Last Light of Manhattan

Last Light of Manhattan
Date of Scene:	09 December 2012
Location:	Manhattan - The Labyrinth
Synopsis:	Here is it. The final struggle for the Heart of Manhattan. A few brave heroes blaze against the tides of darkness in the hopes to save the world from crumbling into the darkness.
Thanks to:	Everyone who participated. LEXUS and Mal for planning and experience, Oath and Lionheart for Patience.
Cast of Characters:	King Mickey, Negaduck, LEXUS, Brooklyn, Riku, Deidra, Pete, Sköll Ulfang, Will Sherman, Morrighan Alazne, Tom Magnusson, Zia, Avira
Tinyplot:	In A New York Minute

---

Riku has posed:
Riku stares into the heart of Manhattan without blinking. It hurts intensely to do so but he has retreated so far into himself the pain is a distant thing. A trivial concern.

He does not share the satisfaction and the sense of triumph that may or may not be within the pervue of the other shadow lords. He just continues to stare, numbly at the keyhole and it's pulsing golden light as the heartless continue their assault.

The chamber is large but plain. Black stone on six sides. Ever so vaguely rectangular where it connects with a long corridor of gloom which must be passed through as the only entrance to this place. There are no illusions. Nothing but the keyhole etched in golden fire across the air and the vault that was supposed to keep it safe for eternity.

But.. eternity is a long time. Perhaps it was foolish to think this place would last forever.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will runs...

He ran and ran, helping people on the way, but he couldn't stay still. Mickey had bought him the time to be here, the TDA were following him...but here. He told the rest of the TDA where to go...and he doesn't wait for them. He runs, and something odd seems to happen. The connections he has developed until now, even to those he doesn't know, to those that share the same purpose...protect the world.

The golden strings fly from him, making those connections before fading. They could not fail here...they must not fail. Failure was a price too costly to pay. The world, quite litterally, rested on their soldiers. Through the cooridor he ran, the gloom a sharp contrast to what he was seeing before. He can see the keyhole...

Then...

"Riku?" he pauses, the first time, in days, he's stopped. He feels like the air is kicked out of him, but he doesn't belive what he is seeing. His brain tells him that he sees the dark form of Riku, surrounded by heartless, who are not attacking him. He doesn't strike first...he can't believe it.

"Mercade? Where is he? What is going on here...there are heartless everywhere, Riku, we gota stop them! I don't know why, but whatever his place here is telling me these things gota be stopped now."

He doesn't even see the other Shadowlords yet, his eyes focused on Riku.

LEXUS has posed:
Riku is left alone with the World Heart. He would do what he is meant to do.

LEXUS can feel parts of him desire to take the Heart for his own. Making the Darkness part of him gives him certain... tendencies. But one does not simply obey them. That is the way of the animal.

He is far superior to an animal, or a human. He is a being of logic and pure knowledge, given form. Perhaps it is to the Manhattanites' best interest that the job is not left to his hands, for it would already be over.

Instead, LEXUS stands with the rest of the final vanguard of the Shadow Lords. Some of them might be with Riku, gazing at the Heart. LEXUS has no need to. He can feel it. He can see it without even looking at it. That vibrant, pulsing purity...

But he must remain focused. They will be here soon. He cannot expect that the servants of Light would not eventually expose the multitude of layers of deception and misderection that has enacted. Jousting with Xanatos has been a... pleasure.

But now it's time to put an end to it and claim ultimate victory. "Prepare yourselves." LEXUS states. "Let no one through."

Will appears, but LEXUS does not move, smiling. The boy does not yet realize the magnitude of the betrayal he is about to feel. He has to see this.

It will be delicious.

Negaduck has posed:
Darkness...

Wrath.

Negaduck is slowly starting to form right by LEXUS. His focus on dealing with the man is not without merit. No, Negaduck is allowing the darkness to consume him once more.

"Heh heh..."

It is Darkwing Duck? No. The duck has a red hat and a yellow jacket. However, that too is going to slip away. The color on Negaduck's body fades as the essence of darkness bleeds from his body. The redness and white become black. Those normal eyes become a more crimson glow. The darkness consumes the wicked duck, who brings his hands to a tight fist.

"Prepare for disappointment, boy."

Those dark flames consume the duck, his failures shall no longer haunt him. It is time to create such destruction of his harmony.

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
While Riku spent his time pondering the mysteries of the universe in this chamber, this vault. A dark portal opened nearby and out stepped Morrighan, looking worse for wear. "Ugh..! Those fools...! This whole operation has been nothing but trouble!"

It was then, that she came upon the sight of Riku, the heartless and Will. ".......Hmn." Falling quiet for once in her life, Morrighan stepped further out of the portal, letting it close behind her as she sauntered off to Riku's general area, joining his ranks.

"I sense something interesting just now~"

An evil smile was given as she then asked.

"I do hope you have prepared yourselves~"

Avira has posed:
This place felt...familiar.

Hadn't Avira been here days ago? She and Will had ventured somewhere deep into the Labyrinth to retrieve a pair of paranormal reporters and run aground of a very mysterious maze and large crocodile that they left sleeping. Yet not long after leaving, her exact memories of where she had been became fuzzy. Perhaps that was intentional. Perhaps it had been a defense mechanism against those who would venture down into these depths in search of the World Heart.

Avira heeds Will's call immediately, chasing after him as he runs. Her weapon is already out, clutched tightly in her tired hands as she speeds through the corridor of gloom after the hobo king. Not long before, she had passed a small confession to her fellow VALKYRI, as an apology for her sudden absence from their numbers.

Falling in next to Will, she's just as surprised to see Riku there and equally distressed to not find Mercade. "What the hell is going on?!" she demands before slowly turning to look at LEXUS and the other Shadow Lords gathered here. "...you!"

Avira, being Avira, does not wait for posturing. She flies at LEXUS's digital, glowing face. "IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!"

"/I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE MY WORLD TWICE/!!"

Zia has posed:
After the fight in Central Park, Zia had been ordered to scout ahead, checking for Heartless movements and trying to identify targets that they might be looking to attack. However, she'd been far more interested in the light that she'd seen, and the voice that went with it. Her flight over the city had come up empty. No sign of the one who had brought that light. How would she even know with the throngs of people moving through the streets, trying to escape the Heartless? It would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

Some places do stand out when she looks from above, though. Places where the Heartless seem to be going, trying to escape into the underground. Still, going someplace that her wings would be all but useless is a dangerous thing for a gargoyle. Something is going on, and while she needs to find out.

"Last chance te be a coward, lass." She says to herself, and then ducks into the sewers. It takes a while before she hears anyone else - the pounding of footsteps leading her onward. Maybe it's Will she's following, or maybe some other hero, but in the end, the gargoyle comes free into the chamber, blinking with surprise at the sight she sees.

The boy from the Shard Seekers? Oh, you can bet the white gargoyle is more than a little confused. She looks to Will, then to Riku, then listens, her ears twitching at other sounds nearby. Every part of her senses is screaming 'DANGER!!'. She takes a half-step back, not knowing what to make of what she's seeing. "Wha in the name o' Merlin's saggy right test--" The comment trails off as she spots LEXUS and the darkness-consumed-Negaduck. "Oh balls." She curses. This cannot be good.

Pumpkinhead has posed:
And suddenly...

Pete wheels himself in. He's in a wheelchair, covered in gauze. "Good ol' COUGH COUGH Pete COUGH COUGH is here to put a stop to y'DARN COUGH COUGH heroes tryin' to mess up Lady Maleficient's COUGH plans COUGH or I guess LEXUS'S COUGH but he's a cool WHEEZE program WHEEZE literally!"

He groans. "Heeeey how can I face the heroes like this?!" He shakes a fist to the sky. "COME ON GIVE ME A HAND HERE!"

A DARK LIGHT FILLS THE AREA, SUBSUMING PETE AND HEALING HIM TO 900 HP!

He pauses for a moment, patting himself about and sitting out of his wheelchair. "Nmm... HEY!" He hops, stomping on the ground. "WHAT'S THIS NOISE! GIVE ME MORE HEALING!"
HEY THE HEROES ONLY GET A PARTIAL HEAL TOO!
"SCREW THAT! I'M CHEATING!"
He reaches up and pulls down more dark light to heal himself with with his hands OM NOM NOM NOM NOM.
PETE HAS HEALBOSSED TO 3.

He wipes his mouth. "THERE!" He says. "MUCH BETTER! Now who wants to tangle with ol'Pete?!"

Tom Magnusson has posed:
Tom Magnusson is no stranger to pain.

He moves unstoppably through the deep underneath of Manhattan, like a bull or a freight train following a billowing red flag, or a set of steel rails. But there are no flags, there are no rails. There is only Will, and the fate that he bares witness to. Tom can only follow for now, gritting his teeth as he wills his body to carry on.

A small mercy is that he is no longer quite so bloody. Celina, bless her heart, has done her work masterfully, knitting his open wounds shut with her magic. Everything works as it should. But he's low on ammo, and even Tom Magnusson's stamina isn't unexhaustible.

But soon, they come to a stop.

The fight, though, is not soon to be over. Tom squints as he spies the horde of heartless with Riku at its center. Tom surges forward, protectively positioning himself between the Heartless and his companion. "Just hazardin' a guess here, kid," Tom rumbles, "But something ain't right."

Riku has posed:
Riku murmurs "Will." His voice is as dead as his eyes and expression as he turns around to gaze with impassive pupiless yellow eyes at the King of the Hobos.

He takes several steps forwards, something like fear pulling at the edge of his deadened expression. The heartless part from around him like dark water.

He is completely untroubled and unhurried as he makes his way, step by step to stand several yards away from the TDA members. "I was about to call you." He listens to what Will is saying about Mercade and shakes his head. "Oh. Mercade." there is a long pauses before he continues. "He really does have a lost puppy complex.. doesn't he?"

there is the faintly flicker of a scornful, hateful smile. An instant of murderous hate that comes and goes and dies away leaving his face bland and completely numbed again. "He's gone, Will. Long gone. I took care of the foolish Mr. Narrator almost.." he nods. "Almost at the very first."

Deidra has posed:
Deidra was running for all she wa wotth she'd been hurt pretty badly but forced to press on. There was no time to recover by sleeping in stone form. She'd have to go with some basic first aid and whatever other means they could recover with. Something odd does happen. Riku is here at first this seems like a good thing but wheres Mercade were they not together? She's now looking concerned, something is prehaps off here but who knows she does however see that Zia is ghere she's not seen her in forever given the other Gargyoles comments abotu defending? She's suprised but in a good way to see her here.

"Wait Riku...." She stares for a moment she stares long and hard then Riku's words strike her and she growls at the young human.

"What have you..."

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Since the Central Park madness, Skoll had gone seeking out the light that had shone earlier - and had made an attempt at finding Mickey. Amidst all that darkness though, all those heartless, he kept feeling that tug at his mind, as those dark chains around his heart tightened with each step. After a while, he'd found a safe-zone amidst his search and takena, small nap in order to recover from his wounds - but the nap had been so tiny...

After this, he'd continued to try and sniff out Mickey. But since the mouse had been taken by the darkness, this proved to be an impossible task. It's then that he'd noticed Zia of all people, moving down into the depths of the labyrinth. He remembers being there with Avira and the lot, preventing Fang from unleashing further heartless. The massive but wounded werewolf follows the white Gargess - her stark white body a rather easy thing to follow amidst the dark.

It's when he's finally in the depths that he suddenly feels something strange. It's not the light in the distance, or his approach to the gargess as he runs on all fours. It's not even his wounds, re-opening because of the strain. It's Will's gift to all those beneath the city. That golden thread of fate that touches his heart and presses away some of that dark chain that is so tightly wound around it by the Gaudium Lords.

It's a relief for the werewolf, who soon comes out through one of the tunnels...

LEXUS might be surprised that there's another Werewolf in the tunnels. The last one ran off into the tunnels and had been painted in red warpaint. This one however, only is red because of his wounds. He has a hand to his chest, heaving heavily, and moves towards Zia at first. "Lady Zia, what are you...~" He is about to say, when he notices the Shadow Lords in the room. His head immediately turns down a little into a submissive manner, and then... there's Riku.

What is Riku doing here!? And what is he saying!?!?

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra Constantine couldn't fight yesterday. After the first battle against Angantyr at the military base, cirra returned to the Archadian contingent only to collapse with a fevor of one hundred and eight degrees. For twenty four hours the rising tides of darkness assaulted Cirra's body. The doctors of Archadia could do nothing, not even Dr. Bunansa the man responsible for the changes to her body. All he could do was watch the readings and try to understand what was happening to her.

Suddenly, Cirra's eyes fly open and she sits up in bed, medical monitors strapped to her body. Dr Cid merely holds his hands behind his back as he watches hte Dark Kngiht - no, his /experiment/ rise up from the bed. He makes no move to stop her. To him, this is far to fascinating to observe.

Tearing the monitors off, Cirra dresses herself without concern of Dr. Cid nearby, merely donning the remains of her Judge armor, and trudging out of the field hospital with a half glazed look in her eyes...

Now, The Judge Constantine drops from one of the tunnels above the labarynth into one adjoining the heart chamber, crouched to one knee. Sweat and humidity matting her prett silver hair to her face as she gets up, eyes half lided. "Are you the ones... That burned it?" she sounds incoherent, like she's halucinating.

She sucks in a breath as she clenches a fist tightly around the haft of her scythe and yells at the top of her lungs. A surge of the Darkness Between All Thigns rolling off her body like a wave. "ANSWER ME!"

Brooklyn has posed:
Having had to do what was needed to survive, Brooklyn had retreated from the fight. But he'd joined Will in coming to defend this place. He wasn't sure what they were defending, but if it was a way to stop the Heartless, then he was all for it. He wasn't going to give in without a fight. He never has.

