Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Kingdom Hearts: Scattered Fragments (Private RP)

Kas watched over the Pride Lands in her Human form. Her purple hair flowed down out of the cloak she was wearing. The cloak was dark purple with lighter purple rims. Her eyes were of a strange thing, one blue, one green. She had lived in the Pride Lands for a long time and she felt that she should watch over them and keep them safe. She wore no gloves, but only a chain on her wrist that had a cat on the end with a wolf howling behind it.

She sighed as she watched them, sitting on a rock high above their view. Simba was hunting with Nala. She watched as he killed a zebra swiftly... She showed no emotions for she had none.

"I don't know, magic?" Ritsuka replied to her inquiry of the Keyblade Glider's mechanics, not to sure of it himself. Once Cynthiera was in the cockpit, the transparent screen closed over them and the Glider began to hover higher above the ground. "Alright, here we go!" Ritsuka said as the vehicle tilted upwards and zoomed up into the sky, followed closely behind by Moguri's own glider. There was a bit of turbulence once they crossed the threshold of the portal Ritsuka made, but once they were through it was smooth sailing.

"Welcome to the Lanes Between." Ritsuka said, presenting the new area around them. Everything was bright and colorful, with aurora's shining all around of all different colors. Despite how bright everything was, one could still see the glimmer of stars in the distance, the light from the hearts of worlds shining like beacons in a sea of emptiness. Behind them they could see Twilight Town, manifested as a small planet with only the important landmarks visible on its surface, such as the clocktower and the haunted mansion. "This is the space that separates all of the worlds, most people can't even enter it, and even fewer can navigate between the barriers between the worlds." Ritsuka explained as he piloted the Glider through the vast expanse of neutral space before them.

"Hey Ritsuka, I see a pathway up ahead, kupo!" Moguri said, clearly heard despite the two layers of glass separating them. Ritsuka looked ahead and saw what his companion was speaking of, a slightly transparent gate in the shape of keyhole was floating precariously in the middle of the empty space, shining as if to say that it was open.

"Alright, then that's where we're headed." Ritsuka declared. "You may want to hold onto something." He suggested to his passenger before steering the Keyblade Glider over to the pathway and crossing it. The moment the tip of the glider crossed the threshold, the entire vehicle sprang forward at top speed, the lights all around them streaking passed in tunnel vision as they were guided along the pathway to the nearest world. Thought initially jarring, the riders eventually acclimated to the speed and now Ritsuka was keeping focused on just keeping the vehicle steady.

At this point Aiko had began to get frustrated, despite the amount of planning ahead she had done, her strikes weren't connecting. While attempting to keep a calm head, it seemed her expression was slowly beginning to bare a snarl. She landed and took a long step forward, bringing her blade to meet Yuxara's with a ferocity only matched by her opponent's smile. Aiko locked up the woman's keyblade where her own split down the middle and twisted, in an attempt to wrench the weapon from Yuxara's grip.

She stood static for a moment, Daybreak Cascade fidgeting in her hand as she pressed harder against the keyblade just centimetres away from her face. Her eyes met Yuxara's once more, examining the inferno in her stare, an almost playful smile grew on Aiko's face as she took her opposite hand from the hilt of her blade and faintly ran her hand down the nobody's cheek. That was sure to faze her, and as the thought ran through her mind she spun and aimed a roundhouse kick towards her opponent's abdomen switching the hand she held her blade with as she whirled around.

Yexuris' lips curled into a smirk, believing that to be the appropriate reaction to the humorous action Aiko had done. It seems the girl truly didn't understand the nature of Nobodies, or perhaps she didn't even know that they were in fact anything but human. Such a technique may have phased one with the heart to feel embarrassment, but it would do no such thing to Yuxara, at the very least it would make her ponder what the action may have meant, considering that she may not even have any memory of the gesture at all.

There was a deep male voice that resounded behind her, the gentle tenor of it perhaps holding only the barest edge of curiosity.

"Why do you stay if you can no longer feel?"

If Kas turned, she would see a tall figure wearing a black, hooded and longsleeved cloak that covered his body, the shadow cast by the hood making it too dark to see his face especially amongst the brightness cast by the glaring sun. The black that they both stood out as an anomaly against the bright natural colors that dominated the landscape of the Pride Lands. A long silver zipper, partially open at the bottom, went down from the bottom of the opening of his hood to the edge of the cloak. His hands were at his sides, his gestures blank and empty.

The cliffside they were upon easily shrouded them from the skulking and frolicking lions below, and with the sun before them, they cast no shadow below so as not to be seen, shadows behind them.

She looked and saw this cloaked man, but she was not surprised. She stood from where she sat and examined his appearance. She barely registered that he asked her something, but her thoughts were working properly so she automatically said, "I stay even though I no longer feel because I know of nowhere else that I can go. And I protect these lions and their land at the cost of my life in order to keep the peace. Why do you ask? Who are you? Why are you here?" Kas looked to see if there was anything threatening about this stranger, but she could so far find none. So she was calmed for the time being.

