Video Game: Kingdom Hearts SOS: The Road To Light

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As Stratos was getting ready to move out, he heard Ananta speak up and talk about needing to blend in. He looked to his own outfit, thinking it looked plain enough to fit just about anywhere he went. Then again, the clothes Ananta was wearing were what the natives of her world probably dressed like. Not to mention, he hadn't realized until she drew attention to it, but this island was pretty hot. Taking off his jacket and tying it around his waist, he turned to the girl saying, "well, my world was pretty dramatic in its temperature shifts too. Really just depended on how the sun was feeling that day." Shaking his head, the boy said, "anyway, I just got these clothes so I'm not really looking for replacements just yet. But, if it'll help us blend in, or if there's anything to help beat the sun here, can't hurt to look right?" Holding up a finger he said, "first, we should probably figure out how the locals dress though."

 

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He continued on his walk with Beuce when he said, 'Oh, probably some dancing, maybe some food. I've never actually been to a ceremony like this, so i can't say for sure. Though, the important thing is that the princesses are there so we can keep an eye on them and make sure nothing goes wrong.' Beuce then started going into a random shop. "What what?" He followed Beuce into the shop. "What do you mean there will probably be dancing?" He would rather dress up as a royal guard then dance. "Can't we do something else anything else?" He was trying watch what he said. Who knew what kind of connections the shop keeper had. Beuce wanted to try on some suits. 'Excuse me sir! I was looking to purchase one of your suits for me and my friend here! We're on a bit of a budget, so I was wondering if the price might be negotiable.' In response the shop keeper just looked up at Beuce. Looking up and down at him. The man decided to have some fun with this outsider. "If you want to let your legs feel the air as you walk you can always were this." The man said as he pointed to a dark purple dress. The price marked for the dress was 1'800 munny.

Mean while AJ had started looking around. The shop for the most part was empty with what seemed like the most expensive stuff left. As he walked to the back the prices did seem to go down but not by much. He Did not see much of anything. Looking back up to the way they had come into the shop he wondered if Beuce had found anything. The shop keeper then continued talking. "If you want something cheaper then you could always try the bad part of town in a garbage can." At this point it was clear the the shop keeper was messing with Beuce, as he had a big gin on his face.

AJ: 5
Beuce: 3
Ignis: 3

 

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As Ignis waited downstairs, she heard shuffling sounds coming from above her. Most likely it was the old lady, but it sounded like something big was being moved around. It kept bugging Ignis a little on what it was that old lady was trying to get, considering the topic beforehand was about the ceremony taking place. There was a small thought that crossed her mind, but she doubted it would happen. After all, things like that only happened in children stories, and no one acted like that in real life. Soon enough the old lady came back down with a small suitcase of some sorts. It definitely was well taken care of though, as it looked nearly brand new, and Ignis seriously doubted this was something the lady just went out and got.

"You see, I used to go to lots of parties when I was around your age, so I always had this on hand. Out of all the things in this house, I've taken care of this the most." The old lady laid the case out on a table and opened it up. "I think it would suit you just as well as me."

Ignis looked inside and began to feel all sorts of emotions at once. For her though, on the inside at least, it was more along the lines of fear, sadness, and regret. Inside the case was white and blue dress, complete with a choker, a necklace, earrings, and even a hair piece. Part of her wanted to scream at the world for pulling such a cruel joke on her, while another part wanted to thank it because not only was this lady being kind enough to give Ignis anything, but even she had to admit it was a very nice dress. Torn between wanting to say "no thank you" and "thank you very much", she simply starred for a minute, trying to figure out a reaction. The old lady seemed to chuckle at the sight of Ignis and her confusion.

"Well, I certainly didn't think that'd be the impression I'd get. I must ask, do you go to parties very often?"

Clearing her throat, Ignis regained her composure and replied back. "Actually, not too often, no. My family would be invited to some, but I tried my best to keep away. They never really suit me."

