Guardians' Tales
Chapter X: Field Practice
Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar
Cycle: July 13, 2548
Time: 14:43 Galactic Standard Time, 06:00 Resident Time
Star Cluster: HUB
Planet: Resident
Location: SOLDIER Institute, ARK Dorm
Riku's POV
I was running from a black fog. I wasn't anywhere specific, I was just running as fast as I could along what I assumed was marble since my shoes thudded against the surface. I was spot lighted by some kind of light and that was my only reference as to where I was. I glanced back every once in a while to see if the fog was getting closer. Every time I did I saw that it was indeed getting closer and closer to me. Eventually I saw a flickering flame off in the distance and my panicked thoughts concluded that it would be my sanctuary.
As I got closer and closer to the flame, I felt as though my footing was getting less and less stable. I thought I was getting tired, but I didn't feel tired. That's when I noticed that my legs weren't getting tired, but the footing below me was getting unstable as it began to shake violently. Sharp spires of brown and gray earth jutted out of the marble in front of me too fast for me to dodge. The spires slowed me down enough to allow the fog to get uncomfortably close.
I was close to the flame now, I felt like my struggle was about to come to an end. As I stepped forward, I felt my body become heavier and then I felt my foot pull back up as soon as I landed and prepared for another step. I looked down to see a rock spire shoot upward and propel me forward and onto the ground just before the flame.
I was about to jump forward and grab the light, but I found myself unable to move, even a little. I looked back to see my legs being slowly turned to stone. Before I could think of a way out, I saw the fog begin to engulf me. I swatted at the cloud, but it was useless as it surrounded me. I felt my breathing grow labored and strained and I tried to reach for the flame again, only to have it just out of my reach, no matter how much I reached for it. The fog wrapped around my body and then my head, slowly filling my mouth, nose, ears, and eyes and wrapping around my hand and stretching toward the flame. Before I could see what happened next, I passed out and woke with a start in my room. The crumbling and partially covered ruins of my wallpapers and the gleaming stars above welcoming me back to reality.
'What the hell was that?' I thought as I looked around, seeing that the sun was just peeking over the morning horizon. 'That hasn't happened before. Usually I make it to the fire. I've never seen rock spires.'
I got out of bed and put on my blue sweat pants, I didn't bother with a shirt since no sensible person should be awake at six in the morning, and went down stairs to grab something to eat. I opened the door to see Sora in the living room, watching a program on planes and space craft.
"You're up early." I commented, walking down the stairs. Right, I said no sensible person…Sora and his Sister aren't sensible. They're off the wall loco.
Sora turned to look at me with a goofy surprised expression on his face, before softening into a more relaxed goofy expression. "I got up early, for once."
I made my way to the spikey brunette. "You're excited for our mission today, aren't you?"
"You better believe it!" He shot me that goofy smile that everyone associates with his 'Look at me! I'm hyped up on energy!' mood. "We're heading to another world, Riku. How can I not be excited?"
I just laughed inwardly at the guy. His giddiness was somewhat refreshing, if a little too much like Zack. "You're already on a new world, man. I would think that the excitement is over for you."
"Yeah, I've seen two islands on one new world." His sarcasm was noted. "No different than my home world of Spira. And outside of meeting different people from different worlds and a few summoned spirits, I haven't see too many new creatures."
"We could end up on a world full of shadow creatures." I replied taking a seat on the adjacent couch.
"That still wouldn't deter me." This guy is just amazing in how excitable he is.
"Whatever." I replied and leaned back to watch the program on the television. I have to admit, it was pretty interesting for a show about flying metal tubes.
"What are you guys doing?" I turned to see Roxas walking down the stairs in his black shorts and white shirt with a black stipe down the side of his torso and culminating in black short sleeves and a white stripe down the side of his pants.
"I wanted to get something to drink." I half lied. "Sora is apparently an insomniac."
"No, I'm just excited!" The brunette shot back.
Roxas just laughed at the response and sat with Sora on the couch. "I know what you mean. I've only been to Radiant Garden and Midgar. Outside of that, nothing."
"Isn't Kairi from Radiant Garden?" Sora asked his doppelganger.
"I think so." Roxas replied. "It's a nice place compared to Midgar."
"Anywhere is nice compared to Midgar." I replied. The place isn't the most advanced in technology and they aren't the most clean. The only scenic areas are the country side villages. Midgar city on the other hand? Unless you don't mind dark and grimy, then I wouldn't recommend it.
"It got better after Shinra stopped using Mako to fuel everything." Roxas added. "And they lowered the elevated city."
"Yeah, but they didn't bother cleaning the place of debris. They just left it and moved their operations somewhere else." There is a lot of large remains of the elevated city lying around the new city.
"True, but the people have been using the left over scrap to spruce up the city and even make it fully functional. Even Radiant Garden borrows some technology from us every now and then." Roxas did have a point there. Midgar has been making strides in establishing itself now that Shinra moved out.
"The place is still a mess, though."
"So what are you doing up so early?" Sora asked the blonde.
"I just woke up. Nothing special. Guess I'm excited to be headed to a new world too."
"Either way, we're all awake. How about we just wait for everyone else to wake up?" I figured it would be best to just relax while the sun comes up. No use in trying to talk needlessly for an hour. The look-a-likes nodded and we just watched whatever decided to come on, luckily it was something rather simple: Hey Arnold.
"Man, I love this show!" We were startled by the sound of Xion walking up behind us. She jumped over the couch seat and sat between Sora and Roxas with her black pajama pants that had a sea-salt icecream pattern and blue short-sleeve shirt.
"Why are you up so early?" Sora asked his raven haired sister.
"It's only seven thirty Sora." What? We couldn't have been talking for that long. Could we? "Besides, we're going to a new world today. How can I not be excited?!"
"Well, let's wait for everyone to wake up before we get too antsy." I suggested, wanting to avoid two hyperactive goofballs this early in the morning. Especially given how Zack used to wake me up by body slamming me every morning.
They nodded in compliance and we waited. Since classes were closed for the day, everyone took advantage of the opportunity and slept in till eight thirty. The first people waking up were Kairi, Terra, and Aqua. Each one in their night wear since we don't have to leave till ten. I decided to go ahead and take a shower while I could and put a shirt on. I was getting uncomfortable with the way Xion was eyeing me without a shirt on. Kairi was sitting where I had been and was wearing a pair of blue pajama shorts with a strange star shaped fruit, that I had never seen before, for a pattern and a white spaghetti strap shirt. Aqua wore all blue with green, dark blue, and orange stars on her pajama bottoms.
When I got out of the shower, I put on the black sleeveless shirt of my unorthodox school uniform and opened the door to see Naminé, Shin, Terra, and Tifa awake and each one in their pajamas. Terra in her amethyst nightwear, Shin in his gray shorts and t-shirt, Naminé wore a yellow night gown, always the elegant one, and Tifa decide on a sleeveless white shirt and green short shorts.
"Hey Kairi, why are you wearing a Paopu fruit on your pajama bottoms?" Xion asked the red head as I sat next to Tifa with Terra and Shin on the couch as we continued to watch nickelodeon.
Kairi stretched her legs out and examined her pants. "It was a gift from my mom. They were hers and she gave them to me for my tenth birthday. She told me that the fruit on them has a wonderful legend to it, but no one knows what it is."
"Then it's probably fake." Shin commented. "Most legends usually are."
"A girl can dream Shin." Kairi shot back.
"Especially since the fruit does exist." Xion replied and Kairi whipped her head back towards the raven haired girl so fast that i was certain she had whiplash.
"Don't play with me, Xion." Kairi warned with stars in her eyes. "I've dreamt of finding this fruit for a long time."
"Let me guess, it exists on an island on some planet off the darkness of space." I replied.
"No, it is on an island near our home back on Spira." Sora replied to which Kairi reached over Xion and gripped the brunette by his collar.
"What?!" Kairi exclaimed and I heard Aqua and Naminé chuckle.
