((Collab post between Yuri Nakayama and Letter Bee))

On the far side of Spirit World, lay what seemed to be an Oil Rig, except that instead of oil, it extracted what seemed to be a glowing mass of plasma; this was the fabled 'Spirit Energy' of the world. Not merely that, but this Oil Rig also doubled as a 'processing centre' for what Yokai were caught 'tresspassing' in the Rig, where said Yokai were vivisected for 'medicinal materials'.

It was a living travesty of all that was right in the Spirit World, and Ascot and Yuri were going to destroy it.

~~~

Yuri jolted awake as the gummi ship blasted into the Spirit World, and stared out the cockpit at the clunky machine that seemed to be far off into the distance. Yuri didn't know what it was, but something about it caught his attention, something about it made him feel sick to his stomach. Frowning, he turned to Ascot and began to speak.

"HEY! Ascot! What is that abomination? It's makin' me feel sick. It's not natural at all!"

He continued to scowl at the machine, and before Ascot had said anything yet, he would ask another question:

"Are we going to destroy it? Please tell me we are."

Again, he didn't know why he felt so adverse to it despite never seeing it before, or knowing what it was. Maybe it was his generally pugnacious attitude, maybe it was some sense of justice the majority of key blade weilders seemed to possess. Or maybe he was just a tinge crazy. Who knew.

~~~

"That..." spoke Ascot, "is my first sighting of an Oil Rig, basically a vast technological structure normally used to extract Crude Oil, a black fluid used for fuel, as well as the creation of materials called plastics. However, due to the fact that the ground beneath the Rig is [i]glowing[/i], it seems that Spirit Energy is being extracted instead, which, from what I know, is bad."

"Meaning that yes, we're going to destroy it. At the bottom of an Oil Rig are...containers called fuel tanks, which contain, well, Oil in a normal Rig, Spirit Energy in this one. Or," the boy had an ephiphany, "we can just drop bombs from the Gummi Ship; I checked; the vessel has a full stock of explosives."

~~~

Yuri stared at the Oil Rig, his eyes alight. It was interesting what the machine was meant to do, and yet so unethical. Yuri frowned at the thought of all the spirit energy being drained, before trying to put the thought aside, and focus on the destruction of the rig. The borderline insane grin back on his face, Yuri began to respond quickly to Ascot.

"Ah I see, blowing it up. That sounds fun! Great! Let's get on it!"

Leaning back in his chair, and putting his feet up on the control panel, he stared at Ascot.

"So, let's get on with it! I can't wait to see the whole damn thing up in flames!"

~~~

Ascot smiled, and began to steer the ship up, just above the Oil Rig. Said Oil Rig's 'managers' began hailing the craft, and Ascot, using a voice modulator, began assuring them that everything was all right, that this was merely Cartel Reinforcements...before dropping the first bombs onto the structure, surprising everyone below. Alarm Bells rang, evacuations were called, but one of the bombs reached the fuel tanks, and the entire building was blown, sky-high, causing a giant explosion that rocked the Gummi Ship, although thanks to its sturdy construction, it wasn't harmed.

"Mission accomplished, eh?" said Ascot to Yuri.

~~~ 

Yuri watched the whole thing, a little bored. The whole event had gone down less interestingly than he would have liked. It wasa simple act of deception, followed by a somewhat lackluster explosion. He wasn't even feeling like he had done anything! Five out of Ten in Yuri's book. Yawning, Yuri spun around in his chair. As he spun, he decided he should try and get to know Ascot, seeing as though he would be travelling with him for quite some time.

"So. Ascot. Tel me about yourself, and this group of keyblade crusaders of yours, and this evil enemy. What's the deal with it?"

Yuri placed his fist under his chin, and leaned down on it, trying to keep his red, piercing eyes on Ascot, a hard task to accomplish spinning around on a chair.

~~~

"Well, the Enemy is basically a group of...I don't know if they're extremists or just common criminals, but they want to literally change the worlds. And, by change the worlds, I don't mean [i]just[/i] take over them, or change the way tribes or cities or civilizations work, but stuff like the structure of Magic, the substances that the worlds are made of, even the weather, that's what they want to change, for better or for worse, although I have good reason to think it's for worse. Basically, they want to wreck everything and make it anew, and we're here to stop the 'wreck everything' part."

"As for myself and my group, well, I come from a world where jungles and mountains were mixed, which in turn were home to two kinds of people, the Mountain Tribes, and the Coast Tribes. The Mountain Tribes were fair-skinned and, well, lived in the mountains and valleys, and the Coast Tribes were dark in appearance, and lived close to the sea. Although we were, well, warlike, we didn't fight with each other that much, but rather focused our energies on the monsters that inhabited the more inhospitable areas, as well as what Heartless and Nobodies appeared; we didn't know that only the Keyblade can kill them permanently."

"But, I lived in a tribe, or rather, a small settlement, that valued smarts as well as strength. And, well, I was born when my father, a Mountain Scholar, fell in love with a Coastal Warrior. And, well, we lived happily for a time, until, on a trip away, my birth parents died in an accident." Ascot then narrated the events of [url=http://prod-guild.herokuapp.com/topics/963-kingdom-hearts-signs-of-zodiac/char#post-2315189]his biography[/url], before continuing:

"After Disney Castle, I went on a journey beside Joshua, Thomas, and some others who were gone now, either dead or away. I was weak at first compared to them - heck, I'm weak even now, but in the end, I managed to carve out a place as the 'heart' of the team. Even so, though, I just recently discovered that I wasn't as good as I thought I'd become, and, well, my heart and mind are not as though as needed, but, all in all, this trip has made me a better person."

~~~

Yuri stared at Ascot, with intensity blazing in his eyes. There always was, no matter what he was doing. Even listening to long winded stories. From what Yuri could gather, these "bad guys" who Ascot and his gang were fighting were pretty much just freaks with a god complex, and actually were coming close to near divine power. Some intimidating stuff right there. Also, it seemed the boy knew the history of his people and thought Yuri cared, and then mentioned how his parents had died, and some other things about his life. Things Yuri didn't particularly care for. Then he mentioned his companions. Yuri caught the names Joshua and Thomas, all the rest of the talk was some mushy stuff about becoming a better person. Once Ascot was done, Yuri turned around in his chair, slowly clapping.

"Well done, nice story. If we're trading life stories, I'll tell you mine. I was born in a villiage in some forested world. I eventually left the tribe for personal reasons, and fended for myself in the woods. One day I woke up in Traverse Town, I was found, keyblade in hand, and got trained under King Mickey, and got good at fighting. When I got good enough to fend for myself I set off to find these cartel bastards; I forgot to say so but they destroyed my world or something, strip mines and whatnot. Lucky to be alive, I showed those fogies in the villiage who the true winner was I guess..." 

He sighed, dropping a bit of the tension which he had been building up around him. Spinning around again in his chair, he sighed. 

"But yeah, that's my story. Man, can it get any duller than this?"

~~~ 

"No, it's okay," said Ascot sincerely, "it wasn't that bad, and it did tell a lot," the boy can tell that Yuri was hiding something, but that was all right; all in its own time. "Anyway," said the boy, "sensors say that the other Keybladers are nearby, just over a close set of hills. I guess I'll have to introduce you, then."