revenance_rpg | Dream Fragments are too damn expensive at the Moogle shops.

Entry tags:

Dream Fragments are too damn expensive at the Moogle shops.

Characters: Sora and whoever happens upon him.
Content: He wants to gather the necessary dream bits to make a Komory Bat. It's not necessarily going to go smoothly...
Location: Starts in the Post Office, who knows where it'll end?
Time of Day: Midday, at least according to the clock.
Warnings: Some language depending on who finds Sora... and violence because you really can't go monster hunting without it.

Sora was... well, 'bored' wasn't quite the right word. He didn't feel like sitting still, though, and he had been thinking of collecting the dream bits to make a Komory Bat. It was true that the Moogles sold most of the dream bits, but the prices were a bit exorbitant. Frankly, Sora was thinking of giving any extras he had to those who weren't the best at fighting.

At any rate, he made sure he had some potions and ethers on hand and he and Jelly Bean set out to look. Their search brought them into the Post Office, which definitely had a lot of places for Nightmares to hide... and for someone to get lost in, but Sora preferred not to think of his first visit to the Post Office, thank you very much. And no way in Hell was he ever telling Riku about it. He'd never hear the end of it.

Jelly Bean seemed to be making progress in not freaking out when his allies used fire, though he still had a little ways to go. Enemies aiming fire at him still scared him, but he was making some valiant efforts to face them. Sora was making sure to praise him as he improved and comfort him when things didn't go well. Now if only getting dream bits could go as well. Sora was finding a lot of munny, but only a small handful of dream bits here and there, none of which were what he needed for a bat.

Other than his abysmal luck with getting what he was looking for, things weren't going too bladly. He and Jelly Bean were cleaning up and they got better at working with each other as they fought together. Jelly Bean wasn't as bold as the first Meow Wow Sora had had, seeming to prefer to hang back and use supporting magic a little more. He could certainly take a more aggressive route when needed, though and seemed less likely to get himself in over his head. All in all, things were fine... until they got lost. It might not have been much of problem except for the part where they'd been at this all day and Sora had only brought a small part of his stock of potions with him. Given that the stock was small to begin with...

They hit the real snag in a large, warehouse-sized back room that Sora hadn't been to last time he'd been to the Post Office. It was dark enough not to be able to see anything and while Sora was fumbling around for a light switch, he instead found the controls for the big bay door he'd passed through to enter the room and managed to close it and lock it.

"Crap." Further fumbling did eventually turn up a light, which in turn revealed a few possible reasons why Post Office employees seemed to be avoiding the room. Or rather, a few hundred reasons, give or take about a dozen. And most of them were bats. Jelly Bean whimpered. Sora really only had enough power left for one more spell and he realized he'd needed to make it count. As the Nightmares noticed him and went on the attack, he cast Stopga and unlocked the door... with the Keyblade of course, as fumbling was with the controls was NOT an option.

...And then he and Jelly Bean ran like Hell, a veritable horde of Nightmares at their heels. Under other circumstances, with more healing items on hand, a full mana pool and perhaps a couple tough Spirits, Sora would have hung around to fight. The goddamned bats were another reason not to stick around. Sora never, EVER got through a fight with the bats without taking a few hits. In the small packs they usually appeared in, this wasn't too big of a deal. A huge horde with the backing of three other types of Nightmare? Sora couldn't remember the last time he swore so eloquently. And was it just him or were the handful of Hebby Reps in the horde deliberately aiming for Jelly Bean? Normally, that would get them a Blizzard in the face. Normally, Sora hadn't just encountered such a horde with no resources whatsoever.

He wasn't sure how he found his way out of the Post Office, although the need to escape a bloodthirsty horde of technicolor dream animals certainly had something to do with it. He found his way to the front door, which opened onto Fountain Plaza. It didn't take much to make the decision to head toward the back streets. Leading that horde to Fourth District was not a good idea. Unfortunately, his flight added to the numbers as he passed by spots where Nightmares commonly appeared. And they didn't let up the chase at all.

