Showdown at Hollow Bastion [Castle]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

July 31, 2010
--

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Emi had her face pressed up to the glass. They had finally arrived back at Radiant Garden and were flying over the Great Maw, looking for a place to land. She pulled herself away from the window and dashed over to the controls just in time to land in the Dark Depths. She barely avoided crashing to the canyon walls- never was good at flying the damn thing- but they made it safely, with only a bit of paint scratched off the side.

Twenty-nine days. They had been gone for twenty-nine days, and she was eager to see what the town had been up to in her absence. She'd nearly forgotten about that guy who'd shown up and blown a hole in the Marketplace, and there was always Mala... Mafa... that witch that Zexion said was living in the castle. To her, it seemed like a lot could have happened in the month they were gone. First thing though, she was going to go to the inn and have a hot shower and sleep for twelve hours. Her hair had grown even less manageable, especially after all that sea water...

What a relief it was to power down the gummi ship (hopefully for the last time) and throw open the door. She jumped out of the ship with a bigger smile than she'd had in a long time, liking the sound the impact of her sneakers made on the hard ground. A cloud of dust got kicked up, and it was quiet out in the Dark Depths.

It was good to be home.

"Hurry up, shorty, it's a long walk back to civilization![/color]"

[Castle]

Castle exited the ship before she finished speaking. While he liked seeing that smile on her face, he was a bit rattled by the not-so-smooth landing. She seemed a little too eager to get back here, or maybe he was just a little too un-eager. Unlike her, he lacked a very sentimental tie to this place. Although, it was the first world he came to when he first left home, and he had lived here for about a month. That didn't mean he was ready to be stuck here again for any lengthy amount of time.

"Great landing, captain eager," he teased, managing a half-smile instead of a grimace.

He took a moment to survey the area. He'd never been to this part of the world before. The weird tower-thing beyond the nearby cliff was familiar, though, and he remembered seeing it from a distance.

Despite his initial reluctance to come back here, he found himself feeling a little nostalgic. Now that he knew what else was out there, this world wasn't really that bad.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Not a very fair prize...
--

Emi frowned at Castle, a bit agitated over what he'd said. That was typical; she was very easily agitated, after all. Mood swings were not uncommon, but then again... they were mood swings and didn't last long. She squashed the urge to retaliate and smack him around a little, but not without a visible facial twitch and having to take a deep breath.

It was a step, at least. Not long ago she wouldn't have been able to control herself. After the urge passed, however, she allowed herself to smile again although this time it was a small, contented smile instead of a loopy grin.

As they left the Dark Depths, she gazed up at the canyon walls. She really did love it out here. It was quiet and open and she didn't feel trapped. She suspected she would be spending a lot of time out here if she had any hope of staying calm and staying put. Without too much more conversation, they made their way into the Great Maw. Emi had the urge to just take off running across the big, empty space.

In fact, she turned to Castle to express that idea. "Hey, let's race to the other side and see who wins. Loser buys me some pancakes![/color]"

[Castle]

Castle grinned eagerly at the challenge.

"Then I hope you've got munny to pay for them!" he said as he took off.

The perfectly flat terrain between the slopes of the Maw just begged to be run across at full speed. He knew he should probably start slow, but it was too late now. Besides, if he lost, he had no munny to buy anything with anyway. She would just have to deal with that if she was being serious about the pancake thing.

Not that he was about to lose. No way.

Even though he needed the breath for running, he couldn't suppress a quiet snicker. It seemed like forever since he was challenged to anything, and he planned to take advantage.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Battle Music: Rowdy Rumble
--

Argh. That little bastard.

Trying to get a head start on me? she thought. She scrambled to catch up, taking fast steps at first but then taking long strides. Her legs were longer than his and in no time, she'd caught up. The smile was back, determined this time. Fierce.

It was a close race but unfortunately it was cut short by the sudden appearance of some... old enemies. Emi didn't have enough time to process the now familiar sound of a Heartless spawn before she ran headlong into one that had appeared before her. It was a Soldier, just small enough for her to trip over. Her long legs got tangled up and she fell, over the Soldier and face first into the dirt.

She was infuriated. Embarrassed, but mostly infuriated. She stumbled to her feet, spitting dirt and hair out of her mouth and ripping her kali sticks off her belt. She took only a moment to observe her battle ground. Soldiers. Not too many of them, just five, but that was more than she had seen in a while.

Where's Castle? was the thought that came to her mind as she lifted her kali sticks. She glanced over her shoulder. He was behind her, and the heartless were in front. She gave a quick nod and flicked her weapons. Flames licked up them a fraction of a second and she took off running towards the group.

