Author's Note: This took me two more days than intended, but here you go! Dig in!


Normalcy? Extremely Overrated

Part 1: A Very Unusual School

Chapter Nine

King of the Skies, Lord of the Sea, Tyrant of the Earth


Note to self, if I die from this, I'm going to beat up Shin from heaven to hell. Now that that's aside. MAYDAY MAYDAY! Houston, we have a situation! S.O.S! In short, I'm probably falling to my death. Not a good way to start a chapter, heh? I mean, yeah, that THING on top of the cliff was obviously bad news alright, but was it worse than a leap of faith down the referred cliff? Apparently… yeah. In-between my screaming, Riku seemed to have maintained his calm and had now shut me up with a swift strike to the head.

"Look down you idiot!" He exclaimed, not as an insult, more like a joke. I looked down and lo and behold, water.

"So I remembered the map right." All the happiness that WAS going to take over me vanished when Shinryu stated that.

"YOU DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS WATER DOWN HE-"

SPLASH.

"Glurgurg gurlglr glr. Glurglrglr, GURL!" Yeah, I tried to yell at him underwater. Genius I know. When I finally realized just how retarded I was sounding, I bolted to the surface with a swift stroke of both hands and feet, breaststroke style. That was something I loved about growing up in the islands, I was practically half fish. When I emerged, I found my two male friends already floating on the surface.

"Why did you let go of me? You didn't have to fall." Terra asked as she floated above us. I need to learn to do that.

"The backlash of stopping after such a fall would've thorn my arm off. I prefer being wet thank you." That guy replied far too carefree for a person who had just gambled three lives.

"Hey! I'm not done with you!" I shouted, swimming to his side and grabbing his shoulders. "Why the hell did you tell us to jump?" I questioned harshly, it was the heat of the moment and I my heart hadn't slowed down yet.

"Because…" He pulled his shoulders off him. "What you saw is something a First Class has troubles with." That shut me up pretty good. "We couldn't handle something like that. Not now." My mind did a one-eighty when he told me that.

"We gotta go warn Kairi!" I exclaimed. Everyone looked at me dubiously so I was forced to add: "And the others!" The damage was done anyway, that was a very weak defense to a problem I didn't even know I had at the time.

"Riiight." Riku commentated, giving me a very dubious wink. "Anyway, if memory serves me right… we're in Area eleven right? Area ten should be due south." Shinryu nodded in agreement. Riku had only seen the map for seconds and he still remembered it to such detail? Maybe there WAS a reason for him to be what some would call a genius. However, it's as if someone on a superior plane, which I won't mention since he's writing this, had a vendetta against us that day. When we started swimming south, saw a small illumination in the waters on our way, that and we somehow heard… lightning.

"No…" Shin muttered, a giant shade sliding bellow us. "NO NO NO!" There was something in the water, and he was horror-stricken by it. There was an eruption of water by my side and just like that, with a silenced scream, Riku was gone.

"No!" Terra exclaimed, entering the water like a missile. Me and Shin soon followed, even though he was all but willing to. I soon realized why. The thing that had grabbed Riku and was now clamping his maw around his right leg was every bit as scary as Shin had made it seem. It was a mixture of a cobra and a dragon, not like the Chinese traditional dragon's though. Let's get this out of the way first. This guy was… HUGE in length. Easily as big as one of those premade houses you saw for the lower mid-class. Underwater it just made him all the more terrifying as we were not in our element, just by the way he looked however, we knew we were in his.

Okay let's begin slowly describing just how SCREWED I was. The dragon's entire back and claws were made of a very solid looking deep blue scaling, the chest however, seemed to be much less protected as the scales, unlike the ones at the back which you could think they were an armor, were simple grayish ones who from what I thought wouldn't be much harder than normal skin. Mistake number one there. Onto more detailed explanations. Well, the head was much like a dragon's, but it had the circular crest of a cobra, of course in that deep blue, and four horns extended from the top and sides. The two top were brown while the other two were blue. The scaly back was connected to the body by a very long neck that granted the beast flexibility unmatched and was filled with spikes, four of them being prominent enough to impale someone, they were light beige in color. The four paws lead up to claws whose nails were ATLEAST thirty centimeters long, more than enough to slice your arm off even in a grasping blow. This also meant it could walk on land… Finally, the tail. It was obvious what the tail was for. Almost as long as the entire body, it served the same purpose as the neck seemed to, to guide it through the water by their contortions, it was also exceptional at covering the area around it. That was the last thing I'd ever want to find on LAND, much less on WATER.

Anyway, Riku was doing his best to subdue the pain and fight back, stabbing at the snout with his sword, to little effect. Hell, it just bounced back. By this time, Terra had already reached the monster's head, her hand cackling with sparks of lightning. She was about to try and shock the beast but Shin grabbed her wrist just before she touched it. The way he shook his head told us it was a no go and I THINK I heard him mutter "fire", but how could we use fire underwater? Well, apparently because fuck you that's how! Terra's hand certainly didn't catch on fire, but she slammed that tiny palm on the side of the dragon's maw and vapor started coming out, indicating the burn. This did more harm than good however, as the dragon fluidly whipped his neck on a sideways motion, coiling itself before doing the same with its tail. They both still dodged the predictable headbut, but the tail was too fast for Shin to evade, even though he appeared to see it coming. Anyway, Terra reached for the huge ass sword she had gotten from the village armory and tried a more… standard approached. It broke on the creature's crest. Quite easily even. It was about that time I decided to, you know, DO something.

"Let's see how he handles my Keyblade!"I told myself, darting bellow the lizard. I wasn't going to try cut its mouth, the scales around it seemed to be too hard, I was going for the chest. Terra seemed to notice this as she started to try to distract the monster by sliding around its head. This caused the chest to be semi-immobile as the creature was busy waving its neck. Without thinking any further, I plunged my sword into its stomach. The creature's eye lost focus for a second before it cringed, almost biting of Riku's leg in the process. It was pissed. Shin swum to my side and began tugging my arm, and I TRIED to comply, but the Keyblade was stuck on the stomach. We both tried to pull it out, but the muscles were too strong, even when pierced. Then, I started to understand just why Shin stopped Terra from using thunder elemental attacks on it. The crystals on the dragon's back started to glow in a brilliant blue and the water started to cackle. Shin pulled my shoulder to swim away but it was too late. The thing contorted all of its body and created a dome of electrical shocks scattered around it, catching the three of us at the same time. It was like… well it was really what it felt it was. Thousands of volts entering my body and leaving just as fast, repeating the processes tens if not hundreds of times for the next couple of seconds, and let me tell you, it hurt like hell.

