Rising Storm (Organization XIII, PM to join)

[ayama]

Demyx let out a small sigh, looked like Larxene was taking matters into her own hands. Which was fine by him! Leave the rest to do the work, afterall his job was over right? No need to have everyone go through physical labor. Maybe if he just snuck away now, nobody else would notice. No one was actually counting on him to fight right? Why would they? Everyone in the Orginization knew how the nocturne was. He was lazy, and a coward to boot though...in reality he actually didn't feel fear.

"Alright here's the plan..." he thought, I do one attack...then! after that, I book it out of here. Perfect! At least they can't say I didn't do anything."

The nobody smiled with glee. He summoned his sitar, and keeping out of sight played a small cord on his beloved instrument quietly. He closed his eyes, and focusing on the chord a small orb made of water appeared in front of him. Its power was getting stronger after every note he played. Finally he opened his eyes, and with a small movement of his wrist castes a strong Waterga spell at the heroes. However, as he did unintentially his spell hit Larxenes combining the two spells, creating somewhat of a combo. Demyx's jaw dropped. Did that really just happen!? oh well...best not to think about it. Mission success! Time to go home. At least...that's what he hoped.

[Deleted]

"Why would they want the Secret Place? Is it because of t -- watch out!"

A quick-cast Haste spell ensured that Tidus could dodge the Thundaga attack, but barely. The splash damage hit him, however, and he felt the sharp pain travel up his legs, grunting in discomfort. After it mostly went away, he stood and held his sword out, ready to attack anybody who would potentially harm his friends. He knew that he wouldn't be much of a challenge, but he would at least be a hindrance.

You guys do what you need to do, I'll cover you!"

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Xaldin just smirked as he saw the friend of the wielders face him, his sword drawn and pointed at the lancer. A mere annoyance was all this boy was, and would be cast aside like the trash he was. With a small twist in the wind that carried him, he was by the boy within a matter of a second. A sweep of his arm slammed Tidus in the side with a blast of wind, and he watched as the boy bounced against the side of the nearby wooden structure, then turned his attention to his main targets.

"Get out of my way, before I am forced to make you move. The Dark XII's mission will not be corrupted, especially by the likes of you."

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Tidus hardly felt the pain until after he struck the entrance to the clubhouse, when his back suddenly arched with the jarring pain he felt in his ribs. He tried to stand, but could only lie there in a small ball on the sand.

And then all he saw was black.

[Era]

Just like that, the fight was on. With little warning to the opposing team, Lea's comrades had quite easily jumped into battle. And of course, Axel would make sure to follow suit. . . with style.

He too had stepped out from hiding - right into the rain. Scowling unpleasantly at the downpour, he mumbled something bitterly about Demyx and Water. From his position on the wooden walkway jutting out around the Cave Tree, it was a perfect opportunity for an assault. One hand gripped a small, pointed black frisbee - a sneering red fireball took up much of its red and black surface. The weapon, albeit not as great as his Chakrams, was still quite fitting. "One down, two to go." His eyes quickly shifted from the Frisbee to Sora and Riku.

An emerald gaze lit with contentment as Number Eight devised an attack. And with a simple snap of his bare fingers (a new and peculiar feeling for the Nobody), flames flickered to life along the ground, uncoiling along the ground. They were aimed to burst up in a circle around Sora's feet, and they grew rapidly, their intention to trap the brunette in a tower of spiraling, sweltering flames.

He had planned to keep the attention of the Keyblade Wielders on himself. And if all played into his cleverly devised trap, Sora would focus on saving himself, Riku would focus on saving Sora, and with their opposition ingeniusly distracted, his comrades could continue about their mission with very little hindrance.

That was, if all went according to plan. . . But how good were the odds of everything running smoothly along Plan A? After all, that's why everyone was always coming up with Plan B. But just what, all things considered, would be an intelligent Plan B?

[Zephiris]

Riku

Riku had to say no more; Sora got it. Tidus he wasn't as sure, but the moment the lightning rang down it didn't matter anymore. With a sensation like an ice dagger twisting slowly into his heart, Riku realized that the two or three dark figures he'd noticed were only the tip of the force congregated on the play island.

Just as Tidus called to him to get moving, and that he'd cover him, the terrible being before them spoke in a voice of thunder.

"Get out of my way, before I am forced to make you move. The Dark XII's mission will not be corrupted, especially by the likes of you."

The Dark XII.

Riku snarled in response - and then took his cue and burst forward. He sprinted along the strip of beach, refusing to look back despite the cry he heard from behind him, in a voice undoubtably belonging to the Disney knight. 

