Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro and Roveth just panted, trying to collect themselves, before standing up and looking to each other, both smiling, as they gave a high five, before Shiro winced, grumbling at the chest aches, moreso from Izanagi's de-summoning still before he sighed, and nodded, when they tapped their communicators, they both vanished in red and blue lights/energy, heading back to the command center, once back, Shiro would move over to the wall, and slumped down against it taking deep breaths "god... that was intense, the stamina drain..." he muttered, but grinned a bit lightly "but worth it to see that b*****d pay for what he did to you, Roxas." of course, Roveth nodded, idly looking to Shiro "well that was an interesting battle... especially how that one clash from Shiro and Vanitas had before Shiro ended it with kicking the jerk's a**." he said, while Shiro shrugged "Don't ask me, i have no idea why that part happened."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Next time we'll finish the job together," Roxas nodded to Shiro. He obviously couldn't beat Vanitas himself, but he still wanted to put a stop to him and if the best way to do that was going to be by following Shiro's lead in this world, then fine. Roxas could certainly do that much without complaint.

"He's definitely not an enemy to be taken lightly," Crystal agreed. She certainly didn't want to have to cross swords with Vanitas. She could combat him with magic and with summons, but in terms of brute strength she would have been severely outclassed.

"By the way, it looks like one of the side tunnels is equipped with some beds we can use," Xion had been looking around to figure out where to bring Roxas once he was done leaning on the viewing monitors to keep close watch on the battle and that was what she had come across.

"Good find," Crystal nodded. "I know some of us are going to need to take serious advantage of that after pushing themselves to the limit. But first," she whipped out Light's Shadow and proceeded to channel healing magic into the blade. "Curaga!" She then cast the healing spell on everyone to at least patch them up and restore their vitality somewhat. She then dismissed Light's Shadow and gave herself a good stretch. "Okay, now I'm exhausted too."

Roxas was able to move more easily now that his bruised and battered body wasn't protesting in so much pain. "Thanks for that. Although, I am curious about what you said before, about how you aren't effected so much by the darkness. And that summon you used."

"I've been wondering about that too," Xion admitted. "It seems strange for someone so strongly aligned with the light to call upon aid from a demon of darkness."

"The summons have no allegiance to light or darkness," Crystal explained rather vaguely. "Put simply, they are ancient beings of pure magic that align with the summoner who forms a pact to summon them. They can be used for good or evil depending on the intentions of the summoner. Even though my own heart can be regarded as a pure light, I for one believe that the light and darkness can and should coexist in balance. And, of course, I do realize that isn't going to be a very popular view given both sides are constantly at odds with each other, but if a peaceful resolution does exist, I'd like to be able to find it."

"I wonder if that means that the darkness doesn't hurt you because you haven't totally rejected it," Roxas considered. "It's kind of a weird thought, but it also kind of makes sense."

"I guess it really shouldn't be too surprising, coming from someone who has risked her life to save a Replica and a Nobody out of some pretty extreme notions about friendship," added Xion.

"Okay, so maybe I'm a little bit clingy," Crystal folded her arms over her chest in mock protest. "But everyone deserves a chance."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro chuckled a bit, moving to get up after the curaga had flowed through his system, definitely enjoying it a moment, and then using a small bit of Prana to apply basic reinforcement so he could move, and started towards the side tunnels "thanks Crystal... Vanitas can be brutal." he said, also thankful that the pains in his chest were going away with Curaga's help, as he followed everyone to the side rooms, Roveth following as last due to being quiet and in thought, especially about how Shiro seemed to shift gears from doing somewhat well, to outright decimating, once someone had made him snap, then again, shiro had always been like that, just usually also more explosive and vicious.. maybe he himself took that Viciousness, and is letting Shiro's 'honed blade' mentality become clean cut rather than muddled. "hmmm..." he muttered to himself while Shiro chuckled, but nodded "it is true, the same goes for my summons as well, though they are completely different, i just haven't felt a need to use them."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

The beds were in separate rooms in the side tunnel they were located in. That was probably for the best as it would give each of them adequate room to rest up without becoming distracted by idle chatter or other factors that might prevent sleep.

