Prologue 2: Breaking Point
January 5th, 2005, 10 a.m.
Prime Material Plane
Root Town
Juan was walking through the gates of Root Town. He had been invited by his brother Jeff. He and his wife Ryan apparently had a pair of children while he was off adventuring. He was glad that he had started his conquest and his family was none the wiser.
Jeff was pacing the room. He was stressed about his brother coming over to see him and his family. Ryan tried to reassure him that everything would be okay. His children were upstairs playing, since his son Eric was done training with Ryan.
"The kids will love him just as much as you, Jeff. Don't worry about it." Ryan said.
"I'd doubt that. Juan is skeptical. He is willing to find an underlying motive in order to break them. He thinks everything he does is best." Jeff explained.
"Oh, please. I'm sure it'll turn out fine." Ryan reassured.
Eric was playing with his little sister in her room.
"So what do you think about Uncle Juan coming today?" Eric asked.
"I really want to see him once. Dad said he never comes by and he seems really sad about it." his sister said.
"Really? I heard Dad had some problems with him. Wouldn't be surprising if Mom just so happened to use her psychiatrist tactics on them." Eric laughed. His little sister giggled with him.
The doorbell rang. Ryan opened the door and in the doorway stood Juan.
"Kids! Your uncle's here!" Ryan yelled.
Within a second Eric and his sister ran downstairs. They were excited to say the least. Jeff arrived to welcome his brother, seeing him looking at Jeff's kids.
He was planning something. Something worse than anything he'd seen during is childhood.
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave this place, brother." Jeff said.
"I just got here, Jeff. Won't you let me have some quality time with my cousins?" Juan asked.
"Would you two chill out!?" Ryan asked. Juan snapped.
This is exactly the thing he's seen in every world. It disgusted him.
"Goodbye..." Juan said, turning around and setting the house on fire before continuing with the rest of the town.
"What are you doing!?" Ryan yelled.
"Eliminating what cannot coexist." Juan explained.
He dashed towards Jeff and...
{SNAP!}
Jeff laid there... his neck snapped.
"Kids! Get out of here!" Ryan screamed. Eric and his sister obliged and ran. Ryan threw a scabbard in Eric's way. He recognized it as his sword.
At the town gates of Root Town the kids stopped in their tracks. It looked like their uncle teleported in front of them.
"Your father always was a weakling. Bullying him was all too easy. Your mother on the other hand... she was much more interesting. How sad for us her life was finished the moment she spoke up against me..." Juan explained.
"What would that mean for us?" Eric said skeptically.
"You die." Juan replied with a cold look upon his face.
"Ari, RUN!" Eric yelled. Ari began running when she saw Eric throwing his sword to her. She didn't look back as she began running as far as her little legs would carry her.
Eric was grabbed by the neck after he threw his sword to his sister. Juan was about to land the finishing blow until...
{BANG!}
Juan's wrist was shot, dropping Eric to the ground.
The culprit... looked like his sister. holding a fire-themed gun. He certainly didn't remember giving Ari a gun, so he immediately questioned his own actions.
"Leave. We got this." one of the men with his sister's look-a-like said.
With that, he ran. He was lucky that he had the legs of an athlete at age 11. So he ran the opposite way that Ari ran to preserve her sanity.
January 5th, 2005, 10:15 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Berger Household
Eric arrived to a large estate in the middle of nowhere. He knocked on the door and promptly collapsed due to exhaustion and hunger. A woman opened the door and screamed.
"Oh my god! Gerald, make some food ASAP!" she yelled.
Eric woke up a half hour later in a bed to a spread of freshly cooked food, which he immediately began to eat. The woman and Gerald were shocked at his appetite.
"Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce myself." Eric said before swallowing his food. "I'm Eric." he continued.
"My name is Linda. This is my husband Gerald." Linda introduced.
"Where did you come from?" Gerald asked.
"Root Town, sir." Eric answered.
"That is a far away place. How did you get here?" Gerald asked.
"I ran here." Eric said before wincing a little bit from the pain.
"Are you okay?" Linda asked.
"As okay as I would be, scraping myself to the environment after my uncle grabbed me by the throat." Eric said.
"Maybe you should stay with us. We have enough rooms to house a family or three." Gerald replied.
"I'd like that, thanks." Eric said.
