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[[Louis : Black Pearl : Main Deck]]

Louis gripped Dawn's shirt tighter between his fingers as she pulled away her arm then seemed appalled at Dawn by the expression on his face, "Why did you THINK I asked you to lead me over here?! Thank you for noticing!" Louis seemed to pause for a moment and raise an eyebrow as Joe's comment sank in, Did he just tell me my blindness isn't as important as Kyle's poison...?

[Jenny :: Caribbean :: Black Pearl - Deck]

"... do we really not have anyone with Esuna?" Jenny heard it, vaguely in the back of her mind as she sat with her back against the railing. She was so tired, she wasn't even sure why. She didn't do anything productive in the last fight, which made her feel even worse. Might as well have been the useless bucket across the way. And to think that in the dark, she could of at least helped some more with her ability to here songs and locate people. Good going Jenny, you're so helpful.

"...ny... Jenny!"
"What?!"
"I don't mean to intrude on your enlightening talk but, don't -you- have Esuna?" Siren interjected, her voice a little bored.

Jenny paused and finally turned to look at Kyle who was further down the deck. He was now accompanied by Louis, Joe and Dawn and it sounded like... bickering. They were bickering and all because her listening and processing skills were far below par. What should she do now? Say she had Esuna? She could only imagine everyone's incredulous look as they would all simultaneously turn around to face her. Why'd she wait for long? Kyle would think that maybe she enjoyed seeing the life sapped out of him minutes at a time. Jenny panicked and suddenly stood up in one fluid motion, her hands slightly flailing as she looked between people. Then, realizing she probably looked more than ridiculous, she let her hands fall to her sides as she tried to look as ninja as possible.

"WHAT IF... I slip away to like... the stairwell or something and THEN! Heal them all from there and they'd never be the wiser as to who did it? It'd be like ... HEALED FROM THE HEAVENNNNNSS!"
"You're absurd."
"...so, is that a no?"

Jenny sighed dejectedly as Siren stayed silent. The mage's gaze drifted over, slowly, to Kyle, Louis, Dawn and Joe again and she bit down on her lip. She slid one leg over to the side towards the group, and brought her other leg to join it, casually making her way over. She opened her mouth to speak once she was close enough within range, though her voice came out like a strangled weasel. "Ah. Uhm, I... fudge monkeys."

[Anthony ~.~ The Black Pearl ~.~ Main Deck]

Anthony watched as Dawn aided Louis over to Joe and Kyle, wondering what he should do now that they had taken the Arcanist from his hands. He crouched, then fell back into a sit, raising his knees and leaning on his hands, and watched the group from a distance. They were bickering... The young man dropped his head, shaking it in disappointment. At least they were all well enough to argue with one another. The knight looked up just as Jenny began sidestepping her way over to the group. A small chuckle escaped his lips, finding the girl's movements to be comical. He brought his legs in beneath him, criss-crossing them, and rested his hands on his knees, observing from a distance.

Anthony's gaze fell upon his hands, his gauntlets still summoned, which reminded him of Louis' request just a moment ago. "Oh right...," he whispered to himself. "Gotta stay alert." He lifted his eyes back up to the group before him, half paying attention to their conversation while remaining aware of his surroundings.

[Dawn : Black Pearl : Deck]

"Well excuse me for not being a mind reader!" Dawn shouted back at Louis, when he grabbed tighter to her arm, her first reaction was to look back at him, as she responded to his comments, "I assumed it was because of your leg. Why else do you think I gave you that darned pitcher? I figured if would also do something whatever happened to your eyes. So thank you for noticing!"

Dawn continued to glare strength at Louis, though it wouldn't do much good with him unable to see her, but she did it anyway. It was as she was glaring Louis was starting to glow due to Kyle's antics. She turned to glare at Kyle next as Joe slapped, him. Though she heard Jenny's voice amongst the arguing. though she didn't respond. She was too annoyed by the guys she was surrounded by.

"Kyle is obviously not too bad of shape when he is well enough to throw his life away. Though Joe, slapping him probably wouldn't do any good. It will only cause more brain damage on top of what the poison is doing..."

Well, this is a little awkward. Sayrike, glad to see that Kyle had at least taken the pitcher. Even if he was poisoned, at least he would have regained some health from Noelle's liquid. Besides...he seemed to be lively enough. It didn't seem like the ailment was affecting him too much.

