Standing there flummoxed with a gently smoking Keyblade that definitely hadn't just ignited a dainty looking mushroom creature, Sora felt that, for once, he probably wasn't to blame for this mistake.

At least not fully.

"I um, I definitely mentioned the thing about magic." Yriax withdrew into herself, looking even tinier. "Remember when I asked what magic you used most? That was a hint, Sora. Until the crystals are restored, their respective magic spells are disabled."

"…oh." Sora groaned. "We'll if you'd said that, I wouldn't have looked so dumb just then."

"Not good with hints?" Yriax blinked.

"Not at all." Sora braced with his Keyblade. "So please, be as blunt as you can."

"You might regret saying that." Yriax grinned.

"Not if it stops all these little… miscommunications? Can I call them that?"

"Call them whatever you want." Yriax shrugged. "Now, remember what I taught you about Default and Brave?"

"Mostly?" Sora said. "But it's just one little mushroom, right? What's the harm in just… whacking it?"

Keyblade at the ready, Sora had leapt and slashed before Yriax could stop him. The mushroom creature wobbled in response, but didn't seem particularly harmed by it. What it did do, however, was release a cloud of bright green spores, which took shape and sprouted another mushroom creature almost immediately.

"…that's the harm." Yriax said. "This is a creature known as a Myconid. They sort of multiply if you hit them with a weapon, so your original instinct to use fire was a good one, but you can't use magic right now. If only you had the ability to attack multiple times at once. It would be pretty effective, hmm…?"

"…yeah, you're probably right." Sora sighed. "I guess I'm defending myself then."

Holding his Keyblade across his chest, he readied himself for incoming attacks.

"That's the spirit!" Yriax cheered. "Now, you just need to hope they'll actually attack you…"

One of the Myconids made a burbling noise, its mushroom cap wobbling adorably… until it released another cloud of spores, which covered Sora this time. He edged away from them, but inevitably breathed in the sickly green stour, and the urge to retch and cough invaded his body.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to move it.

"O-oh dear… that's a paralysing spore." Yriax mumbled, as the second Myconid swung its body at him. The mushroom cap shattered into his chest, and while the Keyblade deflected most of the damage, his inability to move only magnified the impact, to the point where it was like having sandpaper scraped across his chest.

"I'll… I'll keep you healed up, don't worry Sora." Yriax said cheerily, and illuminated him in a Curaja spell. His vitality was brought back and then some, but she could've unparalysed him instead… surely that would've been the better move here?

Unmoving, unflinching, Sora was helpless as both Myconids threw themselves at him this time, yet Yriax just healed him up again. Was she trying to make this as painful as possible?

For every hit the Keyblade sponged though, Sora could feel the power of Default percolating within him like an especially angry kettle. Was that her plan? Build up Default power and let them have it?

Sora grimaced internally. She could've gone with a less painful plan. Or at least told him about it…

Yet again she was withholding stuff from him. Couldn't she trust him to make decisions?

A third round of attacks, and Sora was certain his ribs would've been broken by now if he hadn't been paralysed. Yriax's healing was powerful, but the Myconids were getting a free lunch here if she wasn't careful.

"Just a little longer…" she mumbled, healing him up with yet another Curaja. "Okay, ready Sora?"

Sora just fixed her with an unblinking stare. Exactly how was he supposed to respond to that?

"Ready… and go! Esuna!"

As if the paralysis had been melted out of him, suddenly the movement returned to Sora's limbs.

And so did the recoil. His vision flashing red and blue, it was like he'd just been hit in the chest with five or six consecutive bowling balls.

"Owww...!" He staggered backwards, his lungs wrung like a sponge. "Maybe we could do it a less painful way next time?"

"Sorry, I had to!" Yriax pleaded. "You needed to build up lots of power to take these guys on, a-and I could only really use one spell at a time..."

