Call of Determination

(This thread takes place after "An Angel Falls" in Radiant Garden.)

The city of Thebes was relatively calm, all things considered. Between the goings on that had shaken the very heavens and the more down-to-earth threats of encroaching Heartless on a level not often seen outside of the Coliseum or the Underworld, reconstruction was still a ways away, but with the help of the town hero Hercules and his lesser-known compatriots, everything was working out... aside from the damage that had been caused by the latter. But that was a discussion for another day.

There was a new stranger in town, one who was a bit irritable. She wore an odd set of armor with a hood over it, and the dark nature of her outfit made some feel she may be related to the shadows. Perhaps not the Heartless, but what else? Either way, it wasn't their problem to deal with. They had a city to rebuild.

Said stranger grumbled as she walked the location, looking this way and that. She had heard of a place to train, to figure things out and even talk to a select number of locals who might be able to help her, but apparently she had overshot her entry point and not landed in the Coliseum down below, but in a city a ways away. Aside from training in general, she was looking for someone, or rather, for information about where said person had been so as to trace a way back to her. There were also other goals, but that was her primary one for being here.

A scream from a young child rang out in the distance, near a temple of some sort that was in the process of being rebuilt from collapse, shocking her from her reverie.

Azumi Tamashī scowled under her hood, eyes flaring in their red color for a brief moment, and sprinted in the direction of the call, ready to draw a weapon at a moment's notice, her gauntleted fists already wreathed in shadow crackling with red energy. While she wanted to find her lost Master and bring her home, some training and a chance to help keep someone else away from the dark creatures around these worlds would always be a good thing in her book.

A silver haired youth walked down the streets of Thebes itself. He came to check on this world after having heard about it from Sora and what had happened here. He stretched, still getting used to his new clothes, despite them fitting perfectly, it was strange to use new clothes after he used his previous ones for so long. Still, that wasn't the only change Riku had recently. "I haven't had a chance to try out the new Keyblade yet."

The Keyblade Master had seen the residents busy with reconstruction after the attack on their city and the rescue from their hero, Hercules and his own lesser known companions. The latter, Riku knew to be Sora and his friends, Mickey's retainers Donald and Goofy. But the sudden scream of a girl made him react quickly and ran towards the source of the voice.

There, he found a girl, leg pinned down by some rubble, surrounded by Heartless with fire on top of their heads. Riku brought out his new Keyblade, the Braveheart then raised the weapon in the air. He casted Thundaga, causing a rain of lightning to be brought down on the Heartless themselves, easily eliminating them. That surprised him, since he was expecting a bit more of a fight but put it out of his mind, focusing of helping the girl. "You all right?" The Keyblade Master said, removing the rubble.

"You saved me!" the girl said getting up but gasped. "More monsters!" She pointed out, more Heartless having appeared, several Soldier, about eight and atop some broken pillars were three bow wielding Heartless with bell less jester like hats, readying arrows to fire.

"Get to safety!" Riku said, getting Braveheart back out and getting into his battle stance. The girl quickly left without having to be told again, and the Keyblade Master looked ahead, ready to fight.

The young woman kept running on her way to the somewhat collapsed temple, moving ever faster once she heard a crackle of thunder and the violent smash of a bolt of lightning against stone. She just barely passed the little girl who was running in the opposite direction calling for her mother, acknowledging the child with a glance as she kept running.

Reaching the site of battle, she may not have explicitly recognized the individual types of Heartless (nor even their designation as "Heartless" as a term in the first place), but she knew their color palette and general appearance well enough. The teenager with what appeared to be a broadsword seemed to be on the case, but she came in regardless, drawing her handgun. Taking a quick two-handed firing stance, she took aim at one of the small Soldiers, squeezing off two gunshots as it came close to attacking the silver-haired fighter, getting its attention and causing it to turn her way before a third bullet took it between its yellow eyes, causing it to dissipate.

Due to her honed senses, she was aware of the Bizarre Archer taking aim at her, and ducked out of the way of the incoming arrow before sprinting in its direction. Before it could get off another shot, she was too close, first pistol-whipping it in the non-existent face before sweeping her leg low to trip it up as it tried to fire anyway. As a result, an arrow pierced the side of another Soldier who had jumped into the air for an attack, sending it flying before she punched once, twice, three times in the face, the third one showing her fist covered in a darkness tinted with red light to enhance her blow. By the end of the assault, she finished with a stomp on the long-range fighter's neck, causing it to dissipate alongside the other, its heart floating off into the distance.

