paixaorpg | Unchaperoned [Completed]

Naja had been on the move, checking out more of the city, poking her nose in places it probably didn't belong. She thought maybe it would've been better to stay with the gypsies; it was much more satisfying. Sure the city seemed interesting, but Naja wasn't finding anything for her company to get involved with. And that just didn't fit!

How frustrating this place was. And the blondes. The young blondes. She scowled, tapping the long, spiky club against her shoulder, mumbling as she scanned the folk entering the gate, looking for potential candidates for her company. Well, that seemed like a waste of time.

But then she noticed something strange; a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl coming into the city. What's this? Why would a Paixaoan have left? That was just a bit suspicious.

She approached the girl, nose wrinkling as she looked down at her, giving the club another tap. "Oho~ Isn't this quite peculiar? Now why would a Paixaoan be coming into the gates? I thought you folk were too damn afrrraid to leave? Ha! What was so interrresting outside, hm-hm~?" She leaned forward at that, a bit more down to the girl's eye level, and narrowed her eyes.

Naminé's captivation with the architecture inside the city didn't last very long. She shrank back a step as Naja approached her. Who was that? Why did they have that big club out? Had she done something wrong already?

It was actually a slight relief when she realized the cat woman had just mistaken her for a local, but it still took her a couple of seconds to find her voice with Naja's face glaring right into hers. "I - I don't know what you mean," she stammered. "I'm not from Paixao at all, I only just got here..."

She leaned back appraisingly, free hand up to her chin, rubbing it in amusement. Not a citizen then? Hmmm. Well, it wasn't unusual that there were the blondes and the blues - of course there were some of those who were just dragged in, stuck in the city against there will. This girl looked like she was a ghost. Like she was going to disappear. Like she wasn't even there.

She reminded her of a lumen.

...That was kind of interesting, rrreally.

"Hmmm? Is that rrright? Well then, you're not very interesting after all." She wrinkled her nose again, but she did seem to act slightly less frightening to the girl. As uninteresting as she was. Hm. Figures. "Then yer just another sheep comin' in t'be herded. Heh."

"Naa, naa! Don't be so mean to her, cat-thing. She's new."

A voice that came, not from the ground but from higher up, rang out with a certain cheerful sense, yet still managed to sound rather scolding. It would be fairly difficult to find the owner of this tone, with the assorted, nameless figures filtering in slowly through the gate greeters and guards, were it not for the fact that a very conspicious shape, dressed primarily in red.

Luffy smiled down at the two of them, like some wandering little star, perched on top of a wall overlooking the entrance. Crouched down, his lean, strong arms were draped over his knees, and his back was arched forward, giving him a rather flexible appearance. "This is hard enough, so don't make fun of her, hmm?"

On his usual patrol of the city, or just looking for anything of immediate interest, Luffy often spent more time around the gates than in other locations, if only for the idea that Organization members might be more apt to prey on newcomers than the wary travelers who had banded together during their time here. He had just arrived, only to find himself happening upon Naja and the girl.

Naminé let out a soft sigh of relief as the guy in the straw hat came to her defense. Uninteresting was good! It was really better if no one saw her slip in. If they knew who she was, she was sure that... what? Well, she wasn't sure, and that was the problem. It wouldn't be good.

Tentatively, she decided to take advantage of the distraction, and began slowly edging her way around the side of Naja facing away from Luffy. Maybe this was her chance to sneak away and wait for Vexen's replica somewhere a little safer.

Naja turned her heard towards the irritating voice, nose twitching in dislike before she even saw the flaky pirate. Heh, he thought she was being mean? Oh, no one here knew her at all~ Her being mean was... well... possibly a bit violent with a side of send-you-to-your-doom.

She rolled her eyes at him. Treat everyone nicely it was then, eh? Naja was no softy. If others couldn't handle that, then they really weren't worth her time. Unless the little blonde will-o-wisp could do her paperwork, then she didn't seem like she'd be of much help to... anyone, really. Just another ordinary soul. Nothing special. Nothing new. ~~And Naja didn't even have any paperwork for others to do, anyway.~~

She grumbled at the pirate. "Oh please, who could blame me? Really, look at her? That's got suspicion written all over her, and I know suspicion! ...Or she had it all written over her." She looked back to where the girl was, found her missing, and spun around to point her out again. Disappearing like a ghost, even. Sheesh. "Pfff. If you're not a native than that drops yer suspicion level a tad, anyway. Don't go gettin' into trouble, kid! This city ain't safe."

See. She was being "nice," warning the brat of the dangers she might face. "There's this mean-green 'Organization' out there that might just get their kicks in snatching a younging like yourself up!"

