Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

just as Crystal took off and Roveth was gettingu p to do the same, another corridor of Darkness opened up beside Squall and Cloud, and out walked Wolfwood, smoking on a cigarette like usual, blinking when he looked around at the damage, then to the two beat up swordsmen "eh? i leave for a week. a WEEK, to try and get more info on safe havens to train that Shiro-gaki and i come back to find out there's been things going down? what in the world happened -This- time!?!" of course, mentally he was fully blaming that thrice-damned Needle Noggin for holding him up during the week otherwise he'd have made more progress and all as he tossed the butt to the ground and stomped it out looking clearly annoyed.

Roveth of course stopped a moment, his eyes completely inverting from white to black in the secelra and going bright red in the iris as the shadows around him starting to coalesce "this time? THIS TIME!?!?!?" of course, he whirled around and with enough speed to make Cloud's Sonic Rave look like he was going slow, slammed Wolfwood against the nearby wall, hand gripping Wolfwood's throat tightly "listen you damn fake priest,we don't have time to play twenty questions with you, my light half is out there in this town somewhere kidnapped by a damn clown and doing god knows what to him, and all you can say is THIS TIME!?!?! HOW ABOUT GETTING OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE RIGHT NOW AND HELP US OUT OR SO HELP ME I WILL MAKE SURE THE SHADOW REALM GLEEFULLY DEVOURS YOUR SOUL!!!!" of course, by the looks of the floating black and purple balls of energy floating behind Roveth it looked like he might just do it anyway if no one pulled him away from Wolfwood.

Kefka meanwhile looked up from his work only faintly, feeling the massive upsurge of darkness.. no.. shadow energy, coming from where he just teleported from, making him giggle with delight "Ah! such sweet seeds of chaos and discord i've sown.. but you.. you will be a crowning achievement! moreso than the time i actually brain-washed and controlled that hybrid esper girl... now then.. you are next..." he said, plucking up what looked to be the third or fifth of the many crystals he had brought from his world, and begun continuing his work on infusing and surgically implanting them within Shiro.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Not long after Wolfwood's arrival and immediate throttling at the hands of Roveth, a second corridor of darkness would appear as Roxas and Riku stepped out of it, having both come from Master Yen Sid's tower. While Sora was being given his make-up exam in an effort to also obtain the Mark of Mastery, Riku's first assignment as a full-fledged Keyblade Master was to investigate the source of the sudden outpouring of darkness that had originated from Radiant Garden just a short time ago. Roxas was there with him mainly because Sora didn't need to be distracted and he himself had gotten rather bored with hanging around at Master Yen Sid's tower in the first place.

"You sure you don't want to reconsider taking your own Mark of Mastery exam?" Riku had asked him before they left the tower.

"Even if I might have what it takes to pass the test, I don't think I could handle so much responsibility," had been Roxas's answer. "Besides, I'm still working on figuring out my place in the world."

The substantial collateral damage that awaited them when they arrived in Radiant Garden was more than a little discouraging. The fact that Shiro was nowhere to be seen also seemed like a pretty bad sign. Seriously, why was the darkness always out to get Shiro?

"It looks like we'll be having to rescue Shiro again," Riku observed. He looked to Roveth who still had Wolfwood by the throat. "So, are you going to waste your energy maiming a useless ally or would you rather vent your frustration on the one responsible for taking Shiro?"

Roxas was, of course, wondering how exactly Riku planned to talk Crystal down from circling overhead considering she seemed really upset at the moment and she was really high up. Riku naturally hadn't overlooked this fact as he then called up to the girl, "Come on now, don't make me have to come up there to drag you back down to earth! We all want to find Shiro, but flying around up there in a blind panic isn't going to help anything!"  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth had actually twitched an eyebrow, almost tightening his grip on wolfwood even more , before taking a deep breath, and dismissed the shadow realm orbs, before plainly letting go of wolfwood, dropping him to the ground where he began coughing and sputtering, being attended to by some Knight heartless that came to his aid a moment, before glaring at the Shadow half of Shiro, who returned the glare with his menacing eyes, before they reverted back to their amber yellow colors and the white scelera once more as he frowned, now seeing how desperate and broken Crystal Sounded while the others tried to help her, he sighed a bit, closing his eyes, trying to use his own link to Shiro, but was also getting nothing either, causing him to cross his arms, to hide he wanted to literally hit something right now but it could be seen easily with him gripping his arms "damnit..." he muttered to himself, before Wolfwood finally spoke up "as big a place as Radiant Garden is, there's really not that many places where anyone dark can hole up given Cid's Security System would at least have ideas in the city area of where things are going down.. and from what i know, Maleficent is in her castle thing in that canyon area, or doing her own thing so that place is out, where else would darkness go to hide out that'd be well hidden but probably in plain enough sight?"


