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Amalgam - Hour of X

Sorry for that delay, but I have now rectified it by posting.

Amalgam - Hour of X

S P E L L B I N D E R

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What. A. Month. That was approximately how long it had been since Zack first made it to New Gotham City. And no sooner had he found the Teen Titan X, he got called here to a whole other city to join Titan X. From what he understood, Titan X was apparently the “main” team while the Teen Titan X had been some kind of… offshoot, he supposed? This was like trying out for a minor league baseball team only to be immediately signed on by the Dodgers or the Red Sox. So uh… no pressure, right?

Unfortunately that was exactly what the magician was feeling right now. Some of these people had been working together for some time already. They’d clearly begun to form their friendships and rapport with one another. Could jokingly slag one another off without any worries that any feelings would be legitimately hurt. And then… There was Zack. Standing there in the corner of the lobby with his hands jammed into the pockets of his gray hoodie with a big backpack slung over his back because he’d literally just moved into town and hadn’t even had time to unpack or anything yet. And it definitely didn’t help that he clearly looked like the youngest person in the room. So basically it was all the pressure of starting a new job and being the new kid in school all rolled up into one! Yay!

He was initially startled by the big machine guy’s entrance. Who in the world would go out of their way to make such a loud entrance? Oh… right… A magician like him would, wouldn’t he? But that was all stage and theater! He’d never do something like that in casual conversation. He’d never have the guts to do anything that flashy unless he was suited up and wearing his mask. Was it weird that he would feel so… naked without it?

Thinking back on it… Why wasn’t Spider-Boy here? Pete had been the one to point him in this team’s direction initially, but for some reason declined to ever join it himself? Seemed a little hypocritical, now that Zack thought about it. Or maybe it was Dr. Strangefate’s idea? During lessons he did occasionally insist that Zack pursue some kind of social life rather than dedicate all his time to learning and practice. Maybe he’d been the one to put Spider-Boy up to sending Zack here? Well either way, Zack was here now and if the choice was between Jumphaven and going back to his family drama, well… he was choosing Jumphaven every single time.

And then the Tower was attacked. Night Vision gave the call to arms, and everyone leaped into action. Everyone, that is, except for Zack. At least at first. After a moment’s hesitation he snapped out of it and clapped his hands together as he began to chant. ”Emitwohs... S'ti!” He spun around with a dramatic flair as his clothes transmogrified into his suit and he transformed into Spellbinder.

But after that he, well, hesitated again. If he’d been on his own he could have jumped into some kind of strategy involving some big conjuration or something. But for the moment he was a bit afraid of getting in someone else’s way and stepping on their toes. But if nothing else he could spin this as him simply observing and waiting for an opening if anyone asked him. But it didn’t hurt to start prepping a spell. He clapped his gloved hands together and began to focus and channel his arcane energy. If he did spot an opening, he’d suddenly chant out ”Evoba morf htaed!” and conjure a heavy shipping container above the Herald of Cyotakk’s head so that gravity could do the rest and drop it on top of him.

Amalgam - Hour of X

SPELLBINDER

DC/Marvel Characters Used:
Zachary Zatara + Scarlet Witch

Name:
Zachary "Zack" Maximoff

Alias:
Spellbinder

Age:
18

Powers
Magic: Zack's meta-mutant power effectively converts what is normally stage magic into real magic. This typically manifests as conjuring objects into existence or transmogrifying existing objects into other objects of a similar size. The larger the object, the greater amount of concentration and control is required to successfully perform the spell. He can also achieve other illusory effects such as temporarily cloaking himself with invisibility or disguising himself as another person of a similar height and build, with the only caveat being that these illusions will not fool things such as infrared detection or bio-metric scanners. He's also capable of hurling bolts of magical energy from his hands, but they are relatively weak compared to other heroes with more dedicated energy blast powers mostly due his own lack of experience.

Prestidigitation: In addition to real magic, Zack is an accomplished stage magician and is thus well-practiced in various sleight of hand acts. These can range from conjuring up a bouquet of flowers to a small flock of doves from out of his cape or hat. Probably the most practical of these skills is an ability to pickpocket items as well as reverse-pickpocket them, ie placing them into another's pocket without being caught or noticed.

Chaos Magic: This is a dangerous extension of magical energy projection. It can allow for bigger and more destructive blasts of magic that is sometimes also elemental in nature such as fire or lighting. There also appears to be an element of probability manipulation to this magic that can allow it to "randomly" break or destroy structures. This is what gives the magic it's chaotic element and why it is referred to as Chaos Magic. But it comes with a rather extreme caveat. Chaos Magic, by its very name and nature, is dangerous and even unpredictable. It also has an unseen cost to it that eats away at the mind and soul of a person who channels it too heavily and too often, which can be seen through sometimes-grotesque changes to their eyes and facial features until they eventually become a soulless husk with none of their humanity remaining.

Weaknesses:
All the magic in the world doesn't change the fact that Zack can be stabbed to death by blades or shot to death by bullets no differently than any non-meta person.

Team Affiliation:
Teen Titan X

Personality:
Awkward, introverted, quiet, but also confident and charming. If that sounds paradoxical it's because it is. The charm and confidence only ever come into play when the mask goes on and it's time to use magic and fight bad guys. Outside of that and especially during social interaction? Forget about it, whatever confidence and charm he has as a superhero just isn't there when it comes having normal conversations with people, especially those of the female persuasion.

Appearance:
Zack is a mostly lean teenager with dark green eyes and dark brown hair. His hair in particular is kept cut short in the back and sides, while the top and bangs are allowed to be a little bit longer and parted largely toward his right. On the surface he wears the uniform of a flashy stage magician - a black waistcoat over a black/red vest piece, white dress gloves, white long-sleeved dress shirt and red cravat around his neck. Over his shoulders hangs a black cape with a silky red inner lining. On his lower body he wears formal black dress pants that match his waistcoat and black leather dress shoes on his feet. He also wears a black, silk top hat with a scarlet red hat band rapped around it's base in addition to a red domino mask. Underneath this uniform he wears a layer of compressed spandex, dark grey in color that serves to keep his blood circulation well-regulated as well act as an additional layer of warmth for cold weather. The spandex material is also tough enough to act as minor protection against knives and other similarly sized bladed weapons.

BRIEF Bio:
He was the forbidden child of two feuding families of stage magicians. Zachary was related to both the Zataras and the Maximoffs, but after a meta-mutant power kicked in that made him more than a simple stage magician both families wanted him for their own agendas. Choosing not to deal with the drama he sought out others like him on the road while adventuring across the states. Zachary crossed paths with Spiderboy and later Doctor Strangefate. After a few lessons in the arcane and supernatural from the helmeted Sorcerer Supreme, Zachary sought out the Teen Titan X down south in New Gotham. Now, it's brought him further north to Jumphaven.

Supporting Cast/Characters:
The Zataras - A secretive family of magicians from his paternal side.
The Maximoffs - A secretive family of magicians from his maternal side.
Spiderboy - The first meta Zack ever met and befriended.
Dr. Strangefate - Zack's mentor of sorts in the ways of magic and sorcery.

Amalgam Universe Notes:
Zack does indeed incorporate backwards-speech into his spellcasting. It's a gimmick utilized by The Zataras as part of their magic act. It isn't actually necessary for casting spells, but Zack often uses it anyway out of habit.

