In the distance, something brilliant comes into view finally. A huge, wide, round platform floating in the void of space, made of red, yellow, purple, and blue stained glass. Along the outer rim is the familiar school logo. At the center, a familiar decoration of a bear in a nice suit and top hat, upright but reclining around the circle of one edge. In four bubbles of glass by his body are a leaf, a snowflake, a sun, and a butterfly.
Just when they think they'll crash in and through the glass, their pace slows, and they are deposited onto the top of the platform on their feet. Around them are a handful of scattered pages of childish drawings scrawled in crayon. In the silence, a voice speaks into their hearts:
Don't be afraid. The light in your heart will keep you strong. It's time to choose. The friends you make are important. How will you help them?
1. I want to lead my friends to victory. 2. I want to shield my friends from pain. 3. I want to help my friends be stronger. 4. I want to heal my friends when they're hurt.
[ oh. well. having talked to kon and the others enough about their little adventures, suddenly appearing in a group and falling feels not out of place. ichiro glances across the group the moment he has the ability to do so - he tries to reach for his mic out of habit with one hand, and when it's not there, ichiro attempts to reach out for whichever of the two of the others are the closest to him, trying to make sure they're going to be alright, or do something, or -
however... no pained fall comes, and as they practically float down, ichiro has a flashback to playing every kingdom hearts game opens his mouth to say something before he hears the voice.
...
i can't pick them all? is the first thing he thinks.
... and then, eventually, the thought process returns to a conversation he had with viola earlier today.
i want to do everything i can to make things right.
and chooses the first option, then takes a deep breath. in, out. ]
...is everyone okay?
Edited (that sentence sounds terrible but im following the rules ) 2021-06-29 00:00 (UTC)
ichiro grabs for her, and she grabs back, expression startled. she also reaches for taichi and kainé as they fall, a baby chain of whoosh, until they finally make it to the platform. beau doesn't register the question at first, trying to just fathom what's going on here.
I want to shield my friends from pain. yeah. that's all she ever wants. to be their tank.
she picks that one, and looks at the rest of them.]
Fine. Looks like we're the lucky four this week. Stick close.
[well this is fine and fun and not at all alarming. and yet as they fall he's pretty much silent, grabbing onto whomever he can reach in the baby chain of whoosh to make sure they don't die. falling from high places isn't new to him. neither is suddenly vanishing without a trace and falling somewhere new, even if he doesn't seem to breathe for a second as they plummet through the dark. but then the fall slows down and as his feet touch the ground he hears the voice.
the light, huh? that's...what she had said before he came here, isn't it?
"Everyone's heart has a light and dark side to it. But I want to believe in the light side!"
why is it always about making choices...? why can't he have it all? but then again, if he thinks about it...one of the options resonates a little stronger.
we're stronger together.
the third option it is, and he immediately takes out his phone to try and see if he can take a photo.]
[ Everyone else is silent as they fall, but the moment Kainé realizes they are somewhere else, transported away and falling, she yells: ]
Fucking shitcracker bullshit!
[ If she can't say that aloud, she's screaming that inside her head before she tries to reach for anyone else in this baby chain of whoosh while trying to brace for what impact that does not come.
Then, the voice sounds. The light in your heart will keep you strong. She knows this to be true, but it is also what makes her so afraid. She can choose so many of those choices, but she is a sword. She is best at being a sword, at fighting, at attacking because she wants to keep her friends safe, to make sure they can grab hold of whatever they want, but she knows they hurt. They hurt as much as anyone and everyone else.
And she would like them to heal.
I want to heal my friends when they're hurt.
Can she be someone who heals? ]
We'll find out what kind of hellhole this is soon enough.
[Okay, the voice says in their hearts. You've chosen.
Something pure, and wrenching, and strong blooms deep inside them. It bubbles up out of their hearts, and materializes in the palms of their hands.
Victory means being grounded. You want to support your friends with a solid foundation. What happens when the ground beneath your feet starts to crumble?
A keyblade appears in Ichiro's hand. It's heavy, with a long reach, but the strength of his heart lets him keep it lifted. His heart tells him he's slower than the others, but he hits harder than anyone else.