"Hahahahaha!" The old lady let out a small laugh, almost akin to a cackle, "Believe it not, I felt the same. The only reason I went to those parties was because I enjoyed making all the fools who thought themselves so great and handsome feel like fools when I turned down any offer they gave. And believe me, the looks on their faces were some of the best moments of my life."

Ignis couldn't help but crack a smile at this old lady. Figuring from the way everyone outside acted, she thought the whole town enjoyed going to these sorts of things, but there was actually someone more like her. It made Ignis crack a grin and let out a small laugh.

"Do me a favor, will you? I've only kept this around and well-kept because it had so many fond memories for me, but I think you should take it and go to that party. Who knows, you might find a way to enjoy yourself just as I did," winking at the end of her sentence.

At this point Ignis couldn't rightly say no, so she nodded to the lady and took the case. "Okay, if you insist. Do you have any place I can put it on?"

"Go ahead and use the upstairs." The old lady pointed upward, "Plus you can use the mirror to put on that annoying head weight."

Being unable to hold it in, Ignis let out a laugh, taking the old lady's advice and went upstairs. She was just thankful no one from her family was around, or they'd hang it over her head forever.

 

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Kaida up until this point has not paid as much attention to heat, but she did suppose once she saw Strato stake off his jacket that it probably was more on the tropical end of everything. Kaida took off her sweatshirt (even though it was short sleeved). She examined it briefly, turning it around to look at the back. Though she got most of it out, there was still a mark on her back where a bloodstain ended up being. She didn't remember when she got it, she didn't remember anyone spilling blood, but when she found out she basically spent an hour scrubbing it off as best she could. But without a washer of some kind it made it difficult. Which was a shame. Her outfit was brand new.

Kaida's hair was also getting a bit longer and starting to get in her way but she tucked it behind and started rolling up her sweatshirt military style to put it in her bag. She tried to keep things as compact as possible. She readjusted her shirt a bit, since it was just a dull, grey tank-top underneath, and she took off her glove. She then looked through her bag and pulled out a bottle of sunscreen and just started lathering it all over her skin. She looked at the group and her voice managed out, a bit raspy from not having spoken for a while, "My homeworld didn't have a sun. I'll look as red as Aux's hair if I don't put something on it. Or... purple. I don't like remembering the purple days."

She held the sunscreen out towards the others in offer for others to use and said, "I don't think clothes are really the most important thing if we don't even see locals. Maybe we should try to head for civilization instead."

 

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After Ignis had gone upstairs, she began to change into the dress that was gifted to her. At this point she had resigned herself to wearing it, being the only natural way to get into the castle without standing out, but at the very least the dress was a gift. Plus there was the added bonus that the old lady was actually nice to talk to. Though admittedly, it was amazing that the dress was in Ignis's size. That was probably the one thing the lady hadn't thought about when giving it away; either that, or she had a very keen eye on her. Chalking it up to just lucky coincidence to make things easier Ignis continued to change.

It didn't take too long to get off her normal clothes, but it did take longer to figure out how to put on the dress in the first place. Luckily it seemed like the dress was simple enough to put on, which baffled Ignis's mind, considering she couldn't think of any dress that was simple in the least. Taking some time, she finally managed to get the dress itself on and put the choker on. She looked in the mirror and figured it was probably best to change up her hairstyle to match. She preferred it messy, but messy hair would stick out like a sore thumb in the middle of a crowd of well-dressed people. Thankfully her sister had helped her out with her hair before, so she knew how to style it. She hadn't changed it too much, but now her ponytail was more clumped and able to hold that accessory, and after finishing with her hair, she put the gloves on and then the earrings and necklace. She looked at herself in the mirror and almost had to admit that she didn't mind wearing the thing. But it still bugged her that she couldn't really fight in the outfit, so hopefully nothing came up that caused a problem. She tossed her clothes in the suitcase and walked back downstairs.

Ignis caught the kind woman's eye as she got down and couldn't help but go slightly red in the face. "I hope you don't mind, but I had to put my clothes in the case that you were keeping the dress in."