He hoped Sora could manage alone if Tidus truly had been downed. They were the only barrier between the darkness and the Islands' Heart. Riku would be their offense, and take Tidus for his word about being covered; but even he felt a great and terrible fear gnawing at the edges of his frozen heart. It was an anxiety he subdued viciously.

A sudden storm of magic beleaguered him the moment he took off at a sprint. The ferocity of the wind, water, and lightning forced him to conjure shields every few steps. His teeth gritted. In that short span of time, nearly all the elements had been set against him. The shields hindered his mobility greatly, and he suddenly found himself hissing in pain as small licks of fire evaded his defenses.

Fire?

Riku spun around mid-sprint. For a brief moment his back was to his target - the dark-haired Heartless - and the sight that met his eyes chilled him to the bone, despite the flames. 

Yeah, fire. And Sora was surrounded by it.

For one precious moment, Riku was completely and utterly torn in two. Sora was now directly under assault; however, the silver-haired had faith in his friend's abilities. Would it prove more effective to continue his charge towards (what he considered to be) the source of the problem?

Suddenly, a third option flared into being. Riku's gaze alit on a shock of red hair perched on a tree platform. The tongues of flame all led to it. In an instant he made his decision, and sprinted through the rain toward the blur of crimson. After a couple of steps he aimed, and searing flares of dark energy shot from his palms towards the figure.

Dark Firaga against a fire-wielding Heartless: generally not the most effective of approaches. But the strength of the attack might buy him enough time to reach his target. If there were no interventions from elsewhere, he'd be at the man's throat in seconds. 

Riku just had to keep on fighting. There was no other hope apart from that. Keep fighting, keep up the offensive, while Sora and Tidus held their own as guards of the Secret Place. Keep fighting, or lose the Islands. 

[Zephiris]

Xigbar

Xigbar snorted contentedly, his wolfish eyes locked on this new target. He let his vision shift into a vague sensor of the energy world, the rain and tumult of power about him becoming bright streaks of color. As he honed in on the gap the kids were guarding, his suspicions intensified; the feel of its shadows was dark, mysterious.

Xigbar loped across the bridge for a better vantage point. The silver-haired was sprinting forward, now, on the offensive. Between Axel, Xaldin, Larxene, and - to his utter disbelief - Demyx, the other two scrawny runts were relatively taken care of.

The knight had crumpled to the ground. Xigbar counted to fifteen in his head, but the boy didn't make any attempt to move, much less stand. And the shorter Keyblader looked pretty occupied right then.

With a snap of his fingers, the Freeshooter stepped from this dimension. He reemerged exactly where he had calculated: behind the fiery inferno that ensnared Sora, beside the fallen blondie, and before the entrance to what he now realized was a tunnel.

"What's so special about you?" He sneered to himself, but the shadowy overhang refused to respond. Only the roar of the waterfall could be heard through the storm.

Xigbar rolled his eyes, and prepared to enter the Secret Place.

[Deleted]

With a couple blinks, all the Disney Knight could see was the blur of things going on around him and could only hear the howling wind. However, the feeling of something broken that he had felt when hitting before had seemed to go away, and as he slowly sat up, he felt himself and found the source of the problem. The hard-leather jerkin that he had to wear under his armor had ground into his ribcage and bruised his chest, but he found himself able to get up, if not a little groggily.

As he picked up his sword and looked around, he saw his attacker focusing on Sora and Riku. With a small smile, he looked to the Secret Place then saw yet another stranger approaching it, this time unhindered from entering it. With that, Tidus scooped up his longsword and snuck behind "Braig", following him as he entered the area with the doorway.

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Xaldin watched as Axel took the offensive, and with a nod went into action himself. He focused on the other Keyblade wielder, Riku. As the Dark Firaga was launched in Axel's direction, Xaldin launched himself between the spell and his ally, a sphere of air surrounding him. He managed to get between Axel and the spell, watching as the spell hit the air shield, spread in all directions, and launched around the shield.

A cocky smile was on Xaldin's face as his single lance was pointed at Riku, wisps of wind ripping from the shield and forming around it. As it began to be enveloped in the strong force of he winds, it began to shake in his grasp, and he let it go, watching as it launched in the direction of the silver-haired Keyblader, moving swiftly and burying into whatever it hit.

However, it was easy to retrieve, for it disappeared in a shimmer then reappeared in the Whirlwind Lancer's hands, ready for another attack.

[Larxene]

What a difference it made, taking the Heroes of Light on as a group as opposed to engaging them one at a time. It made things so much easier for her, to rain lightning bolts down upon their heads unperturbed as Xaldin, Axel and Demyx engaged them on the ground. They had them outnumbered, on both the attacking front and the covert front, Xigbar seeking out the heart of the world as they kept these brats distracted. Victory would be theirs. She could almost taste it.

