Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro chuckled a bit while a Tarot card formed in front of his face, showing that briefly of the Priestess Arcana as he reached up and crushed the card, energy flowing through him "Come, Persona!" he called, unleashing a new ally from the Persona side of things that he had managed to work on with Igor and Margaret, the priestess Kikuri-Hime, as she saw Shiro holding his sighed, she shook her head, while Shiro smiled "i know.. it doesn't look too good on my end of things but i need some healing and Curagas would take too long... Diarahan, please." he asked, the priestess giving off a giggle, before casting the spell as asked, an array forming under Shiro's feet with a few talismans floating around, before Shiro's wounds were drastically healed and his side was no longer a hindrance since the spell he asked for, completely healed a person to full, though it did take a good chunk of his spirit power, once the spell was done, Shiro would let his hands move up and pull out a few packs of bandages, smiling gently "thanks, Kikuri-Hime... you're the best." the priestess smiled, before fading away to reveal the tarot card once more, which vanished soon after, as Shiro began wrapping his arms in bandages, more like a street fighter would, it wouldn't take him long before Shiro actually discarded his Jacket, to reveal his similarly buffed yet more speed athletic style body, more perfect for a martial artist than of course, hulking muscles "i don't expect anything less than your best Herc.. because outside of Gilgamesh.. you are one of the strongest people here."

Axel chuckled a bit, getting up on his feet and stretching "too true... nothing against herc, but from what i've heard from Demyx.. while he's powerful, he's also too predictable. Shiro's gonna run circles around him, anyway, we should go check on Roxas and make sure he's okay." he said while starting to excuse himself, moving past a too amused Gilgamesh who had actually been sitting in the stands in his casual outfit rather than his usual telltale golden armor, of course, Hades was also watching, but with a frown when he saw Shiro not bringing out any weapons and instead seemed to be indulging Hercules in a straight up fist fight. of course, Shiro did look up to Hades, having sinced the increasing malice of the death god, and gave off a troll grin worthy of Roveth, as if saying 'you mad, bro?' before focusing on Herc once more.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Good idea," Xion agreed. Thinking back, she did seem to remember Demyx being assigned to recon missions at Olympus Coliseum fairly often. In fact, Roxas had been teamed up with Demyx for some of those missions and had complained quite adamantly claiming Demyx had abandoned him almost as soon as they had arrived. Naturally, based on those claims, Demyx would have turned up again once the mission was over to take full credit for participating when he hadn't lifted a finger. Of course, later on it turned out that Demyx also used Olympus Coliseum as a means of playing hooky when there were no missions assigned to it because Sai'x never thought to look for him there. He got found out later on when Roxas and Xigbar had been on the lookout for the imposter, unaware that it was Riku, and found Demyx hiding out at Olympus Coliseum by mistake and given him a fairly massive beating before unmasking his real identity. And then, by Roxas's own account, Xigbar had actually tried to murder Demyx for wasting their time.

"Yeah, at the very least Roxas might still need some healing," Crystal also got up from her seat to move through the crowded stands so they could find him in the waiting area.

"Let's give everyone a good show," Hercules could be heard saying in the background as he continued showboating and waiting for Shiro to make the first move. Of course, once the match really got started it went without saying that Hercules would be telegraphing his moves by throwing wild punches, twirling rapidly with his sword, and even going for the occasional charging headbutt making the whole spectacle into something like a comedy bull fight as Shiro would most likely dodge his moves with ease on raw athleticism alone. And given the difference in size between them Shiro was definitely fulfilling the role of the bull fighter with Hercules playing the part of the bull.

Leon got up to join Pit and Zidane by the entryway leading out into the arena so he could also join in watching Shiro's match against Hercules and all while Cloud and Sora were both still out cold courtesy of the punishment that had been delivered onto them by Shiro. While they were watching Phil would come up to Roxas looking a bit apologetic, "It's too bad kid, you showed a lot of promise out there. Maybe next time with a little more practice you'll be able to impress that dame you're after."

"Would you give that a rest already? I told you it isn't like that!" Roxas winced mildly as even though the Elixir he had gotten from Zidane had helped with the pain he was still pretty sore where Shiro had hit him.