The backstreets were actually kind of a bad idea, however. Sora didn't know them well enough and there was a major drawback to such a lack of knowledge. Namely, a little thing called a dead end.

"... Damn." The thing about being cornered, of course, was that the only option was to fight. Well, depending on the enemy. Since these enemies were looking to kill, fighting really was the only option. Sora and Jelly Bean braced for what was promising to be a nasty battle. By what miracle would they get out of this?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Xion had been taking out Nightmares in the first few Districts--munny much needed for the hotel, food, and other supplies. Fortuntely, she and Barkley were working together well by this point. Fire still bothered him, and she tried to avoid using Fira during a fight, but they'd gotten to the point at which he wouldn't run if she had to use it. Hiding behind her until it faded, now, was something they'd have to work on.

By now she had a nice collection of dream fragments, and while she was considering making another Spirit, she wasn't sure which kind she wanted. All of them sounded nice, and potentially useful. Pricklemanes and Hebby Repps seemed a bit more difficult to manage than the Komory Bats...

That was a thought for another time, though. She was finished with hunting for the day, and it was time for a break. Fountain Plaza was nice, and usually not that crowded. Picking up Barkley's favorite stick to tempt him along, she headed for the back streets.

Which were apparently very crowded, since she could hear the noise all the way from the entrance. It didn't sound like friendly noise, either. Keyblade in hand, she hurried to find the source. Not that it took her long, with so many Nightmares clustered in one spot.

This was one situation in which her habit of not using much magic helped. She had enough for about four more spells, but quickly decided to reserve those for healing. They'd probably end up needing all that and the two Mega-Potions she'd had with her since she arrived.

Keyblade swinging, she waded in, going for the Hebby Reps first. If she could keep them occupied and not aiming at her or Sora's Meow Wows, so much the better. That said, with this many, it was more of a "swing and hit something until all targets are gone" situation. For his part, Barkley leapt in after her, Meow Wouncing any Nightmare in the vicinity for all he was worth.

Sora wasn't really expecting help. He was as prepared as one could be for a long, rough fight with no healing items or magic. He supposed thinking of it like the Thousand Heartless Battle helped a little. He'd had supplies and magic for that battle, but there'd been simply been too many enemies to safely use either. Most spells took a little time to cast and could be interrupted.

Problems with conserving magic and items were the main reason Sora hadn't brought all of his meager stock with him. It was an issue he knew that he needed to work on. In the interim, he had bigger problems. Being backed into a dead end alleyway by a mob of Nightmares numbering at least in the hundreds was the biggest of those problems. While it seemed unlikely that such a mob would go unnoticed by anyone else, there was a chance of it and Sora didn't trust his luck. He made a priority of the Hebby Reps. Even if they were too thoroughly boxed in for Jelly Bean to run away, the reason Meow Wows feared fire in the first place was that it was highly effective against them. The spunky snakes had to go.

The Nightmare Meow Wows had their own issues with fire and Hebby Reps shot conveniently smackable fireballs, so Sora took any opportunity to deflect those fireballs. Still, with such numbers, it was rough going. He couldn't swing his Keyblade without hitting something hostile and he couldn't cover all directions at once. Inevitably, the Nightmares fell into a pattern of striking from behind when he was occupied with enemies in front, retreating if they could when he turned to deal with them, lather, rinse and repeat. The bats dive bombing at his head from above was just the icing on the crap cake. Jelly Bean wasn't much better off, though he did have some area attacks he could use, not to mention that Nightmares seemed to have a larger mana pool than humans.

A disturbance at the other side of the mob suggested that they had some help. Sora wasn't complaining. ANY help was welcome at this point. Although somehow... SOMEHOW, the arrival of some help seemed to be a cue for every single Nightmare Meow Wow to start Meow Wouncing at once. And the bats contintued their dive bombing, though now some of them went for the newcomers. Sora had no idea yet who his help even was...

