Mission: Using the earth
Location: World that Never Was
Partner in Mission: Lexaeus
Time it took place: Second day of her classes
If there were any place in the clouds that the sun could peak through, there would be a sun rise that all could see. Unfortunately, the clouds and constant rain always make it look like an endless night. Lexaeus walked with pride and power evident in the way he stood. His hammer ax was over his shoulder, ready for the task he was given. With a small grin, he knew it would be interesting.
His pupil, Xeli, was lagging behind a little, hardly able to even drag her staff around the ground she was walking upon. Their hoods were down, and the cool rain that hit Xeli's face was the biggest relief she had at all since she woke up this morning. Lexaeus had her go through thirty minutes of Gravity Slams, as he called them. Just standing in that circle for thirty minutes as the intense gravity just made everything harder with her weapon, and hitting the rocks.
After yesterday's first meeting, and this morning's "little" exercise, with Big Brother Lexy, she really needed the cool water. This being their second day together, she had a feeling that it was going to be brutal, maybe even a little more intense than her mission with Zexion.
"So, what does Xemnas want us to do?", Xeli asked before finally deciding to make her weapon disappear.
Lexaeus laughed and put his weapon away, "Well, we have a problem with Neoshadows in this world. They are a common Heartless that are an advanced version of the usual Shadows."
Xeli nodded, "I know about them. I played your games."
Lexaeus shook his head, "Understand this. The games are just the fun version of the hell we all experience when we live through this."
"I get it, but if your lives are like the games, then shouldn't you be... I don't know... dead?", Xeli asked.
Lexaeus was silent and had his back to her. The silence was a heavy one, and obviously this subject was a touchy one. Xeli looked down sadly, thinking that she should not be questioning their existences, and the games. She just thought that it made no sense. She just wanted answers.
"You'll understand soon, if you ever pass the classes.", Lexaeus said and kept moving forward.
The duo were then in the center of the city. There was nothing at all to be found except the large skyscraper that over looked the entire city. It was both dark and beautiful at the same time. The light that lead from the bottom all the way to the tip top.
Xeli couldn't help but grab her phone from her pocket and ask, "Hey, could you and I take a picture, Big Brother Lexy?"
Lexaeus gave a gentle smile and nodded before standing in front of the building. Xeli got next to him and held the phone up to try and fit them both into the picture. When she felt it looked good, she clicked the button, but Lexaeus had moved slightly to the left. After he had moved, there was a loud crashing sound.
"What happened, Big Brother?", Xeli asked then saw the car that was upside down, but crushed.
The crushed car was not the strangest part that she noticed. Using what she remembered from Zexion, she looked at how it looked. It was crushed at the top, but appeared to have been grabbed by something with claws. Not giving Lexaeus a chance to answer, she summoned her staff to guard against what may be watching them.
"I guess I don't need to tell you that you need to be ready for the enemy.", Lexaeus said while summoning his own weapon.
The city was quiet except for the dripping of the rain that fell in all directions. That was incorrect. Xeli heard something more. It was a kind of shifty and swifty motion that could be barely heard at all. It was low to the ground and might have been more of slithering than anything else. She quickly got into a defensive stance, and awaited for the attack to come from any direction.
That's when she remembered a very important detail. NeoShadows, like Shadows, prefer to attack from below. Everything that occurred after remembering that little tidbit happened in slow motion. She could see the world swirling around her and the ground just fly from underneath her. There was a small thud as she hit the ground. After rubbing her butt from the blow, she saw it. It was man sized with blacker than hell skin. The antenna on it's head were so long, that they only pointed back. The eyes were yellow, and seemed to be hungry. It was moving in an erratic way, just moving and tilting it's head here and there. No doubt about it. It was the Neoshadow.
Lexaeus slashed it down the middle with his ax, but never allowed the ax to hit the ground when he finished going down it's middle. It disappeared in a puff of black smoke, and they both knew it was done. Xeli was a little shocked. That was her second Heartless that she eve encountered in real life. It was one thing to look at them in the games and make fun of them, but it was just weird that the real thing could scare her so much.
