Desert Winds

Naito looked around the cavern as they entered. He wasn't going to mention anything, but it was a rather impressive location. He just hoped that the head wasn't going to be dangerous to them heading ou--

When the Heartless appeared, he simply drew his gun to his hand. There were a plethora of items around for him to use as cover if need be, but he was not actively geared for combat in his Yin formation just yet, especially against those who might come in close. As such, he dodged to the side of an oncoming Bandit, letting its scimitar slice the air beside him before aiming at its head and firing while it was recovering from the attempt. The bullet, not infused with a lot of his power, and thus not very powerful itself, sent the Heartless sprawling, but another shot to the chest was needed for him to send it evaporating into smoky darkness, its heart flying away.

A turn to one of the red ones, floating in the air, as it let loose a fireball in his direction. The young man was forced to duck to get underneath it, shooting again, this time with more force, as it let another free. The second of the fireballs exploded right in front of it, seemingly doing no damage at all, but he followed up with two more, each to the approximate area of the insignia on its torso. As it crashed into a wall, evidently dazed, he took a deep breath, realizing that as he was, his Yin style would not suffice. Instead of rushing in, he stepped back as the yellow one attempted to headbutt him, trying to spend a bit of time out of combat, and focused.

He would only need a few moments, but he still would require the time to switch things up.

(He'll be back to fighting soon. You two can use this opportunity to test out some more skills if needed, or otherwise show how good [or alternatively how BAD if that works better] they are at combat right now.)

Cain grunted as he was locked in battle against the Bandits. He had to focus on them, as to not give them an opening. This was a song and dance he was more familiar with, from his time in the Underworld. He ducked under an overhead swipe from another Bandit to his left, blocked a thrust from the Bandit to his right. Cain flicked his left wrist and out came out his bladed tonfa, raising his left arm high to block a cleave from a third Bandit and pushed it back. He noticed the Heartless, staring at his other weapon, and took advantage of the distraction to cut down the Heartless to his right.

Cain slashed at the downed Bandit that tried to cleave him, but couldn't finish it off, having to block the left Bandit that had been fighting him. Yet it was keeping it's distance, wary of his bladed tonfa, especially the spikes since it could still get impaled. The Heartless didn't expect the sudden kick to the face from him, leaving the Bandit dazed for the moment. This gave the Heartless that had been pushed back enough time to strike, but the scimitar got parried by Cain's makhaira dagger. The Bandit came at him again but the scimitar got deflected by the bladed tonfa, which he then pushed ahead, impaling the Heartless through where the neck would be for a living being.

Cain then ripped out the tonfa, finishing off the Bandit. Now he had to focus on the one he kicked coming right at him. And there were still some more Bandit Heartless for the others to deal with, besides the caster Heartless still around.

Kara fired her Plasma Cutter at the Red Nocturne that Naito had left dazed, finishing it off. But the distraction cost her as she got hit by crystals of ice from the remaining Fortune Teller. The engineer gritted her teeth and fired the Plasma Cutter in vertical form. The floating Heartless was still intact but lost it's balance, the crystal ball it always carried sliced in half. Another shot and there were no more Fortune Teller Heartless in the battle.

As she switched the plasma cutter to horizontal mode, she noticed a Bandit that was engaged by Cain run past him. Kara then noticed that the Heartless was going at Naito's blind spot. She tried aiming her plasma cutter, only to remember it was in the horizontal mode, and saw the Bandit was already closer to the defenseless, blue eyed, snowy haired Converger. In response to this, she quickly slammed a palm to the sand and focused. "Just like I practiced! Grow! Just grow quickly!"

A small patch of thick thorns suddenly appeared in front of the Heartless, who couldn't stop in time to avoid it and crashed into the plant. The Bandit jumped back, having suffered minimal damage, but more importantly, stopped it from sneak attacking Naito. Kara had to turn away though, jumping back from a small fireball from the remaining Red Nocturne. Glaring at the red bell shaped Heartless, she fired the Plasma cutter twice, eliminating it. The engineer then took the chance to reload her weapon.

(A Blue Rhapsody, Yellow Opera and four Bandits left.)

The moment to re-focus had done Naito a lot of good. These creatures would not easily be struck down by his Yin style unless he was to delve deeper into it than he was comfortable, so it was best to change tactics.

It's here! a voice shouted from behind him.

