Here you all are, I Just Can't Wait to be King as performed by Stratos, Kaida and AJ. Rewards: Stratos: 4 Crowns (+1 from Counter Point) and 300 Munny Kaida: 4 Crowns (+1 from Counter Point) and 300 Munny AJ: 4 Crowns (+1 from Counter Point) and 300 Munny
Making her way through the crowd, Rohse was trying to find her front row seat to give the Thrune a piece of her mind but was finding it increasingly difficult. After all, she wasn't the only one with a grudge to bare here and the crowd was very much letting the man know it. As the man of the hour made his appearance, this was only made more true. Roshe's mood only went further south with each and every word that came out of the Thrune's mouth, reaching a boiling point alongside the rest of the crowd as he made his outrageous proclamation. The girl glared at the mayor as he saw fit to only further prove how inept of a living being he was, sending the Dottari after the crowd he had done nothing to appease. Clenching her fists tightly, Roshe felt ready to join the few who seemed to be fighting against them, though was a bit harried by the crowd. To only add to the mix, a strange song suddenly started to be played amidst the chaos and, upon hearing it Roshe felt her anger only rise. An increasingly difficult to surpress urge to take one of her daggers and shove it down the throat of the nearest Dottari. However, realizing that that was a terrible idea, she managed to shake it off as she looked to the man playing the music saying, "could you stop tha-" her statement was cut off as a burst of color flooded the area in front of her. As a bunch of the rioters and a Dottari fell unconscious, Roshe was able to trace back the source to a well dress man who was clearly no friend of Thrune's. As he was beset by the Dottari, taking blow after blow, Roshe waded her way through the crowd placing her hand on his back. "Hey, you. Hit less people, but keep on hitting." As she said this, a warm white light radiated from her hands as it poured into the man's body. While it hadn't fixed everything, he would feel reinvigorated as some of his wounds had suddenly closed. Spoiler: Mechanic Roshe moved to the square under Vance. Rohse cast Cure Light Wounds on Vance. 1d8 (3) + 1 = 4 points of damage healed for Vance.
Martial Law. Being forced to hang a portrait of that ridiculous woman everywhere. Being fined for spilling grain. Abolishing a flavor. Kintargo was a city of the free in the land of chains. It was a place of expression and self identity in a land of conformity and laws. It was a place where anyone should be able to wear whatever they damn well pleased and certainly enjoy their tea whenever it struck their fancy. Roshe had never been optimistic about the new lord-mayor since his arrival, but it became increasingly clear that he hadn't been deserving of any faith to begin with. With each passing day the man proved his insanity further to the people, and to Roshe and all the citizens of Kintargo, they knew that were they to keep their livelihood, Thrune must go. Knowing that she had to do something to stop this, Roshe had woken up early in the morning. Moving around the city, she gathered at Aria Park, the site of the growing crowd of people beginning their protests and letting out shouts of, "hell no! Thrune must go!" Walking into the crowd, Roshe hadn't joined in on the chanting and yelling of the crowd just yet, instead merely wading her way to the opera house. There was someone here worth yelling at, and Roshe was going to make sure that her shouts weren't just lost in the crowd.
