Kingdom Hearts: The 13th Requiem [PG-13/Not Accepting]

[Kidd Buu]

Before Xelo could finish his talk with Haxz they were interrupted by the man named Marcos. Xelo found this rather annoying especially since the guy wanted to know how to use the dark corridor that Haxz and Kreix use. "Do you not know how to say 'excuse me'? We were clearly talking before you came hollering." Xelo was being blunt be he didn't care he has no heart, so he might as well act like it too. [i]"Though that ability would be useful to me also. Though it's not as important as information about Kingdom Hearts, but I guess learning new abilities would help me on our quest." [/i]He thought to himself stepping aside waiting for Haxz to demonstrate how to use the dark corridors.

[Mugendramon]

Marcos gave a curious but impatient glare to the man in front of Haxz. He didn't even know what he was called. [font=comic sans ms,cursive]"Sorry about that, I guess. What was your name, again?"[/font]

He quickly turned away from that Nobody in favor of the one with answers to his questions. This guy had come in not long after he himself had shown up, so naturally he knew as little as Marcos himself did. [font=comic sans ms,cursive]"Come on, is it supposed to be some sort of secret we can't know of? Are you going to keep us from moving at your pace? After all, if your boss really wants us to contribute to his schemes, we're going to be able to keep up with them. And as you may have seen, doing so by [i]running[/i] isn't very effective at all."[/font]

Marcos's grip on his blade tightened. [font=comic sans ms,cursive][i]Gah! This is so frustrating.[/i][/font]

[The Warden]

Haxz sighed audibly. [font=georgia, serif]"Alright. Corridors of Darkness are twisting dark passageways that exist across all 3 realms of existence: The Realm of Light, the Realm Inbetween, and the Realm of Darkness. They connect everything, and it's the way in which the Heartless cross worlds without the need of interplanetary transport. Anyone with ties to darkness can open up a way into the Corridor, however, it's taxing on those witth a Heart, as the darkness could swallow them at any moment of weakness. Naturally, we without Hearts can freely use these Corridors without fear. To call upon one, you simply need to visualise that there is a dark opening where you want it to be and where you will want it to be. Allow me to show you."[/font]

Without moving his arms, a Corridor engulfed Haxz and faded. Another one appeared halfway across the room and faded, leaving Haxz completely unharmed. [font=georgia, serif]"It's nothing you really need to learn, as it comes naturally to Nobodies."[/font]

[Kōsuke Ueki]

Ryan was speechless. Never in his life has anything of the supernatural happened until this very moment. All he wanted was to take in some interest in fantasy games, whether it be card-based, as an app on his phone, or even an downloadable game on his computer, he didn't care. But now, it seems as though he's taken interest in fantasy in a different angle. He then noticed another teen, who was called James, walk in. And he was wondering if they were all being drawn here for a purpose. And then he heard Balthazar say he's been looking for somebody for CENTURIES, this definitely made Ryan a little uneasy. [i][color=#b22222]Centuries!?[/color][/i] he thought. [i][color=#b22222]I am so confused right now.[/color][/i] Suddenly, he heard the door slam open and a girl appeared from outside. "[color=#b22222]Okay, seriously![/color]" he yelled to get everybody's attention. "[color=#b22222]What the hell is going on!?[/color]" He then took a deep breath and tried to relax, but his mind was racing with what he just experienced. He then heard Balthazar tell him to come to the statue. "[color=#b22222]If it means getting this over with, why not?[/color]"

He then proceeded to the dragon statue and wondered if the same thing would happen to him as did Trevor. Or maybe he's meant to take control of this 'dragon'. Nothing makes sense other than the fact that he is just an ordinary teenager who has been scarred with the loss of both parents and put into foster care immediately afterward, and that he has been meaning to fight and exceed his own limits each day to prevent a similar tragedy like what happened to his family. But now, he's being told that he could possibly be the sorcerer that Balthazar has been looking for over the course of possibly a millennium or longer. How the hell can he possibly go through with this, especially since he knows he's not being hypnotized or drugged in any way? But it seems now, he doesn't have that much of a choice. So he walks up to the dragon statue, his heart racing with fear of what'll happen, and then slowly touches it, closing his eyes so he doesn't see a nightmare of what's to happen the moment he touches it, his hand just barely touching the statue as is.

