Meddling Fools! [CLOSED QUEST]

[Rocket!]

[ This is a closed Quest Request submitted by Ignis.
Only Ignis and Ryu may participate! ]

The townworld of Radiant Garden was bustling as usual, with the telltale chatter of the shoppers and shopkeepers filling the marketplace with a fervor unique to this fast growing world. The breadmaker was readying the dough, Huey, Louie, and Dewey were scrambling at the boxes and boxes of items left to prepare for today's shopping upheaval, and the moogles floated nonchalantly around the stone center of busying activity, chumming it up with the patrons.

This was the Radiant Garden's marketplace-- no finer wares in the Sea of Stars!

The sun was high, the temperature nice and cool for an autumn bliss, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

And yet, a single shadow did cross the sky.

Very few people would notice such a thing as unusual. Even those that had noted a severe lack of clouds wouldn't register it in their minds-- clouds, you see, aren't exactly uncommon. The little autopilot sitting in many a busy shopper's mind didn't bother to recognize the oddity.

But two among the crowd didn't miss it.

Iryoku and Seira-- they both recognized the discrepancy immediately.

A quick glance skyward from either of them would reveal a figure. It was clad in amorous black, from the sturdy boots of fine make to the shifting dark cloak that hung heavily on thin shoulders. His face could not be seen, his gloved hands were impassively left hanging at his side, and he seemed to pay no attention to the rambunctious towners below.

And he was floating.

The cloaked individual was not to stay, however. Facing away, the being floated nonchalantly towards the Radiant Garden suburbs, full of houses and houses, and empty of shopping citizens.

That can't be good.

• Chase after the Cloaked Individual heading towards the Borough!
  He can't be allowed to harm the town!
  

[Ignis]

He ran. Out out of fear or anger, but with purpose.

Ducking and weaving through the crowd, Iryoku had to admit that seeing a floating black cloak was the last thing he wanted to see. Those in the cloak brought fear and war to whatever world they visited, and had no qualms about getting innocents involved with their antics. And considering their latest exploit on this world- the Heartless Invasion- seeing a return was not a good thing. Furthermore...

How the Heck are they able to fly now!?!

Breaking free of the crowd, Iryoku sped forward, summoning Rune Soul into his right hand. He hadn't come to this world looking for a fight, but like hell he was gonna let some crazed lunatic wage wanton destruction. They just finished building their first hotel here, and he wanted a nice place to stay, with a hot shower and a big, fluffy bed...and that would not be happening if this robed guy did anything stupid.

Putting on a burst of speed, Iryoku hopped onto a nearby cart before vaulting up to the rooftops, grabbing the edge and hoisting himself up with a mighty pull. Why can't the damn Cloakie just walk like everyone else, huh? Does he have a god complex or what, he sulked, running after the shadow. It hadn't occurred to Iryoku that he might be out of his league going at this alone, or that the cloaked one had already noticed him but was just floating along anyway.

But to be honest, would that knowledge change anything? Hell no.

"OI! Cloakie! Pull over!" he called out, waving his sword in an attempt to be menacing.

[Ryu-star!]

[ Don't bother, Ignis, my friend! Seira's here to save your over-enthusiastic butt! ]

Seira had come to a realization.

She was just like ice cream.

Not in the sense that people enjoyed licking her, or that she was sold through windows in the side of vans or anything. No, it was more because of how cold she was. She’d always been. This cold, unapproachable individual who hurt those that tried to get close to her – or, if we’re sticking with the whole ice cream thing here, tried to eat her, though that doesn’t quite fit – she had a tendency to hurt them. To make them wish they’d never met her. She was like brain freeze. People would think ‘hey, let’s just try to get this over with as quickly as possible’, come and talk to her, and then minutes later, they’d realize just how foolish they were being.

So perhaps one could say the fact that she was eating ice cream – some nasty sea-salt flavor that she seriously wanted to throw in the merchant’s face – was cannibalism. It was as though she was devouring herself. Devouring herself and finding that she tasted disgusting, anyway. Eating it anyway, as she’d spent good munny on it, the Baroness sat herself on a nearby railing, surveying the surrounding area.

Though it was nothing compared to her home kingdom, she had to admit, this ‘Radiant Garden’ was actually rather nice. Perhaps not nice enough to justify a totally vain adjective such as ‘radiant’, but that’s not the point. She’d have to consider invading this place with the Barons some day. They could use such a convenient, occupied world to their advantage.

Of course, that irritating Restoration Committee might get in their way. And while she secretly harbored a desire to just run up and cut that stupid ninja girl in the face – who’d just run by screaming at some old lady, mind you – she didn’t like their odds. Sure, the girl was a pansy. But they had that old fart with a spear, and the even older fart in a bathrobe to contend with. And she really didn’t like those odds.

