Hard Stop! A Chaotic Torrent! [open]

While the sky may have started out partly cloudy this afternoon, within a few minutes it would seem like a major storm was brewing. Particularly over the side of the mountain, clouds seemed to be forming at a rapid rate. It was a light gray cluster that slowly began to expand, getting darker as the cluster grew out. This elongated process would eventually create a patch of pitch-black clouds, which now also expanded in height. It never got any closer to the ground than where it started, but they definitely began climbing up.

A few minutes later, these clouds started to look unstable. It wasn't a rapid motion, but they looked as though they were shifting uncomfortably. It was similar to something bubbling up, looking as if it were ready to burst at any moment. Eventually the clouds began to surge with lightning - though it was no ordinary lightning. The bolts were neon yellow or a deep purple, and instead of striking the ground, it would quickly arc back onto itself. It was an incredibly violent yet neatly contained storm that brewed. The only way it could seemingly cause damage is if a bird flew too close to one of the bolts.

Eventually the expansion and upward progression of the monstrous, jet-black, lightning-surged storm would slow to a crawl, and merely rage on in its place for a little while longer. Anyone who stared might be caught off guard by what happened however, as a bright, blinding flash of light appeared in the center of the bottom of the storm cluster. It would dim pretty quick, and then what appeared to be a rapidly swirling funnel of fluorescent pink energy began expanding from where the flash initially occurred. It extended to about halfway to the ground at a slow rate until another flash of energy, this time moving, appeared at the base and shot directly to the ground. The funnel retracted as slowly as it initially expanded, reaching back to the cloud. The whole encapsulated storm began to swirl along with the collapsed funnel, dissipating into the air and clearing the way for a bright, sunshiney day once again.

This particular mountain had a path going to the base, leading to flat area just outside the city. Two thirds up the mountain path was the impact site. A ball of bright energy slowly dimmed down and formed into a young man. He definitely seemed older than a teenager, but wasn't quite adult-looking either. He stood with his arms to his side and his eyes closed. Once the light finished clearing, the man blinked his eyes open but immediately shut them again and brought his hand to his face. It was like being in the dark for a few hours and then suddenly turning on a light. Taking a deep breath, he tried again.

Opening them a lot slower this time, they adjusted. Everything was incredibly blurry at first, looking around there just seemed to be fuzzy patches of blue, green, brown, and gray. It slowly came into focus, as his newly-formed human eyes began to translate the open world once again. Blinking a couple more times, everything was in focus and clear. He looked down at his arms and hands, twisting them, making a fist and releasing it, curling his fingers, otherwise testing his movement. He looked further down at his legs and lifted them by the knee starting with the left, then the right. He looked back up and kept his feet forward as he twisted his torso to the left, then the right, stretching it out. He rotated both of his whole arms a couple times after. Seemed like everything was in shape.

'Perfect. Guess reforming a human body wasn't so difficult after all,' he thought to himself. Closing his eyes again, he picked up on the energy of the world. While he couldn't see the colors or the details of the landscape, he could see a dimly-lit grid of the field, but so much farther beyond what his eyes could pick up. He could see the grid expand on both sides and behind him. The world betrayed its secrets to him. This was no other than the Land of Dragons. It was the same as his first adventure, an uncountable amount of years ago.

He expanded his sense, and felt further than that. He could feel the souls of others, from the energy they projected. Everyday people going about their business. He expanded into the universe, searching for anything he might recognize. He didn't find anything. No presence in this plane of existence is one he's encountered before, or at least, remembers encountering. But this was good, it was a clean slate. The man took a deep breath. He didn't have to run anymore.

With that revelation squared away, he looked down at his palm and formed a small, softly glowing orb of Chaos energy. His facial expression hardly changed, but he was disappointed. The power he once possessed was merely a memory now. This fragment of what was left... it was weak. He was weak. 'Going to have to lay low and play nice for a while.' Then he dismissed the orb, reared his arm back and thrust it forward in order to... nothing happened. He appeared to be in a defensive stance where he was grabbing something, but nothing was there. '...And find a sword.' It seemed he couldn't summon a weapon at this point in time. "I'll just..." escaped his mouth under his breath.

Although he held his hand out again but hesitated. His power wouldn't work this time. He couldn't just think 'Blacksmith' and open a portal demanding it to lead him where he wanted. He had no endpoint to connect his portal to. He needed a way to know where he was going. There was no way to picture what he wanted, either. The man let out an annoyed sigh. Part of laying low was avoiding interaction as much as possible, but it seemed like he needed to do the worst case scenario: go to the city and ask around. His old reflexes of trusting nobody would surely haunt him, but he kept reminding himself that it was in the past now. He would have to get through this one way or another. Though, until he found a sword, he might not be able to properly defend himself just in case...

Regardless, the man began a long trek down the mountain. There was some business to take care of.

Earlier this Morning...

In perhaps the most poorly constructed Gummi Ship known to man, Krysta Hyalus landed nose-first into the Land of Dragons. The Terrible Tonberry, as its former owner (before Krysta had stolen it out of the dock,) had called it, seemed to have an extremely appropriate name for itself. Twice, the Fire-G's stalled in the middle of trying to maneuver. Part of the Aero-G on the right side had fallen off. Neither of the cannons were functional, which was a serious problem when you were trying to get through Heartless. The whole thing was a mess -- whoever had built it, had done a shoddy job -- it was a glorious mess of different-colored Gummis all stuck together in a terrible disaster. It was less of a ship, and more like a giant cube with pointy triangles glued on top. You couldn't even see the cockpit for all the other stuff that was in the way, which made flying it even worse than it sounded. She was barely tall enough to see over the control panel as it was without all of these Dispel-G's in the way.

