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[ "Kyle" ; Ultima : Heartscape ]

The sun above the heartscape suddenly brightened exponentially, with a strange corona of shadow mixing and fluxing both around and within the starlight's visage. Immediately, the continent below began to quake with repercussions all-too-visible from their spot above. Moments later, a veil of white-gold flames began to spread from the center, like a ripple quickly surging into a wave, engulfing everything the eye could see.

Ultima remained busy, keeping the energies from the darkness contained, from spreading outward. However, the unified entity, now clothed identically to Kyle above yet lacking a face of its own, gripped at edges of the abyss. It arched its back, seethed with flames of its own, and leant forward, unleashing furious dragon's roar into the void.



[ Dawn ; James ; Joe ; Kyla ; Noelle ; Sora : Void Drop ]




Joe's Sinscale rammed into the Sinspawn and exploded on contact, causing the monstrosity to reel momentarily, though not by much.

Noelle's soaring discs cut away at some of the scales--utterly destroying those meant for herself and Sora, while slowing down and damaging the remaining three, adding on to the damage with her stone needles.

James' quick shots managed to finish off Dawn's scale, then his own. Kyla's Metaslash, combined with Noelle's spells, would have been enough to finish the Sinscale targeting her--but the slash had only grazed it enough to deflect it. After James unleashed his Thundershot on the Sinspawn, she unleashed her own spell. Drawing on their combined mana, Kyla's Spell Grid unleashed a hailstorm of thundershots, with one destroying the last Sinscale while the remaining seven crashed into the Sinspawn in an explosive barrage.

Dawn, using the distractions to her advantage, momentarily added her Must Keep Moving dance to her performance, twisting through the air and flooding the party with enhancing winds. Now, on top of their already-enchanted Bravery and Faith, they were all drastically sped up with Haste.

She only added these steps for a brief moment before removing them, making sure she wouldn't trip up--it was long enough that the Haste would last for a short while.

With his own actions freed up, Sora unleashed a flurry of Strike Raids, each imbued with various elements, stacking upon the stunning barrage the Sinspawn had just suffered--

--but before his Keyblade returned from its third trip, the Sinspawn had rushed forward in a blur of motion, rotating at blinding speeds, its tentacle apendages rapidly striking out and disorienting the entire group. As it spun and spun, like a blender, the party would find themselves being flung around, twisting and spiraling out of control, struck over and over--

--until finally, it stopped its assault. When they settled, the party was completely split up, out of order, and surrounding the fiend, though everyone was in melee range and--as a result--were at risk for new attacks. Particularly as even more Sinscales broke off from below, beginning to swarm around the group.

It was at that time, however, that the dragon's roar washed over them--and their once soft, white glows burst to life, each of them now enveloped by warm, white-gold flames of light. In the moment that the power flooded their veins, they each felt connected--mentally synchronized not simply through themselves, but through Kyle--and without communication through words or thoughts, they leapt into action, as if all of one mind and heart.

With supernatural grace, Dawn began to dance once more, this time invoking the very air around them to action as everything--the Sinspawn, its scales, and the party itself--was caught in a massive tornado, filled with razor sharp winds and stunning gales. The Sinscales lost control and began to soar around the twister, shredding up in the blast.

As the winds roared around them, Sora and Joe unleashed assaults of their own, blurring to and fro as nothing more than white lines, trailing flames behind them with dash. Every pass brought with it a barrage of strikes, slashing and gouging the Sinspawn without mercy from any countless number of angles, up, down, left, right, spiraling around it like the twister in which it was trapped.

James followed suit, with the enhanced speed of Haste and the boost of the purging flames allowing him to unleash a torrent of elemental bullets, his hexagun becoming more like an automatic pistol. All the while, he soared around the beast with the fiery wings and Haste enhancing his dash manifold.

