Double

Kingdom Hearts: Seekers of Light (Double & NobodiesHero)

Sam lowered his blade, letting out an audible sigh of relief, "Ashe?" a fight right now would have been the worst possible scenario, given that the Microbots hadn't quite finished their work on his arm yet, "The Empire happened." was his response to all of her questions, "Imperators, two of them. They were controlling waves of these grey creatures. We were doing fine until the Imperators decided to butt in." by this point, Sam had wiped the blade of his sword on the prosthetic arm before returning it to the sheathe clipped to his back. He also started walking deeper into the palace, expecting Ashe would keep pace with him.

"We were under siege for days, so we couldn't get any messages out. Like I said, we were doing well enough against those grey things, but then those Imperator bastards decided to get involved personally. One of them got their hands on the Emperor and the Diplomat while I was too occupied with his grunts. By the time I tried to stop him, he had them at blade point and took them through one of those portal things they use. I tried to follow but then the Imperator's partner jumped me from behind. Took me completely off guard. Gah, that's right! That Imperator, the one that jumped me..." his voice trailed off briefly, as if he was still processing the information himself, "...he had a Keyblade, Ashe! A genuine Keyblade that he pulled out of thin air that nearly took my whole damn arm off! What's the deal? I thought Leon said only Sora could wield the Keyblade, so why does the Empire have it?"

"We gotta warn everyone about this." he told her, still walking without even realizing that he was leading them to the throne room, "But I have to check out the palace first, find whoever's still around, maybe even the Diplomat if we're lucky. I don't think it's been too long so who knows? The Imperators might not have taken them offworld, at least not yet." only then did he notice voices coming from the other side of the doors leading into the throne room, familiar voices at that, "Come on!" and without any other word Sam wasted no time and burst the doors open, practically kicking them in.

"Come on, Your Excellency. Is this so-called alliance worth all this trouble? Even now?" It was the red-haired Imperator, who had the Emperor shackled to his throne. Nearby, Daisy Duck - the Diplomat - was being held by a cage made of light energy of all things. And she was currently being guarded by the still-hooded Imperator, very likely the one Sam had described wielding the Keyblade earlier.

"Hah! Trouble, all right. Trouble that YOU cause!" that was Daisy, but she soon shut up when the red-head suddenly hurled a fiery chakram that slammed against the cage and bounced back to his hand.

"I don't remember inviting you to the debate, so why don't just pipe down and - Roxas, the doors!" Sam's sudden appearance got the Imperators' attention, and the one apparently named Roxas literally leaped into action, placing himself between the intruders and the Emperor's throne. And just like Sam said, Roxas summoned the Keyblade, though it didn't quite look like what Leon had often described. Instead it was almost entirely black in color, and seemed to just pulse with Darkness. As before, Roxas remained totally silent.

"Looks like we lucked out after all!" Sam told Ashe, drawing his Lightning Edge from its sheathe. On one hand, this was mildly terrifying. If what Leon said was any indication, the Keyblade was easily one of the most powerful weapons there is, and so facing one in battle was almost certainly going to be impossibly difficult. On the other hand, however, Sam had a score to settle with this Roxas character.

@NobodiesHero

The World: A Dazzling Twilight Dream

Offline ~ Bedroom

It was a typical afternoon for Kotaro. Sitting in front of his PC, Kotaro was engaged in a... "friendly debate" on the forums. He'd become quite active and prolific there, particularly his thread he started titled "Mythology of The World" which was intended to serve as an open discussion and debate about the game's background lore and its history. Honestly, at the time he first created the thread, Kotaro wasn't holding his breath for activity, believing he was alone in his fascination for the game's storyline. To his surprise, however, the thread had since gathered quite a modest following. And right now, Kotaro was debating the origins of the Lost Grounds with one of his online acquaintances. At least, he was until his computer pinged him with a new email. Kotaro opened up his inbox and could scarcely believe what he was reading...

To: Grimsley
From: KISU
Subject: I need your help!
Attachment: -

Body: Grimsley,

My name is Kohe Nanae and I'm Hitsu's son. I sometimes helped out during class for her.

I'm not sure if you heard the news with school being out for the next month or so but...my mother's fallen into a coma. I found her two nights ago on the computer, slumped over and nonresponsive. It was terrifying. I still feel numb, in a state of shock to be honest. Ever since she and I relocated from Tokyo, we only have each other. We were on our own and now I'm on my own.

The doctors told me she's stable for the time being but that's not enough for me! I can't just wait around for her to recover. She is the most important person in my life and I will do whatever I can to help her. I know she enjoyed your company and that she spent time with you and your friends outside of school. I think she event invited you all over for dinner last Christmas? In some ways you guys were like secondary children to her and I know she might not like that I'm involving you but I had to still ask.

