Double

World of Light

Same Old Story - The Fourth Turn

The Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Primrose and Therion’s @Yankee, Sectonia’s @Archmage MC, Ganondorf’s @Double, Ms. Fortune
Word Count: 3,153
Exp: +4

”What’s this?” Kamek exclaimed, confused as his body was surrounded by a swarm of strange bugs, ones that oddly enough they seemed to be doing nothing but being rather freaky.

”You alright Kamek?” Rika called over from where she had landed after bailing out on the attempted tonberry delivery run.

”Seems so, which is its own kind of concerning” he replied, before deciding that ”So I shall back off and prepare for the worst”

To do so the mage first teleported back up to the top floor of the prison, and then used the rather long period before detonation to create 4 copies of himself (which the flies promptly spread doo, giving warning of how they worked). He then proceeded to turn 3 into green mages, which promptly stacked defense buffs on him, along with a white mage which healed up the damage he’d taken from the failed tonberry attack. When the lantern finally exploded, it did so in a larger area than he expected, but with all his preparation the blast was entirely manageable.

He wasn’t the only one able to restore himself unfortunately, as the Oberon warframe promptly showed off by restoring both it and its master’s health. Rika, despite having befitited from this many battles before, considered this most unfair, and promptly switched targets, maneuvering thrusting into the fray alongside Ganondorf with a call of ”Backing you up!”

Her medium of doing so was to go all guns blazing, gauntlets held up with palms facing forwards, unleashing blasts of burning goop that detonated in mid air, rifle fire, while her rigging blasted out disruption globs, and her hangers unleashed a swarm of shocking bugs. Alongside her she deployed her cloyster striker, which added a rapid fire burst of 5 icicle spears to the mix. The ensuing barrage caught Oberon as he went to resume his dance with Ganondorf, landing a handful of status-inducing shots. With his Sybaris still in his hands instead of Silva & Aegis,the warframe couldn’t block, instead rolling away from Rika’s onslaught.

Somewhere in between Therion and Rika’s interventions, Ganondorf felt himself approaching his last legs. Just being in proximity to Oberon incurred near constant radiation damage. And adding on top whatever attacks Oberan landed, it all left the Gerudo King finally beginning to reconsider his strategy or lack thereof. For a moment he considered assuming his true form, but decided against it - not wanting to waste it on a warframe that at the end of the day was just a peon to the main enemy. So instead he quickly pulled out his last strong instant health potion and downed it. That at least undid a lot of the damage he’d suffered. But he didn’t go back on the attack, Ganondorf instead finally cooling off, choosing to reassess the situation.

With Kamek protecting himself and Rika switching targets, that left only Bowser out of the Troop still facing Robin, and his own back up dropped by one when Nadia was put to sleep.

The king promptly caught her with a ”I got you” before she fell apart on the floor, and then after realizing Kamek wasn’t around to order his toadies about, used his trowlon striker as a self propelled stretcher, laying her on it and then having it fly over to the area the sleepers where being stored. Of course, now he and the others knew that Robin could hurt every sleeper no matter where they were, and that realization spurred the Seekers to action.

Then he promptly slammed his fist into his own shell, causing glowing cracks to form all over it as he gave up defense for offense, and then re-engaged Robin with a new and surprising burst of speed, mixing up claw swipes followed by bursts of fire breath. While the King tried to blitz down their foe, the entirely forgotten by everyone Tonberry had picked itself up, and began to waddle towards that same foe, it’s deceptively plain knife raised to strike just as soon as it caught up.

Jr dream - Stage Three

”Why won’t you stay dead! How many one ups did you farm?!” Jr yelled horsley, while surrounded by dead marios. Yet the 2 hit wonder still kept coming, this latest one sliding in on his belly wearing a penguin suit, avoiding the metal spike Jr had fired at him the moment he had sensed movement in the process.

Then the plumber hopped to his feet, and began to hurl ice balls at the prince, freeze-burning his scales before he formed an iron shield to protect himself. Unfortunately raw iron was very conductive, and just like the fireballs before them, it rapidly shifted temperature, cooling immensely and rapidly sapping the strength from his arm far faster than it should. Unable to hold it up, the prince was quickly prevented from keeping up this guard, his shield dropping to the ground, and arm to his side, completely limp from fatigue.

The rest of his body wasn’t doing much better, but he still pushed himself to keep fighting. He leapt to try and get away from the frost balls, and as he flew through the air he breathed in, charging fire, before spitting a fireball back at the plumber when he landed.

It missed.

Agile as ever, the plumber leapt over the shot and up onto a low wall, which he began running along while continuing to try and pelt the prince with ice shots. The prince was forced to duck behind another one to avoid being frozen to death. Once behind it he grabbed his frozen arm, shaking it violently in an attempt to get it to work again, before shoving frostbitten fingers into his mouth and burning them with his own fire.

When the plumber slid around the corner, he came face to face with a prince holding a ruined hand with the other, and then face to face with a burst of metal shrapnel. With a distinctive wup wup wup the plumber lost his power up, but was not dissuaded, instead coming at the prince with first and boot till a lucky claw swipe took him down.

Panting hard, one arm dead from fire, ice, and mana burn, the prince tried to use his other to hold himself up, only to fail and slump against the wall. In no state to face the latest Mario, this one accompanied by eight mini hims and yet even so, he tried to push himself up with a near inaudible taunt of ”come on, whats, what’s nine more?” only for his arm to give out, along with his body.

The prince fell to the floor, consciousness fading … and then he woke up.

Ms Fortune’s Dream - Stage One

For once, Nadia failed to land on her feet. Before she even hit the ground, a terrible heaviness settled over her, far weightier and more inescapable than gravity. It felt like sinking deep underwater, or being blackout drunk, as her muscles went slack for want of oxygen and her mind shut down. In a way, it was a great relief, all her pain and stress sliding away into a sweet oblivion. Then she smacked into the floor, and though her general numbness masked the pain somewhat, the impact was sudden and surprising to bring her to her senses and jolt her awake.