He can take care of himself. Kill the Heartless.

She didn't bother with activating her shield. It didn't seem like such a big deal. The Soldier she had tripped over was a bit isolated from the other four, and that is what she targeted first even knowing full well the others were coming for her and Castle.

Time for some fun. She managed to wedge a foot under the Soldier, kicking it up into the air like a soccer ball. While it was in the air, she drew Duskywing back and swung. The crack the weapon made was delicious, and she watched the creature land a few feet away. There was a butterfly shape scorched into its torso, still glowing and smoking.

By this time, her kali sticks had cooled off and she would have to wait before trying that trick again...

It didn't matter, she had other tricks up her sleeve. Ahh, she'd forgotten how fun it could be to battle...

--
Battle Report
Emi used [Metalmark]
3 posts until next use.
2 uses left.

[Castle]

To his immense irritation, Emi quickly pulled ahead of him. He cursed silently and tried to run faster, but her long legs gave her the advantage. In a matter of seconds, he was lagging behind. Just as he considered shouting a smart remark at her, something unexpected happened; she tripped over a Heartless.

Castle skidded to a halt. More Heartless appeared before her, making five in total. Emi ran right at them and began to fight the one that had tripped her. While she did, one of the others took notice of him and quickly advanced. He dropped into a stance and put his fists up. Once the Heartless was close enough, he launched a kick at its head. It bent backward like a kid's punching bag.

Before it could recover, he charged in with a series of punches. He felt the adrenaline build up inside him and flow out into his techniques. Soon, the adrenaline gave way to pure excitement. He'd been a little concerned, and annoyed, at first by the appearance of the Heartless, but as he landed more blows, he thought that this would be way more fun than a race.

His first enemy burst into a cloud of darkness and vanished. He grinned in triumph, but his victory was short lived. Another Heartless was coming at him from the side, and it was nearly upon him already. Castle yelped and jumped away from it, throwing his fist out in a clumsy punch as he did so.

The punch didn't land, but something else did. Energy prickled through his arm as a whitish-blue orb flew from his hand. It hit the Heartless in the chest and sent it staggering. The impact made an acidic hissing noise.

Castle was stunned for a moment. Where the hell had that come from? Suddenly, he remembered their visit to the underwater witch's grotto. The first spell they concocted launched orbs just like that, and he'd breathed in the fumes.

"That is so weird!" he shouted, but he was smiling again.

The Heartless wasn't defeated yet. He would have to change that, and he would enjoy it immensely.

--
Battle Report:
Castle used [Blue Bubble]
2 posts until next use.
1 use remaining.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I love midget wrestling.
--

Emi quickly finished off her first target, thrashing it between Duskywing and Daggerwing. It disappeared into a cloud of darkness and she whirled around. Castle had gotten rid of one, which left three, one of which Castle was making quick work with due to his new trick.

Pretty handy, she thought as she chased down one of the remaining Soldiers. The little thing decided it wanted to attack and swiped its right claw at her, clipping her on the leg. She reacted as was expected and kicked it, wondering how she was supposed to keep herself decent if enemies kept slashing up her clothing. The Heartless was up on its feet after a moment though and coming after her again. It tried to claw her again, but she blocked it with Duskywing and brought Daggerwing down in a long arc on top of the Soldier's head.

"It's like a whack-a-mole game![/color]" she shrieked, perhaps with a little too much glee. She slapped the Soldier aside with Daggerwing and didn't stick around to watch it burst into smoke. There was still one left.

She looked down at her leg. There was a small tear in the fabric of jeans, she was bleeding and her leg stung. Eh, she could suck it up. She'd had worse. She put a hand on her shoulder and was glad the wounds from that battle were now mostly healed due to time and magic. Awesome scars though.

The last Heartless was quickly making its way over, but she couldn't resist. She put one hand on her hip and cupped the other around her mouth. "Beat the hell out of that thing, little man![/color]" she screamed at Castle.

--
Battle Report
[Metalmark]
2 uses left.
2 posts until next use.

[Castle]

The second Heartless went up in smoke. Castle checked the space around him for any other attackers. There was only one Heartless left, and it was stupid enough to run straight at them. It was kind of pathetic, really, but somehow admirable. Oh, well. It was going to die either way.

Rather than be offended by Emi's remark about his height (those remarks didn't bother him much anymore, anyway), Castle grinned and did a brief thumbs-up before he charged at the Heartless. He jumped and plowed a roundhouse kick into the side of its head. That alone wasn't enough to take it down, obviously, so he followed it up with a series of punches. Finally, he kicked it in the center of its chest, but rather than leave it at that, he pushed his weight and momentum forward and succeeded in bringing it to the ground.

