The Hunt [C]

[owaz]

"Are you certain I'm not the one you seek?" spoke an unfamiliar voice from one of the three soldiers.

"Mhmhmhm, regretfully any promise coming from one as tainted as you cannot be guaranteed," came the voice again from another guard.

"So then, allow me the favor to test your worthiness!" This time the voice was far more cold and sinister out of the last of the undead warriors. A foul presence was filling the atmosphere. Even more dark and impure than the one known as Shadow. If it wasn't Tyke, then who could it have been? A fierce redness was filling Iron Cloud's eyes as the pigment from them seemed to fade. Just the mere comparison of human lives and favors was enough to anger him. How dare that man disrespect the dead? Allowing him to continue such heinous acts would not be forgivable. In honor of all that had been killed, Tyke would either perish trying, or defeat this enemy.

One of the guards near the room's entrance had gotten to its feet. At the same time, the three standing before the shrouded figure of darkness held up their spears and lances, not hurling them towards the enemy, but instead moving around him to form a perfect triangle in which they pierced the floor with the bladed tips in unison. Exploding from their bodies was a burst of rust colored red, resembling a cloud: an "iron cloud". It erupted from their eyes, their wounds, and their pores until the dead soldiers were swallowed; the iron cloud swirled quickly around Shadow and his rotating scythe, rather than engulfing him.

[leonbilby]

Leon was glad to hear his theory had been correct. Radiant Garden wasn't being taken over quite yet, meaning that they still had more time to prepare. Throwing their lives away now would just mean losing their chance to protect their home in the future when it was in actual danger. The former Squall Leonhart had no intentions of leaving Radiant Garden without him to defend it when the true time came, and he was sure Cid would understand now why he had declined an actual battle when before he had come with intent to see it through. The situation was better than they'd dared to hope, previously imagining only worst-case scenarios. But, as a leader should, Leon had examined for signs that the worst case wasn't the actual case and it had payed off.

Leon listened to his friend's words with some amusement at how frank he was, though not a crack of it would show on his face. He had walked up alongside Cid and continued to hold his gunblade in that familiar stance, ready just in case the blond had actually managed to anger the warrior enough to make him want to attack them after all. If it came to that Leon would defend himself and his trusted ally with all the strength he currently had. Luckily it had not come to that.

"I'll remember that," he said after Light spoke his last words of warning. He expected no less, really. Still, how funny that the ones the antiform had called best suited for thinking were also the ones he called fools with the same sentence. Perhaps anything but combat was foolish to them after all. Leon would have to remember that. "Light... my name is Leon. If we meet again, I hope to make it worth remembering."

Leon's words were full of truthful intent. He had been given the chance he'd hoped for, though he hadn't previously dared it would actually occur. To stand here in the presence of an antiform warrior without losing his life or needing to fight to defend his home from imminent demise. Now he could feel it with his own body, his own spirit, the strength of these antiform warriors. And now he knew something else as well.

'So the four that attacked really are the strongest antiforms after all,' he thought privately. Before they'd had no evidence either way. The worst possibility would be that these were mere advance scouts, but now he knew that they were the best of the best. 'I can feel the presence of their best for myself.'

Now that he'd felt it he was sure he was no match. In fact, he was sure no matter how much he trained his human strength or strategy, he would fail against this warrior if it were one against one. Luckily he had allies to fight with him, but even that wasn't enough. He wanted to also be able to protect his allies. This meeting was exactly the push he needed. He would be ready now. Ready to pay the price for power he'd refused to sacrifice those years ago. His past.

"So then, did you attack the Key Bearers because they were among the strongest our realm had to offer, looking for these great battles you all enjoy?" he asked after learning more about this antiform's personality. Both sides were now forming theories about the other, it seemed. "Seeking battle can't be the only reason you've come since you were glad to have found the computer and it's data. If we are to fight this great battle in the future and maybe even die in it, can we at least ask why this battle is upon us, Light? To know what you are and where you've come from? To know the identities of the ones we'll fight for our very realm against?"

Leon knew all of this already of course. At least, everything but the first part about the Key Bearers anyway. Still, with his rather perfect poker face and control of his tone and heart rate he was able to ask without leaving much room to interpret that deceitful fact. He was still planning to keep Ansem the Wise's reports a secret from them in order to protect him if they used the information. He hoped Cid understood and would play along, because if Light answered then they could use the information openly without fear and hope for another report in the future to help them again.

