Piercing Light

Solace In Night: A Kingdom Hearts RP

The ground shook violently as the sound of ear piercing explosives tore through the streets of Agrabah. Citizens screamed, ran, tripped, ran some more, it was chaos. In the midst of this disorder, Ryoko found herself unable to speak or move. She could only watch completely dumbfounded as the imperial palace was reduced to rubble by the massive ship in the sky. When she told Clacverk to use the ship this was not what she had in mind. The palace and the factory were important installations, to destroy them so flagrantly, she could not comprehend what was going through his mind, had he lost it? "My... Combs..." She said with what little breath she had. Many of her belongings were in the palace, no doubt they were gone now. One might expect her to be furious at the moment, but even that was beyond her right now. "Honestly... What the hell."

____

As she walked deeper into the factory, it became more evident that they were in the right place. More and more mechanical wiring could be seen, haphazard design that reminded her of the room she had been kept in. Large tubes had been placed in such a way that they spilled out of the wall, like the spilled innards of a slaughtered animal. She could not express in words how much she wished to leave this place, but she felt she had an obligation to help. There were others like her that were being used as siphons for these factories of the dark. She already knew she'd have trouble sleeping, the guilt of abandoning those that shared her fate was not something she could take.

She only barely heard Alem as he walked away, she wasn't sure what he could be doing, but she didn't bother to ask. If there was anyone that was fine on their own, it was him. Rika stopped for a moment, acting as if she sensed something amiss. Asahina also had a feeling something bad was about to happen, but to be fair she'd had that feeling ever since she woke up. The Sultan suggested they move on, Rika agreed. But then that something bad happened.

The walls shook, and there was a banging that was as terrifying as the devil himself banging on your door. Asahina understood right away what was happening, they had been found out, and whoever it was above them had decided this position was disposable enough to excuse destroying it to get to them. This was just like the strike on her home in the academy, where anything that was in the way of exterminating the keyblade wielders was torn asunder. Rika called someone, though she couldn't hear a word that was said. She was too busy trying to calm her breathing. "Not... again!" Asahina cried out, struggling to not begin hyperventilating to the point she passed out. She summoned her keyblade and focused all of her magic into a clear spherical barrier around herself, large enough for multiple people to fit into. In a panic, she ran on ahead, not paying mind to Rika and the Sultan.

Asahina sprinted through the shaking halls, debris bouncing off of her barrier along the way. Before long she found the room she was looking for, the large metal door that was meant to be a secure defense had been knocked over, as there was no longer a wall for it to be guarding. She looked for the container for the Princess of Heart, but it wasn't there. In it's place were torn tubes and wires, sparking with electricity. There was light coming in through a large opening in the ceiling, courtesy of the giant ship looming in the clouds. "W-what?" Asahina stared wide eyed at the metal box being lifted into the air by an unseen force. She could only assume it was the ship doing it somehow. But why?
Did they not know what was inside that box? The true nature of the factories? With the machines no longer there to stabilize the Princess of Heart... She clenched her teeth, and pointed her keyblade at the box.

____

Aladdin's hideaway shook as shock waves from the battleship's bombardment continued to pummel the palace grounds. Shizuka had wanted to leave right away to help, but Ace and Osa convinced her otherwise. At the moment, Shizuka was looking at the destruction through a pair of binoculars, while Ace configured a communication device on the table. He was just about to call Rika, when she beat him to the punch. She seemed out of breath, but for the wrong reason. Apparently she found this entire situation hilarious. Ace let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. The woman didn't seem to take very much seriously, either that or she'd been through a carpet bombing before. Rika tried to have the others see this as humorously as she did. He certainly didn't, and neither did Osa or Lin by the looks of it. He looked to Shizuka, who was still looking towards the palace.

"Pfft.. hrm.. pfff.."

Puffs of air pushed between her lips, and her shoulders were shaking. She wanted to laugh so badly.

"If you're going to laugh just do it." Ace said, as Rika ended the call.

"Wha? I-I'm not..." She muttered, but finally broke out into laughter. "What knuckleheads! Are they insane? Ace can we go down there already? The bombing's stopped."

"It may have stopped, but that doesn't mean it can't start again... Though they may need our help."

"Alright, let's go!"