"What the…? I got knocked out?! Damnit… move body!" After the shock I lost consciousness for just a second or two but that was enough to make me wonder what the heck was going on. Shin was nowhere to be seen, which didn't actually surprise me since all islanders could swim really fast, Riku's movements were now only spastic, he was even trying to fight back and Terra had grabbed onto the crystals at the monsters back. The worst? The Monster was swimming away, arcing his body like a serpent to propel himself. Then it hit me… Riku didn't train Blitzball, heck, he probably never swam all that much in his life, he had been underwater for almost two minutes now… he needed oxygen! I began swimming towards the serpent, but it was just going too fast. If it escaped to the open sea Riku was doomed. By then I saw Terra had reached its head. Wouldn't do any good I thought. By god was I wrong. First, she wrapped her legs on the sides of the neck and placed her hands one on each side of the maw. And then she began to pull.

"She's crazy if she thinks she can open that thing's mouth with her hands…" And at first, it looked like I was correct, the dragon kept swimming with minimal effort put into keeping its mouth shut. Then, it stopped. Apparently it was annoyed. First, he spun much like he did to hit Shin with its tail. It failed and only made it so I could almost catch up to it before he assumed an all too familiar position, the crystal-like spikes on its back shinning. My warning was not only useless since I was underwater and only saw bubbles burst out of my mouth, but also too late as the shock had begun. I couldn't get close, but I could see the girl crying in agony, whipping her head backwards in pain, the entirety of the painful shouts being absorbed by the water. Riku was way worse. He wasn't even moving or crying, he was just spasming from the shocks. But there was something weird this time. The lightning the thing created were blue, but around its head were some weird looking violet ones. Plus, Terra seemed to have stopped screaming, now determinedly but slowly pulling her head back to normal position and exerting pressure on both her arms. The skin… was breaking?! Literally breaking and leaving behind traces of a new violet one. More disturbingly, she was ACTUALLY unclasping the teeth out of the dragon, with a final cry that shook the water, she had single-handily pried open the jaw of the beast. The dragon was stunned, confused at how that could've happened, even I was.

"Unreal…" I muttered to myself in disbelief. I was woken up from my shocked state when appeared, grabbing Riku and signaling us to follow. After a few seconds of head start, me joining the other two swimming, we heard a roar, underwater, yes, it was that powerful. I looked back while swimming and saw how the maw of the beast was now spewing lightning passively as its eyes shone in an orange tone, the spikes on its back now permanently lit up. It pulled its head back and… shot a ball of lightning towards us. Yes. I said that right. I wouldn't even have been able to dodge if Shin didn't push me away in time. He signaled us to step it up and I saw a cave in the distance. I was starting to run out of air also. When I played Blitzball, I could take ten minutes of oxygen-less swimming, but that was a long time ago. Riku rapidly deteriorating also, he didn't even move now. We swam as fast as we could, looking back once again I saw the thing bolting towards us as it spun, electrical current covering its body.

"Whoa!" I managed to barely dodge the charge, but now it was between us and the cavern and it was angry. I looked to the side and saw how Terra's eyes were half closed and she was gasping for air her body should be hitting its limit after all that effort. Shin groaned and reached for his pocket, pulling out a cylindrical yellow object with a trigger like a grenade had. Biting out the restraint, he threw it at the head of it and covered his eyes, I doing the same as I realized what it was. The flash bomb gave us just enough time to whisk through the now blindly wailing monster and finally breath fresh air as we erupted out of the water into a small circular, dry cavern. While I was coughing out the water I had swallowed during our little excursing though:

"Terra, help me!" Shin shouted. Terra nodded and raised her right hand, both of their hands being covered by chilling winds.

"BLIZZAGA!"As they both chanted their spells, they put their hands into the water, instantly freezing the surface and quite a bit of tunnel that was the only entrance… and exit to the cave. Shin of course had his arm frozen during the incantation and needed help thawing it. I was the first one to check Riku to see how his condition was. He was still breathing so there was no CPR needed. I don't get how he could've survived that without proper training, maybe his sister had drilled him. If she did, thank Lightning for her sadistic nature…

"What the hell was that?!" I demanded to know to the only person who seemed to know what was going on. Shin took a seat on a nearby rock and replied with a tired expression.

"That… was a Lagiacrus. And we're going to need a miracle to get out of this." He told me in the most hollow tone I had heard.

"Why?" I succinctly asked.

"Remember when I told you an Elder Wyrm had a village slaughtering 50 danger level?" He asked. I nodded. "Well, in this world, a fifty is a critter's danger level. That guy is a village slaughtering monster HERE. His danger level is… one hundred and seventy five." Well… crap. "SOLDIER 1st class territory." I take that back. I should've said shit. "Now I need you to do as I say if we are going to beat that thing." Was he insane? Didn't he just say…

"That thing is able to fight SOLDIERS 1st class and we're going to just go at it?!" I shouted, to which he just shook his head.

"Just because something has a lot of power doesn't mean it's strong." I was going to need more time to fully grasp the meaning of that, as of now I just thought on the immediate meaning of it. Even then I kinda failed at it. What? It was deep man, DEEP! Or I am just a jackass… The way I looked at him just proved how clueless I was. "Look, it's strong, but it's an animal. It has patterns and known weaknesses it does not know how to hide or cover. And I know them."

"But can we even take advantage of them?" I asked. That was all fine and dandy, but knowing the weaknesses didn't help anyone if you couldn't capitalize on them.

"Look, Sora, I took you for one who at least TRIES before rolling up and dying. In this world, it's Hunt or be Hunted. So… which one is it?" He asked me, appealing to both my carefree side and my pride. I was so easy to manipulate.

"Okay, I'm in, what do we do?!" I asked, pumped to kick ass and chew bubble- You know what?! NO! I'm not going to make that joke.