I've been doing some research and trying to piece together her last few moments. She was playing The World with this account (KISU) so I am going to take it over and investigate from inside the game. Supposedly there are a handful of other cases of people falling into comas who also have accounts in The World. I don't know what any of this means but I am going to find out. My other account can't be used, it's better if I leave it at that. So for now I'll be using my mother's and I hope you'll help me.

If you want to help, meet me at Delta Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground at 3:00 PM, you're not the only one of my mother's students I've contacted. One last thing, I looked over the forums and noticed a number of threads started by you pertaining to discussing The World.
If the answer does lie within the game, it may possibly relate to the in-game writings. Please tell me if there's anything in the discussions that might help, every little bit counts. Thanks in advance.

-Kohe Nanae

"No way! Hitsu-sensei is...?" he didn't want to finish the thought. He remembered Hitsu-sensei well, and Kohe too. He even recalled trying to talk to Kohe early on but had no real luck at getting him to open up. He owed a lot to Hitsu, not the least of which being his current participation and interest in The World. If she was in trouble, Kotaro owed it to her to help in whatever way he could. So without any debate over the matter, Kotaro switched back to the forums and quickly changed the topic of discussion in his thread.

Topic: Mythology of The World
User: Grimsley
RE: Have any of you guys ever heard of people falling into a coma while playing the game?

Once that was done, Kotaro spent the next hour rereading his various posts and notes about The World, hoping to - as Kohe suggested - find some kind of clue hidden within them. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be anything related to comas. Hopefully that would change after Kotaro switched his research focus. For now, though, all that was left was to log in and meet Kohe.

Online ~ Mac Anu

In the root town, a series of golden-yellow rings heralded the arrival of an older-looking gentlemen in a black coat and hat. The Flick Reaper named Grimsley appeared and the login was complete. Grim stepped forward but only for a moment. Deciding this meeting was too urgent to waste time, he turned toward the Chaos Gate and interacted with it. Within the menu that popped up, Grim entered the keywords from the email and clicked to confirm his choice. Just as suddenly as he appeared, the Flick Reaper vanished within a similar set of golden rings.

Online ~ Hulle Granz Cathedral

"Is this... a Lost Ground?" Grim asked himself when the area finished loading. He walked toward the giant cathedral before him and opened the doors. While he approached, he noticed the alerts signifying many of his friends logging on and he wondered if they had all received the same email from Kohe. When he entered the cathedral, Grim was greeted with the sight of only one player, and it wasn't KISU.

"Al?" asked Grim as he stepped forward. Just as many had taken to calling him Grim, he had also been calling Allegory "Al" for short. It looked like Al was the only other one who had arrived for now, but that at least was proof that Grim was not the only one to have received an email, "You got the email too, right?" as he asked, Grim began to notice the melody that accompanied this particular area. It was nothing like anything he'd heard in other areas or dungeons. The statue at the center of the cathedral was also very eye-catching. On any other day Grim would be spending several minutes, if not hours, examining the statue and the rest of the room for that matter. But today he would set aside his personal interests to get down to the matter at hand.

Innocence Lost: An RP of Child Soldiers and Science Fantasy

Name: Karrsh

Age: 18

Physical Description:

Cyborg Body

Important Items:
-Cyborg Body: Most of Karrsh's body is now machine. In fact, only his head (save for the eyes), one of his arms, and his vital organs are still organic. His body may as well be that of an armored machine fine tuned to make him a walking weapon. Prosthetics are not unheard of in the Ascendancy of Man, but they are strictly regulated and are required to maintain a certain level of photogenic appearance. Karrsh is perhaps the sole exception to this rule, his body ignoring photogenic customization in favor of complete and total combat optimization. Karrsh is stronger, faster, and more durable than any organic human could hope to be. His optical implants allow for super accurate and precise targeting, able to pin-point structural weaknesses in inorganic objects or even pressure point weaknesses in humanoid targets. Supposedly he once stopped a sniper's bullet from killing him by catching it in his cyborg hand before it could hit his still-organic head. As amazing as that sounds, it came at a very hefty cost. Most obviously, Karrsh's body now being more machine than human. Blending into crowds is simply impossible for him, due to the lack of photogenic customizations. Also, Kaisoken dust appears to have no effect on him whatsoever, so learning magic is simply impossible.