Turning back to the one who had been hit by an arrow, Azumi took aim with her gun once more, firing one more time to destroy it. However, as she did, one of the two remaining Archers took aim on her, an arrow piercing her left side and causing her to cry out in pain and surprise, angry with herself as much as these dwellers in darkness for not minding her surroundings better, channeling her darkness into her Last Cry handgun for a shot she was ready to take next.

(That's down to two Bizarre Archers and six Soldiers. Given Riku is a much more experienced fighter, he can probably take out most if not all of the remainder. However, if he uses darkness, it'll set off warning bells for Azumi [not that this is a bad thing].)

As Riku readied to fight, he watched as a woman came and shot down one of the Soldiers that came to attack him. The Keyblade Master watched as she also dealt with one of the Bizarre archers and took advantage of the distraction to deal with the rest of the Heartless. He swung the Braveheart, striking four of the Soldiers with three swings then an downward cleave at the one in front of him, the shockwave from the impact, pushing the other three away. He then flinched, as an arrow from one of the Archers struck him on the back of his right shoulder. The Keyblade Master quickly raised his Keyblade and surrounded himself with his Dark Barrier, deflecting an arrow from the other Bizarre Archer and strikes from the other Soldiers.

With some breathing room, Riku turned into a blur of darkness, dodging a pounce from one of the Soldiers and reforming behind it. He slashed at the Heartless' back several times, finishing it, then turned to face another Soldier, pulling his left arm back. The Keyblade Master then thrusted the palm of his hand forward, launching blasts of dark fire from it to hit the singular Heartless in front of him. With another Soldier eliminated, thanks to his Dark Firaga, Riku switched back to his stance, only to be struck by the claws of two of the four remaining Soldiers. He then jumped up, avoiding the arrows from the two Bizarre Archers. Riku followed up by creating a miniature platform under his feet, allowing him a second jump to higher in the air.

After using his Doubleflight, the Keyblade Master focused down, aiming down at the six remaining Heartless. Once he had focused his Shotlock to maximum, he fired from Braveheart's tip, an eruption of Dark Firaga blasts, around twenty eight coming down on the six Heartless themselves. Once all of the dark flames struck the four Soldiers and two Bizarre Archers, Riku slashed several more times, releasing more streams of darkness, overwhelming the Heartless until they dissipated into black mists, glowing Hearts released as a result.

With the danger passed, the Keyblade Master landed on his feet and let his Keyblade vanish before walking towards the woman. "Thanks for the save." He said, but still kept his guard up. It was obvious from seeing her that the woman wasn't a denizen of this world. It could only mean to him that she came from the Ocean Between. "It's obvious you're a Converger. You handled yourself pretty well."

Azumi did her best to help, but this young man was leagues ahead of her in fighting the dwellers in darkness. Every attack he used was masterfully arranged, showing that he clearly not only had done this for a long time before, but that he was far better at combatting them than she had been in her time in the Realm of Darkness.

There was something about that broadsword, something that she couldn't quite understand as she saw it carve through the remaining foes if it were not merely used as a focus to blast them from afar. Once it disappeared, she was pretty sure of what she was seeing, but due to distinct differences from the one case she had direct connections with, she was less than capable of fully making the connection just yet. Even with her experience, she only had such with a single Keyblade and hearsay about the rest, and this armament did not look anything like what she had been told.

What was clear was that this warrior before her was using darkness in his attacks. Dark fire, transforming himself into shadows to dodge, a shield of darkness around himself. The mutated woman was well aware of what she had been told by her master in the years trapped with her, what she had learned about the nature of darkness, how it was hate and rage, along with other negative emotions, transformed into power. She herself had felt its pull, had even succumbed to it several times and attacked her friend, but that only further emphasized its danger.

As such, she also remained very much on edge. She knew she couldn't beat the fighter before her, especially after being injured, but that didn't mean she was going to entirely lower her guard just yet. Her grip on Last Cry remained tense as she lowered it slightly, but did not put it away, simply holding it in both hands ready to shoot, but with her finger off of the trigger, and pointed toward the ground.

