The slow trickling of the spring water was probably the most soothing sound Rena had heard.
Sitting in the artificially created hot spring bath in Fun City, she found it hard to imagine that they had built such a peaceful and tranquil place in what was probably the most bustling and flamboyantly entertaining place on Nede II. The rocks framing the hot springs were artificial, but they looked and felt very real indeed, enveloping the bath with the warm, rustic atmosphere of the countryside.
Rena stretched out her legs, savoring the scent of the herbal, scented steam. The water lapped at her shoulders, tugging gently at her breasts. She looked up at the sky, reminiscing on memories that sometimes seemed to be from lifetimes ago, yet at other times seemed to come from only yesterday. The story that had molded her life into what it was today wasn't overly long, but it was certainly the most eventful one she - and probably anyone - would ever have.
Claude. The most important person in her life. Her first and only true love. They had left together, after defeating the Ten Wise Men on the planet that Nede II was named after, Energy Nede, three years ago. She had learned so much from and with him, proudly watching as he climbed the ranks of the Pangalactic Federation, eventually captaining his own ship, on which they traveled together for over a year. They had seen the far reaches of the galaxy, sharing moments of excitement and romance, deep within the mysterious and beautiful expanses of star-studded space, that they had come to call the Star Ocean.
The others had gone on their ways as well, some together, some alone. Ashton had gone back to be with Eleanor, the girl they had saved back on Expel. Celine had married Prince Clyde of Krosse, while Opera had left with Ernest for their home planet of Tetragenesis. Bowman returned to his life with Ninay on Expel, but visited Earth frequently with Leon; the former to study and gather medicines, the latter to research and meld science and symbology. Chisato and Welch had begun touring and living on Expel together, while Noel had taken an interest in developing the zoological systems of Expel with technology borrowed from Nede, with Precis helping him. Dias, predictably, continued journeying alone on Expel, although Rena knew he visited the others fairly often.
In honor of the lost planet of Energy Nede, Claude and Opera had pooled the resources of their home planets and built a small, artificial planet, modeled after the original Nede and named Nede II. Although it was relatively tiny compared to the original Energy Nede, they had tried to rebuild it in as much a likeness as possible, complete with the cities of the Centropolis, Armlock, Princebridge, and Fun City. The Nedians may have been lost forever apart from Rena, Noel and Chisato, but their legacy lived on in Nede II.
It had been Opera's idea to bring everyone back together for a reunion holiday at Nede II's Fun City. And after almost four hours of enjoyment, they had all retired to the baths, sated with rekindled comradeship and happiness.
A laugh and a series of splashes brought Rena back to the present as Precis and Celine dropped down into the spring beside her. "Couldn't let you have the herbal bath all to yourself!" said Celine, settling herself down beside Rena, "What's going through your mind?"
"Claude of course," said Precis mischievously, splashing at them both, "What else? That expression on her face is the exact same one when she looks at Claude - which hasn't changed from three years ago."
"Oh, grow up, Precis," said Rena, clearing the water from her face, "Certainly seems like you haven't changed either."
"I doubt any of us have, very much," said Opera, joining them in the bath and settling down beside Celine, hugging her long, slender legs to her chest, "Look over there. Those two are as lively as ever." She gestured to the bigger pool, where Chisato and Welch were splashing at each other rather vigorously and giggling, causing quite a bit of annoyance to the other occupants of the bath.
"Oh, we've certainly changed," said Precis with a naughty grin, "Some of us have grown bigger." She cast a meaningful glance at the girls' chests, and puffed out her own. "I've moved on since sixteen, you know."
"Oh, Precis," laughed Rena, "Spending time with someone like Noel certainly hasn't changed your style of humor."
"Hey, it wasn't a joke!" exclaimed Precis, "You've probably outclassed me by a bit though, but Opera and Celine still beat both of us."
