Solace of Nirvana

"Oh good heavens I'm surrounded by idiots." Zack thought to himself. "If you didn't have your uses I'd probably kill you right now." Zack sat down. "Well, since we can't reach the City of Dawn we return to base. There isn't much for us to do until the darks appear on the radar again." Zack looked down at the radar in his hand. "Just to make sure that the dark isn't still on this world, we will wait here for five mintues."

>I notice, based on Hope's above post, that good guy group appears to be headed towards Destiny Island. Which, coincidentally, is where Zack, Kavi, and a radar tower all are.<

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"Okay, first things first." Gerik said as they stepped into this new world. "Since we're all being targeted by these light knights, there are some guidelines that need to be gone over. First and most importantly, you guys cannot go around hinting that we have any power. Clearly, the last guy you hinted to about this power wanted to kill us. Secondly, while when it happened it was probably incidental, you guys can't use your powers in public unless we're already being attack. Again, it reveals us to the ones wanting to kill us." Gerik wrapped up his weapon and attatched it to his belt. "I appologize if I sound demanding or judgemental or anything. I just really don't like brushing with death more than once a day. And I'm certain you all enjoy being alive." He turned to Raven. "I'm certain you've left me out of the loop, but what about these three? Do they know what is going on?"

 

Emma was too busy playing with the fireball in her hand, completely fascinated by the small little thing she could now do. She was still listening though.

"When are we going to know, and where exactly is safe, I've been to one world other than my own and we're still attacked by those lunatic crazy people." Emma stated before her hand started to heat up a little to much to her control before dropping it in the sand and it went out. She looked around where they were at. Her mouth literally dropped.

"This isn't, this can't be..." The girl said completely fascinated by being at the one place she read about. "Destiny Islands?" She stated looking over at Raven for a sort of confirmation. Not that she needed it, the star shaped fruit growing on the tree, found only on one world, gave it all away.

 

OOC: No radio tower on Destiny islands, remember?

Vincent, to sum it up in two words, was very furious. Furious at his failure. Furious at not anticipating a proper retaliation. Furious for not taking them out when he had the chance. Once he recovered from that final strike, he struck at the nearest building with fire, burning it to a crisp before he came to his senses and realized the condition he was in. His arm was sprained if not broken, and he was bleeding from his back where ice cut into him from the wall.

"Wonderful," He said in a voice that was nearly a whisper. "Simply wonderful."

Activating his portal device he teleported himself into the headquarters's infirmary to get treatment. Of course, not before giving the message, "I have failed. Vincent, out."

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"If he has the ability to hide himself or teleport, then odds are he's done it and we're stuck high and dry on this stupid island! I say we send a division of the lower-ranked units over here to locate him! And-"

Raiga was interrupted by the little device Zack held, which began beeping.

"And we could just wait for that thing to beep, too. That works."

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Kavi's journey in the cave came to an end at a dead end, unfortunately. The wall in front of him had four slots, each with different patterns in the rock around it. One wavy, one jagged, one smooth, and one coarse. He shrugged and leaned against the wall, sighing in exasperation.

"How did I get in here in the first place?" He asked, drawing lines in the sand of the ground next to him.

 

Zack looked at the device. "According to this thing the dark that showed up is now on a different island. So logically that would mean Vincent failed attacking the others and they have all ended up on this world."

"I have failed, Vincent out." Spoke out on the speaker.

Zack grabbed a radio and spoke into it. "Headquarters, Zack here. There is a high chance that Vincent's targets have arrived at Destiny Islands. Requesting full force backup."

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"Let's find this last person and get the hell away from here. If they found us on the last world, they're bound to find us here as well."

 

Emma look over at Hope and shrugged. She looked around on the island.

"Seems like well be playing a big game of hide and seek." Emma stated as she looked at every little spot on the island, manmy places one could hide at. She sighed aloud. "It would seem that there are tons of place that this last person could hide at." Emma stated.

She looked over at a small waterfall as her eyes saw a little cave and for whatever reason she felt pulled away and a sense of being pushed away. She shrugged it off.

"Maybe we can split up. After all we sort of know how to fight and we do got two experienced fighters even know the one is injured. "Perhaps Gerik an myself can go off searching and Hope, Angel, and Raven in the other group. Perhaps when we find something we can try and notify the other group." Emma suggested.

 

"I. . . will wait here and man the communications for you. I did build them all, after all," Ghira told the other three, taking a seat and putting on a set of traffic headphones.

"Well, we won't get anythin' done by just standin' here, come on!" Finch said, bolting for the door. Raiga grabbed the back of her shirt before she managed to get anywhere, however.

"Nuh-uh! You're not the commander here, he is!" The sandy-haired man barked, pointing to Zack.

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Kavi sighed again, pulling himself up the wall back into a standing position.

