Boreas' response made Takehiko cross his arms. He knew that game. It wasn't anything you needed to do in a take-no-prisoners scenario, but it didn't mean Take wasn't equipped to prepare in the event of a revolt in order to stop it. He didn't like it, and that probably showed. But he understood. As Gero began to speak again, addressing everyone's questions about the Seven, he found himself staring again, trying to put the pieces together. When they were dismissed, Take just finally decided to let it go. While he didn't like the idea of having one of the princesses lost out there when it came down to the wire, it was better to bunker down and at least prepare for the final outcome. As Take stepped back and was ready to pretty much leave by the time Tinarah was told she could go, he looked away and... simply heard Gero's voice disconnected from his body. The boy's eyes widened as he quickly looked back at Gero and whispered, "Wait... you're..." Spoiler: Episode Takehiko: Part 4 The Power to Protect Others Incandescent Peaks was lively that night. With a few workers finishing up fixing houses after the previous attack, the rest were all gathered in the main hall of their village. It was a celebration. Despite a hefty loss of soldiers from the battle a week ago, the dragons had been temporarily thwarted after managing to kill their reigning prince. They weren't exactly able to get the leader yet, but after a major blow like that there was no way they would come back without heavy rest. It wasn't a celebration in a sense that everyone was laughing and dancing, it was a feast in celebration of their survival and to honor those who had fallen in battle. It very much was not a feast they had often, but all of the families of the town were there enjoying the company of each other. Hotaka was walking amongst the soldier families, regarding them all with the closest to a smile the man could muster. He soon found himself at the table of a family he had particular interest in. A woman and a man were helping to keep their youngest from screaming for being tired and impatient. Hotaka spoke with a softness to his voice, "Noboru. Chisaki. I'd like to offer my sincerest condolences for your loss. Iwao was a fantastic soldier, and more importantly a gifted commander. His sacrifice I ensure you is not in vain." The elder looked at the rest of the family there and paused at an empty seat and asked, "You seem to be missing a son, any idea where he is?" Shoji, sitting a little upright in his chair upon their family being addressed by the High Elder, opened his mouth to speak before the red haired boy next to him placed a hand on his shoulder, slightly aggressively and spoke up, "Takehiko just went to the bathroom, I'm sure he'll be back soon." "You're lying." Shoji grumbled under his breath while Yasushi shot a glare at him. Hotaka looked to the two boys and replied, "Oh I'm sure he will be. It isn't exactly normal for someone to skip out on a celebration like this. I'll be sure to come back later." He walked towards another table and Shoji shoved Yasushi's hand off of him, "Why would you lie to the High Elder like that?" "Look, I don't know where Take is but I don't want him disciplined for still trying to process how to grieve properly." Yasushi crossed his arms and looked to the door, "You know how he is with food, I'm sure he'll be here." "He needs to learn to grow up." Shoji scoffed as he took a sip of water, "Iwao died for the village and was glad to do so. The sooner he accepts that, the sooner he'll realize how dramatic he's being." On the outskirts of the village towards the graveyard, the light of a lantern kept a small area easy to spot from a distance. The grave marker in the place was a temporary one, as time passed and more forgot about the person, the gravemarker was removed and a new one was placed instead. Kneeling beside the grave was a small, ten year old boy with his hair grown out pretty long. Enough to cover the boy's face if he tried. The boy was crying, but trying not to be too loud as he held back his volume. As a result, his sobs almost sounded like hiccups as they occasionally burst out. The boy rubbed his face to wipe away tears as he spoke to the gravestone quietly, like he was afraid his voice would echo too far if he was any louder, "Iwao come back... please..." he sniffled and squeaked out through tears, "You never finished teaching me how to block Shoji's hits. We-we never got the chance to say goodbye... please come back..." The lantern flickered and in the momentary lapse of light a figure had appeared. "Loss can remind us of how short our lives can be." A gravelly man's voice came. "Of course, I shouldn't be one to talk. I have lived a very long life. There was a dark sense of humor about his tone. Right beneath the lantern stood a man in a brown robe, its hood up, and leaning against an old cracked walking stick. "I am sure other have told you to be proud of your brother, to remember him as a hero, but I am sure that is hardly a comforting thought. After all, all the praise in the world cannot bring him back." The weight of his tone gave the young boy a sense that this man too had felt loss before a great