Neo Kingdom Hearts ~ The Forbidden Darkness

Miya slowly sat up awakened by the noise Kiro made. It was about time she got up anyways. She had a good 3 hours sleep from comming home from work. She got up out of bed and grabbed her robe and threw it on her already fleece pajamas. Something from her mother, something though so rare she could sell for 500 munny, a huge profit in the world of Sora today.

"Good morning..." She mumbled and headed towards the fireplace in their small home. A home pratically made from scrap pieces from around town. She threw in some wood that she had brought home she found laying around.

 

Kyobashi Sei scrambled along the alleyways of the gloomy city, running for dear life. It was quite obvious to the nonexistent bystander that he was being chased by something diabolical in nature, especially with the noise of the thing knocking down trash cans a debris as it scrambled to turn corners.

"Why meeee?!" He cried, turning for a mere instant to look at his foe, a side-bag banging against his hip as he did so. The creature was definitely humanoid in structure, but the similarities ended there. The monstrous thing was covered in horns, blackened skin, and god knows what else one can describe. One thing definitely could be identified for sure; it wanted a piece of Sei. And so, the young adult immediately wished he hadn't turned around, and he responded by pulling out his revolver and firing a double-shot. The fiery bullets embedded themselves in the creature's flesh and it yowled in pain. It immediately retreated into the shadows of the rotten citadel, disappearing from view. With this, Sei breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking around, the teenager noticed that he was, conveniently, on Kiro's street. A quick trot down the road and a curious look at a nearby scholar, he knocked on his friend's door.

"Heeeey, Kiro. It's Sei. Let me in! I'm tired, confused, and I almost just got mauled." He begged, lightly knocking. He then added, "Oh yeah, I also have the usual 'care package.'"

 

"Sir!" An officer exclaimed, bursting through Zarnic's door.

Zarnic sighed and turned around. "And what could you possibly have to tell me that would justify breaking down my door?"

The officer gulped, stricken by fear. "Wait a sec. This is tremendously good news." The officer saluted to Zarnic. "Sir. The soldiers have just gotten back from their expedition of Yen Sid's Mysterious Tower."

"And? What is there to report?"

"Well, first off the old wizard is dead. He's been dead for a while now. I guess his magic wasn't enough to prevent him from dying of old age. But, more importantly, we found the relic you were looking for."

Zarnic's eyes brightened for a moment. "You actually found the star shard?"

"Yes sir." The officer answered as he pulled it out of his pocket. He handed it to Zarnic.

Zarnic held it up to look at it, watching the room's light refract through it. "Wonderful." He handed it back to the officer. "Take it to room 3920 and tell the scientists that this is the tool for the armada. Have him find a way to replicate it in case this one is accidentally destroyed."

"Sir." The officer saluted again before leaving the room.

Zarnic walked over to the broken door and tossed it into his fireplace. He sighed. "Another door to replace." He held his hands out, wood sprouting from them. Within half a minute, a brand new door appeared. Zarnic attatched it to where the old door was.

 

"Naw, perfectly fine. You know, the usual run down two dozen alleys trying to lose a monster. Speakin' of which, I just shot another one of those things." He informed Kiro, walking in and crashing on a patched-up and ramshackle couch. He stood back up for a moment, dug into his back pocket, and pulled his knife out, wincing a bit.

"Hate it when that happens." He grumbled, tossing it onto the cushion next to him as he crashed back onto the sofa. "Oh right, foodstuffs. Here ya go. Mom sends her best wishes."

He held out his side satchel, apparently bulging with food, then tossed it towards Kiro so he could store it.

"Don't eat it all at once!" Sei chided in jest as he caught his breath. " 'Cause at the rate those things are appearing, I probably won't be able to make many more trips."

 

YouTube - xxxHolic ost original sound track space and time act 2

There are many strange things in this world, most of which can not be explained. It is good that we now no longer see these things for they would drive us mad at the sheer oddity of them. These things often work behind the scenes to ensure a peace of sorts in the world. However, peace does not exist in this world, and so they are angry. However they will not act publicly, but will empower those who hold the same ideals.

Raishuzu, or Rai for short, found himself awakened by a sharp, high pitched, whine coming from his little store house. He got himself up, slipped into a kimono, then walked over to the store house. It took some searching, but he eventually found a blue ball sitting on a pedastal. It was glowing brilliantly, and it was rocking back and forth as if the ground were shaking. It seemed odd that it was reacting now when it was a slow period for Rai's shop. Even odder was that it meant that a world was calling to him, and he hadn't been called for quite some time.

Rai picked up the ball, and put in a pocket inside his kimono. He walked back to his shop and picked up several more items, one of which was a ring emblazoned with his symbol, a pipe fox. An actual pipe fox came flying from know where, and wrapped itself around his arm so it could have a stable perch from which to stare at him from. "No little one, I'm afraid I can't take you with me this time." The fox shrunk down into self sadly, while Rai busied himself with ensuring that everything was in order. He then called his friend Kurishi. "Asomi residence."

