A New Story Begins[open]

[lucario]

The door to Traverse town opened as a man entered carrying merchandise to sell. It was a merchant and he was looking to sell some medicines and food to the local shops. As the merchant entered there was another guy who entered behind him. The merchant turned around and smiled to the other man. The merchant pulled out a small bag full of munny and then threw it to the other man. The other man caught and waved good bye as the merchant walked away. The man who caught the munny was Lucario who then tucked the money away in his coat pocket.

Lucario stuck out of all the people in Traverse Town since he wore his usual purple pants and jacket. The tail of his jacket extended down to the back of his knees as the wrists and collar were black.Then under his jacket was his white shirt that was always un-tucked. Around his neck he wore a black scarf that wrapped around it several time before coming neatly to an end with both ends of the scarf tied in a knot. Then on top of the scarf he wore a red amulet. On his face he had the monocle with gold trim over the glass on his left eye. His hands were covered in a black glove and his shoes matched the color of his gloves. A Okatana hung against his back with the handle sticking out pass right shoulder. The okatana had a white ribbon like material wrapping around the original black handle making a deign of black diamonds running down the middle. The scabbard was black and had a yellow ribbon wrapped around the the top where the blade enters. All though there was no strap holding it up it appeared to float and magically stay against his back but in reality Lucario was using his own aura to hold it in the air.

Lucario then began to walk forward as he looked at the structure of this new world. He walked up the stairs and wondered if this should be the place where he sets up his shop. This place did get alot of a travelers and he could make some money or should he go back to hollow bastion. Lucario had been tired of just running into people asking them if they needed protection from heartless. He wanted to establish a little foot hold where people go to him. His thought was interrupted as he held his stomach. There was a loud growling noise and he chuckled. He remembered that he hadn't ate anything in almost 2 days now. Well figured he was going to be here for a while and he needed a drink as well so why not go eat. He'll look for a place later on. The only problem was that Lucario didn't know where any place was.

He then walked down an ally way and saw a large door. Lucario figured why not since he had nothing better to do. He pushed open the door and was lead to another section of Traverse town. It was bigger than he was expecting. Then he heard footsteps running and a women ran into him. He knocked her over by accident and looked puzzled. "Are you ok?" he ask. She then stood up running through the door behind him. Lucario turned around and saw why she was running. His eyes widened as There were black voids and heartless pouring out. Lucario rubbed the back of his head. Of course the heartless would attack after his mission was over. He then began to applaud the heartless and then pointed at them. "Not a bad trick but You can stay and die or you can walk your ugly ass's back through that gate. It's your call, pals." His voice sounded cocky since after all these were only the little black ones with the gold eyes.

Lucario took another deep breath slowly letting it out. He figured there were two things he could do. The first thing was fight and the second was run. All he wanted to do was to eat and instead he received this. Lucario figured the second option would be best since fighting on an empty stomach wasn't the best idea. Lucario then closed his eyes and turned around trying to open the door.The door was locked now and Lucarios eyes widened. "Everything has to be complicated." He then heard their little foot steps approach. He knew it was time to put his plan into action or improvise he wasn't sure what to call it yet. "So I guess this is a pretty interesting way to start my new story." he said.

[raive]

Bartz Klauser walked about Traverse Town; he, too, had recently arrived and was curious as to what kind of world it was, exactly. It wasn't anything he'd seen. The architecture was totally unlike the world he came from, Lix.

He sighed, sitting down on a nearby bench and drawing a thin, red sword out of the air with a tiny emerald set in the hilt. He began polishing this sword with his tunic, musing. "Well, after falling out of the sky, I'd guess this is no ordinary world. It seems to be locked in nighttime. Which isn't a problem, really. Though I wonder if I'm going to be locked in here, too."

Bartz finished polishing the sword and stood up. Suddenly, a breeze ruffled his short, brown hair and white tunic. He stretched, causing his single epaulette to turn. He took a few steps forward, his cloth-and-leather boots making very little sound on the cobblestone street.

Coming out of the alleyway he was in, he came upon a square-shaped central area. To his right was an "item shop", or so the sign read. To his left, a flight of stairs and an "accessory shop". Again, courtesy of the sign. In front of him, down a flight of stairs, was the area itself, with a cafe on the right and an exceptionally large door on the left.

Bartz chuckled, walking up to it. "I wonder where this leads..." his adventurous spirit getting the better of him. He looked back, taking mental notes of his location before pushing the door open.

However, no sooner had he opened the door, he saw a figure in purple wielding a sort of sword. He couldn't really describe it... but he could describe the creatures in front of the man. They looked like giant ants made up of pure darkness, with glowing yellow eyes. The man looked like he could defend himself.

"Not a bad trick but you can stay and die or you can walk your ugly asses back through that gate. It's your call, pals."

Bartz chuckled at the man's audactiy. He obviously didn't know that these creatures could literally take his heart. He dashed up next to the man and drew two curved swords out of the air.