number of times. The man slowly began to walk towards Take hardly appearing to lean on the cane anymore as he did so. Soon he stood in front of the boy and looked down at the grave, speaking more quietly now as he offered the boy a choice. "You cannot bring him back, Takehiko. But if you had the power to keep others from feeling the pain that you are right now, would you accept it?" Takehiko was surprised and scared at first when the man spoke. He'd stood up from his spot where he was kneeling and looked at the man. He was at first worried it was an adult who was going to yell at him for being not only away from the celebration, but also because he was out of the village at night. But from the way he spoke, Take only became more confused. The closer the man got to him, the more Take backed away just in case something happened. At his last question, Take stared skeptically. He seemed to think about it a minute before the boy stopped standing as defensively and stood up straight before answering, "That depends on if that power is good or bad. But if I had the power to protect those I care about, I would." "Power cannot be good or bad, child." He answered calmly, looking down at Takehiko though his face was obscured in darkness. The man then held up his cane and in a flash of light it transformed into an otherworldly blade with a curved hand guard that extended to cover his hand from two sides. A chain with a strange golden insignia at its end hung down from the pommel and the tip of the blade formed a sharp looking shape that almost appeared to be axe-like in nature. If one stepped back and squinted it might have appeared to vaguely resemble an old key. "This is what is known as a keyblade." "The only things good and evil are the choices we make. If you believe you have it in you, if you believe you can one day take hold of this power and use it to protect those around you, then take hold of this blade." The man knelt down and extended his hand to hold the keyblade's grip closer into arm's reach for the boy. The boy recoiled a moment at the suddenness of the weapon appearing in his hand. When the cloaked figure explained what the weapon was, the boy looked in curiosity at it closer. But once the man started speaking again, Take listened intently. When he finished, Take looked down at the grip and then back at the man. He looked a mixture of curious and skeptical of the scenario. He reached his hand out for it but pulled back slightly in hesitation for a moment. Then after only a few seconds, Take reached out and took hold of the grip. He looked a little nervous and looked at the man asking, "What happens now?" The blade disappeared in a flash of light and the man stood upright once more. He turned away from the young boy and looked at the grave marked for Takehiko's brother. "Nothing." The man stated plainly almost as if a joke had been played on the boy. "Live a life that would have made your brother proud, child. That is the truest way you can honor him." The man turned to begin walking towards the lamp, stopping by it only to look up and watch as it flickered again. He remained still, just staring at it. "The power will come in time, when you are ready. Do not worry. I believe you are worthy of it. The only thing you must do is show yourself that you are worthy." As Takehiko processed the words the man said. He nodded and smiled widely and held up his fist a bit, "I'll become worthy of it. That's a promise." and in a moment, there was a flicker of light that caused Take to shield his eyes. The man was gone. He looked around, running to the other end of the graveyard confused before eventually running back to the gravemarker. He still had far too many questions, but that seemed to be intentional for that man. Take crouched down to pick up the lantern and he looked at the marker with a smile, tears pouring down his face again and said, "I'll make you proud, Iwao. Then I'll be able to use that keyblade. Just you see!" and he looked back towards the village, running his way back. As he stood, almost frozen in realization, he was pulled out of his mind when Atmos grabbed his hand to try and lead him out, making a small comment about getting out of there. He looked to her and nodded before Take followed her out, looking back a bit at Gero before leaving the room. The boy was processing a lot at that moment, and trying not to let it show. Takehiko took a deep breath and when out of the room he pulled away from her and asked, "So um... are..." his thoughts were lost completely and a sudden tear went down his face and he looked scared and wiped it away, "Are we just gonna keep up this... thing where we pretend to help just to throw us off our trail? Really? That doesn't... that doesn't seem fruitful..." he suddenly realized how much he was falling apart and he backed away quickly and said, "I-I'm... I'm heading outside... I won't go far..." and he quickly walked away. When Take made it outside, alone. He closed his eyes as he held back sadness, shock, anger, pain, happiness. He tried to rub his wrist as he whispered to himself, "Good soldiers put their feelings last... good soldiers put their feelings last... good soldiers..."