World of Light

Word Count: 667
Level 8 Roxas: 60/80
Exp Gained: +1
NEW EXP Balance--- 61/80

Ballyhoo’s Big Top

Given the number of people who were trying to get their turn at the Orb Machine, needless to say that Roxas had to wait a bit for his turn to come up. So instead of immediately lining up for the Orb Machine, Roxas instead decided to spend a couple of his tokens elsewhere. They mentioned cosmetic prizes before the games started so maybe Roxas could get something interesting there. He’d been mostly changing back and forth between his now-modified Organization coat and his Twilight Town outfit, so maybe he could use some other clothes to wear once and awhile too?

And there didn’t seem to be any lack of options for clothing pieces and even full suited costumes! Roxas ended up spending 3 of his 6 rift tokens on these prizes. In the end, he walked away with a school uniform for some place called Naranja Academy, a set of sporty-looking clothes were described as being used for challenging Pokemon Gyms, and finally a simple tropical outfit that contained a comfy light blue tank top with black shorts and a pair of sandals - oh and also sunglasses. Apparently the last outfit was supposedly from Alola, where Roxas remembered Professor Koa’s parents originating from. As for the first two outfits, Roxas had never heard of Naranja Academy but according to the costume’s description it was apparently a school for Pokemon Trainers. He’d also never heard of Galar, but the name of that region was familiar to him since his Pokedex mentioned it being the home region of Yampers like Scamp.

Well, with half of his tokens now used up, Roxas figured it would be smart to hold onto the last 3 for the Orb Machine. Speaking of which, by now Roxas was finally able to get a turn at it. ”Let’s see, so I just put in the tokens and pull, right?” He asked as he inserted all three of his remaining tokens. Then reached for the crank and gave it a pull. Like it had done for others, the Orb Machine proceeded to spit out a trio of spirits that Roxas then examined more closely.

The first one was a pale woman that looked like she was covered in spots by these strange paper tags. He didn’t understand the symbols written on them, but they did look remarkably like some of the language used in the signs all over Seiran back in Midgar. The second one appeared to be a girl or woman who was literally just dressed like a bedsheet ghost. What kind of power could a spirit like this have? The only way to know would be to use it and find out. But for now there was still the third spirit to look at.

This one was a bit different. It was a boy around his own age. He also wore what looked like a mix of chainmail and plate armor. The armored plates looked like a teal green color, while the mail sections looked to be a darker hue, possibly black or a dark gray. Roxas also had a weird feeling that he’d seen this boy before. But, wait, no, that couldn’t be. He was sure this was the first time he was seeing someone like this, but then… Why the weird feeling of familiarity? He shrugged and wrote it off as his imagination.

And that was all of Roxas’ tokens now spent. While waiting for his turn at the Orb Machine, Roxas overheard Dawn coming in and speaking with Sandalphon. It sounded like that Consul Z guy was on the hunt for them again and they were gonna have to get out of Carnival Town pretty quick to avoid him catching up to them. That was a shame, since Roxas was kinda hoping to give the kart racing a try. But avoiding that Consult was more important so Roxas would just have to hope he’d get a chance to come back and try out more games and attractions later.

---

Word Count: 688
Level 6 Ganondorf: 41/60
Exp Gained: +1
NEW EXP Balance--- 42/60

Ballyhoo’s Big Top

Finally, the farcical games were over. And Ganondorf had managed to walk away with a decent bounty of rift tokens to boot. Now the only thing to do was claim the real prize. The only reason he’d even bothered to suffer through those games was so that he could claim some spirits from the Orb Machine and further expand his power. And so to that end he went straight to the Orb Machine and remained there in order to get his chance to use it. He cared nothing at all about clothes and costumes, and instead intended to spend every last token on more spirits.

When he eventually did get his turn, Ganondorf wasted no time. He’d seen how others had used the machine so he had a decent idea of how this thing worked. And so the warlord inserted all eight of his rift tokens and then reached up to give the crank a pull. Then he just smirked and waited for the machine to do its thing. One after another, the Orb Machine spewed out spirits until Ganondorf had a total of no less than eight in his possession. Now he would have to actually examine them to try and get an idea of what power they might possess.

Three of them were modern soldiers wielding technological weapons that Ganondorf wasn’t overly familiar with. He’d seen guns and blasters before thanks to his experience with the original Smashers, but never bothered to familiarize himself with them. Still, spirits like these could prove to be useful strikers so he certainly wouldn’t be throwing them away. One of the spirits was a strange one, appearing to be a woman in a red coat wielding some kind of black and white cutting device. He couldn’t imagine what kind of power this spirit had, or if it would even interest him. But still, a spirit was a spirit so leaving it behind was not something he was about to do. If nothing else he could potentially trade this spirit for another that one of the others had? Two of the other spirits appeared to be men in armor wielding some kind of blade weapons that didn’t look immediately familiar. Ah, these spirits certainly looked like the sort that would interest him. He’d have to consider what to do with them, since they could be useful as strikers or fusion material.

But the last two were what truly caught his eye. One was an armored warrior in red wielding a spear. Something about him seemed vaguely familiar to Ganondorf in some way and yet he could not put his finger on why. It gave him a feeling of deja vu similar to what he felt when he found his twin greatswords in Castle Holograd. Could this man have been from the same world of Hyrule as himself, perhaps? And the other spirit simply looked like a fierce creature in general, with its ghostly blue armor and apparent blades that replaced its hands. He recognized it as a Pokemon, having seen plenty in his time with other original Smashers. But he did not know which specific Pokemon this was. There were so many of them, Ganondorf couldn’t possibly be expected to be able to recall them all at any given time.

”Hmm, excellent.” Ganondorf said at the conclusion of his examination. Yes, these spirits were quite the bounty, he concluded. But then a strange woman entered the tent and told everyone that Consul Z was apparently on his way there and that the Seekers needed to depart as soon as possible to evade his wrath.

”Run? Why?” Ganondorf questioned, ”We hath felled four of their number already. Why should we fear one more?” It was clear he preferred to fight instead of run. Even Bowser appeared to also agree that they should just simply fight. But it was also clear they were likely going to be outvoted on this matter.

”Bah, fine!” Ganondorf relented in the end. ”Have it thy way. But know this: Thou cannot evade the Consuls forever. We shall inevitably have to fight them sooner or later.”

World of Light

Word Count: 1,010
Level 5 Captain Falcon: 26/10
Exp Gained: +2
NEW EXP Balance--- 28/10

Ballyhoo’s Big Top

The freshly de-storied Captain Falcon re-entered the big top with his eleven rift tokens in tow. Now that he thought about it, Cap wasn’t sure he really needed that many tokens all to himself. As such, he found himself willing to hand a few out to others who asked for one. Of course he didn’t just give all of them away, having kept a handful for his own use. Speaking of which, the line for the Orb Machine was all but gone now that most of the Seekers had had their chance to spend rift tokens on it.

”So… this thing will give me spirits that will make me stronger?” He said to himself as he eyed the gacha machine up and down. ”Well, may as well give it a whirl.” Cap said as he fished out a rift token from his pocket and popped it into the coin slot to activate the machine and pulled the crank. As advertised, the Orb Machine spat out what Captain Falcon assumed as a spirit. The person depicted appeared to be a young woman with long blonde hair wearing some kind of blue and white dress or uniform, he couldn’t tell exactly what the outfit was. She also appeared to be holding some kind of hi-tech looking recurve bow in her hand. So she was some kind of archer? So did that mean he could also become an archer like her? Falcon wasn’t sure he liked the idea of having to rely on weapons, but maybe there was some other use for these spirits besides combining with them.