Suddenly a Myconid released another burst of paralysis spores, and Sora supposed he have to dive out of the way now. The mind was ready, but the flesh was battered and weak. Despite the backflip, he barely avoided the spores, and didn't stick the landing, falling into a bundle on the floor. The other one lunged at him, swinging its body with full force. His Keyblade blocked it, but the force just bowled Sora over again. His breathing was shallow, and his chest was throbbing with pain, but that apparently wasn't important. Because he had to fight these things, and Yriax was there to 'support' him.

Wrenching himself back onto his feet, Sora steadied himself with the Keyblade and took in as much air as his battered lungs would allow, followed by a hitch and a wince. Was now the time to use all the Default energy she'd forced him to build? The pain in his chest was saying otherwise. How was he going to perform super fast, time travelling moves if he could barely breathe.

Meanwhile, finding the time to think was enough of a challenge, because the Myconids were relentless, showering the place with spores and throwing themselves at him. They were basic attacks sure, but the weird wobbly movements made them hard to predict, and his body was already exhausted enough from the half a dozen attacks he had to stomach while paralysed.

Dodging and stumbling out of the way, he had to hope that Yriax was going to take the hint. That hint eventually came to fruition when another Curaja spell healed him up tidily, but the moment he took to breathe a sigh of relief came with the price of a Myconid slapping him in the face.

"Owww…!" He groaned, sidling away from another cloud of dust as his nose throbbed. Blinking away the pain, he readied himself. Now was as good a time as ever.

Concentrating for a moment, his vision rippled red for a few seconds, and the pair of Myconids froze where they stood. Keyblade at the ready, Sora felt almost weightless as he lunged forward, unleashing volley after volley of relentless attacks. He felt the Keyblade clash against them, the hit sponged by their rubbery bodies, but with little clouds of dust bursting from the impact points like something out of a cartoon, the two massive mushroom things just sat there and took it.

Bounding away from the two with a handspring, he landed gracefully and got back to his feet just in time for his attacks to properly land. Pummelled back and forth by seemingly nothing, it wasn't long before both disappeared back into the shadows from whence they came.

"That's how you do it!" Yriax clapped. "Now, we'll have none of this half and half nonsense, okay Sora? You either Brave, or you Default. No Daving."

"Just as long as there's nothing else you need to tell me…?" Sora folded his arms.

"…also no punishing Yriax for forgetting things." She withdrew into herself. "Fairies are small, Sora. We don't have the room to remember everything."

"Hm," Sora's voice was curt. "I can't say I like that answer."

Yriax whimpered.

"…but weirdly, I've heard that sorta thing about Fairies before, so I guess I can let it slide. Just please try to remember the important things, okay?"

"I'll do my best!" Yriax cried, and Sora was able to put his Keyblade away for a while. Under Yriax's guidance, the enormous glowing red crystal in the background slowly drew closer, and the neon highway leading them there was easy to follow, just as long as the pair of them stayed together.

It could've been worse, he shrugged. At least Yriax provided support during battle, general advice when prodded, and occasional, if stilted, conversation.

"So you were saying that you can't remember everything, right?" He probed.

"Mhmm…?" Yriax said slowly.

"A-and that you always get stuck with people who can't remember stuff?" Sora pushed a little further. She wasn't the easiest to extract info from, for sure.

"They're not related, trust me." Yriax deadpanned. "Just… an unfortunate circumstance."

"Ah, right." Sora sighed. "Thought the odds would've been slim. Just that we maybe knew the same guy?"

"…yeahhh, I doubt it Sora." Yriax rolled her eyes. "Oh look, a bunch of orcs! You should probably fight them!"

"Hunh? Oh yeah, probably." Sora summoned his Keyblade nonetheless. Parrying one orc's spear, he was slashed by a second and stabbed in the shoulder by a third. Glowing green with a toxic poison, it didn't take long to set in, and suddenly Sora's whole arm was splintering in pain.

"Ung!" He stumbled back, his left arm hanging limp. Yriax just sighed and illuminated him in another Esuna spell.