Kefka of course just hummed in thought as he continued working, smiling along as he put in the next crystal ~yes.. Provided this boy survives the next part of my plan, he might become enough to even give me some actual entertainment, an actual challenge, unlike those fools that called themselves the Returners.. pfft.. they had no clue how well i played them all.. fools... oh, wait, can't talk bad about the dead.. oh.. no, don't care, going to anyway. Mwee hee Hee Hee!~ he just kept himself focused on his task despite his own distracted thoughts, even when he felt the presence of a nobody, another being of darkness, and someone tainted by the darkness. (Roxas, Wolfwood, Riku, Respectively.), he paid it no mind, given this proceedure -is- a delicate one.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"We shouldn't keep Shiro waiting," Roxas also agreed. Although truthfully he did feel a little uneasy, given that technically Hollow Bastion was the place where his existence was born. It was kinda spooky to think about.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth looked over to Wolfwood and then to Riku, before turning and heading back to Merlin's place quietly so he could go fetch Shiroi Senko for this, since they were right, if anyone could lead them to Shiro, it'd be his chocobo partner, since both Crystal's connection and his soul link were both unhelpful. once he returned, Roveth could be seen looking much calmer physically, but his eyes showed the torrential rage just waiting to be unleashed at a hair trigger, meaning if someone decided to show up and set him off, well.. i wouldn't guarantee the safety. "well, since we have a lead, let's work with it." he said with a finality that spoke volumes of what he'd do should he get his hands on that despicable clown. Wolfwood had nodded with seriousness, and started to lead the way since he was familiar with Hollow Bastion and all ever since things calmed down enough to be Radiant Garden and all.


Kefka had finished putting in 2/3rds of the crystals he had on him within Shiro's body, making sure to avoid places where joints would be so as to make things transfer smoothly, and quite judiciously putting a good few in empty spaces inside the torso cavity that wasn't being occupied with vital organs or anything, even so far as making them blunted to where the edges would not puncture anything vital should they move. he then began now working on slowly infusing the next and probably last ones into the blood stream as he worked, a slight sheen of sweat forming on his painted face as he lightly wiped off the sweat without damaging his makeup. "phew... this is a long process, but it'll be worth it in the end... after the Magicite is integrated in him, next will be those old Relics... Mwee Hee Hee Hee..." he said in a soft cackle afterwards, before continuing to work and all on the unconscious Shiro.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Roxas also followed along and was more than a little surprised at witnessing so many strong emotions around him at the moment. Enough so that he felt rather foolish for his own feelings of unease about venturing into Hollow Bastion to search for Shiro. Although having been acquainted with since roughly the time of his emergence into the world, Roxas hadn't been around Roveth enough to have any real sense of what his normal attitude should be. Crystal, though, had always presented herself as a steady beacon of common sense and compassion. Roxas had certainly seen her get carried away in battle whenever anyone else got hurt, but there wasn't anything strange about her wanting to protect her friends. But the way she had reacted to Shiro's latest kidnapping it was like she was feeling the pressure of something way more intense. Not that there was anything he could think to say that would make a difference given the circumstances. Instead, all he could do was to agree with Riku. "Riku's right. We came here to help and we're going to do everything in our power to get Shiro back."

He did slip a little bit closer to Riku so he could whisper, "Do you think she's going to be okay? I've never seen her this out of it."

"Why, you worried?" Riku shrugged. "Honestly, I have a feeling she's probably been through worse."