Larxene continued her assault from above, regulating her far-flung bolts as her companions closed in on the heroes, pausing between strikes to aim, wait for a clear shot – she did not need another lecture about zapping a fellow Organization member again. As Xaldin and the others engaged them on the ground, she adjusted her role to support fire, watching the battle bellow and letting lightning fly when the opportunity presented itself. Axel setting blaze to the island. Xaldin whirling with wind and spear. Cursory glances of Xigbar maneuvering about the island, soon taking interest in a cave, moving in to inspect.

And one of the heroes shadowing him, one he had thought was taking care of earlier on in the assault.

“Oh-ho, no you don’t~” Larxene crooned, charging a Thundara spell in her palm. Only one person one this island used such underhanded tactics, and that was her. She loosed the electrical surge.

[Rook]

Thunder crashed, the rain collided to the sand. As fires burned and the wind raged, the cave that was the Secret Place hid it's contents from the outside world. Secrets not long from becoming discovered. But opposition be damned. Storms pass.

From the interior of the cave, shrouded behind the overhang and the walls of shadow, a tiny glimmer of light twinkled in the low moonlight of a dusk recently passed. And as the intruder came closer, it might as well have been the light of a freight train exiting a tunnel, roaring on it's tracks.

"GUARD LIGHT!"

A brilliantly bright pulse of Light exploded through the opening and tore across the beach behind the invader. A moment later, a hand, still shimmering from the blast, brushed aside an overhanging plant branch and a blue-vested, redheaded young male stepped forth, the tendrils of a Dark portal whisped away from him and dispersed. His expression was not pleased.

It had only been mere hours since he and Jason stepped onto this World. Hours since he had reunited with Era on this illuminated orb that he cowered before for some unknown reason. But before that he had been to Destiny Islands twice prior; Once to lend aide to the King as Marluxia invaded the Castle Disney before he was taken away into the Darkness, and once before that, where he had helped a castaway Princess named Kairi seek shelter from the storm in this very cave.

And through Rook Sheer was no citizen of Destiny Islands, the storm that suddenly cropped up so powerfully and violently HAD to have been something more than the inclement weather. He smelled something vile on the air even from his shelter on the main land.

Rook sneered towards "Braig", one hand still aimed at him, the other balled in a fist at his side, his hair tussled about in the storm. "You are not welcome here," He warned. His thousand-yard stare threatened to pierce a hole in him as much as the power in his hand did, "I was a match for your Aeleus before. I'll fight just as hard to stop you all now, just the same."

[Era]

Behind the wooden walls of the shack near the waterfall, in the darkest corner, shadows stirred. Tendrils of purply-black uncoiled, and from their dark reaches, they spat out another figure.

With a heavy exhale she raised one hand, the other to her side, and she pushed energy into her palms. Long strands of onyx and byzantium spiraled around her forearms, the essence of shadow popping and crackling as black strings traced webs of thin ice.

A few seconds, and the shoddy door burst open on its hinges, lodging in the sand after swinging wide. Out from the shack's dark interior came Era, fists wound tightly around the hilts of her steaming shadow weapons. She'd be darned if Rook thought she was going to sit in safety while there was a world to fight for - and not just any world, the world she'd temporarily called home.

Her gaze swept across the scene trying analyze each player on the battlefield through the pelting rain and spurts of unrelenting lightning. Those close-by she'd recognized as Braig, Arlene, Myde...


"Era... You have been chosen to fulfill a great task. Something we, my people, are unable to do."

She remembered looking for her first chance to escape.

"You and your Heartless are quite valuable to me..."

The sheer anger that boiled her blood that fateful evening in the Castle Abyss was flooding back to her.

She vividly recalled the crumbling Castle, and her bittersweet reunion with Rook. He was around just long enough to reassure her he was still alive.

And then, just like that, they took him away again.

These goons had done her a world of wrong. They had tried twice to take away what she held the most dear. Era's blood boiled. She would not let it happen again. Her heart burned with a livid anger as she internally vowed not to let what she'd lived through happen to anyone else.

Frost blue eyes were immediately swept over with a look of brazen iron as she caught sight of another foe who was preparing to launch a spear toward a silver-haired boy about her same age. Without a second thought, she took to the fray, giving one Soul Reaper a controlled, but hasty slash.

Shards of black ice took flight as they departed from the shadowy weapon, aimed for the one with the Lance.

