Scene #6797: Nowhere By Night 2 - Alpha and Darkside Omega

Owner	Pose
Xion	LAST TIME -- Mikoto, Roxas, and Vergil showed up to an exploratory dive into the Deeper Darkness, a Calvinball Physics realm of awful super-contrast where everything was in dark shades and blacks and special glasses were suggested to even see what was going on with the severe lack of light - and special ponchos so people wouldn't get real intimate with the dark dark friendship darkness. At the 'bottom' of the Deeper Darkness (such as there could be one), they found a strange path created by a powdery dust not unlike concrete mix that formed a definite path to a large lake of aphotic blue. There, they met the mysterious Diz (or Daze?) who quoted verses from the Bible at them, apparently fishing in the darkness for something - or someone. Deciding that he would never owe a mortal man a single thing in his life Vergil activated his Devil Trigger, flaring out his power, and used the blade Yamato to split the lake in two, and force Diz' quarry out into the open. Apparently, Diz was fishing for Darkside Omegas. NOW Not just any Darkside Omega rose before the party, letting loose a sonorous 'uruuuuu' and rising from the lake. Where most Darksides - enormous, highly muscular 'boss' tier Heartless - had an empty spot in their chest where a big ol' heart shape cut-out was, this one - the Omega Darkside - had a filled-in heart of the same color as the abyssally dark water, with a rusty metallic keychain hanging out of the center of the filled-in heart. Acting quickly, Diz used his Path-Dust to render semi-permanent the carved apart lake and allow the party to fight the enormous heartless... without the whole lake crashing down onto their heads when (if?) Vergil's power ever waned or gave out.
Vergil	Vergil starts what he does best when he cuts things; sheathing his sword in a slow, dramatic way. In this case, unifying the blade and sheath behind his back as he gazed out upon the split water. But Roxas' comment, that for all his attitude and philosophies on power he preaches, Vergil does not seem a happy person, makes him slip, Yamato failing to find its home. "You dare-" he starts to say, rounding on the Nobody with a snarl on his face, when the Darkside Omega erupts from the roiling waters. The half-demon turns again to face the aggravated Heartless, and his scowl shifts into a smug smile. "It's about time one of these creatures dared to show its face before me!" He launches his sword into the sheath in a single smooth motion, looking out at the waters Diz is solidifying. "Cower in your shack, holy man!" He addresses the others with him also. "If you insist in participating in this battle, know that I will not make allowances for you!" In a flash, he's gone, his feet kicking up a blast of sand and leaving behind a blue spectral after-image of himself. In an instant, he's before the Darkside, launching into a rising spiralling slash that's aimed at its ankle and knee, aiming to make it stagger.
Roxas	The appearance of a Darkside, even a colossal Darkside requiring a great deal of strength to even attempt to stand against, isn't enough to put Roxas off by itself. But through the gloom of deeper darkness and the distorted surface of the Darkside itself, he catches sight of the decaying keychain swaying from the emblem in its stomach. By the time someone -- more specifically, Vergil -- turns to consider him however, he has begun to space out visibly. It's not that there's anything physically wrong with him. He's just obviously not checked in at that exact moment. Like a coma patient that somehow managed to get that way while standing upright. It's only once the attention is off of him again that he starts to react. Shallow breaths turn rapid, escalating sharply until he's hyperventilating. Roxas takes a step or two backwards, looking around the beach in a daze. He's been here before, right? Yes. Not really. When? A long time ago. Right before I was 'born'. Or maybe right after. What was he doing? [##############################################################################] Just pulling free.
Sumiko	As the monster raises out of the water, Mikoto watched it, both in horror and awe. It was massive, powerful...came from the literal darkness. However, as the intention of the creature was made clear, her blade came up. Her eyes hardened as she focused... Her eyes look back to Roxas, "Hey come on, snap out of it. Otherwise, we're gonna get smashed...and I dunno about you, but I have no intention of dying in a place like this!" She says, sword coming back into a stance, a shadow falling over her face as she prepares to attack in a dangerous way. Which is mostly, wail on it until it falls over. She flies in after Virgil, aiming to swing at the leg opposed to his strike, aiming to try and take the thing down to its knees so they could then abuse boss pathing to try and just strike at its head when it stood back up.