"That sounds oddly disturbing, you know," began Celine, before Welch suddenly jumped into the water right in between them with a large splash. "What's up, ladies!" she exclaimed, as Chisato slipped in beside her. "What're you all talking about?"
"Breasts!" blurted Precis happily, causing Rena to groan while the others laughed.
"Ahh, reminds me of the time Claude walked in on us eating steamed buns back in the old Nede Fun City," said Welch, "But only I got the joke then!"
"Joke? What joke?" asked Rena. She only vaguely remembered that episode, and had felt a little guilty at not having invited Claude for a steamed bun.
"Innocent as always, Rena," giggled Welch, "But yours have definitely grown!"
"Hey, why don't you notice mine!" said Precis, dismayed.
"All right girls, enough of this talk," said Opera, laughing, "It's about time to get changed. Wouldn't want to keep the men waiting."
The girls hauled themselves out of the bath and walked to the changing room and lockers, with much amused squabbling between Precis and Welch.
As Rena toweled herself off, she couldn't help but look at herself in the locker door's small mirror. Precis's comment had brought funny thoughts into her head. 'Claude sometimes tells me how beautiful I am,' she mused quietly, studying her breasts, 'Do these make me attractive to him too?' She ran a hand over her breasts and nipples. Claude didn't fondle them all that much when they made love, but she always liked it when he did. Her gaze ran down her reflection, coming to rest on her groin, where tufts of her blue pubic hair grew over her underparts. 'Thanks Precis, you made me all conscious of our bodies now,' she thought. She glanced around at the other girls.
Precis was right, though; Celine and Opera certainly had pretty large breasts, though of course they were older than her. She watched as Celine laid a strip of white cloth horizontally over her breasts, covering her nipples, and wound it around her back and over her breasts several times to hold them, before tying it in a knot at her side. She then took another strip of white cloth and passed it in between her legs, pulling it up snugly against her crotch, where a fine layer of silvery hair grew. She then pulled the cloth up between her buttocks and over the front of her groin, winding it around the tops of her legs several times and tying a knot at her hip, vaguely resembling a Japanese fundoshi she had seen in her trips with Claude on Earth. 'Seems your adherence to Marze's symbologist attire hasn't changed even over three years,' thought Rena, amused.
The other girls wore more conventional underwear, by all means. Opera's bra had black straps and white cups with a smattering of black polka dots on them. She looked very elegant even while dressing, as she stepped gracefully into a pair of panties with a black back and white front, also decorated with black dots and lace around the leg holes. Yellow pubic hair grew over her groin, which, though thick and long, was hardly messy as it curled neatly downward over her vulva.
Precis had the smallest breasts, though they were still pert and perky and by no means unattractive. She clipped a pale green bra over them, decorated with prints of tiny flowers. The color and design on Precis's panties matched her bra, and over them she pulled on a pair of elastic, black short-shorts, which Rena guessed would extend a little below the hemline of her skirt.
Chisato, possibly true to her nature, wore a sports bra; a pale blue one which stretched tightly over her breasts, the outline of her nipples showing fairly clearly on the elastic fabric. 'Is that actually comfortable?' Rena wondered. She had never worn one; a normal, snugly-fitting bra was enough for her on the fairly rare occasion she engaged in physical activity. A swirl of brown pubic hair covered Chisato's genital area, which vanished from view as she pulled on a pair of fairly plain white panties, with lace trims framing her groin.
Out of all the girls, Welch seemed to be the only one with a bare pubic area; her vulva was shaven and clean-looking, the skin on her labia slightly darker than the rest of her body. She pulled on a pair of light purple - violet, was it called? - panties, patterned with large red swirls; 'An interesting design for an interesting person,' Rena thought, bemused. A matching bra followed, after which Welch pulled on a pair of dark blue tights.
