Kingdom Hearts: To The Bitter End [Part One]

Dawning Light
Lu Bu parries swiftly, bringing the wedge-shaped sword up and stopping you shortly. He's actually become quite a bit slower, as though the power suffusing him has made him ponderous, though his blows are as powerful as ever. He extends his arms and lets out a shout, the sheer force of it sending you flying head over heels away to land ten feet from the massive warrior.
"You dare face the mighty Lu Bu?! On your knees, dog!"
Fayt, thanks to a few healing potions, an elixir and some rest is feeling himself again, and gets to his feet. Ike is cutting through the army and is fine, Mulan has gathered the soldiers and is engaging Lu Bu’s army while it is distracted, causing terrible casualties. And Xianghua has Knuckles. But Ventus needs him.
Knuckles bounds into battle, tossing soldiers aside along with Ike as he tries to come to his friends rescue, but the press is too much for him to easily break through. And Xianghua can only gasp in shock as Diao Chan rips Soul edge from her hands with a turn of the chain.

Nameless
The world shakes, and you are crouched in the foliage again, while the vizier turns and smiles at you. Before you can move, he sweeps his arm, and tosses a handful of sand on the wind, forming skeletons, tiny balefires in their empty sockets. He slams his cobra staff on the ground once, then walks into the palace.

Scrooge
You step aboard the book, your clothing blending in seamlessly with those already here. There is a crowd, and judging by their behavior and dress they are engaged in a high class party. A band plays a slow waltz, and for a moment you can imagine that you are in Disney castle, and have never heard of the Heartless.
Eli 'Big Daddy' La Bouff owns this steam wheel, and is holding a party for his daughter Charlotte. He's the sort of man you've always liked, a blue collar man who, through hard work, perseverance and shrewdness has made his fortune (a sugar baron), but the money has never really changed him. He's big, and despite a growing paunch thickness he is still large. He has a fussy mustache and haircut that does not go well with his big, bluff and honest face, and wears a pristine white suit.
His daughter is on his arm, a beautiful and flamboyant southern belle, with blond hair, blue eyes and the smile of one who is beautiful, has blond hair, blue eyes, lots of money and knows it. Just the same, she seems genuinely warm and friendly, and you find yourself liking them even at first glance.
You imagine this would be the place where Mickey would be. Now you only have to find him.

Zelda
The sultan begins regaling you with the wonders of Agrahbah and showing you around his palace, for all the world like an excited schoolboy showing off his project. It seems impossible that this man is a major ruler, and yet apparently he is. You can only assume his regime is slowly failing, or that somewhere nearby there is the power behind the throne.

Hades
The Lord of the Dead was not a happy camper. He had only just arrived back on his home turf to find that the Keyblade-wielding brat- or brats, as the situation now stood- had showed up on his doorstep first. But he would remain cool. Remain calm. He glanced into the shadows of his throne room, and beckoned forth his newest puppet.
Said puppet took his own sweet time stepping out of the shadows. He exceptionally tall, standing tall enough to look the God of the Dead in the eyes, and is built like a bronze statue, with slabs of muscle and a panther-like grace. His skin is a crepuscular white, like a fungus that has never seen the light of day, and a red tattoo going down the majority of his upper body and up to his face. On his face, besides the aforementioned tattoo, he has a scar on his right eye and a black goatee.
"Okay, there you are. Lookin' good. I've got a job for you." Hades began congenially. He gestured with his right hand, and smoky illusions of Terra and his allies appeared before his servant. "You see these lot? Well, they've got a really, really bad habit of screwing up all of the big boss's plans. And whaddya know? Hey. They're here on our doorstep. Accidents happen. You know how it is. Can you help me out?"
"And what am I to do about these intruders?" The Spartan asks, lips tightening.
Hades ripped his hand through the illusions like claws. "You do what you do best. I'm sure you can figure something out. You're a smart guy."
He was long in responding. But when he did, it was with a single word. "No."
Hades narrowed his eyes, got up from his throne, and started walking for his servant. "Excuse me? Sorry, I must have had some brimstone in my ear because I thought I just heard you say no."
"You heard me. I won't do it." the man replied. "I have served you long enough, and you have given me nothing but empty words."
Hades laughed, trying desperately to stay ahead of his fiery temper- and failing miserably. "Aren't we forgetting one eensy-weensy, teeny-tiny, but very important detail? I OWN YOU! I say 'jump', you say 'how high'. I say get rid of those brats before they screw up everything, you say-"
"Forget it." He retorted. "I care nothing for them, but you will not cheat me my due." He lowers his arms, and the chains bound to his bones lengthen, glowing with a fiery golden light, as though molten brass.
Hades sighed, placed a hand on the mans shoulder, and summoned in his free hand a tiny doll-like figurine of the man before him, made of gold. "You know, that's cute. You think your ready to take over down here. Really adorable. Perhaps you want me to make you a partner to? I had hoped it wouldn't come down to this. But you give me no choice. You see, I find my servants do much better quality work when they have free will. But there's that one little problem of always wanting to defy me. You, my friend, just had your first strike. And in this business, we don't have room for any foul-ups. But- I think you're gonna like this next part. For a guy who's been through so much pain, this'll be really- numbing."
Kratos gasped at this, trying to fight it, though his memories of the bargain itself and who it was made about were swiftly leaving him. He could barely remember who he was, or why he wanted to tear the head from this black dressed burning man.
"Are we clear now?" Hades asked.
"Yes, Lord Hades." Kratos deadpanned, all defiance gone.
"Atta boy. Sic 'em."

