Just Our Luck [Lanying, Demyx]

[Demyx]

Demyx looked around as Lanying pointed out their options. Demyx recognized this area since he had accidentally gone back to chamber 1 from here having picked the door they had just come through. "Yeah the bottom area would lead us back to where we've already been," he said recognizing the area. Even though the girl sounded unsure about the exit in front of them she sounded unsure it would lead them anywhere

Plus there was the doorway on the other side of the chasm and Demyx REALLY didn't want to have to try and cross it. Raen then volunteered to try and jump across. He wasn't gonna stop him but he still wasn't going to go that way just yet. He watched as he jumped across and managed to make it, commenting on how the floor was a nice cushion.

Still even though Raen made it that didn't mean Demyx wanted to do so. He really could just use a corridor of darkness, but he bet using one right now would not be a good thing to do. "Hey, why don't you like check the area out to make sure it isn't a dead end?" he suggested to Raen. He figured if he checked it out first maybe it would turn out to be the wrong way to go and then he wouldn't have to cross the chasm.

[Aerith]

One Question at a Time
Sootballs by Joe Hisaishi from Spirited Away

Even though Raen had made it across the chasm, Lanying was not so sure she wanted to attempt the same leap. Demyx suggested that Raen go on ahead and see where that path would lead so they would not all be wandering in circles. But from the tone of his voice, Lanying suspected that Demyx only said that to avoid anymore pointless walking for the time being. She could not fault him for that. The whale's innards were getting tiresome for them all. And considering the whale's size, that giant Heartless could have found any number of crannies in which to hide.

She shouted across the chasm to Raen. "Demyx is probably right. We will stay here and wait for you to tell us if that leads somewhere new." Normally, she would have been wary of staying with a stranger by herself, but unless his casual attitude was an elaborate mask hiding a cunning mind, Lanying did not think she had anything to worry about. Besides, she had some questions of her own to ask.

She would have sat down or at least leaned against one of the walls, but she hadn't the slightest desire to acquire any more of the whale's bodily fluids upon her clothes. Yes. Yes, she would most definitely need to find some new clothes and burn these later. For now, she took as comfortable a stance as she could and faced Demyx. "If you do not mind, I have some questions I would like to ask you." She decided to pick just one to start with, avoiding the flood of words that would have resulted had she asked all of her questions at once. "I heard you mention someone named Zexion, and Raen seems to know him, too. Are you and this Zexion...related or something?" She would have said "friends," but the way Demyx had labeled the person as a jerk sounded more akin to sibling squabbling.

[Nothingness]

Stress Relief

So, he was flying solo for a little while. Fun. "Whatever, at least I won't have to worry about them. They can handle themselves just fine if anything shows up." Drawing his sword, he walked towards the entrance to the next section of the whale, and called out to the two he was leaving, "I'll see how far I can go before I can come get you guys. It'll be easier that way." Of course, he'd much rather that they travel in a group, but at least this way he'd be able to cover ground a little faster, and they wouldn't get lost until later.

He walked into the newest chamber, but was distraught when he saw that it was an empty room with a giant raised section that was at least fifteen feet above him. The path leading to another section at the other end of the chamber was also blocked by boxes. Essentially, it was another dead-end with no way of knowing where he was. Apparently their earlier assumption of the chamber next to the one they came in was wrong--that was where they were supposed to go. "Whatever," he muttered, "I can just go, drop down, and walk back to them."

Raen sighed and turned around ready to leave, but stopped when he felt his body bump into something rather...tough...and bouncy. Closing his eyes and looking down, Raen shook his head. "Just great." He jumped back just as the Large Body swung it's gargantuan fists: Raen could feel the wind coming from the wide, sweeping blow. As the Heartless waddled towards Raen, he laughed a rather strange laugh, his eyes having rather frightening glint as he stared at the creature. "I'm glad you don't have a voice. 'Cause you're just what I need. Now, just hold still; I'll make this quick."

Without a second thought, he rushed towards the creature and slammed his fist into its soft stomach. While normally, that would be completely ineffective, the ice shards that appeared around it managed to strike the Heartless from all sides, stunning it momentarily. During that time, Raen removed his fist and ran around behind the monster, and rapidly plunged his rapier multiple times into where it's spine would be. His eyes shone joyously, reveling in this barbaric act. It had been a while since he could let loose like this.