January 6th, 2005, 8 a.m.
Prime Material Plane
Berger Household
Eric woke up to the sound of three kids running beside his room.
"Okay, what is going on here?" Eric asked.
"Who are you, sir?" one of the kids asked.
"I'm Eric." he said.
"Nice to meet you, Eric!" all of the kids said in unison.
"Oh my god, this is gonna be my life isn't it?" Eric asked himself.
"Ah, yes, Eric. I see you've already met the kids of the fairy royals?" Gerald asked.
"Back up, run that by me again? Fairy royals?" Eric asked.
"Yes. The king of the Fairies had died around half a year ago, and the Fairy Queen heard of the attack in Root Town, so she sent three of her four kids to live with us to make it seem like they weren't at all connected with their royal line." Gerald explained.
"Wow. and these kids are these royals?" Eric asked.
"Yes. I was getting them and you for breakfast." Gerald explained.
"Okay. What are their names?" Eric asked.
"They are from, oldest to youngest, Alexandria, Philip and Charlotte." Gerald answered.
January 10th, 2005, 8 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Alice's House
Ari ran the last stretch. She entered a random town and slammed her tiny body into the nearest door she could find, knocking herself out. Jack opened the door to reveal a small girl lying in the rain.
"Alice! get a towel and some soup ready!" Jack yelled.
"Who is it, Jack?" Alice asked from upstairs.
"There is a child laying unconscious in the rain. She needs shelter." Jack replied.
Ari woke to a bowl of soup in front of her. She was hungry, but too shocked to eat. She couldn't get a bite in.
"Are you not hungry?" Alice asked.
Ari could only shake her head to indicate her hunger. Her vocal chords locked up due to shock.
"Eat up, then. We didn't make it so you wouldn't eat it, am I right?" Jack said with a smile on his face.
It became obvious to Ari that both of them didn't know how to parent. It was also blatantly obvious that both of them were broken beyond repair on an emotional level. She tried to speak.
"Um..." Ari asked.
Jack and Alice were shocked that she spoke up.
"What's your name, kid?" Jack asked.
"My name is Ari, sir. If it's okay to ask... are you okay?" Ari answered.
"I'm fine." Jack said. Alice didn't speak a word. How did this random girl that slammed her body into the door know about her father's death. Was her facial expression making it obvious? No. Not right now. Alice stormed upstairs without notice of why.
"Did I do something wrong?" Ari said.
"Well... not necessarily. You were spot on when you asked us if we were okay." Jack explained.
"If I may ask... what happened?" Ari asked.
"You see... her father died in the line of fire." Jack replied. Ari moved her head to the side in confusion.
"Her father made a mistake while we were on a mission and now he sleeps in the forever box." Jack explained.
"I'm sorry..." Ari said. She started to weep silent tears and ran up to Alice's room.
"What are you doing here, Ari?" Alice asked. The response she got was a crying child hugging her until she fell asleep.
"What did you tell her?" Alice asked Jack.
"I told her what happened that made you like this. She was spot on judging your reaction, so she had to know or else she would think you hated her." Jack explained.
"Well... she is sweet like this. I'll get her to bed. Maybe we can figure something out tomorrow." Alice said.
"Good plan." Jack replied.
January 10th, 2005, 22:59 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Ari's Mind
Ari seemed to wake in her room, but she felt something was wrong. She didn't know why, but there was someone else in her mind.
"Hey." someone said out of nowhere, causing Ari to shriek and immediately quiet down in fear of Jack and Alice waking up. The only thing she saw was an orb of light.
"Chill out. This looks like your room but it's not. This space was created in your mind." the orb explained.
"Who are you?" Ari asked.
"I can't say. I'm here to protect you from any harm." the orb answered.
Ari wouldn't be able to thank them. She was so tired of what happened the last 5 days that she immediately fell asleep.
The orb turned around to another orb of light.
"You do understand she can't know you exist, right, Morgan?" the orb asked.
"I do. Maybe one day..." Morgan said as they left.
"This is gonna be hard... She can really play me like a fiddle..." the orb sighed.
January 6th, 2005, 9:30 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Golden Leaf Residential District
Ari was walking with Jack and Alice through the town. they stopped by a fountain where she could see multiple boys and a woman trying to keep them satisfied with things to do. They all turned around, giving attention that Ari couldn't take.