Falcon shrugged and inserted a second coin and then pulled the crank again. As before, the Orb Machine produced a spirit that Cap held up and examined closely. This one was a man with short brown hair, dressed in some kind of business uniform. And his depiction showed him wielding an assortment of electrified blades and other weapons. Like with the first spirit, Cap wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to become reliant on weapons. But not only that, this fellow didn’t look like a very nice sort. In fact he looked almost downright villainous. How comfortable would Cap be in relying on power like that? Then again, he’d fought alongside other villains before so he supposed this wouldn’t be that different of a situation.

”Hmm, well, third time’s the charm I guess.” Cap said with a shrug. He popped in a third token and pulled the crank. The spirit he got this time featured a sharply dressed martial arts fighter sporting a goatee and dark ponytail hair. This one made Falcon nod his head in approval. Now this was more like it. A strong looking fighter capable of throwing punches and kicks with the best of them, that sounded like the kind of spirit Cap could get behind using. He’d have to make sure to ask how to use these things later since he forgot to get the details from Pit earlier.

But with only two remaining rift tokens, Cap decided not to spend them on the Orb Machine. Instead, since he knew he was about to depart on a mission, he thought it might be pertinent to check out some of the clothing items he could trade them for. After all, a spare set of clothes or two certainly couldn’t hurt to have around. He ended up buying two “costumes” which when not worn took on the appearance of a neatly packed bundle of clothes. One of them was a formal-looking 3 piece suit, black in color with white dress gloves to cover the hands. There was no headgear to this suit so his helmet and visor remained in place. This sort of thing wasn’t Cap’s usual style, but that said, having a nice suit he could change into could come in handy in the event that he needed to get into some formal event or establishment with a dress code. The second “costume” was a generic white martial arts dogi with a black belt. The outfit also replaced Cap’s gloves with white bandages tightly taped around his hands and knuckles, in addition to a white headband that replaced his helmet and was tied around his forehead. This, he figured, would be perfect for training and sparring sessions.

And with that, the last of Cap’s tokens were now spent. Sure, a few of them were given out to others. But he figured it was just as important to help the others get stronger as it was to get stronger himself. So he thought of it as an investment of sorts. Of course, now he needed to figure out what to do about the Blue Falcon. Pit mentioned they had a ship that could possibly house the machine, but he didn’t mention anything about where that ship was docked - if it even was at all.

So the only thing to do was ask about it. He recalled there being a woman who had informed the others that they needed to return to the ship because of a threat that was potentially on its way here. So Falcon figured she might be the person to ask about his F-Zero Machine. What he learned was a bit disappointing. Their ship, the Avenger, did indeed have a hanger bay with room enough for the Blue Falcon. But she said it was for air vehicles only, since they had no intention of landing the ship due to a lack of available time. They had a system in place for transporting people and objects back up the vessel, but that system was limited to a maximum of 500 pounds, which the Blue Falcon obviously exceeded.

Well, that was a shame. Falcon didn’t much like the idea of having to leave his beloved racing machine behind. But it didn’t look like he was going to have a choice. Well, he’d just have to make sure it was properly locked down where it was and hope he’d get a chance to come and retrieve it at a later date.

World of Light

Pit vs Captain Falcon

Word Count: 2,931
Exp: +3
Level 5 Captain Falcon: 23/10 - > 26/10
Pit - Level: 5 - Total EXP: 266/50

After the games were done and Dawn informed everyone to get ready to head back to the Avenger, nearly everyone went right to the big gachapon machine with spirits inside. Of course some drifted over to the prize exchange or the food counter (which is where Pit initially stopped at, refueling after all the games with a bag of peanuts), but there was still a line forming. And Pit wasn’t really one to stand in a line.

Cutting wasn’t an option (that’d just be rude), and since he wasn’t interested in a new haircut or outfit Pit glanced around for any type of distraction while he waited for the crowd to thin. His eyes skimmed over all of the Seekers, and when they found Captain Falcon he remembered the fighting that had happened right before the last game.

Oh yeah! He’s still Galeem-ified. Pit squinted at the man, making sure to check for the light in his eyes behind the visor. That had to be remedied if they wanted the Captain to come with them. Though Pit wasn’t privy to the Underground Team’s chat about recruiting the F-Zero pilot, he figured it was a given that they would. Scarfing down the last of his snack, Pit waved at the man while he approached him.

"Hey Captain Falcon! You remember me, right?" he asked first. He knew sometimes the Gleaming had spotty memories. Unfortunately for him, Falcon was one of those cases of a spotty memory. Instead he merely assumed that Pit was simply a fan he might have interacted with at some past event.

”I always do my best to remember my fans.” He responded, attempting to be nice about this. Pit’s near ever-present smile turned into a slight grimace at the reply.

"Well, whatever, it’s fine. Anyway, I’ve still got some energy left to burn. Do you wanna spar? I bet we could find a good place and it’ll be just like a Smash match!"

”I’m not sure what ‘Smash’ means,” Cap said with a clueless look, ”But what the heck, why not? Haven’t got to stretch my fighting muscles in a while, so they could probably use a good workout.”

"Alright! Let's go! Be right back guys!" Pit called out to the other Seekers before he nodded at Captain Falcon. He led the way out of Ballyhoo's Big Top, head on a swivel. It was hard to tell how much time had passed while they were playing the minigames, especially since Carnival Town was just as lively then as it had been when they started.

There was a stadium in the city, but judging from the fanfare and balloons over the top it was already in use. The two of them had to make due with a mostly empty courtyard a little ways from the tent. Dutifully Pit tried to shoo away any onlookers, though most were glad to get back to a livelier section of town anyway. The angel did a couple stretches, then turned to face his soon-to-be opponent. He bounced on the balls of his feet.

"Ready?"

Falcon was stretching his rotator cuffs for a moment when this was asked. Then he shifted into cracking his gloved knuckles simultaneously with his neck, after which he performed a lightning fast kata of punches followed by a high-sweeping kick before making a “come on over” gesture with his right hand.

”Show me your moves!”

Despite the seeming invitation to strike first, Cap instead launched into a blistering sprint toward the angel that quickly and seamlessly transitioned into a ”Falcon Kick!” that propelled him forward in a fiery sliding kick that left a blazing trail of flame in his wake.

One advantage that Pit had over the man was that while Captain Falcon didn't remember him, he remembered the Captain. You didn't easily forget the first time you were blasted head on by a Falcon Punch, that was for sure. So for Pit, the pilot's arsenal of moves was a known factor - and his opening a familiar one.

Pit grinned as he deftly dodged the kick, sweeping himself just out of the fire's range so that he could quickly retaliate. The Palutena Bow came to his hand and he flicked the bladed weapon forward into a rapid spin, a divine buzzsaw headed right for the Captain's side.

It wasn’t hard to predict a retaliation after the opening attack was dodged. So Falcon prepared for it by defensively holding up his arms, which of course conjured a reddish pink bubble around his body that shielded him from the buzzsaw attack. Or at least it would until the bubble popped, which was why Falcon only shielded for a split second before he dodge-rolled past his attacker so he could then launch forward with an attempted Raptor Boost aiming to throw a fiery uppercut at the angel’s rear flank.

