Welcome to Gaia! ::

((OOC; I kinda wished I kept my character mysterious, then everyone came running to him... Now to create a mysterious atmosphere! Also, surprisingly I planned to have him go to the emperor so we'll see how well this works out XD.))

After he was out of sight of the wielders, Akira opened a corridor of darkness, which allowed him to head to the Imperial city where his Heartless found the first step to the world's heart. Upon leaving the corridor, Akira found himself in a large room, too large for an ordinary house. A door opened up, and Akira backed up against a column to prevent being seen. Two people entered, both clearly older from their looks. One wore a blue outfit and carried a tablet he wrote on while the other walked with an aura of authority, in a yellow robe and had a long white beard. He could tell by their dialogue that the yellow robed one was the emperor and the blue one was an adviser.

The Heartless under Akira's command quickly revealed the emperor was the first step to finding the keyhole. While they were eager to attack him for his heart, Akira commanded them to hold back for the greater heart of the world. He sent away his heartless to prevent their urges from taking over their actions. As he hid behind the column, he listened in to the conversation between the two, pertaining reports of stolen hearts in the city. Akira knew exactly what they meant, even if they didn't.

The Emperor was clearly furious, declaring to the adviser to find the foreign culprits immediately. They didn't even know it was the Heartless, but their conversation was stopped when the door opened again, and two females walked in, clearly not native to this world. From his point Akira was hidden from view from both parties, but he felt it best to reposition himself for a better view. So he opened another corridor and traveled to the beam high above the scene, covered in shadows.

((OOC; Will wait for others to post before wrapping up Akira's situation. ))

The two new arrivals intervened in the conversation, offering their service of defeating the attackers. When the Emperor accepted their offer, Akira knew this was his chance to deal with the incoming wielders. Although he was risking his appearance with all of the people he was meeting. He would have to find some way to prevent it. The shadows however, had a solution. They formed a cloak over him, giving their hearts away at his command to create the coat that would hide his identity indefinitely. Moving to the floor by way of another corridor of darkness, Akira approached the emperor, kneeling at his presence, despite his distaste for it.

The Emperor turned his attention to the newcomer who had no grand entrance, but walked in from behind a column. "Who are you?" he asked. Akira in his cloak had an advantage of keeping his true identity a secret. "I must first say I am honored to be in your presence great Emperor. You may simply call me Seeker, for I am currently on my quest and unfortunately, others with my abilities who have attacked your people." To provide 'evidence', he allowed two shadows to flank him in the room, but not to move towards the Emperor. If he was gone, Akira would be hunted down throughout the world.

"These beings fit the description of the attackers; however, they are not the culprits. As I said, others with my abilities are here and I believe it is one of them who is committing these crimes." Akira finally stood, holding his hand out and summoning his keyblade to show the Emperor. "Those of similar abilities wield a tool such as this, but in different design." Akira sent his heartless away, before they caused trouble, as well as his keyblade. "And I know these incidents will cease if I find what I am seeking." Of course they'd be gone, the world wouldn't be the same after all...

Xelona caught up to Nicole as the keyblade wielder was staring at a group of heartless attacking the citizens. "Now remember, your sword should be an extension of your arm. Smooth movements will serve you best. It is a good idea to watch your footing as well so you don't loose your balance . . ."

"Oh come on! It's a weapon! I bonk the black things with it and they die! You'll get your hearts, no problem!" Nicole exclaimed with an impatient grin. She then rushed off towards the swarm, swinging her keyblade rather like it was a bludgeoning weapon than a real sword.

Xelona's hand found itself stuck to her face. "I swear, that kid would give me a heart attack if I still had a heart!" She then sighed and her hand slid down off her face before she rushed forward as well. The Superior would be extrmely displeased if she got their keyblade wielder killed on her first mission. And Xelona really didn't want to be turned into a Dusk.

After finding their first lead to the heart of the world, many of the Heartless disappeared for the wielder to find and unlock the heart. Some still remained, prowling for lone citizens to steal hearts and grow their strength. Occasionally there was an Imperial guard or soldier who attacked them, although they were relatively simple to deal with. When something not human approached however, the Heartless became extremely cautious. Nobodies, the leftovers of a person after losing their heart, and unfortunately more powerful than the Heartless. Where the Heartless were animals following their instincts, Nobodies were capable of thinking greatly in comparison. Only one approached, while another keyblade wielder walked beside her. The group of Heartless approached cautiously, knowing attacking a Nobody was difficult enough, but a Keyblade wielder was standing right beside her. Their hisses were threatening, but also their own screams. If the two attacked, the Heartless would most likely retreat once more.