"Hey, Jack. Who's the little girl?" Fae asked.
"Hey, Fae. This is Ari. She came to town yesterday." Jack answered.
"Come on, kids. Go play with Ari. I need to talk with Jack and Alice for a bit." Fae said.
"What happened? One day you want to have revenge and the next you bring a child with you!?" Fae whispered.
"Relax. She slammed her body into the door yesterday and we took her in because she needed shelter." Jack explained.
Fae was notibly shocked.
"You're going to adopt her?" Fae asked.
"Yes. She needs some semblance of a home." Alice replied.
"Okay. You know who to call when you need help." Fae said as she went towards the group of kids.
"Hey guys!" Fae yelled.
"Hi, Evelyn!" the children said. Ari was silent. Her suddenly being an attention magnet like they were starved for other human contact made her incredibly shy, while she would never have been that shy.
"What's wrong, Ari?" Fae asked. Ari simply responded by hugging Fae's leg tightly. This earned the other kids scorn.
"What did you do?" Fae asked.
"We didn't do anything, I swear!" one boy with black hair that was styled like a tornado said with the loudest tone anyone could ever imagine.
"We were just asking questions." a boy with ginger hair explained.
"And now she's scared." Fae said.
"No, I'm not. i'm just not used to being the center of attention..." Ari explained in a soft tone.
Every child in the vicinity immediately felt remorseful.
"Sorry about that." a child with blond hair said.
"No worries. It happens from time to time." Ari said. She was smiling again.
"Let's introduce you to everyone, shall we?" Fae asked.
"Sure. I'd like to get to know evrybody." Ari answered.
Fae pointed to each child and said their name. The black natural disaster haired kid was named Christian. The ginger haired child introduced himself as Mias. The child with blond hair told Ari that his name was Thomas. Finally, there was a boy with rainbow colored hair. He introduced himself normally. He said his name was Dirk. Ari thought he was much more flamboyant due to his hair color, but Dirk said it was genetic. In fact it helped him playing pranks on people and catching them of guard.
A fifth child and his mother approached the group. Two people Fae knew all too well.
"Your Highness... It's been a while." Fae said.
"Please, Fae. Call me Victoria. We're not in our world anymore." Victoria corrected.
"I understand. Is this your son?" Fae asked.
"Yes. Edmund hasn't seen much outside of our castle back in our world, so I need you to look after him while I look for a job." Victoria explained.
"You can always count on me." Fae said with a smile.
"Be careful not to treat him like royalty. I don't want us to be hunted down. I already sent his brother and sisters to the Bergers so they could be safe." Victoria whispered in Fae's ears.
"You can count on me." Fae whispered back.
January 10th, 2005, 10 a.m.
Prime Material Plane
Golden Leaf shopping District
Christian was chilling in the Shopping District when Ari approached him.
"Hey. What are you doing here?" Ari asked.
"What does it look like?" Christian deadpanned.
"You don't look like the person that liked shopping." Ari replied.
"You'd be right. the fam dragged me along." Christian said. They chuckled at the fact.
Suddenly, Ari's face went dull. Like all life was being ripped from the body. Christian found it weird that it suddenly happened.
January 10th, 2005, 10 a.m.
Prime Material Plane
Ari's Mind
Ari awakened inside her mind. She knew how it worked since she was told how it worked by that weird orb of light floating around. She hoped she would meet him again. And her hopes would be proven right.
The orb manifested in her mind and started to communicate with her.
"Hello again, sir." Ari said.
"Call me Ventus." Ventus answered.
"Thank you for trusting me with your name, Ventus." Ari said.
Ventus noticed that Ari looked stressed.
"You want a chance to rest?" Ventus asked.
"I'd appreciate it." Ari said, falling asleep on the spot.
"Alright. Don't worry, I'll take over." Ventus added.
January 10th, 2005, 10 a.m.
Prime Material Plane
Golden Leaf Shopping District
Christian was worried. He thought Ari was basically dead. He was more relieved when Ari awoke.
"Phew. I thought you up and died or something." Christian said.
"Well... I'm full of surprises." Ventus said, him being the current alter in the driver seat.
"Okay, I'm gonna pull some Ace Attorney stuff over here. Who are you and what did you do to Ari?" Christian asked.