It seemed that Naja had struck upon the same reason why Luffy had come to the gate in the first place. Poor, confused, and frightened people taking their first steps inside these big-city walls might just find themselves locked in a black and heartless grip right off the bat. Still, Luffy didn't quite catch on to Naja's oh-so 'kind' intentions in trying to warn her; taking a deft leap from the wall, Luffy jumped down, letting the wind carry through his bold and loose-fit clothes as he rapidly fell, then landed with flawless form despite the height.

Frowning, he shook his head and said, "Hey, now you're just trying to scare her! Just knock it off, hmm?"

Tipping back his hat, Luffy let the mass of tattered straw hang by the thick string looped around his neck, with the brim pressed against his strong and slender shoulders. Stepping forward, his lean arms hung down plainly at his sides, just slightly tensed, but he made no other aggressive moves for the moment.

The irony of Naja's warning wasn't lost on Naminé. Oh, she was well aware what the Organization could do with a little girl like herself. Under different circumstances, it might have almost been funny. As it was, she just nodded quickly, accepting the advice. "All right, I'll be careful," she stammered, almost stopping but still delicately shuffling sideways in her original direction.

Luffy's jump from the roof surprised her to a full halt, though. He was still trying to stick up for her? It almost looked like he was waiting for a fight. That idea set off a little spurt of panic in her head, enough to make her take a half-step toward them. "It's all right!" she exclaimed, in what she hoped was a placating way. "I'll be fine, really." After all, the last thing she wanted to do here was cause trouble.

Naja scowled at Luffy then gave a glance around to the girl. He wouldn't mind smacking some 'affection' into him with her lovely spiky-friend, but instead, she tapped it against her shoulder and leaned back some. She was about to retort when the will-o-wisp stepped back toward them. Heh. So she had herself a voice then, hm? That made her pretty much useless to Naja. Just like this pirate, who had too much of a voice.

Slimy independents.

"See," she nodded to the kid. "She's fine. End of story. Doesn't matter. An' if you rrreally care so much about the insignificant ones, than hold her hand and walk her around like a good little boy." She snorted and turned on her feet, beginning to walk away.

What pests.

Luffy, always one to wear his emotions in broad display, immediately gained a look of some disappointment. His lips curling in distaste, he watched as Naja predictably spat out one last little gush of spite before she turned to leave. Still, maybe he did seem a little too eager to kindle that fire, he realized; he'd been itching for a good, blood-pumping fight for days now, and it was likely starting to make him act a bit too brash. Still, for all his anticipation of strong opponents in this grand little city, the only result of his searching was a lot of lies and emptiness, much like the scenery of Paixao itself.

So, off she went, leaving Luffy alone with the skiddish young woman. He immediately set himself at ease, appearing more relaxed and much more like his usual friendly self.

"Sorry about that!" he declared suddenly, gingerly rubbing the back of his neck in a rather embarassed fashion. "Maybe I got carried away, but I know it's easy to get a little scared coming here. I didn't want it to be any worse for you."

Giving out a yawn and a quick little stretch, Luffy seemed to decide that he'd done more than enough, and it was time to set his mind to something else. Breakfast, maybe? Before he could leave with a sound conscience, however, he turned and glanced at Naminé one last time. "So, you're going to be alright? You kinda seem like you know where you're going..."

Repliku hastily made his way down the streets, quite bothered by conflicting feelings. On one hand he was glad to have Naminé here where he could watch over her but on the other it meant she was near the Organization again and who knew what they would make her do this time.

He didn't have time to dwell on the thought for long as he noticed Naminé's figure among others. There was a cat lady walking away and a boy who remained with her. Repliku's expression became one of grim determination as he disappeared in a swirl of darkness in mid-step and reappeared again in front of Naminé with his back towards her.

He narrowed his eyes at the boy for a moment before glancing over his shoulder.
"Sorry I'm late," he said in a voice that didn't quite match his dark expression. "Are you alright, Naminé?"

"Ye-" Naminé's initial reply, that she was fine and would try not to get lost, was cut off barely a syllable in as the Riku Replica suddenly appeared directly in front of her. She jumped, more startled than actually surprised; after all, that was the way that all the Organization preferred to come and go, so it was only reasonable that someone created by them would do the same.

The first thought to cross her mind when he looked back at her was that he was very convincing. She knew enough of Sora's memories to recognize his friends, anyway, and just like over the network, it was a little hard to think of the two separately. But she shook the thought aside, and nodded quickly up at him. "Yes, I'm fine," she said.

