[IC] Kingdom Hearts: Darkness Origins

[Ogo]

«Gabe»

“So...guessin’ you’re ‘bout as clueless to this as I am.”

Gabe looked around to find the source of the new voice. It came from a large man who was absolutely covered in...dust? He looked like he was maybe stressed? Tired, perhaps? Gabe still wasn’t too good with the whole human facial expressions thing. He really only had Bruce or Othello with which to compare. He had his hand out as he approached Gabe, but he wasn’t holding anything. Did he want something? He continued.

“Glad I ain’t alone there. Henry Sullivan, some folk jus’ call me Big Hank. Curious myself as to what these things are.”

OH! Gabe understood now! He reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter, which he then placed into the big man’s open hand. He didn’t really want to give up his gift, but if the guy was asking for it, he couldn’t rightly refuse.

“Maybe this would help, Henry Sullivan.”

He might have continued, but the incredible duck intervened.

"This is the King"

Gabe looked over to see the duck approaching him, pointing at the little mouse guy.

"That's his majesty, King Mickey."

Ooooh. So a a majesty and a king were the same thing: a mouse! That made things simple, but...well Gabe for the life of him couldn’t understand why they needed so many words for mouse. Different people do different things.

"The name's Mickey, nice to meet ya."

The King approached Gabe with his hand out as well. Gabe would have frowned, if he had a face. He had already given his letter away. He didn’t really have anything else to give to the King. So he just looked at the mouse and shrugged. Then the mouse spoke again.

"Sorry if I didn't make it clear enough in my letter, but a Keyblader is a person who wields a weapon called the Keyblade".

As if on cue, the mouse opened his hand and a beautiful key appeared. It looked quite close to Duncan’s! Maybe the king knew him? Or...maybe the king knew where he was? But no...Gabe had to find Othello first. He couldn’t just show up without the little guy. The mouse continued speaking, knocking the black mage back to reality.

"The Keyblade is a weapon that has the power to permanently subdue creatures known as the Heartless, which are made from the darkness in people's hearts."

Gabe blinked. That was all well and good but...why grab him, then? Yeah, he used Bruce’s key before but...he hadn’t seen the thing since he woke up in Traverse Town. He chose not to ask though. Probably a good call, though. As the king wrapped up his explanation and made his own key disappear, a few more people entered the area. The mouse and the new person spoke for a moment, then the mouse entered a new room. Goofy, the duck, and the new human all followed behind. Then everyone else followed. Gabe, not sure what was going on, followed suit.

They approached a chair, and Mickey’s key shot some light at it, causing a staircase to appear. Did all chairs do that when shot by keylight, or just this one? Huh. Gabe continued on quietly, through a maze, into a hall full of things Gabe had never seen before. Especially that bright, glowy thing. They gathered around a flat object with images on it. One of the new arrivals hit tapped her hands on something, and some new images appeared. Forget fire or ice, this was the real magic…

She spoke and the black mage listened. Eventually, he was handed a bracelet, as the person called it. She showed it off for a bit, and Gabe noticed some of the others putting it around their wrists. Gabe, ever the sheep, did the same. He had a basic idea of what it did, thanks to Mickey’s human friend, but it was still a bit beyond him. Oh well. That surely wouldn’t matter.

"Your mission is not a combative one. Your goal is to investigate the signature, your bracelets will automatically record any data that you find and send us a report. Hopefully... its just a glitch or something minor. Regardless of what it is though, please be careful."

Gabe nodded. He could be careful. Mickey asked for questions, and this time, Gabe didn’t have any. Well, that’s not true. He had plenty. He could ask questions for days and still not have all of the answers. The truth of it was that he just didn’t understand enough of what was going on to even think of an appropriate question. So he’d just go along with whatever. That usually worked for him. One of the newer humans, however, didn’t quite share his sentiments. He voiced some concerns. The king answered with some more jargon that went over Gabe’s head.