"Wow. You're good." Ventus replied.
"You didn't answer my question." Christian said.
"Call me Ventus. I'm kind of like a brother to Ari." Ventus explained to Christian. It was safe to say he wasn't convinced.
Until it clicked for Christian.
"OH! This is like DID, right?" Christian asked.
"You could say it like that, yeah. Don't know in the slightest what the heck that means, though." Ventus replied.
"You need me to show you around? I Can do that if you want." Christian asked.
"Whoa there, buddy. Baby steps." Ventus replied. Both kids chuckled.
April 3rd, 2010, 4 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Golden Leaf Central
The next five years weren't relatively interesting. Everyone was going on with their usual routine. Ari and Ventus still struggled to get along since she didn't know a lot about him. At the time, Christian was the only one who knew and Ventus seemed to get along with him. The kids were playing when Fae, Jack and Alice approached.
"Hey, kids. What's up?" Jack asked.
"Nothing going wrong, so I'd say it's a good day." Dirk replied. He was bored that day, so he asked his friends to go to the town to do nothing except straight chilling. About half an hour in Mias started cracking jokes that most people would laugh at, but Edmund didn't know how to react to it. Ari didn't either, so they were on their own for most of the time.
"I think I have a tough crowd with Ari and Edmund. They apparently don't know how to react to my jokes." Mias said.
"I think they are used to different kinds of humor. Since they both don't know you as well as we do, I don't really blame them" Alice explained.
"Jack and Alice have a question for you, kids." Fae explained.
"Huh. You don't see that every day." Christian said.
"What we wanted to ask you is..." Alice said before being cut off.
"You want to train under us?" Jack asked. Four out of six kids were immediately excited.
"Count me in!" Dirk yelled.
"Us, too." Mias said, pointing at Thomas and Edmund.
"Sorry, but I can't. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I'm moving for a little bit. My mom can't pay the rent anymore." Christian explained. Ari was shocked to hear this.
"But you can't! You're my best friend!" she yelled.
"Don't worry about it. I'll be back when the rent becomes payable. Might be about two to three years." Christian retorded.
Ari just stared in shock. She left soon after.
April 3rd, 2010, 6p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Ari's Mind
Ari sat crying in reality until she fell asleep. Her 10-year old mind couldn't take that one of her best friends would be leaving. She lost one of her only pillars and that broke her.
"You really care about him, do you?" Ventus asked. He noticed another ball of light enter the mindscape scene.
"You could tell?" Ari answered.
"She certainly did." Ventus said, pointing at the ball of light. It formed into a 14-year old woman with long light blue hair(think Xenoblade 2's Pneuma) and immediately the clothes became obvious to Ari. She wore color corrected leather pants and a denim vest with a black shirt underneath. On that black t-shirt stood text along the lines of "Even when powerless, I'm better than you" or "Screw you". Ari chuckled a little bit at this.
"Hey, kid. Name's Angel." Angel said as she introduced herself.
"I'm Ari. Though I assume you already know." Ari said.
"I do. I'm a part of you. Tell us. What happened that basically summoned me here like a freaking ghost?" Angel asked.
"Well... today I heard my best friend was leaving... and to be honest, without him I stick out like a sore thumb." Ari said.
"Your insecurity is taking over. We both know you're better than that." Angel explained. Ari felt like she was talking to an older sister.
"You should go talk to him, Angel. Ari left on a sad note." Ventus explained.
"Won't that jeopardize literally anything about Ari's identities?" Angel asked. Ari and Ventus looked at each other laughing.
"Oh, don't worry. He already knows. He's the clumsiest genius here." Ari said, still laughing.
April 3rd, 2010, 6.30 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Golden Leaf Residential District
Ari ran to Christian's house. He just came back from a walk for personal reasons.
"Ari! I was wondering when I could talk to you." he said.
"Before you say anything... I'm sorry for reacting the way I did." Ari said. Christian noticed Ari wasn't acting like herself.
"Who is it this time? I'm sick of playing the Ace Attorney strats." Christian said with a groan.
"Ventus warned me about this genius attitude. I'm Angel. I wanted to apologize for Ari's behaviour earlier." Angel explained.