He didn't know Riku. If he did he'd want to know why he was here, no doubt, like everyone does. He looks around, seeing they're surrounded. It was not a good place to be, but what could they do now, but fight? His eyes light up, glowing white as he prepares himself to fight for his home. His hands clench into fists, and he hopes that wherever the rest of the clan wound up after the fight the other night, they're safe.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will doesn't gasp, his throat however is too dry for that. He watches, Riku with that stare...the heartless pass as if they were...no they were. He can see now, he blinded himself to what he was seeing. Their strings were twisted, but with a single snakey string to him. He lowers his head, as the words come out, tears already forming. A profound sadness comes over him, he had probably known Mercade longer than most people...the man was his friend, one of the few people he trusted. And he was gone...the day would come, Will knew...but not now. He was...his thread was too...

"I won't.." Will says, voice soft, then the golden strings spring out. So many people connected around him, each one of them...could feel the strings hitting them, and their fates reenforced. For a moment, there could be a golden aura seen behind Will, before it faded. He could do no more for them, his powers could only help, not change, destiny...that relied on their actions.

"I won't believe it!" Will shouts, hands brought up, his eyes burning. Nobody here has seen Will this angry, but now that anger was rolling off of him in waves. "...stop you.." he mutters, "I'LL STOP YOU!" he screams, and leaps right at Riku, trying to tackle him to the ground, aiming to repeatedly punch at him. Will wasn't holding back anymore...

He was fighting to kill.

Negaduck has posed:
"...Who wants a piece of me...?"

Then, the darkness begins to erupt around Negaduck. As the shuddering energy resonates within the duck, the darkpower begins roaring of life. The angry, raging duck is shuddering the ground as the Heartless begin looming over him..

Negaduck gives a wrathful sneer.

Flames ignite around the body as the Heartless rise around him. As Negaduck roars, the infernal flames erupt and spiral around him as the Darkness rises.

"WHO WANTS A PIECE OF ME?!"

If no one steps up.... he will blow everything in his path.

Tom Magnusson has posed:
There was a flash of motion as Riku's mouth uttered those words. Faster than any man his size should be able to move, Tom Magnusson rockets forward, his expression a twisted facade of unbridled fury and impossible determination. There is no sadness, no despair, no anguish. Tom knows something about the people he works with, something that perhaps even they are not yet aware of. He saw it in the Boss when he still ran the TDA. He sees it in Will and in Mercade.

Mercade is not dead. He can be sure of that. Mercade would not die such a meaningless death. He'll be back. But for now--

"No offense, kid," Tom practically growls. "You've got your information way out of whack. But I don't appreciate a liar." His fists thunder forward like a stampede. His strong hands grab at Riku's shoulders to slam forehead and knee into his skull simultaneously. "And you just said somethin' you're goin' to regret on top of that. You made me angry, kid."

"You made me angry.

Tom Magnusson, Limit Track: 10/10

LIMIT BREAK: RED RAGE OF COMPASSION

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
"Hmph. It looks like the heroes have all gathered~" Morrighan spoke in a gleeful tone. Not exactly impressed with the sight before her. These so called heroes, come to save this doomed world...It was laughable.

"You will all fall and it will be...glorious~" Spreading her arms, she began to do what she does best; support her allies.

Even if she wanted nothing more than to tear Avira apart.

But there was a time and place for everything and the time now was for support.

LEXUS has posed:
LEXUS narrows his eyes as Skoll arrives. "Another werewolf?" He pauses. "You resemble the other one greatly. But... What are you doing here, and why?"

The Dark Virus puts himself on his guard, however, as Avira strikes. She hits a barrier at full force, the impact of her strike shattering through the barrier. He can't get his Disc up in time to block before she punches him in the face liks a boss. There is a crunch, and LEXUS staggers backwards for a moment, a hand to his face before he lowers it, the impact to the flesh slowly reconstituting itself under his self-maintenance progreams. "You seem to be quite enraged, woman. You claim to have lost this world before. Perhaps Manahattan is dear to you?"

And then his eyes cycle, and he chuckles. "Interesting. Very interesting. Come then. Give me all of your anger! But I doubt it will be enough to save you, child!"

He flips his Disc into the air, unleashing an entire spray of neon green lances across the room. "NEGADUCK!" LEXUS calls. "Come on, let's destroy them all!" Probably the only thing they could agree on in months. Each lance imparts destructive force... But also weakens those it strikes with terrible spreading numbness and deblitating pains. The Virus can strike outside of the Grid.

Zia has posed:
The stunned moment passes quickly as Zia seems to register what is going on. This version of Riku seems quite a distant shadow of the one she had met only a few days before. For all her time in Manhattan, she hadn't crossed paths with many humans, but Will - something about him seemed familiar. It isn't until Deidra appears that the connections fall into place. He'd been in Traverse Town when Scrooge's recipie was nabbed. He was one of those that the other gargress had joined in New York.

There is no time for introductions or reunions, though. It comes as only some small comfort that at least one of the humans happens to be a friend to her kind. The others, even the one that lashed out so quickly against the Shadow Lords, aren't as familiar. Skoll's arrival is met with a glance behind her, hearing the padding of those wolf paws. "Trouble, lad." She states quickly, worry in her own eyes. What to do? Still, her eyes widen slightly in a look of surprise when she spots Brooklyn. One of the Wyvern gargoyles? She'd never seen them up close, so once more, she ends up staring. This just her day to be surprised, it seems.

Something tells her to focus, though. Blinking, her brain snaps back to attention. They were in danger, and it's time to fight. Whatever the reason that these dark ones are down here, it can't be good. But what to do? She's never been a particularly front-line fighter, so while some of the others are already charging forward, Zia grabs for one of the nearby walls, claws crunching into it as she pulls herself up within the chamber. The duck draws her attention, he's loud, and clearly dangerous. So she'll have to see what she can do to slow him down.

The air gets just a little bit colder - the sign of something changing. Just below Negaduck's feet, a pool of water starts to collect. Like some strange squirt gun, it first tries to splash at him, and then wherever it collects, the water starts to freeze with the passing of the cold wind that heeds her call. "Ah'll fight ye, ya great sorry excuse fer a dinner entree."

Avira has posed:
Avira draws back suddenly when she hears Riku speaking. "...Mercade...you..." A look of pain falls upon Avira's face and her heart twists inside of her. "...no, that can't be true. It can't! He's strong...he's a survivor...he's...." She freezes, a groan escaping her, sweat breaking out on her forehead. Her eyes shift to Cirra's sudden appearance and for a moment, she fears that the Judge has come to join these Shadow Lords. Did Archadia come to fight against Manhattan after all?!

Spotting Morrighan, her rage nearly doubles. To see her here, helping these monsters...!

"Manhattan, no, Earth is very dear to me." Avira says, turning back to LEXUS and advancing on him. "I thought this place was lost when it first got shattered. I thought I had to move on and forced myself to!" There wasn't much forcing, though, because that world had nothing to offer her in the end. Only disappointment. Ivalice...she could make something of herself there. "But when I found this place again..."

Avira thinks back to that day in Central Park, fighting against the large robot-knight type Heartless. Meeting Mercade for the first time. "...I guess it turned out that it mattered to me more than I thought..."

Viruses crawl through her, eating away at those golden threads that Will had kindly enhanced moments earlier. Avira grits her teeth in pain and advances on LEXUS. The Spine shines with blue light and she drives it forward, first to stab, but then she pulls back a few steps and gestures grandly with an upward stroke of the weapon.

The ice magic peels away, shaped into the form of an etheral wolf, which slams into the Program fangs-first.

"So I'm gonna defend it, damn it, with all my heart!!!"

Riku has posed:
Riku raises a hand, the shadow blade appearing in his grasp in a flash of dark fire. "I don't care about the others." he addresses the other shadow lords with this cold statement without taking his hollow eyes off Will. He barely even sounds like himself to those who have known him. "..do with them what you wish. But Will Sherman is mine."

After this he he doesn't seem to notice Will's cries, or even the attack by Tom. He gives Tom a clinical look of complete dismissal. The blows rain home. He rocks backwards a step at the punch that could knock out an elephant. Skull and Knee and forehead collide like a freight train. Riku stares at Tom impassively, a trickle of blood seeping down his face from a bleeding lip. "Interesting." is all he comments in exchange for the blows.

The teenager(?) looks at Will with something like scorn and unnatural dismissal when the tackle bowls him over and he lays on the black stone simply being struck. AGAIN. And AGAIN. His body jerks like a marionette. Riku doesn't react. Doesn't cry out. Doesn't do anything but let the blows strike him. He lays a palm flat across the smooth black stone.

There is an echoing moan from somewhere, anywhere-- it may even be coming from the heartless themselves. Some of them shred apart as a black wind scours the chamber. The intensely cold and cutting wind slices at Tom and Will, whispering snatches of loss and regret and bitter, bitter anger.

While the fight continues, the heartless continue to advance on the keyhole. They disappear once they get too close to it-- but each time a number of them does so, the golden light flickers ever so slightly.

Negaduck has posed:
There is not much that Negaduck and LEXUS can agree on. In fact, Negaduck would like to ship LEXUS to Abu Dhabi and LEXUS would like to do just as cruel things to Negaduck. Sure, the two want to do worse to each other, but the immediate sounds nice.

This is what they agree on.

As Morrighan's spell enhances the duck, he levels a sharp eye on her and then towards LEXUS.

"With pleasure...!"

A New Challanger has arrived. You see, Negaduck is caught in the midst of it all, the pool of water appeaing below the webbed feet. What omes next is a squirt that blasts him, the water is freezing him solid.

Negaduck is a ducksicle.

The explosion of ice shardspread everywhere. Negaduck is pretty angry right now, focusing his wrath towards Zia. "Nnggghrrrrrr!!! So, you accept my challenge?!"

With each arms produce a chainsaw. That's right, Negaduck is dual-wielding chainsaws.

Duel of the Fates!

Negaduck is charging towards Zia with those dual chainsaws. *RRVRRRNNN!!* The blades are swinging out at her, then he sweeps out to launch his webbed feet at her head.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra would gladly introduce Zia to the TDA people later if later even occurs. Right now she is feeling pretty hurt and betrayed herself her eyes are glowing red, she's growling. She's not happy but what can she do she sees whom i there she looks to see Tom. Tom is a powerful man and he's just basically rage snapped. This could get ugly as for the Gargyole? She notices the white mage whose been helping the Shadow Lord. She knows what she has to do her spell book is out and she's chanting a spell of some sort once more in Latin. First several bolts of ice are launched at the white mage followed by a strange sickly green light which may do something horrible to her. She's just getting started, or so she thinks.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll agrees with Zia, "Trouble." He repeats after her, nodding his head, and then tilting it up suddenly when he spots Avira having already jumped into the fray! "Lady Avira!" He calls out to her, before he looks aside to Zia. He just gives her a nod. "Be safe." And he's just about to head out after Zia when LEXUS's words reach him. He pauses. 'Another' werewolf? He 'resembles' the other!? HIS SISTER! Zia had said she'd met his sister... and now this Shadow Lord would know her too?!

The beast flares his nostrils and bares his teeth. "To protect this world that is so dear to my friends." He answers... "But more importantly... I am here to protect my friends themselves!" And seeing as LEXUS just tried to go after not just Avira, but Zia now too, he becomes his prime target... besides, there's something he wishes to know! Something he /wants/ from LEXUS.

The beast suddenly gets on all fours and runs straight forwards towards LEXUS, joining Avira in her struggle. In fact, he times it in just such a way that when Avira's Ethereal Wolves attempt their strikes at LEXUS, Skoll jumps behind them and tries to grab straight for LEXUS' throat and to ram him into a nearby wall with magically enhanced strength. "WHERE IS SHE!?" He calls out, his eyes flashing red in anger... not because they normally do this kind of thing... but because of the mindcontrol on him reacting to this anger.

Cheating Pete has posed:
Pete chills out over here for a few moments. He blinks blankly gradually. He waits. He waits some more. Morrighan buffs him. He waits some more. He looks around for a few moments and then back towards Cirra. Then towards AVira and then towards Skoll.

"What?" He asks. "Nobody?"

He sits down, crossing his arms and pouts for several moments. "Grrmmpp..." He grmmpps. "Back in the day, I used to get shown respect! Everybody would want a brawl with good ol' Pete! But no, now it's all computer programs and white haired pretty boys! Well!!" He turns his head. "Maybe I'm not wanted. Maybe I'll just... go! And how would you like that?!"

He pauses, thinking about how Mal would react if he did that.

"...C'MON!!!" He hops up and down. "Someone fight me already! Don't make me come over there!!"

Tom Magnusson has posed:
Tom was being ignored.

Tom does not particularly approve of this notion.

The cold, chilling wind cuts at his skin, bites into his bones. It burns and crystallizes against his skeletal structure, eating away at his flesh and spirit. But he does not falter. A fist snaps out, driving painfully into Riku's face. Crimson rage eats at the corners of his vision, nibbling at the periphery. But he even so, Tom can see that there's something else he aught to take care of now. Something that demands... Priority.

"Will," Tom rumbles, "Hold him. I'll be back."

And then, Tom thunders off. He rumbles through a horde of the shadowy creatures, slamming his body and his incredible presence into their number like a rolling ball of thunder. The target of his rampage quickly becomes... Obvious.

His eyes fix to the distant White Mage. His muscles tighten, and then he rockets forward, a single fist driving right at Morrighan's abdomen.

He peers down at her disdainfully. "You first."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will rolls under the dark wind, throwing a heartless that got to close into the air, as it is torn apart by the dark slash. Will rolls to his feet, the heartless are advancing to the keyhole... what is even going on? Will can't fight both Riku and the heartless, he doesn't have that kinda power. Something stirs inside of him, a slight memory of something... but is quickly gone.

Will's eyes narrow at Riku, as he moves forward, finally aiming to upper cut the boy, and leap above him, both hands pulling above his head...and swings down, aiming to try and smash Riku back into the ground.

"Why?! Why are you doing this?! We did everything for you, we wanted to be your friend?! WHY are you putting millions of people in danger?! What...happened to you?"

