Bad question. Aislinn should have known better than to ask about it given the track records of these kids. All seemed to have their own sad past and reason to fight, Luna was doing what she had to for her kingdom. "I am sure that your kingdom and your family would be proud of you. Keep up the hard work and I know that you will see it restored once more." Aislinn assured Luna trying to make up for the mistake it was asking. She didn't like seeing the girl upset and it made her feel bad given she had asked the question that caused this entire thing. Putting a hand on Luna's shoulders Aislinn just smiled. "You will make a fine leader someday, and that heart of gold that you have got, it will carry you far. Don't lose sight of that in your battles." With that Aislinn took back off into a battle of her own. The heartless that remained, there were barely any left. Sizing up the group she knew she could take out at least those Neoshadows that remained, meaning all there was left after that would be the dark balls, and Aislinn was sure that they would not be a problem either. She had confidence that a single person could take out what remained after she was done with her run through the enemies. If this was to be the end, she knew that she better make it flashy. Take a moment and kill the heartless outright instead of waiting for them to come to her. With so few in such a large area, instead of grouping up like they had done before, the Neoshadows spread out everywhere, splitting themselves up to try and make it harder for Aislinn to go through. They were wrong to think that would stop her, it was almost too easy still. "I will be right back." She informed Beuce and Luna before stopping for what seemed like less than a second for them, but for her it felt like a few seconds, before in a flash of light, Ailsinn took off in a Zantetsuken, this one more controlled than any she had done before. Like a pin ball in a pin ball machine, Aislinn bounced from Neoshaodw to Neoshadow. However unlike pinball machines, instead of the object she hit lighting up, these turned to black smoke around her as she rushed around the island, keyblade at the ready as she bounced from heartless to heartless. About half way though though her ability ran out of steam however, so she simply switched tactics taking an idea from Beuce, despite the fear it caused. These were heartless and there wasn't too much to crash into, she was unlikely to kill herself or others, so she had to try. Changing forms, Aislinn held out a rod which soon brought forth a light cycle under her. Taking a deep breath to calm her emotions, Aislinn looked at the remaining Neoshadows, revved her engine and then took off, leaving a streak of light behind her as she bounced off the enemies, one by one dropping them until all the Neoshadows were gone. In the process of that she had also ran into one dark ball, which upon impact bounced into a second. Only one had died but it left the other in bad shape. Getting off the light cycle on shaky legs, Aislinn looked back towards everyone she had been fighting with, before starting to make her way towards those she had left momentarily. "So would one of you like to do the honours, I would... but I seriously regret getting on that damn thing again." She told them with a light chuckle. Total Words: 619 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2880 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows 1 Darkball Heartless Injured: Darkball 5/9 Enemies Remianing: 4 Darkballs
Qamar suggested opening up to those she cared about before worrying about being friendly to others, but Tinarah didn't want to be antisocial. Besides she could barely tell where she sat with most people in this room. She had a good relationship with Aria, she didn't know Take that well but had gotten along with him well enough, she was still figuring out her thoughts on her own brother, and everyone else Tinarah didn't know or couldn't bring herself to trust at all. That made adjusting by opening to those she cared about hard, especially given the issues that Aria had been having with her dreams and such. But Tinarah nodded and took the advice gracefully as she then went on the suggest they combine their techniques to help Aria. Torrin however quickly shot down this idea. He claimed quickly it wouldn't help but had an idea what would help. Before he could tell them though Edna came in the room to shoo them all off to bed. Going back to where she left her Violin, Tinarah went to collect her stuff. She was done arguing what would be best as exhaust weighed heavy on her once again. Before she followed the other young keyblade wielders towards the bedrooms, Tinarah paused and looked back at Torrin. What was he going to say? What would have helped? She wanted to badly to ask how she could help her friend but the fear of Torrin also weighted heavy on her chest, that combined with her general awkward nature, Tinarah didn't want to say anything before she went off, finding an empty room, and falling asleep near the moment she had hit the bed.
