"You can't be serious…" Roxas stammered. They sat in Axel's news in the moment as he told Roxas the news of what he had heard.
"I wouldn't be telling you if it wasn't true," Axel replied from his spot on his desk.
Axel's room was a mess for the most part. The floor was covered in clothes and other things that he never bothered to pick up. It drove Aerith up a wall constantly (no one would forget April 23rd.) but, no matter the prodding he received, Axel never really fixed a thing. In fact, it constantly got worst. Beside the clothes on the floor, the red walls were also covered with scorch marks from whenever Axel practiced with his "pyrotechnics."
"Why would they do that! That doesn't make any sense…" Roxas was mulling over things in his mind. What Axel said he heard didn't match the Sens' goals at all.
Then again, they could be rather unpredictable at times, which was one of the reasons for getting rid of them.
"Axel, we have to tell everyone else, sooner rather than later."
Axel spun a pen around on his black desk with a smile on his face. "Relax Rox, even I'm not stupid enough to go in on this alone."
Roxas nodded quickly, but his worry over the situation didn't disperse. Even if Axel didn't try to stop it alone, the plan itself would be a disaster for the Resistance.
Then again, maybe that's why it was formed in the first place…
Just then, a knock was heard on their door. Axel looked over to the door and yelled.
"It's open!"
There, Yuffie skipped through the doors with a bright smile on her face. It was one thing that some liked about Yuffie and others didn't. Her upbeat personality despite what was going on in the town.
I dare you to guess who hated it.
"Hey! Riku wants ta meet with all of us stat!"
Axel stood up from his desk and headed for the doorway as Roxas jumped up quickly and followed behind him. He almost started running, until he noticed his pockets lacked their usual jingling. With a frown and a scornful look, he turned to Yuffie.
"Yuffie," He said with a serious tone.
"Yeah?" She replied.
"Give me back my money." He stated while reaching out his hand.
Yuffie, with a frown, Yuffie slouched over and dropped several small golden orbs into his hand. She then disappeared into a puff of smoke before anything could be said between them. With a smug smile on his face, he slipped the small orbs back into his pocket and took of down the hallway towards the meeting room.
Naminé sat in the corner and sketched in the notebook, keeping her mind empty and letting her pencils do the talking. It was something she did often, just in case a memory of someone important came her way. It was pretty much for this reason that she was part of the Intel base.
And besides her, there was Zexion.
When it came to mastering time, Zexion knew how to do it. He always somehow had the information he needed, but he still had plenty of time to read a book. If you looked in his room, the only thing visible would be books, except for his bed.
The other members of Intel hardly spent any time at base at all, since the acted as Zexion's eyes and ears.
Yes, Zexion had a network.
Naminé never talked to him much, since she was often afraid of being rude and interrupting him, so she stayed to herself mostly.
When she had finished her picture, she was looking at two blond figures standing side by side, holding hands. She gave a cheerful smile and pulled the page out of her notebook.
"I hope he visits soon…" She whispered.
"Waiting for it to happen won't make it happen any sooner…" Zexion spoke from the background.
Naminé jumped in surprise and turned to see Zexion, but he had already gone back to the book.
Why was he so mysterious?
The sun had set on Lumina City and, when the sun set, Resistance came to life. And like most missions, they began in the meeting room.
"Alright, let's get started." Riku announced.
Again, he pressed a small button on the table and everyone watched as the screen with a familiar logo came down from the roof.
"Alright, tonight is the beginning of Operation: Shadow Killer."
Riku looked around to everyone and, once he was satisfied that everyone was quiet he began the briefing.
"Now, based on the Intel we received from various sources…" Riku glared at Axel for a second. "… The Sens are planning on using the Heartless on the town to flush us out. So, we're gonna give 'em what they want."
Many confused faces could be seen around the table. It was a rather curious plan, but Riku seemed to know what he was doing.
"For this plan, we're going to split into pairs. Axel and Roxas will be together…" The two high-fived quickly and sat back in their seats. "… Kairi with Yuffie, Sora with me and Aerith…"
"Will be with me."
Like a whip, everyone's head swung to the doorway. There, clad in a long red tunic and wearing a pair of sunglasses stood the ex-owner of Military Antiques, the first store to be shut down by the Senators.