"Kairi has always been a sucker for legends." Naminé commented. "If there is a mystery to it, she'll want to find it."
"Y-yeah…" Sora replied trying to work Kairi's hand off of his shirt to no avail. "I've never eaten it, but I have seen it."
"Legend has it that if two people share the fruit, their destinies will be intertwined forever." Xion replied and gave me a mischievous grin. I don't know what she is thinking, but I'm sure I'm not going to like it.
Kairi relented on Sora's shirt and seemed to be a little disappointed at the revelation. "So, it's a love fruit?"
"I think you mean passion fruit, Kai." Tifa teased and received an elbow from Aqua.
"Well that's disappointing." Kairi added and crossed her arms.
"I don't know." Terra interjected. "I think it's kind of romantic."
"Same here." Naminé added. "Sharing a magical fruit with the one you love. It's such a wonderful thought."
"Gag me." I replied and got some glares from the girls.
"Easy there guys." Aqua interjected before things got real ugly for me. "We need to get going soon, so those who haven't done so, need to take a shower and get dressed."
"Fine." Kairi replied and went to take her shower. Sora, Tifa, and I had already taken our showers so we just got dressed. At about nine everyone was dressed, packed, and ready to go…except our dread haird dorm mate.
"Has anyone seen Isaac?" Terra asked.
"He's usually awake by now." Shin added.
"Especially considering he needs to take a shower and get dressed in the next five minutes." Tifa added impatiently.
"Not really." Roxas interjected to which all of us looked at him with questioning glances. "He baths at night so he can sleep-in the next day."
"…"
"What?"
"How do you know that?" Naminé asked with slight concern in her voice.
"I bumped into him one night when I was going to brush my teeth. He said something about having to get his hair wet at night some it can dry while he does homework instead of having to forcibly dry it in the morning. Apparently it's bad for his scalp."
"Oh… Well we'd better wake him up before we go." Aqua commented and went to his room. When she opened the door we were hit something none of us were expecting.
Looking back on when I, was a little nappy headed boy!
And my only worry, was for Christmas what would be my toy?!
The sound of Stevie Wonder blared from the freshly opened door.
"What's going on Aqua?!" Isaac's cheery voice sounded from the door as he exited fully dressed and armed. Asili was trotting along with him and they were having a blast dancing to the music.
"I was coming to get you. We need to get going now if we are going to make it to the Cosmic Port."
"Well what are we waiting for?!" He exclaimed and grabbed his cloak and shoulder bag before shutting off the music and jumping over the railing. "This story ain't gonna write itself!" He was out the door before we even knew what happened.
"…And I thought Sora was ridiculously giddy…" I commented before following after him.
Sora's POV
We followed Aqua all the way to the port where we were met with Squall and an arguing Cloud and Lightning and a woman in sky blue with long dark raven hair.
"Hey Leon." I commented and went to meet him and the girl in sky blue that was standing next to him along with Xion, upon closer inspection the girl had a few caramel highlights, they weren't many, but they were still visible. Her sky blue outfit was a long, sleeveless, rib-knit duster sweater with a pair of white wings embroidered on the back right at her shoulder blades. She wore matching sky blue rib-knit arm warmers, a black tank top, denim button-up skirt, a single black ribbon on her left arm, and black bike shorts with zippers going down the front and a pair of silver buckled black boots. The only piece of jewelry I could see was a single silver necklace with a silver ring for a pendant.
"Hi, Leon!" Xion beamed. "Who's the girl? Your new girlfriend perhaps?" The girl blushed slightly, but Squall remained neutral.
"No. She's one of my dorm mates." Squall replied.
"I'm Rinoa Heartilly." The girl replied. Her voice was kind and sweet like honey. She seemed like the ditzy older sister type who's smarter than she lets on sometimes. "I'm actually Seifer's girlfriend." What?! "I know what the rumors about him are, but he can be a nice guy once you get to know him."
How can anyone like that guy?! I felt Xion nudge me in the arm and she motioned towards Squall who had looked away. Is he jealous? I never thought I'd see that emotion on his face.
"And why not?!" We looked to Lightning who was yelling at Cloud.
"Because we are two different people, Claire!" Cloud shouted back in an uncharacteristic manner from what I have seen so far. He also didn't have his giant buster sword.
"What does that have to do with coming on missions with you?! And the names Lightning now!" Lightning shouted back.
"Everything for one." Cloud replied back. "You can't go around following someone else's example. Believe me, I've been there."
"But Cloud-"
"Enough, Claire." Cloud cut Lightning off and for the first time, I saw Lightning look scarred and Cloud look unnaturally serious. "You're not coming with me on my missions. They're too dangerous for your skill level and you're not ready to work in a group."
"But-"
"That's. Final." He turned to us and made his way over with a dumbstruck Lightning who had tried to grab Cloud by his shoulder only to stop half way and retract it. "Follow me." Cloud told us, his voice calm, but his tone clearly irritated. Whatever he and Lightning were talking about, it certainly upset him. We followed him through the Cosmic Port and into a section for the students use, most of the landing pads were vacant. The only pad that wasn't had a large red ship occupying it, and when I say large, I mean large! It looked like it could barely land in the main courtyard of the Institute.
The front resembled a dragons head, complete with teeth and amber eyes. The rear of the ship had four large engines, two small thrusters at the top and two larger thrusters below with landing gears that extended from underneath with a boarding ramp. The front facing landing gears extended like a pair of claws. Looking at it more closely the shipped resembled a giant leering dragon with sharp jutting fins on the engines and sides of the slender body and chrome paneling on the tops of the jet fins and the middle section of the body with a green gem on the neck of the ship. There were various orange stripes along the body and fins. The feature that went hidden at first glance was a long canon tucked away at the belly of the ship in between the large turbines, it was at least a third the length of the actual ship and the ship had to be one hundred and ten meters long at most and fifty five meters in height. The canon looked like it could retract and extend as needed.
"This is the Ragnarok." Cloud motioned to the ship as we stopped just under the large canon, the boarding ramp a few meters behind it. "This will be your ship to ferry you from planet to planet for your missions unless otherwise stated. It is a slightly modified version of the standard model which is one hundred-eight meters long from aft to stern and seventy-seven meter width and stands at a height of fifty-four meters while grounded and sixty-five meters while in flight. This one is an extra fifty-two meters long, thirteen meters wide, and ten meters tall."
"Not to mention it's armed to the teeth with the latest armament that SOLDIER can afford." Squall stepped in. "Two 152 mm laser Gatling guns and two retractable claws that double as the forward landing gears. The main armament is a 602 mm particle laser canon."
"Which you'll hopefully won't need to use." The sound of an all too familiar rugged and country accent sounded from atop the boarding ramp. "This ship comes equipped with the latest in thruster technology and can reach speeds of up to 11.8 kilometers a second. That's 34.68 times the speed of sound for you knuckle heads who didn't know." That marvelously technical speech was performed by none other than Cid Highwind. The spear wielding aerospace teacher stepped down the boarding ramp. "I swear you youngins only care about is how many guns you can pack into a hunk of metal."
"Thanks, Cid. Your opinion is much appreciated." Squall replied in his usual tone.
"Don't patronize me, Leon." He looked towards us and waved us forward. "Come on, let's get you lot flyin' so I can get some tea."
We followed Cid onto the ship and into the main access way. I could already tell that this was going to be a very red ship. The interior was very much maroon with gray walls and flooring. The immediate space was small, but I'm sure that was because we were meant to use the two doors on either side of room with cyan lights over the top.
"Welcome to the boarding ramp access way. I'm not gonna show you all the nooks and crannies since you need to get going; and I just personally don't feel like playing tour guide, but I'll show you the basics."
"And what are the basics?" Roxas asked.