Or was she awake? The sounds of magic, technology, and battle had instantly given way to a dreadful silence. Raising her head from where she’d fallen, Nadia opened her eyes and recognized nothing. Though still underground, and reminiscent of a prison, she’d wound somewhere new. Or more accurately, she’d been sent somewhere new. For a moment her memory had been hazy as her mind struggled to recollect itself, but the details of the fight with Robin Goodfellow quickly came back. He did something to her, that much was clear. On high alert, she picked herself off the ground, scoping out the area. It looked to her almost like some kind of arena, surrounded by a couple levels of cell block. There were no guards or prisoners, though. She could hear nothing but the tense inhale and exhale of her own breath, and see no movement except motes of dust in the air. Though the more she peered at them rather than past them, those motes seemed strange. They shone softly, and they bore beautiful, intricate geometric patterns, rather like snowflakes. The more Nadia thought and remembered, the more sure she felt. “Is this…am I dreaming?”

“You’d have to be.” A cruel, smug, teasing voice. Delivered with an air of upper-class sophistication and superiority. Nadia turned in an instant. Second ago there had definitely been nobody there, and she hadn’t even heard the disturbed air currents of an aerial approach, but now a woman leaned against the wall. She wore a black cocktail dress, a cape shaped like a doily, a white opera glove on one arm and a huge drum-fed shotgun on the other. Behind her dark veil, a vicious smile that sent an icy chill down Nadia’s spine, freezing her in place with a look of unmasked horror on her face. “Poor little alley cat. How long has it been since I filleted that family of yours? Yet here you are. The one who got away.” Pushing herself off the wall, she put one hand on her hip and swaggered forward, slowly. “You know, if they really meant that much to you, why didn’t you hunt me down? An avenging daughter, dead set on righteous retribution…yet you never even tried. You just frittered away your carefree days in Little Innsmouth with other Dagonians.” She stopped, putting her hand in front of her veiled face as she tittered. “Heehee. Did I really scare you that badly? Or…did you just not care? This fish or that fish, it’s all the same to a cat, isn’t it? Whatever nets you a full-!”

“MRRRAH!” Nadia hurled herself forward, her face one of abject hatred. Black Dahlia turned, bringing her cape up as a shield, and as Nadia’s claws sliced through it she teleported a couple dozen feet away. “SHUT UP! I’m not scared of you! I’ll kill you, right here, right now!” Nadia was screaming, spittle flying as she charged in incoherent rage. “I’ll slice you to pieces and make you BEG for it!” Dahlia produced a handful of giant shotgun shells, flipped them into the air, and caught them in her gun to load it. Behind her veil was a nasty grin, but Ms Fortune wasn’t smiling.

Primrose's gaze had been fixed to Nadia as she succumbed to sleep, then forcibly to the afflicted shining form of Kamek. Once the Koopa left, she could refocus on their enemies in the room. She blinked away the bright spots from her eyes, noted that Bowser had got Ms. Fortune out of the immediate danger zone, and turned right back around to face Robin once more. The Seekers had been sustaining damage, herself included from the pot shots Titania had been sending their way, and many of their healing sources were asleep or gone at the moment. That power Robin had used on the sleeping was particularly worrisome. Primrose remained, and with a dance she could spread the healing flame of Warmth to all of her allies... if doing that had crossed her mind at all. She wasn't in quite such a rage as Ganondorf, but she was single-mindedly focused on taking down the archangel all the same. His defeat would mean he would be unable to keep casting his tricks. Her eyes flickered to the diamonds collecting around his head, and though unsure what they meant the mystery didn't dissuade her from attacking.

She called on her magic again, this time while Boosting herself. Her body's glow flickered against the shadows in her hand. Her arm trembled with the effort of condescending and empowering her magic.

Primrose Level Up

New Strength: Dark Magic Mastery. The power and potency of Primrose's innate dark elemental spells has increased. She also has gained access to the spells Dirge of Dusk (deals dark element damage to a foe up to 3 times and lowers their resistance to dark element) and Spell Song (deals dark element damage to all foes in a wide area and lowers their physical and magical defenses).
***

The shadows surged into each other, creating three dark spheres by way of the spell Dirge of Dusk overhead. Primrose released her hold on them, flinging her hand forward as though she was throwing them at Robin, and the spheres obeyed. "Suffer!" The stygian orbs, heavy and thick as the night itself, crashed against Robin’s form, threatening to smother him in darkness.

Therion gladly let Rika take his place facing off against Oberon, shifting targets himself to the other warframe after being freed from the lantern spell's pull. He sprinted around the long way towards Titania, intending to flank her while Jesse, the only other Seeker engaging her, was on her other side. His feline body propelled him along all the faster, and when he leapt at Titania it was with blade brandished and the claws on both his paws extended to maximize the slashes aimed at her.

From what he'd seen so far, both warframes were incredibly quick - enough so to evade and be able to recover afterwards. Hopefully more pressure from more combatants could better break through their defense, even if it did mean less people contending with the archangel. Restricting their movements was another option. Therion followed through with his attack on Titania by stowing the blade, rounding on her again. He bared his fangs, reared up and let out a loud, paralyzing roar.

Having noticed Therion incoming, Jesse shifted so that she was on the exact opposite side of Titania. The Warframe was fast no doubt, but Jesse could cover a short gap nearly instantly with Evade. Jesse was glad to have the help because while she was holding her own, she wasn’t able to stop Titania from shooting at her allies. Jesse ripped a heavy chunk of pillar up and then let it float by her menacingly. Titania knew the Launched projectiles could barely be dodged on reaction. And Jesse was only going to Launch it once Therion had done his work, or Titania had somehow avoided it.

Sectonia’s Dream - Stage Two

Not knowing what this warrior of the lower realm was, Sectonia was just fighting shadows. Even if she crushed it with her lightning or her axe, it would just dissipate into shadow to coalesce into another shape and begin again. And when she summoned her Antlers to fight it, she just found that was a poor choice as the hero’s shadow would swoop in and absorb one of them, gaining its elemental powers and using them against the Queen.

