectiles. Fortunately, Aerith was able to protect people from most of the attacks by shielding her comrades with temporary magical barriers. But even those wouldn't last for too long before they were overpowered and broken through.

"Approach me at your own peril!" announced Vexen as he suddenly let himself drop back to the ground. He touched his gloved hands to the pavement and suddenly ice began covering it in a sizable area around the Imperator. As if an icy floor weren't enough, it also began to protrude with icy spikes that jutted outward at random intervals. Though the attack was fixed in one location, it would make getting close to Vexen dangerous, if not impossible.


"A professional will get the job done in the quickest and most efficient means possible. I have already calculated an efficient victory through these means, I see no reason to change them now." the Imperator's response was cold, blunt, and matter-of-factly. There was no arrogance or even malice in his voice, just cold calculation. Within the illusion, the grey creatures began intensifying their attacks on the mage, appearing swifter and in increasingly greater number as they were defeated. His opponent's fate was always sealed once they were caught in his trap, the Imperator knew this. None had ever managed to escape his illusions, and he had no intention of allowing that to start now.

"I'm not interested in your village. I was sent only to keep you and anyone else who resists contained until the surrender is finalized. That is all. You're leaders should be discussing their terms of surrender even as we speak. Fighting me is a useless gesture, so I say again: you may as well surrend- Ugh!" suddenly, the spell was broken. Mira would no longer find herself within the dark illusion, but instead back in the village as if she'd never left. She would soon spot the source of the Imperator's newfound surprise. Someone new had shown up and attacked him while he was commanding his illusions, breaking his focus and ending the spell he had on Mira.

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Mira's savior, a... teenage canine in a red hooded shirt who looked to only be equipped with a round shield as his weapon, "Now let's see just how tough you Imperators are." the dog boy said as he lunged forward, performing a leaping attack with his shield against the Imperator. The shield was only met with the boy's large tome, it acting as a makeshift shield to block the blow. The Imperator tried casting his illusion against this newcomer, but before he could something struck him in the back. It was some kind of blaster fire coming from a small vehicle in the distance. The vehicle was driven by another canine boy and had a third sitting on some kind of turret weapon that he fired off rapidly, howling in excitement in the meanwhile.

"Eat laseeeeeeer!" he shouted, howling an excited battlecry, "Aaaooooooooh! Take 'em down, Max! You got this, bro!"

"C'mon," the shield-wielding dog named Max said, now standing next to Mira, "let's take this guy down!"


Unfortunately, the beefy officer wouldn't live long enough to be of much help. Before the fight even started again, the Imperator struck like lightning. In the blink of an eye, the officer was practically sliced in two by the guy's scythe, "Death has found you." said the pink-haired Imperator to the dying officer before focusing his attention more on Yon-Ging. That provided Yon-Ging enough of an opportunity to hurl his sword at the Imperator, who instinctively swiped his scythe to deflect the blade. But even he wasn't fast enough to deflect three gunshots in rapid succession. The bullets, one of them anyway, struck his shoulder. The Imperator grunted a reaction and then leaped back a short distance... only to explode into a shower of cherry blossoms.

The pink petals blew in the wind, only to circle around Yon-Ging. There had to have been hundreds of them, if not over a thousand flying about in the air. Without much warning, they suddenly increased their velocity, the petals becoming like tiny blades in a windy storm of razor sharp pain. This must have been why the beefy officer from before appeared to have been so torn up. He must have also been hit by this cherry blossom storm. With the sheer number of petals, deflecting or avoiding them would only work for so long before the sheer number made that impossible. Fortunately for Yon-Ging, he wouldn't have to endure attack for very long. A woman with long dark hair came dashing into the fight, giving a strong leap and delivering a powerful kick to the now-revealed-to-be-invisible Imperator. This dispelled his cherry blossom, and thus Yon-Ging would be spared the fate of the previous officer, "Oh no you don't! Not again, Marluxia!" the woman exclaimed, apparently knowing the Imperator's name.