Pit pivoted, reversing the spin of the bow so that it acted as a makeshift defense. Fist struck the metallic gold, and then the two combatants broke apart as Pit jumped backward aided by a flap of his wings, putting some much needed distance between them.

When Pit brought the bow up into a firing stance, it was clear what he was about to do. Light coalesced into arrow form near instantly, and then shot straight for the pilot - followed up by a few more for good measure.

Falcon pivoted his upper body to dodge the first arrow. For the next couple he once again shielded himself, so that the reddish bubble would absorb the shots. But it shrank over time and with each shot it took, and so before it could reach a breaking point Falcon canceled his guard and took the last arrow in his left shoulder. For a fraction of a moment he reached a gloved over to the spot at which he was hit. Something about that show felt… familiar somehow. Had he fought something like this before? But then the red glow of his eyes flared up underneath his visor as he shrugged it off.

Then Falcon leaped up into the air, flames beginning to build around him again. ”Falcon Kick!” He called out as he diagonally shot back downward toward Pit. This was a pretty telegraphed attack that the Captain anticipated would be easily dodged, and so its primary purpose was to close the distance again and force Pit back into close range combat. The instant he hit the ground, Cap launched into a forward smash that took the form of a double roundhouse kick.

And Pit played right into his hands - almost. He dodged backward to avoid the first fiery kick, but not far enough to avoid the follow-up. His eyes widened, but he did have a shield of his own. In a blink his bow was gone and the Guardian Orbitars appeared between the two fighters. Falcon's feet crashed hard against the shield, driving Pit back slightly while locking him in place, lest he drop it too early.

Just as fast as usual! Pit thought. Then he burst right from his Orbitars into his Upperdash Arm, hoping to take Falcon by surprise with an aggressive follow up and send him flying, putting some space between them that way instead of with a riskier movement - though the Arm was risky in and of itself.

The Captain was lucky in this particular instance, because his shield had regenerated just enough for him to quickly put up his arms and tank the incoming Upperdash Arm. Seeing an opportunity to strike back, Falcon wasted no time in delivering punishment. But fortunately for Pit, Cap’s idea of a punishment was to use his infamous signature attack. ”Falcon…” he said as he winded up his fiery fist. ”...PUUUUNCH!” His baritone voice roared as he threw the fiery punch that produced its signature flames in the shape of a falcon. The punch was strong. Damn strong. Infamous for a reason, in fact. But the wind-up also made it telegraphed and more possible for Pit to avoid it and then proceed to punish the punisher.

Since Falcon had opted to block instead of dodge when the Arm struck Pit could pull it back without issue, though he was a little put out that his plan hadn't worked. The point blank punch that the pilot attempted next spooked Pit into backing off instead of following up, having been hit by it one too many times in casual matches before. He hopped backwards once, twice, three times until only the heat of the fire bird surrounding Falcon's fist could reach him.

"Close one!" he said, willing his bow back into his hand. He'd pinged the man with an arrow, so he knew that Captain Falcon was playing for keeps now. It was about time he did the same. His goal was to free Falcon from Galeem, so he could go all out knowing that he wouldn't be making a mistake like last time. Any damage he did would be swiftly undone. Of course he actually had to get a few good hits in, or at least one strong clean one.

"Round two!" he shouted, breaking the bow into dual swords. He dashed forward, the blades overlapped in front of him for some semblance of defense until he was close enough for a cross chop. Then he transitioned into a flurry of slashes and jabs, keeping Falcon at blade's length.

The Angel’s blades may have kept Falcon from getting in any good punches, but he could still kick just fine. After all, Falcon was still taller than Pit and thus his longer legs still had enough reach to match up with the dual swords. Mostly. Falcon Kick aside, the Captain wasn’t exactly a kicking specialist. So he knew had to try something sooner or later. That eventually came in the form of him dodge-rolling past an incoming slash from Pit’s blades, so that he ended up standing back to back against him. That was when Cap whirled around with a sweeping kick before launching himself at Pit with a ”Knee of Justice!” that - as its name implied - was an electrified knee smash aimed at the angel’s head.

For all of Falcon’s strength and speed, as usual his showmanship proved to be the fatal flaw in his fighting style. His apparent compulsion to call out his attacks made them increasingly predictable to any opponent who fought against him for a long enough period of time. And it was that which saved Pit from the head blow. He ducked, practically letting himself drop to the ground in order to avoid it as soon as he heard Falcon start to speak the name of his move. At that point he could leverage his own, shorter height. He rolled and pressed his palms to the stone floor of the courtyard, shooting up feet first in a handstand kick.

Falcon’s response was to shield against the kick. But the bubble was pretty shrunk down and had not regenerated as much since the last time he used it. That miscalculation resulted in Cap suffering a catastrophic shield break. The bubble blew up on him, throwing him right to the ground. He struggled back to his feet but was still in a dizzy and stunned state. That meant he couldn’t immediately retaliate - and worse - was totally vulnerable to whatever follow up Pit wanted to punish him with.

The angel continued up, tucked while still airborne and then found himself looking down at Captain Falcon. Got him!

He came back to ground with a double slash, slicing down from Falcon's shoulders. Back on his feet, he pressed the attack with a series of quick strikes. While Cap was dazed he had to work in as much damage as possible, and he did so with flashes of blue and gold. For the flurry's finisher he made an overhead cut, brought the hilts of his swords together and swung the now single blade in a lateral slash.

The next thing Pit did was press a hand to his chest and pull the friend heart out, practically in a rush to throw it into his sparring partner. And so close, there was no way he could miss! And the heart did its job as intended. The angel watched as all the damage he dealt to the Captain was washed away in an instant. But it wasn’t just the damage that disappeared. Indeed, the muteness in the man’s colors also washed away in addition to the red glow that tinted his eyes underneath his visor.

As Falcon pushed himself to his feet, he rubbed his chin with gloved fingers. Clearly the memories were beginning to flood back to him. ”I… I’ve fought you before, haven’t I… Pit?” He asked, rhetorically. He remembered it all beginning with himself and eleven others, plus a giant white-gloved hand. But then he remembered more fighters showing up, along with a second giant hand. Then vague memories of invaders from another dimension surfaced alongside the appearance of more fighters still. The last stand against Galeem proved to be the most “recent” thing he recalled.

”That thing, with the army of Master Hands? Did it really do this to me and my memories?” He figured he knew the answer to that question already, but asked anyway for confirmation’s sake.

The boy let out a sigh of relief, though it was quickly replaced by a wide, toothy smile. That had gone great - now just to get Cap up to speed.

"Yeah," Pit said in answer to both of the man's questions. "Galeem. When it beat us, it brainwashed everyone... everywhere! It somehow made a whole new world out of a bunch of pieces of other ones, which is where we are right now."

As if Falcon needed more proof, he pointed behind both of them into the sky where the shining second sun was nearly always visible. And without giving him more than a moment to come to term with all this, Pit went on.

"But we're fighting back against it! Trying to fix everything it did one boss at a time. Y'know, typical hero stuff." Pit clenched his fists and brought them up on either side of him in excitement, adding, "And with you helping us it'll be that much easier!"

”Ah, so you do need my help, then.” Cap said, his stern expression lacking any of the usual sportiness it typically contained. There was a time and a place for that sort of thing, and this clearly wasn’t it. But something about all of this was still nagging at him, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. At least not until he felt the rift tokens in his pocket, anyway.