”How many times must I crush you before this ends?” Sectonia said, her various defensive powers gained from the objects and spirits she had absorbed so far making her tougher for this shadow to take out, although unknown to her, this was just making her sleep for longer. And this seemingly endless battle vs what was an inscrutable foe was making her extremely angry.

Titania had a lot going for her, but battlefield awareness wasn’t necessarily one of them. Unlike Oberon, she hadn’t been summoned here to heal or protect Robin Goodfollow. Her role was the hunter, weakening his attackers one by one before going in for the kill. That meant zeroing in on her target of choice, even if Jesse was taking more time to chew through than she thought. That also meant that when a second vicious tiger jumped Titania out of the blue, she did not see him coming. While she was busy taking potshots at Jesse, Therion’s cutting edges carved into her as he struck her in passing. Though his slashes didn’t reach her bio-metal exoskeleton, they just about wiped out her shield. As the two rounded one another, the barrel of Titania’s Corinth shotgun a deadly promise the moment it aligned with Therion’s chest. In the nick of time the thief managed to save his own skin by paralyzing his foe at the speed of sound, which left her at a standstill just long enough for Jesse to pound her with a slab of rubble.

That hefty projectile did a lot of damage, blowing through the remnants of Titania’s shield and way into her health. It also knocked her down, even if she sprang back up with an ukemi the next moment. Wanting to avoid more hits like that, she began to pick up speed right away. Faced with two agile and punishing opponents, she used Tribute to extract a buff from Therion. The ability dealt a little damage and gave her Dust, which would passively decrease the accuracy of her enemies for the next twelve seconds. Corinth in hand, she began to fire off explosive grenades to keep her enemies on their toes without having to aim as she built up momentum.

Though the sight of seeing their hard work undone might induce despair in the average fighter, the Seekers were not dissuaded by Oberon’s healing. If anything, his Renewal galvanized them into attacking all the more viciously. Bowser slashed Robin’s papery form with raking claws and scorched it with guttural flame, followed shortly by the threefold dark eruption of Primrose’s Dirge of Dusk. Yet, strange as it might seem, that all paled in comparison to what happened the moment Robin stepped up to take its turn. The tiny, unassuming green goober summoned so long ago had finally reached its target, and once the tonberry lifted its carving knife, it stabbed the blade into Robin’s hoof.

The disproportionate burst of damage that caused was enough to stagger Robin, bringing the archangel to its knees even if just for a moment. That assault more than made up for Oberon’s healing, leaving Robin at about half health. For the moment though, that was all. With Sectonia, Junior, and Nadia asleep, Kamek gone, and Therion, Ganondorf, Rika, and Jesse fighting the warframes, only Bowser and Primrose were left to oppose the main threat. After a moment Robin stood and took action. First it used Trick, randomly inflicting Resonance ⅓ on Bowser. For a brief moment a sensation of glasslike fragility coursed through his body, accompanied by the sound of vibrating glass. Then Robin glared at Primrose, and the dancer knew what was coming. A shower of Fairy Dust fell on her, and she plunged once more into the depths of sleep where her hated enemy awaited her. That left just one koopa standing against Robin as two more diamonds in its halo filled in. Now only two remained unlit.

Kingdom Hearts: Overwhelming Light

Frankly, I'm glad I chose to draw from a predefined archetype like Time Mage. It'll make it simpler to figure out what my mid-game and late-game abilities should be. (Lethal Frame, Time Splicer, Ghost Drive, etc)

I gotta say, the Final Fantasy games have some weird choices for what they consider Time spells. Regen? Quake? Vanish? Stone/Break? Those are all counted as Time magic spells in various FF games.

Edit: Even Reflect/Reflectga? Okay *that* one is definitely worth going for in terms of KH spells.

World of Light

Sector 07

S.O.U. Headquarters
Luka, Xatow, | @DracoLunaris Midna | @TruthHurts22 Raz | @Yankee Pit | @Zoey Boey Sakura & Karin | @Multi_Media_Man Geralt & Zenkichi | @Archmage MC Suzie, Blazermate & Roland | @Lugubrious Goldlewis & Sandalphon

Word Count: 1,261
Level 7 Roxas: 30/70
Exp: 3
NEW EXP Balance--- 33/70

When morning came, Roxas sat up on the sofa and rubbed his eyes in grogginess. He was only just then realizing that he had passed out there on the spot last night. But at least the exhaustion was gone now. The morning at the Sumeragi Hideout went by pretty quick. In fact Roxas really only had time to eat a single piece of toast and drink a small glass of orange juice before Luka appeared. He explained that he was there to take Roxas and Raz back to the other Seekers in Sector 07, and the three of them went on a convoluted series of teleports until they were eventually dropped off on the SOU Building’s helipad.

”Thanks for the lift.” Roxas told Luka as they arrived and regrouped with the Seekers. The place wasn’t exactly a home, but it was the closest thing the Seekers had to one in this massive city. Plus it was a relief to see that everyone made it back here no worse for wear. The last time he’d seen one half of the team was when the Seekers split up after the mission at Vandelay Campus. And so he was glad that Karin, Geralt, Blazermate and everyone were all doing okay. And it also looked like someone had brought muffins.

Roxas couldn’t help himself. He’d skipped eating last night and only ate that one piece of toast back at Yuito’s hideout. So he hungrily snagged one of the unclaimed muffins that still remained and scarfed it down. While he did, he overheard Sandalphon and Goldlewis talking. He watched Sandalphon summon some screens that she used to show everyone images of a landmark tree. Something had apparently damaged it during the night while they were all asleep. And the situation only got worse from there.

The Machines were about to launch what sounded like a full-blown invasion of the city. And as everyone pointed out, most of the strongest factions had now been crippled by some means or another over the last couple of days. Did that mean that the Seekers were partially responsible for this? And who exactly was the one behind the machines anyway? Roxas couldn’t remember if they had ever figured that out yet.