____

The metal prison containing the Jasmine had stopped it's ascent into the air, whatever force had been pulling it had been rendered irrelevant now. A chill ran down Asahina's spine as her shaking hands continued to point her keyblade upwards. Faint light grew on the tip of the blade, increasing in intensity over time. She should be able to do this instantaneously, but she had drained most of her magic using the barrier, and it had been a while since she had done anything like this.

The source of the chill then turned into a feeling of malice, like a killer charging towards you swinging a bloody axe. Thick darkness began to pour from the ground around her, draining from the planet it's self and soaring into the sky. It all crashing into the box, passing through the metal as if it wasn't even there and infecting the woman inside.

"A-Alem, Masaki!" Asahina screamed in a panic, in a few moments they were going to have a large problem on their hands. The box shook violently, and then was torn apart from the inside like a tornado of knifes spiraling inside a paperbag. Carved metal fell to the ground with a crash, but the person inside the box remained in the air. Jasmine, the Princess of Agrabah, had been corrupted just as she had.

Oakenheim (Modern Supernatural RP)

Poor Orion, I've never seen sandbagging so intense. It's fine, I'm sure he'll woo someone. Maybe he'll meet a nice hipster in a slam poetry club.

Oakenheim (Modern Supernatural RP)

If you guys aren't sure what to do next, we can go ahead and skip to the next day. With the kidnapped student in the hospital. (so people can visit him if they want, though he likely won't be conscious) And the club can meet at Kanoa's home (Which is an old antiques store)

Oakenheim (Modern Supernatural RP)

Everyone's fine, right?

Solace In Night: A Kingdom Hearts RP

Hearing Lin mumble something, Acesto, Shizuka and Osa turned to hear her out. She explained that she had no recollection of the past few minutes, not even how they had arrived here. "Nothing... At all?" Osa asked, stepping towards her. "You haven't suffered a concussion, have you?" She asked, placing a gentle hand on top of Lin's head.

"No way, I didn't see her get hit at all. You aren't dizzy or anything are you, Lin?" Shizuka chimed in, adding to the worry party. Ace cupped his chin with his hand and looked at Lin. She did not appear sick, nor was she hurt. Maybe Ryoko or the mercenary had cast a spell of some kind on her?

"We were fighting with the Empire, Ryoko and an armored man, Gavin teleported us here, leaving himself behind." Ace said, lowing his hand. He wasn't sure what was wrong with her, but he didn't want her fighting if she was having blackouts. "You basically saved me back there as well, does any of that ring a bell?"

_____

Ryoko decided to drag Gavin back to the palace with her, whatever Salforge was up to she didn't really care, so long as he remembered what his job was. She 'enlisted' a local guard to carry the boy, while she frowned at the ends of her hair. Split ends, how could this have happened? If she needed to cut her hair again she was going to do it with bloody scissors. A ringing in her ear turned her frown into a full on grimace. "What?" She answered, pressing a finger to her ear to activate a cellular device. "Eh? Claverkick? What do you want?" She said, not entirely paying attention.

She stopped walking for a moment, and looked up into the sky. "I know better than most that we cannot let this factory fall. Though... if it comes to it, that ship up there should be used to make sure they don't run off with anything again."

_____

"Part... who?" Asahina had never heard the name Masaki, so she could only smile awkwardly and take the complement. "I was trained in the academy to handle many situations, however, stealth is something that was hardly taught." She whispered. Swordsmanship and sorcery were the key tenets of the curriculum, she doubted the Keyblade Instructors there could even properly teach the art of subterfuge. It wasn't exactly very righteous in their eyes.

She followed after Alem and the Masaki, listening to their conversation. Asahina strained to imagine what it was like to be able to hear heartbeats from so far away. If her ears were that sensitive, wouldn't loud noises be a pain? Could she control her hearing somehow? Did her ear canal close up or something? Asahina shivered at the thought, and instead of trying to figure out the woman's physiology she focused on the fact that they had just come across a cell full of prisoners. One of them was the Sultan. She had only heard of the Sultan before, as the prior ruler of this city she had assumed he was dead. She was glad to be wrong. She noticed a stern expression on Alem's face, she figured seeing his people locked up like this was frustrating, she could sympathize. Her home had been torn apart by the Empire after all.