The Imperator seemed mildly amused, then made to swipe at the martial artist with his scythe. The weapon was stopped by a massive sword, its wielder standing between Marluxia and the woman, his spiky blonde hair would make him stand out in any crowd, "Sorry Imperator, it looks you've run out of luck. Tifa!" without any other communication needed, the woman named Tifa made another flying kick aimed right at Marluxia's back while he was too occupied with defecting a sweeping blow from the massive sword. Their combination attack finished, the pair positioned themselves near Yon-Ging, ready to help him fight.

"You okay?" asked Tifa, "We're from the Consular Ship. If you can still fight, Cloud and I would appreciate the help."

Someone with less training would have been happy landing the blow. A shoulder wound could make the masked man's fight that much more difficult. But Ashe knew better, her training made it easy for her to see that he man purposely stepped into the blow, purposely took the shot. It was a move Ashe herself had made in the past, taking a blow to cause a lot more damage to an enemy. Ashe was on guard, watching the next attack from the masked man.

She didn't expect that attack to come in the form of a point blank fireball. This man fought so much like the warriors of her own world that she hadn't even considered the possibility of him using magic. She barely had time to react, managing to shift so that most of the fireball exploded against her left side, rather than her right. The explosion itself threw the two opponents away from each other. Ashe was slammed back first into the ground. She was stunned for a moment, white hot pain blossoming from her now injured left arm and shoulder. Thankfully her quick reaction had saved her face from most of the blast.

The warrior was only stunned for a moment. Long enough for the masked man to get to his own feet. She was climbing to hers when he cracked his dislocated shoulder into place. Ashe's fighting stance was different than before, rather than having her left side forward, the hilt of her sword facing down while the blade was pointed up, she took on a far more defensive stance. Her right side was forward, protecting the wounded left side. She flipped the sword around so that the hilt was up and the blade was down.

Ashe's breathing was less controlled than before, her teeth clenched in pain. But she still stood, and she would fight to her last breath if needed. This wouldn't be the first time she had fought despite pain that would bring down a normal person. The masked man went to lunge again, and she was ready, but someone else stopped him. When she saw who it was, though she would deny this later on, she actually breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like they had the attack mostly under control. It was just this guy who was the big threat. "This son of a bitch fights like I do, except he's got magic. Watch yourself." Ashe said in a voice that was surprisingly calm and surprisingly devoid of pain.

Ashe had a plan, but it wasn't something that she could convey to Leon with words, without the masked man hearing. She hoped that he would understand through her actions. Moving so quickly that she was nearly a blur, Ashe moved forward, her powerful legs carrying her into the air for a downward blow. The thing about Ashe that made her so dangerous was the fact that she only got stronger as she was injured. As she did, she called out in another language, one that the warriors of her world had developed so they could talk without scaring innocents. "You're an idiot if you side with the forces that wiped out our world! You go against every ounce of our training and deserve to die like a dog!" Her plan was not to finish the masked man off, but to distract him so that Leon could deal some serious damage.

Mira grit her teeth as she fought of the creatures, the boy’s cold words echoing in her head as she did so. There was no way… They would never give into such a heinous group, the king, albeit a goofy and rather jokey fellow, would never merely sign away his kingdom so easily! … Would he?

She couldn’t focus on these things now, though, all she could do was keep faith as she fended of the creatures, though even that was beginning to seem hopeless. At first, she was keeping up rather well, but after only moments it seemed that with each creature she took out, even more took its place. She had to quickly turn her offensive maneuver into a defensive one, but even that began to be too trying. As much as she tried to avoid them, even lashing at them with her whip at whatever opportunities she could, she still found herself getting struck down. It was only a matter of time before she was sent tumbling backwards from one of the strikes, regaining her stance fast enough to merely see the creatures coming for her, too many for her to even consider evading. She instinctively raised her arms u in from of her, turning and closing her eyes as she embraced herself for the sudden strike…

… But it never came.