When the creature had had enough of that, it started to stomp its feet and it gained an unearthly purple and blue aura. It smacked its stomach and ran away from Raen at first, but then redirected itself towards him. When it was just about to slam into Raen, he jumped backwards, and the Large Body got itself stuck inside the portal to the previous chamber. Appreciating the humor for a second, Raen figured that killing it quickly would be best. Running towards it, he jumped, and stabbed it just below the neck, killing it. Raen landed back in the room where Demyx and Lanying were. Standing up, he sheathed his sword and called out, "It's a dead end."

[Raen used Winter's Howl, three posts until next use]

[Demyx]

Demyx was glad to hear the girl agree with him, it meant that he wasn't going to have to cross the chasm. Relieved, he sat down at the edge of the chasm, summoning up his sitar and started tuning it, hoping to play it a bit while Raen was away. Man, it felt nice to have the thing back in his hands, and playing. He strummed a bit of a slow tune nothing all that catchy, just playing for playing's sake.

It was then he heard Lanying ask him if she could ask him some questions. "Fire away," he told her as he strummed. He wasn't really worried about any questions, and he was pretty good at being vague without even really trying half the time so it wasn't like they'd get anything important out of him. She asked him about Zexion and if they were related.

"Can't we like not talk about the silver haired jerk?" he asked her at first, not really wanting to talk about him. Though he thought about what she asked if they were related. "You mean like siblings? Oh no no no no. There's no way I could possibly be related to that pompous schemer." he then mumbled to himself. "Stupid jerk forcing me to come here," He then looked up when he heard a voice and saw that Raen had come back. Apparently that side was a dead end. He stood up and his sitar disappeared from his hands. "Cool, so like we go and try this way next right?" he called over and pointed to the doorway they hadn't tried yet.

[Aerith]

I Think You've Convinced Me I Don't Want to Meet Him

Either Demyx was very unconcerned about their predicament or he was very obsessed with his music. He had been plucking away on his instrument while she asked her question, but apparently, it was not therapeutic enough to calm him when she mentioned Zexion's name. The word "jerk" was thrown around again and, to her surprise, "pompous" was, as well. If she went solely by what Demyx said, she could imagine that meeting this mysterious person would not be pleasant. Why did Raen have such an interest in him?

Speaking of Raen, he reappeared again, declaring his exploration efforts to have been in vain. That way had only led to a dead end. Sighing heavily, Lanying nodded at Demyx. "Yes, it looks as though that way is the only path open to us."

It would probably be best if they waited for Raen to cross back over the chasm before they continued onward. She would have mentioned this thought out loud to Demyx, but he did not seem to be in too much of a hurry to keep going. Or perhaps he was also thinking along the same lines. "Raen, you can make it back over here, yes?"

[Nothingness]

Be Right There

Raen couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he wanted to fly solo for a little bit longer. "You guys go on ahead--just leave some sort of marking to tell me which paths you took. I'll catch up in no time, so don't worry." Jumping down to the bottom floor, he walked back through the portal into the first Chamber. Stopping just before the platform, he reared back and punched the fleshy wall with all his might. "Goddammit!" He punched the creature's insides again, letting his fist sink in slightly. "What the hell am I doing? I don't even know why I'm doing any of this."

Everything had just seemed to spiral out of control. First the Heartless start disappearing, then the Shield breaks up, Raen, Richard, and Jake leave, then those two get killed by the Heartless, some Nobody named Zexion saves him, he stops at a new world just as it's about to be taken over by the darkness, and now he's inside of a goddamn whale! He just couldn't wrap his mind around this--it was just too much to handle. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head: as much as he wanted to, worrying about and regretting the past wasn't going to change anything. He could only focus on the here and now.

Stepping back a single step, he deeply inhaled and exhaled. Looking down, he saw the ice crystal on Fimbulvetr glowing again, just like in the Land of Dragons. "Yeah, you're right." He muttered to the sword. Raen decided to ask the Moogle in Traverse Town about what he really did to this sword, but that would be something to wonder about later. For now, he had to catch up to the other two. All of this self-pity, they may as well have already beaten the Heartless themselves. Smiling, he lifted himself up onto the platform and ran through the portal into the next chamber.

[Aerith]

Time-Skip, Ahoy!

At last. Somewhere completely new.