Dawning Light

Ventus slowly gets up as he looks a Lu Bu with defiance in his eyes. He lifts his Keyblade with purpose and determination. He then cries out "SHOTLOCK" to start off the battle. He jumps into the air and in his minds eye locks onto Lu Bu multiple times. He then cries out "Pulse Bomb" and shoot out balls of energy that converge on Lu Bu and create a series of small explosions.
Xianghua feels as if part of her is ripped away along with Soul Caliber. Animalistic desperation and adrenaline rushes through her as she shoots forward toward Diao Chan and strikes out at her with a lightning fast and sharp, piercing jab.
Knuckles seeing as he can't go through the swaths of enemies with his strength he decides to go under them so he starts digging with the Shovel Claws. When comes up behind Diao Chan he attempts to slash at her legs to sever the muscle tendons in them.
Fayt meanwhile feels a tug on his heart. Somehow he just knows that Ventus needs him and is in trouble. So concentrating on Ventus Fayt activates his Dimension Door skill and teleports to his location. When he gets there he sees that the battle is already underway and decides to charge up a spell while he is still unnoticed.

Ventus, Fayt
The two boys stand before the massive armored figure of Lu Bu, a veritable giant, the biggest and most threatening man either of them had ever seen or imagined, as the smoke clears from the explosions. A few wisps touch the edges, but otherwise he seems unharmed, and you find yourself gulp.
In his armor, Lu Bu was bigger then any man had any right to be, which he was. He wore heavy plate over chainmail, lacquered black and decorated with snarling faces, the metal dinted and scared by use and by battle. Beneath that would be boiled leather and a layer of quilting. He disdained a helm, but wore a pair of massive feathers attached to his head, like the tail of a phenix. He looked as if he had been chiseled from obdurate stone by some savage god, standing there. His great, wedge shaped sword was planted in the ground before him, six feet of scarred metal and pulsing, living flesh, veins pumping ichor through it, and the eye staring at you with stupid malevolence. The warriors huge hands, clad in gauntlets of lobstered steel, clasped the crosshilt to either side of the grip.
"Then be nothing!" He roars, when you attack instead of kneeling, and stomps forward, lunging into your attack and swinging the blade with enough force to demolish a castle wall, stealing the offensive just like that, his blade moving faster and faster, gaining strength and power with every blow until he became almost bersark.

Xianghua
Diao Chan wasn't expecting that, and is so surprised she almost loses her grip on the chain, letting it go slack and leaving Xianghua to make a dive for her lost sword. When she grabs it, Diao Chan smiles, her face still pretty despite a bleeding nose. "You still seek battle? It appears this needs to be settled." She says, spinning her chain, twice on her right, twice on her left, once around her neck, then both at once.
"Very well then."

Knuckles
That way doesn't work either. Looks like this is a designated one-on-one fight.

Mickey
Mickey tilts his head, "A frog prince?" He seems to be a step away from breaking out into a giggling fit. An honest giggling fit. A frog prince....that was truly a new one. He didn't think he'd ever come across a real instance of that. He thought it was the one story that would never have a world that eerily mirrored it.

HK47
HK presumably follows the firefly to find more heartless to murder as per his rather open order from King Mickey, who really should have known better.

Flower, Odie
The two of them continue exploring Facilier's little house. Both of them using their not inconsiderable knowledge of magic to try very indepth looks. Particularly for weaponry, though for very different reasons.

