Heated Desire In The Sand [Open]

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

It's hot, really really hot!

The suns heatwaves bared down on the burning sands, the wind that you might think would cool your body instead making you even more hot amidst the blowing sands. The giant wall that guard the way to the inner city of Agrabah slowly being eaten away by the storms of the day with only the gate being repaired regularly. It was a tough place to live and a even harder place to die, without the money to buy water and food you may be better off dead.

Several guards stood watch, and the market though plentiful was barren of actual customers, the poor hiding and looking for chances to steal food or receive pity by a passerby. Though life had returned to almost a norm, the dangers of heartless and normal life were too much. Normally no one would come across the sands to visit such a place but the rich and powerful to do business and take advantage of the people.

Heartless, maybe. Life however favored those on top and stepped on those on the bottom, this was something Ain knew all to well.

Ain stepped from the front gate, it was hot and though he tried not to show it on his face he much preferred cooler climates. His loose clothing came in handy, but he tried to keep to the shade when at all possible. This wasn't what he had in mind when he made his trip from his home in Atlantica, a place was so much water he could bath in it daily to this place where he could not see even a drop. A guard walked up to him, his bulky body made it obvious that they were well taken care of when compared to the poor folk that were skinny and hungry.

"What brings you here, Stranger?" The guard asked as he used his hand to shield his eyes from the sun.

With little care he ignored the guard who continued talking in front of him, but never responded once. Ain's eyes wandering until he finally caught what he was looking for, a heartless rounding a bend into the backstreets. Finally, with the past worlds he had been in completely empty of heartless it was time to go hunting, turning to the guard he looked dully.

"Nothing at all." Ain stated as he walked off leaving the guard quite a bit angry in the process.

[King Mickey]

I Shoulda Picked Somewhere Greener to Investigate

Agrabah. A world of sand, sand, and more sand. Temperatures were blazing hot during the day, only to plummet dramatically at night. Water was a precious resource that was difficult to come by, and disputes over water sources could often turn bloody. Only the most hardy people chose to make this world their home. Of course, the strength of these people's hearts made this a prime crawling ground for Heartless.

This did not appear to be the case at the moment, however. Mickey had landed his Gummi Ship on the outskirts of town, in a discreet corner protected by sand dunes. Because of the heat, he had chosen to leave his black cloak behind. He would have enough sand and sweat sticking in his fur as it was. Had he been wearing his cloak when he opened the hatch of his ship, the resulting blast of hot air would have probably knocked him off his feet.

His purpose in coming here was to investigate the worlds' overall situation. He knew the balance was tilting heavily in the Light's direction, but he wanted visible evidence of it. If the Light was gaining so much strength, how would that affect the Heartless? He had surmised that the creatures' numbers would probably diminish, but he was curious if there would be any side-effects other than a cut in numbers. Though, he was now questioning why he had chosen to stop here first instead of somewhere more inviting, such as Land of Dragons or Olympus.

Making his way into the city proper, Mickey carefully looked about, searching for any signs of Heartless activity. The streets were noticeably empty for the time being, but there were palace guards stationed at regular intervals throughout the market. Mickey would offer them a friendly nod and wave whenever he would passed one.

A lone Shadow caught the king's eye, and he watched it disappear down a small side street. Deciding to follow it, he kept his Keyblade in reserve. If the Heartless were truly a threat, only then would Mickey go on the offensive.

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

Heartless, you are my only goal. I must act... But...

Ain followed the shadow heartless that he had been tracking into a secluded backstreet of the desert city, a dashed under a walkway only to feel like he couldn't go back like a barrier was in place. Within was a clearing, the single shadow heartless running to the center, but just as he was about to take action and destroy the heartless; a second shadow heartless was seen coming from a side street into the clearing as well. Following that heartless was a mouse, no not exactly as it was much bigger.

"Huh?" he stammered, realizing the strangeness of these heartless who were not attacking.