For now Light didn't play the part of any pointless invasion and had already stated aloud that he was of another realm, so Leon figured the timing for his chance to ask without it seeming suspicious at all was perfect. Whether or not he got an answer, well... he supposed that depended on Light's patience with him. And how much Cid might erode that patience, of course. Hopefully not too much more. By now the older man should be able to see that Leon was working the situation to their favour as much as possible without revealing too much, or anything, to the enemy. Best of all, Light actually seemed like the type who wanted a, reasonably, fair fight.

[northsky]

Light's laughter had further aggravated the blond pilot, and it took almost all of Cid's efforts to push back the anger and hold still. Instead, he clutched the smooth metal of the spear handle so hard that it seems they threatened to make small dents in the metal, his teeth grinding in annoyance all the while.

Apparently, Leon't little theory was correct. Radiant Garden was in no danger, at the moment that is. Being the rash man Cid was though, he wanted nothing that might threaten his world left alive. And Light was a potential danger. Leon's little small talks were doing little to push him back, but a little was enough. He stayed where he was, thumb stroking the metal handle, as if that would calm him down.

But thanks to his intense staring at Light's masked face, he saw something that Leon perhaps did not notice. Squinting, Cid made sure that his anger was not making him see things. Along the side of the warrior's porcelain mask, was a small thin crack that Cid was sure was not there before. Blinking again, Cid nudged forward slightly, his gaze boring down on Light. That cut was definitely not there before.

He glanced at Leon, wondering if the man had noticed it. "I see yer pretty agitated about the keyblade wielder," he suddenly commented. Light had indeed, been sounded angered by his battle. "Why bother to take them out, if they couldn't stop you?" He raised an eyebrow, glowering.

"An' I'm Cid," since Leon had already given out his name, Cid might as well do the same. "Ye won't be forgettin' that."

[thaed]

Ignorant fool; hadn't Shadow warned him to not start any quarrel between the two? It was pathetic the way people could be so stubborn sometimes, and Shadow detested those types of people. But, if a test was desired, a test would be given.

Shadow remained quite still as he observed what little happened in such a quick time period. One of the two guards who had busted through the doors had gotten to his feet as the three closer guards moved into a triangular formation around Shadow. From their every orifice erupted a crimson substance, obviously that human life-liquid known as blood...In this case, though, Shadow had already confronted this blood. He knew it was dangerous, perhaps even lethal, but why take any chances?

This was the reason that Shadow had set a few precautionary measures on his way into this room. Below the floor of the Cathedral they stood in was a room full of green matter. Being directly below the main source of Darkness in this world, the matter was about four times as thick as normal, not to mention four times as plentiful. It was left in the room below prior to Shadow's entrance into this room. He took action.

Shadow simply tensed every muscle in his body for a mere second, finally releasing them into limpness once more. With this simple bodily movement, the great amount of green matter that was shrouding Shadow completely had formed into a dome-like cocoon, momentarily upon him. Then, suddenly, it expanded outward: not slowly at all. It took on the speed of an explosion, racing outward with immense power as the plasmatic matter disintegrated the crimson matter before it even reached it. Surely, the three guards would perish as well, but the attack was not over yet.

The very ground beneath them melted instantly, being made of stone. The plasma explosion was NOT what would kill the standing guard at the door, no, not at all. The explosion would only advance as far as the three attacking guards, killing them and then returning to its master who now stood on that same disk of green as before. What would kill the guard standing in the room, and perhaps even every other thing, animate or inanimate, in this room, would be the green plasmatic matter below them.

Shadow commanded it to shift its state of matter, taking on the properties of the plasmic matter. It would completely destroy the floor of the room Shadow stood in and the floor of the room the matter was within. This would be nearly impossible to escape, seeing as how two floors below, a river of molten stone steps still flowed furiously. The molten floor of the room Shadow now floated in would rain only more molten material into the river of molten stairs... Every single thing that survived the explosion would fall through plasmatic matter, and if they survived that, they would still have to worry about the river of molten stone below. Escape was highly unlikely.