Mickey
"It may seem amusing to you, sir, but to me, and to this world I live in, it is a tragedy. All the women deprived my company, the music and art deprived my patronage, it is enough to move a sensitive man to tears." Prince Naveen replies,, in a dignified and somewhat hurt way.

Flower, Odie
As they inspect the props at his table, neither of them notice a dull glow, like tiny balefires, burn in the empty eye-sockets of the masks along the wall. Slowly, they begin to lower themselves to the floor, shadow-stuff forming limbs and bodies behind the stylized faces, as they begin to creep up on the two intruders.

Ventus, Fayt

Ventus jumps back, eyes wide at the amount of terror and destruction the beast was capable of causing. He sweats as he thinks that this maybe a fight that he is just totally outclassed in. Fayt seeing an opportunity to strike does so. He points his hand at Lu Bu and unleashes a spell it was experimental at best but it was the only thing that he could think of that would throw off Lu Bu' momentum and allow them to get some hits in. With a cry of "Magnet!" a yellow spinning sphere appears a ways away from Lu Bu. Knowing of the giant's strength first hand and the he could most likely use that to stay grounded Fayt fires a beam of destruction from his forehead at him to try and give him enough of a shock to get him caught by the spell. Ventus hearing the voice of his friend finds his spirits lifted as he looks in his direction and sees the look of utmost concentration on his face. Getting his will to fight back Ventus locks his eyes with Lu Bu's form. A creature of darkness and power. He holds up his keyblade as he figures Fayt has the right idea, hit him with a barrage of magic. Calling upon his magic reserves his uses quite a big chunk of them to use the Mega Flare spell. It is a powerful spell that shoot a small fireball at the opponent and on contact causes a huge explosion. He just hopes it can take some of the edge off of Lu Bu's game.

Xianghua

She gets her sword back as she feels whole again. She then turns toward Diao Chan purposefully. She holds up Soul Caliber so that it is parallel to the ground the tip pointed at her. "You sure you still want to go on sweetheart? I would hate to have to mess that pretty face of yours up even more," she says as she slowly circles her looking for an opening.

Ike and Knuckles

Seeing as he can't help Xianghua Knuckles decides to do what he does best, and that is to go postal on the hapless soldiers as he becomes a whirlwind of metal claws and death. Ike is continuing his work though he is grateful for the help. Ike then make a quick survey of the battlefield to see how their forces are doing and to see what areas are being overwhelmed so that he can provide assistance.

Nameless
The massive grotesque smiles, and draws the heavy axe from his belt. One of the batlike beasts of sand swoops at him, only to be bisected neatly and explode into a rain of tiny grains. He swings twice more, murdering two others, then points the axe at Jafar.
"Nice try." He replies. "Now tell me what I desire to know, or I will see if you die as easily as your minions."

Zhou Yu, Terra, Vincent
The three fo them leave the grounds, heading to the long stair that leads deep bellow the eart towards the underworld.

Metaknight
Spreading his cape like wings he leaps at Cloud, trying to carve him in two.

Vincent, Zhou Yu, Terra
The three of you make your way down the long, steep and twisting staircase that leads bellow the earth, that connects the living world to the world of the dead. The air is thick and heavy, seeming to sap at your strength, and their is a heavy fog that rolls along the dark stone. It leads down to an endless maze of stone corridors near the river Styx, that was a bright, acidic green, and full of shapes it takes you all a moment to identify as souls. Skull decorations feature, the entire place feeling gloomy and dark, leaving nobody less then sure as to where you are.

Nameless
Jafar frowns slightly, his hooked nose giving it a terrible effect, and narrows his eyes. The eyes of his staff begin to glow, and he pints it at you, meeting your gaze with the hypnotic gaze of his staff. "Very good. But you are no match for me. Kneel down and I will spare you. Or be destroyed. But I won't let a man like you stand between me and my vengence against those who humiliated me."

Ventus, Fayt
"What is magic? There is no magic before the might of my blade!" He roars, charging through the explosion of magic to continue his merciless assault, trailing shadow as he does. You've damaged him, but he's sunk so deeply into darkness he has not even noticed, and his fury has only grown. A red gleam is in his eye, and he’s only speeding up.
Fayt tries to parry a blow, and his sword shatters under the blow, numbing his arm and only seeming to add to the terrible fury that has sunk it’s talons into the warrior. The return stroke nearly carves him in twain, and he is saved only by the intervention of his friend, who catches the blow and saves them both.
You’re wearing him down, but slowly, and such is his anger it’s all you can do to stay alive. The sun fades away, as if overcome by evil, and though it was midday, the world became shrouded in darkness. Billowing clouds of steam begin to rise from the ground beneath you, and then the world falls away.
An otherworldly landscape greets them. In this place exists no heaven, no earth. No reality -- merely the sinister-yet-beautiful waves, and arcs of different colors mingling together around them. The three of you stand on a circular stone-like arena surrounded by a space-like background, with the ‘eye’ of Soul-Edge at the center of the ‘sky’. Other smaller rocks, no more then a few feet across float around the stage, and the air is purer then any you’ve ever sampled before.
"Hmm! You're fighting pretty well. I'm getting warmed up!" Lu Bu says, apparently unaware or uncaring at the change of place, and slams Soul Edge into the ground hard enough to crack it. "Don't stop now."