[Love of Ghibli]

One benefit to being old is you learn to have a lot of patience and people tend to forget about your presence once you stop talking for a little while. Nerhyx was simply getting so much information without having to say a word. He did notice that Kreix was somewhere dealing with some intruder, but who would really want to challenge someone who was, for all Nerhyx knew, pretty powerful. Haxz explained what Kingdom Hearts was and though that had to be pretty interesting. A world full of hearts, where nobodies could go and reclaim there hearts. This confused the simultaneously old and young nobody. For all he knew he didn't really loose anyone in the tragedy that caused his transformation at the same time he only remembers that day, and barely that. He only knew his name, former name, because of a watch his father gave him. But what a noble cause to give hearts to those who have lost them. This Kreix was a person that Nerhyx could get behind. Maybe this was his new purpose as a nobody to serve this man. He had been feeling a void since he started his time as a nobody he's wanted to help someone do something for two months now. This was going to be Santa Claus, but this Man-Nobody seemed to be a much more pleasing candidate.

With his mind made up he decided to continue to listen in on Haxz explain the Corridors of Darkness Nerhyx looked to his left and slowly but surely there it was a corridor. He non-chalantly stepped into it. Wondering if anyone would ever notice his presence or lack thereof. He walked out and appeared behind Kreix. Well it worked and it did seem like nobodies were pretty adept at the art. He did not hear any of the two nobodies conversation nor did he witness any of Kreix's time manipulation. He was here to show that he was willing to now lay his life on the line for this man.

"Is everything okay here master?" He was secretly hinting that he was pledging his support to Kriex's cause.

[Kidd Buu]

After Xelo watched Haxz's demonstration he tried it for himself. He lifted his right hand, pictured a dark corridor and there it was. Xelo took a little chuckle in his success. "This is easy, what else have you got for us Haxz?" Xelo asked wanting to learn more abilities. Though while learning he noticed someone was missing, Nerhyx had vanished though it had seemed. [i]"Maybe I should have payed more attention to him, well where he is he must know how to use the dark corridors." [/i]He thought, but the curiosity of the whereabouts of Nerhyx was made Xelo realize that Kreix was still gone. This thought sorta put chills in his mind what if he was dead, the man who knew everything about Kingdom Hearts could be dead, though Xelo couldn't have that. Xelo raised his right and created a corridor. "I'm going to find Kreix, you two have fun." Xelo expressed his sarcasm as he walked in the corridor. It took him a few tries to actually get to Kreix's location he had ended up in other rooms of the castle before he actually found him. When he arrived he noticed Nerhyx, Kreix, and a strange nobody. "So, this is where everyone is hiding."

[Phantom Roxas]

Just as the dragon did with Trevor, it came to life, walked around Ryan's palm, and climbed back into the box. "It's never responded at all before," Balthazar said. "And now the two of you have drawn the attention of the dragon. I knew this would work. You, James." He gestured to the boy, and noticed a young girl behind him, who asked if Balthazar was a wizard. "I'd prefer if you called me a sorcerer, but to answer your question, yes. And if I'm right, then all four of you will be sorcerers someday."

[center]***[/center]

"Yes, Nehryx, everything is in order." Kreix smiled at being called master. Haxz was a smartass and would only ever say that as a joke, and Lexamus was so arrogant he would find it humiliating to address Kreix as such. Then again, Lexamus wanted nothing to do with Kreix anyway. "Just stay away from the Dark City, and you'll be fine." He heard Xelo approach and turned his attention to the other newly created Nobody. "Haxz is still educating Marcos, correct?" He returned his focus to Lexamus. "As you can see, we mean you no harm. Now then, if you have nothing else to say, then perhaps you would consider it wise to leave."