Only a courageous heart can protect their friends. You want to keep your friends from harm. What will you do when you've protected others, but not yourself?
A keyblade appears in Beauregard's hand. It's light, but incredibly sturdy and unbreakable. Her heart tells her she can encase her friends in a shield to protect them from attacks.
Obstacles can only be overcome when working together. You want to bring strength to your friends when they think they're weakest. What happens when you run out of strength to give?
A keyblade appears in Taichi's hand. It's fast and agile. His heart tells him he can lend his strength to his friends to make them more powerful.
A kind heart can heal many wounds. You want to help your friends heal from what hurts them the most. What will you do when you're not quick enough to give aid?
A keyblade appears in Kainé hand. It looks ordinary, but it hums with never-ending energy. Her heart tells her she'll be able to heal her friends when they are hurt.
Now you have what you need to fight the darkness. But it won't be easy. A set of stained glass stairs spreads open on one side of the platform, leading up, and up, and up--above them, another platform. Can you do it?
this is the first time that ichiro's held any sort of a blade, let alone one shaped like a key. his hand curls around the grip, but he looks at it, turning his wrist a little as he holds it in his hand. the echoing voice feels like a challenge. how many times has the ground shaken underneath his feet in his life? how many times has he borne this sort of weight?
ichiro nods to himself, though, and glances up the stairs, and then to the others, making sure everyone's okay. ]
...Guess we're supposed to go. Beau's right, let's make sure we stick together. [ a beat. ] Nowhere to go but up, yeah?
[ onward, if the rest are ready! he doesn't mind leading the way. ]
[you know, it's funny because beau also has never really held a blade before. she has but she hasn't used one to fight before. she swings hers a bit, wrinkling her nose at how flowery it is at first, and then - well, actually. it reminds her of a certain barbarian. so maybe it's not so bad.]
The darkness? Like, in general? At least give me a fucking specific monster to fight.
[ugh. swing, swing.]
Let me go first. I have the shield one. ["ichiro is first in the tagging order" irrelevant]
[you'd think taichi's never held a blade before, and normally you would be right! however, now that the keyblade manifests in his hand he has a grip on it like he's held one before, giving it a few practice swings that glide through the fairly easily. the weight distribution's a little different, but he's not worried. something to give strength to those who need it...sounds familiar.]
Could be there's something coming out of the darkness. [light and dark. that's familiar, too, and he hates that.] Let's get going. Only one way to find out what's waiting for us, right?
[Up the winding stairs they go! Nothing is around them except miles and miles of darkness, the stairs and platforms their only light and guides.
At the top of the stairs, they come to another platform. A wash of red and white stained glass. Ichiro is imprinted in the center, sitting reclined along the circle of it, a mic in his hand. There are three bubbles of glass decorating the space beside him: the portraits of his two brothers, and his dad.
At the back of the platform sits a white, egg-shaped pod. The petals of it are bloomed open, and standing in the middle is Jiro. He peers at the four of them as they round the landing. But the petals lift and close up around him, tucking him to sleep.
It's time to protect what's important to you. The darkness is strong, but don't turn away from the light. It'll guide you in the right direction.
Some wiggle boys appear, sliding along the floor of the platform. Two for each of them. They peel themselves up into existence, stretching one long leg out... making their way toward them.]
ichiro steps up onto the platform without any issue, holding the keyblade tight in his right hand. standing on the red stained glass feels like being home, for a moment, and he looks at his own face, spots his brothers, spots rei of all people, and looks up --
and then he sees jiro, and any rational thought he's ever had disappears. his heart clenches, and he shouts - ] JIRO!
[ this is the first time he's seen his brother since he's arrived here. it's the first time he's gotten an inkling of the fact that he's okay, that either he or saburo are fine at home (his biggest fear is that they aren't, really, over anything else), and as he looks into his brother's eyes he's already taking off by the time he's being tucked in to sleep, practically flying across the glass (and stomping extra hard on rei's face for flavor).
he'd tear apart an entire universe for the safety of his little brothers. ichiro doesn't need direction, or any idea of what to do or where to go - when those creepy monsters appear they set off alarm bells as a warning, because jiro is right there and ichiro will do anything to make sure he's okay. ] Get the hell away from him!
