lucetilogs | Confronting pure darkness

Confronting pure darkness

Who: Naoto and Vanitas
What: Naoto confronting Vanitas
When: Early in the afternoon - June 20th
Where: In the forest to the west of the village
Summary: Naoto's still pretty upset and isn't going to let the whole attacking Sora thing slide. She can't just let someone like that walk around, so she's made the (reckless) choice to confront Vanitas, alone.
Rating: PG-13 to R for violence

Ever since the night Sora was found gravely injured, Naoto has been unable to rest peacefully knowing that Vanitas is still walking around. In a sense, he reminds her of Adachi but Vanitas actually isn't afraid to show what a monster he is. He even sounded like he was proud of what he did! There's no way she let him just get away with it, she wants answers, she wants him to pay.

She's heard enough about him from Ven and Roxas, that he's "pure darkness" but that isn't stopping her from finding him. If she had told the others her intentions, there's no doubt they would have stopped her, especially Souji. So gun loaded and ready, she's out in the forest to look for him, alone.

What gives away that she's getting closer are the strange creatures that are lurking about though she does her best to avoid them. They must be the unversed Ven told her about. Once she maneuvers her way through the trees and unversed, she comes across a dark figure, it has to be him.

"Vanitas." To make her presence known.

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Honestly, he'd expected that his earlier show would create more of a stir. Aside from a lot of angry responses over the journals, there hadn't been much follow-up to his heinous act. In a way, he'd been disappointed that Sora's friends hadn't come bounding out of the village, hunting for his blood.

But maybe, it was just taking them a while to get started. Vanitas doesn't have a lot of forewarning before he notices Naoto's presence--maybe a minute or two when he hears someone moving through the nearby trees--before she's there.

That moment's all he needs to get his reflexes ready, though. He's already turning in her direction when she utters his name, helmet secured over his head and hiding his features. There's a crack on the visor, now--the result of a blow from Sora's weapon. But it's still intact.

And then, he does something a little out of the ordinary. Raising his hands, he gives a few, slow claps. "Congratulations. You found me."

Is he trying to mock her? She scoffs a little, "It wasn't much of a challenge since those creatures give away your location."

The feel of his gaze through his helmet, the way he speaks, and just being in his presence, it sends her the instant feeling that something definitely isn't right about him. But she isn't here to judge if he is pure darkness like Ven said or talk about how she found him so she quickly moves on.

"Why did you attack Sora?" A pretty blatant question but Roxas' answer to that wasn't enough for her. She wants to know why, from the person who committed the act.

Speaking of the Unversed...now that she's standing still, Naoto might be able to notice several pairs of red eyes peering at her from the foliage. Those 'creatures' are busy blocking off the way she came; and though he can't summon a ton of them, the intimidation of three or four Scrappers (http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100402080719/kingdomhearts/images/thumb/8/8c/Scrapper.png/357px-Scrapper.png) and some lesser Floods (http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100722181113/kingdomhearts/images/thumb/f/f7/Flood.png/196px-Flood.png) surrounding her is probably enough.

And in the midst of it, Vanitas still hasn't moved. It barely looks like he's breathing, actually. "Why should I tell you?"

She doesn't take the time to actually turn around and observe them but just glancing at one of them is enough to tell her she's trapped now, not that she was planning on running away. It's probably better to keep her eyes on Vanitas anyways, who knows when he might try to make a move.

Ignoring his question, "Does it have to do with being a 'Keyblade Master'? I remember you mentioning that." Of course she has no idea what a keyblade is but that isn't important, she just wants answers.

Hn. Two can play at this game. Vanitas doesn't like being usurped, but more importantly, he needs to test her own will. "I'm not in the mood for an interrogation. Answer mine, and I'll think about answering yours."

Figures, she knew he wouldn't want to answer her questions. Seems to be a trait in some of the bad guys she's questioned in the past. But now she's a little curious, what questions could he have for her.

"Answer one of mine and I'll answer yours." Persistent isn't she?

"Hn." The masked boy's head tilted down slightly, gaze remaining fixed on her through the black visor. "Seems to me like, you don't fully get what situation you're in."

Without warning or a visible signal, one of the Floods darted out from the brush, leaping straight for her left side. Instead of hands or any sort of paw, it's front legs just ended in sharp points, which it jabbed towards her in an attempt to pierce through clothes and skin.

Edited 2011-06-20 20:12 (UTC)

The movement startles her and as she goes to point her gun at the Flood, it manages to cut her side and she lets out a quiet grunt. She tries to push the creature away and shoots at it once.

"I know full well what situation I have gotten myself into."

The Flood's fast, but not quite fast enough to dodge that. It explodes into black flame with a high-pitched noise, and is gone.

Meanwhile, Vanitas finally moves--by turning his shoulder back and taking a half-step away at the sight of the gun. He's seen one of those things before; he's been grazed by one, and he knows how dangerous they are.

But now he also knows she's armed. And though he waits a second too long for a direct attack (his surprise over seeing that gun slows him down), he's not done yet. After that first Flood vanishes, the rest of the Unversed all come forward and attempt to mob her. "Well, then..."

And with her attention likely directed away from him again, Vanitas suddenly disappears, himself, in a misty cloud of black. A split second later, he reappears on the branch of one of the larger trees growing just a pace or two behind her. And this time, his Keyblade's in his hand.