Once more Luna came in with the quick save. There was definitely and advantage to someone watching your back during battles. While Aislinn was confident if she had to that she could handle herself, and had done a decent job so far when she had to, it made it easier fighting alongside friends who watched out for you, so you could watch out for them. It also made the conversing a lot easier, even if they had to keep stopping the conversation to fight. That was to be expected, this was a battle after all and not leisure time. They would have to put some work in while they spoke, and in the end it was probably better to put more focus on the fighting than the conversation anyways, but the fighting was starting to get dull without it. Aislinn figured that it wouldn't hurt to talk to each other even if their sentences were broken up between attacks against the ever thinning hoard of heartless that was coming after them. While she wore a crown, Aislinn still found herself a little bit surprised to hear that Luna was actually a princess. Looking now at the crown, it was clear that this was not some cheap crown someone used for decoration, but it was the real deal. "Keyblade master and a princess. Wow I am impressed." Aislinn informed Luna before whipping around catching a Neoshadow coming up to Luna's side ready to strike. Luna watched her back, Aislinn watched Luna's back, she also kept an eye out for Beuce, which speaking of, wasn't getting a break from the heartless either as Aislinn turned taking a couple steps towards him and cutting off a couple more Neoshadows before they got the chance to attack from behind. After she dealt with those issues, Aislinn turned back to Luna panting slightly as she did have another question for the girl. "So what brought you from your lands then Luna? If you are a princess I would think you would have duties back home that you would be needed for." It wasn't condescending or anything, just genuine curiosity what brought a princess to be fighting along these other keyblade wielders, for a mission or a goal that Aislinn hadn't every actually managed to figure out. Through her questions she knew why some people left home, largely due to safety reasons, but what was the purpose of this group? How did they get caught up in so much stuff? It still baffled Aislinn slightly. While giving Luna time to answer, Aislinn made sure that she wouldn't need to watch her back while trying to answer. Turning around she came face to face with several more Neoshadows. "Tsk tsk, an impatient bunch aren't you." Aislinn sighed before reading her keyblade. As the first one jumped she didn't actually bother with her keyblade, instead winding up and giving the heartless a solid punch to the gut, to send it flying back into another. They both collapsed into smoke moments later. From there Ailsinn turned and dealt with the remaining heartless that stood around her, cross slashing through the next couple. They still came in a wave though, despite the damage she was doing, the heartless didn't seem to think it wise to back off instead going after her once more. Jumping back out of the way, Aislinn ended up next to Beuce as she finished the next set off attacks and looked around at the remaining heartless. "We are almost there." She said a bit breathlessly to Beuce in sort of an uplifting manner. Just a few more, she held her keyblade at the ready. She could deal with that, easy. They got this in the bag. Total Words: 620 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2820 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows Heartless Injured: Neoshadow: 2/15 Enemies Remianing: 33 Darkballs 29 Neoshadows
Standing over his friend watching him starting to work with the samples, it turned out that it was indeed caused by the water. At least they had a good starting point now. However the fact that it was coming from both a poison and a magical source was interesting to him. Thinking on it, Everette caught himself rubbing the back of his neck. "So this likely isn't something naturally occurring then. If it was just poison I would be willing to say something int he landscape of the mountain was contaminating the water as of late, but with the magic involved... well it is more likely that there is some human involvement, which just makes this more complicated than it already is. At least we got the first step to figuring this situation out done. Good job Sam." Everette gave the other boy a pat on the back before Conrad suggested that they tell the mayor about their findings. "Telling the mayor seems like a reasonable thing to me. We will sort out a place to sleep and can set out in the morning I suppose." Everette shrugged. He hated having to draw this out longer than it needed to be, but Samuel was right, none of them could see in the dark very well, so going now would be pointless and perhaps a little dangerous. "Renza, we are heading back to town hall. Are you ready to go or do you stay here at night?" Everette called out to the girl. He wasn't going to make her come with them back if she wanted to stay at home, but they also shouldn't just leave without her.
Aria tried to assure her that it was alright, but part of Tinarah doubted it. She felt bad for not doing something to help before, but at least she had a chance to help now. With Aria agreeing to let her try and play for her to lull her to sleep, that made Tinarah feel a little better about it. She hadn't clued in earlier that day, but at least she didn't have to sit by idly either, she could try and help in whatever small ways that she could, and she didn't care what they were at this point. As they talked though Qamar continued her conversation as well, which ended up turning to her and being an apology. "It's okay. I am sorry that I panicked like that. By now I am sure you heard what happened, and I am just dealing with a lot. I don't mean to be so distant and push you away... I just... I don't know how to deal with these things anymore. Not just the stress... but normal people." Tinarah awkwardly admitted. She was sure that Aria and Take had caught on already to that but she wasn't sure if Qamar had. Soon after Aria had taken off to clean up and Take went off to do his own thing. That left Tinarah standing there with Qamar. Trying to make it up to the girl a bit, Tinarah looked over at her violin, which Nini was actively trying to protect. "I told Aria I would play for her to help her fall asleep, do you want to join us, listen in a bit? I don't know if you like music or anything." It was at least an attempt at making Qamar feel welcome after she mentioned that she just wanted friends. Tinarah had been well aware of how that felt and was trying to be a little more understanding. Since her mind got turned off her own problems, she was finding it a little easier to function, it wasn't until those dark thoughts crept up that things got difficult for her.
