'LIGHT' huh? X seemed pretty proud of that name. Considering the memories that flowed into what seemed to be everyone's mind, the rest of the group likely knew exactly what his name was. Whether or not it was known at the time of the groups christening was another matter entirely. He still hated it though. Nevertheless, the man was once again right that they shouldn't just stay put, though it did not bode well for him that he was always the first to shout such things at the top of his lungs as if no one else could possibly come to that conclusion on their own. "Hmm... I'm afraid I am not aware of any Aveum, but it seems that a great deal of our memories are still missing. For now, it's another thing to note down." There were quite a few of those; it was more than a little annoying. However, there were currently more important things to deal with. "How exactly are we supposed to get out of here though?" Chrys wondered aloud as he glanced up at the bird that circled above them. It seemed to unnerve several of them, and he agreed that it likely wasn't a good omen. "Is there a path nearby that we could follow?" He glance around in query, briefly eyeing the cliff. "Jumping probably won't solve anything... do we need to open a gate?" He lifted Light Seeker up in front of him as way of clarification as he continued to search for a visible path away from... where ever it was that they were.
Steel rolled his eyes as Captain Pheobus pointed the girls toward Notre Dame since it was "A place for answers." It seemed that either the man or the whole of Paris had a very twisted idea of what kind of place the Cathedral was. As if it were some elaborate reception desk that God himself descended to every morning to hand out brochures and take phone calls. Yeah, no. Notre Dame wasn't the place to look for the kind of 'answers' they needed. Though he supposed looking at a large and well known landmark for a person you had been separated from was actually pretty reasonable in itself. Whatever kind of answers they would find, it seemed the girls were going to go ahead and look there, their newest member already heading away from the crowd. Seeking divine guidance wasn't such a bad idea, so maybe they would find what they came for anyway. For now though... "Ananta, Stratos is planning on following Captain Pheobus. I'm going to go with him." He waved to his partner as he went after the other two. "We'll meet up later and exchange information, ok?"
Steel is disembarking for La Cite De Cloches. Also equipping the following: Keyblade- Skull Noise Accessory- Musketeer Hat I'll get to work calculating out my abilities and such in a bit.
Chrystopher Light will take the +5 HP.
Chrys contributed to guiding light! (I'll start on editing this in a bit.)
It seemed that VII and IX were making a considerably larger amount of progress than they had realized. Lifting Light Seeker up behind him, Chrys took the opportunity to rush in and attack Ria with the others.
Well, this was quite a commotion, wasn't it? It seemed that several among their number had been caught in rather undesirable situations. X still didn't give much care to it though: As close as he was to the egocentric man, he got a front seat to his latest insult. He repressed the urge to roll his eyes: they could all very well lose their lives, and the process would only be sped along if even a single one of them were to fall. This was not a laughing matter... Though VII's comment about cabbage's was odd enough and sudden enough that he had almost let out a few chuckles himself. He would have gladly have continued to fight on his own, but... "Cerdic, please don't talk like that. This is a dangerous situation, and Alder, Marley and Relli are all in the thick of it. We need to get them out, not distract them" That was right; they could probably use some help. Other than just splitting the heartless numbers and attention that was. So he gave the situation some thought, and it seemed to him... that their self important friend could actually be of a great friend here. Idea formed, he jumped into action. "Hey X! You like the spotlight, right?" He ran towards the two, readying his weapon. "So if I clear you a path real quick, you won't mind taking the important job? You seem like the type who could handle it." Swiftly he jumped into the wall of heartless before casting a Zero Gravity spell, causing the many heartless to float aimlessly into the air. Slashing away a few, he had successfully created a small opening; the heartless' that he wasn't fighting off were too busy drifting in mid air to cause trouble. Whether or not X would go for it was another matter: he could only hope that he had managed to say something that would spur the other into action. Given X's brash nature and desire to prove himself, there was high chance he had, and for someone leap fearlessly in to help would be particularly desirable right now. If he hadn't though, it was still possible that the others might join in; so he could really only hope he had read the situation right. Ultimately, it all came down to how the rest of the group chose to respond to the event. Chrys leaped above a heartless and cut it into two. He realized that whether or not they took the opportunity, it did not change the fact that they had all drastically decreased the heartless count since the fight had begun. It was all a matter of time. Words: 446 BP Spent: 20 Heartless Defeated: 4 Heartless Remaining: 93