In a rush of vigor that would hardly be expressed by words nor actions and least of all by facial expressions. The dull sailor raised his right arm that housed his leather gauntlet and released the blade from the sheath pocket, the blade reflected the fiery sun that blazed in the days sky. Ahead of him a single Fat Bandit Heartless appeared along with 4 Bandit Heartless and 4 Red Nocturnes Heartless. It was a trap to steal hearts, no can't be, are they even able of such planning.

Quickly running in he slashed away one of the Shadow Heartless with a uppercut slash, destroying it with relative ease. The Red Nocturnes however did not stand still as they floated higher and started to cast Fire magic, the Bandit heartless advanced with swords in hand, while the Fat Bandit didn't move a inch. With so many attacks at once, it wouldn't be a easy fight and the coming heartless caused him to forget about the mouse that had also entered the field.

[King Mickey]

If Only Some Blue Rhapsodies Would Show Up

The fact that this Shadow Heartless led him straight into some sort of hastily constructed ambush didn't faze Mickey in the slightest. But it was rare for Heartless to work in such a coordinated fashion unless they were being controlled by someone else. But as far as he knew, Maleficent and her ilk were still in Radiant Garden, and he knew of no one else who would want to lure him into this trap. Unless...that person the Restoration Committee fought was here. That was always a possibility.

A quick glance around the area told Mickey he was not alone. There appeared to be a man here who looked dressed to sail the seas. He was on the completely wrong world if that was what he enjoyed doing. Not many seas to speak of in Agrabah, unless you counted that sea of sand outside the city walls. Regardless, the man did not look happy to run into all these Heartless, which told the mouse king that he was not the creatures' controller. And that meant he would need some help in this fight.

With a burst of light, the Kingdom Key D was in Mickey's hand, ready to banish some Heartless to oblivion. The Red Nocturnes were his first priority. That fire magic of theirs could prove problematic if they were left to their own devices. Mickey was hot enough as it was without having balls of flame scorching past his ears. He noticed the four floating Heartless were all hovering very close to each other, which was stupid on their part and could also possibly count as evidence of the weakened darkness. His free hand glowed with a golden light that shaped itself into a large sphere, which he then hurled toward the group of Nocturnes.

The force of the small explosion outright destroyed two of the Heartless and sent the other two spinning off in opposite directions. Taking advantage of the disorientation he knew the creature was feeling, Mickey launched himself in the direction of the nearest dazed Nocturne and dispatched it with a quick slash of his Keyblade. If the sea-faring man was smart, he would do the same with the one remaining Nocturne.

[Summary:
Mickey used Pearl.
Posts until next use: 3
Uses remaining: 4]

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

A key, a sword. A mouse holding a key as a sword?

Ain glanced emotionlessly at mickey mouse, his sheer ability with such a strange weapon peeked him interest. In his travels he had not seen anything like it, and to think he just ignored him when he arrived. As the wizard like Red Nocturnes were scattered and destroyed with ease he felt a quite obvious difference in their abilities, the remaining Nocturne however flew right at him in time for a quick chopping slash motion which dispatched it. It would be noted that he used unarmed melee attack motions in conjunction with his blade for most combat, he had other skills but it wouldn't be wrong to suggest that he was limited in battle. Some might even call him a amateur due to his recklessness.

"Strange ability you have there, I will accept your aid at clearing these creatures." he stated dully without looking a King Mickey, as he pulled away from the swinging blade of a Bandit heartless and twisted his form in to a sidekick to it's sword from the left side and punched the bandit heartless with his blade on the right. With not enough strength to simply take it out in one blow he hopped up with his right leg and kicked it's body to remove the blade from it's head.

The heartless were not all so weak to die in one hit, something he would note for future battles. Up until now he had only fought Shadow Heartless and since they were easy to destroy he probably had grown a bit soft. Quickly he grabbed the bandit heartless by the neck and fell into him with blade extended, this time the creature was destroyed. However, with the time he spent on one heartless the other 3 had surrounded him and were ready to attack.

[King Mickey]

A Helping Hand

With the Red Nocturnes out of the way, the only fire Mickey would have to be concerned about was in the breath of that Fat Bandit. But it seemed quite lethargic at this point, merely standing over in a corner of the area. Was it waiting for something, or did it lack the energy to attack at all? In either case, the Bandits were eager enough to fight, and Mickey had no problems obliging them.