"I thought so. She didn't really do anything wrong in my opinion. I told her I was moving and she effectively lost one of the only support pillars she had to deal with literally everything." Christian explained. He felt terrible because he knew he wouldn't be returning for quite a while.
"It does suck, not gonna lie. Where are you moving?" Angel asked.
"Spijkenisse. I guess that means I'll be quite the long way from here." Christian said.
"Welp. That about settles it. How long?" Angel asked.
"About two years." Christian answered.
"We'll hold out until that time." Angel reassured.
"I figured. I gotta go. See you later." Christian said as he left inside the house.
April 8th, 2010, 8.30 a.m.
Prime Material Plane
Alice's House's Basement
Jack, Alice and Fae were looking over the training of Edmund, Dirk, Mias and Thomas. They hadn't officially started yet, since most of them needed to figure out what form of fighting they wanted to study. Reaper was quick on the subject. He always had a knack for controlling metal. Fae theorized it's something of a native ability to demons. It also worked he learned to weld things from a young age, so he already made his weapon during the time he was asked to train and the time training started.
"Alright. Did you guys finally figure out what you want to train in?" Jack asked.
"Edmund and I did, but where's Thomas?" Mias asked.
"He said he was sick. I'm going to get him some soup to make him feel better." Alice explained.
"Speak of the devil." Edmund said. He saw Thomas approaching the training room.
"I'm fine." Thomas said.
"Well... take this." Fae said, handing him a potion. As Thomas drank it, he could feel strength returning to him.
"Thanks, Fae. I think this has to do with an ability I have. The more I imagine stuff, the more it kills me." Thomas grimaced.
"We'll handle that. For now, choose an element that doesn't hurt you." Alice said.
"Gotcha. I've always wanted to teleport. That an element?" Thomas asked.
"That'd be space. With that, you can choose any point in space to travel to. Perfect for sneak attacks." Jack explained.
"I'll take that then." Thomas said.
About half an hour later, the group was sparring against each other. Mias and Edmund chose their weapons and element. Mias received a shield from Jack and Alice taught him how to use electricity. Edmund chose an axe which he got from his late father and Alice and Fae taught him how to use his abilities in combination with smoke.
Edmund was flying around the room as he suddenly reformed to attempt to strike Mias across his back. To his surprise, Mias' reflexes were too good and he blocked the axe. When Dirk came in for a strike, Mias simply threw his shield arm to match Dirk's strike timing, not caring that he brought Edmund with him. Now both Edmund and Dirk were compromised enough to be kicked across the back from multiple angles by Thomas.
"Training's over. For now, you rest. We will continue tomorrow." Jack said, stopping the fight.
As the people were leaving, Jack stopped Mias.
"I need to talk to you." Jack said.
"Go on, then. I have somewhere to be in the next two hours." Mias said in a hurry.
Jack explained the situation to Mias. Mias was notably shocked by the information. Jack proposed something that shook the foundation of everything that made him join.
"You seem to have good chemistry with the other three. You want to officially join our organization? More importantly, be squad leader?" Jack asked.
"I don't know if I'm worthy of that title." Mias said, already doubting himself.
"Trust me, you do have what it takes. Your responsibility with your family and your reflexes tell us enough. Alice and I made this decision unanimously." Jack explained.
"I'm not going to let you down, sir." Mias said.
April 9th, 2010, 12 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Golden Leaf Gym
Mias was the last to arrive at the gym. He quickly got changed and met up with Jack.
"Why are you so late?" Jack asked.
"Spare me the lecture. I overslept." Mias answered.
"In fact, you came just in time. The others came here not long before you, so we had time to set up a test for your teamwork skills." Alice explained.
"Huh. Interesting." Mias said.
"You can leave the strategy to me." Thomas yelled from across the room.
"Yeah, he's been thinking about that for a while." Edmund admitted.
Jack summoned holograms of slimes and skeletons. Immediately everyone stood at the ready for Thomas' strategy.
"Okay. Dirk, crowd control. make sure that nothing reaches us." Thomas said.
"Yes, sir." Dirk said, waiting for Mias to take command. Mias quickly caught onto Thomas' plan and took over.
"Edmund, create some sort of a barrier around us. Anything that gets in the range of 25 feet dies. Thomas, use your teleport abilities in order to make gravity their enemy." Mias ordered.
"Gotcha. What will you do?" Edmund asked.