Zia has posed:
It's very hard for Zia's eyes not to be drawn to Riku. She can't shake the feeling that there is something very wrong with him, but there isn't really time to consider it. No matter who he was a few days ago, he's an enemy now, and that's all that matters. the gargress is still scaling the wall when one of LEXUS' lances catches her arm. The strange aura it imparts is enough to make her hand go numb, causing the gargoyle to lose her grip on the wall. The world swims briefly, which leaves her clinging on to the wall like a bat.

It's that disorientation that leaves her vulnerable when the duck wielding those chainsaws comes launching right at her head. She leaps upwards, using her one good hand to grab onto a higher part of the wall, but not quite in time to keep her tail from being slammed into. She clenches her teeth, letting out a high-pitched sort of creel trying to pull herself free to avoid having those chainsaws come too close to her.

There is a part of her wondering if she's bitten off more than she can chew, but ... there's no time to worry over it. This is a fight for her world, and she can't just stand by and not be a part of it. "Oh ge-off me ye blasted water-fowl." Brave words, but she isn't really feeling that confident at the moment. Pulling water from a nearby pipe, she sends another of those blasts towards the duck, but this time there is a lash of electricity with it, like someone making a water-powered stun-gun.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Will's abilities may have drawn Cirra here, but the fever makes things murkey and difficult to focuse on. When LEXUS comes racing for her, all she sees is a blur of darkness with glowing lines bearing down on her. She brings up the scythe and slashes at the attacker, but her defense is poor, sloppy and even though she manages to nick LEXUS she's still hit by his viral code.

"Huhn!" Cirra falls back as pain like fire shoots up her arm, but it's followed quickly by an ice like numbness. She pants as her eyes look into the middle distance.

And then everything snaps into focus. The numbness blocking the effects of the fever. "You..." terrible realization dawns on Cirra.

Reflexes take over and the Judge swings the scythe around, swiping the blunt end at LEXUS head as he swings on by. Her reflexes are groggly, slow, but at least she's in her right mind again.

Cirra moves after LEXUS, swinging the scythe after him in attempt to dog his heels as he moves amongst the other combatnats.

With a leap, Cirra moves forward and spins aorund once, aiming the curved blade to intersect LEXUS' mid section and pull him right back and away from engaging the others.

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
"Hmph! Be dears, all of you, and get rid of thse tiresome heroes!" Morrighan huffed with annoyance, watching the battle that the others were engaging in.

Then came Deidra's barrage of spells. She could recognize their effects almost immediately. And instead of defend or anything, she elected to counter. A wave of her hand was all it took for a sizable blade of light to form above the the Gargoyle and then quickly descend, aiming to pierce in.

A familiar ape soon followed up with a punch aimed towards her. Ugh, she was not good with physical combat. Deciding not to risk anything, she created a simple barrier, mitigating the damage. "And now it is my turn!" Morrighan shouted, leaping back a ways before thrusting her hands out to cast an array of spells.

Riku's words rung true with her. She could not care less just what happened to these 'heroes'. Live or die, it was none of her concern.

She would not hold back.

Brooklyn has posed:
Is he actually complaining about nobody fighting him in this potentially life or death struggle for the fate of Manhattan? Somehow that strikes a nerve with Brooklyn, who turns and glares at Pete, pointing with one of his claws, "You think this is some kinda joke?!" He yells out as he storms towards Pete, "The very fate of my home at stake and you complain about nobody fighting you? I'll fix that for you!"

He roars out as he launches himself at Pete, lashing out with a powerful strike with his right hand, aiming to sock Pete square in the jaw, followed by an uppercut to send Pete into the air, with Brooklyn following suit after the strike.

LEXUS has posed:
"KEEP THEM AWAY FROM RIKU!" LEXUS calls to the other Shadow Lords (and Morrighan, who is now in LEXUS' asset list, aka his 'good book'). "DON'T LET THEM INTERRUPT THE PROCESS!"

Attacks lash back into LEXUS, dealing minor damage to his form. Several cuts appear across his body, revealing that the suit is as much a part of his body as the flesh is. Each strike causes a burst of pixels to fly away into the air, slowly attempting to recoalesce back into the form with streaks of light bleeding out into the air. Avira strikes at him, the Disc coming up and taking the impact of the blades with several powerful blasts, the area around him building up a sheen of ice, building up behind him. "It's irrelevant now. You're simply exposing yourself to more pain and suffering by defending it. You have made a new home, you could have just stayed there and saved yourself the trouble." The ice wolf strikes at LEXUS, and he spins, smashing the Disc through the spell and scattering it past him in fragments of unravelling energy. "I will not be defeated so easily, child. This time... I am not going to spare you. Though perhaps I should... It might be more interesting in the long run."

Skoll comes after him, demanding answers. LEXUS is plowed into from the side, slammed into the wall and held by the throat. The inhuman black and violet eyes stare into crimson ones that dlash with rage. "You've made a grave mistake." He says. "Why should I tell you anything?"

He shatters into fragments of light, reappearing across the room and rebuilding quickly from a wireframe. His Disc flies through the air, spinning before him as smiles thinly at the pair. "You and the child... You belong together." He makes a deep chuckle... And then Cirra Constantin, the Judge of Archades strikes at him from behind. The scythe cleaves into him and draws him away as planned, weakening him even if the wounds themselves appear minor... But what is minor to a creature of light and data?

"And you too? I thought better of Archades. Your lack of ambition will be your downfall, Judge. You should have been standing with us." He throws his Disc at the pair, the weapon exploding into a burning blast of purging flame. He spins it, controlling its movement in midair to drop a series of piercing fragments of freezing code across the room, spreading it amongst the assailants, and then firing a series of ultraviolet beams of light. The pattern changes rapidly to attempt to increase the chance that the three will be struck. "At least this will be a superior challenge..." He says.

Riku has posed:
"Wow." A flicker of life comes to Riku's eyes again, only to bring with it another shard of scornful hate. "You have them all fooled, don't you? You don't fool me. Not anymore. I--" He takes the blows.

There is an instant where the emotion on his face becomes pain. Pure, unadulterated despair.. like the teenager is drowning. It's a single moment of appeal, and then Riku closes his eyes and when he opens them again nothing remains but the dark fire and the cold, clinical resolve.

The uppercut slams into his chin but when Will aims to try to smash him into the ground he /catches/ Will's entire momentum with one hand, the one hand behind his back. He gently pushes the TDA member backwards with the tips of his fingers, forcing him to retreat a step for be knocked over.

"Enough of that." Riku smiles very faintly, a cruel tilt to his lips as crystal materializes around him. Black spears surround him for one revolution before plunging towards Will in a clattering storm of black shards.

Tom Magnusson has posed:
"Not going to be enough," Tom growls. He thrusts his fist forward, right into the mass of twisting, roiling magical power building in the air around Morrighan. The large portion of the power directed at him is disrupted, the spell torn to shreds by the sudden interposition of a Tom-Sized fist. Invisible strings of fate shred through the arcane patterns, fate itself ensuring the brawler's safety. Motes of magical energy peel away as Tom presses forward, his fists flying like jackhammers.

Tom roars, and then slams his arms again and again into the White Mage's relatively fragile looking torso. He lifts off the ground, and then drops his knee down into her skull while she reels from the impact.

"You're going to have to do better, girl. This is our home-- We ain't abandoning it without a fight!"

Will Sherman has posed:
Will's eyes widen, the attack is caught, he moves to counter attack, and the next one is easily held back like he was a child. Will flies back, the darkness searing his body, casuing him to scream.

Thump Thump

Will staggers, but quickly back on his feet, he can see the new presence... "Fool them? What are you..?" he asks and then, "Wait...you're not Riku." he says, squinting. "I don't know what you are but GET out of my friend!" he booms, before channeling the power of fate again, this time aiming to aid himself and Cirra, who was not looking so hot!

"Cirra! Hold on." he says to her.

Avira has posed:
'Keep them away from Riku' LEXUS shouts. Frowning, Avira starts to turn towards him, only to receive a huge load of holy magic right to the back. A shout of pain escapes her and she turns to glare daggers at Morrighan. This doesn't stop her assault against LEXUS...which turns to be mostly a bust as he deflects each blow, including the will-crafted ice beast she had thrown at him. The creature, being just a fancily-shaped spell, disappates upon impact.

"I still care about this place and the people in it." Avira says in a low voice. Even if one of those people, Mercade, might be gone-NO, no, she wouldn't believe that. He had to still be out there! The woman points the Spine at LEXUS, "I am not looking to be spared. I will defeat you. I will survive. This place will survive!"

Unlike the last time she faced off with him, Avira can't seem to avoid the distortion and fire that LEXUS brings. Edging backwards towards Skoll, she takes a moment to regroup and rifle through her pouches. Much to her horror, she realizes that she's down to her last potion.

"This doesn't look good." she murmurs to Skoll, reaching out to touch him gently and share in her own healing arts.

Negaduck has posed:
Those chainsaws do not make purchase. However, they sart tearing along the wall. Imbued with the dark power, Negaduck's eyes narrow as he keeps tearing against the structure. Those eyes are starting to become more and more insane.

He heaves. Negaduck heaves and growls in his rage. While the gargoyle hangs up bravely at a distance, Negauck sneers and he blinks, "---Wh..."

Let the water rain and electricity shock him. Negaduck feels his body become completely jolted when she sends his body shuddering and rumbling thrugh the power of her water-powered stungun. He chokes, growing as the searing water continues to drain from him.

"Grrrrr..."

Negaduck puts his chainsaws away.

"Time to /FORCE/ you down."

Negaduck whips out a rocket launcher. He aims and he just starts firing. It fires not only cannon balls her way, but for some reason, it is shooting out flaming chainsaws. That's right. Flaming chainsaws and cannon fire.

"LET'S BRING DOWN THE HIZ-OUSE AS THOSE LITTLE RATS AND THEIR NEW-FANGLED WAYS HAVE BEEN SAYING IN THIS ANNOYING CITY!"

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
"Ugh!" This again. Why did she always end up fighting physical oriented people? But no matter. She would just have to make it work. "Very well then..!"

The mage hissed, taking several more steps back in retreat as she conjured up another spell. "I will try harder then! Just for you, worthless ape!" With a wave of her hands, an array of holy sowrds formed into the air behind her and then with a point of her hand forward, they flew, all aiming for Tom and Deidra.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is making use of her magic as Morrighan is dealing with her and Tom. She's now caught by a powerful attack is it holy? She's not sure she can't tell. What she doesn't know is those strings from Will totally save her from the worst of it. She's still standing after the terrible array of pells launched at her. She looks at Morrighan. "You seek to destroy this world. You already know our answer."

She launches herseldf into the air making several quick physical strikes on Morrighan as she dives bombts her. It's clearly she's been hurt and isn't able to hit that hard from the looks of it.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll lets out a barking and saliva-drenched roar into LEXUS' face when he answers that he'd made a 'grave mistake' in thinking he'd tell him anything. And to add insult to injury, the man simply 'disintegrates' and then 'reintegrates' away from him! The beast squints his eyes and lets out an angered call for him; "Because I will /destroy/ you if you don't!" It's not like Skoll to just threaten injury, and seems far more angry than might seem logical in this moment. Perhaps the sister and brother are not quite so unlike after all - delighting in power? Or is there something far darker and deeper at play here?

The massive werewolf suddenly brings forth a loud howl, and within that same moment, a massive form of ice breaks out of the ether and lams down upon the ultraviolet beams of light, reflecting them to the area around. It's Shiva, slowly landing down onto the ground. Darkened... her eyes black with light blue pupils to show her corruption under her summoner. Of course, she doesn't speak. She's not 'truly' here. It's just a 'mote' of her power.

Skoll moves back and gets closer to Avira, who is apparently also under attack by Morrighan. "Stick close." The werewolf answers her, touching a hand to the back of hers as he shifts himself so their backs are momentarily touching. "No matter what, don't give in. Remember, this is your world. /No matter what/... you may leave this world, but this world will never leave you. It is part of your memories."

His gaze then lifts to Negaduck's position, where Zia is frantically doing her best to fight the duck. "Shiva!" Skoll then calls out, and the woman of ice nods and reacts, waving her hand around and sending a sudden SPIRAL of ice outwards from his position, surrounding him and Avira for a moment before the ice-path stretches out to try and catch LEXUS, Morrighan, and Negaduck in its path one by one, before the summon disappears!

Zia has posed:
So much fighting going on, and for someone who isn't a seasoned warrior, it's hard to keep track of it all. Magic gets thrown about, bodies moving this way and that, and the dizzy feeling from that cut on her arm still hasn't gone away. Even when Zia tries to look at it, it swims in and out of her vision. "Not good." She whispers to herself, testing her wings slightly when she reaches the height of the room's ceiling. Flight - that might be the only way she can manage to get some distance between herself and the duck trying to chop her into little steaming bits of gargoyle meat.

She pushes off, trying to call as much wind to her wings as she can in the short space, but it doesn't seem to help when the duck pulls out the rocket launcher. It's some small miracle that she ends up catching one of the cannon balls to the stomach and /not/ one of the chainsaws. That would have been bad. Very bad. The gargoyle crumples in on herself, dragged downward, and it seems as if she might just plow completely into the earth if it weren't for the fact that she manages to toss off the cannon ball and flare her wings out at the last moment, skimming past a few other fighters in the process.

There is a pained look on her face, an arm clutching her side. If her ribs weren't broken from that earlier battle in Central Park, they certainly are now. She manages to grasp her good hand onto a pipe and haul herself up onto it, her eyes flashing red with anger. "Damn you." She hisses, tasting blood in her mouth. Using her tail to hold on to the pipe, she extends a hand and calls out, "Fulmenos venite!" Seemingly out of nowhere, a huge bolt of lightning streaks across the room, aiming right towards the duck and his rocket launcher.

Cheating Pete has posed:
"Mm?" Pete looks towards Brooklyn. "Oh! You must be one of those hoity toity gargoyles I kept hearin' about! Pretty scary!" Pete brushes sweat from his forehead and shakes it out. "Well, shyucks." He says. "Does that mean you'll do PEte a big ol' favor and go a round or two with him?"

brooklyn says that that's the plan. Pete smiles broadly until he realizes how fast Brooklyn is. He yelps and tries to back away but still gets clobbered upside the jaw.