"Need a little help? I'm willing to give it." Bartz focused on the shadow-ants in front of him, readying himself into a fighting stance.

[lucario]

Lucarios head turned as a man ran up next to him. The man said that he was willing to help. Lucario just stared and smiled but it seemed more like a grin and smirk put together. Lucario stood straight and looked back at the heartless. Now he wouldn't have to fight them since someone offered to help him and since they offered he didn't want to be rude and deny them. At least he'd be able to find a place to eat faster. "Well if you're offering to help be my guest." Lucario said just before he sprinted forward towards the heartless. The tail of his coat flew back from the speed he was moving. It wasn't the full extent of his speed but he figured he wouldn't need to.

The plan was to just fight his way through the heartless till he go to the other side and leave the rest for this new guy who offered to help him. Lucario then jumped in the air as he landed on their head. He then ran on top of their head laughing as they bent under his weight. Lucario then landed behind them and looked back at the guy who had offered him help earlier waving goodbye. "Thanks for the help they"re all yours." Lucario then turned around walking away. As he walked away only about five of the heartless followed him and the rest focused on Bartz. Lucario entered the huge plaza where he saw golden fountain in the corner of the lower area of the district. Lucario then tucked his hands into the pocket of his jacket and gave a smirk as he stopped.

Lucario then turned around as he backed up slowly and the heartless then began to run. Lucario chuckled and ran forward again as he bent his right knee sweeping his left leg to the right. The leg caught one of the heartless to the head. As his leg connected with the heartless. Lucario then pushed off his right leg jumping up spinning in the air doing a roundhouse kick with his left foot smashing down on the head of a heartless with the heel of his foot. Lucario then stood straight as his stomach rumbled loudly again. Lucario sighed and began to run at the other heartless as he lift his right leg thrusting it forward so that the the bottom of his foot hit one of the heartless in the face making it fly back. As the heartless hit the wall it shattered away into nothingness. Now there were two and Lucario took both of his hands out of his pockets and raised them as he point the palm of his hands at the heartless. It was time to end this. This was Lucarios trademark move. Two small purple orbs began to form in his palms and slowly got bigger. They stopped as soon as they were as big as a tennis ball. "Jackpot." The two aura spheres fired as the heartless as they hit the heartless in the stomachs making them disappear.

The heartless that were focusing on Bartz started to run towards Bartz. They were going to try to swarm him with their numbers. There were about forty in total and some of them had jumped up while the others had ran straight at him. The ant like heartless wanted this boys heart that much was clear. As the heartless ran towards Bartz it seemed as if it were just a black wave of pure darkness heading towards him.

Lucario opened another door heading to the first district. There Lucario looked around and saw the restaurant right next to the door where he had entered. Lucario rubbed the back of his head and sighed. He felt like an idiot since he had went through all this trouble to find a restaurant and it was right in front of his face the whole time. Lucario walked over to the chairs and sat down in them as the candle lit by its self. Lucario laughed as it did this and then he saw a women walking towards him. She asked him what he wanted and he just smiled and said "Bring me 3 slices of pieces with everything on it, a strawberry sundae and an alcoholic drink please." As his food was brought to him Lucario took a slice of pizza and then began to eat. Lucario looked over waiting to see if Bartz would come out.

Lucario then took a drink of the alcohol drink and smiled. He then smiled as soon as the alcohol drink touched his drink. No doubt that was what he really wanted. Lucario then finished his pizza quickly and began to eat the strawberry sundae. Lucario took a bite of the ice cream as it sent a cold chill up his back. Lucario let out a loud yay. After not eating for so long and eating this kind of food he couldn't help it. Then he looked over again and the kid still hadn't came out. If the kid did survive Lucario would treat him to some food for his troubles. Lucario sat back in his chair eating his strawberry Sundae.

[raive]

Bartz cursed to himself as the man did some damn fine acrobatic moves and basically left him for dead.

"Thanks for the help they"re all yours."

For once in his life, Bartz was angry. That guy in the purple coat would pay for this.

Bartz turned his attention to the Heartless beginning to swarm. Bartz's frown deepened as he drew a certain Buster Sword out of the air; he'd need it for this. As the first wave of Heartless threw themselves at him, Bartz swung horizontally with the flat edge of the blade. This threw the wave of Heartless back, but Bartz immediately grew weary after the attack; Cloud's Buster Sword was heavy, and definitely not good for sustained fighting. As the second wave advanced, Bartz threw the Buster Sword into the air and it disappeared into the night sky.

However, two blades fell towards Bartz from its place. Bartz caught them; two wickedly-sharp curved blades. Courtesy of Zidane Tribal. Bartz immediately stepped forward, ending the "life" of two Heartless with one rising diagonal slash. In the same motion, he ended the existence of two others with the other blade.