"This room for one." He moved to the door on our right, the title F/2 over top. "Leads to the elevator." He entered through the door and up a flight of stairs that looped around twice, the midway point being a short walkway, and back to put us over the main access way. When we exited we were greeted by three branching paths and what appeared to be a lift. "This lift leads to the ship's cockpit. It has four positions for the Pilot, Co-pilot, Navigator, and Communication Officer. The door to the left was designed for other passengers and replacement for the flight crew on the standard design of the Ragnarok and seated eight people, now it seats sixteen since SOLDIER decided to modify it with the left over funding from Disney Castle. There are various holomaps of the ship through every door here. Use those to get around if you get lost. Any questions?"
"Quick question Cid." I asked. "Who's the Pilot and Co-pilot?"
Cid just grinned at the question. "That would be you, Spikes."
"What?!" I heard a collective reply from my dorm. Normally I would feel insulted, but right now I was just too excited about the prospect of flying a Starship to actually care.
"Did I stutter?" Cid replied. "Sora, here, is your Pilot since he is the only one that bothered taking an aerospace course. This is just part of my hands-on curriculum. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get myself some tea." With that, he left us standing at the base of the elevator lift.
"Don't just stand there gawking, Sora." Squall spoke and moved to the lift. "Get over here so we can take off already."
"Uh…right." I finally stammered out and stepped onto the lift.
"Hold on a second." Cloud said and suddenly took my bag from me. "I'll take your things to your room before me and Lightning leave." And then he just started walking toward the hallway away from the lift through another automatic door.
"Wait up, Cloud!" Roxas called and followed after the blonde with the rest of my dorm.
"We'll show you where the rooms are later, Sora." Xion called and followed after everyone else.
"Try not to crash the ship in the mean time!" Riku replied over his shoulder.
"How can I crash the ship if I haven't got it in the air yet?!" I shot back at the silverette.
He just smirked. "You'd find a way!"
"Oh thanks for the vote of confidence!"
"If you're done messing around…" Squall hit he button on the lift and we ascended to the top floor. What I saw was overwhelming to say the least. In front of me was the walls of the space port through a dome of extra thick glass. There were four seats, just like Cid said, two on the sides immediately off the lift and two in front of me for what I can only assume to be the Pilot and Co-pilot seats, each station had large transparent blue screens hovering above them and smaller blue LED screens on consoles in front of them.
"Wow…" I took a few steps forward while Squall made his way to the Pilot seats.
"Sit there." He pointed to the seat on the left. I did as told and took my seat. In front of me was a steering wheel that looked like the bottom half of an H with two red buttons where my thumbs would rest. Around the steering wheel was a series of dials, buttons, and monitoring equipment as well as on the arm rest between the two pilot seats. I was getting dizzy just looking at them; and I took the aerospace course!
"I don't know about this, Squall." I told my unnaturally relaxed cousin as he took a seat next to me. "I've barely driven Mom's car, how am I supposed to fly a ship ten times the size of our house?"
Squall just chuckled and pulled out a clipboard. "Just relax, Sora. You're taking Cid's course, remember. You'll be fine as long as you do everything the way you did in the simulation exercises. Now check the dials and monitors. Are they green?"
I held my gaze on him for a minute and then looked around my station. All the monitoring equipment read green. "We look alright."
"Okay. Looks like Cloud and Lightning did their end of the job. Now turn off the ignition lock." I looked around, but I didn't see anything that readily looked like the ignition. I guess Squall picked up on this since he released an annoyed sigh. "The green button and then the switch in the center."
I found the big green button sitting on the center console…how the heck did I miss that? No seriously, it was neon green and flashing! Anyway, I pressed the button and a silver light switch appeared. I flicked the switch and I heard the ship hum to life.
"Good." Squall replied and began hitting a few buttons on his side and I heard the ship go silent, but I could still feel the hum of the engines. "Now to wait for Rinoa and your Navigator and Communications officer."
"Hi, Leon!" That didn't take long. I turned to see Rinoa with Kairi and Naminé. "Here are our two volunteers."
"Thanks, Rinoa." Squall swiveled around in his chair to face the two sisters. "Kairi, you're on the navigations control. Naminé, You're in charge of monitoring the communications channels."
"This way you two." Rinoa escorted Kairi to the station to their right and Naminé to the station on their left.
Squall swiveled around in his chair and Rinoa walked up behind us and leaned on the divide between us. "Have Cloud and Lightning left?" Squall asked her.
She just smiled and sat with her back to the console. "They left just a few minutes ago. Cloud said he had something to do and Lightning was headed for the shooting range, said she wanted to relieve some stress."
"I see. And the rest of our passengers?"
"They're in the passenger room. They set their bags in their quarters so they won't fly around when we take off."
"What about you?"
Rinoa turned to face Squall. "I want to be here when we take off. The view is sure to be great." She looked toward the windscreen again and wore the brightest smile I had ever seen. I wanted to smile too, but I kept my mind on the controls since Squall seemed to have shifted into his no nonsense mood.
"There's no place for you sit." Squall replied immediately as he hit a few more buttons on his control panel. "Sora. Go through the startup procedure we went through earlier. We're about to take off."
"Right." I looked toward my control panel, but not before noting the playful pouty face that Rinoa was making.
"Can't I sit in your lap?" I heard Rinoa pouting in a more of a teasing tone than an annoyed tone.
"I need to be able to see what I'm doing, Rinoa. Especially with this bum piloting."
"Oh thanks, Leon!" Do people have to refer to me as a bum? I'm not that lazy…Just slightly.
"You're no fun, Squall." Wait, did Rinoa just call Squall by his actual name? Not even close friends called Squall by his given name.
"This is not a leisure cruise, Rinoa. We're being evaluated on our performance." Squall shot back at the raven haired girl. "Don't forget that we're both transfer students from Balamb and we need to prove that we can handle doing things the way SOLDIER tells us to or we'll get kicked out." That sounds very bad.
"Will you relax already?" Rinoa replied and walked off like she was balancing on stones in a pond. "All that means is that we have to follow orders and avoid collateral, it's not like we're storming the beaches of a foreign nation and liberating the town's people."
Squall just released an annoyed sigh. "Regardless, we need to be careful. I'm already on thin ice as it is from dealing with your boyfriend."
Rinoa turned with an annoyed groan. "How many times do I have to apologize for that? It was an accident."
"That accident almost took my head off, Rinoa. What do you see in him anyway?" Squall hit another button and I felt the ship thrum back to life. "Sora get ready for launch."
"You are impossible sometimes." Rinoa went to Kairi's station and whispered something to her before Kairi began tapping on her console and a set of coordinates appeared on my display. Rinoa then went toward the lift. "You should try being more empathetic. Maybe then people would open up to you." She hit the descend button on the lift and descended down with a very annoyed look on her face.
"I'll keep that in mind." I barely managed to hear Squall whisper his response. He hit a button on his dashboard shortly afterward. "This is Leon." I heard his voice over a loud speaker. He must be trying to talk to everyone throughout the ship at once. "We'll be launching soon. Strap yourselves in and brace for exit velocity." He hit the button again and placed his hands on his steering wheel, prompting me to do the same. "Alright, Sora. Do you remember how to activate the anti-gravity cells?" I looked to the console and hit the button to my left. I felt the ship lurch and then rise, the walls of the Cosmic Port lowering right in front of me. "Glad to see you were listening during those lessons." Kinda hard to ignore a guy who will whack you with a spear if you so much as skipped out on taking one note. "Now retract the landing gears." I reached for a lever in the center of the console between us that had been laid flat against the console and pushed it up until it lay flat on the console in the up position. "Alright, now angle the ship and get us up to exit velocity."
I looked toward the console again and pulled back on the steering wheel. The ship began to tilt backwards in response and I applied pressure to the pedals until the ship slowly sped up. It kept growing and growing in speed until I could feel it shaking from the wind pressure. We kept increasing in speed as I continued to apply pressure to the ship until we reached full speed. I could feel my eardrums popping from the pressurizing cabin and before I knew it, the ship had ceased its violent shaking and we were in the vastness of space.
