Need a distraction-[Traverse Town-open]

[herswirledeyes]

Rikku stepped out of the hotel; this had been a very interesting evening, to say the least. Tackling a “heartless”, a man (and what a man) flying through the roof, seeing her new semi-metallic friend in bed with another man. She had had more excitement in a single evening in Traverse Town than she had had in her entire life on the Destiny Islands.

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[herswirledeyes]

Rikku twirled around to see the dark ant creatures that she had seen in Aydin's journal. Heartless. It was at this moment that she realized she really didn't have way of defending herself, and the heartless were quickly popping up. Her heart began pounding in her chest, how odd, she was excited about the fact she could be killed. She had seen what these things had done to Anne and Aydin.

Rikku's gaze rose to Dante and the strange man at his side. A smirk ran across her face and she her arms crossed in front of her chest. She really was flattered that they had come to her rescue, she wasn't stupid enough to think she could take these things on her own. Something told her she would usually be terrified in a situation like this but the sight of the two men actually gave her comfort. There was still a bit of fear in her but for the most part she felt safe.

"Save me and I'll reward you somehow," Rikku called to Dante with a wink. She wasn't really sure what she meant by it but she couldn't help herself. Now wasn't the time to be flirting she thought to herself, but goodness it was a nice change from where she came from. She held her breath slightly, and waited. She knew that Yuna knew what was going on, she would kill her, and that made her grin.

[shadowglove]

They perk and shift at the girls voice. More yellow eyes appear from the darkness, multiplying as quickly as the presence of hearts in the area. Inky black monsters shadowed the ground to approach these forms with hearts.

Ringlets of black formed midair. More yellow-eyed creatures leapt out, covered in blue and silver armor; Their silver suits of armor clang wildly. Without hesitation, they charge at the group.

[grumpy_lion]

His attention shifted to the door momentarily as another person emerged from the hotel. A man silver-haired man dressed in red. It only took one stupid nickname for Leon to decide that he did not like this guy. Sunshine? What the fuck? But this wasn't the time for that. His suspicions were quickly confirmed as Heartless emerged from the shadows, surrounding and advancing on them. More began to materialize.

He drew his Revolver, one hand gripping the hilt at the bottom while the other wrapped around the top, finger slipping into the trigger with an ease that betrayed nearly two decades' worth of familiarity. No fancy maneuvers. Just a simple step forward and the dangerous intent of battle in his stance.

Leon cut through their flirtatious banter, almost sounding impatient, with an edge of a growl. Typical lion. "They're coming."

That was the only warning he gave, and then he was charging forward to meet their attack.

[redxdevil]

Dante just raised an eyebrow and chuckled at Rikku. Yep. This girl definitely had spunk, and she was easy on the eyes at that.

But, as the grump guy with the sword implied with his low growl, there were more pressing matters to deal with currently. Oh, these bastards were armored, were they? That just meant the fun would last a little longer. A feral grin spread across Dante's lips as the creatures sprung forward, and he darted forward, firing several rounds into a few Heartless until he got into melee range, at which point Ebony and Ivory were placed back in their holster and Rebellion drawn in one, fluid motion as he kept pace with his partner.

"Hope you can keep up, Sunshine."

[herswirledeyes]

Rikku stared at the two men. She wished she could help but knew she'd probably get in the way. She knew she could keep up with the boys on her world but everything seemed darker here. Darting and dodging wasn't the problem, Rikku knew she could keep up. There was a lack of a weapon, and even though her motto was "Act now and ask Yuna for a band-aid later" this didn't seem like the right time to act on it. She definitely wasn't used to this whole damsel in distress thing.

[shadowglove]

As some of the shadows disappeared into a mist of black. More appeared in the same way as their fellow shadows were defeated. They charged at the group just the same as the previous shadows; jumping and clawing.

Other blank inky creatures stood off, suspended from the side of the building above their heads to look down on them. The yellow eyes didn't observe for long before, they too, leaped down from above. One ant-like creature leapt from the wall and came to roost upon a head of full of stringy white hair; it perked it's antenna curiously.

[noster_nostri]

Some people really like to make a flashy exit, Sora thought as he left the fountain to move towards the Hotel.

