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Xikkuyo nodded in understanding, taking several steps back herself as she realized what Axel meant to do. They needed a good arm's length or two between them, or it wouldn't do much good to cast, would it? Farther was better, in this case; thankfully, the sad lot was fairly wide, easily enough accommodating them. "As long as you're sure you'll be okay....." She didn't want to hurt her teacher, after all..... or was that supposed to be the point? Learn how to use her powers by healing him, after she'd hurt him? What a strange way to do things.....

"Okay, focus....." Xikkuyo took a deep breath, narrowing her eyes and concentrating. She tried to remember exactly how it felt, summoning Konohana Sakuya, calling down a torrent of flames to rush upon a Shadow with Agilao..... what had Konohana Sakuya felt, doing this? What would she think, of her other half trying to do this without her now? Was she even still there at all? She wasn't trying to connect with her Persona, now..... she was trying to connect with this spell she held, this little shard of fire, a burning instant frozen in time.

If it had burned once, it could burn again, then..... Let the flames rise once more. The panel grew hotter and hotter in her hand, as Xikkuyo raised her fan above her head; she brought it down with a sharp snap of her wrist, and anything more she might have said lost in the sudden roar of flames. A sizable fireball sprang from the feathers as though blown by an unseen wind, rushing forward to engulf Axel in an explosive haze of flame and smoke. Looked like a simple Fire hadn't quite been enough for her.....

As she stepped back, Axel grinned, nodded - he made a 'bring it on' gesture with one hand, before spreading them wide, making himself the most obvious target he could. After all, what could go wrong? His own affinity, or healing: either was a good enough option. Of course, he'd prefer this to work as planned, but what was he going to do?

The sheer scale of the rushing flames was definitely not as planned, though. He'd expected a spark, perhaps, something that wouldn't even kill off a Shadow. A quick pulse and that'd be it. What he'd got? That - that was on Fira scales, at the very least! It hit Axel hard, sinking into his core - and he smiled. Impressive, for someone whose affinity wasn't anything close.

Waving the smoke away, he asked - "Are you sure you've never done this before?"

Xikkuyo let out a breathless giggle, beaming and bouncing in place--a nearly perfect facsimile of excitement and delight. "It worked!" It wasn't quite a lie, perhaps--she hadn't been certain that she'd be able to manage it at all, without Konohana Sakuya doing it for her..... but it certainly was quite diplomatically dodging the question, while offering up enough implications that Axel could draw his own conclusions, wrong though they probably would be.

Either way, it was a relief to see that he hadn't been hurt by the attack; she'd been..... well, maybe not worried, but concerned, even if Axel had seemed entirely at ease. She opened her free hand, now curled into a fist; the panel was gone, melted away as though it never had existed at all. What had happened to it? Would she need a new one? Xikkuyo looked back up at Axel, still smiling. The others probably wouldn't be that easy..... "What now?"

Almost as an afterthought, she fluttered her fan to help blow the smoke away; that was what it was made for, right?

Once again, Axel couldn't help but think - a natural. Definitely. Were they even sure that they'd gotten her element right?
He laughed at her fanning away the smoke - a friendly sound, proud of her all the way. "Now you've done it once, you'll be able to repeat it any time without another one of those panels. It's there now. Just concentrate, aim and fire." A pause, and he added, "... I'd say we probably want to work on your control more than anything as far as that spell goes. You've got a lot of raw power there... we've just got to make it work for you. Do you want to give that one another go, or do you want to try one of the others?" Although he could hardly call himself so willing to put himself in the firing line for the Thunder test, never mind the Blizzard...

"Okay." Xikkuyo nodded readily enough; she supposed that made sense..... She didn't understand how you could solidify a magic spell, but still, it made as much sense as pulling a fan out of thin air, right? Or a man taking a fireball straight on without seeming to have so much as a scratch on him, or a single scorch mark.

