Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[[XIII] Roxas]

The fun was inevitably cut short when there was an audible yelp from Xion as she suddenly found herself surrounded by several Berserker Nobodies and even more Dusks. After these Nobodies had appeared, a figure all too familiar to Axel, Roxas, and Xion would emerge from a nearby Corridor of Darkness.

"I see, so this is where you've run off to," Sai'x stared down the Moogle who had taken up residence on Xion's shoulder for the moment. He clearly didn't know who the girl standing in front of him was, given Sai'x had never before seen her true face while she had been with the Organization. He did, however, recognize his old friend, Axel, and the troublesome Keyblade wielder who had disrupted so many of the Organization's plans with his angst-filled rebellion before returning to Sora. Roxas and Crystal had both landed their rental solar sailors when they heard Xion's scream. It had been quite some time since Sai'x had had the pleasure of seeing Roxas glaring up at him. "Will wonders never cease? Didn't you merge back with your Other to become whole again?"

"It didn't take," Roxas had already materialized Oathkeeper and Oblivion into his hands.

Crystal stayed back and brought out Light's Shadow while sending out some magic to form an array near Xion. "Summon, Carbuncle!" The fluffy green rabbit-like creature with a ruby embedded in its forehead emerged from the array. "Diamond Light!" Carbuncle cast the Diamond Light from the jewel on its forehead triggering a combination of Protect and Vanish magic, the latter of which caused Xion and the Moogle to be transported to a safer position alongside Shiroi Senko.

"Still playing with children, I see," Sai'x now addressed Axel. "Have you no dignity?"  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel had looked away from keeping an eye on Shiro, and looked towards Sai'x with a neutral expression, though if Roxas looked closer on Axel he'd se some pain in his eyes in seeing his best friend still working for Xehanort "hah! at least it's fun to be with them, you haven't been any fun ever since you've started sucking up to Xehanort." he said while adjusting his silver organization jacket, before flinging one hand out to the side, summoning with a flurry of flames and light, his own Keyblade (as seen in DDD.) "but then again.. you haven't been yourself for a very long time, have you Isa? too bad, maybe beating some sense into you with this Keyblade of mine will help you jog your memory!" he said, setting up into a defensive stance.

Roveth narrowed his eyes seeing Sai'x, and looking only briefly to Axel, before looking back to their soon to be enemy, and brought out Lockdown into one hand, and the other flicking a card out which transformed in a flurry of flames into the Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade for some extra strength. Shiro meanwhile frowned as he returned from getting a Solar Sailor to see Sai'x. ".... so this was what my senses were telling me..." he uttered to himself, before putting the Sailor into his backpack for safe keeping, and using a bit of Help from Roveth, dropped it into a shadow portal by his side as he flung out his own hand to call forth Revival and clenching his fist before a blaze of black flames formed, and the large Cleaver known as Zangetsu formed into hand.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Try all you like, but even if you can manage to defeat me, the True Organization XIII will still succeed at plunging all worlds into darkness," Sai'x materialized his claymore, Lunatic, into hand. "You should have accepted that it was inevitable. It might have spared you from having to endure so much needless suffering." He came at Axel fast, swinging Lunatic with tremendous strength and clearly holding nothing back even if it was against his old friend.

"Axel!" Roxas and Xion both called out in alarm.

"Roxas, you need to stay calm," Crystal had set down Light's Shadow briefly planting it into the ground at her feet. She pulled off her jacket, tossing it aside, and snatched up her Keyblade in hand again. "Axel can handle himself as long as we keep this one-on-one. We need to beat the rest of these Nobodies and keep them off him!"

Crystal then charged in, performing some impressive feats of acrobatics as she ducked under one of the Berserker's heavy swings, somersaulted behind it, and then back-flipped up onto the top of its head, flipped again to balance on top of its huge blade with her free hand, and then watched closely as two others slammed into the one she was using as a springboard. Crystal then launched into the air off her fingertips and swung down the hand wielding Light's Shadow to unleash a powerful Thundaga on all three Berserker Nobodies at once as well as striking some of the nearby Dusks as well.

