ShadowVentus — Roleplayer Guild

Once he found out whom he had been grouped with for this mission, Taka couldn't help but remember just what had happened during the week leading up to them approaching this new world. It wasn't an event he could easily forget...

((Collab between SMS and ShadowVentus))

The following day after their adventure in France, Mai had remembered the new guy's challenge to her and Drake. However, she had taken offense to him saying that she couldn't pull her own weight, and as such had been wanting to settle the score before Drake found them and interfered.

"I wonder where he is." She had spent some time walking around the ship, and eventually stumbled in the simulation room, where she found the newcomer practicing his agility against some dummy robots. "Hey, new guy!" She called out to him as she stepped closer.

Just wrapping up with the last of the training dummies, the Nobody hears a voice calling out to him. Turning around, he sees the girl from earlier. However, she seems to be alone. "I see you've come after all...will your comrade be joining us, or have you decided on a different outcome?" He inquires, secretly reveling in his successful taunt. This would give him the opportunity he needed to fully gauge if this is the person he was sent out to find. If so, then he would be ever the more closer to obtaining a Heart.

"No, he won't be." The girl says as she crosses her arms over her chest. "I didn't like how we parted ways yesterday. I guess I still have my pride as a sword wielder to uphold." Although she was still quite young when compared to the other members of the New Shinsengumi, her skills weren't anything to scoff at. 

"Hmph, then I guess we should get moving on. For the sake of your pride, at least..that much, I can respect about a fellow wielder." Taka states, beginning to back up slightly as to give them an even amount of space for the impending clash. He summons his blade, gripping it tightly, wielding it back-handed as gets into his fighting stance. "I hope you can keep up." He remarks. As he speaks, the the simulation room alters itself to better suit the fight, transforming into a sole circular white platform, surrounded by a dark void.

"Ooooh, a back-handed grip. That's something I haven't seen in a while." A smile forms onto Mai's lips, as she summons her own Keyblade before going into her fighting stance. "I wish the same for you." Their new environment looked like it had enough space for them to run and give distance if needed. Given that this was her first time in the simulation room, she had kept a mental note to stay away from the edges as she wasn't sure if stepping over would cause her to fall or not.

Following that, she had kept her eyes on her opponent, her smile slowly curling into a frown as she concentrated on the battle that was to unfold. Waiting for anything that would spark a reaction from her, she wanted to get a feel for his fighting style first before going becoming more active in the fight.

Taka begins by throwing his blade at Mai. As it builds momentum, Light begins to collect around it, boosting the offensive power of the blade. In case the Spark Raid was dodged, Taka would cast Dark Blizzaga, sending forth a large burst of ice shrouded in darkness.

The girl watched as the blade flew in her direction, and sidestepped at the last possible second to minimize the chance of getting hit should it fly back towards its owner. Before she could do anything else, a barrage of ice had already been shot towards her. Unsure of what would happen if she dodged the icicles, she chose to block every last shard as they got within reach of her Keyblade.

Once the last projectile was gone and an opening was clear to her, she dashed forward within arm's reach with her opponent. "I won't give him time to cast anymore magic." Mai swung her Keyblade a few times in his general direction, watching how he would react to such an aggressive move.

Unfortunately for Taka, his keyblade was still in the process of returning back to him when the barrage of close hits began. However, his agility training from before certainly seemed to pay off, for he was able to buy himself time by dodging the first few swings, taking the window of opportunity given to him from these evasive maneuvers to launch himself upward, catch his blade, and then transitioning into Dark Break, slamming his blade down towards his opponent multiple times. "It almost seems like she's holding back. She's going to regret that.."

Each swing of hers gave the boy a chance to distance himself before jumping into the air to regain possession of his blade, with her final swing throwing her a bit off balance as she misjudged their distance. Her opponent's follow up attacks were strong, with each strike pushing her down more as she blocked them.

Once he was finished with his volley of attacks, Mai found the strength to jump up after him and meet him in the air. "I need to keep him out of the air." She knew she was at a disadvantage at range, and she wanted to keep whatever gap he had with her as small as possible. And that started with keeping him grounded. The girl swung her Keyblade down as hard as she could, hoping that should the boy block, it would be enough to throw his blade out of his hands, if not, then the smack of the Keyblade was hopefully enough to send him crashing to the ground.

The heavy swing from his opponent sends Taka hurtling to the ground, his agility allowing him to right himself just before he reaches the platform, but sends him sliding back a few paces, almost to the edge. "Not bad...however, it still isn't good enough to even allow you to dream of taking me down." Pointing his keyblade skyward, the Nobody is enveloped by light as he creates multiple columns of light, each one forming beneath Mai, forcing her to continually move out of the way at a very rapid pace. If she moves too slow or too quickly, the Light inflicts a fair amount of damage to her.

