Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sources where I got proper nouns from in this story. Support the official releases.
Nexus HWR 22.2 Fall of the Women:
Day 3
"How far out are we?" Timmy called up from the back seats of the speeder. There were cushions all around the outside of the speeder and one seat in the middle on the right side behind the center console that had the wheel on it. Two of the three women on the speeder were sitting up front looking over the railing at the landscape they were flying over, while the third with orange hair took another good look at the flat land ahead of her to make sure there was nothing in her way before she turned around from the controls.
Nami looked over her shoulder to the kid behind her, "It's supposed to take three days to reach our destination from Resistance HQ. Though that might be just the first stop," Timmy groaned at the idea that this was going to take multiple stops. Nami saw this and decided to explain, so she continued loudly over the wind, "They wouldn't tell Robin where this wizard is exactly, as the less people who know where he is the better apparently. They told her that someone who knows how to get to him is at this next base though."
"So, we don't actually know where we're going?" Timmy questioned, suddenly standing on Nami's right side on the cushion seats next to the console.
"I know exactly where we're going at all times," Nami snapped to the quick kid who sighed but started laughing after a second. Nami got confused at his laughter, but she started smiling and joined in after a second anyway.
"Nami, Timmy," Robin called behind them. The two laughing together looked up and smiled towards Robin, whose face instantly made them both lose their happy expressions. Timmy flew up to the front fast where Robin was standing next to Juvia, and they were both looking over the front railing again. Nami stood up behind the console and she started pulling the throttle back to slow down the speeder as she saw what it was they were speeding towards.
"They're everywhere," Juvia said nervously with sweat coming down both sides of her face.
Nami slowed the speeder to a complete stop as she did not want to get any farther than they already were. Why don't these things show up on radar? The navigator thought. She walked up alongside Juvia, Robin, and Timmy, and the four of them stared out over the hilly gray landscape they were traveling. They had just climbed up a gentle slope and were now looking down on over a hundred miles of desolate terrain.
On top of that ashy, gray landscape though, were hundreds upon thousands of black monsters with bone structures on the outsides of their bodies. "Grimm," Timmy muttered. He looked around and saw that the creatures closest to them were all facing the wrong way, making the boy's face twist in confusion. They should feel us from that distance. Grimm lock on to dark human emotions, and Juvia's bloodlust has gotta be like a dinner bell calling them this way.
"Hey! Do you see that?" Nami pointed out to the north a little from where they were and the group turned their heads to look towards a hill in the far distance that was easy to identify as what Nami was talking about. A thin cloud of smoke was rising up from that hilltop and a few Grimm came flying out of the cloud and tumbling down the side of the hill farther south.
"There's someone out here?" Timmy questioned. Then, his face grew more serious and he shouted, "I'm going to help them-"
"We all are!" Nami yelled from behind him. He was focused on the distant dust cloud so he did not even notice Nami was no longer right next to him. He spun around and saw the pirate navigator behind the console and slamming the speeder straight up into full throttle.
Timmy looked forward again and he called out, "I'm not waiting!" The kid shot off of the front of the speeder as a blur of white that moved much faster than their vehicle.
Grimm on the fields of ash that Nami sent the speeder flying over started turning away from the hill they were originally marching towards and looking at the speeder instead. "Over here! Look at us!" Nami yelled at them all.
"Alright Nami, I think you got their attentions," Robin warned her friend behind her. Nami did not know how much help the people on that distant hill needed, but distracting a few of the Grimm felt like the least she could do while Timmy was actually saving them.
"We'll handle the ones back here," Nami said confidently and she slowed down the speeder to make the Grimm in all directions of her stop heading after Timmy. When she stopped however, her jaw slowly started dropping and she realized her mistake. For a quarter mile in every direction of her, Grimm were turning and looked straight at their vehicle, and into their eyes. Nami, Robin, and Juvia spun around in full three-sixties looking around into the red eyes of monsters all around them.
"Above!" Juvia yelled, and she swung her right arm up and created a wall of water that slammed into a diving Grimm Griffons. "You just had to start shouting!" Juvia yelled, turning her head to Nami angrily.
"Well it worked!" Nami yelled back, though she was sweating and despite holding her Clima Baton at the ready, she had very little confidence in her original plan now.
Beowolves and Ursai dove at the sides of the unmoving speeder and their claws dug into the sides of it as they climbed the railings. One of the Beowolves dragged itself up over the railing, and Nami swung her new Clima Baton around into the face of the creature. The Sorcery Clima Baton extended as she swung it, turning her small baton into a long orange staff that pushed the Grimm right off their speeder.
Robin crossed her arms while looking off the port side of the vehicle. "Dos Mil Fleur: Forest de Manos!" All around the landscape full of dark creatures, large arms started sprouting from the ground like flowers. Her arms appeared out of nowhere and formed fists before slamming down on the Grimm. The pirate with long black hair frowned as several of the Grimm were able to dodge away from her attacks, and some of them even dove back at her arms afterwards and slashed at them. She winced, but she continued her relentless attack on the creatures that were gaining on their speeder every second.
Juvia stood at the bow of their speeder, swinging her arms back and forth and creating slashes of water that shredded straight through the Grimm charging her way. More and more of the Grimm turned towards her every second though. "Raa! Haa!" Juvia lifted both arms high, then she slammed them down and the wave that formed in front of the speeder pushed away from her. She created a tsunami that kept growing larger as she screamed louder, pushing hundreds of Grim away with the attack.
Nami turned in amazement as Juvia's wave decimated the Grimm, then she heard Robin shout her name in panic. "Nami!" Nami started turning, but the Grimm that had climbed up farther back on the starboard side was already pouncing towards her. The bear-like Ursai lifted its claws, Juvia spun around with widening eyes, and Robin dismissed all her other attacks even though she knew she would not be in time. The Ursai came down at Nami, then it stopped. The creature just hovered there in midair, and it started slashing its arms at Nami from a distance that could not reach her.
The three women looked up, and Timmy lowered down to the speeder and dropped a girl he was also holding up with his mind. A glare at the Ursai sent it flying up into the sky so fast that it was out of sight in a few seconds, then Timmy shouted, "HAA!" A shockwave hit the ground in a circle around their speeder, then an invisible force pushed away from them in every direction. Every single Grimm still in the vicinity was focused on their speeder now, and every single Grimm was lifted up and thrown away along with chunks of the ground beneath them. The ground on all sides cracked apart and sections of it crumbled and collapsed into fissures between rising and falling platforms of thousands of tons of earth.
The panting girl who fell on her knees when Timmy dropped her looked up in fear as Timmy's shout tore apart the landscape around them. She stood up and stared off the left side of the speeder as Grimm and chunks of earth that were thrown away from right next to them fell out of the sky over a quarter mile away. Timmy looked at Nami seriously as the navigator was gazing around in awe like the other three, and the little boy in a pink hat questioned, "What were you thinking?" Nami looked down at him, and Timmy crossed his arms before asking, "Why didn't you call out my name?"
Nami frowned at the idea of Timmy scolding her, but the thought of that Ursai falling on her reminded her that she really did need his help. She looked down, then back into the boy's big eyes, "It's just, I don't want you thinking I need you, more than you need me." Timmy's aggravated look faded, and Nami smiled softly, "Even if it might be true sometimes."
"Ugh, stop being so mushy, you're giving me an ulcer," the girl who Timmy just saved muttered. She had a small bloody gash on her left arm that she grabbed with her right hand. The girl with straight purple hair that fell to her shoulder blades turned around to face the people behind her. "Though I should thank-" she froze mid-sentence, and the girl dropped her jaw at the sight of the people on the speeder. Nami and Robin looked at this girl and dropped their jaws as well. None of them had noticed thanks to being distracted by Timmy's crazy powerful attacks, but they had met before.
