THIS IS ORGANIZATION XIII PING-PONG.
For probably the only time in her life so far, Thexsil,
Organization Member XVI, got up early. Thex stretched and yawned as she rose from her bed, put on her coat, and shuffled sleepily out into the empty corridor.
"Whoa," she mumbled drowsily, looking around herself with bleary eyes. "Where is everyone?"
Floppily, she moved down the corridor into the huge Grey Area common room, slapping her own cheeks to shock herself awake. As she approached the far wall,
she saw a notice posted on the window glass. TODAY IS A MANDATORY VACATION DAY. "Whaaa..." Thex mumbled in confusion. "Hey, what are you doing up so early?" asked a voice behind her.
Thex turned to see her best friend Naxanz standing in the doorway. "I have no idea," she replied honestly. "But I'm going back to bed."
"Saix will kill you if you sleep in again," Nax warned.
Thex grinned smugly. "Not today he won't," she said,
tapping a hand against the notice.
Nax moved in closer to read the paper. "A mandatory vacation?" she asked skeptically. "Since when do you have to tell us that vacation's mandatory?" "Since today is a recreational vacation period," came a cold voice from the back of the room. Both girls looked up at once, coming to stiff attention as they regarded Saix with a mixture of curiosity and wariness.
"Recreational period, sir?" Nax asked carefully.
"Yes, Naxanz," Saix replied. "In fact, I'm glad you two are up, because I have a task I need for you to perform."
Nax and Thex glanced at each other apprehensively.
"Sir?" Thex finally asked.
"Go and wake all the other members," Saix instructed.
"Xemnas, Xigbar and Xaldin are awake already, but everyone else will need seeing to. Tell them that they are to eat quickly and report to the Grey Area directly afterward."
The two friends glanced at each other again, shrugged internally, and said, in unison, "Yes, sir." Saix nodded once, curtly, and waved his hand at them.
They sprinted off down the corridor.
Waking up the rest of the Organization was not such an easy task, as Thex and Nax quickly found out when they walked into Vexen's room. The blond-haired agent lay snoozing in his bed, looking strangely peaceful.
It didn't last long.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?" Vexen screamed as soon as Thex tapped him on the shoulder. She backed up quickly, holding up her hands in submission.
"I'm sorry!" she said quickly. "Saix told us to wake everyone!"
"GET OUT!" Vexen yelled. Both girls immediately complied, shutting the door behind them. "Sheesh, what's his deal?" Thex muttered. "Forget about it, Thex," Nax told her. "Let's just get this over with." The girls walked into the dining room sporting multiple purple bruises. As they sat down at their usual table to wait for their other companions, Nax rubbed her arm,
looking pained. Thex snickered a little.
"Shut up, Thex," Nax snapped, a little wounded by her friend's laughing. "You didn't exactly get off scot-"
"Whoa, what happened to you two?" someone laughed from the side. The girls turned to see Axel, Roxas, Xion and Zexion approaching their table.
"You get in a bar fight or something?" Axel snickered.
"Shut up," Thex mumbled, but there was no real venom in the rebuke. "Did the others do this?" Roxas asked, sounding a bit more sympathetic. "Score one for Roxas," Nax said sarcastically. "Sorry," he said, holding up both hands peaceably.
"No, it's okay," Nax sighed. "I'm just a little...um...
annoyed?" "Furious is more the word I'd use," Thex muttered, glaring at the table next to theirs, where the rest of the members were sitting. "Can you believe Demyx almost hit me in the head with his stupid sitar?" "Demyx?" Xion asked skeptically. "Since when does he even try to defend himself?"
Everyone laughed. "Attention, all Organization members!" Saix's voice boomed loudly through the room, and everyone clutched their ears and groaned. "Everyone is to report to the Grey Area at once!"
Saix yelled. "No exceptions!"
Grumbling and complaining, everyone stood up and filed into the corridor.
When they reached the Grey Area, all the members formed into a line, in number order, in front of Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin and Saix, who were standing in front of a very odd-looking table. The strange piece of furniture was blue in color, with a white line crossing straight through the middle and joining up with a white border all around the edge. Positioned directly over the middle white line was a small net, maybe a few inches high and about two and a half feet long. "What in the world is that thing?" Thex whispered to Nax, who stood right beside her. "Shut up," Nax hissed, elbowing her purple-haired best friend in the ribs. Thex fell silent, rubbing her ribcage dolefully. "As you all know," Saix began. "Teamwork and expert coordination are two very important aspects of all the work that the Organization does. We," here he gestured around at himself and the three leaders, "have noticed a certain...lack, one could say, in both areas. Hence, we have organized this mandatory vacation day, because the entire Organization is to partake in a tournament of ping-pong."