She had heard that term he was using before, but rarely so up front. Perhaps he was being prepared for those coming, like that angel and herself? She tried keeping her voice level, though her wariness did sneak through. "Thanks. Had a good teacher." Despite her not calling upon it, her focused attention on her possible enemy's dark nature caused her to dwell on her past, unconsciously causing dark energy to slowly work its way into her gun in a way he may be capable of seeing.

Unaware of that behavior, she asked the other thing that had been bothering her from afar, not giving her name due to it not being asked of her yet. "What was that weapon?"

Riku watched the woman, nodding at her answer. "You must've had a good teacher." He did glance at her hand, holding her weapon and could see it. The Keyblade Master was very familiar with the power that was coursing into the weapon. After all, he himself even used it a moment ago. And yet, the woman didn't seem aware of the fact she was infusing darkness into her weapon. "Oh, you mean my Keyblade?"

Riku held his hand forward and summoned Braveheart. "This. I used it against those Heartless. That's what those monsters are called. I think you already got the story about them." Dismissing his Keyblade, he looked at the woman again. "I'm Riku. You should be careful when using the darkness. It can get the better of you if you let it. Like right now." He motioned to her weapon, to make her aware of what she was doing. "What's your name?"

"I did just say that," Azumi muttered under her breath. However, she still listened regardless. Redundancies in his speech aside, he was still formidable, not to mention his use of darkness was worrisome. She did appreciate having an apparent name for the dwellers, though.

As he summoned back the broadsword, her eyes widened at the note of what it was, immediately standing at attention on instinct. Another Keyblade? Well, it did look somewhat akin to a tumbler key, though not the skeleton key style of Master's Defender. The fact that he had a Keyblade showed that this young man was someone worthy of respect, of trust. Master Aqua had said that only those of strong hearts could ever hope to wield such armaments, and the failure to Bequeath such a weapon to Azumi herself had proven she wasn't strong enough to do so. Sure, she had been reassured that the strength of one's heart could change with time, but she was new to magic as a whole in any case, regardless of how many years she had spent in that timeless locale.

At his comment about her weapon, she finally noticed it, and swore silently, taking a deep breath and forcing herself to calm down. The black and red energies dissipated, fading away as she put away her firearm. She still had much to learn about self-control when it came to magic. While she was well aware of trigger discipline and proper use of firearms, the fact that she had an entirely new type of weapon at her disposal was still a problem. Spending years fighting the dark nonstop did not require her to be too discerning, given she had only one friend in that place, but here she had to be more careful, lest she accidentally cause unnecessary damage.

"Azumi Tamashī," From her experiences, she knew that those who had a Keyblade were known as 'Keyblade Masters,' with the title to go with it, and Aqua had told her the proper terminology for those masters with herself as the only real example. Pushing down her reservations, she adopted a practiced, similarly instinctually deferential tone to a superior officer, one that had been drilled into her by her time in the military, similarly changing her tone from 'teacher' or 'mentor' to 'master' to accommodate. "Darkness around the Heartless brings back memories, Master Riku. Seeing you use it was... less than encouraging. No offense meant, of course. My master had me learn to be wary of the dark, and it unsettled my power. I came here trying to find a place to train, but appear to have overshot it."

What she meant by 'memories,' and how she knew to call him 'Master,' were another story altogether, but she wouldn't outright explain unless asked, nor the identity of said master she learned from.

While Riku heard the woman, Azumi, speaking, he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "She did say she had a teacher earlier. Not on top of my game today." He noted to himself mentally. Lowering his hand back down, the Keyblade Master nodded. "It's fine. I've also had experiences involving the darkness... I've had time, and friends to help me get through it." He left it at that. "You can just call me Riku. If you need help with controlling it, I can offer some help."

Riku crossed his arms. "I heard there was a Colosseum here from a friend. But you can see the city's rebuilding right now. He was involved in helping defend it from an attack by Hades. So you're going to have to find another place to train, unless you count Heartless extermination as it. I wouldn't recommend it, they can appear from anywhere if you're not careful." He explained then a thought came to him. "Are you a Converger from the Realm of Reality?"

Red eyes rolled at Mast-she meant Riku's awkwardness to her comment, but she remained business-centered as ever, unsure if she should treat him as an enemy or not. This wasn't like Rikka Masami, who clearly had very little idea what she was doing; this was a veteran of conflicts, and meant to be treated accordingly.

