The Hunt [C]

[Wilder~Light]

The air began to disintegrate in the middle of the Great Maw, dissolving away to reveal a black hole through which stepped the cloaked warrior Light.

Breathing in deeply, he smirked as he looked around at the giant empty space, surrounded on all sides by high cliffs. He could sense the Darkness to his back, no doubt where the castle lied in wait, the infernal place where all the fakes had been made, and in consequence, the artificial servants that served them. In front of him, high up on the chasm, he could hear the hustle and bustle of the town, full of normal people whose whole world had been thrown upside-down by the fool’s experiments.

“So dear brother, I’m heading for the castle first to research those fool’s experiments in more detail. Would you like to join me, or perhaps would you get more entertainment from searching the Town?” Asked Light to Shadow without even turning around.

Please check often for changes even after all 6 participants have entered.

[thaed]

From the shadows that were cast by the tall walls surrounding the Great Maw area, a set of skeletal hands ripped open a space. From that space, the tall black mirror materialized. Shadow could be seen riding his throne until finally, it disappeared with the snap of his fingers. The skeletal servants that pulled the throne and the very throne itself vanished into the mist beneath him, surrounding him, seeming almost a part of him.

As he stepped out of the mirror, the dense glass broke, the shards that fell to the ground disintegrated before reaching solid floor. Almost as soon as he had emerged, he was greeted by words from Light. After a moment of internal contemplation, Shadow responded.

"Hmmm..." He began, lifting one gloved hand and closing his eyes as he placed his forefinger and ring finger over them. He slid them down the eyes, the middle finger running along the length of the nose until finally, two circular solid black orbs of glass stood lodged in the holes that covered his eyes. If one were to look into the face of Shadow, they would not be able to see past the orbs of glass. Apparently, if one could not see in, one could not see out.

"I would join you, Light, but I'm afraid I will not be allowed to." Said Shadow as he walked to his partner's side. "I am sure that your trip will not be a peaceful one if I do not stand guard...at least for now. If you return and do not find me here, I have begun my search upon realization that no threat is evident." He finished. Shadow turned around, peering at the castle in the distance.

[Wilder~Light]

Light nodded. “Very well. Now then, I’d say a distraction should be in order, something to keep our little friends in the town busy and let them know that they are not safe even in these peaceful times.”

As the last syllable left his lips, four lights appeared in the air and began to swirl into a vortex before colliding together, the small explosion of light fading away to reveal his chained LockShield, levitating in front of the warrior.

“While these fools may not be strong enough to waste the energy using our mystic weapons on, we can at least let the pests have some fun. Who knows, maybe something interesting will happen…”

The shield floated in-between the two fighters, spinning slowly before stopping, the front looking at them as Light moved toward it, placing his palm upon the weapon.

Suddenly energy sparked outwards from the shield’s four points, etching a large black pattern into the very air, the very same symbol upon the two warrior’s backs. A brilliant white light abruptly split the glyph in two and it slowly began to open, like a large door leading to hidden treasure, and great danger…

Just as the door barely reached open a foot wide, a pair of solid white eyes looked out from beyond the darkness that it revealed. A soft growl was heard and a reaction went off, hundreds of white eyes appearing rapidly, all staring at the opening, giving an eerie illumination to the darkness beyond.

Slowly the first being began to crawl forward, the light finally revealing its form as it passed through the makeshift door. It was hunched over, walking on two legs, but its long arms were just short of the ground below them. Its skin was a dark silvery color, some areas darker, some lighter. Even though it was unbelievably thin, its body was pure muscle, each movement causing different areas to tighten and stretch.

It had short spines running from the top of its head all the way down its back, large ones sprouting from its shoulders. Its face was stretched thin, its mouth constantly hung open with a slight amount of drool running down its cheeks, a display of constant hunger.

Even before the first one was completely out, more came, following closely.

Light looked at them with disgust, but at the same time, with a slightly amount of pity. While they all looked the same now and are so annoyingly mindless, before, before they were…

“Go.” Commanded Light as he pointed to the town, high up behind them. Dozens of them had come out now, and all of their heads turned to where he had pointed. “Fight them, kill them, do what you Husks do best.”

With a screeching howl, the creatures flooded out of the gates, swarming outwards and running towards the town on all fours, their speed increasing with every second as they ran up the cliff, their hands grabbing rocks and using them to propel themselves up higher and higher, closer to their feast.

Light turned to Shadow and sighed softly as the gate began to close and fade away, a few last beasts managing to squeeze through. The LockShield floated next to its owner before dispersing into light once more.

“I’m going to go hunting now brother, I hope you get at least one worthy opponent.”

