Agrabah

[Bloodedge]

http://i570.photobucket.com/albums/ss142/vastolordeulquiorra/Clans/KH/Agrabah_Logo_KH_zpshan3ba8i.png
http://i570.photobucket.com/albums/ss142/vastolordeulquiorra/Clans/KH/Agrabah_KH_zpseorymptp.png

[Apollymi]

When Kairos exited the portal created by Master Invi, she soon enough found that she was standing in soft sands outside of a large wall and huge gate. She looked up at the enormity of it and sighed. Beyond that there were grains of sand brushing against her exposed skin and into her hair. She'd never been to this world before in particular but she could think only one thing. "Ugh, I can only imagine how much sand I am going to find in strange places for weeks after this." she said mostly to herself. Still, she wasn't bothered by the temperature or the weather though she saw a bit of darkness which had to be an impending sandstorm on the far horizon and she turned to look at the whole of the landscape.

[Bloodedge]

"That's kinda gross," said Yuri, who was the second person to enter the world of Agrabah. He apparently found the words of Kairos somewhat perturbing. Invi, the final member and leader of the Anguis Union, emerged a bit later than the other two, yet just in time to catch Yuri's statement. "Huh? What's gross?" he asked, much to Yuri's amusement. The boy would respond before Kairos got a chance, if she even intended to; and, he seemed quite elated to do so. "Oh, nothing! It's just a certain 'ice cream' flavor that you want nothing to do with!" he said. Though the boy was obviously not speaking of ice cream at all, the Master Invi was just absorbed enough into his own thoughts to completely miss the subtext. "Oh... well, alright then. So, see anything strange?"

[Apollymi]

"You took it that way... got nothing to do with me." Kairos mentioned. Oddly enough the girl probably didn't intend for her statements to ever be taken in the way that the young man did, but she didn't really find that surprising given who he was. She was able to move past this though, considering his choice of conversation topic. It seemed that Master Invi wanted to question what they were talking about which Kairos had no interest in discussing with anyone at all. But it seemed that Yuri himself had something to say, which was a figurative way of him explaining what Kairos was thinking about the horrors of sand. "Oh? 'ice cream' huh? Your mind goes to strange places." the girl muttered out of earshot of their Master, quickly moving right along to answering Invi's question. "Uh... well... there is a sandstorm that way. And there is no one out here, which seems kind of weird but... dunno. I figure everyone is in there." she said pointing towards the gate as if confused about its existence.

[Bloodedge]

"Bleh! You know what you said, and you knew how I was gonna take it!" the boy replied prior to his tongue protruding from his mouth. Moving right along, Invi found himself looking toward the encroaching sandstorm. This was the desert, so such a thing was to be expected at some point, but there did indeed seem to be something strange about this one. This was not Invi's first visit to Agrabah, and the previous sandstorms he'd seen were a bit less... ominous than this one. "Hmm. That is weird for a sandstorm. The people tend to be in the city around here, though... except for a few. But, this mission is for you guys. I'll just be here to make sure nothing too bad happens, and to keep track of your progress."

[Apollymi]

"I don't know how anyone is going to take anything~" she chimed seeming not to care at all about the boy's tongue being stuck out at her, and in general turn did the same as she crossed her arms over her chest. Moving right along, it seemed that Master Invi agreed that this place was a bit strange and that the sandstorm on the horizon didn't seem like the sort of thing they'd want to deal with immediately. "Well, considering what we are here to do, we probably need to go inside... darkness is created by people, we won't find Lux without looking in. Plus... I am fairly certain we want nothing to do with that." she said pointing at the ominous sandstorm on the horizon, and with that in mind the girl walked forward and pushed the large gate open which would open to a market place filled with people doing the business of their day. "Ah."

[Bloodedge]

"I bet we all know how you're gonna take something!" was Yuri's retort, as he added the gesture of pulling down his bottom right eyelid with his middle finger. "Pehhh!" This all seemed strange to Invi, who stood and watched these two teens have at something which he didn't know if he should call an argument. Either way, Kairos was soon on track for where the team should be going. As such, Yuri would follow into the city while Invi lagged behind the other two just a bit. "I definitely don't wanna be anywhere near that thing. I don't really like sand anyway."

Meanwhile, not far from the entrance of the city, there was a small group of swindlers, totaling three. All were men of middle age, with one male in particular brandishing a rug to the others. "Check it out! I got it off some brat who was trying to sell it for his mom. This is why ya' don't let your kids take care of business for ya'!"

[Apollymi]

"I am not gonna take anything, now who's being gross!?" the girl said as she mimicked his activities. Of course, from the outside perspective this would probably seem something like a disagreement, but it wasn't the case. Such actions and slightly terse words were how this particular pair of teens chose to speak to each other on a regular basis and was a sign of their friendship. As they walked through the city the girl looked about at the bustle of life here. As she did this she responded to the young man beside her, seeming to take Master Invi's lack of involvement as his way of letting them do what they wanted for a time. Perhaps this man intended to watch and see what they did in order to test their fitness. "Yeah, I am also not particularly fond of sand. It'll be cool... we probably won't need to go out there." she said absently something seemed to catch her attention and being the sort of person she was she turned to follow the shifting down a covered alley which led into another open space. The girl couldn't help but find this place to be a bit strange. As the lack of light in this covered area seemed to be almost living for some reason. "I hope you're ready." the girl mentioned as she summoned her Keyblade to her hand and the shifting shadows seemed to move and coalesce on the floor only to turn into small glowing dark creatures with glowing golden eyes. "That is what I thought." the girl said as the Keyblade summoned fully to her hand, in the form of a curved key made of flames with a chakram attached as the handle. This wasn't the normal form of her Keyblade but it was something likely to only be known or noticed by the boy at her side, and a single side ways glance and a finger from her unoccupied hand to her lips would hint that she'd tell him about it later. The whole of that motion, as discrete as their earlier fist bump meant to exclude Master Invi for whatever reason.