Fighting the heartless around her, Aislinn had not noticed that anything was approaching from behind until she heard a large explosion. Turning around Aislinn had just managed to catch the remnants of the explosion. Dark smoke mixed with the pure black of the heartless remains billowed up from behind her. Aislinn cursed herself a little bit for missing the signs of something approaching from behind. She should have been more careful about what was around her. Perhaps she had been getting a little lazy because the numbers were starting to thin out a bit. Aislinn didn't think she had been getting to distracted with other things, but this just left her to see that she was wrong and needed to be more careful. Looking over she noticed that Luna was running towards her, asking if she was alright. Smiling back at the girl, Aislinn brushed a little bit of dust off her. "I am perfectly fine, thanks to your quick thinking. Nice work, thanks for the save!" It was a genuine thank you, Aislinn was relieved that Luna had managed to jump in for the quick save. "No injuries from that attack, just some earlier scratches. I am fine though." Aislinn assured Luna. If she tried to claim nothing was wrong that would be an obvious blatant lie, and she would rather tell the truth and not have Luna question her too much about it. Of course more Heartless closed in on them and Luna complained that they didn't get a break. "No we don't/ Apparently these things just keep on coming to no end, it is kind of getting on my nerves, but what can we do?" Aislinn tried to shrug it off like it was nothing, even when it was getting to her a little bit. Just as she prepared for another fight, someone else rode in and gave them a little more of a break. Looking at the man, Aislinn gave him a bit of a smile. "Thanks." She watched him get off the light cycle, trying not to think back to those damn races that she was forced to do. It was not something that Aislinn had particularly enjoyed, but in this case it helped save their butts a bit, give them a break. "We are as fine as we can be with a none stop stream of heartless coming at us. I see you are holding up alright yourself." Aislinn replied to him. She had not talked to the man that much, but she at least tried to be friendly in a rather generic manner, trying to keep things pretty basic until she had gotten to know him a little better. From what Aislinn could tell he was the next oldest one here, which was kind of interesting to her. Something he said had caught her attention though. "So what exactly is with this princess stuff?" She asked. Aislinn had not caught on with the conversation about Luna being a princess of heart, and knew nothing about her life, so she was simply a little curious. The curiosity would have to wait however as the heartless weren't slowing down much for them. As one group went down, another rose up to take it's place. This time Neoshadows decided to pop up around them. With three of them it wouldn't be too bad to deal with, but it seemed like half or more of the remaining Neoshadows tried to corner them. "Well I think we might have piss some of these off." Aislinn shrugged as she twisted her keyblade around and charged into the nearest group of heartless around her. Total Words: 604 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2760 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows 4 Shadows Enemies Remianing: 105 Shadows 54 Darkballs 44 Neoshadows
Apparently when the shadows failed, the Neoshadows felt the need to pick up where the shadows had left off with the fight. Rolling her eyes Aislinn prepared herself for another wave, at least she had plenty of experience fighting these things already. They weren't going to give her a break any time soon. Why did it seem like the heartless were so much more focused on her than most other people here? Was it because she was the oldest? Aislinn certainly wasn't going to claim to be the strongest of everyone here, though she did suppose that she had been the killing blow on both the big guys. If the heartless had a heirachy and it was anything like what Aislinn imagined then she might have just taken out two of the higher ranking heartless of the the group and all of the heartless could very well be pissed at her for such an act. Aislinn knew from experience that they weren't the strongest heartless that existed. She had joined plenty of raid teams, composed of fifty to a hundred people to take out even bigger threats back home. Not once during those missions had she been able to witness everyone return home from the battle. When they had to go into those fights, losses were always high, and Aislinn had always been fortunate to get out of them alive herself. She supposed her keyblade helped, but it had also drawn attention to her. Something about the weapon drew the attention of the heartless which tended to make battles a little more difficult. Here however where everyone had a keyblade there was no extra attention to be drawn by her weapon, just perhaps the fact that she had taken out some of their leaders could have been the cause, either way Aislinn was getting sick of it, she just wanted this fight to be over. Even if less Neoshadows surrounded her than the shadows had, it still got on her nerves that she had to deal with them all the time. With a sigh Aislinn took a more defensive stance against the Neoshadows. She didn't have the energy to go on a full frontal attack after the last set off attacks against the shadows. To deal with things easier, Aislinn let the heartless come to her, she would defend and strike out on counter strikes, but before then she had the time that she needed to catch her breath and relax her muscles. This still left Karina twirling from side to side, looking out for the heartless that might have been approaching her at any moment, but it was less effort than jumping around preforming numerous combos on enemies only to have them die before she could finish her combo, which meant a break in momentum. When she broke the momentum it meant that she spent more energy than she needed to with little reward for her work. It was really rather annoying in the end when that happened and left Aislinn longing for this battle to end finally. As she fought, Aislinn noticed certain people had began to group together. Through this entire battle she had notice Kel and Luna sticking together. Luna had interested her, she was rather nice during their first world together, and after they came back as masters she noticed that the girl carried a Tiara on her. More than that they found that the girl was a princess of heart. It certainly made for an interesting character. Aislinn figured she would have to talk to her a little more, just ask her about herself, but that could wait until they were in a more safe situation. Total Words: 609 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2700 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows 4 Shadows Enemies injured: Shadow 2/3 Enemies Reserved: Neoshadow (Rydia) Invisible (Rubicante) Heartless Remaining: 177 Shadows 90 Darkballs 99 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 1 Invisible (Reserved)