[Mugendramon]

Marcos stared dumbfounded at how easy this had turned out to be. Suddenly everyone around him was doing stupid s*** with the Corridors. And he was [i]all up for stupid s***.[/i]

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#000000]"Inherent, eh? If that's the case, then I can just..." [/color][/font]The young Nobody raised a hand loosely, not expecting anything to happen. It seemed unrealistic that it would work given his short time as a Nobody and lack of practice in this matter. But... nothing was happening. [font=comic sans ms,cursive][i][color=#000000]No good... I'm making a total fool out of myself! What did he say I have to do... Concentrate! Okay, do that! Focus on the darkness appearing...[/color][/i][/font]

He stretched his arm out. This time, the dark circle appeared. He walked in. [font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#000000][i]Now, visualize the exit, on the other side... Done.[/i][/color][/font]

Marcos could see the light leading to the outside. He stepped out, behind Haxz. [font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#000000]"Well, that wasn't so hard."[/color][/font]

[Super Chaos Sonic]

[quote name='Phantom Roxas' timestamp='1356940737' post='6106971']
Just as the dragon did with Trevor, it came to life, walked around Ryan's palm, and climbed back into the box. "It's never responded at all before," Balthazar said. "And now the two of you have drawn the attention of the dragon. I knew this would work. You, James." He gestured to the boy, and noticed a young girl behind him, who asked if Balthazar was a wizard. "I'd prefer if you called me a sorcerer, but to answer your question, yes. And if I'm right, then all four of you will be sorcerers someday."
[/quote]

[color=#daa520][i]S-Sorcerers? I-Is this old fart for real?? [/i][/color]Trevor thought, just staring at the dragon, beginning to grab his headphones. However, he never put them on...it was like a part of him really wanted to know more about this...and so far that side was winning. Trevor removed his hands from his headphones, letting them remain around his neck as his eyes drifted to Balthazar. [color=#daa520]"What do you mean?" [/color]he finally said, breaking the silence. [color=#daa520]"Are you saying that we're different than other people? T-That just sounds unheard of. Sure there are those that excel in different subjects and jobs than most people can...but your talking about something completely unheard of. Sorcerers, wizards, magic...? Aren't those all just fairy tales and myths?" [/color]Trevor wanted to stop, but as he began to ask these questions...his curiosity grew even more.

[The Warden]

Haxz yawned loudly. [font=georgia, serif]"It's not as hard as you think it is, as it's an ability inherent to all us Nobodies; plus, we aren't plagued by doubt, or hesitation. As long as you know where you want to go, the Corridors will take you there. It's a marvelous thing, not having a Heart. Well, that's just my thought, I have no clue how the others feel about it, nor do I honestly care if they do. Now, I'm going to find Kreix, no doubt he schooled Lexamus by now. You can come along, if you want."[/font]

A Corridor formed over Haxz, and he was sucked into the gaping darkness. The portal was left standing though.

[hr]

Haxz exited from the corridor to find Kreix, Lexamus and the two newbies. Seems Kreix had garnered the deal with Lexamus, which was fine, Haxz didn't care for the Dark City anyways. Too many Heartless to be bothered with.

[Mugendramon]

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#000000]"Oh, I don't plan on missing this out. Nor do I plan on walking through this s*** place on my own. I'd either die of boredom or get lost or just have some debris from this ran-down place kill me without a warning. ...Yeah, wait for me."[/color][/font] Marcos walked through the black circle, and came out next to Haxz. He didn't wait for a single second before asking something else.

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#000000]"What exactly is it that Kreix and this Lexamus guy have for powers? They sure seemed tense a moment ago, but they weren't moving a finger. And now, they're standing in the same place they were before, but nothing's physically changed. Do they have mind magic or something?"[/color][/font]

[The Warden]

Haxz lowered his voice a little to explain this. [font=georgia, serif][size=3]"Every Greater Nobody has some form of element, or sometimes a concept that acts as their essence. Mine is the concept of Luck, giving me supernatural fortune that will allow me to dodge death indefinitely. Kreix's attribute is Time itself, making him a ridiculously powerful Nobody as he can bend time to his very will. One of his favoured tricks is freezing time itself, which can allow him to attack before you even realize what he did. Lexamus, on the other hand, commands Space. Matter is at his command, and it's through this command he can use his instantaneous teleportation. You'll soon learn what your element of attribute is, and no doubt become [i]very[/i] skilled with it."[/size][/font]

[ListenToLife]

James sidestepped to avoid a girl that had walked in after him; almost instantly after, as if she'd been following him. It was strange, for she seemed to have no interest in him as she entered into the shop, and just blanked him and walked straight past, more intrigued by the man who appeared to own the shop. And James understood this interest, for he himself had a lot of it. Especially as the door seemed to lock of its own accord, just as this Balthazar man told him to stick around.

