Dark Suspicions [Xigbar]

[Fate]

Tell-Tale Signs
This is Halloween

After the events happening at Radiant Garden, the Organization started to grow suspicious of things. It seemed interesting to them that the world of light was abruptly attacked by a force of darkness. The details behind that force of darkness were sketchy, though he seemed to leave Radiant Garden in ruins once more. The Organization knew it was better than to meddle in the affairs of such things, but that did not mean that they were going to further investigate in other worlds. Heartless numbers had been low before this sudden attack; would the force of darkness visit others and cause numbers to increase?

Zexion was unsure of this and decided to do a reconnaissance mission of sorts with Xigbar to Halloween Town. It was not often that he went on missions with the other, which would make it a bit interesting. When they arrived at the world through the Corridor of Darkness, near the gate that led to the town, he drew his hood for extra precaution. His mind was still reeling with all of this information about this mysterious dark force; it certainly made his plans all the more interesting.

"We are to look for anything suspicious," he said, reminding Xigbar and himself, "Though, I cannot say I have visited this world. From what I can make of it already, the stench of darkness is not that strong." That was a sure sign that Heartless numbers were low; that did not bode well for the Organization's goal. Still, it was always good to look anyhow. Zexion always went through missions and made it his duty to pay attention to every painstaking detail as possible. He was not sure how Xigbar did missions, making it all the more interesting.

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[Lagunamov]

Maybe it's Soylent Green?

As he stepped through the corridor into Halloween Town, Xigbar felt strangely at ease in that place. While most people would be at the very least slightly fazed just by standing in a town centered around the living dead, monsters and demons, he felt almost as if at home. That was likely due to the nature of the world, filled with people playing pranks on each other, which countered the atmosphere entirely. Or because he himself could pass for someone in a halloween costume, that being of a pirate with a peculiar fashion sense. Weirder things have happened.

“Good you brought me here,” he commented, poking his head slowly through the gate leading into the proper town. He looked around, inspecting for anyone who might be lurking around, finding no one despite the location. “It’d be hard for anyone who’s not been here before to notice something suspicious, since, ya know, the entire town is suspicious as it is,” he commented, his head still poking around. A second later he began pushing the gates open, slowly as to not make any noise. While he was one to mess with people and jerk them around, he still remained relatively serious when it came to missions. Minus anything he did around Roxas, but that didn't count at all.

“Town square is almost always a main target of heartless, but only the small fry tend to show up around here,” he commented as he stepped through and walked down a few steps. “The bigger fry tends to show up where one of Maleficent’s thugs resided before blondie’s somebody offed him,” he kept walking to the center of the square, turning around and leaning back on the fountain. He gave a passing glance to its contents, deciding it was in his best interest not to test the green water. Though he considered for a second telling Zexion that was weird and having him test it first for him.

[Fate]

More Like a Putrid Green If You Ask Me

It was a good thing that Xigbar was here; he provided insight for Zexion on how the world was. It did seem to have that suspicious air to it, darker than most of the worlds that the Schemer had visited in the past. The Organization might have a chance of not being too noticed in a place such as this; perhaps they would only thought of as slightly unusual. Though, he was not about test that theory and go prancing into town and make himself, or Xigbar, too obvious.

"I find it good I brought here as well. You certainly know more about this place than I do." He followed suit after Xigbar as they went through the gate. The town center seemed rather quiet and, according to the Freeshooter, this was where the weaker Heartless tended to show up. However, the Schemer was noticing that none seemed to be coming out for them. That could be due to the fact that the Heartless were drawn to those with hearts and the Nobodies lacked those, though that did not stop them before. He raised a curious eyebrow to this and walked over to the fountain full of green liquid that Xigbar was leaning against it. He then stopped before he got too close, making a disgusted face.

"It smells putrid," he commented, "Best not linger around it I suppose. Perhaps we should go to the area where you said the larger Heartless were at. They seem not to be appearing here." He continued walking around a bit, getting further away from the large fountain, and noticed a section leading off into some graveyard. It seemed to be the only part of the town center that led anywhere else, so it seemed to make sense to go this way. Without making too much noise, he opened the gate to the graveyard, curious to see where exactly it led to.