"Oh no, not at all. I'm sure once your business is concluded you'll want out of it as soon as possible. But just remember to have fun however you can, alright? Oh, and don't worry about returning it when you're done, you never know when you might need it for another opportunity." The old lady grinned almost mischievously.

"Umm, thanks, I think?" Ignis wasn't sure if she wanted to dress up again, but it wasn't like she could say no. "Well, I need to find my friends. It wouldn't be good if we got separated for too long."

With that, Ignis thanked the old lady one more time and walked outside, at the very least fitting in with the crowd a little more. She also realized standing out there that the dress was designed differently than every other female's dress that was worn, and she wondered why that was. Maybe the old lady got it from another country or something? As she wondered, she began to look around for AJ and Beuce, looking at all the shops. Eventually she found them browsing the wares in their choice of store and figured she'd wait outside for them to finish. She found it funny though that the longer she stayed in the dress the more she came to like it. Yet again she was thankful her family wasn't there to see her.

 

Beuce narrowed his eyes at the shopkeeper as he mocked him him. So he wanted to play like that did he? Fine. Beuce's expression hardened and he looked at the man with contempt, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a sheet of paper and a pen. "Oh, Elsa won't be pleased to hear about this..." He said to himself, but loud enough that the shopkeep would hear. He scoffed, and looked at Beuce with skepticism. "YOU know princess Elsa? Really now? And just how are you so acquainted with her majesty?" Beuce glared at the man. "It's none of your concern who I know. Now, let's see. Rude to customers, unwilling to compromise, recommendation of dangerous activities..." He looked to the dress the man recommended. "Shoddy wares. Tsk tsk tsk. That's a failing grade if ever there were one. Come on AJ, lets go grade the next shop." He said, turning around and beginning to walk away.

"Wait wait wait! Are...Are you some kind of royal inspector? I beg your pardon sir, I had no idea! Please, i'm sure we can match you up with quite a fine deal! I'll knock half price off any suit you like!" Beuce marked down another unintelligible scribble on the previously blank page "Attempting to bribe public officials...My you are in a bit of trouble. I don't know if you'll be able to stay in business through all these fines." The store owner was now visibly sweating bullets. "Please...It...It's free! You're going to the coronation right? You still need a suit right? What do you say you uh...You just couldn't make it to my shop and it's free! Any suit you want, for both of you! On the house! Just forget all this...Grading business?" Beuce narrowed his eyes and pretended to think about it. "I don't know...Alright, but only this once. If i come back and you haven't cleaned up your act, you'll be bankrupt before you can say 'no please'." The shopkeeper nodded and thanked Beuce as though he were his eternal savior. The keyblade wielder approached the good section of the shop and picked out two of his most expensive suits. One for him and one for AJ, handing the latter to its new owner with a coy wink, out of the shop owner's view. He walked into the back and changed into the suit, putting his old clothes in his extradimensional pocket. "Lets get going then." With that, he walked outside to find Ignis. He gave her a wave, and headed over. "Well damn. I gotta say, you might not like wearing dresses, but you certainly wear them well."

AJ: 5
Beuce: 4
Ignis: 5​

 

Ananta put a hand up to Kaida. "I don't need it." she said, pointing at her crystal. She looked to Stratos. "Yeah you're right, finding locals first is a better idea. Let's go." she said, starting to walk in the direction of some mountains where she could make out some roofs to houses. Though it was just barely...

She remembred the comment about Aux's hair and Ananta chuckled to herself. "In regards to burning, Kaida, I'm more blessed to tan smoothly. My world didn't have a natural sun, either, but our Mother Crystal acted as the sun. Though it was far closer to us than a sun ought to be..." she stopped at tapped her foot. "Does this mean I can't see well in dark..?" she thought to herself before shaking her head. "Anyway..."