[Bloodedge]

The farther they traveled, the closer they got to a swarm of darkness sitting in wait. Anything was better than going back outside into the sandstorm, though Yuri could only hope they would be done here before the storm reached the city they were in. In the moment, the important thing to address was the darkness they were faced with. Yuri prepared himself to fight, but before he summoned his Keyblade, his eyes were drawn to the one called upon by Kairos. His gaze stuck for a moment, and immediately prior to the question he intended to ask in this moment of surprise, he saw the shushing gesture of the girl. 'Right,' he thought as his own Keyblade came to his hand. His appeared with a purple glow, and took the form of a blade with three magenta teardrop shapes as its teeth, which matched the two at its guard. "Let's go!" he said when the weapon reached his hand. Yuri's fighting stance was one which began with his right foot stepping back, and his Keyblade held in his right hand in front of his left bicep, which faced the enemy darkness. "Looks like a lot. Got a strategy?"

[Apollymi]

Kairos eyed the coming darkness and seemed to not be at all worried about it. In fact, she was more concerned with the abilities of her new Keyblade. It was acknowledged by Yuri that discretion in this moment was necessary. Even so, the girl only ever had one plan of attack when it came to anything. Her Keyblade erupted in flames and she immediately threw it. "No plan, I'm just gonna do this... and you can tag them for the rest." she said hinting at plan in which she intended to deliver a great deal of damage to the darkness spawning around them, allowing Yuri to make most of the death blows to any who didn't fall from the flaming strikes. As her flaming Keyblade struck though she was a bit stunned. There was one such shadowy creature who was ignited in flame and then proceeded to burn until it was nothing more. She opened her right hand after calling her Keyblade back to her and making it flame again. 'Oh, this is nice... so much fire.' she thought while struggling to keep her face neutral, but her eyes would sparkle with the knowledge that things were burning so much better than before. After all, she was passing this Keyblade off as if it was the normal form of her own, and that in and of itself was rather hard to do when she was stunned by how much it powered up her fire related ability. As such she decided to continue testing this out, by dashing forward and circling herself and Yuri, doing so would clear a bit of space around them and place them back to back. "Alright, we got some room now... you wanna take the left and I'll take the right?" she asked while flames continued to clear out the lower ranks of the darkness which surrounded them.

[Bloodedge]

Yuri's eyes were immediately brought back to Kairos when her Keyblade was set aflame. His eyes widened as he saw this, as he immediately knew there was a much greater intensity to these flames than the norm. This allowed Kairos to put in quite a bit of effort toward clearing the area, and she soon ended up at his back with an offer to take half while he took the other half. "Sounds good!" he announced as he leaped into the fray of the left half. Interestingly, Yuri bypassed many of these dark entities to reach the proper middle of the group. It seemed, though, that the creatures as a whole were more focused on Kairos than himself. While this was strange, he moved onward and raised his Keyblade to the sky. "Thundara!" he called out. A bolt of lightning shot from the tip of his Keyblade, branching out to strike all the monsters around him. Yuri's magical strength was not great enough to destroy them immediately, but when this finished, the spell occurred a second time via the special property of his Keyblade named Guilty Crown. Many of the creatures around him were finished off by this maneuver, but the rest would soon follow. "Zero Gravira!" he said with his Keyblade still raised. Another double-cast ensued, forcing the monsters to levitate without control for a long period of time. During this time period, Yuri darted around the area, striking them down individually with what melee ability he had to offer.

[Apollymi]

It was agreed upon by the pair that they would each take half of the remaining darkness for themselves. Kairos was still getting familiar with the new form of her Keyblade, but taking an extreme amount of care not to use any skills which would show a definitive leaning towards anything other than her fire based magic. As this was the case, the young woman's still flaming Keyblade was soon used along with her speed to perform a flaming dash which led her directly into the ranks of her part of this darkness. While here she performing a flaming cartwheel which only helped to continue igniting her enemies. She would note while this happened that unlike any time before, these creatures continued to burn well after they would have normally stopped. She didn't have to continue attacking them as anything touched by her flames seemed to simply continue burning regardless of what she did. "Firaga." she said while her Keyblade was up in the air, this would create a ball of flames which she'd launch at her enemies, adding the power of Keyblade to it, she seemed to easily decimate her enemies. Only this wasn't all, it seemed that this fireball erupted into multiple pillars of flame which seemed to burn with even greater intensity than she was used to, a veritable Firestorm. 'This is amazing.' the girl's eyes sparkled as she finished off her half of the enemies. she then turned to check Yuri's progress and she was very impressed. Though she knew of the abilities of his Keyblade she couldn't say she wouldn't like having such an ability.

[Bloodedge]

The dark beings around Yuri were cleared out as well by the end of his assault, but by the time he turned to look toward Kairos, she had already finished her efforts with a mass of flames surrounding her. He was quite amazed by this, and interestingly enough, so was the observing Invi. 'She couldn't possibly be that strong. What kind of Keyblade is that?' he wondered. Meanwhile, Yuri was just distracted enough to be overtaken by another swarm of darkness which formed around him in the wake of his Zero Gravira spell. This was a spell which grew stronger with darkness, and as such, it drew on a bit of the darkness in Yuri's heart when utilized. This garnered the attention of he creatures, who swarmed the boy immediately and engulfed his form before he could react. "Huagh!" the boy cried out as his left hand protruded from the surrounding darkness. He could feel it consuming him, bringing out the darkness in his heart in an effort to take control of him.

'And it begins. Maybe I should have left it alone. It happened even earlier this time.'

[Apollymi]

The flames around Kairos rendered asunder all of the darkness which surrounded her, but as she turned to see how Yuri handled his set she found that he was soon being engulfed by darkness. She couldn't possibly know the reason for this, but immediately went to save the other boy. Still, it was no easy task, so she reached out for the boy, flames firing from the tip of her Keyblade aiming to burn away those which held him. "Yuri!" the girl seemed to be a bit upset, but not nearly enough to lose her focus in this moment. She then remembered her earlier conversation with Master Luxu. "Fight it." she stated. After all, the girl knew she could only do so much, she could eliminate all of the shadows in this area, but if the boy didn't fight against the darkness of his heart, she'd never be able to properly free him.

[Bloodedge]

During Kairos' approach, another form of the darkness would manifest in the area. There were three figures, much like the originals, yet taller and sleeker with elongated antennae and much swifter, more measured movements. These three grabbed onto Yuri's darkened body while four others leaped at Kairos from the rear. The trio around Yuri dragged the boy's body into the shadows, leaving with him to unknown locations. In the meantime, one might have wondered where Invi was during this exchange, and why he was not offering assistance. He had already been dragged into a separate fight, in which he fended off a horde of sphere-like creatures with his Keyblade. He brought an end to them all, but sadly, not in time to keep the creatures from claiming Yuri.