The initial explosion was not only an explosion, but a sign that Shadow knew Light would respond to. The explosion gave off a great blast of sound, resonating through the entire castle so that Light knew what was going on. They would make their exit very soon. It was only a matter of time before Light responded, more than likely showing up in this very room that Shadow now floated in. After all, he had promised Tyke that he would have Cid and Leon spared if he agreed to his terms...This was a test, after all, and since Tyke had agreed to play along, their agreement was basically sealed. Testing worthiness, something that both warriors had both simply done, was the ultimatum for Tyke's two favors.

[Wilder~Light]

“I hope for your sake that you do.”

His eyes closed as a soft chuckle was heard, his face turning and looking up at the large hole he had made for his descent, opening his silvery orbs as he examined it, small particles of energy still falling from it.

“They had something we needed, and since simply taking it would be ineffective, so we had to take everything to make sure we got it. Our goals are much more important than simple entertainment.” Spoke Light factually, but then his voice suddenly became very sullen, as if his very soul dreaded the topic at hand. “Our misfortune is yours as well. We are losing our home and we need a new one, unfortunately for you, yours is the only choice. What we are? We are you, the you that everyone tries to hide and push into the deepest part of their soul, the you that no one ever should ever see. We are unbridled rage, the basic instincts that you try to restrain within yourself. Where do we come from? Identical, but for one simple fact, that the Darkness comes before the Light.”

An indirect answer, but an answer nonetheless. Light loved little games to text his opponent’s mind, but this one had another purpose too. Simply answering the one called Leon would solve his question, yes, but this detailed more, gave him a larger insight into their true nature. Maybe it would put enough fear into them to drive them even further in their training.

“As far as my identity, my brethren and I have been blessed, or perhaps cursed, with at least at least three permanent names in our lifetimes thus far.” Admitted Light with a smirk. “I normally only allow one name to be known to my opponent based on his strength and intensity, but I seemed to have underestimated your will, and you appear worthy enough to know a more personal name, granted I was answering that other fool’s inquiry rather than yours, perhaps during our next fight I might reveal a different one to you.”

Suddenly the entire area about them shook and vibrated, a large explosion being heard in the distance above them. Light looked up, small amounts of debris falling through his hole and on top of him, but it all disintegrated into twinkling lights of dust mere inches from his body until all had landed.

“Well, it appears that my brother has finished his investigation, which means our time together has ended.” Stated Light as he looked at the pair, the strange crack upon his mask resealing itself once more. “Remember, get stronger, strong enough to take me out. There will be no second chances.”

His silvery eyes focused, shimmering as he suddenly broke apart, his body disappearing in hundreds of sections and disappearing into wisps of light, soaring upwards through his hole.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


In front of Shadow, amongst the green mist, millions of beams of light began condensing together, impacting one another again and again, each thin beam causing a new thread of Light to be constructed until finally he was completed, unharmed by the mysterious cloud.

“Hello Shadow.” Greeted Light, a smug sound in his voice. “I take it you had fun? Apparently not enough though, you left one alive.”

Without so much as a look, Light pointed his thumb behind him to Tyke.

“He reeks of that strange energy within those guards.” Commented Light, turning his head only enough so the corner of his eye could see him. “Better hope those guards keep me interested, I just might want to take a look at the source…”

Turning back to his fellow warrior, Light held out his hand and suddenly his LockShield appeared, floating to the side of them before spinning on its side, rotating faster and faster until it became a blur of white light then suddenly stopping, a gate appearing with the mystical weapon as its center.

“Come on, we’re going to be late. Besides, the freaks should be wasted pretty soon and this place will be crawling with nothing more than boring idiots.” Stated the warrior, as if speaking of such things left a bad taste in his mouth.

Turning on his side and looking at Tyke once more, the warrior debated killing him, but the realization that doing so could hurt his new toys, he left his thoughts to plan for another time. Glancing at his brother and motioning to follow, Light and Shadow floated through the gate.

As the last of their physical bodies passed the gate, the mist was suddenly sucked in, spiraling inwards towards an unfelt vortex coming from the opening. With the last of it gone, the gate disappeared and the LockShield dispersed into millions of small particles, raining down onto the floor softly.

Posting Order: (ONE LAST POST EACH)
Tyke < These 3 can post in any order.
Leon < These 3 can post in any order.
Cid < These 3 can post in any order.