"Maybe not, but you did look really cool out there anyway," Crystal grinned mildly as she entered the waiting area with Axel and Xion.

"Crystal, Xion, Axel..." Roxas stared in surprising since he really wasn't expecting to see them until after the tournament was actually over. "You do know that Shiro is still out there fighting Hercules, right?"

"Running circles around him I'd wager," Crystal nodded. "But we're here to see you."

"It looked like you got banged up pretty badly by Shiro so we thought you could probably use some healing," added Xion.

"Man, you sure are lucky Roxas," Zidane chimed in. "You didn't even win and you've still got two girls worrying over you like it doesn't even matter."

And that was the moment when Phil's jaw dropped to the floor. "Wait, so all that stuff before, about him being involved with this firecracker of a young lady was the real deal?" he carried on in disbelief while gesturing at Crystal.

Crystal meanwhile held up one hand to cast Curaga on Roxas since it looked like he really did still need some healing and then glanced down at Phil with a slight shrug. "Well of course it's true. How could anyone possibly come up with an unbelievable story like that unless it's real?"

"And how is it that I didn't know you were back here? I would have signed you up for the Games in a heartbeat!" Phil was becoming positively livid.

"That's because I didn't come here as a combatant," Crystal stated simply before looking back to Roxas. "You really were great out there," she added with a smile.

Roxas was blushing pretty hard by that point which got Xion giggling at him. "Are you sure you're okay? You look like you might pass out again."

"I'm fine," Roxas insisted. "Really, I am. It's just... I wasn't expecting you all were going to come down here to cheer me up."

"Come on," Crystal hugged him rather pointedly. "Making sure you're okay is way more important than watching Shiro attempt to juggle with Hercules."

"Then thanks," Roxas relaxed and hugged Crystal back, glad that the pain seemed to have mostly subsided after that Curaga. "I appreciate it."

Leon bristled mildly before averting his gaze back to the match between Shiro and Hercules.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro would nod a bit, and after tapping his shoes to the ground a bit, he'd start moving, aiming for punches and a few kicks of his own, some of the punches were over-imposed with Apocalypse's black arms to make sure Hercules's strength didn't send him flying out of the arena, the sword play of course would be also countered with a few quick tracings of some short swords to stop the sword for aiming at his head, it was quite skillful, as for the telegraphed headbutt charges... well... Shiro would actually twirl out of those, almost looking like a bull fighter, cape and all, but he had no cape, and instead he'd aim some decisive kicks for the back once Herc charged past him, all in all it was shaping up to be a good well-fought fight , just not on the epic level like it had been with Roxas and Shiro as Shiro chuckled a bit lightly "this is definitely one of the more fun times i've had when i haven't been fighting to survive." he quipped as he blocked a few more wild punches, and tried to rock Hercules in the chin with an uppercut of his own.

Axel had chuckled a bit listening to the banter and surprise from Phil and all, while also looking over to Leon with a small amused smirk "overprotective father, much?" he quipped at Leon with his hands behind his head, he had also been watching Shiro and herc dance and giving the crowd a pleasing Show, though it was clear while Herc had been fighting with power and brute force, Shiro was countering it with deft skill and grace in return, almost like two demi-gods of different spectrum in the case of things. Axel did glance back over to Cloud and sora, before looking back to the fight "while i don't expect Sora to wake up anytime soon.. i figured Cloud would've woken up already despite Shiro's attacks on him."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Naturally, after Shiro landed that uppercut on Hercules the fisticuffs between them heated up even more. Fighting like this they could easily go on for a while, going back and forth, until eventually one of them would run out of stamina. That is unless Shiro did something to shake things up to keep the match in his favor, of course.

Leon went moderately red with embarrassment while keeping his gaze averted rather pointedly. "Listen, just because I've decided to be okay with it doesn't mean I'm alright with watching."

"Oh man, Leon, if it upsets you this much seeing them hug, then I can't wait to see your reaction when you walk in on them kissing," Zidane was having a good laugh at Leon's expense over this for sure.