Again, the Heartless showed a lack of tactical expertise or at least a lack of observational skills. They were surrounding the lesser threat when Mickey had clearly just decimated the group of Nocturnes only moments earlier. There was no way these were being controlled by an outside source. The creatures must have been very desperate for hearts if they were attempting to stage ambushes on their own now.

Brandishing his Keyblade, Mickey leaped toward one of the three Bandits surrounding the man. He managed to catch the first one off-guard and slice straight through its back once, then twice, before it vanished in a burst of darkness. The other two quickly turned on the mouse, swinging their swords threateningly. Mickey blocked the blows easily with his weapon, then went back on the offensive. Being as small as he was, these Bandit Heartless were much more on his level size-wise than pretty much all of his other opponents he had ever faced. That didn't mean they equally matched him in combat prowess.

The Bandits swung at him again, and he blocked the strikes, then threw them off his Keyblade, sending them skidding backward several feet. This gave Mickey enough time to offer a friendly grin to the man. "No problem. I'm always happy to help someone in need."

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

The waves are much smaller then before, is it just me?

Ain glanced at Mickey Mouse with his expressionless face, serious and at the same time very dull. As the suns glare got in his left eye from the north, he closed it slightly but what shinned brighter was the words of the mouse. He had saved him with such skill and kindness that even he found him to be pleasant, a feeling that passed quick as he took advantage of Mickey's low height to vault over him without a word reaching the bandits as they hit the ground.

"Thank you Mr. Mouse." he stated with the same expression as always, not even turning to say it properly due to his bad manners associated with his utter lack of social skills.

Pulling his right arm horizontally to his side he used one of his lesser abilities, Swift Blow and quickly cut them with a spinning cut destroying them in a flash of his much faster blade before returning to normal. It wasn't easy keeping up that speed, in fact it was quite exasperating to do it even once in a day. He would surely feel strain in his arm later, but for now he turned to the last remaining heartless, A Fat Bandit heartless.

Strangely however, the movements of the Fat Bandit seemed off from how the other heartless were acting, but no matter. Running in he intended to slash it before it could act, readying his right arm for another attack. Before he could reach the Fat bandit however it moved, in response Ain stopped and waited to see what it would do. The heartless took one step forward but that was it's last as it stumbled to the dirt and stopped moving.

"Huh?" he stated aloud, he couldn't believe it just fell over all of the sudden. Within mere moments the heartless simply faded away leaving behind a heart that floated into the sky.

---

Ain turned back to Mickey, and stared at him for a second. He was much shorter so he had to look down but it didn't bother him or even cause him to doubt the strength of the mouse. Everything wasn't going the way he planned and a stranger appeared out of no where. The last strangers he met attacked him, this time he would at least try to get answers. "This isn't your world, who are you?" he stated bluntly as he had yet to put away his blade, he may have appeared to Mickey that he was acting hostile towards him.

[Summary:
Ainus used Swift Blow.
Posts until next use: 4
Uses remaining: 1]

[King Mickey]

Misgivings and Introductions

Mickey couldn't help but chuckle when the man called him "Mr. Mouse." That was a new title, and it sounded a bit funny. He doubted the man heard him, though, seeing as he immediately jumped over the king and attacked the remaining Bandits. Mickey simply watched, appraising the man's skill with that blade of his. He managed to take out the other two Bandits and then set his sights on the Fat Bandit still languishing in the corner. Mickey narrowed his eyes. The man had barely even begun to attack the round-bellied Heartless before it just suddenly fell over. The darkness must have been even weaker than Mickey had thought. He had never witnessed such a display of fragility, especially from a Fat Bandit.

It appeared that all of the Heartless had been destroyed for now. Though...Mickey was now questioning whether it was wise to continue destroying every Heartless on sight. That Fat Bandit had practically committed suicide. If the darkness grew any weaker, the Heartless might explode seconds after they spawned. Or perhaps not even spawn at all. There was a time when Mickey would have celebrated that thought as a good and worthy goal. However, he was afraid of what would happen to the worlds if the darkness became permanently anemic. Something was telling him that the peace everyone was hoping for would not come.