Nodding his head slowly to the other warrior, Light’s eyes glowed brighter as he looked back up, focusing on the castle as he suddenly disappeared, running swiftly towards his goal.

[thaed]

Shadow didn’t even have to look behind him, he knew what Light was doing, but as the creatures began to exit, he did turn around to view them face to face. He hated them for their annoyingly primitive minds, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of sorrow for what they were.

There were dozens upon dozens emerging from the portal, all heading out of the Great Maw with that sad look of deranged hunger fresh on their faces. As they climbed, Shadow turned away, looking at Light who informed him that he would be leaving now. Light's hopes were mirrored by Shadow as he spoke.

"And I wish for a worthy opponent as well." And with a slight bow from Shadow, Light set off at a graceful run toward the castle far ahead. Shadow walked toward the end of the Great maw. The tall, colliseum-esque walls that surrounded the area came to an end here as they parted to allow a route to the castle. Standing in front of this opening, not within it, Shadow faced the Great Maw and waited for that worthy man who would no doubt lose his life on this day.

Directly behind him, the green mist had risen slowly like the smoke that it was. It formed a wall that would not permit entrance to the road that led to the castle. Well, sure you could pass through it, but if you were smart you would not want to walk through a wall of thick, green mist.

[Wilder~Light]

The narrow walls of the gorge began to dwindle away as Light approached the castle. He had stopped his run moments earlier, wishing to examine the immense structure for a few seconds before taking it apart.

He saw various people wandering around it, surely people examining the castle and its contents, others more than likely guarding it from outside dangers, namely Heartless and Nobodies. Little did they know of the third force about to endanger their lives.

Whispered words left Light’s lips and suddenly the earthly walls began to groan as they reached for one another, closing the pathway and further preventing anyone from approaching the castle, or escaping…

Having seen the strange phenomenon and assumed that it came from the approaching warrior, guards began to gather, getting together their weaponry and forming lines, yelling out a warning to Light.

“Fools…” Muttered Light, reaching inside of his coat. “Come, Blight, let us have some fun…”

A strange, sickening sound softly resounded in the air, barely noticeable even in close proximity, let alone above the hollering of the guards in front of him. Pulling out his spiked bow, he aimed the front of it towards them as a white light connected its ends.

“Fire!” Called out one of the guard leaders, warriors on balconies high above taking his signal and firing their weaponry, bullets and arrows flying past him, many mysteriously on mark, but never impacting.

Touching two gloved fingers to the makeshift string, a large arrow appeared in the middle of his bow before firing off, splitting into a dozen smaller arrows and seeking their targets, slamming into many of the guards and throwing them back, streaks of red painting the ground before them.

“Come on, come all, give it a try, I dare you…” The warrior called out as he blasted off another arrow, this one condensing tighter before slamming into the Castle’s wall, destroying it for an improvised entrance. “Nothing is going to stop me from getting what I seek…”

[ukiyo]

Taka was at this cliff they called 'The Great Max'. Why, he would never know. All it was was a cliff that overlooked a massize castle that belonged to, ah, yes, Maleficent. She had been defeated by Sora, a keyblade weilder. She supposedly had been a powerful witch. Taka wondered how she had been defeated...huh. It didnt really matter now. She was gone. She wasnt making a return, he was extremely sure of that...But, he had been wrong before. Maybe she would, or, maybe something greater.

Crunch, Crunch

Wait, footsteps. Entering through the narrow cavern behind him. He jumped up, his halberd in his hands, looking behind him. Well, in front of him now. There was someone there, a person apparently. They had a green mist behind them, blocking the entrance. Not good. Not even close to it. Would he have to figt them?

This person had a mask made of, porcelian? They also had a black cloak, why would someone be wearing that strange attire? It seemed rather morbid. Maybe they were. But, something wasnt right..That person's eyes...through the mask..They were trouble. The fingers leaking out of the long sleeves were bony and, skeletal?! Was this person an undead or something? This was starting to be a rather strange encounter. What was this person? If they were even a person at all?

Should he attack? That thing had a strange feel about him. It was, intimidating. Power was just radiating off of him, he could nearly feel it down to his bones. Something told Taka that if they werent equals, this guy surpassed. Wait, what was that behind him, mist? What the? This wasnt good. Taka had to make a stand, that was clear now. But, how? How should one face evil? Or, whatever it was? This posed another question, if he lost, would he end up like Maleficent??

"W-who are you?"

[Shinn]

Inside Ansem the Wises study room Shinn had been flipping through pages trying to find information. Surley the scientist whos life work was the study of hearts had to have had some bit of information that would prove useful to him.