Bartz then began to spin. If anyone was watching, they would be able to see concentration etched upon his face. Bartz spun, the inward suction of wind catching some Heartless and drawing them towards him, like a black tornado. However, these Heartless were dispered quickly, their bodies bursting in pulses of darkness. Those that were not "killed" soon were; the whirlwind suddenly pulsed and threw the closing Heartless away.

Already tired from the fight, Bartz sought a retreat, and he found it in the door behind him. Bartz rammed the door with his shoulder, and although it pained, Bartz was able to use his forward momentum to plow through.

On the other side, Bartz quickly wheeled about, catching a glimpse of the black wave advancing. Bartz barely managed to close the door as figures detached themselves from the wave and launched themselves at him.

Panting, Bartz took a good look around for any sign of the man... and there he was, purple coat and all, relaxing at the cafe! Righteous anger stoked, Bartz advanced over to the man, a thin red sword in his hand; a weapon of Bartz's own invention.

He eventually came upon the resting man, who happened to be eating pizza, and drinking some sort of alcoholic drink. Bartz grimaced as he faced the man.

"People don't often leave their allies for dead if said ally offers help. A decent man would stay and finish the fight together. I killed about thirty of them by myself, but I'm tired as hell. Why the hell would you do something like that? And I thought you were the one in trouble... you played me for a fool."

He sat down next to the man. The waitress, seeing this new guest, came over. But before she could speak, Bartz said, "I'll have whatever he's having... the pizza, smoothie, and that drink. He'll be paying for everything."

While he waited, Bartz turned his attention back to the man. "You'd better have a damn good reason why you left me back there. I'm a nice guy. But you got off on the wrong foot with me."

Bartz wasn't normally like this; normally, he was quite friendly and would have enjoyed the challenge. But there were about forty of those dark creatures, and although he killed the thirty relatively easily, he was tired and had no more patience; he had fallen out of the sky and nearly broke his back, and this was how the man repaid him for his generosity in trying to help?

[lucario]

Lucario chuckled as the man he left came up to him and started rambling on about how he left him and how he killed all these heartless. Lucario humored him and just listened to Bartz when he spoke. Lucario closed his eyes as he began to tune Bartz out. "It bugs the crap out of me when somebody talks more than I do." Lucario said. This had all ready started to annoy Lucario. Lucario stood up just smiling at Bartz as he said that he better have a good reason for doing what he did so Lucario figured why not answer. "You're alive aren't you? Well that's all that matters as for a reason I don't have one."

Lucario chuckled again and then reached into his pocket pulling out the little bag of munny he had made earlier. He opened it it up threw 30 munny on there. Then he reached over taking the alcohol drink from Bartz and drank it. "I don't know if you're under age but I'm not going to take the chance." Lucario then put the bottle down and put the munny away. "Maybe you can help me can you tell me the name of this world and anything about it and if not then finish your meal and flock off." Lucario then stuck his hands back in his coat pockets and walked away. All though it didn't seem like much but Lucario was playing mind games with Bartz. This was how Lucario worked with every person he met. He played with their minds with his own personality. Lucario then walked towards the shop up the stairs.

Lucario opened the door and walked in. If Bartz followed Lucario might explain why he did what he did, but most likely he wouldn't. Lucario looked around at the shop. He saw a man there with blond hair. Lucario walked up and reached inside his jacket pulling out blue paper. "I need you to make this ok don't tell anyone about it ok. I need one black and one silver. I'll pay you whatever it takes just make them." The man whose name was Cid looked at them and nodded. The man told him that he needed at least a day to complete the order. Lucario nodded pulling out the bag and threw it on the counter. "There and keep the rest for you-self." Lucario said.

Lucario took a deep breath walking out side and walked to a bench. A whole day here what the hell was he going to do. Lucario rubbed the back of his head. Lucario yawned and looked around. Well maybe he should find a place to sleep. Lucario leaned back on the bench closing his eyes. He thought about what he did to Bartz and laughed a little. Not that it was funny but that the kid actually managed to defend him-self against so many. Well the way things were going in all the worlds this was the sign of a good thing. Lucario knew he was pure of heart that much was obvious. "Kids these days. They can't enjoy a good time when they get one." Lucario spoke out loud as his face stared at the sky. Lucario did want to fight the heartless deep down in his heart but he figured he should let the younger generations fight while they can.

[raive]

Bartz sighed, finishing the smoothie and pizza; he had never tasted them before, as they were non-existent on his world. He savored the taste of them both, and felt a little sad when he finished the last bite of the pizza and drank the last remnants of the smoothie.

Paying the waitress with the money the man left, he stood up, taking stock of the town. His gaze settled on the accessory shop, and the purple-cloaked man walking into it. Not wishing to interrupt the man's personal business, he started to walk around the square. Nothing much was there, pretty bland really. The only interesting thing about the square was the mailbox - which was basically an cylindrical stand with an open "mouth" and a tongue sticking out.

