I tried some new things with this one. I am really tired. Enjoy.
Lesson Nine
Good, Evil, and Them
Sora flopped onto his face and groaned into dirt of the forest. "My bones hurt…" He said attempting to push himself off the ground. They weren't in Twilight Town anymore. The forest was much vaster. Pines, oaks, and spruces surrounded them as far as the eye could see.
"That's probably just the stress fractures from the increased gravity. Nothing to worry about." Weston said doing one-armed pushups with his koala sitting on his back.
"Maggie's training regimen is gonna kill us before the tournament. It's only the first day but, it feels like my body's gonna collapse on itself." Sora managed to roll himself face up and found Weston staring down at him.
"Y'know, Cloud had a fourth year doing what I'm doing three years ago. When my naïve first year ass pointed out the unfairness of it, said fourth year took me to an island where it rained lightning and left me there with no food or water. Then pirates showed up. Moral of the story: quit your bitchin'."
Sora finally managed to get the strength to pull himself up off the ground and leaned against a tree. He looked up at the orange sky from his seat; his eyes followed a pair birds through the braches of the maple. He turned his head back to Weston who had resumed his pushups and asked. "Why do we have to fight? I mean why do we Wielders have to fight each other to see who's strongest?"
Weston chuckled but continued. "There's a very long list of reasons as to why things are like that. You'll figure it out eventually, so I'll just tell you the biggest reasons. Put simply it's the whole reason the Academy was formed in the first place. They'll tell that it exists to train us to properly use our abilities but, in reality it's a monitoring system. Corral us all into one place and you've got pretty much all you need to keep tabs on the people who could bring the apocalypse. They tag us, check who has what powers, and throw us out into the world hoping we're not plotting to destroy it. And if we are, they're ready to fight back. Or they're ready if they decide to get rid of us. As for the tournament, it's to see who the biggest threat is. And believe me; I plan on making it very clear we could destroy them if we wanted to. But it's not like there are very many of us who actually want to.
"Of course the fact that Maleficent has that as her shtick doesn't help. Didn't exactly explain that part to ya back in Agrabah so, I'll get to it right now. See most Worlds aren't like Destiny Islands where Wielders like Xehanort get hero worship. In fact most people treat us like shit. Whether it's fear or hatred I won't go into. Point is, Maleficent got sick of it and decided to turn the tables create a world where only Wielders could survive. That's where Kingdom Hearts supposedly comes in. How? I don't know. Are you even listening to me?"
Sora was fast asleep against the trunk of the maple tree. "That little asshole."
Heart Gears
In Hollow Bastion, Maleficent sat on the throne of the long deposed king of the World. In her hand was her black staff with a glowing green crystal ball fixed atop it. The stain glass windows allowed light to filter into the long marble corridor leading to the seat and brightened the meter wide blue carpet a variety of different shades. The witch gazed at the large oak doors that were heavily engraved and carved with art truly fit for the royal castle.
The doors slowly creaked open as Maleficent's servant, Pete, entered. The overweight anthropomorphic cat walked into the room with a young man following him. His face matched Sora's perfectly and, his hair was just as spiky but black. His arrogant smile was backed by his amber eyes. A brown leather jacket with fur trimmings covered his torso and black jeans were on his legs. A pair of boots was on his feet. "So what do you want? I've got more important things to worry about."
"You'll be wise to watch your mouth, Vanitas." Maleficent warned. "I'm still in control here and you will show me the respect I deserve."
"Here ya go." Vanitas threw up his middle finger.
"Insolent little whelp!" The sorceress swung her staff violently. A stroke of black lighting shot out from the orb and rode the marble in front of Vanitas following the arc of the staff. He and Pete threw up their arms to shield their eyes from the light.
"Could've warned me it was that time of the month." Vanitas said to Pete under the sound of thunder. He lowered his arms and noted his singed jacket and the scorched floor. "Alright, alright you've got my undivided attention. Now let's hear it." Maleficent sneered and gave a less threatening wave of her staff. A ticket appeared in front of him and he took it from the air. It was colorful piece with balloons and bright orange silhouette of the Academy in the center. "World Order Academy 458th Annual Festival. All three days. Admission One." He read aloud. "You actually want me to go to this thing?"