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[Lagunamov]

Well, now we'll never know...

“Well, you are no fun,” Xigbar sighed, standing straight again and following Zexion’s orders. Catching up with him, he repeated the process at the town’s main gate, eventually opening the gates to the cemetery and entering. It wasn’t particularly large, but he knew better from experience than to expect that to be it. It was Halloween Town after all, nothing was what it seemed and secrets lurked around every corner.

He inspected the surroundings, noticing the floating platform that usually provided a shortcut to the sackboy’s hideout, or an area closer to it anyway, was activated. It peeked his interest, so he approached it, ignoring the tombstones and the coffin at the opposite end of the graveyard. He looked at the platform, floating in the air, and touched its lower end. Something was off about it, taking him a minute to remember how the thing worked.

“Got a light?” he turned around and asked Zexion, pointing at the lantern hanging from below the platform with his thumb. To activate they needed to turn the lantern on, which Xigbar lacked the ability to do so, but Zexion could possibly do. He couldn’t actually remember if the schemer had any basic fire abilities, but it was worth the shot. It was that, or taking the long road.

Of course, the option to go back into town and steal a box of matches was always open.

[Fate]

Making Do

He barely heard Xigbar telling him he was no fun as he opened the gate, peering around before entering the scene. It was a small graveyard, only a few tombstones with illegible writing on them present, though it gave off the same eerie vibe as the rest of the town did. He paid no interest to the tombstones and instead focused on the coffin at the far end of the graveyard itself. It seemed a bit intriguing to him, part of him wondering if it led to another part of town as well. Though, he did not know exactly where it led; he had to trust Xigbar's judgment about which direction to go.

Speaking of the Freeshooter, he turned toward where he was at. He seemed to be looking at a floating platform of sorts with a lantern below it. He walked over to it as well and observed it; how could a platform defy gravity as this one could? Again, he had to remind himself where he was and that it was not normal by any means. The lantern was unlit, making Zexion curious as to what happened if it was lit. He turned to Xigbar after being asked for a light, shaking his head.

"I cannot use fire," he replied, though he thought for a second more and reached into his pocket. After a second or two of fingering around, he produced the package of cigarettes Emi had given him; with any luck, the package would have a spare lighter in it that could be used since neither of them knew any fire spells. He ripped it open carefully and managed to find a small lighter. He put the cigarette package away and looked at the lighter.

"This will have to do," he said, getting closer to the lantern as he used the lighter to make a small flame. This was not as good as a fire spell, but if they wanted to get to where the bigger Heartless were, they would have to make do with what they had. He put the flame into the lantern, the platform instantly springing to life and moving up and down. Surprised that it worked, Zexion's eyes widened ever so slightly before he pocketed the lighter as well and looked to Xigbar.

"Care to lead the way?" he asked, his tone slightly sly.

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[Lagunamov]

Silence of the Dumb

“You are having fun ordering me around, don’t you?” he sighed, staring at the now moving platform. He waited for it to lower to almost ground level, jumping onto it immediately. He turned around and looked down at Zexion, raising his right hand to his head as if he were a doing a soldier’s salute. “Please stay behind until the coast is clear, sir!” he mocked the kid nobody, but played his part to the letter. Once the platform reached the maximum height it allowed, he jumped backwards, landing on the edge of Moonlight Hill.

As soon as he landed, Xigbar readied his arrowguns immediately. The area was close enough to the old evil’s hideout for it to be a prolific hangout of heartless, but as expected, nothing seemed to react at his presence. The lack of movement was unsettling, causing Xigbar to start walking around, dodging graves and pumpkins alike. He approached the top of the hill, his guns always ready and aiming in different directions, climbing to the top in a matter of minutes.

“Not even a damn Ghost heartless… What the fudge is going on around here?” he asked himself, starting to get worried about the state of the world. The lack of heartless was good for the world, sure, but it wasn’t good for them. Hell, the lack of heartless didn’t even make sense in terms of the world, of which some inhabitants didn’t particularly find that unpleasant. Then again, considering the place they were at…

“The coast is unsually clear Zexion! You can come over!” he yelled, kneeling down on the hill and touching it with his hand. Upon touch, the curled up portion of the hill extended itself, offering a path to the next section: the entrance to the late Oggie’s mansion. Or its empty land, to be more accurate.

