Dwarf Woodlands

[Apollymi]

Yuri's snap reaction to what Master Luxu had to say previously about saving Kairos from herself was something which gave the raven-haired lass pause. She knew she was stronger than a lot of people, but she didn't think about herself as scaling properly towards the Masters. Yuri wasn't the first person to point this out of course, Master Invi had mentioned this the previous day as well, though for reasons Kairos herself considered a bit illegitimate. "Eh?! I don't know if I'd say all that... I'm pretty strong I think, but I don't know if I'd make that sort of leap. Still though, comments like that do wonders for a girl's self-esteem," she managed a joke, despite being a bit taken aback by the lad's compliment, but more was settling in. Her words about the Master known as Luxu apparently caught Yuri by surprise, his response had been similar to her own. She hadn't the slightest idea of how to feel about it at first, but when giving it consideration, she was quite pleased. "I can't pretend to really understand it myself, but... if we are supposed to follow our hearts. Then I don't think it is meant matter whether there is more light or more darkness... I think... it only matters what you do with it," she said with an affirmative nod. "Or at least, that is the conclusion I came to after thinking about it yesterday when I used the darkness to help get you back. Something I would have struggled with otherwise, and seeing you alright at the end of that... is way better for me, than all of those speeches about the dangers of darkness," she mentioned with her own happiness returning. She'd come to the conclusion that such a statement could only really be felt in one's heart if it came from someone with a shared experience. As such she was more than willing to be this person for Yuri, since someone else had been this for her. With that out of the way she began walking further and further towards a small clearing which led towards marshes with deep waters and large leaves stretched out over them. The leaves didn't look like they should be used, but appeared to be set up in a way which was similar to footfalls.

[Bloodedge]

Onward they went while Kairos further explained her newfound philosophy on accepting one's inner Darkness. Yuri took this message to heart as best he could, though whether it was something to be retained by the lad or not was something only time would reveal. "Huh. Well... I guess you've got a point, at least... and I can't argue with something if a master says it's true," he muttered. If there was one truth in this world, it was that the Master of Masters' direct apprentices were leagues beyond what most holders of a Keyblade could dream of being. If there was one thing Yuri believed specifically though, it was that Kairos would not consciously lead him astray. He had much to consider as a result, but a distraction came in the form of marshes littered with strange, giant leaves creating something of a path across the waters. Yuri was a bit skeptical of these, but they were very much large enough that he believed they would support his weight. As such, he began walking across them without a care in the world. "You said Dwarf Woodlands. Were those guys we just fought supposed to be the Dwarfs or something?"

[Apollymi]

"You can argue, if you don't agree. And even if you do..." she said with unbridled cheer. "Consider it from all angles, and come to your own conclusions, just take a gentle nudge if it's presented to you..." Kairos said, which is how she considered the interference of someone like Luxu in her day to day activities over the past few days. As they moved into the marshes of this area the large leaves made Kairos smile. Whether or not she assumed these leaves to be capable of carrying her weight or not, she began flipping across them, to the point that she easily passed Yuri on a leaf while barely making contact with it with her left hand. "Um... I don't think so. I heard someone saying that some little people ran a mine here. I think the darkness here, simply tries to look like them..." she said with a chipper disposition, but as she landed on the last leaf the darkness congealed once more. This time at the base of a fallen tree which looked like it led deeper in. "Oh... seems like a pretty tight space~" she chimed as she looked in watching as red bulbuous noses and glowing yellow eyes formed in great amounts down this narrow corridor. All of them trying to force their way out but stumbling upon each other as they moved. On the far side of this log, where she couldn't see, cries of help could be heard. "HELP!" came these cries. Only to be overthrown by someone else. "I don't know what yer askin' for help fer. We're the only ones who live in these parts, gimme that pickaxe!"