Suddenly there was a loud rumble in the room a chunk of the ceiling fell down near the desk. Books began to fall from their shelves as the rumbling continued.

What the hells going on out there? Shinn closed his eyes and began to locate the exact cause of the earthquake.

I see theres a large group of dark energy not far from here near the Great Maw. And two huge energies, one close to that old castle and the other near the Great Maw. hmph its been a long time since I've felt something as strong as this. I wonder who these guys think they are. Well gonna have to find out myself.

Shinn exited the study room and ran outside. Once outside he jolted to the direction of the being near the castle.

Whoever these guys are they sure arent playing around. What exactly do they plan to do? I wonder if I can benefit from it.

[Heroic Bilby]

Leon was typing away on the main computer terminal of the castle when the invaders made their appearance outside. He had been searching the database for any information regarding some specific minerals when an alert appeared on the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

'I hope that's a Heartless attack,' he thought with some amount of anxiety as he opened the window. Ever since the disappearance of the Key Bearers he had been on edge, and for good reason. Sadly those reasons were coming true even as he read the message.

Two video feeds were pulled up on screen, one showing a playback of an anomaly that occurred in the sky before numerous beasts piled out into the town of Radiant garden, the other showing that was happening in the residential area at that very moment. The warrior could only grit his teeth tightly as he watched the feared invasion begin.

"Tron, full power to the town's automatic defence systems!" he instructed aloud as he began typing furiously. Soon enough the Husks that were rampaging towards the are he had worked so hard to rebuild would have more than just the local warriors to contend with, but the pillars of light energy that would constantly spring up to attack them as well. The defence systems were good enough to handle the heartless and Nobodies that sometimes sprung up around town, he could only hope they could handle this as well. At the very least they could would be a constant thorn int he sides of the invaders.

As quickly as he could while trying to ascertain the safety of the townspeople Leon requested the mainframe to locate the two masked individuals who had instigated this attack. He feared that if they weren't dealt with then more of these monsters could be called in at any time. One was located at the Great Maw, the other already engaged fighting the guards around the castle. Leon instructed Tron to lock the town's defence systems on to them as well, hopefully aiding anyone who tried to stand against them. Unfortunately for the guards facing Light it was already too late.

Leon's scarred face turned at the sound of a distant explosion in the castle, the result of Light's makeshift entrance. His hand lingered towards his gunblade for a moment before turning back to the computer. He had to make sure the defence systems were set before he could run off to face the intruders himself. These guys had defeated some of the greatest warriors in the worlds, after all. Radiant garden would need all the help it could get.

After making the last few keystrokes that would ensure Light and Shadow would have the constant assault of the Radiant Garden defence systems after them Leon brought his gloved hands to a rest. The warrior closed his eyes for a moment and lowered his head. He would remind himself of why he had to fight, and why he had to be stronger than he ever was before. This trial would not pass easily, but he had to stand and face it.

'I can't lose this world again.'

[Zero [Axel]]

Atop one of the tall cliffs of The Great Maw sat a dark attired man. His legs hung idly off the side as he stared the the bleak terrain that spanned for miles. Dark and baggy pants snaked down each of his legs. Embroidered at the base of each leg was a flame that trailed back up to the top of his shin. Black boots partially hid under the consealing cloth of the pants. A long sleeved crimson shirt covered his torso, greyish stitching of fire ran up each arm. Somewhat enshrouding the undershirt was an onyx work shirt. Each of its buttons had been latched except for a few at the top. Silvery chains tapped against the cold stone he sat on.

A light breeze passed over the cliffs. It was already drafty and sort of chilly up this high. The winds played with Zero's spiky, black hair. Fiery red hues stained some of his locks. Zero's attention was drawn to the to figures below making an abnormal entrance into the Great Maw. He couldn't entirely make out the details of the two enigmas but he tried listening in. Even with his drastically enhanced senses, he was only able to catch some of the conversation before the gales drowned out thier voices.

"Great power eminated from these two...And I sense a fight about to occur. If you should be drawn to combat with one of these two, do NOT take them lightly. They are powerful opponents, think wisely." said a boomin voice within Zero's mind. Most had called him insane due to this voice but Zero was far from insane. He knew how real this voice was and knew that his words should be carefully examed. Well, the voice was right. They did seem to be stronger than enemies he'd normally take on, so he'd use caution.

A large doorway had just appeared from nothing and out from it crawled wretched beasts. A look of disgust formed on his face and his eyes narrowed. The monsterous creatures headed for town but that wasn't was concerned Zero, it was the ones that conjured it. Their conversation seemed to end soon after and they parted ways.

Now the question was whether to follow the one who walked toward the castle or deal with the one that remain in the Great Maw...