"Shut up!" Leon muttered while trying not to let Zidane provoke him right now. "Anyway," Leon's tone softened somewhat. "I think the the psychological trauma for Cloud was probably worse than his actual injuries and that's probably why he hasn't woken up yet. I'm not sure how well you know, Axel, but Cloud is pretty sensitive about anything that concerns Sephiroth. It's become a pretty big problem when we need him to help with security around Radiant Garden because he'll take off at the drop of a hat at the mere mention of a Sephiroth sighting."

Crystal had pulled herself away from Roxas by that point so they could get back to watching the match between Shiro and Hercules. "It sounds like it's gotten worse."

"Yeah, well, he has Tifa to worry about and there's also that kid Denzel they took in to consider too," Leon pointed out. "Because of that Sephiroth has become an even touchier subject than ever."

"It sounds like Cloud might need some help getting his head on straight again," Crystal mentioned with a soft sigh. "He means well, but sometimes he forgets that he has friends to ask for help."

"Are you sure we shouldn't heal Sora?" Xion asked while glancing over at him still being unconscious and all.

"This will be a learning experience for him," Crystal stated simply. "This is what happens when you underestimate an opponent and neglect to think things through. It's something Sora needs to understand before he can ever hope to start getting better. Besides, he'll be sore when he wakes up, but none of his injuries is life threatening so he'll be fine as long as he doesn't do anything else stupid."

"I don't know what happened after I passed out, but it sounds like Sora did something that really upset both you and Shiro," Roxas commented while continuing to watch the fight between Shiro and Hercules.

"He refused to accept defeat and Shiro lost patience with him," Crystal explained vaguely. "If it had been me, I probably would have gone slightly easier on him because I'm nice, but he really had it coming."

"Well, Shiro definitely improved on his defensive abilities while he was away training," Roxas admitted. "Remember, the last time he and Sora fought each other they both walked away battered and bruised with bloody noses."

"He was even able to match your speed for a while there," added Xion.

"Yeah, that was a little surprising at first, but I could tell there was something a bit off about it like it didn't really come naturally to him to be moving that fast," Roxas pointed out. "Although, I'm really one to talk considering even I'm still not totally used to the properties of that new Keyblade."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel had hummed a bit in thought, moreso about the Cloud situation than with Sora as he frowned "i've known he was a bit sore about the Sephiroth topic, but i didn't think it had gotten that bad..." he said, frowning lightly while glancing to Roxas, chuckling "i might not be as hot headed as say, Leon or Cloud are about battling, but from what i could tell about Shiro's speed.. is it puts strain on his body, that Time alter stuff seems to speed up all processes in his body, thus making him twice as fast as before, but there's probably a downside as it puts strain on his body... then there's that wierd sword he used to use Leon like a football" he said, frowning a bit "that gave him an extreme boost of speed, probably in a way that it's hard for his body to handle, even when it's under max reinforcement... so add in that and that Time Alter. he could match you in speed, but he only has a short amount of time to be able to try and beat you that way before his body probably gives out. that's probably why it felt off, because it was Shiro straining to keep up the speed without letting his body give out on him." he then looked out to where Shiro and Herc were fighting "so if anyone has him beat in speed, it'd be you, Roxas, because you can sustain your speed a lot longer than he can, but if he ever switches gears to just tanking, i think it'd be like the Unstoppable spear versus the impenetrable Shield, neither of you would get anywhere until things got switched up."

Shiro didn't mind the pace heating up, in fact, he was glad for it, as he wanted to get more out of Herc before he decided to use the Godly Aura as he termed it in his head, and proceeded to settle into a stance before whirling around and starting to go into a flurry of Punches and kicks, aimed to do some decent damage all the same, timing them perfectly to make sure that Herc couldn't immediately counter "Hex Hammer!" he called out while dishing the attacks out, clearly trying to push things more in his favor, because while Shiro could play the attrition game, he did want to end it soon before Herc tried to use his Godly aura and force him to bring out the counter for that...  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Which makes the speed boosting capabilities Shiro is using totally different from whatever it was Crystal used on that Black Star guy who ambushed us when we were on the Soul Eater world because that didn't seem to put any strain on her at all even though she apparently punched him about 147 times by Roveth's count and all in the blink of an eye," Roxas pointed out.