"I want you to gather information." She told him. "If they are planning anything, that festival is the best time to find out. In particular keep an ear open for Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, Weston Hunter, Kimberly Nation, and Neil DeVito. My underlings are wanted criminals. You are anonymous. A ghost. And you will be rewarded handsomely."
"Hm," Vanitas looked at the ticket with an amused expression. "Alright, I'm in." He stuffed the ticket into his jacket's inside pocket. Dark energy surged from his right hand and took the shape of a chopper accented with gears. He swung his leg over the seat as a black helmet took shape over his head. Vanitas pulled on the handle bars starting the engine. A black swirling Corridor of Darkness opened in front of him. "By the way, if you turn on me, in short order, I will fuck your shit up."
He drove into the Corridor laughing as it closed behind him. Pete glanced at the tire tracks before warily turning back to his mistress. "Gee, uh, you sure we can trust that guy?" He said almost tripping on his words.
"Of course not." Maleficent answered with a scoff. "This is game of wits. I have the Heartless; the Order has the Academy. Vanitas is a rogue piece that does as it pleases. Best he pleases to help our side. Does that pea brain of yours understand?"
"Uh yeah, I guess." He didn't.
Heart Gears
Shizuko was awoken by feel of the pick-up truck coming to a stop. At first her eyes rolled over to the driver, Squall Leonhart. He put the truck in park and removed the key from the ignition. Looking in his rearview mirror he saw Yuffie Kisaragi and Isabel sleeping in the back seat. "You two, wake up. We're here."
Yuffie and Isabel stirred into consciousness with groans. Yuffie let out an over exaggerated yawn, stretching herself completely and covering her mouth. Isabel shoved one of arms that was in her face down in irritation. "First they fly us here at two in the morning, then they make us drive for an hour. This job sucks." Yuffie complained mixing her words with another yawn.
Squall leaned back into his seat and said, "Not my fault you didn't get some sleep. If you're gonna complain, do it to him." Squall pointed to the man stepping out of the red SUV's passenger side in front of them. His black hair was slicked back. Glasses were on his face and a smile that Shizuko interpreted as false was on his face. A turtle neck and jeans set him apart from the rest of the occupants of the vehicle. They were six well built men four of them having tattoos. Their clothes were significantly less contrasting to their faces fitting the fact that they were World Order soldiers. All of them were glaring down the pick-up. However, as Shizuko suspected, the looks were towards Isabel.
Squall and the rest of the pick-up's occupants stepped outside onto the dirt driveway they had driven onto; Isabel pulled up her jacket's hood. To the left of the truck was the metal gate that led the garden of the retreat house they'd be using as a base of operations. The rest of the house was surrounded by a wall that was built into the other structures. In front of them was a building with a slanted roof. Glass was in the top half of the building but the rest was stone painted white. A bulky robot like art piece with new red, blue, and green paint sat on the front steps that led into the building. A dirt road was next to it. On the trucks' was left a simple single story building with windows that let one look into rooms with young students in red uniforms studying. Behind them, down a dirt slope, was a cement soccer court. It was surrounded on three sides by a fence. The fourth side had a wall with cement bleachers and a restroom. Beyond the fencing were more buildings connected to the retreat house with cobblestone paths between them. Past one corner of the court was a path that led to elsewhere in the compound and past the other was a metal gate that led to the cobblestone street of the village. Beyond the far side of the court with the buildings was a church bell.
On the court were about twenty boys between the ages of eight to ten playing soccer. The boys were mostly tan with dark hair and mostly wore sweat pants and soccer jerseys. They shouted at each other in Spanish occasionally but, mostly used Quechua. There were two white men playing with them. On the bleachers were women and girls watching the game. Squall had caught the eyes of a few of the girls and younger women. A few boys who weren't playing stared at the group with smiles and joking shoved one another to see who would greet them first. Around the compound men were working to maintain the grounds.