Xion	While Roxas has a moment - a long moment, a CUTSCENE MOMENT - staring at the keychain dangling from the Darkside's filled-in heart, Vergil and Mikoto go in on the attack. Both are magically-enhanced (or heritage-enhanced) sword experts, and both can easily duck, slide, and i-frame through the powerful yet slow sweeps of elbows and claws, and the stubby legs barely kick around. It's a joke, really. Vergil and Mikoto are far, far too capable for this, even without Roxas. Even if their cuts, magically enhanced with impressive strenghts each, carve off chunks of darkness that don't really seem to debilitate the Darkside, the prevailing wind becomes a death of a thousand cuts. Ineffable HP bars deplete rapidly. They go from green to... Diz shouts a warning to the two attacking members of the party. "Something comes! Armor thyself with the Lord!" Reaching for his fishing pole, he switly reels out the line taut before snapping it off of the pole, a total disregard for putting it all back as he expertly lassos it around the Darkside's feet and... leaves it there. It is then that both realize the purpose: the fishing line is spun silver, and it glows in the concrete dust for a moment with a soft radiance unknown to the darkness, before the Darkside practically ERUPTS in a fountain of power, contained in the vertical column of the impromptu sealing circle. Great demonic-looking wings burst from its back, and a slithering, thick tail tumbles free from the small of its back. The roar itself is a sonic weapon, blasting everyone and the stopped water around them back in great waves of force. The THUNK, THUN-THUNK of a meaty fist against the silver sealing circle sounds like a burglar punching and elbowing residential glass, the audible strain and cracking of the power field tangible as Diz holds both hands forward and whispers in sotto voice. "The Lord is my shepherd, he shall see me through this task, the Lord is my sword and my armor, he has a plan for me." over and over, like a priest over an exorcism. The power font subsides as five red-tipped claws jam their way through the barrier, finally shattering the faith-reinforced wall, letting out the Darkside Omega, transformed: Two great wings like bats, and a long, whipping tail with ridges and grooved spines all down the length have been added, as well as a hardening of the entire character of the beast: gone are the softness and 'pudge' of the old Darkside, now more closely resembling a Heartless xenomorph. Lashing out with a sweep of the tail, gouts of water start leaking in from the sides as it carves up the path-powdered barrier simply by advancing and striking. Something is awfully wrong with this thing, and even for a powerful heartless - this is not normal, or good. The health bar still feels green.
Vergil	Vergil paces about the Darkside, moving almost insultingly slowly to avoid it's clumsy strikes by a hair's width. But even as he strikes and dodges, that smile begins to dim. "Is this all this realm has to offer? What a joke," he says as he buries Yamato in the solid darkness once more. As Diz comes charging in, Vergil yells once more. "Offer up your prayers elsewhere, prophet! Do not interf-" The rest of his words are drowned by the piercing blast of the Darkside's eruption. Vergil is knocked flying, crossing his arms and sheathed katana across his chest as he tumbles. His feet find the solidified water and he comes sliding to a halt, watching the dark figure transform within the binding circle. "Is a devil awakening inside you as well?" he asks himself more than anyone, taking a moment to make sure his hair is still in place. Red claws push their way through the barrier, and Vergil lets out a harsh laugh. "Now I'm a little motivated! Come on!" he shouts in response, the darkness and wrongness whipping against him and fluttering his coat. The tail thrashes, and Vergil waits for its arc to end before vanishing once more in a burst of speed. Suddenly, he's running along the tail and up the creature's back, Yamato flashing in a constant flurry of slashes striking in a constant staccato of cuts into the Darkside. Further, as he runs, blue swords appear in the air behind him, blades pointing towards the Heartless and flying towards it right on his heels. "Flee if you feel your power is lacking! Let this be a dance between devils!" he barks, his voice thick with arrogance with a hint of jubilation.