One of the people that were already here when Gabe arrived spoke up, announcing to everyone that there was no reason to be worried because Ace the Prince of Hearts was there. That was good. Gabe felt relieved. After all, if this guy was so convinced that Ace could help everyone out with no problem, then surely this would all go smoothly. Now where was this Prince of Hearts?

Henry Sullivan cut in and it sounded like he was warning the red topped guy. Well, maybe Big Hank knew best? He sure didn’t sound too convinced that the Prince of Hearts would make this easy. Oh well. What’s the worst that could happen?

The last human that came with Mickey’s friend started well...scolding the one that questioned the king. Then the two of them walked off and seemed to be talking about something.

Gabe blinked. Were all people like this? Truth be told, he hadn’t been in Traverse Town long. A few days maybe? In any case, he hadn’t had much experience speaking with the locals. He actually spent most of it just wandering around, looking for his friends. He asked a few people, but nobody seemed to know. The others seemed to be too busy, always rushing off to do something whenever he would approach. Oh well.

He stood looking at the others then shook his head, patted his cloak, and looked off to the king.

“So uhm...where are we going? Is it this uh… ‘Far Far Away’ place you guys were talking about?”

He wasn’t sure if Mickey heard him or not. It didn’t really matter, though. Gabe would find out one way or another. Probably.

[Amaya Tamashii]

Amaya watched waiting for a familiar reaction or a smartalic comment like normal but instead Joshua excused both she and himself but leading her to the side. She quietly listened. "Joshua...I feel we will be alright that we can trust the others cause they hold these blades like you and I do...but I worry how you yourself will be holding up...cause look at the toll it took on father...I don't want to lose you as well and neither does Elyse but we need to help make sure no one goes through what we did..." she said to him as she rested a hand on top of one of his hands" I know we will be fine cause we are together and have each other to count on..now there are others to help us understand these things"she said opening her eye giving him a soft smile be fire she moved forward wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

[Joshua Tamashii]

Joshua listened to Amaya and gave her a smile in return before returning the hug as well.
"Yeah. You're able to read people fine but you're far too trusting while I'm not trusting enough. Really balance each other out, huh?" He said before kissing the top of her head." We'll help them. But, you have to promise me to be careful. Much as they might hate to lose me, Rose and Elyse would hate losing you even more. So you must get home safe. I plan on returning home safe as well. I don't go down easily and you know that."

Heading back over to the group with her, he glanced around before asking the only questions he had left.
"So... when are we going and what are we going in?"

@Amaya Tamashii, @Renose

[Renose]

Farewell Disney Castle

Mickey had wished he worded that briefing differently, but luckily enough despite having to tell everyone his concerns for this mission they were still all willing to go upon it. Hopefully of course Mickey's concerns would be just that, concerns. It was easy to tell that he wasn't trying to hide anything, but that he was just concerned. Still, he believed in their abilities and was sure that whatever it was, they could get through.

"Thanks fellas. Again, I hope that my concerns are just that, concerns, but in the end please be careful. There's nothing wrong with retreating if you feel its all a bit too much". Mickey was genuinely grateful that they accepted his request in the first place and even moreso that they were still interested. Which was a good thing, since this was a matter that did indeed concern each one of their worlds. Since if Mickey's concerns turned out to be reality, all of their worlds could be affected by this.

"You'll be going in the same manner you all came here. We have a Gummi Ship large enough to take all of you, and ill be driving you there". Sorami spoke up now, standing up from her seat. "Unfortunately I can't come with you on your mission, since I have to get back to my own, so I will just be taking you there and then depart in a secondary ship so that you guys can still return if you need to, since these ships do also have auto-pilot".

"We'll come with you on your mission Sorami" stated Goofy as he stood next to Donald, Sora's descendant giving the captain a nod. "Thanks Goofy, Donald".