One could notice one of Luffy's dark eyebrows slowly raise as he watched this new figure take a step through a sudden shadowy doorway and appear in front of him in a dangerously suspicious fashion. His eyes were wide, giving out a stark glare, a sense of anger in them just beginning to bubble like water reaching a boiling point.

Was that, he wondered, what he thought it was?

He'd heard someone describe the manner in which Organization members moved about, teleporting themselves to safety through darkened portals. He had begun to think the members of these shady ranks were too paranoid to use their powers so openly, but unless this was another case of mistaken identity, his search for these, his enemies, had finally reached the fun part.

Just as quickly as Riku had moved to shield the girl from him, the smile Luffy had used to warm up to Naminé vanished, leaving a grim little frown in its place. "Eh, eh, it's about time one of you guys came out of hiding," Lufy chided the young man, while he clasped a clentched fist into the opposite palm and noisily cracked his knuckles. "No dark robes like they said, but that's okay...there are plenty of people looking for you, so it's no wonder you try to dress normal."

"Good." Repliku nodded before focusing his attention back on the dark-haired boy who was prattling on about something. He didn't look particularly menacing or all that strong but Repliku took no chances and crouched slightly, ready to jump into action, holding his hand out to summon his Soul Eater should it be needed.

"What are you on about?" He spat in reply although Repliku was starting to get a hunch just what this boy was thinking. "Who's looking for me?" As far as he knew the Organization hadn't discovered him being here yet so who the hell would go look for him?

He raised an eyebrow at the comment about his clothes and even glanced down for a moment. His clothes definitely did not look normal and the Heartless-like symbol stood out way too much. The replica had actually considered going out to buy himself something that wouldn't make him stand out so much before but hadn't gotten around to doing so yet.

Naminé cringed behind Repliku, watching Luffy's fists with renewed anxiety. Unfortunately, she had a very strong suspicion of what was really going on here, and it wasn't good. It was the understatement of the century to say the Organization wasn't too well-liked around here, and if he could tell that easily that the replica was with them... add to that that he'd seemed antsy for a fight before, and the result could only spell trouble.

She hugged her journal a little closer. "Maybe we should go, Riku," she tried softly. Well - no, he wasn't really Riku, she knew that, but she wasn't sure what else to call him. "Replica" didn't even feel like a name.

It was the tragic mistake of many from Luffy's own little corner of the universe, those who afterwards lay beaten, battered, and utterly broken, to even entertain the idea that this lean and gangly young man in the straw hat wasn't all that strong. Luffy didn't even flinch, even when the stranger he took to be among the Organization's ranks extended his hand. He kept right on staring with the same earth-drilling glare paired with a grim little smile.

"Everybody's looking for you, dummy! That's what happens when you all run around, kidnapping and hurting people," he spat right back, raising his arms outward into a more combat-ready posture. "And now you're gonna try to take this poor little girl away right in front of me? No chance!"

Without a word more of warning, Luffy fired off a lightning-fast shot of his own arm, his fist suddenly barreling forward as fast as a pistol's shot, with his lithely-muscled arm suddenly stretching out behind it. The balled-up fist careened madly towards Riku's face with enough pure power behind it to leave a deep, knuckle-shaped imprint in solid rock.

"I'm not one of them!" He shouted back when it finally clicked. Hell, he wouldn't go around kidnapping people and hurting them for fun, he wasn't that low. Although apparently this idiot thought he was. It irritated him but Naminé 's words reminded him of his purpose for being here. He would've responded if he gotten the chance but he didn't.

When the fist came barreling towards him Repliku was very quick to summon his Soul Eater with a flick of his wrist. He raised the sword in front of him to deflect the blow but never expected so much power behind it. If his blade wasn't made out of pure darkness and could only be broken if you say, use light against it, it probably would have at that exact moment.

Instead it was painfully knocked out of his hand and Repliku could only stagger out of the way, pulling Naminé with him, just in time. His wrist was really hurting, most likely sprained, but now the guy had really pissed him off.

The replica balled his other fist and in a swirl of dark flames sent a Dark Firaga Luffy's way while summoning the Soul Eater back to him. If this idiot wanted a fight so badly, he was going to get one.

Not one of- She didn't have time to process his words before it began, though. Naminé shrieked as Riku yanked her out of the way of Luffy's fist. (How could he punch them from all the way over there?) She stumbled when he let go and landed unceremoniously on her behind, her fumbled journal clattering to the ground next to her. By the time she'd retrieved it, Riku was already firing back with his own magic.

She scrambled to get out of harm's way, too frightened to try and stand up yet. This is all wrong! she wanted to shout. Please, stop! But the words caught in her throat. She didn't want to be the cause of all this trouble, she never wanted ... why couldn't she go even one day without causing something bad to happen?!