The keys she found were used to open the cell, and they were bombarded with questions right away, no one asked who they were, rude. Alem laid out the plan to them, simple enough, all according to plan and what not. One problem, the Sultan wanted to go with them. It was understandable that he wanted to assure the safety of his daughter, but she wasn't sure they'd be able to protect him if things got out of hand. She stayed quiet on the matter, she wasn't going to force him to leave.

The Sultan explained all that he knew, which turned out to not be much. Screams coming from down below, large equipment being moved. Well, at least she knew the entrance was made of stone. She waited for Alem or Masaki to make the next move, however, the blond looked to her for the next step.

"Huh, me?" Asahina pointed to herself, looking around as if she had been mistaken. Surely these two would have better luck with this sort of thing, infiltration was not her forte. She let out a sigh and began to scan the walls. She got into the mind of whoever may have built this place, if she were going to make a secret staircase leading to a horrific nightmare machine, where would it be?...

"Here?" She summoned her keyblade and tapped it against the ground at what appeared to be a dead end corner. "I don't see any reason why someone would build an empty hall like this..." She tapped the ground harder, and got a resounding hollow noise back. "Bingo." She said, right away regretting her dorky choice of words. Coughing into her empty hand she straightened her back and pointed her keyblade at the ground. Light formed at the tip of her blade like a gathering of glowing fairies before being shot in a thin beam. The keyblade did what it's namesake implied, and opened the secret path below. The stone floor slid down about a foot, and then slid backwards revealing a staircase. She recalled her keyblade and looked down into the path, it was pitch black and not very wide. It reminded her once again of the pod she had been kept in. The last thing Asahina wanted to do was confront the same thing that had tortured her for so long, but she had to, there was little other choice.

She took a step down, and was surprised to see dim violet lights light up on the sides of the stairs. Those certainly did not belong here. There were empty sconces on the sides of the walls, indicating that the empire had phased them out in favor of artificial light. Asahina looked back to Alem and the Masaki, before heading further down.

Oakenheim (Modern Supernatural RP)

Kanoa closed her eyes and let out a long breath. She had tried her best to ignore it, but the colors were beginning to be too much for her to handle. Everyone's voices added another hue to a spiraling firestorm of colors. Closing her eyes did nothing, the best she could do was try to drown the sound out. But then, she'd be effectively ignoring everyone. What good was this condition of hers anyhow? The most she could do was visibly see auras of magic, but any individual with a natural tether could learn to sense magic on their own. She was occasionally able to force reality to adhere to her perception of it, but that was far less extravagant than it sounded. The last time she was able to do that, she made a Pepsi taste like a Coke, thrilling.

So, not everyone agreed to her plan, why hadn't she accounted for that? Democracy could be such a pain sometimes. She honestly didn't feel like babysitting Ramon, and anything he could tell them, Yui could tell them as well.

"Excuse me." Yui spoke in a raspy, tired voice.

"What, feel like talking?"

"Yes..." Kanoa glanced at the club members, and then sat the fox down on the forest floor.

"Why did you kidnap a human? Even if there is a shortage of animals to draw energy from, that is no excuse to risk revealing yourself to humanity. You should know this, shouldn't you?" Kanoa stared down at Yui with an unforgiving expression. "What made you think you could break the rules?"

Yui squirmed like a nervous worm, gripping one of her long tails and ruffling it. "I... Was so hungry. Flora here isn't enough, I was going to go mad." She said, grinding her teeth.

"From where I'm standing you already have, did you really believe you could get away with this?"

"She... Said I would be fine as long as I did as she said. That as long as the human didn't die it would be fine." The fox was whimpering now, like a child that had been lied to. Kanoa blinked rapidly in confusion.

"Could we not play the pronoun game, who are you talking about?" She asked, taking out her notepad. Yui suddenly had a distressed look on her face, in her dazed state she had forgotten something important. "This person told you not to mention them, didn't they?" Yui's eyes shifted away from Kanoa, she was a bad liar.

"What's her name? What did she look like? Tell me and I might help you." Yui looked back to her quickly, and she could see in her eyes the back and forth struggle as she decided how to respond to the proposition.