[Bloodedge]

Yuri had nothing more to say regarding his own conclusion to the Darkness topic. He was quite conscious of his own Darkness, yet also fearful of its potential influence over him. Even so, just the idea of others using Darkness for good was a new and refreshing idea for the lad. He mulled over this while being so casually passed by Kairos and her acrobatics, and paused in front of the tree which produced their forward path. He looked at this tree and others that had yet to fall, thinking this adventure could have gone a very different way. "Ugh! These trees have creepy faces on them. Why can't you ever pick the cotton candy path?" he asked. If Yuri had any intentions of going another route, a call for help from the dank depths of the path ahead demanded attention. "Let me guess... We're going down the creepy path to help the creepy voice fight off the creepy monsters? I should have stayed home," he said, moving on without even waiting for the response he knew was coming. His Keyblade was at the ready for whatever offense the Darkness decided to throw at him along his way, but he clearly didn't care much for this particular excursion already.

[Apollymi]

"You have a creepy face!" was Kairos' only reply to the lad, though indeed in jest it was about the kind of thing she would normally say. For a lad who never led or chose their adventures, he was always full of annoying things to say while they were in the thick of things. His complaint this time was that they had to follow the voices of some unknown and potentially help them out of trouble. "Well, yeah... that's kinda the whole point of coming here. Collect Lux, slay darkness, help a random creepy person, because they don't normally get the help when they need it most..." she mused about the situation. Of course, she felt this way solely because she was exactly the sort of person others would normally look over if she needed help fighting off the darkness. Still there was a joke to be made here, and she'd make it as she landed atop the fallen log her Keyblade summoned in a downward position at the opening. "Besides you came here to enjoy my sunny disposition and the ice cream~" Her words belayed mischievous intent as magic began to swirl at the tip of her Keyblade. Several of the small darkness broke free of the confines of the space, lunging towards Yuri with their large and long noses aiming to swipe at him and overwhelm him with numbers. "Gravira!" all of the surrounding darkness, those caught in Kairos immediate radius and even those approaching Yuri were soon caught in a bubble of crushing darkness flattening those closest upon impact, and harming those farther away, but not affecting Yuri at all. This created a bit of a gap in the log that Kairos could see through, and there she spotted at the other end two short people one in a red shirt with a surly disposition and swinging a pickax and one in a green shirt with small round glasses, both of these beings with surprisingly large noses.

[Bloodedge]

"Well you have a creepy... butt!" Yuri retorted, seeming to have found nothing else to bring up on such short notice. There was nothing more to do at this point aside from push forward. They'd already come this far, and the Darkness was upon them, so there was no turning back even if Yuri wanted to avoid the unsettling trees surrounding them. "Fine, fine... But next time, we're going the other direction!" he said as the spawns of Darkness encroached. He scoped them out, so to speak, as Kairos took the initiative in applying her gravity magic to begin crushing the horde. These weren't particularly large creatures, so Yuri had what he thought to be the perfect spell to use in conjunction to Kairos' opener. "Magnet!" he called out with his Keyblade casting an effect which made the enemy swarm gravitate toward him. What he cast was the weakest variant of this spell, but he didn't need the spell itself to eliminate the stragglers; he had something else for that.

"Poison!" Yuri spoke the name of a magic which he was most proficient with, though it was quite arguably more versed in Darkness than any standard spell. An almost sickly green aura encased his Keyblade as he slashed about, striking at each one of the creatures as they floated toward him. With each strike, Yuri's Keyblade showed its power when casting magic. Yuri's strikes knocked the enemies away and applied his poison spell to him, and his Keyblade used the moment of impact to cast the same spell a second time on each target, allowing them to each be dissolved by the poison's effect before the Magnet spell brought them back toward Yuri. This combination assault continued for a few moments, but soon, Yuri stood with nothing surrounding him bar remnant wisps of poison magic in the air.

[Apollymi]

"Well you would know!" this was the only retort Kairos could manage. It wasn't like she spent a great deal of time looking at her own bottom, she had no idea what it looked like. Whatever the case, apparently Yuri simply settled upon the idea that the next time they went on such an adventure he was choosing to go the opposite direction. Kairos was fine with this, because she knew that things that looked good on the outside weren't necessarily so, but if it made Yuri feel better not to be surrounded by creepy faces, she supposed she could give in to such a request once in a while. After a moment, Kairos got to witness what was the follow up to her own darkness based spell. And what a follow up it was, as Yuri used a Magnet spell to pull forward the enemies and went on to use 'Poison' to dominate the lot of them. Though it took him a little while eventually every single one of the enemies was dealt with and he stood in all his glory surrounded by little wisps of poison and nothing else. Witnessing this, made Kairos smile, because it was a step in the right direction. "That is a pretty interesting spell there, Yuri~ Fine fine, you choose the direction next time. But for now... come on!~" she said taking off down the fallen log to approach the two dwarfs at the end of the given path, with the darkness now cleared from it.