It was strange, though..... she'd never been the powerful one. She'd never been fast, or strong, or brave. She'd never been good at this. Was Axel really sure about that? That she needed to work on control, of all things? Xikkuyo looked down at her fan again, thoughtful; maybe it was just a fluke..... After all, she had a little practice with fire, unlike the others.

"Maybe we should try one of the others first....."

As sure as he'd ever been. It'd taken so long before he saw Roxas or Xion use anything of that caliber, how couldn't he be?
"Sounds good to me." Axel pondered for a moment, before handing over the Thunder panel. As talented as she seemed to be, he still didn't particularly want to risk being caught by a stray blast of ice. That definitely wouldn't be the best start of things...

"Don't try and hit me with this one, okay?" he said with a spot of a grin, stepping safely behind her now - just to be sure. After all, if she skipped up the power range in the same way this time, it'd likely be hitting more than the one spot. "I just want you to aim into the middle of the lot. It's a lightning bolt: don't throw it out, pull it down."

Xikkuyo took the Thunder panel, feeling a tiny jolt of something almost like static electricity as she did so; her fingers tingled at the touch, and she rubbed a thumb over it thoughtfully, studying the electric blue flicker and wondering how this try would go. It would certainly be different than anything she'd ever done before..... Souji and Kanji had always been the Lightning-users, not her. But she'd watched them use magic, right? Maybe that would help?

The way Axel stepped behind her, like he was hiding..... Xikkuyo raised a hand to cover her mouth as she smiled again, shaking her head. "I won't....." If she hit him now, then she'd probably end up frying herself in the process, anyway. She clutched the panel tight in her hand, concentrating on the way it buzzed against her, trying to picture Souji and Izanagi casting their spells. Souji always looked so cool and confident fighting, like it was effortless, and Kanji always seemed so tough and enthusiastic.....

"Concentrate....." Xikkuyo took a deep breath and raised her fan again, this time holding it poised high overhead, imagining a lightning rod. She didn't know a lot about lightning, but they'd learned a bit in school, like about magnets and positive and negative energy, about attraction..... It was all physics, right? She was usually pretty good at science. Don't bother trying to throw it out. Pull it down..... It didn't come from her, even if she was the one who made it.

It was hard to wrap her mind around the paradigm shift. It took a moment or two, but slowly, buzzing sparks started to crackle through her fan. She bit her lip, grasping the magic as tightly as she could manage and trying to will it towards the center of the lot. "Let this hit!" Her fan came down with a sharp snap of the wrist, and an ominous rumble of thunder followed. A streak of lightning came crashing down immediately after, then another and another, a thin line of bolts snaking forward and scorching the sand as they went.

They petered out into harmless sparks after only a handful of strikes, considerably more in line with the sort of power levels she probably should have been displaying, right from the beginning. A short but respectable Thunder, maybe enough to kill a Shadow if she was lucky.

Axel was just taking precautions. Could he be blamed? It gave him a good enough view, in any case: and yes, far more what he'd been expecting. Good for a beginner, solid, but very much a beginner's attack. What, exactly, had powered up that Fira? Was that going to be a fluke?

He was still sure she had the potential... just, perhaps, she wouldn't be the instant prodigy he'd expected in other fields. Still, if she kept on this way, he was sure she'd be able to handle herself - hardly like he could have a problem with the idea of excelling at fire alone. No worries, nothing to be disappointed with.

He smiled, nodded, put a hand on her shoulder - "Nice. You've got it."

He definitely couldn't be blamed. Xikkuyo's face was lit up as she looked back over her shoulder at Axel, jubilant; she knows exactly how she should be acting, at a time like this. She knows how she would have acted, at least, and that's as good a guide as any other. She even finds herself daring to actually be optimistic, to go with it. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, after all--maybe she'd do okay with these spells. Maybe she'd be able to do what they expected of her.....