"Cool trick." James muttered, gulping, before turning slowly around. "Was that Infrared, or is there some sort of wiring...?" He started asking, nervously, before being cut off as his attention was drawn to the hand of one of the other boys in the room; to be precise, his hand, and the statue that was now trotting around his palm. "M-m-m-mag-magic...?" He stuttered, his eyes widening almost comically and his jaw dropping slightly, bewildered by this sudden turn of events. As if right on que, the girl who had followed him in - who seemed blissfully unaware that she was now locked in the building with 4 other guys - asked Balthazar whether or not he was a wizard. To which he shockingly replied that he preferred the term sorceror, which made James almost lose his sanity in a mixture of shock, wonder, terror and relief.

He was not insane! That was a good thing. All those years of believing that there must be some kind of magical force, some kind of physics-defying substance that allowed for miracles and the like were not in vain. He was of a scientific mind of course, which meant there had always been doubts. But to learn that it was all true; it was like a dream in reality. He was speechless, and merely stood watching as Balthazar collected the dragon back to himself and instead turning to the other boy, Ryan, to deliver this statue to him. Once more, it came alive and trotted around the palm of the boy, but once again, it returned to the box, becoming still again.

Balthazar seemed disappointed at this. Perhaps it was not the reaction he was looking for? He had been excited when the dragon came to life, both times, but it had disappointed him when it returned to its box. He had said something to the first boy before, but it hadn't really registerred with James. He was too pre-occupied with the living statue. All he had heard was [i]Centuries,[/i] [i]Sorcerors[/i] and [i]special[/i]; and although the words excited him slightly, they gave him no clue as to what was going on here.

But now it was his turn. Balthazar had motioned for James to come over, and so he obeyed, slowly making his way towards the box with the Dragon Statue. He looked over the edge of the box carefully, watching the Dragon closely. It was lifeless; solid, cold stone, without a hint of energy or life. So how had it moved? James tilted his head slightly to either side, looking for miniature cameras or lighting effects; perhaps it was a hologram. But no, the box contained no such thing. In fact, it was empty, asides from the statue.

He opened his right palm out, ready to receive the statue. Sure, he was terrified. Confused, terrified, relieved and all sorts of other emotions. But most of all, he was excited. He could apparently become a sorceror, something he had always dreamed of. The Book may actually make sense to him now, and perhaps he could finally unlike those secrets to the powers of magic. It was a chance to fulfill a dream, and he was definitely going to take this chance.

"So...I just...hold it?" He asked, nervously, his hand shaking slightly as it waited to hold the statue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lexamus sighed; shaking his head. "Prove it? How do you suggest I do that, especially with your hints at me leaving." He pointed out, shrugging and looking to Kriex's sides as his subordinates appeared beside him, asking questions and what-not. Lexamus shrugged to himself and smirked. "Well, it seems you've got yourself a loyal enough army. You certainly are an interesting fellow, being able to bend these people to your will, even after only knowing them for a day or two. I have a feeling I'll stick around for a bit; explore the castle and talk with you people. We're working together now, so we might as well know each other." He said, chuckling a little, as his own subordinates came rushing up the hall, having discovered that all they had needed to do with the door was push it, rather than attempt to knock it off its hinges as they had been attempting to do.

Lexamus said nothing and merely clicked his fingers, summoning a Dark corridor that spanned the entire width of the corridor they had been running up, and vanished after but a second, leaving the subordinates back at their base, content that their master was fine.

