Black Gardens

[heartswillbeone]

Who: Anyone and everyone who wants to participate
What: Finding and destroying the pieces of heart that Xehanort has planted!
Where: Starting at Sora’s station, then going into the darkness
Warnings: Likely fighting, desperation and other forms of violence


Everyone arriving at Sora’s station of awakening would notice changes right away, even if they weren’t attuned to the darkness. The ever-present light shining from above had grown dim, barely lighting the glass below. The glass itself was still warped in its continual changes, but individual pieces of it were beginning to grow a bit darker.

Someone would have to stay behind to anchor all of the others, and to keep a watch on Sora’s heart from here. But beyond them, in the seemingly endless darkness, lay shards of heart deliberately planted and hidden. With each passing moment they were growing larger and digging roots deeper, threatening not just Sora, but every other heart inside him.

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Your characters can begin the hunt for the heart pieces that Xehanort has planted in the darkness of Sora’s heart! Unfortunately, finding and then eliminating them all is going to be no easy task. They’ve been hidden in the darkness very well, and even having an idea of what to look for, the fact that they’re planted in darkness at all makes them difficult to sniff out. What’s more, because they’ve been rooted in deep, it will take some effort to completely remove them...Keyblades and any other weapons available will likely be necessary.

To that end, this is how things will work: teams of 2-4 will go out into the darkness to search for the heart seeds. Characters should not travel alone, or else they’ll be lost. At least one character can be left behind at Sora’s station, both to serve as an anchor to call back anyone in the darkness, and to be able to tell easiest whether there are any remaining seeds left. But be warned: any anchor left behind will likely be involved in some combat, too!

For those in the darkness, those capable of looking can take one turn each to ‘scan’ the feelings of the surrounding darkness and see if they can pinpoint a heart seed. With each turn, they will have anywhere from a 1-in-3 to a 1-in-10 chance of finding one, depending on the seed. If they locate one, they can then begin the process of uprooting it and destroying it. If they find a particularly difficult one and are not well-equipped to handle it, they can use themselves as anchors to call over others to help. If no team can locate one during their turn, they can keep traversing the darkness and trying over and over until they locate one.

Time is working against them, though. The more turns it takes for them to locate a heart seed, the larger it will grow and the more difficult it will be to destroy it once it *is* found. Heart seeds left for too long may even fight back when attacked, or make themselves impossible to remove without also hurting Sora. If any one piece is left long enough to truly threaten Sora’s heart and identity, then Kingdom Hearts may step in to do something about it...and characters would *not* want that, as it would mean a terrible end for everyone. And Sora’s heart won’t be safe until every heart seed is found and eradicated!

Comments

[Team 4 here]

[heartswillbeone]

[halfdarkened]

Riku stood at the edge of Sora's Station of Awakening, staring unintimidated into the darkness. The grip on his Keyblade was tight. His knuckles were near-white only because he knew they would be had he been flesh. This wasn't the first time he'd ventured into the darkness surrounding Sora's heart, nor was it the first time he risked being trapped in it. This time waking Sora was much more complicated, and Xehanort had found his way in.

He's just not learning not to mess with Sora's heart, he thought to no one in particular. They had a job to do, and a hard one at that. Riku was ready in spirit, even if he didn't know what they'd find. He wanted this over with, and had the fire and determination in his expression to prove it.

[leavetheirmark]

Riku wasn't alone. He'd heard the call, heard Terra's anguish, and had considered for some time what to do. It was not for a world to meddle in the affairs of living things... a world supported, but did not take part.

Yet how many more would have to live on through this? It was... unnatural. After his brief conversation, he knew that Kingdom Hearts had become warped by the pressures that living creatures had exerted on it and it had acted before its time. This was not when all would be collected, and especially not in the heart of a mortal. It was... abhorrent. No, something had to be done. Something to ensure the future of the younger worlds and the people that lived on them.

It was time for the old world to take action, and there was no one better to make that stand with than the one he had already acknowledged. While there was not much he could do that Riku couldn't, one and a half sets of eyes and two hearts set would help route the darkness.