At the end of the tunnel she'd find the two small people the one with the glasses and an angry one swinging a pickaxe at what was a large bodied piece of darkness. Because of the size of that one's body it was simply bouncing off it as it seemed to laugh at the little man below him. "That's all ye got?! I'll show ye what fer!" said the surly man. The more skittish man who was standing behind him with the glasses and the green shirt tried to offer a more moderate solution. "We could just go back inside, Grumpy. Work today seems like it will be dangerous," he tried to convince him even as he kept swinging. "If we go back, then the others will be in danger too!" this was from the man who kept swinging though he seemed to be a bit more tired than he had been when he started. Behind these two was a small cottage and in the dirty windows the little faces of several other small people appeared. The large body was standing between Kairos and the people she wanted to see and since it was facing them she had a fairly easy time reaching out. She opened her hand having banished her Keyblade and held within it a glowing ball of fire. "Out of my way! Fire!" she said, casting the lowest form of this spell creating a single fireball, tainted by darkness which caused the thing to explode even as the dwarf kept swinging away. She would then flip her body over landing atop the still swinging pickax with both of her hands to greet the man in an upside down pose in a manner surprisingly similar to a jester. "I think ya' got him there," she managed in a childish tone. "Who are ya'? Are ya' with them?" asked the grumpy man. The other one looked onwards and shook his head from left to right. "Grumpy calm down. They came from that way and cleared out everything else. Think rationally." he said. "Sorry about my friend. I'm Doc. Thank you, for helping us out there... both of you," he said while rubbing his round stomach in a manner which caused Kairos to chuckle though she hadn't moved at all from atop the pickax.

[Bloodedge]

"Gross!" said Yuri during the time in which he was finishing off the enemy wave. When it was all over, he took a moment to marvel at his own work. He'd used a spell such as this one before, but he could sense its underlying Darkness over time, and thus refrained from using it consciously until now. Now that he'd done it by choice, he was astounded by the amount of output it yielded. 'Can I actually control this if I try?' he wondered while looking over his Keyblade. Moving on, he followed Kairos, who eliminated a very rotund spawn of Darkness in her path to create a clear route to a pair of... what he assumed to be Dwarfs. They were very strange-looking individuals to say the least, and though Kairos didn't seemed bothered as she spoke to them from atop the angrier one's pickaxe, Yuri looked on with mild disgust. 'Ew. These guys are pretty ugly. What's going on with that one's face?' he thought, wondering more specifically about the expression worn by the Dwarf called Grumpy. "You're not with them, right? I mean..." He paused briefly to raise his free hand to his own face, tapping the tip of his nose to make his coming point. "You've got a few... similarities to the ones we saw a few minutes ago."

[Apollymi]

"YURI! Be nice!~" a chime which came from Kairos as the drawf swinging the pickaxe finally stopped as he realized there was someone on top of it. "What's with this crazy woman!?" he questioned as he stopped and with that hideous look on his face moved himself behind the one who'd called himself 'Doc' and apparently chose to speak for him. The one known as Grumpy turned his big nose up at Yuri's question even hearing his question he didn't answer. "She's not crazy she saved us. Be nice, Grumpy!" said Doc as he returned his attention to the girl who was now right side up and smiling. He also looked to Yuri and shook his head from left to right. "No, no we aren't with them. They look like us, but they aren't us. We've only been trying to go to work, and we can't leave the house because they keep chasing us back! We tried to make a stand today, but you see how that worked out..." he exclaimed explaining the situation. "We're miners you see.. all seven of us! And we can't get to the mines because of those creatures. And if they keep popping up in dark places... I'm scared of what will happen when we actually get there..." he commented while pushing his glasses up on his nose. "You guys seem to be pretty good at this though... if you could help us get to work. We'd be pretty grateful..." the small glasses wearing dwarf said. Kairos was always willing to do things like this, if only because it would get them through the day and help with their goals.