That move would be almost impossible against a human, but this kind of Heartless didn't have much in the way of balance, especially after being pummeled. Its chest didn't actually give way when he stomped it, so he dropped down to one knee and punched it in the face.

As the monster beneath him burst and faded, the face under his fist suddenly resembled that of the man from Notre Dame.

His savage excitement faltered. It was hard to suppress a shudder as he stood up and instinctively stepped away from the spot. However, he shook his head slightly and pushed those thoughts aside. It was just a Heartless.

Composure regained, he smirked and turned to Emi.

"Heh. No problem at all," he said confidently.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Here it goes, here it goes again.
--

"Didn't even break a sweat,[/color]" Emi sighed. "How disappointing.[/color]"

She started to walk off, clipping her kali sticks onto her belt as she went and limping a little. They had made quick work of the five Soldiers. She looked over her shoulder to say something to Castle. "Hey, we never finished our ra-[/color]"

She was interrupted by the appearance of three more heartless. Actually, she only saw one of them show up, way on the other side of the Great Maw near the entrance to the Dark Depths. She heard the other two though, spawning above their heads. She clamped her mouth shut and went for her sticks yet again. Unless the Stealth Soldier on the other side of their battleground teleported over they had a few minutes.

Abruptly, Emi took off running straight for the canyon wall. As expected, the Air Soldier followed, having set its sites on her. Just when it looked like she was going to splatter herself against the wall, she planted her right foot on the wall and pushed herself up, running along it for several steps. It had been a while since she'd used this ability. The last time she could remember using it was in the orphanage and there she hadn't had enough room to properly do it.

Normally, she would have considered this a bit overkill but the Heartless would be hard to reach otherwise. So, she flung herself into the air. Ahh, she hated the feeling of free fall but she used it to her advantage, flipping the sticks in her hands so that they were held like daggers. She hooked them into the Heartless and while they did not go stab through, it was enough to slow the thing down and they both fell to the ground.

She was less amused by the battle now. Without even allowing herself or the Heartless a chance to recover, she slammed Duskywing into its head repeatedly. That would have at least knocked out a human but this wasn't a human. The Air Soldier got out from underneath her and flew back into the air, knocking Emi onto her ass in the process.

Emi was too tired to attempt a wall run again, so she decided to wait for the thing to come and get her. She would make her next attack then. She raised Daggerwing into the air, taunting the Heartless.

--
Battle Report
Emi used [Wall Run]
2 uses left.
[Metalmark]
2 uses left
1 post until next use.

[Castle]

Castle noticed Emi limping and saw the wound on her leg. It didn't look too bad, but before he could say anything, and before Emi could finish was she was saying, more Heartless appeared. Castle went on guard again. He didn't see the one on the far side of the Maw, but he saw the two Air Soldiers very well. They split up, one going for Emi, the other for him. Perfect.

It swooped at him. He sidestepped it, but before he could retaliate, it took to the air again. He'd never seen a Heartless like it before, but analyzing its battle tactics wasn't rocket science. It hovered tauntingly above him, and he sneered at it.

"Think you're off the hook because I'm short?"

He jumped at it, reached its height easily, and delivered two kicks to its chest before gravity pulled him back down. However, it was tougher than the regular Soldiers, and it followed him down and moved behind him. He had just enough time to catch a glimpse of its movement before it raked its claws over his left arm.

He grunted and stumbled away. Drops of blood welled from the scratches on his bicep. The Heartless flew into the air again. He couldn't make another high jump for another minute or so, and he cursed under his breath.

The Heartless's movements changed, and he knew it was about to swoop again. He readied his stance. It descended, and he met it with a kick, but rather than be stunned, it recovered instantly and scratched him again. He caught the worst of it on his gloves, but two new cuts appeared, one on each arm this time. The monster took off again.

The thrill of the fight turned to frustration. He was on a roll before, and this Heartless was ruining his mood. It was as if the universe had thrown him a bone only to take it away again.

"Damn it!" he growled.

He could not let this happen. Emi wasn't having this much trouble. If she ended up taking out this Heartless instead of him, he would look like a wimp. He had to do better than this.

He needed more power.

The face of the man rose up again, but this time, he did not push it away. Back there, he was unstoppable. He beat that guy like it was nothing. The fight with Emi was similar; no matter what she said, he was winning. He remembered the rush of it, the knowledge that he could have easily finished her off. He could have done to her what he did to that man, and she was a much better fighter.

