The Magic of Discovery

With Tsukiko's initial spell kicking things off, the blast overtook the aerial foes who then scattered with unearthly chattering. A few were even taken out. When they were, the telltale sign of a released heart flew up into the air then vanished to signify whoever's heart had been taken was returned to its rightful place. This made the Shadows turn their attention to Eda who flung a singular fireball at them that, like Tsukiko's attack, had managed to defeat quite a mass of Shadows.

"Heh, not bad, kid." she commended Tsukiko

The remainder of the Shadows sunk into the ground as they did and made for Lucille and was ready to test out the fruits of her training.

"Civilians?!"
"Well, we're not usually combatants..."
"But we can fight just fine!"
"But they don't know that! Let's show them what four-fifths of the Feisty Five can do!"

More Heartless emerged. The Soldiers Lucille had faced in the simulator were now real and lunged at Eda who was taken off-guard. These were suddenly crushed by a pair of magenta fists belonging to the one dubbed Ed. Then another had made its way over to Tsukiko who had charged into the center of the swarm. Before the Soldier could lunge at Tsukiko, a blade plunged straight thought the emblem on its body before fading to smoky blackness alongside the rising heart.

"We can fight just fine, thank you." chided the one dubbed Moray.

More aerial threats emerged in the form of the new emblem Heartless but were immediately dealt with by both a glowing playing card and coin. The squirrel-like being had a set of coins in their paw while the hatted one held a set a card between his fingers.

Hooty wiggled his form to evade the Heartless, all while graciously keeping up the small talk. "Eda! Friends of yours?"

"The Heartless or the four demons who are handling themselves just fine? Either way, the answer is no." she clapped her hands and made a barrier before her that a gaggle of Shadows crashed harmlessly against. Even more Heartless emerged which made Eda grunt with frustration. The Heartless were being unusually persistent today! And there was this...feeling in the air. Similar to how it felt when she opened the door to go between worlds. She didn't like this feeling all too well. It spelled trouble with a capital T. Trouble she wasn't sure she was quite ready to deal with. "Heads up, kids! Show me what all that fancy training of yours is all about!"

Tsukiko was satisfied with her opening spell's results, it took out some of the aerial enemies, but more importantly it scattered them so they couldn't swarm anyone. Judging by how they looked they seemed roughly equivalent to soldier heartless, just airborne. The clanging noise they made backed that up. In that case the biggest threat they posed was if there were a lot of them, similar to shadows but a bit stronger and faster. So long as there weren't too many for anyone to keep track of at once, their attacks ought to be easy to block and counter.

Seemed the other... people? Whatever species they were, could hold their own too, that was a relief. She really only had the attention to spare to protect one person here, and that was Lucille, who seemed to be holding her own at first with her blade. So at first, Tsukiko focused on thinning the crowd around her, primarily parrying with her dark keyblade and countering with the light, she was still getting used to dual wielding but the utility of being able to delegate was helpful. She'd cut down a few soldiers and shadows before glancing over to Lucille, only to see her new friend being absolutely swarmed. She was still holding her own but she was taking damage.

"Shit, Lucille!" Tsukiko called, enduring the swipes of a few shadows as she pointed a keyblade towards her friend, casting cure on her to heal her injuries, then after parrying another soldier, she turned and cast haste on her friend as well, to give her a speed boost to help her with the swarming issue. As much as she'd love to help more directly, the swarms of heartless between them would make that difficult for now. Still, that ought to give her the breathing room to figure out how to utilize her magic more, or just continue using her blade with enhanced speed. And who knew, maybe feeling magic flow through her twice more with varying effects might help her insight into it.

That was all the focus she could spare though, as she took a soldier's kick to her side and stumbled back a few steps, she quickly countered to dispatch it, but she was surrounded now, having charged into the middle of it all and then taken the time to cast two spells towards an entirely different fight had put her in a dangerous position. She took a defensive stance with her twin blades, focusing on her own problems for now... the air felt odd though, and weirdly familiar. The last time she'd felt this vibe in the air was... but there was no way that was happening here right? Flashes of memory made her grip her blades tighter... if that thing showed itself again, she was ready this time. She had to thin the horde out more before it arrived though... should she use her ace in the hole? No... too soon. If it failed it'd leave her exhausted, best to save it for the big one. Best to let her magic recharge a bit too, she could cast plenty of spells, but if something big was coming she didn't want to waste any more on foes she could take out with blade strikes.

"hang in there Lucille, I'll be there soon" she said, more to herself than her friend, doubtful Lucille would hear in the din of battle.

Lucille would grow more and more aggravated as the shadows kept giving her little reminders that her defence is faltering. The pain was a good teacher, but also incredibly irritating even as she continued to slash her way into the ever-increasing crowd of creatures. Why are they attacking in so much force? Was Cal's time spent in Scala Ad Caelum queueing up shadows waiting for the next time they'd leave or something?

Her musings would be interrupted as she parries an attack from another shadow and counters. You're thinking too much, Lucille. Just act!

Thankfully some respite would come when she felt the pain be alleviated by Tsukiko's spell, and shortly afterward the world would seem to slow down. Was this some kind of time warping spell? Or was it just improving her reaction times and this is how her mind is perceiving it? Whatever the case may be, she found it a lot easier to react to her attackers. With the breathing room it afforded her it allowed her to correct her sloppy form and start putting her training to proper use again. That's when Cal would roll up next to her and defeat some shadows on their own. Lucille smiles down at Cal, but tilts her head as Cal seems to have some kind of idea. Communicating it exclusively through yips is undoubtedly going to take a while due to her not being fluent in yip-ese but she does nod at Cal. "Alright, buddy, I trust you. What do I need to do?" She asks whilst simultaneously keeping some more shadows at bay.