"Well, Terra's out." He pointed with his thumb, showcasing the girl, who was having a very peaceful sleep on a rock nearby. "The ice will hold for…" There was a tremor on the cave. Easy to know what did it. "One hour at most with that guy barging on it. We'll wake her up in half an hour. Sora, I need you to dig a hole." He told me, throwing the shovel he carried on his back until then. He had thought of everything, hadn't he? "As big as you can in half an hour. I'll be preparing the traps…" He picked up a computerized disk and began fiddling with it.

"Well… I guess if this fails… I'll at least have dug my own grave!" Badumtsss. Who got the drums in here?!


A cloaked figure emerged from dark portal on top of a mountain. The person was wearing the coat we knew from Braig and approached a similar dressed one. The main difference about this second person was how he, or she to be exact, had her hood down, revealing a quite strangely styled blonde hair. It was completely slicked backwards up until her shoulders and had… two antenna like strands leaving its front. The woman's bright emerald eyes were concentrated on her one gloveless' hand, which nails she was arranging with the help of a golden small pin-like dagger.

"Hey Marly." She greeted, not even sparing the man a look. This man's hair was… weird. Spiky hair falling even bellow his shoulders, all of it PINK. I know true man wear pink, but this is ridiculous. He however, was NOT pleased in the slightest.

"Larxene, I've never saw you as the brightest bulb in the room, but THIS?" He roared, pointing at the four running teens bellow, followed by a very hungry wyvern. "I don't think you realized the purpose of this mission!" This however, didn't seem to faze them woman one bit.

"Relax Marl. I got this." She finished her hand's nail polish and was now admiring her job.

"I don't think you understand. We want the two of them ALIVE! What I'm seeing down there is you sicking the most bloodthirsty monster we captured on our main target!" She shouted, pulling Larxene's hand to him in order to force eye contact. She was smiling sadistically.

"If those two can't get out of that then really, they won't cut it." "Marly" was at first taken aback by how she answered but then it hit him… She was right.

"Lax… that was the ONLY time I heard you say something productive outside of torture… Good job." The woman smiled again.

"That's because while this isn't torture." A shrill scream erupted from bellow. "It's the next best thing…" She finished, licking her lips in expectation.

"I have to tell grown-ups about this…" Cuore whispered, vanishing. She has some timing, doesn't she?


I think we should check in with Kairi, don't you?

"That's a Tigrex!" Xion shouted as we ran. Not that knowing a name would help us but at least she completed the information.

"You know, I get what they were going for, but taking the word "Tiger" and "Tyrannosaurus Rex" and smashing them together isn't exactly original." Roxas chimed in. Totally important. Thank you Roxas, you're as "useful" as your twin.

"That's one of the three things that ended up on Isla del Monstruo… it's easily the most violent wyvern there is." I take that back, I didn't want more information. "Its strength is land combat… it's not very smart though." I looked back and saw how the thing was catching up on us. On the bright side, Xi was probably right, that thing didn't seem all that smart… oh who am I kidding? That thing seemed retarded with that tongue sticking out and waving to the wind. Still, the jaw was as big as my torso, I wasn't going to take any chances. Then… it stopped.

"We're going to make it!" Naminé exclaimed as we entered the area marked as nine. It was a wet area with water flowing up to our ankles over the stone floor and we were in-between two tall walls. Still, as you can guess, it's just too easy to jinx something. The monster had only stopped in order to pick up a large boulder and hurl it at us at amazing speed while were focused on running. Before I knew, Naminé was projected forward, tumbling on the floor for a few meters before stopping, her eyes close and her left leg bent in ways no leg should be bent.

"Nami!" I called, my eye catching a yellow shadow on the right. The Tigrex had jumped and was now clinging to the side wall, eyeing my sister with killing intent. Just after, he jolted from it and flew into my sister head first. What I did was not logical in any way or shape, but I'm proud of it. Putting all my weight on my right leg I propelled myself forward with one step, landing on the monster's way to my sister with my left. Xion and Roxas were screaming for me to get out of the way as the thing drew ever closer, but I just closed my eyes and remembered what had trained for ten years now. I opened them just as the Tigrex was not even a meter away from me and cried: "Tatsumaki… Gorasen!" As I slammed right leg with all the power my body could muster in that short while. I could hear something crack as I hit the side of the creature's head, it was small, but it was there. The creature's head was even worse than stone. That I could break. But this? With one more roar I managed to push through and knock the wyvern to the side, where it rolled on the floor twice before managing to stop on its normal position. It was as confused as Xion and Roxas were.

"Kairi… just who are you?!" Roxas exclaimed, even though I wasn't in the mood for it.

"Take Naminé and get to cover! I'll handle this guy by myself!" I exclaimed, grabbing my sister and throwing it against the blonde before turning to my target.

"Don't be stupid Kairi, that's a SOLDIER 1st class enemy! We've got to find Aqua and Zack!" Xion shouted at me, but I was over the line of reasoning at that point, that thing had tried to kill my sister.

"Then do it yourself!" I shouted, getting into battle position as the thing started to prowl around me.

"Fine, be that way!" Xion spat back, grabbing Roxas and pulling him behind a rock. "We're not leaving you behind though!"

"Okay… remember what Master always said…" I told myself as the thing scanned for openings. "You cannot catch wind, but a breeze cannot protect or hurt anything… you need to become…" The Tigrex saw me lowering my left arm and saw that as an opening. He was wrong "The storm!" I exclaimed, vanishing from its sight. Now it was on!


Let's try a new view, shall we? Bring on Eraqus!

Rufus Shinra. He was many things during his life. This very school's best student… my student. My pride… our school's pride. A genius in every way imaginable. But most importantly, he had been my friend. But that was before and this was now. The person standing in front of me was smug, cold and shrouded in mystery. If the Rufus I knew was in there, he did a good job hiding it. He still wore the same, that simple white buttoned jacket over a matching business suit, the gloves shirt and tie all black. His voice was the same, but it didn't sound the same, that tone was almost sickening. He was babbling about economics like he didn't know I was up to par, only to be courteous, we both knew why he was here.