Roxas realized somewhat vaguely that he had seen this fighting style before, although under much different circumstances. He didn't have time to reflect on it right now, but it was such a distinctive style he couldn't imagine there were many people who could replicate it. Roxas launched into the Dusks with Oathkeeper and Oblivion firmly in hand, aiming to take down as many of them as possible before redirecting his attention onto the Berserkers.

Xion of course was sticking close to Shiroi Senko while holding onto the Moogle. Carbuncle remained close-by continuing to re-cast Diamond Light as needed.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiroi Senko would also be ready to cast Choco-Cure, Choco-ball if enemies got too close, or if they were surrounded, Choco-Meteor, doing his best to protect Xion and the others from Sai'x while his partner helped as well.

Axel meanwhile had brought his Keyblade up just barely to catch the swing of Sai'x, before wincing a good bit as his arms protested, but he sould use both arms and blade to pivot the Claymore aside, and whirl around to aim for a quick strike towards Saix's Chest, flames igniting on the tip of the keyblade.

Roveth meanwhile had glanced over to some incoming Dusks and berserkers, he'd literally walk past the dusks as if like a ghost, though if anyone with good eye-sight would see, he'd have slashed through the oncoming dusks with the Phoenix blade in a massive burst of speed, before pointing Lockdown at the Berserkers "Fall into the abyss. BLACK HOLE!" he said, unleashing a blast of Darkness filled magic, which opened up into a singularity and started yanking the Berserkers in to try and crush them like a proper singularity would.

Shiro himself would close his eyes, before opening them again, their glow becoming a bright blue "Ban.... Kai." with that, a black and red pillar of reiatsu would burst out, towering high into the air, before a blur shot out of it, and multiple dusks and a berserker going down from raw speed attacks alone with Shiro holding a Daito blade with a Manji cross guard, and the arm holding the blade gauntleted in a black metal gauntlet "Tensa... Zangetsu." he said, before he slashed through a few more dusks with Revival as well, using his raw speed to fight.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Sai'x let out a bestial howl as he transformed into his full Berserk form, the structure of Lunatic transforming as well as it gained a white aura that provided it with extra blades for inflicting even greater damage. His speed also increased tremendously and each swing of Lunatic left behind a wake of blue flames. Axel was definitely going to have a tough time keeping up with him now.

The Berserker Nobodies also became more aggressive after Sai'x's transformation which made them all the more dangerous and difficult to contend with compared to the Dusks. Crystal was juggled into the air by one of the huge hammers, only managing to avoid severe damage by having intercepted it with Light's Shadow at the last second to prevent a direct hit. A faint garnet red glow emanated from the vicinity of Crystal's own heart, becoming brighter as it was then transmitted into Light's Shadow transforming the structure of the Keyblade from quartz prisms into shards of actual garnet. "Drive Form: Garnet Formation - Dragon King Blade!" Crystal declared as the final piece of the transformation, the keychain, took on the shape of a miniature Bahamut talisman. She pointed the newly transformed Keyblade down at the Berserker Nobodies beneath her and called out one of the strongest spells in black magic, "Flare!" sending down the explosive non-elemental magic onto them boosted in power by the Flare Boost attribute of the Dragon King Blade. The Berserker Nobodies and any nearby Dusks were instantly vaporized clearing a spot for Crystal to land back on her feet.

Roxas had his hands full keeping his own group of Berserker Nobodies off him and it only became more difficult after Sai'x's transformation. He was therefore surprised when he felt the sudden effects of a Curaga spell and then saw the Berserkers suddenly vaporized by another explosive Flare spell.

"Go help Axel," Crystal was basically spamming Flare like it was going out of style given how effective it was proving to be against these Berserker Nobodies. "Me and Bahamut have got this covered."