"Some sense of humor went into this mailbox..." Bartz chuckled quietly as he looked at it. Bartz's gaze then locked on a signpost. He looked up at it.

"Traverse Town 1st District." He read quietly to himself. So this place was called Traverse Town. He recalled the man saying he'd like to know what this world was called, so Bartz strode up the stairs and up to the bench the man was now sitting on.

"Hey. About earlier. Sorry if I came off kinda rude. The challenge was actually kind of fun. An adventure in and of itself." Without invitation, Bartz sat next to the man. "Glad to see somebody alive around here besides that waitress. This place is kind of dead. Probably due to those shadow-ant things."

Bartz gestured around. "I saw a signpost. Maybe you didn't see it. This place is called Traverse Town. And I'm Bartz Klauser. But you can just call me Bartz. I'm not about formal stuff."

[lucario]

Lucarios face twitched as a familiar voice echoed through his ears. He knew that annoying voice but some how he had hope that it was someone else. He moved his head so it looked at Bartz and sighed. He couldn't help but wonder why this kid was following him. Though at least now the time could go by a little faster since he did have to wait a while to get what he came for. Lucario then looked back at the stars listening to Bartz as he had told him that the name of the town was Traverse Town. It seemed that the little squirt was of some use since he did provide some information. The very name made Lucario think that this wasn't the place to set up his shop. So it would seem he would still have to travel to another world to find the perfect place, but still Bartz was most likely right. There were a lot of heartless around here. Lucario stood up stretching his arms so now that he had ate and was full of energy why not try to do something about it.

Lucario heard that this kid name was Bartz Klauser. All though it was formal Lucario wasn’t going to give his name so early to people. Lucario just gave small nod signaling that he heard his name. This would at least give Bartz the thought that Lucario was listening to him. Lucario then glanced forward looking at the door leading to the next district. If things were this bad it would only be a matter of time before the heartless would over run the small town. Well it seemed that now he had yet another task to complete. Then Lucario remembered how even if they did kill some heartless more would just appear, but still he wouldn’t just let it happen.

"Well kid you're right about there being a lot of heartless around. So why not do something about it. It's not like you got anything else to do so why not become more use full and follow me. Don’t worry I won’t leave you like I did last time."

Lucario gave a light smile to Bartz to assure him that he wouldn’t leave him behind like he did earlyer. Lucario then focused his attention on the door leading to the second district and took in a deep breath. He began to walk towards the door then stopped. The darkness on the other side of the door could be felt. It was almost as if there was no more light left there that it was just waiting to engulf any light that would dare to get in its way. Lucario couldn’t help but laugh now. It appeared as if Lucario was insane since he found this funny. It was weird since most people would find this to be frighting but he actually found this funny.

“Come on kid it looks like the party is getting crazy.”

[raive]

"Well kid you're right about there being a lot of heartless around. So why not do something about it. It's not like you got anything else to do so why not become more use full and follow me. Don’t worry I won’t leave you like I did last time."

Bartz nodded, not so quick to smile this time. He didn't quite trust the man. But since Bartz had really nothing better to do in terms of adventuring, he figured that this was his best shot to get to know the world better.

Bartz stood up, following the man whose name he did not yet know. He wouldn't press anymore, though; this man had a bit of a personality that could rub people the wrong way. Bartz wasn't really fazed, though. He had met plenty of people with varying personalities. Faris, Lenna, Krile, Galuf... all of them were different. And those nine from the fragmented worlds, they had different personalities too. He had found it difficult to get along with Cloud, especially. He was not too keen on friendship. And the Onion Knight was way too overconfident. "There's no fight I can't win through strategy!" Zidane was the easiest to get along with, and Tidus was amiable though hell-bent on destroying his own father.

Jerking out of his reverie, he addressed the purple-garbed man. "You'll have to make me a promise. Though I don't expect you to uphold it." He shrugged. "It'll be an adventure nonetheless. I'll have to ask you about these things you call 'Heartless' later. Never really fought them before, except from a few minutes ago."

Bartz's gaze strayed over to the Second District door. Having a heart of light, the taint of darkness was almost palpable in the cool, night air. Bartz drew a shortsword out of the air. Courtesy of the Onion Knight. This sword had veins of blue and gold up the blade, and the hilt was silver with a leather grip. Bartz appraised the weapon, and drew another sword out of the air. The whole sword was red, with a line of gold running up the center of the blade. The hilt had no grip, but this blade fit his hand perfectly.

“Come on kid it looks like the party is getting crazy.”

"For your information, I'm 20 years old. I would hardly call myself a kid."

With that said, Bartz walked up to the door. The darkness grew stronger with each step. Bartz found that he was sweating. From both fear and excitement. Bartz placed his hands on the door while gripping both swords and pushed the door open.

[lucario]

“Well kid you’re still younger than me so to me you’re still a kid.”