Hesitant as she had been to speak with him so far, Xion wasn't about to leave her Original alone in this sort of fix. Not that she would have left any of the others to fend for themselves, either, but this was a special case. Really, these Nightmares were about as bad as a whole herd of Deserters. It was just as well that she was used to using magic and items sparingly. She'd have to monitor both of their conditions well, though, so she would have time to do something if needed.

As she moved deeper into the flock of Nightmares, she began to face the same issues Sora was. Attacked from all sides, it was difficult to avoid taking a few hits. Forget a herd of Deserters, is was like that plus some of the magic-using Heartless; especially with the bats dive-bombing and trying to hit her with Confuse. One did hit, and she had to get Barkley to help steady her until the effect wore off. Especially since the Nightmare Meow Wows had started all Meow Wouncing at the same time.

Despite all that, though, she'd managed to take out a decent number of Hebby Reps and other Nightmares by the time she reached Sora, both Barkley and herself out of breath. She offered a small smile before turning in a gesture meant to offer to fight back-to-back. It was a tactic that had worked well when tried with Roxas.

How convenient... sort of. His help was someone he wanted to talk to, which was kind of a plus. But, they had to get through this scrape alive for that. Bruises, scrapes, cuts and burns. He could honestly say he'd been worse, had fought through worse, but that didn't stop him from wishing he had some items or magic available. Hopefully Xion had some items. He would owe her, but that wasn't likely a big deal.

Sora understood the gesture and he knew fighting back-to-back was a good tactic. It would be quite a feat to finish this, but he was pretty sure that the battle would go a bit more smoothly if they didn't have to worry about back attacks. Jelly Bean seemed to like that idea, too, and seemed to be suggesting the same to Barkley.

As long as the bats didn't decide to copy the Meow Wows and all do something at once, they would be fine...

It really was convenient, but yes, any conversation would have to wait until they'd finished off the Nightmares. As far as injuries went, Xion was in much the same shape as Sora, so she pulled out one of her Mega Potions and drank it quickly. As always, it tasted odd, but it would help both of them. He didn't need to worry about owing her.

Avoiding back attacks was good, so she was glad Sora accepted her suggestion. Barkley went to back up Jelly Bean in much the same manner; Spirits had to stick together.

Worry about the Hebby Reps fire mostly dealt with for now, Xion focused on the next most worrying kind of Nightmare. It was a good think she had Lift Gear equipped this time--it would help. "I'll go after the bats."

Well, go after them as well as she could in this mess.

Sora never did understand just how Mega-Potions worked. One person in the party drank it yet everyone was healed as if they'd all had a potion. Did drinking it activate an area covering Cure spell that somehow only affected the drinker's friends? One of these days, he'd get an answer to that, but that day wasn't today.

Frankly, the majority of injuries Sora had taken since this fight started had been from back attacks. So anything to minimize them was a good thing. Jelly Bean appreciated the help just as much as Sora did.

He wouldn't have recommended going after the bats. They seemed happy enough to put themselves in reach with continued dive bombs. But it was possible they'd wise up to that. As long as they covered each other's backs, Sora figured they might be okay.

Xion had never quite figured out the details about Mega-Potions herself, but they were definitely useful. She'd started carrying them around as soon as she realized they could heal her and others, especially on partner missions. At the moment, though, she wasn't in any position to ask questions about how it worked, just appreciate that it was a way to heal both of them quickly.

Going after the bats just seemed like the quicker option. If she could draw them to her by actively attacking them while staying close enough to cover Sora's back, then he might be able to take care of some of the others. It would also hopefully fend off any attempts at mass dive-bombing.

Edited 2012-10-31 05:31 (UTC)

There certainly was the possibility that drawing aggro might minimize the dive bombing. As long as they stuck close. Sora really wished he had an ether at least. One good Thundaga would clear out quite a few of the bats. Sadly, they had to do it the hard way.

