boxofsleep | (no subject)

(no subject)

Who: Organization XIII members... new and old
Where: TWTNW
When: Sometime mid-358/2 Days, post-Axel's return from Oblivion
What: Induction for the newbies...
Warnings: Nothing too messy. Possible sob bait.

Thirteen had become eight. Rather, fourteen had become nine, to most of the Organization, but that'd never been the calculation on Xemnas' mind. With their numbers so diminished... it'd been time to recruit. It was so hard to find individuals with the strength of will needed and the sheer potential to survive their new life...

But one world had come up with the goods. Younger, perhaps, than Xemnas had wanted at this stage - but strong enough in mind and body, and that was what was relevant.

Of course, they'd still need training...

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"Power cut." Axel put a little more juice into his fireball. "Now, we've got two options. We could RTC - that's short for return to the castle - right now: we've done what we need to. I've seen you do your thing, and I'm going to need to get a plan for what we're going to do next."

"Alternatively..." he shrugged. "We can take a look around and see what's going on. Could be something, could be nothing. It's up to you," he said. After all, trying to fix things? Not part of their mission. They didn't have to go sticking their nose in for the locals' sake, and for all he knew, a repairman might be down soon. But finding out what was what where Heartless activity was concerned? Definitely Organization business.

Were Shadows smart enough to cut power? Or was it jut an accident, maybe caused by fighting somewhere else in these tunnels? They could easily return, if their lesson was done..... Axel was right, teachers needed time to make their lesson plans. There was no reason they couldn't or shouldn't. This wasn't their town.....

But what if something had happened, and people were trapped down here? What if people were hurt and scared and surrounded by Heartless? They had gone into the TV to rescue people before, after all, and even if they didn't know who was getting hurt, there was still no excuse to leave them to suffer..... Besides, this was an abandoned tunnel, Axel had said. They were the only people who probably knew what was happening. Nobody else might even notice that anything was wrong down here; there might be no repairman at all.

If nothing else, it would be bad to still not have power the next time they came, if they didn't do anything about it. Extra credit opportunities weren't worth a thing if you didn't at least make the attempt to turn them in, either. She could do better than just running away. Xikkuyo nodded to herself to cement her resolve, peering out into the gloom to see if she could spot any clues. "We should see what's wrong, just in case."

Good girl. He'd offered her the chance to back down, and she hadn't? Better than some members of the group he could name, that was for sure. "I was hoping you'd say that," Axel said with another grin. He pulled up a couple more fireballs, having them hover near the pair, casting just a little more light - a safe radius, at least.

"Alright. Stick close," he said, starting to lead the way. "Don't bother attacking anything that doesn't attack us first, it'll just be a waste of time. We're looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary. Any signs of damage, anything suspicious. Or if you hear anything, too... Think you can do that?" Never mind the looking for anything, could she even pass a Heartless without draining it on the spot?

"R-right. I can do that." Xikkuyo nodded dutifully, drifting close by Axel's side as she'd been instructed. It had been easier to see in the TV World, honestly..... at least the glasses had helped with the fog. Traveling in the dark by flickering firelight was a lot more difficult and nervewracking, and only made it harder to potentially spot any damage or specific suspicious activity.

She wasn't like Saïx, if nothing else, a berserker on a hair trigger, ready to explode into violence at the drop of a hood. Her distaste for Heartless was pronounced, but she was perfectly capable of passing them by without more than a suspicious sidelong glance, silent and focused in her search as she followed Axel. Xikkuyo was used to following orders, after all; Souji had made for a good leader in the TV world, and she'd trusted him to do what was best for them then.

She trusted Axel to do the same now, until and unless be betrayed that trust.

They moved on. The darkness was thick and heavy, and as used to it as Axel might have been, this still wasn't the best situation to be in, especially with a rookie in tow. But still, they'd get to the bottom of it. He at least knew the layout of the tunnels pretty well, by now, so they wouldn't be getting lost in a hurry. Eventually...

"Right. Generator room. ...Huh."

He could hear something in here. Fizzing sounds, squeaking noises. Axel let the fireball he was holding orbit freely with the others, reached out, and gave the door a good yank.

It looked like they'd gotten to the heart of the problem. ...Or the Heartless of it. A small crew of Yellow Operas were bobbing around the generator room ceiling: and parked on the generator itself, a larger Heartless. Was it - sucking the juice out of it?

"Bingo!"

There was no way she was capable of being anxious anymore. But Xikkuyo could still be tense, following along and mind racing to come up with wild possibilities as the power outage continued. She could picture little Shadows scuttling around in the machinery like gremlins, chewing through wires and pulling gears loose..... The image was a little silly, admittedly, but she wasn't sure what else to expect.

After all, when that other type of Heartless had attacked, she had been a little..... distracted.

The noises were strange..... The sight that greeted them when Axel flung open the door was even stranger. She hadn't known Heartless could be that big! It wasn't quite as strange as her mental image of things, but it was close. Xikkuyo hung back, clutching her fan and looking at Axel uncertainly. He'd said not to engage, so..... Was that null and void, now that they'd found the issue? Or did he have a plan? "What do we do with them?"

Axel regarded the situation himself. Again, on one hand, they didn't need to finish this. They could go back, report what was going on, and be done. But this was the perfect opportunity to really see what she was capable of...

... and after all, even if they dropped the thing right now, they'd still need to send Roxas in later, wouldn't they? At least they'd know what he needed to look out for, could put him on the right track. That was the thing, of course... what they were doing here? Trivial to the Organization as a whole.

So he smiled. "You tell me. How would you tackle them?" he asked her.

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