”Hold on a minute.” Cap suddenly said, pulling out one of his rift tokens and then glancing back at the Tent they both exited from. ”Those ‘Character Orbs’... don’t tell me Galeem is responsible for that as well?”

Pit blinked in surprise. Cap caught on quick, didn't he? "Oh, yeah, they're..." He trailed off for a moment, his brain whirring as he thought about how he could explain. While there were a number of other people who'd be better at giving the newly freed Captain Falcon a rundown, Pit gave it his best shot. "...like copies of people's souls. We even call them spirits. I haven't used any yet, but they can make you stronger in a bunch of different ways."

After a beat he added, "But they aren't like actual ghosts or anything!"

”’Stronger’...” Cap repeated with his gloved hand clenching into a fist. Normally he’d just remain staunchly confident in his own skill and ability. But clearly that hadn’t worked the previous time he recalled facing Galeem. He might have to swallow his pride and add the strength of these ‘spirits’ to his own if he wanted to make sure things went differently the next time he had to fight that villain.

And then he suddenly smiled, ”Then it looks like I’ll have to put my racing on hold again, because we’ve got work to do.” he put the rift token back into his pocket with the others and turned back toward the tent. He competed hard to earn his tokens, so he may as well spend a few of them. But he turned back to Pit, ”You coming?” He didn’t like having to abandon the upcoming F-Zero Race at Big Blue, but obviously saving the world and stopping the bad guy was more important than a Grand Prix Race.

Although, now that he thought about it. ”By the way, my Blue Falcon is parked at the Big Blue racetrack over the harbor. I’d hate to abandon it there…”

With Captain Falcon's confirmation that he was officially joining the team, Pit returned his smile with a bright one of his own. He let out a celebratory whoop, joining Falcon to head to the big top once more. Tough and reliable, the angel was sure he'd make a good addition.

As for the iconic vehicle, Pit wasn't sure. "Maybe you can take it with you? The Lost Numbers - you'll meet them - have this huge flying ship. It could probably fit your machine inside, but I dunno how you'd get it up there."

Dawn had explained the 'fulton' system to him and half of the other Seekers already, but whether it would work on something like the Blue Falcon he had no idea. Thankfully Dawn herself had come down to pick them up, so they could find out pretty quickly.

World of Light

Word Count: 377
Level 5 Captain Falcon: 18/10
Exp Gained: +1
NEW EXP Balance--- 19/10

Witch One?

Captain Falcon certainly could not condone Ganondorf’s actions. He might have been of a mind to teach the man a lesson. But that would have disrupted the game and possibly ruined everyone’s enjoyment. That and he would have wasted his entire ninety seconds that he was supposed to use to hide. And who knows? Maybe by some miracle, the man’s strategy would pay off in some way? So he decided to live and let live on this occasion and was now on the hunt for a hiding spot.

Even if he sprinted at top speed, his limited time wouldn’t afford the Captain much in the way of exploratory opportunities. Instead he could really only look for the first place he thought might be suitable. That search brought him to the village tavern. It was empty, of course, not a customer or even a bartender in sight. As such, Falcon didn’t feel too bad when he slid over the tavern bar onto the side with all the mugs and taps. He crouched down behind the counter, even having just enough time to snatch a mug and partly fill it from one of the nearby taps. Not a full drink obviously, just a single shot if nothing else. And also not something he normally partook in, but this being a virtual world he figured it didn’t actually matter anyway.

After that he used his mimic veil to disguise himself. While sitting and hunched over, he could make himself small enough to look like just another barrel of ale among a literal wall of them sitting behind the counter of the bar. Even if one of the seekers did suspect someone hiding here, they’d have to take a huge gamble and hope they poke the right barrel without wasting too many attempts on poking the wrong one.

In the end, Cap couldn’t think of a more solid strategy than this. Well, maybe he could under a longer time limit, but given the circumstances he was confident this was the best choice he could have made. Now all he could do was sit and wait to see if it panned out or not.

---

Word Count: 495
Level 8 Roxas: 55/80
Exp Gained: +1
NEW EXP Balance--- 56/80

Witch One?

”Sheesh, what’s his problem?” Roxas asked himself under his own breath as he quickly tried to do what little exploration he could to find a hiding space. He figured some of the Seekers overall could be temperamental, but Ganondorf was apparently in a tier all his own. It was a wonder he was even agreeable enough to fight alongside them in the first place. Oh well, there was no time to think or worry about that stuff now.

Unlike Falcon, Roxas could search the town a little bit more thoroughly. With Flow Motion he could find quick routes across rooftops that would have taken a lot longer to get through on the ground level, even for someone as fast as the Captain. This meant that Roxas could find what he hoped would be a more remote hiding spot. That search eventually brought Roxas to, of all places, the stockades. A sort of jailhouse situated within what was likely supposed to be a barracks for guards. And the locked up jail cells gave him what he thought was a pretty clever idea.

Roxas grabbed the cell keys from the warden’s spot nearby and used it to make sure all the cells were locked shut. Then he tossed the keys between the bars of one cell and left them lying on the floor inside. This would make it harder for any seeker to open these jail cells since the keys themselves were locked inside one of said cells. After that Roxas used his Keyblade to make quick work of one of the other cells so that it would unlock and open for him, and once inside he shut the cell door and proceeded to use his Keyblade to lock it back. A very handy trick of the Keyblade that Roxas rarely ever found himself making strategic use of like this.

Once inside he used his mimic veil to disguise himself as bedding on the floor, which for this particular jail meant a rectangular pile of hay with a ragged blanket draped over it. Since the keys were in another cell, any seeker that came inside would assume that a hider had to have locked themselves in that cell and couldn’t possibly be in any other cell. So if Roxas was guessing right, that meant there was little chance anyone would suspect him in the cell that he DID choose to hide himself in. The only drawback here was the lack of a proper exit plan. But then again, if he'd set his hiding spot up correctly then he wouldn't necessarily need one. Or so he believed.

Of course, maybe he was overthinking this a tad bit? Nah, and besides, it was way too late to go back on this plan now.

World of Light

Word Count: 990
Level 6 Ganondorf: 37/60
Exp Gained: +2
NEW EXP Balance--- 39/60

Witch One?

Ganondorf had indeed dozed off in his taxi toward the end of the Kooky Cabbies minigame. And to the surprise of absolutely no one, Captain Falcon stood atop the podium in first place. Of course he did. The Warlord didn’t recall much about Falcon in terms of the latter’s career as a racer, but he knew enough to know that he was the obvious favorite to win that minigame from the start. He sort of half-expected to see one of Bower’s Troop up there as well, given what he recalled about their occasional racing games they held in their world. But instead, he saw two of the men from the other half of the Seekers. Maybe Bowser’s own incompetence got the better of him in the end?

But it wasn’t the winners’ circle that proved to be interesting. No it was the two simultaneous fights happening between competitors as they were all brought back to the circus tent. One of which was between Nadia and the nasty girl Ganondorf had been lumped together with in a previous game. He had no interest in whatever their quarrel was but did note Nadia’s use of a Friend Heart against the latter. Were they really going to consider recruiting her? Well, if that was the case then she had better be able to back up her boasting with actual fighting skill. Only time would tell.