'Never mind. We're back to normal.'

[Apollymi]

Kairos was still trying to save her friend, but unfortunately she simply could not. Instead she was all but assaulted by four shadows of her own with sleeker forms than the norm. Even so, she seemed to wonder in this moment, where their Master had gotten off to, and how to save her friend as his body was dragged off into darkness. The shadows which aimed to jump her, didn't meet her flesh but where instead met by a barrier. One which she used only in the case of an emergency like the one she was presently facing. Upon making this happen she immediately turned her body coated in flames. She was furious but she ran directly into the darkness as she did they were incinerated. "Yuri!" he was her only friend and now he was gone, and she needed to find him. The fact that she hadn't just crumbled in this moment spoke to her will alone. "I'm angry... that's new." she said as she rubbed a hand over her face. It was a new sensation, one she knew was likely to be steeped in darkness and thus she didn't let it control her. No... she found new focus and turned to Master Invi. "You wouldn't happen to know where he went would you?" she asked, her voice a bit of forced calm in this moment.

[Bloodedge]

"Sorry. I couldn't get there in time. It's almost like this was planned," Invi said as he stepped forward to meet Kairos. As for where the boy had been taken, there was a shifting shadow on the ground which led to the outer wall over the course of a few moments. "This isn't good. I get the feeling he's being taken into that storm. He used the darkness, and they took advantage. We have to find him before he gets taken over completely."

In this moment, Invi and Kairos were approached by none other than Luxu. He walked directly toward Kairos' fore, having only one thing to say to the girl. "Darkness isn't all evil. By using it without letting yourself be taken over, you can gain great power," he said. At this time, Invi opened his mouth to speak, but time was suddenly reversed by the young man named Luxu. When this stopped, Invi was back in the situation that occurred before Luxu's interruption. "He used the darkness, and they took advantage. We have to find him before he gets taken over completely."

[Apollymi]

"Yeah... no need to worry about it now. Yuri first." she said. The girl's ability to quell her own anger in this moment was quite startling but she was gripping her Keyblade with a fierceness which was terribly close to cracking the skin of her hand causing it to bleed. As she continued on it seemed that her friend had been taken because he'd used the power of the darkness, in the double cast of the Zero Gravira spell. This seemed to make sense to Kairos. Before she could comment on that statement though they were approached by Master Luxu. And when he approached he spoke directly to Kairos about the darkness again, this time telling her it wasn't all evil. Such a statement gave her the same kind of comfort it had given the first time but she wasn't sure why felt the need to appear and mention this now. "You seem to know..." she started only to have the entire situation start over once more. And she heard the speech given by Invi once more. She shook her head there was a feeling there like she heard it before. Still, she shook away the feeling and turned obviously headed towards the Marketplace and thus towards the Sandstorm they'd seen outside. "Uh-huh, that's all I need to know. Come on then." she said still holding back the anger she felt at losing her friend.

[Bloodedge]

"Right," said Invi as he walked alongside Kairos. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt that he, too, wished to save the younger male before he was consumed by the darkness that had claimed him. However, he believed they both could and would, which left him more worried about the state Kairos was in presently. "We'll save him. I strongly believe that. But you need to keep calm. You can't let the darkness take you too," he said in his aims to keep the girl from being corrupted by her own emotional state. "If you let yourself fall to the darkness, there may be no coming back."

[Apollymi]

As Invi took up beside Kairos as she walked, and it seemed by his words he was very concerned with the girl's mental state. Beyond what could be considered normal it seemed that the young man who was her Master was quite worried that her present anger could lead to her falling or being captured by the darkness as well. "I know, we'll save him... I don't intend to leave until we do." she said taking a deep breath. "And I am unbelievably calm." the girl mentioned and she was, but there was just a hint of something about her stirring beneath the surface of her person which she knew was more than she really needed to show. It was always more than she needed. "Look, he's my only friend. I just want him safe. I won't fall to anything..." she said aloud, but in her head she heard the words of Master Luxu, 'Darkness isn't all evil.' she clicked her tongue. 'Hm, I wonder if I'll need that at all.' she thought, knowing that given what Master Invi had said about Yuri, she knew the use of such things and the testing of such theories in front of him wasn't really something she'd want. She thought about it then and loosened her grip on her Keyblade, appearing to be as angry as she was in this moment was not going to go over well. She'd keep that anger but use it later.

[Bloodedge]

"Good, but... be careful," Invi said as they exited the city and faced the approaching sandstorm. He wasn't sure what this advanced form of darkness wanted with Yuri, but he knew it wouldn't end well if they were to make use of him for anything. Little did he know, Yuri had been taken all the way to the Cave of Wonders, a legendary location in Agrabah. They used his apparent "worthiness" to pass through the opening of said cave, but for what reason, only time would tell. Either way, the journey of the Anguis Union would carry them quite far, and through roughly half of the massive storm riddled with darkness.

[Apollymi]

"Don't worry Master Invi. I am always very careful." the girl mentioned. And it was true. Likely not for a reason that he'd likely understand but it wouldn't really matter, as they crossed the sand storm they would soon enough find themselves standing outside of a cave which had a head a bit like a tiger with a large open mouth and steps leading down into it. Kairos stood in front of this cave with a brow raised. "This looks strange. Master Invi, are you sure he's in here?" she asked there was an amount of certainty she needed before entering such a place and she asked this while she twirled her Keyblade around in her hand, expecting something of a welcome party for their incursion into this place.

[Bloodedge]

After a long trek through the desert, the two arrived at a very strange structure with an elaborately-designed cave within. If there was one thing he was almost absolutely sure of, it was the presence of Yuri in this cave. "He has to be here. This must be the Cave of Wonders; a place that's only open for the worthy. He must have been worthy, so the darkness used him to get in. We've gotta-" As he was speaking, darkness flooded the area from within the cave. From this shadow came not only the same creatures from before, but also a trio of much greater versions. These three were truly massive with muscular arms nearly reaching the floor, heads full of twisted tentacles, tiny bat-like wings on their backs, and a heart-shaped hole in their chests. Invi immediately brandished his Keyblade upon seeing these creatures, knowing that he would have to remain and give Kairos an opening. "This is bad. You need to go ahead; I'll take care of them here!"