She crossed her arms absently, nodding to his commentary. He clearly knew what he was talking about, and she didn't have any need to know how dangerous the Heartless could be. She had heard about this "Hades" from Aqua during their travels, as a way to pass the time. He did appear to be distinctly different from his presentation in Earth's Greco-Roman mythology, far more hostile than she would have assumed. Also of some other inhabitants... but that was for another time that was more lighthearted.

The last one got her to cock her eyebrow, however. "The what now? I know the Realms of Darkness, Light, and In-Between, but that's about all she told me."

Riku blinked. The fact that Azumi only knew about those three Realms told him that whoever explained to her about Convergers didn't give her the full explanation. Unlike him, who was told everything by Master Yen Sid. "Well... There are other Realms. Like the Realm of Sleep, for example. Within that realm lies Sleeping Worlds. The realm we're in is known as the Realm of Waking. Then there's the Realm where some Convergers come from. It's called the Realm of Reality."

"A former Keyblade Master named Master Yen Sid explained it all to me." The Keyblade Master continued. "He said the Realm of Reality is where the people from the real world come from and that they can see into this realm as dreams. They know about us as fictional characters in their world and know about the adventures and some worlds in this realm through entertainment. I don't know what kind but some of them come here due to the Great Convergence and get their own magic and powers. Kind of like you." Riku stopped there to let the explanation sink in for Azumi.

Azumi listened to the explanation of the other Realms. She supposed she understood some of it, and there wasn't really any reason why she would have been told about some of these while in the Realm of Darkness.

Once he got to the true nature of the Realm of "Reality" on the other hand... She froze, eyes widening, hands shaking. Her teeth began to grit as she thought on the implications.

Her problems with the Office of Naval Intelligence? Just a game.

Her time in the war, the massive loss of life from Covenant, Flood, and even herself as an acquisition specialist? Just a game.

Her friend trapped in the darkness? Just a game.

Her own condition connected to the darkness? Just a game.

All of the traumas she had seen and caused? Just. A. Game.

"My life..." she snarled, "... was a game to these people...? Did you know, Master Aq--?"

Shadows began to rise up around her, eyes flashing a bright red. She knew she couldn't blame him, he was just trying to help explain... but at the same time she could feel it coming, could feel the power within her rising up. All of that pent up emotion, that rage, that fear, that anguish... Something had to give. All she could do was let out one last warning to the Keyblade Master, coming across more as a roar. "Run... run!"

As she shouted it, an orb of darkness erupted around her, then absorbed into her body. When she emerged, her entire body twitched slightly, and looked drastically different. Her skin had turned black as pitch, her eyes glowing all the brighter in a fierce red that encompassed their entirety, pupils to sclera. Her hood was still up, hiding her face, but the rudimentary armor had been turned to a similar shade aside from a red symbol on her back that was not visible from his current position. Wisps of darkness rose from her body, seemingly of their own accord in a manner not dissimilar from a magical "smoke" of sorts. Her fingers had turned into claws in a manner not too far removed from a form that Riku had used in the Sleeping Worlds, seemingly to account for not having any weapons in her hands at the time.

Perhaps the term "emerged" is not correct. A more appropriate phrasing might be that she erupted from it after first appearing, as she immediately launched herself at Riku, naught but a feral beast. The speed was such that she seemed to almost teleport if not for the fact that a brief blur could be seen between one location and the other, swiping her clawed hands three times at him.

Whatever had happened to Azumi, she was in no way rational at the moment.

(This won't last long, maybe three rounds maximum, but he's gonna have to beat her back until it runs its course, or even knock her unconscious.)

As Riku finished explaining, he started feeling on edge. He watched as something came over Azumi and felt a familiar power surging from her. A power he ad allowed to control him in the past. The Keyblade Master summoned Braveheart, getting into a stance. "Azumi, don't let the darkness control you!" He called out to her, but he doubted she even listened. Then he saw the darkness explode from her and the form she took was very familiar to her. "That's like my Link with the Dream-"

Riku quickly raised his barrier, blocking Azumi's three strikes from her claws. He had managed to notice the blur and barely raised it in time. Once the berserk woman's strike ended, he retaliated. The Keyblade Master swung his Keyblade at her several times, finishing with two wide slashes. He wasn't holding back, since at the state Azumi was in, it would need more than to restrain her. Riku intended to knock her out before it got worse.

