Night 59: West Wing, South Hall 1-A

[bastard_sadi]

[Coming from here.]

Daemon glided out into the wider corridor and paused for a moment, letting Renji join him, taking a moment to probe the shadows with his senses, looking for anything out of the norm. There was a tingle down his spine, the sensation of being watched, though he couldn't find its exact location, just the knowledge that it was

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[antiheroed]

When he wasn't much younger, Riku might've employed the same lack of caution with whatever was out there. It was funny how things changed, with him going alert at the sound but only acting as confident as one might expect. Sure, things were regularly killed by the near-powerless patients here on a regular basis, but it wasn't too far along from his fight with the spiders to remember how long that took. The monsters here weren't weak, and on top of that, some of them were actually pretty smart.

Then again, he realized that much of his caution was because his friend was there. Things would probably be different if he wasn't.

Riku continued forward toward the skittering sound, and he leaped upward at what was almost the last second. The creature, small, about a foot long, colored in gray and red, looked harmless like a lizard, but that fire said otherwise. He took advantage of his new position to try and bring his keyblade down on it fast, only before it happened, he heard something else down the hall. Maybe they dawdled too long for the creatures to start coming. He glanced toward his comrades for the night to ensure that they'd take care of the salamander, while he waited for whatever was on their way. Once they did, they could stop wasting time and keep going.

[spandexorgtfo]

More monsters than he was used to, and what was more, they were all converging toward a target, rather than scattering throughout the hall. Were they seeking those with power? It seemed Aguilar had released his "hounds", so to speak.

Kratos hung back as Riku stepped forward, arms crossed. It would be a waste to draw his sword and rush forward when he had enough mana now to use spells as casually as he liked. Color him lazy, but after a month of fighting tooth and nail to defeat even the most inconsequential creatures, he felt that he deserved to indulge, so to speak.

And he could take out that salamander before Sora had time to stain his key red. This was a necessary and appropriate goal.

The spell circle flared beneath his feet as usual, but this time, it lasted for only a second before Kratos extended a hand, sparks leaping down his arm. "Lightning." He said the word flatly and then watched in approval as a bolt of purple lightning struck the salamander from above, charring it black. Only a day ago, it might have just made the thing shoot flames at him at point-blank...

"Shall we continue?" Their actual business took precedence, after all, but if either Sora or Riku was interested in adding to the gory scenery around them...he had no objections, as unlikely as that scenario was.

[scintillatingly]

The monster that appeared wasn't one that Sora was familiar with, but that didn't mean that he was planning to hold back. Riku rushed forward first, but he ended up leaving that solitary one behind in order to deal with whatever was following it. Just how many monsters were heading their way?

Either way, Sora had been entrusted to deal with the fiery one, and he was more than ready to do that. He was getting ready to shoot an Ice spell at it and then rush in after the blast of magic, but his plan was undone when Kratos beat him to it.

At first Sora just heard the man speak the word, but the lightning itself followed soon after, taking out the fire creature in one hit. Sora stared at the monster's corpse and realized that it wasn't even twitching.

Well, it looked like he'd been right about Kratos being strong, but that meant that Sora had lost his opportunity to show off himself. He frowned, staring after Riku who had moved further up the hall. Kratos had a point -- they needed to keep moving -- but Sora didn't want to drag Riku away from this either.

"Just one sec'!" he called back to Kratos before racing up to Riku and sending his friend a cocky smirk. "We'll take these out really quick and then we'll find Kairi!" Because with their powers back, it really was as simple as that.

[antiheroed]

It was nice being like this with Sora. Somehow, this was more relaxed than it was back home. Obviously, the guy in charge of this place saw what was going to happen; he thought that these monsters could keep them from getting out. Riku knew there might be more barriers than just these things, but he didn't feel that worried. The monsters wouldn't be the problem. No, just looking at the three of them, he was right: the real problem lied with the people themselves.

The closer he and Sora crept to the thing waiting for them, the more vivid its outline seemed. A giant squirrel. Riku, though cautious about other problems here, didn't see what there was to worry about this one. In fact, he even took a cocky step back and looked at Sora. "You can handle this one."

[spandexorgtfo]

...or, he could just underestimate teenage exuberance. That seemed to happen often anyway. Kratos sighed quietly and merely crossed his arms again as Sora dashed off to handle, among other things, a giant squirrel alongside his friend. They were certainly close, weren't they? It made him feel a bit like a third wheel, but to be honest, he was accustomed to feeling that way, first with Yuan and Martel, and then with Colette and Lloyd. And Genis. And Raine. And that entire group, actually. With emotions just a shade fainter tonight, though, he ended up not really thinking much of it at all.

Hopefully, Sora's definition of "really quick" would coincide with his own; otherwise, he would be forced to incinerate everything within a five meter radius with a spell, and then they would have to continue. He had never been fond of fighting for fighting's sake, especially not when the opponents were so...weak.

[scintillatingly]

It didn't take long for the monster to show itself, and when it did Sora couldn't completely hold back his shock. A squirrel? He'd seen these in the institute before and knew that they were way stronger than they looked. Usually this would have been the signal to run the other direction if at all possible, but the boy was sure that he could handle it now. What surprised him more was that the squirrel was inside, since they were usually only spotted out in the open. It looked like the monsters were acting out of the ordinary in general tonight, though.

Riku's words came as a shock. What was that about? Sora had been all ready for them to fight it together, though he couldn't say that he was against taking it on alone. Maybe Riku was just doing it as a favor, because he could tell how excited Sora was to be back to normal.

He wasn't going to question it either way. Instead, he just nodded at Riku, sending his friend a wide grin before he started running at the squirrel at full speed. The first thing he did was slash out at the monster with the teeth of his Keyblade. He was used to it being little more than a blunt instrument by now, but this time it sliced through the monster like it had when he'd fought the Heartless, except that this squirrel wasn't one. That meant that a gash opened up in the creature's side instead and blood came flowing out. It screeched in pain, but Sora had fought enough Heartless that he could ignore that. The blood was something he'd only gotten used to which stuck here, but now that he was in the moment he wasn't going to let that stop him.

When the squirrel lunged for him Sora jumped up in the air and clear over the beast, landing behind it and then spinning himself around to attack again. He was shocked at how much easier it was for him to move, how much lighter he felt in the air. This was all going to be a breeze now.

And he couldn't help but show off with some magic of his own. "Fire!" he yelled out next, extending his hand forward. A fireball burst out from his palm and hit the squirrel dead-on. The creature started to flail and backed itself against a well as it caught on fire. Sora couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the smell of singed fur, but he knew that at this point the best thing to do was put it out of its misery. With that in mind, he darted forward again, jabbing the end of his Keyblade into the monster's chest, and then watched as it slumped to the ground lifelessly. The fire died out soon after and Sora stepped back as he realized that he'd managed to take it down flawlessly.

"That's how it's done!" he remarked to himself as he flipped his Keyblade around in his hand and then settled it against his shoulder. "All right, guys, let's go!" He realized that they'd already wasted too much time and he wanted to get out of this area before something else showed up, so he jogged back to the other two and then past them into the main hall, knowing that both of them would follow.

[Hope it's okay to move them, guys! To here.]