But then, that’s when she appeared. Her voice was harsh and unfamiliar. But the black coat and portal of darkness she entered from were unmistakable, ”YOU!” Roxas cried, having to fight the urge to attack her on the spot. But the Nobody, whoever she was, explained a bit more about the situation - including providing the name of someone who she claimed was behind the attacks. How she knew this and whether or not she could be trusted was another matter, entirely.

When Goldlewis suggested they all get moving, Roxas appeared to be the only one who remained where he was. He was standing there staring at the hooded woman with icy-cold daggers of pure hatred, ”I’m not going anywhere.” he declared in a tone that none of the Seekers had heard him use yet. Clearly this was something that in his mind took precedence over even the crisis in Midgar, ”Not until I get some answers out of her.” he added, pointing a gloved finger straight at Xatow to really hammer home who he viewed as his enemy here.

The Nobody crossed her arms. “You’re being pretty irrational right now.”

”Oh, I’m sorry.” Roxas retorted with some venomous sarcasm, ”Were you expecting me to treat the group responsible for ruining my life and the lives of my friends with open arms and hugs? Think again! So spill it.” Roxas demanded of the Organization member, ”Who’s giving you your orders? Xemnas? Xehanort? What’s your game in all this? And don’t give me some story about how you’re trying to help. I probably know the Organization better than you do, so mind games aren’t going to get you out of this.”

“Xehanort, of course,” Xatow replied bluntly, her tone disinterested and a little bit put-upon. “Our game is the endgame, kid. We need you guys to kill Galeem so that we can fix everything.” She tilted her head slightly. “You didn’t think that beating Galeem would just turn everything back to normal, right? Like the universe is a spring that Galeem stretched out, and letting go would just snap the worlds back into place?” She shook her head. “Get real. What’s done is done. Luckily, you’ve got us to get things moving again.”

He shouldn’t have been surprised by that answer. Yet for some reason, he was. So even here, in spite of everything Sora had to go through to put the bastard down for good… He was still managing to live on and continue scheming. Even just thinking about the man and remembering all the horrible things he did made Roxas' blood run cold, ”I’m curious,” Roxas mused, ”How much do you actually know about Xehanort? I’m willing to bet you don’t know much.” he said with a shake of his head, ”But I know just about everything there is to know about him. The stuff that matters at least. So if you expect me to just trust Xehanort at his word, then you couldn’t be more wrong.”

In fact, Roxas already had at least one idea about what Xehanort was actually planning to do. But that was something he would keep to himself for the time being, ”I’ll defeat Galeem, alright. But I will NOT be some pawn in whatever game Xehanort is playing. You can tell him that if he thinks he’s gonna play puppet master with people’s lives again, he’s got another thing coming. Because when I’m finished with Galeem? He’s next.”

Xatow’s gaze lingered on him for a moment before she spoke. He couldn’t see her face within the darkness of her hood, but it was easy to imagine a bored, half-lidded expression. As long as he did what he needed to in the short term, she could care about the future later. “Okay.” She nodded her head in the direction of Midna’s portal. “Better get to it then, kid.”

Roxas hardened his expression, ”This isn’t over.” he warned. But after that he finally relented and rescinded his earlier refusal to leave. By this time, Midna had already made two trips with her portal. That meant Roxas didn’t leave until he had joined the third and final group to be transported out.

”Sorry for the hold up.” he told Midna and the remaining Seekers, ”But I couldn’t just leave it. Not without trying to get some information out of her.”

After the transport had been done, Roxas looked around himself at the place he assumed was Arahabaki. Hard to imagine such a massive area existing underneath the city. He could only imagine how difficult and complicated the architecture had to be in order for this to even be feasible. But Midna was right. It looked like Shinra was more on to them, their presence down here seeming to be suspiciously higher than anticipated. But in the end, he wouldn’t let that stop him.

”Just get me to the door we’re looking for. he told the other Seekers, ”Doesn’t matter how tight they got it locked up. My Keyblade will open it, no problem.”

Kingdom Hearts: Overwhelming Light

A Complete Anomaly

"A place to belong... Is that really so much to ask?

Name:
Tempus

Age:
18

Gender:
Male

Species:
Human

Completion Status:
Somebody, at least to his knowledge

Role in the Rebellion:
Scout/Spy

Anomaly Or Not?:
Anomaly

Homeworld:
No recollection

Weapon(s):
Chronostasis

Powers/Abilities:
Essentially a Time Mage. He specializes in the Stop, Haste, and Slow spells - while occasionally using spells like Comet and Gravity as a source of damage. While he is capable of the higher-tiered forms of these spells, the trade off is that he can't use any other types of spells. No healing, no elementals, etc. He tries to make up for this shortcoming by utilizing well-timed strikes and flourishes in conjunction with his Time spells.

Known Spells:
Haste, Slow, Stop, Gravity, Zero-Gravity
These function exactly as they do in the games.

Comet - Calls down a short rain of small meteorites that strike a single target with light/medium non-elemental damage. It's upgraded form is Meteor, which calls down a single large meteorite capable of striking multiple targets within it's area of effect for heavy non-elemental damage.

Backstory:
Tempus is a bit of an oddity, even for an anomaly. He has no recollection of the homeworld he was actually born on. Much of his early life was spent instead in Traverse Town, a world largely made up of castaways from other worlds - Tempus included. Beyond that he has spent a great of deal time hopping between worlds wherever he's needed as part of the rebellion. The impetus for his joining the rebellion came in the form of his Keyblade, that came to him for reasons he doesn't fully understand. This of course has resulted him being decently high up on the Organization's "to do" list as it were. Deep down he is also trying to search for his forgotten homeworld in the hopes of eventually filling in the blanks of his past.

Other:
Having no recollection of his actual birthplace, Traverse Town serves as the de facto "homeworld" for Tempus. But his lack of any real, tangible connection to any world he goes to seems to be the reason why he remains unaffected by the resets and time loops perpetrated by the Organization of Light. While he hasn't quite figured why his Keyblade came to him, his current theory is that it was a response to his desire to find his true homeworld.

