The Abnormal, Normal Life (M)

"Do you have any idea where you're going?" Tokyo was a very crowded place to begin with, the only place where there would be any privacy was out in the country side in the boonies or something.

Nicole thinks for a bit "I'm not completely sure where to go. Aside from Abraxus's holodeck, that is." she mumbles "If we go out of the city and into the mountains, someone's bound to call someone on us and the last thing we want is the Hunter Alliance breathing dow our necks." she says.

She pulls out her phone. She had Abraxus's number on speed dial. It rings for a bit "Hey, Abraxus. No, everything is fine. I was wondering, would it be alright if I were to use your holodeck to get in some, ah, intense training?" she asks "Because you know, training as I need to, probably wouldn't be the best thing to do out in the open......Of course. Yes....A friend. His name's Cory....Ah. So Christine's mentioned him before.....Right. Will do. Thank you, Abraxus." she says, then hangs up.

She looks over to Cory "Okay, he said we could use his holodeck, which is Actually Christine's, since she paid for it, but we need to wait for someone to unlock the safehouse for us." she as she starts out "Follow me." she calls back to Cory.

"Had no idea this world was advanced enough for a functional holodeck.." Cory was a bit touched Christine apparently talked about him before, he always felt even if admittingly irrational due to past experiences people just forgot about him and paid it no mind.

Nicole shrugs "From what I gathered, it isn't. It was made by people outside this dimension." she says as she heads over to the safehouse. Outside waiting, was Ciel. She gives Nicole a little wave.

"Hello, Nicole. Abraxus called and asked if I could let you and your guest in to use the training room." she says as they draw close She turns and punches in some buttons and the door unlocks "When you both are finished, ease give me a call so I can lock up." she says with a pleasant smile.

Nicole nods to the young nun and heads on inside. She wanders over to the broom closet, taps the wall beside the door, which blinks to life and Nicole looks over some of the programs "Here's one for Keybladers. But it Might be a bit too intense..." she looks over to Cory "Want to try it?" she asks.

"I don't have a problem with trying it." It might be, it might not be but you didn't know until you tried. It never hurt to see when it came to things in general.

Nicole starts the program, then heads on in. It was an old dojo with an old martial-arts master sitting, meditating. He was dressed the part too. Looking like someone ripped straight from an old 70's Kung-Fu flick.

Nicole looks around "Um, excuse me?" she asks. The Master remains completely motionless "We're here for training..." she starts "Are you the master o this dojo?" she asks.

The man's eyes suddenly snaps open and he was on his feet and charging Nicole in an instant, a Keyblade appearing in his hand! Nicole's training in the Otherworld took over and she brought her Keyblade up to meet her attackers!

Nicol didn't let up and pressed her counter attack, which caused her to attack air! The old Keyblade master had used a fade counter to get behind Nicole, who uses her advanced event focus to effectively block his attack and put some distance between the two of them.

As she readies a good offensive, the Master raises his hand "Hold. You have past the test." he says as his Keyblade disappears "We may now talk about the training you seek." he looks over to Cory "I can do little for you, young one, for you do not seem to possess a Keyblade." he says.

Nicole, still having her weapon out,shakes her head "I think I had better explain myself. We're both here for free training. Not formal training." she corrects.

The Master nods "I see. Than I shall take you to the World that Never Was. There you will face off against Heartless and Nobodies who will get progressively harder, until you face the master of the world. If you manage to defeat the World's Master, you will face me and I will determine where your skills with the Keyblade need improving." he explains.

It sounded reasonable. The dojo suddenly starts to digitally break apart, revealing a dark, empty city. It was a bit chilly and it was raining. The Master was nowhere to be seen. Something moves on the ground, it was a Heartless. In fact, it was quite a few Heartless!

Fighting normal Heartless after all the strange things Cory had seen was almost a welcome change. The weakest ones he didn't have to worry about, however stronger ones could be an issue. More so the more older 'pure blood' Heartless that were closer to the source so to speak.

Even as he cleaved through one of the nearby Heartless he kept his guard up. He made a deal with himself to only use his other form when he really needed, otherwise it would become a crutch and his humanoid form wouldn't grow.

The smaller Heartless were easily delt with, but then they started getting bigger and more aggressive and the rain didn't exactly help either. Still, Nicole was doing fine.This was almost too easy for her. It wasn't until Nobodies started popping into the mix that it started getting intense for her. Nobodies needed a different kind of strategy to deal with than Heartless.

Nobodies were a bit trickier since they were smarter then the run of the mil Heartless who were happy to run into your waiting fist or sword. It really also depended on on the Nobody in question but he started off with a few fireballs to keep them off their toes(if they Had toes) before letting his sword do the talking.

As the two were fighting the Nobodies and Heartless, a huge shadow spread across the ground, than rose up. It was the enormous Heartless known as Darkside! All the other Heartless seem to scatter or melt back into the ground upon it's arrival and the Nobodies, they retreated to the Castle That Never Was, where they could see Twilight Thorn waiting for them! But first thing's fist, Darkside. Luckily, Nicole had fought Darkside before, so if Cory hadn't, which she found hard to believe, she would guide him to victory.