"Well fellas, it seems we all have our assignments. I wish you all good luck, ill be here, seeing if I can't use the Cornerstone's power to try and look into this some more and possibly aid you in your mission". Sorami, Donald, and Goofy all saluted, before the Keyblader beckoned to the group.

"Alright everyone, lets get to the hangar".

Mickey walked over to the cornerstone now, placing his gloved hands upon the cornerstone as he closed his eyes, the light from the cornerstone seeming to shimmer a bit more outward in that moment. It was discovered that both he and Minnie could tap into the powers of the cornerstone, using it to strengthen the defense system a bit more and possibly do more hands on repairs and looks into things.

While he did this, the others would be taken back to the Gummi Ship hangar, where now a much larger ship than the others awaited them. Once they were all insides, there were enough seats in the cockpit for all of them. Furthermore, if they didn't want to sit there they could go below deck to where there were various rooms such as a training room or a room to rest. Once everyone was situated in the ship, it was time to set off.

Now once again, they were soon enough in the great void of space, all seven of these new Keybladers beginning their adventure.

Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins

The ship made excellent progress. Speeding through the void of space in great time. Of course, while the travel time was brief, the Keybladers could use it to get to know one another since they would probably need to for this mission. As if things got tough, it would be good to know each other's names for better communication between them. Of course, whether or not any of them chose to get to know one another was entirely up to them.

Eventually, after about maybe fifteen minutes, the group made it to their destination. These Gummi Ships were fast, able to travel from world to world quite quickly. Once there, they would be able to see the world that was their destination from the cockpit. Sorami got up out of the driver's seat, relaying the last set of instructions to the group, Donald and Goofy standing next to her.

"Remember. You are to investigate the anomaly, but if you feel that things are too dangerous then just send a report using your bracelets and retreat. When you start to get closer to the signature, your bracelets will begin to beep, and if you need to get back to the Gummi Ship, just point towards the sky and either think about the Gummi Ship and you will be teleported back to it. This ship has auto-pilot and can be remotely piloted by our engineers back at Disney Castle, so you won't have to worry about learning how to drive".

The Keyblader pressed a couple of buttons on the control panel now, a smaller ship appearing outside of the cockpit of the bigger one. "Donald, Goofy and I will try to finish our mission as soon as possible so that we can come assist you, but again, if you feel that this is beyond what you are willing to do if things get too dangerous, don't be afraid to give us a call. Of course, the same goes for if you have any questions to ask as well. Now then..." [/color] Sorami gave them all a smile. "Be careful, and good luck". [/color]

With that, all of them would be transported out of the Gummi Ship. Sorami, Donald, and Goofy being transported to their own smaller ship so they could embark on their own mission while the seven other Keybladers would be transported to the world below. Their first adventure, now truly beginning.

Chapter 1-1: Adventure in a land Far Far Away

The group would find themselves appearing in some kind of swamp, able to see a clearing in the distance. In front of what appeared to be a house of some sort was a small group of men dressed in matching outfits. They were preparing to get into a formation of sorts, but suddenly one of the men let out a loud cry.

"E-Egads, what are those things!" one of the men shouted. A small group of [url=https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/7b/e9/18/7be918aaac11899c5175119656a355a1.jpg]Shadows and a couple of Soldiers seemed to appear now, all of them approaching the group of rather frightened men. Fortunately all of them were glowing blue, which was the sign of them being weaker according to the briefing, and their movements seemed a bit sluggish. That didn't mean that they shouldn't be dealt with though, but instead meant that they would be easier to deal with should the Keybladers choose to do so.

[Double]

The rabbit listened quietly as one of his future team mates voiced the exact concerns he himself had but was too polite to actually say anything about. And indeed, he came off as every bit rude as Oswald himself would have sounded in that scenario. Oh well, the first step to learning was to act and make mistakes, it was just a serendipitous coincidence that someone else made the mistake instead of the rabbit himself. Well, better him than me, Oswald supposed before Mickey told them the truth.

