((Part 2 of a Collab Post between Letter Bee and Yuri Nakayama))

[quote]"So, seems like you have a story to tell me. Spit it out."[/quote]

"Well," spoke Ascot, "basically, I was part of a group going after the more immidiate threat, the Six Senses, whose lair can only be unlocked through the Signs of Zodiac. We went through a lot of worlds, finding Signs, fighting Heartless, and encountering minions of the enemy. But, then, on the way to Spirit World, our latest destination, I got kidnapped, A'mael did some evil gloating, then they and the Cartel, well...you saw what they were trying to do; good thing they didn't succeed." Ascot was relieved that the Cartel didn't go farther, that whatever traumatic event that could have happened was pre-empted.

~~~

Yuri stared ahead at the kid, who seemed to be a bit younger than him. He listened to the brief synopsis of the boy's example; although listening is a bit of a generous word to use to describe it. It was mostly Yuri looking at the kid and nodding, catching snippets of what was said. When the kid finally stopped talking, Yuri yawned a little, and began to speak.

"Hmmm. Can't say it sounds particularly interesting. Some fetch quest for the Signs of Zodiac? Eh. The fighting sounds somewhat interesting though, and I assume that when you open their lair, you aren't going to sit down and have tea with them, right?"

Yuri paused for a little bit, thinking about how he should go about the situation. A'mael was gone. There was no sense in staying here anymore, he would need to look for her again. It seemed though that this kid was important enough to the Cartel that they would straight up kidnap him. That would make him a target. Yuri wasn't dumb, he knew that if the kid wasn't able to defend himself this time, he'd still be fair game for another kidnapping. It wouldn't really leave him with too good a feeling if he just left the kid on his own, with the thought that he could be mugged again, without someone to save him. Also, if the kid was a beacon for the cartel, it would be good to stick around him so he could maybe capture any potential kidnappers, and get some new information, maybe even A'mael would show up again. Finally, although  he shrugged it off, the mention of some group of some kind, the Six Senses, sounded interesting; if this kid, a keyblade wielder like himself, was in a group to take them out, surely they must be powerful and dangerous. And if that was the case, Yuri would be perfectly happy to fight them. His mind made up, Yuri began to speak once more.

"Say... whatever your name is... How about this. The Cartel is probably gonna try targeting you again, and as evidinced by you being captured by them once, you might not get lucky a second time. How about I come with you to the Spirit World, lead you to your friends and everything, and maybe I could help with those Six Sense people or whatever. This was my big lead on the cartel, so now I'm back at square zero, if not for you, who drew them in. If I stick with you, we can both get some benefit out of it, what do you say?"

~~~

"Why not?" asked Ascot, "that's reasonable. Anyway, my name is Ascot Carver; nice to meet you. As for why I'm a beacon for the Cartel, well, I assume that they've taken an interest in my world, due to the fact that they've also enslaved several people from it -" Then, the boy froze.

"Speaking of which, we should rescue the slaves they've taken; I know the dungeon they were in; that's where I was placed for a while."

~~~

Yuri raised his eyebrows a little when he heard the boy mention why the cartel was after him; the whole thing sounded similar to why HIS world was targeted, although it was for their resources, not their people. A shame though, he was sure the pompous pricks that lived in his villiage would have made fine slaves, their strength would certainly help them serve their masters. Oh well. Yuri tried not thinking about his villiage, he had pushed them away, just as they had done to him. Whatever had happened to them, it was no concern to him. When the boy mentioned the slaves, Yuri sighed a little.

"Alright then, let's free them. Who knows, we might run into some leftover cartel members. That'd make the task a little more bearable."

~~~

Ascot smiled, and led the way in. And, sure enough, they did encounter several cartel members, a mixture of figures in body armor, as well as other people wearing hooded robes. Casting Haste upon himself and his new friend, the boy swiftly knocked the members he encountered unconcious for interrogation, before managing to bust his way into the dungeon, where more Cartel members, led by a striking figure wearing black, medieval-looking steel armor and carrying a whip, were trying to carry off the still-drugged slaves.

"So, so sorry," spoke the boy, "but you're going to let my people go. That, or I'm going to hand you over to my friend here."

The Black Knight, in response, drew a sword and charged Ascot who, in response, just managed to dodge, before launching a Fira the enemy's way, before launching a flurry of blows that pierced the armor in several places.

"Now, my dear armored friend," Ascot said in a calm, cogenial tone, "tell your men to stand down, then tell me how you were transporting the slaves from my homeworld to this...place."

This caused the Black Knight to grunt, before he finally gave the order for his shocked minions to surrender. Then, he spoke:

"Gummi Ship; we have an entire shipyard full of them. So please, spare me!"