Roxas nodded and rushed over to see how Axel was fairing against Sai'x. It looked pretty serious, even at a distance, so Roxas's immediate reaction was to try to buy Axel some time to unleash a counterattack by diverting Sai'x's attention with a double Strike Raid by flinging Oathkeeper and Oblivion at the crazed berserker. The blades bounced harmlessly off of Lunatic and rebounded back to Roxas, but it did manage to divert Sai'x's attention slightly so that Axel might at least find an opening.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth and Shiro were not having much luck in getting past the now agitated Berserker nobodies to help Axel either given they seemed to surround the two when they could and start whailing on them as Roveth groaned blocking another hit and shuddering in the process "now would be a good time to pull something out of your a** Aibou!" he called out, while Shiro kept barely dodging the overhead strikes, but also kept getting launched into the air with a grunt "you try handling these damned buggers! ugh... fine..." he then dismissed Revival for the moment while in mid air as he narrowed his eyes, bringing his hand to his chest, gripping onto a suddenly appearing Tarot Card "... Come... Izanagi!" with that, he clenched his hand and 'broke' the Card, as Izanagi appeared above him, before launching out towards Sai'x to counter with a Cleave of his own towards his back to help him out before going back to trying to smash the Berserker nobodies.

Axel of course had narrowed his eyes, and used the distractions from Roxas to summon his normal chakrams, and jump up a bit to let them attach to his feet, and used them like roller-blades to skedaddle the hell back a bit, before he tossed his keyblade into the air, and brought his Chakrams up spinning wildly in front of him as they began gathering flames and energy "Plasma..." he called, the flames starting to burn higher and hotter, before turning a bright blue-white color, and forming into an arrow with the chakrams acting as the crossbow/bow as he pulled his arm back "Blaze..." and just as the arrow was readied, the keyblade finally fell back down, and landed right into the middle of the fire arrow, shining with white light "Starfire BOLT!!" with that, he flung his fist forwardi nto the blue fire, and shot the blast out heading right for Sai'x with surprising speed and force behind it.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Axel's attack succeeded at knocking Lunatic from Sai'x's grasp and also caused him to revert out of his Berserk mode back to normal. For a brief instant there was even a flourish of teal in his eyes before they transitioned back to the evil golden color of Xehanort's eyes. Reverting out of his Berserk mode would leave him sluggish and vulnerable for a brief amount of time, but it wouldn't last for very long.

What remained of the Berserker Nobodies also seemed to revert to their more docile, but still by no means harmless state. There weren't many of them left, of course, given that Crystal had been vaporizing the hell out of them with Flare magic at every available opportunity. The Drive Form did expire, however, and Light's Shadow transformed back to its original appearance. Thankfully all the magic she had been using was connected to the Drive Form and didn't waste her normal MP reserves so she was still able to cast Curaga onto Axel, Roxas, Shiro, and Roveth now that she was no longer rampaging on the offensive. Once that was done she then cast a quick Magnega to gather all the remaining Berserker Nobodies into one place while making them somewhat easier to contend with by throwing them off balance.

"For a second there it looked like Xehanort's heart was starting to lose its hold on Sai'x," Roxas pointed out. "There's a chance you might actually be able to save him!"  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel had taken the much-needed healing and took a breath, before looking at those yellow eyes of Sai'x as he narrowed his eyes, bringing up his keyblade to point it at his chest "i just have one thing to say to that heart inside you, Isa... GET OUT OF MY OLDEST FRIEND!" he shouted, before a beam of light started to form on the tip of the keyblade.. and shot out straight for Saix's chest while he had the chance.

Shiro noticed axel doing the job, and instead had Izanagi dismiss himself after the help from the cleave, and focused on the grouped together Magnega Berserkers, before dismissing Bankai back to Shikai, and getting rid of both weapons as he reached into a pouch on his belt, pulling out a blue crystal which held an odd design within as it began glowing "come forth, sisters of Ice, let us shower our foes with the Frozen tundra! Stiria and Nix, i call upon you for your aid!" with that, two blue colored women came out, before Shiro nodded to the two, and they immediately joined hands, before shifting, combining together, and becoming a large Motorcycle looking remotely similar to the light cycles Sora's been on as he jumped on the seat, and revved the handle, before starting to circle the Nobodies, trails of ice beginning to kick up, especially when the circle completed itself a flurry of ice and wind started kicking up.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

The horrible inky black blob of darkness that represented Xehanort's heart would be ejected from Sai'x's body and drawn into the Magnega vortex where it would then become encased in ice by Shiro's use of Stiria and Nix to finish off the remaining Nobodies. Sai'x, or rather Isa, would slump over, managing a tired smile at Axel while showing his eyes had now fully returned to their original teal color, and saying, "Took you long enough, Lea." And then he collapsed, falling unconscious. It would probably take him a good while to come out of it. But it wouldn't be long now until the piece of Xehanort's heart removed from Isa would be annihilated by Stiria and Nix.