He had to bring that feeling up again. He took a deep breath and focused, letting his feeble frustrations evolve into real anger. He was infuriated by that Heartless. How dare it even make him consider that he was about to lose. He would never let that happen.

The Air Soldier was in the process of another attack. This time, Castle ran to meet it, leaped, and tackled it to the ground.

"Can't fly now!" he snarled.

He slammed his fists repeatedly into its head. He wasn't aiming for the Heartless, he was aiming for the ground beneath it. His gloves glowed faintly, the attacks coming quicker than they ever had before. His rage built up with every blow until, finally, he summoned all of his might, leapt to his feet, and delivered an axe kick to the center of its chest. The enemy disintegrated.

--
Battle Report:
Castle used
[High Jump]
2 posts until next use.
[Swift Blow]
4 posts until next use.
1 use remaining.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Battle Music: Sinister Shadows
--

Meanwhile, Emi had her hands full with her target. The taunting worked- a bit too well. The Air Soldier swooped down faster than she could dodge and clawed her on the face. Before she could retaliate, the Heartless was back up in the air, circling above her waiting for its next opening. She pressed a few fingers to her face and when they came back bloody, she exploded.

"Oh, it's on now, bitch,[/color]" she screamed, and took off running in the opposite direction. As she ran, she pulled out her black cloak. She wasn't sure if she could still do this but she was going to try. She didn't want to take any chances ruining whatever light Arc saw in her, so the cloak was imperative. She pulled it on, fumbling to get it zipped up. She ran as far away as she could in order to get enough time to do this.

She figured she had about thirty seconds. She skidded to a stop and held out a hand. Closing her eyes, she tried to muster up the concentration she needed to open a corridor. Clear your mind, she told herself. Put everything you have into it. Work, work, work.

The Air Soldier dove in again just as she opened the corridor and slammed into her back, effectively pushing her in. It hurt, but she couldn't silence a chuckle. Even though it hurt to lift her arm now, she did so and opened a new corridor... in mid air.

She gave a fierce battle cry as she dropped out of the corridor and directly on top of the Air Soldier. There was that terrible feeling of free fall again until they were stopped by the hard earth. A cloud of dust rose up around the impact, but Emi didn't stop. Like Castle, she attacked relentlessly, driving the handle of Duskywing into the thing's head over and over again...

It got out from underneath her yet again, but this time she was prepared, swatting it with Daggerwing before it could get too far. While it was disoriented from that, and still low to the ground, she swung Duskywing underhanded... effectively sending the Air Soldier higher into the air. It didn't matter though, because that was the last strike needed to defeat it.

She doubled over, gasping for breath. "Arghh, everything hurts,[/color]" she whined. Her leg, her face, her back... she wondered if Castle had been injured too or if was just her own inexperience. There wasn't time to rest though... the Stealth Soldier was still there.

Emi snapped up, and shouted to Castle. "We've gotta work together on this one! It's close enough... stand back![/color]"

There wasn't enough time to make sure he was out of the way. She would just have to risk it in order to stun the Stealth Soldier so they could attack it. She dropped to one knee and raised both kali sticks into the air, slamming them hard into the ground and causing a shock wave. It took about two seconds for it to reach the Stealth Soldier and it knocked it backwards, stunning it and causing a pretty substantial amount of damage. There were still four waves left but Emi didn't want to risk Castle getting stuck in it and getting hurt, so she cut it early and leapt to her feet, running at the Heartless while it was still stunned.

--
Battle Report
[Metalmark] available for use!
2 uses left
Emi used [Corridors of Darkness+]
1 post until next use
Emi used [Xerces Blue+]
2 posts until next post
1 use left

[Castle]

Castle's fury hadn't worn off. He still felt like killing something. At first, he saw no other opponents (Emi's was gone now), but then her warning brought him into focus. There was another Heartless right there, and he hadn't seen it. However, he did see Emi raise her kali sticks and realized that something was about to happen. He jogged out of range just in time to avoid the shockwave.

A blurry memory of the incident at Beast's Castle rose up in his mind. She must have used that move in that fight, too. Come to think of it, he remembered being knocked around by something quite a few times. It left him sore for about a day afterward. That must have been it.

He didn't take too much time to dwell on that. There was a Heartless to be killed. Emi got her hit on it, and now it was his turn. He was a bit closer to it than she was, and he charged at it as fast as he could so he could get there first. He lunged in with a punch to its head, and then hit it with a crescent kick. The kick knocked it toward Emi.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Batter up.
--

Emi grinned. Perfect. Castle had essentially pitched it to her like a baseball, which was her favorite way to attack things. Just smack 'em in midair. She drew both sticks over her right shoulder, sending a quick burst of flames through them. Then, when the Stealth Soldier was at the right spot she swung and put all her force behind it. Ahh, the sound of metal on metal was lovely and the Stealth Soldier went flying through the air, a butterfly brand smoking on its armor.