Lucario chuckled as he began to walk pass Bartz ignoring the request that he had made about Lucario making a promise on not to leave.. He watched the door slowly open as what laid beyond the door was something he wasn’t expecting. There was nothing there everything appeared to be normal. Lucario walked through the door looking to his left then to his right. His blue eyes scanned everything quickly looking for anything that could be wrong. Lucario walked to the edge over looking the second district and sighed. Maybe things weren’t as bad here or maybe they were worse. He leaned lightly on the edge closing his eyes. Lucario finally opened his eyes after a minute jumping up on the ledge and then jumped down into the middle of plaza. As he landed his knees bent so as not to hurt them.

“Looks like we’re playing the cat and mouse games... and we’re the mouse.”

The light around the whole district began to flicker on and off. The light completely shut off and everything was dark. There was no light and the air began to freeze as the temperature dropped quickly. The sound of little footsteps could be heard. Then armor could be heard clanging with each foot step that was took. Then a loud snarl could be heard. Lucario took in a deep breath slowly letting it out. As the last of his breath left his lungs the lights came on and the plaza was filled with heartless but not the small ant like ones. There were a large amount of heartless resembling a knight clad in purple and blue armor with white trim and yellow buttons; they also have the tell-tale Heartless zig-zag jawline, with a purple head and a silver jaw. The arms and torso are also proportioned much larger than the head and legs, the arm not holding the Defender's main weapon actually rests ape-like on the ground.

These large defender like heartless filled the entire plaza and they approched both Lucario and Bartz. Lucario wondered why all these powerfull heartless were being drawn to this small world. First thing was first they would have to defeat these defenders. Lucario looked at the handle of his okatana and smiled. Looks like with this fight he might be pushed to use his sword but for now he’d just fight with his fists. The shield of one of the defenders fired a large fireball towards them. Lucario dove to his left rolling when he hit the ground and stood stood up looking at the defenders. He began to brush the dust of his clothes looked over at Bartz. He couldn’t see him though since that blast the the defender launched his the wall causing a large cloud of dust to rise from where it hit.

“Bartz if you can hear me looks like we got our work cut out for us. These heartless are much more stronger than the ones you fought earlier. So don’t go thinking this will be a walk in park like last time.”

Lucario made a fist with both of his hands and his body began to relax. From what Lucario knew about the heartless there was usually a stronger heartless that was drawing the smaller ones to the locations. So it seemed that the fight was only starting here and who knows when it’ll end. Lucario then began to run forward holding back on his speed as he ran toward the Heartless Defenders. He jumped up in the air as his body began to spin. As he fell towards the ground he brought the heel of his foot down and it collided with the shield of one of the defenders. The defender pushed him back and Lucario did a back flip right back to where he landed. He thought he should consider him-self lucky since the dog didn’t bite him.

"Looks like their even stronger from the last time I fought them. I guess it's your turn Bartz."

[raive]

Bartz watched as the man did a cursory investigation of the area, and Bartz quickly followed him in. As the man jumped down into the lower area, Bartz's blood ran cold as the man said:

“Looks like we’re playing the cat and mouse games... and we’re the mouse.”

Acting on instinct, Bartz leapt forward at the sudden shadow appearing beneath him. He just cleared the area of the sudden body slam another Defender had attempted to do. Bartz, while still in the air, launched a ball of searing flame at the Defender, which raised its shield and absorbed it.

Bartz landed on the ground, and had to leap out of the way as another Defender launched a fireball. Bartz cleared most of it, but his foot got caught in the fireball's path. His boot caught fire, so Bartz ran to the fountain at the rear of the lower level and doused his boot. Luckily, it had caught fire but the leather only appeared singed.

Bartz turned his attention back to the man; contrary to the man's statement that Bartz was younger, the man still moved quickly and with fine agility. Bartz grinned, hefting both of his weapons. He ran at the nearest Defender just as the man collided with its shield. Before the Defender could turn to face Bartz, he sunk both of his swords into its back, into what seemed like not physical substance but an almost gel-like air. Twisting the swords to achieve the maximum level of damage, he planted his feet on its back, pulled them out and in the same motion, backflipped off the Defender, launching a crystal of deadly-cold ice at it to ensure it would be slowed.

However, Bartz had backflipped into the path of the Defender - not the one on the upper level, but the one next to the now ice-covered one - and it lunged forward with its shield, the dog-pattern on the front trying to bite him! Bartz, without thinking, dove prone onto the ground and grunted in pain as the heavily-armored Defender stumbled over him. It wasn't enough to break bones (as Bartz had plenty of battle experience) but it still hurt. Bartz got back up and ran next to his ally.

"I hurt it. I think it'll take more than that to do the trick, from what you're saying..."

With that, Bartz tossed the swords up into the air, causing them to disappear and catching a gunblade. Courtesy of Squall. Bartz aimed at the Defenders, as if daring them to come closer.