Xianghua
In answer, she clips a massive red orb to her spiked chain, turning it into a ‘meteor hammer’, and swings it a few times to factor in the additional weight. “Dance with me, girl.” She says, changing her grip to adjust the length of the chain. “Lets see if you can keep up with me.”

Ventus, Fayt

Fayt is panting as his mind constantly replays the moment that he came close to dying. Ventus then speaks up. "Fayt, snap out of it! We have to work together to bring this guy down." Fayt looks up almost helplessly as he says, "But, what can I do? Without my sword I can't even block his attacks. At this point I'm more a liability than an ally," his head dropping back down as he finishes. Ventus then looks at him seriously. "Who are you," he says, "Who are you and what have you done with my best friend? The Fayt I know would never give up this easily. No matter how grim things looked. I mean sure were in a bad situation, and sure you may be a sitting duck, but the Fayt that I knew would never give up. He would use all of that intellect of his to find a way to win. He would find a way to beat the odds and laugh about it later. Where is that Fayt Liengod?" Fayt looks up his eyes clouded as he looks into Ventus's eyes which are burning with the light of hope. Seeing that light sparks something in Fayt as his eyes become clear and start burning with fire to fight and will to live. He stands up from his crouched position and stands up straight. "Thanks Ven, I needed that. I can't believe that I was about to give up. We can do this, because we have to keep going. I still have to find Sophia and help push back the darkness. Let's do it Ven!" he says as he reaches his hand out. Ventus nods smiling and extends his hand with keyblade and allows Fayt's hand to rest atop his on the keyblade. They then turn towards Lu Bu and point the keyblade at him. Both of them then cry "STOPGA". The magic burst from them to try and stop Lu Bu for the maximum 8 seconds. After that they both start channeling their inherent natures Light and Destruction. Then with a mighty yell a dragon of light and destruction bursts from Ventus's keyblade and rushes forward towards the (hopeufully) stopped Lu Bu.

Xianghua

"This holy sword of mine with rend you in two," she says as she moves quickly towards her opponent, Soul Caliber glowing with a brilliant light. She watches Diao Chan no doubtingly swings her new morning star towards her. She attempts to duck under the incoming attack to get in a strike seeing as now with the added weight the attack should be easier to dodge.

Ventus, Fayt
The massive blade falls from his hand, to clatter against the stone platform where he dropped it, the eye wide with shock. Lu Bu hits the ground a second later, collapsing to his knees, armor cracking and falling from his powerful frame as darkness begins to gather on the edges. "You're pretty strong afterall, kids." He conceded grudgingly as he felt himself fade away into wisps of darkness infused with a slight purplish light, like fresh bruise.
"I never imagined being beaten by you. But you're still not... strong enough to... to win." He says, then collapses, now barely more then an inky blot. A smile is on his handsome face as he fades completely and is gone, leaving only the sword behind, and his headpiece decorated with two pheasant tails. And so the darkness claims another.
You, however, are still trapped on the strange platform in what seems to be the depths of the world of Darkness with no obvious method of returning to where you came from.

Xianghua
She begins twirling the meateor hammer above her head, skillfully changing her grip on the chain to vary the legnth and speed, making it far more difficult to predict then you'd guess. Each rotation makes a WHOOSH sound in the air.
Then she lets it fly, and Xianghua rolls out of the way, the metal ball punching through stone instead. Diao Chan doesn't stop. To stop is to lose momentum, and leave yourself open. To stop is to die. She spins quickly, the meateor hammer wrapping around her wiast, then turns int the other direction, launching it like a fist at Xianghua instead. Again she dodges, and again Diao Chan changes direction, keeping the whirling ball following her at all times.

Ventus, Fayt

Fayt looks around as he says, "Great now what. Were still in some strange dimension and have no ready way back. Unless...." He turns and looks towards Soul Edge. Ventus getting the idea turns towards the sword and bringing forward the keyblade shoot a beam of light at the stuck in the ground sword.