"Just a second~" Kairos mused as she moved over to Yuri with her back turned to the dwarfs while the two outside and the ones inside stared at her. She'd whisper to the purple haired lad with her since he apparently had so many problems with the things she chose to do. "So, if we take them where they are going, we'll likely meet quota and help them out a bit. We also get to see this mine with our own eyes which I think is quite exciting. But ya' know, you say I always do the creepy thing, so what do you wanna do this time?" she asked of the lad, with an acquisitive gleam in her eyes. She wondered what he would say. He was still working through some things, and helping the dwarfs would help everyone, but if he didn't want to do it, she wouldn't force the decision. "That crazy woman and her annoyed friend aren't going to help us get to work. Shouldn't have even asked, Doc. No one from the castle and no one from out there cares about us. We use our own hands and do all the dirty work, bringing light to things found in the darkness, but... Out here past the dark forest nothing matters so long as they get to keep living their life in sun. Why should they be any different?" Grumpy said of their current situation expecting no help loud enough to be heard while his companion tried and failed to shush him properly.

[Bloodedge]

Yuri banished his Keyblade during the time taken by these Dwarfs and their concerns. Beyond this, he also seated himself on the ground and crossed his arms, merely awaiting whatever came next between the Dwarfs and Kairos. The one Yuri decided was less atrocious-looking was the speaker from what he could tell, and it seemed his primary concern was getting assistance. This was about what he expected, but he didn't expect Kairos to approach him and ask his opinion on an adventure he'd already agreed to. Yuri wasn't one to back out of things after diving head-first into them, but before he could even open his mouth to mention this, he could hear the angry Dwarf's tirade. The words he spoke were quite bothersome. If Yuri was to feel anything from hearing this, he certainly felt something... and it was anger. "Who do you think you are?" he asked of the angry Dwarf, seeming to have become a lot like the small individual in this moment. He stood up, pointing at Grumpy with a blazing inferno in his eyes. "You don't know what I think matters! Watch, I'm gonna help the shit outta you, and there's nothing you can do to stop me! Come on Kairos, we're gonna have at that Darkness!" With that said, Yuri stomped off in the direction of the mine, even though he had no actual clue what he would be doing whenever he got there.

[Apollymi]

Kairos had indeed consulted Yuri but before he could speak on the actual intentions he had, he caught wind of something said by the dwarf aptly named Grumpy. Grumpy's words seemed to strike a strange chord with Yuri, causing the young man's eyes to burn with an inferno that Kairos had never properly witnessed before. Even though he came with a specific goal in mind, apparently helping this dwarf group in a way they didn't rightly expect. Grumpy himself had nothing to say about all of this and simply made a noise. "Hmphf, well you heard him. The rest of ya' get in gear. We're off to work!" he said the door to the small cottage opened and out came pouring out, some five other dwarfs with various obvious problems. Doc took up at the start of the line, and since Yuri had already headed off, Kairos did as well. The dwarfs singing as they moved carrying pickaxes, shovels and other manner of equipment with them. "Hai ho, hai ho, it's off to work we go~" whistles also abounded making Kairos flip along until such a time as she caught up with Yuri. "You tell him, Yuri!~" she teased the young man gently. Though she understood his reaction she was content not to comment further. As they moved along the mine itself came into view and Kairos' eyes enlarged once more. The darkness teeming in this place became obvious as well. "Hm, seems like it's gonna be pretty tough, maybe. Let's clear it out before they catch up~" she said her Keyblade coming to her hand. The small darkness was piling out of the opening of the mine, even before they reached it properly. The mine shaft itself would be one which required both of them to work fairly hard to clear it completely. Half of the ones that escaped immediately aimed to swarm this pair of individuals, while Kairos herself understood there had to be a much greater cause of the darkness within this place. Instead of relying on magic for this swarm, Kairos' body spun around in a circle her Keyblade, cleaving through the masses around her, dispelling the weakest of them with nothing but a single stroke. It'd been quite a while since she'd allowed herself to rely on her skill with this weapon, so she thought to enjoy it, and she did. The entire time she slashed away at this darkness the girl had a huge and genuine smile upon her face.