Without delay, Calaguru would yip commandingly then ran a few quick circles around Lucille before zooming behind her and pushed against the back of her legs hard enough to seemingly trip her up but would in essence let her land upon Calaguru's back. The Dream Eater's back felt like a giant marshmallow that felt like it was steadily growing. In fact, the Dream Eater was steadily growing as a wispy essence surrounded it. In Lucille's hands were a set of reins made up of the same wispy light that enveloped Calaguru itself. As to where they were attached to, it appeared to vanish into the back of the Dream Eater.

Lucille would hear a distant voice in her head briefly.



As it grew it caught the attention of Eda who stopped fighting for the moment to look with disbelief and confusion at the sight that was manifesting before her. "What in the?"

Hooty marveled in awe "Such a wondrous sight has never graced my eyes before! What a glorious figure! Hoooot!"

The four had also ceased activities momentarily with some even pointing.

"Now there's something you don't see everyday."
"I'll say..."
"Holy smokes!"
"I think we'd better um...get out of the way..."



The Heartless had a rather big shadow looming before them as before Lucille knew it, her Dream Eater had grown several sizes and now rivaled the size of the Owl House. It stood proud, issuing its trademark cry. What kind of attack was it going to use? Even Eda was curious. Stupified, yes. But curious nonetheless. King's eyes were a glow with wonder at the massive thing that looked ready to deal with the threat at hand.


And then, it bounced. Yes, bounced. It floated weightlessly into the air, giving Lucille a broader view of the Boiling Isles before the wobbly creature descended with its limbs outstretched and aiming to land atop the mass of Heartless...with a belly flop. With a mirthful yip, it collided with the ground and from its impact emerged a wispy shockwave that cleared out a bunch of the Heartless in its wake. But as soon as it bounced, it went back up and then came back down again with another bounce, each time causing a magical shockwave on impact that seemed the harmlessly pass through everything else but the Heartless that were being battered.

Eda was slack jawed as she watched the spectacle. The four strangers were also quite frazzled. Here they panicked, thinking they'd need to move and when the shockwave did nothing to them but give them a show, they stood flabbergasted. All the while, the Dream Eater was calling out with cheerful cries. As if it were putting on a show and cast away worry and sadness. It was chasing away each and every single Heartless until none were left standing.

Once the last bit had been flattened, Calaguru yipped and did once more bounce, going way up high this time then began to deflate. As it did, Lucille would notice their descent would be slowed and gave her a chance once more to appreciate the sights as they came in for a safe and fluffy landing. The Dream Eater itself looked a little worn out now, however.

Tsukiko was getting more and more overwhelmed by the enemy numbers, and this wasn't being helped by the fact she was so distracted by trying to protect all the non-wielders here. Everyone was holding their own, but the others were getting overwhelmed too. She wanted to save her trump card for something bigger but... if she held out they were going to get swarmed anyway.

Jumping back a bit, her keyblades began to glow with light and darkness respectively as she braced herself for what she needed to do... and then they stopped as her focus evaporated in the face of Cal growing to giant size

"What the..." she said quietly as the now supersized Cal bounced around the area, unleashing shockwaves of energy that cleared out all the swarming heartless around it with each bounce, eventually clearing them all out, at least for the moment.

Tsukiko watched in stunned silence as Cal shrunk back down as if it was the most normal thing in the world, though he did look a bit worn out after that stunt. Still, the results were clearly worth it, even if more heartless came now, they were bought precious time to regroup and catch their breaths. They'd need that if the heartless she was on guard about manifested.

Rejoining the others, Tsukiko would focus on recharging her mana as much as possible for now, trying to make up for all the spells she'd had to fire off. "That's one heck of a move Cal can do, pulled our butts out of the fire too... and not gonna lie it looked kinda fun" she said with a chuckle

Lucille stops twirling Cal to address Tsukiko, letting Cal down so they can go relax with King as she speaks. "It was definitely fun... Kinda scary too, but scary in a good way, like a rollercoaster," She explains with a grin. She then watches the conversation between Eda and the strangers, humming in thought. "A 'Corridor of Darkness'? Sounds spooky, especially if you're thrown into a totally new world," She comments. "Is uhh... Magic practice canceled today while we try and figure all this out or...?"

Upon being talked to, the four spoke to themselves in hushed whispers. Once they came to a consensus, they replied.

"Nothing out of the ordinary."
"What we saw was ordinary enough."
"It was a scorpion! A big one!"
"We see them all the time back home."

Eda grumbled. "But that's what Heartless do! They take ordinary things or animals or objects and just mimic them...and you all didn't...know that...well ya do now!"

As if on cue, there was a crashing sound above them followed by a billow of violet smoke. From it, a large whip-like object swung out and struck the home which issued a cry from Hooty. 

"Ow! Eda!"

King started to cower near Lucille while Eda took a long step back and held out her hands as that whip-like force was coming in again for a second strike. With a hastened grunt of effort, a translucent yellowish plate emerged in mid-air to deflect the attack but it would also shatter on impact in the process. She clasped her hands together and glared at the smoke.

"Hey kids! Off-worlders! I gotta protect my house! So here's the next lesson; while I keep my place defended with my magic which is gonna take all my focus to keep up on short notice....." She released her hands and held them forward as the entirety of the Owl House was surrounded by a stronger-looking barrier of a similar color. When the attack came again , it simply bounced off while Eda stood her ground. Soon after, a hefty figure dropped from the billowing smoke that then converged on the figure in question. It clacked it claws and swung its tail once more that bore a menacing grin on its end.