[Apollymi]

"Ah, I see... Only opens for the worthy... the darkness wanted inside... they took someone worthy." she said and after she spoke, it seemed that there was more to contend with. Her Keyblade in hand she prepared for battle, but it appeared Master Invi intended to take this fight all on his own. She looked at him her brows drawing together. She supposed it was necessary to leave him if he wanted to be left, still... she didn't really like the idea of separating for long lengths of time. "Alright... I'll go ahead, and I'll bring Yuri back with me. Be safe." the girl said before she turned to walk into the mouth of the cave.

[Bloodedge]

"Trust me; I'll be fine. Just in case for you, though," Invi said as he held out his left hand. A red orb with a fleur-de-lis within, and two protruding from it at opposite ends, appeared in his palm. Invi shoved this orb into his heart, causing a red light to engulf his form as his clothes took on a motif mimicking the orb itself. In addition to this change, another Keyblade appeared in his left hand. This one had a misaligned guard and handle, and teeth formed by five bars in the shape of a wing. He held it in a reverse grip, which it seemed to be designed for. "Drive Forms. This is Valor, the heart's manifestation of physical strength. You might be more keen to use Wisdom Form, the heart's manifestation of magical strength. Focus the power of your heart on one thing, and manifest it the way you would a Keyblade. Put it into your heart, and your heart will adjust to the template. Good luck." With that said, he leaped into the air, prompting multiple creatures of darkness to leap toward him. When they did, he performed a multiple spin maneuver to cleave through each of them with his Keyblades. "Go now! You can do it!"

[Apollymi]

Before she left, Kairos heard out some instructions. Such a thing was very odd, the idea that she could manifest something like these Drive Forms that the man used. This was something odd, but she figured that it was indeed something that she could do, since he had apparently a lot of faith in her. "And to you." she said as she turned once more, this time she really did disappear into the mouth of the cave, leaving the Master Invi to take care of the masses of darkness outside. Of course, as she moved she spent a bit of time thinking about this new form that she'd been told how to perform. She figured it would be perfectly possible to do. "A new form, I can complete simply by concentrating on the sort of strength I want." she thought as she descended a long staircase. Once she entered she found herself in a strange room which was dark on the sides with a long path. She tilted her head from left to right as she saw this space and she was confused by it. 'Oh great, it's a maze...' she thought as she began moving through the space, she aimed to get to a door on the other side and hopefully reach the next area without getting herself into any trouble.

[Bloodedge]

"Spark!" Invi called out as he threw his Keyblade, shrouded in light, into a horde of dark creatures to finish clearing out the small-fries. He had made very quick work of the bulk already, leaving him with only the massive trio to deal with. In the meantime, Yuri's body resided at the end of the Cave of Wonders, overshadowed by crawling darkness which either drew additional power from him, or fed into his darkness. In this room, there was also a lamp upon a pedestal, which the shadow also seemed to be drawing from for reasons unknown.

[Apollymi]

Kairos descended further and further into the Cave of Wonders eventually finding herself in a room filled with treasure. But this wasn't what she was looking for at all. She was looking for her friend, as she traveled she encountered many small fry pieces of darkness. But they were nothing. In a large room filled with treasure she encountered a large bodied turban ready heartless. She smirked. "You have no idea what you're doing right now. I am so not even bothering with you." she said to the large embodiment of darkness. Soon enough her flaming Keyblade was smacking into his large body setting it aflame. As it did so, she seemed to be somewhat enraged, the fire that burned this large body burned him all the way down to ashes, but still more shadows appeared. Thin and lithe as if they were liquid at some point then rather random moving about her. Surprisingly enough since the girl was alone, she did something very similar, her body seeming to melt into the darkness, only to allow her to move beyond them and smack them with her flaming Keyblade as well. This would go on for several moments and only once the room was clear with small fires burning all round did the girl stand up straight an exhale. "I feel, infinitely better." she said no to one at all. And then she moved on to the lamp chamber, and what she saw there... ruined her new found mood. "Yuri!" she shouted as she watched energy being moved in or out of this young man for whatever reason.

[Bloodedge]

The first of the three giant creatures aimed its fist down toward Invi, but this attack was met by the man performing another spin attack which repeatedly sliced with both Keyblades as he moved up the monster's limb. This was followed immediately by a multi-strike assault of thirteen rapid attacks on its body, which quickly brought it to its knees. When he reached the ground, he pulled back his left Keyblade and shrouded himself in light as he charged the attack that would put an end to this creature, and inflict damage to the remaining two. With a triple clockwise spin, he slashed outward, then raised his Keyblade to assault each of the monsters with numerous columns of light. The one he had been targeting was obliterated by this, freeing Invi to turn his attention on the other two.

Meanwhile, the shadows in the treasure room collected into another massive creature. This one was much different from any previously seen being of darkness. It had an armored, brown and black segmented body with six arms, each of which ended in three segmented talons. It had gold trimmings all over its form, and a golden head in the likeness of a cobra. One of the more intimidating things about this one, though, was what it wielded in two of its hands; a pair of Khopeshes scaled to match its own great size. It towered over the lamp and Yuri's body, and as its waking move, it swung its left Khopesh down upon Kairos' location. At the same time, it conjured two orbs in two of its other hands, which released an aura that would prevent the use of magic within the area until the orbs were destroyed.

[Apollymi]

Within the lamp chamber a darkness rose the likes of which this girl had never seen before. In fact, she was so stunned by it that she was just stuck staring. Compared to what was outside this seemed like a much greater task to overcome. And with that in mind she watched it looking for obvious weaknesses, and the only thing she found, was a large weapon aiming to fall down upon her form and the creation of multiple orbs. With a beast aiming to maim her she had no choice but to jump her immediately reaction was to begin to create a large fire ball in the hopes of causing it a major bit of damage. Only... "Firaga!" nothing came of it. Her Keyblade formed no flames and not even a modest bit of heat could be felt coming from the weapon. "Oh you have to be kidding me." she said seemingly stunned by this. There was no way she could know that the orbs were in control of her magical ability, but without the ability to use magic, there was almost nothing she could do. "Okay, no magic... physical attacks. Gotta beat up a thing that is huge. Totally fine." she said as she tried to concentrate. Of course, in so doing the girl launched an attack which was a spin directed at the being's arms which held one of the dark orbs. This spin attack seemed to consist of two spins of darkness followed by two of light. All the while, the girl was furiously working to try and solve the problem of this darkness and free her friend.

