In Search of Hades

[The Heartless Army]

The little one below her hand flinched when she flailed at her own misgivings. It even retreated a little when she yelled about the kid playing solar system. However, it would approach again when she smacked herself in discipline, even putting its little hands on her hip to look up at her curiously. When her hand came down to pet it, it seemed pleased and even made a soft churring sound similar to the one their kind made when Atticus held them in his arms...

And then a voice. It looked off and stood up on its hind legs, twitching in battle-ready alertness. Its atennae swirled around above its head like a little radar dish, attempting to sniff out where the intruder was. And, because Ximar possessed HALF a heart... the heartless could easily home in on him...

Half or not, he had something they desired... and the Heartless were good at getting what they wanted. Shego leapt up and out of their immediate area, freeing them to do just about whatever they wanted... Suddenly, in the darkness around them, hundreds of eyes would open, seeming like a buzzing beehive. They all converged on Ximar's secret location, bypassing and ingoring the lesser nobodies (because THEY didn't possess hearts, and therefore were of no concern to them). The began clawing, ripping, tearing at his form, attempting to RIP him out of the shadows and into the open, where both they and Shego could have at him. Gravity would do him no good here. All the Shadows could meld into the dark itself, and even a black hole cannot budge darkness...

Let's face facts... he's outnumbered, outclassed, and outgunned. Even with his "pets", the heartless were simply more numerous and while the nobodies were more intelligent in terms of forming a plan, no one can account for sheer ferocity. Now... he had about a hundred shadows plunging onto him, sharp claws ripping in attempt to claim what was theirs...

[ximar]

He was fighting his way out. "I already lost a piece of my heart! I'm not gonna lose another. RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!" All the Heartless were sent flying off. Some hit the walls and exploded on impact. He was covered with scrapes, cuts, and bruises. "You will pay."

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,700]Slowly, but surely, it would dawn upon the thief that she was not hired for THEIR protection, but they were there for HER protection. Shego's eyes would widen at the familiar mass of Heartless poured from the shadows at a certain spot, wanting to claim the half-heart of the boy. She didn't know what was going on. All she knew was that the little guys were kicking ASS!

"YEAH, NOW WERE TALKIN!" She cheered, jumping from where she was to tackle some nobodies here and there, setting them afire with her plasma. Keeping them off the heartless, wanting to return the favor to those little things she was... growing a heart for. Shego grew a psychotic grin, feeling in her element-- knocking these things down was similar to pummeling down guards at Middleton bank!

The moment Shego saw the boy appear from the shadows, the grin would slowly stretch, " Yeah, better leave or let my little buddies here show you a rough time. Your choice."
[/glow]

[ximar]

He smirked. "You think I'm done? You think I'm finished? Hardly. This is just the beginning. Heal!" Green magic swarmed his body, healing all his wounds. He glared at her, raring to go. "Attack!"

[The Nobody Forces]

Multitudes of Nobodies swarmed the Heartless. Each one going for an instant kill, not wanting to waste too much energy. A lot were lost, but more kept coming.

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,600]"That was cheap." Rolled the supervillain's eyes, wacking and vanishing a few nobodies of her own, especially when they were after the little ones. For some reason or another, she had become more... attached to the Heartless.

She wasn't worried though, because she learned, like when they came after her, the creatures could SWARM endlessly into the playing field. She also had regeneration, so only moments were needed for her to come back up her feet after a critical blow. She would cackle psychoticly, blasting the nobodies that where too close together to move out of place, or the ones farthest from the Heartless. She would get close and personal when one of those criters was near, and left the BOY to them, seeing as he had something they wanted. [/glow]

[ximar]

The heartless, no matter how many came, kept on getting blasted away by Ximar. Admittedly, this was getting harder, but he had to keep going. He wasn't about to lose any time soon.

[The Heartless Army]

Shadow after Shadow was being blasted into smoking black tendrils. One after another, they were sent back to darkness to lick their wounds and heal themselves before they could enter back into the fray. Such was the way without a keyblade. The heart merely returns to darkness, instead of being freed to return to Kingdom Hearts. However, while they would need time to regenerate, there were still hundreds more to take each one's place.

But simply replenishing the battlefield was getting nowhere, and they knew it. The... half-nobody... had the very thing that made them what they were, and they were all too eager to accept even half of him into their thriving family. The solution to the long term problem? Stronger heartless, of course! As each fallen Shadow dissipated, a stronger, faster, more agile version rose to take its place. These creatures were more like Shego, in that they were far more flexible and deadly than their younger bretherin.

They were the NeoShadows. The rushed forward, easily handling the lesser Nobodies that got in their way with a well-placed slice of the claws. Dusk after Dusk would fall just as Shadows had fallen before them, and now they were closing in on Ximar once more. Blast all he wanted, numbers would be his bane. Surely one or two would get to him, and then they would begin the work of ripping and tearing. They'd go after the cloak first, as it served as a protection from darkness, and even if they failed this time to claim him, maybe with his layer of shielding gone the next time he visits a corridor of darkness to make his escape, his half-weighed heart will fall to that trap instead...

Once they got past that, though... They could target his bare flesh...

[ximar]

His eyes widened. "Crap..." NeoShadows spelled certain doom if he didn't think of something fast. He sighed and raised his hand forward. His eyes and hands glowed brighter than ever. The space before him seemed to twist and pull inward until a small black dot appeared in the middle of the Heartless, sucking them all in. Crushing them, as they were forced to go through the small space. He ran as fast as he could. "Enjoy the black hole!!"

