Org. XIV (story)

Necro shot his hands out immediately, forcing the creatures back for a moment. Long enough for him to ignite his lightsaber, and for Siks to summon Radiance and Soulcrusher. It was clear, however, that neither swordsman was at his best, thrown off slightly by whatever was tampering with their minds.

The creatures snarled, anger radiating off them as they seemed to growl to one another. Muscles bulged, eyes gleaming crimson as they forced themselves forward and past the force push to pounce on the group.

Hercules reacted immediately, ignoring the painful intrusion into his mind with sheer willpower as he grabbed a fallen tree to swat some of the offending creatures away with a powerful swing. But they were unrelenting, landing on all fours as they lunged again almost mindlessly.

Phoenix folded her arms, tapping her chin in thought before smiling with a light blush, "I'll admit, this is my first attempt at training anyone so I don't have any real plans."

She took a step towards the door, looking back at Jackie, "Let's start with those Ethers and work from there, yeah?"

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Thalia regarded Vita as they slowed out of warp drive and hovered above the entry point. She summoned her keyblade, twirling it in anticipation, "It'd probably be best to just drop down here and see what happens. Olympus as it is now, I don't think we can find much of a reference point."

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Lance nodded, "Yeah, it'll take me a while to get back to the castle from this clearing though, especially on my bad leg." Lance grumbled angrily to himself while he activated the transporter so that he could be teleported down to Synthisle's surface.

"I'll open a channel with you once I'm on the ground. It couldn't hurt to have someone to chat with until I get there, y'know?" Lance stepped into the transporter and was gone.

In a flash of light, the young man appeared in the forest clearing, kneeling on the small pier that stretched out over the pond. He smiled momentarily, remembering the brief fond memories he had of this place.

He shook his head as he retrieved his PDA and dialed Xeromus, "I should be on my way."

Siks and Necro quickly sprung into action, Necro going for an overhead slash on one, while Siks came at another with a blade at either side.

Xeromus' voice responded from the PDA. "I am sorry that I can't give you time to savor this visit. If we weren't in such dire straights, you could take the time to rest and heal in peace at your own home. ...Did we ever issue Maya a PDA of her own? We could contact her and ask to meet you halfway."




The two flashed down to the surface, Vita taking out her knives. She shivered for a moment, just looking at what had become of the place. Seeing it from above and being in the middle of it were rather different experiences. "...Whoever's fault this is, they're in for some hell for doing this."

There was a sudden screech of interference that made Lance pull his ear away from the PDA and wince in pain.

"Hehe, hello!" The light and playful voice of Maya spoke from the speaker of Lance's PDA.

"Maya? We never gave you a PDA, how're you doing this?" Lance questioned.

"Oh. Maya is connected to Lance. She felt him arrive." Maya responded.

"Well, that's awfully convenient. Think you can meet me at the clearing in the woods?" Lance asked, using his best polite voice for the girl.

"Be there soon! Oh, and don't talk into your PDA. You're hearing Maya in your head!" The young girl giggled and then Lance felt the connection terminate.

The young man rolled his eyes and chuckled halfheartedly, "Sorry about that. She'll be here soon apparently." He spoke into his PDA and actually to Xeromus again.

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Thalia nodded, her face masking over with stoicism as she summoned her Keyblade, "Indeed. I venture that they'll face retribution in magnitude for their actions."

The young woman glared and cleared her throat, "Ugh, off-world has me slipping backing into courtspeak. Sorry about that." She surveyed their surroundings carefully wondering where the others had landed, "We should be careful. I sense something malicious."

The weapons sliced through the creatures easily, the mud spawned monsters dissolving back into viscous black liquid even as more crawled out of the bubbling mass of putrid mud.

"Damn it!" Hercules continued swatting the creatures like flies, noting that the creatures were spawning as fast as they were being taken down. "These guys just keep coming!"

Xeromus' voice answered again. "That's convenient, especially so after losing one of our biggest conveniences. ...Is that what it feels like to actually receive some good news? My god. I'd forgotten what that felt like over the past few hours."



Vita dropped to one knee and put an ear to the ground. "...There's stuff moving nearby. I can't tell what, but I don't like it." After listening a little longer, she stood up, sliding into a ready stance.

