The Hero and the King...and the Princess.

[King Mickey]

[95]

"Kairi!"

Mickey seemed more surprised than happy. He heard somebody mention his name and then looked up from his hands, just to see a girl with much longer red hair than he remembered. Still, despite the weariness present, that was her pure-heated smile all right. After her last words Mickey made the exclamation above and then a relieved smile slowly appeared on his face. The little mouse dove into the girl, hugging her tightly around the neck, all former anger forgotten.

"We came here to find you!" he explained to her, still smiling broadly. "It's good to see you're OK."

[Iris|Kairi]

Giggles bubbled up from deep within Kairi as she was basically tackled by the light-weight mouse. She caught him, but plopped backwards onto her bottom from the force. She hugged him back happily. Now there was the happy mouse she knew!

"Came to find me, huh? We?" she asked, though she assumed it was Sora he was referring to. Sora was back? She laughed again anyway, happy his mood was light again.

"And of course I'm okay." she grinned.

[yami]

With the dusks encircling them, the two would be back to back. It would seem they were facing their first struggle together. If there was ever a time for the Keyblade to show itself, now was the time. "If we're connected then..."

"...Let's fight together."

Starting with a quick tackle from either directions the dusks weren't wasting anytime. The Duo would simply jump in order to avoid the strike, though they could only evade/play defense for so long. Likewise, more Dusks would emerge within the Sandlot; too many strong hearts had gathered in one place.

[King Mickey]

[96]

"That's right!" Mickey said suddenly, as if caught off guard by Kairi repeating his own word back to him. The mouse hopped backwards to the ground again and put both fists in front of himself, like he were pleading. "Kairi, it's Sora! I'm not sure what's happening to him, but he's not himself. Really!"

Mickey honestly had no idea how to explain what the Princess of Heart should expect to see. He only knew that he wanted to get her and Sora(s) back together.

"Please come with me, you've got to-"

The King was cut off by the appearance of more Dusks. His face turned to anger again and Kairi would see green flash in his eyes, far more clearly than it had earlier.

"Leave us alone!" he yelled, the Darkside appearing again as Mickey leaped out into the fray again. The appearance of enemies had churned the mouse's uncontrollable temper again, causing him to even forget about why eh wanted them gone: Because he needed to get back to the defenseless Sora.

[yami]

Through their teamwork and clever evasion, they had caused some rather comical moments to occur. Nobodies tackling each other, only to fall over dizzy, baiting them into walls, it wasn't bad for having no weapons to use at all. Though they couldn't stand around allowing the nobodies a shot at attacking them. Grabbing each other's hand, they'd attempt to make there way in the direction King Mickey had wandered to, only to find...more dusks.

"Oh man..."

It never ends...

[Iris|Kairi]

The girl's face contorted with worry. "What's wrong with Sora?" she asked, her heart beat flip flopping before starting to race. Was he okay? "Not himself? How..?--"

She too was cut off as foes appeared. She almost ran into one, since she wasn't going to wait for Mickey to lead her to Sora.

Then Kairi was...well, both startled and visibly shaken. Not by the dusks, either. The mouse in front of her seemed to...nearly transform. Not physically, but emotionally. His eyes...weren't his, almost. They were so angry. hostile! It was slightly frightening...again, this wasn't the Mickey she knew..but she'd deal with that later.

Beautiful Creation appeared in her hand, dropping low into her normal stance. She too raced into the fray, but not out of anger, but out of worry and experience. Yes, Kairi was actually a decent fighter now. She had to get to Sora...was he injured? She didn't understand what Mickey had been referring too.

Caught up in the fighting, the still somewhat tired Kairi was racing around between three dusks, doing a wide horizontal slash before jumping into the air to bring her flowery death down upon the middle dusk.

[King Mickey]

[97]

Mickey's actions were no less effective against these enemies than they had been moments before. The Nobodies tried to attack him, tried to evade him, and all of them failed. Without his reservations Mickey's fighting style wasn't as defensive as usual, such as when he and Sora(And Roxas... or... Melodia, apparently) held off the Red Skins on Eternaland. In that exchange though it became far more dangerous, constantly attacking everything around himself. Had he been any closer to Kairi she might have been in danger, even.

The workers in the area and a few of the kids present screamed and ran at the appearance of the Dusks. Everyone knew that these "outsiders" were bad news. All the better for them not to get caught up in the fight.

Sora and Melodia would descend the stairs hand-in-hand to see Kairi fighting the Nobodies, but to Sora she might not be the most eye-catching thing in the area(For a change). Mickey Mouse as attacking all over the place, but he was leaving a wispy trail of dark green behind him everywhere the King went.

[yami]

New developments, with Mickey's quick actions and skill and even Kairi fighting it was hard not to see them despite the amount of enemies present. It was hardly the time to be surprised either. If they stopped, the Dusks could easily attack them so instead they kept moving, keeping to the edges of the Sand Lot as best they could while still being out of Mickey and now Kairi's way. How the mighty had falle, Why wasn't Sora out there fighting the Nobodies.

How...depressing.

[Iris|Kairi]

The Dusks Kairi fought disappeared, leaving her shoulders drooping and her breaths shallow and quick. Her eyes looked around, only to notice, well....the mouse creature. The green trail... Kairi was a bit frightened.

"...Mickey?" she asked, avoiding new dusks as she watched Mickey in awe. Frightened, confused awe. She swayed slightly, then she thought of something. She could feel something...evil and not right. It may be the dusks, but it was worth a try. It would effect everything in the area around her, thankfully not Sora and the girl. She didn't see them.

Standing up straight, Kairi closed her eyes a moment and focused the light within herself. It was time she had a little Faith..