Mira’s eyeshot open, looking around in shock to see that she had returned to the village. The scene that played out next was probably the most surprising to her, watching as a young boy with shockingly canine-like features came to her rescue, attacking the young mage with his shield. A talking animal, in retrospect, wasn’t all that uncommon in Marchen, though this was still quite the shock to Mira at the time. Things only became even stranger from there as two more of the canine crusaders appeared, bounding up in a strange contraption, firing off some sort of blast from the back. It had all happened so quickly that it was hard for her to process, it was only earlier that day that Mira was picking berries and herbs to bring back to the village, and in a matter of no time they were under attack and she was being saved by a race of boys she had never seen before.

"C'mon, let's take this guy down!"

Mira looked over to her side, the canine boy that had saved her now standing by her side. It took her a moment, but after seeing a glimpse of hope, she found herself feeling even more determined than before. She nodded to the boy, her eyes now burning with determination as she shot him a smirk.

“Right!” the agreed, turning her attention back to the boy, swiftly gesturing in his direction. “Fira!”

Mira conjured up yet another ball of flame, sending forth another fire spell in his direction. Immediately after, she broke out into a sprint, curving out to the side as she ran in the boy’s direction with her blazing whip in hand. Even if he stopped the spell, she still had a chance of landing an attack on him. In her mind, she knew this would work, and maybe it was a mere second wind due to her newfound allies and a glimpse of hope.

But in her heart, she knew they could win this fight.

Huh, now that wasn't something he was expecting - more shields. By then, the gauntlets whirring came to an end as he utilized it to freeze one of the shields in place, as briefly as it was. Slowing down, Ambrose staggered a bit when he caught his oversized wrench in his hand, nearly causing him to fall over. With all his momentum killed, Ambrose went on the defensive, raising his wrench and gauntlet to shield himself as he braced for the worst.

Peaking behind the fist, he immediately clenched his teeth as he felt a breeze pass by his head before ducking back into the meager cover he had. As he was ready to lower his fist, he felt something bang against his gauntlet before shattering to pieces. "Great, jus' what I needed," he hissed as he stopped defending as began to run forward, huffing and puffing as he rolled out of the way of an ice shard sent his way by a shield.

... approach at your own peril? Ambrose squinted, studying the man as he continued to dash around, alternating between blocking and rolling out of the way. His foot lurched forward towards the Imperator, but the other went in the opposite direction, causing him to stumble awkwardly for a second. Barely avoiding a shard of ice, the young man saw as he created an icy floor... with ice spikes that jutted out...

... bah, he couldn't even pin down the timing on it all!

... but why did he exactly create the extra layer of insulation against their attacks? While he did notice the shields breaking after one blow, Ambrose could gamble on one thing as he grit his teeth, enduring an attack with his gauntlet - he would just create more if he could... well, that's what he thought as he came full circle back to Flowers, Gabs, and Twinkles.

"So this is jus' peachy," he grunted as he halted to avoid getting speared on an icicle, furrowing his eyebrows. He blinked as he ducked and bobbed between Babel's ice bolts, but ultimately got hit a few times... thank god for Flower's shields.

"So, both y'all," Ambrose came to a pause, putting his gauntlet arm up and his wrench as well to safeguard his being. "D'ya gotta-" he stopped mid-sentence as he caught a strange pattern with one of the ice spikes near Babels. Pursing his lips, he focused on it for a bit, only to be brought back to reality with a chunk of ice thunking at his wrist. Flinching, he turned his head a little to look at the rest.

"... plan... I think I got one, but," he winced at the thought as well as the shot that finally broke the shield Aerith put up, causing another frost bolt to wiz past his leg, tearing up the side of his pants and causing pain to surge to his legs. "Ugh... h-hey Twinkles, see that wind spell you were casting t'deflect th-those icicles back at Babels," he hissed out, his explanation seemingly being more of a command than a question.

"A-and Flower's, mind castin' that fancy shield spell thing on me? I'll probably n-need it if I don't wanna-" Ambrose grunted as he blocked another ice shard. "... possibly get impaled..."

---

@RyuShura@Double

@Savo@Double...

