Neither Roman nor Xion could get a good view of the green-haired man sort of hunched over in surprise. They were hidden in the shadows of a nearby alley, and crouched behind garbage cans. Still, they could tell that he wasn't exactly pleased with whatever it was he was seeing on top of the train. "What the HELL! ?" the man suddenly shouted.
Someone jumped down from the top of the train on his feet without stumbling. [Props, dude,] Roman thought. [Major props.]
The new face didn't seem older than the green-hair in the white business attire. By Roman's reckoning, the newcomer didn't seem much older than himself, maybe older by three years, tops. He wore blue garments with a white shirt underneath the coat, which had its sleeves rolled up just below the elbow. Both Nobodies caught sight of a Roman numeral on the newcomer's chest. The number thirteen. "That dude," Roman whispered to Xion. "Saw a similar number on a gun. And a rain poncho."
"Maybe it's just a fashion thing," Xion replied.
"I doubt that," Roman said as the older man fumed. "Let's re-note that thirteen is unlucky as all hell, so who'd want bad luck going wherever they go?"
"Rebels?"
"Look, I know that the security on the train was tight," the man said to the younger one, "But did you really have to STAND on top of it?"
The younger guy scratched the back of his chocolate-colored hair and laughed as he replied, "Well, it doesn't call for a pun on my name, right? Besides, you know me. I would have ducked at low tunnels or anything like that."
"Right… anyway, I can't believe we actually have to go to the same city twice for any reason," the older man said. "Guess there's no letting down a high-pay target," he added, taking a piece of paper out.
The Nobodies had a decent view of this particular article. It looked like a wanted poster with a reward. The subject had no hair save for eyebrows, and his face suggested smugness and superiority. "Odie Oldbright. Professional fighter in the underground circuit, but suspected of murdering some of his opponents when there are no spectators present," the older man said.
"Well, Sven, looks like we got the upper hand," the younger guy said. "If he likes fights without spectators, we can catch him in a fight without rules, and…" he took out an intricate looking gun from a holster on his thigh. The numerals for thirteen shone in the moonlight, right into Roman's face. "Hades here can probably take care of the rest, if need be."
Xion took notice of the gun as well. "Thirteen… it's like the one on his chest."
"Oh dude…" Roman muttered. "It's probably the same guy."
"Where are his usual haunts?" the younger guy asked the green haired man.
"All the authorities know is that he's in this city, but the real question is where specifically," Sven (by Roman's reckoning) said. "If someone is killed, we look for him."
Starting off to the Nobodies' right, the younger one walked off with his hands behind his head. "Well, we better get moving then, Svenny-baby!"
"Hey! I'm your partner, not 'Svenny-baby'!" Sven said as he turned to follow the other.
When they were far enough away, the Nobodies came out from the dark alley and stood with their hoods up, the darkness obscuring their facial features. Xion was the exception, with her mouth showing for some reason. "That nickname is just so very gay…" Roman commented.
"I concur, but they're not who we're after, right?"
Roman only gave a grunt of agreement. Just then, three Soldiers appeared in front of them. "Well, any start is better than dead-nothing," Roman said.
One Soldier was grabbed by Roman and tossed into the air. As it came down, Xion smacked it with her Keyblade, propelling it into a second. Neither were destroyed by the act, but knocked into the alley instead, crashing into several trash cans. The two pursued the dazed Heartless while the third Soldier looked to its left, enjoying the prospect of unsuspecting prey instead.
The Soldiers smacked into the alley were dazed by the impacts, making them pathetically easy targets for Roman's foot as he charged into one with a forward kick followed by an uppercut, and an upwards vertical strike from Xion into another, knocking it into the air along with the other. The both of them were close enough that Roman ran forward as he saw them descend to earth headfirst. He jumped and kicked out both legs in front of him, kicking both Soldiers squarely in the back of their heads, sending them careening out the other end of the alley. The aftermath of the event was Roman falling on his back.
Roman wheeled around to catch sight of the remaining Soldier, who began a run to the right. Roman started down the alley, but stopped when two gunshots rang out. The sound of a destroyed Heartless followed, along with a heart rising to the sky. Roman and Xion remained frozen to their positions for a moment, waiting for anything else. Nothing. The two of them eased into neutral positions. "Didn't think he could do that…" Roman said.