She hadn't known what to expect from the Thunder spell, other than it probably would be less effective than the Fire one. No surprise, there..... But what would the Ice one be like? Would she really be able to manage that, when it was so far opposed to Fire? Hopefully so..... Axel obviously wanted her to know the full complement, if she could learn them. She had to try for him, at least. But what would happen after she'd tried them all? Were they going to make her fight straight away?

"Two for two so far. Let's go for the last one." If Axel could manage it himself, as weak as it might be in his case, he was sure she could do it. Again, he fished for the last of the relevant panels, passing it over - and readying himself to beat a hasty retreat. If she returned to the same form as with the Fire, after all... he'd likely be testing out her healing skills sooner than he'd expected.

"This one's going to work more like the fireball again. Point and shoot in a straight line. Aim for the notice board, okay?" By now, he didn't think he'd probably have to tell her what to do, but - just making sure.

Xikkuyo nodded and took the last panel, shivering a little in spite of herself; she could feel the chill, even through her glove. This one twinkled a frosty blue-white, easily identified. Chie used some ice spells, didn't she? She never seemed like she was much of a fan of being a magic-user, really.....

She lifted her fan again, finding herself clutching the Blizzard panel even tighter than she had the others. It felt..... slippery, to her mind, like trying to get a good solid grip on an icicle, or climbing up a hill covered in slush with no traction. It wasn't as strange as the Thunder had been, but it still felt like it wanted to be elusive, like the magic was only reluctantly submitting to being awakened.

"Go!" A quick swish of her fan, and the spell was released--maybe a little too soon, but she didn't want to risk letting it slip away and fizzle before it could be cast. A gust of cold wind blew flurries of sparkling snowflakes back at her--at them both, most likely--, magic she hadn't quite been able to keep properly shaped with the rest of the spell. But a fair-sized ice crystal flew straight at the notice board regardless, hitting home with a solid crack and knocking the thing askew.

Probably not her best effort, she had to admit; a passable Blizzard, if a weak one. But at least it hadn't fallen to pieces like a snowball that wouldn't stick, right? It would hit, and it would probably hurt; if she really did take best to Fire, the way Axel did, that was probably more or less to be expected. Xikkuyo smiled uncertainly, brushing away some of the snow as she looked back to Axel. Was that..... okay? Should she try again, if it wasn't good enough?

It earned a smile from Axel, at the very least. Honestly, yes, he'd admit that that wasn't as good... but it wouldn't do to discourage her. After all, it was still better than a lot of what he'd seen, especially for a first time.

He wandered over to the sign, smiling, pushing it back into place. "Nice shot," he remarked. "Alright, you've got the basics down. I don't think there's really any need for me to stand here and school you on how to use them - you just need to practice. And you're going to need better targets before you can do that."

Axel spread his hands open, and with a flicker of flame, his chakrams appeared. "How about we go look for some?"

No, it wouldn't do at all, would it? Xikkuyo was already perfectly good at discouraging herself, thank you all the same. Her shoulders dropped with a hint of relief, tension starting to bleed out; it wasn't bad enough for him to be angry or disappointed in her, at least..... Or rather, as close as he could get. Regardless, she'd still apparently have other chances to prove herself.

The chakrams being summoned caught her by surprise; Xikkuyo stared for a moment in something like wonder, distracted. She'd never seen weapons like those before..... they looked pretty fierce. Axel must be a pretty good fighter, then, huh? Next to something like those, her fan seems so..... ineffectual, so inadequate..... Then again, when had it ever compared to the others' weapons, even in the TV world?

She wasn't afraid that Axel would let her get too badly hurt, but..... in a place like this..... "Won't people see us if we go fighting, though?" What would they even fight? How had people not noticed them using magic like this just yet?

Twilight's citizens had never been the most observant bunch, Axel thought. Everything the Organization'd done around town, ignored so readily - was it because they were keeping the Heartless under control? Or were they just that apathetic, just that used to it all?