[/b]

[leonbilby]

Leon Listened silently to the antiform's answers until suddenly there was a disturbance above. The warrior of Radiant Garden immediately wondered what had happened in the castle. He assumed Light's partner was the source, though there was also the possibility of it being the mystery person who led them down here. It could be due to battle or it could be the antiform finding something he wanted opened or destroyed. The RGRC would have to investigate the matter thoroughly later on.

Leon returned his steely gaze to Light as the dark being transported himself away in a show of his namesake. Light's namesake... the antiform had spoken of having taken on multiple names... of having ones closer to the truth than others. Leon himself had also given the warrior from another dimension a name separated from his original self. Funny how in his case, it was light and the other three themselves who had pushed his chance to restore the title of Squall Leonhart to himself far off once again. Still, such matters were trivial compared to the matter at hand. Leon would waste not a thought on such potential musings, leaving them as just that. Potential.

Leon's hands stayed gripping his gunblade for a short while before his body relaxed and his weapon made it's way back into it's sheath. He didn't have any gut feeling that they were being watched anymore so he would trust that for now. If the antiforms were really leaving then there was a lot that had to get done in their wake. Among those priorities was putting to use some of the brand new information Leon had mentally collected during this ordeal. It's importance was rivaled only by determining the well-being of the town. He and Cid had lost sight of what those black creatures had been doing since they left to confront the intruders in the castle. With the majority of the RGRC members most likely having been in town at the time he was feeling a mix of reassurance for the state he would find his beloved home in and worry for what might have potentially befallen his friends and comrades while protecting it.

"Keep following the Cavern," he said finally, turning his eyes towards Cid. The Gummi Ship expert was probably angrier at what just happened than even Leon was, though Leon wouldn't be showing any of his feelings for it anyway. When you got right down to it they had let the enemy waltz in, do whatever they wanted, and then leave on their own terms. Not exactly something to be proud of. "It'll take you back to town. If the black creatures are still around then come back and get me right away."

Leon himself then began to walk back the way they had come. Even if he jumped as high as he could he wouldn't eb able to go up through the hole made by Light in the roof of the cave. Where it led though, the computer room, was exactly where he wanted to get to.

"I have to check on Tron and make sure the security systems in town weren't deactivated."

Leon would listen to whatever Cid might have to say but then he'd be off, back from where they'd come and thinking hard about their encounter. Sure they'd let the enemy get away without even putting up a fight, but part of Leon was perfectly all right with that. The reason was simple. They had learned something important. Light had said what they'd wanted to learn about.

The soul. Not the heart, which he had passed off as unimportant, but the soul. Even if Light was happy about finding the computer room Leon wasn't worried. He knew the contents of Ansem's research was based on the heart. If there was any information on the soul chances were not nearly as much, and by checking what there was he could learn what they had found. It would take longer if Light had purged the system after he worked, but there were backups stored safely elsewhere just in case. Light shouldn't find much but now Leon knew something that was important to them and he could look for a clue to their secondary goal. But where could he learn more about the soul if Ansem the Wise wasn't the best source...

Suddenly Leon stopped walking as the realization hit him. Not Ansem the Wise, but Diz. It would have been after leaving this world that the sage would have started researching more about the soul, when he discovered the existence of the Nobodies! According to Sora the computer terminal in Diz's Twilight Town base was still completely intact and operational. If the data was still there and the warriors hadn't found it yet then maybe Leon could discover something they didn't know about.

It was a long shot, a real long shot when he considered that he didn't even know what Light wanted to know about the soul for. Had they attacked the Key Bearers for their souls? Ansem had chronicled in his secret reports that when the soul leaves the body it invites death, but the Key Bearers' bodies also disappeared. If that was really the case then could the missing bodies be a sign that there was still hope?

There was no time to wonder about such things right now. Leon began to run back towards the castle, aiming for the computer room. After checking on Tron there he had to get to Twilight Town as soon as possible. If the antiforms hadn't been there already then for all he knew they could be heading there next.