"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken," Crystal chuckled mildly. "It literally translates as 'plucking roasted chestnuts from an open fire' and that's also the exact method of training used to achieve the speed necessary to do so without getting burned. It's not as impressive as going light speed, but it does have its uses."

"But you're still really fast and it doesn't seem to tire you out," noted Xion.

"Well, the technique itself isn't actually meant as an attack, although the punching trick is the most visible application of how much speed can be generated in small bursts," Crystal admitted. "In actuality the training is designed to condition the body for faster movement and reflexes to improve upon other techniques known by the martial artist. For someone like me that kind of versatility comes in handy. Actually, it might even still benefit Shiro to try it out sometime."

Of course, while they continued to watch the match unfolding between Shiro and Hercules they would see that Shiro's efforts to put the pressure on his opponent was only getting Hercules more fired up as he did, in fact, charge up that Godly aura of his before slamming both fists into the ground to emit a golden-hued shock-wave that would possibly leave Shiro stunned depending on how close to the epicenter he was when it went off.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro immediately cursed in his head as he felt the divinity in the air, and sure enough, he quickly backpedaled away after hitting with hex hammer to try and avoid the Shockwave, thankfully -barely- getting away from it as he back-flipped multiple times and eventually skidded on his feet to a halt while glancing to the crowd, namely to Gilgamesh, as if asking for Permission for something, once he saw the faintest of nods Shiro would relax, and close his eyes a moment, before snapping them back open and letting out his own presence once more in a shockwave in of itself, as well as purple lightning starting to crackle in the air, before the violet orb within Shiro's arm started shining.. and soon, with an explosion of light and purple lightning, shiro would be enveloped in oddly organic yet very tough looking armor, and now floating a few inches off the ground due to the large energy framed wings he now had on his back, the Violet Dragon spirit reacted, enabling the Dragoon Transformation as Shiro opened up a small golden portal in front of him, to bring out a chain of sorts that certain others would recognize, as well as slam his fists together to continue generating the purple lightning "Dragoon Transformation..." he whispered, before launching at full speed, with the increased attributes he had due to the Dragoon transformation to ram right into Herc with his shoulder in a deft shoulder tackle, using the chain in hand to wrap around any of Herc's limbs to suppress and negate the divinity he was utilizing.

Axel raised an eyebrow a moment, he had vaguely remembered her attacking Black Star but he didn't see but maybe ten blows "147? really?" he asked, genuinely surprised, given how fast Shiro was normally, it was obvious he could definitely benefit from the technique. of course, this was before Shiro had apparently gone next level on Herc due to herc going into God Aura mode, and went wide-eyed seeing the transformation Shiro undertook "..... okay, that is new, but i never remember seeing those orbs on his arms.. wait.. you don't think they were put there when he came into contact with the Frozen Flame and whatever craziness it did to him to heal him?" he asked, frowning a bit before noticing the chain Shiro had, and chuckled a bit "looks like Shiro's using that chain Gilgamesh used to tie Hades up, if i remember seeing it and all." he quipped, looking amused and all.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"What I lack in strength I make up for in speed to deliver devastating blows before an opponent has time to react," Crystal nodded to herself. "I don't take hits too well either so my reflexes need to be sharp so I can avoid taking damage. Since I used to travel alone I had to be at the top of my game or I wouldn't have been able to survive on my own."

She watched as Shiro started going to town on Hercules again. He certainly looked surprised when Shiro was able to easily restrain him and suppress his divinity by wielding that chain. "Anyway, from what I can recall Shiro has mainly had his arms covered since he got back from that excursion to find the Frozen Flame so I haven't seen those orbs either, but it looks like whatever training he's been doing in that other world Auron took him to he's already learned how to utilize them fairly well. And Enkidu can suppress the divine power of the gods so it's a powerful weapon against someone like Hercules which is why Shiro held off on using it until Hercules started to go all out against him so he would have some means of breaking through his invincibility. I'd say this is just about over."

"It seems like there must be some interesting history between Shiro and Gilgamesh too," Roxas pointed out. "I mean, it's obvious that Shiro has a lot of respect for Gilgamesh and Gilgamesh seems to have a vested interest in Shiro for some reason."