In an instant, Stratos had gone from his forward attacking motion to lying face first on the ground. It had all happened so suddenly, that even blinking was too generous a time frame to give it. He had attacked No Heart, and, in that same instant he was attacked himself. The same technique that he had leaned on whenever the goings got tough had been turned on him in a single blow. Feeling a large cut having formed on his back, pain roared through the young keyblade master's body as he had fell flat onto his face to the ground below. Gritting his teeth, it took every ounce of effort to not scream from the undeniable pain he was feeling, as his eyes scanned across the battlefield. Every which way he looked, it was clear that the other keyblade masters were having every bit as much trouble with the No Heart clones as he was with his. Not wanting to just lay down and die, just give up and let things stay as they were, Stratos tried to push himself back up and continue fighting. However, after taking the heavy strike, Stratos found his body not responding in the ways that he had wanted it to. His hands scrambled against the ground as he tried to slowly lift himself back up, panting all the while as his fatigue started to catch up with him. They had been through many a tight spot before, but the one exchange of blows was enough to tell Stratos that this guy was on an entirely different level then anything they had fought before. Arma. Storm Ruler. Even Aux at his height of power wasn't nearly a match for the power that No Heart was displaying right now. The boy could think of no technique, no trick, no skill, not any thing that they had acquired throughout their journey that would allow them to eek out a victory against this keyblade wielder. Yet still, he couldn't just continue to lay down and die. That wasn't the reason that they had gone through the castle of illusions. It wasn't the reason that they had gone to Shibuya. It wasn't why they took the Mark of Mastery exam and became keyblade masters. All of it wasn't just to have their goal in sight only for it to soundly and unquestioningly thrash them. Though it was only desperation at this point, Stratos would continue to fight as he finally managed to push himself up. Bringing himself to his hands and knees, the boy continued to take deep breath after breath before attempting to stand up. However, he paused as he heard Kaida speak up. While there was no way they were going to win this, Stratos mirrored Beuce's sentiment. It would feel meaningless up to this point if they had to sacrifice themselves just for a chance at survival. If at the end of it all, Kaida had to give up her life so that all of the others may continue to live on and fight to see another day. He kept trying to think and think and think about some way out of this situation, something that they were missing, anything that they could do to find victory. However, as Aux approached Kaida, ready to deal in the final blow, something else took the attention of everyone in the area. Stratos could only watch in horror, eyes going wide as Hikaru plunged his own keyblade into himself, saying one last farewell to everyone else. As the boy turned into nothing more than sparks of light that coalesced onto Aux's figure, Stratos continued to just sit there on the ground, mouth agape. With him gone, Aux's armor had receded and a stiffing silence briefly filled the air. The feeling of terror, tension, hope, despair. It was all gone; replaced with an empty feeling of stillness. This had soon come to an end, though. As Aux collapsed to the ground, Stratos continued to stare, mouth agape, with only noises being formed as he tried to figure out what words to say. As he began to stand back up onto his feet he merely muttered, "why?" Looking towards No Heart, in between each and every breath he just continued to say, "why? Why? Why? Why?" The volume in his voice steadily increased until he was finally back on his feet proper. Gripping onto his keyblade, light started to flood across it. Grabbing it with both hands, the boy shouted, "No Heart!" As he did so, the light started to slowly grow into a large blade. He was able to register that everyone else was retreating, but he wasn't about to back down. He was going to make No Heart pay. He was going to kill him. With both hands in front of him, Stratos began, "Ex-" As the light started to flare up more, the boy was about to bring the blade back. However, before he could, his eyes caught sight of the ring on his finger; the ring that Hikaru had given them. Pausing a bit, the light around the boy's blade faded as he let out a deep breath. It'd be pointless to keep fighting. If he did, he would die and then what would Hikaru's sacrifice have been for? Turning to retreat alongside everyone else, Stratos's body started to crackle with rainbow lightning. As he did, he channeled it through his keyblade before stabbing it into the ground. "Link Synchro - Eternal Prison." With that, a physical cage of earth combined with a metaphysical barrier surrounded No Heart, as Stratos used a combination of Quake and Reluctancy to bar the path of No Heart. "No matter what you're playing at," the boy began, "by the end of it, I'll make sure that you lose." Though he was in pain, the boy managed to force himself to rush over to the boats. Getting on the first one he could, the same Aux and Kaida were on, the boy got himself ready to take off as soon as they could. Stratos is at the boat to Ohana Island
As Aeira was impatiently waiting to get this game started, out from seemingly nowhere Luther and Mellus had appeared. "Oh, that's convenient." The girl mused aloud, thinking it was good that they had stumbled upon their missing members. While she was curious about what had happened, Koa had beaten her to asking about it, to which Mellus recounted the tale of when they had split off from now. While it was unfortunate to hear that Lea had truly been bested, the fact that they had managed to defeat the person who had done so to him and had managed to meet back up with them were positive. As Mellus seemed more confused about what had happened on their end of things, Aeira merely shrugged, saying, "we went to go help a bunch of keyblade wielders fight a bunch of heartless lead by Uniform. Long story short we won. And then Karina got a keyblade after a ceremony. It was very touching." The girl's tone had remained level and flat throughout her whole recount. Looking towards the other new person who had appeared, Aeira bluntly replied, "we're in the Realm of Darkness. This is Shibuya." She shrugged as if that was all there was to tell.