"And this is why Shinra is built on steel foundations and there is nothing to worry about in investing in it." He finished, finally crossing his arms and asking the million gil question. "So, why do you still rely on Stark Industries to power your school? You always took pride on having the cutting edge on tech but you refuse to accept Shinra. Is there a specific reason for this? We're not expensive by any means, and I could cut you a special price since I TRULY want to contribute to the school that raised me."

"You know exactly how our finances go Rufus, it's not about the money… at least for us it isn't." I weaved in a little slash at what I thought to be his reason at the end. He played dumb.

"What do you mean "for us"? You can't be suggesting I am in it for the money." He faked offense so badly I wondered if was even trying at all.

"I honestly do not know Rufus… but that isn't the reason we are constantly declining your offers." I replied, taking a look at the clock on the other side of my office. "How can they be so late? We've been here for half an hour already."

"May I ask what it is then?" I didn't want to speak without my guests but it seemed I had to…

"Well, you see…" I was interrupted by the door slamming open, a black haired man in an "I heart Radiant Garden" shirt bumbling in.

"Sorry! I got lost in the hallways." The man said, scratching the back of his head.

"How did he… nevermind." well, that's normal for him anyway, even after spending a good chunk of his life here. "Of course, Mister President." I greeted, Rufus' expression turning dark for a moment before returning to his fake civilized one.


Sora's POV:

Well, I had done it. A freaking three meters deep, ten meters wide hole on the ground. I didn't know that speed was even possible for humans, but I guess the Keyblade had changed me more than I thought. Anyway, I heard Shin tell me that was enough and as such, I climbed out.

"I honestly wasn't expecting you to actually do so good. Let's wake up Terra, we still have a chance after all." I didn't know if I should be happy to exceed expectations, or pissed off that he didn't expect anything good from me. That soon was put behind my back when we actually got to the girl. She was red, febrile red and sweating all over her body while uncomfortably squirming in her sleep. Worse yet, she was talking to herself in a nigh schizophrenic way.

"No… no it wasn't fun! It didn't feel good!" She shouted at no one in particular, whipping her head on multiple direction repeatedly.

"Okaaaaaay, that's weird." Understatement of the year, her skin was starting to crack like last time.

"I get the feeling my suspicions weren't misplaced." Oh great, here comes conspiracy man…

"What do you mean?" I asked the brunet in question.

"Think about it for a second. She's just too perfect in an impartial point of view. She has magical potential that no one else has, an extremely good control over magic, she's strong enough to easily wield two-handed blades… where are the cons?" I didn't agree with him at all.

"Ever thought she may actually be what she seems?" Well, I was being stupid there, but I didn't like losing trust in my friends.

"If she is… why is she with us? I don't say SOLDIER 1st class is in reach, she's too inexperienced, but 2nd isn't all that hard." He got me there. "Why did they never send her on the field? And what's… this?" He asked, picking up her hand, whose nails were now more akin to claws.

"I… don't know." I confessed, breaking to his demands. Before anything else came to pass, the cave shook again, remembering that we DID have a giant freaking dragon trying to crash in. "We have to hurry though!" he nodded and we both called her name. When she didn't answer Shin just got out some water and splashed it on her face. I'd say that was "cold" but that'd be a horrible pun.

"Wh-what?!" Terra yelled, jumping to her feet and inspecting the surroundings unnerved. After a few seconds she looked at her hand and was paralyzed at how the nails were and how a great deal of it was now pale violet. "What… is this?!" She screamed, falling to her knees. "Why?! I don't want this!" I still didn't understand what the heck was happening, only she did apparently.

"Hey, this is not the time to have a mental breakdown, we need you! Look at me!" Shin intervened, taking her hand out of her field of vision and looking at her dead in the eye. "We need you to heal Riku and we need that thing we discussed. Now. We can worry about what's happening to you when we aren't half an hour away from being eaten alive!" As unbelievably blunt as that was, the shocked face on Terra's face turned into a serious one and she nodded in agreement. Doing her best to avoid eye contact with her hand, she went towards Riku and started healing him. Shin had stopped the bleeding with some herbs he had bought at the store, but Terra healing him gave him enough energy to wake up.

"Wow… was that all real?" Riku asked. Shin and I debriefed him and he… took it a lot better than I thought. "So, what's the plan?"

"Okay guys, listen up, this is probably my best area so if you do this right, we'll leave without a scratch! Terra, I'm going to need that Warp spell. Here's why…" And we listened.


Back to the Master:

"President Laguna. What a marvelous surprise!" Rufus greeted, shaking the president's hand. "At what do I owe this honor?"

"Eraqus told me to drop by to, you know, avoid making you have two different meetings in this world. And Rufie, drop the President, we're buds, aren't we?" I was beginning to doubt that. Laguna and Rufus had been best friends in school… but that had been long ago. Too long ago.

"How thoughtful." He sneered, taking one good look at me. "Well, can I ask you your answer then?"

"I'm not buying this Rufus." Laguna had changed to his rarely seen serious side. "This whole act, the way it's all developed in secret, none of it."

"So, your problem is not knowing how I produce my services? Well, I thought you'd trust me… I was your best friend for years and still consider myself to be, modesty apart." It was like listening to a viper. "You know me, why is do you not trust me enough to accept it?"

"Rufus, again, I won't blindly accept your offer just for who you WERE!" Laguna shouted in an unparalleled display of anger. I was also seething, but I wasn't as hot blooded and "in the moment" as Laguna was, even though I was probably even more hateful than Laguna was. "This is Magitek Rufus. I've lost too much to it to not ask these questions. To not keep a close eye on everything related to it. I do not approve of your actions Rufus… especially with the surveys." Someone didn't expect hearing about surveys, and it wasn't me.

"So I see you resorted to petty spies… I thought more of you." He spat in a passively aggressive way, only to have an incorporeal voice speaking.

"But you didn't think more of me I'm sure." It was the voice of a middle aged man. It was him. I should've guessed he wouldn't just walk in the room… I already predicted what our computers would say next.

"I'm sorry Master Eraqus, but this man has designed, I can't say no." Tron apologized, even though I already knew he had to have been hacked.

"Don't worry. He's harmless." I answered. It was then that the door opened and from it entered a man.