Unfortunately, he had not gotten as close to the fight as he would have liked. Ria's attack had sent VII and IX flying. He had honestly missed that IX was there. Not sure how. He also wasn't sure how the violent wave of darkness had completely missed him, or how he had found himself in his current position: near X as the two of them looked on at the fight from the other side of a writhing crowd of heartless. Maybe it was just one of those days for everyone, Ria included. Edging away from the other slightly (They weren't all that close together, so he would just try not to be noticed), Chrys did his best to take out a few more heartless. One fell easily enough with a Quick Blitz, but with the others... he kinda felt like he was having a hard time of things. His thoughts were interrupted when an attempted attack missed his opponent and nearly caused him to take an attack to the face. Yeah. It was an off day. Words: 176 BP Spent: 5 Heartless Defeated: 1 Heartless Remaining: 117
His friend. One of his first friends even. Not to mention the only one that had even remotely known about his little secret this whole time. Granted it had been entirely because of an accident. Yeah, he could definitely live with having friends again. Once Yue took them to the place called Shibuya, she had a conversation with Megumi Kitaniji. He was very interested to know that Yue was an Ex-Reaper, but that wasn't really important, nor was Mr. Kitaniji's identity (He likely wasn't the Composer). For now, it seemed they had to choose who would be in RG, and who would go to the UG. He was honestly a bit amused at Ananta and her attempts to approach the situation logically while sparing his feelings. "Hmm. I don't really have a reason to argue about it." He shrugged. "I'm just not the kind of person you see everyday. You're right, I agree: it's probably for the best I stay in the underground.
Stats! HP +1 - 15 Crowns MP +1 - 50 Crowns AP +1 - 10 Crowns Strength +9 - 90 Crowns Speed +28 - 280 Crowns Defense +10 - 100 Crowns Magic +4 - 40 Crowns Resistance +8 - 80 Crowns Crowns Spend: 665 Stat Totals: HP: 51 MP: 6 AP: 27 Strength: 16 Speed: 43 Defense: 19 Magic: 18 Resistance: 19
Well then. Seeing as how X obviously couldn't hear a word they said, he was quite obviously a waste of time to talk to. Unfortunately VI seemed to take the worst of the man's ignorance, having been actively put in danger because of his ignorance. She didn't say a word though. She just went back to the fight. For a brief moment, it seemed she might have been in danger, but I took care of it. So he left that to her, and shifted his attention back to the fight. So far, IX had made the most progress by far. They used the opening provided in the wall of heartless to attack Ria and vastly reduced the size of the horde in the process. It seemed that VII was also of a mindset to directly attack the horde at it's core. IV seemed to still be having some difficulty, but at least now he had a weapon that could allow him to fight at close range. It was safer than than throwing rocks at least: They could sneak uncomfortably close while the boy was picking up and aiming projectiles. He was still with the group though, so he could trust them all to stay safe. Breaking into a dash, Chrys, slashed several heartless as he passed, damaging several, but not quite destroying any. Seeing his path ahead was blocked, he cast another stop spell ahead of himself. Seeing that they successfully froze in place, Chrys flipped Light Seeker so that he could use the teeth and hook them onto a shadow without halting his movement. Jumping forward over another incoming crowd of heartless, he slammed down his keyblade, and by extension the shadow, as he landed. Catching a lone heartless underneath him. Both of the abominations vanished into black smoke, the likes of which Chrys was honestly surprised hadn't completely polluted the area at this point. Continuing forward, he attempted to stay near VII in order to provide support against the onslaught of heartless, and if the older man should need him to, he could help him clear an escape route. It would be unwise to let him battle so far out from the others by himself after all. Slashing down a couple more enemies with his keyblade in reverse grip, Chrys would every so often take a quick look around to assess the situation and make sure everyone was still doing alright. Word Count: 403 BP Spent: 20 Heartless Defeated: 4 Heartless Remaining: 138
It seemed Ananta was... teasing him, or something. She switched her focus to what happened between him and Karina though. A subject of great interest: for even though his face was still straight on the outside, Karina's last words left him struggling to contain his mirth within. Karina was pathetic. Her own words betrayed her: They showed the extent to which she wrapped the world around herself. Yet she had the gall to act as though he was the one belittling her. Oh well. The little psychopath was gone now. Everyone would be better off now; her included. Ananta was still awaiting an answer though. "Oh yeah, I'm fine." He waved a hand dismissively in the direction of the little terror as he succeeded in maintaining his stony demeanor. "It's Karina, nothing really happened." He shrugged. "Same old equation, you know: anything times zero is still zero." He would know. He was once a psychopath too after all. Couldn't let her catching him thinking that way, though. Oh no! Her pain is greater than any other! None could ever comprehend her innermost thoughts! ... Except, you know, maybe a two year old in desperate need of a diaper change. Yue threw a strange card into the air. "Time to get back to what matters."
