To Dance with Dragons [Open]

[King Mickey]

Oh. It's You. Again.

Destroying one of the Heartless in the room with his first attack was a small consolation prize, considering the current lethargic state of the creatures. Had Maleficent not been there to interfere, he might have actually hit his intended target. But the witch would, at best, only be a nuisance to him. She could summon Heartless all she wanted, but they would only serve as temporary shields. And if she tried that dragon trick of hers in the relatively confining space of the throne room, she'd risk crushing her new pet instead.

The king's keyblade clashed with his adversary's sword, and for a moment, he finally got a good look at a face. "Kadaj. I remember you now. I didn't think you'd be the kinda person to work for anyone else. How's that workin' out for ya?"

Being the small mouse that he was, Mickey might not have possessed a height advantage, but he made up for it in speedy tenacity. He spun and flipped through the air, striking quick, successive blows at every opportunity, not intimidated in the least by either of the pawns of darkness. Perhaps Maleficent would grow tired of remaining in a place she could not easily destroy. And maybe, just maybe, she'd take Kadaj with her when she left.

[Aerith]

Confusion

They encountered no resistance whatsoever all the way through the secret tunnel. Lanying couldn't help but find this strange. Shouldn't the Heartless have completely overrun the city, including this tunnel, by now? She forced herself not to think about it. Doing so would only lead to false hope, and she couldn't bear more of that. She already wanted to curl into a ball and cry like the little girl she used to be had when her father had hit her.

They broke out of the passage and back into the open air. Her lungs greedily sucked in oxygen as the full weight of fatigue that the adrenaline had kept at bay settled on her. Then, she straightened and heard something curious. Rather, it was the lack of a sound that she found curious. Everything seemed much too quiet in a city being attacked by waves of Heartless. Running, she made her way around the wall to get a better view of the entrance to the city. To her astonishment, the Heartless were mostly idle or disappearing, even. And yet, the world still stood.

Now, she was struck with a dilemma. Raen expected her to leave this world with him, but since it looked like her world was no longer in danger, did that mean her promise no longer applied? She did want to explore other worlds, but what if the emperor still needed her? Should she return to the throne room at all?

Conflicted, she turned to find Raen next to her. "I'm...not sure what's happening. Did you still want to leave?"

[Fate]

How Flattering

Mickey was fast, that was for sure. Kadaj wasn't getting any blows on him, Souba forced to only clash with the keyblade and block as much as possible. A couple of flips went into his attacks as well, though the blades just kept meeting and hitting their target. If Kadaj was going to get anything done, he needed to up his game somehow in some way, shape or form. He was more on the defensive at the moment, just making sure Mickey's giant key didn't touch him. It was time to go more on the offensive, which he did by delivering at least five blows from different angles.

"It's working out well!" he said in a somewhat jovial manner, delivering another blow shortly after he said these words, "Can't you see?" He went for a couple of more blows, a determined look on his face as he did. Part of him wondered how long it would take his two previous opponents to find out that the Heartless were not doing anything to their world at the moment. Would they come back at that point and then have a three on one match? It was very possible and Kadaj had to leave that possibility in the back of his mind in case it happened. Maleficent might help, but that all depended on if she felt like it.

"It's flattering how you remember me," the silver-haired fighter added, swinging the double-bladed weapon again, "Really, I mean that." Sooner or later, one of them was going to give in to the other and he was going to do all he could to make sure that it was Mickey, not him. If he could finish off the mouse, then they could get back to his plans.

[/size]

[Nothingness]

The Second Round

Raen was wondering why everything had calmed down, as well. Before, if felt like the entirely world was about to collapse under the weight of the world, and yet now it felt completely different. He knew what he said, but he also remembered that he said they'd leave only if it seemed like there was no way to save the world. Well, now there was. Turning to Lanying, he said "We're going back, but this time we'll catch that bastard by surprise. We'll sneak in through the tunnel, and I'll take the offensive. Once I get him to turn his back, you go in and finish him."

Drawing his sword, he started running back into the tunnel. He had had enough of that sadistic man--he intended to end it now.

[Aerith]

An Unexpected Ally

Lanying finally did allow a glimmer of hope to take root in her heart. With the amount of Heartless Kadaj had summoned earlier, she would have expected this world to be consumed by now. Still, it remained intact, and the offending creatures' ranks were even thinning out. That could mean that the witch and Kadaj had also gone for some reason or another. She couldn't begin to imagine what that reason would be, though. She knew of no one else in this world who could have beaten those two back.