Short Bio: Karrsh's actual birthplace and heritage remain unknown. His parents were dead for all he knew, and no other relatives made themselves known, so Karrsh was raised early on in a Catholic orphanage. The nuns running the orphanage were nice enough, kind to the kids but strict when they needed to be. Apparently that wasn't good enough for Karrsh, because he attempted many times to "escape", ie run away. Being so young, he was caught every single time, and repeatedly warned by Sister Regina that this would only lead to him being kidnapped or God-knows-what-else. By around age 15 Karrsh was able to successfully get out of the orphanage... and Sister Regina's warning was almost immediately proven right.

Karrsh was never fully aware of the war that was going on, the orphanage didn't exactly care about news and current events. While on the streets Karrsh found himself caught in an explosive attack. That was all he remembered, some loud noises and a flash of some kind, maybe a bit of intense heat as well but that was it. The next time Karrsh became aware of himself, he was horrified to find himself in a body he hardly recognized. Apparently the explosion wrecked his body, and probably should have killed him too. Someone in the government must have thought this was the perfect excuse to test out some of their newer cybernetic technology. Only a small amount of Karrsh's human body remained intact, the rest had been replaced with this armored body that was apparently the pinnacle of cyborg engineering. Karrsh was dropped into the war almost immediately. No real training, his cyborg body barely required it. Instead the 15 year old was shipped to a base and told to kill as many of "them" before "they" could kill him.

And boy did he kill them. Karrsh didn't even need weapons, the speed, strength, and stamina of his cyborg body was more than enough of a weapon to wipe out countless alien hostiles. And that was the extent of Karrsh's time in the war. No promotions, no leaves, no discharges. Just battle after battle after battle. Occasionally he was made to wage a one-man siege against enemy-bases and was instructed to just kill everyone he came across until the place was empty.

During one of those solo incursions the aliens were ready for him. They hit him with as many EMP weapons as they could, and that was enough to shut down Karrsh completely. Next thing Karrsh knew, he was kept in a maximum security prison camp, his energy cells drained completely save for just enough to keep him conscious so he could be questioned... not that Karrsh could offer any useful information to his captors. Eventually though, he was granted freedoms little by little, and was soon freed entirely. He wasn't alone, either, apparently these Rau've had captured a number of child soldiers and were now offering each of them a chance to return to their previous lives. Well, offering everyone except Karrsh. Because of his cyborg body, Karrsh would likely never get the luxury of going back. So with little other choice in the matter, Karrsh decided to keep fighting... what else could a cyborg like him possibly do with his life after all?

Spell List: N/A
Exceptional Skill List:
-Exceptional Endurance x2
-Exceptional Unarmed x2
-Exceptional Athletics
-Exceptional Precision

The World: A Dazzling Twilight Dream

Offline_

Appearance:



Name: Kotaro Nagano

Age: 23

Major: History and Mythology

Part-time Job: Campus Store

Personality in 3 Words: Studious, Polite, Passionate

Dream Job: Mythology Professor

Online_

Appearance:



Username: Grimsley (friends and party members often shorten it to Grim)

Class: Flick Reaper

Current Level: 13

General Combat Style: Uses wide, sweeping blows typical of his character class. Tries to wear the heaviest armor available to the class, as he often finds himself in the Tanking role, even if Flick Reapers aren't actually optimized for such. He'll also stock up on extra healing items in the event there isn't a Wavemaster around.

General Playing Style: Kotaro is probably one of the only players who plays the game for its story and lore, actually bothering to pay attention to NPC dialogue, area/dungeon design, and even item/weapon descriptions. Despite its player driven economy and events,
The World is absolutely teeming with lore and tidbits of story, and Kotaro is determined to find it all and fully understand it for himself.

The World: A Dazzling Twilight Dream

@Tranquility

I don't know I think I gentleman like Reaper sounds like a really cool concept for a character. Besides, it's actually very difficult to find a picture of a remotely Reaper like character because, well it's always just the straight-up Grim Reaper or some overly dark and evil-looking thing.

The World: A Dazzling Twilight Dream

Offline_

Appearance:



Name: Kotaro Nagano

Age: 23

Major: History and Mythology

Part-time Job: Campus Store

Personality in 3 Words: Studious, Polite, Passionate

Dream Job: Mythology Professor

Online_

Appearance:



Username: Grimsley (friends and party members often shorten it to Grim)

Class: Flick Reaper

Current Level: 13

General Combat Style: Uses wide, sweeping blows typical of his character class. Tries to wear the heaviest armor available to the class, as he often finds himself in the Tanking role, even if Flick Reapers aren't actually optimized for such. He'll also stock up on extra healing items in the event there isn't a Wavemaster around.