Louis and Dawn came over, the man limping. But...something was off. However, she could tell just by Louis' body movements that something was wrong with his vision. Sure enough, with the conversations--or, rather, arguments--this was confirmed. She really wanted to ask how that happened, but he seemed a bit...occupied with Dawn at the moment. Kyle and Joe continued to argue as well. Sayrike would have rolled her eyes, but...wait a second, I can! Thank you mask. And she promptly did. She was more on Joe's side---martyrdom was just an excuse for a pity party, and it could get frustrating. At least it was Joe who was saying it, and not her. Well, not that she'd handle it in this way, but...hopefully Kyle wouldn't keep up the habit. Well, maybe it wasn't frustrating, it was...like Sayrike didn't want to watch someone go through the same things she had done when she was younger. She sighed. It wasn't her place to decide what lifestyles were right or wrong. The young woman took a breath and let out the emotional attachment, and reminded herself that people lived lives with perspectives different than hers, but they were just as valid. Still, she didn't feel the need to get caught up in either one of the fights, so she inconspicuously backed off.

Sending a message to Jenny, she said, <>

[Michelle : Black Pearl : Deck]

She gratefully accepted the potion from Auron marveling anew, for a brief moment, that she was in a world of magic. She sighed quietly in relief as the pain vanished and her wound healed not even leaving behind scars. The ever convenient magical wardrobe provided by the dressphere was clean and whole not showing the battle anymore than it had her dunk in the sea earlier.

Michelle was content to stand, leaning on the railing, as she watched the others move about tending to each other. She would have gone to check on Chickidee but smiled when she saw her sister get up just fine. She was preparing herself to get worked over by the summon again when her mind was distracted by the group gathered around Kyle. She hadn't really been paying attention to all the chatter, though she was plenty close enough to have ease dropped, that was until she saw Joe hit Kyle while practically screaming about how he wasn't letting them heal him. She felt like she was seeing red, how the H-E-double-hockey-sticks did it make any sense to hit someone who was prone on the ground in need of help. She didn't care what had been said by who so far, this was insanity.

As her inner calm went haywire at what she could not believe she just saw a small patch of dark clouds formed in the sky several yards above her head, about the same height as the crow's nest. Truly paying attention now to every word and gesture in the group, heat lightening started to dance in the cloud looking like children at play as they sparked and streaked weaving in and out of each other. Continuing to listen to Dawn yelling at Louis, and Kyle spitting at Joe, and poor sweet Jenny standing just a little ways back looking at a lost and maybe even afraid to approach, small sparks arose dancing around her eyes. Her gaze looked like starting into the core of a power plant or something.

Then the air was rent with a very very loud boom and as the thunder cracked a white hot bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds to harmlessly strike Michelle. The parts of her hair not in braids were flying with the static and all her clothes seemed to be moving just slightly in the currents of energy now enveloping the girl. What she would or would not have done next she would never know because it was at that moment her summon spoke softly to her heart and mind.

"Let it go. Take a very very deep breath and then release it. Do it now. Breathe. You can no more control the choices they are making than you can control the consequences of your own. The only thing you can control are your actions themselves. I have only one question for you and I am sorry for the pain it is going to cause you. Is the show you are putting on now going to help bring back James?"

Oh God he wasn't kidding when he sad it would hurt she'd rather have been fighting that monster again and losing then face the emotions that swamped back in. Everything stopped dissipating in the blink of an eye as the energy drained away and the clouds broke up. Michelle quickly turned her back on all of them dashing off to the prow of the ship to get away. Before the lightning had even faded her eyes had brimmed over with tears again seemingly extinguishing the sparks around them.

Oh how are we ever going to get him back. We don't know where he is. We don't really know what happened to him. And I'm all alone. I can't expect this ship full of people to be any help when they can't even coordinated in a fight and proceed to attack one another when it's over.

The last part was a bit of a sever summary regarding her allies but she wasn't in the right frame of mind or heart to take a more rational view of things. She just felt so much despair in this moment that she thought she might choke.

"Just keep breathing little one I am here too and though I don't think it will come to that, if we half to save him alone we will. I promise you'll be together again one way or another. Don't lose hope."

[Cory; Laan; Nithhogr; Fafnir .:. Hellscape?]

"GOD CUTTER!"

An intense beam of energy sailed downward, ripping through a pair of the organic spires that littered the endless expanse of what Cory had once called "his personal hell". His targets below, the pair of Unversed known as Fafnir and Nithhogr looked up with anticipation of the Cerulean Samurai's attack.

"Engine Force!"
"Card Crescent!"

The pair of attacks launched upward from the gambler and dragoon, colliding with the God Cutter to stop it in it's tracks. The unmistakable sound of a Burst rang in Nithhogr's ear as he looked over his shoulder to see his target change position on them yet again. Both Unversed turned to Cory, Nithhogr with his Chainblade and Fafnir with his "Cardmore" sword, and began desperately trying to keep up with the ronin's attacks. Before, they seemed to not have a problem fighting him, but his Drive Form proved to be more of a bonus than they had originally thought.