Simultaneously, Kyla and Noelle enacted their own fitting forms of destruction. Kyla's pen, moving faster than the human eye could process but with all the precision of a well-oiled machine, created a Flight of Blades that would more fittingly be described as Giant Greatswords. A dozen blades, each multiple times larger than any of them, each blazing with fiery starlight and crimson cores, surrounded the Sinspawn and, like a magician's deathbox, converged upon it, skewering the beast from all sides and angles.

Noelle lifted her arms, summoning forth all the stone she'd used thus far, and compressed it, smaller and smaller, until it had achieved the approximate size of a small stalactite--at which point she launched it, point first, spinning furiously like a drill into the Sinspawn. It pierced the creature, burrowing into its core... and when it arrived, it exploded, causing massive spikes of hardened stone to burst from with the beast. And yet, unfinished, there was more: smothering vines spread from each spike, completely covering every inch of the creature in thick, constricting ivy.

The finale approaching, Joe suddenly flew above the creature. Spiraling razor air and light-flames blazed, condensing around his bo-staff, as he rocketed down to the fiend and struck once--unleashing a concussive blast of wind and light that sent a visible shockwave down through its body.

James flew to the back and charged his hexagun, both hands keeping it steady, all six barrels glowing with a different element. A sound like air being sucked into a vacuum, followed by absolute silence, was the only warning before the gun fired a massive, single column of multi-colored energy at the creature, blasting it with fire, ice, lighting, air, natural energy and light all at once until the charge ran dry.

Dawn's tornado suddenly compressed into a single point directly in front of her, glowing like a blinding star as the winds and light remained hypercondensed until they burst out in a single, air-rending tear that swept through the Sinspawn entirely.

Kyla's starry blades grew even more blinding, and Noelle's stone spires and constricting vines began to match the luminescence, making the entire monster spear snared by inescapable light--all of which exploded in blazing flames, the heat of which could be felt by all.

Sora, pulling up beside James, held out his Keyblade, and with spiraling light focusing into a single point at the key's tip, he unleashed the famous Ragnarok, blinding streams of piercing light rushing forward like bullets all their own, converging on the very center of the beast. On contact, they simultaneously pierced through and exploded, causing a brilliant iridescent light show...

... and finally, the Sinspawn faded away into pyreflies, which themselves disappeared entirely, overwhelmed and unable to reform.

Though they kept the flaming auras, the party's synchronized mind-meld faded when it all ended. Their energy reserves seeming fine, they had only one way to go--further down into the void.

Oddly enough, nothing seemed to be appearing for awhile--they had a chance to catch their breath.

[ Yen Sid ; Merlin ; Riku : Hall of the Cornerstone ]

The three viewers could only be silent, their bodies tense, as the peered into the viewing sphere.

Everything was burning.

Kyle stood, screaming--in agony, fury, or both--as magic seared everything around him, in the eye of a raging arcane tornado, the very air itself alight with white-gold flames. The entire station had exploded in a conflagration of rage, with shards of glass slicing through the air, dancing white fires scorching away at the darkness.

Every so often, the sphere would flash with an image of someone. A young man with curly hair, an older woman with brown eyes, an older man with a similar face, a man with blue eyes and black hair, and still more--these images only lasted half-seconds, at most, but they were enough to get the message across.

Kyle stared down Seymour with nothing short of hatred as the Guado braced his entire body, arms up against the howling winds and spiraling flames, trying desperately to remain standing against the sudden outburst of repressed emotion.

Riku briefly glanced toward Kyle's body, seeing the glowing light at the core of his chest, before looking back at the round screen--just in time to see Seymour lose his stance and get thrown by the storm, flung into the dark abyss off the station's edge.

Yen Sid sighed. "Were it only so easy."


[ Kyle ; Seymour : Station of Awakening ]

As Seymour was thrown off the side, Kyle's scream slowly trailed off, and the magic tornado calmed to nothing, though the flames remained engulfing the station. His chest heaved with every breath that he took, and his arms hung limply at his side; even the spears had slowed their revolutions to barely moving at all.