Roxas	Roxas doesn't snap out of it until the situation has escalated several steps beyond what it was already at to begin with. His breathing steadies, but even as it does so his ears fill with what he could only really describe as tv snow. Fuzzy, incoherent white noise floods his consciousness with nonsense input that he can't make meaningful heads or tails of. He thinks he should be sad of something. He thinks he should be angry of something. The first thing that registers to him is the laying of the sealing circle. Roxas knows enough to know that something from down here should be warded off by it handily, but-- it's not, is it? The thing that came from the Darkside hammers the circle, and it's only the weirdo living down here that was somewhat keeping it in. The circle bursts and a spiny tail ripples towards him. Roxas doesn't have time or awareness to get out of the way. He starts lunging when it's about an inch from him, and only really manages to stop it from skewering him outright. A line of scarlet is left along the stretch of instant-reality-just-add-water that he dived along, as if he had scraped a knee open along its whole length. Something in his gut tells him that it's a friend. Even Roxas isn't young and naive enough to buy consciously into that impulse. He pushes himself to his feet, wincing and surveying the great gouge that traces a path from his collar near to his waist before taking the time to gain some distance on the... /thing/. He shakes his head and raises both hands, gleaming lights glimmering before them, "Sorry, I-- I don't know. I don't know what's wrong with me. I think maybe this is just how I'm broken." More than a little sulkily, he adds, "Don't rely on me too much. I don't know it won't happen again." Dancing columns of light spring into existence at his feet, and then spiral off towards the Heartless-spawned monstrosity. They're restrained, reluctant. Distantly, subconsciously, a little part of Roxas finally comprehends why some Nobodies would consider regaining Hearts to be less-than-ideal.
Sumiko	The earth shakes and the force of the transformation sends both herself and the devil back. Blade held like a shield as she attempts to divert the force away from herself, grunting in the attempt and singed where she could not. Despite everything, she smiles, enjoying this feeling...the uncertainty, the chaos. She could forget her problems she couldn't fight and survive the ones she could. "Leave? And miss all the fun? No way Devil-boy!" She shouts and looks towards Roxas. "If you think you're going to be a liability, it's better to fall back now...it's not likely we're going to be able to cover you," She says, not in mocking tones, but in genuine concern. Perhaps a one-eighty from how she was feeling...but at the same time, she liked this guy. He seemed nice, very likable. Or perhaps she knew how he felt, she felt that way more than she could count... Turning away from the boy, she swings the blade around her in a wide arc along the ground. Magical girl symbols appear as she thrusts the blade down. Out from the water, a giant OCTOPUS appears, attempting to leap onto the giant heartless, using its many many arms to try and wrap around the beast, and it's powerful beak to bite into it. "I'm not afraid of you.." She says, shaking a little. Even she could not ignore the feeling of oppression in the world of darkness, but she could lie to herself.
Vergil	Vergil lets out another dry laugh as Mikoto calls this fun. It sounds like he agrees unironically. "There is some mettle to you after all! Now, back up your words!" And she does, with an octopus that he has to juke around himself a little. "Curious... what form of power is this?" Roxas and his meagre holy pillars meanwhile, only earn a snort of derision. "Is this how far your 'responsibilities' can carry you, boy? You may have had a point before, but look at the power I have earned in my life. Then, compare it to yours. Can you safeguard your existence like this?"
Sumiko	"One of my abilities, I can summon Phantasmal Animals. I decided on an octopus because well..." she motions towards the water around them. "Better to use forms that can survival locally better. An elephant wouldn't exactly do well if it threw it into the water, now would it?"