As a whole the village was surround by mountains most of which were covered in grasses and other plant life. The setting sun was being partly hidden in the east. Isabel looked onto one mountain and saw the inscription carved into it: "Viva Andahuaylillas."
After a few minutes the doors of the slanted roofed building opened. An older man in his fifties came out along with a group of young children grabbing his legs. They eventually let go and allowed him to leave but, he laughed and smiled the whole time. Like the rest of the locals his skin was tan but his hair was grey. A baseball cap was on his head and a brown jacket was over a red polo. His aged eyes were behind a pair of glasses.
"Welcome, welcome." He said holding out his hand to the man with slicked hair. Squall glanced at Isabel as he heard his voice. "Mr. Dwayne, it is good to see you in person."
"Father Miguel, I presume." He said shaking the priest's hand. "Thank you for the cooperation on such short notice. Our original accommodations had to cancel and we just didn't want to cancel the trip."
"Eh, no problem." He said releasing his grip and patting Dwayne on the shoulder. "It's our pleasure. Please, all of you come inside." Father Miguel beckoned towards the gate which he opened. The garden had a stone pathway among its grasses and flowers. Directly inside from the gate was a lemon tree which Isabel immediately picked and ate of not bothering to peel the fruit. The retreat house had two buildings separated by the garden. One could be accessed by turning left directly inside gate but, the other larger one had to be entered from the opposite side.
Father Miguel led them into the larger building and gave a short tour. The main room was a rectangle with wooden floors and another door that led to a yard across it. It was furnished with wooden chairs and tables. The walls were white but, the window frames were varnished mahogany giving a good splash of color to the room. To the right of the entrance was a hall that led to the bathroom and bedrooms. At the end of the hall was a staircase that went to the upper floor. "If you need anything while you're here, come find me." Father Miguel said before leaving.
Shortly after, the Order soldiers started unpacking the trucks. The smaller bags had personal belongings and toiletries. The larger cases contained weapons ranging from sidearm to heavy artillery. They quietly moved trying not to draw attention to themselves. It wouldn't be good if a nosey child saw their arms. Each soldiers' weapons were stowed in their rooms and a rule was immediately put in place to prohibit entrance into the bedrooms to anyone outside their group. The main room, however, was left clean of such items.
Eventually Dwayne held a meeting in the main room. The smile still remained on his face. "Ladies and gentlemen, I glad to say that step one of this operation is complete. For those of you who don't know," He looked at the Wielders, "I am Dwayne Kline, director of the Zero unit, who are basically the World Order's black ops squad. Our mission is to eliminate a faction of the remnants of the terrorist organization called the Shining Path. This group has been using Heartless from Maleficent to cause trouble for indigenous of this World and the government of this particular area doesn't have access to the equipment required to deal with them. Also they've been supplying her with weapons including RPGs, humvees, and tank piercing artillery. Bear in mind that when I say 'eliminate' I mean nobody survives. Is that understood?"
He was answered by a loud "Sir!" The Wielders simply shrugged.
"Our actual assault will be in a week. We'll go over the details over the course of the next few days. Until then we play the role of geologists taking samples and measurements on the formation of the Andes. The kids here are receiving science credit for being interns. As long as everyone read up on their files, we shouldn't run into any issues. Dismissed."
By the time the meeting ended night had fallen. Shizuko decided to walk around the compound to familiarize herself with the area. The air was comfortably warm but she found her chest strained in the high altitude. She sat down on the cement bleachers and gazed at the moon. She was the only person outside at the time and the only other creatures were insects and a dog resting in one of goals. Her mind wondered to the battle so early that morning. She was glad the three of them weren't anywhere nearby. Particularly, Kairi continued to spring to mind, specifically the face she made when the fight was over.
Biting her lip, Shizuko searched her mind for something else to occupy her thoughts. Instead her ears were filled with, "Hi cuz!" She glanced over to the retreat house and saw Yuffie waving and Squall shushing her. Yuffie vanished and reappeared on the bleachers with smile on her face. "Sure has been a while huh."