Lance grumbled a reply into the PDA, "Yeah, I think it is. Although, we aren't exactly venerated for our good luck." He sat down on the dock of the small pond of the clearing, waiting for Maya.

Maya, meanwhile, was making her way as fast as her body would carry her through town driven both by excitement to see Lance and eagerness to tell him about the creature she had defeated in the courtyard. Then, she heard it whisper to her again.

"He is... Here..." The voice teased at the edge of her mind. Terrified, Maya pressed on, begging that she'd reach Lance in time.

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Thalia nodded, spinning her keyblade agitatedly, "We should head towards it. But, be careful, we have no idea what's here now. It might lead us towards the others though, which could be both a good and a bad thing." She reached out and the wind around her answered her, spinning into a small ball before slipping out of her hand, leaving a trail of mist in its wake, "I think I can pick up on the same things you're hearing with the wind, let's follow it."

Xeromus continued to speak with Lance, mostly just passing the time. "...And we still have loose ends to tie up, on top of all that. We never did track down my Heartless, and those other individuals we've encountered are probably still roaming the worlds. Seth may have found another way to wreak havoc, and then there's those others you've met. I could go on, but, well, I suppose bringing up something that happened twelve years ago would be reaching."




The two ran across the ruined landscape of Olympus Coliseum, following the faint sounds to their origin.

Jackie enthusiastically smiled and obliged, walking along with Phoenix to the storeroom. "Yes, the essentials would probably behoove us the best. I must ask though, considering their, ah... incredulous and rather exciting nature, I should hope they don't have any side-effects, do they? I'd prefer to not start on anything resembling a narcotic. Dad's teaching, you see, and I'd rather not depart from it."

Phoenix looked at her with mild confusion then shook her head, "You must be from a ways out..."

The young woman tossed an ether cube into the air and shot the item with one of her revolvers causing it to disperse into MP bubbles, its unconcentrated form, "You're a fighter. You've seen MP bubbles before, right? Ethers are the same substance, just concentrated by alchemists."

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Thalia moved alongside Vita, her weapon at the ready when a dark shape lunged from the ruins at them.

The assailant stood little chance however as the wind mage pivoted and launched her shuriken. The weapon curved through the air in a deadly arc and cut the Neoshadow through its midsection.

"Aeroga!" Thalia shouted calling forth elemental magic at the tip of her Kingdom Star. The weapon exploded with a burst of wind, tearing the shadow in two whilst returning to its master.

"There's a lot of darkness here if Neoshadows are here... I'm worried about the others." Thalia fretted.

As if beckoned by her worrisome thoughts, more Neoshadows appeared surrounding the pair. Thalia's fuuma shuriken glowed violently as she charged it with wind magic, "We've got no choice but to fight."

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Xeromus and Lance's conversation was cut short by the scuffle of Lance pulling himself to his feet.

"Xeromus." Lance spoke in a harsh whisper, his voice choked with surprise, "I'm going to ne-"

Lance was pulled from his feet as the foe he had recognized collided with him tossing him headlong into the pond as he barely managed to summon his keyblade in time to block its razor sharp claws. He fought his way to the surface and treaded water as he looked at his opponent.

It was Dark Hide, The Hunter of the Dark. A massive cat-like Pureblood heartless that he and Soren had defeated in the Dark Realm. Lance hadn't the slightest idea of how it was here, but apparently the water was warding the monster from attacking him. It lunged at him but was repelled by a wall of light. Lance looked confused for a moment, then looked at the glow that remained after the beast was warded away.

The Keyhole

The gateway to the world's heart glowed with power at the bottom of the pond.

"Lance?" A voice accompanied by the crashing of branches announced Maya's arrival as she tumbled into the opening.

The massive heartless turned towards the young girl having given up on its previous prey.

Maya's eyes widened, summoning her daggers to shaky hands. The heartless was much more threatening than the illusion she had faced earlier, she was comfortable around even the most atrocious illusions, she could feel their origin and pulse. This monster was no farce.

"Maya!" Lance shouted as he pulled himself onto the dock of the pond, water running off him in rivulets, "Defend yourself!" His tone was authoritative enough to help the young illusionist regain her focus. She steadied her grasp and entered a battle stance, gulping down the stone in her throat as she watched The Hunter pace in front of her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOP5kIzaWQE

The Hunter lunged for Maya, moving almost faster than the eye could see.