[halfdarkened]

He didn't need to turn to know the Keyblade Graveyard was there. He couldn't think of a tougher or wiser world to have by his side. Much as he wold have appreciated the company of his home, he'd fear for the Destiny Islands out there. Between a world and a person, they had a wide variety of experiences to draw upon, something valuable in a situation like this.

Riku stood there, jaw set as strong as his resolve a moment before speaking. "You ready for this?" Even as he said it, he stepped off unflinchingly. His feet met with nothing, and he floated there, not entirely unlike what happened when he slipped off his own Station of Awakening. The difference was this was intentional and done with conviction rather than an accident. Finally, as he began to float out, he looked over his shoulder to make sure the world was with him.

[leavetheirmark]

Wordlessly the Keyblade Graveyard followed, keeping in step easily even when they weren't walking. He was no stranger to darkness, though not the sort of passive darkness that they were entering. This was not darkness aimed to destroy through aggression, this was a corrupting sort of darkness that set off warning bells. The kind that would eat its way to one's heart and rot them from the inside out. A fate worse than death for any world... and for any living creature, he surmised.

"Aye, Riku. Watch thy step. Thou knowest that this foe relieth not on its brute strength but on its tricks..."

[heartswillbeone]

For this first look into the darkness, the two are able to hone in and find the second seed.

It appears as a glowing shard of heart, buried in the darkness itself. Roots of darkness anchor it in, but the roots are still shallow. Luckily, since they found this one quickly, it will be easier to uproot and destroy. However, it's still going to require some effort, using whatever weapons and magic are available.

[halfdarkened]

"You bet I do." He unconsciously smacked his lips at the unpleasant taste.

The bit of light amongst the darkness caught Riku's eye, and instinctively he readied his Keyblade some as he approached. "Now isn't that funny. The glow of this thing led me right to it. I guess not even Xehanort can rid himself completely of his own light." Of course, if he had it stood to reason there was some scrawny little old man out there picking up sick stray dogs to care for if he had. However, Xehanort seemed to have more self-preservation than to do to himself what he'd done to Ven.

"Shall we?" With that, Riku lashed out at the shard of heart, landing first icy then fiery blows to "break the ice." While darkness was not always immune to darkness, he decided it would be best to hold back his darkness in case it would only feed that dark heart.

[leavetheirmark]

While the Graveyard did not have such an impressive weapon, when their target fell into his sights his eyes narrowed and he raised a hand high with a clenched fist. The wind gathered violently, spinning into a tornado centred right on the shard just as the last embers of Riku's fire attacks burned out. He reached up to his ear, tugging at the tiny blades embedded therein and pulled out what quickly became a handful of cold steel, which he stood back, taking careful aim so as not to snipe the young master during his attacks before unleashing blade after blade in a burst.

[heartswillbeone]

The heart piece suffered under the onslaught of magic and weaponry, and instantly went darker in color. The surface of the shard cracked, and it loosened its grip on the surrounding darkness.

Another good volley should finish it off, allowing them to move on to another.

Thunder dash. :3c

[halfdarkened]

Riku's eyebrows raised slightly as he moved back, intrigued at how a world would fight. It should have been no surprise that a world covered in dust storms and magical blades would know how to use wind and steel.

And one advantage of steel was that it conducted electricity.

Riku dashed forward as fast as his will could take him, wrapping his body with the harsh sting of Thunder. His Keyblade connected with both heart and blades, the lightning surging into both as he rushed through and past his target.

sorry, was having trouble braining this one

[leavetheirmark]

Riku's ingenuity was rewarded with a chuckle. That was not something he would ever have thought to do with those old relics. He concentrated, waiting until the boy was well past the target before unleashing another cyclone atop the shard, filling the air with crackling arcs of electricity.

It was almost familiar in a way that made his mind drift slightly, and he frowned, forcing his attention here and now. It was no good to slip into those memories and lose himself, not when they needed to keep alert...