"Seven years actually." Shizuko responded returning her eyes to the moon. Yuffie blocked Shizuko's view by standing over her.
"And that's why we should be catching up." Yuffie said plopping down next to Shizuko. Squall had walked over but, decided not to disturb them choosing to kick around a soccer ball that had been left on the court. "So what ya been up to?"
"I don't see how that's any of your business, Yuffie." Shizuko responded sharply.
Yuffie shrugged. "Well, the family's been doing fine. Ol' Staniv just had his third kid. Dad's being Dad, I guess." Shizuko didn't react. "He was really happy when he heard you were alive. You are his sister's only kid y'know. And we're all sorta worried about ya. You're family in all."
"Is there a point to any of this?" Shizuko asked.
"Well, we want you come home, back to Wutai with your family." Yuffie admitted with a smile.
"I don't have a home anymore! The closest thing I have to family is Jake." Shizuko head jerked towards her cousin.
"That's not true! You know Aunt Marina wouldn't want to hear you say something like that." Yuffie argued.
"You're right. She wouldn't." Shizuko admitted. "That doesn't mean have to agree with it."
"And here I thought that blood was thicker than water. Guess I was wrong about that." Yuffie turned her head away with a pouting expression on her face that Squall almost laughed at.
Shizuko returned her eyes to the sky and said, "No, you thought right."
Heart Gears
Three days had gone by, Wednesday, and the 'Special Serving' was in full course. The trio's goal at the moment was an exercise that they had been doing since day one: climb a half mile, sheer rock face with their bare hands. To up the ante, Maggie had started putting one hundred pound weights weights on their backs the second day and increasing them by ten pounds each day. The three of them were utterly baffled as to how they were still alive.
"I hate her." Riku grunted as his arms pulled him higher. He could see that the top of the cliff a few pulls away. He forced himself to tough it out and climbed over the top. Fortunately Maggie had the decency to allow a water break and rest after they had all climbed to the top. Ten minutes later, however, she pointed down the trail that led back towards the forest they were camping in.
And they ran the three miles as they'd done before being weighed down even further. Once they arrived at the forest they received another break before doing sit-ups with the weights clutched in their arms. After that came lateral lunges. Then there were the squats. And it continued on with more strenuous exercises for two hours.
After an hour break they were right back to exercising. It was at noon that actual combat training began. It started with an obstacle course that changed every day. "I don't like this." Kairi whispered as she stared at the completely empty canyon.
"C'mon, I spent like two hours setting this up." Maggie said, pushing them forward. "Go, on. Go."
Sora finally ran forward hoping nothing too bad. The first thing that happened was energy turrets jutting out from the walls of the canyon and firing. Sora jumped forward to avoid the shots and Riku and Kairi followed him. When the turrets stopped the ground began shift. Rocks rose out of the dirt beneath them and lifted them into the air for more turrets to fire at them. Pits appeared spontaneously in ground and were filled with non-venomous snakes or other animals that weren't happy to see them. Rocks were thrown down the cliff. Geysers blasted them with hot water and steam. Vultures pecked at them. Flaming arrows were shot from the cliff walls. The ground exploded.
After they completed the "Mile of Death" as they'd come to call, a name which Maggie took up with pride, the three of them rolled onto their backs desperate for rest and water before the thankfully lighter training in the afternoon.
After a decent sized lunch consisting of fruits and sandwiches, the group separated for five hours of individual training. Sora had spent his time with Weston in the forest. Most of the time, they were working on actual combat. Sora quickly learned that even though his specialty was electricity Weston had learned the basics of various other elements. These spells were picked up by Sora at an alarming rate to point were Weston had pretty much stopped using magic and relied on his martial arts.
The expression on Weston's face confirmed that he wasn't really trying not even using his HG. His long arms and legs flew at Sora with incredible precision. Each punch, chop, knee, kick, and elbow came less than an inch from connecting. Occasionally they'd be charged with electricity. Sora would be stunned then knocked on his butt. The Mile of Death made sense to Sora in moments like these. His reflexes were unbelievable even to himself. Each movement was timed and Weston's were making more sense as time progressing. Sora began noticing tiny things about Weston that let him dodge more easily. The way his weight shifted before a kick and his eyebrows moved before punches. There was an incredibly slight delay before electrically charged blows.