[ and he's immediately launching himself in the direction of one of those nobodies with the weight of that heavy hitter keyblade like he's wielded it his entire life to keep it as far away from jiro as humanly possible. goodbye ]
[ah jeeze. ichiro takes off, and beau lets out a frustrated noise, darting off after him.]
Ichiro! Stop, don't just run in --
[look, she knows his world is a bunch of bullshit but - well. there's a reason she picked the shield. a little flicker of fear runs through her - this week has made her relive so much, has made her remember the taste of blood in her mouth, the sight of it dripping from other's. but. she's not one to shy away from a fight.
she doesn't know who jiro is, but it doesn't matter. he's important to ichiro, so he's important to her. she rushes across the glass, aiming to get to the pod, but i assume she's stopped by her set of wiggle boys. she swings at them wildly with the keyblade, and then follows up with a punch, just out of instinct.]
[it doesn't take much to put two and two together. ichiro has mentioned jiro's name before, and it's not like he doesn't get it. it's why he doesn't stop him as he charges, but instead he adjusts the grip on his keyblade.
right. monsters. what the hell are these now...?]
Don't lose track of them! [which is obvious, but it means that instead he's following right after them to try and swing at his own wiggle boys. truly hate we're calling them that. but he's bounding back in an attempt to get the creatures to follow him further toward the edge of the platform and away from jiro's pod.]
If they look like enemies, they walk like enemies, and people yell at them like enemies, Kainé is going to go at them like enemies.
She may have chosen the healer option, but—
She's running straight at one of these (anna voice) wiggle boys, jumping up and bringing the keyblade straight down with all her strength like it's a sword.
If it keeps them away from someone that Ichiro considers important, all the better. ]
[I hate these things, so the first Dusk gets walloped right in the chest by Ichiro's swing. It flies up and back, then lands on the platform and bursts into glimmering sparkles. It leaves behind a piece of paper. Scribbled onto it is a childish drawing of two people.
In his rally, Ichiro starts to forget: He never really lost a best friend, did he? One of the few people he cares about has always been there. At school, right? Wiwaldi. Ichiro has a best friend at Wiwaldi named Kuko Harai.
The second Dusk folds up out of the ground, however, and gives Ichiro a swift spinning kick in the back. It's weird. The hit hurts when it hits Ichiro on the surface, but it leaves a painful sting somewhere deep inside him, too.
Yeah, one of Beauregard's wiggle boys does this, and dodges the keyblade swings. What it isn't expecting, though, is the punch. HELLO? It bends over and turns into paper Itadori on the platform, stunned for a moment. The other one curls its legs up and goes stiff, blocking any next swings!
Taichi's wiggle boys flatten themselves onto the platform and squirm circles around him in synch, like sharks in the water hunting. If he watches them, he'll be able to tell when they get ready to peel up at the same time on either side of him, trying for two arm swipes.
I don't know what to tell you, but Kainé scares the piss out of both her Dusks, and they launch themselves in opposite directions to sink down into the platform's surface. They start wiggling toward Taichi...!]
Edited (i forgot my bracket) 2021-06-29 03:18 (UTC)
[ good, die. the dusk dissolves into into glittery sparkles, and ichiro swings his keyblade around to shove himself in front of jiro, again, but the paper flutters in front of his face and catches his eye, too. that's - god, if he tries hard enough, he can remember that day. he can remember battling with kuko, when things were good - remembers getting ice cold cokes in the alleyway, remembers being dragged out to hang out. remembers. because we're best friends, duh!