A thought suddenly gripped her and threatened to squeeze most of the hope out of her. What if, for whatever reason, Kadaj had been unable to destroy the world, but he had decided to take the emperor with him? No, that didn't seem quite right. Kadaj didn't strike her as the type to take hostages. He most likely would have killed the emperor out of rage.

No...no, that can't have happened.

Desperation drove her to follow Raen back into the tunnel. When light appeared ahead, they stopped short, keeping relatively hidden within the mouth of the passage that exited into the throne room. What Lanying saw raised her eyebrows. Some small creature--a mouse, she hazarded it was, from the shape of those large ears--dressed in a black cloak and wielding a shining, golden key for a weapon was locked in fierce combat with Kadaj. And to her utter relief, the emperor remained alive and unharmed. She looked at Raen, silently asking what their plan of action should be now.

[King Mickey]

Playtime is Officially Over
Yet Even More Fighting remixed by Kidd Cabbage; original tracks composed by Nobuo Uematsu for Final Fantasy VII

"You're welcome. And I really mean that."

Kadaj was certainly presenting Mickey with a challenge, one that he hadn't had in a good while. He could tell his skills were a bit rusty from the past several months of disuse, but this fight was just what he needed to get back into top shape. Normally, he wouldn't have allowed himself to be so lax in his personal training, but for a while there, he really had thought Sora and Riku had ended the troubles with the darkness and the Nobodies.

Unfortunately for Kadaj, that meant he was fighting against a Mickey who was not in top condition. And yet, the king was still able to hold his own against the silver-haired swordsman. The sooner he convinced Kadaj to back down and leave Land of Dragons alone, the sooner he could continue his quest for answers and possibly pay a visit to Radiant Garden next.

He blocked another strike from Kadaj, and then he decided it was time to get serious. Leaping backward, he put space between them just long enough for a faint golden glow to surround him, signifying the activation of an ability and a temporary increase of his strength. Then, he shot forward once more, the Kingdom Key D moving in a blur, even faster than before. Kadaj may have been an excellent fighter, but, Mickey thought, he would be hard-pressed to block every single one of the flurry of strengthened blows that the king now rained upon him.

[Summary:
Mickey used Sword of the King
Remains in effect for one more post

Mickey used Swift Blow
Posts until next use: 4
Uses remaining: 1]

[Nothingness]

I Never Planned For This

Raen didn't know what they should do himself. Nothing was happening as he thought it would, and now this mouse appears from nowhere and begins taking on Kadaj single-handedly as if it were nothing. He tried to say something, but the words just wouldn't come out--he was completely speechless. "I don't know," he thought, his heart feeling empty. "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!" He squinted his eyes shut, calming himself. Almost in response, the crystal on Fimbulvetr gained a slight, frosty blue aura around it. Raen felt his heartbeat slow down, and his anxiety slowly vanish as it began to glow.

"What the?" Raen murmured as he looked at his sword. It had never done that before--weapons don't have minds of their own, so why is it doing this? Or was it responding to his heart? When it was made, the moogle said that the blade was made especially for Raen and that only he could truly use its power. "...Is this what they meant?" Standing up, he finally decided on his choice of action. Drawing his blade, he raced towards the two opponents. He didn't show any emotion as he stared at Kadaj, and he didn't say anything either. He simply waited to see what Kadaj would do.

[Fate]

Bitter Determination

This fight was not going to end anytime soon, or at least that's what Kadaj thought. The two were blocking every single one of the other's blows. It was causing the silver-haired swordsman to grow extremely aggravated. The king had now jumped away from him and was getting an ability fired up. He couldn't let that happen by any means. He ran a few steps and jumped into the air, his sword in hand ready to use.

Unfortunately, the King's ability had increased his speed and his strength. Kadaj was hit in mid-air and forced to the ground. Without having any time to do anything else, he started blocking the mouse's blows. The blows were fast and the Souba could not block every single blow. At least two or three, if not more since Kadaj was not into counting, blows made contact with him and he was sent flying. He managed to at least land on his feet and just continued to block as well as he could.

It did not help that his two previous fighters entered the scene at the same time, one of them rushing at him. Attempting to break away from Mickey's attacks, he lunged for Raen once more with his sword. He could tell that if the girl jumped into the fight as well, he could not dodge every single attack. He also doubted that Maleficent was going to help him much with this fight at all, seeing as she was just standing there still; some Mistress of Evil. If the fight became too much for him to handle, he would leave on his own accord.