"Goodnight," Crystal would casually claim a room for herself to retire into for the night, slipping inside to flop down on the provided bed to get some much needed sleep. Between the combination of embarrassment and exhaustion, she'd had a pretty full day of it.

Xion would do the same with one of the other rooms. She hadn't gotten nearly as much of a workout as the others, but all the worrying over the others was still exhausting in its own right.

And finally, Roxas would settle into his own room. It reminded him a little bit of being in the castle with the Organization except that the atmosphere was actually peaceful and he didn't get the impression that he was being plotted against. Far from it in fact. If anything, Roxas was more liable to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of people suddenly looking out for his well-being without expecting anything from him in return. It was a lot to take in. But, between the beating he'd received from Vanitas and being dragged down into the Realm of Darkness against his will, Roxas was totally worn out and didn't have the energy to mull over it too much right now.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth and Shiro also went to bed, Shiro just literally climbing into bed, and falling asleep so fast one would think he died. (he didn't, obviously.) Roveth of course stayed up a while after finding books about tech and stuff in his room, would get to work studying them and pondering on how to make things better, maybe more streamlined or giving information for everyone "hmm.. maybe a stamina gauge of sorts... and magic gauge in case we use our magic capabilities." he pondered to himself, before starting to work on continuing his studies, a curiosity shining in his eyes as well as an inherent hunger for knowledge.

Axel meanwhile was getting more and more agitated the more and more frantic he got in searching for ANY sign of Roxas and the others, especially since he had a bad feeling something happened to Roxas, and he definitely wanted to make sure his bud was okay. Demyx was holding the fort in Twilight town so as to not 'crowd Axel's personal space' when he's in such a tizzy over things.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

The next few days went by without any major reappearance from Vanitas. The only proof that he was still very much alive in the aftermath of the beating he had withstood from Shiro were the Unversed that still plagued large sections of the city. The group had spent those days going out into those sectors of the city to eliminate the Unversed before returning to the Command Center to re-cooperate after expending too much power fighting off the Unversed. But, since Vanitas seemed to be out of commission these activities went on largely without incident.

At least not until one morning several days later when all of the security alarms inside the Command Center start blaring all at once in response to a perimeter breach. The breach in question was, of course, Axel's Assassin Nobodies that had been dispatched to the far flung reaches of the many worlds in search of Roxas and the others. Only this time they'd actually managed to find them.

"It's a false alarm!" Roxas buried his face under his pillow as he had still been asleep when the alarms went off. "Someone turn those sirens off please! It's only Axel's Assassin Nobodies!"

Crystal was awake and had been for several hours, taking advantage of a punching bag she had become well acquainted with in a side tunnel workout room she had discovered several days prior. She stopped mid-roundhouse as the sirens blared throughout the tunnels, wincing at the loud echo, before lowering her kicking leg and placing her foot back on the floor. Then she went out to the main chamber to see what all the commotion was about, finally seeing the Assassin Nobodies.

"Well, I guess Axel really must be worried about us," she scratched behind her ear and walked up to the console to see if she could figure out how to make the alarms stop.

Xion was also awake and had been in the process of making a sandwich for herself in another side tunnel room that happened to be a fully stocked kitchen and pantry. Now, of course, she also had wandered into the main chamber to see if anyone was attempting to shut down the security alarms so it would quiet down already.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth had been seen milling about with books in hands, or with tools he managed to find, seemingly tinkering with things, currently he was in the main part of the command center talking with Gosei about the tech and stuff in general, when the alarms went off, of course Shiro was still out like a light at the moment, but when Crystal started trying to figure out the alarms, he walked over to his console, tapped a few commands, and shut off the alarms with a sigh "good thing i've been studying the tech of the Command Center and our ranger gear huh?" he said with amusement while resuming his work after that.