Whatever was happening to Azumi, she wasn't responding to the Keyblade Master's pleas. She did, however, react to the incoming strikes from his weapon, as well as the barrier that had forced her back. Some of the major slashes hit her, whether dealing direct damage or glancing off of the magical enhancements to her clothing, but others missed entirely due to her dashing back and forth. One of the last two did hit, but she kicked off of the second, spinning through the air as she seemed to almost warp again, this time coming up behind him with a furious series of slashes followed by an attempt to spear him through his back with her claws on one hand.

"A shade!" shouted a civilian who had heard the commotion, running for cover. "Someone call IX-I-I!"

Apparently their scuffle was starting to attract attention, though his attacks were getting through to her.

Riku frowned, not surprised at the speed of the raging Azumi. After all, he knew from experience how darkness can make one faster. What did surprise him was that she managed to get behind him and slash at his back several times. The Keyblade Master dashed forward, turning into a blur of darkness to avoid the spearing blow from her. Turning around, he raised Braveheart to the air and shouted. "Thunder!" Casting his Thundaga spell at Azumi.

A rain of lightning fell down on her, giving Riku some breathing room. He used the chance to take out a Hi-Potion, tossing the bottle into the air as it broke and sprinkled all over him, healing him from Azumi's attacks. The Keyblade Master then charged at her, slashing five times followed by a hard thrust to her left side. He then flipped away, expecting her to follow and summoned a spherical barrier of dark light around himself for when she attacked again.

Not too far from where Riku and Azumi were battling a third individual was stirring. A young man with dark brown hair groaned as he pushed himself off the ground and took in his surroundings. As soon as he realized that he didn't know where he was, the young man got to his feet with his hand going to the handle of the blade behind his back. But that too was something that startled him as he never had a sword before.

The young man, Sorin, drew the blade and held it in his hands. While he had a little bit of knowledge of weapons as much as he could tell it was a Japanese style blade yet the length was shorter than what he guessed a katana or tachi would be, closer to a short sword or a long dagger. Yet to Sorin it was just an ordinary blade. He sighed as he slowly and careful put it back in his sheath. He had would have to find civilization or people before he could really sit down and think about what just happened to him.

Thankfully bolts of lightning appearing from a sunny sky was enough of a sign for Sorin as to where to go first. The young man ran, faster than he could before and without using as much stamina to find something that felt like belonged in his imagination.

Riku, a character from the Kingdom Hearts games, was fighting with a woman glowing with a dark aura. Sorin watched, stunned by what he was seeing, unaware that once again he was drawing his blade. Unfortunately this would only attract the attention of the two fighters. As soon as the blade left the sheathe, a feeling of wrongness filled the area, all coming from the sword. A feeling that Sorin did not notice in the slightest.

(Greg and Strider said I could join in)

The monstrous woman roared as she was shocked repeatedly. If it were not for her feral behavior, she may have actually thought to leave the area. However, she was too angry with the Keyblade Master, too focused on taking him down, and while she flickered back and forth, managing to dodge the first five blows due to her erratic movement, but getting hit with the stab instead.

That blow was enough to cause her to stagger back, her head twitching back and forth as she registered it. Once the barrier of dark energy surrounded Riku, she dashed forward, trying to force her way in to no avail...

... only to feel something else. Something... wrong near her, something she could go at instead. Turning her head toward the young man with the sword that reeked of otherworldly energy (or rather lack of energy), she instead lunged toward him, aware of her main target not being one she could get to fast, and needing someone, anyone, she could get her pain, her wrath, out against.

Approaching the stranger, she burst forward, her claws slashing back and forth, attempting to deal as much damage as she could to this new threat, as weak as it may have been. With her out in the streets, away from the temple, the screams grew louder, the chaos around growing more and more potent.

(Up to you how much she can do to damage him, Sorin. Up to you two how much longer you want this fight to go. It's essentially a miniboss, but she's already pretty badly hurt.)

At the same time Azumi stopped attacking, Riku also felt this sense of wrongness. It was a feeling he had never felt before and he quickly searched around for the source of it. The Keyblade master soon found it coming from a guy around his age, holding a sword. Unfortunately, he saw that Azumi had found it first and dashed after her. Turning into a blur of darkness, he managed to catch up with her and get in her way.