Maya bent backwards fending off its raking claws as it flew over top of her arched back with precise placements of her daggers. The monster crashed into the tree cover and disappeared save for its eyes, glowing a menacing red within the brush.

Maya grimaced as she gulped down a Potion that she had stowed away, the grazes she had suffered from its claws slowly closing. Her blades weren't long enough to effectively deal with a creature of this size. At least, not one this large and fast.

"Maya!" Lance's voice broke Maya from her train of thought again as he raged against the barrier preventing him from intervening, "You can do this! Don't rely on those knives!"

Maya looked at the creature staring her down within the woods and smirked as Pain and Panic clattered to the ground.

[Limit Break!]

[Lv. 1 Lance Willright: Alliance of Arms]

The young woman glowed with power as her mind delved into the mental connection that she and Lance shared. Within a moment, her consciousness had returned, freshened and awake, no longer afraid and unprepared.

"Maya understands your pain, monster." The illusionist spoke as a pair of delicate but deadly looking long swords slowly materialized in her hands, a product of her trip into Lance's heart.

"But, there is no need to panic." She smiled as her body swayed to the rhythm only she could hear and she entered a battle stance that Lance had only seen once before.

"For Maya will be your end." The beast lunged from the foliage but Maya tucked herself away from the attack and rolled forward, leaving a gash in the monster with one of the twin swords.

The Hunter roared in anguish as it crashed to the ground, having not expected such a grievous wound from the small thing it had considered prey.

Now, it had begun to realize. The Hunter had become the hunted.

Maya darted forward, taking the initiative as the heartless recovered from its failed lunge. The beast brought down a claw which was parried, hooked, then punished with an downward leaving it pinned to the ground by one of the twin swords that Maya had created.

The heartless tried to bite the lithe waif in half but misjudged her agility as she danced to the side of its head and leapt to its back. Taking the young woman spun around each of the dark tendrils on its back, lopping each of the writhing limbs from its back as she made her way to its tail.

Mortally wounded, the heartless turned in a fury, determined to end the illusionist before the life faded from it. One last chomp was bound to finish her. However, the girl threaded her blade into the roof of its mouth causing the monster to fall into a heap at her feet.

The aura of power dimmed from around Maya and she shook her head. The confident stance she once had vanished as she tripped over one of the long tendrils of darkness that formed the monstrous heartless' mane and fell on her back. The Hunter twitched lifelessly, fading away and leaving behind a spoil of battle.

{Maya Obtained Akasha Arts, a strange otherworldly trinket of unknown origins and unknown function]

"Lance, what happened!? I heard sounds of battle, and now it's quiet again, what is going on!?" Xeromus's voice barked from the PDA. "Are you alright?! Is Maya hurt?!"



Pulling her knives out and sliding into a stance, Vita looked around, then put her weapons away, balling up her fists. "Hrm... can we break through?"

She looked back in the direction they were heading, quickly turning back and smacking a Heartless that had tried to sucker-punch her. "...We don't have time to waste on them. Follow me!"

The girl drove her fist through another one that got too close, then bolted for a spot where the concentration of enemies was thinner, leaping over the group and beckoning for Thalia to follow. If that smirk was anything to go by, she at least had some kind of plan.

"Bubbles? Bubbles?!" Jackie asked incredulously, her eyes wide but with a hint of a twinkle in them. "You're telling me this stuff is made of bubbles? How could... how would... I can safely say my world has never had such a thing, else our magicians and scientists would have progressed our learning far beyond its old state! Goodness, what's next, bottles of healing water that... oh, right, silly me. Potions are real. But, in all my time of the Cliffs and of Traverse, I'd naught seen them, not a once! Oh you simply MUST tell me more!"

"You've never seen a heartless drop this stuff?" Phoenix scratched her head, "Well, I guess that's interesting that you haven't seen MP dropping heartless..." She outstretched her arm and the bubbles reacted being pulled into her outstretched hand.

"So, what's next on the agenda? I'd like to get you to Merlin as quickly as possible... But, our transportation is limited given recent events."