"All I really know about Gilgamesh is that he has an intense rivalry with Shiro's mentor and so he started taking it out on Shiro by association, but because Shiro is so drastically different from his mentor they've managed to become worthy adversaries rather than mortal enemies," Crystal shrugged a bit. "Although from what we're seeing now I guess you could say that Gilgamesh probably wants for Shiro to be his protege."

"Hey Crystal, I've been wondering, why did you avoid fighting in the Games and also, before, in the Struggle tournament?" Xion asked. "It was obvious you were the one Seifer was really after back then and it sounds like there are people here who want a chance to fight you too."

"Well, that's the drawback of no one really knowing how strong you are," Crystal sighed a bit. "I don't like to compete, but I've garnered a bit of a reputation from whenever anyone spots me training. Who knows? Maybe I should stop trying to avoid it so they won't keep getting the wrong idea. It's not like I'm trying to be arrogant by refusing challenges. I'd just rather not have to hurt anyone unnecessarily and I'm really not as strong as they seem to think."

"Maybe not, but I remember from sparring with you how you matched my speed," Roxas pointed out. "Sure, I didn't go all out, but you didn't either."

Crystal looked slightly embarrassed. "Yeah well, that's what makes you a good sparring partner."

Zidane started snickering at the look on Leon's face as Leon tried very hard to pretend like he wasn't listening.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro of course had heard the talk despite his battle with herc, and he actually looked a bit to Gil as if saying 'really? your protege?' only to get a look of confusion and a mouthing of the word 'later' from him, before Shiro returned his focus to Hercules as he smiled "looks like this one's about to be over, sorry Herc." he said before yanking the demi-god up with Enkidu and proceeding to start doing a small barrage of punches and kicks, the kicks were nothing to write home about, but to give the crowd a small show, the real damage was in his punches, especially when disguised by the speed of the punches he was actually hitting pressure points and nerve clusters to acumulate a temporary paralysis in Herc, normally it'd last a day or two, but once shiro took off the chain, more than likely Herc's godly powers will probably make sure he's only paralyzed and out for an hour at most, before finishing off his combo with a double punch to the chest, and letting Enkidu unwrap from Herc's arm "Shadow Fist Hidden technique... Pinpoint Serpent Strike." he said calmly, but with a small humble smile and all as he got back away from Herc so it would be clear he had no intention of continuing to beat on Herc, much to the ire of Hades.

Axel nodded a bit, having at least seen two of the 17 or so hits Shiro did with his fists, knowing full well he had fingers out "looks like Shiro's also gotten better with his use of pressure points like he had used against Seifer and Setzer if memory recalls." he hummed in thought while grinning a bit lightly "looks like for every harsh and brutal Technique Shiro has, Shiro also has something not so harsh, a 'gentle' attack of sorts." he then looked to Leon and seeing the face also made him smirk and snicker slightly, knowing too well why he was acting like that.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Herc went down like a sack of bricks as he twitched mildly in the middle of the arena. The crowd still cheered, not really seeming to care who won so long as it gave them a good show to distract them from their daily lives. Phil was less than amused as he rushed out to start ranting about how he was going to re-double Herc's training before calling for Pegasus to come help with dragging the still paralyzed Hercules back inside the waiting area to try to save face and avoid any more embarrassment. No doubt Shiro would be getting a personal and very angry visit from Hades for his refusal to finish Hercules off, but then Shiro had never agreed to that in the first place and would be well within his rights to tell Hades off.

"Shiro really isn't a vicious person by nature so it makes sense for him to have some abilities that are merely meant to disarm and immobilize opponents rather than outright kill them," Crystal nodded. "Of course, more often than not the universe finds ways of forcing his hand and making him lash out more violently than he really wants to so it's nice for him to have a chance to enjoy a casual brawl like this without any serious repercussions."

"Of course this means that until the next tournament Shiro is the new champion so we're really going to have to celebrate somehow," Xion pointed out.

"I'm sure Tifa will hook us up with some refreshments at the tavern once we head to Radiant Garden and let her know about it," Crystal helpfully suggested.

