Yuuki looked up at the stone architecture of the Temple of Time, and his thoughts went back to a few days ago.
"You intend…to find out?" Claudine questioned.
"Yes." Neinheart stated bluntly.
"Okay, Niney…" Hawkeye stared at Neinheart as if the strategist had just announced he was going to jump off the side of the island. "Here's my follow-up question: How, exactly?"
"I intend to send a search party." The strategist clarified.
It didn't answer much, but Hawkeye seemed more than satisfied with this answer. "Oh-ho?" The pirate grinned. "So, who's goin'?"
"That…" Neinheart said, "is something I have been deciding since I formulated this plan. After certain…events…involving sir Kaiser and…his girlfriend…" He emphasized the word, but not out of disgust or disapproval, more just from the effort of saying it. "…the concept of working together has been at the forefront of my mind."
"Let me guess…" Claudine almost groaned, but held it in. "You want to send a team of Resistance and a team of knights together to learn cooperation, right?"
"Wrong, actually." Neinheart said. "I have a group of six in mind that should be able to complete this task with…minimal difficulty. I've sent word to five of them already, and they have all agreed."
"Wait, who's the last one then?" Hawkeye questioned.
"The person who was there the last time the door opened." Neinheart said. Yuuki shifted uncomfortably.
"Yuuki, I would like to request that you be the leader of this expedition."
Yuuki's grumbling echoed off the temple walls. It's not like he could turn something like that down. Besides, he did this stuff all the time. No worse than those errands he had to run in the bottom of Ludibrium's clocktower…that place gave him the creeps.
Still…there was the matter of a giant, swirling portal in the middle of the- very open- Gate to the Present. Yuuki saw it immediately when he walked in. Sure to Neinheart's word, the portal spewed a bluish-grey sand that seemed to vanish as soon as it got more than a foot from the vortex. Definitely not what he saw the last time it opened. Not at all.
But right now he was to meet his team of fellow explorers in the Memory Keeper's room. Neinheart had reasoned that if anyone were to know something about what happened, it would be him, and so that was where they'd start their search. Just past the Gate to the Past, near the Resting Spot of Memory, standing on a ledge was the bearded man who would tell them what they needed. Yuuki took a deep breath, and entered the room.
"Well, finally." Yuuki turned to the voice. It seemed as if he was the last one to arrive; not a good first impression of a leader. Yet, he was still earlier than the appointed time, so if someone faulted him for that, they could ship themselves off to Mu Lung and sit on a Porky for all he cared. Yuuki surveyed his new team.
The voice he heard was Aran, the warrior of Rien. He got along with her as much as anyone else, and they talked briefly after she scolded (I.E. beat) him for his role in the little "ghost" incident at the hot springs. Totally not his fault, by the way.
Next to Aran was Xenon, the cyborg. Admittedly, Yuuki was a bit weirded out by the mechanical and computerized parts at first, but mostly he simply felt pity for what the young man had gone through as a child. It actually made Yuuki feel a little bit better about the whole "Gelimer getting blown up by his own creations" thing on the Black Heaven. Okay, a lot better really.
Then there was Hayato. Yuuki hadn't really talked to the samurai outside of a small greeting every now and then. Not that there was much to discuss between the two; they didn't exactly hate each other, but they didn't get along as friends either.
Sitting on a small planter was a girl Yuuki had maybe seen once or twice standing with the Resistance at the Alliance meetings. She had long, black hair with a small accessory shaped like a feather attached to a pressure gauge- typical Edelstein style- and was dressed in a black and white outfit, with a half-skirt trailing off the end. On her arms…were two incredibly threatening-looking, mechanical gauntlets, the one on her right arm had a glowing point attached to the top. Yuuki made a mental note to try and not make her angry right away.
And finally there was a plain-looking girl with orange hair with a pair of small, black horns nestled within, and a pair of purple wings sticking out of her back. Tear, the alter-ego of the Angelic Buster. A girl he had (kind of, sort of, not really) tricked into announcing her love for her childhood friend. Good times…
Neinheart had definitely put together a team from varying backgrounds, that was for sure. None of them were particularly close, but none of them hated each other either. Get in, get the mission done, get out, with as little infighting or drama as possible. Efficiency at its finest.
The warrior gave a small wave and was met with varying degrees of responses from the group.
"Yuuki-san." Surprisingly, Hayato was the first to approach. The samurai bowed. "It will be a pleasure to work with you."
"Likewise." Yuuki returned the bow.
"I haven't seen you since Chase got all crazy about love." Tear chimed in.
Yuuki shrugged. "Eh, been busy, as always. How's Kyle?"
Tear huffed. "I wanted to go with him on this mission, but Neinheart started lecturing me about a relationship on the battlefield being disruptive to the mission."
The girl Yuuki didn't know snorted at the sound of the blue-haired strategist's name, but offered no other response.
"Heya kid, not fooling around with any more 'ghosts', right?" The legendary polearm hero raised her fist. Yuuki held up his hands innocently, then proceeded to form his own fist and bump hers.
"Yuuki." Xenon stared at the warrior. Yuuki stared back, chuckling awkwardly a bit. The cyborg cracked a small smile. "I hope we can all get along." Yuuki nodded in agreement, before walking over to the unknown girl. He coughed slightly to indicate that she should introduce herself.
The girl took a slightly condescending look at Yuuki, then sighed and cracked a small- but very sincere- smile.
"Liuva." She said. "I'd shake, but…" She held up the mechanical gauntlet, which whirred as the fingers moved. "I'm a blaster. Pretty new to the ranks of the Resistance, but ready to kick some serious Black Wing butt."
Liuva lightly and playfully punched Yuuki on the shoulder, which nearly knocked Yuuki over as a result.
"C'mon, let's go see what beardy has to say about that big door."
Yuuki immediately decided to spite Neinheart by making friends with all of them.