General Playing Style: Kotaro is probably one of the only players who plays the game for its story and lore, actually bothering to pay attention to NPC dialogue, area/dungeon design, and even item/weapon descriptions. Despite its player driven economy and events,
The World is absolutely teeming with lore and tidbits of story, and Kotaro is determined to find it all and fully understand it for himself.

The World: A Dazzling Twilight Dream

Are we not able to use the Long Arm class? That's the one I was really wanting to make. Spear fighters are the best. If you don't want Long Arm to be available for some reason, I guess I'll call Knuckle Master.

@NobodiesHero

I think Flick Reaper does basically the same function as Long Arm and Heavy Axemen. Might use a Reaper myself. Or Heavy Blade if we need a tank.

.Hack ___Welcome to The World___

I'm certainly interested. .Hack is something I played a lot of back in the PS2 days but it's been so long my memory of mechanics and lore might be a bit fuzzy. I'm also willing to pick whatever class the party is lacking in (Warlock/Cleric if the party lacks magic coverage or Brandier/Punisher if the party is lacking a tank, etc), unless I get first pick in which case I'd go Reaper or Grappler all the way.

Kingdom Hearts: Seekers of Light (Double & NobodiesHero)

San Fransokyo ~ A Long Time Ago

"Y'know, I see your mouth moving but all I hear is 'Blah blah blah science, blah blah blah mechanics'." Sam had a wide grin on his face, one Riley had nicknamed his troll face. It was also a grin Riley hated seeing, something about it just made want to punch Sam in the mouth. Sam quickly bent down and pulled Riley into a headlock and proceeded to noogie him mercilessly, "C'mon not everyone speaks egghead, Egghead!" Sam eventually showed pity and released his brother.

"Well if you didn't sleep in school maybe you'd speak a little egghead yourself!" Riley taunted, reaching for a wadded up sheet of paper and chucking it at Sam's face. Sam ducked and had Riley in another headlock, "Okay okay! Uncle! Uncle!" this got Sam to let go and the brothers started laughing at each other, "Alright alright..." said Riley between breathless laughs, "...just watch my presentation at the fair. You'll see what I'm cooking up then. Speaking of, you got the stuff loaded in the car right?"

"Yep." said Sam, turning Riley's wheelchair around and pushing him toward the open garage door, "All there. All that's left is the drive. Ready to dazzle the world?" as he was getting into the car, Sam felt like he'd left his own body. He watched himself get into the car and drive off with Riley. Sam silently gave chase but it felt like the universe itself was holding him back and forcing him to watch the accident play out in front of him. That was when he woke up.

Land of Dragons

"Ugh... feel like I crashed into a bus." Sam muttered as he painfully pushed himself to his feet. Something wasn't right, however. His left arm felt stiff and refused to move, "Great, bastard busted my arm. Okay, what's the damage?" rather than stand, Sam instead put himself into a sitting position with his legs crossed. He had to manually move the arm with his other one, but he held it up to look at it more closely.

"Son of a..." Sam's voice trailed off as he grumbled. The arm was pretty wrecked. Any more damage and it would have fallen out entirely. Thankfully Sam wasn't completely up the creek. Reaching back with his right hand, Sam removed the Lightning Edge from its holster, sheath and all. The sheath had a small storage compartment right next to the open end. Sam popped it open and emptied its contents into the palm of his unmoving mechanical hand. They were small objects, tiny black spheres with two oblong limbs each. The limbs twitched with movement, making the spheres move in turn.

Microbots. Or at least a variation of Microbots. These types were designed with the sole purpose of getting into small spaces within machines to perform repairs on the field. They wouldn't fix Sam's arm perfectly, but they would provide a temporary fix until he could take the thing apart and fix it more thoroughly later, "Looks like they work after all. Thanks... Hiro." the Microbots weren't Sam's creation, nor Riley's. Instead they were invented by Riley's friend, the same one who introduced Riley to the Institute and later helped Sam build his arm and sword.

When his arm could move again, Sam grabbed the Lightning Edge off of the palace floor and stood to his feet, "Now... to figure out how long I've been out for. I swear when I find that Imperator I'm gonna-" the sound of the front doors opening grabbed Sam's attention. Without thinking he pulled out the Lightning Edge and held it at the ready for whoever or whatever walked through those doors.

@NobodiesHero

Kingdom Hearts: Seekers of Light (Double & NobodiesHero)

@NobodiesHero

From this point on, feel free to control some of the NPC's whenever you need to. Like for instance Launchpad and Gadget so you can carry on a conversation with them while Ashe is on her way to the Land of Dragons.