"Sounds like fun," Roxas nodded. He glanced over at Sora, still unconscious from his injuries even if he did seem entirely too peaceful like he didn't have a care in the world. "Of course, we still have to do something about Sora too..."

Crystal felt kind of guilty now. "You know, as much as he really does need to be taught a lesson, I don't think Tifa would approve of us not healing him."

"You're probably right," Leon admitted. "Personally, I appreciate the quiet, but I do feel kinda bad for the kid." Cloud sat up having finally woken up, glancing about wildly as though he still fully expected to find Sephiroth somewhere nearby. Leon shook his head as he brought a palm to his forehead. "Do you see what I have to put up with?" Leon frowned as he walked over to clap a hand down on Cloud's shoulder. "I know who you're looking for and he's not here so just give it a rest already. We're heading home. You, me, and Zidane. I'm not letting you run out on us to chase Sephiroth when it's my head Tifa will be putting on a platter if I let you get away again."

"Fine," Cloud sulked bitterly. "I'll go back with you. But I'm heading out again the first chance I get."

"Cloud will be Cloud, I guess," Zidane shrugged a bit mildly. "Anyway, the rest of us can help to throw you kids huge party to celebrate Shiro's win. At least I know Yuffie will definitely want to help out. Of course, you don't mind if some of the concessions are stolen, right?" He paused for dramatic effect until Leon shot a glare in his direction and then Zidane grinned even more widely. "I'm kidding, honest. We wouldn't want to put Tifa through that, but man, Leon, you really do have the best reactions."

"Anyway, I'm sure Shiro will want to be getting out of here sooner rather than later to avoid being caught up in the tide of adoring fangirls he'll have won over with that victory," Crystal pointed out. "They can be kind of a handful."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Gilgamesh of course smiled seeing Shiro win as he had predicted and actually wanted, though feeling the slight rising temperature he'd glance over to the direction of the source to see an angry Hades, as he poofed into smoke, just as Shiro was heading into the tunnels to meet up with the others when Hades appeared, looking not too happy "so, you won, congrats, really." he said, giving a slow mocking clap but then frowned when Shiro showed nothing but nonchalance towards him "but, see, this is the thing... you didn't kill Hercules like i wanted to." Shiro raised an eyebrow before looking away from Hades "i said i would defeat Hercules, i never said i would kill him." he said calmly enough, walking past as Hades glared at Shiro's back "this isn't over, Brat!" Shiro had stopped, and turned to look at Hades "... entrance to the Coliseum, we can continue our discussion there." he said calmly enough, while Hades growled a bit, and poofed into smoke, heading off to wait for Shiro as he for now joined the others, grinning lightly with a wave "'sup." he said all too nonchalantly, while looking to the look on Leon's face "... Leon, you look like you're constipated. go to the bathroom man." he said with a straight enough face but it was clear in his tone of voice he was only joking and had a good idea why Leon looked like that, given he saw Crystal and Roxas in close Proximity to each other... yeah, that'd do it. of course, looking to Cloud he'd give him a deadpan look seeing the obvious pouting like a child. "..." he'd just sigh, and shake his head a bit.

Axel grinned as he walked over and put an arm around Shiro with a twinkle of amusement "well what do we have here, our winner of the Games! so how's it feel, Champ?" he said, with Shiro just eye-rolling at Axel and looking around "well.... feels good to win, but at the same time it lets me know what i still need to work on as well, seems i've been neglecting my conditioning for speed training again... blast that Auron for making me go for power attacks..." he muttered, while Axel laughed a bit smiling "well, to the prize of bragging rights and congrats are yours, not to mention having a few bruised Ego's after you for rematches later on, right, Cloud, Leon?" he said all too smugly.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Well, I know just the place to work on speed training, but there's also one other world I'd like to visit again before we go there after we've stopped off at Radiant Garden," Crystal nodded to Shiro. "No reason to dive straight into that sort of craziness right off the bat. We could all use a little down time while I try to figure out what to do with Sora."

"What kind of world is it that you just assume it's going to be crazy?" Xion had to wonder.