"Magic, huh? Cool. The perfect weapons for cowards that don't like getting their hands dirty." "Cowards X?" Impaling a heartless into the ground through it's torso, Chrys spoke above the noise. Though it had been some time since he said it. He had expertly timed his comment in tandem with IX magnificent show of outdoing him. "You mean like the fool who pushed past women and children, mind addled with terror as it was, to run as fast as he could to an uncertain destination that very well could have been nothing more than a watery grave?" A quick kick to the face knocked an incoming shadow to the ground, and he wasted no time crushing it beneath his keyblade. "I suppose you would be the expert on cowardice, wouldn't you?" Dodging another attack, Chrys twisted to the side of the newest enemy before stabbing it in the side. One of IV's rocks collided with it in mid air before he finished it off with a downward swing. Making a quick sweep to observe the others, he noted that I and VII seemed to be running further into the crowd of monsters. He did his best not to worry; surely they could handle themselves to a well enough extent? Instead, he turned his thoughts back to X. If only to give him something to occupy his mind as he continued to fight. Careful not to let himself become to distracted like earlier, Chrys wondered about how, if they were some kind of organization, which they seemed to have been on a small scale based on Ria's words, then how the heck had they gotten anything done with X around? Surely someone had attempted to strangle the man at some point: out of the nine of them, he could not see them all having such saintly patience. Although, there was no telling how long they had all been allied other than roughly under a year, and the X they could have worked with may very well have had a vastly different personality than the X who stood with them now. They all could have been different. Casting that thought aside for now, Chrys knocked aside another of the numerous incoming opponents with a quick sweep of his weapon. Once again, he finished by slashing downwards. He noticed that he did a lot of crushing. It was only to be expected; he had always favored the downward slashes. Watching the black smoke evaporate, he considered trying to mix it up a little more: he doubted that he had been one to battle in quite this uninspired of a manner before he lost his memory. Words: 441 BP Spent: 20 Heartless Defeated: 4 Heartless Remaining: 236
Steel was slightly confused if he was being honest. What the heck was Ananta talking about? He could quite clearly feel his scarf covering his face, and he felt his hood on his ears. Everything was covered but his tail. Not that a tail wasn't weird, but he could just as easily only have the tail, right? Sure, he didn't think he could fool anyone for long, but she was acting like she could actually see his face already. So he played around a little. "Hm? Oh you mean this?" He pondered innocently, swinging the end of his tail around to his front. "Yes, it's quite lovely. The fool I took it from though... Piece of work he was. A real brat that one. Then again..." He reached up to his face and pulled back his hood. There wasn't really any use in hiding, anyway, he just figured he would ease them into the idea that his species abruptly changed. So much for that idea. "...I suppose it takes one to know one." He deadpanned as he pulled down his scarf. Stuff happened. Complaints were made, shins were kicked, and Karina just might have taken a step forward; though granted it was only one. He had to admit to himself that she looked pretty darn cool in that new cloak of hers. "You're right." He spoke up as Karina said her own impersonal sort of farewell. He knew she didn't care, but he had to speak up before she left. For him, not for her. "This is your path to take, and I don't think any of us would do anything other than get in your way. That's why... even though I made you an offer too... I'm afraid I can't follow through with it. Not right now anyway." He hated saying something and not carrying through with it. He'd have to work out a way to make up for it later. He should say