"You're, Izumo, right?" Nami asked the girl who they had met in the Women's Kingdom.
Izumo Kamiki nodded, but she had a cautious look in her eyes. "You're, Okumura's friends, right?"
While Nami nodded back, and Timmy and Juvia wondered how this girl knew Rin, Robin looked right back into Kamiki's eyes. Robin was confused by the question, and even more confused by the strange way in which this teenage girl was looking at her. Back in Amazonia, I do not believe I said something wrong to her. Why the caution?
"What are you doing all the way down here?" Nami asked, as Izumo seemed to relax after her nod.
Izumo calmed herself down, then her expression got dark and she muttered, "What do you mean?"
"Nami, who is this?" Timmy asked the orange haired woman next to him.
"Oh! Timmy, Juvia, this is Izumo. She's a friend of Rin's we met on our journey north," Nami explained.
"North huh?" Izumo repeated skeptically. Nami gave her a look, but Izumo glared straight back with a much angrier expression than Nami's semi-annoyed one. "I thought you said you were going to defeat the Ant King? What happened?" Izumo asked, looking down her nose at the older woman. "Did you lose your nerve?"
"Watch how you speak to Nami-san," Juvia snapped at the younger girl. Izumo looked at the woman Nami introduced as Juvia and was going to make a remark at her, but she lost the feeling to do that at the off-putting look in Juvia's eyes.
"It's alright, Juvia," Robin assured her friend. Juvia looked Robin's way, then she stopped looking so angry and shied back a little as if she had done something wrong.
The young teenage girl shorter than the other three but taller than the boy in front of her felt a little nervous again. Robin replied to Izumo's questions though to ease the clearly-upset girl's nerves, "After we attacked Pyraxas, we had to return south as we realized that we were underprepared for going after the King." Izumo looked at Robin in surprise that she would admit that so easily, especially after how confidently they had talked back in Amazonia.
Izumo's hands shook at her sides and clenched tightly into fists. "You realized that, huh?" Izumo asked, her voice shaky and full of anger. The others looked at the girl in confusion as her head had bowed and her face shadowed over. "Couldn't you have realized it sooner?" She asked, her voice barely holding steady as she spoke. She grabbed the wound on her left arm again and clenched it hard with her right hand. Izumo grit her teeth and tried to restrain herself, but her head snapped up and she shouted, "Couldn't you have just stayed away from Amazonia?!" Izumo shouted this while glaring straight at Robin, then she lowered her gaze a second later and shook her head.
Robin questioned the girl after a few seconds, "What happened to Amazonia?"
Juvia was about to snap at her again for screaming at Robin, but Robin's question confused her and the others with them. Nami already had a bad feeling in her gut, but Robin's question made her feel even worse. "They destroyed it," Izumo whispered. "The entire Kingdom of Women, obliterated."
11 Days Ago
"I still can't believe they really did it," Izumo said to the blonde woman in front of her who she was eating lunch with. They were having a private meal inside the Queen's meeting hall, one of many they had been having over the past week.
Cassie smiled back at the purple-haired younger teenager. "I can," she said smugly. When Straw Hat Luffy had knocked out most of her strongest warriors with his Conqueror's Haki, Cassandra Sandsmark revealed to him and his crew that she was not as serious a ruler as her people believed. Only Izumo saw this, and because of that, Cassie finally felt like she had found someone in her kingdom she could be herself around. All the responsibilities of ruling her people had made her act so serious for too long; she was happy to be able to just spend time with another teenage girl and act like her old self. "I'm just surprised it wasn't one of them who took down the Fire Lord though."
"Yeah me too. I don't remember seeing a Natsu Dragneel with them, but I bet they helped him out," Izumo guessed. The younger girl wore a red tee and a dark purple skirt, while Cassie had on a tight black tank top with two wide golden 'W's stitched across her chest. Cassie also wore a pair of tight-fitting black pants and had a golden tiara on over her head that matched the golden bracelets on her wrists.
The more-toned older teenager smiled Izumo's way and mentioned slyly, "Are you worried about that boy?" Izumo looked up from her food with a look that said, 'That's not funny.' Cassie grinned more though and continued, "Okumura Rin's a cute guy. I'm not surprised you-"
"Let me stop you right there," Izumo interrupted. Cassie smirked more, not just because of Izumo's reaction, but because anyone else in her kingdom would not dare interrupt her while she was speaking, and she liked that Izumo would. "If anything, Rin is just a friend," Izumo remarked.
"You'd put your life on the line for 'just a friend?'" Cassie asked with lifted eyebrows.
Izumo humphed, then muttered, "So what if I did?"
Cassie's eyebrows rose higher, and she stopped thinking Izumo really did care for that boy more than she was letting on. You're such a good person, Izumo. "Well I'm glad you did. And even if he is just a friend, it wouldn't be wrong of you to be worried about him a little." Izumo hummed and nodded along, looking back at her food while deep in thought. "You've heard about the wars going on to the north of us since the fall of Sozin." Izumo nodded again, then Cassie added, "I'm sure that friend of yours is doing fine despite them. He seemed pretty strong-"
Izumo smirked and readied a 'you have no idea,' line to give Cassie, but someone ran into the hall before she could. Cassie got a serious look on her face and snapped up to her feet, "What is it?" She told her guards and advisors that she did not want to be interrupted while she ate with Izumo, so the fact that this person was interrupting them meant that something had happened.
Izumo got up as well, and a nervous expression grew on her face at the sight of the old advisor's scared look. Cassie stayed calm though, until the older woman began, "There are invaders inside the kingdom. They appeared out of nowhere on the center road through the kingdom, ten of them in all. Each one is wearing a black cloak!" Cassie's confident look at the start of the explanation vanished and replaced with a grim, serious one. "One of them demanded to speak with you," her advisor finished.
"Are the warriors ready?" Cassandra questioned. Her usually composed advisor nodded, but there was still sweat all over her face. "Make sure they completely surround the enemies. Izumo, join the others," Cassie said this and glanced back at her friend.
Izumo nodded back, getting her papers out of her skirt pockets to summon her familiars with. Cassie ran out of the room while Izumo summoned Uke and Mike to fight with her. The two fox spirits appeared and from one look at Izumo, they could tell this was serious. The three of them ran out of the room and the Queen's advisor commanded her to go join a squad watching the invaders from atop a stone pillar to the west of them. Amazonia was located on the bottom of the Cataclysm, so the kingdom itself was built in between rocky bumps and pillars, with many a building put on the lowest level and many others built higher up. Izumo had to run down the elevated area that the meeting hall was on before running up a set of natural steps to get to the even higher elevated area she spotted her fellow female warriors on.
Uke and Mike ran up to Izumo's sides when they reached their vantage point, and all three stared silently off the cliff at the ten figures in a line down below. They stood arm's length apart from each other in a line that stretched the width of the road from one side to the other. The buildings down below looked empty from the view of the reddish-brown rocky street, but those on the cliffs could see their fellow warriors laying flat on the slanted sides of the roofs farther from the road to stay hidden. Others were in wait behind buildings, some still arriving there while trying to stay hidden. Izumo lifted her gaze and spotted two of the Amazonian giantesses standing behind opposite thick pillars that rose even higher than the cliff she was on but started well below it in elevation so the girl crouching in wait was at their chest levels.
"They're bad news, girl," Uke whispered. The slender fox familiar wore a blue hat and had a dark blue line in its fur going from the top of its head down to the end of its nose. It did not open its mouth while it spoke telepathically to her, as was common for creatures of its kind.
Uke's brother Mike had a red bow over its head and a red diamond in the center of its white-furred forehead. Mike whispered after Uke finished, "Especially that man in the middle. Stay away from him."