[Bloodedge]

Outside the cave, Invi found himself facing against two creatures which simultaneously conjured great spheres of darkness overhead. There was such a great presence from these that he could literally feel it, as if it were draining the air and beginning to choke him. "That's not good." Before he could do anything about the monsters, he had to deal with these orbs. Otherwise, the entire cave and Kairos' potential exit from it would be in danger of crumbling. He needed to gamble on this. He needed to wait until the precise moment in which they were sent his way, lest he risk exploding them too closely to the cave.

Within the cave, Kairos was faced with the problem of being without her magical abilities. Naturally, this did not bode well for her affinity, but she seemed to have at least one way around the handicap being imposed on her. Her quadret of strikes using both light and darkness to power them ground against the creature's arm after it swung its blade, yet it did not seem fazed by this. Its remaining pair of arms each conjured an orb of darkness, which it threw to the sides. These orbs proceeded to bounce around the area, threatening to strike Kairos and inflict a powerful gravity effect on her numerous times over. In the meantime, a voice echoed throughout the cave. "You're not going to accomplish much as you are. I'm sure you've noticed that."

[Apollymi]

Kairos had no idea what was taking place outside, but within this cave she was having an entirely different problem. Though she'd figured out a way around her lack of magical ability, it seemed that it wouldn't be enough to properly down the creature she was facing off against. Actually, it seemed like it wouldn't even be enough to allow her to properly faze it. Given this information as gravity balls began to bounce around she went out of her way to avoid them, performing a movement which allowed her to rather fluidly turn herself into something like a dark puddle and move about. While she did this, she heard a voice, which was steadily becoming more familiar to her. And it made her scoff. "Oh? You don't say? Still doesn't seem like you felt the need to do anything about it." she mentioned sarcastically as she finally emerged and was standing outside the reach of this creature. She was still angry about the entirety of this situation, and she couldn't know that such a thing could be ever so helpful. In fact, she'd only think about it in this moment when it became obvious to her that nothing else, could or would help her in this moment. In this moment, she used that negativity, a blue aura surrounded the girl as she looked at the large creature and at her fallen friend. "You know what, come to me... I'm not afraid and you can't control me." she mentioned the shadows around the girl shifted and the darkness and a blue light escaped the girl as she was enveloped. A dark muscle like covering came over her person and her Keyblade disappeared from her hand. "Well, I still need that." she said opening her hand an amorphous glob of darkness came to her hand and soon it would contain a sword with an eye on it, much to her surprise. Even so, she felt stronger now, and much more capable of doing something and she wouldn't know why this was the case immediately. "Huh... this should do." she thought absently. And thus she went to attack the creature again. This time her blade was wrapped in darkness and as she moved, she took note of her abilities. "Faster, stronger... not magic, but not bad." she commented as she slammed downwards on her darkness covered weapon intending to deal much damage to two of the creatures left arms. All the while she felt it was perfectly possible for her to do anything at this moment.

[Bloodedge]

"If I thought you needed help, I would help you. Don't worry. Your friend will be fine. And... sorry," he said. This apology was given not for anything he said, but simply for his involvement in the ongoing events, which had occurred in part due to him. "I think you'll thank me later, though... when you run out of questions."

No attacks were made by the creature of darkness while Kairos was within the shadows. When she emerged, she unleashed a power the likes of which none had ever seen before, and yet it gave off a sensation similar to that of the creature itself. "That's the spirit," the male voice stated from an unknown location as the girl inflicted proper injuries to two of the dark creature's arms. One of them happened to be an orb-carrying arm, which prompted Kairos' "adviser" of sorts to speak again. "The orbs are silencing your magical ability, by the way." When this was said, the creature began spinning its swords ahead of itself, putting forth a powerful defense and offense simultaneously. In this way, it intended to keep Kairos at bay while its other arms recovered.

Outside, the monsters Invi faced were finally unleashing their attacks. With his timing met, Invi slashed outward with both Keyblades, wielding enough physical strength in this form to create a pair of tornadoes. Said tornadoes reversed the direction of the spheres, sending them skyward, but not before they rammed into the bodies of Invi's enemies.

[Apollymi]

"Oh? An apology? For causing me stress and helping me walk into events which would leave my friend out? Why let it happen if you were just going to apologize later..." she questioned knowing this to be the case but making conversation because what else was she to do while she tried to harm the creature before her. Moving right along, it seemed that her friend would be fine which was utterly relieving but still did nothing for the fact that the dark creature before her needed to be dealt with before she could happily approach the young man. It seemed thought that the disembodied voice had a bit of advice to offer. "Ya' don't say?" she said to the information that it was in fact the orbs keeping her from being able to use her magical abilities. As such she immediately moved to attack those instead of the large creature itself. It took a few darkness empowered swings but she would eventually break both and once she did so, she had but one thing to try since it appeared that the shielding this creature used likely wasn't something she wanted to try smashing against directly. "Firaga!" she chimed, seeming to create a large ball of darkness which fired against the creature. Aiming to break the shield it created, blind it, and begin burning it all.

[Bloodedge]

"That's the problem with knowing the future. Sometimes you just have to let the regrettable path take place because it has the best ending," he explained. "I did say you were fifteen minutes early. If your group showed up fifteen minutes later, the enemy you're facing now would have latched onto a stronger heart than your friend there. Your friend was the first to die in that scenario."

Kairos' newfound power of Darkness gave her the ability to destroy the orbs keeping her Magic sealed away, and it seemed the first thing she wished to do after this accomplishment was cast a spell. And, what a spell it was. The fire Magic Kairos had been so attached to previously came from her sword with a black coloration, and even though the monster's spinning blades chopped through it numerous times on its way, it simply resulted in a shower of smaller black fireballs. In its blind and damaged state, it conjured an array of large fireballs to launch at the girl, leaving its body open, but having enough of an offense set up that it believed itself to be safe. "And it's over..."

Invi had returned the attacks of the two remaining enemies he faced, but they still stood. Not for long. He took a preparatory charging stance, crossing his arms to hold his Keyblades as if he were ready to unsheathe a pair of swords. When he moved, he did so quickly enough that he seemed to disappear and reappear on the other side of these creatures, having stretched out his arms and slashed through both of them in one fell swoop. As their bodies faded into nothingness, Invi banished his Keyblades and reverted himself to his normal state of being. "There. I hope they're alright down there."