Needless to say, Krysta was not thrilled having crashed her only method of travel, but was thankful she'd at least managed to dump herself in a quiet part of this world. It had been a long, long trip from Traverse Town, but she figured the best way to find new and exciting materials for her designs...would be to look in places that were obscure.
It had been a complete accident when she'd found this world -- (she'd intended to stop by Radiant Garden to speak with some of the Craftsmoogles there) -- but looking around, she was rather pleased. Bamboo towered over her in enormous emerald stalks the width of her arm, small in comparison to the great, ebony mountains that framed the area. A beautiful field, blooming with rice stalks, lay before her. There were several people working in the watery plantation, all who seemed to have completely ignored her presence here. Further beyond lay a valley, where the Moogling Marksman noticed a bustling villa filled with houses, surrounded by a wall. At the very least, there was civilization.

There didn't seem to be any unique or interesting specimen of Heartless or Nobodies wandering around, however. Krysta wilted. She'd been hoping for some manner of enemy to fight, or at the very least, some form of synthesis item to pick up. She glanced at her scanner. Nothing.
"Ah, nuts," the tween grumbled. "Looks like I came all this way for nothing. Still," she continued, gazing longingly at the town ahead, "I'm sure there's bound to be someone who knows something about what I'm looking for...locals are always perceptive."
Then again, she noted to herself, looking down at her clothes, she wasn't very...subtle. People weren't supposed to know there were other worlds, after all...it'd cause all sort of problems, at least that's what she'd been told by the Chief Moogle... Krysta wondered how her family was doing now...

Nope! No moping! Great craftsmen never mope! They go on glorious quests! She had to begin her glorious quest to find something interesting and new to take home and study! Something as silly as her attire wasn't going to get her down! She was resourceful! She was the greatest human Synthy this side of the universe!
Glancing around, Hyalus spotted something that might be of some use to her -- a clothesline, where several damp pieces of clothing sat in the morning sun. The line was connected to a small farmhouse, which made her feel a little guilty. It was bad enough she'd already stolen this Gummi Ship, was she really going to resort to stealing people's clothes, too?
Was she going to give up on her glorious quest before it had even started? The answer to that, was no, so the answer to whether or not she'd take something that didn't belong to her, unfortunately, was yes. The very least she could do was leave some Munny in the same way she'd left some for the man who'd originally owned the Terrible Tonberry...

Yanking a set of clothing off the line, Krysta practically threw her Munny pouch at the front door of the house, and bolted as fast as her legs could carry her out of sight. She felt terrible taking things that didn't belong to her, but what other choice was she being given? The Chief had wanted her to stay behind and keep studying, but she'd learned everything she needed to know! They wouldn't let kids buy or build Gummi Ships of their own, since people said it was too dangerous to go out at such a young age -- Krysta was almost fourteen! She could take care of herself! With Stiria, Nix, and Fomalhaut by her side, there was nothing that could keep her from completing her glorious quest! And of course, she had her friends, too -- The Onion Knight, the Moomba, the Chocobo, and the Toy Mages -- all of whom would happily protect her!

Hyalus wandered into the little town, curiously gazing at everything she saw. This seemed to be an ordinary village to her, not too unlike Traverse Town, or the Dwarf Woodlands where she'd been born. People went back and forth along the streets, buying goods from vendors, chatting amongst one another, and living their very ordinary lives. Krysta almost got excited when she saw a local smith shop, but her heart fell when she realized that they didn't have a Synthy. It seems they weren't exactly caught up on the latest technology.
The Moogle miss almost immediately regretted giving away all of her munny at once...she was starting to get pretty hungry. She was already bothered with stealing a ship and some clothes, and she wasn't about to make it worse by stealing food. Still, the rumbling in her stomach didn't help things much. She should've packed some provisions before she'd ran away...

In the middle of her thoughts, Krysta heard some people nearby gasping, sounding both fearful and surprised. She hadn't noticed herself until she turned to look at what troubled them, but the sky had very suddenly grown darker. There was one heck of a storm brewing, just beyond the limits of the city, though the Synthy-in-training was pretty sure she'd never seen a thunderstorm be quite so...colorful. Usually when things like that happened in Traverse Town, a Heartless was typically behind it, and--
Hyalus almost jumped up in her excitement. There was a HEARTLESS here -- or rather there -- in the mountains! She could kill it pretty easily, possibly, maybe! Anything making a ruckus THAT big had to drop some big, fat, juicy loot for her to take back home, right? Krysta checked her Synth-Scanner. There was an absurdly large amount of Light and Darkness energy coming from the direction of that weird lightning bolt. There was definitely something over there, no doubt!

She didn't even pause a moment. The novice Synthy scrambled as quickly as her legs could carry her towards the source of the clamor, fingers ready to grab for Stiria and Nix if something went terribly wrong. Hopefully, whatever was up there had died in that spectacular impact...with as much power as there was according to her scanner, she wasn't quite sure if she could handle a Heartless that was capable of fireworks like that.

"There's a big, shiny Bright Gem with my name on it! Probably! The glorious quest continues!"

While knowing that dimensional tears looked absolutely extraordinary at times, he was completely unaware of the spectacle that occurred as he arrived to the mountainside. He wouldn't particularly expect anyone to approach him, but it didn't take long for him to pick up a presence heading his way. From the context of the situation, he could only assume that it was a human, but nothing else. Despite not having really read the energy signature of another human before, the grid laid before him as he closed his eyes showed a humanoid shape. There was nothing else he could tell at this time.

Staying under the radar was barely an option. He didn't want to test his capabilities seeing as they were weak enough so he couldn't teleport, there was no decent place to hide as the trees around didn't have a type of concealing foliage he'd need to depend on, and deviating from the path meant putting his newly-formed human body to a pop physical test. His other temporary rule of playing nice would have to come into play here, seeing as the human was making progress and fast. They were moving faster than he was, for sure.