It was none other than the great Auron.
"Oh, Master Auron!" Aerith stammered in shock.
"I was told by Zexion to meet you here." He said, showing little emotion. He pulled a large blade out of a sheath on his back and placed it on his shoulder, where it looked a lot better.
"Zexion told me about a new member. It looks like we got lucky."
"Why would you say that?" Kairi asked.
A smirk came across Riku's face. "Can't have idiots in the Resistance can we?"
Even Yuffie could agree with that, and she showed it with a gleeful nod. Riku smiled a little more, until he looked over to a map that had appeared on screen.
"Now, back to the plan…"
It was cloudy that night. For once, there were no stars visible in the sky. It was perfect conditions for a little mission.
The jobs were as such. It was up to Axel, Roxas, Riku and Sora to assault the main factory while the others tried to cause as much ruckus as possible in a central area.
The area was oh so conveniently located in the parking lot by the Intel tower, despite Naminé`s pleas.
"So, what exactly are we waiting for?" Sora asked his main partner.
"Simple." He replied in a quiet voice. "When we see the gates of the factory open, that's our time to strike."
Sora nodded and looked down to the streets below. They used to look so beautiful.
Damn Sens.
"Sora, are you alright about all this?"
"About what?" Sora asked, confusion building up.
"With this whole Resistance thing. I mean, I know you don't like being a leader…"
Sora nodded absently, but his attention was quickly taken by something else.
"Sometimes, I think I'm making bad decisions, but everyone is depending on me,"
"Uhh… Riku?" Sora said, jabbing Riku in the shoulder.
An annoyed groan came from Riku as he finally gave Sora some attention. "Just let me finish!"
"No, let me finish," Sora said, taking charge. "In case you haven't noticed, a large stream of deadly black monsters just streamed out of the factory and dashed towards Intel."
"Wait, what!" Riku looked down towards the alleyways and, sure enough, the Heartless had been released.
After a quick facepalm, Riku pulled out a handheld device, turning a small dial.
"This is Soul Eater. The Heartless have been released. Eternal Flame and Two Become One, head in. We'll be right behind you."
Sora quickly pat Riku on the back and lifted his arm to the sky. The Keyblade was quick to appear as he catapulted off the building. Riku, not wanting to be left behind, he let a sphere of dark energy build in his hand until a dark sword shaped like a bat-wing solidified. Then, he pushed off the building and landed right beside Sora. It was rather surprising how fast the Heartless had cleared out.
Someone was busy on the other front.
"This is The Flame!" The walkie-talkie system echoed. "We made it to the back door and took out the Guardians that were there. We head in on your mark. Got it memorized?"
Riku looked to Sora, who returned the look with a huge smile. Then without another word, they took off to the door.
"Soul Eater to Eternal Flame, head on in and search for a Power Source." Riku replied.
With a final glance up to the giant grey and black factory, the two friends headed into the biological factory fully prepared for what was in store. That is, they would've been if they knew what was in store.
"So, Yuffie…" Kairi said quietly, trying to set up a conversation. Throughout all of her years of living in the city of Lumina, Kairi hadn't ever talked to Yuffie one to one.
"Uh-huh?" She asked, stopping her vendetta against the mailbox to hear Kairi.
What? Their job was to cause havoc! Well, that was Yuffie's train of thought anyways.
"Well, I was sort of wondering why we didn't really know-"
"Incoming!" Aerith yelled across the devastated parking lot. The small lights from the Intel tower quickly shut off as another series of small lights starting coming down the street.
The glowing eyes of an ocean of Heartless.
Aerith was quick to draw her spear and spin it around in front of her body. Auron was fully prepared to slay something, although his face really didn't say anything otherwise.
Kairi lifted her hand into the air and let several flower petals float around into her hand and for into another Keyblade. Though she was rather inexperienced with a weapon, she was ready to do her part. Unfortunately, before anyone had a chance to move, they were already surrounded by a ring of shadowy creatures.
Six Shadows jumped from outside the circle and attempted to land onto Auron, but he was quick to spin around and slice three in half quickly. Aerith speared through the other three before they could land on his back.