There! Luffy saw an opportunity appear in the tiniest slit of a split second as Riku's weapon was sent flying out of his hands by Luffy's titan-like physical power. With his opponent disarmed, the young man in the straw hat suddenly dashed forward in a display of speed just as surprising as his strength had been. He moved quickly and gracefully, darting from side to side in an effort to disorient the enemy with no way to pin him to one location. His fists were clentched, and a fury-driven scowl had washed across his face, like an ocean side swallowing the shore - Luffy was ready to finish this fight right away with one more quick blow!

"You can't fool me, bastard. I'll stomp you flat if I have to!" he shouted back, undeterred by Riku's protest. He couldn't go by just word alone; no, if Riku wanted to be convincing, he needed proof - fast.

Yet just as fast as he had taken off running, Luffy forced himself to skid to a halt when Riku's weapon simply reappeared in his grasp. Looking a little surprised, Luffy dug in his heels and slowed himself, and barely managed to collect himself as he saw the wave of darkened fire soaring towards him.

Crouching down in mid-motion, his feet dragging lightly on the ground as his momentum carried him forward, Luffy took a bolting leap off to the side just in time to feel the searing sensation of the attack pass just beside him. From his jump, he sprang against a building off to the side, crouched against it while still in the air, and leapt off of it in turn.

"Gomu gomu noooo..." he called out, as if announcing an attack was coming. However, it would not be so predictable, nor easy to avoid, with the speed and strength that he wielded. "...SPEAR!"

Thrusting out both of his legs at once, his limbs stretched out in front of him with his feet clasped together into a point like the namesake of the attack.

Repliku gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes as he watched Luffy's movements, trying to predict the next move. Although it wasn't working out very well. He had never faced this odd boy before nor had he ever seen someone being able to stretch their limbs like that, it was...inhuman. He had seen Heartless who could do it but never a human.

He was painfully aware of Naminé's presence nearby and just hoped he could protect her. Ever since he got defeated by his original and...well, died, his confidence hadn't exactly been the same.

He didn't have the time to dwell on such thoughts though as the next attack was announced. Spear? What was that su-....Oh crap. This attack was too fast to dodge, he was sure he wouldn't be able to make it in time, and considering how much strength the punch from before had he doubted blocking it would do much good. So in the spur of the moment Repliku snapped his fingers and opened a portal in front of himself.

If all went well the portal would swallow Luffy the moment he touched it and dump him on the other side of the city. Repliku sure hoped it would, for Naminé's sake.

Just as Luffy's stone-crushing feet neared Riku, mere milimeters away from impacting square into the dead-center of the replica's chest, the portal was opened in a snap, gulping up the extension of the pirate's lengthy legs in an instant. It was as if Riku had a hole in his body, just large enough for the attack to pass harmlessly through. Expectedly surprised by the blow's lack of response, Luffy stared down the length of his limbs and found the inky blackness surrounding himk, and immediately felt an irresistible force of strange suction pulling him inward.

Far and away, wherever the sudden doorway led to, Luffy's legs had reached the other side and were likely causing anyone nearby to freak out as a pair of sandal-clad feet began dangling out in midair, connected seemingly to nothing. Being on the opened end already, it seemed that Luffy simply had to go through, defying some kind of law of non-physics by existing in both ends.

Shrieking sharply in a panic as he felt himself being drawn in, Luffy had nearly passed entirely through when he reached back and lashed out an arm, letting it stretch across the sidewalk to a nice, sturdy lamppost on the corner. Gripping it tightly, he held on for dear life while gruning furiously.

"Sneaky...bastard!" he snarled, his arm lengthening further as the portal pulled even harder. "...I'm gonna find you again...and kick your ass!"

Several of his fingers forcibly released, leaving him hanging on by only a few digits. The strain on his face, in his hand, and in his arm, were painfully apparent, the contortion of his features and the tightening of his surprising mass of muscle.

He looked quickly to Naminé, looking his best to appear reassuring. "Don't worry! I'll...save you!" One more finger went slack, leaving him with only his indext finger holding tight. "I'll come for you!"

His last finger released, and Luffy's arm suddenly sprang back, swiftly hurling him through the dark portal. He was gone in an instant, leaving behind only the finger-shaped indents that his massive grip had carved into the post's metal frame.

Naminé remained frozen to the spot, staring wide-eyed at Luffy as the portal began to swallow him up... it was only his final words that jolted her fully back into reality. Don't worry. I'll save you. I'll come for you. Fear turned to dread, and she pulled herself to her feet just as Luffy disappeared completely into the swirling darkness, without any time to say anything, to warn him.