"You… what're you doing here?" Rufus asked the newcomer. It wasn't the man I was expecting… then again, the man I was expecting would never walk in by the door.

He just replied:

"The same as Tony." The window flew open right at that time and Tron again showed one of the "symptoms" of being hacked by his creator. Music. Heavy music.

"Hello gentlemen, let's talk business, shall we?" The one I had called for the day before said as the vocals for the music kicked in:

I am Iron Man.


Back to what we were building up before we got to see a bunch of old guys talking and a cameo teaser that, let's be honest, has been obvious since chapter two...Anyway, back to Sora!

"Okay, everyone know what to do?" Shin asked. Another tremor came to pass and we could see the ice cracking.

"Yup!" I exclaimed, the other two just nodded. Right afterwards, from the crushed ice flew the Lagiacrus, landing on the ground with a massive tremor. He stood much like a crocodile would, but his head was in a cobra like position, looking down on us. We didn't move. "Come here and fight us mano a fin…o!" I taunted, holding my fists up high. The reptile seemed to scout the surroundings but saw nothing but a small disk in-between him and us. Hum. I wonder where the hole went? Anyway, thinking to be safe doing it, it roared and began running in our direction, lowering his head and now seeming like a full-fledged croc as he ran. I tried my best to hide my smirk, but we were all doing it on the inside. Once he got too close…

CRASH!

Right down the hole. "Suck it you blue croc-snake-thing!" Okay, not my finest hour, but the readers must know that I am not perfect, as hard as that is to believe. We went to the edge of the hole and saw how the confused monster was now squirming to get himself up, having fallen back first into it. Well, he was finding it hard since the hole was filled with large barrels Terra had been asked to keep track of and warp if needed. The barrels were also full of gunpowder and Shin had just now lit up a lighter he had bought for such an occasion.

"Insert Schwarzenegger one-liner here." A one-liner about one liners… Anyway, he simply let the lighter fall. I don't think I need to tell you what happened when the flame made contact with one of the barrels. Well, I can spell it out for you: B-o-o-m. So big it was, I was catapulted backwards. I was basically the only one who didn't brace himself for the explosion. At least it was over. I waited until the crimson maelstrom gave way into a fog of ashes and smoke to speak.

"So, looks like we don't need all that stuff. I mean, it was a good backup plan, but that thing's dead." I was so naïve at the time.

"If dead is a code name for pissed, yes, it's very dead." Shin replied, the freaking thing almost making me go deaf when it roared, ten times louder than last time. The smoke then became infested with sparks and suddenly, the thing's claw, now burned and broken, grabbed the edge of the hole.

"Oh that's just bull!" I shouted. The congregation of electricity that came afterwards however, clued me in. Jump! A ball of electricity whisked by us as I was surprised I had the presence of mind to dodge. While we were all on the floor however, the Lagiacrus pulled himself up, its eyes and spikes shinning like when he got really irritated last time.

"Hey Sora, we're going!" I heard Riku shout.

"Oh right… the back!" I exclaimed, now remembering how I was supposed to circle the damned thing. Riku, whose weapon did nothing but bounce on the thing, just jumped and kicked it in the face. Just to further irritate the leviathan class monster. While he did so, Shin cut at the now exposed chest since the head was now trying to catch the mid-flight Riku. That dagger of his cut the chest like butter. The Lagia squirmed and cringed in pain before plunging his head downwards. Shin had already dodged when he started it, like he had memorized the movements already. But even then, that was a distraction. The Riku had taken the other distraction to its full advantage and had now fallen on top of the crest, grabbing the horns. While the monster tried to shake it off, Terra landed on top of the back, where the spikes were located.

"Firaga!" She chanted, heeding the advice that it was weak to fire-elemental magic. Now this was a cry of pain. What I heard was so high pitched I had to cover my ears to get any closer. The explosion seemed to have angered the Lagiacrus FAR across the cautious line. He coiled his neck and tail and lightning began to cackle around it.

"Perfect…" Shin mumbled before shouting. "GET READY SORA!" Terra easily jumped off, as Riku did before the lightning field truly manifested, leaving us with our perfect situation. True to our "strategist's" words, the tail arced upwards when he created the field. And if he was right, the place where the blue carapace became the fin-like tail, about halfway through… was soft. "GO!"

"On it!" The last time I felt like this was when I fought with Dante. I lunged at it with only one goal in my mind. Sever it. With a war cry and a jump, just as the lightning ended, a flash of steel followed by a very small amount of blood. Yes, the blade was that sharp. Even being a giant key. Half of the tail fell on the ground, separated from the body as the leviathan cried in agony, rolling and squirming as more blood shot out. For the first time since I saw it, I felt on the same level as it was, not like the hunted, but more like the hunter. What I didn't expect though, was how the thing still had fight in it. With another deafening roar, it stood up. It locked on into the other three and bent its neck backwards. Riku immediately jumped out of the way, predicting a lightning ball, but Shinryu just stood there, unwavering. When the Lagiacrus jolted his head to the front… nothing came out.

"With the dermal spikes damaged… he can't do shit." Just how much did this guy know about these things? Anyway, it was around this time that the Lagiacrus realized that it was, indeed, outmatched and quickly losing blood, so it did the most logical thing and began heading towards the water, dragging his wounded back leg in the process. "Oh no you don't! Terra, Sora!" We nodded and blocked his path with our bodies. The leviathan had had enough of us and tried to take a bite out of us, but fortunately, we were too fast for its weakened state. He was probably not even seeing correctly due to blood loss. "Done!" That as our cue to get out of its way. Now desperate to run away, the monster didn't care the fact that Riku and Shinryu had left a circular object, that was cackling in electricity mind you, on his path to the sea and push forward. Needless to say, as soon as it stepped on it, the volt current was so large even a primarily electrical beast like it was paralyzed. "Let him have it!" And so, we pulled out the balls that Shinryu had built on that half an hour and showered him with redish spheres that exploded in a gas. After some waves of throws, and as soon as the Shock Trap ended, its eyes slowly closed, drifting into a tranquilizer-induced sleep.

"Aw yeah!" I cheered as the head hit the ground. "We rock!" Riku then approached the downed serpent and asked:

"So, who has the honors?" I don't know what he meant, but apparently Shinryu did.