[Bloodedge]

Nothing was said by Yuri as he entered the mine. He was very alert, honing in on dark creatures as they materialized and keeping track of those which weren't struck down by Kairos. His own Keyblade appeared once more. Instead of attacking directly with it or casting a spell at range, he threw it into the shadows. Yuri's Keyblade spun as it cut through the air, coating itself in additional poison magic before striking the first target. Following this first moment of impact, it continued bouncing around and striking multiple foes one after another. After the Keyblade made contact with about seven enemies, it made its way back to Yuri, who was becoming surrounded. Now though, he had his weapon in hand to defend himself... with a strong offensive maneuver. Yuri slammed his Keyblade into the ground while it retained its poison coating, producing a burst of poison around him to affect his potential attackers. The moment the first wave struck, a second followed, and the surrounding creatures of Darkness faded. "Huff... I'm blaming you for all of this when we're done," he said in passing to Kairos. Still, he continued moving forward to whatever obstacles were in the Dwarfs' way.

[Apollymi]

"I think you're mispronouncing thanking~" Kairos chimed as she continued to move about. Her first slashes seemed to make contact well enough she mowed down several enemies even as Yuri's Keyblade flew past her. She turned her body easily past the swipe of a creatures claws only to flip over her hand against the ground for a second. "Gravity!" this magic cast directly from her, seemed to bind everything to the ground around her as she flipped away, as she righted herself in time to throw her Keyblade out, covered in darkness to combat several others. This room would be cleared with great ease and everything around her dissipated by the time it was officially good to move on. "So what? More ice cream? I'm cool with that... I missed out yesterday anyways~" she chimed as they moved forward. Their clearance here, would take them to the back. This was obviously where the dwarfs normally worked. The tunnel itself seemed to just end, but after the horde of darkness they'd faced to get here all that was left was a big body. But it was way bigger than any they'd encountered before this point. A gentle whistle would leave Kairos' mouth as she laid eyes on this one. "That's a biggun'~" she mused happily. It was a lot to take on, she wondered if it was even properly damagable by normal means.

[Bloodedge]

"I said what I meant. All the flavors in the shop couldn't save you from what you're gonna get!" the boy proclaimed. Whenever they made it back home, Kairos was certain to receive a stern complaining from the lad with dual-colored hair about the annoyance of this experience, and no amount of brain freeze could stop him from delivering. Speaking of delivering, it seemed someone had dropped off a very large... or rather, a very massive package to the mines this day. Yuri had seen his fair share of Darkness, even in this form. However, he'd never been warned that they came in such proportions as this hulking tub of lard. Following the observation of Kairos, Yuri also whistled and gawked at the creature. "Great big ol' biggun. Big ol' round, great big planetary, great big ol'..." His statement trailed on along a list of repeated claims that shifted only slightly from one to the next, until he settled on a singular thing which described this monstrosity with perfect accuracy. "That guy's really fat. He looks like that one master's butt," he said. Apparently, the young Keyblade wielder Yuri had some fascination with posteriors of varying types, but he was quick to move on to the next clause. "Up-smash?" he asked of the girl next to him in reference to a combination assault.

[Apollymi]

"Oooh~ I'm shaking in my boots~" said Kairos about what was apparently to be a verbal thrashing she'd receive regardless of the bribe she presented. If such a thing were going to happen irrespective of her potential actions, she supposed there was no need to be overindulgent with her ice cream purchase. Meanwhile her own observation of this great darkness, was one which paled in comparison to one such as Yuri. His explanation of the darkness was something for the ages, and Kairos was absolutely dying of laughter before he went on to compare it to some butt she hadn't witnessed. She had no idea what this lad's fascination with bottoms was but it caused her to sigh just a bit. "Still don't think I'm old enough to know the sorts of things you think about in your own head..." she mused moving right along though, there was the comment about the 'Up-smash' which was something they'd done before with these sorts of darkness but never one of this massive proportion. "Fine fine, might need a Wombo-combo too~" she said with almost song like quality, still retaining the smile on her face as she produced her Keyblade within her hand once more. The girl's body began to move once again, with incredible speed around this creature before she launched herself spinning and twisting into the air above it. "Magnega!" this created a vortex of strong magenetic force in Keyblade pulling even this large creature up towards herself as she aimed her Keyblade down upon his head. This would clear the ground beneath the creature leaving it's weak spot open to the second half of this attack.