[Kidd Buu]

Xelo stared at the intruder, inspecting him, wondering what his abilities he watched patiently until Kreix acknowledged him, asking Xelo if Haxz was still teaching Marcos. He answered Kreix's question with a simple "yes." But, then a small corridor opened not to far away from the group and out came Haxz. "Though I guess he's finished." He added on to his answer. Shortly after Marcos walked out the corridor. Though he wasn't interested in that, his attention was focused on his leader and the intruder knowing at any minute they could clash. Though the outcome disappointed Xelo, there was no altercation but, instead the intruder warned them to stay away from "Dark City". Xelo turned his head slightly and saw three nobodies rushing towards the mysterious man, the man then flicked his fingers that created a dark corridor the nobodies ran into, vanishing. Bored of standing around waiting for a fight to happen, Xelo spoke his mind. "Kreix, I know you're busy and all but, us standing here isn't going to help us achieve Kingdom Hearts."

[Phantom Roxas]

"So you want us to stay away from the Dark City, but you're willing to traipse around this castle?" Kreix asked. "Funny, since you thought this was a place of failed possibilities and wanted nothing to do with it, but I shall indulge you." Kreix turned to Xelo, who was clearly in a rush. Considering how time lost all meaning when it came to Kreix, this merely came as impatience, although next to Marcos, Xelo was probably the one whose despair Kreix could actually sympathize with. If he had the heart to feel sympathy, that is. Remembering how you're supposed to feel was always quite troublesome.

"Ah yes, you said you wanted your mother back, correct? Since all of us are here, I can tell you all about what is most important: The Keyblade. It is a weapon that is crucial to our plans, for it is our only hope of completing Kingdom Hearts. Simply destroying the Heartless will not be enough. A Heartless that is destroyed by the Keyblade has its heart return to Kingdom Hearts, but a Heartless destroyed by any weapon, even our own, will simply be revived after a short while. The Keyblade choose its wielder, however. The Heartless are drawn to the power of the Keyblade, so we must gather the Heartless and seek it out."

[center]***[/center]

"I know it's a lot to take in, but you'll see that it's all really soon enough. See that bookshelf over there?" Balthazar pointed to shelf filled with strategy guides to role-players. Balthazar held his hands in a circle, and a ball of energy formed within it. He launched the ball at the bookshelf, blasting it to smithereens. With a snap of his fingers, the bookshelf reformed itself, and the books torn apart from the blast were returned to their former state. "Now, was that real enough for all of you?"

James took the dragon statue, but this time it's behavior was different. The dragon stood on James' hand for longer, looking at something. Balthazar followed its gaze, and could see that it was intrigued by whatever was in James' bag. Balthazar pointed at it. "It seems to like what you're carrying with you. Mind if I see it?" The dragon moved away from James' hand, and Balthazar took it, holding it out for Viola.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

[center][i][url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kizq-osB-2E]Kingdom Hearts 2 OST ~ Magical Mystery[/url][/i][/center]

Trevor watched as Balthazar shot the bookshelf with an energy ball, then seeing it quickly reform with a snap of his fingers. His mouth laid agape as he couldn't stop staring at the bookshelf. He slowly moved his hand to his arm, pinching it. [color=#daa520]"Ow!" [/color]It was official, he wasn't asleep...and this was no dream or some convoluted vision brought on by any drugs. [color=#daa520]"Y-Yeah...that's cool!!" [/color]Trevor said with a smile. He couldn't believe something like that just happened, but this was....this was just amazingly awesome!!! [color=#daa520]"Old guy...wait no...Balthazar, I think that's right. Mr. Balthazar, h-how did you learn how to do something like that?" [/color]he had to get his cellphone out and stop his music, as he was too excited over this just to listen to his music.

[Kōsuke Ueki]

After having a minute to breathe and think this through, Ryan had come to a semi-conclusion: Everything that's just happened to him is happening in real life and he's not going crazy. He also comes to realize that he has the potential to be a sorcerer one day. To think, just because he wanted to take interest in fantasy games, he got the chance of a lifetime. Ryan finally has the inspiration for his first book. It'll be a Fantasy novel set in modern times in which may confuse his readers. But hey, it'll be a way to explain his travels through his perspective. However, if he has any intention on writing his story, he'll need everybody on board. But in a sense, his travels will be journalized so that he can look back at them for anything in particular that might come in handy in the future. He can only hope it'll work like that.