He desperately needed a plan. There were two logical outcomes: the person approaching him would ignore him, or interact with him. Well, perhaps they weren't even a person, but their shape betrayed that theory. Okay, so there were two outcomes. How would he react to these? If they ignored him, he would ignore them, and there would be no conflict. Ideal scenario, though highly unlikely. He remembers clearly how humans are social creatures, having been one himself originally. If they approached him, he would need two things. A purpose, and an explanation for the dimensional tear this person may have witnessed. It was possible the dimensional tear was unnoticed, so it was a lesser priority.

His purpose? Well, why was he going to town? To get a sword. So, he could merely ask where a blacksmith is located. Higher priority problem solved. Hmm... why was it always the low-probability edge cases that always caused the most trouble? How would he explain the dimensional rift... Well, the luxury of time wasn't particularly on his side. Looking down the mountain, he could certainly see the entity that approached, now with his eyes instead. A girl. The sighting of her made him realize another issue; his otherworldly appearance. He was human-shape himself, however one crucial detail stood out even more so than his black clothing and hair with various shades of blue accents (and even orange on his overshirt), was his eyes.

It wasn't normal for a human to have yellow eyes, and it wasn't normal for a human to have purple eyes, and worse still it wasn't normal for a human's eyes to each have their own color. With his left eye being yellow and his right being purple, he was sure to draw some unnecessary attention. He didn't need to look into a mirror to know that detail about himself. It was part of the power he had inherited. His eyes have always been like this, whether he was human or not. It was another outlier in terms of the conversation that was imminent however.

Being in clear view of each other now, it was time to see what fate had in store for him. He hoped the girl wouldn't stop, but his anticipation geared him up internally on the more realistic assumption that she definitely would. All he needed to worry about now is what she would say.

"I'm. On. A glorious. Quest," Krysta chanted, as she hopped over stones in her path. "A glorious quest for i-temmmmms." She wasn't even paying much attention to the fact that the storm she'd been so intent on checking out had begun to dissipate until she glanced up again.
"Oh no!"
If the storm went away, there was a chance that whatever had caused it had left, too! If whatever had caused it had left, it meant she couldn't slay it! If she couldn't slay it, she couldn't get whatever it dropped! THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF HER GLORIOUS QUEST.

"Crap!" Hyalus shouted, beginning to bolt uphill as fast as she could carry herself. "Crap, crap, crap, crap!"
She hadn't come this far just to flub up. Crap! She absolutely refused to leave until she'd found something interesting! Crap! How could she show her face back in Traverse Town without something incredibly super amazingly awesome?! Crap! It was bad enough she'd be grounded for the rest of forever if she didn't come back with the things she needed! Crap! The Chief would absolutely flay her fanny if she came home empty-handed! Crap! Her Synth-Scanner was still picking up a fairly sizable Light and Darkness energy reading!
NOT crap!

"Oh thank Kupo-po," Krysta breathed, feeling her blood pressure suddenly sink back down to a normal state. Whatever was causing the field, was still around. There was a Bright Gem and a Lucid Gem sitting at the top of that mountain for sure! Maybe it was something even BETTER. Her skin tingled with the thought! A brand-new kind of material, just WAITING to be discovered! A brand-new material that would be discovered, just as soon as she carried her butt up to the peak of this mountain!
Man, it was getting cold, too. These clothes were definitely not the material for scaling large, intimidating rock faces. She'd already had a hard enough time trying to walk in these sandals without falling on FLAT land, let alone trying to reach the top of a very tall, very rocky, very steep mountain. Should've packed a coat....should've packed some provisions...shouldn't have given away all her munny... the Mooglette figured she'd already flubbed up as it was.

Suddenly, her Synth-Scanner went nuts, beeping in insane abandon. Wildly, Krysta whirled around, eyes eagerly searching for some kind of rock-looking thing for her to pluck up.
"Whowhatwhere?!"
There was nothing particularly out of the ordinary, at least on the surface. The tween felt her heart jump into her throat. Please don't tell me I have to actually DIG for this thing! I don't have a shovel!

Just as she was bemoaning her situation, the subtle crunching sound of earth and snow touched her ears. Turning to the source, the young girl noticed a stranger coming her way. Almost immediately, she could tell the guy was what she and the other locals of Traverse Town called..."tourists." Non-locals; people who traveled the worlds, some less conspicuously than others. Occasionally, some of them stayed in their world and became part of the community...others showed up, and poofed just as quickly. Krysta herself didn't mind the tourists so much; they were typically great customers, and some of them even dropped off interesting specimens of crafting materials.
This guy was definitely a tourist. He wasn't even dressed like a local -- at least she'd made some kind of effort to blend in -- blue shirt, gray jacket, strange markings, highlights in his hair just like hers, except definitely darker...big boots... Was this guy new at being a tourist or something? People would figure out he was from the outside in a gnat's breath.

Her scanner was still going off, and she did her best to stifle the beeping. However, the closer this man got to her, the louder and more obnoxious it became. Then, it suddenly occurred to Krysta, that the scanner hadn't been sensing an item...it'd been tracking this guy the entire time!
"Crap," she grumbled under her breath, as she went to face the incoming stranger. "Hey, y'know...you should probably work on your fancy dress there...People are going to know you're a tourist from a whole yalm away. Didn't anybody..."
The tween paused as her eyes met with his. They were, without a doubt, the weirdest colors she'd ever seen -- purple and yellow -- and seemed rather...cold. She raised an eyebrow with interest.
"D-Didn't anybody tell you it's not good to go displaying that there are other worlds out there?" She finished, suddenly remembering she'd been in the middle of a conversation before being stunned. Just as quickly however, she went into a full recovery.
"You...uh, you're headed back from that big lightning storm up there? You didn't happen to see any Heartless...or Nobodies...or...items up there, did ya?"