"Owaaaah!!" Pete spins through the air and he fans his arms out to the side and flaps them rapidly to try and avoid hitting the floor.

"H-hey! HEARTLESS! LEND PETE A HAND WOULD YA!"

The one surviving Gargoyle heartless builds itself out of the darkness and salutes towards Pete.
"...That's it?!" Pete says. "What happened to the rest?"
The Heartless makes an explodey gesture with its claws.
"...Arright! GO GET EM THEN!" Pete says.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra sneers at the Program as he accuses her of shortsightedness. "I was ordered to defend this city, following that order is all the ambition I need!" She jumps back, then side toside, trying to avoid the first fwe beams of light, but they strike, marring the polished judge armor and slamming her back as the pattern changes.

Cirra pants, the fever and the virus program are making it hard to focus, even if she is properly aware of her surroundings again. "Tch-!" she pushes forward and swings her scythe around overhead and smacks the blunt end at LEXUS' midsection before spinning it around again. She presses forward, pushing LEXUS again and again with quick blows to control where the PRogram is in relation to the others.

Tom Magnusson has posed:
Swords cut through the Vespertine Investigator, cutting not at his flesh, but at his spirit. But there is more to Tom Magnusson than just a lot of flesh. His fist snaps out, knocking several of the glowing blades aside. He rushes forward, slamming another fist into the the White Mage's abdomen. And then he grabs her forehead--

"Not bad," Tom spits, "But I'm still standin'- and that's a mistake! DYNAMITE---!"

And then, he slams his face down into her face, betting that his face is in fact harder than her face.

"HEADBUTT!"

This Tom Magnusson, he has a way with women. His way with women involves liberally /breaking their faces./ With his face.

Riku has posed:
Riku laughs very softly, strolling in a wide semi-circle around Will. He gives the hobo king a look with the same mildly interested intent as a curious butterfly flapping vainly against the constraints of a glass jar. "Ah. Excuses, Excuses." the cruel smile continues as Riku shakes his head very slightly.

"Tell yourself again the same lies, Will. You turned a blind eye to me and for all your ages of experience, it is Mercade who paid the price for your compassion." The heartless continue to stream towards the keyhole and Riku moves through them with his hands behind his back as if they were no more than vapor. The yellow eyed stare of hunger occasionally turns to one or the other heroes, but the greatest light, the world light-- is too powerful and too tempting for them to care about anything else.

The golden light flutters, it's heart beat rhythm disturbed for a wrenching moment before it continues, a little faster now.

"It's your fault, Will. That night in the rain when you brought in Leida. It's always been your fault, in the end, because you can never hold onto the people you touch. You ruin them, and they are never aware. Hn."

Riku gestures at Will idly with a hand. Something shifts in the air around the hobo as black thorns explode upwards to try and contain him, to try and wrap around him while a choking miasma creeps up from the floor, reaching tendrils and claws trying to sink into Will and strengthen doubts, strengthen fears and lend credence to his lying words.

Brooklyn has posed:
And so Pete summons forth a gargoyle Heartless. One gargoyle Heartless. Brooklyn p eers at it when it appears, and actually finds himself taken back when it strikes out at him. The blow doesn't hurt much, but the surprise of it does, "So you wanna fight and then you turn around and sic minions on me? Pathetic!" Brooklyn would never send somebody to fight his battles.

Still, he has to deal with this first threat before returning himself to fighting Pete. A quick 360 degree spin with his thick tail should knock it off balance, and then Brooklyn can drive it down to the ground with his foot talons and finish it off with a powerful stomp into the ground below

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is again protected by the strings from the holy swords this time the entire force of the attack is defelect it she us utterly unharmed bt it. The light show is somthing to see though the strings become visable for a moment before becoming hidden from view. Deidra has her book in hand again she's chanting in Latin, this is a spell an differnt one. Will's maybe heard her do this chant twice in all the time she's known him. She chants away and there's a flare of arcane energy.

The chant contiunes it's a long one and the power is growing she's keeping her focus and she looks right at the dark elf. A the last word is spoken all the built up power is unleahed like an orbital laser from on high the blast seems to come from above in a huge pillar of crackling arcne magic.

"BE PURGED FROM THIS WORLD!"

LEXUS has posed:
"Hope springs eternal." LEXUS replies to Avira. "A pity, really. The sooner you accept the inevitable, the sooner you can come to grips with it. How can you possibly sustain such delusion?"

Skoll, however, has a much more direct method of making his displeasure known. Dark Shiva arrives, looking down upon LEXUS. "It's beautiful." The Program laughs. "It's like looking at a reflection. Nothing pure can come of you, werewolf! You're even farther gone than she is." Shiva strikes, firing a blast of ice. The Diamond Dust washes out, coating LEXUS for a moment, and leaving him wide open for Cirra to smash into him for the combo, striking with terrible force. He folds over the hit, grunting as she strikes at him repeatedly. After a moment though, his Disc returns, and he begins deflecting the blows expertly. "A mindless tool. Or a mindless fool, perhaps. Either is equally damning. You should do better to emulate your superiors!" He rises up into the air, spreading his arms as he begins to exert his power over the surroundings. "Assuming direct control."

The entire area shifts, slightly. The texture of the walls looks a little less real, more... digital. The air gains a flat crispness to it, the entire place plunged into the Uncanny Valley. Moments later, there is an eruption of neon lights from the air, green lightning crackling as he is freed from the need of his Disc as a locus for his attacks.

King Mickey has posed:
ZIP!

SLASH!
CLANG!

A loud noise rings through out the room as metal clashes against the darkness, freeing the young Will Sherman before he caught in Riku's embrace, followed by a burst of light! This creates a shockwave of wind that erupts violently outward, dissipating the dark energy into nothing!

Then in front of young Will Sherman is the form of a small anamorphic mouse, poised defensively with Star Seeker in front of him!

King Mickey turns to look back at Will Sherman, offering the teen a smile as he asks the young teen, �Are you alright Will? I hope I am not to late to help!�

The King turns back to face the emotionally torn Riku that lies before him. He recognizes the young man from his time in Luca. However, he appears to look completely different from their last encounter. The King narrows his gaze at the darkness that oozes in droves from the teen's heart, feeling the hurtful feelings hatred, pain, and sorrow that are feeding the heartless that lie behind him.

Mickey's expression turns to one of both sadness and empathy. He does not know all of the difficulties that Riku has experienced and will never truly know. However, the King does know about the tempting power of the dark and the suffering that comes along with it. His eyes shift towards the heartless and then back to the white haired young man before he begins to speak, �I remember you, young man. I remember the brief time we shared in Luca. You appeared to be curious about the children I had befriended. I also remember the smile you shared with me that day and I admit, I was quite humbled by it.�

It is then that The King's tone deepens, growing more serious as he continues,

The scene suddenly stops with record screech, as a random person breaks in with, �Wait, Wait, Wait. Mickey being serious? Is that that is even possible?

Mickey turns blankly towards the random voice as the Narrator breaks back in, �Yes, it is now shut up, audience and let the story continue!

The scene resumes as Mickey turns back to Riku, thrusting his Keyblade forward towards the darkness-enveloped teen, �However, I cannot allow you to proceed with what you are doing!�

King Mickey rushes forward towards Riku and right before he reaches the teen, leaps into the air! Gracefully, the mouse lithefully flips around, placing himself directly into the oncoming fray of Heartless, slashing with the keyblade as he descends!

The Keyblade Master lands firmly on the ground, drawing a line between the Keyhole, The Shadow Lords, and The Heartless! He raises The Keyblade high and calls out to everyone, �Heroes of Manhattan! This is our final defense. Hear my plea! Lend us your strength, as the people of this world need you! We cannot allow the shadow lords or their allies to take a single step further towards this spot! Stand your ground and join with me!�

�ALL FOR ONE!

�AND ONE FOR ALL!�

The Keyblade bursts upward through the cealing, flaring with its bright holy light to one more act as the beacon of unity!

TIL ALL ARE ONE!

Negaduck has posed:
"Enjoy your crash course...?"

But then, the bolt of lighting comes down at Negaduck by the woman. It zaps the bones out of him, forcing him to change colors and show the pleasantness of his skeleton as he is electrocuted.

He growls, holding onto the rocket launcher before Shiva shows up. That woman of ice releases a spiral of ice to flurry over to him. His eyes widen as the shards spray at him, "HAVE A SEAT!" Negaduck whips out a steamroller and he drops it down. Unfortunately, it doesn't make its mark.

Instead, Negaduck hops onto it and he starts turning on the engine. He lunges up, relasing a shrill. One would think...

WRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYY!!!!

Negaduck turns the engine to overdrive and he runs traight over to run both Skoll AND Zia over. "MWAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

Cheating Pete has posed:
The heartless isn't very tough. Brooklyn is also a better gargoyle. Maybe once, long ago, this gargoyle was a gargoyle himself--but maybe not, heartless forms aren't always receptive to what they were after all.

The gargoyle is knocked flat on its tailed behind. It hisses--but is shortly STOMPED into munny and healing items, should brooklyn desire to take a moment to take them!

"My minion!!" Pete says, his arms failing him--and he plummets to the ground, and Brooklyn. "Nobody said you were so scaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaryyyyy*THUD!*"

Mickey then appears.

"STEAMBOAT KIIIIIIIING! Y'LITTLE MOUSE WHERE WERE YA! WHERE ARE YA! WHERE AM I!? ARGGH!!"

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
"Argh! I swear! If you punch me ONE MORE TIME--" Whoops, no time to get indignant at the detective, here comes Deidra's blast of magic. What a foolish move...

"You made a poor choice, monster!" Morrighan called out, swinging an arm out at the oncoming combination of magic. What resulted was the no doubt formidable spell...being completely and utterly deflected. Not a single wisp of Deidra's magic even got close to touching her.

"Mhmhmhm~ You speak of purging....well then, let me show exactly how it is done!" Kneeling down, the dark elf began to perform a very familiar magic ritual, channeling holy energy into the floor. But this time it was no nearly as intense as it was during her last battle.

Still it would be best to not get hit at all.

"Now DISAPPEAR FROM MY SIGHT!" Upon those words, the floor began to crack beneath Tom and Deidra's feet before bursting upwards in a pillar of searing holy energy.

Zia has posed:
Trying to catch her breath, Zia has another of those dizzy spells, and this time she just isn't able to hold on to the pipe any longer. She loses her balance, scrambling to catch a hold, and falls down towards the ground, only just barely able to land on her feet. What she sees is about six Negaduck-driven steamrollers coming her way, and she blinks, squinting, trying to figure out just which one is the real one.

She doesn't /quite/ decide fast enough, and as she moves, one of them clips her, sending the gargoyle off into a nearby wall. New injuries join the previous ones, a gash on her forehead dripping down her cheek as she pushes herself up, leaning against the wall. The mage really isn't suited for one on one fighting like this, but at least she's keeping the insane duck away from the others. In her mind - she's buying them time. Maybe it will help, maybe not.

She can't take much more of this, but she can at least try to slow the duck down. "If this is the end of m'world, then at least ah'll have gone down fightin." Her eyes sweep the others, and then try to focus on her enemy. For the second time tonight, she tries to call on the storm forces within her, which is a tall feat figuring that they are underground. Just over what she probably sees as a trio of ducks, a full blown blast of elemental magic flares. Winds blow against the steamroller, lightning flashes down, inevitably drawn to the duck time and again, and hard bits of hail chase him across the room.

Will Sherman has posed:
Riku throws Will ont he defensive, the hobo flies back, flat on his back as Riku stands over him...those words...

"What are you even...talking about? I have't done anything...to anyone!" he groans, back to his feet. He's starting to weaken, his time fighting has been long and exhausting...Riku is fresh and suddenly got new power. "I've only spent my life trying to protect and help people!" he growls...

The dreams...the look on Riku's face after Leida... "That...that wasn't me!" he says, to Riku's accusation, "I don't know what Leida did to me, but It wasn't me." Then...

"DEIDRA! NO!" he shouts...no! They can't...

However, Riku's attack came, Will closed his eyes, before...

The golden keyblade deflects the attacks away, he dares open his eyes up, blinking. "I...King Mickey?" he breathes. "Y-yes! Okay!" he says, back to his feet. Will DIVES at Riku, aiming to try and knock him off his feet in a tackle. His fists come up again, aiming to send both into his face.

"WAKE UP!"

Deidra has posed:
Deidra doesn't even give Morrighan the pleasure of any banter she sees what's happening, she acts without thinking. She'd have just been living from day to day if not for will and Mercade. Tom had become a firend she acted without even thinking, Zia may be very well suprised about this. She takes the first blast from the white mage and she's still going as she slams Tom out of the way. She doesn't even have time to scream before the blast ment for Tom hits her. She hits the ground hard still clutching the tomb in ha, her body smouldering but she's not moving...

Avira has posed:
"T..thank you, Skoll." Avira says quietly, nonetheless sounding a little depressed at the prospect of only having her memories for her world left. It'd be just like him, as his home was destroyed. But that wouldn't happen! She wouldn't let it! She'd fight it to the end...! "You can summon." Avira also adds, quietly, to the werewolf.

"Keep your pity to yourself, program." Avira mutters, gladly slipping back to back with Skoll. Turned from LEXUS, she sees the heartless flooding the keyhole and gasps quietly, the bottom falling out of her stomach as she witnessess the assault on the light of Earth. If only they could...

Reality shifts around her. Avira remembers this clearly from the first time she tangled against LEXUS. Dang it, why wasn't she doing as good as she was back then?! Why, when the heart of her world was on the line?!

"Urrrrgh..." Avira suddenly groans, lurching forward, clutching her stomach. All the sudden it felt like a gaggle of bullets was having a carnival in her stomach. Clenching her teeth, she fights off the urge to vomit. It's almost a losing battle.

But then Micky comes along. The pain fades with his valliant words and Avira steels herself, gripping the Spine, and steps out from behind Skoll. She narrows her eyes at LEXUS, then in an instant, she's springing off at him.