"Well now I'm definitely worried," Roxas retorted. Riku's answer wasn't exactly a comforting one.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth just continued to follow in silence, a frown constantly on his face as he tried to go over in his head the possible card combinations he knew that could shut down that damn clown even if temporarily to let the group beat the ever living snot out of him as he looked upwards to the sky, even if he was a being of Shadow, he still silently prayed in his own head for Shiro's safety. the thought of this Kefka guy however made him grit his teeth under the frown as he narrowed his eyes in contemplation... that guy seemed unhinged, yet at the same time dancing to a tune in his own head.. something that reminded him of the fool Xehanort that tried (and failed) to control him. ~Tch... look at me.. going around in circles mentally... stop thinking about useless things and think about how best to manage your life force when using that one card which will shut the b*****d down, even though it'll also shut down your own magic capabilities too...~ he thought to himself, reaching back to his Deckbox to pull out four cards, and then channeled mana into them to 'prime' them (as in set them face down) to where they vanished, but their presences were still felt by everyone that Roveth could activate them at a mere whim as they continued on.

Shiroi Senko had been looking around, as if looking for something, even pecking at the ground a bit as they walked, however, it wasn't long until the silver feathered chocobo looked up towards the castle of 'Hollow Bastion', before pointing somewhere in the middle, as if saying deep inside, while Wolfwood saw this he frowned lightly "... judging from the direction... aww man, did he -really- go to the heart of that damn castle?" he said with a groan, knowing full well where exactly in that part of the castle was something important.

Kefka meanwhile had hummed as he finished magically weaving Shiro's skin and flesh back together, all the crystals now snug within the boy's body, however, he had then turned and made a round circular incision that would pop out the majority of the bones and flesh in the chest area, revealing Shiro's still beating yet fractured heart as it beat slowly and peacefully, due to him being unconscious and all. "now.. for the final touches..." he said, before snapping his fingers, three LARGE statues depicting a goddess, a demon, and what looked to be a fiend of sorts, as they formed a triangular formation around Shiro, reforming the pyramid barrier around the area as kefka chuckled "its no surprise they managed to regain their power despite my stealing it to ascend... well, that's god-like beings for you." he cackled to himself a bit, before getting ready to use his power to lift them up, and shrink the statues down to where they would fit in the hole perfectly, and then slowly started inserting them into the cavity he made to the heart.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Roxas was certainly no slouch in the speed department either, although after summoning his Oathkeeper and Oblivion into hand he did hang back a little to give the others some room so they wouldn't be crashing into each other while navigating the winding and occasionally quite narrow passageways to reach the heart chamber of Hollow Bastion castle. Roxas was also no stranger to defying gravity, having been a real natural when it came to flying in Neverland, so if the situation hadn't been so serious he'd probably be having a great deal of fun just navigating through the ruins like this. But since the situation was deathly serious it meant that having fun was secondary to utilizing Crystal's magic as an effective mode of reaching their destination quickly all the while smacking away any Heartless that got in his way.

Honestly, it was all happening so quickly Roxas wasn't certain the Heartless were even realizing what was hitting them as they each rushed by.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth of course seemed to be using his own capabilities to skate across the floor, lockdown in hand and slashing heartless down ruthlessly in his way, though when it came to some of the bigger ones, he slide under them before say, defender reared its shield at him, so on, slicing upwards as he goes past to vertically bifurcate them, before continuing on without losing pace, Shiroi Senko also keeping up and actually moving to take the lead, using Choco balls and choco Kicks to move along between each heartless. Wolfwood of course, being the slowest due to his Cross Punisher, had pulled out his own keyblade, and started slashing mercilessly while running along.

Kefka meanwhile was frowning as he concentrated, having shrunk the floating statues down to currently half their size, and continuing to make them smaller, and smaller, though it was hard since the more he shrunk them the more their magic power began amplifying itself... ~guh...! this.. might fail after all if i can't shrink them to the size i need! no.. no.. calm down.. you are a GOD! you can do this! Mwee Hee Hee Hee!~ he thought to himself as he continued, letting the sweat roll down his face as he continued working and all towards shrinking them to the approiate height.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

While Crystal and Riku had both come to stand on what was very definitely the floor of the heart chamber, Roxas arrived standing deftly on the ceiling. In fact, if Kefka weren't so perceptive and Roxas had been wearing his Organization trench coat he would have blended in perfectly with the dark interior architecture. As it was, with Roxas being dressed mainly in white in his regular street clothes, he actually just stood out like a sore thumb trying to show off which really wasn't that far from the truth all things considered.

"Damn it Roxas, get down from there!" Riku was yelling up at him. "Now isn't the time for you to be channeling Sora!"

Roxas grumbled in annoyance at the comparison, but launched down to join the others on the floor. "We both know there's no way someone as uncoordinated as Sora could look as cool as me doing that."