Raily shuddered as her spell was ignored by Vexen, looking down in disappointment. Dapper hissed and swiped its paws at the approaching streams of icicle shards. The young witch picked up the yowling black cat in her arms and began floating up upon her broom to avoid the ice strikes exploding from the rhythmic spiraling shields. She was not interested in attacking their opponent, focusing all of her ability towards protecting and helping her team. She zoomed between Ambrose and the party, popping a 'Cure' to help sustain the figurative tank, while helping Aerith to continue the output of her barriers. She wasn't an expert on that sort of magic, and merely transferred her senior whatever spare mana she could. And each time Yuffie cast a bundle of throwing stars, she would try and increase their effectiveness by guiding them under the swinging gusts of her broom-riding 'Aero'.

Don't stop me...

Though Raily kept a determined look the whole time, her hands were shaking from the fatality of this situation. She knew she signed up for a dangerous walk of life. It was everything she worked up to do her entire life. But nothing she has fought was anything like the enemy who stood before them now. If this Imperator was able to deflect all of their attack so easily, than what chance did they really have? But while she wanted to run away, Raily found herself moving forward. It was like she was in a trance. She didn't even notice the trail of blood dripping down her thigh as she busily dodged ice shards and distributed her support. Voices and fire then filled the back of her eyelids every time she blinked, mirroring the destruction of the Second District happening all around them. The outcrop of silhouettes playing from the back of her mind like from a faint projector. The louder they got, the more she pushed herself to act. Perhaps frantically so. She couldn't allow yet another world to fall to the Empire. Not again.

"I don't really get all the weird names you're throwing around..." she says after hearing Ambrose speak his vague plan, grinning as best as she can while dodging an ice spike that narrowly grazed Dapper and herself. "But I think I know what you're trying to say. If you think you have a plan to take down this melodramatic freak, I'll back you up 100%! Dapper too."

The black cat makes a thumbs-up sign at this remark and joins Raily as she rears her spindled broom once again. The pair quickly swoops overhead, making it hard for the ice to hit her while she prepared for Ambrose to begin his attack. She can feel her vision blurring at this point. Raily knew this was all or nothing. She can't allow herself to falter. She was prone to failure all her life, but she wouldn't let herself mess up now of all times.

...

"Yes, of course!" Aerith didn't have a plan of her own, so she was content to follow with whatever Ambrose was cooking up. As he requested, she used the last of her reserves to put up a barrier on him, hopefully whatever he did would work since the flower girl would be too drained to provide any further aid after that last barrier.

"I'll draw his fire, just you watch!" Yuffie proclaimed, probably not the smartest thing in the world to announce one's battle plan aloud like that, but Yuffie followed through. The ninja cartwheeled away from the group and off to the side on her own. From the moment she was away, she started flinging out whatever was left of her shuriken supply in Vexen's direction. Whatever it took to destroy airborne projectiles and simultaneously keep Vexen focusing his attack in her direction. As a ninja, this was a strategy Yuffie was not used to, normally she would be launching a surprise attack while someone else drew enemy fire. It sort of gave her a newfound appreciation for Leon, since he was usually the one fulfilling that role for her.

As for Vexen, he was preparing for his coup de grâce when some noise from a device he had on his person got his attention. It was his communicator speaker, producing an unfamiliar voice. Well, unfamiliar to everyone except for Vexen, "Pull out... Emperor... council!" those were the only words that the defenders could hear, thanks to Vexen's ice storm drowning out the rest of the message. Vexen himself seemed to hear and understand the message in its entirety, however.

"...I see." even as Ambrose's strike was coming his way, Vexen responded by surrounding himself with ice walls. They were put up hastily, so they weren't entirely strong and shattered easily enough. But by the time they did, Vexen was no longer present. The walls were a cover for his retreat, the Imperator seeming to have transported himself out of Traverse Town while hidden behind the ice barrier. In moments, all the ice shapes left behind in Vexen's wake shattered into particles of magic that dissipated in the air. The battle was over and Third District was quiet again.

"Y'all hear me down there? Empire's ships are turnin' tail up here. Looks like we won!" the voice could be clearly heard coming from communicators that both Aerith and Yuffie carried. It was Cid Highwind, who was in charge of the Gummi Ships defending Traverse Town from the Imperial Fleet. No doubt his ships had been busy keeping the Imperial Fleet from a full-on landing.



