Xardius opened his eyes to light. "I thought..." he said to himself. "Nobodies were destined to fade into darkness..." "You're not dead, Xardius," a voice said. Xardius blinked. "Huh? But I thought..." "You'd think I'd kill my favorite mentor? Heh, you're really stupid, then...All right, back you go..." "Ziya?" "You could say that...Or at least my ousted spirit. Dang Highwind and his bloody darkness...Can't trust that guy for a second." "What happened to you?" "All right, I'll tell you before you go back...Well, as you know, I ain't the greatest fighter in the world, and after getting my trash kicked by some little kid who's wandering around with a keyblade thinkin' he's all macho and stuff, Wirdikov decided to give me a little break, y'know? Well, there I am, playing 'kick the can' on the beach and Highwind shows up and gives me a 'I'm so picked on' speech. I can't but help to feel sorry for him, then he goes and shoves a stinkin' dark fruit down my throat...I spit it out, he tells me to shove it, kicks me in the butt, and then next thing I bloody well know, I'm sitting here in a white room watching me kick you guyses butts until they overload my crystal an' you end up here too...Aw well, was saving up this power to get me back in my home bloody body but I guess I gonna have to give you the rights first...Seeing as it was me and all that sent you here. Sorry 'bout this, but it ain't gonna feel good..." "Wait! I'll get you out of here I promise!" "What's the worth of a promise of somebody who ain't even existing? All right, whatev'r, just get back in your bloody body 'fore I change my mind..." Xardius grinned.
OOC: Sorry 'bout that, next time I'll wait longer for you guys. I type too fast. Anyway, fight is over...And don't kill Ziya... BIC: Xardius felt like he was floating...Floating in nothingness...Guess...this is...what I get... he thought. "Need my crystal..." he muttered. "Can't..."
Ziya screamed in fury as just about everyone slammed into his shield of sand at once. "Too...much...power!" he cried, and the shield collapsed as Ziya fell down and hit the dirt, unconscious before his back hit the sand. The world shimmered and they were suddenly back in the room with the chairs, Ziya laying on the ground, his armor shattered around him, his crystal shining weakly in one of his hands. Xardius lay on the other side of the room, not moving, the wound closed from the Curaga spell.
Ziya launched the energy bomb as Noxas buried into him. Groaning in pain from both the blades and the lightning above, he blew Noxas back with a punch empowered with crystallized sand and shielded himself from the lightning with a globe of see-through sand that dispersed the lightning harmlessly. Puffing, he cocked his gun again, and fired straight at Noxas who had fallen back. "Die!" he snarled, and pulled the trigger.
Xardius flipped into the air at the peak of Coa and Wing's assault. Fire blazed out of every pore of his being. His armor splintered and cracked along the seams, his crystal floating up above him. Ziya, pinned down under the assault of Coa and Wing, looked up and yelped in fear as Xardius unleashed a massive fire blast that hit Ziya straight in the chest. Ziya screamed in pain and slammed into the ground, his armor smashing into tiny pieces. "My...crystal..." Ziya breathed. "I'll...kill...you...ALL!" His hand shot up and a spear of the hardest sand imaginable slammed straight through the unprepared Xardius' chest. Xardius coughed and then fell, blood trailing from his wound. He hit the dirt with a sickening thud, and didn't move. Ziya laughed, and summoned more spears. "Now you shall feel my fury!" Sand erupted everywhere, knocking back Wing and Coa into the ground and burying them. "Who's next?" Ziya called out, picking up his rifle, and preparing a massive energy bomb.
Fire spat out of Xardius' hands, and the wave of sand turned to glass. More fire spat out and the glass melted into vapor. Xardius leaned on Chomper, exhausted. "I can't do that again. Get him! Get in close! He's not a very good fighter up close..." Ziya twirled the sword of sand in one hand, and laughed again. "They won't get close!" He called. Sand exploded out underneath him and formed into massive balls of sand. They began twirling in circles around him. "I'll take care of the sand, you guys concentrate on smacking him," Xardius said. "Overload his crystal and he'll be as good as gone...Magic, swords, anything! JUST HIT HIM!"
"I don't know," Xardius said, batting away the blades from Ziya's rifle. "Why are you here again?" he asked as he smashed Ziya away. Ziya laughed and kicked away Noxas. "Why? Not even a scratch!" Noxas cried out. "It's his armor," Xardius said. "You can't penetrate it unless his crystal runs out of power..." "REVENGE!" Ziya screamed, and suddenly everyone was in another world, full of sand and debris... "Ziya! Where have you taken us?" Xardius yelled, leaping for him. Ziya didn't answer, simply booted Xardius in the stomach, flipped him over and slammed him into the ground, then summoned a sword of sand and pillars of sand that sent Xardius tumbling back to the group in a heap. "What is this?" Xardius growled. "He never had this much control before...Wait...I sense...he's under the control of someone else.......