Xion	The power of the Darkside is strangely relative. To Roxas, while certainly physically dangerous, the pillars of light sweep out, and the Darkside Omega brings around one of the ribbed wings to block his blasts of light. The photons crash against solid darkness woven like membrane, and there's a fizzing wave after wave of shorn-off darksmoke as the template attacks scorch across the Omega's 'shield'. But Roxas' heart isn't into it. He's not feeling it, and the blasts he puts upon the massive Heartless don't strike for any real effect. Vergil, on the other hand, really DOES start to feel it, and his adroit dodge and frame-perfect just defend of stylish speed send him right up the tail with its easy toeholds for his sure step to carry him up. His slashes dance up the back of the beast, leaving blue-white scars of Vergil's devil power like a lightning round of demonslaying tic-tac-toe, all lines and x's and crescent o's. Tentacles and tendrils both of darkness burst out, the former meaty and muscly and the latter whippish and root-like. Both surge forward, the more meaty tentacles trying to grapple and grab and require precision cuts to disarm as they wriggle and fill the area. The tendrils, on the other hand, spread like kudzu and expand in sudden brachial patterns, creating template attacks that must be hard-evaded from their spread before they burst out. All the while, the monster advances on Mikoto and Roxas, shifting tail-terrain and back muscles rippling unnaturally to dislodge the devil-man. Mikoto's power summons an... octopus! Even as dark tentacles threaten to wrap around a leg, a sword arm, or a neck for Vergil, Mikoto ties up the major limbs with the enormous kraken they summon - far greater than their power would have normally allowed at her investment level. Summoning a water-aspected creature here is downright smart, as it bursts from the side and binds up the Darkside, constricting the upper body of the beast and applying vicious beak to dive in and take a bite of the dark-meat. Dark dark dark. Everything's dark! Did I mention that? In wordless roars of pain, it thrashes, barely able to make a dent before simply falling forward and front-pressing down on the octopus, shoving off with palms to send his spiny tentacle-y back towards the path-dusted water-wall, which to anyone unfortunate to be smished against, would find that it's shockingly solid when undisturbed by direct attack. Vergil's challenge to Roxas, though, seems to draw out a cutscene attack. The head of the beast flashes, and the yellow eyes flash bright cyan, before sending out a rather classic tracer-lazer that skirts all across the sandy ground and leaking walls, followed by an eye-searing laser explosion that bursts out at high speed shortly after the laser passes. It's very familiar to Roxas, but for Other Reasons. It's also very lethal, should he not avoid this attack. Despairingly, the boss's HP bar still appears to be mostly green with a little yellow. Diz, having retreated slightly, watches for an opening. "If I had the courage to turn my back and run, I would turn my back on the Lord! I cannot do that - not while children and men stand against the demons of the dark."
Sumiko	Bursts of tendrils stab towards Mikoto, but a sword moves to swing and cut through them, aiming to deflect them at another area. However, misjudging the distance, a few still manage to impale her, staggering her back towards the now solid wall. The octopus goes flying, and Mikoto goes dive rolling for the ground below it, trying to avoid its crash. The creature hits the wall, and splatters, not having enough of an outer shell to defend against a direct attack. This...DOES give Mikoto an idea, but right now, she needs to weaken this thing significantly enough for Vergil to do more damage. "Alright, I am going to try something, It's a bit risky...but if I were smarter I wouldn't be here in the first place, right?" With a laugh, she runs forward. Using SONIC speed, she attempts to duck and weave, attempting to mislead it before she kicks off one of the walls, and jumps up. Her hand looks strangely like a bracelet for a moment. Oddly, like it was made out of data instead of real material. She points the thing down, before a ball of energy surges forth, attempting to strike the heartless. What happens next is that the being getting repeated horrible status effects inflicted, attempting to scramble something about it, before a ball of something shoots back towards Mikoto and the bracelet before it disappears. She lands, in a three-point stance, assuming this wasn't a giant mistake. Like Devil May Cry 2.
Roxas	"Um... well, I might be, but--" "There's a limit to what the Heartless can do to me. I'm just not interesting to them." Roxas explains to Mikoto, matter-of-factly. He still sounds kind of dazed, but most of the way back to what he was like a little while ago. Vergil seems to make him think, though. The wheels turn visibly, his expression momentarily conflicted. At last, he replies, "If you're asking if I think I'm equal to everything that might be in front of me... no. I'm not the smartest, and the life that I can remember hasn't gone on that long. There are things that are important to me, but I think to most of you they're probably... I don't know. Stupid. Petty." "I convinced some people who didn't want to exist anymore that there was still something worthwhile to reach for. Those people are my responsibility now. But... in a lot of ways, they're cleverer and more sturdy than I am. That doesn't mean it's not important to me to look after them, even if I'm not always good at it, and even if they don't really need it." A sharp ringing noise emanates from Roxas's hands as he calls his weapons to bear. A black key appears in one hand, and a white in the other. Monstrous eyes flash, and in the next instant both weapons are hurled through the air, going high of the Evolved Darkside and whistling up into the air above its head. Roxas disappears. A will-o-wisp cuts through the tracer laser, racing through its middle in a rising angle that carries it into the air above the Darkside. Roxas re-materializes from it, seizes both of his blades, and plummets down towards the Darkside in a shining circle of white that has the rough effect of a spinning sawblade. "Sorry," he says, "I didn't answer your question. I don't really know."