[northsky]

Surprisingly enough, Cid listened calmly as Light spoke, the only sign of impatience coming from him was his great scowl and clenching, unclenching of his fists on the metal spear handle. He wanted to get this small talk over with! But silently, he waited for Light to finish speaking, and perhaps butt in with another rude comment. If he couldn't kill the guy, he wanted to at least lower him a few level, if not for the good of Radiant Garden at least for his own enjoyment.

But before he could say anything there came a ruckus overhead, showering dust down on the three and shaking the ground beneath their feet. Cid glanced at the ceiling, wondering what could have caused the explosion. This little musing did not last long. Light bid farewell, before disappearing from the Cavern and narrowly escaping Cid's string of curses. He jabbed his spear into the place where the Warrior stood seconds before, denting the ground and gushing angrily about the absurdness of it all.

He did felt like he had been played. The enemies got what they wanted, infiltrating Radiant Garden with little to no effort, attacked the town and taunted the two senior members of the Restoration Committee, then left without the two putting into any effort on bringing them down. That had left a dent the man's ego more than his spear had scratched the earth beneath him. Clenching his teeth, Cid turned, his mind flitting to how the proud and protective Leon would have felt, before turning back to his little deflated pride.

There was no more fuss coming from above them. Either the one who had helped them had died in battle, or Light and his partner had left. Cid gave himself a mental note to go back and check that spot again, maybe find their savior. This lead to thinking of taking care of the bodies of the dead guards and then...groaning, his focus was turned on the town. Because they had left the computer room, he didn't know of their current condition and the monsters that have been attacking them.

Leon informed the man that he was going to check on the computer room where Light had entered from. The Pilot was a bit fearful of what Leon will find, but he merely nodded, now worried about the rest of the Committee and the town people he had left behind. Maybe it had been a bad idea to leave the town in the first place. But then again, he would have had to leave Leon to himself. Either ways, he would have had a guilt trip.

"I'll see you later," Cid called back as he head further into the Cavern towards the Town. "Tell me if you discover anything." The blond trotted into the Cavern, pondering the fate of his town.

[owaz]

Shadow and Light had gone, leaving behind a recovering world with fresh new wounds. Among those injuries was the great castle of Hollow Bastion, the floor before its great heart completely disintegrated by foreign power. Traces of a foul influence still shifted through the air, emanating from a figure in armor covered with red stains. The disguised soldier removed their helmet, revealing a young male's sweating face, red eyes, and a head of brown blonde hair. Tyke had once again faced death and come out alive. One may have considered it a fortunate event, but in all honesty, he was about to be punished.

"Failure! You let them get away!"

The voice spoke with an almost shrill, cold articulation that penetrated every aspect of the room. Blood was actually dripping from invisible veins in the walls, and a rain of red descended from the ceiling and down the newly formed pit. Iron Cloud's armor exploded apart from his body, and an red colored amorph was revealed beneath it, shaping itself in front of Tyke, going from three dimensional to four dimensional in proportion. The cloud, consisting of both blood and iron, had materialized itself into the humanoid form of a man. The man appeared to be dressed in a lab coat, with hair slicked back. His facial expression was sinister as he turned around to face the teenager he deemed unsatisfactory. Tyke was flung into the wall by an unseen force that pressed tightly against his chest, and crushed down on his ribs, making any attempt to breath nearly impossible. "This is what I get for sending an inferior piece of art!" spoke the male, and at once it was clear that the evil that filled the room was coming from this entity.

"Ve...si...pham," gasped Iron Cloud, the pain intensifying. Everything around him seemed nonexistent. All he could think of was this pain, the man, and the evil voice; nothing else mattered. Forget about being burned alive, this ghost would be the one to kill him if the situation did not improve. "You couldn't even maintain their attention! You have such low emphasis!

"They...took..." continued the boy, attempting to speak for his life.

Yes, yes, go on! Explain! As the man finished the sentence, he unleashed an even greater pain through Iron Cloud's body, and the teen yelled in agony.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! Now I see!" Tyke was released by the entity, as if they had recieved the message through pure suffering itself. Tyke sat uncomfortably in the doorway, aching still.

"Not so useless after all, are you? So they took the infected bodies with them to their whereabouts. My influence will be upon them in no time at all! Hah! Such miserable critics! Even my worst piece has the most mediocre talent not even they could dare to understand! I'll show them what true artwork is or my name isn't Vesipham! Vesipham! The Great Vesipham!"