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[Maleficent]

As the mouse king and Kadaj fought, Maleficent thought over why the heartless had not sought out the world's heart yet. Were her powers not as restored as she had previously thought? Or was there some other force at work here? Whatever the case, it seemed unlikely they would be rid of this world, which was a shame. She cared not what happened to this particular world, but it was still frustrating to have it so close to ruin only for that wretched king to step in their way.

Her thoughts were then interrupted as she noticed those two from before had come back. Hmph, it seemed they did not know their place. Kadaj soon broke his attack away from the king and attacked the man that had entered. She then sent a nightwalker and assault rider each to attack the girl and the king. There was not much more they could accomplish here, what a pity.

She bowed towards the king, more mocking him than showing respect. "It is nice to see you again 'your majesty,'" she said to him, with the words your majesty dripping with disdain and sarcasm. "However, my time here grows short." She then turned over towards Kadaj. "Kadaj, do what you must," That was basically her way of saying that he could continue fighting or retreat, whatever he thought best. With that, she turned away, disappearing in a cloak of green flames.

[King Mickey]

Better Odds

Apparently, there was more resistance to the darkness in this world than he had originally thought. Two more fighters appeared from out of nowhere, though when Mickey looked close enough, he could tell they had emerged from what looked like some secret passage. One of them--the male--was running to attack Kadaj. The silver-haired swordsman suddenly broke away from the king's attack to focus on this newcomer.

In the meantime, the witch claimed his attention, but her mocking didn't perturb him. As he had suspected, she merely summoned some Heartless to the throne room, left him with a parting derisive comment, and then made her exit in a spout of green fire. The king did note that Maleficent didn't simply order Kadaj to leave, as well. That seemed to suggest that, even though Kadaj appeared to be working with the witch, she wasn't confident enough that she could control him. Mickey filed that thought away for later contemplation.

For now, he had Heartless to deal with. Considering that the power of his increased strength still pulsed through him, he didn't think this would take very long. He launched himself at the Assault Rider, parried a thrust from its spear, and finished it with a strike to its head. The Nightwalker was even easier to dispatch in comparison. It fell with a horizontal slice across its middle.

He didn't doubt that the woman who had also appeared was capable of handling herself against Heartless, but Mickey wanted to end this fight now. To do that, they needed to get rid of Kadaj, and having all three of them free to focus on the swordsman would expedite that process. Once he had dealt with the remaining Heartless, he gave an encouraging wink to the woman before dashing back toward Kadaj.

[Summary:
The effect of Sword of the King dissipates.
Posts until next use: 5
Uses remaining: 1

Cooldown period for Pearl is finished.]

[Aerith]

One More Shot

Raen hadn't given her much of a verbal response, but when he saw his sword glow, he lunged out into the throne room, right at Kadaj. That was enough of an answer for her. Now that they had another ally--and an apparently strong one, at that--maybe they could drive Kadaj and that witch away.

It looked like they wouldn't have to do too much to convince the witch to leave, after all. Lanying watched her bow to the mouse and call him "Your Majesty" before she vanished. Of course, she had left them Heartless as a parting gift. Lanying drew her sword, ready to defend herself, but the mouse who was a king, it seemed, made quick work of the Heartless for her. He gave her a wink, which Lanying found a bit odd coming from a king even if he was a mouse, and then he resumed his assault against Kadaj.

With no other distractions left, she sheathed her sword and took her bow in hand. With two melee fighters on her side, she would attack from a distance. However, as good of a shot as she was, she didn't want to unintentionally hit one of her allies. So, after nocking an arrow and taking careful aim, she called out, "Down!" and then released her arrow straight for Kadaj. Even if it didn't hit its mark, the shot would let him know that she was also a viable threat in this fight of three against one.

[Nothingness]

Just Give Up

Opting to remain engaged with Kadaj long enough to allow Lanying and the Mouse to take out their adversary, Raen chose to parry Kadaj's blow, just barely deflecting it in time, and side-stepping from the attack. He held his blade up in a defensive stance, practically asking for Kadaj to get in close. "Doesn't matter if he disarms me, the other two will take care of him quickly." As soon as Raen thought that he heard the witch practically say that she was abandoning Kadaj, and then heard the sound of roaring flames. That, followed by the Heartless being eliminated in quick succession made Raen think that there wouldn't be much left as far as fighting went. He also saw Lanying fire off a shot from her bow, but it wasn't anywhere near where he was.