of course, once Axel got a bead on their location, he and shiroi Senkou would dive right into the nearest self-made Corridor of Darkness, and rushed to go meet the others, when they arrived, Axel would pant after having literally -raced- there on foot in the corridor, it was a -long- way away from Twilight Town and all "jeez... when you guys disappear outta nowhere, do it someplace closer, got it memorized?" he said, while moving with Roveth's directions to go find Roxas, while shiroi Senkou had followed Shiro's scent, got into his room with a bit of work, and proceeded to tackle Shiro off the bed with a wark, and a responding "Oi! trying to-- Shiroi Senkou!" of course, cue hugging the chocobo~  

[[XIII] Roxas]

It wasn't that Crystal hadn't gone over some of the tech manuals herself, but rather the fact that this was literally the first time they had had an internal breach like this so it was a system she wasn't yet familiar with. But yes, it was certainly a relief when Roveth managed to turn off the alarms so the noise would finally cease.

"And now we know that Axel will tear holes in the universe to find us," Crystal pointed out.

"He must have been really worried," Xion agreed.

Curiosity would dictate that the girls were following to see how Axel was going to greet Roxas, considering Axel did seem to be most concerned about him in particular.

Roxas, meanwhile, was very definitely awake now. The security sirens were extremely loud and the echo inside these underground tunnels only amplified that fact. When the noise finally stopped he poked his head out from underneath his pillow as he contemplated getting out of bed. It sounded like there was already quite a commotion coming from Shiro's room given it wasn't too hard to overhear the 'warks' and 'kwehs' coming from Shiroi Senko. And Axel probably wasn't going to be far behind. And here was Roxas still in his pajamas of all things.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

of course, Axel -did- eventually open up Roxas's room, and moves right on in, snatching that pillow from Roxas's hands, putting it aside, and snatching up the Keyblade wielding nobody in a hug/noogie "dude, at least leave a note before disappearing! you had me burning with worry!" of course, its axel, so embarrassing moments abound.

Roveth of course had looked over to see a yawning shiro coming in atop Shiroi Senkou, but looking a bit happier now that his chocobo partner was here too.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Sorry Axel," Roxas resigned himself to the fact that he was just going to have to let Axel get this out of his system. "But it's not like I actually planned on disappearing like that. We didn't know we were going to be teleported to a strange new world out of the blue either. And sure, it was a little bit rough when we first got here, but I promise, I'm fine. You can see for yourself."

"Do you think maybe we should give them a moment?" Xion asked while she and Crystal were waiting quietly in the tunnel outside Roxas's room.

"If you think it might help," Crystal shrugged. "But you know you're going to be next and you probably can't outrun Axel when he's like this."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel blinked a bit, looking to Roxas with a raised eyebrow as he set him down "Rough? how rough are we talking?" he decided to ask, as Roveth thankfully had returned to his studies and tinkering with the tech of the morphers and the legendary modes and all, Shiro of course just sighed, shaking his head, it seemed he had changed clothes to a simple pair of comfortable yet flexible jeans, a red Muscle-shirt with a pleather jacket over it at this point as he chuckled a bit "you'll not believe the stuff we've gone through, but rough as in the Unversed and that creep Vanitas you guys told me about after Xehanort split me from Roveth." Axel nodded, frowning a bit lightly "that Jerk's still around huh? maybe i should give him another case of heartburn." he said a bit, clearly showing he disliked Vanitas in general "anything else happen?" Shiro blinked, and chuckled a bit while rubbing the back of his head "well... for our little group of five.. i might've been made official leader?" Axel blinked, and blinked again before staring at Shiro "... nothing against you Shiro, and i'm glad you're growing a bit of a spine, but if anything i'd consider Crystal the leader." Shiro raised an eyebrow before shrugging a bit "i've said the same thing these first few days, but i'm starting to get the hang of it."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Given that Crystal had been in the middle of doing some personal training prior to the alarms going off, she was presently wearing a simple tracksuit that allowed for optimum freedom of movement and all. "In this case, it actually makes more sense for Shiro to be leader while I'm acting as a backseat tactician. Even though I might have favorable leadership qualities, I don't exactly have the raw brute strength to lead the charge when it's a major battle situation and that's where Shiro truly shines."