"That depends on my friend's mood," the boy spoke coldly. "I dislike being forced to take a detour on my very important quest, as well as being a victim of an attempted...violation. So forgive me if I'm not nice right now. So..." he turned to Yuri - not that he knew his name yet - "what should we do with him?" 

~~~

Yuri grinned. This was going to be fun. As soon as Ascot asked what to do with the guy, Yuri acted. Grabbing the armored fighter by his throat, Yuri ran forward, slamming him into the wall. An evil sneer on his face, Yuri would then begin his part of the interrogation. 

"Oh, don't think yer off the hook buddy. Me and you are going to have to have a little more of a talk. Where the hell did all of you run off to; you have a fleet of godamn Gummi Ships to escape on, surely you, who seem to be somewhat in charge, and taking these prisoners, know where they are going?"

When he got nothing but choking noises from the man, Yuri remembered his hand was still wrapped tightly around the man's neck, and he released it, letting the man collpase to the ground, falling out of the imprint his body had left on the wall. Once the man had finished gasping for breath, he began to mumble incoherent words, to which Yuri promptly kicked the man in the side. 

"OUT WITH IT!"

By now, the minions were starting to get a little restless, staying put didn't seem like it was going to save them from the maniac in front of them. While the armored man lay stuttering on the ground, Yuri frowned, and summoned forth his keyblade, throwing it at the nearest of the five minions in the room. It pierced into the man's chest, pushing him backwards, and skwering him into the wall. His companions shrunk back in horror, as Yuri turned towards them:

"IF ANY OF YOU KNOW THE GODAMN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION THEY GET TO LEAVE ALIVE! ALL THE REST'LL BE KILLED! IF NONE OF YOU BASTARDS TALK I'LL KILL YOU ALL! TELL ME WHERE YER ALL FLEEING TO!"

One of the remaining minions arms shakily rose up as he began to speak. Nearly in tears, the man cried out:

"Th-the spirit world... we have a smaller base there... we were going to regroup there, and then try and go to one of our other bases... please... please don't kill me... I'm not ready to die yet..."

A glint appeared in Yuri's red, merciless eyes, and he quickly rematerialized his keyblade in his hand, and proceeded to stab it through the man on the floor, before running forward and slicing the three who had stayed quiet in half. To the one who had spoken up, Yuri got close to him, shoving his face right up to the other guy's.

"You. You spineless, quivering coward. Have some godamn conviction to yer cause if yer gonna do stuff like this. I'll let you live, because I keep my promises, but know that you sacrificed your comrades so you could save your pathetic life. Oh, and in case you don't remember -"

Yuri swung his keyblade, slicing the man's left arm off.

"-here's something to help you remember."

As the man howled out in pain, Yuri walked over to Ascot and the slaves. He began to help break the chains that had shackled the slaves' feet, and cast heal on some of the particularly injured prisoners. Humming a little to himself, Yuri eventually turned to Ascot, and began to speak.

"Well, all the more reason to go to the Spirit World now, yeah? Ha ha, this works out pretty conveniently."

Once all the slaves were freed, Yuri and Ascot would try leading them to the ships, which was a bit of an ordeal due to the fading, but still present, druggy haze they were all in. Some who were completely incapacitated were carried on Yuri's back; he didn't particularly mind the extra weight. Once the prisoners were all loaded aboard a particularly large ship, Yuri lay back and sighed.

"Well, Ascot, take us away."

~~~

The boy nodded, searching for the user's manual, which, thanks to the Keyblade's omni-translation function, can be easily read. He then piloted the ship back to his homeworld, after reviewing the files on each prisoner's capture. Thankfully, the former slaves were all from the same general region, which was a good thing. That said, though, as the rescuees shook off the effects of the drugs, Ascot had to explain to them, as best as he could, what had happened.

"You were being taken to a faraway land," he had said, "and now we're bringing you back." And, that was that.

Once the former prisoners had been restored to their homes, Ascot then said to Yuri:

"So, what's your name? And shall we go to Spirit World now?"

~~~

Once the ordeal of returning the prisoners back to their original world was over, Ascot began to speak to Yuri. He quickly replied:

"Yuri. Yuri Nakayama, that's my name. And yeah, I don't see why we shouldn't head over, all links seem to lead to it."

Yawning, Yuri sat back into his seat and tried to get some rest; he was tired after the long day of fighting, despite how much fun it had all been. As he began to doze off, he called out to Ascot:

"Hey... wake me up when we get there, ok?"

~~~

"All right," spoke the boy as he began to direct the ship towards Spirit World...