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Thalia shuddered as something foreign rattled her being. A neoshadow appeared right in front of her and she berated herself for seeing it coming. She leaned back, ready to dodge but her body didn't obey as the heartless slashed at her. She braced for the familiar pain of cold talons but instead felt an oppressive warmth.

"Back." A authoritative female voice spoke from where the heartless should have been. An ethereal woman stood in its place, the heartless an ashen remnant, burnt away by powerful Light magic. Then, the woman was gone as quickly as she had appeared.

"Cosmos?" Thalia questioned, her voice nothing more than a whisper. She returned to her body with the feeling of the wind being sucked from her chest.

Thalia convulsed, her head pounding from the sudden invasion of the goddess of light. She fell to her knees and clasped her hands, "Holy..."

Light twinkled in the sky, the harbingers of the powerful light spell, "...Thundaga." The sky parted, answering Thalia's desperate prayer as targeted blasts of holy lightning tore away the neoshadows surrounding them.

Thalia stayed where she knelt, her breathing slowly recovering from labored breaths to tried sighs, "What... What was that?"

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Lance's dark body ached from the injuries he'd sustained from throwing himself through the powerful light barrier that the world heart had erected.

He spoke into his PDA after pulling himself to his feet, "Maya's alright. We were ambushed by a giant heartless but she took care of it." He leaned on his keyblade while Maya pranced over to him, skipping merrily, "We'll be up in a moment."

Lance looked at Maya intensely, "Where did you see that sword fighting style?"

Maya cocked her head questioningly, "Maya saw it in you."

Lance's eyebrow arched, "You read my heart that quickly?"

Maya nodded, "Mhm, Maya saw a pretty lady using swords like that."

Lance shook his head, "Maya, that was Synthesian blade dancing. And the last person to use it died several years ago."

The illusionist looked confused, "Was Maya not supposed to know that?"

Lance struggled to smile, "No, that's alright, Maya. Just... understand that you are the only person who knows that." He activated the gummi ship's return feature and the pair were transported to the ship.

Vita bounded over the mildly-scorched ground to where Thalia was. "I was about to ask the same question! You don't look like you've been hurt... what did you just do? I didn't know you could use that kind of magic..." There was a nervous smile on her face. While she played it off like it simply impressive, she could barely keep her knees from shaking. That wasn't just strong, it was of a degree that she'd never even heard of.



In minutes, the three of them were shooting past the sky of Synthisle.

"...Glad you could join us, Maya. I suppose you ought to be informed of recent happenings as well." A frown crossed Xeromus' face. "...To sum up, a new threat has appeared. One that has been wreaking havoc on Olympus Coliseum, and injured both Hercules and Rexial when they attempted to fight it. Something has also happened to our corridors. They collapse with alarming speed, and aren't stable enough to use. If you aren't busy with other matters, we would appreciate your cooperation."

"Well, for certain I had witnessed the spectacle of the luminescent chartreuse orbs falling from some of the creatures, but nary a... a... "MP", you said?... bubble among them. I wonder if the species I encountered had some precedent for what fell from their bodies after defeat." Jackie tapped a finger on her chin, then shrugged. "I'd like to study anything possible with my spear or magic, or if possible something else that would be useful in the field. I hear you man ships, is there perchance some manual I could observe in the meantime? Or should I meet more of my co-workers first?"

Thalia stood, still shaking from the event, "You didn't see her? Cosmos?" Her mouth was dry. For some reason, she felt like she had been the one struck with lightning instead of her opponents, "We just keep getting more questions than answers... I had an out-of-body experience... Cosmos... She was me. I don't understand. I haven't seen her since Lance disappeared. And now, to just hallucinate like that?"

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Maya giggled, "Maya's never busy. Bored, often. Busy, no. Maya'll help!" She spun in the chair she had buckled into with a wide grin on her face.

Lance smiled half-heartedly, "Glad to have you on board, Maya. Where to, Xeromus? Are you entering the field with us?"

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Phoenix took a moment to think. "I don't think there are many co-workers to meet that don't have their hands full at the time being." The young woman frowned, "Though the idea of showing off our new recruit is rather enticing, I know, who have you met thus far? We can fill in the gaps from there." With a twinkle in her eye, Phoenix latched a hold of Jackie and dragged her from the training room, ready to show her around.