The man had approached him again, his blade still out, and was asking him questions. This came off as slightly rude to Mickey, but he was a forgiving mouse. Not everyone in the worlds could be as approachable and friendly as, say, Sora or Aerith. To show that he trusted the man, Mickey allowed his Keyblade to vanish. "Could we start with some introductions?" He held out his hand for the man to shake if he so chose. "The name's King Mickey, though most everybody tends to call me 'Your Majesty' or something like that. I'm the king of a world called Disney Castle, and I'm here because, well, I'm doin' a little investigating into the state of the worlds and the current imbalance between the light and the darkness." He paused for a second. "And who are you?"

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

I shall trust you ...for now.

As Mickey's Keyblade disappeared from sight within a second his blade retracted into his leather gauntlet and he rested his arm at his side. It wasn't anything against his savior but trust is earned not given and he was no fool to start trusting everyone he saw in the new worlds. He was betrayed often in his home-world, deception came easy to those in desperation and dire straights. Still, he felt that this mouse known as Mickey could be trusted and had decided to confide in him if even just a little; after all he was a king and his people would certainly trust him.

"I'm Ainus Kaim Orlandeau, for the sake of simplicity, call me Ain." Ain stated dully, as he gave a little bow and stood up straight like a soldier. "I have have come from the world known as Atlantica where I had encountered heartless and using a gummi ship I followed them through the many worlds. In a way, I'm investigating the source of the heartless by tracking them."

Taking a few steps forward he walked next to King Mickey, and looked down at him. He had said that he was investigating the state of the worlds and imbalance between the darkness and light, while he wasn't aware of such a thing he felt that King Mickey might have some much needed answers. "I have had a lot of trouble finding heartless on my way here, and now I find some but they are desperate and weak. I almost felt that this wasn't a trap at all, but instead they were trying to escape and they were drove into a corner. Can you explain this?" he asked seriously as can be, a lesser man would be intimidated by approach.

[King Mickey]

I'll Try My Best to Explain

Ain offered him a bow instead of a less-formal handshake. Even though Mickey wasn't usually fond of formalities, he could see that Ain's personality was not especially relaxed and easy-going. The mouse king let his hand fall back to his side. He flicked his tail a little while he thought. He should have known that Ain would hail from a world like Atlantica. There was much water to sail there, after all. His second guess would have been Neverland.

After Ain finished speaking, Mickey nodded his head. "Hmm...so, you're a Heartless hunter, huh? And you haven't found many of them?" Any that he had found were apparently weak, just like the ones the two of them had defeated. The problem extended far beyond Agrabah, then. The man took a few steps closer and looked down at him. He wanted an explanation for this situation, and Mickey planned to give him one. However, it would be limited, since the king did not have all the answers even for his own questions. "Lemme see if I can explain this..."

He put a gloved hand to his chin and rubbed thoughtfully. "Light and darkness exist together, and when they're both in balance, everything's okay. But when one or the other starts growing too dominant, things start getting out of whack. A few years ago, the darkness grew too strong and began to weaken the light. But then, thanks to Sora (oh, he's a very important Keyblade master), the light grew strong again and pushed back the darkness. But now...it seems the light is too strong. Things aren't in balance, and it's beginning to show. For now, it only seems to be affecting the Heartless directly, but I'm afraid the imbalance might start to affect the worlds themselves, as well."

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

The tides have changed, for where does the moon lie.

A journey to the end of the world from Grandia (- Village of Luc)[/center]

Ain listened without a blink, his dull serious expression not once changing at any point in King Mickey's explanation. The sand blew in front of his and some even dusted into his loose clothing but he still didn't move, for a minute after he didn't say anything at all or even move from the spot. Deep down he felt like he had already lost his goal, the darkness that he wanted to see the source of was weak and nothing like how it was 2 years previously when he wanted to seek it out. Was his journey useless since he didn't think it through, would things have sorted themselves out without the need for him to leave his world and if that were true does that mean his own existence was meaningless. With a bit of uncertainty, his soldier like stance wavered and he slouched slightly.