that, before she started griping again. "I don't like to say things I don't mean." He sighed. Working a sentence into a way that Karina 'might' understand it was such a pain in the tail of a hoop to jump through. He was grateful he hadn't interacted with her earlier: This was a bullet dodged. "I know we had quite a spat back there: I was in a pretty bad spot, and I guess I took it out on you, but whatever you think you heard, well... What I wanted to say that was we have all made mistakes. We've all suffered." "I really mean that too. We as people: Not just a generalized concept of 'we'. I mean us as actual people. We have suffered. Not just you." There was a pause, a moment where he could just feel her preparing to belittle his words for the mere reason that they were his and not hers; how ready she was to stomp others down, it was sad really. "It's just food for thought in the end. I've said my piece." He turned back to Ananta, his cold demeanor never becoming even colder somehow. "Now go already: Find a more productive punching bag, and get out of my fur." If there was one thing they could agree on, it was that they most certainly did not need each other in their lives. That was about as destructing as anything that No Heart or the Hellfire Club could ever plan.
Well then. It seemed that IV could look after himself. Pretty darn well too. While it wasn't as if conventional methods of fighting were completely useless against the heartless, they were still weaker, and the fact that IV could fight them as effectively as he did was surprising. Looking around, quite a few people were making an impressive show of stomping the creatures. Him? He just swung his keyblade in front of him once a shadow decided to make a leap for his person. Unprepared for the resistance, the insect like monster fell back onto the ground, defenseless. He made quick work of it with a jump attack continuing to hold his weapon in reverse grip. He watched quietly as the creature vanished into thick black smoke, silently contemplating the existence of the dark monsters. He should have known better than to lose focus. A factoid he remembered just in the nick of time, twisting out of the range of another Shadows' attack. Feet skidding against the rocky ground as he caught himself, Chrys growled to himself. "They're not just going to stop and wait for you, you idiot." Wouldn't that be a thought? All of his opponents just freezing in place because he wanted them to? He chuckled to himself at that; it was a ridiculous thought. Except then they stopped moving. Like, completely. Some in midair even. Blinking in disbelief, Chrys took a quick look around and noticed that only those that were in the general vicinity of him had ceased movement. The others were still quite obviously fighting for their lives, and a few were still coming from him from beyond the small circle of statues surrounding him. Realizing the effect would likely only be temporary, he promptly decided to stop wasting time and start bashing the little insects. Choosing the nearest one for his assault, Chrys only needed to deliver three of the deft, crushing strikes that were part of his fighting style before the little monster vanished. He turned to continue with another, but the remaining monsters resumed, and the aforementioned others were certainly not going to simply leave him be. Seeing one had decided to leap towards him once more, Chrys brought his keyblade around and up into the air, effortlessly knocking the heartless from it's path. It crashed into the ground and was obliterated. Then something sparked at the end of his keyblade, and several heartless began to float all around him. "What?" He sputtered in surprise, not expecting this latest development. However, he did not let it distract him this time. Back flipping, he avoided another attack before he himself leaped to attack one of shadows that floated and spun aimlessly through the air. "I can freeze them in time... and make them drift uncontrollably off the ground..." "Neat." Total Words: 467 BP Spent: 20 Heartless Killed: 4 Heartless Remaining: 268
... Is it wrong that a part of me will do this for the pin alone?