Vergil	Vergil's style ranking skyrockets as he leaps from the Darkside, arcing through the air in a graceful backflip as the wounds he opened erupts into thick tentacles and thin tendrils that converge on him. "Kneel before me!" he barks, holding Yamato's sheath at his side as he returns the weapon to it. But within that instant, there's a blur of motion, and cyan orbs of whirling slashes appear before him, intercepting the reflexive counterattack and carving the growths down to size. But one manages to snag his leg, and yank him back down. "Blast!" he snarls, pulled into the crushing embrace of writhing darkness. For an instant, he vanishes entirely within them. Only for a bolt of blue to flash through the pitch black, the eruption of demonic power shoving the snares off of Vergil as he activates his Devil Trigger, giving him enough breathing room to move even faster than before, gaining some distance. (The style meter is now at a firm 'Dismal.') "I am no man, Diz!" he snarls at the fisherman, his voice pitched down and distorted by his current form. "I am a demon from even greater darkness than this! Protect the others if you must, but do not interfere with my work!" He gestures, and a whirling dervish of those spectral blue swords surrounds him before he goes on the move again. Coming down towards the Darkside's back once more, Yamato moves even faster than before, creating spacial distortions that reflect the demon. The tentacles are shown zero mercy, even if they are in a weakened state thanks to Mikoto, and with the blue blades whirling about Vergil, any that try to retaliate are cut down to size. Upon landing, he sees Roxas descending, having dug up resolve from somewhere, even as he insists he doesn't really have any. "Then fight. If you live, you must have a reason. If not, it is no longer your concern." And with that simplistic comment, the demon turns his attention to the thrashing tail. The Yamato is raised, and the summoned swords infused into it, rendering the blade in a harsh electric blue light. And with that charged slash, Vergil aims to slice that tail clean off.
Xion	------------------------------------------ GAME OVER ------------------------------------------ >QUIT >everyone, coordinatedly, does their own unique context commands in order to blast past the various mechanics and templates that the Omega Darkside dishes out. A tracer lazer, dodged via riding the very un-light that had infiltrated the place through the mutated Heartless's strange metaporphosis. A terrible growth and surging of power matched -- nay, exceeded by the Devil Trigger POWER of Vergil and his bright blue light of speed and arc-trailing aura. The Darkside is decapitated, its lashing tail simultaneously severed in a blast of starch white and cold blue light, and Mikoto overcomes where her enormous octopus could not, abusing a provenly effective hyperspeed to close and begin applying an utterly ludicrous number of status effects, bringing the chopped-up creature to its knees, where it-- --still has green health, despite all impossibiliies. It's not even entirely into yellow! For all the damage, more growth comes, only stymied by the crippling variety of defects and debuffs Mikoto forces upon it. Another head grows from its armpit, and a second on its back, pre-carved in half with a shining cut from Yamato. Cancerous growths sputter and sprout, and the creature looks actively Un-Well. Diz, on the ground, takes a stance like a runner. "Then I ask your forgiveness, righteous devil, with action!" Sprinting forward merely as marathon runner would (as opposed to an absurd superspeed man), weaving around the detritus of the fight and the leaking water, Diz hops onto the wriggling tail like a springboard, reaches out a hand, fingers stretched, and grabs the keychain embedded in the Darkside Omega's chest, and... ... It yanks down like a zipper, spilling out all the held-in (crystallized, really) water held within the Darkside, sending robed man, a dark shape, and a metallic cylinder spilling down near Mikoto. Who is feeling ENTIRELY OKAY! Wow, Data Draining has never gone as painlessly as that. She has a feeling that were her magic not uniquely granted to her via the body of a despair-fueling lich based being, the pollution that this Darkside was experiencing would not at all be a very pleasant thing to accept 'willingly', or at least giving it some form of consent. But it's fine! It's fine. Totally! She can just Esuna that right off. Phew. That's how that works, yep. If there's no debuff indicator it means you're fine. Diz, now drenched, sits in the sand with a blue-haired woman laying insensate on the ground near him. His wrapped fist is closed around the keychain - and the rest of the Keyblade it's attached to, a sweeping water-motif weapon. The Darkside Omega, having lost it's absurd trick boss power core, immediately explodes in a stack underflow of recieved damage, showering Vergil, Roxas, and Mikoto in a hail of glowy orbs of restorative power, shiny sugarcube munny, and an ineffable sense of 'experience'. You probably get some AP, too. Go ahead and unlock basic gameplay mechanics with that!