[heartswillbeone]

The combination of attacks, especially the wind and thunder, was enough to finally finish off the heart shard. There was a moment of resistance as it fought to cling to the heart it'd leeched onto, but couldn't last under their combined efforts. It cracked, shattered and then disintegrated into nothing, leaving behind nothing but a faint scar on the darkness.

[halfdarkened]

Lightning arcing through a tornado: that was a sight, both awe-inspiring and frightening. Looking back, Riku saw the remnants of the Thunder branching through the cyclone. He gave a nod and a smile. Taking advantage of the tail end of magic to make something even more deadly. Impressive.

As the shard met its end, Riku went over to where it had been, making sure the scar was only in the darkness and not on Sora's heart. Could he tell for sure? It didn't matter yet. It wasn't causing any more damage, and it could be examined more later.

He rested his Keyblade on his shoulder. "One down. Let's keep weeding"

[leavetheirmark]

"Aye," the Graveyard responded with a simple nod. "If only we knew how many we were seeking... but having found and disposed of one hath more than done our part." He limped over to Riku as quickly as he could, letting him determine the state of things patiently.

[heartswillbeone]

Riku and the Graveyard are not so lucky on their next attempt to find a seed, and they end up scouring the darkness and coming up with nothing for some time. It takes many tries, but they finally manage to find the third seed.

Unfortunately, this one was hidden quite well, and has had time to grow and mature. The heart shard has grown to the point where it doesn’t much resemble a small glowing shard anymore, but instead appears as a bright, off-color growth settled into the darkness, almost six feet across. All the darkness surrounding it in a wide radius is infected, and even now steadily spreading. Stepping into the radius will give an instant feeling of Xehanort’s presence rather than Sora’s, and there’s no telling what acting hostile within that radius will result in. Underneath the radius and seed is a deep network of roots anchoring the invader to Sora’s heart...and at this point it’s unlikely they can be removed without hurting Sora, too.

Worst of all, there is a dark barrier surrounding the seed itself, capable of deflecting any direct attacks. It’s gonna take a lot of work and likely more than two people to destroy this piece.

[halfdarkened]

When Riku stepped inside the radius, he grew strangely cold, quickly backing up out of simple instinct. He knew that feeling, having had his Heartless steal his body and fester in his heart. "This is bad." They couldn't take long, but they couldn't just jump into this one recklessly or risk hurting Sora badly.

Riku thought carefully, turning to the wiser world. He counted things off on his fingers. "I don't know what you got, but if we can cast some spells simultaneously it might help. Esuna and Zero Gravity cast into the darkness might help get the roots out of Sora more safely. Bind and Stop might keep it from spreading, but the spells don't last long. Poisoning it might affect the other shards, but it if it even works, it might poison Sora. Mini would be real useful, but I doubt it'd work. ...I'm hesitant to try Sleep. When I used it in the Realm of Sleep, it meant I'd also fall asleep faster. If that happens here, that could be seriously bad news. And if Kingdom Hearts nabs this piece of heart, it might also alert it to what's going on, and I don't want to think about what it'd do if it knows Xehanort's in this deep." It could force them to sleep at any time, and this would certainly be an incentive to.

"As far as simply taking it out as cleanly as possible, I could try to dispatch it with a single powerful slash." Zantetsuken required a lot of focused energy, and was draining, though graceful.

[leavetheirmark]

"What magical art I know concerns the wind and the land," the Graveyard responded, keeping his eyes on the seed. It was unsettling at the very least, a corruption so great that he couldn't believe that Kingdom Hearts would permit its very existence near to it. (That it hadn't simply been destroyed said something of the power used to create it... which he turned his thoughts away from quickly lest they become unproductive.)

"'T is like the basest form of ivy. The roots run deep, and even pruning will not remove them. One must burneth it out, and with that cometh risks."

[halfdarkened]

"Burn the root, you might burn the house... Too bad this isn't real land it's latched into." Riku stepped forward, steeling himself for the task ahead. "Well, sometimes windstorms can uproot trees. Let's see what this thing's got!" With luck they could pull it a bit like a weed. That said, his luck never worked that well. He thrust his Keyblade into the air, shouting out as he cast Zero Graviga. While not always effective, maybe a slight pull would be enough before the pruning began.