When he heard the sounds of fighting, he instantly became more alert. Had the Heartless attacked someone without him even realizing? It wasn't as if the Second District was so big he couldn't hear or see the other side, even if the fountain was kind of tucked away. Sora didn't have time to ponder the reasons why he hadn't noticed the battle, instead he summoned the Keyblade and rushed to where the sounds where coming from.

Right in front of the hotel the Heartless were charging three people. Sora barely had time to register Leon, some girl that looked a little familiar, and a guy with a funny hat (?) before the Keyblade slashed through the Heartless closest to him.

He was wary not to get in way of the fighters, though, he remembered all too well what it felt like to get blasted by Leon's Gunblade and he didn't feel like feeling it again any time soon.

Sora's movements were graceful and precise. Maybe he could distract the Heartless enough that they would turn to him and then it would easier for the others to destroy them.

After all, it had been Leon who had first explained their attraction to the Keyblade to him.

[grumpy_lion]

Leon made a point of ignoring the silver-haired man, finding his cockiness both grating and uncomfortably familiar. He met the Heartless head on, and the impact of his blade against those writhing shadows was viciously satisfying. The explosion produced by the gunblade as he pulled the trigger sent more shadows flying, and for a moment there was a pause before more began to emerge, advancing quickly.

It was almost a relief to fight these little bastards, he realized with an inward smirk. The pounding headache was all but gone now that he had a proper outlet for the frustration that he'd built up since his return. His mind felt clearer, too.

So he didn't fail to notice that some of the Heartless were turning away, as if drawn to something else. Momentarily perplexed, Leon glanced up, and his immediately caught sight of the Keyblade. His eyes widened in shock when he followed the blade to its bearer. Sora? An older Sora. It was more than a shock to see the boy after four years, the sight he beheld now clashing rather jarringly with the memory of the fourteen year od he had once been.

All this crossed his mind in a matter of seconds, however, and he was quick to realize what the boy meant to do. More Heartless were still coming their way, but the numbers weren't so great now.

[redxdevil]

Dante reacted instantly to the creature that had the audacity to land on his head by lifting Ebony and firing five rounds into the freakish, little bastard that sent it flying in an small explosion of darkness. Well, not that he turned to see if he'd killed it or not. Dante just assumed as he slipped whipped the twin handguns around, keeping the Heartless that swarmed his way at bay through use of raw speed and finely-honed reflexes.

He quickly grew tired of that, and, in a flash, holstered the guns behind him, drawing Rebellion as he lept into the air. His demonic blood carrying him farther than a normal jump would. He landed on a patch of the shadowy creatures, blade first as he started to cut and cleave through the, occasionally showing off by leaping up and sheathing his sword to make use of Ebony and Ivory again. The weapons were switched on and off, but, honestly, he probably wouldn't shown off just as much had Rikku not been present. Over the top was just Dante's style, though it was probably earning him a lot of points right now.

Blue eyes zeroed in on the weird kid with the giant, fucking key as soon as he came onto the scene. Being that he was Dante, he took a moment to observe the kid as he was emptying another round into a group of Heartless nearby. Not bad. Could use some work, but he was fairly impressed. Fairly.

"Not bad, Junior," he called to the kid before addressing Rikku again. "You okay back there, sweetheart?"

[herswirledeyes]

"Oh I'm fine! " Rikku called to Dante, by this time she realized how they took care of bugs on her island. With this though she had taken Aydin's journal out and began smacking any ant that came near her. Damsel in distress was just not her cup of tea. Even if it would destroy the creatures it was certainly sending them back a bit. "Could probably use a better weapon though" Rikku said jokingly. Once the area was cleared around her she knew standing in one place was probably just making it easier on the little jerks. She began jumping and dodging them as they came closer, a jump here a backf lip here all the while swiping the journal at anything that came near her. Finally all the bullying on Brother and jumping through Yuna's window came in handy.

She noticed spikey hair out of the corner of her eye and attempted to see who it belonged to as she smacked another bug with the journal. Who said books were useless. Yuna would probably kill her if she knew what Rikku was doing for some reason that made it even better. After another jump Rikku spun on her heel to see who it was and was amazed to see who she assumed was Sora. It looked like Sora..but he was different...older. But as she stared at him she could see the same quirky boy that she had known so long ago. His presence made her do something she had never really done before and that was stop dead in her tracks, "Sora?" she said softly. She left the rest of the heartless to the men, for some reason she didn't even really notice them anymore. She was staring at Sora. She knew she was. The first person to leave destiny Islands. One of the few (very few) males that she respected. She stood there watching him destory heartless and she remembered what Aydin had written in his journal about Sora being the keyblade master. It was very clear to her at that moment why he was. At that moment she had never respected anyone more.