"Well, it's the world where I picked up a lot of my martial arts training and let's just say that the residents are prone to rapidly escalating conflicts of comedic violence," Crystal explained somewhat vaguely. "Believe me, you'll understand it once we're there. There's almost never a dull moment in Nerima."

Leon of course merely scowled at Axel's smugness over his loss to Shiro. "I'll admit, I wasn't prepared for what the kid could dish out, but I guess it's sort of to be expected when I couldn't even take down Roxas either." He glanced vaguely in that direction for a quick second before seeing them so damn happy together caused him to feel like he needed to avert his gaze again even if all they were doing was laughing and smiling and it wasn't even about each other because everyone was talking about Shiro. Seriously, get a hold of yourself Leon!

Cloud was still clearly agitated about Shiro's stunt of disguising himself as Sephiroth, but even he had to crack a bit of a smile seeing Leon so dang fidgety about Crystal and Roxas merely being in the same room together with everyone. "Leon, are you seriously still worked up about those two being together? Overprotective much?"

"Hmph," Leon folded his arms over his chest with a mild huff. "I'm still not used to it. Although, I do have to admit they really do seem a lot happier compared to the last time we saw them both."

"See Leon, this is a good thing!" Zidane spoke up with a smile.

"Not that they're the only ones who are going to want a rematch with Shiro," Roxas pointed out. "I mean, I don't really care to fight him again because I'm not that eager to take another beating, but there's still Sora to consider."

"Yeah, I think the rule is going to be that Sora isn't allowed to face Shiro again until he proves he can beat me," Crystal stated simply.

"Right, because you'll go easy on him and still somehow manage to wipe the floor with him," Leon snorted mildly. "You know, I almost feel sorry for Sora having to go through all that."

"It's better than letting him charge recklessly into provoking Shiro again," noted Xion.

Of course, then you could hear the squealing from the main entryway as the adoring fangirls started to crowd the area outside the main lobby.

"What in the world is that sound?" Roxas was already confused.

"The adoring fangirls who simply love strong heroes who have proven themselves here at the Games," Crystal shook her head. "Usually they'd be pawing after Hercules, but he's still out cold so it's probably you and Shiro they're after."

"Wait, why would they be after me? Shiro's the one that won," Roxas was even more confused.

"Because Shiro might have spooked the crowd a bit when he smashed Sora into the ground and they also really have a thing for a cute misfit underdog," Leon explained. "Basically, that fits you to a tee so you might want to think about running."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro had blinked, before cringing, given he remembered the tales of the Nerima Wrecking crew, and that -really- wasn't the type of people he could see himself around, given they were as chaotic if not more-so than Shiro's own bad luck. either way, he'd nod a bit lightly about the secondary destination before Radiant Garden as he looked right at cloud, seeing he was -still- sore about his immersion into the role of Sephiroth "Cloud, i did what i did for a reason, and it seems to me it -really- needs to be nipped in the bud -Now- before you go disappear and finally get yourself killed because Sephiroth finally gets bored of you coming after him." he said all too calmly and yet deadly serious "you obviously think you're the only one he's tormented, think again." he said, bringing his shirt up and off to reveal his scars, pointing to quite a few sword gashes Cloud (and Leon) would recognize as being from Sephiroth's motif "i know -all- too well what that man does to people who either amuse him or intrigue him." he said, putting the shirt back on afterwards with a frown as he turned away lightly "... once we get a chance Cloud.. you and i -really- need to have a long talk, about yourself, Sepiroth, and something that i connected to while my heart was being healed in the El-Nido Archipelago." he finally said, and once more cringed, he'd rather take care of hades than the blasted fangirls...