Sighing to herself, she looked up at the sky. As usual, it was unnecessarily clear, with but a single cloud wafting lazily through the air like a ship sailing across the sea. She watched it’s progress uninterestedly, only vaguely noticing as something passed by. A bird, she presumed. A bird in a cloak, anyway.

Wait, what?

A second glance skyward revealed that this black thing she had seen was no bird.

She knew these people. She’d fought one of them before, on a distant world covered in sand.

And she knew more than well enough that this being could not be allowed to attack the Garden.

That was her job.

But before she make any move to glide after the man, she noticed another being pushing his way through the crowd, waving his sword at the floating man and screaming at the top of his lungs. "Idiot." She muttered to herself, gliding silently after him. She couldn’t help but find it a bit amusing that nobody wondered why she was hovering. Or how she was hovering, for that matter. No, they found it weird when spikey-haired youngsters were walking through their town.

Hovering? Oh, that was totally normal.

Regardless, she caught up with the man quite quickly, and knocked his feet out from under him with a simple leg sweep. Sighing and looking down at the stranger, she spared a glance at the sky, ensuring that the cloaked man hadn’t heard the shouting. Hoping against hope that he hadn’t, she turned her attention to the downed stranger once more.

"I have no desire to hurt you. But allow me to give you a warning. You do not wish to draw this man’s attention. He will slay you without the slightest bit of hesitation. For now, come with me. We shall follow him together." And with that, she began to glide after the cloaked individual once more, hoping that this stranger had enough common sense to follow her.

Otherwise, he’d probably die.

Horribly.

[Rocket!]

[ Let me just say that Cloakie is the most awesome insult to an Organization member I have heard in... ever.

Just... saying. xD Carry on! ]

The being swathed in black garb seemed to pay no heed to those that followed him... perhaps, over the chatter and bustle of the mongering marketplace, the cloaked being assumed the "cloakie" remark was meant for another?

Regardless.

It wasn't but a matter of moments before that same hustle and bustle was long gone. Here, in the Borough, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM you wouldn't be able to get away with yelling mean things at strangers who floated in the air.

Well, whoever the stranger was, he didn't look too menacing. Certainly wasn't throwing any fireballs around or anything.

No, as the mysterious man floated down to a solitary roof-- and out of Iryoku and Seira's line of vision-- perhaps he was just a more solitudinous sort of spec--

"Oh, WEEEeeeell."

MOTHER OF A voice behind the two trailing the cloaked guy!

CLEARLY ADDRESSING THEM!

Wait, false alarm. It's a moogle.

A... black cloaked moogle, to be specific.

...what?

The moogle shook his head sort of sad-like. "Tch. You all ain't supposed t' be here, kupo!" He brought an arm up to his face in thought.

Of course, he hadn't the sense to realize what inadvertedly sneaking up people might result in.

• Question the Cloaked Moogle! He knows something!
  

[Ignis]

The loss of footing by leg sweep wouldn't have been too big of a deal, had he not been at the edge of the rooftop he was currently running along. Sadly, the sudden loss of solid ground led to a nice 20 ft plummet, which he landed perfectly square on the top of his head. Definitely a deadly fall, and such a sad end for our would be-

"What the hell is it with floating in this town!?"

Or not.

Rolling into a standing position and popping his neck quite painfully, Iryoku looked up at the hovering girl barking orders. Well...ok, maybe barking at Cloakie wasn't the smartest idea. Next time he would note to use manners. Rubbing his head, he immediately disliked the dis-contempt in the young girl's tone, as if she were dealing with something less than human. Actually, it pissed him off- too many bad memories were associated with that tone. "Yeah, yeah, but I'd much rather do something before he decides to rain wanton destruction- he might blow up the Inn in the process," he commented, dispelling Rune Soul with a flash of blue light. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he followed the floating girl.

As they made their way to silenter streets, he had to wonder what kind of upbringing that this girl had been blessed with. She carried herself with pride to the point of vanity, yet it was clear that something was off...if she was truly uncaring, she wouldn't have saved him, however questionable the method. Rubbing his head with his right hand, he half halfheartedly resisted the curiosity- hew would definitely poke at that subject later, but right now there was a more prominent issue. Keeping the Inn inta- OH HELLO THERE!

Turing on a heel, Iryoku summoned Rune Soul and with a quick flick unleashed a volley of electric blue shards at the new source of entertainment- a rather annoyed puppet voice. A split-second later the area surrounding the cloaked moogle was filled with 8 of the bright shards, having dug somewhat into the rock around him before dissipating into particles. Distraction confirmed, he thought, approaching the moogle with a grin. "Heeeey Chibi Cloakie. I got a couple of questions for ya, so answer as civilized as you can," he stated as he popped his neck. "You with full-sized Cloakie over there? And even if you 'ain't, why is he here?" Letting the tip of his sword glow faintly with electric blue energy, he visually stated the consequences of resistance. "Oh, and alerting Cloakie will result in the forfeiting of your Pom-Pom- they're quite tasty deep fried, so I hear."