But the quarrel that actually caught the warlord’s attention was one being fought by the smart-mouthed Twilight Princess. He had no concern with Midna herself but he did give an almost insulted glare at the illusory opponent she fought against. Was that supposed to be… himself? That poor excuse of a pale imitation? Or perhaps it was simply another form of Phantom Ganon? Ganondorf chose to believe the latter because even a pale copy of him would NEVER be felled that easily.

Bah, it didn’t matter. Whatever the quarrel was, Ganondorf chose to ignore it. And besides, it was time for the next minigame to be selected. Something about witches needing to hide from a team of four designated to hunt them down. And when he realized he was not going to get to be one of the hunters, the warlord let out a growl under his breath. Him?! Running and hiding? Never!

”Damn that Ballyhoo!” He barked in his anger, ”If not for the promise of spoils I would raze thy blasted tent to ashes.” He threatened, not even bothering to try and hide his absolute contempt for these blasted minigames. Clearly whatever novelty or amusement these games might have offered to him had long since worn off. Now all he cared about was ending this farce once and for all.

”Why run and hide when I can easily crush those fools chosen to chase me?” Ganondorf moved not to hide but to instead make his stand against the seeker team, having no interest in playing this game the intended way. As he did, the witch hat slid off of his head and his boot callously crushed it into the ground without him even giving it a glance.

”Is he serious?” Captain Falcon asked, "That's not very sportsmanlike."

”Hey, it's just this last game then it'll be over, right?” Roxas suddenly asked, walking up and picking Ganondorf’s witch off the ground in an attempt to give it back and calm him down. Unfortunately, Roxas was in for a bit more than he bargained for when Ganondorf suddenly swung his arm around and knocked the Nobody back a distance until he landed flat on his rear end. He guessed there wasn't going to be any getting through to him at this point.

”I’m pretty sure that was a ‘no'.” said Falcon, even helping the grateful Roxas back to his feet. Then he sighed with disappointment, ”Well, we can’t force him to do something he doesn’t want to do. May as well not waste anymore of our time limit and get this game started.”

And just like that, Ganondorf stood alone at the spot the hiders had all spawned in at. Now that he was alone, Ganondorf used his time limit not to hide, but instead prepare defenses against what the rules described would be a fight slanted heavily in his enemies’ favor. He quickly summoned a squad of Moblin Archers and put them to work to gather nearby environmental objects that could be used for defensive purposes. Ganondorf was no fool, he had heard the description of the rules and one of those rules had stood out to him:

”If you poke something that isn’t a hider ten times, then you’re eliminated!

With time running short, Ganondorf sent the Moblin archers to spread out and hide in separate locations around the immediate area that they could take shots from. Their orders were to make sure they moved from location to location in between taking shots. This would either create the illusion of there being more than five of them, or it would also lead the four seekers on a wild goose chase that wouldn’t necessarily end with them finding Ganondorf.

Meanwhile, Ganondorf himself finally picked the witch hat back up. It served as a veil that could camouflage him, and he did at least want to give himself some element of surprise. So he used it to disguise himself as a horse-drawn cart that sat nearby and was hopefully unassuming. When he felt the time was right, he could spring an ambush of sorts. He wasn’t overly fond of relying on guerilla tactics like this but he was obviously not above using them in such a slanted scenario like this one.

World of Light

Word Count: 941
Level 5 Captain Falcon: 16/10
Exp Gained: +2
NEW EXP Balance--- 18/10

Kooky Cabbies II

”Good luck with your Doctor’s appointment, Mr. Perkins.” Captain Falcon cheerfully told elderly passenger as the man exited the cab. ”And have yourself a fine day!” He added, calling back to his waving passenger as he sped off back into another search for a fare.

“Thank you, Captain!” called the elderly man, but unfortunately it seemed Falcon was already away before he could hear that.

Unlike Roxas - who stuck to a specific area; or Ganondorf - who didn’t even bother to participate - the Captain had been zooming along the streets and roads of the entire island city. His sticking almost exclusively to red fares meant that his passengers were requesting locations all over the city, near and far. It also had the side effect of really racking up Cap’s earnings and overall standing on the minigame’s scoreboard, not to mention him almost never being in danger of running out of time. He really had become the driver to beat. But if his career in the Grand Prix taught him anything, it was that being ahead of the pack also came with having the largest target painted on your tail.

And Falcon certainly wasn’t wrong. Indeed, as the minigame marched on and more and more of the competitors were eliminated, those who remained seemed to become that much more focused and aggressive in their tactics. Some of them in fact began to outright single out the Captain in multiple attempts to sabotage him and eliminate him from the game. The most obvious of these perpetrators were Bowser and his son, Junior. Bowser’s modus operandi appeared to be the direct approach as he would often try ramming Falcon’s cab or running him off the road. And his experience from Kart racing made him a genuine threat in this regard. But these were tactics that Falcon had become all too familiar with thanks to his time here in Carnival Town racing against Morton and Lemmy Koopa, who often employed similar if not identical direct attack strategies against him. Some clever braking and creative steering was usually enough to avoid getting steamrolled by the king’s big car. ”All the muscle in the galaxy doesn’t mean much if you can’t actually hit anything with it, you know!” He called to Bowser briefly after managing to dodge one of his rams and then zooming away from him.

By contrast, Junior’s M.O. appeared to be a less direct approach. His smaller size meant he couldn’t be as liberal with ramming other drivers. So instead he appeared to use his oversized paint brush to literally paint sludgy hazards on the roads in his wake wherever he was driving. The obvious solution to this was to simply avoid driving the same roads and routes that Junior took. But that wasn’t always possible, as sometimes a requested destination was right in the thick of where Junior had laid some of his paint traps down. Avoiding those wasn’t always possible, and at times required Falcon to ease up on the gas to avoid losing control and spinning out. Aggressive driving was one thing but the Captain was certainly not fond of people utilizing actual weapons of any kind. It took something away from the skill element and made the game rely a bit more on chance as a result. Not exactly his cup of tea, as the Captain preferred to earn his trophies the old fashioned way. But nevertheless, he couldn’t control how others chose to play the game. But after a round of playing “dodge the goop” with Junior, Cap shot him with a concerned look. ”Best not overdo it with the traps. Wouldn’t want to accidentally fall into one yourself, now would you?” He warned the prince as he zoomed ahead to continue on toward his destination at the time.

And then there was the robotic girl, Blazermate. A classic example of yesterday’s teammates becoming today’s rivals. Although based on the interactions Cap had with her during Film Those Freaks, he hadn’t taken her for the sabotage type, and yet here they were. Then again, unlike the Koopas, she wasn’t exactly “targeting” Falcon in the strictest sense. Rather she was driving recklessly and that on occasion put her on a collision course with Cap and his blue taxi cab. He had to pull a handbrake maneuver to avoid getting sideswiped by her cab. ”Close, but no dice I’m afraid! Hahaha!” He told her, not even sure if she had been intentionally trying to take him out. Either way, the Captain kept on living to continue driving for the time being.

After this things seemed to quiet down a bit. It was probably because more competitors had run out the clock and thus there were fewer still on the road. In fact by Falcon’s count, there were only a small handful still driving. More and more he passed by cabs that weren’t moving or other competitors who were no longer in their cars, which signified to him that they’d been eliminated. There couldn’t have been much more than maybe three or four drivers left by now. Five, tops.