Kingdom Hearts: Overwhelming Light

The Beginnings of a Character

Name:
Tempus

Age:
18

Gender:
Male

Species:
Human

Completion Status:
Somebody, at least to his knowledge

Role in the Rebellion:
Scout/Spy

Anomaly Or Not?:
Anomaly

Homeworld:
No recollection

Weapon(s):
Chronostasis

Powers/Abilities:
Essentially a Time Mage. He specializes in the Stop, Haste, and Slow spells - while occasionally using spells like Comet and Gravity as a source of damage. While he is capable of the higher-tiered forms of these spells, the trade off is that he can't use any other types of spells. No healing, no elementals, etc. He tries to make up for this shortcoming by utilizing well-timed strikes and flourishes in conjunction with his Time spells.

Known Spells:
Haste, Slow, Stop, Gravity, Zero-Gravity
These function exactly as they do in the games.

Comet - Calls down a short rain of small meteorites that strike a single target with light/medium non-elemental damage. It's upgraded form is Meteor, which calls down a single large meteorite capable of striking multiple targets within it's area of effect for heavy non-elemental damage.

Backstory:
Tempus is a bit of an oddity, even for an anomaly. He has no recollection of the homeworld he was actually born on. Much of his early life was spent instead in Traverse Town, a world largely made up of castaways from other worlds - Tempus included. Beyond that he has spent a great of deal time hopping between worlds wherever he's needed as part of the rebellion. The impetus for his joining the rebellion came in the form of his Keyblade, that came to him for reasons he doesn't fully understand. This of course has resulted him being decently high up on the Organization's "to do" list as it were. Deep down he is also trying to search for his forgotten homeworld in the hopes of eventually filling in the blanks of his past.

Other:
Having no recollection of his actual birthplace, Traverse Town serves as the de facto "homeworld" for Tempus. But his lack of any real, tangible connection to any world he goes to seems to be the reason why he remains unaffected by the resets and time loops perpetrated by the Organization of Light. While he hasn't quite figured why his Keyblade came to him, his current theory is that it was a response to his desire to find his true homeworld.

The "??" denote sections that I have questions about. Namely, what age-range should we be going for? And second, are we meant to be Keyblade Wielders or no?

World of Light

R & R

Suoh ~ Sumeragi Safehouse

Lili, Yuito & Hanabi | @Double Roxas | @TruthHurts22 Raz

Word Count: 2,786
Exp: +3

”Man, I’m beat…” Roxas said as he slouched onto the sofa. He tried to mentally consolidate everything that happened that day. Vandelay Campus in the morning. Beacon Hospital in the afternoon. The Other attack in the evening. Milla and Sasha’s platoons - not to mention the two Septentrians themselves. The assassination plot and Lili’s outburst. It was almost hard to believe that so many incidents and crises could happen in a city over the course of a single measly day. But it did, and the Keybearer was now just plain exhausted.

Raz took up a chair himself (one closer to Lili than not, wherever she decided to go) and, for maybe the first time since he joined the Seekers, removed his helmet. ”Not me,” he said, ”I actually do some of my best work in the span of 12 hours. In fact, I…” A yawn interrupted him, as much as he tried to stifle it. ”...maybe a little mental exhaustion.”

A can of lemonade-soda sat on the nearby coffee table, Roxas reached for it and took a good gulp of the drink. It was tasty, but in his mind he couldn’t help but have a craving for a certain something else, ”What I wouldn’t give for a sea-salt ice cream…” he mused, letting himself think of home and his missing friends.

From her sprawled-out position on one of the other couches, Hanabi chuckled wearily. “That does sound pretty good right about now. We kind of missed dinner, didn’t we?”

”Oh, uh…” Roxas sat back up with a brief jolt, having temporarily forgotten that he wasn’t alone in the hideout, ”I know it sounds kind of silly, but in a… job… I used to have, I’d hang out with my friends after a long day of missions and we’d eat sea-salt ice cream together. Guess today felt like one of those long days, ya know?”

Yuito appeared from the kitchenette, nodding. With his equipment off and his coat removed, he looked more or less like an average teenage guy. Someone who should be worrying about year-end finals before summer break rather than brain-devouring monstrosities and government conspiracies. In fact, he looked rather haunted, and not just by his near-death experience with Anima. Something was weighing on his mind, which made the brave face he put on that much more laudable.

“I’m with you there,” he said frankly. “If you guys are hungry, there are some rations in the little pantry here. Wouldn’t be a proper shelter without some. I’m heating up some stew myself.”

Hanabi sat up. “You’re a lifesaver, Yuito. I’ll put some on too.”

“I’ll get it, don’t worry,” Yuito replied, smiling warmly. There wasn’t much Hanabi could say to that, so she just averted her gaze, scratching her head as she smiled herself.

Maybe Hanabi didn’t notice it, but Roxas did. He’d gone through the same thing, after all, as did all the Seekers. And he could only imagine how many questions Yuito had, that there was no time to answer. At least… no time until now. He grabbed the can of the soda and quickly downed the rest of it. That gave him the perfect excuse to get up and go into the kitchenette. He dropped the can into the trash bin, and then he looked over at Yuito.

”It’s okay,” Roxas told him with a knowing expression, ”I was confused at first, too. We all were.” And so rather than immediately return to the couch he remained behind in the kitchenette so he could have a much-needed conversation with Yuito, ”Ask me anything, and I’ll tell you what I know.”

”And you, Lili,” Raz added, getting onto his knees in his seat so he could look over the back of his chair. ”Me and Roxas had a lot of time to get used to the whole, uhh, fake-world-mind-control stuff, and the two of you-” he nodded between Lili and Yuito, ”-kinda came into it at a really hectic time.” He nervously rubbed his cheek, side-eyeing Lili. ”Uh. Sorry about that, by the way. How I handled… that.”

Lili shrugged. “Just…ugh, don’t worry about it. We’re all in way over our heads.”