Yuxara's smile continued to light her face, the rush of the battle fueling it, and as they locked blades, struggling against one another, it seemed to wan, and the light in her eyes found a mirrorlike dark, perhaps in muted--disdain or confusion, it was difficult to tell--when Aiko faintly touched her cheek. However, the mischievous glint in those brown eyes alerted the Nobody that whatever it was, it was some kind of ploy, and the moment Aiko shifted her weight the Nobody knew she was right.

The moment that Aiko's foot left the ground for the roundhouse, the Nobody leapt back diagonally, letting SoulRunner slam against Daybreak Cascade and attempting to toss Aiko off balance with it as she dodged the kick. "Perhaps only a tactic in a duel. Normally, a physical attack won't work against entitic creatures such as heartless," she critiqued as she waited for Aiko to come at her again. Once more there was the urge to fight back, but she left it unfulfilled. This was Aiko's training, and not something for her own rush.

"My name is of no importance for the time being," he mused absently as he looked on to the lions below them, brooding silently. Several seconds passed. "What, if you do not have a heart, drives you onward? The emptiness of the heart's absence is not something that can be filled with days of wasteless duty. If they do not acknowledge you then what is the use of dealing with such." He paused. "The worlds oft succeed in solving problems of their own sourcing." He glanced at her, his gaze still looking down upon her as she was yet shorter than he. "As for why I am here, I can reveal to you a duty that can fill the space of where a heart once was."

She thought on his offer for a moment. "I shall not accept it or decline it until I hear more, so please explain to me your request." She did not express any emotion, but if she did she would have been anxious at this newcomer. She kept looking from him to the lions and back. "And what do you mean by the world's?" She only knew of this place and no other so she had no inkling of anything else.

The girl let out a string of curses in her native tongue as her kick was deflected, she thought of another tactic to try and disorient Yuxara, but it was too brash. Especially for her. However, all thoughts were now focused on getting her bearings while now flying through the air. Instead of falling to the floor in a heap, Aiko utilized the backwards momentum, she landed on the wall behind her momentarily and pushed herself off of it. This was ground she hadn't tread on, mid-air attacks were hard to pull off. So instead of sensibly sending a downward slash towards her opponent she spun, and spun, and spun. Aiko felt her blade rip into to two pieces, one half of the blade was now a stiletto, while the other was an estoc. What had she just done? Aiko didn't know, but carried on anyways. Spinning into a tornado of steel--or whatever the keyblade was made out of-- she had come to meet Yuxara once more within a decisecond of her previous deflection.

Yexuris' eyes widened in the closest thing he had felt to genuine shock in a long time, he focused his vision to make sure he was not mistaken and realized that he was in fact correct in his observation. Aiko, a novice Keyblade Wielder, had just performed a Keyblade Transformation. With this Yexuris could no longer deny that Aiko had great potential to become a Keyblade Wielder, to transform the Keyblade in the middle of combat was an incredibly rare ability for Keyblade Wielders to master, and so quickly at that, even Yexuris himself had only just begun dabbling into the technique. Yexuris continued to observe, wondering how this new variable with go over with Yuxara.

Yuxara allowed a small gasp to escape her a moment before she threw herself to the side, rolling to her feet as Aiko slipped right past her. A Keyblade Transformation? She herself and Raixon had dabbled in the art every so often, in the rare times when they were pushed to having to use a higher technique. She didn’t even believe that she had showed Yexuris her own. However, when she had righted herself, her fierce smile was perhaps wider than it had ever been before. “You probably have no idea what in the worlds your doing, but you’re improvising and trusting your instincts, I like it,” she laughed, the first time that she had ever done so as a Nobody. Yexuris would certainly be surprised, as he had never seen Yuxara laugh before. She had always been the most emotionless out of all the Organization.

“Tempting, very tempting,” she mused as she stayed in a defensive position. “Speed’s very good,” she murmured before she tossed herself back from the next attack which would’ve struck where she had just been.

“First, I do wish to confirm something I believe I have observed from you,” the hooded man mused, raising his hand slowly and ominously. “Although I have no intention to bring harm to you or this world, please indulge me in giving you this one test.” He flicked his wrist and puddles of darkness sprouted from the surrounding floor, forming a circle around the two of them. And from each small pool rose a grey, spindly, undulating figure of a Dusk, with their zipperlike mouths open. There were about ten of them, and they were all poised to attack, writhing restlessly.

The hooded man crossed his arms comfortably. “You say you are a protector. How would you, pray tell, protect against creatures like these?” He asked, stepping back outside of the circle of Dusks who began to converge on Kas.

Aiko had noticed the gasp, raising a brow momentarily at Yuxara as she hurtled into the ground. She landed on one foot, and took the same technique as used before and launching herself sideways, towards Yuxara. She executed a three-sixty degree turn and flipped, sending her leg downwards, however she missed and landed once more. Aiko stayed on the ground now, slightly amazed at the agility she had, but she didn't let it distract her, instead moving forward and giving a quick jab at Yuxara with her shorter blade and following it up with and upwards slash from the longer one. Then taking a step to left, she bent low with one hand to the ground and swept her leg in a spin towards her opponent's ankles.