It landed several feet away and Emi thought they had some time... but no. She was about to start running for it when it rushed her and it was fast. It slammed into her, knocking the breath out of her and sending her flying backwards. Her kali sticks flew out of her hands and clattered in the dirt. She rolled on to her knees, gasping for breath, and started scrambling to get her weapons.

The Stealth Soldier was now in front of her and Castle, waiting for its next opening. Emi recovered her kali sticks, but that last attack had really hurt her. She felt nauseated and it hurt to stand up straight but she wasn't about to let the Heartless get away with it. She could collapse and whine about it later. She backpedaled a little so that she was standing next to Castle.

Maybe he would follow her lead? She didn't know, didn't really have enough time to care. At any rate, she saw the Stealth Soldier getting ready for another rush attack and this time she braced herself. She gritted her teeth and activated her shield. It flickered into life in front of her, covering her from head to toe.

It couldn't get them both, but she was protected if it tried to go for her.

--
Battle Report
[Corridors of Darkness+] is available for use!
[Xerces Blue+]
1 post left until next use.
Emi used [Metalmark]
1 use left.
3 posts until next use.
Emi used [Broken Silverdrop+]
2 uses left.
3 posts until next use.

[Castle]

"Emi!" Castle exclaimed when the Heartless hit her.

Some of his anger gave way to concern as he watched her land in the dirt. That thing was fast, and that attack looked brutal. However, it wasn't going to just stop, and he did his best to track its movement as it zoomed around. It eventually stopped nearby, as if to wait for another opening. Even as it stood, its body twitched rapidly, and it was never totally still. Now that his rage was defused, Castle found himself watching it warily.

Emi was beside him now. Without saying anything, she put up some sort of shield. A switch clicked in Castle's mind. Maybe she was on to something. He crossed his arms in an x in front of him and summoned a similar shield from his gloves, though it only covered him down to the knees.

The Heartless didn't waste any more time. It advanced as rapidly as it did before. Maybe it was his eyes playing tricks on him, but it looked like it was disappearing. He braced himself a split second before the creature made impact against their shields.

He gritted his teeth as the force nearly shattered his defense. His special guard could only withstand weaker magical attacks. If Emi's hadn't absorbed some of the impact, it probably wouldn't have worked at all. Meanwhile, the Heartless rebounded slightly, stumbling as it came back into view.

Instinct told him that this was only a split-second opening, and he took advantage, lunging forward to punch it in the head. For some reason, it felt harder than the other Soldiers. He hoped Emi would take the opportunity to attack it as well.

--
Battle Report:
Castle used [Cross Shield]
4 posts until next use.
1 use remaining.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

It worked!?
--

Well, at least the shield thing worked. She had been afraid, there in the last split second, that her shield wasn't going to be strong enough and it would shatter... but it held strong, and actually served to disorient the Heartless just long enough for her to deactivate the shield and give her sticks a little spin. They glowed faintly purple, like a mist, and she followed Castle's example and shot forward.

Unlike running on walls, she couldn't remember the last time she'd used this. The memories of their battle against Jericho were faint, but she did remember the first time she'd met Castle. She'd used it then, and battling against Castle again made a perfect opportunity to bring it out. She was going twice as fast as she was before. Ha! You're fast but we're faster, she thought. She backhanded the Stealth Soldier with Daggerwing, and her right hand was not far behind with another strike. She stumbled to keep up, to keep moving forward, but she stayed on her feet and skipped a little to the side. Working in such close quarters with Castle was difficult, but not impossible. She had to say, she was impressed. She hadn't actually seen him in an intense battle like this but she had to admit she was glad he was on her side this time instead of trying to beat her up... though, in all honesty, she'd probably deserved that.

After a swift underhanded strike, Emi backpedaled backwards. How was this thing not dead yet...!? No time for her to catch her breath. She rushed right back in, swinging both weapons at the same time to the right... and then the left, and then down right on top of its head. At normal speed, she would have only been able to get one combo like that in before running for her life to avoid the creature's claws, but this time she managed to do it twice. Right, left, down.

--
Battle Report
[Xerces Blue+] is available for use!
[Metalmark]
1 use left.
2 posts until next use.
[Broken Silverdrop+]
2 uses left.
2 posts until next use.
Emi used [Swift Blow].
4 posts until next use.
1 use left.