Dark Emergence

[Jaixe]

Jaixe and his shadow companions emerged to... something. A metropolis world, it seemed, and they were in a dark alley. But why did he choose here? He felt that there was something familiar about this world, and he instinctively went here, but did not understand why. I must find. I must search. He thought, striding towards the end of the alleyway.

[Jaixe]

He emerged to a rather bizzare sight. A dead end, and an empty one at that. All below him and before him were nothing but what seemed to be lines of energy marking lanes, sparse amount of flying traffic, and nothing to stand on whatsoever, let alone walk across. What is this world? Jaixe asked, infuriated again at the sight of another question he couldn't answer.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe morphed and began climbing up the side of the building, climbing higher and higher until he reached a walkway finally. Another alleyway to be precise, this one just like the other. It was a strange design choice, and one Jaixe couldn't make sense of. Another car zoomed by, flying through magic it almost seemed like, and made of entirely metal.

[Jaixe]

It was finally then that Jaixe noticed how dark it was down here and sensed the presence of other Heartless nearby. Thousands of them actually, it was a large world, and in the levels he current stood in, Heartless infested it. Still, none of this information helped Jaixe figure out a way out or up.

[Jaixe]

Then Jaixe wondered why he wanted to go up. And then also noticed, with that question, that this place was familiar. It had a familiar feel, the design seemed familiar, the darkness, familiar, the car, familiar. He came here because it was familiar, but how was it familiar? Was it a world he visited before, was it the place of his creation? Was it home, even? He couldn't answer any of those questions.

[Jaixe]

With rage and frustration, Jaixe banished those questions to elsewhere within his mind. He was determined to get the answers to them, but for now he wanted to focus. Those cars were an excellent choice, a method, to moving more freely. So perhaps he could manage to steal one, himself and his companions. Metal boxes that fly...

[Jaixe]

Jaixe crawled up the side of the building again, trying to find an overpass to drop from, but unsuccessful in that search. Instead, he merely morphed back to normal and dug one claw into the building's wall. He had one attempt at this, but he seemed confident enough. He didn't even think about the consequences, merely the need and desire for one of these magical flying metal boxes.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe saw a flicker out of the corner of his... eyes? Did he even have eyes? He leapt from his position, timing it perfectly, and with his shadows in tow, landing and digging into the vehicle of choice. The vehicle swerved, the driver apparently panicking at the sight of Heartless on his car. On a number of occasions, as the lights of the city blurred past them like shooting stars, the vehicle collided against the energy rails and streams of sparks and lightning shot in all directions.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe crawled down the hood, his claws digging deep to ensure he didn't fall off due to the fact that this pilot seemed to be incompetent. He turned and glared at the driver, the cracks in his body flaring with energy. GET OUT! He screamed in his head, but the only thing he truly spoke was a loud bellow, one that reverberated through the vehicle along with dark energy, and was loud enough to be heard over the hum of the flying vehicle.

[Jaixe]

The driver panicked again, increasing the speed of the vehicle and swerving even more. He was a threat, a very substantial threat, to himself, the Heartless, and most importantly, Jaixe. Clawing into the hood of the vehicle, Jaixe glared and howled again. He crawled up closer to the translucent metal windshield and then surprisingly swung around it, using the sides as leverage to keep himself on.

[Jaixe]

The driver was surprised at such a maneuver, kicked to the side and now leaving the vehicle completely out of control. It grinded against the energy rail, sparks and lightning arcing in all directions, as the shadows crawled into the vehicle and began tearing apart the man. Jaixe, however, was more concerned with the vehicle than the meal, and panic almost overtook him as well.

[Jaixe]

The man's screams for help and mercy didn't help any either. Still, they were silenced in moments, to Jaixe's relief, when the Heartless finally devoured the man's heart and another Heartless was born from him. Jaixe looked and scanned the car's "controls," but he wasn't even sure of how to pilot this flying box. All he could see was a wheel and two pedals, and a holographic dashboard with a speedometer, fuel gauge, mileage, lights, and the most distressing of messages. A consistently blinking, red warning message adorned the holographic dash as Jaixe tried to figure out what to do.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe grabbed onto the wheel and turned it to the left, and to his surprise, the vehicle responded. It shot to the left and started grinding against that energy rail, with the red warning sign blinking even MORE rapidly to further bother and annoy the Heartless pilot. Still, it was a first step, and Jaixe finally, more gently, turned to the right again. This time the vehicle didn't sharp curve and slam into the energy rail, but slowly started swinging to the right instead.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe was relieved when the warning message finally stopped, but he still couldn't make sense of any of the messages or information anyway. All he figured was that the blinking was bad, and red blinking was even worse. Then he noticed that another word on the dashboard. It read, "Cruise Control: Engaged." He was even more frustrated that he didn't understand those words, and then finally started wondering how to slow or speed up this vehicle at all.

[Jaixe]

Finally getting the hang of the driving wheel, Jaixe curved when the energy rails seemed to, all the while trying to get his feet to reach the pedals lower down, underneath the steering wheel. To his annoyance, Jaixe wasn't actually tall enough to reach the pedals. This box wasn't made for us... Annoying. He thought, turning to the Heartless and commanding them telepathically to move to the pedals. If he couldn't reach them, they would instead.

[Jaixe]

It was several minutes longer trying to argue with the shadows telepathically, mostly through confusion and illustration, before they finally figured out how and WHEN to press the peddles. Finally having full control of the metal flying box, now clawed and damaged, and singed from the frantic driving of its previous pilot, Jaixe was sure of himself at last. At least, until the next question appeared in his mind.

[Jaixe]

What do now? Where? Jaixe thought, mindlessly following the energy rails as he contemplated. He wanted to go up before, but it didn't seem that this vehicle was made for that at first. He looked around, confused, before noticing a button that said, "Free Drive." Not really understanding the words, he pressed it anyway with a sense of curiosity as to its meaning. It wasn't long before he regretted his decision.

[Jaixe]

Jaixe found himself dislodged from the normal path as a stick shot out, with numbers with a small circle at the end. Angles, they were, but Jaixe didn't know that, and was initially freaked out when he zoomed past the energy rail. The path had curved, but he went straight on towards an incoming skyscraper. This wasn't going to end well...

[Jaixe]

In a panic, Jaixe pulled the new switch down, and the vehicle responded in a shocking manner. It went directly up into the sky, flying just a few meters from the building it was originally going to crash into. Jaixe screamed for the brake to be pushed, but in his panic, the shadows misunderstood his order and didn't know which was the brake. Instead, the craft accelerated to even faster speeds, pushing Jaixe and the shadows back into their seats. STOP! BRAKE! THE OTHER PEDALLL---!

[Jaixe]

Jaixe was relieved when they finally began to slow down to a more comfortable cruising speed.He remarked at their altitude, and how far up they've gone and yet still they didn't reach the skyline of the city. Large place. Very large. He thought as their surroundings gradually got brighter and brighter.

--Moved to here.--

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