"I can imagine the people here wear barely anything and still manage to not sun burn." she joked. "I'm talking swimwear, here. I'm a little excited to wear a swimsuit." Not to mention the fact she'd get to see the boys in their own swimwear.​

 

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He just stood there in shock at the following turn of events. Beuce had practically said that they knew Elsa. He was somewhat impressed in the way that Beuce had handled things. 'Come on AJ, lets go grade the next shop.' He decided to play along with Beuce "Yea maybe the next one will be more compromising." The shop keeper seemed to think that they were some kind of royal inspector. This was turning out to be working out better then he had thought. The shop keeper then said, "Please...It...It's free! You're going to the coronation right? You still need a suit right? What do you say you uh...You just couldn't make it to my shop and it's free! Any suit you want, for both of you! On the house! Just forget all this...Grading business?" He watched as Beuce went to the most expensive part of the store and picked out two of his most expensive suits. He looked at the suit that Beuce had handed him and it looked ugly to him. That said it did look like something someone would were at the castle. He put on the Suit.

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He watched as Beuce left the store and he quickly followed him. Then Beuce said, 'Well damn. I gotta say, you might not like wearing dresses, but you certainly wear them well.' "What is next being a royal inspector to a hair place?" He was sure that it was not a bad place to start, but hay anything to pass them time. By the looks of things it seemed like they had some time to use before they got back.

AJ: 6
Beuce: 4
Ignis: 5

 

Luna looked up at the sky once again before looking between Kel and Aislinn. She still wasn't too sure what to think about Aislinn but she definitely wanted to get to know her a little more. She walked over to Aislinn, hoping to strike up a conversation. "H-hey!" Luna rose up her hand as if to gesture 'Hello'. She smiled before opening her mouth again. "So umm...what do you think about this place?" Luna looked around her surroundings again as she asked Aislinn.
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As Beuce and AJ finished up their shopping, they met Ignis outside and Beuce complimented Ignis on her new dress. Ignis tried not to, but her face ended up turning red from the compliment and she looked away. Maybe it was because she was trying to blend in, but being in this dress messed with her usual personality. Normally she wouldn't care one way or another on how she dressed, but now it ended up making her feel nice. It was certainly different, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to keep it up or not.

"Well, at least I didn't have to con my way to find some clothes to wear." She turned her face away to try and hide her embarrassment, "So what do you think we should do now, huh Mr. "Royal Inspector"? It still seems pretty early, and I'd rather not deal with that crowd trying to get into the castle right now."

Much as she tried, Ignis couldn't think of anything to do in this small village, so she had no ideas on how to kill time herself. Hopefully the boys had an idea, or it would be a very long day for them.

 

Luna nodded her head as she listened to Aislinn. "Yeah, you have a point. I'm not sure about that either but this place really takes my mind off of that." Luna continued to admire the woods around her before Aislinn had spoken up once more. "We should just be careful and not let our new status get to our head." Luna nodded her head as Aislinn gave her warnings. "Yeah. Though again, I gotta say this is one of the most breathtaking place I've been so far!" Luna smiled brightly as she looked at Aislinn.

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Kel looked around at the woods that surrounded them, they were certainly in the right place to do so should they decide to. Depending on who or rather what these 'savages' were it might pose a threat. "I don't see no reason why not." There was a brief silence in which Luna spoke with Aislinn. Kel remained idle and just watched the surroundings around them. They were supposed to be still on the look out for any 'savages' anyway.

 

Luna smiled as she watched Aislinn start to relax. "I guess... Yeah it is really pretty. I don't spend a lot of time in nature like this. It is... calming, refreshing." Luna nodded her head enthusiastically as she saw the stress on Aislinn shoulders lift away. "See? Is it refreshing? A change of scenery does wonders for a person!" Luna closed her eyes and took some deep breaths as she listened to the sounds of birds chirping and water flowing. Aislinn had then spoke up. "Most areas outside of my town have been crawling with heartless for a long time. There is no going out into woods like this, and I worked so much I didn't know how to relax." Luna looked over at Aislinn as she talked about her home. Luna's smile fell a bit before picking back up. She walked over to her and laid a hand on her head. She petted her head with a smile on her face. "Well take this time to do just that! I mean look at this place! It's hard not to!" Kel had then walked over to the two ladies, joining on their conversation. Luna had clapped her hands together before speaking. "Alright! That settles it! Should we not be able to make it back to the camp.....We'll sleep under the stars!!!!" Luna smiled brightly as she spoke out her idea.