((OOC: Whoa! I missed all the action! XD So many posts! Ah well, this is what I get for logging off for hours on end without checking anything. XP And to answer your question Phoenix, ah . . . Kinda. They explained that they had lost their hearts. That they were beings without hearts, but they kinda left out the details of how they lost them in the first place. And Yay! Another Nobody!!! biggrin Nicole doesn't realize how much of a pawn she is being. XD Also, nuuuuuu . . . Noel and Nicole shouldn't meet up yet! I need character development down the dark side! XP Also, I know Xelona's profile doesn't say that she knows Areo, but it does say her element is wind. So I figure she'd know Areo pretty easily. XD))

Though the Heartless were cautious, the keyblade wielder was most definitely not. She rushed right though the group of heartless, dodging claws and other sharp pointy things as she swung her keyblade willy-nilly.

"Areo!" Xelona shouted, casting a protective barrier of wind around Nicole, the keyblade wielder rushing in almost caused her to feel something like worry. Almost.

"Hey what's this?!" Nicole asked, looking at the wind barrier around her. This was . . . kinda cool! She used her keyblade like a baseball bat and knocked a Shadow away. The heartless flew backwards and disintegrated, the hearts it had collected flying up into the sky only to be collected to be added to the group forming Kingdom Hearts.

"It's called Areo. It's wind magic and it is defensive in nature." Xelona explained, dodging any attacking heartless as she made her way through the retreating group, fully intent on berating the young keyblade wielder for being so reckless. Was she so stupid when she still had a heart?!

"Cool! What other magic spells are there?!" Nicole asked, eyes shining with curiosity as she proceeded to ignore the heartless except to distractedly wave her keyblade at any that came close.

Xelona was a bit taken off guard. Well, it was nice to find a kindred spirit who longed to learn more. Surely it couldn't hurt to teach her a bit about magic. "Well, other than areo, which is only the first level of the defensive wind spell, there are also fire, blizzard, thunder, cure, and gravity spells. There is even a spell that allows you to stop time on your enemies."

"And to cast them you just need to shout out their names?!"

"Well, while saying the name of the spell does indeed help with the casting, it is not only that which allows the spell to form and take place. You need to-"

"Yeah, yeah, so what sort of spells can I learn then?! Fire! Blizzard!" Nicole was now waving her keyblade rather haphazardly, trying to summon a spell. This sent Xelona into a bit of a panic mode. Not real panic, that would imply she had a heart, but it would be beneficial to have Nicole cease her attempts to cast.

"Will you stop that?! An untrained spell caster will only cause trouble! You're going to hurt yourself or worse-"

"THUNDER!"

Nicole had stuck her keyblade straight up into the air. Several bolts of lightning crashed down from out of the sky. Most of them rather harmlessly hit the ground, but one of them hit . . .

" . . . me." Xelona stood there, hood smoking, bits of electrified red hair sticking out from underneath the cloak. Not only was her hood smoking at the top where the lightning had hit her, but her sword was now glowing red hot. Her Organization cloak was also rather fried from the strike. She was just glad that it was a low level spell that hit her and that the cloak had SOME elemental resistance. Still . . .

"See! If you go around waving your keyblade so irresponsibly and trying to do spells you can't control yet, people are going to get hurt! You're lucky that didn't do more than singe me! You're lucky my cloak took most of the damage! And what were you thinking running into the heartless like that?! You can't control them! They will take your heart if they can! Do you want to end up like me?! Like the rest of the Organization?! A heartless husk?! You need to learn to look before you leap! You want to protect your sister don't you?! THINK! Running in without knowing what you're doing will only get those you care about hurt in the end!"

Nicole's posture shrank about five inches. She really did feel bad. She hadn't been scolded like this since she was ten . . . And Xelona had a point. What if that had been her sister beside her? "I'm sorry. I just . . . I wanna help. And I wanna know all that I can to try and help. I need to prove that I can do it, you know? When we find Noel, I don't want her getting dragged into all this. She never was a fighter. And if I can't do it . . . well I'm just worried that your boss is gonna make her go out and collect hearts instead. There's just so much I don't know. I'm sorry. I'll . . . I'll try and think before I act."

Xelona sighed. "Good. Fine. Now, those heartless ran off before you could fill your quota. There should be more hanging around the villages, since there are people there that they can steal hearts from." she said, back on track with the mission. She looked around. "I think I see some buildings or something near the mountains. Let's go that way. And on the way, I can teach you a thing or two about how and how not to use your keyblade. Rule one, it's not a bludgeoning object! And you don't use it as a baseball bat! See the key part at the end? That's sharp, and can easily cut through an unarmored heartless in one swing."

The Nobody continued to monologue about the finer points of swordplay as they continued towards the mountains.