"i don't know about best friends," he'd said, then, but kuko dragged him off, and ichiro hadn't ever had a friend, before , and didn't that happen here, at school? wasn't he so lucky, to find someone like that - someone pushy and annoying and loyal and exactly what ichiro always needed, here?
kuko was always there. had always been there.
hadn't he?
the hit connects in that flash moment of confusion. he grits his teeth as it smacks him across the back and sends him to the ground, but rolls over with a gasp of air, swinging the keyblade wildly so he doesn't get attacked while he's down; he thinks about kuko, looks up, sees that white petal pod and grits his teeth.
sorry kuko. is now really the time to be thinking about him? jiro's in danger. jiro needs him. he plants a hand on the ground and springs up like a breakdancer, shoving his feet in the direction of the remaining dusk near him and rolling back up to his feet, blade in hand, using his shoulder to wipe his mouth and putting his back to that pod, bringing the blade up again to strike back. fuck off wiggles im armed ]
she scowls when the wiggle boy wooolooloos out of her swing, but the punch, does connect, and she makes a face at the texture. these things don't look fun to touch. when the other one goes still, she recognizes it for the Patient Defense it is and ignores it, jumping and attempting to stab the paper itadori'd one through the chest. and - well, while she's doing that, she sees the four of these things worming over to taichi, and absolutely not!
she switches her grasp. punches down to beat the shit out of the dusk with her fist and instead points her keyblade at taichi, willing it to protect. do what you're supposed to do, you dumb sword.]
Taichi! Watch out!
[ichiro and kainé are okay, for now, she thinks. it'll be fine.]
[SERIOUSLY, WHAT ARE THESE THINGS. he's really not into the wiggling and he watches one of them kick ichiro in the back. he doesn't have time to even see if he's okay, but out of the corner of his eye he's watching him spring back up.
two of them circle him and he thinks, maybe, if he times it right he can knock them away.
it's the other two that he isn't anticipating and when beau calls out to him there's a startled yell of surprise before he reacts. there may not be time, but he attempts to kick one of the circling ones like a soccer ball, using the keyblade to swing wildly to put some distance between him and the other three.]
Get to the pod!
[now is not the time to actually double-down on the plan to draw attention away. but here we are.]
[ It's very valid for the Dusks to be scared of Kainé. Too bad she doesn't want them to run away? ]
Get back here, you little bastards!
[ But she is listening, and she will try to multitask which is hard for someone who is usually so single-minded? But hey, it's like Taichi selected the option in her game where you can tell Kainé to either come help you or go the fuck away and fight somewhere else.
He can be Nier for 0.1 second. I'm allowing it.
She cartwheels her way across this beautiful stained glass platform, towards one of the wiggly boys that slithered away from her but once it sinks into the platform and she can't drive her heel down onto it, she switches gears and sprints for the pod.
Which is to say, she Naruto runs, and I hate it. ]
[The downfall of the wiggle boys is that they're wiggly. The second one throwing hands with Ichiro is so busy worming around that the breakdance-y worming back gets it. Pa-yow. It explodes into nonexistence.
(Did Nobodies ever exist to begin with...?)
The poor paper Duskatori follows the same fate as the others: bursting into a sparkle of nothingness. A piece of paper with something scribbled on it flutters into place where the Dusk had been as she fires the shield off.
Two doodled women, one with wings, and the other being carried. The memory starts slipping from Beauregard's mind. Someone helped her... A well-built girl from Wiwaldi, right? She knows a girl from one of the classes...
Around Taichi, the air hardens and shines briefly with something translucent. The two Dusks from Kainé sneaking up on him mount their attack with the others, but hit the shield and are thrown back. One of the other two keeps its distance as Taichi swings the keyblade, but the second one... You KICK Wiggle Boy? You kick Wiggle Boy like the FOOTBALL? Digital jail for Taichi! DIGITAL JAIL FOR A THOUSAND YEARS!
Which is to say, these it peels out of the ground to do somersaults around Taichi to block him in while the other three double back for an attack.]
[ okay if ichiro wasn't having a crisis right now he would probably have just fallen in love with kainé on the spot. sick cartwheels sick fight moves AND naruto running? swoon
anyway
ichiro slams his fist into the pod once the second nobody disappears, kicking up to his feet like the true b-boy he is and immediately turning around. for a minute, there's just panic, and he doesn't come to help right away, because that's his little brother. ] Jiro -- Jiro!
[ but -- caleb said it to him last week, too, that he ran into illusions of the people he cared about, on one of these little adventures. he stops, hand on the pod, and looks down at the stick figure sketch, again, of what has to be kuko. he looks like a fucking little gremlin like that, doesn't he? he stares at it, stares a little longer. after that, i was tired of its illusions.
