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Chloe, buffeted by Shadows for a second time, sank to her knees, leaning heavily on Glimpse of Darkness. She gasped for breath. How was Ria controlling those Heartless? Yes, through darkness, obviously, but how?!

Slowly, she managed to pick herself up. At least she could take comfort in the fact that their control over them was fractured, much like their Keyblade. The Shadows' coordinated attacks were spasmatic and jerky and incomplete. Like they weren't altogether there. That led Chloe to believe that Ria was an amateur at this controlling technique, whatever it was. Which meant it could be exploited.

Sure enough, Alder and one of the other Keyblade wielders had forged through the swirling Heartless and managed to catch Ria by surprise, causing them to unwittingly drop a significant fraction of the summoned Shadows. Chloe stifled a cheer, but then a new swarm of Heartless barreled forward to block the two from the rest of the group, and Chloe remembered where she was. Her eye caught a Shadow coming towards her and she lunged forward to slash through it. The little creature didn't stand a chance, dissipating instantly.

Chloe gave the battlefield a quick scan once more. Cerdic, as usual, was trying to show off, hacking his own way through the swarm to get to Ria, shouting something about glory. She rolled her eyes as far back as she was able. Whatever. If he wanted to be an idiot, fine, let him. He’s a grown man…well, from a strictly physical standpoint, anyway. Back near the center of the group, more of the Keyblade wielders were grouping up—offhand she could name Relli, Daeni, and Kara. And one of them looked to be hurt.

Chloe locked onto the group and started hurrying over. The Heartless weren’t going to stop and give them a break just because one of them was hurt. Sure enough, a Shadow leapt into Chloe’s path and took a swipe at her. She leaned to the side, avoiding the strike, and swept her Keyblade back cleanly through the Shadow. She looked back at the group in the center, and saw that Daeni seemed to have recovered enough to stand and rejoin the fight. Chloe slowed her approach, seeing that help was needed less desperately.

And then a new swarm came and swept Relli away.

Chloe shouted and took off after the horde. “Hold on!” she called, hoping Relli would hear. She pointed her Keyblade at the writhing mass of Shadows as she ran, aiming carefully, then bellowed, “Fire!” A plume of flame shot from the Keyblade and struck the horde; Chloe saw two Heartless burn up on impact. Hopefully she hadn’t hit Relli…

//Word count: 445
BP Spent: 20
Heartless killed: 4
Heartless remaining: 113

Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones, Misfits) has been cast as Maximus, clever, devoted, and envious brother to the Inhuman king Black Bolt. The role is phrased in Marvel's announcement as "the lead role of Maximus," which leaves room for questioning whether the "the" means that he's the lead character or if it means the role is a lead role.

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Why don't people ever make cool phone cases for Android phones? B(

Aaaand invitation sent!

I mean, sure, it's just... Making a "live-action" musical featuring exclusively animal characters feels...weird.

Chloe braced herself for the oncoming swarm of Heartless...only for them to suddenly shift somehow, and suddenly the Shadows were raining down from above. She couldn't move herself or her Keyblade fast enough to avoid getting hit. She stumbled forward as they struck, swinging her Keyblade arm back behind her and hoping to hit something. No such luck.

As the cascade came to a stop, a small group of Shadows peeled off from the main group to join the protective circle around Ria. Because of course. What she wouldn’t give to give them a good clock to the jaw… Chloe looked around at the group of Keyblade wielders, some of them also reeling from the bizarre attack, then back to the swarm of yellow eyes. It was becoming apparent that this battle wasn't going to be as easy as she'd hoped.

Almost instantly she heard Cerdic’s unmistakable insufferable sneer—“Fine, fine. Good boy, good dog. You are following orders and thinking to group up, yes yes, do you want a treat or something?” Blood roiling, she opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind…only for several other group members to do it for her. (She definitely saw a rock coming at Cerdic from Relli’s direction, too. She wasn’t down for the group attacking each other…but, after all, sometimes things happen in battles…) Satisfied with the collective verbal smackdown, she only added, “If you have energy to chat, you’re not using all your energy to fight,” and proceeded to launch a Fire at a couple of incoming Shadows.