Roshe Character Sheet Backstory
Aeira wasn't entirely sure how these games were supposed to grant them access to the realm of light, but she wasn't really about to question it. All she knew was that they needed to play these "Reaper's Games" and win. As this was being explained, another person had appeared who seemed to be willing to take part in the game as well, and aside from looking at him, Aeira did nothing further to acknowledge him. Once Charlie had finished speaking, the girl said, "well, how long are they going to be? I'd like to get things started already."
With Karina seeming set on going to check on where Lea was, it was decided that they would split up at the moment. She would go check out what happened to Lea while the others found their way out of the realm of darkness. As they made their way to Shibuya, the place of the Reaper's Game that they would be partaking in, the group was greeted by a man by the name of Charlie. Aeira didn't pay the man much mind, more so feeling like things would only get annoying if he and Shiro were to stay within the same proximity of each other for much longer. Shrugging the girl said, "I'm ready for these Reaper Games whenever. But, we aren't exactly eligible for a Mark of Mastery, so what exactly are the rest of us doing here?"
Frozen in place, Stratos's thoughts started to race as so many things happened at once. No Heart had appeared, being the one to freeze them in place. He spoke with Aux about how his plans had been meddled and interfered with, and while Aux had been originally sent here to kill Kaida, it seemed that there was no real intention for the boy to play out. Quite as Kaida had mentioned earlier, Aux in the end seemed trustworthy, but the situation he was placed in did not as the suit of white and black armor coated him once more. As Aux moved to kill Kaida, Stratos was trying to force himself to move. He couldn't just stand by, helplessly and watch one of his friends be killed in such a heartless way. Not at the hands of their own friend, and not at the behest of the man they wished to defeat. He couldn't just stand there. But that was all that was all he could do. He was frozen, helpless but to watch events play out the way they would. He wanted something, anything, to stop Aux. To stop no heart. Someone. Something. Anyone. Anything. Move. Move. Move. The boy lurched forward as suddenly, he was moving forward. Looking at the cause, it appeared that Steel had charged at No Heart, moving beyond the shackles of Time, and had managed to attack. With the attack being a success, the stop had ended, and Stratos looked towards the wolf man saying, "nice work Steel!" He was still unsure what it was that Steel did, but whatever it was, it seemed to be working. Moving towards No Heart, an uncharacteristic look of rage crossing it, the boy shouted, "No Heart! We won't let you get away with this!" While Kaida and Hikaru seemed to be dealing with Aux, No Heart seemed like fighting as well and leaving one unchecked would be disastrous. And so, in an instant, Stratos vanished moving to Zantetsuken one of the clones that No Heart had just summoned.
While the group was preparing to get going, Karina had voiced her thoughts, wondering what to do next. While both her and Arctus seemed ready to search for Lea, in her usual matter of fact tone Aeira said, "that's probably just a waste of a time." Looking towards the two of them she said, "he and the others disappeared without a trace, with only his broken keyblade being left behind. So he was probably taken by our enemies. So the only lead we'll get is from our enemies. Which is the whole reason we're doing we're doing whatever he's taking us to do," the girl motioned towards the keyblade master.
Giving Hikaru a thumbs up, the boy looked towards the boats that were before them. Getting ready to start walking towards one of them to board, Stratos stopped as Hikaru had been stopped in place. While Aux was sure it was Kaida, Stratos felt it was a bit too heavy handed for her. As she went up to examine the boy, Stratos summoned his keyblade, now on edge as she too had been stopped. As Beuce was stopped as well, it was very apparent that there was someone talented with time magic, was assaulting them. Trying to figure out a counter measure, the boy started to open his mouth, only to not get any words out as his own clock was stopped.
After the conversation between Shiro, Aux and Hikaru had ended, Stratos walked over to them and said, "well there you have it. You're coming with us," he pointed to Aux. "It sounds like you've been through a lot, and I get that you feel pretty bad about what you've done. Even still, I don't think I can trust you, at least not for the time being. But, Hikaru and Kaida do and you're their friend, so, that's enough for me." Extending out his hand for a shake, he said, "so here's to a new leaf." After that, he turned to Hikaru and said, "and Hikaru, it sounds like this has been weighing on you for awhile. Honestly, it's a lot for me to take in and some of it I don't even get, but don't worry." The boy flashed the SOS Ring to Hikaru, saying, "you're still, and will always be, one of us.