[Zephiris]

Xigbar

“Woah boy!” Xigbar all but threw himself sideways to avoid the blast of light that burst from the entrance to the cave. He hissed at the sting as it passed him, but being Nothing rather than Darkness like a true Heartless, the Freeshooter narrowly avoided getting roasted. Here was something he hadn’t seen coming; someone was in the cave.

It was unlike Xaldin not to have noticed when he was there earlier. Which meant the newcomer had just arrived. Which more than likely meant it had access to the Corridors.

Which most definitely meant it was not an ordinary opponent.

Luckily, Xigbar was too deep in shadow for his assailant to have noticed the attack didn’t affect him like it would a Dark XII adversary. His guard back in place, the Freeshooter straightened. A moment later a hand brushed aside a cluster of hanging vines and strode into his view. The figure revealed himself to be a young, bright-haired man, and his expression was rather murderous.

His words a moment later proved just as unfriendly. Xigbar snorted. “Let me by, kid.”

He moved to the side, stepping forward as if to walk around the red headed man. . . but crossed instead to another dimension before the opportunistic slot closed, and appeared again far behind the man and deep in the cave. For a moment their backs were to each other.

Xigbar didn’t particularly care if the redhead turned around at that point and tried to attack. His presence had been marked by the Freeshooter, now. Any attempt would be sensed in its coming. What had he done so far to rile this guy up, anyway? This was the Superior’s production. He’d just knocked down a coconut or two. Hell, the redhead probably has some deep life grudge against this Heartless of mine. Just my luck.

He turn his attentions to the curious black door he had spotted along the back wall of the cavern. It took him only a quick once-over to be sure. He instinctively felt he had only a few moments to relay the message, and so he quickly began muttering to the wind, hoping there was swift enough air currents this far in the cave to carry it.

“Oi, Xaldin, if you can hear me in here – we’ve got more kids joining the party. Dunno why, but I’m dead sure this is it. There’s this door.”

[Zephiris]

Riku

Riku's eyes widened in a moment of disbelief as the Dark XII member with the long, tied-back hair flew across the beach and intercepted his attack with a twist of wind. In the next moment the assailant's lone lance was charging in his direction; Riku snarled and immediately retaliated with a thrust of his hand, the air directly front of him condensing in a blink of an eye with the darkness of a temporary shield. With a sharp crack the weapon rebounded, and the silver-haired flew forward.

Fiercly blinking the water out of his eyes, it took the keyblader a moment to realize his charge was being augmented by an outside attack. Quick thoughts pulsed with the adrenaline of his mind; he didn't recognize the black shards of the attack - his new ally was someone he did not know. Riku decided in that instant to accept him (what other choice did he have?) and thrust another Dark Firaga flare at their shared opponent, just as his free arm swung up, keyblade in hand, to strike the lanced man.

As his weapon arched through the air, Riku locked eyes with the black, impenetrable eyes of his foe. And he felt a rush of hatred like he'd never experienced before. It was stronger than anything felt towards Maleficent, Xemnas; even Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, had never inspired this degree of animosity. Suddenly, faced with the soulless pits of the man who was destroying his home, Riku's vision began to run red. A churning tide of anger began to slowly engulf the fear and rising hopelessness.

This aren't men. Even the Organization fought one-on-one for the most part. These creatures are no better than the lesser Heartless.

And they're all cowards.

In the back of his mind he still marked the red-head who held Sora under flame; but right then, his attentions were only for the death of the monster directly within his reach.

[Deleted]

Tidus

[/color]

If the bright flash behind him hadn't been enough warning, the sharp pain he felt would have sufficed, ,as Tidus narrowly dodged the Thunder spell once again by diving into the cave mouth. He hissed sharply as he felt the injury Larxene's Thundara had caused, but he was safe from that, at least for now. He instead pushed the pain away and raised his hand above him, causing the small multicolored lights of the Cheer spell took affect on him. He then walked on, his longsword propped on his shoulder as he pushed vines out of the way.

Bet he stopped when he heard a voice up ahead, and watched the scene with the Dark XII member he was following and another man, seemingly trying to stop the Heartless. As he hid and watched, he tightened the grip on his sword, ready to charge if the need arose.

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Xaldin

A silent curse was the result of Riku blocking his attack, but he barely gave it any other thought and began to make the gesture to recall his lance. However, something caught his eye, and he had barely turned when the attack from Era connected, causing him to grunt in pain. However, with the Dark Firaga hitting, he flew back and landed on his back in the sand, weaponless and injured. Luckily, he had managed to evade the swing of Riku's Keyblade, and used the brief moment where Riku's momentum would be too focused away from him to change.

As the single lance reappeared in his hand, the ground underneath him turned to darkness and absorbed him in, depositing him closer to Axel. He gave a brief look to how the Flurry was dealing with Sora, then turned back to Riku, a sneer forming on his sharp features.