There was dead silence for a moment, and then the entire line of members burst out laughing.
"Ping-pong?" Vexen guffawed. "What sort of ridiculous name is ping-pong?" "Let's hear him say it again," Larxene giggled. "SILENCE!" Xemnas roared. There was instant silence.
With one final glare at the line, Xemnas turned to Saix. "Continue," he said, with a wave of his hand.
Saix gave a curt nod, and then addressed the line sharply. "The object of this ping-pong tournament," he said,
looking around murderously. Not a peep was heard from the line. He continued, still glaring, "is to hone and strengthen our skills in teamwork and coordination.
You will form into teams of two, I don't care who you team up with. I will explain the rules when all the teams are formed." The line exploded, all the members furiously trying to 'call' their ideal teammates. Roxas looked at Axel hopefully, but the tall redhead shook his head. "Sorry, man," he said. "I'm on a team with Thex." Roxas shrugged, a little crestfallen, and turned to Xion. "Wanna team up?" he asked. Xion grinned. "Sure,"
she replied. "I have a feeling we'll be the worst anyway, might as well refrain from 'hindering' the others." They both laughed. Nax turned to Zexion. "You want to... you know... team up?" she asked, a bit awkwardly.
"Yes, I do," he replied, and she gave a relieved smile. Even after Void Realm, and what she knew about both herself and Zexion, she was still a little new at actually communicating with him in words.
Just then, Saix called for silence. Everyone shut up,
now standing in their respective teams. Even the leaders had paired up, Xigbar standing with Saix while Xaldin and Xemnas stood in their own team. "All right!" Saix said. "Now, the rules of the game are simple: you use these," he produced a set of what appeared to be wooden paddles with flat, elliptical tops, "to hit this," he brought out a small, white ball, "over the net. Every time the ball goes into the net or off the table, the team opposite that which last contacted the ball scores a point. You must take turns hitting the ball," he continued, "for example:
if I were to hit it over the net to Xemnas, he would then hit it to Xigbar, who would send it to Xaldin,
who would then return it to me. The first team to reach eleven points will win the game, and we will continue, winner playing winner, until there is only one team left." He waited, making sure everyone had digested the rules, and then added the last bit of information, with an evil grin included.
"Abilities are permitted," he finished.
"This is so weird," Nax said. The three teams, Roxas and Xion, Thexsil and Axel, and Naxanz and Zexion, were all sitting in a circle on the couches on the left side of the common room, waiting for their turn to play. Currently, the team of Larxene and Demyx was facing off against Luxord and Marluxia.
"You know, you kind of have to feel bad for Demyx and Larxene," Xion observed, "going up against Luxord. I mean, the guy can control time. There's no way you're going to be able to hit anything he sends you."
They all watched as Luxord sent the ball spinning over the net, going so fast that it was little more than a nondescript blur. Demyx reached for it, but it had already bounced twice on his side of the table and now went spinning off, where it came to a complete and total standstill before falling to the floor at a normal rate. Larxene shot daggers at Luxord with her eyes, but he just smiled, folding his arms smugly. Larxene deliberately retrieved the ball, shooting back a sinister grin of her own.
Axel whistled. "He's dead," he whispered to Thex.
"Larxene's going to nail him." Thex nodded in agreement. "I can't wait to see this,"
she said. Axel laughed. Larxene regarded Luxord with a smirk for a split second, and then her paddle struck the ball, and there was a blinding flash as an explosion of lightning rocketed the ball onto Luxord and Marluxia's side,
both of them ducking to avoid the wickedly sizzling tendrils of electricity spiralling outward from the ball. The lightning storm stopped as quickly as it had started, and the ball fell harmlessly onto the table, bouncing several times with a click-click noise.
Roxas and Xion were almost exploding with laughter.
"She destroyed him!" Roxas exclaimed, his sides heaving and his face cracked in a wide smile. "What are you doing?" Saix exclaimed. He had been watching the match from a distance, warily eyeing the contestants; now he came forward with a look of disapproval on his face. "This is just a petty contest of strength," he rebuked.