"Not bad, Sora." I heard Squall call to me and turned to see him rise from his chair. "I'm going to get your Co-pilot. Keep your eyes on those dials and activate the warp drive."
"I know, Squall."
"Just making sure." He went to the lift and descended down it, leaving me and the yin yang sisters alone in the cockpit.
I reached to the center console and pushed the warp drive lever into the half-way position. If you're wondering why it's the half-way position, it is because using the warp takes a lot of fuel to use and since we are heading to a section of the galaxy in which there is no refueling station, it would smarter to use half power than full. After I had pushed the lever upwards, I saw the stars begin to stretch as we sped up and then moved past us as we reached speeds faster the speed of light.
"I gotta hand it to you, Sora." Kairi spoke to me as she sat sideways in her seat. "You're pretty good at flying. I half expected you to blow one of the engines up."
"What does everybody think I am? Some goof ball who can't do anything right?"
"Nah~!" She nonchalantly replied. "We just think you're a goof ball. Everything else is just teasing."
"That figures."
"Joking aside, what is up with your cousin and Rinoa?"
"They're dorm mates, Kairi, and she's dating the guy that has a problem with us for some reason." I saw the console beeping at me to turn right slightly, so I adjusted accordingly.
"It seemed like she likes your cousin." Naminé added, turning in her chair, but sitting more like an heiress than a tomboy like Kairi.
"What makes you say that?" I couldn't see anything since I kept my eyes on the…space…but I could tell that the girls were giggling.
"Really, Sora?" I heard Kairi question between laughs. "I know you're a goof ball, but I didn't think you were dense."
Okay this is getting irritating. "What is that supposed to mean?" I turned around to see Kairi holding her sides while Naminé kept her giggles to a minimum.
"N-nothing!" Kairi continued to laugh.
"Just something for us girl to understand." Naminé added.
"Just worry about flying the ship, Sora." Kairi added. "We'll worry about relationships."
"I don't get you guys sometimes." I added and returned my attention to steering the ship. I had drifted slightly off course again, but I put us back on the right track.
I heard the lift activate behind me, but fought the urge to look since I didn't feel like getting off course again. "Hey, Roxas." I heard Naminé behind me. "Are you the Co-pilot?"
"Yeah. Leon found me in the Hangar and told me to give Sora a hand." He walked up to the Co-pilot's seat and took the controls. "He also said to set the ship to auto-pilot and wait for everyone else."
"Are they going to tell us what we're doing?" Kairi asked the blonde.
"Probably. We can't exactly prepare beforehand if they don't." Roxas replied and looked at me. "Sora, can you activate the auto-pilot?"
"Yeah." I hit the button on the center console and the steering wheel stiffened a second later before moving by itself. "Finally. I was getting way too nervous flying this thing." I swiveled around in my chair to face my flight personnel.
"But you've been practicing for this all week." Roxas reminded me of the crunch hours that the aerospace majors had to perform leading up these trial-run field missions.
"I only learned how to check the status and practice launching the ship. Actually flying this thing was never practiced." I replied back as I leaned into my seat. "Cid's idea of drilling the basics of flight into us was hitting us over head with his spear if we didn't get everything right the first time in a single go."
"In other words, we shouldn't be expecting any ace piloting from you." Kairi interjected.
"Not for a while at any rate."
"Which is fine considering we shouldn't have a need for ace piloting on this mission." We heard Squall's voice and saw him arriving on the elevator with everyone else. They spread out around the cabin, Xion and Rinoa standing next to me, Riku stood next to Kairi while Isaac sat cross legged on the cabin floor, Shin and Terra stood next to Naminé and Squall stood with Tifa and Aqua by the lift. Xion, Isaac, and Shin weren't wearing their jackets since it was pretty hot inside the ship.
"I hope you guys are ready for your first assignment!" Tifa exclaimed.
"What is our mission anyway?" Riku asked.
"Recon." Tifa replied simply. "Since this your first mission, the Institute figured it would be a good idea to start you off with something easy before your next mission."
"That sounds reasonable." Shin added. "So what are we looking for?"
"We are heading for a recently discovered world to see if it is inhabited." Aqua told us. "It hasn't been designated an official name yet, but that should change after this mission."
"So we're exploring an unknown planet?" Roxas asked.
"More like you're exploring a few kilometers around our landing site." Squall corrected. "We don't have the resources to actually explore a whole planet. We just need to recon a suitable area for the colonist to establish a base of operations."
"That shouldn't be too hard." Roxas replied. "It sounds a lot like camping back on Midgar."
"Then you can be in charge of setting up camp when we arrive." Roxas grimaced and rubbed the back of his head. "Now that we've got that out of way, feel free to walk around the ship until we get ready to land." Squall turned and left down the elevator.
"So we get to visit an unexplored planet." Riku commented.
"Sounds like fun!" Xion exclaimed and jumped into the center of the room. "I can't wait till we land."
"It does sound like a lot of fun." Naminé replied. "I wonder what the planet will look like. Maybe a lush jungle with vast and deep oceans? Or maybe wide rolling plains with winding creeks?"
"It could be a desert or volcanic." Riku interjected.
"Ever the romantic, eh Riku?" Xion joked with the silverette.
"The right mind can make anything romantic, Xion." Naminé added. "Though I have no idea how to make a desert and volcanic terrain even remotely attractive."
"One is wide plains of brown while other is jutting rocks of black with neon lines of red and orange and ember light shows that dazzle the eye." How the heck did Isaac make visiting an erupting volcano sound appealing? "Though I personally prefer the forest and oceans idea."
"Wouldn't mind somewhere a little more mountainous myself." Shin added.
"You'll have plenty of time to take in the sights once we reach the planet." Aqua commented and moved to the elevator lift.
"Why don't you guys go around and explore the ship while you still have the chance?" Tifa added and went toward the lift as well. Aqua hit the button and they descended.
I returned to the command console and checked to make sure the auto-pilot was still going. "I'm going to see what this ship has to offer." Isaac spoke and rose from his feet.
"I'll go with you." Riku added.
"Hey, wait up!" Kairi added and followed after them. They descended down the lift.
"I guess I'll go as well." Roxas got out of his chair and moved to the lift. I saw Naminé follow after him and descend down the lift with Shin, Terra, and Xion, leaving me alone with Rinoa.
I checked the dials again and then leaned back in my chair, staring at the stars as they passed by me. I was so mesmerized by the sight of those bright lights wisp by like meteor showers that I didn't notice Rinoa taking a seat next to me. "So you're Sora." I turned to face her and simply nodded. "You did well in your simulation exams."
"Thanks, Rinoa." That was the best I could do for a response. She was really pretty and I have a hard time talking to girls older than me if I don't know them.
"Squall says you've never fought a Behemoth or a Heartless before."
"I had never even heard of a Heartless. It took everything I had just to stop from freaking out."
"Could've fooled me, Sora. You should take some acting courses."
I just laughed at the comment. "Xion's the actress. I'm just the pilot. If anything she's a lot braver than me. I was just trying to keep calm for her sake."
"You definitely succeeded there. I wish Squall would take a page out of your book. He's so introverted and distant." She leaned back in her chair and stared at the stars like I had done before. "He really needs to lighten up or his face is going to be stuck that way."
"I think it already is."
She giggled at the reply. "Do you know why he's like that? You are his cousin after all." I kept silent at the comment. There could be a multitude of reasons why he's the way he is, but he didn't start seriously going by Leon until after mom died. "Maybe it has something to do with that Griever ring he wears under his glove."
"I honestly wouldn't know. He's been like that for as long as I can remember. You'd have to ask him about his mood if you want to know."
Rinoa just gave an annoyed sigh while leaning her legs off the ground before putting them back on the metal floor. "I already tried that! The only thing he ever says is 'It's nothing you need to worry about.' Oh, he's so irritating sometimes."