It appears, without my 6 lances, I am at a disadvantage...

A gesture of his other hand caused a second lance to appear, cleverly disguised to be identical to the one his former Somebody and current Heartless held. As he held the identical lances in a battle stance, he smiled gently to himself. Now this was more like it.

However, he now kept an eye out for the newcomer that had attacked him, and weaved gentle strands of air, a failsafe if they were to double team him.

At the same time, a low whisper came from somewhere on the island, a message to him from one of his allies.

“Oi, Xaldin, if you can hear me in here – we’ve got more kids joining the party. Dunno why, but I’m dead sure this is it. There’s this door.”

As he stood, waiting for the Keyblade wielder to attack, he whispered to the wind, sending a message to Larxene, Axel and Xigbar.

"Xigbar has found the door. When the chance arises, we are to converge with him and take the Heart. Ensure little to no opposition exists, and then get into that cave as quick as you can."

Then, a shift in the air currents of the cave perked hsi interest, and he whispered yet again.

"And Xigbar, there is another one in the cave as well. Be wary."

[Rook]

Let him by? Rook scoffed. Were he less in control, had it not been for Era, he would have caved in this hole in the rock. But now was a time for more tact than that. Whatever these Heartless wanted, it was inside this cave. Rook would defend it with his life, just as Sora once defended Rook's with his. Despite his only-brief meeting with that boy, the redhead owed him for helping to turn the Heartless from his own world. Twice, even.

He pulled away the opened cloak that enshrouded all but the foremost of his body and tossed it behind him into the torrential winds that were kicking up action across the beach, and turned into the cave, following the short cavernway that led behind and below the tree above and into a small open area, adorned in childlike chalk drawings and doodles.

Rook admired them for a moment... this must have been what a childhood without fear would have been like... another reason to preserve it and to turn back what was now threatening it.

And then, the door. The only thing out of place against the tree roots and rock croppings.

"Last warning..." Rook snarled, sliding a foot back and into an attack-ready stance. His fists raised to his chest, one burning bright white, the other beginning to form a dark shroud around it. "Leave. 'Cause if you don't, I'll go out fighting."

[Larxene]

“Shit!” Larxene hissed as her spell missed its mark just barely. The boy had dove into the cave, out of her line of sight and for the time being safe from her electrical assault. Almost catlike she moved from branch to branch above the beach, craning her neck through the boughs, scanning the beach bellow. She entertained the thought of sending a Thunder spell Sora’s way when she heard Xaldin’s voice over the raging winds.

"Xigbar has found the door. When the chance arises, we are to converge with him and take the Heart. Ensure little to no opposition exists, and then get into that cave as quick as you can."

Well, about time, was what Larxene thought, allowing a small grin curl across her face, practically from ear to ear. She had no intention of following that sandy-haired boy into the cave – she planned on raining destruction from afar for most of the fight, but it seemed that alcove was more important than anticipated.

In a flurry of Darkness she appeared beside the caves entrance, backing up into shadows. She crouched down and carefully crept her way into the tiny entrance, one hand full of knives and the other a fist of thunder. Eyes keen, she peered into the darkness. She knew there was the boy in here already… and someone else it seemed aside from her own party. She’d finish the boy first, and then the other interloper shortly after. She’d strike like lightning, and they would fall, long before they knew what hit them.

[Aryn007]

(First post as Sora on boards in...a very long time. Go easy on me.)

Earth, water, fire, and wind: The elements raged around him in a fierce storm that smelled of impatience and the deep-seated discontent. Heat rose in a ring of fire, stinging his eyes, making them water. He could hear voices shouting, but he wasn’t sure how many people there were, what they were doing, whose side they were on, or where they were precisely. One minute, you’re saying hello to your best friend, whom you haven’t seen in ages, and the next minute you’re trying to avoid being toasted in an open fire!

Sora wasted no more time wrapping an Aeroga spell about himself, stepping through the flames with minimal damage, though his eyes smarted from the smoke and his skin blistered from the heat. With the smooth reflexes of a practiced warrior, the blue-eyed boy rapidly fired six bolts of ice from the tip of his Keyblade at Axel; turning on one foot, he sent one more at the female figure he spotted dashing above the tree-tops from the corner of his eye. Without even looking to see if he hit his target, he was charging at the red-headed Nobody, Kingdom Key flashing and quivering in his hand, ready to unleash a flurry of aggressive physical attacks.

These were his islands. And no big-headed, mean-spirited, self-important bunch of rotten bad guys were going to just waltz in and claim the place.