Most of the figures in black cloaks on the road below did not have their hoods up. Three of them did mask their appearances though: one who stood at the end of the line on the side closest to Izumo, and the two in the center of the line of ten. Cassandra walked down the road to Izumo's right, and behind the Queen was an escort of twenty of Amazonia's strongest warriors. They wore golden armor and had weapons drawn as they followed after their Queen who was also wearing armor unlike a few minutes ago. Cassie had a breast-plate and hip-guard on over the tight black outfit she was wearing before. The Queen of Amazonia marched forward confidently, assuredly, in a manner to make her people feel just as confident.
Izumo grinned at her friend's expression that made her feel more confident as well. She turned to look at some of the cloaked figures on the enemy line to see their reactions, and she was happy to see a few of them looked nervous at their Queen's expression. As she looked down the line though, her eyes locked on one of the figures and her heart started racing.
"State your business, Nobodies!" Cassie shouted down the road towards them. She came to a sudden halt and put a hand down on the hilt of the sword on her right side. Her expression narrowed at the men in the middle with hoods up, trying to see what they looked like underneath.
One of those two figures stepped out of the line towards the Amazonian Queen Cassandra. He reached up and grabbed his hood, then pulled it down to reveal it was a man under the cloak as there were some women among them so that was unclear at first, even if his cloak did not protrude at the chest. He had slicked back blond hair and a goatee of the same color, and he had five piercings in each of his ears. Four of the piercings in his ears were small loops, but dangling off each of his earlobes was the symbol of the Organization: a silver cross with sharp points and an upside-down heart sticking off the bottom of it. "I am Luxord, Rank X of the Organization," he announced to the beautiful woman standing before him. "And you have been, very bad. Haven't you, my Queen?"
Cassie's eyes narrowed. What is he talking about? Could it be Straw Hat? How would they have known? As she theorized, her eyes shifted along the line of Nobodies behind Luxord. They looked less afraid of her now, and she forced a strong and defiant look on her face to keep them on their toes.
At the end of the line on Cassie's left which put him closest to the cliffs that Izumo hid atop, another cloaked figure with his hood up stood, one of the only two left in the line who did. He stood taller than all of his comrades, and his hood was pushed out at the top and sides so that it appeared like his head was larger than it should be. His hood was pushed away enough by the spikes of his red hair that the shadow it cast did not cover the bottom half of his face, and Cassie could see a deep frown on the light-skinned man's face.
"Cheer up dude," the figure closest to the man on the end began, as he also saw the deep frown on his comrade's face. The taller Nobody looked down at the green-skinned Nobody whose hair was even darker green than his skin. Dalgrefxi, Rank XXI of the Organization, interlocked his hands and then stretched his arms out in front of him to crack his knuckles. "This is going to be a piece of cake," he said, then he grinned and two sharp canines stuck down over his bottom lip in a malicious manner. All he heard was a grunt from the man on his right who turned back forward, so Dalgrefxi turned his head left next and began to the woman next to him with long black hair. "Good thing Jixsan didn't come, he'd be pretty useless here huh?"
The next Nobody down in a cloak with very loose sleeves so that her hands did not come out of the ends of them smiled at the shorter boy next to her. She nodded at the Nobody of Garfield Logan, "Yes, he would be," she agreed. Bronxi, Rank XXV, lifted her gaze from the boy to the women down the road in front of her, and she continued to grin calmly even as she made eye contact with the surprised Queen of the Amazons. As I thought, Bronxi could see recognition not only in Cassandra's eyes, but the eyes of many of the women behind her who whispered to their comrades at the sight of her.
Izumo gulped while looking down at the older woman below who had a much scarier demeanor than the woman she remembered who arrived with her friend Rin. Robin? She thought. No, I've heard about this. Nobodies are like people, but they're not. They're imitations. The Nobodies who rule Organization land, the second largest of all territories in Cooperative lands, they're rumored to not have hearts. Why are they here? What is the Organization doing in Fire Nation land ruled by one of its Lords? Is it because Sozin is gone? So no reinforcements will be coming to help us, not that we need it to beat ten fighters! With some renewed confidence, Izumo whispered to the fox familiars at her sides, "That Luxord guy doesn't look so tough. I'm sure Cassie can-"
"He's not the one I'm nervous about," Uke interrupted. Izumo looked at her familiar with the blue line going down his head. Uke continued while Mike just growled softly, "The one who stood next to him, who still has his hood up." Izumo shifted her gaze to the other central figure whose cloak's hood still shadowed their entire face. "Stay away from him," Uke ordered.
Izumo nodded at the tone in her familiar's voice. We can beat them though. Someone here, the giants maybe, they can beat even him.
In between the scary man whose face was fully shadowed over and Bronxi stood one other person, four in from the left end of the line from Cassandra's perspective. This man was the only one who had a different color on his cloak other than black. He had a thick, dark blue 'V' in the center of his upper chest right over the top of the silver zipper that went through every Nobody's cloak vertically, and the 'V' continued up to his shoulders before going over them where they curved in around the back of his collar and vanished under the boy's bunched-up hood. The figure had a bland face of a teenager with messy black hair, but his cloak was tighter than most around his shoulders, chest, and arms, showing off that he was a fairly muscular Nobody. Chardrix, Rank LVIII, glared straight ahead towards the Amazon Queen without a trace of fear in his eyes, and the Nobody of Richard "Dick" Grayson curled the right corner of his lip up into a smirk when the Queen's eyes lingered on him in recognition that he shared.
Past Chardrix, the fully cloaked figure, and Luxord who stood out from the line already, the largest of all the Nobodies stood four from the right end of the line. He stood at six and a half feet tall, but his weight of 350 pounds was what set him apart from the others. Unlike the rest of them, he did not have on black gloves, and his sleeves did not go as far down his arms as they were rolled up to his elbows. His huge arms and figure aside, he had a massive square jaw, a sharp expression, and short blond hair that was a little longer right over the top of his head. Xerbrot's large fists clenched at his sides and his huge biceps pushed against his cloak sleeves.
Xerbrot was Rank XXVI of the Organization. The Nobody of Robert "Bob" Parr stood on the right side of the two others in his Somebody's family who had Nobody versions of themselves created right after his own. The one directly on his left was a woman a foot shorter than him at 5'6" with a bob of dark auburn hair and brown eyes to match. Nehxel, Rank XXVII, had a slender but curvy figure, and she smirked down the road at the other strong women looking her way. On her left side was a girl only a little shorter than her but with much longer and darker hair. Nehxel leaned her head left and whispered, "A kingdom where women rule? Not such a bad place if you ask me. What do you think, Vix?"
Vixtole, Rank XXVIII, narrowed her eyes at the enemies before her and her lip stayed flat as she spoke, "If only they had not been so stupid, I would have liked to come visit this place. Well, I mean I think I would like it, it's hard to know when I can't have a feeling of pleasure." The Nobody of Violet Parr continued darkly, "But I know from my memories, that Violet would have liked a place like this. Too bad," she finished. Vix lifted her arms and her fingers twitched in front of her, "There is a positive to be gained from this though, and that's that we'll be getting some new female members in the Organization."
"I couldn't agree more," Nehxel said to the girl next to her. "I bet I capture a stronger candidate than you."
"You're on, Nehxel," Vix replied, her fingers twitching more as if she was itching to start fighting. Although the woman on Vix's right looked like the mother of her Somebody, the two of them did not have a mother-daughter relationship. They were comrades. They were women. They were Nobodies. There was much they had in common, but the two of them were created seconds apart from each other, and there were no families in the Organization. Each member was a Nobody, with no past, no family, no heart unless they found their Somebodies which so few of them had.