With all that thorough roasting done, she decided it was time for some cooling down. As another wave of Shadows approached the group, he flung a Blizzard at the ground just ahead of them. The little Heartless instantly started tripping and sliding all over themselves as they charged right over the resulting ice patch, making them easy targets. Classic. She swung her Keyblade through one like a hot knife through butter, and almost caught another one mid-swing, but it slipped right past on the ice. She sighed. Maybe she should’ve just stuck to normal fighting instead of tricks and traps. In any case, though, what was done was done. She waited until another Shadow slid within swinging distance—steady, steady…—then went for the kill. The Shadow fell down on its butt to dodge the swing, but then Chloe flipped her grip on Glimpse of Darkness, and jabbed the Keyblade back towards the Shadow. Sure enough, there the Shadow went.

Chloe looked back up and around to assess the situation…and saw Alder making a beeline for Ria. What the hell does that man think he’s doing? she thought, bewildered.

//Total Words: 449
BP Spent: 20
Heartless Killed: 4
Heartless Remaining: 224

...Something about the Sora, Roxas, and Axel figures creeps me out.

i miss you pls come back

also happy birthday i guess

Chloe rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck. Ria may have summoned a veritable horde of Heartless, but they were also just Shadows—the weakest and stupidest kind. It may be tedious, but defeating all of them with ten combatants would be a piece of cake. Already the group was carving out a dent in their ranks, some even without Keyblades, impressively. But she could admire the group’s handiwork later. Right now, it was about time she got to work. Once the Heartless were gone, they could go after Ria and get some answers.

One of the yellow-eyed creatures squirmed over in her direction, and without hesitation, Chloe hurled Glimpse of Darkness at it. Just when it seemed the spinning Keyblade would tear into the Shadow, it pulled that annoying stunt where it melted into the ground, evading the strike. Frowning, Chloe summoned her Keyblade right back to her hand, her eyes following the Shadow’s movements along the ground. But something bumped the back of her head, and while she was distracted, the Shadow lunged forward. Chloe had just enough sense of mind to try to block, but the thing still grazed her arm. It tried to scurry away after striking, but one stroke of Glimpse of Darkness cut that short.

Chloe turned to find whatever had hit her head. She was taken aback for a moment when she saw the perpetrator—a Shadow spinning head over heels as it slowly drifted through the air, frozen in time. She’d have to have a talk with whoever was responsible, because that was a really neat trick. She pointed her Keyblade’s tip in its direction and closed one eye. Carefully she tracked the Shadow’s floating and, after a moment, shot off a Blizzard. The burst of ice hit the Shadow dead center, and it vanished in a puff of purple smoke. The spell kept moving though the Shadow, though, and struck another Shadow mid-leap as it was about to strike the grey-haired boy who had just remembered his name—Chrono, was it?—from behind. Chloe blinked. “Huh. Didn’t mean to do that, but I’ll take it.”

The hairs on the back of her neck stiffened. She couldn’t see anything immediately in front of her or in her peripheral vision, which could only mean…

She thrust her Keyblade into the air. Small storm clouds gathered directly above her, and in a flash, a bolt of lightning struck behind her. She turned her head—sure enough, there were the telltale purple wisps of a fried Shadow.

She pivoted, keeping an eye for the next nearest Heartless. With so many Heartless around, she figured it was most efficient to stay in one place and wait for them to come to her, rather than running around and wasting energy—or worse, getting in someone’s way.

//Total Words: 469
BP Spent: 20
Heartless Killed: 4
Heartless Remaining: 260

Chloe, back on her feet, called Glimpse of Darkness back to her hand. And just in time, too, as Ria summoned a horde of Heartless in response to Alder's impressive blast of fire. Had that been a Fira? A Firaga, even? Whatever it was, it was so satisfying to know that Ria wasn't invincible. It was also interesting to note that she had been right about Relli and Alder being the royal and the knight...even if she hadn't been sure which was which.

All around her, even more Keyblades were flashing into sight. Even Ria had a mangled-looking piece of her own. Maybe all ten of them really did have Keyblades after all; was it possible for a memory wipe to influence someone's ability to use a Keyblade? In the meantime...

"Anyone without a Keyblade, get to the center of the group," Chloe said. "The rest of us will keep you safe."