[Fate]

Something Strange

Zexion rolled his eyes at Xigbar as he stood back, watching the other jump on the now moving platform; leave it to him to treat him as a child and not take the mission very seriously. Xigbar went to check out what was beyond the graveyard after jumping off of the platform, leaving the Schemer to stand there and wait patiently until the other invited him to follow. He crossed his arms as he waited, wondering what was awaiting them on the other side. There were hopefully Heartless on the other side at the very least; there had been none as of yet and it was truly making Zexion wonder.

It took a couple of minutes before Xigbar called him to come over, saying the coast was unusually clear. Zexion raised an eyebrow to this, but jumped onto the platform when it was low enough all the same. Once it reached the tallest height it would get to, he jumped over to the other side. He scanned the area quickly, a bit surprised to say the least. One would think that at least one Heartless would come forth in a world such as this, but it remained silent. He took out his Lexicon as a precautionary measure, though he was starting to doubt he would need it at all.

"This is very unusual," he said as he walked up to where Xigbar was, the man making the curled hill uncurl itself. "I would have thought that Heartless would have showed by now. This can't be anything good." He looked toward the uncurled path in front of them now, thinking. If there were not Heartless at that point of the world, then something was very amiss. If there were, then something would still be amiss, but not to the same extent.

Deciding to go first this time instead of let Xigbar lead the way, he scooted past him and started walking the thin path to the next area of the world. He jumped down once he reached the end, scanning the area once again. There seemed to be a bridge that led to yet another area, a river of sorts beneath it. It looked to be the same color of the liquid that was in the fountain they had passed by earlier, Zexion giving it a disgusted look before walking a bit further in to about the middle of the bridge. There still was not a single Heartless showing up.

"This area is clear as well," he yelled back to Xigbar, holding the Lexicon in one hand while the other hung at his side. This was truly unusual and the Organization would have to deem this world unusable if they found no trace of the Heartless here.

(Next area could have Heartless if we wanted it to XD)

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[Lagunamov]

Maybe that book could be used as a sled

Xigbar didn’t particularly need Zexion’s ‘scouting’ or shouting to notice the lack of heartless at the entrance of the former mansion. He was the Freeshooter after all; spotting things far away was his job description. Nevertheless, he followed after him into the area, seeing up close for himself how quiet things really were. It was spooky how the place actually looked like a regular graveyard instead of a haunted one. It, ironically, somehow made it scarier.

“Please Lord, let there be SOMETHING where the fat sack full of worms used to live,” he exclaimed aloud, thoroughly bored at the lack of any heartless to shoot at. Sure, killing heartless wasn’t going to net any hearts, they didn’t have any keyblades and only a wielder can release one properly, otherwise the heart will just reform another heartless. But still, he hadn’t shot at even a shadow since he awoke once again, making this lack of action extremely disappointing.

“Come on, lets go,” he sighed, leading the way to what was likely the last gate they’d cross that night. As he crossed the small bridge he looked to the side, seeing a small river of the green liquid from the fountain. He then remembered that there was apparently some way to move from the river to the fountain directly to backtrack faster, but he hoped Zexion would simply allow for a corridor to be summoned at the next area once they were done investigating.

He opened the gates, revealing a large valley below them, with them standing at a short peak on the side. The remains of an old bridge hanged from there, a bridge that once lead to a mansion that rose to the skies. Simply ignoring the destruction that Sora had caused, Xigbar walked over to the edge and looked down. The fall was of about one hundred meters, but they would survive. “No platforms here, either jump or take a corridor down there,” he said, simply taking the first option and starting his descent. He could teleport or simply suspend himself on the air as wished, so the fall wasn’t something that worried Xigbar. Zexion, however, probably had to consider his options.


(You can pick the heartless if you want. I would have, but post is long enough as it is XD)

[Fate]

Perhaps Those Guns Could Be Used as Rockets
Fight Music!