Yuito glanced over at Raz, then back to Roxas. His expression made his concern clear, as well as his relief now that he could get it off his chest. “It’s definitely an awful lot to take in. It doesn’t seem real. But the more I saw of Suoh since that moment, the more I realized just how unlike the Suoh I know it was.” He shook his head helplessly. “Everything’s jumbled up. Beyond recognition. How did this happen? More importantly, is there anything we can do about it?” He looked over at Hanabi, who was only half-following the conversation. “And…is there anything we can do for Hanabi?” He shifted his target of address to her. “I tried talking to you about it, but I don’t think you really understood.”

While she might have taken offense to this, Hanabi seemed more worried and self-conscious instead. “I-I’m sorry, uh, what didn’t I understand? Maybe I, uh, wasn’t paying attention or…or something, it’s been a long day after all, hehe…”

”Weeell… there's technically something we could do…

Roxas gulped, knowing exactly what was coming. And it would be the sixth time today that he had done this. But as far as the Nobody was concerned, saying “No” wasn’t an option, ”He’s right, there is.” He said in a hushed voice, ”It’s not easy, though. So we should only do it if you’re absolutely sure you want to.” After this Roxas started to feel like he probably owed Yuito more of an explanation.

”The way I helped you in Beacon Hospital,” Roxas then said after a brief pause, ”was by using this.” he produced a pink Friend Heart in his hand for Yuito to see, ”It’s called a Friend Heart. Anyone can learn to use them. You can throw it into someone who you want to free, and it’ll do just that.” After this he closed his hand into a fist to cancel out the Friend Heart, ”But there’s a catch. It only works on someone who’s been weakened or tired out first. But on the plus side, it fully heals and restores the person you use it on in addition to freeing them.”

Roxas paused for a moment to give Yuito a chance to process the information before continuing, ”Since you already had your soul sucked out of you by that monster in the hospital, I used one on you hoping it would restore your soul.” He paused again, then summoned Oathkeeper in his hand, ”But Friend Hearts aren’t the only method we have. My Keyblades have the power to free someone as well, and they don’t even have to be weakened first. But…” Another pause, but this prospect having a catch of its own shouldn’t have been all that surprising for the Psych-OSF soldier, ”...the thing that influences people - Galeem. It’ll make them resist and try to fight back. So it’s only practical if the person is restrained first.”

With a look of utmost solemnity on his face, Yuito absorbed everything Roxas had to say. Hanabi listened as well, her manner no less serious. While she couldn’t understand anything about Galeem, she could gather that something had happened to her -possibly in Beacon- that needed to be taken care of. The girl might not be sure what she needed to be freed from, but being free was always better than the alternative. Still, Yuito looked her way with a pained expression. “I don’t want anyone to hurt her,” he said. “So…let’s go with the second method. I’ll find a way to keep her still.”

Hanabi seemed a little shaky. “I’m really not sure what’s going on. I’m kind of scared, to be honest. But I trust you guys, and…I trust you, Yuito. Whatever’s happening, if you believe it’s for my own good, then so do I.”

Yuito took a deep breath. Then he smiled. “I know you do. You’ve always been there for me, Hanabi. Ever since we were little. My dad and my brother were always so distant, but you and Nagi made me feel like I wasn’t alone. You’re both my dearest friends. But that’s not all you are.”

Hanabi’s eyes went wide. “Not…all?” Yuito moved toward her, then wrapped his arms around her in a hug and pulled her close. In an instant Hanabi went beet-red, her face only inches from Yuito’s. She averted her gaze, so nervous that she couldn’t bear to meet Yuito’s eyes, but as he leaned closer she couldn’t look away any longer. Their lips met in a long-overdue kiss, so close that for that moment, there was nothing in the world but one another.

Raz chuckled nervously, hopping over the back of the chair, whispering to Lili, ”I, uh, didn’t know that was an option before.”

Clutching the hilt of the Keyblade, Roxas took a tentative step forward. It didn’t feel quite right to interrupt a moment like this. But this was what Yuito and Hanabi both seemed to want, and so Roxas obliged them. May my Heart be my guiding key. He tightened his grip on Oathkeeper, and held his breath for a hesitant moment.

Then he lunged.

The Nobody plunged the tip of the white Keyblade into Hanabi’s back. To any normal onlooker this would look like some kind of heinous attempt at murder. But thankfully everyone in the room knew better. The blade produced the searing white light from its tip that had become so characteristic of the technique being used. The Keyblade Purge was a power Roxas had admittedly only recently learned about. Within the last three or so days to be exact. And yet with each time he used it, he unmistakably felt like he understood it more and more.

Such as how to strengthen his footing for example. Roxas planted his feet on the floor and leaned forward into his apparent attack. Such a stance kept him from being pushed back by the resistance he inevitably knew was coming. And that was when the scream came from Hanabi. Roxas had failed to mention this particular aspect of the procedure to Yuito, and wondered for a moment whether he would falter and change his mind about proceeding. But the soldier appeared to be standing his ground and tightening his hold on Hanabi’s body. It looked like he was going to see this through after all.

Roxas grunted and breathed through gritted teeth as he pressed forward. Each inch seemingly increased the intensity of both Hanabi’s internal resistance, but to her credit the poor girl held as strong as she could, squeezing Yuito tighter as she fought through the pain. As usual, Roxas swore he could hear something else screaming from somewhere deep inside Hanabi. He wasn’t certain, but his guess was that this was Galeem. Or whatever aspect of Galeem that controlled people anyway. In some ways this was almost like an exorcism of sorts.

”Get! OUT!” Came the shout from Roxas, as if he was struggling against whatever had its hold on Hanabi. But the Keybearer stood his ground, and with enough exertion he finally twisted his weapon from its original vertical angle to a horizontal. It rather looked like a key being forcibly turned in order to open a particularly stubborn lock. But when he did this, both he and Hanabi became washed over by a blinding flash of radiant light. When that brightness cleared, it left Hanabi no worse for wear and - more importantly - freed.