(OOC: Sorry, Lucario, I've been dealing with a lot of real-life crap. Hope I didn't disappoint you... I apologize again.)

[lucario]

There was a laugh as Bartz boot caught on fire all though it was a team mate Lucario couldn’t help but laugh since it was just some pure comedy stuff. “Damn kid cool down I don’t need you to be bursting in flames on me.” There was a gentle smile on his face as he said showing just how Lucario acted. Even during a grave situation he was still calm and acted as if nothing was going on. Lucario stood watching Bartz begin his assault on the Heartless Defenders. He stood there slowly moving out of his defensive stance. Lucario watched every movement Bartz made. The smile never left his face as Lucario couldn’t deny that the fighting abilities were beyond amature, but even with their abilities Lucario knew they were outmatched. Even if they slayed them all more would come so there was only one thing to do.

“Bartz we can’t stay here and fight them all. They’ll just keep coming until we’re out of breath. From what I know about these heartless is that there is always a more powerful heartless drawing them here. The way I see it we’re gonna have just punch are we deeper into the belly of the beast. We only kill the heartless we have too but try to conserve your energy since that heartless is drawing all these powerful heartless who knows how strong this other heartless is. All right kid I’ll lead and you watch my back. Make sure none of them try to get cheap shots on us.”

Lucario took a step out towards the Defenders each one with their shields snarling at them. He looked over his shoulder “Stay close kid this is gonna get exciting.” He hoped that Bartz would follow with the plan because even though Bartz was a experienced fighter he had yet to full encounter what these heartless were. Lucario then dashed forward holding back on his speed knowing that any mistake could be a grave one. The first defender in front of them ran at them raising it’s shield about to slam it down on them. Lucario shook his head and quickly let his feet slip from underneath him. As this happened Lucario began to slide aiming the sole of his shoes at the ankles of the Defender. “Kid he’s all yours... finish him quickly.” Lucario feet connected with the defender tripping it over him. The defender flew at Bartz exposed to attack but was trying to re-cooperate quickly.

Lucario kept sliding as he turned his body so that his stomach was on the ground. He pushed him-self up and spun so that he faced forward. As soon as he faced forward Lucario took a full impact attack from one of the defenders shield. He let out a loud grunt as the attack sent Lucario off both of his feet flying into the wall. The wall cracked a little as Lucario fell down to one knee. Though his reaction was not what anyone would do. A small chuckle could be heard and within no time it became a laugh. Lucario stood up laughing as he dusted the dirt of his clothes. His neck popped as he looked from his left to his right. Maybe it was time he didn’t hold back. He wouldn’t use his sword yet no that would come for the main heartless. It was time he used his unique ability with his hand to hand combat.

Though before he moved the defenders all stopped and looked around each one backing up. The light shutoff and turned back on. The defenders were gone but the ground began to shake and there was a loud screeching noise. Lucario covered his ears at the high pitch noise since his ears were were trained to hear almost any movement or sound. Then the ground turned a red ish blackish color as a heartless jumped out that looked more frightening than ever. I had the lust for hearts and it had found two good ones. As Lucario saw this he just shook his head giving a little smirk. He pointed the heartless saying “Look at you coming in here with a dramatic entrance like that stealing my spotlight... you know that ain’t to kind.” The heartless titled it’s head as it let out another screeching noise breaking all the glass in the district.

The heartless slammed is hand down in the ground as it made the earth rise in spike forms aiming for both Bartz and Lucario. Then the heartless opened its jaw firing two fire balls at them. No doubt this was the heartless drawing all the other heartless here but it’s power was something else. The heartless then vanished with the end and re-appeared in the air slamming down in the ground making pillars of rock rise from the ground encircling the center of district 2 preventing Lucario and Bartz from fleeing.

(OOC: It's ok Bartz i understand I've been the same way and sorry if this post sucks too and hope you can work with it. oh and here is how the Heartless boss looks like img77.imageshack.us/i/66610ak.jpg/sr=1)

[raive]

“Bartz we can’t stay here and fight them all. They’ll just keep coming until we’re out of breath. From what I know about these heartless is that there is always a more powerful heartless drawing them here. The way I see it we’re gonna have just punch are we deeper into the belly of the beast. We only kill the heartless we have too but try to conserve your energy since that heartless is drawing all these powerful heartless who knows how strong this other heartless is. All right kid I’ll lead and you watch my back. Make sure none of them try to get cheap shots on us.”

Bartz nodded, following the man in purple, mentally noting to ask for his name once this hell was all over.

"All right, I'll stay close... hey!" Bartz yelped as the Defender tumbled headlong towards him, courtesy of the man's tripping technique. Bartz leaped above the Defender, shooting it repeatedly with the gunblade before sinking it into its back. The Heartless dissipated, the heart floating into the sky, but just as it disappeared Bartz pulled the blade out, flipped, and landed on the ground.