It had seemed that days had passed while she and Demyx wandered the twisted maze of this whale, but they had finally discovered a very large and very round chamber. For the moment, it was empty. It was too empty. There was quite a lot more fluid in here, leading Lanying to assume they were now inside the whale's stomach. While she was not an expert on a whale's biological makeup, she did not know of any other large, hollow chambers that could exist in these creatures.

She heard a sound behind her and turned to find Raen entering the chamber as well. Breathing a not-so-subtle sigh of relief, she waved him over. Demyx had been...less than stimulating company during their exploration. She was convinced that all he could find to converse about was how much work he was having to do and how evil the people--particularly Zexion--were who made him do that work. She had tried once or twice to inquire about the kind of work he was doing, but the sitar player had been vague at best, usually dodging her questions by finding something else to complain about.

When Raen drew near, Lanying pointed a finger toward the interior of the chamber. "If ever there was a place for a giant Heartless to make its nest inside a whale, this would be that place, I believe."

As if on cue, an eerie sound keened from the ceiling of the room and quickly dropped. Lanying was experienced at fighting the Heartless, but never had she seen something of this magnitude. Plus, it was utterly disgusting. Fitting for their surroundings, she supposed. It wiggled its body's mass at them while its long pair of tentacles thrashed around threateningly. She drew Allegretto, her mind immediately entering strategic mode.

Perfect. This is just the perfect end to a perfect side-trip.

[Demyx]

Demyx was glad that they were finally gonna get somewhere that he hadn't been through before. He went off with Lanying, them going on and leaving marks as to where they went so Raen would catch up eventually. The further they went in the more confusing and maze like it seemed and he couldn't help but complain about it. After all this was supposed to be ZEXION'S mission, not his.

Lanying had asked him once or twice about him and what he did, but he had avoided the questions, not exactly wanting to give that information freely. Besides he didn't want to have to talk about it when all he could think of was getting out of the stupid whale and making sure he never had to come here again.

After what seemed like forever, they reached an area that was really round and it much different from previous rooms. Raen finally caught up and Lanying said that this would probably be a good place for a giant heartless to show up. Soon after that the Parasite Cage he was after showed up. Demyx was glad, it meant he could get out of here soon. He summoned his sitar and got ready for a fight, even though he didn't particularly want to. So he hung back and waited for one of the other two to start attacking.

[Nothingness]

Playing "Doctor"

In a strange bit of luck, Raen managed to not encounter any Heartless as he was catching up with Lanying and Demyx, who were surprisingly fast on their own. Eventually, he caught up to them in a rather large, circular room. There seemed to be some sort of disgusting fluid flowing towards the center of the area, though Raen didn't want to know what that was. Then, without warning, a large Heartless fell from the ceiling. "Well, there's our mark. Time to get the hell out of this whale!"

Drawing his blade, he ran around the room and stopped on the side opposite of Lanying and Demyx. The creature turned itself around, and once it stopped, Raen quickly slashed what looked to be it's mouth, and quickly backed off as the creature swung a gargantuan fist at him. Holding his blade defensively, he called out to the other two, "I've got it's attention--take it out!" A pincer attack would be most effective against something this large--it could cover its front, but its back would be completely defenseless. Or at least, he hoped it would be. With how strange this world and some of its Heartless were, he was really hoping this Parasite Cage was normal.

[Raen used Defensive Blow, four posts until next use]

[Aerith]

Assumed Leadership

Lanying quickly ran down her possible options. Considering that no one needed healing or protection at the moment, her current abilities were not going to do her much good. She just needed to attack. But she did not particularly feel like running up close and hacking at the creature's back. That might risk immediate retaliation. So, she sheathed her sword and took her bow in her hands, nocking an arrow to its string.

If Demyx had other offensive abilities up his sleeves and if they were as potent as the one he had used earlier to launch that Large Body, they should have no trouble dispatching this giant Heartless. Between her bow and his abilities, they had the benefit of ranged attacks. The tactical leader in her came to life, and she made sure to point out these observations to Demyx. "We can both attack it without getting within range of those tentacles. If Raen continues to keep it distracted, this should not take too long."

With her advice that may have sounded a little too much like orders whether she had consciously meant it or not, she applied tension to her bowstring and let her first arrow fly. True to its mark, the projectile struck the beast right in the center of its back. Mere seconds later, she had another arrow already nocked.

