Alone in the Dark? [Open]

[kisaragi]

Yuffie, who despite his annoyance at her opponents' cheating was still able to keep a clear head and judgment of the situation, decided that sometimes she would have to pass the stage to Leon. And, truth be told, they did make a terribly good team. No amount of Heartless could face up against them! ... though, Cloud was something, too.

"Heh heh... no problem!" boasted the girl confidently, her earlier indignation replaced by a confident grin. "So! This's what you've been doin' all these hours? Rummaging in this crazy old castle?"

[Squall Leonhart]

Leon finished with the Heartless and then stood up straight again, his weapon held pointing back from his right shoulder in its usual resting place. The scarred swordsman looked around a little to determine that no new creatures were appearing and that none he had slain were regenerating again. Thanks to the light glowing out from his now-empowered gunblade he and the ninja were actually able to see each others features in the dark tunnel rather than just the blank silhouettes they had been addressing before.

"Is something going on back in town?" Leon asked seriously once he had settled his gaze back on the younger girl, bypassing her question. Though Squall felt he knew the answer already it was always best to check. Even Yuffie might not have come into a place as potentially dangerous as this by herself without a good reason... or at least said the man's protective complex as it ignored the fact that he'd done almost exactly that. Leon just thought he had a good reason.

[kisaragi]

"Something going on back in town?" repeated Yuffie quizically, her grin never quite leaving her face. "Don't worry, don't worry! Nothing bad'll ever happen in town so long as the Wutai Rose's there!" And she confidently tapped herself on her chest.

"I just came to check up on you, since people were gettin' worried. Talking about how you always tend to do things by yourself, 'n all that, y'know?" By now, she was tossing the canister she'd picked up up and down in her hand. Everytime she threw it, it'd spin around once, and everytime she'd nimbly catch it.

Yuffie's a terrible klutz at times, but the flipside is that her skill was almost uncontestable. We're talking about the girl here who runs up walls, jumps off, does a flip, tosses a shuriken with pin-point accuracy only to catch it as she goes down again.

Airheaded and ditzy girls do not perform such feats.

[Squall Leonhart]

Leon didn't say anything to that... as was his nature. The expected answer was of course the preferred one. He didn't like the idea of Yuffie coming here by herself just to look for him but it was better than if he had been needed outside for a crisis. He did wonder what exactly a "Wutai Rose" was supposed to be, but then it was Kisaragi he was talking to. Chances were not asking would be the simpler and easier course of action to arrive to the same result: A complete lack of understanding.

The swordsman did take notice of the ninja's newest plaything though.

"You'd better be careful with that," Leon said needlessly for all the reasons already accurately detailed. He didn't ask how she got it seeing as that was simple enough to piece together. "I found it down here. Could be dangerous."

Leon started walking towards the ninja with his sword hand still resting on his shoulder. No doubt he planned to relieve the girl of her potentially dangerous cargo so that he could handle the risk himself... as was his nature.

As he approached though the canister started to vibrate slightly from within as Yuffie tossed it up and down.

[kisaragi]

Yuffie caught the canister.

"Really?" she asked, curiously eyeing Leon. "So that's what you've been doing? Looking at the hag's stuff?" She considered this for a moment, but found she could hardly point out a flaw in this course of action: hell, she'd considered it herself a few times. Each time she was interrupted by more exciting thoughts.

"So wh--is it supposed to move?" Only now did she notice that the canister she was holding was vibrating lightly in her hand. Curiously, she held it up to Leon.

[Squall Leonhart]

Leon's eyes widened imperceptibly at Yuffie's question. Was it supposed to move? He wouldn't know. Anything could be inside of it. What he did know was that a moving canister was far more potentially dangerous in an immediate sense than a stationary one. Since the vibrating of the black container had now upgraded to shaking in Yuffie's hand even the swordsman could now see it by the extending light of his weapon.

"Drop it," the scarred warrior said firmly without further hesitation. His own pace quickly broke forward. "We're leaving."

he of course wouldn't just run past the ninja and leave her behind, though he would a couple of steps while looking back at her expectantly if she didn't comply. Hopefully she would and the two could make a side-by-side escape form this uninviting place.

[kisaragi]

Huh? Leaving? What'd he mean?