Throughout the entire day, Sora saw one opening as he was stepping back from an open palm thrust aimed the solar plexus. Weston's feet were planted firmly on the ground which would slow down his movement for a single moment. Sora fired a blizzard spell at his back leg freezing it to the ground. He prepared to use Strike Raid but, Weston broke free after a smile and used his other leg to kick the Keyblade into the air. A back kick knocked Sora off his feet.
He watched as the Keyblade landed in the grass next to him. Weston gave him a thumbs up.
Heart Gears
"Oh, why do I always have to do this kind of stuff?" Pete grumbled as he walked through the razed town. Buildings still burned from the destruction. Windows were shattered and glass littered the street. A crushing sound made Pete jump but it was just a building ready to give way due the damage it had sustained. The only signs of life were animals running around free and the bodies of those who'd tried to fight back.
"Ah Pete, guten tag!" Pete jumped at the female voice. He spun around and found its source before trying to make his face look somewhat dignified. The girl, Raynor von Brandt, in front of him had dark blue hair with red eyes. She stood in the ruined town with a light fabric jacket and black jeans. "Are you sick?" She said through her rough German accent. "Your face, it is pale."
"I, uh, I'm fine thank you very much. Uh, gut 'n' tag." He responded still gathering his face. "I came to check to see how your mission was goin'."
"All who are not dead are Heartless. They were not much for fighting. Easy day." Raynor explained.
"Yeah, easy day, sure…" Pete looked at ruins and noticed the building that startled him earlier was finally collapsing. Grey dust filled the streets around and clouded the area around him and Raynor. "So I'm also supposed to give you a message."
"And it is?"
"To go to help Hamilton with the preparations for the plan to kidnap those other Princesses."
"I get to go to the big city!" She squealed in delight. "I go! I go!" Raynor opened a Corridor and leapt through without another word.
"Mission accomplished I guess."
Heart Gears
Squall had just gotten through with a shower after playing soccer with some of the boys of the village. After putting his clothes on, he came down to make himself a cup of coca tea. He set the leaves in the mug and poured hot water into it. Taking his spoon he mixed the coca with sugar and had his drink.
As he sat down to enjoy the tea, Dwayne Kline walked into the room with two thick file folders tucked under his arm. Squall glanced in the director's direction with the cup to his mouth. Kline maintained the smile he'd been wearing since the first day. Squall still didn't trust him. He sat down across from Squall and laid the folders down making sure their labels could be seen: "Isabel Sanchez" and "Shizuko Kuroha." Both had "Security Level 6" stamped across them and a photograph of the respective girl clipped on.
Squall couldn't stop his eyes from looking at the folders. The nagging urge to open them danced through his mind. "Seems like a lot trouble to just throw them on the table." He said.
"Trouble? The only trouble I had acquiring these was waiting for the intern to find them." Kline admitted. "So do you care if I stay or would you rather I leave you to read in peace?"
"I don't really care what you do." Squall set down his drink and pulled Isabel's file towards himself. He opened it and began skimming to gain bits of basic information. As he'd suspected, they were on Isabel's home World and town. Her records stated that she had vanished at the age of eight shortly after her abilities began to manifest themselves. Her location was unknown until two years later when she reappeared with Felix Hunter. After that the pair went on what could be described as a three year rampage on the world around them. They eventually decided to come to the Academy for reasons yet to be discovered.
Shizuko's was vague with certain details. Her parents and extended family were murdered when she was seven and she had been assumed dead as well. Then two years earlier a string of assassinations and conveniently timed deaths started. Eventually the Order noticed her and Jake's movements and confirmed her identity. They hired her in exchange for freedom and money. Her motivation to join the Academy was unclear but, Squall assumed it was to get on someone's good side.