Axel frowned, having seen the scars a few time,s but he didn't know that some of them were inflicted by Sephiroth himself "sounds like this Sephiroth guy doesn't know how to show mercy." Shiro snorted, and moved to sit down on a chair, summoning pixie to help tend to his still there minor wounds and starting to form bruises from taking herc on. "either way, now's not a time to sulk or be petty about certain things, it's time to Party! P A R T Y. Got it memorized?" he said, with an eyeroll coming from Shiro but his eyes did shine with a bit more amusement.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

*~Radiant Garden: 7th Heaven~*

Just so there wouldn't be any issues or hard feelings once they arrived on Radiant Garden, Crystal would have cast Curaga to heal Sora of his injuries before making the journey although even being healed wasn't enough to wake him up right away and he would remain unconscious for at least a little while longer even after their arrival at the tavern with the others. Cloud was still busy brooding and Zidane was eager to start making party preparations with Yuffie so that left Leon to volunteer to carry Sora upstairs to toss him onto a bed in one of the vacant rooms as though he were a sack of potatoes, although in fact a sack of potatoes would have been heavier than Sora. Leon had other reasons for volunteering to relocate Sora so he wouldn't be taking up space on the floor in the tavern though. Leon was using this as an opportunity to escape into his own room to avoid the noise he anticipated would happen once the victory celebration for Shiro got started and also to avoid having to be in the same room as Crystal and Roxas until he got his nerves better under control. Besides, Tifa could run things just fine without him and she knew very well where they had all been and that they would be tired after fighting in the Games since she herself sometimes tagged along as a fighter too.

As previously mentioned, Cloud was still brooding about Sephiroth and so sat gloomily up at the bar with a slightly menacing aura about him like he didn't wish to be disturbed. He very much doubted that Tifa would heed the warning and it seemed that Shiro was also determined to get on his case regardless of Cloud's own feelings on the subject of Sephiroth.

Roxas was slightly less cheery after seeing Shiro's scars again and being reminded of that first time he had seen both him and Crystal in rough shape after they'd had a close encounter with Sephiroth. Despite that it didn't seem like they really held a grudge against him for the damage he had caused the same way that Cloud did. Although thinking about it now one thing that did seem a bit strange was that Roxas didn't recall ever noticing any scars like that on Crystal even though, whether she liked it or not, she had shown a lot of skin on any occasion she had worn that silver bikini. Considering the dynamic that Crystal had with Shiro, though, it was probably because he had taken the brunt of the damage and Crystal had managed to scrape by without being hurt too badly while she dragged him out of there.

"You don't have to worry, Roxas, it sounds like Shiro is going to try to get this all sorted out," Crystal nodded between him and Cloud. "Anyway, this is supposed to be a party to celebrate how well you and Shiro did in the Games so let's cheer up and have some fun!"

"Right," Roxas rubbed the back of his neck looking slightly embarrassed. He supposed he was just going to have to ask about it later.

Xion of course turned to Axel, "Didn't you say you were going to treat Roxas to some sea-salt ice cream once the tournament was over?"  

[Kailah S Majessta]

Cloud was correct in his assumption that Tifa wouldn't heed the warning, but she let it go for now. There was a bit more to prepare for with the celebration. It was about to get more lively around the tavern, and making sure the kids were all settled in and ready to party were her first priority.

Cloud was actually third on her list.

Second was a certain someone who was currently upstairs and avoiding everyone. A certain someone who was like a surrogate father to the girl who recently (at least to those in Radiant Garden) confirmed a relationship with someone else. A certain someone who-

Leon. It was Leon.

"What am I going to do with those two?" She sighed under her breath before literally picking up the freezer and setting it against an open wall.

"No need to treat anyone today. The ice cream will be my treat. Just don't eat too much. Don't wanna be sick for the party, right?"

There. That taken care of (more or less), Tifa spoke in passing to Yuffie (and to Cloud who she didn't expect to really pay attention) that she was going to check on Sora and turn down the beds for everyone, and would be back as soon as she could.

She really DID check on the sleeping Sora, adjusting the pillow and blankets so he wouldn't be TOO sore when he woke up, and she really DID make sure all the rooms were ready to go with clean linens and towels on the foot of the beds.

But that didn't take long at all.

She walked to the other side of the upstairs area, where the permanent residents stayed, and knocked on that certain someone's door.

"Leon? You in there? I hope you're decent, I'm coming in," She cracked it open and peeked inside, letting the door swing completely open to see him pacing back and forth, and looking as though he was going mildly crazy.

Tifa's arms immediately crossed as she leaned against the door, one foot for balance behind her on the door frame. "You're going to make a trail with your boots on my floor if you keep that up." She frowned after a second, "Is this about Crystal?"