Xigbar was obviously bored with the lack of Heartless, most likely itching to shoot something. Zexion was never a fighter, though he found himself a bit disappointed that none were showing up by now. If the two of them got to the end of Halloween Town, they would have to go back to the castle without a single Heartless killed. It did not matter that they could not gather any hearts from the creatures; the lack of them did not help matters at all.

Zexion said nothing as he followed Xigbar into the next area, which turned out to be the final one. He stopped short once he saw the bridge did not continue, only leaving a large empty space where something once stood. It was a decent drop and he did not doubt both of them could survive the fall. Though, the difference was that Xigbar had control over space and could make himself fall at a lesser speed, therefore suffering less from the fall. Zexion did not have that luxury; a Corridor of Darkness it was then.

As expected, the Freeshooter jumped off of the edge and started his descent. To not waste time, Zexion immediately formed a Corridor of Darkness and backed into it, appearing at the bottom around the same time as Xigbar. There seemed to be nothing so far when they landed, though there had to be something hiding here; at least one Heartless had to be in this world. Zexion took several steps forward, looking around. Still nothing so far...

One Tentaclaw shot up a foot or two in front of him, startling him and causing him to jump back. That one was not alone either, for about five more formed as well, each one a decent distance or so from the next. At long last, one last Heartless emerged in the middle of the almost circular area the Tentaclaws had formed. It was much larger than the rest, a coffin being the center of its body with large thorny legs holding it up.

"Is this Heartless good enough for you?" he asked Xigbar rhetorically, taking another couple of steps away from the Tentaclaw. The Lexicon glowed briefly before Zexion cast his hand out, creating a large whirlwind near the center of the Heartless. It did not whip the giant creature around, though it seemed to cause some slight damage. The Schemer was not going to go too closer to the Heartless if he could avoid it, keeping his distance.

[Zexion used Cyclone-- five posts until next use, two uses remaining]

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[Lagunamov]

What's with the Japanese and tentacles? Seriously...

It took almost nothing for the sought-out heartless to appear. Xigbar himself remembered it, though he wasn’t sure if it was from a battle log or because he had personally seen it before. Either way, the monster before them was certainly repulsing already, so channeling attacks at it wouldn’t take that much effort.

“This is enough, thank you!” he jumped to the side, dodging one of the Tentaclaws. Those things were more annoying that Vexen’s eternal ramblings about how important he was because he was number four. Zexion’s only redeeming factor was precisely the opposite, so Xigbar managed to stand his presence a lot better than the so called scientist.

Nevertheless, He kept his mind on the problem at hand. The Leechgrave was being guarded by half a dozen tentacles, that upon examination – and by examination, Xigbar means destroying the one that he dodged- reappear after some time. Hence, destroying the tentacles would prove either completely pointless, or if they could take them all out, would leave the larger proper body of the heartless completely exposed to attack.

Deciding for the moment on the first alternative, Xigbar simply decided to dodge the resurrected tentacle again and ignore it, penetrating the guarded area and concentrating his fire on the coffin hanging from the heartless. From the emblem on it, and the glowing yellow eye that could be seen, he was certain that was where its real body was, the rest being just an extension of it.

He got close to it, the arrowguns never stopping shooting, but upon getting too close the coffin opened up, a large green hand attacking him and knocking him back for a second. He backflipped from the ground to stand up, seeing the coffin close once again, but now swinging at him. Not having enough time to properly evade it, he teleported out of its way, reappearing outside the Tentaclaws range.

“´Kay, you saw how it behaves now. Any particular course of action, or should we just wing it?” he asked Zexion, looking at him out of the corner of his eye, but not completely losing his focus on the Leechgrave. He wasn't one to fight close, but all he had done was for the purpose of figuring out the heartless' patterns. Normally, he would be partnered with a close range fighter, so he'd be examining from affar himself. This time, was different.

[Fate]

Mostly Winging It

Well, at least Xigbar was satisfied with the Heartless in front of him. Zexion watched as he closed the distance between one of the Tentaclaws. He chose to follow a similar tactic, not wanting to get close to the large body of the larger Heartless. The Tentaclaw disappeared, though Zexion doubted it would stay gone for long. The Tentaclaws only seemed to be a distraction for the main Heartless; it would be pointless to destroy them and then go after the Leechgrave. They needed to focus on the main Heartless and ignore the Tentaclaws as best as possible.