Roxas dismissed Oathkeeper and Oblivion with a heavy sigh of relief. He was glad that was over for the moment. He glanced over to make sure Xion was still alright as well. Carbuncle had already vanished into the summoning array, but the little creature had done an amazing job of keeping Xion, the Moogle, and Shiroi Senko safe from taking any serious damage.

Crystal dismissed Light's Shadow before falling to one knee, completely exhausted from her earlier rampage against the Berserker Nobodies. Roxas decided it would be best to give Axel and Isa some space, finding the jacket Crystal had discarded and picked it up before walking over to help her get back on her feet.

"I suppose I should thank you for reigning me in before," Roxas commented as he handed over the jacket. Crystal took it and tied it loosely around her waist. "Your advice really came through."

"You trusted my judgement enough to heed it so you really don't have to thank me," Crystal chuckled mildly. She did accept the help up though and they gradually moved to rejoin the others.

"You've been making it easy for me considering you usually seem to have pretty good judgement about those sorts of things," Roxas pointed out. "It's weird though, I had a strange sense of deja vu watching you fight like that, almost like I'd seen it somewhere before."

"Maybe you have," Crystal shrugged. "We might not have known each other, but we were both in Twilight Town a lot and I had a way of pissing off Seifer. You might have seen his gang chasing me at some point."

"Come to think of it, why does Seifer seem to despise you so much?" Roxas had to wonder. "You don't seem like the type to make someone that angry on purpose."

"I refused to fight in the Struggle Tournament," Crystal answered simply. "I didn't want the glory or the recognition. And Seifer hates me for it because he feels like he was cheated out of a real victory because he knows I'm stronger than I pretend to be."

"Okay, I can kinda see how that might make him mad," Roxas laughed. "He definitely had it coming for being so pushy though. So then we did cross paths before meeting on the Destiny Islands, huh? I always assumed that was the first time we had met, but it was strange because you seemed to recognize me and you weren't completely obsessed with Sora like most of the people who come to the island."

"It was the first time I had met Sora, although I had crossed paths with Riku a few times before," Crystal responded. "I decided I had to reveal myself as a fellow Keyblade wielder after I had learned more about recent events from the residents of Radiant Garden. I wasn't expecting to find you there, but I was happy to see you again considering how ominous it felt after the lot of you stopped visiting the clock tower. It was like something terrible had happened without anyone else noticing and eventually, once the paths were open again, I decided I should probably leave before whatever it was caught up with me."

"Well, I'm here now and you've helped a lot to make things better," Roxas admitted. "There might have been some missed opportunities in the past, but I'm glad we've become friends. Funny how it seemed so strange before, but now it seems so natural."

"I guess that's what happens when you let your guard down and let people see you for who you truly are," Crystal sounded thoughtful.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

it would take a few moments, but once every last nobody was rounded up and frozen, including Xehanort's heart, Shiro would move to pop a wheelie, and jump off of the bike, allowing Stiria and Nix to separate, as all three brought up their hands, and snapped their fingers, the ice snapping and cracking, before shattering into shards, leaving no trail or anything behind of the nobodies or Xehanort's heart, , Shiro smiled, feeling much more at ease seeing that piece go, high-fived his summoned companions, before they dissipated into crystal shards themselves, and returned to the summon Planes "that's one down!" he said, grinning happily and all over things.

Axel of course would move to catch Isa and heft his friend's arm over his shoulder to at least hold up his unconscious body "thanks, everyone... i couldn't have done it without you guys." Roveth of course would speak up, smiling "nope, you were the one who brought back your oldest friend, we just made sure that you didn't have other enemies to worry about, and Shiro just made sure Xehanort wasn't getting that piece of himself back.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Don't forget, you were the one who taught me friends are supposed to help each other," Roxas smiled at Axel.

