Sora: TSUNAMI
Sora was really glad that his clothes were comfortable. Since he didn't have much money, and he wasn't willing to sell any of his magic charms, he was usually sleeping on a bench, using his cloak as a pillow. His limited munny went towards meals, the cheapest possible stuff. Even the cheapest possible was pretty expensive.
That morning, at about nine 'o' clock, Sora woke up from a restless night's sleep. He checked everything, from charms to sword. Everything was still where he had left it. He stood up, unfolded his cloak, and slipped it on. He started walking down the road, keeping his eyes straight forward. It had been pretty easy for him to figure out how not to draw attention to himself. Don't stare at people, don't start talking to them. But that didn't mean it was easy. It just wasn't in Sora's nature to be a loner.
He stopped at a small stand, where a man was selling fruit. Fifty munny for an apple, and a hundred munny for a small loaf of bread. It would have to do. Sora dug out the munny, and gave it to the vendor. "Thank you," the man said, and gave Sora his breakfast.
"Thanks yourself," Sora replied. As he walked, he ate the apple, and quickly polished it off. He tossed the core into a trash can, and pulled a piece of his bread off and stuffed it into his mouth. It was alright, slightly dry, but he wasn't going to complain.
Somebody pulled on the back of his cloak. Sora turned around, and saw a little boy, who couldn't be much older than seven. He looked like he was starving to death.
"`Scuse me, but have you seen a girl? About my age?" he asked.
"Sorry," Sora said, "I haven't." He looked at his loaf of bread, and tore off half of it. "But when you find her, the two of you can share this."
The boy's eyes widened. "Th-th-thank you!" he stuttered. He took the bread, and ran down the street to look for the girl he had mentioned.
Sora smiled. "You're welcome." He walked down the street, whistling a tune. He polished off the rest of his bread, and brushed the crumbs off of his hands. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. No new messages. Again. He replaced it, and kept his hands in his pockets. "It's cool of them to give me this mission and all," he said under his breath, "but how am I supposed to find TSUNAMI?"
A shadow darted under his feet. It stopped in front of him, and rose out of the ground. Its golden eyes stood out against its entirely black body. It hissed angrily.
A woman screamed, and Sora looked around. Heartless, everywhere! Sora whipped Nakage from its scabbard. He sliced through the shadow that had appeared in front of him. It vanished in a puff of black smoke, its captured heart rising into the air. He went after more heartless, destroying each one easily.
Five heartless surrounded him, and were about to leap at him. "Might as well try the new one," he said, and placed his hand on the earth-element charm. He grabbed the hilt of his sword with both hands, and stabbed the tip into the ground. "Quake!" Cracks spread out from the point of impact, and every heartless in the immediate area was destroyed by the high-level spell.
The spell sucked a lot out of Sora, and he gasped for breath. Heartless started to advance closer on him. He was ready to get back into it, when he spotted one heartless off in a corner, closing in on somebody. "Help! Please!"
Sora got himself past the heartless and sliced through the single Neoshadow. It was a little girl, no older than six. For a moment, Sora considered the idea that this was the girl that boy had been looking for, but he quickly shoved that thought aside. "What are you doing here?"
"I was walking around the town, and then the heartless attacked me," she said. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet." There were still plenty of heartless left. He turned around, and crouched down. "Wrap your arms around my neck, and your legs around my waist, and hold on tightly. I promise I won't let anything get you." She did as he said, and he stood up. He wielded Nakage with one hand, and kept his other hand on the girl's hand reassuringly.
"Blizzaga!" A flurry of ice blasted from the end of his sword, cutting through the heartless. Before, he had been fighting technically, thinking about the weaknesses of the heartless. Now, he was fighting for somebody, making sure that the girl was safe, and that made him fight three times as hard.
Sora dashed forward one last time, and the point of Nakage skewered five heartless. Their hearts were released into the air. He carefully sheathed his sword. "They're gone," he said. "Now, where do you live? I'm sure that your parents are worried sick."
She shook her head. "I only have a dad. But I have a big family. I'm Marlene."
"Sora," he replied. "Okay, then where does your dad live?"
"He's at a place called 7th Heaven," Marlene said. "It's on seventh street."
"Got it," Sora said. He made sure that Marlene wouldn't fall while he was walking--though after fighting with her on his back, it wasn't likely to happen--then started through the streets again. The people around were already back to normal, like nothing had happened. "Are heartless attacks really that common around here?"
Marlene nodded. "It's sad. All these people, living down here. Then there's all those people, who get to live in those big houses in the sky." Sora looked up, and saw the plates, where he knew that the few rich people of Radiant Garden lived. Most of them had made a name for themselves in the city, so they wouldn't leave to go to another world.