"I'll make sure these guys go out with a bang." Mias answered, brandishing his shield.
"What are you waiting for? Get going!" Jack yelled, activating the holograms.
Dirk had a good while to get a handle on things after his training yesterday. He managed to develop a way for him to control his scythe like a whip. He made himself a bracelet with a vial's worth of liquid metal that behaves like a regular rope. He was throwing his scythe all over the place before smashing it down, taking out ten holograms.
Edmund had more difficulty, though. He had just learned how to alter his genetic code to that of smoke, which did make stealth takedowns easier, but he ran into some obstacles when it came to creating a barrier with his abilities. He was having trouble hitting the holograms with perfect accuracy the way he could before. It did help that he knew where the weak spots were due to his extensive research.
Thomas was teleporting around the room grabbing two enemies and dropping them from 20 feet up before Chaos Controlling the heck to another point in the room. He was having a lot of trouble keeping his imagination in check since the smallest burst could kill him. He stopped and teleported inside the circle.
"Hey, how you holding up?" Mias asked.
"It's getting harder by the second. You got something that can hold them off?" Thomas answered.
"Don't worry about that. Fall back, guys!" Mias yelled.
Everyone assembled back in the middle at the circle as Mias punched the ground with his shield. Shocks were sent throughout the room, causing the ground to combust. It was a miracle the building was still intact. Jack and Alice stared at the damage on the floor. Turns out, the floor was charred except for where Mias and the others were standing.
"Weren't expecting that, were you?" Mias asked.
"YOU DUMB PIECE OF...! YOU BLEW UP THE ROOM, YOU IDIOT!" Jack screamed.
"Hold up, we accomplished our task, didn't we?" Mias asked. Jack could only stammer.
"That's right. Shut up about our mistakes if you can't handle them." Mias taunted.
"You know we have to pay for this, right?" Alice asked.
"A power washer should be good enough, right? We didn't blow up the building or let any windows combust... as strange as that is to believe." Mias asked.
"Let's all chip in to pay it." Alice answered.
"I'll pay for it. I got a big allowance." Edmund said.
"WHAT!? YOU COULD PAY FOR THIS THE ENTIRE TIME!?" Jack yelled.
"You do realize my family is royalty, right?" Edmund asked.
"We do, but should you?" Alice asked.
"Well... I did cause the damage,so it seems right to me." Edmund replied.
"Where do you get the allowance, dude?" Dirk asked.
"My mother makes me do tasks around the house. She mainly contributes to Golden Leaf's security." Edmund explained.
Thomas was having it rough after training today. He was the most exhausted he's ever was in his life. Fae suddenly stood there on the balcony, which caused him to yelp.
"Thanks for the heart attack, Fae..." Thomas said.
"Sorry about that. I just wanted to see how you were doing." Fae explained.
"Not good. My condition is not a very good thing." Thomas admitted.
"I know. Do you have medication for that?" Fae asked.
"I think I do." Thomas answered.
"Then I suppose take it until you can get a stronger dose." Fae suggested.
"Thanks for the suggestion. I'll get a stronger prescription later this week. My parents checked my health and they are worried, nontheless." Thomas explained.
December 26th, 2013, 9 a.m.
Prime Material Plane
Berger Home
Juan was stressed out around this time. He had sent assassins to kill his nephew and niece, but alas, they were never found. He knew they had escaped and that they had the guts to keep surviving. So he took it upon himself to gather mystical forces around the temple and kill him himself.
He got word from scouts he had placed there that his nephew was staying at the Berger Household. He gathered his troops and simply dipped. When he arrived at the household he ordered the place to be ransacked and his nephew to be taken out of the house.
Eric was chilling in the living room of the manor until new kinds of monsters burst into the room, scaring his adoptive siblings.
"Eric! What are these things!?" Charlotte yelled.
"Bad news! Let's hide in the safe room!" Eric retorted.
It was at this time that Jack, Alice and their students showed up. They huddled up and went over the plan.
"Okay, here's the plan. Fae, Edmund, due to your physiology you can infiltrate the place easily, find the hostages and placement of the enemy." Jack said.
"Consider it done. I can easily slip through the door." Edmund said before doing just that.
"I'll infiltrate the sewage systems in order to locate the hostages." Fae said before jumping into the nearest fountain.