...get it together. he takes a big, deep breath, grabs the picture, shoves it in his pocket. then, he slaps his hand against the pod, once. i have strength. and his strength's right here. ] Big bro's got this. Okay? I've got it. You're with me.
[ and then takes off running to pick off one of the stragglers trying to attack taichi with his own bigass keyblade. ] Back off!
[well, it's nice, because beau's crisis means that she forgets her goth girlfriend and does fall in love with kainé on the spot --
no, it's more that beau just. pauses, midfight. she catches the paper when it floats through the air, staring at it. someone - someone. someone? she knew someone here. she knows someone here, tall, and sweet. they'd exchanged numbers, they'd gotten hot chocolate once. that's right. yeah. hm.
she should remember what caleb said, but beau's mental guard is not quite as good as his.
so instead of fighting, she puts the paper in her pocket, and pushes her hair back out of her face. right. next!
she turns, aiming to help the rest of her team to get rid of the rest of these dusks.]
[HE WILL KICK YOU AGAIN, WIGGLE BOY. as it is, he's trying to keep his eyes everywhere on the battlefield to watch his companions, checking on ichiro at the pod as he comes charging back, watching beau with the paper also looping back and watching kainé dash across the field itself. part of him wonders if the glass beneath them will crumble the longer they're here.
he doesn't have much time to think of that though, seeing how he's being blocked in slowly. he's holding the keyblade with both hands, swinging to strike at the dusk somersaulting around him almost like one would hold a baseball bat. get lost already!!]
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no subject
They appear in a place full of silence and darkness, but together. They can't tell how fast they're falling, they simply know they are.
In the distance, something brilliant comes into view finally. A huge, wide, round platform floating in the void of space, made of red, yellow, purple, and blue stained glass. Along the outer rim is the familiar school logo. At the center, a familiar decoration of a bear in a nice suit and top hat, upright but reclining around the circle of one edge. In four bubbles of glass by his body are a leaf, a snowflake, a sun, and a butterfly.
Just when they think they'll crash in and through the glass, their pace slows, and they are deposited onto the top of the platform on their feet. Around them are a handful of scattered pages of childish drawings scrawled in crayon. In the silence, a voice speaks into their hearts:
Don't be afraid. The light in your heart will keep you strong. It's time to choose. The friends you make are important. How will you help them?
1. I want to lead my friends to victory.
2. I want to shield my friends from pain.
3. I want to help my friends be stronger.
4. I want to heal my friends when they're hurt.
Which will each of them choose?]
no subject
however... no pained fall comes, and as they practically float down, ichiro
has a flashback to playing every kingdom hearts gameopens his mouth to say something before he hears the voice....
i can't pick them all? is the first thing he thinks.
... and then, eventually, the thought process returns to a conversation he had with viola earlier today.
i want to do everything i can to make things right.
and chooses the first option, then takes a deep breath. in, out. ]
...is everyone okay?
no subject
ichiro grabs for her, and she grabs back, expression startled. she also reaches for taichi and kainé as they fall, a baby chain of whoosh, until they finally make it to the platform. beau doesn't register the question at first, trying to just fathom what's going on here.
I want to shield my friends from pain. yeah. that's all she ever wants. to be their tank.
she picks that one, and looks at the rest of them.]
Fine. Looks like we're the lucky four this week. Stick close.
no subject
the light, huh? that's...what she had said before he came here, isn't it?
"Everyone's heart has a light and dark side to it. But I want to believe in the light side!"
why is it always about making choices...? why can't he have it all? but then again, if he thinks about it...one of the options resonates a little stronger.
we're stronger together.
the third option it is, and he immediately takes out his phone to try and see if he can take a photo.]
Where do you think we are...?
no subject
Fucking shitcracker bullshit!
[ If she can't say that aloud, she's screaming that inside her head before she tries to reach for anyone else in this baby chain of whoosh while trying to brace for what impact that does not come.
Then, the voice sounds. The light in your heart will keep you strong. She knows this to be true, but it is also what makes her so afraid. She can choose so many of those choices, but she is a sword. She is best at being a sword, at fighting, at attacking because she wants to keep her friends safe, to make sure they can grab hold of whatever they want, but she knows they hurt. They hurt as much as anyone and everyone else.