"Do you know what's it's like up there, Marlene?"
"I heard that a bunch of people there are really happy," she said wistfully. "They don't have to worry about heartless. And they get to see the sky all the time."
Sora nodded. The way that the plates were created, they overshadowed most of lower Radiant Garden. You could go your entire life without seeing the sky above, if you lived far enough inside the city. "That's so sad." He turned from Gaia Road to 7th Street. "Which way from here." She told him to go left, and he did so. A half block down, was a place with a sign in front of it that said "Seventh Heaven." He realized that it was a bar, and wondered what Marlene's father was like. "Here we are."
He stepped inside, and looked around a little. At the counter was a woman, obviously the barkeep. She smiled, but her eyes grew wide when she saw Marlene. She jumped over the bar, and hugged Marlene tightly.
"Denzel was going crazy. He just showed up here a few minutes ago, saying that he couldn't find you," she said. She looked up at Sora. "Who are you?"
"He's Sora," Marlene piped up. "He saved me from heartless, Tifa."
Tifa's mouth dropped open. "Heartless? You were attacked by heartless?" Marlene nodded. "Then, thank you, Sora. I've never seen you around these parts."
"I just came here," he said. "I'm new around town. I'm handy with a sword, the heartless appeared. Anybody would have done the same thing."
"Still," Tifa said, "that was nice of you, to bring Marlene back here yourself. So what's your position?"
"Sorry?"
"You know, what do you think of all this?"
"Uh, I guess that I think it's bad here. I mean, with all of the heartless showing up, and people hardly noticing after it happens. Then there's the fact that there's no Warders anywhere, which doesn't make sense to me. Aren't they supposed to be protecting people?"
Tifa sighed. "Maybe that's what they're supposed to do, but they certainly don't do it, at least not here." She crossed her arms, and her face showed deep thought. "Can you wait here for a second?" Sora nodded. Tifa went back through the bar, and up a set of stairs behind it.
From overhead, Sora heard a foot pound on the floor, and somebody yell, slightly muffled "You're being stupid, Squall!!! Give him a chance!!!" Something in him told him that this might be the chance he had been waiting for.
Tifa came back down the stairs. Another guy came down behind her, with a scar going diagonally across the bridge of his nose. He had a gunblade hooked to his waist. The guy examined Sora. "So, you're the kid that beat up those heartless on 14th Street. Humph. How old are you?"
"Fifteen," Sora said. "But I'm also a good swordsman, and a fair mage."
The guy didn't look impressed. Tifa sighed in exasperation. "C'mon, Squall! We could always use more recruits, am I right?"
"The name's Leon!" he said roughly. "And don't go around yelling it. Never know who's listening in."
"The bar's almost empty. The only people in here are the three of us and Marlene." A cough came from the corner. "Sorry, Vince. And Vincent. Even Marlene's left, now."
Faster than Sora could blink, another man who he presumed to be Vincent got between him and Leon. He was clothed in a red cloak, and Sora couldn't help but notice the gun holster strapped to Vincent's right leg. Vincent stared straight into Sora's eyes. For a minute, neither said anything.
Vincent broke eye contact, and returned to his place in the corner of the bar.
"Is he supposed to scare me?" Sora asked.
Tifa shrugged. "Better afraid than dead." Sora's eyes widened. Tifa didn't seem to notice, and turned back to Leon. "Vincent didn't kill him, so that must mean he's okay."
"Fine," Leon said after a moment of hesitation. "Okay, Sora. You know what TSUNAMI is, right?" Sora nodded, feeling like his heart had skipped a beat. "We're TSUNAMI, of Radiant Garden. Us, and some others. Tifa thinks you might have what it takes to join us."
"I'd be honored," Sora said.
"There's more to it than honor. It's knowing your limit, and us being able to trust that if you're captured, you won't spill the beans even if you're tortured within an inch of your life. If it weren't for us, heartless would be running rampant in Radiant Garden, and people would always be getting their hearts stolen. Then, the people would starve, because it's thanks to us that many people are able to get enough food to eat." Sora recalled the things he had heard about food supply trucks getting raided. So that's where it went. "Is that clear?"
Sora swallowed, and nodded. "Crystal."
"Good," Leon said. "There's a meeting today at noon. You'll meet everybody else--that is, everybody left then." He returned to the room upstairs, while Tifa went back behind the counter.
Sora sat down at a table by himself, and sighed. He was on his way.