I just had to laugh at her. Her pouting reminds me too much of Xion when Squall annoys her. "That sounds like him alright. But you're closer to him than most people." She seemed to perk up at the comment. "He doesn't let just anyone call him Squall. You may be the first non-family member to actually call him by his name."
"Really?!" She exclaimed and leaned over the center console, getting uncomfortably close to me.
"Y-yeah. I've never heard anyone else actually call him Squall." She eyed me sternly, as if trying to see if I was just lying to her. "Really." I gave her my goofy grin and she immediately started giggling as she leaned away from me and stood up from her chair.
"I guess you're right. Thanks Sora, you're pretty good at cheering people up." She turned and walked off toward the lift. "Don't forget to explore the ship before we land. You may not get a chance to see it afterwards"
Roxas POV
We had separated after we descended from the cockpit. We went to the Hangar bay, a straight walk if you step off of the elevator and avoid going to the passenger room. We entered into the upper floor of the large room on a long catwalk with small rectangular lights in the floor of the catwalk. The infirmary, crew quarters, and med bay were on the opposite end of the catwalk.
"I'm going to check out the engine room." Isaac stated and moved to the staircase to our left. "It would be nice to know how to fix this thing if something goes wrong."
"I'll check the storage areas." Shin added and followed after. "Knowing our supply capacity couldn't hurt, especially if we need to bring back samples from the planet's surface."
"Sounds boring." Xion replied with a matching tone. "I'm going to run around the ship. There must be something fun to do." She took off running toward the opposite end of the ramp.
"Wait a minute Xion!" Terra exclaimed and ran after her. "We can't wander the ship alone!" They disappeared behind the automated sliding doors and we just stood where we were. Shin had already left down the stairs to the lower level of the hangar bay, leaving Naminé and I to stand awkwardly on the catwalk.
Naminé turned to me with a bashful expression on her features and her hands behind her back. "I guess we should start exploring too, huh?"
"Y-yeah." I must have had the dumbest look on my face when I replied. I have no problem talking to Aerith, Tifa, or any other girl in my dorm, but when it comes to Naminé I just can't seem to so much as say hello without averting my eyes or feeling my cheeks heat up.
We made our way across the catwalk and entered into the living quarters of the ship. The hallway was long and we passed by a few of the rooms. In total I thing there were nine cabins with four beds each and three officer quarters.
"Looks like the boys and girls will be sharing rooms together." Naminé commented.
"Squall's orders. He claims it is supposed to prepare us for field missions when we don't have the luxury of personal rooms."
She tilted her head back and placed a slender finger on her chin. "But there are five guys in our dorm. How are you supposed to share a space made for only four roommates?"
"Isaac opted to sleep on the floor." We passed by the showers and cafeteria, the showers could service four people at a time and the cafeteria was no bigger that the passenger room. "He said he's used to sleeping on dirt floors during his meditation training back on his home world." At the end of the hallway we came to an elevator and ascended up it to a room labeled airlock at the top of the ship.
"Isn't that really uncomfortable?"
"That's exactly what we said. Luckily there was a spare futon in one of the drawers so he should be fine."
We reached the top floor and entered into a cylindrical hallway lit with cyan lights. It was just a straight hallway that led to a door, but it was still breathtaking somehow. The cyan lights lined the roof of the room and gave it an ethereal glow that reminded me of the crystal forests back home when the sun went down.
"Wow..." Naminé breathed out and slowly walked through the hallway, twirling as she did so. The way her white dress glowed in the cyan light made her seem like an angel doing ballet in a crystal cavern. "I can't believe a room like this exists." I couldn't help but smirk at the comment and followed after her to the other end of the hallway. "Just look at it, Roxas. It's like walking in a dream." Her tone carried the same amazed disbelief as her statement.
"Depends on what dream you're having." Did I really just say that? Man I must've sounded so corny. Luckily she was too distracted by the lights to notice.
"Did you say something, Roxas?" She was still examining the hallway when she asked me the question.
"Huh? No, I didn't." I moved to the end of the hallway and peeked through the door into a dead-end room in an attempt to play off the comment.
"Are you sure?" She asked again.
"Yeah. You must've imagined it." Naminé made her way next to me and peered through the window with me. "This must be airlock."
"Roxas, Naminé." We heard Leon over the intercom. "Your presence is required in the cockpit."
"I guess we're done with the tour then. It's too bad. I really like this room." Naminé's dejected tone was palpable. I actually felt sad to leave this room.
"It is oddly nice for a room leading to an airlock."
We made our way back to the living quarters and towards the cockpit. We ascended to see Sora still piloting the ship with Kairi at the navigation console. Naminé took her seat at the communications station so I just went over to the Co-pilot's seat.
"Everyone is seated, Leon. Preparing for deceleration." Sora turned off the intercom and pulled back on the warp lever, the stars around us began to slow until they were stationary and a large orange and pale green planet came into view.
"Is that it?" I heard Kairi's unimpressed voice comment on the orange-green sphere.
"Looks like it, Kai." Naminé replied.
"Brace for re-entry." Sora replied as the sphere grew bigger and bigger until only a portion of the world was in front of us and the heat of re-entry began to engulf the cabin. "Engaging heat shield." Sora flicked a button on his console and a metal shutter rose up and covered the glass of the cabin.
"It looked extremely polluted." Naminé added.
"I got the impression of a swamp or marsh." I replied to the statement. We were suddenly jostled when the ship rocked violently.
"Entering final approach run!" I heard Sora exclaim as the shaking became more violent. "Hold on tight, the atmosphere is unstable here!" The ship lurched again. "Roxas! Pull the wheel to the left!" I did as told and grabbed the wheel, turning to the left and feeling the ship level out. The ship lurched again with a violent thump. "Approaching final layer!" With one more violent shake and a short drop we felt the ship calm and smooth out. "We have cleared the final layer, prepare for landing." Sora hit a button and retracted the heat shielding from the glass windscreen, giving us a clear view of the large trees and marshlands that we were heading for. I could see that we were landing in an open field and felt the ship touch down. I saw Sora reaching for the intercom. "This is your pilot speaking, we have landed on planet whatever. Please return your trays to the upright position and be sure to claim your luggage. Thank you for flying Sora Space Ways."
I heard an audible smack come from behind me and assumed that it had to be Kairi. I just laughed at how Sora sounded so formal with the speech, but held the goofiest expression on his face. "Nice work, Captain." I replied with a chuckle.
"Hey, if I'm going to be a pilot, I might as well practice my intercom voice." He replied with that same goofy grin as he shut down the engines and rose from his seat.
"Try being a little less goofy next time." I heard Kairi comment as we all went towards the elevator lift.
"Come on, Kairi. It was entertaining." Naminé piped in with a soft smile on her features.
Shin's POV
We gathered outside the ship, standing on the dry soil that our Pilot had decided to land us on. "This planet has colonization potential?" I heard Riku comment. "Why would anyone consider this place even remotely habitable?" I can't argue their. The soil is completely dry and the grass is either wilted or dead.
"It may be the off season for vegetation." Roxas commented. "We are on a different world. We could have landed during its autumn and winter cycle."
"It's a little warm to be the autumn cycle." Isaac commented. "At least by my planet's standards. And what few planet's I've been to."
"It could just be the area we landed in." Roxas added.
Isaac looked around, though there wasn't much to see, just a lot of tall and wide trees with protruding roots. "Possibly."
"We did land in the tropics." I heard Leon comment.
"Okay guys! Here is what we are going to do!" Tifa exclaimed and redirected our attention immediately. "The ARK Dorm will explore the surrounding area to determine if it is safe to establish an outpost on this world. In the meantime, Leon and Rinoa will look after the Ragnarok until we get back. Any questions?"
"Just one." I asked before we started trudging through the mud. "Has anyone actually explored this planet?"
Tifa rubbed the back of her head in response to my question. Either she didn't know how to respond or the answer is no.
"The planet has been explored beforehand." Aqua stepped in. "But the planet's surface is either barren or marshland. This landing site was the only one large enough to support a colonization outpost for settlers to grow and expand from."