Another shadow swarm, much like the one that caused Aislinn to have a panic attack started to form and come towards her, this time however Aislinn was more prepared for them. Instead of freaking out and freezing up much like she did before, she stood her ground staring down the heartless. If she couldn't deal with things here, then she couldn't deal with things back at home. If Aislinn was going to make good on her promises to help others when she was called, she would have to make sure that she could help herself first. If another one of the swarms pushed her into the ground like it did last time, it would be a lot harder for Aislinn to get back on her feet again. She still felt the lingering effects of the first time it happened, and while she had been working to get passed them, and still managing to fight without a problem, she knew another attack like that wouldn't be very good for her health. That being said, the simple act of talking things through a little bit had made it much easier to face what was going on. Aislinn managed to keep her wits about her and not stop for the same traps. As the heartless rushed for her, Aislinn held her keyblade up in front of her, focusing a bit on the energy from it as it channeled through her creating a protective shield. When the barrier was created, instead of backing down or going for a safe haven, Aislinn rushed them head on, using the barrier to break through the heartless, destroy a few, but mostly disperse the group of them, allowing herself time to breath and get ready to continue the fight to a greater extent. Without them all grouped up it would take longer to kill them but it would be safer to deal with. Considering the big group could do quite a bit of damage all at once, she didn't want to risk her health for dealing with them in such a large group unless she was able to use Zantetsuken, which at this point it was not possible for her to do so. She wished the ability didn't take so much out of her, or else it would make the battle a lot easier, but given the limitations that she currently had, she didn't have much of a choice. With the heartless spread out around her, Aislinn started by smashing a couple into each other before dancing around the rest. It took nimble movement to avoid attacks while she stashed at the heartless around her. Far too many heartless fell to her, it was far to easy to take out heartless after heartless. She could deal with a lot more than normal now that she chose to deal with the smaller guys... well it was less of a choice and more of a necessity. They kept leaping up at her and trying to slash at her. Clearly the Shadows didn't like the fact that she knocked them out of their formation to take them on at smaller portions. It might have been easier for her but it was more than a little deadly for them. Aislinns keyblade twisted and turned in her hands as she jumped from one heartless to the next, not caring what she hit as long as they died before her, at her hand. It was less an act of violence as much as it was an act of survival. She just wanted to deal with the heartless as quick as possible, and as Aislinn stopped to breath she noticed how noticeably thinner the battle field was, they made good progress. Total Words: 616 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2640 Heartless Defeated: 59 Shadows Enemies Reserved: Neoshadow (Rydia) Invisible (Rubicante) Heartless Remaining: 185 Shadows 94 Darkballs 113 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 1 Invisible (1 Reserved)
Looking over, Aislinn looked at Ignis with sympathy in her eyes. She never meant for this to be a who's life is worse contest, but in the end, she would have to say that Ignis won in that category. Aislinn knew nothing about what sort of family the girl had, if they were still alive, if she was trying to protect them, but at least Aislinn knew that she had a lovely family that she was going to fight for. Perhaps the heartless had taken her world, perhaps her family was gone, but Aislinn still held hope that the front lines were still holding. That the town was secure and her sister and sweet children were still safe and alive in their little corner of the village, safely guarded by the man that Sarah had chosen to marry. It wasn't that Aislinn didn't like her husband, but they often didn't see eye to eye when it came to the war against the heartless. What Aislinn did know though, was that he loved his wife and children and would do anything for them. She knew that no matter how much they disagreed on some things, their love for Sarah was the same, so Sarah would always be safe with him, that was something that she never doubted. "I am sorry to hear that Ignis. I wouldn't jump on throwing away your keyblade for a sword just yet though. I don't know what these men or these creatures on your world are like, but it could perhaps be helpful in that fight as well. And if not, know you always have friends to lean on. You won't have to go in there alone." Aislinn didn't know if she could talk for anyone else, but she was willing to fight for and help any one of the warriors that surrounded her during this battle. She wouldn't let any of them have to face their battles alone if they didn't want to. That being said she wasn't going to push her help on anyone that didn't want it either. They all had their own problems, and Aislinn did have to return home, but she had the advantage of hope. She knew in her situation there was plenty of hope for the future and hope that things hadn't gone totally wrong yet. She could hold on to that hope to push herself forward. By the sounds of the situation Ignis described, hope wasn't as present, it was a hard battle that she had ahead of her and it was driven by revenge. While revenge was certainly a driving factor for people to do things, Aislinn didn't believe it to be a stable driving factor. You needed something better than negative emotions, but now was not the time to lecture anyone on that. Turning her attention back to heartless, Aislinn got ready to fight another swarm of the darkballs that were biting and gnashing at her, slowly closing in to trap her into a circle. It was kind of cute that they though that tactic would would for them when so many other heartless had failed. She wasn't that easy to take down, not even after the few hits that she did sustain, she still was going strong. With no opening in sight, Aislinn decided to make one. She waited until the Heartless crowded around more before letting time slow, cherry blossoms fall, and the sheer power behind this ability envelope her. With a deep exhale, she took off towards the spot where the heartless were at their thickest. Soon none remained, and Aislinn was left standing on the other side of them, staring back at the broken circle that had once attempted to take her down, now left to scatter slightly before preparing their next assault. Total Words: 631 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2580 Heartless Defeated: 19 Darkballs 2 Shadows Heartless Injured: shadow 1/3 Enemies Reserved: Neoshadow (Rydia) Invisible (Rubicante) Heartless Remaining: 249 Shadows 131 Darkballs 116 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 1 Invisible (1 Reserved)
Tinarah had come for hot chocolate and didn't expect to hear about Aria's problems. She didn't mind listening to the problems, it just had caught her off guard and left Tinarah feeling sort of bad about herself. She had been bugging Aria so much with her own problems, she had not clued into her friends own problems. Tinarah felt selfish and insensitive for not having clued in before. Even though she didn't feel like a good friend, Aria had said she trusted her and Take more than anyone else there. Shifting uncomfortably on her feet, Tinarah looked at the girl and listened closely to what she had to say. She hadn't been a good friend before but at least she could try now. As Tinarah listened to the girls story about her nightmares and what she thought she should do about it, Tinarah couldn't say she totally agreed. She didn't think ruining her sleep would do anything to help. Not knowing what to tell her yet, Tinarah awkwardly stepped up to her friend and gave her a hug. "I am sorry... that I didn't clue into the fact you were having your own problems and burdened you with mine. I don't know how to help you, I don't have a trick to keeping nightmares away like Take. But I can try and help. For me music is always calming, I could try to lull you into a peaceful sleep with my violin or something?" Tinarah offered. It didn't usually work for her, she still had nightmares herself, often of her mothers death, but it was all she had to offer. "I am sorry I can't do more to help you, but if you ever need to talk I will listen, like you always do for me." Tinarah informed Aria quietly as she stepped back from the girl, cringing a bit as Qamar jumped in. She didn't like the idea of another listening in when Aria was just talking to the two of them, but she had no right to get angry, that was up to Aria.