"No, I can't just give up now. I haven't survived this long by sitting around. What is it about this place that's so weird? That's what I have got to find out!" He proclaimed rather loudly in an attempt to rally his own spirits. All that answered him was an echo. "There are four inserts in the wall. . . Big enough for a hand. Here goes!"

And Kavi stuck an arm into the wavy slot.

 

Zack reached in his bag again, pulling out some kind of pad. He tossed it to the outside ground. Once it landed, a light illuminated from it. Three hoverbikes appeared from where the device was. He turned to Ghira. "Make sure the reinforcements get here before we attack. I'm assuming Vincent went in by himself. We can't afford to make that mistake." Zack jumped on one of the hoverbikes and rode off the island in the direction of Raven's group.

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"If we're going to split up, which kinda sounds stupid, do we even have a means of communication?" Gerik spoke. "Is it really a bright idea to call me an experienced fighter? Sure, I've practiced with this weapon. But I've never actually fought somebody before today. Just gotta remember that the enemy isn't human. That'll make fighting so much easier."

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"Come on, they're so close." Voltair spoke to himself. "They've got one more to find." From his spot in the realm of darkness, Voltair could observe places in the realm of light. He saw Raven's wound. "She's not so great at protecting people." He laughed. "She's much better fighting by herself. Or with me."

 

Emma shrugged and looked at all of them.

"I guess so..." She stated. "Lets be quick then." Emma stated following Raven. She stopped for a second though. She turned and looked at a bunch of trees and bushes. She shrugged and looked back at the rest of the group.

"Is that tracker showing anything like where the fourth person could be?" Emma asked.

OOC: I didn't have much to build off of, I don't know about the rest of you guys but I feel like this isn't going anywhere at all.

 

OOC: SPEEDUPPU! Sorry for the powerplay, but it was a necessary evil!

The transmitter failed to locate the last Elemental for Raven. However, the others felt they had to go to a specific location purely on instinct and headed there, a sandy stretch of beach that a circular stone sat upon. The stone was cracked, and would easily give way to reveal an underground passage.

As for the Knights, their reinforcement units had just arrived as the Raven and the others reached the tunnel, awaiting orders. Zack, presumably, would meet Raven as they found the tunnel.

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"What're those other stupid keybladers doin' anyways? Two of them are just sittin' around eatin' bon-bons and watchin' us fail, that's what!" A fiercely annoyed Finch growled, as they followed Zack. "I don't understand it at all!"

"Come on, don't just insult them like that. They work hard too you kn- Looks like we found them!" Raiga sneered with a grin that grew larger. In the near distance, he could see the group of alleged Dark people clustered around something. Over the radio, Ghira's voice crackled, "The reinforcements have arrived. I'm having them land near your position."

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Kavi found himself in a curious chamber, as soon as he reopened his eyes. There were no doors. There was no window, nor were there stairs. There was, however, a sun roof that appeared to be holding the entire ocean at bay. And around him there were three pedestals. One of which was a staff wreathed in flame. Another, a hammer that seemed to be set in stone. The third, however, was the most magnetic to his very being. They were two chakram that weren't unlike the clam shell he used to use to protect himself, or at least in the way that he used the shell. The two bladed discs were stuck inside a block of ice, it appeared. Kavi began walking towards them and reached out for the ice block. And then everything changed.

 

"Good. No matter what these darks are doing, now we can get them." Once Zack was close enough, he jumped off the hoverbike and landed in front of the group. The moment his feet touched the ground, both keyblades appeared in his hands. "Seeing all of you here means Vincent failed to bring you all down. But that's what happens when he fights solo; especially when he's outnumbered. I won't make that mistake." As Zack spoke, the reinforcements arrived.

"We just can't get away, can we? Can we not get a break? Seriously?" Gerik thought. He then reacted without much thought. "Come on!" He tossed a few of the bombs he had on the ground, attempting to create a kind of smokescreen with the sand. Right after he did that, he reached out for the group. He grabbed Angel's hand and pulled her along as he ran to the tunnel. "Follow me!" He shouted to the rest of his group.

>I'm assuming a proper fight can happen once everybody has their weapons. So next post they get them?<

 

"Huh?" Emma looked where Angel was calling and her eyes fell on the kid at the end of the hall as well.

"What the...?" She said confused.

"Hey, how did he get here?" Emma asked surprised. She looked at the boy carefully expecting him almost. Her eyes fell on a very strange weapon in his hand. "What is that?" She asked confused. She looked at the weapon carefully and took in the design, it was like a design somebody could associate with water.

"You don't think...?" Emma looked at him.

"I think that's the last elemental!" Emma exclaimed quickly running ahead of everybody. She slowed down once she was closer to the boy.

"Hey, thank god we found you. Are you native to Destiny Island?" Emma asked him. His appearence seemed very odd and different from a typical island wear of Destiny Island.