The Moon Tribesman tensed up, turning to face what was coming... and there were thorns, a messy patch in spite of the stone around, seemingly originating from Kara nearby. She had some form of nature-based magic on top of her high-tech weaponry. An intriguing mix, to be sure. The young man nodded in her direction as thanks before drawing and unfolding a small scythe to his right hand, the kama charged with a white energy that made it glow faintly. Charging forward, much more aggressive than his calmer tactics before, he slashed wildly at the Bandit, slicing deep into its chest once, then stabbing it in the back as it staggered and tripped over itself before it disappeared into shadows and a rising, disappearing heart.

A bolt of lightning crashed down from above, just narrowly missing him. Turning to face the yellow one floating in the air, Naito didn't give any time to move his weapon into position. Instead, he shouted suddenly, a beam of pure white light erupting from the palm of his hand as he aimed it, striking the creature before it could let off another strike, some electricity having begun to coalesce toward a possible strike near to Kara, as if a means of getting back at the most direct magic-based foe. Holding the beam for approximately one full second, he only stopped once he was sure that the Heartless was stunned, ice particles forming on its body as it came close to freezing solid. That done, he lunged in its direction before it could complete another spell or recover from his onslaught, his kama, by then having lost its aura and thus its temporary enchantment due to using so much power in that moonbeam, striking it just under the rim of its orange hat, slicing straight through and leaving the user winded from the use of so much power at once on the Yang side.


(A Blue Rhapsody and three Bandits left. You two can wrap up the fight.)

Cain parried another strike from the Bandit he was facing then dodged a slash to his left from the other one. He blocked another thrust from the left Heartless with his tonfa and jumped back from the slice from the one in front of him. Looking to his right, he saw the third Bandit had separated from the melee and was charging right at Kara."Watch out!"

Yelling out the warning being the best he could do, Cain went on the offensive. He slashed at the Bandit in front of him, having each strike blocked then parrying the counterattack. Cain quickly kicked his left leg out, hitting the other Bandit that tried jumping at him and sending it flying back, landing a few feet away. He quickly shifted his focus back to the other Heartless, blocking its scimitar with his tonfa then taking advantage of the spikes to disarm it. Cain then stabbed the makhaira dagger right into the Bandit and ripped it out, eliminating it.

The other Heartless that he had kicked away quickly recovered and slashed at him quickly. Cain didn't have time to block it and got a cut on his left arm, on the unprotected part of it. He gritted his teeth as the Bandit went on the offensive, focusing on where it struck him before and forcing him to keep parrying with his makhaira dagger. So Cain simply waited until he found an opening, which came after parrying the Heartless' scimitar upward. He then thrusted the spikes on the tonfa right under the chin and slashed at the Bandit's chest, causing it to dissipate into black smoke and eliminating it.

(A Blue Rhapsody and Bandit are left. FINISH IT!!!)

Kara let out a sigh, relieved that Naito was fine, her Plasma Cutter already reloaded. Looking around, she noticed only two Heartless left, one going straight at her. The engineer panicked, not having expected the Bandit to go on a mad dash for her and quickly stumbled back, barely avoiding the scimitar. She fell to the ground, only to be hit by a Blizzard spell from the Blue Rhapsody. "C-c-cold!" Kara shivered, quickly raising a leg up and kicking the Bandit away. She then casted her spell again, the previous patch withering away, a new one regrowing in front of the scimitar wielding Heartless, to block the way.

The engineer knew it wouldn't last long, so she simply raised the plasma cutter, aimed at the blue colored bell Heartless. She fired twice, easily taking out the Blue Rhapsody and got up. It was then that Kara got slashed on the chest by the Bandit. It had arrived quicker than she expected but the cut was shallow and only touched the skin under her shirt. Still, she was pissed and hit the Heartless with the plasma cutter itself. This staggered the Bandit, letting the engineer simply keep bashing the weapon on it's head, grabbing it's right arm to make sure it didn't get away. After a couple of whackings, it dissipated into black mist.

With the coast now clear, Kara collapsed. The adrenaline was leaving her now that there was no danger and she was panting heavily. "Wow... Heartless are tough..." She was still on her knees, recovering her breath.

The danger passed, Naito looked around at his companions. His eyes were momentarily wild-looking, but quickly settled down as he took a breath, putting away his blade, folding it back as he did so. His Yang style was at times difficult to control, but luckily he hadn't spent too long in action with it.