Laan sighed as both his Unversed came crashing into the ground before him, the Replica having spent most of the fight leaning calmly against the fleshy tower whose top disappeared into the black clouds above. "I suppose," the deathknight began, uncrossing his arms as both Unversed rose to their feet again, "I will have to step in and aid my pets." Fafnir threw a card at Cory, quickly appearing behind the outnumbered warrior with a Card Trick and striking at him with the Cardmore.

Cory quickly turned and blocked the attack with both Revblades, now more than ever thankful for the Twin Cylinders ability granted by his Drive. Before he could launch a counterattack, he felt the heat build up behind him. Cory didn't need to see what had approached him, as the heat was unmistakably Nithhogr's. Out of pure reflex, the rogue Burst backwards, entering a Burst Momentum and slamming himself into the dragoon. Nithhogr was sent flying into another spire, the debris of his crash accompanied by the darkness fading away with his defeat. The rogue then burst forward, entering another Momentum as he combined it with Blue Rose. His attack shattered the Cardmore and successfully struck the Unversed with such force that he didn't even land on the ground before fading away into darkness.

"Stop killing my pets. It's rather bothersome bringing them back." Laan swung his scythe horizontally at Cory only to have the ronin block it with his dual Revblades. As long as he isn't moving... A stream of pale white energy jumped from Laan's free palm and sailed through the air towards Cory, missing only by a hair as the rogue ducked under the scythe and Death spell. Laan took a quick hop back from Cory, increasing the distance between them as he summoned the Grieve Edge. "Why do you resist so much, Cory? I only want you out of my way so I can ensure the prevention of Earth's return. Isn't that what you want as well?"

Indomitable Will burst out around the rogue as he burst forward, combining his lunge attack with Burst Momentum. The deathknight successfully blocked the attack, but could not hold back all of the force. Both Laan and Cory slid for a good distance along the blood-soaked hellscape as Cory shouted, "I never said I want Earth to stay gone! I just said I wanted this new world to not suffer the same fate!" Cory pulled back with his second blade and swung down at Laan, only to have the Replica maneuver the scythe to block it as well. "And I don't appreciate you trying to get rid of me either! And another thing? You blocked my attacks, dumbass!"

Laan's eyes grew wide as the engines sounded, sending waves of pain through his arms as he attempted to free himself from the lock. They were still in motion from the first attack though, so Laan couldn't simply backstep or sidestep. He was stuck in the maelstrom of agony Cory had locked him in. He only had one choice... Or at least, that's what he assumed Cory had thought. "Game." The pale white energy burst out from Laan's mouth and struck Cory in the face, the ronin instantly losing conscious. The two spent the duration of their ridiculous slide on the ground before finally coming to a halt. Laan arose from the ground, covered in the blood from the hellscape. Fafnir and Nithhogr quickly reformed at his sides before leaning down and picking up the rogue's body, his Revblades both vanishing as his Drive Form came to an end.

Nithhogr turned to look at Laan as the Hellscape began to crumble. "How do we get out of here, Master? We only landed here because Cory attacked you while in the middle of using a Dark Portal... Can we really just portal out?"

"Don't be ridiculous. We were never really in such a place. We've been in Narnia this entire time." Laan motioned to the Hellscape's deterioration, noting how the spires were fading away into trees. "Cory's subconscious went haywire when he was assaulted by representations of his hatred, his spite, and his childhood. As a result, all of our resistances to illusions vanished."

Fafnir nodded before asking, "So, where are we taking him?"

Laan opened a dark portal before saying, "Bury him under the bridge at Beast's Castle. It will be a fitting resting place for a troll like him. But first:" Laan leaned down and placed a hand on Cory's head. Pale energy oozed from the deathknight's fingers, wrapping Cory's head in a dome of Death energy. "His heart is too strong to simply die from a spell, and if we were to kill him with conventional means, it would only serve to give Hades his meat puppet back. I would take his heart myself, but then it would only serve to put me in a similar position as before... His heart must remain separate from my own. This 'death dome' will keep him as he is now for as long as it remains. And..." Laan placed his hand over Cory's heart, a smile coming over his face as darkness escaped from the ronin's heart and into Laan's hand. "Since we have the 'same' heart, I have full control over his darkness as well. This should allow me to add a few more respawns to the both of you. And to make things even better, Cory no longer has enough darkness in his heart to open portals or properly use darkness as a weapon. If he were to awaken, he would have no control over darkness. Now take him away."