She slams into him-no, through him, and quickly rounds, dashing back in the other direction with the Spine's blade held out to strike him horizontally. She repeats again and again, a silvery sheen building around her with each strike from a new angle, each unpredictable in direction. The final one comes from behind, not with the weapon, but with a sudden force that throws LEXUS forward, aimed at the mass of Heartless coming for the world heart.

Avira holds the Spine at her hip with both hands, breathing hard, sweat pouring down her face. Sparks crackle along the length of the weapon, betraying the presence of some kind of magic at work. But it's not quite magic.

It's pure force of will, not unlike the small strikes that Avira can conjure from afar with a swipe of the blade. Only here, it is magnified into a force as wide as Avira is tall that punches a large gap through the room-with LEXUS aimed at for the center.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
The beast twitches his lips to further bare his teeth as LEXUS replies, but his comment hurts... it makes Skoll doubt himself. Indeed, she is a Dark summon... it had not always been like that. Not until the Gaudium Lords had laid their hands on him! Now, with those dark chains on his heart... "Nothing Pure needs come of me! As long as I can protect the ones who /can/ be pure!" Skoll answers LEXUS. "That's all I need - as one of the last of my kind!"

The beast then looks up once more and sees just how bad of a shape Zia is in. And then suddenly... a steamroller!? WTF?! The werewolf's eyes widen and the beast quickly brings down a massive claw-swipe, which in turn halts the thing as the earth splits in twain and shifts the steamroller from getting near him and Avira! The beast then lets out a splitting howl as Lexus and Morrighan try to harm him as well! Where Morrighan drains down his energies - LEXUS's little tricks are confusing the poor wolf and shifting his instincts. It makes him feel /sick/, much like Avira.

But then, in that last moment, there is suddenly Mickey. The source of light! Skoll almost immediately realizes this... that, and the uncanny resemblance to the shape of his keychain! The beast remains on all fours for a moment and notes that Avira is going for LEXUS. The beast immediately raises to his back legs and lets out the mightiest roar he can manage... after which the ground begins to shake.

*RUMBLE*

A mist ascends from Skoll's lips, slithering up into the air and sinking into the ceiling.

*RUMBLE RUMBLE*

The entire earth begins to shake. Pipes start bursting. Lights start flickering! It becomes hard to remain standing!

*RUUUUUMBLE*

Then suddenly, beneath Morrighan, the earth splits assunder and in a display of absolute /massive proportions/, rows upon rows of teeth come out as the gigantic summon known as Midgardsorm... or Jorgamundr... breaks from the earth and tries to swallow up Morrighan while as it comes up from the ether and tries to drag her through the ceiling's earth... and out of the Labyrinth into the world outside.... before making momentary airtime, and falling back straight down towards the ground to go back whence it came!

Then, Skoll turns back to Avira. "Yes... yes I can." Before falling to his knees, gripping his chest in absolute exhaustion.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
The landscape shifts and distorts, the air becomes dry, Cirra looks around as the walls warp under hte Program's corruption. She dives and rolls, blasts of neon light clipping acros her body, searing armor. Her judge armor is marred, warped, and breaking off in places as she stands back up.

Cirra tchs! "Don't confuse me with your kind, /program/. Humans aren't limited by a set of instructions!" she narrows her eyes. "Archadia isn't so far removed from Manhattan's technology that we do not udnerstand the concept, /machine/!" Cirra picks up her scythe, spinning it around. Her controll is returning, her focus resharpening. "And don't think I can't listen..."

The Jduge leaps upwards and twists around, kicking off a wall to completely change her speed and direction, the scythe raised high overhead and swung down...

For Riku.

Cirra slices into the darkweilder, and immediatly flips herself over the shaft of her weapon like a gymnast at hte vertical bars. She lands onther other side and grasps the scythe tightly as she spins around, dancing around Riku even as his attention is taken by Will. Her motions are fluid, precisce and deadly as the judge dances around Riku like a mad balarina. "If you can't deal with the darkness in your heart--!"

Cirra spins around one last tiem and lunges at Riku, lifting her hands up and grasping his head by both sides. Turning him to be froced to look at her in hte eyes. "Then I'll strip it away!"

Cirra pushes forward and presses her...yeah thats kind of... She's sort you know...

Kissing him.

And draining some of his power, but people might not realize that over the knock out kiss she's delivering.

Tom Magnusson has posed:
Holy light. Such light. Such radiance, in the presence of these unholy beasts. It's a wonder that they haven't swarmed over to sample that light. Tom grunts, raising his hands to shield his face from the all-consuming radiance. This light, it's too much. Far too much to take, even for Tom. Is this the end?

No. No, because Tom has something that is stronger than any other muscle in his body. Tom stumbles forward when Deidra pushes into him, throwing him out of the way of the attack. His eyes widen as he's pressed forward. Tom looks back, only to see--

Deidra, the gargoyle, being consumed by a torrent of light. The corner of his eye twitches. His gaze flickers towards the keyhole where the heartless steadily advance, killing the very heart of the world. Light. The greatest light in Manhattan is slowly going out. Tom releases a breath.

There is a mote of light that escapes his lips as he exhales.

"You," Tom thunders, turning toward the infernal White Mage. White. White like the veil of death. White like the color of a corpse.

He thrusts his fist to the sky. His muscles twist and tighten, apparantly straining against the very fabric of the world around him. Tom's ego presses outward like the corona of a newborn star. "You've made a terrible mistake."

The light from Morrighan's holy nova gathers around the Detective's fist. It spirals like arms of a galaxy. It whirls together, fusing into a radiant gauntlet. Sunlight pours from his shoulders, weaving up the length of his arm. It shines. TOM shines. His muscles blaze with the agony of a day of non-stop fighting. But--

It is a good pain.

"Even if this all falls. Even if Manhattan might die, its light lives on!" Tom jabs his thumb at his heart. "In this heart. And upon this back. We all carry it, so long as we live. This light--!"

"SHINES ON!"

And then, Tom rockets forward. He moves with the speed of the very power that now thrums in his soul. He strikes with all the strength he has left in his body. His eyes blaze with light unnatural, pressing his fist into Morrighan's very core.

There is a brief feeling of wrongness as the space around Tom distorts. And there is a glow that is not unlike that of a supernova, cascading outward from the point of impact. It washes over the room. Before it, no natural shadow endures.

Negaduck has posed:
After the steamroller makes its mark, Negaduck had been very pleased with the outcome. No. It was not the immediate threat. However, it was more of a more annoying threat that Negaduck had to deal with. In particular, it was running over both the wolf AND his friend. However, Negaduck is not without regard that he missed one of the intended targets.

He will not make that same mistake again.

"Heh heh heh heh..."

Negaduck, however, did not expect the retaliation coming, "--WHAT?!" That elemental blast had came forth, wind is blowing against the steamroller. His eyes widen as the vaccum essentially sucks him in. Clinging onto the steamroller, well, the lightning storm comes forth and the hailstorm beats him down. "No...no...noo....nooo....!"

" E-NOUGH! "

Negaduck is within his rage. If you think Negaduck was angry before, wait until you see him now. That swelling mist of darkness erupts around him as the black flames light along his body. Negaduck is drawing forth those searing flames around him. The heartless is erupting from the ground behind him.

He stalks towards Zia. For some reason, the looming Negaduck is edging closer to her. The erupting flames. All of the Heartless jump into those flames, seeking to edge within piercing her and knocking her into the air.

That light.... the light that radiates from the human is /SICKENING/.

Negaduck had already turned his sights on him.

" Ohhohoho... You and your light... /DIE/! "

Those Heartless, the flames, the sharp edges of knives, swords, daggers, and chainsaws are directing its way like a serpent towards him, seeking to consume him.

" FALL INTO THE DARKNESS!! "

Brooklyn has posed:
With the gargoyle wrecked, Brooklyn thinks he has a moment of respite. He moves to gather the healing items, but soon looks up and sees Pete falling at him. He reaches up and shoves Pete off to the side to evade, and then grabs the healing item, turning himself to a defensive position against Pete, and then realizing he's calling out Mickey...He needs to have words with that strange mouse...Once this is over with.

Riku has posed:
Riku grabs at his chest, teeth grit as he looks into the middle distance with a frown of frustrated annoyance. King Mickey's words seem to weaken and disorient him and he takes another despairing look around the chamber before the look hardens into anger.

After that moment of being thrown off balance, he rocks back onto his feet. There is a moment of disorientation before he pulls his shoulders back and glares at the keyblade master with a disapproving frown that doesn't look quite right on his face. He stands there, glowering as King Mickey holds the line. As the keyblade master makes his stand against the gathering darkness.

The heartless are temporarily repelled and seethe with frustration and need as they throw themselves in a crazied frenzy at Mickey, trying to get at the keyhole, trying to get to the light they want so desperately. Then-- suddenly. DEATH KISS.

Cirra drains darkness into herself. She drains.. and she drains and Riku reaches up his hands and crushes Cirra to him. She drains.. and she drains.. and begins to realize that the darkness is not ebbing. It is not weakening. It is getting stronger, and somehow-- she cannot stop. It is forcing darkness to spill over her as thorn vines grow from the floor. Riku continues to glare at Cirra, amused and angry.

. He pours more and more drowning, sickly, echoing, haunting darkness as it goes on-- and on-- and never stops. Will hears a whisper, just an echo from the shadows "Time to be useful, boy." just before a great SPEAR of shadow lunges up from the ground, a shadow drenched claw reaching straight at Will's chest, digging for his heart.

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
"AUGH!" Morrighan cried out, feeling Tom's radiant fist driving itself straight into her abdomen. Clutching her stomach, the dark elf stumbled back a ways, feebly attempting to gain some distance.

But then came the jaws of the earth, erupting from under her. She had no time to react before she was completely enclosed and taken straight up into the sky......and then forced back down into the ground with the all the power of a freight train.

The sphere of earth broke apart to reveal Morrighan's battered body laying motionless. ...Was she defeated?

...Apparently not. A cough came from her and she began to struggle back to her feet. "And I reiterate...being evil is hard work..."

She had several choices now...take down Tom? ...Or retaliate against that bothersome wolf?

The wolf sounded like the better target now. A hand was raised and an array of holy swords were formed. "You! Be a dear and fall!" Upon her silent command, the swords fired forward, aiming to pierce Skoll.

Zia has posed:
It seems almost like dumb luck rather than intention. As the Heartless launch towards her, one of the first ones tosses the gargress into the air, and that seems to be all she needs to get air underneath her and keep out of the way of the remaining group. Maybe not the smartest of ideas to toss a gargoyle into the air. Then again - who said that megalomaniac ducks are smart?

Still, seems only just barely to be able to stay aloft. It seems that she isn't the only target now, though. Whomever the man is that fights with Will, he's human, and he's trying just as much as the rest to save this world. It might not be enough to earn her trust in the long term, but it is enough for her to make a stand.

"Ye have nae idea aboot light or darkness. All ye know is destruction." She breathes out, wiping a hand across her lips as she catches onto the wall again, wincing as it strains against injuries. "Maybe ye need te cool off a bit." Sure, taunting him is probably a bad idea, but Zia doesn't have much left in her. It's all a matter of lasting as long as she can, to keep the fire away from the others.

Bracing herself on her injured arm, the gargoyle pulls water up from one of those puddles, trying once again to freeze the offending duck solid.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will watches Cirra dive in, trying to save him from Riku.

"Cirra! NO!" he shouts, but it was too late, she starts making out with Riku. For a moment, the absurdity is not lost on him, but then he see's what she's doing... he looks horrified again. Gasping he tries to stand, but he can see the strings...the darkness flowing into Cirra now, trying to choke her to death. "NO! LET HER G-" the dark speak lances out at him, hitting his heart, causing him to stagger as something...SOMETHING flashes across his chest.

Those attuned to either darkness or light can see it...two hearts. One heart, filled with light the other filled with hatred...dark and mad. Filled with a loathing for /everything/. It screams, the presence screams, woken up as there is a dark bolt...

It doesn't speak, so much as you can /feel/ it's hate. It sinks right into the bones.

Who awakens me from my peaceful slumber? I was sent into the abyss, cast down from Vahalla...

The figure, looks towards Riku, then the others...it only glances at the keyhole, before turning his attention to the others. Each one, rather Shadow Lord or TDA, rather a force of Ruin, or a Force of restoration...even those inbetween... can feel this.

My awakening is your death knell, even you do not have the power to awaken me. And you seek to control me? Laughable mortal...pay for your huburis...all of you pay for his huburis!

Then the thing's hand raises, moving Will's body like a puppet. It grips the strings, the strings of the world heart itself, and snaps them. It doesn't affect the heart of the world...instead, works to try and errase their existance in it. He does not quite have the power to do this...

But unlike before, those who felt the golden threads of Will's fate...could feel the reverse. It was a pain, a pain worse than any other...the pain of something trying to errase your fate completely.

Skoll is left uneffected. He can feel the hate...but it is not turned on him. The thing he summons, knows the name of what is here...

Loki

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUPMuP2d4dU

Tom Magnusson has posed:
As the last of the supernova force from Tom's brilliant strike ebbs from his open palm, Tom utters a low, tired sigh. For a brief moment, Tom's guard wavers. And then the darkness surges forth. A wave of Heartless, starved for light, sweeps across him, seeking to drag him into the endless abyss. They look to take him, screaming, back into the limitless depths of the dark. Blades cut at his skin, rake at his flesh. Flames sear at his body, blackening all that it touches.

In the corner of Tom's eye, he can see from whence the attacks came. He wavers, dropping to a knee. The shadow beasts clamber over him, raking at his corona, seeking the blazing heart at its center. His shoulders give a weak heave. "I-" Tom growls. His eyes focus, blazing with one last burst of light. "I STILL STAND!"