"I'm not exactly sure what to make of all of this, this is probably the first time I had just stopped to think, 'Is what I am doing, the right thing to do?', even now i have no idea." he stated dully but his body language showed a hint of frustration.

Taking a few steps from King Mickey and he thought hard on what he should do now. Continuing to hunt the heartless seemed useless now even if he had little to gain in the first place, even so he had found his way so far from home with nothing to return to. If he didn't move would he die in a ditch as the many passed him by, he didn't want to think about it. Looking back at Mickey he made a choice that he probably should have thought through just a bit more, yet he didn't care since he had nothing to lose to begin with. "This imbalance, if it effects the worlds then I can't just stand here and blindly walk anymore. There is so much I need to know, and that is why I would like to go with you on your investigation." he said, his dark brown eyes stared at the King slightly more intensely. "King Mickey, take me with you."

[Fate]

Semi-Graceful and Speedy Landing

It had taken a few days, but Lillian finally found a world that looked sort of interesting to land on. It probably wasn't helpful that she was speeding through most of the galaxy at top speed, pushing Falcon's speed to its limits. If she saw any worlds, they were a blur to her; flying was what she loved to do and she missed being able to do it all of the time. Sure, this Gummi Ship wasn't the same as what she piloted on Libertas, but flying through space was a different adventure entirely.

"That world looks interesting," she told Elrick over the radio as they were starting to near a world that looked sort of like a desert; she couldn't really tell from this distance. She sort of just wanted to get out of her ship too; it felt like there was something else in her ship and she couldn't figure it out. She had searched the thing high and low without any luck. It might have been paranoia kicking in, which she wouldn't be surprised if it was, but she still wanted to land.

She sped up toward the world, quite nearly crash landing into the town. Fortunately, the desert that was there made her ship slow down enough for a somewhat graceful crash landing. Sh turned the ship completely off, jumping out of it and into... sand. Yeah, she didn't miss this part of deserts. There was heat and there was sand, the sun glaring down on her. It was times like these when she missed her pilot sunglasses; she'd need to find a new pair somewhere, but she doubted she was going to find it in a place like this. This world just didn't look like the type of world that would sell apparel like that... or anything that she knew of.

[/size]

[Lagunamov]

Sorry ladies, but the pants STAY ON.

Lillian certainly was picky about which world to land at. It had taken her days to either finally run into one of her liking, or get claustrophobic enough that anything on sight would suffice. Elrick wasn’t complaining, however, since the chatter from Orpheus had stopped being background noise and it was once again starting to slowly dig into his brain and compel his most stabity tendencies. Which very appropriately first showed up after a week of listening to that, and ended with the demise of one of his pillows. He could still find some feathers stuck around the ship.

“Interesting or not, I still want to stretch my legs,” he commented back through the radio as the world getting closer. A large yellow spot. With a castle poking out of its upper end and a gigantic lion’s head on the lower part, as if it was some weird logo design. He wasn’t about to question it though, he was pretty tired of being stuck there, and at this point he could even take being turned into a turtle and having to participate in a musical number. And that said a lot.

Following after Lillian, Elrick entered the world in his ship in a more… graceful way. The ship landed close to hers, which had crashed into the sand, with its owner already outside. He proceeded to turn off his ship, opening the hatch and poking his head out. “I got my autopilot system to blame for this ship’s last crash. What’s your excuse?” he slightly mocked her, closing the hatch as he left the ship and jumped down into the sand below him. His feet slightly slipped, which was natural under those circumstances. Of course, that was barely the issue here.