"I want to see TEAMWORK. By the way, Demyx and Larxene,"
he remarked, almost as an afterthought, "only five more points and they win." All four of them stared at Saix for a moment, and then began whispering furiously at each other, both teams trying to formulate some strategy. "They'll never get anywhere doing it like that," Zexion observed.
"How do you mean?" Nax asked him curiously. "Well, sometimes planning is good, if you've got time and insight," Zexion said. "In cases such as this,
however, it's better just to use instinct, and to trust in your partner's abilities." Nax regarded Zexion with admiration. He always seemed to come up with an explanation for everything. Then,
a thought struck her. "Do you- do you trust in my abilities?" she asked him quietly.
He looked back at her, apparently surprised. "Of course I do," he said. "Were it not for your abilities, I wouldn't be here to trust in them." Nax's face felt oddly warm then, and she fanned herself with her hand. Was it getting warmer in here? she wondered. Just then, Thex called over to them.
"They're starting up again," she said, a wicked smile lighting her face with evil glee. "They're all going to die," Xion said bluntly. Axel and Thex both burst into laughter, and Roxas and Xion joined in. Finally, they calmed down, just as the match resumed. This time, when Larxene smacked the ball over the net,
it made a wet 'splosh' sound before the hiss of electricity began. Demyx had surrounded the ball with a globe of water, which Larxene had then charged with electricity. When Marluxia reached out to strike the ball back, the globe burst, splattering charged water all over him and Luxord, who were both shocked terribly by the electricity. As their arms spasmed uncontrollably, the ball bounced back over into Demyx and Larxene's area, and Demyx casually whacked it over. The other team, their arms still convulsing,
could only watch helplessly as the ball bounced into their side and then off the table.
The left side of the room exploded into laughter.
"Owned," Roxas gasped between peals of laughter.
"Luxord and Marluxia just got owned. By a girl and a hippie." That just made everyone else laugh even harder.
When the first of several very strange games had ended,
the contestants were soaked with water, covered in leaves and various plant life, and suffering from mild electrical burns. Larxene and Demyx, somehow,
had combined water and electricity into an unstoppable force that had completely disabled Luxord and Marluxia,
and they had won.
"Next teams!" Saix called. Vexen and Lexaeus stepped up to one side of the table. Facing them was the leader pair of Xemnas and Xaldin. "No contest," Thex said. "Xemnas and Xaldin are going to smoke Vexen and Lexaeus." Axel nodded his agreement. "Completely," he said. "I'm not so sure," Zexion objected.
"Really?" Xion asked. "They are powerful, yes," Zexion admitted, "but there's only so much you can do with power over nothing being helped by the wind. Lexaeus is very strong, and if Vexen freezes that ball, even Xaldin's going to have a hard time with it." "Hey, they're starting," Roxas said, shushing his friends. They all turned eagerly to watch. The first hit was Xaldin and Xemnas's. Xemnas spiked the small ball hard, and it seemed to disappear, reappearing suddenly right over the other side and heading straight down into the table, pushed even harder by the force of the wind behind it. "Flying death," Xion whispered, and the entire group smothered laughter once more.
The ball slammed into the table, rebounding with a tremendous amount of force and nearly impacting the high ceiling. Nax whistled in amazement as she watched it rise. "How hard did that hit?" she breathed.
"Hard to say," Zexion responded, "but I'd estimate somewhere in the realm of ridiculous." Nax giggled.
Amazingly, though, as the ball began to fall in its downward trajectory, Lexaeus reached out with one long arm and smacked the ball from midair, putting a wicked spiral on it as it soared over the net, and sending Xemnas and Xaldin scrambling for it. The ball hit precisely in the center of the opposite side,
bouncing twice before the two leaders could even register what had happened. Axel whistled again, long and slowly. "I really hope they lose, because I don't want to go up against them,"
he said to Thex. "At this point, I think that's only a happy dream,"
Thex responded, still staring over at the table in disbelief. "I'm going to have nightmares about that exact play,"
Nax said to her best friend, her eyes wide. Thex laughed.
The same thing happened every single time, without Xemnas and Xaldin scoring even a single hit. Then,
the serve moved to Lexaeus and Vexen. "Oh boy," Roxas said. "Lexaeus is going to spike that right into their faces." True to Roxas's statement, Lexaeus whacked the ball,
which, as Zexion had predicted, had been frozen by Vexen, into the other side with such force that it left a dent in the table. "I think we all know who's going to win," Axel snickered, looking at the small hole. Everyone nodded and quickly turned around, in case Xemnas and Xaldin decided to turn anyone watching their extreme defeat into a Dusk.