"Like you, huh?" said Leon, his expression serious before revealing a brief smirk, "Then this should be pretty interesting." Ashe was on the move before Leon could say anything more. That was entirely like her, Ashe was always all too eager to get back in the fight. Where most fighters got weaker as a battle dragged on, Ashe only ever seemed to get stronger. That made her alright in Leon's book. It looked like she was only drawing the Masked Man's attention, though. Maybe this fight was draining her more than she was letting on? Either way, Leon had a decent idea what to do with this opportunity.

While Ashe made her move and the Masked Man was distracted, Leon held his Gunblade up close to his face and tightened his focus. Then he held the weapon out horizontally and it ignited with a hot blue energy that appeared to dramatically increase the size and length of the blade by several times. It was his signature skill, transforming his Revolver Gunblade into the much more powerful Lionheart. The weapon now ready, Leon made his move.

The Masked Man dodged the aerial attack easily enough by taking a small jump backwards. Between her injured left side and the usual telegraphed nature of such jump strikes, the attack hit only the pavement. Still oozing with Darkness, the Masked Man made no visible or audible response to Ashe's words. Instead he silently moved to make another lunge. But like the last, Leon once again got in the way. This time, Leon's weapon made a much more powerful strike that sent the Masked Man tumbling back to the ground before them.

When the Masked Man stood, this time his movements seemed... off. His staggers were rather... jerky in nature. Almost like some kind of machine with chinks in the cogs. The visor of his helmet was cracked, but not enough to reveal who it was behind that mask. Before the Masked Man could launch another assault, however, his visor seemed to light up somehow. It was a new set of orders from those who commanded him, and without any words or farewells he vanished into a portal known as a Corridor of Darkness. First District was safe once more.

"Y'all hear me down there?" Cid's voice, coming from Leon's communicator, "Empire's ships are turnin' tail up here. Looks like we won!"

The Lionheart's blue light died down, and the weapon looked like the Revolver once again, "Well, that's a relief." said Leon with an exasperated sigh, "Let's get the others," he said to Ashe, "we need to report what happened to the Queen." he was referring to Queen Minnie of Disney Castle, but this was the first time he would take Ashe with him to see her.



When the fireball came, the Imperator held up his massive book, using as a shield to block the Fira spell for him. Between these two, and the two attacking from a distance in their vehicle, this was looking to be an annoyingly drawn out battle. Thankfully for him, though, a voice on his communication speaker interrupted his thoughts, "Zexion, the surrender is final. Report back, the Emperor demands us for another war council." it was an unfamiliar voice to his foes, but Zexion nodded his head as a dark portal opened up just behind him.

"My job here is finished. This battle is over now." and with that, he stepped through the portal without another word and it closed behind him.

"We... won?" asked PJ, the heavyset canine driving the vehicle as it came to a stop next to where Max and Mira stood.

"I dunno, man. He said his job was finished. Doesn't sound like a win to me." Max said between heavy breaths.

"There you guys are!" it was a new voice. Sounding like it was some kind of loudspeaker, mainly because it was. A ship descended down toward the village. It wasn't a large ship, but decently sized. Enough to transport the ground vehicle and a number of passengers at the very least. A hatch opened up, one large enough to the drive the vehicle through, "The Empire'll be blockading this world, we got maybe a few minutes tops to make ourselves scarce or we'll be caught!"

"What about the world?" asked Max.

"Sorry, Max, we're just one crew. There's nothing we can do..." the voice on the speaker sounded apologetic, but he wasn't wrong.

"This village! What about this village, then? It doesn't look very big, I'm sure we can fit everyone on board!"

After a hesitant silence the voice responded, "Alright, but you gotta be quick about it or there'll be a blockade in our way. I may be good but I'm not that good." that confirmed that whoever the voice belonged to, they were the ship's pilot.

"Look, I know this probably all sounds strange," said Max to Mira, "but if you want yourself and this village to escape you've gotta help us get everyone on board so we can escape. I'll explain as much as I can on the way, I promise!" he didn't wait for a response and went about looking for as many villagers as he could gather. Soon enough the ship would be leaving the planet altogether and making its way to a place Max called Disney Castle.