"Does that count as one of ours?" Xion asked.
Roman dug into his robe pocket for the mission tracking device. The bar at the top filled up a small bit, answering the girl's question. "Weird," Roman added.
[So… Odie Oldbright…] Zidane thought as he walked the streets of the city. [Murderous fighter? That can't be legal, especially by official tournament rules.]
On his way, he passed the spot where the road had been cracked and heavily damaged and burnt. Authorities were baffled as to how this could have happened. Experts said that arsonists would have burnt other things, not just the road and some street lamps. Zidane had a better explanation, and one that should have been explained over the news, given the situation of the recent years. The shadow creatures. They could certainly do that sort of thing.
Zidane Tribal didn't have much specific knowledge of them, but then again, who did? They appear, kill or be killed, and if they survived, disappear. To him, there wasn't much else. A simple little pattern.
His tail swished back and forth, barely missing other pedestrians on the way. He had taken the sweeping job since he managed to blow the money from the previous week's "earnings" on food and a three day stay at a hotel. Besides, a guy like this, and two certain somebodies would probably roll by to help him out. Yes, they would have to split the bounty, but that's having friends like the deadliest assassin on the planet and a former detective.
He smiled at the thought, which was broken by a yawn. [Crap…] he thought. [My hotel stay expired this afternoon, so I'll have to find some abandoned apartment or something, fast!]
He scanned the windows of the buildings on both sides of the road. Anyone home? Any boarded up windows? Any—[Whoa, what the?]
On the rooftops on the opposite side of the road, shadowy figures ran on top. They had no sort of formal gait, and they would have blended in completely with the night sky were it not for the glowing yellow circles. Some of them were higher than others. [Oh, man…}
He looked left, right, then left again before crossing. He couldn't just climb the buildings from the front or else he might be suspected of God knows what, so he had to hoof it into an alley, and climb up from there. Rather than use the ladders and stairs, Zidane had a far more unique and quick way to get up; running up the wall. He called this Quickmovement, which is rather appropriate for the situation. When he got up on the rooftops, shadow creatures appeared in a circle around him. Five of them, and they all looked like yellow bells of sorts with little stick legs barely visible. The original forces turned to look at the intruder of their work. "Heh, tonight's victims…" focusing energy to his hands, two large knife-swords appeared in his hands. He held them both with reverse grips. "Are you!"
"Hey, get this!" Roman said to Xion.
They had moved to a fountain plaza where the only ones there were them, so they saw no reason to keep their hoods on. "What is it?"
"I dunno, but the mission gauge looks like it's going up on its own!"
Xion looked in amazement as the small bar gradually filled up. To this moment, they had taken the bar by themselves to half capacity, following the areas they could go to. "Is there, like, EMP or something?" Roman asked. "No, wait, that would fry this thing altogether."
"I thought it was 'emp.'"
"Let's not even go there right now," Roman said. "I insult your body, so I don't need to insult anything else, frankly."
"Well, excuse ME," Xion said, indignant, briefly putting her hands to her sides at the last syllable.
"If it's gonna do this, we may as well get our free time now, and explore what we can of the place."
"Are you sure?"
Roman flashed a smile and a thumbs-up. "You kidding? I wanna see if this is the same city from my previous scraps here."
Xion nodded in assent as they went on their ways again. From afar…
"Previous scraps?" Train asked.
"You went out of the apartment without me knowing again?" Sven asked.
"Well, some weeks ago, I think," the Black Cat replied, shrugging with a cat-like facial expression. The only things missing were cat ears.
The sweepers moved onto the fountain plaza where the robed teens were. Of the two, only one had their hood on, and that was the girl. The boy wore glasses in front of his brown irises. The girl's features were obscured by her hood, save for her mouth for some odd reason. "Maybe they're siblings in a local gang," Train said. "You know, that same few weeks ago, some people mistook me for one of their own, I think."
Sven was inches away from lighting another cigarette. "The way they left though… that's not something Chronos had when I was around," Train added.