Rena suddenly realized she was the only one still naked. She pulled her underwear out of her locker, a set of fairly plain, pink bra and panties, with just a tiny bit of lace design on the front, and put them on. Interestingly, everyone had opted to wear the same clothes they had worn when they had last been together three years ago - which was fine with Rena, as this was the way she knew and loved her friends best, and she smiled with the memories as she slipped into her blue skirt and adorned her hair with the yellow crescent-shaped hairpin. Looking around, she watched fondly as her friends put on those same familiar clothes she remembered so well, with Precis heaving the mechanical backpack onto her shoulders, and Opera attaching her Kaleidoscope Ray Gun, which now telescoped into a small, pistol-sized form, to her hip.
"Shall we go?" asked Celine, as Rena closed her locker. They walked out the changing room together, chatting cheerfully, before a sudden loud rumble from outside caught their attention.
'Wow, what was that?" said Chisato, "Sounded almost like thund-"
She didn't finish her sentence, as another huge rumble followed by a sound that was clearly an explosion and a shaking of the ground nearly knocked them all off their feet.
"An earthquake?" yelled Celine, struggling to keep her balance.
"Impossible," said Opera, completely bewildered, "This is an artificial planet, it can't have earthquakes. It sounded more like something exploded outside."
"Outside - Claude!" cried Rena, running along the corridor of the bathhouse to the exit, with the others following suit, trying to stay on their feet as more explosions followed and screams began to erupt from inside and outside the bathhouse.
Abruptly, just as they were about to reach the exit, a chain of explosions erupted in the bathhouse behind them, the shock wave throwing them forward to tumble out the door of the building. Rena looked back in horror as explosions ripped through the bathhouse, sending bricks and shattered wall flying into the air along with sprays of water and blood as the occupants were caught in the devastation. The naked bodies of the hapless bathing girls and women were thrown into the air along with the body parts of those whose bodies were shredded by the blasts.
It was only when the roof of the bathhouse was blown off did Rena see that the explosions were caused by beams of light cast from above. "Those were - those were energy rays!" cried Opera, struggling to her feet along with the others, "Someone's attacking the city!"
Rena looked up. Fun City was now a picture of destruction, buildings and amusement rides had been damaged, and rubble and bodies lay everywhere. And at the center of the destruction, not a hundred meters away from them, were a circle of humanoid silhouettes - nine in total, some standing on the ground, some floating in the air. It was obvious that these were the culprits of the destruction; beams and arcs of energy, fire and lightning that seemed both magical and technological radiated from the figures, destroying everything they hit, while a few of them wielded massive weapons that looked like two-handed swords which knocked down concrete walls and sent jagged cracks through the ground with every stroke.
Rena stared at the figures, feeling something familiar and sinister about them. The cries of her friends grew quiet as the figures drew closer, continuing to cast destruction from the tips of their fingers, the edges of their blades and the blows from their fists. A group of teenage girls ran toward them, screaming in fear, before a bolt of lightning arced toward them, splitting and striking two of them at once, sending them flying to the ground, their bodies smoking and spasming. A ray of scintillating energy struck another girl, who promptly blew into pieces, chunks of her body and her entrails flying in all directions, as a fireball hit and incinerated the girl beside her, burning her down to a charred skeleton in a matter of seconds. The last girl stumbled and fell, and was caught in a wide beam of white light; a tractor beam, as it pulled her back screaming toward the nine figures, one of whom sliced her in half horizontally at her torso with his massive blade, then kicking aside the halves of her body like they were common garbage.
And as they watched the carnage, Rena realized suddenly why they looked so familiar. Why there was an insidious air about them that she knew she had felt before. And judging from the expressions on her friends faces as their minds went blank and their bodies went cold with shock, they had also identified the figures approaching them. They could never forget.
The Wise Men had returned.
Thank you for reading this first chapter on my Star Ocean - Second Evolution short story.
The next chapter will be the last, and I look forward to putting it up soon.
Again, as I warned in the story summary, this story contains descriptions of graphic violence against females, and the second chapter is where that is brought out in greater detail. If that is not your cup of tea, then please kindly refrain from reading it to save both of our time.