From what he could tell in the little he had seen of his compatriots here, Cain either preferred not to use magic beyond his invisibility or did not have any, and used close combat styles. On the other hand, Kara was more in favor of long range, and merged natural-based magic with high technology in an unusual technique. The former seemed to be trained, or at least know his way around these types of things well enough, while the latter was less skilled, seeming to rely more on the technology itself than precision.

For a moment, he considered helping Kara up. She did seem winded, after all. However, though it may have been the right thing to do, he simply stood nearby, looking around in silence in case of other assailants.

He wasn't exactly going to be trying to draw her closer to him if he could help it, even if he disliked the apparent corporeal spirit of a man who was along with them.

(How you guys want to move forward is up to you.)

Cain looked around the room, to ensure the coast was clear. Heartless could still appear out of nowhere, but if one easily took out enough of them, they'd stop appearing. A couple of tense moments passed and nothing else happened. With a nod, he placed his weapons away and walked towards the two. Seeing the position Kara was in, Cain simply took out a Potion and poured it over where she had been cut.

Cain simply walked away from her after that. Healing her was a necessity to ensure no trouble with either her nor Naito right now. "We should continue. There's more to see." He took the lead, crossing the room and going through the door. The next room looked different, having a chasm in the center, with the left walls having the only pathways to cross it to the other side. It didn't help that there was also a boulder trap in full view right where they needed to cross. "Crossing this will be tricky."

(Got permission from Strider to timeskip to the treasure room.)

Kara watched as Cain healed her using one of his potions and simply walked off ahead. As she got up, she heard his words and simply followed, confused about the blonde haired man. In the next room, she let out a groan at how the path was broken up into parts that they'd need to jump across. "Really? I didn't notice. Thanks for pointing that out." The engineer replied sarcastically. "Let's just get this over with."

--------------

Kara let out a sigh, glad to have crossed that chasm and gotten to the other side. The annoyance she was feeling right now vanished at the sight of the next room they had entered. She could see the treasure that was filled in the room they were standing in now. "I've never seen so much gold in one place. Hell, I've never even seen actual gold before. It really does look like I thought it would." She said, not wanting to let slip about having seen the room in the movie. Mostly because she wasn't in the mood to try to explain movies to Cain. The engineer still was suspicious of him, even if he did heal her injury from the battle.

Naito continued onward wordlessly, only making the occasional glance toward his companions. He didn't trust Cain given his attempts at hiding the truth, but didn't care enough to argue with him much. However, he had passively allowed his mentality to shift back toward the Yin state, looking this way and that as he considered the use of his silver hand to figure things out about their surroundings.

That intent increased as they moved toward what appeared to be a treasure room of some sort. Mountains of gold, jewels, and other artifacts, all lain out as if ready to take. That said, it almost seemed too convenient, as if a trap lain in wait...

No, he had to stop being paranoid about this. Of course he had thought things through. Okay, perhaps that was correct, but--

Kara's comment snapped him out of his reverie, though he barely made much of a reaction. While he was no stranger to any riches, most of them came from other metals and technologies from a long-forgotten age. She herself did not seem to be as privy to such wealth, though she also did not appear to be greedy enough to take some for herself. Or in the very least, that appeared to be the case for the time being.

Still, the Moon Tribesman was wary, not touching anything just yet, but ready to do so in order to figure out any possible imminent threats.

Cain was also surprised at the amount of treasure in the room. He hadn't expected there to be riches at the end, much less so much of it. Gems, gold coins, necklaces and so on, some piled up into mounds, golden statues standing besides said piles as well. He walked further into the room, wanting to take a closer look at whatever got his interest. But he suddenly stopped and blinked, quickly glancing at his surroundings.


Cain started searching for the source of the voice. He made sure to not show any expression on his face, even though he had the feeling that he was still being suspected. He kept moving closer to the treasure, straining to hear the voice.


He could hear the voice better. He could feel the energy from the voice. It felt dark, pervading, like shadows trying to wrap themselves around him. That feeling made Cain reconsider his search.


He frowned, wondering how the voice knew that. That made the decision for him, especially since he could feel it closer. Cain knelt down and dug his hand into the nearest mound, searching for the source.