A lie, but who could resist?

[Ryu-star!]

[ Sorry about the wait. Ryu's been slacking. XD. ]

Rolling her eyes at her newfound companion's sarcastic response, Seira turned her focus to the task at hand once more. Meaning, of course, the floating figure slowly but surely drifting away from them. Yes, she could have very easily moved a bit faster, as she knew from experience that she was able to move just as fast -- if not faster -- as these cloaked figures. But the truth was, she was scared. Not in the sense that she was about to wet herself and run away screaming, as that'd just be completely unacceptable, but in the sense that she really didn't want to catch up with the cloaked one. She could vividly remember that fight that seemed oh-so-long ago in the land known as Agrabah. She could remember that malicious sneer in the cloaked one's face, and the unnatural cold that took hold of her whenever she got too close to him. The memory was enough to make her shudders, despite the fact that she was so many worlds away from the sand-covered place. And, hopefully, from that blonde one with the shield. Of course, with her luck, this cloaked figure was probably going to end up being that blonde one, but that's beside the point.

Seira was jerked out of her reverie by a variety of things happening al at once. First, there was a rather high-pitched voice, followed almost instantaneously by a volley of blue shards flying from her compatriot towards the new arrival. "Idiot." She muttered with a sigh, turning to see just who this new arrival was. At first, she didn't actually see anything. Until she looked down, anyway. There stood a... Moogle, if she recalled correctly, looking quite a bit like a plush toy with a fluffy ball hanging off of his head. Normally, she would have just told the thing to go bug someone else, and would've gone back to the task at hand. But this Moogle was, strangely, wearing a... cloak? That looked quite a bit like the one their prey was wearing.

Well at least she now knew why her companion had freaked out. But he was still an idiot. In her eyes, anyway. "What he said." She stated, referring to her companion's questions from a moment before. She really didn't see why they should be wasting their time on a... thing like this, when their actual prey was getting away, but she didn't bother to say anything about it. After all, they had little to no chance of catching him now.

Damn Moogle.

[Rocket!]

[ You're slacking? What about me, huh? xD

So, uh... back on track? ]

"What he said."

The Moogle looked from the two who suddenly seemed far more dangerous up close, clearly fretting in the jerky manner suggesting he had no idea what he was going to do now.

A swathe of darkness leapt from the ground to encompass the Moogle wholly. Like a venus flytrap, the dark energy climbed up from the ground to close around the floating individual.

And, in a sudden wash of movement, the darkness dissipated. It left no Moogle in it's wake.

...

So... I take it he's not the fighting type, huh?

"Pssst, kupo! Up here!"

A voice-- a familiar one-- from above.

The Cloaked Moogle's solitary nose wiggled as the Moogle in question thought on. The little bugger was three floors up now, floating especially low to the dark brown tiling of the roof.

The Moogle spoke in hushed, rushed tones. The "Cloakie" was clearly not his friend-- the Moogle was trying to avoid his attention.

"Tell ya what, kupo... 'Cloakie'--" snort-- "over there's got some shiny metal on 'im. He'll be leavin' it all over the place, to do who knows what, if you catch my drift.

[/size][/blockquote]

"Nab me five of the little floatin' metals, kupo, an' I'll tell ya all you like.



"Just don't let Mr. Chilly Academic see ya. Take it from someone's who been on the wrong side of that guy's big sword already."

[Ignis]

((Yosh- let's get this thread underway!))

"Wait...you've actually eaten a bon-bon? That's kinda sick," he commented, smirking over at his regal companion as she sat back and asserted her superiority. In that moment, the moogle vanished, jumping into a portal of darkness. Staring, he contemplated the consequences of following...before the moogle's voice sounded form above. Looking and listening, he wondered about the floating metal...moogles were well renowned craftsman, so the fact that it was intentionally left vague was...suspicious.

"Fine, I'll play along, though this ninja-ing business is not really my style," he replied, buttoning up his black coat to hide the white beneath and letting Rune Soul vanish in a faint shower of sparks. "Should be charging for this kinda stuff," he sulked, but curiosity had got the better of him. Looking over at the girl next to him, he stared intently into her eyes, unblinkingly and with the intensity. After a few seconds he asked, "What? You're the one looking like you want to take control here. You can decide how to proceed...unless you want to race to see who can get more, that is."

A cat-like smirk appeared on his face as Iryoku leaned onto the balls of his feet, anticipating the response.

[Rocket!]

[ 3 day warning before Ryu is dropped from Quest. ]