"Okay... next point. Thomas... sorry, Leonidas, can you check if the door is locked?" Alice asked.
"No worries. I already checked." Leonidas said.
"And?" Static asked.
"Reaper will have to use his abilities, cuz that shit's locked." Leonidas confirmed.
"Gotcha. But we need cover. Look at those monsters watching the perimeter." Reaper said.
Static just looked at him weird.
"You know I could just..." Static tried to say, brandishing his shield.
"No... NO! Absolutely not." Jack refused.
"Yeah, you can't blow the place up again." Alice said calmly.
"No, I was just going to punch one of those fools while Leonidas handles the other one. If more show up, you can do something about it and Jack can make himself useful." Static explained.
"Hey!" Jack yelled.
"Good plan. Let's do it." Leonidas said.
Static ran to a Sentient Armor that was standing to the right of the door. He summoned his shield and jammed it in the neck area, causing the thing to fall down in pieces. Leonidas teleported behind another one and swiftly kicked it in the neck. Reaper then ran up to the door and began to unlock it, which was definitely difficult.
"How the hell can you afford a key of this size!? It feels like this son of a bitch got multiple firewalls!" Reaper asked.
"Keep it up, there's no outside interference as of yet." Jack said. He and Alice just stood prepared for something to happen.
"I got it. I'm opening up the door now." Reaper declared. All of them besides Reaper turned around.
"Look what the cat dragged in..." Juan said.
"Prepare to suffer, you son of a bitch!" Alice yelled, throwing knives being launched out of every bit of earth in the room.
"Alice, calm down! This does nothing except get you killed!" Jack yelled.
"I don't care!" Alice screamed. Her face looked like that of a madman you'd see in a generic anime. Juan simply scoffed.
"Jack is right, Alice! You don't have to do this!" Fae pleaded over the comms.
"NO! I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN!" Alice screamed.
"Then you're not fit for this mission." Static said. Alice was dumbfounded to hear this, but she understood why.
"One look at this guy and you go insane. You can't afford to lose your life in every situation. Leave the permises now or Help Edmund and Fae. Because we can't use you here." Leonidas said harshly. And so, Alice left to find Edmund.
Edmund was running through the freshly cleaned halls of the Berger mansion. he was running to the coordinates Fae gave him.
"Oh, come on! You would think this room would be easy to find!" Edmund yelled.
"Don't worry about it. It isn't called a safe room if it isn't easy to find." Alice said.
"What are you doing here?" Edmund asked.
"Don't ask. It's a long story." Alice answered.
" Okay. Let's go find that room." Edmund said.
Fae was reassuring the Bergers about this attack.
"Chill out, please. This attack wasn't without reason. We believe Juan is trying to erase all hints of his past." Fae explained.
"So, that's what my uncle wants... He wants to kill me." Eric said.
The Bergers looked shocked. They couldn't fathom one of their own would be needed to de for someone conquest.
"If I'm gonna go out... I'm gonna show him what I'm made of. If I don't survive... at least Ari will be able to make it up to me." Eric said determined. He grabbed a rapier and exited the room.
Edmund saw the door open and Eric walk out. He saw he was a man of low wealth, but he did have the strength to do something and change his fate.
"I don't know what he wants to do, but we need to stop him." Alice said.
"You need to leave him alone. He needs to do this by himself." Fae explained.
"Why would that be?" Edmund said.
"Juan is the uncle of him and Ari." Fae explained. Both Alice and Edmund were shocked to hear this.
Eric walked down the stairs of the foyer towards his uncle.
"You have a lot of nerve showing your face before me, nephew..." Juan threatened.
"Save the bullshit. You suck as an uncle. I've got beef. Let's do it." Eric said, brandishing the rapier he brought.
"Very well. Prepare to suffer." Juan said with a smile on his face.
Eric stabbed forward and Juan was hit with a shockwave. He flew backward towards the open courtyard.
"How?" Juan asked.
"I never doubted I could beat you. I've become so fast every hit gives a delayed shockwave. And I can do this thanks to the fairy kids." Eric said.
He stabbed the rapier in the ground and Hit Juan from his shadow 50 times. Juan chuckled.
"That only tickled, boy. Your sister will be next." Juan said.
"Do you remember the thing I said, uncle?" Eric asked.