Did he mean that? Was he really going to try to come for her? And if he did... how could she stop him?

But there wasn't really anything she could do, was there? This Riku had promised to protect her. She turned her eyes to him, keeping a polite distance nonetheless. "Are... you all right?" she asked.

"I'd love to see you try," Repliku retorted as he stepped away from the portal and watched Luffy's progress nonchalantly. This was only going to be a temporary solution, Repliku knew that, but it was good enough for now. Didn't seem like there could be any sense talked into the guy anyway, or at least not at the moment.

"Yeah I'm fine, sorry about that." He absent-mindedly rubbed his hurt wrist without realizing it as he turned back to Naminé, probably not looking quite as convincing as he hoped to. "Let's go find you a place to stay and I'll buy you a new sketchbook."

Naminé awkwardly tried not to notice the wrist; he'd said he was all right, after all, and she shouldn't press the matter anyway. She nodded once at his suggestion. "Okay. But, uh..." She looked away for a second, trying to think of how to phrase this - they probably hadn't told him about the conditions of her stay, just like they hadn't told her about him. "I'm not really supposed to have one here... another sketchbook, I mean," she explained. After all, she still had her old one, even if she'd been instructed to leave it in her room for now.

"How come?" Repliku asked as he tilted his head in a curious manner. It wasn't as if he was going to listen anyway, if Naminé wanted a sketchbook he'd still get her one, but it was odd for them to take the sketchbook away from her. Didn't they want to use her powers? It would've been an advantage against Sora and his friends. The replica really had to wonder what the hell they were up to now but whatever it was, it wouldn't be good.

Naminé hesitated for a moment, not so much unsure what the reason was as unsure whether she should say it. "Because of what's inside," she said quietly, hoping to leave it at that. Marluxia was right, of course; if anyone found out what she'd done, she wouldn't be safe anymore, and then she'd have to leave... she didn't want that, not so soon.

"Memories?" Repliku raised an eyebrow, pushing on regardless. He wasn't sure what they had told her this time but he seemed intent on finding out. Now that Naminé was here he wasn't going to let them manipulate her, not when he was anywhere near and if he could help it. She may not remember it, but the replica still had made a promise and he was going to keep it.

Naminé nodded quietly. He already knew more or less what she could do, he'd told her as much himself; so she didn't doubt he would understand. Just the same, though, the whole topic gave her a strong desire to change the subject. "Where are we staying?" she asked.

"Actua Are F3," he replied as he fished out his journal and conjured up the map to show Naminé. "There's someone there I've been looking after," he added as to explain why they were going to be staying on the other side of the city. Nina may have found Edward again but Repliku preferred staying close to them in case something happened.

"I could make a portal or we could take a train there, whichever you like better."

Naminé looked over his shoulder at the map, but she couldn't help but be surprised. Someone else he was looking after? Who could that possibly be? And the fact he'd given her a choice threw her a bit off-balance, too. "Oh! Uh, I don't mind one way or the other," she said, trying to deflect it. Why was he acting so ... so nice? Especially when he knew who she was? She couldn't wrap her head around it.

Repliku simply looked contemplative for a moment, trying to decide which option was the better. His memories may be fake but Sora had made it clear that the feelings attached to the memories weren't. The memories were all he had anyway and it was only fair, wasn't it? Fake memories for a fake existence. Though the fact Naminé came from a time before she had crafted his memories made things a little awkward, although the replica didn't show it.

"We'll take the train," he concluded. "That way you can see more of Paixao and maybe we could pick up some supplies along the way."

That actually wasn't the option Naminé had expected, but this time it was a pleasant surprise. It would be nice to see more of the city up close, after all. She smiled a little in spite of herself. "Okay," she said. "And, um... thank you, Riku."

She really meant it. Maybe she wasn't totally sure what was going on, but that, at least, she meant.

Truth be told Repliku was also doing it to avoid another situation like the one that just occurred with Luffy. But Naminé had also mentioned on her journal that she wanted to draw the city and for that she needed to see more of it, didn't she? At least it had a bit more taste than Castle Oblivion did.

He blinked in surprise for a moment, not entirely sure why he was so sincerely thanked and perhaps feeling slightly embarrassed. "It's nothing," he said quickly. "You can call me Repliku...unless you have a better name for me." He wouldn't mind Naminé naming him at least. He was still used to being called Riku but the name just didn't feel right, it wasn't his. And 'Repliku' was just something he had thought up on a whim.

"C'mon, the station's this way."

Naminé had to think about it a little, but unfortunately she didn't have a better name off the top of her head... anyway, she thought "Repliku" was pretty clever. She nodded and followed him toward the station.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Unchaperoned [Completed]

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