"It's true," Roxas added just in case Axel still wasn't convinced. "Shiro even managed to go toe-to-toe with Vanitas, with support from Roveth, after I was beaten out of commission... and tossed into the Realm of Darkness... but you don't have to worry, okay?" Roxas added hastily. "It turned out fine! Crystal was able to pull me out before anything bad could happen. And she already lectured me so please don't freak out!"

"It was a close call, but we got through it," Xion agreed. "And Vanitas hasn't been back since although we've still had our work cut out for us clearing out the Unversed he scattered all over this world."

"Vanitas made a real mess of the place which is why we didn't immediately come back to Twilight Town," Crystal finished.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel looked like he wanted to go hunt Vanitas down the moment he got more details about what happened with Vanitas appearing, but calmed down, and looked confused "wait, Shiro went toe to toe? it too everything Sora, Riku, you, myself, and Crystal had just to make him retreat, and Shiro, even if he had assistance from Roveth.. went -Toe to Toe-?" Axel then looked to the now embarrassed about his accomplishments Shiro, rubbing the back of his head a bit "... weeeell... yeah, i guess i kinda did, but it was only because he got angry and impatient." of course, Roveth chose that time to show up, speaking in amusement "Shiro.. you literally went into your 'Cold Calculated Killer' mode and countered/stalled him long enough to power up properly and curb-stomp his a**, i'd -definitely- say that's going 'toe to toe.'" of course this led to Shiro blushing a bit and looking to the side scratching his red cheek.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"It takes some serious pushing, but Shiro can be stronger and more willful than he lets on," Crystal nodded sagely. "He might even be more dangerous than I am when provoked."

"I'm not so sure," Roxas shook his head. "I've seen what you can do with those summons. You're pretty brutal toward your enemies."

"Well yeah, but that's easy. It doesn't require nearly the same amount of skill and focus that it does for Shiro to hone the blade of his soul," Crystal pointed out.

"It's no wonder you make such a good team," noted Xion. "And with Roveth too. The way you all support each other in battle, it's obvious you have a very strong understanding of how to work together. That's something both myself and Roxas still really need to work on."

"No worries," Crystal smiled. "I know from experience, the more time you spend with someone the easier it is to play off each other's strengths and weaknesses. It just takes time and practice."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro nodded, though still blushing at all the praise, and then looked at Crystal incredulously "me, more dangerous? nahhh... remember, i typically focus on speed and offence, and forego defence completely, that's one of the drawbacks of my twin-sword melee sword style, anyone who doesn't have copious amounts of experience with it, it's pretty much suicidal." Roveth just deadpanned and spoke up "Toe. To. Toe. With. Vanitas." of course Shiro looked away again while Axel chuckled a bit, crossing his arms "well, it seems you guys have been busy, so maybe Vanitas decided to cut his losses and leave off-world for good?" Shiro pondered that, slipping more seriously into the similar state he had taken when fighting Vanitas as he calculated those chances ".... i doubt it, Axel... he seemed momentarily intrigued about something when we clashed a couple of times during that fight, not to mention we pissed him off pretty badly before we beat him, if anything, he's probably itching for revenge, and he knows we won't leave this planet unguarded if he's still around, so we're technically sitting ducks until he makes a move." Roveth nodded lightly "too true, sure, it took him months to recover from Crystal's damage, but even with how badly Shiro put the hurting on him, i'd say we're probably due for that revenge attempt soon, kinda why i've been working on the ranger gear in the meantime when i could, and gave power and magic gauges in interal HUD's in the helmets for everyone, so they can manage their stamina better, given that first fight was -exhausting-." Shiro nodded, rubbing his chest "... and painful."