With the whole ceremony done, Karina called forth a keyblade of her own and there were many rejoices to be had. With a simple smile on his face, the boy listened to her speech, as she stated that she was going to have go and leave. Nodding, Stratos said, "well, last time you were with us, I told you to find what you wanted to fight for. It seemed a bit rockier than I was expecting, but I'm glad you've found it. Now it sounds like you've got a lot to take care of, and a bit of a journey yourself. So, I'd wish you luck in your fight, but you probably won't need it." The boy gave her a thumbs up, a smile still on his face. "And when you're done, you'll know we'll always be waiting for you to come back. After all," the boy twirled his keyblade saying, "we're all family here." With that, he dismissed the weapon, giving the girl a wave as she went. Aeira had stood back silently the whole time, watching the rather sentimental scene play out before her. As everything had been resolved, the girl merely sighed saying, "well, that's that then." As Karina had made her way over, and both she and Koa seemed ready to leave behind this area. As Karina walked over she said, "well, this detour was part of our war anyway, so it all worked out. But, now that you have that," she pointed towards Karina's keyblade, "things are going to get a whole lot harder for us." Her tone seemed to be as neutral as normal, stating things more as fact than anything else. However, with a lighter air in her tone she said, "well, not like that matters much anyway. Let's just figure out whose ass we have to kick now."
Ok, so I got the musical missions done. That's the link to the master playlist and if you look down from there you'll see all the other musical missions I completed here. So without further ado. Stand Out - 2 Crowns (x2 because it's April), 300 Munny Immortals - 2 Crowns, 300 Munny Out There - 2 Crowns, 300 Munny God Help the Outcasts - 2 Crowns, 300 Munny Hellfire - 2 Crowns, 300 Munny Try Everything - 2 Crowns, 300 Munny Circle of Life - 2 Crowns, 300 Munny +7 Crowns from Counterpoint. Total Earnings: Crowns: 23 Munny: 2100 Totals: 31 Crowns 3780 Munny Spending stuff now 1 point of defense and two into strength. Buying Barrier Surge (500,) Magnify (750,) Break Time (400) So New Stats Crowns: 1 Munny: 2130 Strength: 33 (+5) Defense: 30 (+2) And now I finally have paladin and will equip it over red mage. That is all my folks.
Stratos sighed as the situation regarding Aux had exploded out of control, into not even being a situation about Aux anymore. However, as Karina went down on her meltdown, Stratos could hear that she was still as unsure as she had ever been in regards to herself, and that there needed to be something big to drag her out of her own self loathing. While Stratos was attempting to think of something to say, Ignis and Beuce had beaten him to the punch, the latter of which seeming to make some kind of gesture. The boy wasn't consciously aware of what was happening, but as Kaida and Kel made their way over as well, he felt something instinctual, as if he already knew exactly what was happening and what needed to next. Walking over, Stratos summoned his own keyblade, pointing the handle to the girl. There were no words he needed to think of, and nothing he could would be any bit helpful. There was only one thing and one thing alone he needed to say. Looking to Karina with a small smile on his face, he said, "And you will find me, friend—."
Stratos, quite like most, had let out a deep sigh of relief as Shiro sprung back awake. While he had seemed to be alive, his body wasn't exactly in moving condition. All the same, Stratos was overjoyed at the fact that they had all managed to fight not only an army, but two insanely powerful foes and come out on top. No one had died this time, there was no retreat and there were no foes chasing their heels. Only those that they looked forward to. Stratos looked over to Karina's bloody execution of Hughes, seeing the last man still let out his own last laugh at them. As the man mentioned that there was a traitor in their midst, Stratos narrowed his eyes towards the man, before looking back to the situation at hand. As it had turned out, Mizu and Shiro had found out that the boy they were talking with was indeed Aux. And, as was expected, they weren't too happy with this. While Ananta was quick to defend him, Beuce was equally quick to rebuttal. The boy stepped between them saying, "I agree with Beuce. We trusted him because we had to, not because wanted to or forgave him. And I personally don't know how sorry an amnesiac can be for things he can't remember he did. That being said," he gestured towards Beuce and Mizu as if to tell them to put their weapons away. "We all just finished a massive fight, and we're all exhausted. Him included." He pointed to Aux. "So, while I think we need to figure out more about him, now's not the time and especially not at blade point. So let's just calmly think through this and rest up a bit first, sound good?"