"So we are here to see if it is worth building an outpost here?" Riku seemed to share my skeptical sentiment. Judging from the land around here, it would be hard to terraform the surface into something habitable.
"That's the general idea." Tifa commented and walked off toward the forest, probably to decide a route we could take.
"There has been evidence of vegetation and land that can support life. The fertile land has just been few and far between." Aqua added and went toward the forest. "Did you find a path yet?" Tifa just turned and smirked before pointing toward a small pathway. Aqua turned around and gave us a stern, but relax look. "Alright guys, let's get going."
"Take care of the ship, Leon!" Xion shouted back as we made our way toward the path.
We trudged through the path, following our RA's lead. Well, mostly. Isaac and Xion decided to hop across the large tree roots that jutted out of the ground and Terra elected to hover over top of us. The rest of us remained on the ground to deal with the large wilted plants that we had to swat aside.
I noticed that the soil we were walking was dried, unnaturally so. And the tree roots that Isaac and Xion elected to jump on were rotted and hollow beyond reason. Even if it were the autumn season like Roxas theorized, the trees shouldn't have rotted that much. That being said, there is one thing that still bugs me to no end…And Riku seemed to pick up on that. "Where is the wild life?"
We all gave Riku a questioning look, well, everyone except me and Isaac from what I could gather. "What do you mean, Riku?" Sora asked the silverette.
"I mean, we've been walking through this forest for at least ten minutes now and we haven't seen or heard from a single insect or animal the whole time. Why is that?"
"It could just be they migrated away." Aqua replied.
"Even so, there would still be some kind of Avian or Rodent life in the forest given that there is still some amount of heat around." Riku argued back.
"Looks like they caught on, Aqua." Tifa suddenly commented to which Aqua just gave a defeated sigh.
"No point hiding it now, I guess." Everybody stopped, Isaac and Xion perching themselves on a nearby tree root while Terra landed next to them.
"Is there something you guys aren't telling us?" I asked aloud.
Aqua and Tifa looked each other in the eye, as if deciding who was going to go first. It looked like Aqua silently volunteered herself since she took a step forward. "Two weeks ago, the archive on Cocoon was breached by a lone figure in a black cloak. We weren't told what they took, but we can assume that it was highly confidential."
"And what does that have to do with us?" Riku asked the blunette.
"A few hours later, there was a break-in on campus at around the time you were having your Summons class. Remember when Rydia had to leave? That was when the intruder got caught. However they escaped through a corridor of darkness."
"Are the break-ins connected?" Roxas asked.
"We believe so since both of them were wearing the same black cloak." Tifa added.
That's all very important, but there is one pressing issue on my mind that Aqua and Tifa seemed to be dancing around. "So why is this relevant to us?"
Aqua seemed to flinch at the question. Which means it was anything but good news. "They accessed a number of files in SOLDIER's mainframe, but they spent a large amount of time searching through the student registry." This couldn't be good. "The only file they opened and bothered downloading was on the ARK dorm."
For some reason, that sentence alone made me realize just how quiet this forest actually was. Especially since everyone wore an expression of shock and worry on their faces.
"Why us?!" Roxas suddenly exclaimed the million dollar question.
"We don't know, Roxas." Tifa replied with a much too serious expression on her face for what she had built herself up as. "All we can figure is that it has something to do with whatever it is they stole from the archive on Cocoon."
"If that's the case, then why are we here? Wouldn't it be safer to stay on campus than to be on some barren wasteland of a planet?" I asked our Resident Advisors. If we were specifically selected, then why send us out in the opened where whoever is looking for us can find us easily?
"Because it's the last thing an intruder would expect." Isaac suddenly commented in an analytical tone.
"How does that make any sense, Isaac?" Kairi asked our dread haired dorm mate.
"Simple." Isaac responded and leaned back on the root he was resting on. "The enemy knows it can break into SOLDIER and Cocoon with no problems. They would obviously expect the Institute to strengthen their security after the break in."
That would be the best course of action in this scenario. But I decided to go one further since a lot of the dorm didn't seem to get what Isaac was hinting at. "So they wait for our first field missions, when the campus has the least amount of able bodied personnel to fight them should they try to come for us."
"Exactly!" Isaac exclaimed as if he were an excited scientist. "So the last thing our admirers would expect is to have the Institute send us on a field mission with nothing more than our Guardians to accompany us." He eyed Aqua and Tifa who were shocked that the two of us had probably figured out the Institute's plan.
"Which means that this mission wasn't on the register and neither was the Ragnarok's departure." Kairi added, catching on to the idea.
"Is that true, Sis?" Naminé asked her blue haired sister. She just nodded in response.
"This planet used to be as lush as the UNSC controlled planet, Harvest. But for some reason, it started eroding and dying over seventy-two hours ago." Tifa replied, punching a hole in a nearby tree trunk to emphasize just how degraded the environment had become.
"So I was right about the seasons being off." Riku jumped in.
"That's correct, Riku. We needed to determine why the planet decided to up and die on us." Tifa replied.
"And we needed to keep you guys safe at the same time, so it seems like a perfect compromise. So we're going to wait till most of the one day missions are done before returning."
We all breathed a collective sigh of relief once we figured out what was going on. "That's a relief." Terra breathed out.
Just when we seemed to be getting back to the main point of the trip, I couldn't help but notice that Isaac was focused on something. Not the surroundings, but something that occupied his attention. It may be the subject of us being targeted, but I wouldn't know.
Narrator's POV
Three figures stood on a high cliff five kilometers from where the Ragnarok had touched down. All three wore the long black cloaks of the Enigmatic man and all of them had their hoods pulled off. One was the blonde intruder Larxene while the other was a man with shoulder platinum blonde hair with two side bangs framing his hard lined face and emerald green eyes. His cloak was slightly longer than the rest of his group with his sleeves covering his hands and the length covering his boots, almost resembling a gown. The other was a man with very feminine features with ruffled rose pink hair and deep blue eyes.
"The subjects have landed." The platinum blonde commented as he looked through the high powered binoculars.
"Yeah. Even your failure should show his miserable face." Larxene taunted the blonde male. She was sitting with her legs crossed on the cliff edge.
"Shut it, Larxene. I never produce failures. Merely given the wrong equipment." The blonde replied bitterly.
"No need to get upset, Vexen." The pink haired man calmly teased the blonde scientist. "Besides. He's not the one we're after."
"I know that, Marluxia." Vexen removed his binoculars and eyed Larxene. "I will admit that I am uneasy about having our two assassins assigned to a capture mission. Especially the little sadist!" Vexen practically spat the comment at Larxene.
"You got a problem?!" Larxene jumped to her feet with her daggers in hand.
"Considering that you lost us a large amount of valuable data during your last mission, yes. I do have a problem!" Vexen replied back, trying to keep his calm.
"Now, now." Marluxia interjected with his hands between the arguing pair. "Don't forget, dear Larxene managed to lock some of the data in a small electrical surge on one of her daggers before she was attacked." He turned to face Larxene. "And I'm sure Vexen is just concerned for the success of this mission. Should we fail here, the client will be most displeased with us."
Larxene just turned away and folded her arms. "Then let him be upset. The organization shouldn't have to be lead around by some washed up clown."
Marluxia just smirked at the childish reaction. "Don't forget. That clown has knowledge of Kingdom Hearts and the Astral Archive."
"Those are the keys we need to reach the next step." Vexen added in. "Especially now that we can no longer obtain Oblivion." Vexen could not help but sound bitter upon the last statement.
"Which is why we have to try to get this right on the first try." Marluxia concurred with a sly smirk as he rubbed Larxene's shoulders. "Even if we don't succeed, it just means that the girl is a good enough replacement for Oblivion."
Larxene shrugged off the shoulder rub and moved toward the cliff edge. "Fine! I'll get the stupid girl. You just keep the Celestial off of me." She jumped into the forest with an aggravated step. Leaving Marluxia and Vexen to stand for a moment by themselves.