”Seems we’re at the final leg. Even my own timer is starting to get lower now.” He said to himself, noting that even he couldn’t keep his time going forever. He made course for another red fare, figuring he could maybe get one or two more done with his current time. Maybe three if he really pushed it. ”The checkered flag is growing nearer, folks. Time to see who claims it first!”

World of Light

Word Count: 3,069
Level 8 Roxas: 51/80
Exp Gained: +4
NEW EXP Balance--- 55/80

Kooky Cabbies II

After a bit of a rocky start with his first passenger, Roxas managed to find a bit of a groove to the minigame. Sure, he wasn’t doing as well as the likes of Zenkichi or Captain Falcon, but he was reasonably sure he was at least somewhere in the middle of the pack. He’d mostly been doing green and yellow fares, and so more than likely that was why his score remained relatively middling by comparison. He’d also stuck around the western and southern sections of the island city, mostly in and around Mixed Martial Park where he had initially begun the game at.

And then Roxas made the mistake of trying a red fare. ”Where to?” Roxas asked the NPC guy after picking him up.

“Pressure Point.” The guy said, “And step on it! I’ve got a hot date waiting for me so you better not make me late!”

Roxas swallowed hard. Pressure Point? That didn’t sound familiar, so it was obviously somewhere outside of the area he’d been sticking too. Little did he know that from where he currently was in Payback Square, Pressure Point was a decently long distance away on the northern tip of town. But the Nobody was undeterred and hit the gas anyway. This destination being a place he didn’t know, Roxas found himself relying on the compass arrow - which he hadn’t needed to rely on as much in previous fares after becoming a bit more familiar with that part of town.

North - past the ABS Tower and then Mixed Martial Park, then through Gainsville before making a hard right through Squared Circle Outlets before making a hard left past Backspin Courts and continuing north through Catbird Grove. After that it looked like a matter of following the road up to Pressure Point, which as its name suggested was the highest point of the cliff that could be found on this end of the island. Roxas had been speeding his way here to try and make good time like the passenger had asked him to. As he rounded the road circling the cliff’s edge, disaster struck.

Another cab came barrelling from the opposite direction, obviously one of the other Seekers taking part in the game. It looked like one of the Koopas, either Bowser or Junior. Although Roxas didn’t exactly get a chance to register who it was at the time. Either way, the Koopa’s reckless and aggressive driving put the two cabs on a collision course. Both swerved to miss each other, with Roxas swerving to the left while the other swerved right. But that was where the problem got even worse for Roxas. Roxas’ swerve took him right toward the cliff’s edge!

”OH NO!” The Nobody suddenly yelled when it became clear his car was about to go over the edge into the sea below. The Passenger was already gone, probably having ditched the ride when the two cabs nearly collided. That left Roxas to try and bail from the taxi before he inevitably went over the cliffside with it. He vaulted out from his driver’s seat and used Flow Motion to launch himself back up onto the edge of the cliff just as the tax began its nosedive toward the jagged rocks and seawater below.

”Phew, that was way too close.” Roxas said aloud to himself between gasps for air. And then something else hit him, ”Wait, does this mean I’m out of the running now? Ah, man…” He went from looking shaken to looking dejected and disappointed. Well, there was nothing to do now but start walking. Roxas jammed his hand into his pockets and began to hike back down the cliff road, hoping maybe he’d find something else to occupy his time with until the game was over.

With so many competitors around Grapital City, especially the main island, it didn’t take long for Roxas to find someone else up the creek without a paddle. On the main exterior road that circled the eastern coast around Trophy Heights, he spotted a motionless taxi cab, thoughtfully pulled over to the margin so that it wouldn’t obstruct anyone else headed this way. A couple dozen feet away, the unmistakable golden glow of Sandalphon’s halo shone softly in the shade of a tree, signaling where the archangel herself now calmly sat. After her rendezvous with Goldlewis she’d delivered her dozy but accommodating passenger to her destination on the south side of Haymaker Park, earning herself another precious few seconds, but the writing had been on the wall for a while. Now, just like in Connected Climbing Chaos, she had accepted her loss and decided to relax instead, enjoying the view of Low Key Key’s tropical beaches and sparkling shallows the next island over. Of course, this time she didn’t have anyone to keep her company, but when her keen eyes spotted Roxas, Sandalphon gave him a courteous wave.

”Oh, hey! Sandalphon!” He called out, returning the wave with one of his own before he shrugged and started jogging toward where she sat. He spoke again once he was actually closer and didn’t have to shout, ”You're out of the game, too?” He asked her, though noting that her cab appeared to still be there and intact. ”But you still have your car, right? You didn’t give up, did you?”

“I exhausted my allotted time. My manner of driving is ill-suited to the nature of this game,” Sandalphon admitted, her gaze settling on Roxas. “Am I to assume from your choice of words that you lost your car? Are you well?” She prepared herself to bring out her Aether Lance if the boy needed healing.

”We were being timed?” Roxas asked with a blink, having apparently not noticed that detail about this game. He knew there was an overall time limit to the game, but they were also being individually timed? ”Must have missed that part of the rules. I’m not hurt though, I think this game disables damage sort of like the climbing one did. As for my car?” He made a gesture with his flattened hand, slowly inching it forward before suddenly making it take a nosedive downward, complete with a “falling” whistle and exaggerated explosion sound effect. ”Nearly collided with one of the others and had to swerve to miss ‘em. Trouble is I swerved toward the edge of a cliff and… yeah…”

Sandalphon’s pupils blinked off, then on again. “Goodness. That…must be disappointing, yes?” Despite the flatness of her tone, she seemed earnest to offer Roxas her sympathy. “If it’s any consolation, it shouldn’t be long until this is over. By my estimation, the difficulty of the ‘trips’ continues to ramp up over time to ensure that the game does not last indefinitely.” As she spoke, she unwrapped a couple honey candies stored in her hip bag, then delicately placed them in her mouth. Her pupils became carets as she savored their flavor, and after a moment of consideration, she held out one for Roxas as well. “Here. Honey is the perfect food, packed with vital ingredients. As I understand it, sweet confectioneries also improve humans’ moods.”

”Thanks!” He said as he took the candy and immediately popped it into his mouth. Once he did that he went ahead and sat down nearby, even reclining back against the tree they were both sitting under.

Practically the second he seated himself, Sandalphon laid out her request. “We can still make effective use of this time, however. This would be a good opportunity to explain everything you can about Organization XIII. I wish to ascertain all that I can about this faction, both in terms of individual members and collective goals.”

”Oh right, you did say you wanted to ask me more details about that, huh?” He closed his eyes briefly and thought back to everything he knew about the Organization, and then he opened them again and was ready to talk. ”From what I understand, the current Organization has some new people in it that I don’t know, but I can tell you plenty about the old Organization from my world. But that’s gonna require some context.”

Sandalphon’s pupils became inverted triangles. “Understood, but please be sure to summarize non-critical details.”

”In my world, Light and Darkness play pivotal roles in maintaining the balance of the realms. In fact there’s two main realms, technically more but the most relevant ones here are the Realm of Light and Realm of Darkness. The Realm of Light is where most people live, it’s made up of a collection of worlds that used to all be one world before an event called the Keyblade War broke it up into smaller worlds. That’s where you’ll find cities and towns and stuff. And then there’s the Realm of Darkness, it’s kind of a wasteland devoid of any real life, and Light too for that matter. The only thing that lives in it are monsters called Heartless. They sometimes venture into the Realm of Light where they prey on people with strong Hearts and corrupt those Hearts until they become Heartless like themselves, I guess it’s sort of how they spread and reproduce. And worst of all, normal weapons can’t destroy them, only temporarily send them packing before they inevitably reappear in some other location. Only the Keyblade is capable of permanently destroying a Heartless and freeing the corrupt Heart held prisoner within them.”

