The night was dark and empty. Stars shone brightly in the sky. Looking up, it seemed almost peaceful. Looking down, there was a battle going on.
A loud explosion was heard coming from the senator's district. Anyone close enough saw an orange and red burst come from a building and send bricks and furniture in every direction. The call to the Guardians was put out immediately.
But the rebels were faster than that.
As fast as the explosion itself, five black figures dashed away from the scene as fast as possible to avoid detection. It would've been a failure if they had been caught after such a miraculous explosion.
Sora Rokujo was one of these "black figures".
With a smile apparent on his face, he took to the alleys as the explosion made his silhouette stand out like an ink blot on paper. He was still in the alleys faster than possible detection.
Suddenly, a little voice echoed from a device in his ear.
"Soul Eater to Kingdom Key, do you copy?" A deeper voice stated into the device.
Sora brushed his brown spiky hair backwards and pressed a button on his transceiver.
"This is Kingdom Key. What's the situation Soul Eater?" He replied, never stopping for a second. His outfit was tailored to make him go as fast as possible. From his black and red sneakers to his black sweat pants and long t-shirt, he was dressed for success. He wasn't even wearing his vest or large amount of belts. He wanted to avoid as much weight as possible.
"The operation went off without a hitch," Soul Eater explained. They all had code names over the wire to minimize the chances they would be discovered. "We're all meeting at rendezvous point B, Kingdom Key. Get there as fast as possible without being spotted."
"Yes sir!" Sora said with great enthusiasm.
"Good, over and out." Soul Eater hung up after this.
Sora pulled up his fingerless black gloves and glanced over his shoulder quickly. He was glad to see he wasn't being followed.
If only he hadn't looked back too soon. It was too late for Sora to get out of the way when he collided face-first with a Guardian.
"Ow!" He grunted. "Hey, watch where yo-" He cut himself off. He had slammed into a large Guardian who was at least a head taller than Sora.
"Gotcha." He snarled. He reached for Sora, but the young boy was much more agile. Sora rolled out of the way and got up into a fighting position. At the same time, a bright light filled his hand, forming quickly a large blade in the shape of a key.
"No, I think I've got you!" He replied in a cocky fashion. The Guardian looked angry, but he drew his own weapon, a large harpoon shaped like an anchor that would have taken three Soras just to lift. Let alone throw it.
Yet, this soldier could swing it over his head like it was no one's business. After spinning it a few times, he hurled it in Sora's direction.
Sora jumped out of the way and rebounded off the nearby wall, using the harpoon that was now wedged into the concrete to get back to the ground. Now weapon less, the guard ran towards Sora and launched his large fist at him. Sora ducked underneath and slammed the golden key into his side. The black-haired guard let out a gasp of air as Sora spun around him and jumped at him for another strike. The Guardian pulled the harpoon out of the ground and batted Sora away like a pesky fly. Sora hit the ground hard, his right arm being wounded in the process. He grasped his injured arm with his other hand, the key dangling limply from the hand of his wounded arm. He was panting heavily.
"Dammit…" Sora gasped through clenched teeth. Pain shot through his arm. There was no way he could wield his weapon with a useless arm.
The Guardian seemed to realize this as a malicious smile came to his face. As far as he was concerned he had won. His boss would definitely give him a raise if he could bring in a member of the resistance. He grasped the harpoon with strength and prepared a final throw.
"I'm gonna have fun bringin' you in." He chuckled.
Sora stepped back with a pained look on his face. He wasn't scared, but the fact he was utterly useless left him no other choice. His chances of running away were slim, since the Guardian could throw that harpoon really far. He was ready to accept his fate when the Guardian stopped in his tracks.
Sora looked up at him and saw the look of shock in his eyes. A black and intricate Key blade was coming out of his chest. The guard fell to his knees, revealing a hooded figure from behind him.
"Roxas…" Sora muttered.
The hooded boy pulled back his hood to reveal his dazzling blue eyes and messy blond hair. His facial features were very similar to that of Sora, but if you asked either of them, they would say they weren't related.
Some people in the resistance still didn't believe that.
"Wow you're slow," Roxas smirked. Sora grimaced in reply and looked over to the exit of the alley, making sure there was no one watching from the street.
"I'm injured, okay?" Sora snapped. Roxas' smile grew larger as he walked over to examine the arm. Without any compliance from Sora, Roxas tore through his sleeve to examine the wound.
"Hey! How do you even know where I was hit?"
"I watched you get your ass kicked. It was kinda funny…" Roxas chuckled.
Sora's face twisted with rage, but he did nothing but wince as Roxas ripped the sleeve and prodded the wound, which had begun to start bleeding near the center of the reddish black mark.
"Were gonna need Aerith to look at this." He said sheepishly. In his opinion, it didn't look good.
With a quick false bandage formed from the ripped sleeve, they took off across the street and into the other alley.
The twisted through the alleys of Lumina City, carefully avoiding any people they could see. It wouldn't be a good idea for them to be seen. They were wanted by the senate after all.