It was his worst nightmare. Not only did the girl stop and speak to her, to which he stopped to listen as to not appear rude, but the first thing out of her mouth in some sort of unnecessary criticism. What did his clothes have to do with anything? Sure. what she was wearing seemed more normal, but he distinctly remember that adventurers preferred to stand out in order to be recognized by each other, or recognized by citizens in case they required assistance. It's been a very long time since he's been to these worlds, but surely times haven't changed? Her existence is proof enough that adventurers still exist.

Except they're called tourists now, and apparently the worlds were not supposed to be aware of each other. That was... entirely backwards. And what did the clothes have to do with letting others discover the presence of other worlds? The man remained silent for a moment, pondering how he should reply. There was... too much information to process. It was like he landed into a completely different universe, one that may have looked like what he was used to but fundamentally not where he was initially ripped away from. And all it took to figure that out was a comment about his clothes.

Well, it was only theory, but it was strange. Everything about what the girl said was strange. There was no correct answer here. It would take a long story to straighten this mess out. He was glad he remained silent, as the girl seemed to have more to say once she got that criticism of her chest. Apparently there was a lightning storm caused from his dimensional rift, and she was simply on her way to investigate it. Because she didn't draw any conclusions about his connection to the rift, he couldn't claim so anymore. This made things even more difficult. Where should he even start?

"I--" He began to speak but immediately started coughing in a violent fashion, as though he just finished nearly choking to death, with a very loud gasping sound made from an immediate inhale powerful enough to fill his lungs to the brim in an instant. Right, he forgot that when he constructed a body that didn't require oxygen that he still needed the air to use verbal communication. That's solely the reason he still had lungs. Trying to use his voice without any air would be a mistake he'd have to be wary of; though it was peculiar since he swore some speech escaped his breath earlier without any effort, but now...

The man cleared his throat. "Apologies. There are no Heartless, Nobodies, or items up here." His voice started off raspy, but became much clearer toward the end of his sentence. The miracle of using a newly-constructed voice box for the first time. The only problem was, his speech was completely void of emotion, just like his facial expression. There was barely any inflection in any words he spoke. If his voice were any more mechanical he could be easily confused with a robot. He didn't really hear himself speak, so he couldn't really tell whether or not what he sounded like could be an issue. Not that he could fix that anyway, he couldn't feel emotion anymore.

He quickly realized he was fairly blessed however, that someone like this girl was the first to find him. She was aware of this universe's structure, the worlds, the Heartless. Just like an adventurer he would've met. Perhaps, instead of confusing the girl, he would simply have to twist the truth a little. He wanted to understand this universe, if it was indeed a parallel one to the system of worlds he was used to. He wasn't eager to make any friends, but it would be highly beneficial to travel around with someone who knows the ropes to explain things as they go until he got his footing, and his power, back. He could feel it slowly returning as they stood there to talk, but not to any level he'd wager that he could get away with acting how he typically would in any given situation.

This girl wouldn't have his trust right away, but he would pretend to be friendly if only the gain the knowledge he needed. "As for my attire," his voice didn't get any better in the emotions department, but at least the sound of his voice was much more pleasant to listen to now; as pleasant as low-pitch tuning fork was anyway. "I'm not familiar with the customs. I'm from a faraway place where the knowledge of other worlds is not only open but encouraged, and standing out is preferred so that, as what you call 'tourists', may recognize each other." He could feel the air in his lungs getting thin, so he stopped to subtly breathe in, but was more interested in giving the girl a moment to comprehend what he said.

"Perhaps it is fortunate we met." And, as he spoke, he began seeing a plan form. He could get exactly what he want. If he was indeed in a very foreign version of what he thought he called home, a partner would be very beneficial. Blending in was part of laying low, and being accompanied by someone is an incredible aspect of blending in. Plus, they were this universe's equivalent of an adventurer, what he was most familiar with. Most of all, she wanted something he could help with. "I was actually looking for a blacksmith. Perhaps you can direct me, if you're familiar with this land. And, if you're looking for Heartless, I can sense their presence and direct you to their location rather easily. And, if my appearance is truly an issue, would it possible to relate me to the lightning storm? If it was a strange occurrence, me looking strange would be instantly explained."

It was a little risky to suggest he was equated to the storm (not that he knew exactly what it looked like) so casually and perhaps draw the girl to think that he really was the cause of it, though playing it off so lightly himself seemed to counter that logic. It was brought back on the table when he said was a super-foreigner, where the traditions of worlds and adventurers was totally backwards. Hopefully he played his cards right, however.

Oh good. He was friendly.
Friendly, and weirder than a hobo hopped up on Ghyssal Greens. She'd seen more than her fair share of homeless people who couldn't quite understand that the stuff was meant for birds...tweaked out folks who put the word "nuts" on a whole new level. A place where mingling in worldly affairs was welcomed? What kind of narcotics did it take to come up with fairy tales like that?
There was a reason for why things were the way they were, as far as Krysta had been told by the Chief -- the worlds had nearly been destroyed by power hungry nutjobs before -- put the wrong information in the wrong hands, and you could accidentally create a world-destroying psychopath when all you wanted were directions to the bathroom. She wasn't about to risk it, and she definitely wasn't about to let Captain Crazyeyes do the same thing.

After all the coughing, Krysta visibly wilted at the news that there was absolutely nothing having to do with anything she was looking for. Crap! Her glorious quest would simply have to continue...but first, she'd have to give this guy some pointers before he went and did something stupid.