She and Yuito broke apart. They both looked exhausted, and more than a little shaken up -either by the power of the purge or being used as a live stress ball- but they were okay. Against all odds, their strategy had worked wonders. As much as the purge shook Hanabi to her very core, her mind had been elsewhere–in a sanctuary of long-awaited happiness. Even now, she and Yuito were smiling.

”Hah… did you… see how her colors changed?” Roxas asked Yuito and Lili between heavy breaths, ”That’s how you know she’s been freed. Anyone… under Galeem’s influence… will look like she did. All muted… with glowing red eyes, and all.” Roxas stumbled over to the sofa and let himself collapse on it. This, he knew, would also happen. As much as he felt like he was getting the hang of the Keyblade Purge, using it this many times in succession was still going to take its toll.

”By the way…” Roxas said, now laying on the sofa with one arm lazily hanging over the edge, ”...there’s actually a third way to free people that we didn’t mention earlier: Defeating the area Guardian. If we do that, everyone in the region will be freed all at once. So that would mean all of Midgar, and probably Gutsford too I’ll bet. That’s why Raz and I came to Midgar with the rest of our friends.”

Both soldiers gave him a grateful smile. “We’ll think about all that in the morning,” Yuito told him. “We all need rest, you most of all. For now, just take it easy.” He took Hanabi by the hand. “As messed-up as things are, we can still make everything right, I know we can. It’ll be a long journey, but we’ll get there. One step at a time.”

Having just watched the Keyblade-based awakening, since he missed out on it when he and Roxas had tried to do it with Lili, Raz walked over to the couch. ”Sorry if it’s a bad time to ask if you’re too beat after doing that, but in the spirit of… team cohesion? I was wondering what you’re doing exactly, when it comes to freeing people like her and Lili?” He gestured to the hand Roxas usually held his keyblade with. ”And what’s with the giant key?”

”It’s called a Keyblade.” Roxas answered, ”It… um… huh, come to think of it, I have no idea where they originated from actually.” He mused, then continued after a pause, ”But I do know they’re a special weapon that only certain people with strong enough Hearts can summon. Where I come from we had these monsters called Heartless that come from the darkness in people’s hearts. The Keyblade is the only weapon capable of permanently destroying a Heartless. They’ve got other powers too. Like opening any lock. Or sealing the entrances to the Realm of Darkness where the Heartless come from.”

He thought for a moment and then added, ”And apparently they can free people from Galeem’s control. Admittedly I had no idea they could do that until after I joined up with you guys at Twilight Town. Remember when I freed Benedict when we fought him on the way here? That was the first time I ever discovered I could do it. I’ve just been… playing it by ear ever since, I guess.”

By this point Yuito and Hanabi had gone to actually eat the simple meal that Yuito had prepared. Once they finished the fold-out cots in the exercise room were where they’d sleep for the night, but neither of them could fault Roxas if he elected to pass out on the couch where he lay.

”The darkness in people’s hearts,” Raz repeated, musing. He hoped for something more, you know, informative, though he couldn’t fault Roxas for not being a Keyblade scholar anymore than he could fault himself for not being a brain surgeon. It was a little hard to wrap his mind around - it felt much more ‘magic’ than anything Raz was familiar with. But it’d been a long day, and he didn’t want to hold Roxas up with a round of 20 Questions.

It wasn’t like he could learn everything there was to know about Roxas’s home in just two days, the canonical length of time they’ve been together, after all.

”You did good today, Roxas,” Raz added, trying to leverage the slightly longer time he’d been a Seeker as enough seniority to make that call. ”And before I forget… thanks.” He left the Keyblader and moved back to Lili. ”Hey, how’re you feeling?”

Roxas offered no further responses, as he was now out like a lightbulb. To be honest this was a long time coming. He’d been running on fumes for a while now and had officially reached the point of no longer being able to stay awake. So there he lay on that sofa, finally getting that much deserved sleep after a long, LONG day.

Kingdom Hearts: Overwhelming Light

The Anomaly concept intrigues me.

Kingdom Hearts: Overwhelming Light

I have what is probably an unhealthy degree of loyalty to the KH franchise. So here I am!

World of Light

The Under ~ Mercy Dreams

Word Count: 1,144
Level 5 Ganondorf: 46/50
Exp: 2
NEW EXP Balance--- 48/50

More mind flayers, essentially the same as the ones that inhabited the cathedral up on the surface level. At least they looked that way to Ganondorf. It was all the same to him really. It just meant he already had a decent idea of how to take these squid-faces down. To that end he decided to forgo his twin blades for the time being. He recalled that these things fired soul rays as a ranged attack and decided it was better to use the Ikana Shield as a means to block those rays long enough for him to close the distance and put himself in striking range. Once this was done he cut down whatever mind flayers he could, utilizing the white sword in combination with his Ikana Shield.

When at last it seemed the mind flayers had been dealt with, Ganondorf sheathed the white sword and once again hung the shield up onto his back. When the Koopa Troop were beginning to make their way back into the area Ganondorf had entered from, he moved to follow them. But he stopped in his tracks when he heard something.

”...ster!”

It sounded faint, barely audible. Ganondorf turned his focus back toward the deeper sections of the prison and practically had to strain himself to make out what he was hearing.

”Master!”

And without sending any kind of message or signal to the Koopas, the Gerudo King began to silently make his way deeper into the prison, rather than follow his allies. He kept listening intently for whatever it was that was calling. ”Master!” He would occasionally hear the faint cry, ”I am here, Master!” As Ganondorf ventured deeper into Mercy Dreams, he began to notice the calling voice becoming clearer bit by bit - a sign that meant he was going in the right direction.

Ganondorf found himself taking twists and turns in the prison. Occasionally he would encounter a mind flayer and have to defeat it. And each time he had to focus his senses and try to hear the voice again in order to once again pick up the trail. After a while the voice calling out to him became a bit more clear. Then, after taking a few more turns it became clearer and clearer with each step. That meant that Ganondorf had to be very close. Despite how much louder and clearer the voice got, at no point did it ever lose its distorted nature. Was this work of some kind of ghost or spirit? Ganondorf couldn’t say, but at this point he was curious enough to find out either way. Equally perplexing was how this voice seemed to know him, yet was completely unfamiliar to the Gerudo King.