"Anything that interests you?" Kline asked as Squall put the folders down.
"Why are you showing me these?" Squall questioned watching carefully as Kline gathered the files.
"Because in my line of work, favors are worth far more than money." He left down the hall and entered his room leaving Squall alone with his lukewarm tea.
Heart Gears
Kim's training for Kairi was simple on the surface: maintain a still bubble of water while Kim generated massive multi directional currents around her. This was complicated by the fact that Kairi had to breath inside the bubble at the same time. Kairi had adopted a cross-legged stance in the center of the bubble and rested her hands on her knees.
The churning made seeing through the water difficult so, Kairi didn't notice Kim until she'd stuck her head into the bubble with her tongue hanging out and crossed eyed. For an instant she forgot to breath. She coughed in the water while Kim stopped the currents, giggling to herself. Kairi caught her breath and turned to face Kim. "What was that for?" She said as she relaxed her body.
"Well, imagine if my face had been, let's say shark. You would currently be being chewed on." Kim stated. "Change 'shark' to 'bullet', 'fire', 'fist', 'sword', 'piano', 'knife', or 'bomb' and you've got what could happen to you in the tournament."
" 'Bomb'?"
"Yes, 'bomb'."
"Aren't there, like, rules against stuff that."
"Well, Shizuko has her katana and a sniper rifle, Felix has broadsword and Glock 19, Izzy carries…well let's just say she really likes guns… and grenades… and C4…" Kim paused for second. "…let's just say she like things that kill people."
"How have they not been arrested yet?"
Kim put her hand to her chin in a thoughtful manner.
Heart Gears
Six months prior to the orientation, recruitment for the 512th class was under way. Cloud and Aerith found themselves outsides of a warehouse in the dead of night. They had been searching for the source of the chaos going around the terrorized city and tracked it to the warehouse.
Cloud opened the rusted door slowly and cautiously. Their noses were immediately assaulted by smell of blood. Under the industrial lights stood Jake and Shizuko. Next to Jake were the charred remains of some poor drug dealer. Shizuko's katana shimmered with blood and a QBU-88 was strapped onto her back.
"Uh…" Jake said looking at the pack of hashish in right hand. "This is only half of what it looks like."
Heart Gears
Weston stared in amazement at the burning town and watched as people fled screaming for their lives. "The Second Coming is near!" A man with a Bible in hand shouted. "Repent! Repent!" The man ran after the crowd still shouting his preaches.
Weston with Namarrkun on his shoulder strode into the town feeling no threat at all. A line of bodies, most wielding guns and knives started about a five minutes into his trek with the fire still raging around him. At the town square he found Felix, Isabel and mess of corpses. "Hey bro…" Felix said sheepishly. The head of a man was impaled at the end of his broadsword which was white on one side and black on the other. Isabel had her shotgun in a survivor's mouth "Look, the town was terrorized before this happened."
Heart Gears
At the present time, Squall, Yuffie, and Isabel were inside the enemy's red stone compound. Squall and Isabel were on the left of the corridor and Yuffie was to the right. Squall held his Lionheart gunblade in his right hand; Yuffie had her Four-Point shuriken, and Isabel duel-wielded Patria submachine guns.
"Numbers?" Squall whispered.
Isabel's eyes began to glow red and had a spiral pattern beginning at the pupil and spread all across her eyeballs. Her sight pierced through the stone walls and saw a hallway with twenty men carrying AKM's. Heartless hiding in their Corridors were visible as well. The men were on high alert. Isabel relayed this information to Squall silently.
Squall made a three finger wave to Yuffie and she moved. She jumped out and blurred for a second as gun fire hosed the corridor. "Hi there." The men turned and saw Yuffie waving at them before they fired again. Yuffie reappeared were she had started. Squall ran down the hall and slashed at the enemy before they turned around. Isabel provided cover fire with her red lights of bullets that shifted direction to avoid hitting her allies.
After the men were finished off, the Heartless appeared. Isabel gunned down three Lancer Soldiers and stepped behind Squall. Yuffie appeared next to her clearing out the Heartless to Squall's back with her shuriken. Squall raised the Lionheart over his head and slammed it into ground. A wave of energy barreled through the Heartless.