"She... Her name is-Walking upon scattered bones, crushed and sharp and molten.... huh? Her name is-Drinking of a goblet filled with boiling bile... eh?" The fox looked around in a panic, and touched her throat as if to find something that did not belong there. When she attempted to answer she began to speak in a voice that sounded distorted by static and a mouth full of water.

Kanoa took a step back, her mouth shaking. "You've been hexed. D-do you even know what you are saying?" The words were surely simply distorted nonsense to the others, but Kanoa could just barely make out what was being said. She was out of her field of expertise here, maybe if she had been alive for ten thousand years she could handle this, but as she was, she was not prepared to listen to eldritch language without going insane. Kanoa began to breathe as if she had just done ten rounds against Mike Tyson in his prime.

"Whoever this bitch is thinks she's real fucking funny doesn't she!? Force me to listen to the fucking poetry of the Old Ones!? How does one even DO such a thing!? Simply reading those disgusting runes is enough to... to..." Kanoa stopped her rambling and looked to the rest of the club. She supposed everyone had to have at least one crazy outburst. She clenched her teeth and forced her quick breathing into heavy long puffs.

"Whoever this woman is, has placed a hex on Yui to make sure she wouldn't reveal who she is..." She looked back at Yui for a moment before turning back to the others. "I'll keep the fox in my home, she should have plenty of food there......" Her temples were throbbing, she rubbed her forehead before speaking again. "Ramon... whatever he has to say is useless to us. Daniel, if you could provide a valid reason as to how we found him and give it to the police, that would be great. If anyone wants to visit him and make sure he's ok, that's fine, but we do not have time to be babysitting him. We've got a witch to hunt."

Solace In Night: A Kingdom Hearts RP

Ryoko let out a sigh, and glared down at Gavin with disdain. He had just sacrificed himself to save his comrades. At least, that must have been what he believed he had done. She felt insulted by the boy's impromptu gambit, for as dire as his circumstances were he thought he could pull one over on them. "We're not killing him, not yet." Ryoko said, looking to the palace. "We can let the general do as she pleases with him later. Right now, he's our bait. We go to the palace, and use him as leverage to draw the rebels out. If my hunch is correct, they plan to have an encore of what happened in Hollow Bastion." She walked up to Gavin and patted his head as if he were a puppy. "You're going to be the stone that kills quite a few birds."

_____

Shizuka leaped to her feet, moving her head around like a bobblehead in a monster truck. "What, where!?" she exclaimed. One moment she was fighting some Empire jerks, the next she had been teleported to what looked like the top floor of a building. One side of the room had no wall, giving occupants a not so brilliant view of the slums below. There were various odds and ends placed about, a single bed, some scraps of food, many signs that someone had made this their makeshift home. She recognized this place.

"Aladdin?" She calmed down, and looked towards the door. Standing there with a tired cocky grin was a local young man wearing a tattered vest and patched pants. Shizuka gasped, then running up to him to give him a tight hug. She let him go and brushed his shoulders off. "Where have you been? Osa didn't know where you were, I thought you might have been killed."

"Who, me? Don't count on it. I've been looking for Genie, but it seems he's taken a really secluded vacation, maybe he wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to visit the polar ice caps..." Aladdin shook his head and moved out of the way of the door's entrance. "Everyone else is waiting for you, come on sleepyhead."

The two of them walked down a flight of steps to enter a nearly barren room, the only thing worth noting was a large table in the center of the room. Shizuka blinked as she counted off everyone that was here. Acesto, Lin, Osa... Gavin was missing. She opened her mouth to comment, but she knew better. The last time she saw him he was sending them away, leaving him in the hands of the Empire.

"Shizuka, I know what you're thinking." Ace spoke up from the other side of the table. "But there's something else we need to focus on right now. Rika has infiltrated the palace, it's only a matter of time until she reaches-"

"Jasmine!" Aladdin cut in. "I've been looking for her for so long, I can't believe you guys found her!" He pauses for a moment, looking at Ace. "Ah, right, go on."

"When Rika saves Jasmine, the machine will likely cause an explosion similar to the one in Hollow Bastion, We need to secure an exit for her. Aladdin and Carpet can keep watch from above and act accordingly, the rest of us will cover her most likely exit point and make sure it's clear."