I think going si-fi or something like that would be cool and different from what we see a lot of in the RPA. Maybe do something kinda Treasure Planet style where it is less future technology and instead have literal flying ships or sky pirate type thing going? It could be fun.
When she had finished talking, Ignis finally got her thoughts together and started to explain for herself why she was there. It certainly seemed like a sort of middle ground between them. And like Stratos said none of their home situations were great, but they spoke of concurring them in an illusion. Aislinn wasn't totally sure what they were talking about with that, likely something that happened before she had arrived. If she remembered correctly she had caught bits and pieces about something like that when she had first arrived, but there was nothing directed at her and nothing really fully explained. Given that she didn't want to jump to too many conclusions just basing them off of scraps of information that she had gotten. Aislinn also wasn't totally sold on what Stratos was saying. Sure he was trying to be positive and she appreciated that, but it wasn't that easy. There wasn't any way of just overcoming this without a huge war. Sure she was sure that with some help and more training she could lead a proper assault, but Aislinn doubted that she would ever be able to fully rid her world of the heartless, if she was the only one wielding a keyblade. "I wish that I could say with that much confidence that I could go back and face my world and be fine, that after this I could just walk back head held high and take on whatever lay before me. But you must understand this is a war against the heartless without anyone equipped to face the heartless. Look around us, this is what my world is like, all the time, except it spans across the world, my city is the only safe haven left. Power of the keyblade master or not, look how many of us it is taking to deal with these heartless, I fear I will not have the strength to go back and face it alone only a small army of commoners behind me, that is if the darkness didn't swallow the rest of the world when it swallowed me. The most I can hope for is that my sister and her family survived and are safe. If nothing else I want to use this new power to protect them." Aislinn admitted softly. She didn't want to sound discouraging, but there had been a lot on her mind for the last little while, and she couldn't help but think on it. "But I hope that the strength and bonds you guys have made here will carry you all through your situations into the light of day on the other side. I am more than confident that you are both strong enough that you can change your fate, make it whatever you want. After all, when prayers turn to promises, not even fate can stand in your way." Aislinn gave the two a small smile before Stratos took off and Aislinn followed lead jumping back into the battle to help fend off some darkballs that started to close in on them, filling in the openings that the Neoshadows left. As one of the dark balls surged forward to try and bite at her, Aislinn dodged out of the way, swinging it around and bashing it into another two, sending them flying closer to a large group of them. From there she jumped into the middle of the large group, with little regard of her safety as she started spinning on her toes, taking out as many as would surround her, not giving any a moment of rest. Even as the shadows tried to jump in and join, Aislinn allowed them no mercy, as suddenly once what had been a large group was reduced to nothing more than a cowering shadow. Total Words: 629 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2520 Heartless Defeated: 19 Darkballs 2 Shadows Heartless Injured: Shadow 1/3 Invisible (Scarmiglione): 25/50 Invisible (Cagnazzo): 25/50 Invisible (Barbariccia): 25/50 Enemies Remaining: 382 Shadows 177 Darkballs 140 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 4 Invisibles (4 Reserved)
Just a reminder that lines are due in tomorrow
It was interesting, the idea of being there without really having a reason why he was there. Stratos said he wouldn't go into detail, so Aislinn didn't push, just listening and nodding in response as he spoke and as they fought. For someone who just kind of showed up without a reason why, he was holding his own pretty well. She supposed an escape was as good a reason as any to fight. If joining this and fighting was what it took to make his life better for himself, than who was she to question it. "Well I would say that is a pretty big cherry on top, to be able to become a keyblade master. Really now you have a lot of doors open to you... well that is once we get off this damned island after dealing with all the heartless." Aislinn sighed slighly clearly a little sick of all the heartless, but still doing what she had to do in order to stay alive and keep everyone safe. Turning her attention back to the heartless, Aislinn had been distracted just long enough to force her on the defense for a moment, fending off a few Neoshadows instead of killing them. After a moment of struggle Aislinn managed to force them back and go on the offense herself, clearing time for her to respond to Stratos's question. "You can say that. I didn't go to the realm of darkness to become a master. I had planned to seek that out elsewhere, but as chance had it I ended up being exactly where I needed to be. I have had a keyblade for a while, I have been training with it for quite a while as well. There was no keyblade masters in my world, or even many people who knew much about it. I met a man who had done some research on the blade, knew a little bit about it, but more so he was a soldier. Keyblades and swords are similar enough he taught me how to fight and that my keyblade was the key to defeating the heartless which we have spent years trying to defend against. Upon resent years they have began to push the line further back. The town is in ever growing danger and with my sister just having had her second child..." Aislinn hesitated for a moment taking that time to fend off another attack. "I needed to become stronger I needed to leave to find a way to increase my skill, perhaps try and meet other keyblade wielders, perhaps master it. If I did that then maybe I would be able to come back and rid my world of the heartless once and for all." So far she was sure it was making sense, but she hadn't explained what had brought her to the realm of darkness, this was perhaps a longer story to tell than Aislinn first had thought. "Before I left to find someone to train me better, I went onto the front lines with the soldiers, the heartless were pushing hard that day and they were gaining ground. I didn't dare leave until I knew that everyone was safe. It isn't that I didn't trust the soldiers, but I didn't dare do anything to risk the life of my family. When I fighting on the front lines, I went in a little far, got cut off from other soldiers... and that is when I found myself falling into the realm of darkness. At the time I was hopelessly lost, but now I see, it brought me to exactly where I needed to be, because now I am a master, I have the power and I have friends that could possibly help save my world and my family." Total Words: 630 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2460 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows 4 Shadows Heartless Injured: Shadow 1/3 Invisible (Scarmiglione): 25/50 Invisible (Cagnazzo): 25/50 Invisible (Barbariccia): 25/50 Enemies Remaining: 497 Shadows 287 Darkballs 166 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 4 Invisibles (4 Reserved)