"Korishi, Its Raishuzu."

"What can I do for you?"

"Another world has called me, and I must go to it. I need you to watch my shop for me while I'm gone."

"How long?"

"I am uncertain as to that. Not even my powers in fortune telling have been able to tell me. I could come back tomorrow, or next week, or not at all. Fate is whimsical, and it is difficult to read all of its flows."

There was a sigh from the receiver. "Ok, guess I got nothing else to do."

"My thanks. I left some of my plum sake in the cabinet for you as payment."

"Thanks."

With that Rai hung up, and walked outside. The pipe fox jumped off and onto the porch to watch him leave. Rai held up his hands, and seven glowing symbols appeared in the air. The merged together to form a door way. Rai opened the door, and walked through to the new world.

It was a foul and smelly place, and it was everything Rai could do to not gag. He signed several more symbols into the air, creating a barrier that would keep out the stench. It was a good thing he'd worn boots today, as the barrier didn't block the filth on the ground. "I can see why this world wanted me."

He began looking for some signs the world would have left to guide him to his destination. This was only the prologue of his journey here, and the world would guide him to the true beginning. At last he spotted a snow white dove staring at him, and it took off. It continued circling back to him, and Rai began to follow it.

Eventually he was led to a house covered in oily smog. Actually the whole city seemed to be covered in the stuff. Inside the shadows of the next door building, Rai spotted a gray whispy creature that seemed to be waiting for him. With the dove landing on the fence post above it, Rai went over to talk with it. "Who are you my friend?"

"I am known as the Gashadokuro."

"The ghost of those who have died of hunger."

"Yes."

"And why was I called?" Rai asked it pleasantly. This ghost would bite off the heads of people that didn't flee from it fast enough, but he doubted it would do anything now that Rai was needed.

"You are aquanted with the Zha Shiki Warashi."

"Yes."

"We have heard good things of you from her."

"I will have to extend thanks to her at some point. I hadn't noticed that she thought so high of me."

"We ask that you help save your world. The ones we wish to use may not be enough."

"Your meaning?"

"They will require guidance. They will encounter things that will dishearten them. We ask that you encourage and help them on the journey to come."

"And why does a ghost of hunger worry about such things?"

The ghost moved closer to Rai, and said, "Because even I can see that this world is being driven to ruin. If something is not done this world will be taken by the dark ones. At that point we will have no choice but to destroy this world utterly. This will disturb the balance, and everything could come to ruin."

"If you have heard about me you will know that I require a payment."

"What do you mean?"

"When a service is asked for a payment must be made to complete the transaction. The universe demands a balance as you yourself said. If I am to do what you ask a payment must be made to me."

"I see. We will discuss it and pay you tomorrow."

"I would consult the Zha Shiki Warashi on this. She would know how much this payment would be."

"She knows of this?"

"Lets just say she is a favorite customer of mine."

The spirit nodded, then faded away.

Rai walked back over to the house and knocked on the door. "I am a weary traveler seeking shelter. Could I stay here for a time?"

 

Miya smiled at Sei. She stood up and took it from him.

"Thank you Sei I appreciate it." She smiled and walked over to the cabnet and opened it up where she kept the food and the jar of money saved and hidden from tax collectors was kept. She pulled out a few coins value about 200 munny. She turned around and walked over to Sei.

"Give this to your mother as our appreciation. Who knows when we may get paid and such again for all workers, I know we had another cut this week in the textile factory." Miya stated.

 

Rai could feel the heartless before they had actually arrived. Pits of screaming darkness with the souls of other people trapped inside of them. The stench that poured of these creatures was utter torment to his soul.

"This is worse than I thought," Rai growled, and then flinched as a heartless flung itself at him. It was met by a barrier as his kimono lit up and began to glow. The heartless was blown apart by the force of the barrier. Rai snarled, then began drawing several large signs in the air. The air around him crackled with energy, and a large magic circle appeared beneath him. The wind around began whipping around as the energy grew. Finally the spell was complete. A bright light blasted forth destroying the two heartless that had been walking up to him. Another on a roof top was disintegrated as the darkness that held it together was ripped apart. This was light were no darkness could exist. A light without shadow.

With the spell complete the circle faded, and Rai touched down onto the earth again. It was about then that he noticed a "presense" behind him. "We have your payment."

Rai turned around to confront the creature he'd been talking with before. "I thought it would be over a day."

"A day has passed in our realm. We all decided that this little one would be the best." He held up a white egg looking thing. It suddenly opened its mouth, and extended its ears as it yawned. "What sort of creature is this?"

"Mokona!" it cried as it jumped onto his shoulder.