"And having friends means not having to face these things alone," Crystal added with a smile of her own. She was still getting used to the concept herself so she knew how easy it was to forget. Counting on others to have your back was never easy, but having those bonds was a special kind of strength unto itself.

*~Treasure Planet: Benbow Inn~*

Naturally, with Isa being in the state he was in, they would have to call off any more Solar Sailing activities for the day and Crystal would have directed them to a nearby inn. Axel and Isa would have a separate room to themselves so that they could do some much needed catching up once Isa woke up and also so they would have some peace and quiet. Crystal, Roxas, Xion, and Shiro would all be sharing a room while Roveth would probably be his usual aloof self hiding out on the roof. Crystal was resting on one of the four single beds in the room, although she was still very much awake and had even brought out Shiro's hammock so that there would be an extra bed available for Shiroi Senko.

"I'm glad Axel was finally able to save Isa," Roxas would be saying while he and Xion were both sitting on the adjacent bed. "Although it did seem like he was only really here to retrieve the Organization's Moogle after he ran away."

"I owe you all for beating him, kupo!" the Moogle replied. "If you need to synthesize any equipment I might even give you a discount, kupo!"

"Sounds good," Roxas chuckled mildly.

"I'm still amazed by how fast you react to dangerous situations," Xion was of course talking about Crystal's quick thinking with the Carbuncle summon and convincing Roxas to help with running interference.

"'When you can see the battlefield from every angle and can anticipate most of the potential outcomes, you achieve greater clarity in combat.' That's how I was taught," Crystal explained. "When you are likely to be smaller and weaker than your opponents, you have to be smart."

"Well, you don't exactly strike me as being weak," Roxas pointed out. "You held your own out there too after all."

"True, but it could have all been over if I'd taken even one bad hit from those Berserkers so I really had to stay on my toes and focus on what I was doing to avoid taking damage," Crystal responded. "That's why it's important for me to figure out the right way to fight an enemy."

"But you do it so fluidly it seems practically effortless," Xion observed.

"Sure, it looks that way now, but it's only because I practice constantly," Crystal gave an embarrassed laugh.

"There's a big difference between training and practical application though, and you really do have amazing reflexes and instincts," noted Roxas. "I mean, you definitely ran circles around Seifer and his gang in Twilight Town if I recall correctly. That was definitely you, right?"

"It sure sounds like me," Crystal started to laugh. "Up trees, off the walls of buildings, onto the rooftops. Give those guys a reason to chase you and you really gotta run fast. Messing with them was pretty fun though. And it's not like they could ever really catch me."

"That I can believe," Roxas was also laughing. "They had no idea what they were really up against."

"I can picture it too," Xion also got in on the giggling.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth was actually up on the roof, given he always found it more comforting to him don't ask why. as for Shiro, he was with the others, chuckling as they talked and all, leaning a bit against his Chocobo partner as he sat on the floor "heh... still, that was a fight we definitely didn't expect happen." he said while Shiroi Senko kweh'd in agreement, as the light half between Shiro and roveth yawned a bit lightly "still glad Axel got Isa back though... means one less ally for that old inkblot."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Isa would remain unconscious until the next morning, at which point he awoke in a state of understandable surprise and confusion what with having spent so many years in the Castle that Never Was to suddenly find himself in this quaint little inn.

"... Lea, I really hope you have a good explanation for where we are and what you were even doing on this world to begin with," Isa would greet his old friend with his usual cool distance, although the malice he'd shown as Sai'x was already long gone. "And what exactly is going on with you in general? How did you find so many other Keyblade wielding teenagers? I know you can't explain how the heck Roxas is back among us. That seems like it would be a bit outside your purview." Yep, he still didn't have a clue about Xion.


In the other room Crystal would also have woken up fairly early, but unlike her usual routine of wandering off somewhere to train she was taking this time to quietly read through something in one of the books from her stash. Xion was still asleep, hugging onto the Moogle who was snoring cutely in his sleep. Roxas woke up not long after, smiling to see that everyone was still present and accounted for, with the exception of Roveth, but that was to be expected since he didn't seem to spend the night with the group in general.