And she would like them to heal.
I want to heal my friends when they're hurt.
Can she be someone who heals? ]
We'll find out what kind of hellhole this is soon enough.
no subject
Something pure, and wrenching, and strong blooms deep inside them. It bubbles up out of their hearts, and materializes in the palms of their hands.
Victory means being grounded. You want to support your friends with a solid foundation. What happens when the ground beneath your feet starts to crumble?
A keyblade appears in Ichiro's hand. It's heavy, with a long reach, but the strength of his heart lets him keep it lifted. His heart tells him he's slower than the others, but he hits harder than anyone else.
Only a courageous heart can protect their friends. You want to keep your friends from harm. What will you do when you've protected others, but not yourself?
A keyblade appears in Beauregard's hand. It's light, but incredibly sturdy and unbreakable. Her heart tells her she can encase her friends in a shield to protect them from attacks.
Obstacles can only be overcome when working together. You want to bring strength to your friends when they think they're weakest. What happens when you run out of strength to give?
A keyblade appears in Taichi's hand. It's fast and agile. His heart tells him he can lend his strength to his friends to make them more powerful.
A kind heart can heal many wounds. You want to help your friends heal from what hurts them the most. What will you do when you're not quick enough to give aid?
A keyblade appears in Kainé hand. It looks ordinary, but it hums with never-ending energy. Her heart tells her she'll be able to heal her friends when they are hurt.
Now you have what you need to fight the darkness. But it won't be easy. A set of stained glass stairs spreads open on one side of the platform, leading up, and up, and up--above them, another platform. Can you do it?
Don't be afraid.]
no subject
this is the first time that ichiro's held any sort of a blade, let alone one shaped like a key. his hand curls around the grip, but he looks at it, turning his wrist a little as he holds it in his hand. the echoing voice feels like a challenge. how many times has the ground shaken underneath his feet in his life? how many times has he borne this sort of weight?
ichiro nods to himself, though, and glances up the stairs, and then to the others, making sure everyone's okay. ]
...Guess we're supposed to go. Beau's right, let's make sure we stick together. [ a beat. ] Nowhere to go but up, yeah?
[ onward, if the rest are ready! he doesn't mind leading the way. ]
no subject
The darkness? Like, in general? At least give me a fucking specific monster to fight.
[ugh. swing, swing.]
Let me go first. I have the shield one. ["ichiro is first in the tagging order" irrelevant]
no subject
Could be there's something coming out of the darkness. [light and dark. that's familiar, too, and he hates that.] Let's get going. Only one way to find out what's waiting for us, right?
no subject
She slices the air with the keyblade. ]
Who says it can't be easy? All we gotta do is beat the shit outta whatever comes our way, yeah? Even if it's darkness.
[ Whatever that means.
It's not so much optimism as it is determination. ]
Up the fuck, we go.
no subject
At the top of the stairs, they come to another platform. A wash of red and white stained glass. Ichiro is imprinted in the center, sitting reclined along the circle of it, a mic in his hand. There are three bubbles of glass decorating the space beside him: the portraits of his two brothers, and his dad.
At the back of the platform sits a white, egg-shaped pod. The petals of it are bloomed open, and standing in the middle is Jiro. He peers at the four of them as they round the landing. But the petals lift and close up around him, tucking him to sleep.
It's time to protect what's important to you. The darkness is strong, but don't turn away from the light. It'll guide you in the right direction.
Some wiggle boys appear, sliding along the floor of the platform. Two for each of them. They peel themselves up into existence, stretching one long leg out... making their way toward them.]
no subject
ichiro steps up onto the platform without any issue, holding the keyblade tight in his right hand. standing on the red stained glass feels like being home, for a moment, and he looks at his own face, spots his brothers, spots rei of all people, and looks up --
and then he sees jiro, and any rational thought he's ever had disappears. his heart clenches, and he shouts - ] JIRO!