Looking back towards the man, Bartz saw that he had been slammed into a wall. Bartz moved to help him, but narrowed his eyes as the ground shook and a loud screeching noise rang in his ears. Bartz squeezed his eyes shut, and re-opened them as the ground turned that dark color. He readied the gunblade as the large Heartless drew itself out of the ground.

He heard the man taunting it. If they were sentient creatures, they'd rise to the bait... which this one did, and frighteningly quick. The Heartless let out another screeching noise, but Bartz was ready for it this time.

Bartz dodged the earth spike aimed for him, not looking to see what happened to the man. Bartz advanced on it, firing the gunblade, tossing out a Fire attack for good measure. Bartz dodged out of the way of the fireball aimed at him, but swore softly as the Heartless disappeared, re-appeared, and caused pillars of earth to block all possible exists.

Bartz dashed towards it as it fired more fireballs, and more earth spikes popped out of the ground. Bartz dropped onto the ground in a sliding position, and passed underneath its legs, causing one of the spikes to stab itself. As Bartz passed through, he fired a few more bullets with the gunblade, and cast Blizzard, causing an ice crystal to to explode spectacularly on the Heartless, covering it with a thin layer of ice.

Bartz flipped back up, holding the gunblade close, warily watching for any more attacks. He was behind it, and the man was in front. Surely the Heartless couldn't attack them both at the same time...

Or so Bartz thought.

[lucario]

Lucario turned around and ran towards the wall as he planted his right foot on it and began to run up the wall. As he ran up the wall his body was parallel to the floor and the earth spikes that the heartless had launched at Lucario and Bartz hit the wall but it didn’t stop there. The spikes traveled up the wall following Lucario. As the spike moved closer to Lucario he bent both of his knees and then extended them pushing him-self off the wall. As he left the wall the fire balls hit the wall missing Lucario barely. It only caused char to get on his coat. Lucario landed on the ground as the char began to fall off his coat.

The heartless watched Bartz slide underneath it but before the spikes could impale it they stopped. Then its eyes opened wide and jumped up in the air spinning as the bullets were only able to cut. It landed on the ground and as it turned and faced Bartz once again but it was frozen in it’s tracks as the blizzard had caused it to freeze in it place. It didn’t move but slowly the ice began to turn red and the completely shattered and flames emitted from the body of the heartless. It then looked back and forth at Lucario and Bartz. The heartless stood straight and then began shake quickly. It let out loud one last screech and something began to emerge from the back side of the heartless. In a matter of seconds it had made a duplicate of its-self. One of the heartless faced Lucario while the other face Bartz.

The heartless facing Bartz ran towards him jumping from left to right as its hand moved up. It looked as if the time for magic was over and now this was gonna be a close combat fight. The heartless then sank into the ground vanishing. It rose up from the ground two feet in front of Bartz flying towards him. It had its right arm raised and then slashed. If the attack connected with Bartz it would cause a large gash across his chest. If Bartz blocked it the Heartless would bring up it left hand and attempt to push Bartz back against the wall. Whether the attack blocked or if it hit the heartless would then open it’s mouth and fire a a fireball towards Bartz to distract him. The heartless then would sink back down in the ground and come out of the wall surrounding the plaza and start slashing left and right aiming for Bartz back.

The heartless that face Lucario stood there eyeing him closely. It turned is hand to the sharp sides of the blades on its hands face Lucario. The heartless brought up it hand in a quick sweeping motion making the ground split. As this happened spike pillars began to rise from the ground each one growing more spikes from the ground. Then it raised it’s right hand and dashed forward towards Lucario attempting to impale him, but before it did the heartless sank in the ground and jumped from the ground on the right side of Lucario bringing both of it’s hands down in full force motion intending to end the fight right then and there.

Lucario stood there watching the Heartless separate from each other. No doubt this Heartless was not ordinary if it could do this. Now this fight had turned into a fair fight one heartless for each. Lucario watched is the heartless looking at him and gave it a smirk winking at it taunting it. It seemed to work Lucario thought since the heartless had launched an attack that seperated the ground. Lucario turned to his left running trying to stay ahead of the large seperation. As it stopped it seemed that the heartless was trying to stay on top by making another set of spikes rise from the ground. Lucario jumped let and right then he ran up the pillars pushing him-self off each time he felt a spike start to come out from the side of the other spikes. Lucario felt the wind of each spike as they came out barely maneuvering his way from them. Lucario landed on the ground starting to breath a bit heavy. Now doubt he was losing stamina evading all these attacks.

As the heartless swung down Lucario saw an opening it was brief but enough. The heartless raised both hands leaving its self exposed for a brief second and now he’d take advantage of it. Lucario took a step closer and moved his left hand back making a fist. He thrusted his fist with full force aiming for the stomach of the Heartless. Lucario then spun around jumping up doing a front flip aiming bringing down the heel of his foot aiming for the heartless back this time. Lucario knew in his head this fight would have to end soon there was no way Bartz and him could keep this up. They had all ready been fighting for a while and these heartless were fresh. Lucario landed on the ground moving his left hand to his right shoulder grabbing the handle of his okatana and slowly pulled it out.