Cory knew from experience that Darkside's were strong but sluggish and not too smart. They also had a weak spot oddly or not at their hands which is what he was going to focus on with his sword while at the same time keeping a eye on their movements. Steady and alert was the best way to beat them.

It became apparent to Nicole that Cory had, indeed, fought Darkside before, which was good, because he would know that only someone with a Keyblade would be able to really destroy it, which meant she could do what she was meant to do!

As the Darkside attack, by slamming it's hand into the ground and sending out a shockwave, Nicole easily dodges the attack, than starts running up the Heartless's arm, dragging her Keyblade along it as she swiftly makes her way up.

Once she makes it to the shoulder, she slices down, trying to disarm the big Heartless bastard. She was focused on her task, that she didn't see the Darkside reaching fo her with it's other hand!

Cory knew that, he also didn't want to get in each others way so he was cautious of his approach and where Nicole was. In the mean time since he knew the fights were going to get tougher from here on out and he may not get a chance next time, he did transform after getting some space as Nicole went to work.

In Cory's place was a large black dragon with scales as dark of the night itself, a long neck, tail and a decently sized wing span. Everything felt so different in this form, it had been far too long since he had some use of it or could.

While he thought Nicole had it handled with a lower end Heartless like Darkside, he forgot the universal rule that anything could go wrong even if on paper there shouldn't. Such as now with the enemy about to swipe her.

Cory wasted no time, and using his great Heartless dragon strength to hold off the incoming hand. Nicole would notice and be able to finish them off from there.

Nicole did, indeed, notice the hand that Cory had blocked and jumped off the Heartless "Cory, move out of the way!" she says as she gathers energy at the tip of her Keyblade, then she shoots i t into the air directly over the Darkside, which then exploded into hundreds of balls of energy and began to rain down on their massive Heartless enemy!

Cory didn't have to be told twice; he instantly disengaged with the enemy he was fighting and got some healthy distance away as Nicole charged and release her attack.

Nicole's attack hit it's mark, dealing massive damage to the Darkside Heartless, but it still wasn't defeated. After a quick scan of the creature, Nicole revealed that it was 'In the Red', as she put it and that one good smack would end it! But she was low on magic, that last attack doing a good number on her reserves. So Cory would need to finish it off and she tosses her Keyblade to him, knowing it won't Instantly, but it will take a few seconds to do so and that should be plenty of time for a Heartless, to kill a Heartless!

It was almost comical for Cory to get the keyblade with his massive hands of his in the current state but he managed to make it work..somehow or another. Knowing he didn't have much time before the Keyblade did vanish on him. While Darkside was weakened and he had the advantage, he attacked, bringing the Keyblade down with all his strength towards their weak point.

Comical or not, it go the desired results as the giant Heartless lts out a strangled roar, then burst into particles of darkness. The Ultima Keyblade disappears from Cory's claws and back into Nicole's hand.

Nicole breaths a slight sigh, then looks up as a building was flying towards the two of them "Look out!" she yells a warning to Cory as she takes off running to the side to avoid getting crushed!

Cory was faster in the air then on the ground in this form and luckily he had a warning from Nicole and with a surprising amount of speed of something of his size straffed to the right to avoid taking the blunt of the attack.

Nicole barely got out of the way of the falling building and swiftly made it to the top of another building "That was too damn close." she grumbles "Okay, it's time to get serious and take this fight to them." she says as she looks over to Cory "Mind giving me a lift?" she asks.

Without a word, Cory landed, lowering himself so Nicole could get on. Once she gave the go ahead that she was secured he'd take flight to their destination. It felt nice being in this form after having to hide it so long; like having a cramp and finally being able to stretch.

Nicole got on and was standing on Cory's back. She could see much better from there. Off in the distance, Nicole could see the Twilight Thorn getting another attack ready, which meant another building flying their way. But this time, they both were ready for it "Just keep flying straight. I'll take care of it's attacks." she says to Cory. Unlike Heartless, Nobodies could be defeated without a Keyblade, which meant, after they took the Twilight Thorn's shield down, it was time to go nuts on it!

Cory had faith that Nicole knew what she was doing, so he stayed the coure despite the fact there was a very high chance another building was going to be thrown at them.

The Twilight Thorn did, indeed, throw another building at the two of them. Nicole was ready for it this time and jumps Far off of Cory's back and slices the building clean in two, then in the same motion, she spins and smacks one half of the building back at the massive Nobody, followed quickly by the other half!

Both halves of the building slams into the Twilight Thorn's shield just as Nicole lands ack o Cory's back "Okay, Let's go! We only have a small window to get in close before the shields are back up!" she ells over the rushing wind to Cory.

Cory didn't need any further encouragement as he kept the current course and allowed Nicole to do her thing. In order for this to work he had to have faith in his partner, which he did so he wasn't too worried about things.