Xardius readied Chomper. "Stop firing from afar and come fight me like a real man!" The figure snorted. "A real man? You don't exist anymore, Xardius! You're just a Nobody! A Nobody that needs to be destroyed for the crimes you've committed!" "I saved your life that day!" Xardius yelled. "What crimes?" "Enough talk!" the figure screamed. "I, Ziya, master of sand and earth, will enact justice upon your soul!" Sand blew outwards in a massive shock wave as Ziya leaped forward, a long blade slicing out of the gun's barrel to stab at Xardius.
Xardius grabbed everyone and threw them out of the way, taking another projectile in the chest as the figure fired the gun again. Xardius slammed into a pole as the projectile exploded behind him, sending him flying forward into the ground hard. "Why?" Xardius yelled, standing back up. "You were my friend!" "Revenge is sweet," the figure finally said. "Highwind was my friend too." He fired again but this time Xardius was ready. Chomper swung into his hands in a flash of fire, and he deflected the projectile. It exploded above, and dust filtered down.
Xardius broke free of the rubble, coughing. That hurt... he muttered. Whatever that was, it penetrated my crystal's field...Only one person could make a weapon like that! Xardius raced forward, and stopped at the edge of the flaming hallway, staring out into the open air. He could hear the other members coming up towards him, but he didn't care. All he saw was the full moon slicing down through the clouds and a figure hovering in the air, turned towards the castle, holding a massive gun that was still glowing from the heat of the blast it had unleashed into Xardius' chest. "Why are you here?" Xardius called. "Can't you leave me alone?" The figure didn't respond, just aimed the massive weapon again. OOC: See ya Star. I'll save some of the fighting for you...
Xardius reached the place of the explosion. A massive hole expanded out from the center of the blast. Xardius dropped down to the floor below him, peering around for the source of the attack. Laughter filtered into his ears, and something hit him with the force of a freight train, slamming him back into a wall. Fire covered everything as the object exploded.
The happy reunion was shattered by a loud explosion that sent everyone reeling. "What was that?" Xardius yelped. "Are we under attack?" In a manner of speaking... "No way," Xardius said. Getting up, he sprinted for where the explosion had come from.
Xardius burst into the castle, brushing past the group in silence. Smoke still rose from his cloak as he went to the door. Raising a hand, he closed his eyes... "Vexneah," he whispered, then smiled. "Time to come home..." Flexing his fingers, he took hold of the door's handles and pushed. His muscles flexed to the maximum and Xardius' sheer brute strength became evident as the door began to creak open.
OOC: Never mind. Guess everyone left but me...Hmph. BIC: Xardius sat in flames, the fire clawing at the sky, the heat staining the air around him blood red. Xardius smiled, and the fires faltered, then died. Xardius walked forward under the cool night sky, walking through a forest that was long ago dead yet alive. The ashes from thousands of burned trees still sprinkled the breeze, and Xardius leaned against one of the few that had survived the blaze. "I've reached...home?" he whispered. "But I don't...remember...anything that's happened...Was I even there? If not, then where was I?" He shook his head. "Pathetic." OOC: I think teaming up is a great idea, but Highwind's not the only bad guy that's got a vendetta against Xardius (there's like two others)...And Highwind not's really the type to "team up." He's better at mutilating people.
Xardius flipped his wrist, and a sword appeared in it. "Use my spare..." he said, tossing it to Xane. "It'll conform to your command." OOC: Gotta go, see ya'll later.
"You guys were going to go look for a Key Destroyer, weren't you?" Xardius asked. "Where's Geryl?"
Xardius turned as the beam struck out, and the members reappeared. "Getting crowded..." he muttered. "Guess we don't have to go anywhere after all." "What's this about maniacal destroyers of universes?" he asked. "Are you talking about me?"
"I know what it does," Xardius said. "And don't worry, I won't eat it...Do you want to go now?"
OOC: If you guys don't mind, hold off the quest for the Key Destroyer for right now, as Wing and Vexneah will probably want to be here. Go to another world or something. I'm signing off too, so...Thanks guys.
Xardius pocketed the pill. "Thanks, make sure..." he said, walking back to the computer. "You're there when we meet Nulix...I need to repay your kindness. An hour, people."