Xianghua

This was not working. She had to give Diao Chan this, she had skill and lots of it. She is starting to get desperate. So as the meteor hammer comes by she dodges it and stabs Soul Caliber into the chains links and stabs it into the ground to stop the weapon. She then runs forward to shoot out both of her fists into Diao Chan. One into her solar plexus and the other into her chest over her heart.

Xianghua
She timed it pefectly. And as she had expected, Diao Chan was no good at unarmed combat. She was good enough at armed combat that it wasn't an issue, and Xianghua had been trained by Kilik when they had traveled together, at least enough to know how to quickly disable an enemy when she couldn't rely on her sword.
Diao Chan sinks to her knees and clutches her throat to try to keep from swallowing her tongue, then falls unconcious.

Ventus, Fayt
The sword glows white hot a moment, then shatters, and as it does the world falls apart with it, becoming fragments that fall down through the darkness and into the light beyond. You land above a battlefield, covered in the dead and dying, amongst the soldiers of China. The fragments of Soul-Edge are nowhere to be seen, and Lu Bu is nowhere to be seen. Of course not. He's moved on, and the darkness has left him.

Ike, Knuckles
The two of you finnish cleaning up the remainder of Lu Bu's warriors. It's over and you won.

Cloud Strife
The SOLDIER leaps forward, bringing the fusion sword through a series of astonishingly rapid sword strokes, each one faster then the last, trying to smash through his enemies defense. When he takes to the air, so does Cloud, leaping to the air and slamming foreard in a small sonic boom, continuing to swing his massive blade as he drives back his opponent.

Scrooge
He wanders bellow decks, still looking for his king. Then he hears voices bellow decks, and goes to investigate.

Zelda
For now, she lets him remain in charge, letting him show off her place as much as she wanted.

Zelda
The Sultan is showing you the massive board that is a minute replica of his city, meticulously detailed, and the massive pile he's made with tiny figures of animals and people. You are beginning to think he's senile, in fact. But before he can say much more, the doors of the hall swing open, and a strange wing blows in, swirling with sand. As you watch, the sand comes together, forming vague shapes that realize themselves into skeleton made entirely of sand. Thirty of them stumble towards you, slow, shuffling steps, their jawbones barred in a silent rattle as they reach for you with desiccated claws.

Dawning Light
With the defeat of the forces of Lu Bu, you are taken to the forbidden city where The Emperor congratulates you. Standing before him where he sits on his throne, he gets to his feet and bows low, so that his beard sweeps the floor, shocking his advisors, a few of which actually gasp.
"When the darkest hour of this nation came, I believed all to be lost and had thought to surrender to spare my people suffering. You saved us that indignity, and threw back a wave of darkness when I had given up hope.' He pauses.
"While there is little aid I can offer you once you leave the borders of my realm, know that if you should ever return you shall be accorded the respect of a member of my house and all the rights and privileges thereof, that the gates of this city shall always be open to you, and if you ever ask anything of me then i shall do all in my power to grant it." He stops.
"While it seems little after all you have done, I have an offering for Ventus he might find useful."
He waves a hand, and a scribe with a wispy beard and long, lacquered fingernails presses a handful of green scrolls into his hand, which he then passes to Ventus. "Our realm is guarded by dragons, those of the mountains, and cities, and people. The greatest of these is Bahamut, Guardian of the Imperial family, Conqueror of the Skies. With these, in greatest need you may call upon his aid."
Then he closes his hands in his sleeves again. "If I may offer you anything else, you need only ask it."

Metaknight
But a fight verges on impossible when you can never reach your enemy. Metaknight vanishes, then reappears, again and a gain, drawing Cloud on an endless chain, as illusive as smoke. When the SOLDIER finally does catch him, Metaknight springs to clash with him, sending a shockwave as the Buster sword smashes against Galaxia, sending them both flying. Metaknight flips, catching himself and turning it into a controlled fall that he lands easily. Staring up with glowing yellow eyes, he launches himself after Cloud, sword upraised.

Nameless
He bares his teeth, and walks forward, still facing the mad vizier. "What can change the nature of a man?" He replies cryptically. When Jafar only looks confused, he sighs, but without any real irritation. That one had always been a longshot.
"If you cannot answer that, then you are nothing to me."