Kaida was a bit surprised when Ignis asked about her outfit and she looked at her coat and said, "Well, I didn't actually pick out my outfit. When I ended up accidentally on Central Haven I was wearing uniform from my homeworld and uh..." she crossed her arms and continued, "Master Sora thought it'd be funny if I kept up the color scheme and it just kind of became a thing. Reminds me of home though." she looked at her jacket and said "The best thing I can offer is that you should try and wear for maximum efficiency more so than design. Like, it's cool to be this kid over here with a cloak." Kaida replied pointing to Beuce for emphasis, "But what good is it gonna do for you when you're trying to evade someone's fire spell?" "I like to dress like this so if I end up in the cold I can adjust everything." she pulled down her sleeves on her jacket and then her pant legs and shrugged, "It's better to overdress than underdress sometimes anyway, so if it gets too hot." Kaida pulled her jacket off and she just had a plain jane gray shirt under it, she tired her jacket to her waste and then fingergunned at Ignis, "And then bam, it's kind of stylish having it like this. And that's my recipe for fashion, Ignis. It's not amazing but that's what I've got." she unfastened her jacket from her waste so she could put it back on and cuff her sleeves and legs again,.
As the cling happened, Kaida gasped out and grabbed her hand in pain, still trying to grin through gritted teeth in pain as she spoke out, "No way, I took the mark of mastery at Central Haven too. Twice. Once when Hikaru was in a coma, he woke up that day on the second one. It was so strange." she rubbed her hand until the pain was out before taking a deep breath, "Well. At least this means Mizu can't hold this over me anymore. Well, I suppose she could for me having to take it three times, but some masters take the mark of mastery more than once. Mine had to take it twice before he got his mastery."
When the battle was complete, Kaida wasn't focusing on anyone as much as focusing in her own head to contain her own excitement while she was still in this world. Seeing Simba reclaim his spot was pretty amazing, but she jumped when Aux started roaring. She heard Hikaru's response and couldn't help herself as she started laughing a lot more than she should have. When Timon and Puumba came up to ask what they would do now, she didn't reply. She wasn't sure how much she could realistically reply with, and when they gave them a new keyblade. She smiled a lot and said, "Well, thank you pipsqueak and baconbits. This mutant bird's gonna go now. Take care of yourselves." she flapped her wings a bit and before leaving through the portal, Kaida ran around one more time letting out "kweh"s before finally going through the portal. As the yellow-haired teen walked through the portal, she was a bit thrown off by how tall she suddenly was again and she held her hands out in balance as she walked slowly forward, getting adjusted to having legs again before she ran at the group going, "Yoooo!" she specifically ended up running between Kel and Stratos and wrapped her arms around them to pull them closer as she grinned widely, "Did we do it? Are we all gonna be masters?" she was a bit over excited but she let go of them and jumped a bit, throwing her fist up in the air laughing and saying, "I have failed these things two times before, and finally, finally the third one is gonna be it! Oh man, if only Seiza were here to see this, he'd probably wonder if I cheated on it. Jokingly of course." Kaida was bouncing back and forth a bit with a lot of energy and held up her hand towards Beuce for the high fiviest of fives as she said, "We did it!"
30 crowns to strength 30 crowns to magic 10 crowns to defense Buying Thunder Bell (1000 munny) Buying Blessed Thief (2000 munny) Buying Splattercombo (850 munny) Buying Poison Edge (150 munny) Buying Vorpal Blitz (400 munny) Red Mage gained Equipping Red Mage Equipping Oathkeeper and Whittling Promises 4,400 munny spent --- MATH TIME MP- 5(+3) Strength- 25 (+9) Defense- 12 Magic- 25 (+6) Crowns left- 7 Munny left- 640 --- Now if you excuse me... I have a little someone I need to defeat before the big battle...
When Cerdic looked at her asking about a castle, Mora looked a bit surprised before tilting her head, "I wouldn't think you'd forget something like that, but yeah. Nocte Arce. It's this old dusty castle no one uses anymore since it's so far away from the town. But we're already kind of close to it here. Old Man Ryce used to use it as his home. Now, trees and a rock... just sounds like the main field at the front of the castle. It's separated from the rest of the woods so it kind of stands out but nothing too spectacular." Mora shifted away from the orb to keep her hands from getting burned off in curiosity. She turned to towards the rest of the group, dusting herself off a bit before saying, "I know a way, not really a shortcut since that involves cutting through the woods on step mountains. Though, how are we gonna do this? I can't imagine leaving this area open is the best idea, but I don't know how fruitful it'd be to take everyone to Nocte Arce." Mora felt a bit of pain and pressed her side the slightest bit to comfort it before saying, "So should we all go anyway, or should we split up? If so, how'd we do it. I imagine Daeni and Cerdic would be more helpful heading with me. Though, would Alder and Chrono be alright alone?"