So the King really did hope this mission would be non-combative. That almost seemed... naive, in a way. Then again, Mickey always had been an optimist, even to the chagrin of others. As for Oswald himself, he decided to hold off on his thoughts until he knew what it was they'd be dealing with exactly.

In the meantime, he was ushered away with the others to the Gummi Ship they would be flying in. It certainly wasn't his ship, that was for sure. This one was much bigger, although speaking of Gummi Ships, Oswald couldn't help but wonder what they actually did with his. It was only a prototype, but still, he'd grown attached to the thing after flying it for as long as he did.

And after a few more words with Sorami, her reassuring them that once she, Donald, and Goofy were done with their mission they'd try to join up in this one, the big Gummi Ship was off, rocketing into space in the only way a Gummi Ship could from this hanger... by being dropped straight down a shaft through the underside of the world. Yeah Oswald was never a fan of that design feature and often found himself wanting to find the person responsible for it and smack them upside the head. Of course, he'd then remember it was the King himself who designed the Hanger, so smacking him was out of the question. Didn't stop Oswald from always questioning what the hell the King's thought process was in deciding that such a design was a good idea, but whatever.

In mid-flight, Oswald finally decided to make sure the others knew his name, "Just in case I didn't tell any of you, my name's Oswald." Eventually, though, they were in a new world. This was not one Oswald was familiar with, the only swamp he'd ever seen was in a bayou, and in that world Oswald was much, much smaller than he was here. He spotted a group of... people, he honestly wasn't sure what they were supposed to be. They were knocking on the door to someone's... house, although you wouldn't know it at a glance since otherwise it looked like a really tall tree stump.

Then the Heartless appeared. Nothing too serious, just some Shadows and Soldier, both of whom Oswald had plenty of experience in defeating. The rabbit held out his hands, his Keyblade appearing in his left one while he right was suddenly holding onto a sword of some kind, "Well, this escalated quickly. Time for work." and with that, he leaped into the fray to start cutting down Heartless, as in he literally leaped through the air, even performing a little front flip in the process. Yep, he definitely trained with King Mickey alright, right down to the same backflip/frontflip oriented fighting style the King was known for using.

[King Kindred]

Ace would have responded to Henry, but he figured it was beneath him. He was confident in his abilities, but he wasn't stupid either. He knew there would be times when he could get in over his head. After a while they would soon head off on their adventure. These Gummi Ships were very interesting. He'd definitely have to get one of his own one day. He'd hate to be stuck in Wonderland until someone needed him again. There were plenty of places out there for a Prince to explore and with the WDS in place it wouldn't even be dangerous. Not like he feared danger or anything.

He decided to re-introduce himself when the rabbit did as well in case anyone didn't catch it during his moment back at the castle. "I'm Ace, Prince of Hearts, if you didn't catch it before."

They soon arrived at their destination and it was the filthiest place he could imagine. It just had to be a place like this, didn't it? They landed in a swamp and there was a house there. People actually lived in places like this? He shuddered at the thought. There was a group of flamboyant men in front of said house and one even yelled "egads". Yeah this was a strange world and one he didn't want to be in long. The exclamation was accompanied by a group of heartless. They didn't seem so threatening really.

Ace ran forward while outstretching his right hand to cause his Keyblade to appear again. He followed after the flipping bunny and headed to attack the heartless. "Now this is what I've been waiting for."

[Joshua Tamashii]

Joshua followed everyone out to the hangar and aboard the gummi ship they would be using for this little adventure. while the others mostly chatted with each other, he walked around the ship, getting to know it's layout. If you were going to spend time in a vehicle this big, you might as well get to know it, as you might need to get from one area to another as quickly as possible. not only that, the but he wanted to see if he could figure out how this thing worked. It might be similar to the airships back on Rune Factory or maybe it was similar to Whale Islands, which was said to stay afloat due to a massive amount of run energy that made the flying rock sentient and airborne.