 

"Alright, I'm gonna make this easy for you. Stop fightin' and die, or fight and die PAINFULLY! Your choice! Whoops, time's up! G'bye!" Finch spat, firing a lance of blue mana at Raven. Raiga began charging up an attack as well. This woman was responsible for his missed quarry, and it was payback.

The reinforcements, numbering twenty seven total, formed a circle around Raven, taking aim with their one-shot rifles.

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Kavi's body surged with power. Not only power, but knowledge too. This weapon, it spoke to him in ways like no other. It told him that his difference in Atlantica wasn't just because he was a different breed than the usual merfolk, but it was from this place calling out to him all this time. The water, it guided him for so long, he didn't even realize it. But then he heard voices.

They've found me, I've got to hi- He began to think, searching around for an exit, but was cut off by one of the new individuals addressing him. Wheeling about, he whipped an arm forward, holding one of the chakram, A torrent of water gushed forth at Emma rather unexpectedly, only to be vaporized by a jet of flame coming forth from the staff to his right. The fire surrounded Emma's front until after the water had gone, then flowed back toward's the staff's pedestal.

"G-Go away!" He shrieked, taking refuge behind what was left of the ice and stone that made up his weapons' resting place.

 

"Oh, don't worry about me going through you." Zack spoke to Raven. "I'm planning on taking you down first." He quickly issued an order to the reinforcements. "Make sure you're not using any light shots. Attacking with light will do nothing to her at best. At worst this fight becomes more difficult." Zack moved his body into a slight crouch. Once they all shot at Raven, he would dive in to hopefully cut right through her and end her now.

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Gerik wasn't even paying attention to the rest of the group. The last weapon that remained was the only thing Gerik noticed. The pedestal for the weapon was just a rock reaching out above Gerik's waist. The weapon was stuck in the rock. Gerik grabbed the handle of the weapon and gave it a tug. It didn't move. "Do I have to say some oath or something? I can tell this weapon is meant for me. I know that I don't deserve it. I'm not the best person. I'm a chronic liar. I feel as though I don't even fully have the conviction. But I do know this. I want to protect these people. And no, not because these people are three attractive girls my age and a woman who I'm pretty damn certain is immortal. But because they don't deserve to be on the run from this." Gerik tugged at the handle again. The rock crumbled away, the hammer breaking free of the rock.

Gerik stepped back from the pedestal. He turned to Kavi. "If you have that weapon in your hand, you should know we are allies. The weapon should have told you that much. This weapon has told me things as well. Now, you are free to do what you want. We are not going to fight you, we came here to get you. Whether or not you come with us is your choice. But there's a woman outside, risking her life to keep all of us alive. I'm going to go out there and help her. I hope to see you come out and fight alongside us." Gerik turned and walked towards the tunnel exit.

 

Emma had Herr eyes on the staff that shot fire out towards her to protect her. She walked over while Angel and Gerik spoke to the boy. She looked through the fire and attempted to grab the red hot handle of the staff. She closed her eyes before pulling hard on the staff and found the staff pulled lose.

Knowledge flowed through her mind as power flowed through her body. She opened her eyes and looked towards Kavi.

"Kavi if you chose to not listen to us, then remember this. You were chosen as were all of us to save the worlds, we were not meant to be enemies. The light knights are going to be after you. You can join us or fight them alone. As for the rest of you, I will be out there helping Raven out.

 

"Orright, that does it! you are dead meat!" Finch snarled, charging up a sphere of mana - but was interrupted by Raiga's Whiplash latching onto her wrist, preventing her from firing the explosive ball. "Oy! What gives?"

"Do you want to reduce visibility to zero? We're on top of sand right now, smart one!" The man barked at her, bringing out a Charged Blade in his right hand and formed his left hand into a gun position. "First Volley, fire!" He barked at the soldiers, who fired a round of bullets at Raven. Finch simply bit her lip in annoyance and began generating and throwing Marine Stars as fast as she could. Raiga grinned as he began firing Gravity Bullets at the woman.

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YouTube - ‪Forest of ?? Touhou Unplugged/Classic 8‬&rlm;

"But. . ." Kavi mumbled as the others grabbed the weapons and left. "But. . . you don't hate me?"

All his life, he had been persecuted, loathed, and despised by all he met. All because of his lineage. And only now, once he was human, was anybody beginning to accept him just on the spot. There was only one way out of that chamber, but he couldn't go. Not just yet.

Unfortunately for the Atlantican's psyche, the power of the weapons protecting the chamber was now gone, and the whole place began to crack under the sheer weight and force of the ocean. Kavi saw this and cursed, watching as the glass ceiling began to crack and leak.

"I-I have no time!" He spat, turning and making for the exit. And then he just kept running.