[heartswillbeone]

The Zero Graviga spell at least brought about some sort of reaction: it caused the grown seed to shift upwards a bit, and brighten in color. However, it didn't pull the growth out of the darkness any, at least yet. The feelings of darkness and the presence they belonged to focused more in Riku's direction.

[leavetheirmark]

With a grunt of assent, the aged world thrust his hand upward once more, summoning the winds in an attempt to funnel the seed upward and out. Would it be enough? This one was so strongly rooted that even highly potent spells weren't having much effect. He was no master of magic, his own abilities were things he had learned slowly over eons that pertained to his state... it had been for the longest time something despicable, but that had changed like many things recently.

*Derp, forgot the kids learned a -za spell*

[halfdarkened]

That's it, pay attention to me. While the shift in focus was slightly surprising, it only proved that things were bad if it had some form of awareness. Options had to be considered carefully. The Zero Graviga spell was still roaring overhead, and now the Graveyard was doing his best to pull up the dark weed. His only remaining idea to remove it before destroying it was a bit riskier.

Riku leapt into the air, altitude unhindered by gravity upon a physical body. In the direction the Keyblade Graveyard's wind pulled and near the dense orb of the Zero Graviga spell, he floated. He felt power drain from him as he recast it to something a little stronger: Zero Graviza. While midair, he did something a little less draining. Magnet Spiral might just be enough to pull it free, or so he hoped. He paused, feeling the energy build inside. Unable to hold it back without possibly hurting himself, he struck the pulled piece of dark heart, altering his slash to come up from underneath. Every little tug helped.

[heartswillbeone]

The combined spells of wind, gravity and magnets did a number on the growth, pulling it further out of the darkness itself. With it partially yanked out of the ground, it left some of its "roots" -in this case, dark purple tendrils of darkness- exposed. Riku's attack helped to expose it a little more, but most of the force of it was blocked by a dark barrier around the seed itself.

Unfortunately for the both of them, the seed did have some degree of awareness...at least enough for self-preservation. One of the exposed tendrils of darkness suddenly sprung to life and wrapped around Riku's leg, attempting to drag him underground.

The feeling of it would be all too similar to when Xehanort had invaded his heart in the past. Even if its primary goal was to take control of the heart they were in now, it wouldn't be adverse to infecting any other hearts in the way and incorporating them into itself.

[leavetheirmark]

With a roar the wold world leapt in a startling show of grace, calling one of the dead blades to him. A hunk of metal was better than nothing, after all... with a great swing he hacked at the root where it entered the ground, doing his best to avoid hitting Riku.

[halfdarkened]

As Riku was grabbed, he found himself hitting the dark "ground" with a thud. Had he in fact had real lungs, the air would have been knocked from them as he landed chest first, crying out. As it began to drag him, he clawed at the ground ever so briefly in instinct. But then there was that familiar feeling. That smell. That vile taste.

And that initial shock of being grabbed was quickly replaced with anger, determination and sheer will surging up in his chest. Riku snarled. "NO YOU DON'T! NEVER AGAIN!" As if it hadn't been personal before.

Knowing what he could do physically helped him think on his feet without a body. Here his arms were only as strong as he imagined, but knowing he was strong, even if he couldn't remember his own form without the memories of others, was a help. He pushed up with his arms very hard and kicked with his free leg to lift him into the air, instantly launching himself into a spin. The area around him became chilled, especially anything he touched. Or especially, anything touching him. With luck this thing didn't like the cold, and that Deep Freeze would do just that.

[heartswillbeone]

The dark tendril didn't like the flash of ice, or the harsh strikes from the old Keyblade. The ice spread down the root, slowing it down considerably. This allowed the Keyblades to do more damage, and it finally cracked and severed, freeing Riku's foot. The ice continued to travel more towards the growth itself, not freezing it completely but still leaving it with a chill.

More dark tendrils began to move, seeking something else they could latch onto and infect, but the ice spell slowed them down significantly. All the while, the partially-exposed seed attempted to slowly sink back down into the darkness, trying to find safety in hiding.