Well then... it seemed they had found themselves in quite an interesting situation. Apparently this 'Ria' had worked with them all rather closely on something... Though that didn't put them in the figure's good graces apparently. While the revelation that VIII was a prince had certainly been something of a shock, it was also something he shook off rather quickly. They could focus on figuring out their pasts later, for now filing useful hints away for later. One such note was Ria saying that this time they would be the ones keeping information to themselves. Did they just mean VII? Or had all of them kept Ria out of some kind of loop? If the latter was true than such was to be expected: Ria had just tried to kill them after all. Was about to do it again too. Surrounded by darkness, looking at Ria's broken keyblade, it was then that IV suddenly blurted out how he had remembered his name. Well... that was good and all... though a bit random. He supposed if he woke up without remembering his name, he would have been pretty stressed out, so he was definitely happy for the other. Still though; fight. Chrys approached the subject that he had tried to avoid bringing up earlier. "How about a weapon then?" He reversed his keyblade in his grip as he entered a rather relaxed looking stance, letting the tip of the weapon rest gently against the ground behind him. "Because it looks like you'll need it soon." There were creatures of darkness all around them, but it seemed that only he, III, VII, and IX had taken up a ready position to fight. Then again, the rest of them clearly had keyblades at least.
Steel stood silently as he observed and listened to his surroundings. It seemed a great many of them were ready for the mark of mastery exam, even with the uncertainty of having it mixed with the event known as "The Reapers' Game." He shivered. Having inherited some of the knowledge of the original Steel, he was aware in passing of the game and it's rules, though he was not privy to the specifics. It was only to be expected; since the rules of game were decided by the 'Composer', and two games held by two different composers could be vastly different. Still, the survival rate was uncomfortably low... not to mention who the participants of the game normally were in the first place. Then there was her. To be honest, Steel had entirely forgotten that they were trying to rescue 'The Incredible SULK'. Another thing that wasn't surprising: in the heat of the moment she was quite forgettable. Which was odd really. Karina seemed to thrive on attention from others: Her constant whining, seemed to draw a crowd that constantly tried to inform her that her life was still worth living, etc. etc. Yet she always had some reason to disregard their advice... as well as the fact that anyone other than her could have possibly ever suffered. He had been such a fool. To think he could say something that would make her see the truth, when so many others had tried and failed? It was no help that his method of giving pep talks... wasn't exactly known for being peppy. Karina had wound up hearing only the things that could be taken as insults, (Only about 25% really) and used it as an excuse to punch him in the face. Granted, it had been entertaining, seeing as how the girl who simply 'couldn't be understood' because 'he wasn't listening' had completely ignored him and beaten him to a pulp, ignoring all of the underlying implications of what he'd said. Perhaps he had simply been too tactful, but that was besides the point. She seemed to think their only reason for existing was to worship her... and they all pretty much just obliged her really. It hit a little to close to home for his taste, but in the end, he had over come his problems, hadn't he? So the difference between them was quite clear really: He had wanted to get over himself. She didn't, not really. Sure, she may not have wanted to be a burden, or thought she was in the way... but she ignored the fact that her own attitude was the problem; that she could never help anyone because she was always to busy wallowing in self pity, and not out of any physical fault. Change was hard. Or to put it another way; he had faced his inner demons because even though he was afraid, he knew that he had to do it. Karina faced them because she was told that it was the only way to move forward. It was just a means to an end for her: she didn't want to change. She wasn't ready to change. She didn't have a reason. Even she herself realized that she wasn't who she was trying so hard to be. The best thing any of them could do for her was just leave her alone, though he doubted they would accept that if he said as much. The fact was that he was to silent before, would only make him seem like a jerk if he spoke up now. So even though Lea's mention of searching for others who were wandering the darkness piqued his interest, he knew that he didn't really have a choice. That was Karina's path, and he couldn't be there to walk it with her. He would only make things worse in the end. Could he really do it though? Could he abandon a 'family member'? Yes. He decided with clenched fist. Yes he could. Because she might just die this way if he doesn't. She had to go without him, and if anyone else went, than perhaps that was what their heart told them to do, and they could help her in the end. With that he had officially spent too much time dwelling on Karina. "I'll take the test too." He spoke out suddenly, ignoring the random 'event' that had occurred between Aislinn and Kaida. Did at least one person in the group have to be a child at all times or something? "The odds may be low, but we'll never get anywhere just sticking around here. We have to move forward somehow; if we don't die in this 'Reapers' Game', we'll just wind up dying down here instead. Might as well go down fighting at the very least." Wow. That had sounded significantly more negative than he had meant for it to. He game a 'Hmmm' as his tail swished behind him... wait had no one still noticed that? Or the fact that he was super duper covered? Or were they just smart enough not to say anything? He could never tell with this group.