Xion	------------------------------------------ GAME OVER ------------------------------------------ >QUIT >CONTINUE This is a screen that nobody sees. Everyone does the mechanic. In fact, everyone, coordinatedly, does their own unique context commands in order to blast past the various mechanics and templates that the Omega Darkside dishes out. A tracer lazer, dodged via riding the very un-light that had infiltrated the place through the mutated Heartless's strange metaporphosis. A terrible growth and surging of power matched -- nay, exceeded by the Devil Trigger POWER of Vergil and his bright blue light of speed and arc-trailing aura. The Darkside is decapitated, its lashing tail simultaneously severed in a blast of starch white and cold blue light, and Mikoto overcomes where her enormous octopus could not, abusing a provenly effective hyperspeed to close and begin applying an utterly ludicrous number of status effects, bringing the chopped-up creature to its knees, where it-- --still has green health, despite all impossibiliies. It's not even entirely into yellow! For all the damage, more growth comes, only stymied by the crippling variety of defects and debuffs Mikoto forces upon it. Another head grows from its armpit, and a second on its back, pre-carved in half with a shining cut from Yamato. Cancerous growths sputter and sprout, and the creature looks actively Un-Well. Diz, on the ground, takes a stance like a runner. "Then I ask your forgiveness, righteous devil, with action!" Sprinting forward merely as marathon runner would (as opposed to an absurd superspeed man), weaving around the detritus of the fight and the leaking water, Diz hops onto the wriggling tail like a springboard, reaches out a hand, fingers stretched, and grabs the keychain embedded in the Darkside Omega's chest, and... ... It yanks down like a zipper, spilling out all the held-in (crystallized, really) water held within the Darkside, sending robed man, a dark shape, and a metallic cylinder spilling down near Mikoto. Who is feeling ENTIRELY OKAY! Wow, Data Draining has never gone as painlessly as that. She has a feeling that were her magic not uniquely granted to her via the body of a despair-fueling lich based being, the pollution that this Darkside was experiencing would not at all be a very pleasant thing to accept 'willingly', or at least giving it some form of consent. But it's fine! It's fine. Totally! She can just Esuna that right off. Phew. That's how that works, yep. If there's no debuff indicator it means you're fine. Diz, now drenched, sits in the sand with a blue-haired woman laying insensate on the ground near him. His wrapped fist is closed around the keychain - and the rest of the Keyblade it's attached to, a sweeping water-motif weapon. The Darkside Omega, having lost it's absurd trick boss power core, immediately explodes in a stack underflow of recieved damage, showering Vergil, Roxas, and Mikoto in a hail of glowy orbs of restorative power, shiny sugarcube munny, and an ineffable sense of 'experience'. You probably get some AP, too. Go ahead and unlock basic gameplay mechanics with that!
Sumiko	Oh. That was...unique. For the first time, in like ever, she was glad she was a horrible lich. Touching down on the ground, she rubs her head, that was a close one, and probably should NEVER do that again on something. Unless it's a bad situation. So basically every other scene. When the thing explodes in health, munny, and other assorted things, she sighs, and moves to leap out of the water and back towards the shore. Flopping backward, she just stares up at the sky for a moment. "So good news, I'm not in danger. Bad news, nobody should do what I just did ever. Like that was a worse idea than even /I/ thought. Don't eat the darkness, it's extremely toxic." A beat she leans her head up to look upside down towards DiZ and the blue girl. "Soooo...who's that?"