Takehiko's silence through this was perhaps not that stand out since others were silent, but it was not because he didn't have moments where he wanted to speak out. But Take was distracted by something completely different, and that was Gero. Even when the old man was not speaking, when his attentions should have been on Tinarah or Torrin, the boy was staring at the man. Though know expression laid on the boy's face, the confusion could possibly have been seen in his eyes. There was a... familiarity to this man. But Take was certain he would have remembered this man had he met him. But there was something that sparked an insane familiarity that was driving the boy up the wall. Eventually, there were words that Torrin said that made Take stop and look at the man. He'd already heard Tinarah's story, once with less detail and once with more. When Torrin spoke his side, perhaps there was too much skepticism on his mind. Or perhaps Atmos' training was beginning to sink in a little too much. Maybe it was because he had more reason to care about Tinarah than he did Torrin. But finally Take spoke still in line, "Why though, Torrin?" the boy paused a minute and realized he wasn't clear and further elaborated, "You said the side you were on in the war is worried about maintaining the balance and doesn't want to leave the realm. But you came here to find out how to safely pass into this one? You'd think that would be a strategic disadvantage if that were the case, knowing a way to safely pass while also trying to keep people on the other side of your civil war out of the realm of light. So why did you need to know that in the first place?" Takehiko paused and looked around before he looked straight at Torrin, "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful you're here since you've been more than helpful. And you have given and had more taken from you for the Realm of Light than you necessarily needed to if this is indeed your home. But, well..." Take took a deep breath and grabbed his cast and asked, "How do we know you're doing this for the right reasons? And not for some kind of future benefit?"
When Tinarah mentioned him knowing Stamatis and he rubbed the back of his head, "Well... kind of? We met once, briefly. He speeched at me and left. But he isn't exactly a forgettable guy." when she mentioned having not been around anyone her age in so long, he didn't really know how to reply to that. Sure, he'd gone through a month of intense training, but he wasn't in complete isolation from his age group or anything. So he couldn't imagine having been in Tinarah's shoes. He was ready to comment but Choma walked on in and Take turned his attention towards him and listened to Tinarah's reply. He... wasn't exactly sure what he could add to the conversation in particular. He nodded at her when she had looked towards him when she mentioned the food. He shifted a bit uncomfortably and didn't completely leave the room, but he did find himself shifting towards some food in the kitchen and grabbing some more noms since... well he was still hungry. He almost never ate until he was full.
"Your violin? Yes, actually. When I had found it I carried it around for a bit, but I eventually gave it to Chrono. I... didn't think it was right for me to hold onto it. Especially since Chrono was so worried about you. But yes." Take nodded to her before continuing, "And Choma was worried about you." he didn't elaborate there, because he remembered Choma actually being more focused on Aria being alive and Mika being dead. But he wasn't exactly lying. He noted something that Tinarah said and managed to hold back a chuckle as he spoke, "Of course Stamatis would be into music. He was talking a lot about taking in a moment and meditating and music always seemed like something meditation-like to people. I don't know though, not really a music person myself. But, that sounds like it'd work." he thought about it a minute before looking at her, "Don't worry about becoming readjusted immediately, okay?" he rubbed the back of his head and said, "I don't... like to admit this. But, I still haven't adjusted to the ways of life outside of my homeworld. And it's been over a month for me. If you miss what you've called home for five years, that's okay. I'd love to hear any fun stories you had with Stamatis and uncle Frost if we ever get the time and you ever want to tell them."
When Tinarah said she wanted to go back to that place, he was almost shocked. He knew that she probably had emotional investment wherever that was after being there for... five years in her time. But he still didn't know why someone would want to go back to a place like that if it caused them so much pain. He tried not to think about it too much for his own sake more so than hers. When he got the dish put in it's proper place and Tinarah asked about his hand. He was thrown off, since he hadn't expected it, but eventually looked to it and said, "Oh, in the last world we went to things got a little... intense. A cannon fell on it when I was pinned down. It seems to be healing up pretty quickly though, which is odd, but I'm not gonna complain too much. It's my dominant hand and I'm not liking being a righty right now." he tried flexing his hand a bit but it hurt, so he stopped.
ALL GLORY TO THE DARK LORD
HEAR ME SAY YOU DON'T
YOU DON'T HEAR ME SAY
-deep breath- WHEN YOU WALK AWAY
fancy letters?
yes but think of the ammo you'd have an admin with the name Amaury for example