He closed his eyes, taking in one last deep breath as he tempered the driving emotions inside him.

"Pitiful mortal."

Kyle sighed, feeling the ethereal voice surround him. He'd figured something, but had really, really hoped it wouldn't be...

Nope. There he was, rising up from the abyss in a massive state, ascending to his Flux form.

Balls.

"Your hope ends here!"

Kyle crossed his arms, his feet lightly hovering off the station's surface and his spears beginning to spin faster as he faced the monstrosity that had invaded his heart. The flames grew wilder around him as the parasitic fiend's presence filled the area with sensations of despair.

"And your meaningless existence with it!"



Without further warning, Seymour lunged the massive lance forward, attempting to stab Kyle--only to have the young man disappear into the blazing fires and reappear a few meters to the side, where he threw his left arm forward. Ajora's spear, still encased by holy flame, rushed toward Seymour's Mortiorchis form, cleaving through its metallic side with a flurry of fire.

In response, Seymour swept the spear sideways, hoping to catch Kyle off-guard, though he swiftly brought his own spear up to block. The resulting force pushed Kyle sideways a few meters--directly into the path of a Dark Flare spell.

The explosion rocked the station, temporarily dulling the flames where it had impacted, but Kyle simply reappeared on the other side, twisting his body and spears 'round and unleashing multiple waves of light blaze at Seymour, each erupting with concussive force. Before the last one hit, however, a glimmer of magic encased Seymour--and the final wave was Reflected, turned black.

Kyle managed to disappear once more into the fires engulfing his station. After a moment of nothing, he reappeared, directly in front of Seymour, and with a shout, rocketed into the sky, both spears trailing behind him and ripping at the front of the monstrosity as the followed. Before the magus had even finished recoiling, the dragoon descended just as swiftly, crashing down atop the Mortiorchis with a concussive blast of magic fire. Without hesitating, he went to work, simultaneously charging energy into his arms as his spears slashed and gouged into the beast.

The spear now useless at such a close range, Seymour began to unleash a flurry of his own magic. In quick succession, a rain of black lightning bolts rained down upon his back, doing no damage to himself but blasting Kyle with darkness. Though they missed at first, with every bolt that fell they grew more and more precise, no matter Kyle's dodging maneuvers.

Nothing could stop his charge--with another shout, Kyle lifted his arms into the air, the spears flew into his grip, and he lunged down, piercing both into the metallic hide. Once they penetrated, there was an internal eruption, and a massive column of white fire erupted around Kyle from within--

--only to have a powerful Dark Flare erupt on his position, sending him flying off the body. Righting himself mid-fall, he disappeared into a burst of flame and reappeared on the station with a slight cringe.

The large mechanical arms of the Mortiorchis moved, meeting one another with their hands inches apart, and a barely-audible hum filled the air. Before Kyle could react, Seymour invoked another Dark Flare to erupt from underneath him, forcing Kyle to flip away to dodge. The Lance of Atrophy rushed forward then, using Kyle's forced momentum as a locking predictor.

With an instant contortion and a mental cross-swipe of his spears, Kyle deflected the lance down beneath him as he twisted his body mid-landing. He immediately hovered farther back, out of the spear's reach, and as he flew he let loose a single, weak-damage Banish from his hands toward Seymour. However, on impact with the invisible mirror-wall, the burst of energy briefly imploded like a vacuum before causing the entire Reflect enchantment to shatter, leaving the magus vulnerable once more.

The humming grew louder.

Seymour began to conduct his own magic with his free hand, unleash spell after malicious spell, raining black lightning down and forcing dark flares to erupt, slowly destroying the holy conflagration and Kyle's cover as the dragoon dodged to and fro. Kyle countered with every motion, sending wave after wave of white flame into the fiend with explosive results. What he couldn't perfectly dodge, his spears helped deflect, and he often times used them as mid-air platforms to push off of, instantly changing his direction. With every blaze put out, another sprouted up, fueled and refueled with each assault Kyle threw. The battle had become just as much about keeping his station aflame as it had been about defeating one another.