Nithhogr and Fafnir vanished into the portal, leaving Laan alone in the forests of Narnia. The deathknight grinned up at the sky before saying, "Step one... complete."



[Cory .:. ???]

"I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world~ Life in plastic- It's fantastic! heart "

Wait, where am I? Why can't I hear anything unless I'm singing crappy pop songs from forever ago?

"C'mon Barbie, let's go Barbie~..."

Why does everything I try to say just turn into white text on a black backdrop? Whoever set this up is going to get so sued by Tetsuya Nomura. This is text-book Kingdom Hearts opening bullshit. And stop singing that crap! ******** was a sudden silence in the immense darkness, followed by the Rogue's body floating down into view as though he were sinking headfirst into a pool of water.

Ok, pull yourself together. You're not dead, this doesn't feel the same as before. For one, you're conscious. That doesn't happen when you're dead.

The body's eyes remained shut as his mind raced, unable to move as he plunged further and further into darkness.

That wannabe hit you in the face with something and immediately knocked you out. Probably a death spell. Damn my low magic defense.

The darkness surrounding Cory began to grow in intensity, swallowing all the light that was left inside the rogue. The image of Cory's body began to dim ever-so-slowly as though it were fading away into darkness.

Crap, I have to do something... At this rate, I'm going to be stuck in this boring-a** limbo forever!

You're not alone, Cory, jeez. Always acting like it's the end of the world...

The rogue's eyes opened as light flooded the area, leaving him alone with a small pink heart floating in front of him. He knew whose it was immediately.

"Hey, need a muffin? It'll make you feel better if you throw it."

Hurr, look at me, I'm an a*****e from Texas who thinks he's funny.

"d**k."

d**k.

"d**k."

Cory, I'm not here to get sucked into a cycle of making fun of each other.

"Why not, it was your favorite game. Hey, remember when you couldn't get your lip ring back in and the world ended?"

Cory-

"And then you threw the muffins off of the table like one of those scenes in pornos when they clear the table off?"

Cory, listen to m-

"And then you claimed you were ready for childbirth because of how much it hurt putting the lip ring back in?"

CORY SHUT UP.

The rogue crossed his arms and frowned before replying, "Well, that was rude. I was in the middle of a story and you cut me off."

Are you not concerned about the whereabouts of my body?

"I just figured you lost it or something."

Earth is gone, Cory.

"Yeah?"

And so am I.

"Uh-huh."

... I GOT SUCKED INTO YOUR STUPID KINGDOM HEARTS GAME.

"That's actually really funny." Electricity suddenly coursed through the rogue's body, causing him to tense up with pain for a moment before shouting, "Alright, alright, jeez! I get it, you hate Kingdom Hearts, what do you want me to do about it?! I'm dead now, ok?! AGAIN."

You're not dead, Cory. If you were to die, the darkness that has become "Laan" would die as well. You're being held in an unconscious state. And you're being buried.

"No, that's so much better than dead."

Cory, calm down. You don't have to act like that with me...

The ronin stared at the pink heart for a moment before sighing deeply. "Sorry... You know how I can get without you. I'm just stuck. I can't break this spell with my power, and even if I could I can't do it while unconscious. I can't depend on the others to save me because of the strained relationship between myself and the other humans, and besides that I'm apparently being buried. What do I do?"

The heart suddenly took on the figure of a person as Cory spoke, resembling the girl who mattered so much to him. She hugged him for a moment, and he could feel all the anxiety and paranoia suddenly vanish in her embrace.

You can do anything, Cory. You're my hero, remember? You're supposed to be saving me...

The rogue held onto her, a legitimate sadness in his eyes as he said, "I'm no one's hero... I'm probably the worst person you'll ever meet..."

Cory... I can only help you this one time. Then the rest is up to you.

Cory pulled away from the figure and said, "Wait, what do you mean?"

I'm going to break this spell... because only I have that kind of power over you, remember? Laan is you, so it shouldn't be any different... Just please, Cory..

"Please what?"

Please... Bring Earth back. Save my sisters... Save my family...

The figure planted a soft kiss on the rogue's lips before adding one final request:

And please... save yourself... from yourself...

~:~:~

[Cory .:. Beast's Castle .:. Beneath the Bridge]

A hand thrust upwards from the snow, quickly followed by another hand before the rogue pulled the rest of his body from the snow. He had cheated death. Again. Yet somehow, the rogue couldn't help but feel like he had lost anyway.

~

The rogue remained silent, the patterns on his Dress Sphere clothing beginning to shift. He rose to his feet as his clothing began to glow, his suit undergoing a new transformation to reflect his new mentality on the events following the destruction of Earth. Magic emanated from the clothes as Cory finally said, "Someone who matters wants to come back. A request from that person... I can't refuse something like that."