Zexion observed as Xigbar got close to the center of the Heartless, the true body of it, waiting to see what would happen next. The whirlwind was starting to dissipate, meaning he would need to attack again soon. The Heartless emitted a foul green gas when Xigbar got too close to it, signaling that it was most likely poison of some sort that would gradually wear them down. It would be best for the two for the two of them to perform ranged attacks to keep away from that, though their attacks would not do as much damage. One of them needed to get close to it, or at least somewhat.

"Long ranged attacks will probably be better to avoid the green gas," Zexion replied to Xigbar, "I will see what I can do about closing the distance." In other words, the two were going to have somewhat of a plan but would be winging it for the most part. The Schemer had a few tricks up his sleeve that would allow him to get close to the Heartless and Xigbar's long-ranged attacks were decently powerful.

With this thought in mind, he ran closer to the Heartless, keeping himself about ten feet away from it still. Two clones formed a triangle with him around the Leechgrave's center, forming a white ball of energy right near the coffin. It looked like it was about to use the gas move again, forcing Zexion to act quickly and attack the sphere to release energy before backing away, the clones disappearing as he gave room for Xigbar to start his onslaught of attacks.

[Zexion used Catastrophe-- 3 posts until next use, 3 uses remaining]

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[Lagunamov]

This is when I wish I had picked an RPG-7 instead of these things...

“Easier said than done kiddo,” he remarked to Zexion, but he was left standing alone quite quickly. Xigbar decided to simply observe, for if the physically frail schemer had the balls to go that close to the enemy without asking for assistance, then he had a plan. He was just then starting to notice the smell of the poisonous gas, which he had apparently barely dodged, completely out of luck.

It didn’t take long for Zexion’s plan to become evident, and as such, no cue was needed for Xigbar to begin his own assault. Using his speed he circled the Leechgrave while avoiding the remaining claws. Shooting every step, he aimed at the main body of the heartless with one arrowgun, while the other focused on its legs. If there was any chance for it, he might get one or two of its legs to break apart, immobilizing it and thus making the job even easier.

Once the sphere of energy bursted, Xigbar took that opportunity to combine his arrowguns into their rifle form. With the heartless stunned for a few seconds, he took aim at the hole in the coffin, through which the heartless’ eye could be seen, and unleashed a series of attacks on it. While some of the shots naturally missed, as the heartless still moved slightly, some managed to hit the contents of the coffin, promptly followed by screams from its inhabitant.

The heartless grew infuriated, its Tentaclaws starting to act even more violently than before, forcing Xigbar to stop shooting and once again jump around dodging their ferocious slashes.

“If you got any ideas now’s the time!” he yelled, ducking to avoid one of the heartless extremities that would have otherwise decapitated him.

[Fate]

Getting Rid of the Nuisances

Zexion got away from the Heartless as soon as his attack finished, not leaving it room to attack him with the gas, which had an atrocious smell to it. Obviously, he was choosing not to concentrate on it. Xigbar had followed him on his plan and they had managed to startle the Heartless. It was now angry, the Tentaclaws attacking more tenaciously than they were before. The Schemer had to do a bit of a dance to get out of their range before they tried to grab him; oddly enough, they looked like they would eat the two fighters if they were not careful.

"Having me do all the thinking, are you?" he asked rhetorically as they both dodged the Tentaclaws. The Leechgrave was finished emitting the gas, which meant they could go close range on it again. Unfortunately, that process would soon get tiring; if they wanted to end this Heartless fight quicker, they had to continue an onslaught of attacks. Zexion was a patient fighter and would have gone with the first option, though the second one made more sense. The only problem consisted of the Tentaclaws; if they grew anymore tenacious, then they would make it even harder to fight the Leechgrave at all.

"We need to take out at least a couple of these other Heartless if we want to continue our attack on the main one," he said, having the Lexicon float in the air temporarily to shield himself. He then turned to that very Tentaclaw and hit it a few times, not defeating it just yet naturally. "If these ones grow any more ferocious, it will be more difficult to focus our attacks."