I mean...it was good for what it was. But that just goes to my big problem with this volume--nothing much happened. It was all just setup for the next volume. Yeah, I get that characters need to be conveyed from point A to point B and all that, but the entire volume just builds and builds...and then ends. IMO this was the weakest volume of the show so far, which is really disappointing.

Chloe wanted to feel a smug satisfaction when Ria put Cerdic in his place, but something about Ria made her feel...off. The alarms in her mind only intensified when they said "It seems you all have forgotten huh? Everything that happened. That's wonderful! It makes things so much easier for me." They strolled over and placed a hand on Chloe's shoulder. "How does it feel, having hollow heads?" they asked, and Chloe jerked away. "'Cause it sounds like a luxury to me." They walked away, not seeming to notice Chloe's reaction. "After all, when my task is complete, you can use it as an alibi as to why all of you failed."

Then Ria pointed at the ground, and darkness started to swirl around the group. Chloe immediately charged at Ria, Glimpse of Darkness pulled back and ready to swing, only to be thrown back as the swirling grew into a vortex. Her Keyblade dissipated as she hit the ground. "I don't want you guys running away from my little cage," Ria said. "But maybe I'll let some of you go if you do me a favor."

"'Some'?" Chloe snarled.

Ria ignored her. "Hey, your highness. Get your dog to talk. He knows something I need to know. What exactly does the extractor do?"

Highness? Someone in their group was royalty? And someone else in the group knew them? Unless anyone else in the group was missing any crucial memories, she could think of two people in the group that she knew knew each other. But which one of them was the Highness and which was the "dog"?

But then something else clicked in Chloe's mind: Ria didn't know what the extractor did. "Why do you need to know?" she asked over the sound of the vortex. "Why would you want it destroyed if you don't know what it does?"

dang it. god dang it i can't believe we missed this. how could we have been so blind

Chloe brought up the rear as they fled the cave, and as she stepped outside, she froze. The jagged coast, the angry sea... She knew this place.

...Well, maybe knew was too strong a word at this point. But she knew at least that she had been here beforre.

But this figure cloaked in grey, she had no memory of. They spoke to the group not only as if they were familiar with them, but as if they had been working together. That said, it didn't thrill Chloe to learn that he'd caused the cave-in knowing the group had still been inside, extractor or not. Well, whatever the extractor was. She could only assume that that was what the ruined machine was called.

"W-who are you?" Kara asked. Chloe wasn't sure if she liked showing their hand to the figure, but if it was going to get them answers...

The cloaked figure seemed to argue with themselves for a moment before finally answering "It's Ria. Anyway, you distracted me. You guys. Extractor. Extracted? Exploded?" Well, that was reassuring.

"The machine in the cave was destroyed," Chloe said carefully. "...Remind us again what exactly it was?"

The members of The Pride have now been cast!

• Ryan Sands (Hat Hair, The Wire) as Geoffrey Wilder
• Angel Parker (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, The Strain) as Catherine Wilder
• Brittany Ishibashi (This Is Us, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows) as Tina Minoru
• James Yaegashi (Madam Secretary, Breakfast at Tiffany's [broadway]) as Robert Minoru
• Kevin Weisman (Alias, Hello Ladies) as Dale Yorkes
• Brigid Brannagh (Army Wives, True Colors) as Stacey Yorkes
• Annie Wersching (Timeless, The Vampire Diaries) as Leslie Dean
• Kip Pardue (Remember the Titans, Ray Donovan) as Frank Dean
• James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) as Victor Stein
• Ever Carradine (The Handmaids Tale, Goliath) as Janet Stein

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Hi there! Sadly I missed the DDD stream, but it's nice to meet you! Hope you enjoy your time here on the forum!

Chloe frowned. Hadn't they just agreed to save introductions for after they were out of this chamber?

As if in response, the roof of the chamber started to rumble and fracture, and the swirling darkness grew frenzied. Really not what I had in mind, universe!

"Okay, time's up, we're leaving," she said, jogging towards the exit, then stepping off to the side. "If you have Keyblades, now's the time to bring 'em out. Like Alder said, I'll bring up the back of the group. And seeing as I'd very much like not to be buried alive, can I ask that you all hurry?"