~

Before the rogue could answer, his eyes shifted to the darkness pooling around them. Already the yellow eyes were visible as the ronin summoned his Revblade in a burst of blue & black fire. "Someone who actually means something to me. Nothing in this world or the next holds any real value to me... except her." Darkness enveloped Cory as a blast of dark fire came in from the Invisible that had accompanied the Shadows.Smoke and debris shielded the rogue from view for a moment, his fate ambiguous until...

[Cue: "Never Lose Myself"]
Black and blue fire exploded from the inside of the smoke, blowing away all of the debris. The ronin's new Dress Sphere finished just in time to give a clear view of Cory holding a Shadow up as a shield against the attack, the Indomitable Will that burned around him slowly dissolving the Heartless until it was gone. His shoes had now been replaced by sandals, and much of the white from his previous style had darkened to a deep black, including his undershirt. On both shoulders was a set of Japanese spaulders, instantly recognizable as "samurai" thanks to the signature rivet design. On the thighs of his shorts were a set of faulds, also adorned with the samurai-like rivets. On his left arm was a Japanese "kote" vambrace, and his buckle and sash had been replaced by a traditional black obi. His headphones were now also gone, leaving him wearing a black horned forehead protector.

Cory rushed forward, Revblade suddenly in hand as the Invisible vanished, a small horde of Shadows filling in for it only to be diced into pieces. The rogue slid to a stop, flipping the Revblade into a backhanded stance as he turn on his heal to face the Shadows coming in from behind him. He swung the blade at the Heartless, launching an Engine Force at them before flipping back into a normal grip style and launching an additional Engine Force. The attacks struck the Heartless, ripping them apart to reveal a Neoshadow attacking from the back of the group. It was suddenly pierced by Cory's Revblade, having thrown it at the creature and pinning it to the wall where is faded away.

Two more Neoshadow attacked from both sides of Cory, the weaponless Ronin suddenly seeing images of a fighting style he remembered from a video game before ducking under both attacks. In the same movement, his palms struck both Heartless in the chest and seeming to release a massive force into them and tearing their torsos away from their limbs. Cory turned to face another oncoming Heartless, noting the Neoshadow's leg begin to rise for a kick. The ronin's foot came crashing down on the Heartless' before sending a devastating uppercut to its jaw. The Neoshadow's head jumped from it's body before vanishing from sight, followed shortly by the rest of its body. Without even looking backward, the ronin stepped back and struck another incoming Heartless with the broad of his back, sending the creature hurtling backwards into another Neoshadow and destroying both. Cory slid back into a relaxed stance, seemingly unexhausted from the previous assault. He watched the Invisible return, this time with a large group of Shadow bodyguards. He resummoned the Revblade, a warrior's look in his eyes.

~

"Laan took all of my excess darkness for some reason... Probably to keep me from utilizing the corridors of darkness should I awaken. He was too many steps ahead." Cory slid into a more comfortable stance before flipping the Revblade into a backhanded position, adding, "But you're right. I feel like we suddenly have a lot of room for improvement. Not like we've become weaker... But like our potential has risen tremendously. I guess without all of that darkness weighing us down, we're really stronger, huh? Laan may have shot himself in the foot." Cory leaned forward a bit into a runner stance, a grin on his face as he said, "But enough of that, let's do what we do best. Wreck some s**t."

~

The ronin exploded forward with a Burst Momentum, tearing apart a line of shadows as he closed the distance between himself and the Invisible in an instant. "Let's see how you like this, you no-name chump!: Rev Storm!" The ronin rushed through the Heartless, seemingly hitting it only once with the Revblade. However, Cory didn't need to look back to know where the sudden ringing of metal had come from. The Heartless was suddenly overcome with a torrent of delayed cuts, each one accompanied by the roar of an engine. In seconds, the Heartless vanished into nothing, leaving the leaderless Shadows to scatter.

~

Cory dismissed the Revblade and replied, "I can't help it if I was fighting a weak opponent. Trash shouldn't challenge the elite, it just confuses me."

~

The ronin sniffed at the air for a moment before sighing. "Not sure, I'll have to do this off memory. I lost so much darkness that I can hardly even smell it anymore. I feel like I just went from bloodhound to a 4-year-old with a cold in terms of sniffer-power." The ronin made his way out from under the bridge and looked at the castle for a point of reference before turning himself in the direction of where he remembered Angel Grove being. "Second star to the right, and straight on 'til morning." Cory's image blurred for a moment before vanishing from sight, his Burst Extravaganza now replacing the corridors as his main mode of transportation.