He caused that particular one to disappear, leaving him a bit of room to focus on the other Tentaclaws in the surrounding area. He was not about to attack the Leechgrave again, waiting until he got rid of the nuisances first. He turned to Xigbar briefly, repelling another attack with the book. "Why don't you greet it again? I will keep the others busy," he told Xigbar, grinning a bit as he went to attack another Tentaclaw that lunged at him.

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[Lagunamov]

Point Blank

Xigbar grinned, almost completely in synch with what Zexion was thinking. “Greet him? I think I might just go in there and give him a good old kiss,” his smirk widened, almost from ear to ear. Holding onto his rifle tightly, he dashed towards the heartless, approaching it in a downwards spiral trajectory, for a direct dash was impossible thanks to several of the Tentaclaws.

He circled the main body, dodging the claws and using those spots to become closer to the Leechgrave. After two Tentaclaws, he began preparing for his attack, the tip of his rifle starting to slowly glow with concentrated energy. He reached the last claw, rolling forward to avoid its slash and pass it, only leaving a straight line till the coffin. Picking his pace up almost immediately after the roll, he dashed to the coffin, sliding below it on his belly and jumping just as soon as he we was on the other side. Grabbing tightly from the edge with his right hand so as to keep the lid shut, he poked inside through the hole on its left side with his arrowgun riffle.

“I’m baaaaaack,” he let out in a creepy voice. The coffin began to shake frantically, as if knowing what was coming for it. Of course, a gun was pointing at the inhabitant’s eye, so it was only natural. However, Xigbar didn’t let go, even using his legs to secure his place on the front of the coffin while waiting for the charged shot to be fully ready. The movements of the coffin became worse each passing second, Xigbar’s fingers starting to slip and lose their grip.

“I’m sorry darling, but this dance will be a short one,” he mocked the Leechgrave, noticing the shot was ready. The heartless seemed to have reacted to his words, the shaking stopping, as if petrified in fear. The trigger was pulled almost immediately after, the blast knocking Xigbar back almost a dozen meters. His body flying through the air, he shifted his weight, landing on the tip of his toes while leaning forward. His body remained affected by the inertia, almost dragging him as he leaned forward and even places his free hand on the ground to stop his movement backwards.

Eventually, he came to a stop. He raised his head and looked at the target, now submerged in a cloud of dust from the blast. “Suspense, how I hate thy.”

[Fate]

Not Exactly a Pleasant Experience

During that time, Zexion attempted to make quick work of the Tentaclaws. After he had defeated one of them, he turned on another and attacked it until it was defeated, leaving at least four others in the area if not more. Xigbar seemed to be managing his attack rather well against the Leechgrave. Making sure he was out of range before the Freeshooter initiated his attack, Zexion went to the edge of the Leechgrave's range semi-close to another Tentaclaw. He watched the blast go off, sending Xigbar away from the Heartless and giving the Schemer his cue to do something.

"Why thank you," he said to Xigbar, the Lexicon glowing as he looked to where the Heartless was. Meteors made their quick descent around the central area, only creating more smoke in its wake. The Heartless screeched again, only causing the Schemer to grin. It was a powerful Heartless, sure, but it did not know who its opponents were. The two now needed to wait until the smoke cleared to see what it would do next; Zexion guessed it was not gone yet since the Tentaclaws were still around and attempting to attack both of them.

Though, one's attempt was successful. Before he could deflect the blow, the Tentaclaw that he had been standing somewhat close to swallowed him. His eyes widened in surprise at this. The journey was short lived, for he ended up being spit out by the Leechgrave itself. His landing was not what one would call incredibly graceful, though he managed to land on his feet away from the Heartless. That was certainly not a pleasant experience by any stretch of the means, though it showed why the Tentaclaws were needed.

"It should not be too much longer before it is defeated," he said, speaking as if he had not just been swallowed by a Heartless and attempting to avoid the sarcastic comment sure to follow. "Another long and short range attack should finish it. Once the smoke clears, distract it and do not stop shooting it." He had at least one last move he could perform in this fight, though he would have to make sure that the Leechgrave before he did anything.

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