The shortest Nobody stood at the very end of the line on the right of where Cassie was facing. His hood was down to reveal that the figure was but a child. He was only three feet tall, he had on a black cap that he wore backwards, and he had a big pink nose in the center of his dark face. Liblyx, Wixmalil, or just Wix, (depending on which he preferred day by day), frowned deeply, his expression darkening even more as he glared at one of the women on the road who looked down on him. The small boy cracked his knuckles in front of him and then cracked his neck to either side. The very serious-looking child was Rank XXIX of the Organization; the Nobody of the one known as Billy!
Cassie did not know how to respond to Luxord's accusation. I have been bad? Who does he think he is? The blonde girl in her late teens grit her teeth, but she stood firm instead of provoking the man like her heart urged her to do. A dozen insults were on the tip of her tongue, but she held back. The ten of them appeared here without any backup, and they look ready for a fight. Do they think they can take the entire Women's Kingdom on their own? If so, it would be wise to appease them. "I do not know what you mean, Luxord," she finally replied.
"Oh, I know everything," Luxord said, lifting a hand in a black glove and holding the fist up next to him. He opened his hand and showed that he had four cards from a deck in between his fingers. Every one of the cards was a Queen of a different coat, and then he flipped the way the cards were facing to show the backs of them were silver with a white Organization symbol in the middles of them. "Just ask Cheshire," Luxord said, and he grinned at the wide-eyed looks from the female warriors all around. "Oh that's right, Cheshire knew to be long gone by the time we got here."
That's why Cheshire's gone? What is this?! "Explain yourself, Nobody!" Cassie shouted, and she drew her sword the smallest bit out of her sheath to show the silver of her blade.
"Cheshire told me all about how you let Monkey D. Luffy go even after he spouted off about defeating our King. Could it be you hoped he would be able to do so?" Luxord grinned as he saw the Amazon Queen flinch, and he shouted, "I cannot let this act of blatant treason go unpunished! The Fire Lord is gone, but his western lands are now under the control of the Organization. We will not have insubordinate Queens under our rule." Luxord rose his arms up at his sides, and the other Nobodies behind him did the same. Cassie opened her mouth to shout at her people to attack, then she froze and a horrified look spread across her face. As Luxord and his comrades' arms rose, hundreds of silver creatures spawned out of the ground around them. Some appeared in flashes of white in the air, others dragged themselves out of the ground, others appeared on top of the roofs of buildings nearby where Cassie's forces were about to rise over to ambush the enemies.
All at once the kingdom broke into chaos. Their ambush got ambushed by far greater numbers than the Women's Kingdom was prepared for. Izumo lost focus on everything in front of her, because both of her familial spirits shouted at the same time, "Behind us!" Izumo spun and then yelled out the same thing her familiars just did for the other women on the rock face to hear as they were all too engrossed by what just happened in front of them. Izumo's shout redirected her comrades' attentions to their backs, where dozens of silver creatures emerged out of thin air in sparkling flashes of light. Some of the Nobodies that appeared had identical shapes as others, but there were ten different types of powerful Nobodies appearing all over the place, with clusters of the blank Dusks scattered amongst them to increase the Nobody army's numbers even more. Eight foot tall Nobodies with large muscles on their arms and legs and only Nobody symbols on their heads to replace faces, darker silver Nobodies that started off small but could transform into any of the other types around them at the drop of a dime, long lanky Nobodies that had slender arms and legs that could extend up to twice their original lengths in order to slash at enemies. The common enemies that were appearing out of thin air all had powerful abilities that they started using against the women of the Women's Kingdom without delay.
One of the ranked Nobodies who rose his arms hesitated unlike the rest. Axel clenched his teeth, then he opened his fists and a dozen flashes appeared around him. Out from them appeared Assassin Nobodies, short half silver and half purple monsters with protrusions of sharp blades sticking out from their arms. Their purple legs were short and thin, but the purple and silver armor around their bodies appeared stronger than most of the other Nobodies that appeared, and the women who tried fighting his creations soon learned this to be true as their swords could not break through the Nobodies' armor. One of the women blocked an attack from one of his Assassins, and while the Nobody was off-balance from the parry she was able to slash at it and break through its guard, but that one Haki-imbued hit was not enough to destroy the creation. This isn't even going to be a fight, the hooded man who summoned them thought, and he re-clenched his fists tightly while grinding his teeth in anger.
Fights broke out everywhere in the Women's Kingdom as Nobodies appeared even in areas where there were no warriors. Someone shouted to a large group of women on a cliff side overlooking the main road where the Nobody leaders were, "The Nobodies are appearing all over town!"
"The children!"
The women fought with more vigor and many of them ran off from the main battle to disperse through the Women's Kingdom and try to save those who were not as strong as them. The majority of women stayed at the main fight however. Luxord looked left and saw three women slash through the remaining Nobody on a roof not far from them. Sliding down the steep rock slope behind that roof were a half dozen other strong warriors. On his other side he saw three Amazon giants come running from where they were hiding behind some thick pillars nearby, slashing their swords and swinging their clubs to the ground as they did. Closer than those giants were another ten warriors sliding down the cliff to his right to aid those warriors still fighting the Nobody grunts they summoned over there. Luxord's gaze then shifted right back in front of him, because the largest group coming their way was made up of the strongest warriors with Queen Cassandra who were charging forward and barely being stalled at all by the bulk of the Nobody army they just summoned.
"Go," Luxord commanded. He clapped his hands together and then spread them apart, and the cards he clapped between his hands floated with their backs facing out, getting farther apart from each other as Luxord's arms distanced themselves. Five Gambler class Nobodies appeared in front of the man who commanded them. They were half his height, pink Nobodies with small sharp darker-pink capes on their backs, two Nobody symbols on their lower bodies, short legs, and thin arms that got thick close to the forearms. Each of them tossed up a single loaded die in their right hands, and they charged forward as Luxord slashed his arm and flicked glowing cards at the enemy women. As his own Nobodies rushed, so did six of the ranked others behind him. All but four of the Nobody leaders on the line charged down the road with more of their minions appearing with them, and their numbers doubled those of the women they crashed into a few seconds later.
The leader of the invasion glanced behind him when not everyone ran in that charge. Luxord looked at the man right behind him still with his hood up, and he said, "Is the Queen of the Amazons not worth-" The stub-nosed man he was speaking to turned his head, and he started walking to the right. Luxord got annoyed by the man's ignoring of his question, and even more so that the figure just walked into a black portal and vanished. "What is he…" Luxord heard a deep but female scream, and he and the other two still in the line looked up and to the right where the closest female giant to them stumbled backwards on her left foot while raising her right leg. She screamed in pain while blood splashed out of her leg right beneath her knee, because the giant no longer had a lower leg to speak of. The knee had been blown clean apart by the hooded Nobody who appeared on a roof just to her right side, aiming his twin flintlocks at her closer leg to him. Luxord got a bead of sweat on the side of his face, then he turned back forward and muttered, "Okay, then I guess I will take the Queen." A smile reappeared on his face and he started walking towards the young woman who had pushed farthest forward of any of her comrades so there were only two smaller Nobodies between him and her now.
"You two should get involved as well," Luxord remarked, the final thing he said before Cassandra ran into his range. Luxord started taunting the blond Amazonian Queen, and then around them appeared ten giant playing cards. The cards separated their battleground inside from the fight going on all around.
Cassie spun around as she was surrounded by the tall silver playing cards twice her height. "Your magic will not work against me, Nobody," Cassie sneered at the man she pointed her sword at. "You will pay for this attack on my kingdom, with your life!" Cassie sprinted at the Nobody leader who grinned back at her.
