Winds Blown Differently

Vita followed Riku, waving to the residents as she passed.

Riku entered the room and said, "Alright, let's get testing." The room immediately changed back into Memory's Skyscraper, and he summoned Soul Eater. He got in his battle pose and waited for his opponent to do the same.

Robin quickly stopped, seeing the new girl. Must have been here already... He kindly waved to her and moved on, heading toward where he thought the noise headed. It wasn't hard, things were out of place just slightly in the path it went. "I'm surprised whoever did this didn't make a sonic boom..." Puck muttered.

Gavin stepped into the training room a few moments after Riku and Vita. "What? Testing? I just came here to get my cane, dude..."

Riku spotted the object, and tossed it back so that it landed at Gavin's feet. "Not you. We have another new person." He had no idea the young man was blind. They didn't have blind people on Destiny Islands.

"Oh, so the little hurricane is the newbie, huh? Well... I'll split for now. Don't wanna get in the way of you youngsters." Picking up his cane, Gavin calmly walked back to the living room.

Puck and Pell finally found the room that the presence had entered and softly knocked. "Hey. Mind if we come in?" Robin asks.

Aleri opened, answering their knocks. "Hello. I haven't decorated my room yet, so there's not much to it, but you may enter if you so wish." He stepped back and pushed the door open wider, sitting on the bed.



Vita crouched slightly, not holding any sort of weapon in her hand. "...So, uh, do I have to beat you up to pass the test? Well, I'm not opposed to violence, but the scenery's creeping me out." She didn't actually seem to be affected by the eerieness of the situation. It was more that she needed somehting to remark about, stalling until Riku would make a move.

"You don't have to win," replied Riku. "If you do, we have that much more reason to let you stay, but you don't have to. Just fight until I say you either can stay or need to go home."

Minato nodded curtly, "So, Athez Devoux..." He raised an eyebrow smirking at the young man, "You plan on staying here? Cuz you'll have to prove yourself if that's the case."

"Hah, that's a relief. I didn't like the idea of hurting your pride too badly by beating your butt back to your backwater beachland." She immediately wondered why she used alliteration. It somehow made her taunt a lot more vicious. And paradoxical, as she had no way of knowing that Riku came from Destiny Islands.

Nebula could be seen in one of the skyscraper's windows, frantically trying to fill in the plot hole.

Riku smirked. "Well, you're confident, if nothing else. Although, I'm glad I don't have to hammer you back to wherever it was you came from. That'd hurt my pride even more."

"...Can we get on with the fight?" Vita asked. "Why don't you get the first strike? It's your home territory."

Robin steps in first, followed by a slightly nervous-looking Pell. "Sorry to bump in here like that, we got bored and you seemed cool." Leaning up against the wall, he adds, "Crazy how fast you moved back there... tore up a lot of the place."

"Oh? I was just trying to be polite. I was always taught 'ladies first' so I figured I'd give you that advantage," replied Riku. "But, if you really want me to go first, I'm not gonna argue."

He dashed forward with a simple diagonal slice.

Vita slid past Riku, stopping and spinning in place, sweeping with her legs, first her right, then her left.



Aleri scratched his head. "Hm? That was Vita, not me. She's with Riku, in testing. I apologize for any disturbance she's caused..."

Riku jumped over it like it was the easiest thing in the world, and spun and slashed downward. He wasn't really giving it his all, although she was doing fairly well. She had speed, if nothing else.

Athez smiled slightly, becoming more attentive. "Prove myself how, exactly?"

Smirking, Vita pushed off the ground and caught Riku's wrist, dodging around the blade, flipped around him again, and tried to kick him into the ground.

Riku, surprised, took the kick, but landed on his feet and slashed in an arc above his head.

"Why in a match of course... Though fighting against me would be the most straightforward option... I don't think you'd be able to deal much damage. No offense, you're just pretty limited to stabbing and shocking from the looks of you." Minato smirked cockily, "So, you should probably find someone who can aptly judge your power level."

Having no effective way to dodge, with no surfaces to kick off of or momentum to exploit, Vita procured a knife, using it to redirect Soul Eater enough to avoid being cut, but sending her tumbling to the ground. She quickly recovered, backstepping to get a little more breathing room.

"Vita? I saw a girl and a guy walk past just now, would this Vita happen to be either? They headed downstairs..."

Riku wasted no time, jumping forward and slashing at his enemy...whose name he still didn't know, with much greater speed than previously.

Athez grinned widely at Minato, before telling him, "Coolio, dude. Wake me when you find him."

Minato's jaw dropped at the young man's reaction, "Kill yourself." He said sarcastically as he left the room rolling his eyes with absolute zero intent to find someone to test Athez. He walked into the kitchen where Namine was preparing dinner.

"How's supper coming, Nami?" Minato grinned intently as he leaned against the counter next to the young woman's work space.

"I told you only Ven can call me that. And it's coming along well. I'm making pasta. Spaghetti and meatballs to specific. Busy day?" She asked, her tone not changing from its typical kind melody.

"Yeah. Total drag... Tons of newbies coming in, it's crazy. There's so many I don't think I could count them all on one hand..." He took a knife from the counter and stepped beside Namine beginning to help her cut the long, homemade noodles into a more manageable size.

Namine smiled at the Wild Card gently as she continued shaping meatballs, "So, Minato, you never told us. Where exactly did you and Yukari come from?"

Minato frowned, "I prefer not to talk about it. I gave up on an entire population, killed hundreds of thousands of people because I believed that I and a few friends were the only ones who hadn't given up on life. I thought we were the only ones who thought life was worth living."

Namine looked puzzled but continued, "Well, maybe you were right. You're not a villain, Minato. You may be a jerk sometimes, but I can see it. It's all just a charade, isn't it?"

Minato shook his head, smiling devilishly, "No, I am me. There isn't anything else." He'd finished with the noodles and cleaned the knife putting it back in place, "The only thing keeping me from hitting on you is Ventus of course." He smirked and left the kitchen casually.

Namine shook her head smiling, "You really are the number zero..." She laughed to herself knowing full well Minato was lying.

----------------------------

Minato walked into the training room's observation area and leaned against the wall watching Riku and Vita's match intently.

Grinning at Minato's reaction, Athez started whistling as he walked through the house. Following the wake of Minato, he eventually found himself just outside of the kitchen and, deciding to get a snack, stepped through the doorway.