[ this is the first time he's seen his brother since he's arrived here. it's the first time he's gotten an inkling of the fact that he's okay, that either he or saburo are fine at home (his biggest fear is that they aren't, really, over anything else), and as he looks into his brother's eyes he's already taking off by the time he's being tucked in to sleep, practically flying across the glass (and stomping extra hard on rei's face for flavor).
he'd tear apart an entire universe for the safety of his little brothers. ichiro doesn't need direction, or any idea of what to do or where to go - when those creepy monsters appear they set off alarm bells as a warning, because jiro is right there and ichiro will do anything to make sure he's okay. ] Get the hell away from him!
[ and he's immediately launching himself in the direction of one of those nobodies with the weight of that heavy hitter keyblade like he's wielded it his entire life to keep it as far away from jiro as humanly possible. goodbye ]
no subject
Ichiro! Stop, don't just run in --
[look, she knows his world is a bunch of bullshit but - well. there's a reason she picked the shield. a little flicker of fear runs through her - this week has made her relive so much, has made her remember the taste of blood in her mouth, the sight of it dripping from other's. but. she's not one to shy away from a fight.
she doesn't know who jiro is, but it doesn't matter. he's important to ichiro, so he's important to her. she rushes across the glass, aiming to get to the pod, but i assume she's stopped by her set of wiggle boys. she swings at them wildly with the keyblade, and then follows up with a punch, just out of instinct.]
no subject
right. monsters. what the hell are these now...?]
Don't lose track of them! [which is obvious, but it means that instead he's following right after them to try and swing at his own wiggle boys. truly hate we're calling them that. but he's bounding back in an attempt to get the creatures to follow him further toward the edge of the platform and away from jiro's pod.]
no subject
If they look like enemies, they walk like enemies, and people yell at them like enemies, Kainé is going to go at them like enemies.
She may have chosen the healer option, but—
She's running straight at one of these (anna voice) wiggle boys, jumping up and bringing the keyblade straight down with all her strength like it's a sword.
If it keeps them away from someone that Ichiro considers important, all the better. ]
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In his rally, Ichiro starts to forget: He never really lost a best friend, did he? One of the few people he cares about has always been there. At school, right? Wiwaldi. Ichiro has a best friend at Wiwaldi named Kuko Harai.
The second Dusk folds up out of the ground, however, and gives Ichiro a swift spinning kick in the back. It's weird. The hit hurts when it hits Ichiro on the surface, but it leaves a painful sting somewhere deep inside him, too.
Yeah, one of Beauregard's wiggle boys does this, and dodges the keyblade swings. What it isn't expecting, though, is the punch. HELLO? It bends over and turns into paper Itadori on the platform, stunned for a moment. The other one curls its legs up and goes stiff, blocking any next swings!
Taichi's wiggle boys flatten themselves onto the platform and squirm circles around him in synch, like sharks in the water hunting. If he watches them, he'll be able to tell when they get ready to peel up at the same time on either side of him, trying for two arm swipes.
I don't know what to tell you, but Kainé scares the piss out of both her Dusks, and they launch themselves in opposite directions to sink down into the platform's surface. They start wiggling toward Taichi...!]
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"i don't know about best friends," he'd said, then, but kuko dragged him off, and ichiro hadn't ever had a friend, before , and didn't that happen here, at school? wasn't he so lucky, to find someone like that - someone pushy and annoying and loyal and exactly what ichiro always needed, here?
kuko was always there. had always been there.
hadn't he?
the hit connects in that flash moment of confusion. he grits his teeth as it smacks him across the back and sends him to the ground, but rolls over with a gasp of air, swinging the keyblade wildly so he doesn't get attacked while he's down; he thinks about kuko, looks up, sees that white petal pod and grits his teeth.
sorry kuko. is now really the time to be thinking about him? jiro's in danger. jiro needs him. he plants a hand on the ground and springs up like a breakdancer, shoving his feet in the direction of the remaining dusk near him and rolling back up to his feet, blade in hand, using his shoulder to wipe his mouth and putting his back to that pod, bringing the blade up again to strike back. fuck off wiggles im armed ]
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she scowls when the wiggle boy wooolooloos out of her swing, but the punch, does connect, and she makes a face at the texture. these things don't look fun to touch. when the other one goes still, she recognizes it for the Patient Defense it is and ignores it, jumping and attempting to stab the paper itadori'd one through the chest. and - well, while she's doing that, she sees the four of these things worming over to taichi, and absolutely not!
she switches her grasp. punches down to beat the shit out of the dusk with her fist and instead points her keyblade at taichi, willing it to protect. do what you're supposed to do, you dumb sword.]