At last, Ganondorf stood before the door of a cell. It was locked tight, and it didn’t look possible to break open either. Whether this was by architectural design or magical design, he didn’t know. But it seemed clear to him that whoever was calling out was beyond the door, so did that mean they were an inmate in this prison?

”Ah, my master, you are here.” Came the voice from beyond the door. What little view of the inside was obscured by shadow. It was impossible to make out any discernible figure within the cell, it seemed. ”I am your servant, of course.”

”Who are you?” Ganondorf demanded, ”You seem to know me, and yet I know nothing about you.”

”But I am your tool, your sword!” retorted the mysterious voice, ”How comes it then, that my own master does not recognize me?” There was almost a hint of lament in their tone. And then, ”Ah, what’s this? Where is your usual glorious aura, Master? Surely your power has not, dare I say it, waned?”

Ganondorf scowled despite not being face to face with whomever this is, ”You best think carefully about the next words you speak. I will not have my power questioned or challenged by a faceless wretch in a prison cell.”

”I dare not offend you, Master. Naturally.” the voice responded with assurance, ”Ah, that must be it. If both your memory and powers are not as I recall them… A great shame then that you have been reduced to this, a mere shadow of your true self.”

Ganondorf’s first instinct was to lash out and retaliate. But something they said managed to perk his ear, ”A ‘shadow’ you say?” Ganondorf glanced down at the Triforce that branded his right hand. It was indeed true that he had not yet reclaimed his full power. But this stranger seemed to be hinting at even greater power still, and that thoroughly intrigued him, ”Explain!”

”I’m afraid I can’t explain to you, for certain.” the strange voice admitted, ”But if my memory serves me, then this state you are in can only have resulted from your defeat.”

”Fool! I have suffered no defeat!” Ganondorf snapped back angrily. Clearly this wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear, ”If you know nothing then I won’t waste anymore of my time with you.” At this Ganondorf began to walk away from the cell door.

”Wait, Master!” the voice called out, ”Remember who you are! And you will surely find a way to restore what was taken from you!” but the voice received no reply from Ganondorf, who continued to walk away.

”Remember!” it echoed as it faded away.

”Hmph!” Ganondorf huffed as he continued walking, ”Defeated? I think not.” But as much as the Gerudo King denied it to himself, he couldn’t ignore what the voice had been telling him. His mind went to at least one major defeat he had suffered, Galeem. But surely that couldn’t be it! Ganondorf felt more or less as he was the day he stood against that would-be god. That strange voice seemed convinced that greater power still was sleeping somewhere deep down.

It was at that point that his mind recalled the shrine he had been in alongside Rubick. A place that seemed both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. A sensation that echoed in the voice he had been conversing with. Something about all of this made him uneasy, not that he would ever admit as such outloud. These shadows and echoes of places and people from his home world clearly seemed to hint at things that he himself had never been aware of. Just more of a mystery he would have to make a point of solving after the Galeem problem had been properly dealt with.

”Even if it is true,” Ganondorf told himself as he made his way to try and regroup with Koopa Troop, ”It just means that I have a lead on even greater power that I can claim for myself.”

World of Light

The Under ~ Mercy Dreams

@Lugubrious Nadia Fortune | @DracoLunaris Bowser and Junior | @Zoey Boey Jesse Fadon | @Archmage MC Queen Sectonia

Word Count: 577
Level 5 Ganondorf: 45/50
Exp: 1
NEW EXP Balance--- 46/50

Now that he had a moment to get a better look at it, Ganondorf could see just how big the mess was that he and Jesse made in their descent back into The Under. The big heart was every bit as disgusting up close as it appeared from a distance. And it's destruction appeared to call or stir a bunch of disgusting creatures to scurry about in the darkness of The Under. He did ponder momentarily if this was going to cause any long term problems, but ultimately shrugged it off. if it didn't, all the better. And if it did? Well, he wasn't planning to stick around long enough to find out either way.

It was after he and Jesse had actually entered into Mercy Dreams itself that the Gerudo King heard a reply from Nadia. Everyone was scattered about, it seemed, searching for their target. She also asked him to keep a low profile. Low profile? The King of Evil? Those two things didn't exactly mix well, but at least Ganondorf had the advantage of being in a place that probably had no idea who he was, so there was that. Of course, moments after that was when he saw a mind flayer come crashing through the wall and sprawl onto the ground next his feet. And she wanted him to keep a low profile?

"You might want to tell that to the overgrown turtles." He said into his link pearl in response to Nadia, "They seem to be the ones making the lion's share of noise in this place." Then he disconnected his link pearl and shook his head in exasperation. But he was in no mood to start any trouble, and so when Bowser and Jr. greeted him he offered a shrug followed by a nod.

"We took a short detour to the surface to get here, but we're fine." Ganondorf said to Bowser. And then to Jr. he said, "So there's more of those mind flayers down here?" he asked, hinting at the troubles he and Jesse had just finished dealing with up above as he retrieved his twin great swords from their scabbards, "Oh very well, let's have us some chopped calamari then, shall we?"

He stepped forward to enter through the newly made wall in order to join up with the Koopa Troop. Before he went off actually start fighting anything he looked once more at Jesse, "Are you joining us as well?"

Before any more replies could be offered, Ganondorf heard Sectonia's voice over the link pearl. Something about a treasure being guarded by a horde. That did sound very tempting, but it looked like he was already stepping into whatever mess Bowser had started. Deciding not to completely disregard Sectonia, Ganondorf instead summoned a squad of moblin spearmen and instructed them to find Sectonia and back her up. The moblins immediately marched off to follow their orders after that.

"A few of my servants on their way." He said to Sectonia over the link pearl, "I'd come myself, but I need to clean up Bowser's mess first. You know how he is."