Crystal heard the movement and gave Roxas a vague sort of nod before going back to her reading while remaining silent so-as not to wake up Xion or Shiro, if he was still asleep. Roxas climbed out of his bed and wandered over, curious to see what exactly it was that Crystal was reading. He was a bit surprised to realize that it was actually a dream interpretation dictionary of sorts.

"Did you dream about something weird?" Roxas wondered, keeping his voice down so-as not to disturb the others.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, for me at least, but I still like to analyze the symbolism in case I might have missed something," Crystal smiled and carried on flipping through the pages looking for the right definitions of things she was trying to reference.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Lea just chuckled, holding up his hands in mock surrender "don't shoot the messenger!" before he adjusted into a more laid-back position on his chair, having been up for a few hours before Isa "we're on a planet far from the Castle that Never Was and from Twilight town, called Treasure Planet, i was Here with Roxas and the others to relax and have some fun watching some Solar Sailing races." Lea had pondered things a moment before beginning "as for what's been going on.. most of us have been returned to our original states before Xehanort managed to turn to darkness and i became Axel and you Sai'x, and i myself kinda got some training in with that old wizard Yen-Sid to become a Keyblade Wielder so i could work in freeing you from Xehanort's clutches." he then chuckled a bit lightly "as for the group i'm with.. i found out about them during the time Roxas came back amongst us, because i've been in contact with him we've been in contact with Crystal and Shiro, Shiro originally wasn't a Keyblader and was just a trouble-magnet sword obsessed guy from what i know, but recent developments led him to being able to wield two Keyblades, Roveth.. he's a different story altogether, being half of Shiro, literally, his darkness solidified, he calls himself a Shadow more than Darkness." he took a breath before grinning "and you're right, it is out of my expertise to explain how roxas is back, but he is, so is Xion." he said, smiling a bit lightly "let's just say it's been one heck of a roller-coaster ride since our time in the Organization."


Shiro meanwhile had come out of the bathroom after his shower wearing his pants at least having mostly dried off in there, but given he wasn't watching where he was going, he would trip, and accidentally bump into Roxas on his way into faceplanting on the floor with a surprised yelp.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Right, and I was here to retrieve the Moogle after it ran away from the castle, but I suppose there isn't any reason to return there now," Isa said in response to Axel's explanation of recent events. "Wait, you mean that puppet replica is back too?" Oh boy was he about to get chewed out for calling Xion a puppet again. "That doesn't even make any sense."


"Gah!" Roxas went down, landing awkwardly on the bed with Crystal, although they were spared somewhat by the fact that Crystal had fallen over with the book she had been holding slipping to cover her face.

"Huh?" Xion woke up at the sound, particularly Shiro's yelp as he hit the floor. "What's going on?" Naturally, the first thing she saw was Roxas struggling to get off of Crystal and the neighboring bed to get back on his feet while Crystal herself grabbed the book off her face and set it aside on the bed so she could see what she was doing as she attempted to help Roxas get back on his feet without stepping on Shiro although it was easy to see how one might misinterpret what was happening, especially with Shiro not actually being in Xion's line of sight.

"Never mind, forget I asked," Xion quickly averted her gaze while blushing somewhat at the perceived spectacle.

"Huh?" Roxas blinked glancing over at Xion. "What's the matter?" Naturally his momentary lapse in concentration resulted in him falling right back on top of Crystal who was by now struggling to keep a straight face at this whole predicament.

"It's not what it looks like!" was the obligatory declaration for just this sort of occasion. "Shiro just tripped on nothing and knocked Roxas over in the process, I swear!"

Xion glanced around the other side of said bed to notice Shiro still prone on the floor in a rather uncomfortable looking position. "Oh, so that's what happened." She then got up to try to help Shiro get back up so it would be slightly easier for Roxas to escape his predicament as well.

"So, does this usually happen to you?" Roxas wondered innocently enough although being in such close proximity without the book providing a buffer zone was enough that even he had the foresight to be blushing this time around.

"More or less," Crystal shoved him lightly off to the side to keep this from becoming even more awkward and embarrassing. "Shiro is about as uncoordinated in certain everyday activities as he is skilled with a sword so this happens a lot."