Ryan then began to notice James walk up to the statue, and something different happened than the last two attempts. It seemed as though the dragon has caught eye of something on James' person. He then looked closer and noticed a book, but it was nothing like the kinds of books he's seen. He can only assume it's a kind of spell book not of this world, but that was only a guess in his mind. When Balthazar took notice as well, Ryan finally said, "[color="#b22222"]Looks like a book, but nothing I've seen before.[/color]" he said. "[color=#b22222]You think it could be a spell book?[/color]" He then turned his attention to James. "[color=#b22222]Something about what you have on you is giving the dragon interest. Care to explain what it is before we go any further?[/color]" Ryan seemed to be more talkative than usual. But that's just his curiosity kicking in again.

[Merci]

Viola nodded, as if she had been expecting it, before turning to the guy she had followed all the way here. So the three guys here were going to become sorcerers? Interesting, though nobody at her school was ever going to believe her if she told them. She watched as Ryan and James both put their hands into the dragon statue, and it reacted.

"Oh yeah, by the way, can I see that book of yours you had earlier?" She asked, but...he seemed too preoccupied with the statue. She frowned for a moment, and then realized something, her eyes widening in surprise. "Wait...the four of you just met?"

Shaking her head, she replaced it with an excited grin as the sorcerer blew up a bookshelf and then repaired it again, effortlessly. Despite this scientific anomaly, the girl didn't seem surprised at the existence of magic at all. Of course, she might just be going insane here, but even if she was, this delusion was more than real enough to believe in. Afterwards, both the sorcerer and Ryan also took an interest in the book that had originally attracted her all the way here. But, then she noticed that the sorcerer was offering the dragon statue to...[i]her.[/i]...

"M- me?" Viola asked timidly, her smile twitching a bit. It wasn't that she was afraid of accepting responsibility or anything. "Uh, look, Balthazar Blake...see, here's the thing. I kinda followed this guy," she pointed to James, "To this game shop. I admit, I admit, I [i]was[/i] searching for this place for like hours, since there were rumors about this place not being what it seemed, but I just seemed to be...constantly misdirected to other places, you know? I don't normally get lost, even when I don't know the place. And in the end, I only found this place at last when I followed [i]this guy[/i] here. He was pretty suspicious, hehe~ his face was buried in that tome, and he didn't seem aware of his surroundings at all. So, uh, those three guys might've been drawn here by some mysterious magical force which I'm sure you set into motion, but I wasn't, I just followed the guy who [i]was[/i] drawn by it. They found it easily, I'm guessing. [i]I[/i], on the other hand, searched for hours and didn't find it. And so, uh- uh, um."

She cut herself off, after realizing she had accidentally stumbled into a wall of text.

"What I'm trying to say is this." Viola said clearly, looking up at the man, trying to have a calm smile on her face. "I found this place by choice, not by chance. And although I'd love to have magical powers, I just don't expect this statue to react to me."

With that done, she then moved her left hand into an opened position, ready to receive the dragon in doubt.

[Kōsuke Ueki]

Ryan then heard Viola say a particular word he was looking for. "[color=#b22222]Spell [b]tome[/b]![/color]" he said to himself. "[color=#b22222]That's the word I was looking for.[/color]" He then listened to what Viola was talking about, and he wanted to stop her to tell her to relax and just say what was on her mind. But, he didn't get the chance to say anything because she was already moving towards the statue. "[color=#b22222]You shouldn't doubt something before it happens, uh, Viola, was it?[/color]" And with what Ryan said, he was being reasonable. He was trying to make sure thing don't go down a road he wouldn't expect. So, he waited to see a reaction towards Viola touching the statue, though he wonders as to how James' spell tome caught more interest from the dragon statue than the rest of us. Eh, it'll probably come to make sense soon enough. As of now, he's got the weirdest way to possibly start off his book, but he'll need something else to be able to start it off right and get his readers interested off the bat. Only time will tell what will happen next.