It took a grand total of ten seconds for it to hit him. The heat of the world caught up with his body immediately, which wasn’t at all helped by the layers of clothes he had, or the fact that they worked better in mild and cold temperatures. The gold details on them certainly didn’t help either. “Oh sweet mother of God!” he yelled, the heat forcing him to remove his coat and shirt, taking a quick trip back into the ship to leave them there. He wasn’t made of pocket space, so it wasn’t like he could keep everything on him anyway. So, now he was basically shirtless, except for his gloves and gauntlets, and for what could only be considered sentimental attachment, he still had his beret on. He was also glad he had good tolerance to sunlight, so he wasn’t about to get burnt easily while exposing so much skin.

“Ok, I’m better now,” he sighed, taking his hand to his head and using it to block some of the sunlight hitting his face. The town wasn’t far from where they had landed, so he’d probably find shade soon enough. “Shall we get going? Or would you rather change into something more heat friendly before we move from here?”

[King Mickey]

A Temporary Partnership

Confusion and questioning were understandable responses to the current situation. Mickey himself was not sure what actions to take, which paths to follow. The one thing he was sure about was the need to protect those he cherished. If anything were to threaten those dear to his heart, he would stop at nothing to shield them. What that meant as far as his attitude toward the Heartless and the darkness as a whole was concerned remained veiled in uncertainty at this point. Perhaps he would adopt the stance of leaving the darkness be so long as it did not resume its devastating ways once more.

Mickey watched Ain move and listened to him work through his thoughts out loud. He wanted to come with him on this investigation? The king tended to prefer working alone when it came to gathering information. He was, of course, very much a team player when the time for fighting came. And so, he hesitated to agree to Ain's request. Who knew to which parts of the Sea of Stars his quest would take him? He didn't want to be responsible for anyone but himself on this journey. The matter of having just met this man was also looming in the back of his mind. Trust, most especially for a complete stranger, was a fragile thing these days.

"Hmm...you wanna come with me, do ya?" Mickey crossed his arms across his tiny chest and tapped one of his feet as he thought it over. After a few moments of silence, he uncrossed his arms and spoke again. "Aw, okay. But for right now, you can just stick with me around Agrabah. I can't promise you can keep following me after I'm done here. Is that okay with you?"

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

Second thoughts are more clear, aren't they?

Ain scratched the tip of his nose with his index finger, he wasn't such a idiot to realize that he was asking for a lot from this stranger. Closing his eyes for a second he realized that by asking for help like a fool, he had begun to slip from his normal mannerisms and act like a coward. When his eyes opened again his normal state was restored, his expression returned to dull emotionlessness and his stance returned to that of a soldier. Perhaps it was because he never really gave things the thought that was necessary to live normally or maybe he just wasn't allowed to have that freedom.

In his world, he had never had to decide things on his own. It was a fact that anything he did was because they needed to be done or he would have died otherwise. Even as he transversed the worlds, he only fought if it was needed, to defend himself instead of trying to win a fight for lack of reason. He hated battle freaks, but in the process of staying alive he learned to fight. Perhaps even he now was a battle freak as he would sometimes dive into confrontation.

"I apologize for my lack of manner, I should not have asked to come with you. I will however join with you until we part from this world, that is all I ask." he stated seriously, his voice void of emotion. As the words left his mouth he simply stared ahead, not at King Mickey but beyond him.

I should not waver, wavering is for the weak of heart. I should just follow the waves.

Taking a step back his eyes turned to the sound of a impact, as he looked up he saw sand fly upwards. Something of a moderate size have fallen somewhere, it was at least as big as a ship but maybe smaller. It was all a guess, but he decided that he should go check it out. "Something impacted the sands just outside the walls, It might be more heartless. I'm going to check it out." he stated as he turned to leave, not knowing or caring if King Mickey would follow. He hoped that he would though.

---

Now in a dash, he hopped up some carts and onto the roof of a lower building of the market place. Using some more carts he hopped down on the other-side, if it really was a heartless then he had to hurry. He didn't look back once to see if Mickey was still there, is rude manner-less self back in full form, and as his loose red and white clothing waved in the sandy breeze he reached the sands.

Ain tried his best to focus through the suns glare but saw a half naked guy(Elrick ^.^ standing outside a ship most clearly. It appeared to have crashed which prompted only one response, only one thought that came to mind.

"Who is the bad pilot?"