"I'm still amazed at how you can persuade people to your point of view." Vexen told the pink haired man.
Marluxia just smirked at the comment. "I was always a very persuasive person." He jumped after Larxene and into the forest.
Vexen just shrugged. 'As long as I get my test subject, I don't care what they do.' He jumped after them into the forest.
Terra's POV
I'm glad that the Institute sent us somewhere no one would think to look for us. After finding out that someone hacked into our dorm registry, I was a little on edge. I'm glad that Isaac, Shin, Riku, and Roxas managed to figure out what was going on. Though part of me wishes that they hadn't. Don't get me wrong, it is nice to know that someone is out looking for you. Then you have a chance to avoid them. But part of me would've liked to believe that I wasn't being hunted. A more scared and timid side that I thought I had grown out of. Maybe it's human nature to be afraid when you were the prey, instead of the predator.
The rest of the group seemed a bit relaxed, all things considered. All except for Isaac. The only reason why I say that is because he stopped jumping on the large tree roots and stuck to walking on the ground. He didn't seem tired and he certainly wasn't having trouble moving along the roots, so I wonder why he decided to walk.
I guess I wasn't the only one since Naminé decided to break the ice…so to speak. "Are you alright, Isaac?" Isaac didn't register the question since he kept his gaze on the floor. "Isaac?" Naminé waved her hand in front of his face. That still didn't seem to work.
"Yo, Isaac!" Sora shouted and wrapped his arm around Isaac's neck. That seemed to catch his attention.
"Huh?" Isaac replied.
"Naminé has been trying to talk to you." Sora pointed at the blonde next to him.
"You seemed pretty lost in thought, so I was wondering if you were okay." Naminé replied.
Isaac straightened his walk and Sora leaned off of him. "I'm alright." Isaac replied simply. "I was just thinking about some stuff."
"Like?"
Isaac looked back down to the dirt pathway. "Well…This planet for one thing."
"Yeah, it is pretty unnatural. Especially if it could've supported an entire colony at one point." Naminé replied. "Now it's almost as if…"
"As if it's dead." Sora finished Naminé's thought.
Isaac stopped in his tracks. "You're not far off base." That got all of our attention. Isaac leaned down and took a handful of dirt from the ground. "The soil…" He tilted his hand and the soil poured out like black dust. "It should've clumped together, but it didn't."
"Yeah, the soil is dry, Isaac. We already established that." Kairi commented and walked next to Isaac. "What's your point?"
"On my home world, I grew up in a tribe that is very in tune with nature and nestled in the center of a large forest. One of the lessons we learn, is that if the soil on the forest floor ever turns to dust, then the planet is dying."
"Oh this I have to hear." Riku sarcastically replied.
"You never did tell us the name of your home planet, Isaac." I asked as I landed next to him. "What is it called?"
Isaac wiped his hands of the rest of the sand soil. "It was called Savanna Misitu. And yes, Riku, you really want to hear this one." Isaac looked up at the brown leaves of the wilting trees, probably trying to find the words to begin. "There was once a planet that existed only to feed on other planets. It had no system to call its own and was nothing but a barren wasteland. They say that even in the emptiness of space, one could hear the wails of the countless souls that had been devoured and trapped on the planet's surface. Legend says that if a living being ever stepped foot on its surface, they would be faced with their deepest darkest fears and their worst sins."
"Sounds like a bad bed time story, if you ask me." Shin commented.
"A planet of ghosts, best left forgotten." Isaac just smirked at the title. "Maybe it is a bed time story. Either way, a dark force has touched this planet and now it's slowly devouring its life force."
"You're just being superstitious." Riku jeered and helped Isaac to his feet. "A planet that eats other planets? No offense Isaac, but it sounds ridiculous."
Isaac just shrugged the comment off and laughed. "I guess you're right. It does sound pretty stupid when you say it aloud." We shared a collective laugh. It was nice to laugh. It made me forget about how we could have dangerous people after us.
"Someone's having a good time." Our light hearted session was interrupted by the sound of an unknown woman's voice. We took a few moments to search for the owner of the voice. "Up here!" We looked up to see a woman in a black coat with bright blonde hair. She stared at us with cyan eyes as if she was sizing us up like prey.
The next thing I knew, Tifa was in a fighting stance. "Is that her?!"
"More than likely! Rainfell!" Aqua's right hand glowed with a bright white light and a long metal pole appeared in her hand. The pole itself had two conical holes, one at the pommel and one near the end, was icy blue in color with a partially formed rhombus that had one corner missing and small prongs sticking out of what was left of the rhombus, kinda like ice, and jutted into the center. The circular guard was snow white with a short icy blue chain that dangled from the hilt and ended in a silver teardrop with an aqua blue gem in the center.
"Oh?!" The woman exclaimed upon seeing Aqua's weapon. "So you're a Keyblade wielder too?" That's a Keyblade? It looks so flimsy! "You must be one of Eraqus' pets. It's a good thing I brought back up!"
What?! "Dodge!" Kairi exclaimed as a swirl of pink-red energy cut through the forest floor with a pool of darkness emanating from the swirl. We jumped out of the way and I got separated from the group.
"Fira-" I was stopped from chanting my spell by a black gloved hand covering my mouth and I felt ice wrap around my legs and wrist, binding them together.
"We'll have none of that." I turned to see big emerald green eyes staring at me and a wicked grin. "I'm Vexen, and you'll be my guinea pig for the rest of your life!"
"Hands off Creep!" I heard Xion blare from one of the opposite tree roots. The next thing I knew, my frozen bonds were shattered by her gunfire and my captor stumbled back in shock.
"Firaga!" I discharged four large flaming orbs at the platinum blonde that once held me. He raised a shield that resembled a rain drop. It was completely blue with silver trimming and blue spikes on the rounded edge and at the point.
"Dammit, Vexen, can't you do anything right?!" The blonde woman shouted as she fought off Tifa and Aqua.
"Shut it, Larxene!" The man shouted back and threw his shield at me, spikes forward. I dodged to the side only to have his shield spin around and return to him.
"Now, now, now." I heard a very calm voice and turned to see a man with pink hair and a large scythe fighting the rest of the dorm. The long handle was green and bent like a plant stem and the blades were pink that faded into white with a yellow spot in the center where the blade connected with the handle in a cross shape, it almost looked like a flower and I would find it pretty if it weren't for the fact that he was trying to kill my friends with it. "He's spent too much time in the lab. You can't expect him to actually hold anyone."
The blonde woman started cackling at the insult. "You're right about that!" She jabbed Tifa in the stomach and blocked Aqua's Keyblade with some cyan and yellow knives.
Isaac rushed at the man and was blocked by the scythe when he attempted to swing at the man's legs. Shin jumped off of Isaac's back and stabbed at the man with his Solais. The man just twirled the scythe like a windmill and deflected the stab. Sora and Riku tried to stab the man from behind but he managed to engulf himself in black and pink barbs that blocked their sword strikes.
I didn't have time to watch the whole fight since the man with the shield was lunging at me. I fired off a volley of Firaga spells, but that shield of his is surprisingly resistant. "Come on, girl! Just submit and I promise you're conditions of experimentation will be much better than my other subjects. You'll only lose an arm at most!"
"You're sick!" I fired another volley of Firaga spells at the mad scientist.
He smacked the balls of fire away with his shield. "I'm a visionary!" He reached me and tried to back hand me with the shield before I could react.
"Mind if I cut in?!" Somehow Shin had managed get high enough to reach us in the air and blocked the strike from the man's shield with his Solais and then hit him in the chin with his scabbard. I caught Shin by the hand before he fell to the floor. "You alright?"
"Yeah, but how did you get up here? We must've been at least twenty meters up!"
"Thank Isaac." He pointed to our dread haired teammate, who was swapping strikes with the pink haired man along with Sora and Roxas. Riku, Xion, and Naminé were blocking strikes from stray electric charged daggers that the blonde would periodically fire when fighting Tifa and Aqua.