Dawning Light

Ventus and his friends bow low as well as Ventus says, "It would be an honor to accept your gift emperor. It was our pleasure and duty to help you in this dire time." He walks up and accepts the scroll. He then turns to Fayt as he says, "Alright beam us up buddy." Fayt nods and pull out a remote as they are teleported back to their ship waving goodbye. Once aboard the ship Xianghua speaks out, "So, what now?" Ventus then speaks up, "Well Fayt needs a weapon and I need to test out something I've had a hunch about. So pack your bags guys we're goin' to Yen Sid's Castle!" Fayt hits the accelerator and blasts off to Yen Sid's Castle.

Nameless
Jafar abandons his attempts to force you to his will with a snarl when he realizes its not going to work, and turns sharply, stepping through the gates that lead up into the palace. They slam shut behind him, leaving you alone in the garden.

Dawning Light
Twilight Town is a quiet city in endless sunset, where the sun never moves. The streets are paved, the buildings are predominately of limestone, with terraces, gardens and sloping roads up and down the slopes. A massive clock-tower dominates the horizon, and around it you can see the station on the heights.
To the right there is a deep forrest around the grounds of the mansion.
Landing the Gummi ship, you step out into the streets. Ahead is the sandlot, where the Struggle tournaments take place. A good place to test your strength if you ever get the urge, though pretty uninteresting to anyone who has seen a major tournament at the Colosseum at Olympus. A steep road runs up the hill towards the station, where the mystic train leads to the Mysterious Tower, and to Yen Sid. Unfortunately there is no way to get to it without him choosing to let you.
As you make your way past the currently empty sandlot, you encounter three kids, about Ventus's age. The leader has spiky, blond hair, a whipcord thin build that's beginning to fill out, and wears baggy, camouflage-print capris pants, a short sleeveless vest, and a black muscle shirt decorated with a crudely-drawn skull and crossbones. A rather heavy-set boy with spiky black hair held up by a headband and a baggy shirt like a smock is at his left, and a messy haired, slim girl wearing casual 'summer' themed clothing is to his right. All three are gaping at you with astonishment, as though they'd seen a ghost.
"... Roxas?" The leader stammers out.

Princess Zelda Sheik
The princess reacts quickly, grabbing a Deku nut and crunching it in her grip, letting out a sudden burst of white fog. When it clears, moments later, the Princess has vanished, and in her place is a different individual entirely.
With voice muffled and face concealed, as well as wearing a form-fitting blue jumpsuit and black boots with the red Sheikah eye in the center, the figure is androgynous, with bright blue eyes and a fringe of golden hair.
Hand darting down, the figure removes a short, slim blade from it's lower back and holds it's other arm palm forward, a ready stance leaving no openings that would be recognizable to any frequent user of marital arts.

Cloud Strife
Cloud does the same, body glowing golden and crackling with electricity as he slams into the enemy, bringing his sword in a massive arc that smashes into Metaknights, hard enough to demolish a building in one blow. Rather then resume their swordplay, he simply increases the pressure, forcing Metaknight back and lower, then smashes into him again, sending him falling towards the ground. Cloud descends after him, sword held overhead in both hands.

Scrooge
"Majesty." He says, lowering his head, but nowhere near as much as his nephew would have. He respects you, and your office, but when you have a money bin larger then the castle, there is only so much respect you can pay anyone.
So he gets right to the point. "I found Ansem. He survived." He says, then waits for you to react.

Sheik
The skeletons don't pay attention to your remarkable transformation, and the sultan is too busy scampering away shouting for his guards to notice. Their desiccated corpses have been awakened by magical incantations, and their bodies are now inhabited by their undying, vengeful spirits. They are a mocking imitation of life, transformed into hideous cadavers still wrapped in rotted cotton and eyes shining with malice.
Having crossed the room at a slow shamble, they lunge at you, claws bared for your face.

Dawning Light

The rest of his group look at the three in confusion as Ventus turns towards them. He then speaks to them in a nostalgic and forlorn tone, "Not quite guys, but I still recognize you." He says with a smile. He then spends the next two hours regaling his story and his connection to Sora, and by proxy Roxas. He knows that it may be hard for them to take in, but they deserve to know about their friend who still lives within him. After the story introductions are made by the rest of his group. "...and that's why I look so much like Roxas," he says finishing his story. Fayt then says," It's nice to meet you all, any friend of Ven's is a friend of ours." Xianghua nods her head in agreement, "That's right, and may I just say that you have the cutest little outfit," she says to Olette. Ike sighs as he knows that if he lets Ventus, Fayt, and Xianghua (a.k.a the friendship brigade) keep talking that nothing will get done. So he interrupts them with a thick and deep cough before speaking. "As you have heard from Ventus's story darkness is spreading through the worlds at a rapid pace which needs to be stopped. We mostly come here on a whim from Ven but have any strange things been happening lately?" Knuckles is merely standing there waiting the conversation to be over and trying to sense any pieces of the Master Emerald.