Taichi! Watch out!
[ichiro and kainé are okay, for now, she thinks. it'll be fine.]
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two of them circle him and he thinks, maybe, if he times it right he can knock them away.
it's the other two that he isn't anticipating and when beau calls out to him there's a startled yell of surprise before he reacts. there may not be time, but he attempts to kick one of the circling ones like a soccer ball, using the keyblade to swing wildly to put some distance between him and the other three.]
Get to the pod!
[now is not the time to actually double-down on the plan to draw attention away. but here we are.]
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Get back here, you little bastards!
[ But she is listening, and she will try to multitask which is hard for someone who is usually so single-minded? But hey, it's like Taichi selected the option in her game where you can tell Kainé to either come help you or go the fuck away and fight somewhere else.
He can be Nier for 0.1 second. I'm allowing it.
She cartwheels her way across this beautiful stained glass platform, towards one of the wiggly boys that slithered away from her but once it sinks into the platform and she can't drive her heel down onto it, she switches gears and sprints for the pod.
Which is to say, she Naruto runs, and I hate it. ]
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(Did Nobodies ever exist to begin with...?)
The poor paper Duskatori follows the same fate as the others: bursting into a sparkle of nothingness. A piece of paper with something scribbled on it flutters into place where the Dusk had been as she fires the shield off.
Two doodled women, one with wings, and the other being carried. The memory starts slipping from Beauregard's mind. Someone helped her... A well-built girl from Wiwaldi, right? She knows a girl from one of the classes...
Around Taichi, the air hardens and shines briefly with something translucent. The two Dusks from Kainé sneaking up on him mount their attack with the others, but hit the shield and are thrown back. One of the other two keeps its distance as Taichi swings the keyblade, but the second one... You KICK Wiggle Boy? You kick Wiggle Boy like the FOOTBALL? Digital jail for Taichi! DIGITAL JAIL FOR A THOUSAND YEARS!
Which is to say, these it peels out of the ground to do somersaults around Taichi to block him in while the other three double back for an attack.]
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anyway
ichiro slams his fist into the pod once the second nobody disappears, kicking up to his feet like the true b-boy he is and immediately turning around. for a minute, there's just panic, and he doesn't come to help right away, because that's his little brother. ] Jiro -- Jiro!
[ but -- caleb said it to him last week, too, that he ran into illusions of the people he cared about, on one of these little adventures. he stops, hand on the pod, and looks down at the stick figure sketch, again, of what has to be kuko. he looks like a fucking little gremlin like that, doesn't he? he stares at it, stares a little longer. after that, i was tired of its illusions.
...get it together. he takes a big, deep breath, grabs the picture, shoves it in his pocket. then, he slaps his hand against the pod, once. i have strength. and his strength's right here. ] Big bro's got this. Okay? I've got it. You're with me.
[ and then takes off running to pick off one of the stragglers trying to attack taichi with his own bigass keyblade. ] Back off!
[ (sora voice) etc ]
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no, it's more that beau just. pauses, midfight. she catches the paper when it floats through the air, staring at it. someone - someone. someone? she knew someone here. she knows someone here, tall, and sweet. they'd exchanged numbers, they'd gotten hot chocolate once. that's right. yeah. hm.
she should remember what caleb said, but beau's mental guard is not quite as good as his.
so instead of fighting, she puts the paper in her pocket, and pushes her hair back out of her face. right. next!
she turns, aiming to help the rest of her team to get rid of the rest of these dusks.]
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he doesn't have much time to think of that though, seeing how he's being blocked in slowly. he's holding the keyblade with both hands, swinging to strike at the dusk somersaulting around him almost like one would hold a baseball bat. get lost already!!]
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She's going to yeet it at one of the dusks doubling back to attack Taichi.
She doesn't know a Kingdom Hearts. ]
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