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to parry nor block her attack so he got hit by her claws and fell down. He quickly got up, kicking Azumi back while doing so. Riku looked back at the guy holding the sword, still feeling the sense of wrongness from him. "Get back!" He yelled out and slashed at the raging woman a few times then pulled his left arm back then thrusted it forward, launching a Dark Firaga straight at her. The Keyblade master stood in between Azumi and the swordsman behind him.

When the rampaging woman turned her attention to Sorin, it caused him to freeze. He had never been in danger before so he had no idea what to do when he was attacked. Also the fact that there was no reason why she should have suddenly changed targets as she had all her attention towards Riku and there was nothing Sorin had done to make her even look towards him.

Still thanks to Riku he was protected from harm which finally snapped Sorin out of his confusion. The swordsman grit his teeth as he took a step back, angry at himself for letting Riku get hurt protecting him. However much Sorin wanted to make it up to him, there was little he could do. All he had with him was a short sword and no training. No matter how he looked at it, he was a liability. As much as that grated on him, Sorin knew that Riku was strong so all he could do was trust him.

That didn't mean Sorin wasn't going to let another attack like that first one happen again. Sorin held his sword out in front of him, still in the reverse grip that he used to draw it. His body turned to the side and his free hand held behind his other hand, ready to be used. It was a stance Sorin created for himself on the spot, only using the small knowledge he had from fiction to create it and yet for some reason it felt comfortable as if he knew what he was doing. His blade ready to be used to defend while his other hand was prepared to strike in any opening he created. At the moment it was like instinct for him, yet it was one that came from nowhere but all Sorin could do was trust in it for the time being.

Azumi felt the strikes, and was blasted back by the ball of dark fire before she could stop herself, rolling along the ground before coming to her feet once more, claws scratching the ground. She screamed again, the roar animalistic as ever, and burst forward once more, fast enough that she blurred as she came closer, swiping wildly.

At this point, she seemed to be heavily injured, or at least increasingly angry. Together, they could probably take her down one way or the other, be it lethally (as the newcomer may have thought necessary) or non-lethally (as the Keyblade Master would have known).

(Of course she isn't going to die here, but you can choose how you want to handle it. She'll be out cold after it.)

Riku glanced back to see the guy he saved take a completely made up stance. He simply looked ahead to focus on Azumi, who was on all fours after he blasted her away with his Dark Firaga. As the raging woman charged at him, the Keyblade master raised Braveheart and casted Thundaga, raining lightning in front of where Azumi was going. "Get to safety." He told the young man behind him as he charged at the woman wreathed in darkness.

Riku slashed at her, figuring she had to be getting weaker after the last attack. He continued with six slashes at her,  then raised his Keyblade and brought it down in a downward slash. The Keyblade master put all of his strength in said slash, hitting Azumi on the shoulder and hoped the strike would be enough to knock her out. And if it wasn't, it would be damaging enough that the next attack would do it and stop her darkness induced rampage.

Sorin grit his teeth as he stood back. Considering he didn't know where he is, there wasn't really anywhere he could go for sure that would be considered safety. So all he could do was stand back and watch the fight between Riku and the strange woman he was fighting. Thankfully after her initial attack, she now seemed to be focusing on Riku. Since she seemed to be fighting in some kind of berserker rage, that seemed to be giving Riku an advantage where he was slowly beating her down.

However Sorin moved around the edge of the battlefield until he was behind the woman. Despite what Riku told him, Sorin didn't want to just run, he wanted to help. With Riku's assault on her, it left what Sorin hoped was an opening for him to do something. He had to get in close as even if he wanted to use his newfound blade, it's short length still meant he had to get right up close and personal.

Sorin didn't want to kill her so when he charged in, instead of using his sword, Sorin using the little martial arts training he had kicked out his leg. The kicked aimed right at the back of the woman's head, with him hoping his increased physical abilities would mean something.

Not every attack had hit the rampaging woman, but more than enough had by the time Riku slashed down at her shoulder. Rather than slice her arm off, it seemed that her armor did work on some level, as she instead spun a bit in the air, head lower to the ground than she likely intended. She was exhausted, though she hadn't slowed down much... Until a shoe caught her right in the side of the head, taking down the remnants of her stamina.

As Azumi passed out, she sprawled out along the ground, rolling a bit before coming to a stop. She was on her side in the crowds, the darkness around her dissipating into red and black smoke, leaving only the hooded woman. If she was to wake up soon, they would likely need to wake her up themselves or wait for her, but she was most definitely down for the count, her steady, soft breathing showing that she was still alive nonetheless, and not too seriously hurt beyond her unconsciousness. The former assailant's hood still up unless it were to be removed, seemingly a magical item itself.