[Demyx]

Demyx watched as Raen went ahead and distracted the heartless, leaving its back exposed to himself and Lanying. Lanying put away her sword and drew out a bow and arrow. She told him that they could probably just attack it from here with out getting any closer as long as Raen kept it distracted. That was just fine by him, it wasn't like he was planning on getting any closer anyway.

He started playing his sitar water appearing in front of him and soon that water formed into 5 shapes that were shaped just like him. He sent them towards the Parasite Cage, all of them attacking the heartless's back. They didn't do a whole lot of damage by themselves, but all together would do quite a bit as long as the thing didn't notice them right away and start taking them out.

(Demyx used Water Clones 4 posts till next use)

[Nothingness]

Teamwork

Their attack plan seemed to be working fairly well; the Parasite Cage was slowly but surely getting worn down. Between Lanying's sharpshooting and Demyx's water clones, the Heartless wouldn't last more than a minute or two. Of course, that would only work as long as the Heartless didn't decide that Raen wasn't as much of a threat. Luckily, or more rather unluckily, for it, Raen wasn't holding back. Every time the beast swung at Raen, it would get another cut on its arm, and whenever it didn't, it would get a rather nice slash across the abdomen. Minor irritations to something so large, but it seemed to find that more annoying than the flurry of attacks from behind.

"Just a little more--whoa! Head's up!" Raen was cut off by the Parasite Cage twisting it's body, and waving it's arms around the entire room. Ducking underneath them, he barely managed to avoid getting hit. Trying to get up, he immediately plastered himself to the floor again as the other arm flew by overhead. The Heartless, slightly dazed by his own attack wobbled a little bit. Raen bolted upright and shouted, "Now!" As he lunged at the creature's chest, tearing his blade into its body. It was going down one way or another.

[Aerith]

Almost There

Lanying sensed a change in the balance of the giant Heartless right before Raen shouted at them to be aware. She ducked out of the way, avoiding getting bludgeoned by one of the whirling appendages. When the creature finally got tired and relaxed its limbs again, she came out of her crouch and fired a few more arrows into the creature. She saw Raen take advantage of the Parasite Cage's temporary daze, and she did the same.

With no present danger from the tentacles, Lanying drew her sword once again and dashed forward, slashing at the body from the opposite side. Between the two of them, perhaps they could finally take out this threat and get out of this whale. The creature was screeching in obvious pain, and Lanying could feel it losing its strength slowly but surely. Almost. They were almost finished.

[Demyx]

Demyx continued strumming his water clones doing all the work along with Lanying and Raen. He watched Raen attack the creature distracting it from himself and Lanying. It seemed that they were going to get rid of this thing pretty quickly, which meant that he could get out of here at last.

Lanying and Raen both stabbed the Parasite Cage and it looked like it was up to him to finish it off. He started playing the sitar and his water clones dissolved, forming a circle of water underneath the creature. Soon a geyser of water enveloped the creature and he could tell that was the end of it.

The creature sagged a bit as a giant heart floated out of it and afterwords the heartless disappeared. Demyx gave a sigh of relief and put his sitar away. His mission was complete. "Finally....time to get out of here," he said to himself. Maybe he could finally get that nap in now.

[Nothingness]

Bat Outta Hell!

The Heartless was finally defeated, and, as if on cue, a small hole beneath where the Heartless was opened up. Raen could barely make out the mouth of Monstro at the bottom of it--the drop heading straight into the lake of saliva. "Well, I'm definitely gonna need a change of clothes after this. Whoa!" Raen lost balance and almost fell through. Monstro was getting ready to sneeze, and there was no way he was going to let either Lanying or himself miss this chance. "Come on, let's go!" However, he stopped just as he was about to leap down. "Hey, Demyx! Give Zexion a message for me. Tell him that I haven't decided yet, but I'm getting close." With that off his mind, he leaped down.

Landing in the pool of spit, he couldn't help but let our a groan of sheer revulsion. Still, with how Monstro was thrashing now, it would be a bad idea to stop now just because of a little bad hygiene. Swimming as quickly as he could, he reached his ship and clambered on to it, opening up the cockpit. He immediately fired up the engine, flipped on all the switches. The second this thing opened it's mouth, they were gonna bat outta this hell.