"Whoah, wait wait wait, whaddya mean, we're leaving?!" demanded Yuffie, who wasn't so quick to catch on just exactly what the warrior meant. This had to do, somewhat, with her firm confidence in her own abilities, and the incredibly unlikely chance of something actually being actively threatening to her health and well-being.

Still, she'd already dropped the canister by then: between what she felt and what she did, there was still some difference. She just was the type who wanted an answer to just about every order, because otherwise she simply wouldn't be so swift to catch on. That's just how klutzy she is.

[Squall Leonhart]

"I mean we're leavi-" Leon began to repeat himself, only to be cut off by the sharp noise of material shattering behind them. 'Not good,' the swordsman thought obviously as he turned to make sure Yuffie was coming, allowing her to get past him so he could take up the rear during their impromptu "escape" from whatever was here.

"Run!"

Wise words. According to the light still humming from Leon's Blade of the Heart, something big and black was filling up the space they had just left behind, and it was growing. Fast.

[Yuffie !]

"Saying 'we're leaving' is all well and good, but why can't you just tell me wh-" The sound of something shattering -- that something being, she could only assume, the canister she had just dropped -- cutting her off. Turning slowly on the spot, she witnessed something -- she had no idea what -- growing behind her. Something big and black. Something that scared her half to death.

"OK, you're right, let's go, c'mon!" She shouted in one breath, taking off away from the thing and nearly knocking Leon down in her rush to get away. She could only hope that, whatever it was, it didn't attack her.

Although with her luck, it probably would.

[Squall Leonhart]

Yuffie's luck? Leon would have to blame that for their predicament later then, because of course they were promptly under attack. Actually, it was a difficult thing to call an attack. perhaps it was more like they were being stalked. After almost being knocked over by Yuffie(Brave ninja that she was) Leon was fats to follow behind her. He looked back constantly, verifying that the dark mass behind them wasn't giving up its chase... or maybe the thing was just growing so fast it was filling the entire corridor? Also a scary thought.

"There's a window at the top of the stairs once we get back above ground," Leon said hastily to the girl in front of him as they exited the all and came into the room where he had found the canister to begin with. The stairs he spoke of weren't visible yet, they were still a bit farther past the exit of their current position. "Get through it as soon a-!"

Superhuman reflexes saved Leon from a face full of floor as he threw his free left arm in front of himself to brace his fall. His right foot was caught by something. Looking back it was a pitch black tendril of some kind, looking as if it were made of many intertwined chords with a lot of empty space within it. Despite that it was still strong enough to hold him tightly. He slashed his Blade of the Heart back at it and the tendril severed instantly, the bit around his ankle vaporizing instantly.

Despite that, there was no sound or change in the movement of the thing chasing them. It didn't seem bothered by the loss at all.

[Yuffie !]

"Got it, bossman." She replied to her scarred compatriot, in response to the window statement. However, a loud thump reached her ears a moment later, and she spun around to see a weird tentacle-looking thing grab Leon's ankle, as though it wanted to pull him back towards it and do... whatever the thing wanted to do.

Sighing as she watched him cut the tentacle away, she slipped three of her shurikens out from the pouch on her leg, tossing them at the thing in the hopes of distracting it. "Leon! Get up and stop lounging around, you ass!" Promptly turning around and continuing to flee before the thing could freak out and try and grab a hold of her, she could only hope that her comrade was following her.

Because there was no chance in hell of her turning around again.

[Squall Leonhart]

Leon saved any mental responses to Yuffie's choice of words for later and quickly followed her advice, scrambling away and back to his feet simultaneously. Yuffie exited the doorway and he made to follow her.

Apparently it wouldn't have that. Another tendril zipped past Leon's head when eh wasn't looking back and reach the door. Though he quickly responded by slashing this new one as well he couldn't do so before it had slammed the door shut. Not a problem if he could just open it again, but more lines were shooting out now, grabbing Leon's arms and legs and a few more shooting to hold the door shut should anything try to get inside again. The tentacles all fell instantly to the touch of Leon's light, but the number of them and their tendency to try and restrict his arm movements made it difficult to keep up with them all, even with the blade's enhanced size in the small space.

'Don't come back alone Yuffie,' he thought as the swordsman desperately tried to out-maneuver and out-cut his attacker.

[Yuffie !]

Apparently, there was at least one way in hell that she was going to turn around.