So far, no mention of Organization XIII, so Sandalphon assumed this must be important background information. She nodded to encourage Roxas to continue, even if she was already impulsively thinking of ways she could have worded this explanation more succinctly.

Roxas continued, ”Heartless weren’t the only threat. Sometimes, when a person with a strong Heart becomes a Heartless, the shell left behind can continue to live and exist with a will of its own. Without the Heart they once had, they possess no emotions, only memories of what it was like to feel them. Because they lacked the core of who they used to be, these beings were named Nobodies. Organization XIII was a group of 13 powerful Nobodies working toward the same goal: restoring their Hearts and becoming whole again.”

The concept of a Nobody intrigued Sandalphon, since she too lacked emotions, but unlike these people she’d never possessed them to begin with. “Driven by that terrible emptiness,” she reasoned.

”Don’t feel too much sympathy,” Roxas warned, ”The Organization was willing to do anything and everything it took to achieve its goal, even hurt others. And in the end, their stated goal wasn’t even their true goal. The Leader was actually after an entirely selfish goal of his own and had been lying to and manipulating the other members of Organization XIII to reach that end. A former Keyblade Master named Xehanort sought to recreate the Keyblade War in order to summon the ultimate power: Kingdom Hearts. To that end, he willingly split himself into a Heartless and a Nobody so that they could be in multiple places at once to further that goal. His Nobody, taking the name Xemnas, founded Organization XIII and sought out other Nobodies that he could recruit for his cause. And I was one of them.”

Sandalphon’s brow furrowed slightly. This explanation, fraught with jargon from the boy’s world, took a little more of her brain’s processing power than she initially thought. Still, if her perceptive powers allowed her to handle simultaneous conversations, this shouldn’t be an issue. Based on his admission to being a Nobody, though, did Roxas lack emotions? He didn’t seem that way to her so far.

Roxas had paused, taking a breath. This was honestly the first time he’d ever tried to explain all this to someone, and only now was he realizing just how complicated and outright confusing it all probably sounded. ”Most of the original members left the Organization by the end. I was the first who did so. But others did sometime after that. In fact they ended up turning against it and Xehanort in the end and helped with his ultimate defeat, so I doubt many of them would have rejoined him in this world. But there’s some I could point to who might be around and playing some part in the current Organization.”

The archangel nodded. “By all means.” She looked around, hoping that the end of the game wouldn’t interrupt the conversation. Whether she did badly or the best drivers really were that good, though, there were no signs of wonderworld collapse just yet.

”First there’s Xehanort himself.” Roxas said. ”He’s a powerful Keyblade Master who embraced the Darkness in its entirety and learned how to use it to possess and take control of others. Then there’s his Heartless, who took the name Ansem. He’s probably one of the most powerful Heartless in existence, able to summon and control other Heartless - and even awaken the Darkness in others’ Hearts in order to make them do his bidding. And then there’s Xehanort’s Nobody, who took the name Xemnas. He’s the one who created the original Organization. He’s powerful in his own right, able to wield countless energy weapons he calls “void” blades. He can even summon massive volleys of them in projectile form to overwhelm his opponents.”

Abilities like those of Xemnas were nothing to sneeze at, certainly, but Sandalphon took particular note of what Roxas said about Xehanort ‘awakening Darkness’. If he could control or change others, that made him a threat on par with some of the demons she’d faced in the past. She couldn’t help but wonder–could he awaken ‘Darkness’ in anyone’s heart? The archangel would have liked to think that hers harbored no ‘Darkness’ to awaken.

”If you can believe it, Xehanort even managed to utilize time travel to recruit his younger self from the past. The younger Xehanort is still just an apprentice with the Keyblade, but his embracement of the Darkness still makes him a threat just the same. He’s a specialist with time magic, from what I remember. The last one I should bring up is Xigbar. That guy was always a complete mystery. No one ever knew who he was before the Organization, but I do know he was there with Xemnas as a founding member. He specializes in Space magic, can make himself float and teleport around while he shoots at you with his arrow guns. He doesn’t seem like much, but be careful around him. He wasn’t just a founding member, but he also worked with the original Xehanort years before the Organization was even founded. You can always bet he knows more than he lets on, so don’t let his playful and goofy subordinate act fool you, he’s just as dangerous as the rest of them.”

That seemed to conclude Roxas’ report, given the obvious differences in the Organization XIII roster in his world and this one. Sandalphon nodded. “Thank you for the information. With all that said, do you believe that the Nobodies’ ultimate goal is the same, that being Kingdom Hearts’? Do you know anything else about this power?”

”Well,” Roxas began, tilting his head thoughtfully. ”the thing with Kingdom Hearts is that it’s an ancient power that supposedly goes all the way back to the birth of the world, like a creation story, I guess. And so as far as I know nobody knew exactly what that power entailed, just that it was supposedly the source of all Light and the Heart of all worlds. But Xehanort believed he could use it to essentially rewrite reality, and create a world that he was convinced would be better than the one that already existed. So if he’s still around in this world, then I’m willing to bet that he thinks that Kingdom Hearts can undo what Galeem has done.”

For a moment, Sandalphon considered that in silence. Then she inhaled deeply through her nose. “If Kingdom Hearts possesses comparable power in this world, then I share your concern. Such power does not belong in the hands of those without love or sorrow. And choices like what would be best for everyone are not for mere men to make.”

She stared out at the wonderworld’s sea, thinking about Balan’s ability to create simulations like this one. The penguins on that icy mountain and the creatures of the Old World had all just been toys, created and deleted at his whim to play bit parts in the background of others’ enjoyment. The idea that someone could make and unmake the World of Light was no less terrifying. “Our next step, then, is to discern how Organization XIII plans to obtain Kingdom Hearts, and how assisting us accomplishes their goal.”

”Well, I can at least tell you how Xehanort originally tried to do it, by pitting 13 vessels of Darkness against 7 vessels of Light in battle. That was how he nearly managed to do it previously. Of course, for all I know the rules for that are different in this world.” Roxas remarked. After a short pause he felt the need to clarify a previous detail, ”I can tell you're curious, about the fact that I’m a Nobody. Well that fact was true, but I did leave out one detail. Nobodies don’t remain empty forever, they only start out that way, but they eventually come to regain their ability to feel over time. It was the biggest lie Xemnas ever told us, designed to keep us in line and ensure that we don’t go against the Organization’s goal or question our orders.”

Sandalphon’s pupils turned back to power symbols. “Hm. A transient state, then. So in truth, the root of the problem is not the Nobody phenomenon, but Xehanort. Or…Xemnas?” For a moment, her pupils became stress marks. “Nevermind, I believe I understand. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. I suspect when we conclude our time in Carnival Town, however, there will be an all-hands meeting to pool our knowledge, and…it may be prudent for you to explain again. For the others’ sake, of course.”

”You’re probably right.” Roxas said with a sigh. ”Sure makes me wish one or two of the others I knew were around. They’d probably do a much better job of explaining it all than me.” He added with a small laugh.