[Yosuke-kun]

People walked along the loud crowded Manhattan streets, none of them sparing a second glance at the young boy slumped against the cold brick wall. That was how Manhattan was. So many people trying to go about there own business, all of them completely ignorant to those around them, simply trying to finish their own business. But this boy was different. He carefully eyed each of the passerby's with care. It'd been a rather long day for young Shuren. Worse than the length however, he hadn't managed to succeed with a single one of his marks, and thus hadn't eaten yet that day. It wasn't that they caught him exactly, they just never had anything useful, aside from the occasional few dollars. He breathed out softly, knowing that if he didn't return to his fence with something useful he'd go another day without food.

[i]Maybe this area's just no good.[/i] he thought as he pushed of a wall, and carefully snatched what appeared to be a gold Rolex off a mans wrist. It was probably fake, but this was better than returning empty handed. He walked at an average pace, partly because he didn't want to draw attention to himself, and partly because he knew he'd have a solid half hour before the man even noticed it was gone. He'd be too fixated on his own business to notice another's had momentarily intertwined. It was a somewhat sad thought in Shuren's opinion, but this was how his life had always been. Even with his small groups of friends, he'd been in the background, almost never noticed, it wasn't that he was quiet, or unsocial, that's just how things went, and Shuren never minded.

For a moment, Shuren had become like the rest of the city, too fixated on his own schedule to notice the ones around him, but was snapped back when he heard the news broadcast on the TV of a nearby electronic store. "[i]Yet another teen disappearance in the Manhattan area, following the same pattern as the incident two years ago in which the girl who'd vanished's parents were reported missing before her. Like the others, this one was an only child with no real merits to speak of, but went missing all the same. Police still have no leads on who is behind this string of kidnappings, but they're suspecting that it's a part of some secret drug war.[/i]

Shuren sighed and rolled his eyes at the last comment. He knew better than most that this had nothing to do with a drug war. After all, in reality, he was the first victim, he was just never seen already, and therefor was lucky enough to go unnoticed by the kidnapper. It wasn't as if he could do anything about it now though That happened two years ago, and if the police couldn't find him, what makes him think he can? [i]Because I know things the police don't... [/i]This was true too. The police had no idea what they were doing. They'd barely checked Shurens house. If they had, they'd have known that there was no way a human could have left that little evidence.

He stopped again while walking, but this time for another reason. He'd felt a small impulse to enter the small store he found himself in front of, but he'd no idea why. He'd never heard of [background=rgb(251, 253, 254)][font="tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif"]Balthazar Blake's Fantasy Game Shop, but yet he felt he wanted to enter. After a long consideration, he decided there was no harm in at least looking. He walked up to the entrance, placed his hand on the knob, then stopped. This was the kind of place that others who didn't exactly like him might be. That, and he'd lifted his share of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards back when he was younger. Walking in through the front door may not be the best idea. He let go of the knob, and moved around to the back of the shop, where he found a window that'd been conveniently left open, almost as if he was expected to come through here. This was his best entrance though, so he ignored that thought, and hoisted himself through.[/font][/background]

[Phantom Roxas]

"I was taught by the great Merlin himself," Balthazar told Trevor. "This dragon is his ring, and he has entrusted me with finding his successor, the Prime Merlinean. The ring will choose who among you is the Prime Merlinean." Viola tried to explain herself, saying what led her here. Ryan and Trevor fell for the ruse, but this girl was drawn here by a chase. Coincidence? No, it was [i]destiny[/i]. Balthazar placed the dragon in her open hand, and the dragon sprung to life again. It moved around her hand, but rather than leap back into the box, it clung to her finger. It's wings folded up, and the ring formed on her finger.

"So it's you," Balthazar said. "You are the Prime Merlinean. That means you have the potential to be the greatest sorcerer there ever was." He looked at the three boys, who had encouraged a response from the dragon, but not as much as Viola did. "I will take all four of you on as my apprentices. I believe that what James has with him is known as an encantus."

Balthazar heard a creak, and turned to see another boy sneaking in. "Yeah, don't think I'm not going to notice that."