The sound of the door banging shut behind her caused her to jump in surprise and turn around, wondering what was going on. "Leon! If you're in there fixing your hair, I swear I'm gonna hurt you..." However, a light shining from the crack beneath the door, combined with the fact that she was unable to open the door, no matter how hard she tried, told her otherwise.

Taking a step back, she drew her Conformer out, beginning to slash at the door. Once. Twice. A third time. Over and over again, until the door was laced with cuts, promptly falling apart with one strong kick. Noticing that the room was now filled with the weird thing that had been chasing them, she quickly pulled another shuriken out from it's pouch, taking careful aim. "Greased Lightning!" The small weapon flying ahead of her, Yuffie charged to her comrade's aid, hoping that they'd both make it out of here alive.

If not... well, they would have put up one hell of a fight.

[ i wasn't sure what you wanted me to have her do. i hope what i chose is acceptable. xD. if you want me to change it, just say the word. ]

[Squall Leonhart]

[ I just want you to do what you think Yuffie would do, Ryu. XD ]

Spinning his blade furiously Leon was making easy headway against the tendrils thanks to their apparent weakness to light, but the black mass from the canister had filled the hallway entrance entirely now. It was like a large, gooey Heartless. In fact, given the telltale red emblem that had just appeared on its front, it would seem Heartless is exactly what it was.

'Just like it always is,' Leon thought with a grim frown as he tried to cut the thing, to which it reared back a little. Leon didn't feel much resistance from the slash though. it was more like cutting through water, which didn't give the swordsman any confidence that it was really hurt. Meanwhile the telltale noise of the door being attacked told Leon that Yuffie had come back for him. The part of him that tended to forget she was a ridiculously deadly ninja who probably knew at least a dozen different ways to kill him using only her left hand mentally scolded the girl for her recklessness. The part of Leon that wasn't stupid mentally thanked her for the backup.

Shwip! "Yuffie!"

A lone tendril shot out of the Heartless like a shot fired from a cannon, much faster than the others. Its end was pointed and heading right for Yuffie just as she kicked down the door. With his super reflexes Leon easily reacted in time to move his Blade of the heart and it it, causing the deadly point to vaporize before it could reach her when its link to the Heartless' main mass was rendered. Unfortunately the creature took advantage of his distraction and fired another into Leon's arms, this one not a spear but grabbing his wrists and thrusting them away. At the same time another two grabbed his ankles and pulled back, twisting Leon's body suddenly.

Yuffie launched her Greased Lightning, but before her partner could even yell any advice or warnings to his rescuer all of the Heartless' tentacles were sucked back into its liquid body, causing Leon to completely vanish into itself with a violent ripple and all of the throwing weapon's targets to vanish from the room as well, except for the bulk that filled the entrance to the next corridor which bore the Heartless Emblem.

[Yuffie !]

"Yuffie!" Leon shouted as she walked in the room, causing the ninja to roll her eyes a little bit. As great of a leader as he was, he could really be dense at times. And she'd seen quite a few examples of Leon being dumb that verified this statement. For example, the belts. Seriously, did he need that many? And considering that she stole them rather often, just to try and stop his obsession, he always seemed to get more. And it was just not cool. "Yup, that's my name, don't wear it ou- HUH?"

A tendril shot out at her ally, grabbing him, twisting him around, and pulling him directly into the Heartless. Yuffie blinked a couple of times, unsure whether or not she had actually seen what she thought she had seen. Scratching the side of her head, the sudden absence of tendrils verified her suspicions. Obviously, this thing had been focusing on Leon the entire time, so it would only take back it's tentacles if it had managed to get hold of him, right?

Attempting to think of a way to harm the beast without harming Leon as well, Yuffie mentally shuffled through all of her attacks, wondering why none of them were about 'freeing your ally from being eaten by some random monster in the hallway of some creepy building'. Finally, she came up with an idea that might just work. Maybe. If she was lucky. Moving closer to the Heartless, so that she was standing about five feet from it, she held her Conformer over her head. "Energy Rain!" The weapon flew up above her head, sending bolts of energy raining down on the beast.

Over and over the bolts hit the beast, hopefully avoiding Leon, despite the fact that he was inside of the monster. After all, the bolts usually avoided her allies, so why should today be any different?

[ So yeah. Unless you say otherwise, which I don't know why you would, (XD) Leon won't be harmed. It says in Energy Rain's description that the energy avoids her allies. So yeah. ^^. ]

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