He did find the properties of her Keyblade a little odd. Perhaps that was one of the things they could discuss later. For now, it seemed pretty useful for the flying enemies. He left her to that and focused on the grounded enemies and any bats that were still dive bombing. This was going to take a while unless some other help showed up...

An Ether or Mega-Ether would have been nice, but Xion hadn't been thinking quite clearly when getting ready for that last mission. Hence, only Mega-Potions. Which at least did what they were supposed to, but magic was always helpful when dealing with a lot of enemies.

Her Keyblade was, essentially, the same as Sora's, but the Gears did seem to affect it differently than Keychains in some ways. This one was one of the best for dealing with airborne attacks. Doing the best she could to stay close to Sora, she did what she could to deal with the bats, though the number of enemies on the ground made it difficult--they tended not to care who they mobbed. More assistance would definitely be welcome.

As much as the odds sucked, Sora had been through worse, at least in terms of greater numbers. It took time, but they did manage to whittle the mob down. He didn't even want to know how long it had taken.

A few hundred Nightmares left behind an awful lot of dream bits. Personally, Sora wanted to take a breather before gathering them up. He intended to share, of course, since she had helped him. He kind of wished he'd been a little more careful with his items, though.

Xion may have never faced this many enemies at once, but at least they were relatively weak. Backup was good, too, and being used to just digging in and getting the job done. Missions had given her a decent sense of time passing, so she would guess that it had taken them at least about an hour to finally take care of the last Nightmare.

That taken care of, she let herself lean against the wall for a moment. Barkely seemed to agree, flopping down beside her, tongue lolling out as he panted from exhaustion. Smiling, she reached down to pet him. "You did very good."

His response was to offer a tired but happy yip, and thump his tail against the ground. After one last pat, Xion moved away from the wall to start gathering up what the Nightmares had left. They could divide it evenly.

It certainly felt like it had taken longer. Still, Sora wasn't complaining. He probably could have fought that horde off alone (mostly), but that might also have seen him collapsing from exhaustion afterward.

Speaking of exhaustion, he certainly felt close to it and took a moment for a breather himself. Jelly Bean flopped at his feet, grumbling in a way that suggested he didn't want to move for a while. Sora could sympathize, but they still had a bit to do. Mostly, they had dream bits to gather up and it was probably a good idea to find a safer place before deciding to flop.

With some many dream bits dropped, it seemed likely they'd both have plenty of bits for another dream eater as well as some spares to sell or give away.

All things considered, it was good that Xion had come along when she had. True, Sora probably could have managed, but he would have been badly hurt, and in no shape to find his way to safety. A horde like that would have been difficult for even three or four people to deal with.

Xion's limbs felt heavy, and she was definitely planning on resting as soon as she made it to somewhere less Nightmare-infested. Letting the munny and dream pieces disappear would be a shame, though, so collecting those came first. She definitely had enough for another Spirit, now, and plenty to share or sell.

Once the collecting and divvying was finished, though, she was left at something of a loss for what to say or do.

If there were any pluses to the situation, they were that A) Sora had gotten the bits he needed to make a bat and B) he had the opportunity he'd wanted to have a chat with Xion.

However, he found himself just as lost for things to say once the loot was collected and divvied up. While it seemed likely she would know him, it felt awfully awkward to ask her if she knew Roxas. On the other hand, he'd already asked the same question of someone else (asking Eraqus if he knew Yen Sid) with only a guess to go on.

It was awkward, but... "This might be a little out of the blue, but do you know Roxas?"

Well, that was an unexpected question. Not that the topic wouldn't have come up sooner or later, but Xion hadn't expected it to do so this quickly.

Having been somewhat preoccupied with trying to think of a way to excuse herself, it took her a moment to actually process what he'd asked and answer. "Roxas? Yeah, I do."

Was she... uncomfortable with the situation?