[Apollymi]

"So, you saved him, simultaneously making me angry but making the enemy easier to defeat?" she summarized because such a thing didn't at all seem like it was possible. But given how many times she'd met this man before this moment, she could at least say that time manipulation was likely no easy burden to bear. Moving right along she seemed to have successfully given this creature enough of a hit that it was flailing about in a way which let her know it'd been blinded. "Huh? That's interesting." she said as she moved around dodging the fireballs while she coated her sword in darkness. Soon enough the girl jumped into the air performing a spinning attack which concentrated all of her body and allowed her to slip past the attacks and arms of the creature she faced. If successful a massive enough bit of damage to completely wipe this enemy from the planet would be unleashed thus ending the nightmare of this day. "Fine, one last question, why bother? I mean... you definitely didn't have to interfere at all and it probably would have been a lot less work for you." she asked as she landed on the ground hoping for the end of the creature and thus the end to the form she was using.

[Bloodedge]

"Basically... yeah," said the young man. These words passed his lips as Kairos' sword cleaved through the monster which held her companion hostage to siphon his power. The boost this girl had obtained on this day was quite a hefty one, and while Luxu knew this, he also knew there would be more to come at a later time. For now, she wished to know why he would even bother interfering in the timeline surrounding this girl and her Union-mates. "I did say you'd probably thank me when you ran out of questions," he said as he materialized before her in a cloud of darkness. "I meant the questions you ask yourself. 'Am I the right kind of person for a Keyblade?' 'Is this darkness inside me really all that bad?' Things like this... the same questions I asked myself once. Invi would lead you down a path that would have you consumed by your own darkness. But... you're worth more than that. I decided to pop in every now and then to get you moving in the right direction, to control that darkness instead. Next time, you'll see some real power. Now... I think you've earned yourself a Keyblade," he concluded, stepping aside to create a clear path toward not only Yuri, but the magic lamp that was connected enough to this world to be a catalyst for a new Keychain.

[Apollymi]

The creature Kairos fought disappeared and she landed exhaling and taking a moment to have a look at the sword this form boasted. She turned it around in her hands as the young cloaked man appeared before her, explaining how and why he'd slipped into her timeline. The questions he mentioned were definitely ones she'd asked herself from time to time, when staring at the Keyblade created by her own heart apparently. It always seemed like those around her were afraid of darkness to the extent that they tried to extinguish it, and she didn't want to be extinguished. It always made her wonder if she belonged among such people. Of course, she'd never mentioned this to anyone, aside from perhaps the young boy laid out in the other room so to hear such words from anyone else was quite startling. "I see... I too was a bit worried about Invi, given what he had to say about Yuri being taken in the first place. He sounded like one of those absolutists." she said as she stepped forward and Master Luxu stepped out of her way. Before claiming her prize for the day, she check on her friend, kneeling at his side she poked him, the sword she'd summoned disappearing from her hand in a black blob. "Oi, Yuri! Are you okay?" she asked of the young man, completely unsure of his current status even though Master Luxu had already said that the boy would be fine apparently. She'd still feel much better if he stirred a bit or something.

[Bloodedge]

"He's not an absolutist. Invi is a good man, and he means well. He's just... misguided like everyone else. Without darkness, no one can see the light. Without light, there is no darkness. The world needs both to exist properly. The tyranny of the light will one day be the end of everything." Why Luxu gave this explanation was unknown. It was his own understanding of the world as it was, combined with the knowledge of the impending Keyblade War. He knew of the death on the horizon, and of the survivors of the light, but he thought perhaps Kairos would be a survivor toward keeping the balance, instead of overwhelming the darkness with light. When Kairos moved past Luxu to prod the boy called Yuri, he didn't seem very keen on waking. However, he didn't seem completely out of it, either. There was a small noise escaping the lad, akin to sleep mumbles. Luxu walked toward Kairos' rear during this occurrence, pressing the tip of his Keyblade against her back. "You pull this form off wonderfully, but... you should be able to get your Keyblade back," he said as he locked this transformation back into her heart. In a way, he was sealing her darkness, but through this form, it would accomplish nothing more than returning her to normal. "When you're ready to do this without your heart disagreeing, I'll be there."

[Apollymi]

"Tyranny, that is a pretty good way to describe it." Kairos said on the matter of the light. She found it comforting that someone else didn't just assume the light was right. Still, she was quite busy prodding at her friend who didn't seem to want to wake but was very much alive. At least enough to be making noises in his sleep. This gave the girl quite a bit of relief considering this young man was pretty much all she had to count towards friendship. Even so, she soon felt the press of a Keyblade against her back and the locking of the form she currently possessed into her person. The explanation that came with it, seemed to be something about the way she used it, combined with her heart not necessarily agreeing with it. Even so the darkness disappeared and the girl returned to her normal status. To check this she extended her right hand, summoning her Keyblade which was currently in the shape of a chakram with a flame curled key at the end. A smile came to her face as it returned to her, but apparently and according to the man behind her, she should have been able to summon it regardless. "So, a compliment and admitting that you're going to continue stalking me? Okay. So what's this about the new Keyblade I earned?" she said as she continued poking the young man below her saying odd words to him, though funnily enough she hadn't forgotten the promise of a present. "Really, Yuri? I know I don't do mornings but I don't understand sleep mumbles. Wake up already!" she managed a slight hint of impatience as she tried really hard to get the young man to wake.

[Bloodedge]

When her Dark Mode was sealed, Sion stepped around to Kairos' front to look her in the eye as he explained the acquisition of her newest Keychain. "This lamp is very closely tied to the heart of this world. If you interact with it using your Keyblade, you can create a new trinket and wield a Keyblade that draws power from this world. Consider it the world's reward for reaching this point," he summarized. With nothing else to say or do here, he conjured another dark portal behind him, and stepped back into it. His disappearance happened just in time, as Invi soon ran into the treasure room to look upon Kairos and the fallen Yuri. "Hey! Are you guys alright?" he asked while running toward the pair. In the meantime, Yuri finally managed to speak a few words while opening his eyes ever so slightly. "Mm... Lemme sleep. Tired."