A grim look came upon Chrys' face as the ceiling began to crack. He cursed himself silently: while he had considered that the cave might not be safe, he hadn't considered it collapsing on them. He joined with them in making a dash for the exit, scoffing as X ran past all of them in a cowardly manner. Did he think the dangers would be lesser out there? That loud bang that had sounded out before the ceiling cracked had to have been made by something. There was also the possibility that the cave opening was on the edge of a cliff. Was he so eager as to run right off? Ignoring that for now, Chrys ran to IV's side, seeing as he was only one that didn't seem to have a keyblade. For all he knew, the other had simply not summoned his weapon yet, but he seemed to have been struggling to do so, and it was better to be safe than sorry. "I trust it won't be too large of an issue to stick with you for the time being?" He addressed IV as they and the rest of the grouped surged forward towards whatever future awaited them all. Be it bright or dreary.
Caught between I's response and VII's accusation, Chrys was momentarily confused. When he sorted it out, he gleaned that I had a sound idea, and that VII had somehow come to think he had known something. How? He had opened his mouth one time and had somehow already horrifically failed at interaction. Why him? Then VI decided about how she thought I's Idea was bad, because something terrible could happen. What were they supposed to do though? Examining the machine more extensively was out of the question: even if they had someone in their ranks who understood the mechanics, it was a really bad idea to to mess with the device that was likely responsible for tampering with their memories, lest they trigger a worse reaction. "Now that everyone's awake, this would probably be a good time for all of us to take a deep breath and get organized instead of all this...noise." Number III, the blessed voice of reason! Yes, it would be far better to form some semblance of a plan than toss about loud sentiments with little to no actual reasoning. "Should we start with the pins that we all have?" At IV's suggestion Chrys was about to pipe in, but was preempted by X. "Who cares already. They are just numbers. I say we leave first and figure it out later. Do you really think it is a good idea to just sit around and talk in the place that we had been knocked out and minds wiped? I don't know about you, bit to me it seems stupid." Chrys restrained himself from outwardly growling. Not that he was mad that he been cut off, oh no. As quiet as he tended to be, it usually really helped when someone voiced his thoughts for him. Therein lied the problem; X had been unnecessarily rude, and it was clear that he was more that a little self absorbed, but Chrys actually agreed with him. Introducing themselves based on their number was kind of pointless since they could all just look and see which one it was, and more formal introductions could definitely hold off until they were in a safer place: no matter what any of the others thought, the unidentified machine and the ominous noises from outside didn’t make him confident in their shelter. They were probably about as safe in there as they were outside. "I understand outside is scary. If none of you are frightened by these events, then you're either incredibly brave or have a screw loose. I'm terrified, I want to stay in this cave and be nice and safe, but that's not going to help at all. We can get to know each other once we're out of here. If this guy is right and we have been captured, then staying in here's only going to make things worse. So we should probably get out of here while we can." I seemed embarrassed, but he had honestly already treated her earlier suggestion as an order. "All right, sounds good. You're number I, after all." A statement that mirrored his sentiments quite accurately. "I can help fight us out of here if it comes to that. Do you want me in the front of the group, or at the flank?" "You can take the flank if you wish. I prefer knowing what's coming up ahead. I'll be joining the front if you don't mind." Thankfully VII, or Alder he supposed, seemed to have dropped his earlier hostility. It seemed that severa of the others decided to introduce themselves anyway, though that didn't stop them from taking part in preparations at the same time. It was better than sitting around acting like they were at a club meeting for sure, but he didn't think he'd introduce himself just yet. "I'll help too." He finally spoke up again, also summoning his keyblade to his side.