The humming stopped, and so did the spell duel, as Seymour and his mount rose higher into the air--preparing for Total Annihilation. The two fists curled, palms up, and came together as the corner four fins extended outward. Black lightning began to course between the top and bottom fins of each respective side, forming lightning columns. Homing shots of black lightning erupted from the center of each column in rapid succession, all converging on Kyle's position.

Kyle brought both his spears in front of him, each diagonally revolving in a blur, the front facing forward and the sides coming to Kyle's own. Simultaneously, the flames of the station were pulled into the spiraling swallows, fueling them as they blocked and deflected the shots, one after another after another.

When the lightning stopped, over a dozen machina missiles broke away from Seymour's mount and began to rocket forward, striking the spears and exploding on contact, incessantly blasting and tearing away at Kyle's defenses, each action requiring more and more white-gold fire to withstand.

As the missiles had launched, Seymour and the Mortiorchis had pulled away, soaring off to the side before sweeping to the other, unleashing a string of black energy at the ground under Kyle's feet--causing a charged Dark Flare to erupt underneath him as Seymour flew back around. As the explosions died down, however, Seymour rushed forward once again, this time intent on lancing Kyle while he was down.

With the station barren of flames, he had a clear shot--except Kyle blurred onto the spear and dashed forward along its length. Spears at the ready, full of the last remaining fires, he leapt directly toward Seymour's body and stabbed both of them into his chest. While he held on, he inhaled sharply, and with a deafening dragon's shout, Kyle unleashed a hypercompessed stream of divine flame directly into Seymour's face. The spears, suddenly glowing in blinding light, erupted--

--and the scene was once again bathed in a brilliant white flame as the massive form of Seymour and his mount exploded, rocking the entire station.

{Bobbi, Zell, Red XIII, Demyx .:. Disney Town .:. Fairgrounds}

Zell had just finished off his latest hotdog when he spotted someone familiar in the crowd around him. Chewing a tad too hastily, he swallowed, choked a moment, and began coughing fitfully. A couple thumps to his chest and the hotdog finished its journey to his belly, and Zell called out.

"Hey! New Joe! ...aw, man, I don't think he heard me."

Nanaki craned his head to look, but the press of two-legs was too thick for him to see anything. As Zell took off, though, Nanaki sighed and followed after him. If Zell was going to get himself into trouble, Nanaki wanted to be there to either watch, or to help de-escalate a situation.

"Hey, don't run off when people are yelling at you," Zell admonished as he caught up to Joe, draping an arm around the other man's shoulders as he grinned enormously.

Meanwhile, on the dance floor, as Bobbi waited for Dani to overcome the last of her shyness and continue the dance, she found herself surprised by someone else grabbing her hand and pulling her into first a twirl, then a dip. She was actually surprised into a yelp, and clutched desperately as she felt herself falling.

"Demyx!" the archer gasped as her eyes finally focused on the Nobody's grinning face. Demyx laughed and let Bobbi go vertical again, though she had to grab his arm to hold herself up until her knees decided to start working again. "Some warning next time, man!"

"Sorry," Demyx apologized, though he didn't sound even remotely like he meant it. Bobbi smirked and hit him in the chest. "Hey! No hitting! Yeesh, if I thought you'd get violent I'd have dipped Dani instead."

"I'll show you violent, you a**!" Bobbi retorted laughingly as she hit him with a snowball.

[Nick :: New Orleans :: Cafe du Monde]

Nick turned the corner, one arm still wrapped around his midsection. He had waited too long, he needed to be healed. A young man was walking down the street towards him, all he had to do was put a hand on his shoulder, and the pain would stop. As the man got closer and closer, Nick raised his arm up-

And let him pass with a simple 'Hello'. He cursed silently to himself as the man walked past with a friendly wave. No, I will not be a monster. I'll take a deal with the devil over murdering people. I'm in control, I'm in control... He repeated this multiple times before taking a deep breath and looking up to see a familiar woman in black crossing the street. He maneuvered as quickly as he could, Garland's sword bouncing in the sheath as he slid up next to her.