After a short while of searching, Cain grabbed something and realized it was the source. Pulling it out, he got up and saw it was a black stone, big enough to cover most of the palm of his hand. Looking at it, he could feel it pulsating, beating as if it was filled with life. Like a shard of something living that had been crystallized. His attention was fully at the stone, ignoring the other two that were in the room. Cain's gaze was on the object, as it spoke to him and he mentally spoke back.

Kara continued exploring the room, looking at the piles of treasure that was in it. Yet, she made no effort to even touch one, not wanting to have the cave collapse on them for getting greedy. Which is why Cain's search of the room got her on edge. The engineer had no idea what he was looking for or if he was simply keeping an eye out for any more Heartless. She was worried when he suddenly stopped and stood there. Being behind him, Kara couldn't see the expression on his face.

She did see him start searching a pile of treasure suddenly, surprised at the sudden action. "Don't touch anything, you idiot! It could be cursed!" The engineer yelled out, hoping that would dissuade the search. But it didn't as she was ignored by the blonde man. Annoyed, She made to move towards him and repeat herself when she saw the stone Cain had pulled out.

"...what a creepy stone." Kara commented, looking at Cain's find with some trepidation. She wondered how he knew the stone had been there, and she was also getting a bad feeling from the stone. The sinking kind of feeling one got from facing a dark room with no light and forced to go inside, without any way to defend oneself. "It's giving me a weird feeling."

Naito looked around at the treasure, and heard Kara's warning. He wasn't very keen on touching anything anyway, but when Cain picked up the black stone, he also felt something. Due to his own psychic potential, he perhaps felt it even stronger than Kara herself. Still, he was far enough away that it was not going to have the same effect on him as it did on the other man.

Nonetheless, the Moon Tribesman walked closer. He did not know what this was, but knew better than to leave such an artifact in the hands of a fugitive, potentially a convict of some sort who had been given his just reward. On instinct, he reached forward, and in trying to get it away, touched the stone with his silver hand. The same hand that, on touch, could normally allow him to feel, see, or hear things through psychic impressions, and in the case of especially strong ones, full memories with a host of emotions as well. He had but a moment to consider how horrible an idea this was before he screamed, images bombarding him through his psychometric powers without his control.

=====

(This part is written by Strider. Thanks!)

Myriad colors before his eyes, two screams filling the void, screams that belonged to two people, yet one could only be seen at first. The other scream couldn't be seen as it came from the owner itself, he was coming into being, he could feel shadows entering his being.

He stood there, glaring down at the body of the half husk he came from. He laughed. He was born, he was alive. And he was free. Ripped apart and given sentience, he readied to strike down the insulting shell that was originally a part of him, nothing more than a cage. Then that demon came. Three eyes, white dove like wing, black bat like wing, skinned purpled, coming right at him.

He screamed, a scream of anger. He had no body now! Forcefully taken from him. Worse, he still felt the connection! His cage was given a second lease and made whole. His only survival was to enter the Realm of Darkness. There, he could sustain himself. And there, he did. And he learned. Opening windows and watching. He saw others, beings that would become known as... Convergers, in his search for the one linked to him. He found two, strangely enough.

He had watched him survive for two years. But he had also learned his body was shattered into remains. He found several but it was meaningless. With no physical form, he couldn't come into contact with them. But others could... The possibilities began blooming in his mind.

He had found him, he had seen into him. Reading one's darkness within hearts was a skill he had learned and mastered within the Realm of Darkness. After a talk with his acquaintance, he found him. All he had to do was speak sweet nothings and use his regrets.

=====

The snow-haired young man gasped for breath, on his knees, eyes squeezed shut as his hand fell away from the stone. "Destroy... it..." he gasped through gritted teeth, the agony of the sheer evil he had felt causing him to shake uncontrollably.

Cain was distracted with the stone, continuing speaking to it. As such, he didn't see Naito come close nor touch the stone and somehow see the memories within the stone. He was only snapped out of it by a surge of emotion, annoyance and anger, coming from the stone. He looked at Naito as he said the words, destroy it. "I'm sorry. For what reason should we de-"


Cain scowled. Things had just gotten complicated and whatever that the snow blue had seen, was enough to cause him pain. He had no choice, he had to get rid of the stone or he would be outnumbered, two to one. Cain didn't need that trouble at the moment. He readied to-


Cain gritted his teeth. He couldn't deny that the stone was right, only a fool would discard power given to them. He didn't trust the stone but figured he could deal with the owner eventually. Especially if with the stone's help, he could ensure he'd never have to return to the Underworld. Cain sighed and he made his decision, snapping his fingers. His spell released, he conjured sparkles of light, using them to distract both Naio and Kara. Then he followed up with his own Sleight spell, turning himself invisible and simply walked out of the room.