He kicks off the ground. He races forward, blasting through the flame and the razors and the shadow. His hand snatches out to seize Negaduck's throat. "I told you," Tom grunts, "As long as I live, this light will never stop shining, and--"

And then, something awful happens. Tom's eyes go wide. He pivots, blocking the very end of the World with the body of one Nega D. Uck. Fate is torn to shreds all around him. Tom's teeth grit together- painfully, they grit together. "What--" Tom grunts. "What /IS/ that!? Will! Wake up!"

Tom Magnusson has posed:
The fate explosion rages, and somehow. /SOMEHOW/ against all odds, Negaduck seems... Not much worse for wear. Tom tsks, audibly, and winds up. He twists, hurling the duck at full force towards one particular stumbling white mage, before limping toward the thing that was wearing his friend's skin.

"Will," Tom wheezes, "Will, what's wrong? What are you doing?"

King Mickey has posed:
King Mickey does indeed make his stand to hold the line and does not falter against The Heartless who begin to relentlessly pursue him!

However, it appears The King does have one benefit that was not counted for: The Keyhole!

Utilizing the holy energy of both the keyblade and the world heart, an interesting effect begins to emerge! The light begins to swirl around, synergizing as one power. It streams along the floor, beginning to errect a larger radius and then before long, a barrier is constructed, adding to the defensive capabilities of The Keyhole!

Within the errected barrier, Mickey begins to feel the negative affects starting to fade from his body though it appears things just from went from bad to catastrophically worse! Focusing all of his energy on defending against The Heartless, The King is helpless to assist in Riku's onslaught against Cirra and Will!

As Cirra falls, Mickey just watches as a sudden massive surge of darkness appears, swirling around Will as a dark summon is made to appear. Shock is the only look about the Keyblade Master's face as manages to bellow, "Oh no! This is no---!"

Will's the golden threads land upon the barrier, which suddenly burst around it. It takes the brunt of the fierce blow though a good portion manages to break through, slamming into The King! Incredible pain fills his body, causing him to stiffen up as he screama loudly from the hurt!

Mickey falls to one knee, breathing heavilly as he attempts to recover from the attack. Just what happened to his good friend he wonders?

Negaduck has posed:
Not quite what Negaduck had in mind, truth be told. In fact, the old duck is dealing with two people. It is rather amusing when the Gargoyle takes into the air. Granted, it was his fault that she was back. No, Negaduck has to deal with her once and for all.

As she taunts him, that freezing water is immediately pulling Negaduck in, chilling him in place. He growls, struggling. You.....-gghhnkk!!

No time, to react, for Tom manages to grab Negaduck by the neck.

And he is tossed right into the flurry of that force. WHen Will, or rather, Loki, is having the effects of the will turn...

Negaduck proves that his will is stronger. That dark bolt is resisted and the flowing power keeps Negaduck from falling a victim to its power. And yet... Negaduck is flung straight towards the white mage. While the duck is flying sky high, the Heartless duck smacks against Morrighan, then he sweeps his hands to shove her back.

"...Hehe.. heh eh..."

Soon, Negaduck's flame-like tendrils are erupting along the ground, seeking to pierce out to grab Tom. Should it grab him, that power will start squeezing at him, seeking to get a tight grip, and then the eyes light his way.

Hi Tom. I see you... o_o

Negaduck snarls, "Nice try.... you hairless dork."

Negaduck is using that imbued darkness to try to chuck Tom towards towards Zia. And then, Negaduck whips out a rocket launcher. No. This is no ordinary rocket launcher. It has U.S.S.R. labeled on it. As well as a nucler warhead. That rocket is aiming towards the both him and the Gargoyle...

*KAAAAABBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!*

Hope they are not within its vicinity.

"Explode."

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is horribly hurt she's alive though and trying to get up with no success but she sees everything happen. From the Judge's actions to try to drain the darkness from Riku. Yet there's too much to drain, she gapes, she can only watch in horror at what wakes up. What was within will? What was it, it was powerful she could feel the power but she has no idea now. There's a lot of pain and fear going through her mind...

Cheating Pete has posed:
"Mickey! MICKEY MOUSE! I'M TALKIN' TO YOU HERE!" Mickey just has a way of changing Pete's behavior. But of course, Mickey is pretty busy. Of course, an eldricht horror popping out of Will Sherman's body ALSO has a way of drawing attention. "Miiiiiiiiiiiickeeeeeey! Mooooooooooooooooooooooouse!!" Pete says, shaking both his fists. "I...uh...hey wait a minute..."

He is blasted off his feet, horrifyingly cracking against the ground as Loki's power is unleashed. You could say this is karma but...well...even so, Pete manages to get back up, clearly in pain and not enjoying this situation, but not dead or mutiliated.

He breathes out his nose, a puff of smoke billowing out of it. "What is this? HEY HEY WHAT IS THIS!"

Awakening is your ... death knell??

"H--hey...!" PEte says. "I don't wanna die!" He starts to panic. "I mean geeze, worlds falling and the heartless is one thing, but KILLING? That's way dark!! And unpleasant!" He looks towards Brooklyn who is recovering.
He looks back to Will.
He rubs his chin for several moments, and then he rushes to Brooklyn and says, "HEY! HEY! I HAVE AN IDEA! WE GOTTA STOP THAT GUY BEFORE HE KILLS US ALL!!" His eyes widen in horror.

And then he reaches out and--
--and grabs for Brooklyn--
--and throws him at Will.

"T-t-t-take him! Not meeeeeee!!!"

Cirra Constantine has posed:
At first it seems to be working. Cirra is pulling darkness from Riku!

Cirra's eyes open, glancing around as Riku pulls her closer. No, no, no. This is deffinatly wrong!

The thorny vines creep up around, she pulls back against the bonds, but Riku's grip on her is too tight. The thorns squeeze, crushing the judge armor like useless paper mache. Her eyes screw shute as her fever rises again.

he can see that day, plain as if it were real. The day when she marched from the academy to her home town...

Nothing but ashes was left.

Cirra sobs. Not because she lost a family that she loved. She hated her mother, she kept Cirra away from other children, preached that they would hate her. Her father was a useless man that was never there.

But they were /her/ parents, the only ones.

Cirra slumps forward limply in the thorny vines. She does not really process Loki's arrival. In her mind she's somewhere else, reliving her darkest hour.

Zia has posed:
If it wasn't strange enough to have Riku change so dramatically from one moment to the next, the sudden change in Will is another thing entirely. Zia might not have known him from before, but this... this is something else. This is something that screams to her of some power beyond that of humans or gargoyles, or perhaps even Shadow Lords. While she isn't caught in the blast from it, Zia can feel the way it seems to tug on her heart, leaving behind an empty, hollow feeling. Could a power like that really shake the ties between people? Well, perhaps she's lucky that she has so few in that regard.

What she isn't lucky with is keeping out of the path of the rocket heading straight towards her. Maybe if there wasn't the distraction from whatever dwells within Will, and maybe if she hadn't been poisoned by whatever forces LEXUS had hit her with... oh, let's be honest, there's a lot of maybes, but it just isn't happening.

The explosion goes off at point-blank range, knocking Zia from the air like a rag-doll. She's unconscious even before her body hits the ground, all limp limbs and wings. No last words, no cries of challenge for another time, just the stillness that speaks volumes. She's probably still alive, though, right? This is a Disney cartoon. Afterall, you'd be surprised what you can live through, right? Right?

LEXUS has posed:
"I wonder..." LEXUS says, glaring at Skoll. "Perhaps you're right. But how long will you be able to control it... or is it controlling you?" The appearance of Jormungandr causes LEXUS to go on the defensive. No one can underestimate a Summoner... But he was not the target.

"Humans limit themselves. They do what they are told by their masters. They cannot understand what the future will hold, so they cling to the safety and security of their masters. Deny it all you wish, Judge. But you are nothing more than a shepherd for the sheep." Cirra runs past him, and LEXUS yells, "STOP HER!" but it is too late, she is already assaulting Riku... Or is that actually Riku? LEXUS blinks at the concentration of Darkness he sees there.

The King arrives. This draws LEXUS' attention... And his ire. "You just can't stop meddling, can you?" Oh yes, he knows about Mickey's exploits in Baron. Baigan waxed quite emphatic about it.

However, he has bigger problems to worry about. Avira comes striking with deadly force, Avira slashes through him, striking and leaving a contrail of LEXUS' shattering body. He yells, falling backwards into Avira's next strike. And then again and again and again, rending him with her assault as he is flung forward, crashing into the middle of the Heartless swarm. He looks up, and yells as Avira fires a massive blast that sends him flying, crashing into a wall, crushing and cratering through it. As the stone crumbles, LEXUS rises, much of his body hissing and broken. "I... will not... be destroyed so easily..."

And then the terrible presence rises. LEXUS looks on in shock and horror at the small child. "What? This wasn't in my calculations!?" He screams, moments before the strings of Fate around him are shredded, the Program screaming as he appears to begin dissolving to in the face of the terrible presence. "This... This is not possible!"

LEXUS falls back, glaring at the battleground... And then he laughs. A cracking edge enters his voice as he stares upwards. "No... This is amazing! So much power here in one place... And all of it bent to destruction! It is perfect!"

LEXUS rises, looking over his opponents and stretching out his hands. "Enough of this. Tonight... Your hope dies, along with your world!"

There is an explosion of writhing Darkness that streams from LEXUS, his bodily form cracking as if made of glass. Searing power roars from the Dark Program as a fragment of its true nature leaks out of the shell, blackness pooling out around him in an ever-expanding wave. Purple light streaks through the room in circuit patterns, seeking out those strong hearts, piercing towards them. Hungering, and Consuming one and all.

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
Morrighan could do little but watch dumbly as Will began to to....become something else. It was far from anything she had ever seen before. And she had seen a lot in her lifetime.

The ensueing wave of magic blasts her, knocking her over. "Aurgh!"

Struggling back to her feet, Morrighan looked to be ready to try and recover...and then came Negaduck. Crashing right into her and then pushing right off of her to go and attack again, paying no mind to the healer. "....I just.....I....." The dark elf just sighed and trailed off, not bothering to finish her statement. Her vision was beginning to waver in and out, but....

...But she couldn't give up yet. At the very least, that infernal detective had to go! "Die, you irritant! Disappear! Begone!" Morrighan yelled, sweeping out her hand and firing a concentrated beam of holy energy.

Avira has posed:
Satisfied with her efforts to lay waste upon LEXUS and a good chunk of Heartless, Avira turns towards Will, Cirra, and Riku, catching just the tail end of Riku punishing Cirra. Her eyes widen further as she sees Will get a spear of darkness to the chest. "WILL!"

Her eyes widen. What was that...?

Every fiber of her being shudders and she takes a shakey step towards whom she knew as the hobo king. "Will?!" It 'speaks' and Avira cringes. "Who are-no! Stop it!" It couldn't be. He couldn't really be something this horrible and hateful. Trying to bring him to his senses, Avira reaches out and grabs his wrist-the wrist that doesn't raise.

Then she feels it. Pure hatred shooting into her, trying to destroy her very existance. She remains there, frozen, staring up at Loki in pure uncomprehending horror and betrayal. Then the pain strikes and she lets go of the wrist, falling to the ground before him, writhing. LEXUS's darkness surges into her and, as the two destructive forces converge upon her, something buried within her flares to life.

Her form changes. (CUTSCENE: Price of Knowledge)

Shaking, she struggles to pick herself back up onto her feet, instincts screaming at her to get away from the unleashed Loki before her.

Cheating Pete has posed:
Pete pauses as AVIRA starts transforming too.

"THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS!" He cries. "Miiiickeeeey fiiix everythiiing!"

Brooklyn has posed:
That was not something he expected at all. Whatever happened to Will, well, it's a threat just the same. Loki is a god...Like Puck. Which means he's a threat, like Puck. Which means that it's going to be up too Brooklyn to stop both him and the main threat. Of course little does he realize he's going to wind up getting an assist from Pete, as the cheater hauls him up into the air and throws him at Loki. This can't be allowed to pass. Brooklyn sails through the air, and as he does, flips himself around in midair, so he sails talons first towards Loki. The plan is simple. Use Loki as a launch point.

Undoubtedly impacting the Norse god will be like hitting a wall, which is exactly what Brooklyn is counting on. There's too many threats left and too few heroes standing. With everything he can manage he pushes off of Loki and flies right back towards Pete, fists first, sailing through like a rocket.

He knows that they won't make it out of here. He's not strong enough to take on all of them. Goliath could have, but he's not here. He knows he's failed his city, he knows he's failed his mentor, and because of that, he's going to go down the way any gargoyle should go down. Fighting to the last breath.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
She survived!

"Zia!" The beast quickly calls out to the Gargoyle, making sure she is alright, making sure that she knows that he cares about her health... before looking before him again.

Skoll looks in amazement and dispair as Morrighan struggles back to her feet from within that sphere of earth, and stands up. A beast of instinct, Skoll immediately takes a step back, knowing that this 'enemy' he stands before is nothing to scoff at. An enemy that may hold greater power than himself. He lowers his head and body a little and growls at the woman, and storms forwards as the woman summons those holy swords. He raises a claw and...

The blades come forward!

One by one, with a sickening sound, they /stab/ into Skoll's body! One goes straight through his shoulder, a second through his stomach, then one where his heart should be! And a last one cuts a massive gash along one of his eyes. Yet the beast, even as his eyes seem to 'die out'... keeps moving. Darkness envelops him as he strikes out at Morrighan, sweeping his darkness infested claws along her - trying to catch her and claw a series of marks across her very /FACE/...

Before the beast falls to his knees, huffing, puffing, strained... but alive.

How can this be!? How can this beast be alive, after taking those kind of clearly /fatal/ hits!? Blood falls from his maw, and his eyes continue to remain glazed over and matted. But then its ears perk. He hears, and feels, 'Loki'. The voice that speaks, he does not know. But when it /speaks/, when it /tells that story/. The one cast from Valhalla! There is a story such as that amongst his tribe. The black wolf. The traitor! The father of the destroyer wolf that he now summons!

And the one whose power stabs into Avira and brings her to the ground. And then Negaduck brings down Zia!