"Mokona is a creature that is able to pass through space and time to another dimension. It is quite powerful."

"I see. The payment is fair."

"Our thanks. Remember, do not do everything for yourself. We simply need you to keep our charges safe."

"Very well. Am I right in assuming that this is the last I see of you?"

"You may feel us near, but our policy is to not interfere."

With that it faded away. Rai patted the head of his new friend, and began walking to a different house.

 

Aquus looked at his test paper with a giant red 'F' on it as he walked down the street. "Another one..." he said to himself as the paper became so ragged and torn apart by the rain, that Aquus threw it away. He didn't care much for the propaganda-filled school about how they emphasized that Sora was an ancient menace. He knew better than that, as a direct descendant of Aqua, many stories were passed down to him, of all the keyblade wielders' bravery. Embracing his love for water by dancing in the rain, he attempted to make water of his own through magic, but once again, all that appeared was ice. "Oh well, this isn't the time to play anyway," Aquus thought. Aquus was not in a good situation, his savings had run out, he was flat broke. The only place that could possibly provide shelter was the school, as much as he despised it. At the current rate, however, he would flunk out and be left homeless. All he had in his possession was his coveted family sword. He was told story after story of how Aqua herself made the sword and gave it to her son, since he could not wield a keyblade. The sword was passed down for centuries and finally wound up in his hands. He was an only child, and his parents died of disease several years ago. He was the only living descendant of Aqua, and he intended to live, pass down the family sword to his child, or even better, make his ancestor proud by obtaining a keyblade of his own. He turned a corner and saw several black creatures banging against a door. "Heartless!" Aquus cried, he knew these creatures very well through family stories. He unsheathed his sword and easily took one down. The creatures took their attention away from the door and started advancing towards him. Holding his sword in a protective battle stance, he prepared to fight, "Come on then!" (OOC: this is your signal to join me, those of you in the house.)

 

(OOC: This looks like a good spot for all of us to join)

Rai turned the corner at a dead run having felt the distinct presence of those creatures he'd defeated before. As he turned the corner he saw a kid staring at them. "The Heartless!" he cried, and rushed one, pulling a blade out. He cut it down in one stroke, but it looked as if the creatures might get the better of him if left alone. He almost went to help, but his new friend stopped him. "I feel magic from that boy."

Rai paused. If it was true then this would be a good chance to feel out his new friends abilitys. "How strong is it?"

Mokona crossed its arms in thought. "I can't tell for sure, but its there. He has magic magic magic!"

Rai thought on this for a moment. "Well, he certainly doesn't look all that experienced. On the other hand interfering would be doing a bit more than what I was paid for. Again though, if I do nothing they'll tear him apart." After a few more moments of thinking Rai came to a conclusion. "Well weakening them wouldn't be going to out of line."

With that he held up a small marble with a glowing green center. Six symbols appeared around it along with two circles of light that appeared above and below the orb. Then a thin green stream of light shot away from it to end up above the creatures. The light separated into strands that stabbed down inside of the heartless, encircling the hearts that they held. Since the heartless needed the hearts to stay in their shape, being cut off was putting a severe amount of stress on their bodies. It was enough to slow them down for sure. "Now we wait."

(OOC: This will make the weaker. If your characters are stronger than this I apologize. However Raishuzu really has no idea how strong the other characters are.)

 

Miya stared at the creatures out the window. She locked eyes with them and felt pain rush up through her body.

"Heart...less" She managed to mumble before collapsing to the ground. She closed her eyes. She saw light, an inner light, her heart.

She didn't need Kiro telling her the stories of Sora, she knew them by heart and she knew what the heartless did, they ate hearts.

Miya wasn't sure the pain she was feeling were they eating, attacking her heart from outside not even next to her. She sat back up and opened her eyes trying to find some strength she had in her if any. The window suddenly broke open as heartless jumped into the window and started running towards her.

 

Rai noted the heartless break through the window of the house, and decided that it was time to take direct action. He ran around the corner he'd been hiding behind and rushed to the house. "Take care of these!" he yelled at the boy who was fighting off the heartless outside. "I got the ones in the house."

Rai made one sign as he rushed at the door, and the sign turned into a air wave that blasted the door open. He rushed into the house to see a young girl who was clearly in pain being rushed by the heartless from the window. "Not enough time to be fancy," he murmured, withdrawing a second marble with a blue center. He hurled it towards the heartless, and as it flew a blue light began to issue from it. The ball suddenly expanded into a barrier that stopped the heartless cold. They flattened themselves against it, staring at their prey.

Next, Rai extended his right arm, palm out, and said, "Blade of the Light, Sword of the sun." The ring on his finger glowed brilliantly, and a elegant looking rapier appeared in his hand. The guard was simple, and the weapon was unadorned with decoration save for the pipe fox figure wrapping around the hilt. Rai lunged forward, stabbing one heartless in the gut, then wrenching his blade sideways to free it. The heartless opened its mouth to scream and yellow light came from it before the heartless exploded. The shreds of its flesh evaporated as the others turned their attention to Rai.