A small smirk formed on Mai's lips. "We'll see about that." However, a source of light suddenly appeared underneath her, and it took her a moment to realize that she should probably move away from it. She barely avoided most of the pillars by jumping backwards, but she noticed that she would fall off the edge if she continued to do so and jumped to the side. However, she didn't take into account that the pillars homed in on her, and so the last pillar of light managed to hit her.

The attack stung, getting hit by such an attack for the first time in her life. "What was that?" She wasn't sure how to describe the pain, but it felt like it was burning her skin in a different way from a fire does. After a moment, she shook off the sting that was left behind. "OK, let's give this a shot."

"One silent step." In the blink of an eye, she was beside the newcomer. "Two steps, infinite." She pulled back her arm as far as she could, "Three steps, absolute!" Instead of her Keyblade, her balled up fist was what met his face. "Three stage punch!" This technique was a variant of her family's sword technique. Nowhere near as fatal or lethal as the original technique, it was one she liked to use during friendly duels, and she had been wanting to use it for a long while. Blocked or not, the force of her punch was enough to send a human sized target flying backwards for several feet at least.

Left completely wide open from his previous attack, Taka's eyes widened in shock as he received a hard punch to the face, the impact having enough force to send him flying just to the edge of the platform. His blade impales itself within the platform a fair distance away, leaving him completely vulnerable for any sort of attack. 

"Ngh..." He groans as he stubbornly gets back unto his feet, wobbling slightly. "That technique....just who are you!?" To Mai's surprise, the Nobody sounds rather...conflicted. Suddenly, he clutches his head in his hands, as if he was striken with a sudden blow to the head. With a shaky right hand, he calls back his keyblade, it reappearing in his outstretched hand in a flash of light. "I'm...not done yet..." He mutters, steeling his grip as he points his blade straight at Mai, holding it with both hands, seeming to struggle to keep it raised due to all the damage he has undergone. "Ragnarok!" The tip of his blade glows brightly before releasing a large array of light projectiles in her direction, sending another wave directly after the first one, before using the blade to support himself so he doesn't collapse.

Mai pondered for a moment before answering. "I'm no one special. I'm just a regular girl." She exclaimed as she materialized her Keyblade in her hand once more after dispersing it for her earlier attack. "I should probably finish this soon." Their duel felt like it was lasting more than she was used to, and she didn't want to risk getting hit by another magic attack like before.

She watched as he struggled to even raise his blade towards her, and then decided to hopefully end the fight with her next attack. Before she could do anything, he had fired a cluster of shots towards her. Having a feeling that these were also homing like the columns of light earlier, she waited for as long as possible to dodge them. Once they were close enough, she ducked to the left and dashed forward and under in a very quick manner so that the projectiles wouldn't be able to turn back towards her fast enough as they hit the ground in trying to do so.

A second wave of projects were shot, and she did mostly the same for it, except in the opposite direction so that her balance wouldn't be thrown off. The moment she was in range, she twirled her Keyblade in her hand until she was holding it backwards, similar to how her opponent held his own blade earlier. She struck him in the abdomen with the bottom of the hilt of her weapon, only just strong enough to knock the wind out of him.

Being thoroughly shocked by her speed and the sudden switch in her style of holding the blade, Taka takes the blow, his blade dispersing on its own as he stumbles slightly before completely collapsing, having used up quite a bit of energy. Despite being so drained and just receiving a blow that knocked the air out of his lungs, he stubbornly began talking again, his whole body trembling as he repeatedly try to get back up, only to fall back to the ground. "This outcome...was too..familiar...I feel like I've had..this exact same fight before." He pauses as he finally musters the strength to get back on his feet, clutching his head once again. 

"Your face and the way you wield that blade are the only things familiar about you...Your name escapes me...what is it...?" He inquires. The Nobody fully well recognizes that he has lost this match, and is more than willing to give her his name, but, he would at least like to know the name of of the person that has managed to defeat him.

"Really? This was the first time I had encountered magic like yours though." She certainly had been in a good number of duels and one-on-ones back in her world, but none of them involved magic. "Maybe it's the punch?"

"Oh, I haven't told you my name yet. That is disrespectful of me." Mai had been too pre-occupied with settling the score that she had forgotten to introduce herself properly. "Mai Tenkawa." She decided her occupation was of no importance for the moment, as she disliked flaunting it around unless it was needed for some reason. "And you?," she asks as she extends her hand out for a handshake.