[Hades]

Because Ximar wasn't LOOKING where he was going, as was pretty much the way when being a rude kid... He'd probably not notice when a puff of flame and smoke signalled the arrival of the Lord of all Dead himself. Further, he probably wouldn't have the where-withall to stop himself before slamming into the massive Olympian's chest, which granted wouldn't BUDGE the god, but it was a heck of a way to make an introduction.

"What-what-what! What is this, a national geographic expo??" Hades growled before snapping his fingers and dissolving the black hole. "What are you tryin' to do, huh? The UnderWorld is a DELICATE place, pally-boy. I won't have some upstart wannabe Perceus comin' in here and wreckin' up the place!" He looked up and growled a bit at the UNCOMFORTABLE amount of Heartless and Nobodies dancing around too. "HEY!" he called, then snapped his fingers again, instantly transporting them ALL who-knows-where "That goes for you too, slimeballs!"

Patting himself down, Hades looked first to Ximar, then to Shego. He smirked and leaned over the Organization-cloaked kid and muttered to him. "Yo, bro... That your girl? Niiiice. But listen, babe... UnderWorld's no place for a date, alright? If you got lost lookin' for the UnderDrome, that's one thing, but seriously. Get lost!" He then pulled Ximar's hood up and over his head, effectively covering his eyes before walking casually up to Shego.

"Hello beautiful!" he said, chuckling in that dark way of his. "Listen, Evergreen, you ever get sick of babysitting, hey..." he materialized a card out of smoke and slipped it into the lining of her apprentice costume. "You just give big daddy a call, alright? We'll get together and have dinner sometime. Have your minions call my minions, we'll set it up..."

[ximar]

Ximar was in majorly surprised. First, running into Hades was like running into a concrete wall. Second, this wasn't the opportune time for him to talk with the God. "..No, she's not my gir-hey!!" He hadn't expected Hades to pull his hood over his head. He pulled it off and glared at the God. He snapped his fingers and the black hole disappeared. He silently ran off into the darkness of the Underworld, waiting for the opportune moment.

[Gabranth]

As Gabranth climbed he noticed a black, hooded figure running down the very stairs into the Underworld he was longing to escape from.

As he noticed this figure was running at quiet a fast pace, not being of any concern to the Judge, though he had no idea what lay beyond those doors Hades had opened. After all, the Judge still distrusted the God even if he gave him his life back.

The Judge readied his dual swords, not knowning of what this boy was capable of, stood firm. Ready for battle, anxious and alert, in that metalic voice he shouts "What does a pup like yourself want in a place of hatered and death?!"

[ximar]

Ximar stopped in his tracks. He looked around, but didn't see the source of the voice. "Why should I tell someone I can't see?"

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,700]Upper cut, chop, low kick, and lunge were second nature actions for the thief, twisting and turning her bodies to the rhythm of battle. These Nobodies were no match for her, in her new enhanced getup. The Heartless were nifty little creatures, and at first grew confused at the new set came in... the NeoShadows.

"Whoah.." Shego put up her dukes, thinking they were with the Nobody, but once she saw these new creatures fighting the Dusk , she grew calm, "...all shapes and sizes huh.."

She continued to fight, blasting nobodies here and there, until she felt pulled by something, or other... a black hole. She shouted profanities, as she couldn't hold her ground, and was pulled closer, feeling her body crunching under the immense pressure of the black hole-- and the pain stopped!

"Oumff" She grunted, hitting the ground- the black hole vanished. Shego stood up, hearing her bones pop back into place, she would groan a little, rubbing at her arms and hips as they made the loudest crunches before. She turned around about to punch in the boy's face, until she head an unfamiliar voice. She saw him as well, a tall, dark figure with burning hair. She saw the man, no, the God, stroll in, snap his fingers, and get rid of everything displeasing to the eyes...shame he didn't rid of the child, too.[/glow]

"Hello beautiful!" he said, chuckling in that dark way of his. "Listen, Evergreen, you ever get sick of babysitting, hey..." he materialized a card out of smoke and slipped it into the lining of her apprentice costume. "You just give big daddy a call, alright? We'll get together and have dinner sometime. Have your minions call my minions, we'll set it up..."

[glow=green,2,600]The thief shook her head when the God made his forward act, took the card to read it in a split second, and gasped, "You are Hades?! Finally." she sighed, rubbing a little at her head, "Yeah, see- Maleficent sent me to get a Jafar. Do you know who that is? I don't know, was this a take out, did she call early for it..?"[/glow]

[Hades]

"Jafar?" Hades asked, blinking a bit as he leaned against the wall behind Shego, his hand on his hip and an eyebrow lifted almost comically. "That old stiff? Forget about him, he's yesterday's news. Washed up, hung out to dry, the whole shebang." Hades chuckled a bit, then stood up a bit.

"Besides, there's like... RULES on this sort of thing. I can't just turn death on and off all willy-nilly, babe, otherwise dying wouldn't be a big deal, if ya get what I mean. Look at it this way... how would YOU like it if every jerk that ever ticked you off so bad you had to-hey-bam, wack, put 'em in the ground, just got right back up and kept on runnin' his mouth, huh?" Hades was very much the type to talk with his hands, gesturing everything as he spoke before chuckling and waving his hand dismissively.

"Buuuut, for a figure like yourself, hey, maybe I'll cut a deal?" he hinted, circling around her to head towards the doors to his massive skull-shaped office area. "Walk with me, talk with me..."