"We're NOT killing it!" He shouted in a way it almost seemed like we were talking about his mother.

"Look, as much as your strategy DID give us a victory so easy I almost doubted this was a First Class monster… what you're saying is retarded. Do you actually think this guy won't wake up and chomp us?" I had to agree with Riku here. All this just to put it to sleep and then leave was pretty dangerous.

"First, it's not a "guy", it's a girl." The man replied, going to a nearby rock and plucking one MASSIVE egg from behind it. "And it was just protecting this. The eyes are normal, the behavior as well. It isn't possessed." So… this was all a misunderstanding… great. Just great. Now I would feel like a prick killing it. Still, it IS dangerous to leave it be. Or so I thought. "Second three of these tranq bombs make a Lagia sleep for one hour. We threw SIXTEEN to be safe. And THIRD, if we leave her here, I can send Felynes to pick her up and surgically restore the tail so no harm done if we leave now. No need for senseless killing." Riku was left a bit turned off and how hard he had been told, especially by the end of it, but what I really surprised me was how, in a situation where we could all die, that guy concocted a plan not to save US but to save US and the ENEMY. "Killing is never the answer, remember that. Let's go, the rest might be in trouble."

"That's… surprisingly noble. But he's right, we need to hurry." Terra nodded, shaking off her right hand before jumping into the water. I still wanted to know what that was all about.

"Maaaan. I just passed as a jackass." Riku spouted in fake irritation. "Well, I guess he's right. Death is kinda permanent, you can't erase your mistake if it is. Anyway, I think we should warn your girlfriend that there's currently a giant flying thing roaming around."

"Who the hell are you talking about?!" I shouted at him.

"Oh, I don't know… ends with an I and starts with a K." Oh he did not just imply that.

"I. Hate. Her." I punctuated for added emphasis.

"Whatever you say boy. Just make me your best man at the wedding, 'kay?" I swear he was this close to getting his head swiped clean off before jumping into the water. Oh I could swim faster than him, but I'd rather keep homicide off my record.


And for the first time in the story… Roxas!

Before you ask, no, we didn't run. And no, it wasn't to "not leave Kairi behind". It would make sense to go get Zack and Aqua to help her. The thing is, that wyvern always managed to block the exit. We tried a couple of times, but it always managed to block our escape route. Kairi just couldn't keep up. She was trying to, but we all knew we needed a miracle. Right now she had axe-kicked the head of the beast but really, it made no damage. She was able to outrun it simply because she was a lot smaller and for that, more nimble. We all knew that a single swipe that she took head on would probably kill her and that all of her martial arts did nothing but mildly annoy the monster, but I couldn't do anything. Xion had already emptied her cartridge on it, thing is, the skin was too hard for normal ammo. At least Naminé seemed stable, if in pain.

"Hey Roxas…" Xion called me in a hesitant tone.

"What is it?!" I asked a bit upset, not taking my eyes of the battle. Kairi had dodged a claw swipe by ducking and then delivered a backflip-kick onto the thing's chin, only to have it shake it off before she even landed and getting punted away by hit from the back of the wing.

"Does this qualify as an emergency?" I swear, I completely lost it there.

"NO XION! THIS ISN'T! I MEAN, IT'S NOT LIKE WE DON'T HAVE A SECRET PLAN! WE'RE JUST GIVING THAT THING A CHANCE AREN'T WE?!" Yeah… I don't handle stress all that well. Still, for all it's worth, Xion seemed to understand my situation and didn't overact at all.

"Guess it is, huh? Well, I'm going to use this then." I saw her read out for her skirt and pull it slightly up. I was confused… a lot! Was she hitting on me?! Look, she is pretty and all, but she's just not my type… too energetic and not blonde. Thank god she was only reaching for a… did she really have a gun tied to her leg there?! "My Uncle told me to use this only for emergencies." She said. Now that I noticed… that was old as shit. I mean, not the gun, the model. It wasn't even an automatic.

"Xion… what the heck is that old gun?" I asked of her, quickly glancing at the battle to see how Kairi had successfully mounted the head of the Tigrex. This should give us time… and she was thrown off. Scratch that. She did manage to flip and land on one knee, but her expression told us how damaged she was. One eye was half-closed and the right cheek had a major gash, not to mention how she was all wet from rolling on the watery floor. Her clothes were getting tattered too, a worrying cut on her stomach bleeding a bit too much. I almost didn't register Xion's speech.

"This is not an old gun! This is the greatest handgun ever made. The Colt Single Action Army. Six bullets... More than enough to kill anything that moves." She whispered in an almost idolizing tone as she opened the chamber to put the bullets in. That… was creepy. "You know, they call this the Peacemaker… do you know why?" She whispered the last part oh so creepily. Yeah, I knew why.

"Why not pull that out sooner if it's so good?!" I blurted, seeing as she had seemingly done this on purpose.

"I only have six bullets… and I can't get them easily, they're specially made now." Well, so she did have a reason. "One from Zack. One from Dad. One from David. One from George and Jack. One from Josh and one from Mom." She recited those names as she slowly inserted the bullets into the frame and readied the weapon. Finally, she just had to spin it like she used to, didn't she? "Okay… I'm ready. KAIRI!" The girl in question ducked as Xion set herself in firing position with her right hand. "Duck!" She yelled as she fired. She twisted her wrist to deal with the recoil and the bullet sped off. Kairi instinctively ducked as the bullet… missed the Tigrex and headed towards the rock. I thought Xion smiling after shooting was just idiotic before seeing how the bullet hit the side of the rock, ricocheting diagonally into the floor and then again in the floor, now going diagonally up and… right into the eye of the wyvern.

"Holly shit…" I never curse but this?! This was just insane. Xion chuckled and spun her gun again, playfully blowing out air on it.