"This, does not look good," he said aloud, pointing his blade to the ground. His free hand pulled a fan from inside his kimono, and snapped it open. Once again it was simple save for the pipfox on the fan itself. "If I'd known i was gonna encounter so many of these critters I'd have thought to bring my little friend with me."

 

"Sir." A scientist spoke, knocking on Zarnic's door.

"Yes? What is it?" Zarnic asked, opening up the door.

"That star shard you gave us. It is truly incredible."

"Have you found out its secrets?"

"Yes sir. With this, you will have the power to instantaneously warp the fleet to any world. They won't have time to defend themselves, and if they had a defense you could warp past it."

Zarnic smiled. "Well then. I believe it is almost time to test our strength. Once the fleet is completely finished, we will assault Disney Castle."

The scientist paused for a moment. "But sir. The castle has the Cornerstone of Light."

"And?" Zarnic asked. "How will that effect me? I am not a creature of the dark. And our forces are not entirely made up of heartless."

"You are going to go on this first assault?"

"Of course. Who better to lead the fleet on their test then the one in charge?"

"If you insist." The scientist bowed before leaving.

 

"You know she won't accept that.You can kee-" Sei began, when he was interrupted by the appearance of the monstrous creatures he didn't know as Heartless. He almost responded to Kiro's question, but he was once again interrupted by Miya's fainting. He rushed to her side, only to see her get back up again and nearly get swarmed by the blackened creatures rushing from the broken window. Of course, before he could even react to this, a random man burst into the room by breaking the door down.

Why does the door getting broken seem so familiar? He thought, breaking the fourth wall of this roleplay by a little. But that is besides the point. Sei finally retaliated by whipping out his trusty four-shot revolver and firing two shots at the oncoming wave. He rolled backwards over the edge of the couch in order to gain some cover. With his newfound hiding place, he reloaded his pistol in relative safety.

"Kiro, Miya! Get over here!" He called, popping up and firing another volley.

 

Aquus nodded to the man in the kimino as he ran inside, "Right!" He dashed at the heartless, who for some reason seemed much slower than he thought they would be. He was easily tearing through them with his sword. He started to burn some with simple fire magic, but he neglected the rain and the flames were extinguished. Let's see... Aquus thought, My Blizzard Magic is powerful, but it's very slow, not meant for crowds. There aren't that many here, but I can't waste time. With quick thinking, he stomped his foot, sending a small barrier to encompass the heartless. The barrier was just just wide enough to keep the heartless sealed in, and the notable feature was that the barrier had an open roof. Getting a running start, Aquus teleported right above the barrier in which the heartless were trapped in, his running start allowing him to sail through the air. His sword pointed down at his makeshift prison, he smirked, "Goodbye. THUNDER!" he shouted. A thin, but bright Thunderbolt about the thickness of his sword shot from the sword into the barrier, where the water in the ground of his barrier and the water all over the heartless allowed the lightning to rapidly spread over the heartless, destroying them instantly. Aquus stumbled into the house, where he was almost shot by a flaming bullet (Refering to Sei's shot at the end of your post), "Are you all alright?" he asked.
(Just thought we shouldn't dive into too much action just yet)

 

Some part of Rai noted the quick movement of the boy kid as he dodged behind a couch and fired into the crowd. However, enough of the blasted things were coming in at them that they wouldn't be able to survive for long as they were. It was apparently time to reveal his true abilities, though he had been hoping to keep these powers in reserve. It was his fear that the others would come to rely on his powers as a crutch. They wouldn't know that he would have to pay a price for this power later on.

He extended his arms, and white smoke began to come from know where. It writhed and curled in on itself as the room was filled with its threads. Seven signs appeared around the room, and began to melt into a circle. He needed to teach this kid about this power before he came to rely on it. With that in mind, Rai said, "Boy, listen well. For everything that is gained a price must be paid. This price can be no more or less than what was gained, but must be in perfect balance. The power I use calls upon this balance and brings the things I wish to make true to life. The cost of this power can be heavy, or light, but if a price is not paid then everything comes to ruin. The universe must remain in complete harmony."

The circle began to glow brightly, and arrows of light began shooting from it. One or two shots went through the boy, but they didn't do him any harm, Neither did the bolts that went through Rai. The girl on the floor actually seemed to benefit. The heartless, not so much. The bolts, which were composed of pure light, caused great harm to the heartless. They exploded one by one as each were hit by the bolts. When the spell ended the heartless were gone.

Rai sighed as he lowered his arms. "That was annoying. I wonder how the kid outside is faring." Rai looked outside, and saw the heartless being blown away by the lightening spell. "Now half bad for a amateur. Not bad at all."