The wolf, blind from one eye at the moment, slowly rears up. He stumbles one step forwards. "Avira...!?" He calls out to her. "Zia...!?" He tries to find them, but he can't. His sight is worsening. "AVIRA!?" He calls out again. "ZIIIA!?" It all happened while Will had done that! This is Will's fault! This must be Will's fault! The beast suddenly turns his head towards the man once more.

"The Foul Traitor!" Skoll GROWLS loudly, and then begins to slowly slump towards Will. One step... at a time. "ZIIIAAA!" But the gargess is unconscious. He tilts his head, he can't see them! But he knows where Loki... Will... is! "AVIIIRAAA!?" Around him, people continue to fall. And before him, LEXUS sends darkness his way. Waves, upon Waves, upon Waves of darkness. The beast howls in pain! The chains around his heart grow taut, tight, painful! Somewhere, the Gaudium Lords cackle as Skoll tries to fight for something he cannot attain in this battle!

Then he suddenly hears Avira's voice! Screaming in pain and agony! "AVIIIRA!? AVIIIRA!?" He calls her name multiple times. From the washed out colors and shapes, he can make out her shadow as it changes... splits... alters! As it becomes a Weird Soul!

The beast continues to move forwards, against /all odds/, one claw forwards to beat away LEXUS' darkness.

Then finally, he stands before Will, and his hand goes out towards Will's head and tries to grab hold... and slam him into the ground before letting out a howl, letting darkness be drained into his body... and then let out a massive THRUM of power in the form of a black wolf that tries to jump at LEXUS and bite down through his body in order to grab his disk and BITE DOWN ON LEXUS' DISK!

Riku has posed:
Riku gasps.

His eyes widen in sudden panic as the Voice of Evil rips into his brain. He gasps as if breaking the surface of icy waters, his brain's primal scream of panic banishing the calm resolve from his features and mannerisms. He staggers backwards in the act of beginning to scream, letting Cirra slump to the floor as he shakes his head hard. Something tries to dig fingers into his brain with an agonizing wrench. Flame explodes from around him as pain and hatred buffet him while something tries to drill itself back into his head. The panic, however-- makes it too difficult to get a handle on his thrashing mind. He bends double, sinking to his knees with his hands clasped around his sides.

The Heartless go into an absolute frenzy, scuttling away from Will and leaving a large circle of exclusion around him as they throw themselves at Mickey, throw themselves at any and all defenders of the keyhole with such desperation that they fall on eachother rather than retreat. "Stay back" Riku calls shakily to Tom, not caring if he listens. "STAY BACK" he screams, rising to his feet with a wrench. He remembers what he has to do now. He remembers why he was here.

He extend a hand towards the heartless thrashing at the barrier and trying to reach the keyhole. --Unfortunately, 'stay back' is something heroes don't do. So what does Riku do? -- Well. He joins the fun, showing truely-- once and for all-- that he has no common sense.

He stares at Will for a long time before the resolve comes back into his eyes. Not the cold, malicious calculation-- but a fatalistic determination.

The Voice of Evil must be stopped.

Riku throws himself forwards, throwing everything he has into a single strike. The one he had practiced. The one that was sure to drain him of everything, take everything that he had-- and then more.

He has a moment-- but he doesn't even say goodbye. There isn't time. If he thinks-- he will start to scream again, and he will be lost.

Special Attack unlocked: SEALING STRIKE.

Tom Magnusson has posed:
All things have a price. All heroes must fall. For it is in the price that heroism is exacted. It is through rising from defeat that heroes are born.

Tom's incredible mass slams into Zia at full speed. Something important cracks in his shoulder. A bone- possibly a split tendon. Something-- SOMETHING vital has failed. The rocket soars towards him. Tom grits his teeth using the last of his strength to detonate a canister of buckshot set against his chest. The bullets tear into the rocket, shredding it, detonating it early. Tom's arms spread, shrapnel tears through his body, flame sears at his flesh. And then, Morrighan's beam tears into him. It burns an inch-deep hole in the strong man's abdomen, tearing a tight black circle in his incredible musculature.

But then, there is a heave of a chest as Tom rises, despite all the pain. Despite all the agony and the lightning and fire dancing over his <span class="underline fg_y bg_n ++ erebrum.

I</span>" Tom rumbles. "I--!"

He steps forward, only vaguely aware of his surroundings. Blood oozes from every wound. But around him, there is a surge of light, blazing from over his heart. It looks as though there is a... A star. A star burning in his chest. A sun. A shard of the sun as the light pools and draws into his walking corpus.

He steps forward. When is foot falls, there is a burst of brilliant energy that splits the stone floor and travels at lightning fast speed, slamming into both Negaduck and Morrighan alike.

And with that step, he reaches his goal.

Tom drops to a knee, his shoulders falling, sluggishly, before Will- no, before Loki. He struggles to turn his head upward, staring at him. "Like I said," Tom murmurs. "Even if this world comes to an end, we carry it in our hearts. Always."

And then, he falls forward, motionless on the ground.

King Mickey has posed:
From within the barrier of light, Mickey Mouse remains focused on keeping the barrier up, even as it pains him to see his allies fall! Hell even Pete is calling for him to do something! However, as The Heartless begin to push even harder to break through, he does not falter from his position from the barrier! All he can do for the moment is rest and attempt to prepare for the next possible outcome!

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
"Hah! Take that, you uncouth, violent--BWEH" Despite her attack hitting true, Tom still finds the force of will to go bowling past her and Negaduck. The force of the crash was enough to send Morrighan flying.

Upon landing, Morrighan was laid out in a unceremonious heap, completely and totally unconscious.

Double KO anyone?

LEXUS has posed:
LEXUS looks upon what happens to Avira, and he blinks. "That was faster than expected. I wonder..." His maniacal pondering, however, is interrupted as Skoll rages. LEXUS instinctively deflects with his Disc, but Skoll, perhaps through some instinct, knows the true nature of things. The Disc is not just LEXUS' weapon... But also his essence. As Skoll bites down on the Disc, the Program suddenly realizes too late what he is doing. "NO, YOU FOOL!"

With the colossal amount of power put into it from the jaws, the Disc... dents, creaking dangerously.

LEXUS screams, his voice howling through the air in a modulated screech. "YOU FREAK! YOU ANIMAL! YOU LIVE LIKE ONE... NOW DIE LIKE ONE!" He screams, desperately, driving his hand into Skoll's massive form and unleashing blasts of overwhelming crackling force. "DROP IT! DROP IT! DROP! IT!"

Negaduck has posed:
And that dark energy washes over Negaduck, who is facing the pain before him. It's a minor one, but.. that shock wave of energy that travels towards the lightning speed strikes towards Negaduck, who leans forward to squash that light down with his darkness.

The duck brings his hand over the back of his head, then he leans over to steeple his fingers together. He is ignoring everything around him. Why? Negaduck is wrapped along his delusion.

Mwahhahaha Aahahahhaahhaa ahahaahahahahahahahahhahahahahaaahahahaa!!!!!!

Maybe someone may want to wake him up.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra sees Zia fall this is bad she's trying to get up but well her body is telling her to sleep it off then get the heck back up. Then Avira's plight catches her she watches in horror as her friend's body starts to twits. She watches as her body starts to twists. The snaping sounds of altering bones. All of it the hard breathing the utter pain beyond almost all understanding contiunes to happen. She'd been living like she was for so long now she's forgotton. At least till now.

Almost a year ago.

Deidra looked up at the strange being hovering before her, the spell? It been real? This wasn't some sort of hooply she gapes mouth open wide. She stammers in shock "You can't be real fair folk are a myth! They don't exist!"

"Oh don't exist what a foolish child you are. I what do do woth you? Oh let's see ah yes! Let's see how you deal with being something that doesn't exist little one!"

Her world begame pain as she was basically unmade and remade. When she woke up looked at herself screamed in terror and fled into the night not sure what he was.

Right now

She can only gimaces for her friend she can't do more than utter her name.

"Avira...."

Loki has posed:
Loki becomes the center of attention.

The god is impassive as Avira mutates, he cares nothing for her. Will, inside, screams...he screams and rages against his bonds...he shouldn't be awake. He is...he watches everything.

Pete freeks out, genuinely affraid, throws Brooklyn, "Ah...a Gargoyle. How quaint." he says, he moves, but the claws of the gargoyle draw blood...

t"Tch...still forced to this shell. I am still weakened by Oberon's cheap attempts to keep me from taking my revenge...no matter." he says, annoyed.

Skoll's rage is impressive, as he shouts, screaming everything he can at him, the power unleash tears will's body apart...but it wasn't enough. He stands back up, the wounds closing. He is still hurt, he is still weakened...but he is still alive.

Riku's blade comes, striking the God, and sends him back towards the world heart. Bouncing off of King Mickey's shield. The very presence of his hands will start sundering the magic, the two mixing like oil and satan.

The blade should have stopped him, but Loki, is slowing down. Energy from teh world heart is starting to wrap around him, but they are strands of darkness.

However, Loki's hand reaches out, aiming to grab Riku by the throat.

"Clever child...I see your master is gone. Funny, I see your goal now. Even more...you realized that I would have never been let out, if not for you. YOU freed me...I was never a threat, as long as that foolish child's heart stayed in control. No power had the ability to fully unleash me...well, save one." he chuckles...

"I will fall into sleep again...but you will pay for your choices, 'Riku'."

And then the power of fate is turned on Riku, aiming to shrivel his strings right then and there.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Blasts upon blasts rack against Skoll's body. Scars form as the darkness digs into his body. Yet his teeth remain embedded upon the metal disk - not further denting it in that moment... but not for a lack of trying. The currently mostly blind beast just keeps tugging, growling, trying to dig his claws into LEXUS. Yet the beast howls and yowls in pain and sorrow as it breathes in LEXUS' face, grimmacing. He will not drop the disk...

Not until he can go on no longer.

"BRING ~~ BACK TO M-- E! 'ZIA -- AVIRA!"

So the beast demands before he tries to TUG on the disk in order to 'throw' it... though the throw will end up beating against Mickey's beautiful barrier that he's put up to defend the World Heart.

Avira has posed:
"It hurts..." Avira cringes, clawing her way away from Loki and Riku alike, tears spilling from the corners of her eyes. Those eyes...they almost still looked human. They still had those brown pupils she had when she was normal, but the sclera-the whites of her eyes-have gone luminous yellow. "...so much..."

She drags herself out of the way, her weapon scraping loudly against the stone floor as she does so. Her head pounds and, very distantly, she can hear someone screaming her name. That voice. "Skoll..." she breathes slowly through her muzzle. "Keep fighting."

Negaduck has posed:
Oho....

There is a beast that has to be dealt with. His eyes turn towards LEXUS, who is getting attacked. On one hand, it would be entertaining to watch the beast rend LEXUS, he knows that there is a mission that has to be done. So with that said, Negaduck is turning his attention towards Skoll.

Negaduck holds that chainsaw close, the blade is tearing out as the duck is charging towards Skoll. Negaduck has a maniacal grin on his face.

"Mind if I... cut in..?!"

The chainsaw revs... NNNNNNNNGGGGNNNNNN!!!! The blade is seeking to rend the wolf. The blade, rip and tear.

Riku has posed:
Riku feels his body seize and his heart stop with the sheer power. He gasps and struggles, vision going black. His body goes slack as his threads are severed. But as they begin to unravel, they snag on the interwoven threads.

His life, such as it is, is interconnected with many lives. And the frayed edges stick, memories flashing through Riku's numbed brain at every touch. Slowly, Riku's eyes open to stare straight at Loki. He's so terrified that he's beyond it, past it, and there is nothing there but a twisting, writhing rage at the god for attempting to take away the last shreds of the life he knew.

If there is one thing Riku has, it is something that is neither light or darkness.

It is Willpower.

Riku /DENIES/ the Voice of Evil from ripping him out of existance. It can kill him very easily, and he'll go to his death gladly, but it can't rip out the threads that make up his fate. He screams and thrashes in the god's grip, warping out of the choke hold just long enough to throw himself at them again and punch the Voice of Evil straight in his smug, overbearing face.

Cheating Pete has posed:
Pete quivers in terror. He's never been the bravest sort and even if he has a sort of brutal cleverness to him, he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed either. He's a bully, and when there's a bigger bully he's never really happy about that. Unless that bigger bully is on his sad. And Loki is not on his side. This is made ever apparent when he takes down Riku.

"H...hey...kid?" He stammers out. "Aw geeze... this is all goin' pear shaped!" He looks around for someone who he can hide behind.

LEXUS is busy flipping out, something he does not normally do, and as such Pete determines that hiding behind LEXUS is not a genius idea at the moment. Indeed, he's being kind of meganomical, and Pete is aware that sometimes being meganomical is the last thing someone gets to do.

Also Skoll is reminding him of Pluto. Dangerous dog. Don't mess with that dog.

He looks towards Morrighan who is lying down on the ground. "Aw crud!" He says. "I guess they would hit a lady!"
He looks towards Negaduck who seems to be...laughing. Yes, Pete isn't going to go there either--but he's emboldened as Negaduck 'cuts' his way in. "W...well if Negaduck can do it, so can I!" He puffs out his chest. "No way I'm gonna let that d-duck show me up, even if y-you're a scary guy!" He points a finger towards Loki or, more accurately, Brooklyn's fists which are presently flying towards him. "Eep?"

Brooklyn bowls him over unceremoniously and Pete crashes to the ground in a heap. "ugghghhh..." He groans, rubbing his face. "O...okay. That's enough! I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!"

He jabs a finger at Mickey. "ALL YOU DOIN' RIGHT NOW IS LYING DOWN LIKE A BROKEN MOUSE! I EXPECTED BETTER OF YA MICKEY!" He stomps one foot. "I EXPECTED BETTER! Well if you're not gonna man up, then it's up to ol' Pete!" He looks back to Loki and shivers. "E-e-e-even if he's really really scary! But Riku's one of us, for badness sake, and we do the pickin' on people around here, n-n-n--not you! Not some jerk who got sealed up in some smelly homeless kid! No sir! If...if a homeless kid can keep you inside him, t-then Pete can handle you just fine!"