"Hey gorgeous. Walking around alone in a city like this? That's just asking for trouble. But it's okay. I'm free at the moment and would love to take you out to a lovely dinner. What do you say, doll?"

{James : Void Drop}

James braced himself as best he could after his attacks as the Sinspawn, which was all that remained, charged forward and sent them all twisting and spiraling out of control as it rotated it's tentacles around, flailing wildly like a blender. The corsair did his best to control where he was going to prevent from crashing into any of his companions, but that wasn't an easy task until it finally stopped and they regained control, their order completely lost. The corsair began to plan his next move, eying the new Sinscales and the squid monster warily.

That was when he heard the dragon roar and his body became enveloped by flames of light, bringing with it power the likes of which the corsair had never felt before. Through Kyle, their minds were mentally linked and they unleashed a powerful group limit in a show of power that the corsair had never experienced and obliterated what was left of their foes.

"Wow..., That's teamwork at it's finest I'd say," the corsair said, clearly impressed.

'Chalk up that last attack for a potential limit break,' The corsair thought impressed as they began to reform their ranks as they prepared to descend deeper. Recalling the final powerful blast that he had done.

The corsair refocused on the task at hand, descending with the group as the white flames continued to lick at his body. He listened to Sora and Dawn's conversation, his grip never leaving his hexagun He strained his hearing as Sora claimed he had heard something, but even with his improved senses he heard nothing.

"Must be your imagination then, because I can't hear anything and that's with my enhanced senses," The corsair stated. Regardless though, the corsair refused to let his guard down. His eyes constantly scanning ahead.

[ Dawn ; Sora : Void Drop ]

Sora didn't respond immediately, keeping his focus on the fall, on the void in front of him. His face was tense, eyes narrowed, looking for something, though only Joe could actually see.

"... Sora?"

"A woman," he replied calmly. All the same, there was nothing in front of them. "Crying. Calling out for help."

{James : Disney : Void Drop}

The corsair had been content to let the matter of the woman Sora heard pass without additional thought. However, Kyla insisted upon asking more questions, not that it annoyed the corsair or anything, they didn't really have much else to do as they continued to drop further down. The corsair's eyes continuing to scan ahead, mentally preparing for whatever was coming next. They weren't out of the woods yet, not by a long shot.

"It could have something to do with Anima, Seymour's summon, that's kind of the only thing I could think of along those lines that is connected to him," the corsair stated.

Hopefully we won't have to fight her if it is indeed her, if she's calling out for help though... I don't know what to think about this.

"Only one way to find out I guess, we keep moving."

[ Dawn ; Sora : Void Drop ]

"Can't tell," he responded to Kyla, shrugging midflight. "Might have something to do with the Keyblade, or because I wield it."

"Still..."

His voice drifted off as the corridor they flew down lost what little light it had, the stray iridescent strands of lights stopping as if they'd reached a barrier they could not cross. Everything was sheer black, with the only light being the flaming white auras surrounding them...

... and then, without warning, even that disappeared, and there was total darkness.

"Hello? Is someone there?"



[ Sora ; ??? : Core ]

[ Cue ]

"That voice--"

Sora looked around in the pitch dark. Though at first he saw nothing--not even his own allies, which concerned him--a small form appeared in the distance, hovering in place, staring at him.

The others would find that, though they could view the scene and hear what was said, they could in no way interact. They were like formless, voiceless spectators, left to watch events unfold unhindered. They couldn't even see or hear one another.

"Hey!" he shouted, quickly flying toward the form in the darkness. "Are you okay?"

As he flew closer, he began to see more details. The older woman, dressed in a simple two-toned sleeveless blue gown, deep blue atop and nearly-white blue below with arm-bound separated sleeves, looked forlornly at Sora as he approached.