"Look, pal, I don't know what cuckoo tree you fell out of today, but telling people about stuff like that, not a bueno idea," the Mooglette explained. "Some Crazy McNuthead might take that information and start trying to take over worlds or some jibberjabber like that. It's better to avoid all that, you know? Take that guy in the mask, for example. He was obviously cracked way off a level of a hard-boiled egg; going around killing world leaders all willy-nilly like he was on some kind of crusade....lots more than a few blue bloods died in all that mess, as far as I know." She shrugged.
"I was too little to remember any of that anyway, but I learned it in school."

She paused, glancing over his attire again. It was something that would probably be welcome in a place like Traverse Town, or Radiant Garden, but in a world like this one, it stood out like a wolverine juggling chainsaws on a tightrope in the middle of First District, while on fire. Those worlds were more than accustomed to tourists running around. This place was too untouched, too backwater, to get roped into all the mess yet. Best to let them go about in peace.
"If the locals spotted you, they'd know you were a tourist without even knowing what a tourist was. When the daily routine is done over and over again, and you change something, folks are gonna notice, right? The people around here dress differently. Simply. Like this," she emphasized, motioning to herself.
"I'm not really familiar with this place, I kinda just got here. But there was a smithy in town," Krysta continued, jabbing a finger over her shoulder at the city below them. "The tech is a bit crude around here though. I could craft circles around these guys. Blindfolded. In my sleep. If you're interested in pointing me in the direction of something I can murder for goodies, I'd be happy to take you over."

Crap. She was gonna have to keep looking around for something decent to take home. If that lightning storm hadn't been produced by a Heartless...or a Nobody, what caused it? Was that just a natural anomaly that happened around here? This world had seemed pretty peaceful, given the way things were, and the people who had been in the city didn't seem to ACT like that was a normal thing.
Something sure was fishy about it...What if this weirdo had just lied to her or something? He could've just as easily told her there was nothing there to get her to give up! If that was the case, she'd just have to stick with him, and see if he coughed it up somewhere...given how clueless he was about all the basics of going around outside your own world, Hyalus guessed he'd probably be low on Munny. If he DID have something on him, he'd have to exchange it for whatever he was looking for from the blacksmith...and then she'd grab it and run! It was her item, and her glorious quest, and she'd be darned if she was gonna get halted by some cuckoo guy!

Well, it certainly wasn't the most fantastic thing to be talked down to in a matter of such patronizing words. Apparently it didn't matter to her that he wasn't from anywhere remotely close to here, that all places should follow this unspoken rule of keeping the knowledge of the universe sacred. Still, he wasn't in a place to judge and nor did he care being practically insulted, he just wanted a sword and some closer idea where he was. He would probably have to go to Traverse Town again, except he couldn't feel its relative space in this universe. It added to the pile of evidence that this wasn't the realm of Kingdom Hearts he was originally from.

Taking her 'advice' with a grain of salt, the man couldn't care less what the girl said as long as he got what he wanted without too much unnecessary inconvenience. Having a sort of temporary travel guide seemed logical so he wouldn't ditch her that easily yet, especially since he made a humble offer to her. She would go on about the matter of his attire, and instead of arguing over something as pointless as his appearance, he simply closed his eyes after the girl gestured to herself. "Hmm. Clothes fitting the Land of Dragons..." He worked hard on this outfit, but a temporary change would be hardly an issue.

Focusing for just a brief moment, he raised his left arm to the side and snapped his fingers, a human gesture he had not forgotten from his past, and his entire body glowed to a medium intensity for half a second, to which once he was clearly visible again his entire outfit had changed: a loose satin robe colored black with azure lining, with a tight gray shirt underneath and loose satin pants. The cuffs were bound closer to the skin, so that while poofy none of his clothes would slide. JeY opened his eyes again. "I hope this will suffice."

The colors might've been attention-grabbing and slightly outlandish, but the style was spot-on. It might have been weird to the girl that he could change on the spot, but if his energy didn't allow him to craft simple fabrics then he would've landed on this world completely naked. Clothes on a Shadowbeing was just absurd, but not a detail he carelessly left out when forming his body. The clothes themselves didn't provide any worthwhile protection despite being unnaturally formed, but anything that could prevent him from taking a hit would be too heavy, as he was used to moving around without anything covering him whatsoever. Armor would hinder his valuable element of speed, to which, he prized not getting hit at all over being able to sustain less damage.

Returning from a tangential train of thought, he tuned the girl back in, shortly after she started speaking again. She travelled to here recently herself, so she was still unsure it seemed. Well, despite this universe being apparently parallel to the one he was familiar with, if the layout was the exact same it wouldn't be difficult to recall from his travels prior. This was the first world in this universe he explored, after all. None of that mattered for the Heartless locations, however! In fact, the dimensional rift definitely stirred up some trouble, and if they sat here for too much longer they would probably get ambushed. He hoped the girl was capable of defending herself; without a sword, the man was bound to be quite useless.

Also, 'blindfolded' brings up another good point. While he enjoyed the vibrant colors and textures of the world that the human eyes had to offer, using them dulled his sense to energy far more than he liked. He could see his human vision being a hindrance in some occasions, and being able to block it out without relying on training his eyelids would be a fantastic solution. He could certainly use a blindfold for his travels. Plus, if his eyes were really that much of an issue with the appearance nonsense, a blindfold would kill two birds with one stone. And then she offered to do some crafting for him. If the man could feel emotion, he would certainly smile. Alas, his face remained stoic and lifeless. Except when he tried to form a blindfold, nothing happened. Seemed he locked himself into a single set of clothing he could edit. If there was ever a rookie mistake he could make...