Luxord rose both hands with glowing cards in them while his subordinate blank Nobodies popped up out of the ground around them but still inside the tall card cage. "You will make an excellent Nobody, Queen Cassandra," Luxord remarked. She slashed at him and he threw his cards back at her.
The two who Luxord remarked back to before starting his one-on-one battle with Cassandra had yet to move off the initial line. Bronxi glanced to her right at the cloaked man who had summoned his Assassin-class Nobodies but did not call as many of them into the fight as the rest of her comrades had. "You must be careful, Axel," Bronxi warned the man who shifted his eyes to glare out the corners at the intelligent woman eying him carefully. She had the right corner of her lips closer to him lifted up. "It is not difficult to see that you are up to something. One who has combined with his own Somebody should be showing much more strength than this."
Axel darted his eyes behind Bronxi who was looking at him and not paying attention to the Amazonian warrior who came sprinting up behind her out of a small gap between two stone buildings. The sneak attack came out of nowhere, and the charging muscular female warrior slashed her sword-
Crack. Crack crack crack crack. CRACK!
Hands appeared all over the warrior's body. Her limbs were snapped. Her spine was snapped. Her neck was snapped too. Bronxi simply wiggled the fingers of her right hand, and two dozen arms appeared on the warrior's body that broke a dozen of her bones and only then killed her. Bronxi did not take her eyes off of Axel as she did it. "If you do not take part, your loyalties could come into question. You don't want that now, do you?" Bronxi sprouted light-skinned wings out of her back that flapped down and rose her into the air. The Devil Fruit power of her Somebody had transferred to the Nobody who also recalled exactly how to use it, and as she flew forward, Amazonian warriors below her felt hands on their necks strangling them out of nowhere.
She's a bitch. She is right though. That woman's too smart. Why warn me then, instead of just telling Xemnas her suspicions? Is she, actually not a bitch? Axel felt somewhat confused but still very cautious of the dark-haired woman who just flew away from him after giving him that warning. I need to act. Axel started marching forward to join the battle.
"Purify! Now return to me! Mitama mi shizuma. Kamika tsu ramou- ah!" Izumo stopped her chant that had her fox spirits dancing around her and glowing. Too many Nobodies were around her, and some of those had long-ranged attacks that they fired straight at the exorcist girl who had to dive for cover behind a boulder. The rock surface gave no leeway though and was a hard landing for the girl who rolled behind cover then ducked her head more as sparks flew from the other side of it.
"This is insane," Izumo muttered under her breath. She was panting and scared but darted her eyes around looking for new targets and a way to get out from behind this cover without getting shot. "Guard my back!" She called out to her spirits who were good at destroying these kinds of non-human entities that their enemies had summoned. Uke jumped onto the boulder her back was up against, then the fox leapt off and bit into the face of another Nobody Dusk moving with quick agility towards the cover of his summoner.
Mike bounced over his brother's head and bit down on a Nobody that had extending arms and legs. It tried to extend its legs up to let the fox pass between them, but Mike snapped his head to the right and bit through the stretchy leg of the Nobody that made the rest of the creature break apart into silver shards after losing the limb.
Nehxel turned her head from the roof of a stone building she had flung herself up on using her extendable arms. She stood between several defeated warriors, and she was panting herself, but she glared towards a cowering girl on the side of a boulder closer to the cliff. Izumo had her head turned sideways as she looked to the other side and higher on the cliff rather than into the deeper valley where the main battle was taking place. Nehxel pointed her left hand up towards that boulder, and five more of the Nobodies that could extend their limbs appeared out of thin air in swirls of white and silver.
Izumo saw the flashes of light and spun around in panic to see the dropping Nobodies land on their pointed feet around her. "Uke! Mike!" She yelled out while jumping up and putting her hands on the top of the boulder behind her. The Nobodies in front of her coiled their arms and legs, and even though she started rolling herself over the cover, two extending arms punched her in the chest and face as she was only halfway over.
"Move, girl!" Mike yelled at his summoner while jumping back himself and attacking more of the Nobodies specifically targeted on Izumo now.
"Kamiki!" Izumo spun and saw one of the commanders who led this flank yelling her way. "We're pulling back to the eastern ledge! This way…"
"Queen Cassandra!"
"We need your assistance!"
"AHHH!"
"It's the Giant Squad!"
"The old and the children are evacuating," a deep booming voice echoed through the canyon. The hulking feminine giant charging over the terrain was flanked on either side and up on the cliffs by a dozen other giants who had not taken part at the start of the fight. They were able to evacuate people much faster than vehicles could, while Cassandra's march of her top soldiers straight up to the enemies kept the Organization's focus during their evacuation to a safe location. "Now, we fight!"
"Get the wounded out of here!"
"I'm subbing in!"
"Archers!" Marguerite yelled over her shoulder while waving her sword over her head. She reached the flanking position much higher up that she leapt to on one of the stone columns. Xerbrot, Nehxel, and Vixtole spun at the sound of her shout and looked up above them. Then the three Nobodies of the Parr family spun around with wider eyes as scantily clad muscular female archers leapt up from their hiding places. "Fire!" The Captain of Cassandra's Royal Guard yelled. Marguerite swung her sword down, then she leapt off of the stone pillar with her friend Sweet Pea lifting up an even larger sword of her own and diving down after her. They skid down the walls on their heels, leading an advance force underneath the rain of arrows going over their heads.
Arrows filled with Haki flew down at the Nobodies. Nehxel rose her arms quickly and summoned several silver creatures that took the arrows meant for her. Xerbrot punched a few out of the air, then he winced and stumbled forward as one arrow pierced through the back of his left shoulder. Vixtole swung her left hand in front of her and created a purple dome of energy that acted as a forcefield and blocked all of the arrows. The Nobody of a teenage girl smirked up at her enemies and then disappeared, black cloak and all.
For a few seconds, Vixtole darted around the chasm and then lifted up a dagger of black steel that was forming in her hand. Marguerite did not even turn around towards the invisible girl. Her Observational Haki kicked in and she rose her sword that she pointed down behind her shoulder. Her head shifted sideways slightly and her narrowed eyes focused on Vixtole's exact position despite the Nobody still being invisible. Marguerite parried backwards hard and made Vixtole stumble back, then Marguerite slashed towards the villainess who swung both hands up in front of her and created a forcefield that flashed right as Marguerite's sword was colliding.
Marguerite's sword bounced off the forcefield. She leaned away as the sword bounced back towards her, then when her right foot that she stepped back with touched the floor, she vanished in a blur and spun up behind the Nobody who had just smirked at her ability to create that forcefield in time. Both of Vixtole's arms were lifted on the side that Marguerite just was though, and Vix could only turn much slower than Marguerite managed to get behind her. In fear, her invisibility wore off, flickering as Marguerite slashed her broadsword and cut through the black cloak and into Vixtole's back.
"Ahh!" Vixtole screamed, spinning out and falling forward with a huge gash of darkness seeping out of her body.
Xerbrot and Nehxel spun their heads instantly towards the sound of that scream. Their legs were moving before either of them thought about what they were doing. Xerbrot tossed aside the arrow he just ripped from his shoulder, but he did not keep charging at the archer who he had seen fire it. He smacked his arms side to side and knocked away more arrows that the blank Nobodies creating around him did not block with their own bodies in time. Nehxel threw her right hand out in front of her and it extended towards the girl down on the ground who Marguerite rose her broadsword up over while the wounded Nobody girl thrashed in pain.
Marguerite slammed down her blade. Vixtole weakly lifted her left hand and created another forcefield. The forcefield cracked all over but did manage to block Marguerite's blade again. "Focus on their commanders! They will not be able to summon any more of their blanks without their heads," Marguerite ordered her soldiers.
