Video Game: Kingdom Hearts SOS: The Road To Light

"Confusion mostly. But then I figured someone should stick around with them." Kaida replied motioning her head in the direction of the trio, "Then I realized I was sitting silently over here and you were hiding here just out of sight." she did a bit of a thinking face and said, "But I've kind of been doing the same as you..." she placed a hand under her chin and asked, "You guys didn't resent me for leaving before that huge heartless battle, did you? I-I know I shouldn't give too much thought to that trial but I have been anyway." she seemed unsure but it didn't seem like it was actually bothering her all that much. Maybe a bit, enough for her to ask about it.

 

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And just like that Ven was now officially a part of their team of misfits. "Don't worry about slowing us down, you'll do fine when you get the hang of things." After all, he did only recently wake up and likely still had a bunch of questions, in general, to be answered later. Kel then looked to AJ after he had suggested looking for the others. "Wouldn't it be better if we just waited back at the ship for everyone to return?" He didn't know who else had actually walked off the ship nor where they would've gone. If they went back they would be saved a massive search in this world.

 

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Ven let go of Beuce's glass hand after a moment, trying to hide a shiver. That was one of the weirdest, but coolest experience he had ever had. He nodded to A.J., taking his explanation into his thoughts. He could only take his word for it with what happened when he was out cold. Then A.J. suggested they should find others- There's more of them?! And Kel suggested they should go back on the ship. "I'm with Kel on this one. As much as I would like to stretch my legs and explore, we should probably head back to where everyone's going to end up at if we're going to leave soon. That way we don't end up on a big goose chase trying to find each other. Heh, I haven't been introduced to everyone to really know who to look for," he said with a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his head. "Well... Should we head back?" With that, he began to lead the way back to the ship.

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He turned to kel when he said, 'Wouldn't it be better if we just waited back at the ship for everyone to return?' "Probably." He had so many things on his mind that he was just wanting to clear his head and maybe just walking off for a bit would do just that. Ven went to lead back to the ship. "I will join you in a few minutes." He walked off trying to wrap his head around the red society. There was so much to think on and he still only had one solution to them. He continued to walk lost in his thoughts.

 

Beuce looked around to see who all was present and noted that Aux was missing. "I'll be right back. There's something I've gotta take care of real quick." and he ran off into the market of the first district.

Aux was holding a small bag in one hand as he noticed beuce wandering about. "Decided to stretch your legs too?"

“Something like that...” Beuce said quietly. “In all honesty, I was hoping I’d run into you. We got another member in our group. The kid who was unconscious for a while on the ship with us, Ventus”

"Yeah, I saw." There was a small pause of unwarranted silence before he spoke again. "So what'd you need?"

“I just figured you’d want to know about him. We haven’t told him about you. Figured it would be best for you to decide what to do. Also...I wanted to check up on you. Things on Sanctuary were pretty rough for everyone. Going forward, things are gonna get a lot harder. We should be prepared physically and mentally”

Aux sighed. "Right... another apology on the docket. " He hesitated briefly before continuing. "Don't take this personally, but I don't think my well being is what you're really focused on. I know that I'm still a fish out of water here. I can do all the good I can but the fact of the matter is I'm the one who through you to darkness in the first place... Why are you really here?"

“You’ve been stewing on that for a while, haven’t you? To be honest, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a slight grudge over that.” Beuce gave a more focused look. “So why don’t we work out our differences. I’ll worry about your mental well-being afterward.” In a flash of red and blue, Beuce summoned lofty grasp to his hand. “A spar would do well to keep us on our toes going forward. Besides, it’ll be pretty cathartic to even the score a bit.”

"Let me explain two things." He dropped his bag turning his tone more serious before slowly walking towards Beuce. "First off; for the last 5 years, I've been on a very disciplined regiment to keep me mentally focused and physically ready in the heat of battle. So I don't need your empathy..." He stood eye to eye on him as he looked down at his feet. "Second.." Aux slid a leg behind Beuce's and pushed his chest forward, causing him to fall with a thud. "You have weak footing. I'm not fighting you."