"Remember Default and Brave, Sora." She smiled. "Always in that order, otherwise you'll really be in trouble."

He supposed he'd walked into that one. Blunt was definitely something she knew. If he had something other than blind faith to work with though, that would've been great. What was a little take without give, after all?

Defaulting blue, Sora braced as two clashing spears and one thrown one were deflected by his Keyblade. One Orc audibly cursed at him for daring to block their attacks as he built up energy, and then channelled it into a Brave, vanquishing one of the three in a flurry of attacks.

Two Orcs grunted in response - Fear? Confusion? Anger? - but nevertheless countered by summoning a massive yellow barrier of light, which ensconced both Orcs and left them glittering for some reason.

"Should I… be worried about that?" Sora muttered to Yriax.

"Naah, that's just Mighty Guard. They do that when threatened." She replied. "I'd worry about the impatient fellow on the left. He looks ready to attack."

Sure enough, no sooner had she said it that the Orc on the left pulled out another spear from nowhere and jabbed at him with it. Acting instinctively, he parried the attack and went in on the counter offensive, but Yriax cleared her throat and he froze mid-stance.

"Stick to the plan if you would please, Sora."

Sora deflated. Follow the plan it was.

Mindlessly defending again, he absorbed more damage before paying it forward, defeating another Orc effortlessly. The last one growled with indignation and began charging up a Fire spell from within its Mighty Guard shield.

"…I thought you said Fire spells were disabled until we prayed to the Crystal?" Sora frowned.

"Bad guys don't have to play by the rules, Sora!" Yriax said. "But you do! Come on now, we're almost there!"

Sora groaned and defended again. As the Fire spell bounced haplessly from his Keyblade and fell into a nearby river, sizzling and dying, he was lit up by Yriax's Curaja once again. The Orc tried another slashing attack to no avail, just as the glow from its Mighty Guard started faltering, and Sora seized his moment, flashing red with Brave and downing the last Orc with several quickfire hits.

"Oh good! Another win!" Yriax cheered. "See? It's so easy when you just follow orders, huh?"

"Sure…" Sora's smile stretched thin. Having everything he knew about combat rewritten just to please a relative stranger was totally easy. Easiest thing ever, in fact.

Maybe once they got out of here he could incorporate Braving and Defaulting into his arsenal, but until then he was at the beck and call of a cagey fairy who clearly didn't like him very much.

The red crystal in the background slowly loomed closer however, but aside from occasional fights, the desolate nothingness was a little too silent. It seemed that little probe had touched a nerve, because now she wasn't even offering conversation beyond basic directions. Couldn't they just talk about nothing? Or battle tips? Odds are there was nothing she knew that he didn't, but it was better than solemn silence. Even yelling at him was an improvement on melancholy.

"So… about this other guy." He cleared his throat. He could feel her tense up on his shoulder at the mere mention. "What's he like?"

"…does it matter?" That stern note crept into her voice again. "I've already told you I can't remember everything, especially not infuriating blond idiots."

"Hmm," Sora tugged at one of his hair spikes. "Welp, I'm only one of those things. Maybe two. So you obviously remember something."

"And I'd really rather prefer it if you didn't pry into my personal life, Sora…!" Yriax pounded at his shoulder, to minimal effect. "We're here to get out of here, not become best friends!"

"Why not both?" Sora shrugged. "We can set up camp, start a fire, roast marshmallows and swap stories?"

"Hm. Cute." She glowered. "Well Sora, aside from Fire magic still being disabled, I'll be amazed if you can find marshmallows in this world, and also we've got slightly more important things to do than sit around and roast marshmallows!"

Kicking her legs out in fury, Yriax's breathing was sharp and shallow, and Sora could've sworn he saw steam coming out from her ears.

But then, just as soon as the kettle started whistling, all of her fury and fervour dissolved away as she collapsed into a heap.