It was when they made it to the pier that they finally slowed down. Roxas started looking around the back of one of the old boat houses. He moved his fingers around the wall slowly until he found what he was looking for. With a smile, he tapped the part of the wall, and stood still as a nearby dumpster swung open. He looked to Sora, who nodded slowly as he jumped in.
Sora took a final look around and jumped into the metal box.
The chute was short, but it did the job. No one collected garbage at the docks anymore, so it was the perfect place for a base.
A base for the Hearts Resistance.
There wasn't much to see as they dropped in; just a heavy door with a small keypad installed to act as another security measure. The resistance wasn't taking any chances.
Roxas was standing there tapping his foot to the ground. "Are you ready yet?" He asked.
"Just open the door." Sora snapped.
A smug grin came to Roxas' face as he quickly input the code and opened the door. On the other side, a table covered in maps of Lumina City. Several places were outlined in red and pins stuck up from the maps.
"We're back!" Sora yelled.
It was silent for a moment, but then, a puff of smoke appeared and a young ninja jumped out of it.
"There you guys are!" She said as she landed.
"Everyone back yet, Yuffie?" Roxas questioned.
The ninja smiled and turned away for a second, walking across the room while scuffing her shoes across the floor.
"Uh-huh! They got back a few minutes ago. Aerith nearly threw a fit when she noticed you guys weren't there."
Sora and Roxas looked at each other for a second, looking for someone to blame, but they quickly understood what had happened. Sora's fight had taken a long time, so they had to have left before then. They made rules about leaving a rendezvous after ten minutes.
Was it really that long? Sora thought to himself.
"Well, we're here now!" Sora said with a smile, throwing his good arm around Roxas' neck.
Roxas pushed him away. "Let go of me." He grunted before throwing his hood back over his head. Roxas wasn't ever that social. He only ever got that snarky when Sora was the only one around.
Well, him or Axel, that is.
Sora had spaced out a little, but he was brought back down when Yuffie started to poke his arm. He cried out in pain and shook her off, but she was quick to poof away before that was even possible. He let out a sigh before walking out of the small room and down the hallway.
The hall was lit by a few fluorescent lights that came from the ceiling. Multiple doors lined the hallways, each leading to a bedroom of sorts and all painted black. Some had stickers or nameplates stuck on them. The end of the hall led to the meeting room, a small room where most of the planning was made and the living room. (Hey, even rebels needed some down time.) That room had a small T.V. with a few game consoles connected to it and two rather worn down couches. Finally, there was a small kitchen, which was probably the cleanest place in the whole base. It practically shone white from all the cleaning it went through. There was a small table there that was supposedly for eating, but most people just ate in their rooms anyways.
The room Sora was heading to was the meeting room. It was normal to get debriefed after a mission. Being already late, he sped down the hall and through the dark red door of the room.
"Sora! What took you so long?" A redheaded girl ran out from her seat and embraced him, taking him completely off guard. She had a small black clip in her hair that matched her black tee shirt. A heart logo was located near her actual heart. She also wore some black sweat pants and running shoes. It was rather strange seeing her in black, since her normal clothes were often bright coloured. Even she knew that it was necessary to wear black for a night time mission.
"Hey..Kairi…" Sora struggled to say through her strong grasp on him.
"Whatever…" The silver haired Riku interrupted. "Well, now that he's here, we can debrief."
Sora took a seat near the end of the table, right beside Kairi. Roxas was leaning against a wall at the back. Nobody seemed to see him come in late.
"Well, as far as we're concerned, the mission was a success." Riku announced. He pressed a little button at the top of a table and stepped out of the way as a digital screen fell from the ceiling and lit up with a Heart logo similar to the one located on Kairi's shirt.
The screen changed quickly to an overhead map of Lumina City.
"Tonight we took out the house of Senator Vexen, one of the leaders of New Lumina. He wasn't as important as Senator Xemnas, but he was one of the leading science researchers. With him out of the way, it will certainly make taking this town back easier."
"The ride certainly ain't over." An older teen spoke. His spikey hair was very long and his two tear tattoos were clearly visible on his face.
"I'm fully aware of that, Axel." Riku retorted. "Anyways, I say we should lay low for a few days before we take on another mission."
"Good. Some of you look exhausted…" The older girl in a pink dress stated. Aerith was pretty much the "mother" of the resistance. She was constantly worried about the condition of the teenagers.
The meeting was brought to a close and the teens went in their own directions. Most went to their rooms afterwards, but Sora followed Aerith to the kitchen.
"Uhh… Aerith…"
"You want me to fix your arm, wouldn't you?"
Sora didn't have a chance to reply as a sphere of greenish energy emerged from her hands and fell upon his arm, causing the arm to heal up, leaving only a dull bruise.
"Thanks Aerith…"
"Just don't get hurt too often." She replied, giving a cheerful smile, yet there was something about it that hid a "I'll kill you if it happens again" sort of personality.
Sora dashed out of the room as quickly as possible and ran for the room of his own. He didn't really notice before how tired he was, but that Cure from Aerith had seemed to take some energy from him as well. It was just as well, as it was way past midnight anyways.