"Just like Uncle Adam showed me." She really had a thing for metallic constructs, didn't she? Anyway, back to the fight, apparently this was just a small victory. The thing shook its head a couple of times before the pain became rage. It jumped backwards and elevated its head roaring with such power it blew Kairi away. "I-I thought it would run away!" Xion sutured. O much for the confidence. "We're done. He's… enraged." It didn't take her to tell me that. The leftover eye was now red, so red we could see it was by the fact most blood was concentrated there. Not only that, but even the veins on the side of the skull were now more pronounced, stripes of red adorning it. The same happened to the leg-wings and the other side of the head. But that wasn't the worst, oh no. The thing became so fast I couldn't follow it. It was so fast Kairi was rammed into before she could react. She rolled on the floor and went as far as to cough blood from the impact. Yes. Kairi. Coughed blood. Because of one attack. We were food.

"Watch out!" Xion warned, jumping into me and Nam to take us off the collision course of the now jumping wyvern, which landed near us with a rock breaking crash. Xion tried to get up and point her revolver at it, but she was easily disarmed when the wyvern rammed its snout into her, catapulting her backwards.

"Xion!" I cried before screaming in agony. The Tigrex had just stepped stomach, no doubt rupturing some internal organs with the strength behind it. I could feel the slobber hit my face. It was hungry and quite frankly, I was easy food.

"Roxas…?" Oh, what a great time for Nam to wake up. She was catapulted off my lap, but she was really only a few centimeters from me. She should never have talked. Remembering how she had been incapacitated, the monster thought she was a better and easier prey than me. What I thought there was basically suicide but hey, follow me on this. I wouldn't be able to move at all from having internal bleeding, Naminé still had one leg and the third reason was highly illogical.

"Nam, wake Kairi and Xion up and RUN!" I shouted, punching its eye. Okay, that wasn't going to blind him but it WAS going to take his full attention.

"Roxas, what are you doing?!" I think it was obvious. I was actually fully mentally prepared when I saw it opening its enormous jaws. In my mind, it was the only way.

Clank.

The back of my eye saw a small yellow bottle land next to me, then, only light.

"Get away from my bro you overgrown lizard!" I never thought I'd be so happy to hear that moron like I was now.


Watching over the mysterious duo:

"They got together… this might be too much even for that." Marly, the pink haired man commentated, watching the Tigrex get a massive scar on its head when Sora jumped in.

"Yes, especially when two of them know what our pet's weaknesses are. I think we should send in the cavalry!" Larxene said in her usual sadistic tone.

"Oh, I think you have other problems…" Zack said, unsheathing his sword. "Long story short… We had a lead."

"Surrender now and you'll get off without being hurt… immensely!" Aqua demanded. The blonde just laughed.

"Oh oh… let me get the girl!" Larxene exclaimed, licking her lips once again and pulling out all eight of her daggers. "I love strong types… Making them squeal is so satisfying!"

"Fine… I'll get the puppy." Marly sighed, creating a vortex of cherry blossom petals around his hand and shoulder, which formed a scythe of the same color.


Back down with Sora:

This was actually shaping up to go pretty well. Yes, this monster was the exact same level as the Lagia and contrary to it, we had no strategy to counter it to the point of uselessness and yes, we weren't nearly as strong as a first class, but it had one eye and we were five. Kairi had been quickly healed back to her feet. Well, I was wrong. I was still in midair when it reacted to my slash and jumped after me, clawing my back and smashing me to the floor. Riku had no weapon so he could only punch the pseudo-wyvern as Shin called it to lure him off me. It didn't go too well for him. The enraged dinosaur like monster didn't turn to him. He gained momentum with its right claw and spun with it, gashing Riku's chest and knocking him and Kairi back, who was approaching to rescue me. The irony, I was now in Roxas' position. Just face down, which stopped me from reacting in any way. We were also out of resources, we had to use them for the Lagia. No bombs, nothing. However…. The Tigrex suddenly had to look back at its tail.

Or lack of tail. Let's get this in simple facts. Shin with his dagger? Manages to gash something on the weak spots. Terra with his dagger? She cut the whole tail off easily. Well, I did as well, but you get the idea. The Tigrex roared and changed targets completely, turning it's full attention on the girl. BUT as soon as he stopped making contact with me…

"Thundaga." It was weak to thunder. A giant lightning falling down from above wouldn't exactly massage him. The way it screamed was even worse than when we cut off its tail. It began spasming and squirming so hard we thought he would fall dead right there. Alas, that wouldn't be a first class adversary, would it? When the discharge ended, the pseudo wyvern flinched and limped a bit, but it was still ready to decimate people.

."What? Terra, again!" Shin shouted, telling Terra to finish the damned lizard.

"Thunda-GAH" No, that wasn't the ending of the word. For some reason, Terra's arm exploded literally, now being completely like her hand was, but I had no time for details though. What that caused was the Tigrex taking advantage of it and jumping on the now kneeling Terra. Then we heard a gunshot and it failed its target, even the landing, rolling on the floor.

"Boom… headshot…" Xion managed to say in between deep breaths, her gun fuming from the firing. "Right in the other eye…" She spat, slowly getting up and shaking off the water from her hair. It was over, the thing was blinded.

"Right on!" I complimented, fist pumping her because she was a… sis like that. I don't know what to call a female "bro".

"I have to admit, that WAS some crazy shooting." Riku added.

"Oh my god… I must be the world's greatest marksman for having Captain Perfect over here compliment me!" She teased, punching Riku's chest in defiance. "So, found out yet?"

"You still on about that? Don't worry, I'm just giving you time to prepare your mind before I blow it." I'll never understand that girl. She's trying to "out man" Riku… and succeeding. To add to the confusion, she didn't LOOK like a guy so my mind was about to explode. Now, Kairi seemed to be talking to Naminé, Roxas just lying on her lap. We desperately needed a healer for most of us, but Terra didn't seem in the best of conditions. She was still clutching to her arm, alone. Then we heard a low shriek.

"That thing is still alive?" Roxas asked from Naminé's lap.

"Not for long." Shinryu, who had just closed the eyelid of the wyvern said. "We need to put it down…" The way he said it made it seem like he TRULY felt bad by doing it…

"I think we need to remind him of the whole "I'm going to eat you all" thing. I doubt this too had an egg." Riku pointed out.

"I heard that Riku. A Tigrex is a predator, he lives to eat other animals. We are animals. Sorry, but what he did, he did because it was hungry." He was now treating the Tigrex with an "he"… okay.