He gulps. "I hope!"

He turns and starts going ballistic, slamming walls with his fists, stomping his feet. He seems intent to bring the Labryinth down. Chunks of masonry and bits of wall and other horribleness come crashing down all around him. Of course, it's roughly unaimed, but Mickey, and Brooklyn might have some trouble here.

And so might Loki. Pete has some luck after all. Will his fortune beat the God of a Dire Fate?

"I'M GOING TO BREAK SOMETHING RIGHT!" He wails tearfully. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!"

Loki has posed:
Riku's life starts to become extinguished, even as he starts staggering backwards, closer towards the keyhole...

Pete barrel's down on him, "Damn mortals!" he says, trying to move, but the light and darkness keeps him contained, Pete runs right into Loki, sending him staggering him back and now is way too close to it to be good...

However Riku stirs in his grasp...

PUNCH!

Will laughs, inside...laughs and cries at the same time...

And then he flying towards the keyhole.

King Mickey has posed:
Events have gone literally gone to the most chaotic extreme that could possibly happen. Heroes are literally going berserk, Villains are turning into anti-heroes while others are running away right when sweet victory is within their grasp. It is MADNESS!

Meanwhile, Mickey continues to hold his ground within the barrier, even as just about everyone in the room is throwing anything and everything but the kitchen sink at him. Still the barrier holds. However, It is becoming apparent that The King cannot stay on the defensive forever. The mouse sighs deeply. His allies and friends have risked their lives, recklessly mind you, to save the World Heart!

With the chaos that has ensued, order needs to be restored to the battle field. The heroes need a plan. Mickey takes the time to consider his options as he surveys the battlefield. A few moments later, The King drops to one knee and closes his eyes.

An aura of light, mixed with purple outlines and symbols of time begin to emit around The King before raising his keyblade and calls out, "STOPZA!"

It is as that moment, time completely stops and the scene fades to gray. With everyone suddenly motionless, The King takes the opportunity to provide one of his most advanced and powerful spells. Star Seeker begins to gleem brightly as he looks to all of those who have fallen and thinks, . o O (I am sorry my friends.. However, this is all I can do for you at this time.)

"EXIT!"

Then time resumes, as the light begins to swirl around each his fallen comrades before teleporting away from the battle, unless they decide to resist.

Meanwhile, Mickey stands firm once again and calls, "All heroes remaining, form on to me within the barrier! We will hold the line!"

Brooklyn has posed:
This isn't over. This can't be over. Brooklyn will not allow it to be over while he still breathes. Everything is starting to come down now, running the chance to bury all of them in the Labrynth. At least then that would keep everyone up top safe. A chunk of celing smashes onto the back of Brooklyn's head and knocks him to the ground. The gargoyle does not move for a few moments, aparently knocked out by the blow, but then he stirs, "I can't let this end this way." He says, to nobody, as he stands, and points a finger at Pete, "STOP!" He roars out, hauling back to smack Pete across the face. To slap some sense into him. To make him stop his tantrum and realize that he's about to bury all of them under several feet of rock and concrete.

Of course regardless of if the slap snaps Pete out of his tantrum, it won't really matter much to Brooklyn, as he'll haul back and throw a right handed haymaker at Pete, trying to knock him for a loop. And once said loop has been knocked for, a finishing blow, as Brooklyn leaps to the air and thrusts both of his feet forward, to knock Pete back away from Mickey and the shielded area. Protecting this until the very end.

LEXUS has posed:
"I didn't do whatever happened to them. why not consult those who caused it?" LEXUS responds, twitching. His form crackles and statics out occasionally. It seems he's reaching a terrible limit. "Perhaps I can study you both. I might be able to analyze the results, flip a few bits... Yes, come to my quarters! I'm sure it would be /fascinating/."

And then Negaduck cuts in. LEXUS yells, frustrated. "FOR THE LOVE OF BAUD, NEGADUCK! CAN'T YOU EVEN KILL A SIMPLE WEREWOLF?" He thinks for a moment, however. "No. You're special, wolf. Nothing should have been able to take that much punishment and live." His Disc goes flying, bouncing off of Mickey's barrier. Finally, he pulls it back and sweeps it around his back once again, regaining control.

Time stops.

Time resumes. Many heroes are gone, spirited away to safety. LEXUS narrows his eyes. "I will no longer accept your meddling, Keyblade Master!" LEXUS yells. "I WILL BREAK YOU!"

Hands raise, and Darkness in unleashed. Yellow eyes open as Daemon Heartless swarm, lashing out at the command of the Shadow Lord and striking out at Skoll, Brooklyn, and the King all at once in their massed assault. As they do so, he brings up his hands, hurling bolts of debilitating, horrible green light at the heroes. "You will not stand forever!"

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
That voice! The ears on the sorrowful wolf perk. He heard her, it was her voice! Avira! She spoke his name! The beast growls, then whines again like a sad dog... she's in pain! She's in so much pain she says, but she wants him to keep fighting. His heart is twisted either which way... to take her from this place... or to do as she asks him to!

Then suddenly, a violent pain! Negaduck's chainsaw dances across Skoll's back! The beast tries to turn around, swiping at him, breathing a massive howl out that in that very moment, brings a bird of flame to life. The entire cave is lit just for a moment, as the firebird known as Phoenix breathes through the air and carves its way through Negaduck's body before flying up the hole that the Jorgamundr had made not moments ago!

"I... MUST FIGHT..." The beast roars. Avira asked him to fight! He must fight for her! For this world! Because...

Because he didn't win for his world... and it ended up being destroyed. All that trust had been put into him that day, and he'd been unable to do it. So in a way, he is trying to make up for that now.

As for the timestop... it goes unnoticed of course.

But Skoll does hear Mickey's words. But... he doesn't move. "Sorry Mister Mouse... I can't move anymore... my legs..." His legs are shaking. "They're not responding."

And that's when LEXUS brings forth the waves of Daemon Heartless. Skoll angrily stares at LEXUS as he's grappled and pulled away; "I am just a Werewolf!" Skoll lies, before the waves of Daemons get him close to Avira. From her voice, he'd read where she was. It's her he grabs, before a portal of darkness suddenly opens for all to see... and the beast pulls her through in one desperate moment using sheer armstrength, will, and a little push from the Daemon heartless...

Who knows where these two will land...

Riku has posed:
The Heartless advance. -- Great cracks begin to form across the surface of the vault, pieces of rock raining down onto the chamber as the heartless slam against the barrier endlessly like the tides.

Pull back. SLAM. Pull back. SLAM. The light flickers and the shadows grow deeper with each slam. The pulsing rhythm of the keyhole becomes ever more frantic. When Riku and Loki slam into the barrier, plunging towards the barrier and the keyhole- it flares up in a golden corona and swallows them. There is a great flash of light as they are consumed--

And the light goes dim in the Vault. It doesn't come back to it's full strength again, struggling erratically as the heartless slam and slam and SLAM and SLAM into the barrier.

Cheating Pete has posed:
"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!" Pete shouts.

BROOKLYN gives Pete a slap so powerful that it actually knocks him into a calm state. He blinks a few times. He blinks and looks up as concrete is tumbling down around them, and then says, "I'm... I'm so calm now." He says. "I feel so...collected."

Then BRooklyn slugs him a second time.

"URGGHH!!!" He says before he is clobbered in the chest and sent spiraling backwards. "AIEEE!!" He shrieks and crashes face first into the ground.

"Urggghhh..." He groans, rubbing his head. "Where'd the kid go?

Cheating Pete has posed:
"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!" Pete shouts.

BROOKLYN gives Pete a slap so powerful that it actually knocks him into a calm state. He blinks a few times. He blinks and looks up as concrete is tumbling down around them, and then says, "I'm... I'm so calm now." He says. "I feel so...collected."

Then BRooklyn slugs him a second time.

"URGGHH!!!" He says before he is clobbered in the chest and sent spiraling backwards. "AIEEE!!" He shrieks and crashes face first into the ground.

"Urggghhh..." He groans, rubbing his head. "Where'd the kid go?" He asks, looking towards where they just vanished through. HE looks towards the Heartless, seeing them slam again and again into that barrier.

"Aw shyucks!" He says. "Y'better get outta here, this world's gonna be toast any moment now!" He opens up a dark portal behind him. "Heh heh..." He chuckles. "Got it!" He turns back to Brooklyn and bows mockingly towards him. "Guess we won this one!" He may have evaded the STOP magic but he doesn't stop the heroes from leaving. He's an old school bad dude after all. Old school bad dudes don't get this sorta thing.

He jumps into his portal and winks away.

Negaduck has posed:
"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP YOU DIGITAL DORK! I AM TRYING MY HARDEST SO SHUT UP!" Negaduck says this in the midst of the bird o flames consuming him. Negaduck is snarling angrily..

Time stop.

See that angry look on his face?

Mickey had time to escape with the others.

Unpause.

Negaduck is swinging the chainsaw around, angry and just angry. He calms down a moment later, he can see that the light dims at the vault. And the heartless move forward..

Deidra has posed:
Deidra isn't aware of what's hapening after Mickey casts Stopza. Zaworldo stops and she's frozen in place. Then Mickey casts EXIT and she'll find herself somehere else hurt battered alive and likely with most of the othere right?!

King Mickey has posed:
The combined effort of LEXUS and The Heartless begins to push The Light barrier to its absolute limit! The constant onslaught of the heartless beat relentlessly against it, causing Mickey to start losing his footing! The barrier is not going to stand for long and by the way things are looking, neither will the vault itself!

Just then, Mickey glances up to watch the forms of Riku and Loki smash into his light barrier, shattering it in full!

As much as he hates to do it, Mickey makes the call! He turns to Brooklyn and says, "This area is lost! We have to retreat to higher ground!"

The King looks to the fallen form of Skoll and then turns back to Brooklyn, "I'll create us a path through the heartless horde! You grab our other fallen ally!"

As the house begins to come down around them, The Mouse wastes no time inacting his plan. He rushes forth into the fray as the combined heartless horde vicously claws him! The beams of darkness equally take their toll, causing him to falter though he must press on!

The Keyblade Master sees it fit to inact some damage of his own! Slashing through the heartless, Mickey leaps into the air heading directly for LEXUS, "You want to prevent my meddling huh?! How about I return the favor!" and unleashes a barrage of slashes from his keyblade against the rebel program!

Riku has posed:
The unstabilized light starts to quaver as a great chasm opens up in the ceiling, connecting the hole made by Giant Snake with the rest of the room.

The stone shards shatter to dust as they hit the floor. Everything starts to lose definition, black sand running down the walls in thicker and thicker streams as the Vault literally starts to dissolve as the light and the barrier struggles to presevere against the darkness. When it shatters, the feeling of dread held by the heartless host starts to magnify, growing greater as a tide of darkness surges forth.

And as the King fights against LEXUS.. the whole world seems to seize--
R% The heartless spread, beginning to consume the city instead of just inhabiting it, crawling out the whole in an endless stream to take their hunger out on a now unprotected Manhattan.

The Light of Manhattan goes out.

Negaduck has posed:
1...
...2...
...3...
...4.

1 2 3.. Nega's coming for you...
1...
...2...
...3...
...4.

1 2 3.. Nega's coming for you...

Negaduck is stalking for the survivors with a chainsaw to the ground. That chainsaw.... *revs*.

Here's....NEGA!! MWHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAAHHAHAHAA!!!!!!

Brooklyn has posed:
I'm sorry Golaith. I've failed you. I've failed everyone. No...Not everyone. Not yet. Brooklyn had been buried under Heartless. So many of them, so overwhelming. So hopeless. But there's always hope when there are people willing to stand for it.

The roar that echoes out from under the swarming heartless could be enough to rattle the walls, as Brooklyn surges out from under them, sending his attackers flying in all directions. Pete had fled, but the mouse was right. There were too many, and the defenders were too few, and too weak, to continue this fight. The red gargoyle rushes towards the fallen werewolf, scooping Skoll under an arm, as he sweeps as many of the heartless away from himself as he can, turning to run back towards Mickey, even as the light goes out. It pains him to see that, but this isn't over yet. Not by a long shot. They need to escape so they can plan a counter assault. But first they need to escape.

Brooklyn takes to the air, for as short a distance as he can, before he swoops back down next to Mickey, holding the injured werewolf still, as he glares at LEXUS and Negaduck, "You may win this battle, but the war is far from over." He looks back to Mickey, "Whatever you're gonna do, do it quick."

LEXUS has posed:
LEXUS turns as the King strikes at him for true. "Come, Keyblade Master! Show me your power!" LEXUS taunts... And takes the weapon right in the chest. He gurgles for a moment, staggering as the holy power of the Keyblade slams through him, disrupting his form.... But this also means Mickey is point blank. He raises a hand, and a thin spear of viral light punches straight through Mickey in response.

He staggers backwards, letting the Keyblade be dragged out of his form, and he looks down at the King. "You never had a chance, King. Better luck next time."

He turns away, feeling the destruction of Manhattan commence. "Negaduck, let's go. They can't stop it anymore, it's beyond the critical point."

Negaduck has posed:
And the darkness leaves Negaduck, "Right..." He looks pretty pleased, and then he ses the fallen white mage. He walks over to scoop her over his shoulder, then he looks back at LEXUS, "Got 'em." And Negaduck starts to leave through the dark portal.

King Mickey has posed:
While it was a valliant effort, it was all for naught. The King's gambit once more failed to pay off in the end, as LEXUS jams his virtual spear right through him!

Once more, The King of Disney Castle falls to the forces of darkness, hitting the ground with a sickening splat. Blood oozes from his wounds as the rest of The Vault crumbles around him. His vision begins to grow dim as the villains flee the scene, leaving him to his fate.

The cavern finally collapses and once more, the King descends into darkness. Talk about tough luck having to fall into the depths of blackness twice within a 48 hour period.

However, his sacrifice was not completely in vain. Even as he descends into the dark, He once again knows the others are safe and with that knowledge, he can sleep peacefully.