Well the fight was going well, while they weren't saying all that much to each other, Aislinn and Stratos were certainly holding their own, fighting alongside each other and helping out when the other needed it. The battle would be over soon at the pace they were going. However with the quiet, Ignis still likely thinking of how to respond to Aislinns question she thought to pitch it to Stratos as well, maybe explain for herself why she was there. "So Stratos tell me." She paused slashing at a Neoshadow that stood between the two. "What made you join this little group, and why do you want to be a keyblade master is you wanted to at all? I know the exam was part of a situational thing, but was it a dream or goal of yours? If so why?" She asked him curiously between heavy breaths as she spun around and slashed at yet another heartless, making her way through the swarms. There was no more fancy showing off, Stratos was right, some of his skills were more reliable than the one that she had shown off. That was okay though, she didn't need to show off, she just needed to get things done and dealt with. As she fought Aislinn began wondering if anyone was going to return the question to her, and if they did how she would respond to it. Sure she knew her reasons, and all that but how did she put them into words properly. Aislinn couldn't help but wonder what sort of families these kids had, if any of them were fighting for their family like she was for hers. She missed her sister and her niece and Nephew dearly. Hopefully she could be back for her nieces first birthday, see the child grow up. While it was a dream of hers to be a Master of the Keyblade, it did hurt to think that obtaining that dream might mean missing watching those she cared for most growing up. However as long as they were alive, as long as they could lead safe lives she would be happy, Aislinn just hoped that was the case. Seeing how the Heartless were growing stronger when she was sucked into the realm of darkness, it wouldn't be a surprise if they had overwhelmed the front line force by now. How far could they get though? Had they reached the city yet? How many heartless even existed, for there to be this many here, were they being pulled from other worlds, was the force on her world weakened because of this battle? One could only hope for such things to come to pass. As they fought, Aislinn kept an eye on Stratos and Ignis, this time jumping int to protect Ignis's side that was left exposed for a moment. The heartless fell around her but it still wasn't enough, they still had far more to kill before it would be safe for them all to breath. The talking was just a distraction from the longevity of this battle, something to keep their minds occupied as their bodies fell into a rhythm or a dance of death. She was sure any one of these guys could fight the remaining heartless with their eyes closed if they had to, they were predictable enough in the end to not be too much of an issue when it came to killing them. All they had to do was listen and wait and they would know where the heartless were coming from. The heartless were quiet but not silent, and since they used the same patterns every attack it became easy to take them out without even thinking about it. Total Words: 618 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2400 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows 5 Shadows Heartless Injured: Neoshadow 4/15 Invisible (Scarmiglione): 25/50 Invisible (Cagnazzo): 25/50 Invisible (Barbariccia): 25/50 Enemies Remaining: 504 Shadows 287 Darkballs 189 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 4 Invisibles (4 Reserved)
Having dealt with all the last remaining Invisibles, excluding those that were actively locked in combat at the time, Aislinn turned back and made the short trip back towards Stratos and Ignis. The area around them was starting to open up more, there was room to move through, room to breath now. Heartless still swarmed them, but it didn't take a great amount of strength to get through the remaining heartless back to where they stood to help with the hoards of Neoshadows and Shadows that were around them. The two were probably capable of holding their own, but in the end if they didn't have to jump around to kill things, and the enemies just came straight to them, then Aislinn thought that was just as easy as anything else. Even as blood dripped down her arm as she went. The battle was tough and injuries becoming impossible to avoid, but even so she managed to keep herself going, the little bit of blood loss didn't bother her at all. If she was bleeding out, then there might have been a problem, but for now it was a few scratches that probably looked worse than they were with the sand that now clung to her, and the battle smearing the blood further than it would have dripped on it's own. Pulling out her old cloak, Aislinn quickly tore a piece of fabric off of it, as she swept her hair up into a pony tail, using the scrap fabric to tie it up in a little bow, keeping her hair out of her face now. She had not minded having her hair down before, but at this point it was getting in her face enough that it made battle a little more difficult as the shorter hairs pricked at her eyes. That was always the problem with long hair, while Aislinn liked to wear it down whenever she could, when she got herself stuck in situations with drawn out battles or lots of movement, it tended to get in her face and be a little annoying. She should start carrying hair ties on her, but it wasn't something that she thought about until she was in battle, and when she was out of that battle, she was too busy making sure others were alright, making sure that she was alright, to actually be bothered to remember that she needed to buy hair ties. With the hair out of her face, Aislinn got ready to jump into battle once more, seeing that the Neoshadows weren't going to stop at any point, she would have to do her best to deal with those as much as she could. There was one ability that Aislinn had been a little hesitant to use throughout the battle, simply because she never used it much, but she wanted to give it a try this time. Getting ready, Aislinn didn't use her keyblade for this attack, instead waiting for a Neoshadow to jump towards her. As it did Aislinn punched it back, causing it to fly into another Neoshadow and explode on them. With a smile she summoned her keyblade back taking the opening that came from the confusion of the heartless. Dashing between the groups on Neoshadows Aislinn slashed at those around her, Shadows and Neoshadows alike, it didn't really matter to her as long as their numbers were dwindling and nothing could bring more of them. Of course the cranky old man could, but that was not her fight to fight, the man named Shiro could handle that one, they simply had the heartless to worry about, regardless of how many there were. Total Words: 609 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2340 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows 4 Shadows Heartless Injured: Neoshadow 1/15 Invisible (Scarmiglione): 25/50 Invisible (Cagnazzo): 25/50 Invisible (Barbariccia): 25/50 Enemies Remaining: 510 Shadows 289 Darkballs 234 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 4 Invisibles (4 Reserved)