"You do know that we found a TRAIL of Velociprey leading up to it, don't you?" Kairi remarked.

"And that's why he didn't eat them. When a Tigrex eats his prey… there's nothing left, not even the skeleton. This guy is starving even now. Look at the body, it must've not eaten in days." Damn it Shin, stop making grey area! I want the classic good versus evil! Not the "Oh, it depends on the way you view it."! Worse yet, that thing that only lusted for blood before was now eerily still, no revenge blind bites, nothing. It just stood there, squirming in pain calmly… waiting. "Go get my dagger, I'll do it…" I was about to, but Riku stepped up.

"Look, if it's so hard on you, let me. I can honestly say I won't be affected one bit. Sorry, but I don't share your ideals." Riku managed to come off as a prick and as a reasonable person at the same time… who would've known.

"No. He's blind because of me. I'll do it." Xion stated, whooshing past Riku and standing directly in front of the Tigrex. "No hard feelings… right?" She asked, slowly bringing her gun in line with the scar on its head, so she could kill him instantly by shooting the brain. It was unnerving. Really unnerving. We could only hear the low squeals of pain the thing was going through and even though it was just an animal AND it had just tried to brutally maim us… after having someone ruin the picture of him being pure evil, I couldn't help but feel sorry for it. And apparently, neither could Xion. Biting her own lip and trembling was she. To stop the trembling, she even tried to use her left hand, but even then, she couldn't do it.

"It's an animal, if you can't do it, I will." Riku offered, a bit forcefully.

"Don't, I will!" Xion shouted, taking Riku aback. "We both did what we needed to do. I'm sorry it had to end like this. Sleep…" She closed her eyes, pressured the trigger and:

BANG!

Quick, efficient. The pseudo-wyvern squirmed once and was just… faded away. I never thought I'd feel this way for a thing like that. It was a living being…

"Dad was right… your first time really does make you want to throw up." Xion muttered, covering her mouth with her hand. "And it wasn't even human…"

"C'mon Xi, it was a mercy shot." I told her, trying to cheer her up.

"Yeah… I know…" I decided to leave her be for the time being and head to the rest of the group. She needed to be alone.

"Okay, now what?" Riku questioned.

"We need to get Aqua." Kairi replied without a doubt.

"But what about her? I never saw ANYTHING like that." I told them pointing at Terra.

"Well, let's just carry her. Kairi seems a bit beat up so the three of us can take the wounded." That sounded about right. But wait a second… isn't the title a bit misleading? I mean…

"I can smell something…" Terra suddenly told us, her nose twitching. "It's… Heartless!" We just cannot catch a break, can we? We looked up and lo and behold, the same flash of crimson wooshed past us, landing forcefully on the ground, where it raised a massive torrent of water with its impact. From behind the curtain we could only see that void yellow eye. There wasn't gray zone on this one. And the King of the Skies roared.


Back in Moga Village, a very special boat had arrived, one that warranted the attention of the chief. Leaving it was the man we once saw, now clad in a massive dark plate made of scales.

"Guild Master! What do I owe this honor?!" He greeted, bowing his head at him and the three people around this.

"Get ready to evacuate the village if needed too." He said sharply. "I know you refused last time, but this time, it's different. Trust me." The man was tightening the freshly put gauntlet as he spoke. The woman behind him spoke.

"Sorry chief, but we really think you need to. This isn't anything like the Ceadeus." The woman told the chief, who laughed.

"Oho! If you are telling me that, then it must be really dangerous. Don't worry, I'll leave it to you." He said, turning his back.

"Thanks chief." The master thanked, signaling them to follow him. "After twenty years… one of these appears again. I can't mobilize the entire guild like my predecessor did… And I doubt it'd be here if it wasn't being controlled somehow, it usually lives in volcanoes." He lamented, knowing exactly what he was up against. "Let's go, Sol, Luna, kid. This is where the hunter's guild takes the reigns. He shouted, beginning to run. The pamphlet he was holding detached from his pouch and flew into the hands of the chief as he saw the intervention team run.

"Oh my… This is bad." He looked at the sign which said:

Slaying Mission

Nine Stars out of Nine

Supreme Monster


Next Chapter:

"C'mon bluebird! SQUEEL! SQUEEL!"

"What's happening to her?!"

"burn… Burn… BURN! I'LL MAKE YOU BURN!"

"Number one… Sir, what are you doing here?"

Next time on Normalcy? Extremely Overrated: Black God, Blood Angel


Profiles:

What? No characters except ones that won't be detailed until next chapter? Well, great… Okay, new plan! Encyclopedia!

Tigrex (Monster Hunter Freedom 2): A flying wyvern that maintains its primitive origins. Prone to violence, it possesses incredible ferocity thanks to its four limbs, claws, and jaw. Inhabits a wide area, it has even been spotted hunting humans if hungry. It's attitude has granted him the title of "tyrant of the earth".

Lagiacrus (Monster Hunter Tri): The biggest of Leviathans, Lagiacrus are at the top of the aquatic food chain. Feared by sailors as 'The Lords of the Seas', they store enough electricity in their spinal organs to make the oceans surge. Occasionally seen resting on land but rarely attack humans out of spite.


Post-Chapter Note:Yeah, I think we start to see the connection between the main plot and this little excursion, don't we? Before you go all apeshift on me because 90% of you don't know shit about the two monsters on this chapter… Does it really matter? I mean, it's not like they have BACKSTORY. I just needed something to screw our "heroes" pretty hard and give you the "they're screwed vibe". I think it worked. And I felt bad killing one of them… even if I… COMPLETELY. UTTERLY. DESPISE. The man who designed the Tigrex's moveset and especially his God… I mean rage mode. "Listen to this… when it's in rage mode, let's just have him take off half your health whenever he hits you with the thing it spams the most… seems about right." Anyway, personal frustrations aside, I do hope you enjoyed this chapter, you'll have real revelations about a lot next chapter. And people who know my other stories… yeah, those signs on the blonde are leading to what I love to do.

Finally, I love how people are actually pointing out what they like and IF they like the story, so… keep going, I love to know what you guys like BUT if you feel like I need to improve something, I also like constructive criticism. That said, let's see if we get to fifty, shall we? The box is just bellow.