"We need to get back to the ship or we're going to get killed." I told my brunette dorm mate.
"Agreed, but we need a plan."
"Get off of me!" I saw the blonde elbow Tifa in the stomach after she tried to put the woman in a nelson.
"Don't forget about me!" I turned to see the mad scientist flying behind me.
"Aerora!" I chanted and we were surrounded by a whirlwind of…wind…that repulsed his attack.
"Get me to the ground, and I'll think of something." Shin told me.
"Okay." I lowered him to the ground and did my best to distract the mad scientist. What I could glimpse out of the corner of my eye was Shin talking to Isaac. Isaac seemed to nod and they jumped away from the scythe wielding man.
"Blizzaga!" I heard my opponent chant and a large shard of ice shot towards me.
"Firaga!" I chanted my counter and giant ball of intense flame appeared in front of me. The ice struck at ball of flame and melted from the sheer intensity. "Thundara!" I fired my lightning spell at the man and managed to strike him briefly, but it didn't seem to faze him at all.
"You'll have to do better than that!" He rushed me before I could even react and I instinctively threw my arms up in front of my face to block his next attack.
"You're pathetic!" Huh? I heard something shatter and I looked to see that the man's shield had cracked and broken where he tried to strike me. I should be thankful for this miracle, but it wasn't until after I noticed the pink-purple fur on my arms that I quickly dreaded the miracle.
"NO!" I shrieked and tried to halt the transformation.
"Don't be a kill joy!" No, no, no! Not now!
"You'll pay for that, freak!" I was too distracted with my arms to notice that the scientist had flown above me and kicked me in the side of the head, knocking me to the floor where Riku had caught me.
"You alright?!" He asked.
I quickly tried to jump out of his arms to find that my own arms had returned to normal. "Y-yeah. I'm fine." Thankfully she didn't get out or my friends would have worse problems to contend with.
"Everybody duck!" We turned to see Isaac and Shin arching with black-blue and silver lightning respectively. We didn't need to be prompted since we knew what they were about to do. They've been practicing for a week now.
"SURGE!" The two shouted and flung their blades forward, discharging the electricity into and along the ground that rippled through the soil and uprooted tree roots and rocks, shooting straight towards our three assailants. It struck with a large explosion and knocked the two men on their back, the woman just stood her ground and…and…did she just absorb the brunt of the attack?!
"Back to the ship!" Shin exclaimed as he and Isaac turned and ran towards the direction of the Ragnarok. I didn't have time to figure out if the woman had actually absorbed the attack or not since we all ran towards the ship immediately afterward.
"Leon!" I heard Tifa shout into her earpiece. "Get the Ragnarok ready for takeoff. We have three cloaked figures after us! Don't ask how, just get the ship ready!" Tifa looked behind us to see that the three people in cloaks were after us. "They're going to catch us at this rate!" Tifa exclaimed.
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Riku shouted and put his hand out. "Terra, Roxas, follow my lead! Fire!" Roxas and I chanted our fire spells in unison, discharging them at the trees and setting them ablaze.
The forest quickly caught fire and erupted in a huge wall of flame that seemed to keep our pursuers at bay as we reached the ship moments later. Aqua, Xion, Isaac, and I stayed by the boarding ramp to keep the pursuers at bay in case they got around the fire wall. Which they did. We hurried up the boarding ramp as we saw the ship begin to lift off the ground. Isaac electrified the ramp to stop our assailants from boarding. We hurried into the cargo bay where we just grabbed hold of whatever was bolted down when we exited through the atmosphere and just collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion. Roxas had made his way to the cockpit to speak to Leon and Rinoa.
"Who were they?!" Sora exclaimed from across the cargo bay.
"They were probably the guys trying to kill us!" Kairi shot back at the spikey brunette.
"Let's just be thankful they can't follow us." Naminé replied sitting on her legs.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Oh, please no. We turned our heads to the center of the cargo bay to see a black and purple portal. A bolt of yellow lightning suddenly shot toward Tifa and Aqua and knocked them unconscious against the far wall. The blonde woman stepped through the portal along with the two men. "Now, do be a dear and come here." The mad scientist beckoned to me.
The others were about to rise when pink and black barbs wrapped around their arms and legs. "No need to get excited." The pink haired man commented.
I felt a tugging on my wrist and looked to see Roxas pulling me up the stairs with his white blade drawn. "If you want her, you'll have to go through me first." He started running down the corridor to an elevator platform at the far end.
"What are you doing, Roxas?!" I asked the blonde as we made our way up the lift, seeing the three assailants following closely behind.
"I have no idea!" Roxas shouted as we ran through a cyan hallway and through another door into a deadend room.
"We're trapped!" I shouted and turned to see the three assailants entering through the only door to the hallway.
"Nowhere to run, now." The female commented as she shut the door behind them.
"You never cease to amaze me." The mad scientist commented, Roxas pointing his sword at the assailants while clutching my hand very tightly. He seemed anxious around the scientist, like he knew them somehow. "Not only do you fail as a test subject, but you fail as a knight in shining armor!"
"A test subject…?" I repeated the words to myself as I stared at Roxas' back. "What do you mean by that?!"
"You'll find out soon enough." The pink haired man commented and took a step forward to which Roxas took a step back.
"Your dorm is full of interesting people." The blonde woman commented. "A Failure…" She motioned toward Roxas. "A Freak…" She motioned toward me. "And a Big. Fat. Liar."
'A liar? What is she talking about?' I quickly shook the thoughts from my head and refocused on the issue at hand. I saw Roxas standing his ground, but I could feel him shaking. "You don't have to do this, Roxas." I could tell he was scared just by how much the hand holding mine was shaking.
"Just hold on. I have a plan." He replied back as we continued to back towards the back wall.
"You hear that?" The blonde commented. "The failure has a plan!" She started laughing at Roxas and I wanted nothing more than to hit her right then and there, but kept my cool since Roxas said he had a plan. I just hope he knows what he's doing.
"What do you say, Vexen?" The pink haired man called to the scientist. "How about we let the failure prove himself?"
The man called Vexen rubbed his chin while the blonde just continued to smirk and snicker. "Why not?" Vexen replied. "I doubt he could possibly disappoint me more than he already has."
The pink haired man just smirked and crossed his arms. "Okay, Blondie. Impress us."
I looked at Roxas nervously as he straightened his back out. He swallowed hard and placed his sword back in its scabbard before turning to face me. "Do you trust me, Terra?" I must have had the most confused look on my face when he asked me that question. "Do you trust me?" He asked again with a very anxious and desperate look.
I calmed myself and narrowed my features. "Yes."
"Good, cause I don't." Before I could even respond to that reply he threw a punch past my head while squeezing my hand even more tightly and striking the wall next to me.
The room filled with laughter when Roxas initiated his 'plan'. "What was that?!" The blonde woman commented.
"Was that really your plan?" Vexen replied, wiping a tear from his eye. "You really are a spectacular failure!"
I looked back to Roxas to see him smirking before he leaned in to whisper in my ear. "Grab the guard rail and don't let go."
Before I could ask why, a monotone female voice called over the intercom. "Airlock seals released. Room depressurization in process. Make sure all seals on environment suits are secured."
"You bastard!" Vexen exclaimed as the hatch above us began to slide open while me and Roxas grabbed onto the guard rails for support.
I looked to the side to see the blonde woman try to run toward us only to have all traction lost when she, along with the other two men, got sucked into space. I was going to congratulate Roxas when I realized something important. We were in a vacuum and running out of air. I could see Roxas motioning to me to hit the button, but I was starting to lose consciousness. I had to act quickly if I was going to shut the airlock hatch.
I tried my best to maneuver my leg to hit the airlock button, but I couldn't fight against the vacuum of space and my vision as well as my strength was fading. The last thing I remember before my vision went black was mine and Roxas' hand slipping from the guard rail.