"Stomp on them!" One of the giants roared down the ravine a bit in a voice much louder than Marguerite's.
Xoupps turned his head away from the line of giants behind the two who were falling away to either side of him with huge bloody gashes across their bodies. They were still dropping, but he turned from the next giant down who was twice as tall as those last two and lunged towards him with a massive spear. He rose up a small communicator out of his black coat's pocket. "Troxamna. Come." Xoupps focused across the Cataclysm back towards Marguerite who sent her other soldiers to intercept Xerbrot and Nehxel while she bashed away at Vixtole's breaking barrier. Even as Marguerite smashed at Vixtole's forcefield, the Captain of Cassandra's Guard was already darting looks towards the ring of playing cards that loud clanging sounds were echoing out from inside of. "Take care of the giants," Xoupps ordered curtly after confirming where his attention needed to redirect to. Marguerite looked poised to take command of the defense and perhaps even relieve Cassandra in her fight against Luxord.
She is a threat to our ranked numbers. Both in her own strength and her ability to organize this riff-raff. Xoupps leapt up in the air over the lunging spearhead. The shaft of the huge wooden spear snapped in half as the stone end of it hit the rock wall behind him made of much stronger material due to their depth below the surface. The stone head chipped and the shaft snapped, which was not great for the giantess who looked past Xoupps at a much larger black portal that a massive cloaked figure was running out of.
Troxamna stomped out of the portal and reached out. She grabbed the half-broken shaft by the end still held by the taller giantess' hands, and she yanked towards herself using one hand while slamming her other fist up towards the face of the Amazonian giant she tugged down towards her. The Nobody of Matrona, Rank XIX of the Organization, lifted her superior in size up in the air then smashed the back of her skull so hard on the firm ground that it cracked and blood splashed out around it.
"YOU BITCH!"
"Alaisha! NO!"
"Get her!"
A purple-haired giantess with a sword and another with red hair who held a battle axe charged at Troxamna and slashed their weapons. Troxamna put her hands together in front of her and summoned a two-handed sword out of thin air that she slashed across the front of her body and knocked both of her opponents' weapons back. She then bent her legs farther down, before charging forward through the line of giantesses who slashed back at her while she swung back and forth into them. One of her swings did not knock back her enemy who pushed harder back into Troxamna than the Nobody giant was expecting.
Troxamna released her sword and did a backflip up onto a ledge of the Women's Kingdom where archers dove out of the way before she slammed down. Troxamna rose up her arms at her sides and then curled her fingers down towards the giants below who bent their legs ready to jump up after her. Those giants spun around as six silver Nobodies all the same height as Troxamna emerged out of thin air in swirls of silver light. All the giant Twilight Thorns had pointed heads, white Organization symbols on their chests, and smooth figures leading down their spiked arms and legs.
Troxamna leaned forward off the ledge of the cliff as three giantesses still leapt up at her and ignored the low-class Nobodies she summoned to take them on with. Other giants in the group distracted those Nobodies while three of their strongest leapt at the Nobody giantess to take her out and prevent the summoning of any more. Troxamna clapped her hands together though while leaning forward off the ledge, then she smacked both of her hands down on the wall of the cliff below her feet. "Killing Wave," she stated while making eye contact with the middle of the three warrior giants leaping up towards her.
The wall of the Cataclysm this deep down should not have been able to be broken by much. It was insanely hard. Troxamna's Creation magic worked on it like it worked on any material of nature though. The wall pushed out and spiked all over in a huge explosion of stone shards that slashed through her three enemies. Blood splashed out by the tens of gallons, pouring out of the deep gashes on the massive women who either fell backwards or got impaled on the end of the protrusion and were left dangling over the ravine that blood rained down into on top of the other fighting Amazons and Nobodies.
"AHH!" A scream pierced out in the midst of the hardest fighting. Marguerite tried to pull her leg away in time after seeing it coming with Haki, but the accurate sniper shot still went through her left calf rather than her left knee. She rolled forward and came out of it, spinning and slashing into another shot that nearly hit her.
"You!" Marguerite yelled at the man who leapt her way to get closer and give her less time between when he fired his guns when the shots would reach her. Xoupps turned his body to the side before Marguerite even finished slashing up at him. The green flying slash coming off her blade missed him by a wide margin before he landed down on the head of one of his allies' Nobody creations.
Xoupps bounced up off the head of that Nobody, then he swung his left arm out to his side and summoned more Nobodies of his own to keep other Amazons off him while he took on Marguerite. He sprinted at her and fired another dozen times from each flintlock. Marguerite tried dodging around them all and slashing whatever she could not, but the first surprise shot to her leg had her slowed, and she was hit two more times.
All the shots hit her in non-vital areas. Xoupps sprinted at her and then swung his right hand out and parried the end of her blade that she tried slashing at him when he got that close. He did a spin-dodge off the parry and elbowed into the side of Marguerite's face. He gave her a black eye on the left side of her face and made blood trail out that nostril too. Marguerite slammed her sword down into the ground to keep from falling off her still-standing left foot, while she was down on her right knee. Her left leg struggled to push down so she could get her right foot back up, but the blood coming out of her left calf just splashed out when she put more weight on it. "Don't worry, I will not kill you. Not in the way you imagine death," Xoupps spoke to the back of the woman's head.
Sweat covered Marguerite's face. It did so for two reasons though, her heart dropping as she recognized the voice speaking into her ear. She turned her head slowly and with panic rising on it as the hooded man behind her continued, "You are strong. You will make a strong addition to the ranks of the Org-"
"Usopp?" Marguerite whispered. She recognized Luffy's crewmate, even if his nose was shorter under that hood. His head bowed farther and the shadow covering his face cloaked even more of it in darkness after he question. "Are you, his Nobody-"
"Forget what I just said," Xoupps lifted back up his flintlock that he had lowered. Marguerite's shaking eyes bulged, and then her head snapped backwards as Xoupps put one right between her eyes.
"NO!" Sweet Pea screamed while spinning away from the Nobody she just slashed and looking towards her falling friend.
"Commander!"
"Oh my God- Queen Cassandra!"
The playing cards were falling over. Amazons still fighting spun towards their leader who they hoped to see still standing, only to see Luxord standing there with the Queen thrown unconscious over his right shoulder. He was breathing somewhat heavily out his nose, but he was grinning in a smug and quietly confident manner at the looks of the horrified Amazons that he had defeated their Queen. "Now then," Luxord said, lifting his free left hand and coating it in darkness. "How about we clean up here?"
Amidst the Nobodies filling the Cataclysm, darker creatures started to emerge out of the shadows. They crawled up out of the ground. They swirled to life in the air in spheres of dark purple. Luxord smirked as the despair the Amazonians felt spiked along with their hopelessness. Heartless appeared mixed in with the Nobodies. Those two creatures did not attack each other though. All the different types of Heartless and Nobodies just focused on the women around them who suddenly realized that their enemies' numbers had only gone up in all this time that their own had dwindled and they had been tiring out.
"R-Retreat!"
"We can't win!"
"You think we'd let you?"
"You committed treason. Accept the consequences like the warriors you claim to be."
"Fight!"
"Keep fighting!"
"AHHH!"
"Run away- no, no no! AhhH- gahh, ughh…"
Cassie, Izumo cowered back behind a stone pillar as she thought one of the cloaked Nobodies looked her way while surrounded by their silver and black subordinates. I thought we might be safe with the Fire Lord beaten. You said the Resistance might come in and help us rebel! Why did this happen?! It was that damn Luffy with Okumura- no, it wasn't. It was our own people! Damn you, Cheshire! Izumo Kamiki panted heavily, but she ducked down and darted out of her cover to get to a more shadowed-over area that she could look out from while still being hidden herself.