When the dust settled, a grenade flew at them from the other end of the corridor. Squall batted it back with the blunt side of his gunblade. The explosion killed the thrower and created a smokescreen which Isabel ran through. Before emerging she began firing, her eyes seeing clearly through the black. She entered the wide open room filled guards and charged forward. She only stopped when a grenade was in her face.
Six of the men that were still standing surrounded the explosion sight with their rifles ready. A red glow was emitted and they were peppered with the shrapnel intended for the girl. Yuffie cut down three of them from behind. The other three, fired their weapons continuously at Isabel who was surrounded by a dome of spinning red energy. The bullets ricocheted in all directions until a few got caught in the dome and sent back at them.
Squall had cleared the Heartless that appeared when the World Order unit came in through a side entrance. No words were exchanged between the two groups and they simply followed orders to walk down the final corridor as one. The only noise was the door being kicked off the hinges. All they found was an empty oak desk.
Heart Gears
Pedro Soria sat smugly in the passenger's seat of his personnel humvee. With him in the armored vehicle were the driver, three armed soldiers, and five million US dollars in a brief case. The humvee drove down the perilous mountain road, only a few feet away from plummeting to the ground, with dexterity. Soria and his men had escaped the compound when they realized Wielders were involved with the assault. He now had the full intention of joining his comrades elsewhere and cleansing his hands of the off World business permanently. Sure that would mean that there would be men with highly advanced technology running around with no leader but it wasn't his problem.
Soria's smile dropped when the gunshot precluded the destruction of a tire. The humvee spun, fortunately into a very wide turn in the road, before stopping. Another shot, the shattered window, and the splatter of blood on his face told him that the driver was dead.
He and his soldiers jumped out of the vehicle to kill the aggressor. His soldiers brandished HK53's while he had a Beretta 93R. Two of the soldiers went to scout the back while Soria and the other on stayed in front. He looked at the moon with terror keeping his finger on the trigger. Time slowed as adrenaline filled his blood turning thirty seconds of silence into an hour. Right when it became impossible to mentally focus, he heard one of his soldiers in the back shout, "Tomas! Tomas!"
Soria and the soldier with him ran to the back and found no one there. Then a noise came from the mountain side. Soria with a quivering hand pulled out his flashlight and turned it on. One of his soldiers was dangling by the leg. His throat was slashed open by a knife. The flowing blood and gurgling told the two men he was still alive and probably begging for help.
Soria dropped the flashlight and turned to run in terror. There stood Tomas with his HK53 pointed at his fellow soldiers. The rattling of the gunfire pressed Soria in firing his own weapon as his final guard fell. The three shot burst was avoided with inhuman agility. Tomas was covering Soria's mouth. A bone crushing grip forced him to drop the 93R; a kick to the back of the leg sent him to the ground. Tomas's knee dug into his back.
Soria looked at the serrated blade that was his. With his mouth free he uttered, "Te haré rico si me permitiere vivir." Tomas just smiled and slit his throat.
Heart Gears
"Why am I eating this much?" Kairi moaned before slurping down more of Kim's spaghetti. It was two nights before the festival and the group had gone to Kim's room for a large dinner. She'd made use of spatial warping technology to expand her quarters to form the pub she dreamed of owning one day. It was nothing too fancy consisting of a bar, tables along the wall, and a raised center area where the dining was occurring.
After the Special Serving, or Ten Days in Hell as the trio had called, the all returned to the Academy and were treated to a high carb dinner consisting of pasta, fruits, and grilled chicken. The three had found that with increased strength came an increased hunger and Felix's eating habits made sense to them now. Jake, Felix, and other competitors joined them at Weston's invitation. Shizuko and Isabel had returned as well. In spite of the rivalry nobody seemed to hold any real grudges or animosity towards anyone else. Even Simone, Siefer and his gang were caught in the pace.
All Kairi could do was smile.
I like being criticized. There's a box for it now.