Besides, even if it didn't somehow work on the mouse, it was a valid move to use on all the other foes as well. There were so many..she had to use abilities. Her breathing quickened as Faith took place, her face paling considerably.

[King Mickey]

[98]

A magical shot of Pearl went through the sandlot, chasing down Dusks and felling each one it passed through before dying. Mickey himself cornered the last of them that had come down the stairs, originally chasing Sora, whichever one happened to be him or if they were at all, and dove in with a series of spinning flips. A few whirls of green and it was all over.

Mickey crouched with Keyblade in hand, triumphant again, but this time when he glowed an aura of green it was.... intense. it enveloped his whole being and did not disappear. The King stood and turned around, still covered in its eerie light, eyes still full of anger.

"Well!? Are there more of you!?" he yelled into the sky. "No!? Then don't come later to bother me again!"

As he yelled the aura was not dispersed, but rather added to. Smokey green wind spiraled out and up form the King, though apparently he took no notice. Green embers popped and crackled across the ground from where he stood. But then something else appeared beneath the mouse... long flower petals made of light.

These Mcikey did indeed notice, and he looked down, still angry, but mixed with curiosity as well. Someone as fats as he could have easily escaped, perhaps, but this was light. Mickey did not think of the light as a threat... but apparently it did not share the same sentiment with him right now.

The petals slammed together upwards, encapsulating His Majesty. As they did so there was a bright flash and waves of dark green energy spiraled outwards and away from the epicenter, as if banished by Kairi's powers. When the shining subsided Mickey remained, Keyblade in hand and no foreign green entities to speak of. The ruler looked confused.... but his frustration was gone. The Darkside merely vanished as he fell to hi knees and pressed his hands on the ground.

"I... what happened to me?"

[Iris|Kairi]

"...You...Y-you were all...green and evil. Your anger was..dark..." she gasped out faintly, using her keyblade as something to hold her up suddenly. The sound of the metal against the stone seemed louder than it should have, but moments later her weapon disappeared into a puff of sparkles, nearly sending the poor girl to the ground. "It wasn't...you.."

It seemed that light was something a little..taxing for her to use sometimes. Her breathing was unsteady, her blue eyes dull with dark circles hanging under them. Thankfully her hair was long enough to fall into her eyes, hiding some of the obvious signs of distress. Her body looked a little frail and was trembling slightly. Oh, and that pain in her chest! Each time this happened it was different. This time it was intense. She reached up to rub at the ache, though it didn't help any. She kept herself standing, doing her best to mask her "episode" from everyone in the area.

"..Are..you okay now?" she asked. She wanted to rush forward! Check to see if he was alright! She had used one of her abilities on him, which she thought she'd never do.

But she couldn't move.

[yami]

Astonished, that was the feeling of the "Sora's" at the present moment but another feeling lingered behind them. They felt useless, their friends whom weren't in the greatest of conditions fought strongly and bravely yet they couldn't do anything. Though more importantly, fighting seemed to worsen King Mickey's condition. It wasn't hard to see his temper flailing and the menancing green aura. Even if they misunderstoof it before, now it was completely clear. Making their way over to the two of them, they'd split up with Melodia moving over to King Mickey and Sora moving to help Kairi. Certainly seeing the two of them might cause Kairi to become rather confused but it could easily be assumed that Sora had just made a new friend...for now.

"Are you guys alright?"
"Are You guys alright?"

The synchronized speech seemed to happen again, though it was understandable considering the situation.

[King Mickey]

[99]

Mickey looked up at the girl, assuming she really was a girl and not just some unknown being in the shape of one, who called herself Melodia.

"I... seem to be," he said, sounding much like himself. The King pushed himself to his feet and looked himself over. Nothing physical remained... though his joints felt rather slow to move.

'What was that... anger? Where did it come from?'

Being back to his usual self is was rather expected that Mickey noticed Kairi's state and put her well being over his own. On sight the mouse started moving towards the Princess, though his movement was slowed down by how rigid his body felt. In fact, he barely made it all the way before he literally had to stop and recover just from that much movement. Everything felt so stiff.

"Kairi! What did you do? Are you hurt?"

It would be terrible to think that she had done herself injury trying to help save him, Mickey thought.

[Iris|Kairi]

She knew if she moved, she'd collapse. Honestly, she might collapse anyway.

"King Mickey...I used Faith on you...you should be okay soon.. It's an ability...I developed to banish evil for a little while.." she explained breathlessly, not wanting her friend to think she attacked him. She wished she felt better so she could explain better. What was happening to her? "...your aura seemed evil, so I tried...it...it worked, thank g-goodness."

Shakily she rose her eyes from Mickey to who was approaching her. The male of the two. Her vision blurred, but thankfully returned to being crisp.

...Roxas?

Her mind tried to wrap around this confusing information. Her brows furrowed, eyes full of confusion. "...Roxas? You look different...why are you here?" she mumbled in a quiet voice, breathing in soft huffs. She suddenly forced herself to act as normal as possible, though she swayed precariously. She forced a hesitant smile, ignoring the spinning ground and some of the pain. She shook her hair away and tried to look natural, though she still looked ill.

[yami]

With the strain from all that anger, his body pushing itself past it's limits it was only natural for his joints to feel rather stiff in the aftermath. Still, Melodia remained close to the King to be on the safe side and upon him stopping she kneeled down to look at him. With a quick glance to make sure he was okay, she looked over to Kairi and Sora.

Speaking of Sora, as he approached Kairi he was greeted as a different person entirely. Well maybe not different person but certainly persona.

"Kairi...it's not Roxas, it's me Sora. You okay?