Seeing that some of the annoying big guys from the previous round of battle were still around and ever moving closer, Aislinn thought it best not to let them forget who she was and what she could do to them. Now more than ever were they in trouble, not only could she deal with one of them, but Aislinn knew that she now held the capability to deal with numerous of them, given the amount of damage she managed to deal on the Dark Side after she got the boost of power, there was not a doubt in her mind that she could take on the Invisibles without too much of an issue. How many of them at once though, that was yet to be seen, but Aislinn was looking forward to finding out. With a crack on her knuckles and a small grin, Aislinn charged into the battle ready for whatever was to come, lucky for her, three flying swords came to greet her, the dark unformed mass behind them shimmering and then starting to form. First she noticed the demon like horns, before the massive, muscled bodies, as their hands each wrapped around their swords. The Invisibles looked down at Aislinn like she was nothing more than a pesky fly to them, but boy where they ever mistaken. Taking a step back, Aislinn decided to let them feel like they were doing good. Charging at her two made an attempt to slash at Aislinn while the third planted it's sword into the ground and disappeared. For a moment Aislinn was caught off guard, a bit unsure of what to do about that until a ring of dark, unearthly fire surrounded her. Remembering this attack from earlier, Aislinn knew how she could get away from it, but with two other heartless around her, slashing at her, it was not nearly as easy to avoid such attacks. Not having much other choice, Aislinn chose to deflect the two swords coming at her from either time, pushing the heartless back and away from her, instead taking the brunt of the damage from the flaming ring, as it closed in around her form and exploded, before it returned back to where it's sword was planted in the ground. Now however it was her turn. The explosion had hurt but it was not enough to slow Aislinn down as she threw herself into the battle, letting the pain push her forward into a flurry of blows against the first Invisible that floated to her left. Although it might have tried, it was unable to deflect against her attack leaving it vulnerable to her, allowing her to take it down with ease as she moved to the next form that tried to shift out of her way, unfortunately for him it was not an option that she had given him and she stabbed through it's shimmering form before he ever faded. That brought it back to a solid state in which she could swing her keyblade over her head and take it clean off with a swipe. Turning her attention she eyed up the third one which seemed to have called for help. Now where only one Invisible once stood, there was a Neoshadow, a Dark ball, and a regular shadow standing in her way. It was all the same though, she would push through it all. Aislinn darted forward grabbing the dark ball and swinging it around, throwing it into the Neoshadow and watching them both fade away. The shadow died by the stomp of her foot leaving the Invisble a little panicked. It once again turned into a ring of fire around her, but without the threat of the other heartless around she was able to roll out of the ring, waiting just beside the sword for it to turn back into it's original form, where it met it's untimely end. Total Words: 649 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2280 Heartless Defeated: 3 Invisibles 1 Neoshadow 1 Dark ball 1 Shadow Heartless Injured: Shadow 1/3 Invisible (Scarmiglione): 25/50 Invisible (Cagnazzo): 25/50 Invisible (Barbariccia): 25/50 Enemies Remaining: 559 Shadows 289 Darkballs 263 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 4 Invisibles (4 Reserved)
The girl from before did indeed leave her alone like she had asked, but by the time Tinarah put down her violin, she looked around and felt... alone. She knew it was her own fault, she was pushing people away and putting herself in this place of loneliness. One would think that after 5 years of being alone she would be okay with it, and usually she was. However whenever she was upset and unsure she could always talk to Stamatis and he was always there for her. Now she didn't really know who she could talk to. Her violin sounded sad without the accompaniment of a piano. Looking over her shoulder she could see others talking and laughing and in general being friendly with each other, but Tinarah felt like her heart was so heavy that she couldn't and she would just bring more problems with her. Putting down her violin she stared at her hands which were shaking uncontrollably, even in her hands she could see the weight loss and how much she would need to gain back to be at full strength. Perhaps yes Thallasa was right, they needed this break, but it didn't feel safe, nothing had felt safe since she had left Stamatis and Fost. It had been no more than a month ago, but it felt like a lifetime as she had been through so much, her life had taken so many turns. Perhaps throwing her back into a mission wasn't the best of idea's though how would they know this much would go wrong? When they sent them out she was sure they thought it would be an easy clear things and help people, but it seemed that the amount of enemies they were fighting was growing and one had the power to control minds. how were they to deal with that? Nini walked up and licked Tinarah's face like she was trying to comfort the girl. Tinarah reached over and pet the cat for a moment before looking behind her and standing up. She couldn't let herself get into such a slump, she was just hurting herself more and Tinarah knew that. Walking towards where Take and Aria where, Tinarah looked up at the two, she had remembered Qamar saying Aria was making hot chocolate for everyone. "Do you mind if I have some?" She asked Aria meekly. She didn't like asking for things more taking what was offered, but this was her first step in trying not to be totally antisocial and weird.