---
There weren't as many people in TSUNAMI as Sora thought. There was Leon, Tifa, and Vincent, then there was a guy with hair that looked like a chocobo's named Cloud, a slightly-hyperactive ninja, Yuffie, a big guy with a metal hand that transformed into a gun, who was also Marlene's foster father, Barret, and then looking slightly out of place was a blue koala-like thing who most of them called Stitch, and a young woman called Mulan. While that was eight people, Sora expected far more with how big Radiant Garden was.
"Where the hell are the Gullwings?" Barret grunted.
"They're still scouting," Leon replied. "They should be here soon."
Sora turned to Mulan, and tried to strike up a conversation. "Hi, I'm Sora."
"Nice to meet you," she said, but didn't sound very glad.
"Is something wrong?"
She glared at him. "How would you like it if your world was practically destroyed, then you got dumped in the city where happy endings don't exist?"
Sora's confusion must have shown, because Cloud said "Sometimes when there are cross fires between the Warders and the heartless, a lot of damage is done. Sometimes worlds can be left completely uninhabitable. The people of these worlds are taken by gummi ship to another world. The most common one is this world. That's why it's so overpopulated."
"Oh, sorry Mulan, I didn't know," Sora apologized. "Is that what happened to Stitch?"
Mulan nodded. "He and I are in the same boat. I don't have any family left. In my world, the Land of Dragons, family is considered to be the most important thing. My entire family lost their hearts to the heartless." A tear fell down her face. "I only have two things left of my home. The hairpiece my mother gave me, and the sword of my father's." Her hand went to the sword strapped to her waist. "I lost my home less than a month ago."
The door to the secret room under the 7th Heaven burst open. Two girls a little older than Sora ran in. One had black hair and red eyes, and wore all black. The other was blonde, with green eyes, and wore a somewhat-revealing multi-colored outfit.
"Where's Yuna?" Yuffie asked.
The blonde was first to speak up. "We were chased by a Warder, and she stayed behind to hold them off while we ran."
"She's probably been captured by now," the other girl added.
Leon closed his eyes, and sighed. "Another one down." He opened his eyes. "Tifa found a new recruit. Sora, meet Rikku and Paine. They and Yuna make the Gullwings."(1)
"So where're you from?" Paine asked. "Haven't seen you around here. From that sword and your magic charms, it doesn't look like you're from another part of town. You get disowned?"
"Not quite," Sora said. He was glad that he had thought up a story for himself. "My dad is dead and my mom is missing, so I lived with my uncle in Destiny Islands. He was really wealthy, but then he was also a jerk. He hated the fact that he had to care for me, and he didn't love anybody but himself. So about a week ago, I stole this sword, some charms that I had practiced with before, and stowed away on a supply ship to this place."
"Are you even any good with that thing?" Yuffie said. "Or are you just somebody who runs around saying that they can fight but run away at the first sign of danger?"
"He fought off some heartless and saved Marlene earlier today," Tifa said. "I think he could be exactly what we're looking for, Squall."
"That's Leon!" he snapped. He leaned back against a wall. "Besides, I'm still not sure about it. Think about what could go wrong? We need to wait."
"Wait for what?" Sora asked. They acted like they hadn't heard him.
"It's nothin' personal against ye', kid," Barret explained. "You're new, and we gotta know we can trust ye' before you get to know the bigger plans."
"Exactly," Leon said. "Now, the two of you are on scouting duty." He gestured for them to leave.
Barret said something under his breath, and stood up. Sora followed him. They left the meeting room and went up the elevator outside, that led up to the bar. The elevator was disguised as a pinball machine, which Sora thought was pretty clever. How they made that, he didn't know and he wasn't going to ask.
"They just wanted me out of there, didn't they?"
"You're catchin' on fast, kid," Barret said. "But sometimes Leon doesn't think. Puttin' me on scout duty? I stick out like a sore thumb." He held up his gun-arm.
"I could take care of it by myself," Sora offered. "I don't stand out too much, and I don't have any work that could get in my way. Plus, you've got Marlene and Denzel to look after."
"You're a good kid, Sora," Barret said. "But I can't let you do that."
"It's no problem for me, really," Sora insisted. "I mean, going around the town, watching out for big groups of heartless, right? If they show up, I get the message out to the others. I do that until tomorrow's meeting."
Barret laughed. "I guess I can't stop you. Thanks. I think you're gonna be a big help to TSUNAMI."
(1) Yeah, the Gullwings are human.
Yeah, there's a lot of Final Fantasy characters in this. Especially ones from VII. But there will be others, as I said before.
So, Sora makes it into TSUNAMI. No arguments, no tests. One thing hasn't changed in the new timeline, and it's that Sora has a strange sort of charm about him, that lets many people trust him...even when he shouldn't be trusted.