Xeli got up, and looked around, and felt a little bit outnumbered. Of course, that was an understatement as she saw that they were completely surrounded by moving shadows. They seemed to dance with each other from one direction to another. Their movements were all around, as though they were running on instinct and instinct alone. Like a bunch of dogs. One after the other, they rose to look at the new prey that had entered their domain, their city.
"Um... how many did he want us to kill, Big Brother Lexy?", Xeli asked as she saw one shadow make it's way towards her.
"We are to eliminate two hundred heartless and no less.", Lexaeus began, "But you don't need to worry, Neoshadows are the least of your worries."
"Why is that?", Xeli asked before jumping back a couple of feet when the Neoshadow emerged and tried to grab at Xeli's feet.
"Because, these are the smaller ones that we need to take care of. The real target is a Novashadow that is the source of this sudden spike in population.", Lexaeus said when he slashed at two heartless at once.
Xeli's eyes widened a little. She remembered what Novashadows were. They were just a giant Neoshadow, with red skin and a meaner disposition. They could easily blind you with their attacks, and make it all the more difficult to fight. When Xeli finished her mental notes, she grew her neko ears and tail before rushing in to the crowd of shadows. They all continued to dance, but some began to rise from below to grab at the quick approaching prey.
Lexaeus soon followed and leaped into the air, his ax seemed to have grown larger in size, and shimmered in the light that the city was providing. Xeli saw this and stopped before getting into the range of his attack. With a swift and heavy blow, Lexaeus struck down the rising Heartless. There was a large fissure in the street that was so deep, the earth beneath the concrete was visible.
Lexaeus rose and smiled warmly at Xeli, "I believe that makes forty-five. If we are going to make our numbers, we are going to need to move quickly."
Xeli nodded and ran straight for the Heartless that were ready to strike at Lexaeus from behind. With a quick spin of her staff, she hit them all and made them disappear. That was ten to add to the other forty-five. What made it interesting was that she knew how hard she could hit any target, but this time, she was surprised by how hard she had hit them.
Lexaeus looked around and smirked when he saw more Heartless appear around them. There wasn't a single Neoshadow that was hiding in the shadows this time. They all came out to take on their new threat.
"Looks like they are taking us seriously now. About time too, because I was about to get bored with this task.", Lexaeus said and readied his ax again.
"You mean they were being lazy earlier?", Xeli asked, feeling a little insulted, and having her ears droop a little.
"No, they just didn't register us as a threat to them. The Novashadow was making them feel secure, but I guess he's telling them to take us on.", Lexaeus said, while keeping close to the fissure that he had created.
Xeli started to understand it a little and asked, "So, we take on these guys, and the Novashadow will just appear?"
"That's the basic of it, but we may have to look for him too. Just help me make sure that we destroy two hundred.", Lexaeus said and started to slash at thirty heartless that were on his left.
Xeli nodded and started using her staff to take a whack at the Neoshadows. With the bladed tips on each side of the staff, she knew that hitting them all was going to be a piece of cake. The two of them started calling out numbers to each other that they each had destroyed by themselves.
"I got seventy-three!", Xeli said to Lexaeus while trying to catch her breath.
"I got eighty-six.", Lexaeus said while trying to search for the other Heartless that might be around.
There was none in the area. This meant one thing to him, and that was that they were going to have to go into the city and search for the remaining Neoshadows while looking for the Novashadow. Xeli just sighed and readied for anymore that she may have to encounter. The only thing was that her arms felt a little sore. This wasn't surprising to her because the training that they had done yesterday and today was extreme. If there wasn't any soreness, then she'd be worried. Lexaeus then looked at Xeli and laughed.
"What's so funny, Big Brother?", Xeli asked, not getting the joke if there was one.