[shadowglove]

As far as the creatures, there were only a few in number now, sparse, and dwindling as seconds pushed forward. By force of blade, ammunition, and that key, they faded one by one. The black inky creatures eyed that thing-the key, as they slowly slunk back into the shadows. Their yellow eyes stayed fixed on it while they retreated to the pitch black which was their residence; the presence of that object made them wiggle their antennae excitedly. As quick as they had come, most of the shadows had been muted for the moment. The darkness subdued. Except for a few stray black figures, the majority had returned to whence they came.

[noster_nostri]

"Not bad?" Sora asked the silver haired man as finished off the Heartless in front of him. The Key went to his shoulder as soon as he knew they were all gone. "I'm the best." His face spread into a cocky grin.

The sound of his name pulled his attention away from being arrogant after only a second. "Huh?" he asked and looked at the girl. His expression turned into one of confusion. Who...? She was familiar, but it was from a long time ago.

It was her eyes that probably gave her away.

"Rikku?"

[grumpy_lion]

Leon straightened and lowered his Revolver when the Heartless began to retreat, attaching it back to his belt.

He nearly approached the boy, but he quickly realized that Sora's attention was focused on the girl. Another friend from his homeworld, perhaps? So he stood his ground, eyeing the boy long and hard, torn between staying to demand information from his and heading to the cafe as he had originally intended.

Four years, he thought, looking Sora up and down. Kid's grown. Damn, I really am getting old. He was good at concealing his dismay, though.

[redxdevil]

Dante snorted at Sora's declaration. The best. Right. That was cute. Cute like an ingrown toenail.

"Sure you are, Junior," he replied with an exaggerated eyeroll. Ebony and Ivory with flipped back into their holster, but unlike Sunshine, Dante wasn't going to step back and allow Junior and Rikku to have their little reunion.

"The fuck is that thing?" he asked openly, gesturing to the giant, fucking key that rested against the kid's shoulder.

[herswirledeyes]

A smile swept across Rikku’s face, “It’s a key blade…and you can’t eat it! Sora it is you!” Rikku said softly at first but then she could no longer hold back. She threw her arms around Sora (throwing her entire body with them as well). She hugged him tightly, she wondered if this was giving the other two men the wrong idea…for the most part she didn’t care. There were so many things she wanted to ask Sora, like how he got the keyblade and if he remembered Aydin. How many heartless he killed and if he ate any interesting foods along the way. More importantly did he find Riku and Kairi…and if thunderstorms existed on other worlds. Now probably wasn’t the time to be asking questions though and besides if she got all the answers now what would she ask Sora later?

Without releasing her grip on Sora Rikku turned her head towards Dante and the other man that Dante so lovingly called Sunshine, “Sora and I grew up on the same island,” Rikku explained with a nervous laugh. She was trying to gauge Dante’s reaction more than anything. Men were funny after all and got jealous easily. After her one-liner explanation she turned her attention back to Sora, “You sure caused a ruckus by leaving the Islands. I have so many things to ask you!” Rikku said cheerfully hugging him tightly again. She couldn’t wait to tell Yunie, this was more exciting than finding a moogle…well…almost more exciting.

[noster_nostri]

Sora was about the explain the Keyblade to the stranger, and maybe add one or two things about the war and how he was involved in it, but suddenly there was a weight on him.

Girl... Clinging to him. Girl. Sora blinked a couple of times, totally taken aback. He was lucky that he was able to retain balance and that the Keyblade disappeared, almost on its own, in another shower of light right before Riku jumped on him.

Girl.

"Uh... whoa, Rikku, you can ask anything you want," he said, still a little taken aback. He looked at Leon, almost as if asking for help. The older man had dealt with excitable women like this, before, right? How was one supposed to ask with a girl suddenly clinging to them.

Not that Sora minded much, in fact part of him would have liked it if girls did stuff like this more often.