[Kidd Buu]

Xelo answered Kreix's question with a nod as he continued to talk about the keyblade. After Kreix finished talking Xelo wondered what were they gonna do while they waited for the keyblade to choose its wielder. "Kreix, what do you suppose we do until the keyblade appears? Me personally. I say you let us loose, in pairs if you have too I mean I can't be the only person thinking this , but what better way can we learn how to develop our powers? We could stay here, but I refuse to....Staying in this castle isn't bringing me any closer to my mother." Xelo expected Kreix to snap on him and maybe punish him or to agree with him and let them leave. "So which is it Kreix? will you allow your birds to fly? or will you clip their wings?"

[Merci]

The girl stared down blankly at her finger, as the dragon reacted, and then turned into a kind of ring around it. Her smile faltered, but then came back up. A reaction different from the other three boys, but she couldn't understand why. Oh, so maybe this was the dragon's way of telling her that she was unworthy, right? After all, she did chase someone else more worthy here, so surely she wasn't...

But then Balthazar swiped away that possibility with the declaration that she of all people...was [i]the[/i] Prime Merlinean. The successor to the great Merlin from Arturian tales. Not a boy as should be expected by a normal person, but a girl. Her. There must have been some kind of mistake...but maybe there wasn't. It couldn't be that hard to accept, could it? She could accept the existence of magic, but she had never imagined herself to be a possible user of it, let alone the potential greatest sorcerer there ever could be.

With her free hand, she took off her glasses for a moment to look at the ring with her own two eyes, just to confirm that it wasn't all a dream. And it wasn't. It was all real.

"I'm...not sure what to say." She admitted, shaking her head for a bit to try and get a growing smile off her face, before giving up. "Well, I guess I should um, introduce myself. I'm Viola, and I moved here to Manhattan a few months ago..."

The four of them were now all going to become his apprentices, to become sorcerers themselves, she herself the very greatest. The power was very promising and all, but was she truly ready to accept such responsibility? Was she even capable of utilizing this power, without accidentally blowing stuff up? [i]...and can this power perhaps...bring the dead back to life...?[/i]

Her growing train of thought was cut off when Balthazar noticed another boy, one that had entered quietly without a word, compared to her overly loud entrance. Somehow, that cheered her up, and she smiled. The future couldn't be predicted, but with great power comes great responsibility. Hopefully, that applied to real life as well.

"So should I take off this ring and let him hold it too, or...?" Viola asked, turning back to Balthazar. She may as well start calling him Master, seeing as how they were his apprentices.

[Phantom Roxas]

"A good question, Xelo. Yes, I think it would serve you best if you honed your skills. Now Lexamus, I trust that you'll leave this castle alone once we depart?" Getting the Keyblade wielder was a part Kreix was afraid to admit he hadn't thought of yet. At least Xemnas knew about the Keyblade wielder, but Kreix didn't have someone worth manipulating. "The Heartless seek out the Keyblade, as if it was a sort of beacon. Follow the Heartless, and we find the Keyblade."

[center]***[/center]

Balthazar shrugged. "I suppose we could give him a chance now that he's come all the way here." He held his hand out to Viola, asking for the ring. "It'll be quick. The ring is yours now, and I only need to test his potential for magic."

[Love of Ghibli]

Once again not saying anything because he didn't have anything worth saying stood Nerhyx the silent buter nobody. The show that was put on before him was rather entertaining seeing as these two elite nobodies were having a "man-off". Such egos he would think if he developed that sort of will power, but now that he has conceded that Kreix is his new master Nerhyx has no need or such. Kreix went on to explain that about the proper way to defeat the heartless and these keyblade-thingys. From simple context clues Nerhyx assumed they were special swords with the hilts shaped like keys. He was somewhat correct.

"Well were not all of us attacked by Heartless my master?" He asked with genuine concern. "Does that mean at some point we all were chosen to be wielders of keyblades? It matters not though. Thy will be done and I will make sure we gather as many heartless as necessary to make sure your plans come to fruition." Nerhyx ended with a bow to show his respect to his superior. "My only question is where you like us to strike first?"