Yuffie threw her giant shuriken towards another Shadow and cut it in half. She then ran forwards and grabbed the star, spinning around to try and kick another one. But, she just hit air as it faded into the ground.
Kairi held her Keyblade above her head as she ran towards Yuffie. It did its job as it protected Yuffie from an upward strike.
"Thanks," Yuffie smiled.
Kairi replied with a bright smile of her own. Her face returned to its serious look as she stood back-to-back with the energetic ninja.
Aerith and Auron were in the same position on the other side. The Heartless had backed off for some reason. Then, the insect-like creatures began to fade into dark spheres.
"This doesn't look good." Auron said quietly.
Aerith looked around quickly and spun the spear above her head. "It looks like they're changing or something."
Auron placed his hand to his ear to turn on his communication device.
"This is Masamune. The Heartless look to be changing. Has something happened at the factory?"
The reply came quickly. "We haven't done anything yet. All that's happened is we've taken out a few guards. Keep us updated."
Auron grumbled, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it.
"Master Auron…" Aerith whispered to the gruff man.
He looked back to the Heartless to see that they had become much more physical. They now seemed to have gained sharp claws and feet with shiny metallic helmets. There also seemed to be smaller ones floating in the air.
Aerith jumped high and knocked one of the hovering Heartless into the ground, but she was hit with a ball of fire from one of the other floating dome-shaped Heartless. Auron dashed forward and took it out with a swing of his long blade, along with a few of the soldier-like Heartless. Then, Yuffie used his shoulders as leverage to jump into the air and throw her large shuriken into the Heartless and caught Aerith with her free hands.
She landed on the ground safely and placed Aerith down before jumping back into the air and throwing it into a group of Heartless.
Kairi was already exhausted as she batted Heartless away left and right. They were slowly reaching in closer to her. Before they knew it, all four of the fighters were back to back knocking Heartless away before they could get any closer.
"This… Isn't good…" Kairi huffed. Things definitely weren't turning out in their favour.
"Yeah, this is definitely not a good thing," Yuffie said, yet she still didn't seem to have run out of energy.
As they got down to their last legs, the Heartless were ready to overwhelm them. Even Auron was beginning to have difficulties at fighting them off.
It was then that a large blast came from the centre of the crowd of Heartless , effectively wiping out half of them. The other Heartless began to look around, but they looked rather disoriented. Then, they all started to teleport away or run around in circles.
The Heartless were panicking.
The small group used the last of their energy to finish off the remaining Heartless before they met together again.
A loud voice came from the top of the Intel tower.
"Hey! It actually worked!" A cheerful voiced yelled across the parking lot.
The small group, all gasping for breath; they looked up. There, they saw a teenaged girl with blond hair jump from the top of the Intel tower and land on her feet perfectly.
"Hiya! Hope I wasn't too late!" The girl said with a cheerful smile. It was impossible to see her eyes through her large goggles.
"Wait… Who're you?" Kairi asked. She was incredibly grateful for the assistance, but at the same time, she still had no idea who the person was.
"Oh, sorry!" The girl replied, waving her hands all over the place. Then, she lifted her goggles to reveal her bright green eyes.
"Hi! I'm Rikku! A guy named Cloud sent me here to help out. Did I do my job?"
The man in a black mask landed on top of the Heartless factory. He walked towards the door without as much as a whisper. He brushed the brown hair out of his face as he tried to open the door into the building.
Unfortunately for him, the door was lock.
Then, a light shot out from his dark cloak and opened the door quickly, leaving no mark. He pushed the door open silently and slinked through without anyone noticing. He wasn't 100% sure, but his gut told him Orichalcum would be in that factory.
He slipped down the stairs as fast and silently as possible, being careful to avoid notice. Soon enough, he would get to the Orichalcum. It was absolutely necessary to free his friends.
As well as himself.
Author's Note:
Thank you loyal readers for staying with me! I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I like writing it!
I should let you know I will be starting to have a regular update schedule from now on. You should expect a new chapter every Monday. If not, it should be around then.
Two new characters introduced here! And it is only the beginning…
See you around!
-FrozenXIII's Fire