"Time's passed," Sven said, lighting the cigarette. "You don't know what you've missed in their technology department, and neither do I."
"They wore the same robes. I think I recognize the boy, but the girl is a new face… that is, if I could have seen it. Anyway, they said something about a mission bar and it filling on its own."
"So they're here on assignment…"
"Makes me wonder what it is, though," Train said, lying on his back on the edge of the fountain, with his left side near the water. "Maybe they're just sweepers like us."
"Yup. All three of us," a new voice called out.
Train sat up to see a familiar dark-clothed boy with a tail. "Hey, Zidane! How's it going, buddy?" he called out, waving to the boy.
Zidane waved back, saying, "Ah, I just blew nearly all of my money on food and shelter, so I'm sweeping someone until I can find some farts to steal from."
Sven wasn't particularly fond of Zidane's presence. He never stole anything of his or Train's, but he knew well that they boy could very well get away with it 40% of the time. A high amount considering who Zidane would be stealing from. "You know," Train said. "You could just roll some of those creatures for cash. I hear that some of them are loaded with munny which you can use anywhere unlike regional currency!"
"Who uses 'roll' like that anymore?" Sven asked.
Zidane smiled and said, "Well, if not you, then—"
Irate, Sven didn't give Zidane a chance to finish his sentence. "Hey, I'm not old! I'm just older than either of you!"
"Then that proves it, you're old."
Sven's unpatched eye twitched.
"New arms dealer on the rise; Planned trades with Torneo Rudman?" Roman read from a newspaper aloud. "Uh… okay."
"I feel really nervous, being out in the open like this…" Xion said, sitting on the opposite side of the wall corner.
Roman moved so that he was looking around the corner at her. "It's the timefuck, isn't it? Here, it's…" Roman fiddled with his watch. "10:21. But at the castle, it's… 1:59. PM."
"I guess, but still…"
"Hey, it's a city! Hopefully, they see enough strange crap to not give a damn. Of course, that probably puts them at risk of Heartless-rape, but whatever."
Roman took the mission tracker out of his pocket. The mission bar, unfortunately, stopped its automatic filling. However, at that time, Heartless started to practically come to them, even this moment, as a Yellow Opera materializes only to be hit by a truck not even ten seconds later. "Wow. Looks like we only need to be here for the kills to count. Oops, wait a second."
A Shadow managed to start coming out of the ground, making Roman's foot rise. In response, he crushed it with his weight. "There we go."
He straightened out the paper and continued reading.
Rising arms dealing star Kuja is being known for his unique creations and modifications to nanotechnology, as well as making them controllable outside a body. In other fields, he is making a name for himself in the classical music fields, as well as top ranks in mid-level theatrics. [An arms dealer, a composer, and an actor?] Roman thought. [That's a complicated living job right there. How'd the journalists find this out, anyway, and who the hell is Torneo Rudman?]
He turned the pages, crushing another Shadow underneath his left foot. Rumors have it that Kuja is trading research with Rudman. Kuja will work to refine the workings of nanomachines in living beings, while Rudman will learn of control outside a body. Only now did Roman notice the name of the paper. Sweeper Weekly.
[No wonder they're so chock full of odd news,] Roman thought. [It's to help build a rap sheet for these sorts of bastards.]
"Well, I think I've read enough," Roman announced, letting the paper fly in the wind. "Let's roll and find the last few Heartless."
Xion stood up and brushed herself off. As per common sense, Roman looked both ways before crossing the street. One Bad Dog, however, was not so smart, and was subsequently crushed by a minivan. As the Nobodies went into the last accessible area in the city, they saw it to be a familiar sight. At least, Roman did. "Oh fuck, they STILL haven't cleaned the place up entirely?"
"What did you do?" Xion asked.
"It was that surprise attack from, like, a few weeks ago?" Roman replied. "I didn't expect it to do so much damage, really. I told you and Roxas already, didn't I?"
Xion looked on at the scene as law enforcement tape barred the public from getting too close. Three in particular stood out. "Hey, there's the young guy, the older guy and… is that a tail?"