Dawning Light
"You like it? There's this great little place down the boulevard. I'll show you while you're here." Olette gushes, glad to have access to somebody who could appreciate clothing in a way that wasn't owning seven pairs of the same outfit and wearing it every day of the week. Knuckles senses, but comes up blank. It looks like his only lead is the tournament at Olympus, going by even now.
They look at each other, and all shrug at much the same time, as you start walking up the slope towards the station. Sadly, that's the truth. At the moment? Everything is much like it's always been. Hayner steps up, deciding at the very least he can fill you in about that. "Terms about to start, but we still have a few days left of break." He says, as your mismatched group starts making it's way up to the train station. "We're about to start a new Struggle tournament, and I reckon I got a real shot this time. Actually..." He pauses. "Well, they say a few strangers have passed through. Really weird guys, they asked questions about someone called Yen Sid and then vanished. They came a bout a week ago, but nobody is talking about them anymore. And a few other guys have showed up for the tournament, but that's nothing new."
"Seifer's been acting more like a jerk."
"He's always been a jerk. How's that strange?"
At last, you get to the top of the hill, to the station. "Well, see you soon." Hayner says, rubbing his hair. "Come see us when you get back. We got a lot to show you around here." It then occurs to Ventus that he doesn't need to bring all of them. What's going on with Yen Sid only really concerns him and Fayt, afterall. The others could probably use a break.

(Sorry about that. I have a few ideas in regards to Seifer, so I plan to keep him in reserve for now. So I edited)

Dawning Light

Ventus thinks for a moment before he speaks. "Actually Yen Sid only needs to see me and Fayt. Xianghua you can hang out with Olette and go see that clothing store she was talking about. Pus Ike your really good with a sword maybe you could give Hayner some pointers for the struggle tournament and Knuckles, well you do whatever it is you want to relax." The rest of the group nods at Ven's quick breakdown of activities. Ike is surprised at Ven's intuition about how he would not relax very well here and therefore gave him something to do. Perhaps he did not give his younger team member enough credit sometimes. So Xianghua allows Olette to lead her to the clothing store while Ike asks if Hayner would like him to help him improve his technique. Knuckles meanwhile decides to go get something to eat, looking around all the venders for something to tickle his taste-buds. While they head off Ven and Fayt nod to each other and head into the train station to catch the strange purple train to Yen Sid's home.

(no biggie Cracklord I can always edit like you did. Besides now you've got me intrigued about what these ideas for Seifer are.)

Ventus, Fayt
You step onto the station, where a train waits for you, letting off clouds of white smoke. It's been painted to appear like the night sky, with stars and crescent moons done out in gold and silver paint. It even has a little cone that looks somewhat like a wizard hat on the front. You glance in, and sure enough, no passengers, no driver. But it's the only way to get to Yen Sid's tower and private world.

Ike, Knuckles
You take him down towards the sandlot, passing a billboard looking for work and their hang-out, 'The Usual Spot'. The streets are more or less empty, but the few passersby do stop and look at you. You look quite out of place here dressed in your armor.
It's then you notice another group is hanging out in the alleyway that leads down to the Sandlot where you had intended to practice.
Seifer has short blond hair, blue-green eyes, and a scar across his forehead and nose, that he got before anyone here knew him. Indeed, it's hard to imagine him without it. He wears a blue vest, with a cross-like design lined in white, a gray coat with another stylized cross on the sleeves, as well as black gloves and boots. He also wears a silver chain with a tag around his neck.
Like the gang you just met, he has two companions, a tall and very muscular young man with tan skin and dark hair, favoring side-burns. His clothes consist of an orange tank top and baggy dark sweatpants over wide shoes, giving him the look of a basketball player.
A short, slim oman with electric blue hair covering her left eye and an expression of sullen disapproval stands there as well, hands clasped behind her back.
Seeing you, he struts over to you, using his height to loom (he's grown. He's nearly Ike's height now). You're unarmed, given carrying weapons in Twilight Town is illegal, but just the same you doubt he's a threat to any of you, no matter how cocky he might be. "Well, they're letting anyone in here these days. Town used to have class."
The big guy chuckles, though you're not sure it was a joke. Then again, the man looks a little dim. Perhaps he's just slow.
"Here for the struggle then? I could use a warm-up." He continues his jeer, stretching his right-arm.