Before Beuce really could even tell what was happening, he felt a burst of force against his chest and his footing abandoned him. For a moment, he was airborne and then hit the ground with a thud. He hadn’t been on the ground but a moment when he tapped the blue end of it in the ground and it began to rumble and quiver. Unbalanced by the quake, Beuce swiped the end of his blade at Aux’s ankles and brought him low as well. “You’re the better fighter to be sure, but don’t discount the value of magic. If you want to look down on me, you’d better be sure you’ve got everything in order first.”

Aux picked himself up and cracked his neck. "I'm still not fighting you. Karina and Kel are strong enough. Go fight them."

“If I give up on it, I won’t be able to get you to feel a part of us.” Beuce groaned, rising from the ground. “We fight together, but when we’re on downtime you go off on your own. I’m not asking to be your best friend, but it’s time you realized you aren’t a temporary ally born from circumstance. We got these rings from...from them, and they mean something. You’re a part of us. None of us are strong enough to beat no heart. If we’re going to win, it’ll be together. If we’re not all a hundred percent, we’ll lose. So we’ve gotta work this out before then.”

Aux rolled his eyes before sighing loudly. He looked at the ground before back up to Beuce. "Fine." He didn't really understand why fighting was the calculated approach. Something about the rings also felt fuzzy to him, but he wasn't going to bring any of that up right now. He held up his hands open-palmed at the height of his chest. "Begin."

Beuce shot a ball of fire toward Aux and followed behind it in the air with a quick slash. The key connected with the man's shoulder, but it was like striking a solid rock. Still, it had to have hurt him at least a little. If this was to be at all effective, he’d have to at least fight on par with Aux. Not to mention his pride was on the line after he’d been thrown off his footing.

"You're lucky I bought new clothes." He patted out the fire and through the vest onto the ground leaving him with just the black shirt., Aux holding his hands back up. "You're gonna run out of Magic eventually."

“True enough, but how long are your defenses going to last?” Beuce knew he wasn’t good in an extended fight. His entire style has revolved around blistering offense, but it wasn’t sustainable. He just had to hope Aux would crack before then. Setting off a minega spell, Beuce threw a punch aimed toward Aux’s gut, just below his guard.

Aux crossed his arms in a guarding formation as an Aero spell surrounded him. Several of the mines detonated around him. He lowered his arms down black smoke covered his arms and shoulder. He held them back to starting position. "I can last... What are you afraid of?"

“You’re made of some strong stuff...I’m glad you’re on our side...” Beuce muttered under his breath. “You’re going to have to counterattack eventually. Ironically enough, the part made of glass is the most durable part I have.” Beuce took up a stance and cherry blossoms began floating through the air. In an instant, he was behind Aux and a slash had cut everything between.

The attack cut through the aero, causing some hardy damage to his arms. "I don't have to do anything," he grunted. He cast a quick heal spell over himself.

“Well, then there’s nothing stopping me from doing this.” Beuce said as he unleashed a combo


Aux parried as many hits with his gloved hands as he could, but was still taking damage. He let loose another cure spell. "How much longer till you're satisfied?"

Beuce called down a rain of thunderbolts upon Aux. "Well, at least until I've made a dent."

Aux heard his words and drops his arms in surrender, taking the lightning attacks head-on. The thunder sizzles him and sparked over him, causing more blots of black smoke. He still stood on his own feet, but he looked at Beuce more agitated. "There, happy?..."

Beuce sighed and dismissed his weapon. "No, not really."

"I have been bit, slapped, punched, and berated whenever I try to help. I know I've still got a lot to work but there's only so many times I'm willing to let stuff like 'idiot' and 'dog-faced' slide... I let you use me like a sparring dummy and you still aren't satisfied.." he quickly put out a bit of his singed hair with his fingers. "Well, you beat up the big dumb Aux. So you can tell all your friends how great you are now."