Unsurprisingly, Lexaeus and Vexen took the victory,
moving off to sit smugly on the couch.
"Next teams!" Saix called. Zexion looked at Nax. "Shall we?" he asked.
Nax shrugged. "I guess so, although I'm not overeager to die," she responded.
He laughed lightly. "You'll be fine," he said. "Just remember what we can do. Together, as a team, we're unstoppable." She looked up at him, into his deadly serious face,
and nodded determinedly. As they stepped up to the table, they found themselves greeted by Saix's wicked grin and Xigbar's death stare.
"Oh man," Xion said. "They're going to get creamed."
"I wouldn't bet on that," Axel said. "Knowing Zexion,
he's got something up his sleeve, and Nax... well,
you've all seen what she can do." "I haven't," Xion protested. "Then you will," Axel said, grinning. "Plus," Thex added, "Saix can't really do anything in here, since it's morning time. So it's really just Xigbar and another guy against some really powerful Nobodies." "I wouldn't say that," Axel cautioned. "Saix has more power than you might think. Even so," he continued,
smirking grandly, "I vote Zex-Nax all the way."
"Hey, wait a minute," Roxas said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him.
"Everyone else has gone already," he said slowly, "so,
doesn't that mean that we have to play each other?"
They all stared at him for a second, stunned, and then realized that he was right.
"If that's the case," Axel said, "then I'm sorry, but you two are going down." "Don't count on it," Roxas said, grinning evilly at his friend. Axel shoved him in the back of the head, and they laughed once before turning to watch their friends play. The first serve was Saix and Xigbar's. Xigbar's hit seemed to travel the space between the paddle and the net in the blink of an eye, but once it reached the other side, its trajectory became smooth and gentle, and as it arced downward gracefully, Nax gently batted it back over to the other side. The ball sailed beautifully over the net, and the instant it crossed,
it swerved to the side, hitting the very edge of the table before bouncing to the floor.
Axel chuckled. "I told you," he said. "Score one for Zex-Nax." Over at the table, Nax cheered silently inside, looking calmly at Saix's open mouth and Xigbar's irritated expression.
"Nice one," Zexion complimented her. "Now it's my turn." As Xigbar sent the next serve over the net, the ball seemed to slow down, as it had before, only this time, Zexion was the one to hit it back over. As it returned, the ball seemed to become a mesmerizing,
glowing orb of bluish light. Saix just stopped,
staring at it as if transfixed, and Xigbar could only watch as it flopped down onto the table, clicking and bouncing. Thex, Axel, Roxas and Xion could barely contain their laughter at Zexion's genius stunt. He had turned the ball into an orb of pure moonlight. "Priceless," Thex said, and the others all agreed.
Finally, finally, it was time for the last match of the opening brackets. Thex and Axel took their places across from Roxas and Xion, wielding their paddles.
Nax and Zexion, who had taken the victory in their own game, watched from the couch, indecisive in their predictions of the winner. "Axel and Thex are really good as a team," Nax remarked,
watching her friends prepare.
"Yes, but Thex has a weakness, and Roxas knows it,"
Zexion replied. "Her aversion to bright light could create the perfect opportunity for him." "Or she could make it dark, therefore robbing both Roxas and Xion of their ability to see and therefore play," Nax countered, enjoying the friendly, familiar banter. "Perhaps," Zexion replied. "Let us see what will transpire."
They turned to watch the match. First serve went to Thex and Axel, and their two opponents eyed them cautiously.
Axel spiked the ball hard, and it burst into flames as it flew through the air, landing hard on the other side of the table and exploding with a loud 'crack.'
Everyone flinched at the same time, exclaiming with shock and surprise.
The four contestants stared openmouthed at the scorch mark where the ball had been.
"Note to self," Axel remarked. "Never, EVER set ping-
pong balls on fire."
"Well, what are we gonna do now?" Xion asked. "The ball exploded, there's nothing to play with." "I dunno about you guys, but I'm getting outta here,"
Thex said. "Who's with me?"
All four of the Nobodies at the table ran from the room at full speed, followed shortly by Nax and Zexion,
and shortly thereafter by everyone but Saix, Xigbar,
Xemnas and Xaldin.
The four leaders looked around at each other.
"That went rather well, I think," Xigbar said. "At least nobody died." "Not yet, Xigbar," Saix growled. "Not yet."
With that, the four leaders dispersed, leaving an empty common room and a scorched ping-pong table behind them.