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

[Fate]

This Battle is Over
You only won battle; I will win this war.

That witch was not as helpful as Kadaj thought she was going to be. She had given them a couple more Heartless, but they were easily dispatched. If she was supposed to be the Mistress of All Evil, couldn't she give more of a fight than to run away and let Kadaj do all of the work? He didn't mind doing the work so much as watching her run away from the fight; well, that was his interpretation. That was a coward's move in his mind and his opinion of her now lowered a bit. She may have given him control over the Heartless and placed more in the world, though she refused to raise a weapon to deal with these pests easily. It agitated him.

His current opponent parried him and then got into a defensive position, seemingly waiting for Kadaj to run at him and attack like he normally did. The silver-haired man had a grimace on his face at the moment, showing he was agitated. He didn't feel like going near the swordsman at the moment, instead choosing to deflect the mouse's attack on him. The woman also attacked with an arrow, sending it flying at him. Instead of deflecting it, he jumped out of the way and backed away so he could see all three of his opponents. Mickey had his key and the other swordsman had his ice sword. The girl had her arrows as ranged weapons and all three of them were fighting him at the same time. It was fine when he was just fighting two of them at once, but now the king was here; he made things more difficult.

He had a couple of options he could choose to do here. He could stand and fight, like he always did, against three opponents. He would only be able to stand it for so long before they got hits on him and backed him into a corner of some sort. The mouse was rather fast with that keyblade of his and he had managed to hit Kadaj last time. No, this was not going to be a good fight if he went with it; he didn't have his brothers to help him. He had to go with his option, which was to get the hell out of there. His ship was parked a decent ways away, though he felt he could get away from all three of them quickly.

He didn't much of anything except letting out an annoyed "tch" sound before running at one of his opponents and jumping in the air. He jumped over them and onto the other side, looking to the secret passageway the other two had gone into and out of earlier. It seemed to be a faster way of getting out of here at the very least, so he was going to have to use it. He didn't look back as he started running, putting the Souba back in its holder. Fleeing was aways a hated option; it meant he failed. Kadaj never ever handled failure well at all.

[/size]

[Aerith]

You Have Our Thanks

Kadaj was running away. They really had beaten him back. The fact that he was using the secret tunnel to escape bothered Lanying a little bit, though, and she instinctively wanted to pursue him to make sure he wouldn't live to tell anyone else about it. But now that she was coming down from her adrenaline high, exhaustion seeped through her limbs.

The Heartless were disappearing even faster now that the two people who had been responsible for their summoning were gone. The emperor was safe, and her world remained intact. Speaking of the emperor, he finally moved out of his corner and glided over in their direction. To her great surprise, he faced the mouse and offered him a shallow bow, then said, "Thank you for your efforts, Your Majesty. It is good to see you."

Lanying's jaw almost dropped, but she was competent enough to remember her manners. She, too, faced the king and bowed to him, a much deeper bow than the emperor's, of course. "I also wish to thank you for your help. Without you, I fear that Kadaj and that witch would have destroyed us all." She felt a brief flicker of silliness. She was showing respect and gratitude toward a mouse. He was obviously a very skilled mouse, but she was still new to the concept of mice as kings.

[Nothingness]

King Rat?

Raen was highly tempted to send an Ice Fang Kadaj's way, but staved of the urge. They'd be sure to meet again, and when that day came, he would be sure to finish off Kadaj. Still, the battle was finally over and the world had been saved. He put his weapon away and suddenly felt an immense weariness take over his entire body. He'd been used to long and difficult fights, but this was completely out of his league. "I need to lay down, or something."

Looking up, he saw the Emperor go and bow to the strange mouse, and call him "King." Raen practically had to do a double-take to make sure he heard right. That mouse with an oversized key was a king? And important enough to deserve a bow from the Emperor of this world? Now he'd seen everything. Regardless, he knew he had to pay his respects for the King's assistance. Walking towards the mouse, he took his right hand in a fist and pressed it against the left side of his chest. He bowed his head, "Thank you for your assistance, your Majesty. As my friend said, without your help this world most certainly would have been doomed." He didn't realize that he had called Lanying his friend until after he said it. He normally didn't consider people he met an hour or two ago to be his friend, especially after such a fierce battle. However, he couldn't deny that it was the truth.