Roman was momentarily distracted by two girls holding each other especially close. "I'm sorry, what? Oh, those dudes." Roman squinted to get a better look. "There's… Train? One of them mentioned a name pun earlier. And then… eh…"
Roman seemed to be struggling to find the right word. "Fur…ry?"
Xion turned and gave him a quizzical look. "It's only a tail."
"I have no other material. I'm stuck. Ooh, oh shit!"
"More of these stupid things?" Zidane asked, jumping over the tape.
This new creature looked like a large ball with armor and limbs. Zidane's knife-swords bounced right off the creature's belly, leaving him open to be hit twice by massive swinging fists. Train jumped nimbly over its head as Sven opened fire on it. Even bullets bounced right off, prompting nearby civilians to panic and run. However, Train had different luck. His bullets, fired at its back, stuck. It turned to face him, bowling over Sven with its girth. Train opened fire again, but no luck. Seeing the bullet holes, Zidane took the opportunity to jam both his knife-swords into its back, holding on as it attempted to shake him off. By the time he did lose his grip, it was too late for the creature; Train had jumped onto it, and shot point-blank into its head. It jerked four times, once per bullet, and stood still, its mouth open as if dumbfounded.
Train jumped off as lightly as he did at the train station as the creature fell onto some of the rubble, flattening it. When the dust settled, only Zidane's weapons remained of it. "Sheesh… some fat," Train commented.
Roman gave the combatants an open jaw, incredulous stare. The three of them, without Keyblades, took down a Large Body. "The competition is really high in this universe," Roman said after a moment of silence from him.
He looked to his side and expected to see Xion, but there was no such luck. He turned around to see her making a run for the dark corridor. "Thanks…" Roman said silently as he walked after her.
In the dark space between worlds, Roman checked his watch again. 2:31 PM. Not too bad. He lost track of when the fight started, but he gauged it to be abound 2:29. It would take him by himself about a minute and a half. They took one down in just two. [Well, strength in numbers.]
He was tempted to walk into another world before returning to the Castle, but he merely took a look at some of them. He had decided that the next mission would be to go ahead and find Xaldin, so he should at least get an idea of what Youkai Academy looked from the portal's view.
Roman saw a small sort of school building seemingly built around a cross that practically towered over it. Looking closely, he also caught sight of bats flying around. [What a weird reality we got,] he thought.
Apparently, it seemed that there were usual loafer shifts in the castle. Lexaeus, Zexion and Marluxia ("pretty boy") were the ones sitting around, along with the man in red. Again, Saix was nowhere to be found.
[Shouldn't he be a preemptive lid to chaos?] Roman thought. [Not that we Nobodies can reasonably cause it, I'm just wondering.]
He walked past the man in red and to the member commons. Roxas wasn't there, so it was safe to assume he was on a mission. Xion wasn't there either, which confused Roman. She was the one who beat him there. [Eve, maybe?]
His expectation was right on the mark. Xion was in Eve's room checking on her resting form. To Roman's dismay, so was Vexen, who was taking notes. He mouthed "pedo" and pointed to Vexen's head. Looking at his notes over his shoulder, Roman saw some odd things.
Day one of testing has gone well… until after the mission. When I get a chance, I must check her food allergies, if she has any. Perhaps it was a mistake to make a "meat puppet," as some would put it?
On another note, she exhibited the ability to shift her hands into weapons she has a strong mental image of. So far, I have matched that which she used to diagrams, illustrations and pictures in the books Zexion said she read. Fascinating thing, she is.
Roman almost audibly said, "What?"
Xion motioned for him to follow her out of the room as Eve stirred. However, he couldn't tear away so easily. Even as he moved out, his eyes remained fixated on Eve's resting face and figure. It took a slap from Xion to take his eyes off of her.
[Author's Notes]
- Next chapter: Awake Again. This takes up Eve's POV, and details the mission in Innocent Europe. Did I mention that Golbez is a rather unique Exorcist here?
- Zidane's appearance in Memorial is based on his alternate color in Dissidia. Personally, I think it fits him better.
- A lot of these cuts to the world's natives are usually parts where you would be playing through. I'd imagine them as cutscenes that would play out when you enter a particular area.
- In case anyone is a little sensitive of the overuse of the F word here, it won't be present if this were an actual game.