Screams of the people she had known for over a year and a half, two years even for some of them, echoed around the eighteen year old girl sprinting for cover. She spun her head and watched as two more giants fell onto houses and broke through the walls while they screamed out in pain. Izumo reached down and grabbed another two sheets of summoning paper, but her eyes darted down as she felt around her pocket. "Last two," she whispered.
BOOOM!
A large building exploded near Izumo down the cliff and at the edge of the main village where the battle was spreading into now. She winced and pulled back as the flames rose up high over that building. Her eyes rose up with the flames and smoke, then she looked back down towards the building itself and looked around it to see some Nobodies running past and into the heart of the Women's Kingdom. I hope they got all the kids out before- Izumo's heart skipped a beat. She stared at the lower floor of the flaming building pouring out smoke on all sides, where a thin figure with pink hair came running out of the building and then darted away with a grin on his face.
I don't believe it! How is he here?! Izumo crouched behind a rock, trying to catch her breath while her face coated in even more sweat. She wiped some dirt off her cheek and winced as there was a bruise already forming underneath it. Calm down- No! He's looking for me. I need to run. I need to run anyway! They got Cassie. I'm not strong enough. I need to save these last two papers, I can't just use them now and get Uke and Mike dispelled again!
Izumo tried to run out of her cover to go sprint for safety. I know evacuation routes. I should have memorized them better! I've been here for so long though. I just, thought it was safe, tears filled Izumo's eyes that darted down at her legs. What if he sees me? Her legs were trembling. I need to go. I need to run! Now! Get up! Izumo's expression shadowed over.
She thought it was maybe the smoke from burning buildings blocking out the sunlight from reaching them down this low in the Cataclysm. Her head started rising though, and she lifted her gaze up to the legs of the black cloaked figure standing in front of her. He stared down from under the shadows of his hood at the purple-haired girl whose entire expression trembled in fear as she looked back at him. The man held two circular weapons in his hands that were spiked all around them. The red chakrams were covered in flames, but those flames flickered as the girl rose her head and met his gaze under that hood.
His eyes widened under the cloak. Then those eyes darted to either side before snapping back on the figure cowering behind cover in front of him. The tall figure whose hood was still up stepped forward while Izumo fumbled with her summoning papers. "Don't make a noise. I'm getting you out of here." Axel grabbed Izumo by the front of her shirt, and he pushed her backwards while Izumo let out a yelp that annoyed the Nobody who just told her to shut up.
Axel pushed the girl who fell into a swirling void of darkness that terrified her to enter. She dropped onto her butt then reached her right hand up back for the light in front of her. "Wait! Don't leave me here-" The portal closed, leaving Kamiki in a dark void all alone. Her jaw dropped and she spun around to look through this dark emptiness in a growing sense of horror. "No. No no no… NO! LET ME OUT-"
Kamiki spun around. She saw a light in the corner of her vision and spun towards it. She sprinted as fast as she could towards the light, and she ran out of the dark portal and gasped in as much fresh air as she could. No smoke? Izumo realized that the fresh air tasted much too clean. She blinked a few times in confusion, then she spun around anxiously at the sight of a group of eight people all aiming guns or swords at her. Izumo stood on the outer walls of a giant fortress in a landscape covered in blue grass and short trees with thick canopies of blue leaves.
"Who are you?! What was that portal you used?!"
Izumo turned around and watched as the remaining black wisps faded away. The portal was gone, and she just saw more people behind her on the other side of where the portal had been. He really, sent me to safety? Am I safe here? "Wh-Who are you?" The scared girl asked, darting her looks around at these people glaring suspiciously at her.
One older woman stepped forward though after noticing a few cuts on the young girl's body and the terrified look she had. Izumo was panting heavily and looked scared, like she had no idea what was going on. The older woman waved her hand at the men and younger women around her. She lowered her own blaster that she put onto her hip. "My name is Leia. This is a Resistance outpost-"
"General Organa! We don't know-"
"Do you know how you got here?" Leia wondered to the astonished girl who spun back and stared at the space where the portal had just vanished from. To the Resistance? Why? WHY?! Why would you destroy our Kingdom for treason against the King, but send me to… I don't get it. Izumo clenched her eyes shut and shook her head back and forth. She rose her hands to the sides of her head while tears filled her eyes. Leia leaned her head back and hummed sympathetically for the confused and clearly hurt girl in front of her. "Take her to the infirmary. I'll come see you in a bit, and we'll talk then," Leia reached out a hand and squeezed it softly on Izumo's shoulder. Izumo flinched, but Leia left her hand there until the girl lifted her gaze and met the older woman's. "Don't worry. You're safe now…"
Present
"…I know it's not really your fault; Cassie made the decision on her own," Izumo added after retelling what had happened to Amazonia. "And I'm sorry, you were just the first people I've seen for over a week now." Izumo's voice got softer as now that she had explained what had happened, she knew she was shifting the blame out of her own anger. She had told them most everything, though she purposely left out the description of the Nobody who had saved her. She did not want that man to be discovered if he was infiltrating the Nobodies which is what she determined after trying to rationalize his actions for days afterwards. There were other Nobodies who she did not describe though, leaving it vague as she described their actions.
Although Izumo had stayed vague for a few of them however, some of what she described sounded far too familiar to the people in front of her who had shocked looks on their faces. Izumo had looked down through much of her description of that horrid day, and now she wondered why the people in front of her looked so surprised. "Juvia does not understand," Juvia whispered, feeling very small and confused all of a sudden.
"I had suspected before, that it could be possible," Robin whispered.
"What's possible?" Izumo snapped at her, not liking how the older woman was being the vague one now.
"Stop being so hostile towards Robin-san!" Juvia yelled, coming out of her confused demeanor and glaring furiously at Izumo who seemed to be acting rudely for no apparent reason.
Izumo was not acting this way unprovoked however, and she snapped back, "I can't help it!" The others looked at her in confusion, and Izumo looked away, then turned back and looked straight into Robin's eyes. "I'm sorry, it's just. You look just like that woman, who I saw kill friends of mine."
"Bronxi," Robin said in a dark voice.
The others on the speeder all looked at her in surprise, and Nami whispered, "That's your Nobody's name?"
"Robin-san has a Nobody?" Juvia questioned in surprise. "Does Juvia have one?" She asked, as at this point she had already seen Sora's, and after Izumo's story she suspected many other people she knew had Nobodies as well.
"I do not believe so," Robin replied. Timmy, Izumo, and Juvia all looked at the oldest person on their speeder wondering what she meant by that. "Nami and I have Nobodies because we have each fallen to the darkness before. You helped save us, Timmy, but as soon as we fell, no matter how short a time," Robin added while looking at Nami whose eyes shook as she thought about that moment. "A Nobody was created in our image. That is why we recognize so many of those Kamiki-san has just described. The one who transformed into green animals, I am sure you recognize Beast Boy."
"That's right," Timmy said with wide eyes. "Beast Boy got taken in Port Royal! Wait," he stopped himself, then turned to Nami who sheepishly glanced back into his eyes. He whispered, "When did you-" the boy who had wished for incredible intelligence long ago was able to piece it together without much prying. "When I went up to the top floors of Castle Oblivion after beating Jafar, I didn't see you there. I always thought you were just stuck fighting in Hollow Bastion though. So you…"
"For a minute, yeah," Nami admitted to the boy she could see was so worried about her. She knew she could not get away with lying or hiding the truth at this point now that he had figured it out, and that made a bead of sweat roll down the side of her face as she thought about another secret she was hiding from him. He's so quick, if he ever got a hint about Wanda, he would figure it out in a second! Distracting herself from thoughts she knew were dangerous to be having around a boy who could read her mind at any time, Nami continued, "But it was just for a few seconds, so I was surprised to hear there was even time for my Nobody to be created."