Kiara was barely getting back up from being healed when Finlay brought a very annoying bunny over claiming he wanted to eat it. She couldn't help but laugh a little at the idea of him trying, certainly that wouldn't work out well for him knowing the rabbit he was holding. And it seemed that Oswald remembered her as well. Picking herself up off the ground, Kiara stood in the background just watching the conversation unfold. Swarms of heartless. Kiara was sure that they could handle themselves, but last time they got swarmed... Beuce lost an arm to save her. There had been so many injuries by the time that they had gotten out of there that perhaps it wasn't the best idea just to leave them. Sure Kiara didn't always act the friendliest towards the group, but she still liked them enough to not want to leave them to their deaths. Looking down at her whip that lay on the ground though... she wondered what they could do without keyblades. Either way it wasn't her decision. Or at least Kiara didn't think it was up to her until Finlay looked to her and told her it was. Why did Lea put so much faith in her, she wasn't cut out for being a leader. She wasn't cut out for anything. Either way it didn't look like she had much of a choice. "First off you don't know if you lost a friend yet, yes Yue ran in there, but Nequa and several of her lackeys were also in there. There had to be some sort of escape plan for them, so don't you dare think for a moment that Yue wasn't competent enough to figure out one for herself. I trusted her with my friends to run their Mark of Mastery Exams. If she wasn't competent enough to think of a way out, she surely wasn't competent enough to run an exam for making them into keyblade masters." Kiara paced the the girl and looked down at her. Highly trained keyblade master or not, she was not afraid of this girl. "Second is this, we know one of Nequa's lackeys are there, we know he can summon heartless. This could very likely be a trap that Nequa was setting up. It would be stupid to run in there." There was a pause for a moment, before Kiara cracked a smile. "And I am sure as hell not letting those cheery bastards have all the fun when the fool Nequa's plans and get out of the trap alive. I would never be able to live it down." Walking over Kiara picked up her whip and turned to everyone else. "Lets check on those who stayed behind, if there really are thousands of heartless we will need all the help we can get, then we set off and make sure that they knew they aren't allowed to forget about my strength even if they are masters now."
In a flash there was destruction, and a white light that streaked across the battle field. In its wake cherry blossoms that had been falling, Knowing the ability all too well, Aislinn smiled a little bit as Stratos made his way across the battle field to them in one mighty attack. Zantetsuken, it was one of the best attacks she could think of at the moment and with the amount of heartless around she knew it could be devastating to their numbers. Against one large creature it could sure as hell do some damage to it, but when creatures were as large as the darkside that they had been fighting, it wasn't enough to kill. However when you cut a straight line through a bunch of smaller heartless they all turned to black smoke before they even had the chance to move, and with this many heartless still on the battle grounds, it was hard not to hit at least a few of them in one attack. Speaking of the amount of heartless on the field, looking around Aislinn noticed how close they were getting to finishing these. She had not been the only one to gain a boost in power, and thanks to that boost, the heartless were dropping like flies. She could see parts of the ground now, they weren't just all heartless, and the shadows were having a little more trouble building sizable swarms, instead being forced to stick with smaller pairings. Invisibles still existed out there, something that Aislinn found a little uncomfortable, but there was a... boy? Maybe? In combat with four of them, and he didn't seem to want any hep. It still left eight more that needed dealt with, but until they moved a little closer, Aislinn wasn't going to rush off to deal with them after she had just arrived to help Ignis, and Stratos had come to help the both of them. Out of respect for the two, and knowing how bad these heartless could get, she would stick around for a little bit longer, though her eyes did keep drifting to the Invisibles, keeping an eye on them as they slowly moved forward. "I will never turn down the help. It keep us alive after all." And she didn't get this sort of help last time she walked into a wave of heartless, like hell she was going to turn it down now. "With such a flashy entrance I feel like I need to follow it up with something even better." Aislinn commented as she stopped for a moment. For someone who couldn't use fire her next attack was rather flashy. A small ball of fire appeared between her two hands, slowly growing bigger and bigger as she raised it over her head. The fire was hot and crackled, flames dancing off the surface of the sun like ball. When it was big enough she looked for an empty space where no one was fighting and threw it towards that area. Water sizzled and steamed as it connected with parts of the great ball of flame. Using that ability left Aislinn out of breath for a moment, but after taking her time to breath and center herself again she stood up straight and looked over at Stratos."How was that for flashy. No Zantetsuken but I did the job pretty well I think." And she didn't have to move a whole lot, give her aching body a bit of a break from combat for the moment so she could show off what she could do. Unfortunately the amount she could do that was even less than the amount she could use Zantetsuken. She would not be able to pull that stunt again this battle. Total Words: 623 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2220 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows 5 Shadows Heartless Injured: Shadow 2/3 Invisible (Scarmiglione): 25/50 Invisible (Cagnazzo): 25/50 Invisible (Barbariccia): 25/50 Enemies Remaining: Remaining: 562 Shadows 291 Darkballs 268 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 9 Invisibles (4 Reserved)