What seemed stranger however is that despite noting that her own ability to craft was much stronger, still would prioritize taking him to an ordinary blacksmith. Perhaps he would provoke what she really wanted to say. "If you're offering to take care of my requirement from the blacksmith, I'll warn you ahead that I have no currency. If leading you to Heartless and allowing you to retrieve all of the spoils will suffice as a fair exchange, then I'm willing to make a deal, otherwise leading me over to smith in town will have to do. You'll have to be quick in your decision, since some seem to have been drawn to the storm you mentioned. Ready your weapons." Even though someone typically would've sounded concerned toward the end of his sentence, he said everything with a creepy matter-of-fact tone that probably didn't stir any alertness at all. Still, he faced away from the girl and stood in a defensive pose with his legs spread and his arms up. He didn't have much spare energy, but he could probably fire a bolt or two if need be.

What was even more concerning is that right after he finished speaking... nothing happened. It would be a few seconds of utter silence, assuming she didn't speak again right away. He wasn't wrong though, the unforgettable pop of some small black voids appearing with monsters coming out would surely surround the duo. Six rapid thrusters made their way out and two Shadows formed from sudden pools of black muck on the ground. Nothing too hard, but this was entirely too strange. He felt something stronger making its way over. He was scared to think what might appear when they least expected it, regardless, he hoped the girl was more than capable of dispatching these on her own. It's obvious that he's both unequipped and seeking a blacksmith to himself, he just hoped the girl also was highly aware.

Well okay then! This guy was one heck of a mage, snapping his fingers like that and lighting up like a candle just to put on another outfit. No wonder he was loony. She heard all sorts of mages and wizards and whatnot went a little off the deep end when it came to the hocusy-pocusy. She was glad she only knew the bare basics of spells to help her out with her Synthesis...Kupo knows how she got behind the barrel of a gun; it wouldn't do anybody any good to put all that behind the force of the mystic sorts.

Eh, the outfit wasn't that terribly out of place, but it was still eye-catching. She shrugged. It wasn't too noticeable to really get the idea off.
"Good enough," she said, without much of a care to it. "If you're sure about that smithy, I'll lead the way. Just try not to wander off too much, alright?" However, at the mention of no currency, Krysta did a double-take.
"You WHAT? How d'you expect to get something for nothing? That's not how things work, and I don't think the Smithy would appreciate you just going around and stealing things, hm?"
If anything else, that was cementing her thoughts about this guy taking whatever had been up on that mountain top...He was probably going to trade it for the sword he wanted or something like that, and she'd NEVER get it then! Even if she traded some of the best weapons and items she'd made, if it were shiny enough these Neanderthals would probably keep it without even knowing what it really was! She'd lead him to the smithy, but if he traded anything good for it, she was taking it and running! She didn't even care if it was stealing, either!
Well...she cared a little.

Taking his advice on the incoming Heartless, Krysta slowly took out Stira and Nix from their holsters. The twin dual pistols packed quite the punch, though the Mooglette preferred using her sniper rifle, Fomalhaut, instead. The further away from trouble she was, the safer she felt, no doubt. She wasn't much of a close-up kind of fighter. Punching and slashing were meant for bigger, tougher guys...plus she'd ruin her hair or something. That was no good. She might break something in her belt, or her Synth-Scanner, or something else...and she had absolutely no real means for close combat anyway. Nope. Better to keep back.

"You can't just go up and ask for a free sword," Hyalus continued, as she desperately tried not to slip down the slope before them. "Smithy folk don't do that sort of thing. If you want free, you're looking for a Synthy. They do everything for free, y'see. Of course, I don't even think there are any out there, at least none that I saw in town. Synthy weapons are stronger than any Smithy weapon anyway, and there's no doubt that Smithies can't make Items quite like a Synthy either."
She had nothing against Smithies, really. They just weren't quite up to her level. They weren't really that special, either; there were lots and lots and lots of human Smithies, but there was only one great human Synthy. They could forge armor at a much better quality than her particular method of crafting, but she didn't mind. Armor was only so useful in combat anyway, and for the most part (unless it was that special Keyblade Armor she heard about,) did nothing but make things harder. Krysta was happy to stick with Synthesis any day of the week.

"Y'know," the tween continued, "If you told me what you wanted out of a sword, I betcha I could make one for you. All I'd really need is an idea, and I could probably guess what we'd need to make it. I don't like to brag," she said, with the most painfully obvious tone of bragging on the planet, "but I am one of the only human Synthies in the worlds, and I make one heck of a weapon. I made all mine myself, plus the bullets, too. They're pretty top-notch stuff. I bet you're looking for a real quality weapon right mister?"
Normally she wouldn't get this excited about making a weapon, but this would be one of the first she hadn't made for herself, and she was interested in taking up the challenge. She might not have a lot to work with, but Krysta was pretty confident she could make something with much superior quality than anything that this local could accomplish, no doubt. The girl didn't want to admit it, either, but she was also pretty itchy to start shooting up some shadowlings, too. All that time cooped up with nothing to do and looking to prove herself to her coworkers had really put a restless edge to her.

[OOC: Apologies for the delay, have been sick x_x]

Sure, because currency was the only way to make a fair exchange for goods or services. He had a plan this whole time, but the man began to wonder about the integrity of the girl. Sure, she was a 'tourist', though he honestly wondered if she might have been sheltered enough to which he claims about keeping the worlds a secret were true or not. He had no doubts that he was in a completely different dimension than where he originated at this point, however there was absolutely no way he'd buy into that. He only went along with things because it would be the easiest way to get what he wanted while he felt virtually powerless.