[northsky]

The pilot dashed into the computer room, his homemade spear at the ready, and his breath uneven from his race up to the terminal. Leon was suppose to be up there today, and though he would not admit it to anyone, the explosion he had heard from the castle had his worrying like a mother duck. How Cid had managed to avoid the incoming danger on the way here was something he couldn't even explain.

"Leon!" he barked, pausing to get his breath. He glanced at the man, who had his eyes closed at the moment. It seemed Leon was unharmed, and had started the town's defense system. Tron should be doing his work now. The pilot rested his spear against the wall, easy to grab if the situation requires it.

"What's the situation of the town right now?" he asked, but slid in front of the computer, nudging Leon aside, his fingers moving swiftly. Pulling up the window Cid growled when he saw the monsters attacking the town. Grumbling, he pounded away on the keyboard, adding in a few extra things. He had already done his best on the computer in the town. There was nothing else they could do besides wait and hope things come out for the best.

"Leon..." he muttered, silently thinking. One of the cloaked ones was approaching the castle, and Cid could feel the vibration all the way from here. "All the defenses have been put up. Do you know where everyone else is?" The blond haven't seen Yuffie all morning, Aerith and Cloud were nowhere to be found either.

[owaz]

This isn't good. Tyke was in a dark place, all right. Everywhere around him there seemed to be loud noise; cries of terror, panting breath, and the strange noise that emanated from unseen creatures. Iron Cloud was aware of his limits and from just the mere sound of things made him think he was better off where he now sat, safely. Or so it seemed.

"Get out of my freezer!"

Tyke was grabbed by his shirt and tossed into the empty street, tumbling down a couple of steps before he realized he'd just been thrown out of his "hiding place" by an old anthropomorphic duck who inconviently had just locked himself in his own ice cream storage. Smoke rised from several of the nearby shops, and trash lay all about the ground, but there was no trace of life. Whatever had attacked the town of Hollow Bastion, the citizens had been chased off someplace else.

"Sigh... Now what?"

[thaed]

If one were to look into the eyes of Shadow, they would not know whether his eyes were open or closed, watching or resting. This, of course, was a great advantage. Footsteps were heard in the distance as the cloaked warrior peered forward. The slightly sloped walls of the Great Maw cast their shadows down into the area as little sunlight shone through. With each step of the warrior ahead, Shadow's level of anticipation and longing for battle increased exponentionally.

"W-who are you?" Stammered the young man as he discontinued walking. Shadow merely tilted his head sideways, examining his soon-to-be opponent. No answer came from his lips as he gazed into the man's eyes. Shadow thought to himself of several ways to end this man's life, smirking beneath the mask as he took a few steps forward.

Unlike most people, Shadow offered no warning. The typical, cliche thing to hear would be, 'I will give you one chance to leave, after that, I kill you.' But what fun was that? There would be no warnings: none whatsoever. As Shadow walked, he was not at all concerned with the man in front of him. Instead, he was watchful for every impression that could possibly help to explain the condition of ruinous splendour in which he found the world--for ruinous it was. He would much rather ponder over such things that concern himself over someone who would soon be dead.

Regardless of the fact that Shadow's head did not move, he could see the opponent sitting along the wall above; he was prepared for anything and everything possible.

[Wilder~Light]

Light looked at the bookshelf, his eyes roaming, reading exceedingly quickly as he flipped from book to book, checking their titles until one caught his attention. Reaching for it with his right hand, he held up his left as he sensed an approaching enemy, his bow forming an arrow and firing it, a scream ringing out as the blast impacted.

Carefully using his fingers, Light opened the book with one hand and looked at the page he had opened it to, his eyes flicked up and down the two pages, reading the printed words and scribbled notes. Sensing another presence approaching, he aimed his left arm above him, the bow firing off another shot, easily ending yet another life.

~Hmph, these fools are so weak I don’t even need to concentrate my energy, how pathetic…I hope Shadow is having a better fight…~ Complained the warrior within his own mind. ~Oh well, my research is more important than fun anyways…~

Concentrating more on the book, he used his thumb the flip the pages, reading more and more notes and thoughts, theories and ideas. Scowling slightly, the warrior flipped the pages away and read the name at the title page.

“Note to self, don’t bother with Bleig’s notes…” Muttered Light, tossing the book behind him.

Suddenly a small white object appeared next to Light and disappeared.

Turning to where the strange little thing had just been, the warrior passed it off as a weak distraction before another one appeared and moved towards him.

“…You must be kidding…” Nearly whined the warrior as the thing busted into energy as it approached him. Another appeared, but ended in the same result. Burst, after burst, after burst.