Probably not gonna do much in regards to musical missions until this weekend, if that, so I'll just get the stats out of the way now. Munny: Buying the commands Quake (1500), Aerial Slam (1500) and Fist Bump (1000) So that's 4000 less munny putting me down to 1680 Munny. Spending 60 crowns on Defense. Crowns: 68 ----> 8 Defense: 23 --> 29 And finally, unequipping the moogle badge and putting on the SOS Ring. Also equipping critical plus. So final stats are. Munny: 3180 Crowns: 8 HP: 80 MP: 6(+2) Strength: 31 (+5) Speed: 23 (+5) Defense: 29 (+2) Magic: 32 (+5) Resistance: 13 AP: 67 (+5)
With the full force of everyone's attacks managing to slay the Stormbringer. As the creature erupted into darkness, Stratos looked to it in awe and slight fatigue, taking deep breath after deep breath. The finality of it all was setting in as the flames and heat that stormbringer had conjured began to subside, the water from the rain and ice all turned to steam and the field being rid of the heartless. "We did it," the boy muttered to himself, looking around to see that there wasn't a heartless on the field left. However, his attention was taken by the barrier of wind that was swirling around, entrapping Shiro and Hughes. While Stratos wanted to try and go help the master out, as the fight neared its conclusion the boy paused as the man's words of power and strength resonated with him. It was different, but echoed similar sentiments of what Noir had told him, and left the boy merely standing their awestruck as the keyblade master let loose what he could only imagine was the strongest version of his Aura. As a blast of air had been flung out from the man, shattering the barrier, Stratos couldn't help but put up his arm to block the wind, his hair and hood whipping in the galeforce winds. As the wind subsided, the boy looked to see that Hughes had been defeated, and Shiro was on the ground unconscious. The boy was merely left awestruck, with an involuntary, "whoa," escaping his lips. Time and time again, the masters of The Order demonstrated strength far and beyond that which Stratos was able to produce, and it only left him wanting for more strength of his own. He could summon golems. He could use an Aura. And yet they were far and beyond anything he could do with those. Yet now, he felt emboldened, as though the impossible task before him was still within reach. Shaking his head though, realizing what was going on he looked to his group motioning to them saying, "come on guys, let's go help." With that, Stratos ran over to where Shiro and Mizu were, trying to see if there was anything he could do to aid the man. Aeira was a considerable distance away from where she had been just a few moments ago. Having been much closer to the barrier then any of the keyblade wielders had been, the girl was hit by the full force of the wind that had broken through the barrier, and as a result shoved a large distance away from it. The girl let out heavy breaths, her arms shaking a bit as a stinging sensation made their way through them. Between the shadows, the tides and the darksides, nothing had even come close to the raw amount of strength she had just been by with the wind. Knowing that had she been any slower in bracing herself for the wind blast, she could've ended like Hughes, the girl was left momentarily speechless. Looking to the keyblade master, the girl merely grimaced as she muttered at herself, "still not enough." Standing up straight, the girl made her way over to Karina, saying, "well, I told you I couldn't save him, but he seemed to manage it himself. So, uh," not really knowing how to articulate her next Aeira merely motioned towards Hughes and Shiro, as if telling Karina to go to them.
Aeira still looked nonplus as Karina had seemed more frantic about getting her to save Shiro. Holding up her hand she said, "alright, alright. I'm just telling you how it is." Looking towards the barrier of Wind, the girl knew that the only way to actually get through ti was under it. Her mastery over Earth, however, wasn't so great that she could just control the earth freely. The only thing she was able to do was break it. And so, punching the ground, the girl sent a shockwave of magic from her fist to an area within the barrier, attempting to shatter the earth and create a hole that Shiro would be able to go into. With that, she let out another punch, and another and another. One after the other, the girl started to punch and pour magic in the ground, attempting her plan as she let out a rapid fire of punches.
"Yeah! Let's finish this heartless off once and for all." Spinning his double sided keyblade, the boy created four pillars of light around him, sending all of them out towards the Stormbringer's head. Stratos used Faith .