[Apollymi]

"I see." Kairos said upon receiving the explanation of what she needed to do in order to obtain her newest possession. Beyond this the cloaked man apparently stepped back into a portal of darkness disappearing just in time for the approach of the Master Invi. All seemed well enough at this point for the girl of a mere 15 who had managed to keep her friend alive, and maintain the secrets of herself that she had not yet come to terms with. As the young man named Yuri finally spoke a sigh of relief came from the young woman. "Jeez, you nearly give me a heart-attack and that's all you have to say? I'm not carrying you..." she said seemingly perturbed with the young man, though in all actuality she was quite relieved he as alright. In this moment she rose from his side willing to let him sleep a little while longer, as Master Invi made his way in asking about their wellness. "We're fine. He's apparently tired, but he's fine." she said calmly as she pointed her Keyblade towards the lamp. A light would come out of the tip of the weapon interacting with the lamp itself to create a charm which seemed to be a lamp much like the one sitting there, attached to a blue spiked chain. A smile crossed the girl's face as she reached out for it, taking it into her possession.

[Bloodedge]

"Ah, good. The darkness outside is taken care of, but I was worried you two were in just as much trouble down here. I'm glad you're both safe," said Invi, who was then given a front row seat to a show of Kairos interacting with the magic lamp of Agrabah to craft herself a Keychain of this world. He had not seen such a thing occur by the actions of anyone other than one particular Foreteller, so how she managed to do this made him curious... very curious. "Kairos... how did you learn to craft a Keychain?" he asked, stepping toward the girl. "More importantly, why is your given Keyblade so powerful?"

[Apollymi]

"I took care of the darkness in here as well, it was siphoning power from Yuri and that lamp I think... it was a pain to deal with." she stated about the situation here. "Thank you, we are glad to see you well too, Master Invi." the girl said as she inspected the Keychain she'd so recent created. Even so, the man's apparent interest soon shifted. And when it did, the focus changed to Kairos herself. She was quite stunned that he would even begin to ask her such a question, she then made the rather obvious assumption that Keychain crafting was among the things that the Masters kept for themselves, such knowledge made the girl work to maintain a very neutral face. More over, the question of the power of her 'given' Keyblade also came into question as the Master came towards her himself. It was stated by Luxu earlier that Invi was a good man, if not a bit mislead. Since Luxu had gone out his way to give the girl an alternative to the true base form of her Keyblade, she had reason to assume this young man would be upset if he knew the real form of it. As such she simply looked at him strangely very carefully choosing her next words. "I was told how to craft the Keychain, as a matter of theory, I thought I'd try it now." she said, which was surprisingly the truth she just didn't go into detail about who had given her such information. Moving right along the strength of her Keyblade was also in question but she could only smile, and give for it the absolute truth as an answer. "I have no idea what you mean by that, I didn't know it was uncommonly strong. I'd take it as a compliment but somehow I feel you don't mean it that way... " she explained, as she tucked away the Keychain she'd so recently retrieved, knowing that she would likely test it out later she banished her own Keyblade as well. Though she could guess since Luxu had apparently crafted this particular Keychain just for her that it was probably stronger than it needed to be, and probably much stronger than she appeared to be at face value, which she assumed was where the question came from.

[Bloodedge]

"You were... told? By what person? I didn't think you knew the Master who discovered how Keychains worked," he said. As they discussed these matters, Invi picked up Yuri and threw the lad over his shoulder to carry him until he woke. He supposed it was always possible for Kairos to have received knowledge of Keychain creation somewhere down the line, but he still had a very interesting issue with the fire-based Keyblade she wielded. "It is incredibly strong, even for the Keyblade of a Master. As a matter of fact, if you were a Master with that Keyblade, you'd be a prodigy the likes of Sion... or whatever his name is now."

[Apollymi]

"Sion told me." she mentioned seeming to think it best to give the truth without details in this case. She'd met the young man before she'd met this one the other day and joined his Union. With that in mind, it didn't really have to be questioned much more beyond that. She took the moment to think about this more, her head trying to process faster than the coming questions. 'I don't know if there is a way to answer this man's questions which do not make me look suspicious. I can only imagine this conversation would have gone much worse, if I'd had to answer for the abilities of my true Keyblade...' she thought quickly while Invi carried Yuri and explained that her Keyblade was stronger than it should be even if the girl was a Master. And it was stated that if she was one, she'd be as strong as the young man known as Sion. "Oh, I doubt that. I don't know him extremely well, but I doubt I compare in any real way." she stated and believed, though since Sion had made this Keyblade for her, she understood now why it was so strong. Not that this man needed all of that information. "Though now that I understand what you mean, I still don't really have an explanation. I am not prodigy and not particularly special. It is simply the way it is, it isn't as if I have any measure for its strength compared to others, nor have I encountered enough to know the difference." she said. She was wondering why the strength of this weapon was such a problem for the Master with her.

[Bloodedge]

"Huh? You met him once yesterday, and he told you about Keychains? That's a weird greeting," he replied. Invi considered this Sion a weird individual, but not by such a large margin that he would give such information to a total stranger upon meeting them. But, perhaps this had something to do with the man's role given by the Master of Masters. More to the point, Kairos apparently believed herself to be incomparable with the man known as Sion. When given this information, Invi chuckled and shook his head. "He's not as big a deal as you think, and you're a bigger deal than you think. I'm actually kinda jealous of how strong your Keyblade is. Mine was personally handed to me by the Master, and I still think if we were on equal footing, I'd get destroyed by just that Keyblade. Give yourself a little credit, yeah?"

[Apollymi]

"The last two days have probably been the strangest of my life." the girl mentioned, lightly hinting that the Master Invi's assumption about the oddness of her meeting with Sion was indeed true. While not bothering to correct Invi as he seemed to have let go of questioning her knowledge for now. Of course, the girl realized that her omission about when Sion had told her this information had led to a hole in the man's understanding but she also didn't think it necessary to tell him that the man had been following her about to help her out. It seemed like it would be another pressing discussion she didn't want to have. As the man's speech continued he apparently seemed content to give the girl a pep talk in which he told her to believe a bit more in herself. And explained that he was a tad jealous of the strength of her Keyblade because if they were in the same level of strength she'd likely be stronger than him. A bit of a smile came to the girl as she brushed off this compliment, seeming to find this to be the easiest way of avoiding the unnecessary explanations the man seemed to want. "Oh, I bet you say that just to make me feel better~" she said with a smile in the Master's direction. "It worked though. For you, I'll make a marked effort, to give myself some more credit. Though I doubt you have to worry about me surpassing you or anyone else anytime soon~" she finished speaking. 'Hm... perhaps I was thinking too hard about this conversation. It seems to have gone well, though I still can't know if he's suspicious of me or not yet.' she thought. With this in mind Kairos decided that she would be very careful around Master Invi until she was sure of her standing with him.