That only made things awkward, but he was asking her this because it was becoming more obvious to him that she meant something to Roxas. Especially when every time he saw her, he felt something stirring. It was odd, though, because she seemed to have been missing from the memories that Roxas had shared.

Sora placed a hand over his heart, over the other presence he knew was there, and said, "You... mean a lot to him, you know."

Not uncomfortable so much as trying to get them both out of an awkward situation. Which she hadn't been prepared for at all, and wasn't quite sure how to handle. So maybe Xion was a little uncomfortable, but it wasn't Sora's fault.

Her eyes widened in surprise at his declaration. Nobody was supposed to remember her."We're...We were best friends."

He didn't know that she wasn't supposed to be remembered at all. He would have felt that it was unfair if he did know.

However, he wasn't sure what else he could tell her. With time being weird here, for all he knew, it could change things when she woke up. Maybe there were some things he could say and hopefully nothing that would have a negative effect on things.

"I saw his memories. There's something huge missing. Someone. All he's really sure about is that that someone means a lot to him. I've seen you before coming here. Just once, but that was enough to know that you're special to Roxas."

Fair or not, that was the way it was for the moment. Had there been another way, Xion would have tried that.

Anything she learned now wouldn't change things much. Still, she could be surprised, and when he finished speaking she actually took a step back.

Roxas had shared his memories? Did that mean he'd gone back to Sora, and the plan had worked in a way. Though it seemed her erasure from his memories hadn't been complete...she didn't like to think of him missing someone and not even knowing who that person was.

"So he remembered a little..."

She was focusing on that for the moment, instead of the fact that Sora had somehow seen her.

He had no way to know that. At the same time, even if he did, would she really want to know how exactly Roxas had gotten back to him?

"Yeah, he did. I guess it's easy enough to make the mind forget. It's not so easy with the heart, though."

They would probably get into how he'd seen here later, but at that moment, Jelly Bean started barking. There wasn't an immediate threat around, but it probably would be a good idea to go elsewhere to chat.

"Uh, maybe we should get inside somewhere. It's kind of hard to hold a conversation when there's a chance of more Nightmares showing up."

The full story of how Roxas got back to Sora would make Xion sad. She'd never intended for something like that to happen. True, she'd wanted Riku to stop Roxas's one-man attack on the remaining Organization members. Outright kidnapping and manipulation of the sort that DiZ had inflicted, though... If she ever did find out the truth, she'd want to have a word with Riku about that.

At the moment, though, she was unaware of that and the main issue was that Roxas had, somehow, remembered. Maybe not everything, but enough to know that he had forgotten. Had Namine been unaware that could happen, or simply wanted to prepare Xion for the worst? "I guess so."

Barkley joined Jelly Bean in barking, and he looked on edge. That was enough for Xion to consider moving locations. "Yeah, we probably should."

It was a sad story and it would not have happened the way it did if Sora had had a say in the matter.

Still, sorting it out could wait until they were somewhere safer, "Okay. I... think we're closer to Fourth District over here?"

Sorting it out could definitely wait until they weren't under threat of interruption by Nightmares. "Yeah, I was going to Fountain Plaza. There's not many Nightmares there."

It wasn't inside, but it was reasonably safe. The only other place she could think of was the tea shop.

Sora didn't argue with that. He just wanted to make sure they minimized their risk of attack before diving back into what was likely to be a heavy conversation.

Although, with the interruption while moving to a safer spot, he'd sort of lost his train of thought and he wasn't sure how to get back to it.

Xion sat on the fountain edge, Barkley laying on it beside her with his head in her lap. Everything about him implied that he was settling in and not moving until he got some rest.

There was a slightly awkward pause while Xion adjusted to the invasion of personal space and tried to get her own train of thought back on the track. "So...You met Roxas?"

Battle of a thousand nightmares?

Maybe? There's few hundred at least.

That's enough for trouble.

Indeed it is.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Maybe do some time skip until they're finished, since they seem to be on their own?

Sure.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject