[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220729/023912a75a8a9b16c801799640a60148.png[/img]

[b]Word Count:[/b] 3,069
[b]Level 8 Roxas:[/b] 51/80
[b]Exp Gained:[/b] +4
[b]NEW EXP Balance---[/b] 55/80

[h3]Kooky Cabbies II[/h3][/center]

After a bit of a rocky start with his first passenger, Roxas managed to find a bit of a groove to the minigame. Sure, he wasn’t doing as well as the likes of Zenkichi or Captain Falcon, but he was reasonably sure he was at least somewhere in the middle of the pack. He’d mostly been doing green and yellow fares, and so more than likely that was why his score remained relatively middling by comparison. He’d also stuck around the western and southern sections of the island city, mostly in and around Mixed Martial Park where he had initially begun the game at.

And then Roxas made the mistake of trying a red fare. [color=gold]”Where to?”[/color] Roxas asked the NPC guy after picking him up.

“Pressure Point.” The guy said, “And step on it! I’ve got a hot date waiting for me so you better not make me late!”

Roxas swallowed hard. Pressure Point? That didn’t sound familiar, so it was obviously somewhere outside of the area he’d been sticking too. Little did he know that from where he currently was in Payback Square, Pressure Point was a decently long distance away on the northern tip of town. But the Nobody was undeterred and hit the gas anyway. This destination being a place he didn’t know, Roxas found himself relying on the compass arrow - which he hadn’t needed to rely on as much in previous fares after becoming a bit more familiar with that part of town.

North - past the ABS Tower and then Mixed Martial Park, then through Gainsville before making a hard right through Squared Circle Outlets before making a hard left past Backspin Courts and continuing north through Catbird Grove. After that it looked like a matter of following the road up to Pressure Point, which as its name suggested was the highest point of the cliff that could be found on this end of the island. Roxas had been speeding his way here to try and make good time like the passenger had asked him to. As he rounded the road circling the cliff’s edge, disaster struck.

Another cab came barrelling from the opposite direction, obviously one of the other Seekers taking part in the game. It looked like one of the Koopas, either Bowser or Junior. Although Roxas didn’t exactly get a chance to register who it was at the time. Either way, the Koopa’s reckless and aggressive driving put the two cabs on a collision course. Both swerved to miss each other, with Roxas swerving to the left while the other swerved right. But that was where the problem got even worse for Roxas. Roxas’ swerve took him right toward the cliff’s edge!

[color=gold]”OH NO!”[/color] The Nobody suddenly yelled when it became clear his car was about to go over the edge into the sea below. The Passenger was already gone, probably having ditched the ride when the two cabs nearly collided. That left Roxas to try and bail from the taxi before he inevitably went over the cliffside with it. He vaulted out from his driver’s seat and used Flow Motion to launch himself back up onto the edge of the cliff just as the tax began its nosedive toward the jagged rocks and seawater below.

[color=gold]”Phew, that was way too close.”[/color] Roxas said aloud to himself between gasps for air. And then something else hit him, [color=gold]”Wait, does this mean I’m out of the running now? Ah, man…”[/color] He went from looking shaken to looking dejected and disappointed. Well, there was nothing to do now but start walking. Roxas jammed his hand into his pockets and began to hike back down the cliff road, hoping maybe he’d find something else to occupy his time with until the game was over.

With so many competitors around Grapital City, especially the main island, it didn’t take long for Roxas to find someone else up the creek without a paddle. On the main exterior road that circled the eastern coast around Trophy Heights, he spotted a motionless taxi cab, thoughtfully pulled over to the margin so that it wouldn’t obstruct anyone else headed this way. A couple dozen feet away, the unmistakable golden glow of Sandalphon’s halo shone softly in the shade of a tree, signaling where the archangel herself now calmly sat. After her rendezvous with Goldlewis she’d delivered her dozy but accommodating passenger to her destination on the south side of Haymaker Park, earning herself another precious few seconds, but the writing had been on the wall for a while. Now, just like in Connected Climbing Chaos, she had accepted her loss and decided to relax instead, enjoying the view of Low Key Key’s tropical beaches and sparkling shallows the next island over. Of course, this time she didn’t have anyone to keep her company, but when her keen eyes spotted Roxas, Sandalphon gave him a courteous wave.

[color=gold]”Oh, hey! Sandalphon!”[/color] He called out, returning the wave with one of his own before he shrugged and started jogging toward where she sat. He spoke again once he was actually closer and didn’t have to shout, [color=gold]”You're out of the game, too?”[/color] He asked her, though noting that her cab appeared to still be there and intact. [color=gold]”But you still have your car, right? You didn’t give up, did you?”[/color]

“I exhausted my allotted time. My manner of driving is ill-suited to the nature of this game,” Sandalphon admitted, her gaze settling on Roxas. “Am I to assume from your choice of words that you lost your car? Are you well?” She prepared herself to bring out her Aether Lance if the boy needed healing.

[color=gold]”We were being timed?”[/color] Roxas asked with a blink, having apparently not noticed that detail about this game. He knew there was an overall time limit to the game, but they were also being individually timed? [color=gold]”Must have missed that part of the rules. I’m not hurt though, I think this game disables damage sort of like the climbing one did. As for my car?”[/color] He made a gesture with his flattened hand, slowly inching it forward before suddenly making it take a nosedive downward, complete with a “falling” whistle and exaggerated explosion sound effect. [color=gold]”Nearly collided with one of the others and had to swerve to miss ‘em. Trouble is I swerved toward the edge of a cliff and… yeah…”[/color]

Sandalphon’s pupils blinked off, then on again. “Goodness. That…must be disappointing, yes?” Despite the flatness of her tone, she seemed earnest to offer Roxas her sympathy. “If it’s any consolation, it shouldn’t be long until this is over. By my estimation, the difficulty of the ‘trips’ continues to ramp up over time to ensure that the game does not last indefinitely.” As she spoke, she unwrapped a couple honey candies stored in her hip bag, then delicately placed them in her mouth. Her pupils became carets as she savored their flavor, and after a moment of consideration, she held out one for Roxas as well. “Here. Honey is the perfect food, packed with vital ingredients. As I understand it, sweet confectioneries also improve humans’ moods.”

[color=gold]”Thanks!”[/color] He said as he took the candy and immediately popped it into his mouth. Once he did that he went ahead and sat down nearby, even reclining back against the tree they were both sitting under.

Practically the second he seated himself, Sandalphon laid out her request. “We can still make effective use of this time, however. This would be a good opportunity to explain everything you can about Organization XIII. I wish to ascertain all that I can about this faction, both in terms of individual members and collective goals.”

[color=gold]”Oh right, you did say you wanted to ask me more details about that, huh?”[/color] He closed his eyes briefly and thought back to everything he knew about the Organization, and then he opened them again and was ready to talk. [color=gold]”From what I understand, the current Organization has some new people in it that I don’t know, but I can tell you plenty about the old Organization from my world. But that’s gonna require some context.”[/color]

Sandalphon’s pupils became inverted triangles. “Understood, but please be sure to summarize non-critical details.”

[color=gold]”In my world, Light and Darkness play pivotal roles in maintaining the balance of the realms. In fact there’s two main realms, technically more but the most relevant ones here are the Realm of Light and Realm of Darkness. The Realm of Light is where most people live, it’s made up of a collection of worlds that used to all be one world before an event called the Keyblade War broke it up into smaller worlds. That’s where you’ll find cities and towns and stuff. And then there’s the Realm of Darkness, it’s kind of a wasteland devoid of any real life, and Light too for that matter. The only thing that lives in it are monsters called Heartless. They sometimes venture into the Realm of Light where they prey on people with strong Hearts and corrupt those Hearts until they become Heartless like themselves, I guess it’s sort of how they spread and reproduce. And worst of all, normal weapons can’t destroy them, only temporarily send them packing before they inevitably reappear in some other location. Only the Keyblade is capable of permanently destroying a Heartless and freeing the corrupt Heart held prisoner within them.”[/color]

So far, no mention of Organization XIII, so Sandalphon assumed this must be important background information. She nodded to encourage Roxas to continue, even if she was already impulsively thinking of ways she could have worded this explanation more succinctly.

Roxas continued, [color=gold]”Heartless weren’t the only threat. Sometimes, when a person with a strong Heart becomes a Heartless, the shell left behind can continue to live and exist with a will of its own. Without the Heart they once had, they possess no emotions, only memories of what it was like to feel them. Because they lacked the core of who they used to be, these beings were named Nobodies. Organization XIII was a group of 13 powerful Nobodies working toward the same goal: restoring their Hearts and becoming whole again.”[/color]

The concept of a Nobody intrigued Sandalphon, since she too lacked emotions, but unlike these people she’d never possessed them to begin with. “Driven by that terrible emptiness,” she reasoned.

[color=gold]”Don’t feel too much sympathy,”[/color] Roxas warned, [color=gold]”The Organization was willing to do anything and everything it took to achieve its goal, even hurt others. And in the end, their stated goal wasn’t even their true goal. The Leader was actually after an entirely selfish goal of his own and had been lying to and manipulating the other members of Organization XIII to reach that end. A former Keyblade Master named Xehanort sought to recreate the Keyblade War in order to summon the ultimate power: Kingdom Hearts. To that end, he willingly split himself into a Heartless and a Nobody so that they could be in multiple places at once to further that goal. His Nobody, taking the name Xemnas, founded Organization XIII and sought out other Nobodies that he could recruit for his cause. And I was one of them.”[/color]

Sandalphon’s brow furrowed slightly. This explanation, fraught with jargon from the boy’s world, took a little more of her brain’s processing power than she initially thought. Still, if her perceptive powers allowed her to handle simultaneous conversations, this shouldn’t be an issue. Based on his admission to being a Nobody, though, did Roxas lack emotions? He didn’t seem that way to her so far.

Roxas had paused, taking a breath. This was honestly the first time he’d ever tried to explain all this to someone, and only now was he realizing just how complicated and outright confusing it all probably sounded. [color=gold]”Most of the original members left the Organization by the end. I was the first who did so. But others did sometime after that. In fact they ended up turning against it and Xehanort in the end and helped with his ultimate defeat, so I doubt many of them would have rejoined him in this world. But there’s some I could point to who might be around and playing some part in the current Organization.”[/color]

The archangel nodded. “By all means.” She looked around, hoping that the end of the game wouldn’t interrupt the conversation. Whether she did badly or the best drivers really were that good, though, there were no signs of wonderworld collapse just yet.

[color=gold]”First there’s Xehanort himself.”[/color] Roxas said. [color=gold]”He’s a powerful Keyblade Master who embraced the Darkness in its entirety and learned how to use it to possess and take control of others. Then there’s his Heartless, who took the name Ansem. He’s probably one of the most powerful Heartless in existence, able to summon and control other Heartless - and even awaken the Darkness in others’ Hearts in order to make them do his bidding. And then there’s Xehanort’s Nobody, who took the name Xemnas. He’s the one who created the original Organization. He’s powerful in his own right, able to wield countless energy weapons he calls “void” blades. He can even summon massive volleys of them in projectile form to overwhelm his opponents.”[/color]

Abilities like those of Xemnas were nothing to sneeze at, certainly, but Sandalphon took particular note of what Roxas said about Xehanort ‘awakening Darkness’. If he could control or change others, that made him a threat on par with some of the demons she’d faced in the past. She couldn’t help but wonder–could he awaken ‘Darkness’ in anyone’s heart? The archangel would have liked to think that hers harbored no ‘Darkness’ to awaken.

[color=gold]”If you can believe it, Xehanort even managed to utilize time travel to recruit his younger self from the past. The younger Xehanort is still just an apprentice with the Keyblade, but his embracement of the Darkness still makes him a threat just the same. He’s a specialist with time magic, from what I remember. The last one I should bring up is Xigbar. That guy was always a complete mystery. No one ever knew who he was before the Organization, but I do know he was there with Xemnas as a founding member. He specializes in Space magic, can make himself float and teleport around while he shoots at you with his arrow guns. He doesn’t seem like much, but be careful around him. He wasn’t just a founding member, but he also worked with the original Xehanort years before the Organization was even founded. You can always bet he knows more than he lets on, so don’t let his playful and goofy subordinate act fool you, he’s just as dangerous as the rest of them.”[/color]

That seemed to conclude Roxas’ report, given the obvious differences in the Organization XIII roster in his world and this one. Sandalphon nodded. “Thank you for the information. With all that said, do you believe that the Nobodies’ ultimate goal is the same, that being Kingdom Hearts’? Do you know anything else about this power?”

[color=gold]”Well,”[/color] Roxas began, tilting his head thoughtfully. [color=gold]”the thing with Kingdom Hearts is that it’s an ancient power that supposedly goes all the way back to the birth of the world, like a creation story, I guess. And so as far as I know nobody knew exactly what that power entailed, just that it was supposedly the source of all Light and the Heart of all worlds. But Xehanort believed he could use it to essentially rewrite reality, and create a world that he was convinced would be better than the one that already existed. So if he’s still around in this world, then I’m willing to bet that he thinks that Kingdom Hearts can undo what Galeem has done.”[/color]

For a moment, Sandalphon considered that in silence. Then she inhaled deeply through her nose. “If Kingdom Hearts possesses comparable power in this world, then I share your concern. Such power does not belong in the hands of those without love or sorrow. And choices like what would be best for everyone are not for mere men to make.”

She stared out at the wonderworld’s sea, thinking about Balan’s ability to create simulations like this one. The penguins on that icy mountain and the creatures of the Old World had all just been toys, created and deleted at his whim to play bit parts in the background of others’ enjoyment. The idea that someone could make and unmake the World of Light was no less terrifying. “Our next step, then, is to discern how Organization XIII plans to obtain Kingdom Hearts, and how assisting us accomplishes their goal.”

[color=gold]”Well, I can at least tell you how Xehanort originally tried to do it, by pitting 13 vessels of Darkness against 7 vessels of Light in battle. That was how he nearly managed to do it previously. Of course, for all I know the rules for that are different in this world.”[/color] Roxas remarked. After a short pause he felt the need to clarify a previous detail, [color=gold]”I can tell you're curious, about the fact that I’m a Nobody. Well that fact was true, but I did leave out one detail. Nobodies don’t remain empty forever, they only start out that way, but they eventually come to regain their ability to feel over time. It was the biggest lie Xemnas ever told us, designed to keep us in line and ensure that we don’t go against the Organization’s goal or question our orders.”[/color]

Sandalphon’s pupils turned back to power symbols. “Hm. A transient state, then. So in truth, the root of the problem is not the Nobody phenomenon, but Xehanort. Or…Xemnas?” For a moment, her pupils became stress marks. “Nevermind, I believe I understand. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. I suspect when we conclude our time in Carnival Town, however, there will be an all-hands meeting to pool our knowledge, and…it may be prudent for you to explain again. For the others’ sake, of course.”

[color=gold]”You’re probably right.”[/color] Roxas said with a sigh. [color=gold]”Sure makes me wish one or two of the others I knew were around. They’d probably do a much better job of explaining it all than me.”[/color] He added with a small laugh.