What's this now? She notices his reaction to the sight of the gun, how strange. But she has yet to show him what else she can do with this gun.

She would have attempted to attack him but her attention is drawn back to the Unversed since they're all coming at her now and instead of shooting them all one by one, she quickly summons her persona. Without Naoto uttering a word, the persona flies around her, cutting each Unversed then disappears when the job is done.

Noticing that he disappeared, she takes a look around only to spot him on a branch--with a weapon in hand now.

Vanitas watches the thing--some kind of summon?--take out the Unversed, and knows this isn't going to be an easy fight for him. He needs to keep one step ahead of her, and isn't going to take any chances.

Pointing his weapon towards her, he rains fire down onto the ground around her in several bursts, hoping to overwhelm her again before she can take another shot.

Now that he knows what she can summon, there's no more time for talking. She's probably seen as a bit more of a threat to him.

As the raining fire comes down, one nearly hits her leg so she quickly summons her persona again and it guards her like a shield. If any fire were to hit it, it wouldn't really affect it since it's pretty strong against fire.

Damn. If he wants any chance at hitting her, he's going to have to get rid of that thing, first. Or at least, sneak past it's defenses. And even then, that gun.... this is all very complicated, but Vanitas isn't about to back down, quite yet.

And if worse comes to worst, he can always retreat into a dark portal and escape.

"Looks like you've got a few tricks of your own." Somersaulting down from the tree branch, the masked boy landed lightly on his feet on the ground again, no more than a few yards away. "But I'm not done, yet."

With that, Vanitas took his Keyblade into both hands and struck it against the ground, unleashing an attack that caused Darkness to surge up in a straight line towards his opponent. Not only that, but it made for a good shield, of his own, as he followed closely behind and prepared to deliver a combo strike on it's heels.

She doesn't comment on his remarks but backs up a little as he jumps down from his place on the tree. It would surprise her if that was all he had to offer her but this is Vanitas she's fighting.

Luckily her persona is able to use it's sword to block his next attack that comes at her.

As long as he keeps using darkness and fire attacks she should be okay, but the moment he uses his keyblade to strike her persona and it actually hits, it could cause a few problems. So she can't let that happen, her defenses will become limited once her persona disappears.

But defending also isn't the best way to win a fight so once the darkness fades, she's going to attack.

Naoto has a split second to attack, as Vanitas is forced back again. Best be quick, because otherwise he's going to cartwheel away and ready himself for another go.

And she's going to use that split second, sending her persona at him. It swings it's sword at him diagonally then a horizontal follows right after.

Swords... swords he knows how to deal with. Here comes that cartwheel to dodge the first attack, followed by a flip, for that second, though he skirts it pretty close to the blade.

Of course, getting distracted opens him up for a shot, if Naoto chooses to take it. But once he has an opening, Vanitas will try to strike the Persona back with his Keyblade in a double-swing of his own.

Edited 2011-06-22 23:02 (UTC)

Alright so he knows how to deal with swords, that might make hitting him a little harder. But her persona tries again but only swings once with a bit more power to it.

Unfortunately that may leave her own persona vulnerable for a moment aftwewards as it tries to distance itself from Vanitas.

This time, the blow hits. Vanitas is knocked back with a pronounced 'uh!' as he tries to block, but is overpowered.

He's quick to retaliate, though, with a blizzaga spell. He knows he's getting too distracted with the Persona... it's time for a different tactic.

Since her persona isn't as strong against ice as it is with darkness and fire attacks, the spell hits and it disappears, leaving Naoto to let out a small 'nh!' from the pain transferring to her.

Now this leaves Naoto wide open for a moment, but if that isn't taken she's going to go ahead and summon her persona again.

When her persona vanishes, Vanitas doesn't waste time in using the situation to his advantage. Quickly, he uses the last magical attack in his arsenal, leaping up into the air to keep moving before he unleashes a black lightening bolt towards her.

Instead of summoning her persona to try and block the bolt, she runs out of it's path then turns to aim at Vanitas with her gun, firing twice.

The weapon fires as quickly as he remembers. Luckily, he's not as close to it's barrel, this time, but even so... dodging a bullet takes a lot of skill.

The first one goes a little wide, but the second...

It ricochets off of his helmet, striking the metal along his jaw. It's the only thing that keeps it from being a mortal wound, but even so, his hands instantly fly to his visor, and he stumbles backward. Vanitas hunches over, turning away with a strangled noise.

Got him. Though she's still wary of his condition, she relaxes a little and puts her gun down but holds it with both hands just in case. Not taking any chances.

"I won't miss next time." She will try to actually hit skin or something other than metal.

For a second, he doesn't respond, still staying with his head turned away. There's the faint sound like broken glass being crushed, before Vanitas finally straightens, and half-way turns.

--Most of the visor on his helmet is gone, shattered by the impact, since it's surface was already weakened by the crack. A golden yellow eye glares hatefully from it's corner, set in a face that even in profile... should seem horribly familiar.

"Neither will I." And suddenly, he takes his Keyblade into a one-handed grip, and turns, swinging it with as much force as he can. Instantly, Darkness springs from it's teeth in a wave, traveling behind a sharp blast of wind.

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