As for Xikkuyo's enquiry, though, he shrugged. "The locals don't usually bother with where we're going." With a wave of his hand, the portal re-opened. "I'm going to have to show you how these work soon enough, but for now, it's darkness manipulation - just another short hop."

This time, they'd be taking one lot of corridors to reach another - a more mundane set, underground.

Xikkuyo just couldn't understand that. Not noticing strangers sneaking around, or strange lightning bolts from a clear blue sky? Inaba would have been buzzing about things like that! People would have investigated--kids like her would have, if nothing else. People would have gotten curious, and started rumors circulating. Was then keeping the Heartless population under control really worth not being curious?

Another one of those portals again..... This time, Xikkuyo doesn't hesitate to follow Axel into it, drifting close to his side as they go. "Darkness manipulation..... is that another spell from those crystals?" Where are they, even? She can tell it's some kind of tunnel, but other than that..... Maybe it'll be easier once her eyes adjust.

Axel shook his head. "Nope. It's something that you'll pick up soon enough, though." Especially if she kept doing as well as she has so far.

The Twilight Town tram corridors were a bit flickery, today: now this was interesting. Heartless or a mundane explanation? Worth a quick look around, after all, now they were here... Axel gestured around. "No-one ever comes down here. Well, the odd maintenance guy, but we see them once in a blue moon...

What we do get down here is Heartless. Have you been told about them? We're going on a little hunt."

"Oh, like the shrine....." Xikkuyo murmured to herself, rubbing her eyes. That had been basically abandoned, too, even in a place like Inaba..... It still seemed a little odd that a place right in the middle of town would have nobody but maintenance visiting it, but she supposed she couldn't argue. It was convenient for them, at least..... What was it even supposed to be used for, though? Was it abandoned because of these Heartless?

Xikkuyo nodded, a little uncertainly. If nothing else, she'd at least heard the name before. She was sure she'd learn more, if they were going hunting for the things. "Saïx and Xemnas mentioned them. They said those aer what we're supposed to fight." Among other things. She'd tried to listen, really she had, but so much of it had gone over her head..... She'd barely understood any of Xemnas' explanations, and Saïx hadn't been exactly forthcoming with help.

"Bingo," Axel remarked. "You're not going to be fighting them front and centre, I don't think - not like any of you kids came in swinging Keyblades. But it's an important part of what we do, so we're going to have to start somewhere."

He looked around for any obvious signs of Heartless presence. Usually some around here, somewhere... and as overhead the lights flickered, another flicker caught his eye. He gestured again, pointing around a corner, his voice lowered in tone.

"You see that thing there? We've found our first one. Shouldn't be a problem - it's just a Shadow."

Xikkuyo nodded, following the gesture with her eyes to see the glimmer of gold eyes and a small dark figure scuttling along the floor. She couldn't quite bring herself to say anything just yet--she felt sick at just the sight, throat tight and rooted to the spot. If she could have felt fear or horror, or even true revulsion, she would have; she recognized that creature. So the Heartless were what had attacked Inaba.....

She doesn't want to go. She doesn't want to touch one of those things. She doesn't even want to look at it. Xikkuyo clutches her fan tighter; it's not good to freeze up like this, not when he obviously wants her to hunt it, but..... Her own voice is soft, not quite a whisper. "Wh-what do I do.....?"

Damn. That was a pretty convincing show of being scared, that was for sure... even if he knew he technically wasn't going to be stopping any feelings on her part, this called for some reassurance. No use making this any more stressful than it had to be. Still, they didn't have all day.

Steadily, softly, as comfortingly as he could manage, Axel spoke on. "In your own time, in whatever way you feel's most appropriate, I'd like you to try and fight it. You can use your magic, or try and attack it physically: how's not the point. The point is that you show me what you can do.

Because I know you can do this, Xikkuyo."

Edited 2014-01-26 21:00 (UTC)

She couldn't tear her gaze away from those blank, inhuman, monstrous eyes. She couldn't stop thinking about the way even their Personas hadn't been able to hold them all off, the way they all had screamed..... How was he supposed to face them now, when even her Persona hadn't been able to do anything--when all of them together hadn't been able to do anything? How could she, after.....?