"You... you can see me?" she asked, hesitantly looking toward the young man who, despite his sex, still managed to be shorter than her.

"Of course. You were the one calling out for help," Sora said, eyes furrowed with concern. "Why are you here? This place is full of darkness... who are you?"

"I'm... I'm it's source," she admitted, her gaze dropping, her voice barely leaving her throat. "Seymour, he..."

"He's using you... you're his summon, then?" he asked, undaunted by her confession. To him, the pain she exuded so potently had to be real. "Anima?"

"Yes, and... I am his mother," she whispered, refusing to meet his gaze.

Sora's jaw dropped momentarily before he clenched it, looking down and squeezing his fist. "Why... what kind of person would do this..."

"Do not pity me. I know my son has sowed seeds of darkness," she said, finally turning to him. Her face was taut, eyes devoid of anything save guilt. "But I am at fault for letting him become what he is."

Sora remained silent, breathing but listening.

"He was always alone on our world--half guado, half man... He was younger than you when I wanted to give him the strength to live by himself. And so, I became... a fayth," she explained before shaking her head. "But... because I let him taste power, he began to thirst for more. He was not satisfied with my aeon. He wanted more--more power."

"So he gave in to darkness," Sora spoke softly, looking toward the woman once again.

"Yes."

A heavy silence fell between the two of them.

"We're going to stop him, you know," Sora said, searching her eyes for some sort of approval--which he got when she smiled softly. "And... and you can help! There has to be some way we can save you--"

"I am bound to his heart," she rebuked him, her gaze once more forlorn, lost in the distance.

"Well... you could be bound to mine, instead!" he said, reaching out with his hand, causing her to recoil out of reach. "I've had more than my share of people piggybacking off my heart, you'd fit right in."

"I... I don't believe it would be so easy," she explained, looking away. "I doubt I can simply jump from heart to heart like so."

"You're here, aren't you?" he said, smiling. "And I'm here. It's worth a shot, right? You could help us--you wouldn't need help anymore. And maybe... maybe with you, we could even bring Seymour back!"

She searched his eyes, and though they still seemed lost and ancient, there was a spark there--a hope, a desperate flicker of what might be. Tenderly, she reached out to grab his hand, gripping it softly...

... and then black tendrils began to spread from her palm, covering his hand and wrist.

"No!" she shouted, horrified, attempting to pull away with all her strength--

--only for Sora to calmly reach over with his other hand and peel off the darkness, separating the two of them with a flicker of light.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried, pulling her hand back to herself, gripping it as if she'd just burned herself. "I didn't--that wasn't supposed to--"

"It's okay--we'll find another way," he said, giving her a reassuring nod--

--only to watch as she recoiled again, hunching over and screaming in agony. Suddenly, her body began to distort, being pulled back into a vacuum, her visage stretching and pulling away.

Sora shouted and began to chase after her, began to fly after her, yet he never seemed to budge, the distance only growing greater.

"Stop him!" she shouted, staring into his eyes, holding fast through the pain that wracked her. With every passing moment, she was pulled deeper and deeper into the darkness, her essence lost into the unreachable void. "Destroy that terrible darkness--and my son's obsession with it!"

After mere moments... she was gone. And a flash of light blinded not only Sora, but all those who watched.


[ Sora ; Dawn : Core ]

As the light faded and everyone's senses returned, they'd all find themselves able to act once again, reappearing at Sora's side, hovering in the sheer darkness with nothing but silence to greet them.

Before long, something flickered in the distance ahead of them--the image of a seal lit up against the infinite black horizon, the very same seal that had been placed upon Kyle's hand.

Almost unconsciously, the Keyblade appeared in Sora's hand, and by its very presence, a keyhole appeared in front of the seal, glimmering in golden hues.

Sora lifted the blade with a heavy sigh, and light began to spiral around the tip.