Vita shook her head. "I'm lost. Who's Cosmos? We only met about a week before that incident... you'll have to explain it to me from the beginning. But I get the gist of it; maybe it's related to Lance coming back?"

She gave her friend a solid pat on the back, either to reassure Thalia or herself. "C'mon, we'd better move. We can puzzle it out later, but for now, we have to focus."



"I don't have any more choice." The Nobody grumbled. "I'll have to train a proxy to perform administrative actions in my place, and quickly. I don't trust those twins to handle important decisions. I suppose R or MiM could handle it, but I'm not certain. If I could find that damn sister of mine or you could recommend someone, that would be worth looking into, but no matter what solution we find, there will be some difficulty dealing with the lack of operatives on hand..."

Thalia nodded, "You are correct. It is not pertinent to the issue at hand." She glared at herself unconsciously, "We should keep moving and find the others. I can tell you all about my inner demons later." She looked irritated, more with herself than Vita, "It'd be best to avoid an area that's filling up with Heartless of that caliber anyway."

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Lance appeared steeped in thought for a moment, "Perhaps if Nick's home world hadn't been swallowed. Having someone like that on our side would be invaluable... But, now isn't the time to fret with old losses. We're doing this to prevent new ones. For the time being, I could step back. My body isn't fit for fighting as it stands. Evidenced painfully so in our last two unfriendly encounters."

Jackie thought for a moment and then furrowed her brow. "Let's see... I remember a large hairy man in the training arena, though I don't quite recall his name... Then there was Mister Aleri and Mistress Vita... and yourself. Oh, and our Leader, Xeromus. I don't recall anyone else meeting me, though Aleri did mention some names. And there was the... Rexial, person?"

Vita nodded. "Sure thing. Now, it was in that direction, I think..."



"Would you do that?" Xeromus asked Lance. "At least until I can get someone else to handle it... I'm sure you'll be anxious to get back into the field before long."

"Perhaps touching base with the organization homeworld would be a good idea." Lance said sternly looking at Xeromus, "I could even look into increasing our number again. We seem to be severely lacking... non-injured help." Lance opened dug into his pocket, retrieving his PDA that was miraculously undamaged.

He dialed a few buttons then spoke into the device, "Phoenix? You still on Asylum? This is Lance."

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Phoenix was about to answer Jacqueline about the sudden dirth in members when her pocket spoke to her, "Phoenix? You still on Asylum? This is Lance."

Phoenix retrieved her PDA looking at Jacqueline apologetically, "Just a second. He gets antsy if I don't respond fast." She put the device between her shoulder and head, cradling it there and giving Jacqueline a smile, gesturing for the young woman to follow her, "I'm here. What's up, your highness?"

Lance audibly groaned on the other end, "Don''t call me that. I'm going to be making a landing on Castle Asylum shortly to perform administration duties while Xeromus enters the field. Would you be interested in looking after Maya?" There was the sound of Maya protesting loudly in the background, "I would be more comfortable if someone she knew closely was with her while she was out with Xeromus."

Phoenix frowned, "I'd love to do some fieldwork with that ball of sunshine but my hands are tied here. Everyone left me with our newest recruit."

Lance voice responded with a slight bit of enthusiasm, "Fantastic, I'd love to meet them. Xeromus, when will we be back?"

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Thalia nodded, "Alright, let's move." She enthusiastically set out on a jog, a light wind invigorating the two of them.

"The world ought to be coming into view now. It's settled, then: I will remain on standby at headquarters to make sure you're situated, and be ready to leave at any time for a mission." Xeromus said, glaring at the navigation screen. "...My apologies for not mentioning our new member. She's a promising individual, to be sure. After what happened with those other recruits, it's a breath of fresh air to have someone so curious and able."




The two of them set off, drawing closer to the place where their friends were fighting with the strange mud creatures.

Jackie blinked for a moment. "Uhm. I happened to overhear a passing comment on royalty... is such a figure of nobility under the employ of Lord Xeromus? Additionally, are they headed here, or us to them?" She shivered for a moment. There were many new and strange people in this castle, but she steeled herself: after all, wasn't this an opportunity to meet someone new?