“Bartz how are you holding?” Lucario shouted

[raive]

Bartz cursed as the Heartless avoided his attacks, but smirked as the Blizzard hit home. But this smirk soon evaporated, for the Heartless broke through the thin layer of ice.

Bartz's jaw slowly opened as the Heartless duplicated itself. Bartz, with Lucario's help, could hold off one. But two, he wasn't so sure about. The newly-created Heartless faced Bartz and sank into the ground. Bartz, gunblade raised, aimed around and felt the ground shaking. Bartz leaped up as the ground turned black, and the Heartless exploded out of it.

Landing expertly, Bartz was forced to dodge as claws raked across his front. Luckily, he had turned in such a way that the claws inflicted three long scratches on his chest and upper belly. Though these scratches didn't burn as they would with a normal cut; they felt cold, and bitterly so. Bartz couldn't quite get out of the way as the other hand pushed him to the wall, and when he saw the Heartless open its mouth for another fireball, Bartz created the Warrior of Light's shield and protected himself from the ensuing inferno. Bartz could feel the heat as the shield held firm against the flaming projectile. Bartz then let out a grunt as he pushed the fireball back into its head. Bartz then slipped from its grip, and let the shield disappear. In its place, he created a machine gun. Laguna Loire's machine gun. Bartz laid a continuous stream of bullets down at the Heartless as he kept skipping backwards in order to avoid the claw swipes.

Bartz ran up the wall onto the upper platform, continuing to shoot, reloading as he needed. Bartz jumped as it launched another fireball, landing on its back, firing a couple of shots, and jumped out of the way of a retaliatory grab. Landing on the other side, he ran towards Lucario. "Bartz, how are you holding?"

Panting with exhaustion, Bartz kept firing as he replied. "I'm getting a little tired, and these Heartless won't let up, old man! We need to get out of here, or think of something else!"

The Heartless let out another fireball, which Bartz countered with a strong Blizzard, causing the two to fizzle out.

[lucario]

The heartless eyes widened as there was an explosion and the the heartless was sent back. It stood up and shook its head attempting to to run back at Bartz. Though the attempt failed because Bartz was keeping it distant with a machine gun he had made appear. As the bullets got closer there was a large wall of earth that came out of the ground about 2 feet think stopping the barrage of bullets from damaging the heartless. The second heartless jumped next to the other and both of them merged together back into on single being. They were showing that this heartless was tired of playing around it now it was going to kill them both.

Lucario looked over at Bartz as he saw the blood dripping from his chest. It didn’t look serious to Lucario so he re-focused his attention to the heartless. No doubt the heartless was going to win if they kept fighting at this level so there was only one thing to do other than run since that option had been taken away from them. Lucario held his okatana as his side and looked around looking at ever little detail as a smile slowly crept up on his face. Lucario had developed a quick plan and hoped that it would work since this was going to most likely be a do or die situation. Lucario took in a deep breath of air as his chest began to puff out.

“All right Bartz I have an idea but it’s only going to work if you can pull off your part of the plan. There’s no way me and you can beat this thing that much is certain so I think I got a way to beat this thing but it’s going to be risky. Since this creature is back into one body thanks to your assault with that little machine gun of yours we stand to have a better chance of this plan working out for us. So here is what we going to do. You’re going to distract this heartless with your fireballs and see if you can use that gunblade to keep that heartless at bay. Whatever you do just keep that thing distracted. Once it’s distracted I’ll impale it into the wall and I want you to cast your strongest spell on my okatana once it’s impaled. If I’m right it should at least double the attack of the spell and from there we’ll just barrage it with everything we got.”

The wall of earth sank back into the ground as the heartless made its claw on fire. Now the killing potential of this heartless was worse. It took a step towards them as it raised up its left hand pointing the tips of the blades at them firing two fire balls. Though as the fireballs flew at Bartz and Lucario their formed changed and they had become spears. Lucario figured now was the time to use this as cover. Lucario moved his hands up smiling “Orabaria!” A wave of aura fluxed from Lucario entire arm and suddenly there was a huge purple barrier around Bartz and him. The fire spears exploded as they hit the aura barrier. Lucario made the the barrier disappear and ran into the smoke. “Now bartz!” Lucairo Yelled.

The heartless fired two more spears of fire and The heartless thought it had hit them so it ran into the smoke. A shadowy figure could be seen and then the heartless emerged from the smoke snarling at Bartz. As it ran towards Bartz it made the ground flux making it wave up and down trying to throw Bartz off balance. It jumped in the air raising its arms and opening it mouth. It was attempting to grab on to Bartz and rip him to shreds. They heat it was releasing from its body could be seen as wave of flames slowly began to surround it.