He didn't leave the cave though, instead simply walking down the stairs to the bottom of the chasm, which was filled with water. There, Cain found a save point and used it to escape back to his ship.

Kara watched as Naito joined Cain in touching the stone. From where she was standing, she could only see half of the snow haired man's face but the expression on it was one of intense focus. Then the scream came and she rushed towards him, glaring at the blonde man who wasn't reacting at all. That lack of reaction prompted a glare to him as she tried pulling Naito back.

That ended up being unnecessary, as he fell down to his knees, his hand away from the stone before she got to him. The engineer heard what he said perfectly though and aimed her Plasma Cutter at Cain. "You heard him! Destroy that stone!" Kara yelled. She wouldn't not let him even talk his way out of this. But she wasn't prepared for the sudden flash of light and dropped her weapon in shock. The engineer fell down, trying to find her weapon, but her hand grabbed Naito's leg instead. "I can't see! He used some flash!" She said, nervously. Cain could easily kill them while she was blind.

Yet moments passed and her eyesight started returning, going from black to blurry. Kara got up as the blurriness passed and saw that she and Naito were alone in the treasure room. The engineer turned around and angrily kicked a pile of gold coins over. "The asshole ran away!" She yelled, crouching down to pick up her Plasma Cutter. Placing the weapon away, she knelt down to help the snowy haired young man up.

Naito's eyes were luckily closed when the flash of light came, but he, like Kara, was unable to follow the disappeared man once he had opened his eyes. However, he did hear the woman, and understood what had happened from that alone even before re-opening his eyes, the various voices slowly coming back into focus in his mind, a bit more distorted than normal, but re-focusing as much as they normally would.

He still felt what he had before, but the physical pain was lessened, even gone. It was the psychic aftereffect that was more dangerous for him, and he shook his head to clear it as he leaned on her a bit for a moment before standing up straighter, just rubbing his forehead and gritting his teeth. "Evil... it's evil."

Regardless of those words, his reaction was not to be misconstrued with overt morality in any traditional sense. He didn't bother to say they needed to stop it, since so far as he was concerned, it was no longer his problem at present now that it had escaped, and he was likely to do as much harm as good in the attempt anyway. All he was concerned for was his own self-preservation, and unless whatever that thing was sought to harm him in some way or draw undue attention to him, he would not seek out the fugitive either.

"Is there an exit nearby?" he asked, willing to follow her lead until he could clear his head. If she wanted to leave her own way, she was welcome to do so.

"Easy there." Kara did her best to assure Naito. She overheard him keep talking about how it's evil, but she was more concerned over his health. Even though he looked fine physically, they were dealing with some sort of sorcery stone, one that could hurt someone by touch if they weren't chosen. The engineer had no idea what the stone was but pushed it out of her mind. "An exit? Um, let's see..."

She mumbled as she did her best to recall the location of the save points in the cave itself. It had been a while since she actually played the game so remembering the fuzzy details was hard for her, especially worried about the snow haired man besides her. "This way." Kara, said, finally deciding. The engineer took Naito's hand and lead him out of the treasure room. She wasn't about to leave him alone in the state he was in, and also wasn't just going to let him go off on his own until he was better.

Kara walked back to the previous room then went down the stairs, reaching the bottom of the Chasm. It was there where she remembered a save point from the game. Finding it, she lead the snow haired man onto it. "We're going to my ship. Then I'll take you to yours from up there." The engineer explained before stepping on the save point.

So she wanted to take him to her ship first, then join him on his? Fine, he would deal with that for the time being. So long as she did not look where she should not, he saw little harm in having the green-skinned woman's aid. Given her technological weaponry, perhaps she could even give input on some of his works in progress.

Naito nodded, his head cleared by then. It still hurt, but not in the same way. More that the echoes remained overall. He would need to spend time to calm himself once this was all over.

Without a word, he walked with her on to the circle of swirling light, and in a flash they were both gone.

(And that's a wrap. Thanks, you two.)