"Stealing wasn't my plan, I assure you." There wouldn't really be much time for any other exchanges before the Heartless showed up, and the girl's rant about differences between a 'Synthy' and a 'Smithy' in any case. There was no such thing as a 'Synthy' from where he was from, so this should be an interesting topic to dive into later, after they've taken care of th enemy. It was slightly faster than he anticipated, even with the decent amount of delay between his warning and them showing up, but nonetheless the enemies were here. It seemed the girl had firearms to protect herself with, an interesting weapon, though the man would be forced to use his hands. It was time to see if this body was capable of anything.

Or, the girl would just continue ranting on about stuff, where she somehow guessed he wanted a sword. Perhaps it was the most common type of weapon, after all, there was little strangeness to making the guess. Not only that, she could make it for him and-- why now of all times? Was she blind? Well, instead of responding, he decided to make the first move against one of the shadows that made the poor choice of advancing on the man. With an insane sprint, he closed what gap there was in almost no time and put forth all the momentum into a kick, launching the Heartless into the air.

Extending his arm, he caught it with his right hand and drew back his left, delivering several consecutive blows to its head until he could feel it getting much weaker, then gripped his fist tight and punched much harder as he let it go, and smashed it mid-air where it dissipated into black mist immediately upon being struck. Huh, so he was pretty strong after all. A rapid thruster would try to take him off-guard, but the man was far too quick to let that happen.

He spun on his heel and sprinted again and leapt up, twisted midair and seemed to push against nothing to make a shock drop onto the rapid thruster, smashing it into the ground with his heels. Then he bent down and grabbed it, used the position to maneuver directly into a forward roll and then threw the Heartless a couple yards forward into a tree trunk, focused the energy his arm and blasted it with a ray of Chaos energy. It didn't kill the rapid thruster due to the low potency of his energy at his current level, though it was definitely down for the count. Two more approached him so he would have to devise his next strategy carefully, as the simple blast took way more effort than he anticipated, so he couldn't rely on using it. He was fast and strong however, and could use that to his advantage...

[If it makes you feel better, I completely somehow skipped that last paragraph you typed up...for some reason. Hope you're well.]

If she had only one regret, one thing she could change about herself, Krysta would probably have to go with shutting herself up at the right times. In fact, she'd gotten so worked up about talking about things, she hadn't even noticed the Heartless appearing before them. She'd never really been in combat without the guards of Traverse Town around to back her up in case things went wrong...and this was certainly one of those times.
As one of the Rapid Thrusters zipped past her head, the tween's eyes grew to the size of teacups, and she let out a squeak of terror at just how close she'd come to getting hurt without even realizing the danger of her position.

The man she'd met had already taken down one of the Shadows, and heavily damaged one of the darting Thrusters within seconds. Krysta had to admire just how quick he was in sheer speed -- it definitely wasn't one of her strong suits -- no, her talents were best somewhere a little...further away. As much as she wanted to get her distance, she wasn't about to just leave this man without a weapon against all these Heartless, especially when she'd promised to take him to town. Instead, she'd just have to help him and get her distance at the same time... She couldn't do it alone; she wasn't meant for close combat! She was going to need help...

Courage!

Focusing her energy, Hyalus reached out with her heart, trying to touch with her one and only friend who was back home waiting for her. Then, in the emptiness, she felt him connect with her. In that instant, a bright glyph, shining with light, appeared on the ground before her, masking the shape of a small, slightly pudgy figure. Once that glow had faded, there stood the tiny figure of a being clad in soft oranges. A small helm donned its head. A flowing red cape caught its back, matching the sword and shield it carried.
"Onion Knight!" The girl cried, excitedly, giving the little mech a high-five.
"At your service!" The toy replied, with a curt bow. It set its beady eyes upon the opponent, glaring with potent ferocity that only a warrior could carry.

"Let's go!"
Concentrating on a space a good forty or so feet away and nearly ten feet upwards, Krysta formed a glass panel, suspended in the middle of  the air. The shiny surface was clear as crystal, casting a winking light from the waning sun. Hyalus shifted her weight specifically, going back over what she had practiced time and time again...And warped to that panel within an instant. Sticking to the slippery surface with one hand and one foot, the Mooglette pulled out her sniper rifle from its back holster, and aimed down her sights through the scope.
The Fomalhaut was one of her favorite weapons, and without a doubt was one of her strongest. Capable of hitting a target well within the range of hundreds of feet, she wasn't particularly worried about her aiming on these Heartless. They might be small, but much practice with the weapon back home had given her a distinct feel for getting her shot straight. Krysta fired a single round at the remaining Shadow Heartless, doing her best to hit it in either the head or the body. She'd accounted for the distance, the angle, and the wind resistance, but sometimes a bad shot was just a bad shot.

The Onion Knight, on the other hand, dove head first into the fray, slicing wildly at anything it could get near. It bashed its shield ferociously on one of the Rapid Thrusters, sending it spiraling off into the thicket. As another came whirling towards the dark-haired man, it moved to intercept its course, slashing away with extreme prejudice.

---

Toy Onion Knight summoned! -2 DP
Summon Panel -- Glass : -5 MP

4 DP remaining
145 MP remaining

[OOC: Heh, I suspected as much, but rather than calling it out I thought it'd be much more fun to just roll with it ;D]

With the one rapid thruster disabled from the onslaught, the man sauntered to his target without the most haste but fast enough to deliver a stomp to finish it off. It was a bit crude but it got the job done. He felt the next rapid thruster getting close and was never in any danger of getting struck, but it seemed the little familiar the girl summoned was mindful of his allies, which was pretty neat. Having such an adept and conscientious familiar showed great skill, to which he gave the girl a little more respect.

From the recent evidence of fighting, seemed the girl was targeting the other shower, so he might as well finish up with the rapid thrusters. Just in time too, yet another one flew at him but a backflip kick knocked it off its trajectory and popped it into the air, where he would stick the landing and spring the momentum into a frontflip heel smash to send the Heartless head-first into the ground and get disabled from the shock similar to the first one he attacked. While he landed slightly in front of it, he would vault into a smaller backflip this time and drill stomp onto the rapid thruster. Another crude finish but without a weapon he had to make do with what he knew how.