A crowd began to gather around the two young men, relieved and happy that they had helped to save the others, especially children nearby, from such a creature of Erebus, or whatever it was that Hades may have sent their way. They did not seem to account for her reluctance, or have heard anything she had said before, and saw them as just heroes who had fought down a monster.

(They can bring her somewhere else if you want them to remove the hood, take care of the crowds however you'd like, anything you want. The idea is that I'm giving room in case you want a change of scenery, somewhere else for them to talk in private, unless Riku wants to talk with Sorin right there momentarily. Entirely up to you, but Azumi is out for either a relatively long number of minutes or until she is woken up, and it's not likely a good idea to intentionally awaken her around these people.)

Riku watched as the newcomer gave a kick to the raging Azumi, giving the final blow to knock her out. He dismissed Braveheart as he walked towards her. The Keyblade Master stopped as a crowd started gathering around him and the other young man. This made him frown, it was going to be difficult to get to the unconscious woman without the crowd complicating matters. Riku looked at the newcomer and walked towards Azumi again. "We're glad you're safe. But let me and my friend here get the monster out of the city."

"Why can't you just finish it off here?" One of the people asked.

"Because we don't know if those black creatures will come back to save it." Riku explained, not exactly lying but not being honest either. He was glad that Azumi had kept her hood on so they wouldn't see her face. "So keep your distance." He saw the crowd move away from them and the unconscious woman. The Keyblade Master picked her up in a way the hood stayed on and no one saw her face and looked at the man with the sword. "Let's go." He lead him out of Thebes, carrying Azumi as the people cheered for them for saving the city from the horrible, black creature that Hades sent.

Even if it was a single kick, Sorin took some deep breathes as he tried to calm down his beating heart. He was grateful that his kick was able to end the fight as he was unsure how he was going to follow it up. Still the fight was over and so Sorin could hopefully get some answers.

As Riku spoke to the townspeople Sorin sheathed his sword and waited. While he didn't know who the woman was, he didn't feel right just killing her while she was unconscious. Thankfully it seemed that Riku wasn't willing to kill her either so he followed after him as he took the hooded woman with them.

Once they were far enough away Sorin turned to the Keyblade Master and said "Thanks for saving me. I don't know why she went after me but I wasn't prepared for it." Sorin knew he wouldn't have been able to stop the woman on his own so Riku saved everyone by being there, he just got the last hit in. "And well as you could guess I'm not from this world. I don't even know how I got here, I just woke up a ways away with this sword. "

Sorin wasn't going to mention how he knew about Riku from playing a video game just yet. While he has a good understanding of the character Riku, the one standing next to him was a real person. He had to be careful about what he said.

Some time later, the two teenagers had left the boundaries of Thebes itself through the Agora, if only just. Near to it was a Ravine with a shallow waterfall, one that often had a Heartless infestation of Water Cores, but instead was relatively free for the time being. The area of the aforementioned ravine was that of a shallow river, a broken statue of what appeared to have a right foot remaining in the center of the flow. Nearby, there were several rocks, as well as more around the area forming walls of stone leading up toward the top of Mount Olympus itself.

Alas, considering Riku was still carrying the woman in his arms, her head resting on his chest, traveling up large distances, especially climbing, was definitely not in the cards. As such, when she was put down, the young woman had her back to one of the rocky "walls," seated with her head resting on her chest, hood still hiding the top half of her face. She groaned as she awakened, softer than one might expect, and lifted her head, feeling the rock behind her.

It took a few seconds for her to get her bearings, but once she did, she noticed not only her location as being in a similar style, albeit less urban, but also the Keyblade Master before her, not to mention the other young man with a different kind of sword that felt... wrong to her.

She remembered snippets of what had happened. Fighting Master Riku, the screams of others, something about that sword... But gathering specific information was difficult. As recollection came back to her, her rage and sadness filled her once more, though she pushed it all down, the aura of shadow around her only appearing for an instant before evaporating again.

Her head fell back down to rest her chin and look at the ground, ashamed at having lost control. "I'm sorry, Master Aqua," she muttered, unsure if she could be heard. Louder, she spoke to the two young men, worried about if her rampage had done harm she had not intended. "... Is anyone hurt?"