"I thought it might make you feel like you were even," Beuce said. "Aux, you've helped us a lot. There have been a lot of times we wouldn't have made it out of if you hadn't been there to help us. Hell, even when you were against us, we came out the other side stronger for it. I don't know if there's anything I can do to help, but know that in our eyes, you've repented more than enough. You're not some villain who we let help us because he said he was sorry. You're our friend. I don't want to just leave you to wallow because of what happened in the past."

He settled down a bit, hearing from Beuce. There was effort shown and it shouldn't be excused. "Thanks, but.. you kicking my ass isn't gonna make us even. Me helping you take down No Heart- is what will make us even."

He summoned his keyblade. "I used to want nothing more than to be strong with the keyblade." He looked down at it. "Now I just hate using it. Its a reminder of what I gave up... " he dispersed the keyblade.

"I'm not trying to gain equal ground with you. I just trying to keep grounded." He hoped that made sense enough to him.
"I do know how to feel more even about you kicking me around though."

Beuce looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "How's that?"

Aux punched Beuce in his right eye. "Okay, we're even now." He shook his hand off.

~~BACK AT THE SHIP~~

The two walked up the group from the direction of the earthquake and thunder sounds, Beuce with a black eye and Aux covered in singes. The group stared at them, asking a silent "what happened?"
"We fell"
"Fire"
"We fell on a fire"
And simply boarded the ship. "So are we going to Central Haven or what?"​

 

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He continued to walk knowing who he was going to look for. He had some questions for Aux mostly involving Ven among other things. As the questions rance around his mind and he thought on the red society he walked on a path ofmarket of the first district. There stood Aux holding a small bag in one hand and Beuce not far from him. He guessed that his questions would have to wait as a fight started between the two. He knew something was true now that he saw everything of the last 24 hours. He was more unsure of everything and felt more alone then ever. 'I know that I'm still a fish out of water here.' That could not be farther from the truth. He decided what he was going to do when he saw the red society next. Then the fight continued and ended with a punch and smelling of fire. Soon the two walked off back towards the ship. Shorty after the two got on the ship he got on the ship as well as he took his seat from before and waited form them to leave. His walk did nothing to put his mind at ease it made him more on edge.

 

I'm floating a massive black sea, the water washing me up on a beach. The sky is dark and a pale blue moon can seen very far in the distance. I can't seem open my right eye, and much of my body feels numb.
You Remember This Place
No it's not familiar, but why do I come back here so many times?
Too Much Distracting You
The screams, they echo in my head...please stop their screaming!
You Already Did, They're Already Gone
Then why is it so loud, I can't hear anything else. Stop it! Stop it!
...
......
.........
Death .. ne .. t .. th .. end .. pe ..
I try to listen to this distant voice, it's muffled by the screaming in my head. I try to call out to it but my mouth grows numb. I can see in the reflection my body, most of it a black ooze that drips away into the water. My eye opens and inside is a yellow piercing moon, I start falling through the water and...Fire?
"We fell on a fire"

I wake up in my chair with a start, my eyes bloodshot and manic as I look around the room. The ship seems as it was, I check a digital clock. 2 hours, I couldn't seem to sleep for more than that. I see Aux walk by with a strange burning smell on him, and Beuce with a black eye. Rather strange these fellows I joined up with, but I wasn't perfect either. I resolved to stay awake again, just staring out the window of the ship.

 

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For having just agreed to head back to the ship and wait for everyone to regroup there, Ven was the only one who actually attempted to walk back there. It was a good attempt, but one clear wrong turn would've left Ven going the completely wrong way and so he quickly went to catch up to him. "Since everyone else is still roaming about, mind if we make a quick stop before heading back?" He may have still questioned the hair thing, but at change of clothes could help at least.