Roxas	Roxas's mind reels. His weapons vanish in a flash as he digs one hand into his hair, covering one eye with the palm of his hand as he tries to focus. He manages to keep his focus this time around, zeroing in on his conversation with Vergil. "Are you..." "Are you trying to encourage me, Vergil?" He wonders, uncertainly. It doesn't seem like the older warrior. Roxas tries to concentrate enough to recall what Vergil had been saying to the fisherman, but the thought doesn't materialize properly. He's sure it's important in some way to what he was asking. More noise like static in his mind. Who ARE you? [##############################################################################] A noise of frustration escapes his lips. Roxas staggers towards DiZ and the woman. "It's not toxic, exactly. I mean, it is, but... it's natural for everybody to have /some/ inside them. Being consumed by it is what makes somebody a Heartless. It's all... go, no restraint or thought." He comes to a halt, "That's..." He doesn't manage to get out a real answer or explanation. The name doesn't exist. The circumstances don't, either. Just a lingering gut feeling that won't go away.
Vergil	Head and tail both are severed, all while the Darkside is hit with every possible 'bad condition' under the sun that doesn't reach here, and it's still writhing! Vergil shifts back to his human form and watches, that smug grin never fading from his face. "How unseemly. But I must admit, I am curious as to how you would fight in a state like this. Come on, get up!" he says, assuming a ready stance. And then Diz calls him righteous, and rushes in to exploit the obvious weak point to end the fight immediately. This is the worst insult Vergil has ever suffered, followed by another insult that pushes the first insult to second place. Indeed, he looks at Diz's back as if he wants to put Yamato all the way through it, his expression darker than even this place. The orbs flow into him, the currency becoming blood red and more orb-shaped as it joins him, adding to the massive pool he already has. If only he had some kind of cowboy hat with which to use them as ammunition. He stares at Diz for a moment longer, still looking like he wants to take his head for disrupting the fight, but eventually sheathed Yamato. "There is your 'man.' Consider us even, prophet," he says as the split lake finally returns to normal underfoot. In response to Roxas, the half-demon smirks. "I seek even greater power, and cultivate myself against strong foes." A hand is raised, before being clenched into a fist before his face. "If those I encounter have the means of becoming a worthy foe to me, I want them to do so. Then, in battling them, I shall hone myself." He turns on his heel, showing everyone his back. "For now... the girl, Mikoto, gets... an A. Unorthodox, and unusual powers. But clearly effective. You, Roxas, get a B. Find your motivation, and your power will grow." Yamato comes out once more and slashes the air twice. Bright blue cuts 'bleed' into a portal similar to the one Xion tore open, and he strides through it before it closes behind him. Not even giving everyone a quick exit. What an asshole.
Xion	Laying the keyblade, via keychain - not hilt-handle - against the Cutscene Coma'ed blue haired woman, DiZ moves to arrange the lost woman more comfortably, and get a better sitting position. Aqua breathes shallowly, and is spiritually 'present' (at least, she has her Heart) so unlike 90% of currently insensate plot-relevant characters, she's not afflicted with Deviceitus. Nor is she inflicting on everyone a Heartless and a Nobody to be bossfights or weirdos or friends of Larxene. (The last one is especially dangerous.) DiZ moves from a sitting-on-butt legs-out posture to a kneeling one, pressing his fingers gently into Aqua's neck to check her pulse with more mundane methods. "You bless me with your patience, Vergil. If we are even, then... I shall find for you a replacement, if I am able. A challenge, for the hunter." His voice is low, and he doesn't 'look' at Vergil, but Vergil doesn't seem one to stand on 'stand in a t-pose and face directly at the camera/other characters to flap gums' sort, and DiZ is concerned for the coma'ed keyblade knight. "This is... Someone important. She weilds the Key that is sought by those who would save the world from Darkness. A sword of bright Light. My child." He looks to Roxas. "You should take her from this place. Back to that higher place. I must remain. There is something I must find, now. I have been granted a revelation, and new purpose." To Mikoto, his hand is reassuring, patting her on the shoulder. "You are strong, to resist the corruption in that changed beast. I would say to not be so swift to leap into the jaws of darkness, but..." A warm, totally 'out of character' for the outfit fatherly smile splits DiZ's lips. "I feel that it would make me a terrible hypocrite. I pray your protection holds as long as your spirit does."