"What about Gavin?" Shizuka finally asked, no longer able to hold it in.

"I don't know if he's even alive. The most we can hope for is that they're keeping him alive for some reason..."

______

Asahina flattened her lips, trying not to make a scene. She hadn't noticed how loud her breathing was, her heart was beating too quickly for her to care at the moment. She let out a slow, steady breath and continued following Rika and Alem. They stopped before entering the floor at the end of the stairs, assuming it was because they saw someone coming she pressed herself against the wall. There was no one coming, and she looked silly.

They stopped because they heard voices in the dungeon below, and it was unlikely they belonged to the prisoners. Asahina tensed as she heard her companions discuss what to do if they were seen. She was sure she could fight, but she had never willingly killed anyone before, and she would prefer to keep it that way.

She made her way into the dungeon, where the light was dim and the air was musty. The voices were coming from further in, in what she assumed was the hall containing the holding cells. She quietly made her way to a door, and slowly opened it. It was the warden's office. Closing the door behind her she started to scan the room for anything useful, but found nothing. She was about to back out of the room when she heard footsteps from just outside. She clenched her teeth and backed into the wall, something jingled just above her head, prompting her to quickly grab the object to quiet it. It was a club, probably used to discipline inmates. The door opened, pinning her in the corner for a moment. A large man adorned in the garb of the palace guards walked in.

Asahina gripped the club, and bashed the man in the back of his head. He fell to the floor with a thud, which thankfully wasn't loud enough to be heard outside the room. Awkwardly stepping over the man she went to put the club back, but noticed something on the end of it, there was a ring of keys. That explained the jingling, but not the warden's poor choice in accessories. She stepped back out of the room, and joined Alem and Rika. "I uhh, found keys... Not sure if we'll need them, but still..."

Solace In Night: A Kingdom Hearts RP

He shouldn't be worried.

I'm going to try and post soon to resume things.

Oakenheim (Modern Supernatural RP)

Kanoa tossed Yui down on the ground like a sack of potatoes. Carrying the fox through the water wasn't exactly enjoyable, halfway through she seriously considered leaving her at the bottom of the lake. But no, she had questions that needed answering. Kanoa put her clothes back on, not minding the fact that she was still wet. "Now how should I wake you up..." She said, looking down at Yui. She didn't feel like waiting for her to wake up, there was no telling how long that would take. She knelled down, and placed a hand on the fox's forehead. She was as cold as a corpse, and she wasn't breathing. The not breathing thing wasn't a problem, Kitsune's had no need to breathe, they only did so to make themselves appear more human to people. Her body temperature was an issue, however. Kitsune's had a fire inside of them, sort of like a pilot light, as such, they tended to be very warm creatures. For her to be so cold meant that she was only a few steps away from death's door... Not literally, no one knows where Death lives, he's pretty shy.

While she pondered what to do with Yui she frowned as the voices of some of the club members grew louder. She wasn't surprised they were bickering, this was a problematic situation and their personalities were bound to clash. But that didn't make it any less annoying. Kanoa turned towards them and let out a sigh, they were even making plans without her. "I'm glad you're willing to come up with a plan so quickly, but I already have something in mind. This spirit's inner fire has nearly gone out, it's in no shape to use any magic on us, let alone run anywhere. A cell won't be needed. As for... Ramon, we'll have the authorities come and pick him up, he should be fine in a hospital."

Just as Kanoa looked back to Yui, she realized the spirit had woken up, and she was staring right at her. "Oh, you recovered more quickly than I thought you would." She said, though Yui said nothing in return. There was a dazed, yet hungry look in her eyes. "Now look, I know what you're thinking, but I would suggest you not do it."

Yui did not even hear the warning, and wasted no time in sinking her teeth into Kanoa's shoulder. Instantly she reared back, and began to squirm on the ground with her hands at her throat. "Honestly... Don't you know that anyone with moderate control of their magic can weaponize it against parasites? You might as well drink battery acid."

Kanoa rolled her stinging shoulder and picked up Yui, who had little strength to fight back. "Let's head back to the tree house, I'll call the police and let them know the missing boy has been found. hmm. One of you can stay and watch him if you want."

Oakenheim (Modern Supernatural RP)

I'll be posting tomorrow, I swear on me mum.