"Mai Tenkawa.....a name I certainly plan to keep memorized..." The Nobody states as he removes his hand from his head, the pain easing a bit as one of the many gaps within his rather fragmented memory of her is filled. He accepts her extended hand. "My name..is Taka. I believe the purpose of my existence...may somehow have you involved. As long as you don't mind...I'd like to be your partner for a while. Perhaps I can learn more about my purpose if I were to fight alongside you..." He remarks, sounding rather confident about his proposition. 

"Taka?" It was a name that she hadn't heard of in a long time. "Nah, it's probably just a coincidence." The person who owned that name whom she knew was long gone. The person in front of her is different. She knew that.

Mai was taken aback by his sudden proposal of being her partner for the time being. "Uh, I don't mind. But are you sure? I don't know how I can contribute to that, if at all." She says as she scratches the back of her head with her left hand. "I'm no one special as I said earlier."

"I'm very sure of this...as for you being special or not, there's more than one reason why one can be deemed that...we all have some sort of purpose, after all." Taking a moment as if he were processing what he just said, he rubs the back of his head as well. "My apologies. I'm perhaps being too forward with my words...I owe you an apology as for how I reacted when we first met...I'm grateful for this second chance." He responds, his tone having a hint of what almost sounds like happiness. Then again, won't can't tell with a Nobody just how they're feeling, especially when no visible facial expression is displayed.

"Well, if you say so." Taka seemed to believe in her more than she believes in herself. And she was a little happy about that. "Nah, don't worry about that. I'm not one to carry a grudge over something like that."

"I'm looking forward to working with you then," she exclaims as she flashes him a smile.

Glancing at Mai and Ryteb from the corner of his eye, he looks right at Tocsax from his position against a wall, leaning back, arms crossed. "I'm perfectly fine with this pairing...things will certainly be more interesting." He remarks. Upon receiving his lucky charm from Cheese, he gratefully equips it to his right wrist, feeling a similar warmth wash over him. Rather than thank her, Taka simply nods at her, accepting it as if it were a specialized piece of equipment for this particular mission.

((Collab between ShadowVentus and Letter Bee))

Flashback

At first, there was nothing a pitch black darkness, a void of nothingness surrounding the young keyblade wielder as he floated about. He wasn't certain as to where he was, for to him, he was simply having a dream. "What has happened to me...I can feel everything slipping away....am I becoming one with darkness...?" With that question echoing itself, he is about to close his eyes and allow himself to disappear, when suddenly a light shines in the distance, the ray that is reaching out to him feeling familiar. "What..is that...?" Before he can fully comprehend the situation, the light brings forth his keyblade, his weapon now acting as a magnet, dragging him towards the light, until finally...he awakes.

He would find himself in a white chamber, with thirteen alabaster thrones, upon which sat 11 other people, one of which was a regal-looking beardless Greek man who wore a black robe with silver trim. This man, lowering his hood, would look old with pronounced wrinkles, but his power, authority, and energy could not be underestimated, Taka would know that instantly. The Greek would then address Taka:

"Young man...you must have many questions to ask." 

"You're right about that...I may as well start by asking this...what am I?" Taka decides to go with the obvious question. This would help him figure out just what happened to him, and if whether or not this is a livid dream. He certainly seeks to know if he still has some form of purpose..

"Why," said Master Leo, "you are a Nobody, the leavings of the body, mind, and soul left behind when an unfortunate person loses their Heart. You have acquired a life of your own, and with it, a purpose; to gain a Heart of your very own. And I, Leo the Second Mathematician, am able to help you in that quest."

"A Heart....if that is truly my purpose as a Nobody, then it seems I have no choice but to accept your help." With that, he extends his hand, calling forth his keyblade. "I hope that this blade can be of some use in my search..." He then brings his free hand to his head, starting to feel a headache come along. "I can't seem to remember anything beyond my name...is this a part of being a Nobody..?" He inquires, feeling rather lost, rather...empty. 

"It is, it is," said Leo, trying to hide the glee in his tanned, wrinkled, face. "Being a Nobody is being alone, adrift, without anything but the company of one's friends and the kindness of strangers. But I am here to help, and I have the knowledge to make said help effective." A smile. "But come, come and stay at our palace for a while; see for yourself what we have to offer. Then, we will give you a purpose, a quest that will be the first step to regaining your Heart..."

"Seeing as I have nowhere else to call home...all I can do is follow your lead, milord. I hope to be able to repay you in some way..." Taka states, his personality seeming to be the only thing aside from his name that he has held on to in this new life. This decision to dedicate himself to Leo's teachings and guidance seemed to be the only surefire way to give himself purpose once again, to give this empty shell of himself meaning, until perhaps one day, he was well enough to thrive on his own terms...as a Nobody.

"Oh, you will, you will..." Leo smiled at that; it would have sounded ominous if not for Taka's inexperience.

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