When he was done exploring, he returned to were the other's were, and leaned against the wall, not saying anything, instead studying the group again. He didn't know these people and didn't trust them as far as he could throw a dragon. Some of them had a palpable air of confidence about them that made him want to get away. People like that often wound up hurt or causing problems for those around them. Either that or they could be complete pain in the ass.

They reached their destination a few minutes later and where transported down to the surface. Looking around, Joshua would only see swampland around them and some strange looking people knocking on a door built into what looked like a tree. Sadly for them, some Heartless showed up and decided to attack the strange men. Sighing, Joshua watched as the rabbit, Oswald if he recalled, and Prince rushed into battle. Shrugging, he took him time walking over to the creature. Swamp land was tricky, and if you took one wrong step, you could end up stuck in some mud. The Heartless didn't fail to notice him and a small group, about three Shadows and two Soldiers came towards him. Nothing he hadn't fought before.

"Well, you all should be rather easy." He said to himself. One of the Shadows suddenly leapt at him, aiming to rake his face with it's claws. Joshua summoned his keyblade and hit the creature midleap, causing it to disappear in a cloud of smoke as Joshua dismissed his keyblade, which vanished in a flash of light. The two Soldiers took two leaping kicked at him, which Joshua dodged by jumping backwards. Summoning his keyblade again, he threw it at the two heartless, hitting both of them at the same time before the weapon came back, hitting them again and causing them to disappear before Joshua caught and dismissed the weapon again.

While he had been distracted by the Soldiers, the remaining two shadows had stuck around behind him and both managed to rake his back with their claws. Joshua didn't even make a round, instead turning around and slicing the two Heartless with his keyblade, watching as they vanished and he dismissed the weapon again.
"Pointless but necessary I guess." He muttered to himself, rolling his shoulders before glancing around to see how the others were doing.

[The Whacko]

Henry had kept quiet most of the trip, only speaking once or twice to ask Oswald or Amaya about the other worlds that seemed to be out there. He'd figured out how to make his keyblade disapear at least. He'd have to thank Oz for that again later. Space travel was still making him a bit uneasy, and he finished off the last of his pack of smokes as they traveled to their first destination. The others all looked pretty confident, so he felt a bit easier at least.

Their destination, it turned out, was a swamp. It looked a little bit like the bayous he'd seen down in Lousiana, though there didn't seem to be any mirelurks or alligators here. But there were a bunch of dandies that looked straight out of an old "Tales of Chivalrie" comic he'd read once when he was little. They were panicing at the sight of some of those Heartless he'd seen earlier. He resisted the old impulse to pull the sawed-off shotgun at his hip, knowing that buckshot wouldn't do much good, calling Atom in his right hand and charing forward. He made as much noise as he could to get the attention of the bulk of the group, being the biggest, oldest and probably the strongest of this bunch, slashing away at a Soldier before shoulder-checking a Shadow aside.

"C'mon ya ugly sons'a bitches! Come get a taste've Big Hank Sullivan!" He roared his challenge, driving Atom through another of the Soldiers and causing it to explode into a big puff of smoke. He figured that meant he was winning. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the Heartless he'd struck, but haden't killed, were staggering even more than the rest, looking almost like they'd been swimming in a radioactive river and paying for it. "Huh. That'll be sum'n to ask 'bout later."

[Amaya Tamashii]

Amaya stayed with Joshua for most of the trip on the gummiship. She smiled looking out a window deep in thought and secret wonder.

She soon appeared on the surface immediately covering her noes with her gray and white striped scarf" this place smells"she added holding on to Joshua to lead before she let go seeing the heartless. She didn't call her blade as for one she would whether use magic and be at a distance instead of close up. She allowed Joshua and the others to attack the heartless. She was about to assist Joshua when she saw to get behind him but he bet her to the cake. She moved over to his side" anyone need some healing?are you okay joshua?"she asked examining his back