Despite not used to being this powerless, he seemed to be making the most of it. The body he managed to inhabit wasn't as restrictive as he might've thought when he first started moving, but it responded well to his commands. Not perfectly, but good enough. This was the perfect small exercise. In more ways the one, too, as another rapid thruster wasn't getting too close right away, but it didn't need to. The man focused a little deeper, trying to get a better and more streamlined access to the manifestation of his own energy. Clenching his hand, it began to glow and an orb of Chaos energy formed. He fired and the beam traveled incredibly fast as expected but it merely knocked the rapid thruster for a good one, far from a one-hit knock-out. It was disappointing, but what could he do.

Well, the answer to that is easy, charge up again and fire, three more times until the rapid thruster dissipated. It felt horrible inefficient, that what was supposed to be his strongest attack was weaker than punching and kicking. Well, he could work on that. If he had a sword, it would be a non-issue. Hopefully between his attacks and the girl's or her familiars the Heartless would be dispatched by now and they could take care of that.

I apologize for the lack of speed on this reply; I've been without a computer for an extended period of time.

---

With the last of the Heartless dissipated, Krysta hopped down from her panel with a graceful flip, landing rather expertly on her feet with her arms in the air.
"Ta-dah!"
The Onion Knight toddled over to her position, taking a tiny bow.
"M'lady."
Grinning, the tween patted the little toy on the head.
"Thank you, Onion Knight!" Focusing her mind again, she put her palm in the air right in front of its face, as its body began to glow a bright white.
"Return!"

With that command, Krysta dematerialised the summon, sending it back home, as she turned around to face the man. Even without a weapon, he'd managed to hold his own in a fight. That was pretty impressive, seeing as how most random strangers she encountered couldn't even hold one off -with- a weapon. For someone who didn't know much about world etiquette, he sure could keep himself in a tussle...The Heartless weren't exactly easy pickings, either.

"Huh," she muttered, continuing her pace down the mountain as if nothing had happened, "You sure are handy in a fight. You do that often?" She questioned.
They were beginning to get closer to their destination now, despite the snowy terrain. There were more trees around them now, and the incline was decreasing severely. She could actually make out people within the town's meager walls from where they were at...but then again, her line of sight was particularly well exercised.

"Where I come from, there's a lot of Heartless," the tween continued, trying to keep the conversation going. If there was one thing she didn't like, it was quiet. "Traverse Town has a good guard unit, but sometimes they slip past. I'd give my right arm for something that could blast those things to bits for good." Shaking her head, she clicked her tongue in disapproval. "They're nothing but trouble, and no matter how many times you hack one down, it feels like you never really kill them for good, you know? It really super bites."

[OOC: We seem to have this system of 'whenever one person posts, the other becomes exceptionally busy' as I have been putting in 9-10 hour days at work recently soooo]

With the heartless dispatched in a rather timely fashion, there was a little relief on the man's part. He didn't enjoy being virtually powerless, since it should be the snap of his fingers to dispatch a few measily Heartless, not a series of punches he had to put effort into. It was a test against his body, one that he needed to confirm if his conversion was rather successful, which proved... successful enough. There could be some improvements, but considering how he only had one shot, he did it quite well.

He regrouped with the girl without a word and they started to head back down once again. He couldn't feel any other presences building up for the time being meaning the Heartless were less attractive to the void he emerged from than he thought. It stirred them up, and they might be more frequent than they were previously in general throughout the whole world now since an otherworldly dimensional tear was an awful lot of stress on the balance of the nature. He would have to cross the bridge of more enemies when he came to it, except this time with a sword (hopefully).

While he intended to return to their conversation about the matter of forging weaponry, the girl commented on his fighting prowess. Seemed like an odd comment from one adventurer to another, especially after such a simple fight. She hasn't seen anything yet, in terms of what the man was capable of. He wondered about the integrity of adventurers-- or rather, 'tourists' if taking down a few simple enemies was considered handy in a fight. He hadn't considered the possibility that she was really sheltered yet since he literally just got to this universe, but it might dawn on him eventually.

Then there was the matter of how to reply. He did do it often, but he really wasn't interested in going into the past he worked so hard to escape. Surviving for one's life was never a happy tale to tell, but there was always his life before he reached that point. A part of his timeline where he was actually interested in heroics. "With my fists, no, my specialty is swords; but you could say combat took up one of the largest percentages of how I've spent time." It was perfect, answered the question without the messy details. Hopefully she wouldn't ask, but he would try to refrain from explaining how he himself was created to be a powerful weapon in a long and gruesome war.

He still didn't really have a moment to interject about the girl crafting him a sword, still, as she felt the need to keep the chatter going at any cost. Her next comment made her seem a little more naive about the nature of the world, but he had to remember that his own perspective was far from normal and that hers was probably more realistic. "Darkness is eternal. As long as there is such thing as existence, there is darkness to fill it. Traverse Town is the shadow of darkness itself, where lost souls end up after their home is consumed by the Heartless. By nature it will have more than average." He tried to give some 'Earthly Wisdom' as he might call it, but to the people of this plane of existence Earth didn't exist and she was probably... not the type to be able to pick up on the essence of what the man was trying to say.

Well, there was no taking back what he said now. He almost hoped that she didn't understand, or otherwise didn't pursue further knowledge. He had no idea as to why he might've tried to respond to the girl's inquisition, perhaps a human attribute he's regained compelling him to act a certain way. He'll just let it roll for now, and see what happens. Hopefully nothing, and he can ask about that sword again.