Vergil	Vergil stops halfway through his portal and turns his head to answer Diz. "I'll not accept your charity. If the quarry you offer is not also your own, do not bother calling for me. If this relationship is to continue, let be one of mutual benefit. I refuse to be indebted to a human."
Sumiko	Mikoto stands up as Vergil gives them...grades? She just kinda balks at this for a moment and shrugs. "Guess there is a first time for everything," Mikoto says, with a shrug of her shoulders. What she means by that is anyone's guess. Is Vergil being nice? Her getting an A? Who can really say? When the origins of the woman are explained, Mikoto frowns. Important huh...and that blade of hers can banish the darkness..? However, when Diz places a hand on her shoulder and speaks to her, her head drops a little. She does not seem happy at the praise. "It wasn't the strength of heart, but rather...what I am. However, I know what you mean, so thank you anyway." She moves to pick up the young woman, carrying her on her back. "Well, lead the way Roxas, I'll carry her."
Roxas	"So you want me to be stronger so you can fight me?" Roxas seems sincerely puzzled by this. But his entire mode of existence is very literally the opposite of Vergil's own in so many ways, it's no wonder that he doesn't really get it. He nods, "Well... thanks anyway. I don't know if I'll grow the way you want me to, but I get the feeling that life isn't really going to give me a lot of choices about that." It hasn't so far. He just looks more and more confused the longer he hangs around Aqua, and when DiZ asks him to take care of her he looks surprised. Roxas looks down at himself, with his cultist robes and underlying All Black Clothes, partially exposed by getting his chest cut wide open by an alien monstrosity. He looks back up at DiZ, pointing at himself, "You think... /I/ should do that." He stares. "Okay." He agrees. The Nobody hesitates for several long seconds. The whole experience of approaching Aqua is like shaking a sleeping limb awake from numbness-- but Mikoto takes care of actually picking her up. Roxas stands back and says, "Thanks. We'll just be going back the way we came-- um, it looks 'up', but this place is kinda subjective, so..." As he starts 'up' towards the entry portal, Roxas looks back towards Vergil in his own portal. He calls, "I'm not so sure he /is/ human. And uh, take care!"
Xion	"The Lord has a plan for you. You have withstood great trials to be where you are, and if you seek to live a righteous life, then He will provide for you what you need. Have faith." DiZ replies, his hand patting once more before retreating to help Mikoto shoulder Aqua. "If you worry about what you are, then I pray you find peace." He adds quietly. Vergil denies DiZ's 'charity', which gets an odd look, but not because Vergil is being an unreasonable demigod manchild. "A worthy foe to share with you, then." He agrees. Something tells the Devil Hunter that, yeah, DiZ probably gets up to that kind of thing. It's the way he carries his shoulders even during the height of danger. Ready, but not tense. There's some promise there. Roxas questions if he, really, should be the one to take care of her. To which, DiZ observes. "You cannot leave her with the mystery shack-man in the middle of the Darkness, can you? Nor, can you leave her with the exiting swordmaster. If your friend here isn't offering, who does it fall to?" He asks, and the question of clothing and appearances sort of melt away. DiZ is wearing completely concealing clothes, has yellow eyes, and lives in a driftwood shack in the deeper darkness, so, on a shadiness scale... "Perhaps we will cross paths again, children. Until then - walk in the light of the Lord!" Mikoto and Roxas head 'back' ('up') to Denys, where they're greeted by: Runny eggs. The omnipresent scent of syrup. Xion, looking curiously at the trio. "Hey, whozzat? Find a new friend, Roxas?" The laughter erupts from the female Cult Kid shortly before Demyx spots Aqua being dragged out of the Shady Shade Hole and spills an entire pot of boiling coffee all over himself. "H-hey! She's stealing my THING!"