"Well, Little Sister, your hair is drooping all over, and it makes you look like an octopus with cat ears.", Lexaeus said while producing a rubber band.
Xeli laughed a little and put her hair in a ponytail, she didn't know this, but Lexaeus wanted her to keep her hair up like that so that is wouldn't disrupt her field of vision when they have to face the Novashadow. The last thing he wanted was to lose a student at all, so this was a minor safety precaution. They looked at each other and nodded before starting to walk through the city a little. The buildings were a little disturbing to look at, but seemed lively with some people.
A shadow moved into an alley to Lexaeus' right, so he sent a small slash that sent the thing flying into the little hole in the ground. It was going into the sewers, and that spelled out only one thing to Xeli.
"NO! I am not going down there!", Xeli said while looking down the hole with a disgusted look on her face.
Lexaeus seemed a little confused by her reaction to the sewer hole being opened. He stood up and said, "Come on, it isn't as bad as you think. When you get passed the smell, you are fine in here."
Xeli gulped, then slowly stepped inside and listened to the dripping of sewer water inside the tunnels. She so wished that it was all on the surface and down there, but she had to endure. When she listened past the dripping, she heard the shifting sound and knew that the rest of the Heartless was down in the darkness. Lexaeus got down with her, and started down the tunnel, listening to the sound of shifting shadows intensify.
"Big Brother... I really don't like it down here...", Xeli said while clutching her staff tightly.
Lexaeus shook his head and readied his ax for anything, "Neither do I, but as long as there is Earth for me to use, and gravity is on my side, I'll be ready. Just be ready to take on the heartless, Little sister."
Xeli nodded and stopped when they got to a large open space, but what made her freeze was the swarm of heartless that surrounded a larger heartless. The larger heartless looked just like a Neoshadow, but it was red, and larger than the big armor heartless. It looked at the duo that entered with piercing eyes before letting out a screech that sent the Neoshadows into a frenzy.
Xeli knew it was a Novashadow, and gripped her staff tightly, but Lexaeus shook his head at her, "I'll take on the Novashadow. You need to worry about the small fries. Remember, we need two hundred or more."
Xeli nodded at her assignment and rushed for the Neoshadows. The Novashadow was ready for this and tried to swipe at her, but Lexaeus intercepted with his ax and said, "Sorry, but you're mine.", and he slashed at the Heartless' arm.
The Novashadow let out a scream of pain and began to swipe at Lexaeus while Xeli whacked at the Neoshadows. Her abilities had improved, but her arms were sore from the practice this morning. She felt ready to quit, but kept whacking and twirling. She needed to endure. She was then surrounded by ten heartless and when they all jumped to get at her, she put her staff over her head and twirled it. This hit them all at once, making them disappear. She was done, but Lexaeus was still fighting the Novshadow. It swiped while Lexaeus blocked easily. Suddenly, a spike made out of rock emerged from below the Novashadow and impaled it's stomach. Lexaeus grinned and leaped into the air with his ax over his head. With all his might, he swung it down at the Novashadow's head, and it disappeared.
Xeli looked at Lexaeus in awe, then felt really tired from all her swinging. She really needed a nap, but Lexaeus said, "Alright, now that that is all done, let's return to the castle."
Xeli nodded and yawned, "Okay, will we have to report to Xemnas."
"I have to report to him. You can go and relax in your room. Get a nice meal. You've earned it.", Lexaeus said and walked out of the area.
Xeli followed and was ready for the longest shower she ever needed.
Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this little mission. They get challenging every time. I'll be gone for a month, but after that, you'll be seeing me again to fill the Kingdom Hearts universe with these epic tales. I sound conceited? Who asked you?
Xeli: Hush, you got nothing on me! Nya~!
Damn it, get back to class.
Xeli: Fine. But get done with your contest soon in November. I want to see what people have to say about me.
What ever, Xeli. Please review. And feel free to read Academy XIII. This is sprx777
Xeli: And I'm Xeli.
Both: And we're signing out.! :D