Xianghua
You let yourself be dragged of, and soon have a whole lot of clothing tossed at you. Your own clothing is beautiful, if you say so yourself, but it's from an earlier time, and outside the Land of Dragons and Swordlands (where you started, back when you were with Kilik and never even realized their were other worlds) you feel noticeably out of place.

Ven, Fayt

Fayt looks at the strange train a little iffy about it with no conductor. However upon seeing Ventus walk into it confidently he walks hesitantly onto it as well. Once the door slam shut he jumps but quickly calms down at Ven's non-panicked look and sits himself down to wait for their arrival and Yen Sid's Castle.

Ike, Knuckles

Knuckles hearing the blonds words immediately feels his blood boiling. "What did you say you little punk. Why I outta scramble your brains right now," he says advancing towards Seifer. Ike however puts an arm out in front of Knuckles to stop him. "Wait this is the perfect opportunity to help teach Hayner about swordplay." He looks towards the sandlot and heads over to pick something off the ground. It is a struggle defender that he picks up as it has greater reach and has a guard like his sword. If feels a little awkward in his hands due to it's feather like weight in comparison to his immensely heavy broadsword. However he would be able to adapt, he would have been able to become leader of the Greil Mercenaries if he couldn't. He then looks at Hayner as he says, "One way of improving your combat skills is observation. Learning your opponent and his moves to take away his element of unpredictably and surprise. It also helps you by allowing you see different ways to fight. Now watch," he finishes as he turns to Seifer. "I accept your challenge, shall we spar?"

Xianghua

She tries on the outfits one by one. Many of them are cute, but some just don't do well on her. After a while of shifting through outfits she picks out a red tube top with white stars on it along with pair of black bedazzled jeans and brown sandles, an orange shirt with white shorts and a pair of white sneakers, and white paint splatter patterned shirt with a pair of blue jeans and ,at Olette's insistance, a pair of blue high heels. She feels awkward in the high heels and can barely walk in them, but Olette says she will get better with practice. She could only hope, otherwise she has a lot of fun on the shopping trip.

Ventus, Fayt
The train takes off smoothly, without a rumble or any noise or vibration whatsoever, which is slightly discomforting for those expecting it. At a deceptive pace it leaves the borders of the city and heads past several hills amongst the clouds in the endless sunset of Twilight Town. Passing them in drives into a stranger realm where the only physical landscape is a glowing railway along which the single train rides.
At last you come to an island floating above the night sky. The Tower itself is a surrealistic, crooked, golden-brown tower, topped with blue cone-shaped turret roofs, decorated with moons and stars. As you come up to the door and draw back your hand to knock, the door slides open on it's own, to reveal a simple round room, surrounded by an upward-spiraling staircase that leads to a strange portal.
And through that would be more and more staircases, stretching as high as forever, until at last you get to the top.

Ike, Knuckles
"Is there a problem?" Asks a man with a deep, gravely voice, suitable for the opening of hostilities in a mid-range war. You turn to look at a big, broad-shouldered man with dark hair, a thick mustache, a chin you could crack rocks on, and enormously muscular arms. He'd stressed in a double-breasted suit, and and has a smile that makes you trust him, although given how imposing he is he is still extremely intimidating. Lu Bu had been the biggest man you'd ever met, but this man looked like he could bench-press Lu Bu with one arm. And he had a disturbingly quiet tread for such a big man.
"No... no problem at all, Mayor Haggar." Seifer says, holding up his hands and stepping back deferentially, doing his best to present himself as far from being a problem as possible. "I was just about to teach him the basics of Struggle. Friendly-like." He gestures at the square where the fights take place.
"Good. Keep it that way." The mayor says, continuing down the slope to the sandlot with you. "I might just watch." He adds.
Mike Haggar had been champion in his day, the best of the best. He hadn't actually participated in a Struggle tournament in a long time, since it began to focus on speed over brawn and since all the older champions he'd battled against moved on, but it was still good to watch.
It takes Knuckles a moment, but then he realizes something. The mayor has a piece of the emerald on him.
Seifer steps up, holding his own in one hand cross from his body, with rather more experience then you. He's done this before, of course. Probably all he actually knows of fighting. It's only natural he'd be confident.
"Come on then." He jeers, holding his place and waiting for you to move at him.

Xianghua
Newly dressed and fitting in far better, Olette takes you to a little place on the corner of the market street, and buys you both a sea-salt ice-cream. You've never tasted anything quite like it. Salty, and yet sweet, cold, and wet, yet solid and not crunchy.
She swings her legs, licking her own, and then asks you how you met Ventus.