Sighing softly out of annoyance, Lights eyes focused for a moment and soon the objects stopped appearing, small lights appearing for a brief second before disappearing, the only sign of their continued attempts.

“Fools…”

Turning back to the shelf, Light grabbed one more book before turning his back to it, heading for the stairs and what lied above. While his research was important, he knew he should check the darkest corner of this world before moving on…

Posting Order:
1: Light
2: Taka < These 3 can post in any order.
3: Zero < These 3 can post in any order.
4: Tyke < These 3 can post in any order.
5: Shadow
6: Leon
7: Cid
8: Shinn


To make this real nice and easy, I’m just going to post the Posting Order at the end of each of my posts.

[/b]

[ukiyo]

This person was...deadly. Taka sensed it. If he didnt do something now, he was surely going to die. He needed to think. What was this guy? Surely not human, not with those fingers. Heartless didnt have that kind of radiation off them. Their aura was dark, and pure evil. If they were a nobody, they wouldnt have an aura...It was like a human energy signature, but yet, darker. Not evil, or good, but, strange...It was like a combination of all 3...He hoped they needed Oxygen.

He raised the Halberd, closing his eyes to channel the magic for a short moment. The radiation off the blade was starting to become visible. He hoped this worked, or else he was screwed. the blade glowed intensely now, as if the sunlight was reflecting off it from both sides. He focused his mind at the person, thinking about his general area around him. There, it was focused.

The oxygen within the area he was focusing was imploding on itself, becoming Carbon Dioxide. That thing wouldnt be able to breathe. The good thing was too, he could track him and keep the oxygen away. So, he should probably run right about now. He hoped this thing needed to breathe.

He needed a place to run though! The exit was blocked by that Green Mist, He ran towards the town. The lasts of those demons were leaving...

[Zero [Axel]]

"This is it. You must join this fight. The man down there seemed to alter the air around the antiform. Normal fire won't work within the area of carbon dioxide." The voice echoed through Zero's mind.

"Are you sure? Any other things I should know. Wait, what the hell is an Antiform!?" The Pyromancer replied. His eyes locked closely on the antiform. He began noticing more aspects of the fiend. The porcelain mask, strange. Skeletal hand, more strange. Creepy attire, that topped it all. Strategies already began forming in Zero's mind.

"All will be explain about the Antiforms later, depending on whether you live or not. All you must do now is kill that him. Be cautious when near the mist, I don't know what will befall of you if you get close. However, it might be flammable." Ifrit commanded. Ifrit was wise in his actions and words and always prepared Zero the best he could because if Zero died, so would Ifrit.

Zero nodded with a grin and he stood up. His gaze never left the eerie being. The Pyro's entire body turned a deep red, clothes and all. Within a split second his body dispersed in small wisps of flames and he vanished completely. After a few seconds fires materialized from nothingness and Zero reappeared from them. He stood in front of Shadow, facing the Antiform. He wasted absolutely no time.

He twisted his arms as fire crawled up his arms. His first target was the green mist. Small quantities of pyres gathered in his palms and he tossed one into the emerald smoke. These flames didn't need oxygen to survive so they weren't effected by the lack of air. If the mist was flammable, it would definitely catch blaze. As soon as the first fireball was cast he quickly moved. Being stationary was probably one of the worse tactics in battle.

Shifting placement, he almost instantly move from his recent position and remained a decent distance from Shadow. The other ball of flames that continued to exist in his other hand was thrown. It twisted randomly around in the air and traversed for Shadow's torso. On impact it would explode violently. The flames on his arms died away and he stepped back wards.

He began with light attacks to analyze what his opponent was resistant against. It intrigued Zero what was under that mask that the Antiform wore. It couldn't be anything pretty due to the fact that the man's hand was skeletal.

"This man behind you seems to be weak. If you notice that he becomes doomed to death later on, throw him in the mist to see what it's effects are. Until then, he may be of some use."

Zero's mind computed the words and he looked back at Taka but not long enough for Shadow to get an attack in without Zero noticing. If one looked closely, they could see small sprouts of flames jumping off of Zero's being. His Pyromancy was so advanced that he could even damage fire based creatures.

The longer he gazed at the Antiform, the more he noticed. The power radiating from it was massive and it would take more than A Pyromancer and who ever this kid was to take it out. Hopefully more help would arrive soon.

But to keep the Antiform on the defense Zero would have to keep up his attacks. He pointed his palms to the ground in front of him and flames bellowed out. A wave of intense fire and heat rolled over the ground. It literally melted the stone beneath as it poured toward Shadow. The wall of fire rose up enough to completely engulf the Antiform.