Xikkuyo nodded in understanding, breathing deep to try and steady herself, hands shaking. A few petal fell from the trembling fan to drift down to her feet; a pale blue glow licked at them both, soft and warm and reasuring, accompanied by the faint smell of sakura blossoms. Axel was right..... she could do this. She had to do this. That was what she was here for, what the Organization was here for. Things would be different from now on. She just had to treat this like going into the TV. These things were no worse than normal Shadows.....

.....No. No. They're much worse than normal Shadows. Normal Shadows didn't endanger people who aren't supposed to be in there! They didn't attack ordinary people! It's creatures like these that had endangered Inaba and hurt her friends. Creatures like these--!

"The hell with you!" Maybe she couldn't properly be angry, but she could look it. She could remember it. And once he was over her fear and hesitation, she was over it, completely. She dashed at the Shadow without any of the hesitation a normal civilian ought to have, went on the offensive with a grace and certainty that there really wasn't normally any use for. A flurry of vicious slashes with her fan, far harder than simple feathers ought to be capable of, and the Shadow went up in a burst of flames, leaving behind a haze of smoke and Darkness.

...Where did that come from? Axel didn't even have to think to act shocked. His instincts kicked in before he could even really register what she was doing: she'd just switched. Gone from the sweetest person he'd ever seen wear the coat to...

To as ferocious a fighter as he could have expect at this stage. Far more competent than he'd expected, that was for sure: he'd expected her to be holding back, maybe using magic, not this...

He folded his arms and gave a knowing smile as she finished up. Well, now.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to tear the thing to pieces with her bare hands, burn it to the ground and scatter the ashes so that there wouldn't be any of them left. These things shouldn't exist, shouldn't be able to hurt people anymore. She'd been angry before, but this..... turning all that pain and emptiness outward and lashing out with it..... it may be the closest she'd ever gotten to true hatred.

Funny how it took losing her heart to reach the depths of such black sentiments.....

Xikkuyo took a moment to catch her breath once the Shadow was gone, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she straightened and staring wordlessly down where it had been. A long, shaky sigh, and she turned to retreat back to Axel's side, once more as muted as though nothing had happened. Was that enough? Would he want her to fight more things? Was killing those creatures going to be her job from now on? She'd never liked conflict, or making a scene, but.....

If it meant exterminating those once and for all, she could definitely make an exception.

As she returned, Axel gave her a nod, and reached out to give her a pat on the shoulder. Heck, she deserved it. "Very nice," he said, the grin still playing across his lips, entirely sincere. "I knew you could do it..." Perhaps not quite in the way she had, perhaps not as aggressively...

And that was the issue, here. There was something going on, here. A quiet little flower petal - hah, that said it all, didn't it? Innocent powers, vicious potential. Sliding on into Marluxia's seat...
...hopefully, none of these kids would cause those sort of problems. Once was enough. But there was definitely more here than met the eye...

"...Didn't think you were going to do it like that, though."

Xikkuyo smiled again as Axel patted her shoulder, wan and shy, and ducked her head in clear apology; if nothing else, she at least had the grace to look embarrassed. She had overstepped her bounds; that wasn't the point of this whole exercise at all, was it? He wouldn't have been showing her magic if he'd wanted her to fight physically..... She was just wasting his time, at that point.

Next time, she'd remember. She'd do better, and take the test the way he wanted her to. She should've asked more questions, but she hadn't been thinking. "I'm sorry..... I should have been using the spells, like you showed me."

Maybe, if they only had trained Marluxia properly, if they'd kept him reigned in and focused on what they wanted..... maybe he wouldn't have caused so much trouble, either. Perhaps Marluxia could have even been gentle and faithful, too, with the right attention paid to him..... Had Axel ever even paid any attention to the man, when he'd first been recruited?