The girl found it puzzling, Yuxara seemed to exhibit the most emotion during this confrontation. She had already noticed Yexuris faked his when he spoke, each gesture and reaction was hollow, but right now her opponent's seemed genuine. Maybe it was temporary, but with this spike of actual emotion, Aiko could begin to potentially use mental tactics as well. Unless Yuxara was faking the seemingly crazed smiles and laughs, although, bloodlust wasn't easily faked. Maybe it wasn't even bloodlust, but Aiko still indulged herself in speculation of the matter.

Yexuris certainly found it odd just how much emotion Yuxara was showing in this battle, in fact he had never even seen Yuxara even put forth any genuine effort to smile before, let alone laugh. He had to wonder just what kind of person Yuxara was before she was a Nobody for her to come so alive during a battle like this, she certainly was one who enjoyed a good skirmish.

"Don't get too excited Yuxara, remember she's still just a beginner." Yexuris called out tauntingly, though there was a genuine sense of caution in this voice. If she really got too into it then she could perhaps really hurt Aiko, and that wouldn't do.

"I'm well aware, Yexuris," the Nobody mused absently, pausing to spin and parry both strikes from the stiletto and the estoc, the twin swirls of light and darkness flashing every time the metal shaft of SoulRunner was struck. The ringing of metal rang throughout the practice room. "Though I have to admit that I believe you're trying to bait me to attack--" She again paused her words to somersault back smoothly, baring her blade. "Which frankly, I don't believe would end well if I indulged myself." She seemed to recompose herself, her smile settling back into one that was more cool and detached.

"I must say, you're quite impressive. And it takes quite a lot to make an impression on me. I commend you." She continued to remain in the defensive, resorting to parries and dodging since she didn't want to risk Aiko getting any damage from a counterblock.

Though trying to ignore it, Aiko was getting very agitated, despite all of her musings in between strikes her mind was working overclocked. What was Yuxara going to react with next? Would Aiko be able to even land a strike one her? Where is an opening, there has to be an opening. With a strained scream she threw herself at Yuxara, striking downward with all of the power she could muster. Only with one blade however, her knife still dangled in her left hand, not poised to strike, or really moving at all, simply there.

A drop of sweat moved down her face as she looked upward, pure anger burning in her eyes, "Just hit me already," Aiko spat, eyes narrowed and voice quiet. I deserve it, she thought to herself, I'm so weak I can't even hit her, but her rational side said, You're beginner's luck ran out, it's fine, it said this in a rather aloof way in fact. Still, Aiko couldn't get past the fact that she couldn't touch Yuxara, so why not take a strike for discipline? Right? Instead she waited, for her opponent's next move. Still searching, still staring, eyes calculating as the anger faded away. It was pushed down, into the pit of her stomach, where it belonged.

"Careful what you wish for, she might actually do it, and trust me, you won't get away with just a love tap." Yexuris warned from the sidelines, and he meant it this time too. Yexuris had seen Yuxara and Raixon go at it, sure it was technically sparring, but it was so intense that Yexuris doubted that he could get in the middle of it. He didn't even want to think about what could happen to Aiko if Yuxara actually decided to fight back.

Yuxara quickly leapt backward once again and the downward strike that Aiko had launched would only create sparks as it hit the ground. Her expression was soft, yet still absent. "Why would you want me to hit you?" she raised an eyebrow, as if processing such a strange request. Her words had regained their smooth, even tone. "If you won't believe him, believe me when I tell you: you don't want me fighting back. I'm not just any Keyblade Wielder. There's no need for any frustration, as this is still the first training. If anything, you should be proud with how far you've come from the time this match started." She offered a small, complicit smile, just the barest tinge of it. One of her more usual smiles. It seemed that the moment of vivacity was over, at least for now. "Regardless, it was certainly worth it saving you from that dying world. You'll make a great addition to the Organization."

"If you like, we can take a break." Although she lowered SoulRunner by a fraction, she kept her stance up and her gaze still trained upon Aiko, studying her reaction.

Despite Yexuris' warning and Yuxara's taunting encouragement, Aiko still pressed. Not for long however, she sent weak, slow strikes towards Yuxara, and soon burned out. Falling over and collapsing on the floor. Her mind teetered on the ledge of consciousness, seesawing between the two choices and eventually threw the owner of the mind into a state of comatose sleep. Exhaustion had gotten the best of Aiko, and pulled her into it's depths to talk for a while. That "while" was bound to last a good few hours, maybe only one or two if she was lucky.

Eyes closed and breath heavy, Aiko seemed more than content enough to sleep. Perhaps the Ether hadn't done its job properly, maybe it was the overexertion, nonetheless, the girl laid face-down, not a care in the world passing through her mind. Not that it could though, it was filled with battle strategies being gone over, martial training being recalled and opponent's being analyzed at the moment. Maybe in an hour her mind would be clear, back to her timid self instead, although the inkling of thought she could muster made her visualize no one in the Organization liking her shy personality... in social situations at least. The inkling winked out quickly, better to get some rest than dwell over it. Right?