"Just a few seconds," Timmy repeated slowly. Izumo was looking at these people in confusion but also listening closely as she wanted to learn more about the Nobodies as well. She had not forgiven them entirely, but on her own and with no information she knew there was nothing she could do, yet. Timmy had a thoughtful look on his face, and the boy lifted his head in shock, "Oh no. If it only takes that long, then, Gohan-"
Nami interrupted him, "We know." Timmy looked at her in confusion, and she said with her head bowed, "His name is Noxagh. He's the one who kidnapped Kairi."
"Dang," Timmy muttered. "That's going to make getting her back so much harder."
"You guys seem to know a lot about the Organization," Izumo started, and the group in front of her turned her way. She spoke in a low voice, "As I am now, there isn't anything I can do against them on my own. But you guys, you're going to take them on?" The others looked around at each other, and after bringing up Kairi, there was no doubt in any of their minds what the answer was. They turned back to Izumo and all nodded at the same time. "Can you, win?" She asked. Izumo was hesitant, since they had told her they could beat the King before only to flee south when the going got tough. Then again, these people had defeated the Fire Lord which also sounded crazy at the time.
"Yes, we can," Timmy replied. He had confidence in his tone. He knew that he would have to face Gohan's Nobody and scores of other powerful beings, many of whom would share the faces of his comrades. It would not be an easy fight, but he believed his response. I wish I had traveled with the others after leaving Dressrosa. They learned so much about this continent while I was stuck at the Wizard King's castle. I'm back now though. I'm going to help them win all these battles!
I thought I could just get them to drop me off at the next city they reach, but maybe- Maybe it wasn't complete chance I showed up where I did. Maybe that spiky-haired Nobody somehow knew I would bump into these people here. It could just be coincidence, or it could be fate. I've never really believed in fate though. What I do believe in, is myself. I believe in the choices I make. Right now, my entire body is telling me something. I think, I need to… "Can I-" Izumo stopped herself. She cursed in her own head. "It's just, there's nowhere for me to-" she closed her mouth and grimaced at how hard this was. She did not know how to act, but she bowed her head and mumbled, "Could I come with you?"
Nami stared at the girl in surprise. Timmy lifted his eyebrows up as he was not expecting that all of a sudden. Robin's straight expression did not change, and Juvia looked next to her at the older woman who seemed to be thinking about what Izumo requested. Izumo lifted her gaze to the oldest woman on the speeder, and she continued at Robin's unfaltering gaze, "It's just, with Amazonia gone, I don't have anywhere to go back to. And, you're all planning to go after the Organization, and I need to do that too. I know that sometimes they capture people like it sounds like they did with your friend Kairi." And like I'm sure they would have taken Cassie.
Robin's thoughtful expression was not because she was considering what Izumo was asking, although that was what Izumo and Juvia thought had her hesitating. I knew I had a Nobody from what that man Demyx mentioned in the Dread Fort. Sanji mentioned it again later on that his Nobody was like him, yet different. He claimed his own Nobody, Jixsan, would not hurt a lady, so I had high hopes for my own. The expression Kamiki had when she first looked at me though. Robin frowned deeper and Izumo stopped explaining as she thought the frown was directed towards her. I hate what my other self could be doing to make this girl look like that. Robin's eyes widened as Izumo gained a similar expression to earlier when the girl first saw her, though instead of fear she just looked very nervous.
The black haired woman eased up her expression, but before she could speak, Juvia did for her, "Robin-san is not Bronxi." Izumo looked into the mage's eyes, and Juvia said in a stern voice, "The one who killed your friends is a different person. Do not treat my friend like a monster."
"My friend," not "Juvia's friend," Robin thought sadly. Then she said aloud, "It's alright, Juvia. I am sure Kamiki-san will get used to the idea, in time." Robin smiled at the purple haired teenager who heard the double meaning in what Robin just said.
"You mean it?" Izumo asked, looking from Robin to the others around her. "I can come with you?"
"Can't turn away one of Rin's friends now can we?" Nami asked, smiling at the younger girl herself. She lifted her gaze above Izumo and looked out past some upturned earth over the railing where she saw a black Grimm head poke up. "Well, we should start moving," Nami said, heading back to the center console of their speeder and checking to see if everything was still functioning. Luckily the attacks from earlier did not seriously damage their ship and it was back in gear in no time flat.
Izumo turned to Juvia who she could still see glaring at her, and Izumo said, "Um, sorry for how I've been acting. Robin's right, I'll get used to her quickly."
Juvia's eyebrows narrowed back at her suspiciously even with Izumo's assurance, then Robin put a hand on her younger friend's shoulder and motioned towards the front of the ship. "Let us look out for other monsters that may attack us," Robin suggested. Juvia agreed and walked forward with Robin, though she did shoot Izumo another dirty look.
"I'll help too," Timmy said, jogging after the girls to help protect their speeder from incoming attacks. Through that entire conversation he did not mention it, but he had been focusing on the Grimm around them and throwing them farther away with his mind whenever they got close. Even the one that Nami saw that made her want to keep moving was tossed backwards a second after she took her eyes off it.
Izumo watched those three head to the front of the speeder, then she walked up to Nami's right side. In a quiet voice, she began, "What's up with your friend Juvia?" Nami glanced out the corners of her eyes at the girl, checking to see if she was insulting her friend. Izumo just looked nervous though, and the teenage girl added, "She's really hostile towards me. Oddly so." If she was going to be traveling with these people, she did not want to be afraid of one of those with her.
Nami could understand Izumo's concern. In fact, she understood the concern all too well and sighed as she figured it was better to explain now than wait until later. "Juvia, is the reason we're heading east right now. She has been infected with this, hatefulness," Nami could not find it in her to say 'bloodlust' without feeling like she would be making Izumo think less of her friend. "We've heard there's a magician we can find by heading to a Resistance base near here who can fix her. It's our only lead so far, but we promised her that we'd find a way to cure her."
The younger girl looked forward towards the mage with long blue hair. I was not expecting that, she thought with a bead of sweat rolling down the left side of her face. I was really just asking if she's usually a mean person or something. This is weird, but, her friends must really care about her. Something else came to Izumo's mind and she turned back to Nami, "Where are the rest of your friends? Where's Rin?" She asked, specifying the boy who really was on her mind.
"They're back at the Resistance Headquarters," Nami replied. "We agreed to spend a month getting stronger before heading back north again, this time with Goku and Timmy alongside us. I'm sure Rin's back there right now training with our other friends."
"Oh, that's good," Izumo responded. Nami glanced at the girl next to her, wondering about that unenthusiastic response. Izumo had started to frown, and she looked forward past those at the bow of the speeder and far into the distance. Okumura, I needed to tell you something. There was someone else attacking the Women's Kingdom. Hiding in the shadows at first, he came through a ball of smoke mid-battle. That smirk on his face haunts me… Renzou Shima, I hate you so much.
A/N Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. ;( The Amazons faced a tough battle in the flashback this chapter. At the end of the chapter where we met them, I had a short scene where Cheshire told Luxord what had happened with Luffy and Cassie. Cheshire is a villain from the Young Justice tv show, which Cassandra is also from herself. Izumo makes it out thanks to Axel, and now she joins up with Nami's team as they head farther east to try and locate this great wizard who can help Juvia. Leave a review below and let me know what you think, questions, or predictions for the story ahead- particularly who you think the great wizard might be who they've been heading for all this time? XD Anyway, got one review response then we're done. 'Til next time!
Darugus chapter 142 . Aug 22
Nice to see this story is back looking forward to the next chapter
Glad to be back, and glad there are still people excited to read Nexus! Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoyed the newest chapter!