[Bloodedge]

"Can't call that random at all. I think the past couple of days have been strange for all of us," Invi said with a light chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head. Though Kairos still seemed to be outside the realm of belief when it came to his praising, she stressed a future effort for giving herself more credit in her abilities. With the mention of her not surpassing anyone anytime soon, though, he turned away and pointed his Keyblade forward to open the world's gate again. "C'mon, don't say that. I want to see you get stronger. I'll even help you along the way as much as I can, but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to help you for long. You might end up with your own Union." With that said, Invi flashed the girl a gentle smile before turning toward the gate. "Let's head home and rest up, yeah? I think we've earned a break, whether we hit our quota or not," he said as he stepped through the light. If Kairos aimed to pass this threshold afterwards, she would find it closing before her entry. This was no fault of hers, nor was it the doing of Invi. It was simply something that had to be done. "Sorry. I lied. I just can't seem to leave you alone, can I?"

[Apollymi]

Kairos shared a smile with Invi as the situation called for it. She'd always thought him okay, though obviously not enough to consider him a friend as he and his peers all stood well above everyone else for whatever reason. Even so, it seemed that he was content to keep encouraging the girl's betterment even downplaying his own abilities while offering her a great deal of help. Invi even went so far to say that the girl could end up with her own Union the thought of which made her laugh a very honest and happy sound. "Oh no, I can't even imagine being in charge of other people. I don't think I'd wanna be. Plus, I don't think it's okay for the Masters to be counting themselves, out in any case. You gotta stay strong so the rest of us have something to strive for, yeah?" she said in counter pep to the pep he offered. Moving right along it seemed they were headed home even if they didn't collect their quota. This made the girl chuckle. "If we didn't collect enough after I faced that thing, and you faced the stuff you did, we weren't going to make it anyways. So I'm all good to head home." she said seeming not to care too much about quotas or anything else. As the portal opened the Master stepped through carrying her friend on his shoulder and Kairos went to step through as well, only it closed before she could. Soon enough she was confronted by an all too familiar voice which made the girl sigh just a bit. "This is becoming quite frequent. And it does seem like you're incapable of leaving me be... but... I'll forgive 'cause you've been helping me out all day." she said to the man as she turned around expecting to find him behind her for whatever reason. "Three times in a relatively short time period... is something else wrong with my day? I swear I am pretty sure we were just about to go have ice cream and crash." she said knowing the rest of her daily activities couldn't have been anything worth stopping.

[Bloodedge]

"What I did has changed the future a bit," Luxu said as he walked casually around the treasure room, being mindful not to touch anything of worth, lest he set off the Cave of Wonders by means he had seen through foresight. "But, it's nothing to worry about. It's all positive... mostly. To be honest, this is more about my immediate future. I'm going to be bored for a while, so I'll end up going to Olympus. I thought maybe you'd like to join me. Don't worry... if something problematic occurs, there'd be no reason for us to separate."

[Apollymi]

"Just a bit huh?" she said with her hands on her hips. Of course, Kairos was only having a bit of fun at this man's expense, she wasn't upset by any means. Soon, Master Luxu walked around the Treasure room, explaining his present predicament. She looked at this young man strangely as she thought about what he was saying. After a few seconds of thought she giggled. "Oh, so you wanna hang out?" she said with an upward inflection as if it was a question but it wasn't really. It was simply Kairos' understanding of the situation being stated that way. "Alright, let's go." she said with no more thought about it. She had nothing better to do, and given how much this young man had helped her today, she doubted there was anything to worry about being in his company.

[Bloodedge]

"Basically, yeah. I figured I may as well get to know my top candidate a bit better. And... what better way than to go on a little adventure?" he said. With a wave of his left hand, Luxu produced a portal of swirling darkness which led to the world of Olympus. Just as the Master Invi had done, he would allow Kairos first entry. In this case, though, he did so for a specific reason. This was no mere gate, but a path through the darkness that had been building between worlds. When the portal was open, Luxu stepped aside and stripped himself of the black coat he wore. Said coat was held out for the girl in his company. "Here. Protection from the darkness."

[Apollymi]

"Top candidate, huh? Bet you say that to everyone~" the girl chimed. But she had to agree that an adventure was a good enough way to get to know any one. "I guess, I like adventures as much as the next person." she mentioned waiting for this next one to start. Soon enough though, instead of just leaving through a portal opened in the darkness, the young man stripped himself of his coat and revealed both his physical form and handed off the coat. The girl to her credit was just a bit stunned. But much more honest than one would expect. "Whoa! I've been imagining you as faceless... or hideous. You can't just spring that kinda hair on people!~ I'm kinda jealous now." she stated with an untold bit of excitement. Of course, this statement was partly surprise and partly just in jest. "Though..." she seemed to be thinking something else. Looking at this young man's face he seemed sort of familiar to her, but she couldn't really remember why, but she'd definitely never seen his face before this moment. "Nevermind... So, if this exposure to darkness is dangerous, why are you just gonna walk in?" she asked as she zipped herself in obviously she wasn't going to argue with her own protection but it seemed like it was a messed up way to travel if it was so dangerous that one needed to be protected from it. Still she seemed to like this hooded vestement and as such after she was safely tucked away she'd step through the portal... to a new world.

[Bloodedge]

"Considering you're the only one I've spoken to personally, yes," he said. The reaction which immediately followed the removal of his cloak resulted in Luxu, or rather, Sion, smirking. "Please. If that were the case, I would have left the coat on." Moving on, Sion was prepared to head into the 'corridor of darkness' as he called it, but Kairos chose to first question the giving of his cloak. "My heart is strong enough to resist a lot longer than normal. Only frequent use of this corridor will be a real danger, but since you so recently used Dark Mode, I'd rather not gamble on you," he explained. It seemed Kairos was content to enter regardless, and so, he followed suit into the darkness.