 

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Ven was determined to get back somehow, even though if no one seemed in agreement to go. A.J. went one way, Beuce went another way, and as he was walking, Kel caught up with him and asked him to tag along with him. Which told him he was probably going the wrong way. "Uh, sure!" He smiled and gave a thumbs up then looked around. "Where are we heading to?" He wondered what was there to see in this place. It looked very... Towny. Then again, he figured he could get lost here if he went too far and that wouldn't be a good start for him on this new team.

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"I suppose you're right... I've had a lot of doubt in my mind. Thinking maybe you guys didn't wanna say anything to avoid needless in-fighting. But you guys never really stopped giving Aux a bad time for the obvious stuff he's done wrong. I just didn't want to think I wasn't reading the room right." Kaida took a deep breath and continued, "I think you said you thought your dad was behind it, but there had been so many people there working with him from my past it was frustrating." she paused a while realizing she'd been ranting a lot and said, "Sorry, you probably didn't need that venting. You've got a free 'vent to Kaida' card if you need it."

 

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"A clothing store, just as soon as I can find one." The task itself shouldn't be too hard to find as most of the places were good about displaying to some degree what their wares were, or there was just a sign that did the same. In some cases, there were signs with a picture on them, such as the one he would just barely make out in the distance. "What kind of teacher was Eraqus by the way?"

 

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"Oh, alright." Ven didn't mind to tag along in the slightest. He glanced over at Kel and thought about the question for a moment before replying. "Kind of stern. He means well. He's a really strong keyblade master; one of the best. What about you? Who's your teacher?" Ven was genuinely curious to know who taught all of these people their way in using the keyblade.

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"Hmm, yeah I can see that." It was a certain vibe he got from the few times he actually spoke to Master Eraqus "Well, my dad did teach me how to fight, more with a wooden sword and less with a keyblade." He wasn't entirely sure how much about the keyblade his father even knew about, though that distinction was never a problem with how he could just transfer that to fighting with a keyblade.

 

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Ven smiled at the thought of family training someone to use the keyblade. "A wooden sword, huh? I kind of had to practice with wooden weapons for a while myself." Soon they found the clothing shop and they wandered in. Ven had a look around, but he didn't see anything too interesting to him. He did, however, find a ring and a chain that was kind of cool. And to his surprise, he did have some munny on him. Huh, weird. He figured he would be stripped of that when he was kidnapped. He of course paid for it and slipped these items on and then waited for Kel. Surprisingly enough, the clothes that Ven had on still fit him alright. Nothing was tight or fit weirdly. Guess he didn't have a growth spurt while he was in a coma. "So, are you still a student? Or are you a keyblade master?"

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Kaida was a bit surprised to hear that, but that surprise quickly changed as she said, "Well, I'm glad to hear you're happy! I hope it sticks that way as long as it can." Kaida didn't really have much more to talk about but didn't have any real place to go. So she just kind of wandered to another seat on the ship and pulled out a block of wood and started whittling.

 

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"That makes sense, a wooden weapon is much safer to practice with." Unless your instructor doesn't hold back of course. Much like Ven, Kel at first didn't have much luck in finding clothing that interested him. Most of what he found was pretty standard save for the last that he had grabbed. Before potentially making this purchase he was certain to try on the outfit that he had picked out and for the second time doing so, they fit him well. So he paid for them and put them on once again before catching up with Ven. "I'm a master, haven't been one for long though." He said as he led the way back to the ship.

 

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"Oh wow, really?!" Ven was clearly impressed with Kel. "That's my dream; to be a keyblade master. I know I have a long ways to go though. Especially since... yeah." He was referring to being in a coma to a year, but he trailed off before he made that part clear. He still couldn't wrap his head fully around it. When they got back to the ship, he waved to everyone and calmly hopped aboard, seeing everyone else was there. "Sorry, were you guys waiting on us?"