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Kel had nodded in agreement to both what Luna had proclaimed and what Aislinn had added on, all in one nod in fact. Camping did sound like fun and all and he would love to try it out. "Speaking about those...'savages', what do you guys think they're like." Taking away how weird it felt to call them that, especially with his mental image he added on. On top of that they looked similar to them as they were accused of being savages when they first got here.

 

Luna continued to smile as Aislinn chuckled a bit. "I don't know, given everything that has been going on, I am finding it hard to relax. I would like to sort out this savage thing first, you know? Make sure that it isn't anything dangerous. Once we know maybe I can relax a little more." Luna nodded her head in agreement. "Good point! We need to make sure about that." Aislinn had then spoke up once more, putting things on a lighter note. "Sleeping under the stars sounds like it would be nice. I think that is a great idea." Luna smiled once more as Aislinn liked the sound of her idea. Kel had then brought up the topic of the 'savages' John was describing. "Speaking about those...'savages', what do you guys think they're like?" Luna crossed her arms as she pondered for a few moments. Maybe these 'savages' weren't really savages? Perhaps they were the complete opposite of how John described. "I have this feeling that maybe they're not how John and Ratcliffe described them. Maybe they're the complete opposite. It's just this feeling I'm getting. Maybe because it's these woods that's giving me this feeling. But that's just speculation. What about you guys?" She looked over at her two partners to see their view on this situation.

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As Kaida tried to re-purpose his outfit for a more covert form of operation, Steel got the general idea of what she was doing fairly quickly and tried to follow suit by adjusting his scarf to go over his muzzle. Ultimately, he wasn't sure it really helped all that much. Sure, he could almost pass for a tourist who was insane enough to wear hot, heavy clothing in tropical weather, but his hands and feet- or rather, his paws- left him quite noticeable still.

He trailed after the group as they made to head for civilization, talking about various things like clothes and world climate.

"Go ahead if you want, just don't expect me to follow suit." He deadpanned in response to Ananta's mention of swimsuits. "I'm already having a bit of a disguise crisis here as it is." It might actually be wise to just try and search from the shadows in his case. A thought for later, when they had actually found the town. He jumped back into the topic of world atmospheric conditions since he had yet to contribute there.

"My world has a sun, but we don't see it much: It rains all the time there, and there are plenty of clouds to go with the downpour. The temperature is usually either temperate or cold." He shrugged as he listed off what he knew most would consider rather dreary skies. "I've always been fond our weather conditions, myself."

 

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Kaida began marching along with the others once movement began to occur and she listened in on the conversation thinking about what it would be like to have a crystal for a sun and a world perpetually raining. While she didn't think it was possible to ever wrap her head around the crystal part, she could at least understand a forever rain. She liked rain, not especially over one whether condition over the other or anything. But the sounds it made, and how everything seemed to cool off in hotter temperatures. It almost kind of made her wish it started raining right now. But as the blonde looked up at the deep blue sky of this new world, she realized that all things considered this was picture perfect weather even if it was tropical. Kaida eyed back at the beach and said, "Ya know, I've never had a beach day. I always wanted to, my master always told me about how his world was... kind of like this one. Tropical, palm trees, beautiful sand. Kind of wanted to visit it. Don't know if I ever will. Think it was called something like... Density Isles or something? Name's not that important." she was unaware that she had already been there and just didn't know it, since a battle with several heartless ended up holding the broken world as an arena. Kaida looked over at Ananta and said, "I'm not rushing to get into a bathing suit or anything like that. In fact after that boat ride... I'd... I'd rather just... not... water." she turned her head back over towards the ocean and sighed and remembered the whole thing with Hikaru again and she began pulling back behind the group just so she would stop herself from talking. She knew if she kept talking at this rate she might start randomly crying on them out of nowhere. And she didn't want that.