Juan suddenly stood there shocked.
"I've become so fast every hit gives a delayed shockwave..." Juan remembered.
He only now got the impact of all fifty strikes, causing him to bleed all over.
"You bastard..." Juan gasped.
"Right back at you. Leave the premises walking or lose the ability to walk." Eric demanded.
Juan stumbled off the premises as the others approached Eric.
"That was amazing, man!" Reaper said.
"Thanks. Gerald trained me well." Eric explained.
"Thanks for keeping my siblings safe. I am in your debt." Edmund said, bowing.
"You don't owe me and I don't owe you. This makes us friends now, I guess." Eric said, turning to a confused Alice.
"How do you know Juan?" Alice asked.
"He's my uncle. He burned down my home." Eric said, forcefully stopping himself from crying.
"What's up?" Static asked,
"In that action, he drove my family apart. My sister fled somewhere else and I ran here." Eric explained, already crying. The fairy royals tried to comfort him to no avail.
"Sheesh. That must run deep." Jack said, earning a jab in the side from Alice.
"It does. I don't know where my sister ended up, but I know that I can't show my face in front of her yet" Eric said.
"What's her name?" Jack asked.
"Ari." Eric answered. He saw the shocked reaction of the crew from Golden Leaf.
"Judging by your reactions, I take you already met her." Eric theorized.
"Jack and I took her in when she came to Golden Leaf." Alice explained.
"Please. Keep her safe. If anything happens to me, she can still try to save me." Eric pleaded.
"Sure thing. You can stop by in Golden Leaf anytime." Jack said. Eric simply nodded.
"Alright, kids. We're packing up to go home. We're done here." Jack said.
"See you guys later!" Edmund yelled, walking away from the household.
The Bergers were content their household was safe thanks to the efforts of the Golden Leaf crew and Eric. Thy went inside to enjoy dinner as usual. Meanwhile, Jack and Alice got a feeling like this was the actual beginning of something greater than themselves. Sadly, they couldn't dwell on it, as they were busy enough as it was.
December 27th, 2013, midnight
Prime Material Plane
Ancient Temple Interior
Juan was going insane. He was sure his relatives couldn't stand up to him, but he was waiting too long. Eric could now definitely beat him in a fight, so Ari couldn't be far behind. He got to the console he used to start this mess and contacted a certain individual.
"Ah, Juan. To what do I owe this pleasant call? What happened to you?" the man said.
"Never mind that. Can you send something over here that could cause as much chaos as possible, Xehanort?" Juan asked.
"How much do you want?" Xehanort asked.
"Enough to cause an epidemic. Enough to rid the world of people." Juan explained.
"Consider it done. However, it will be a while before the cavalry arrives." Xehanort explained.
"Handle it as fast as possible." Juan said, ending the call.
"I can't handle this myself just yet. But if I get the chance... I'll do everything differently..." Juan said with a pissed look on his face.
January 1st, 2014, 1 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Alice's House
Ari was having a very average birthday. Her friends would come over and chill, Jack and Alice would do something cool with her, the basic stuff. Little did she know, she had a visitor that day.
{DING DONG!}
"Coming!" Ari yelled.
She opened the door to reveal... Christian standing on the porch with a birthday present.
"Happy Birthday, Ari!" Christian said.
Ari was speechless.
"Considering it's your birthday, I guess I got you a second present." Christian said.
Ari didn't waste any time and tackled Christian in a hug.
"Lucky you that this present isn't fragile. Unlucky me, because I think I'm gonna have bumps on my back from doing flips earlier today." Christian joked. He noticed Ari was crying.
"Look what the cat dragged in. Alice, come look at this!" Jack said.
Everyone witnessed this happen and every single person there were bending over backwards from laughter.
"Thanks for the warm welcome back..." Christian deadpanned.
"You missed some things while you were gone." Angel said.
"Excuse me, guys, but can Ari and I talk in private?" Christian asked.
"Sure, lovebirds." Jack joked.
"I swear to god, Jack, if you try this shit again, I'll seal your mouth with duct tape." Christian snapped.
The front door shut and Christian and Ari walked to the fountain.
"So... new one?" Christian asked. He was slapped across the face.
"You abandoned her, you dick!" Angel said.
"It's not my fault my mom couldn't afford the rent!" Christian yelled back.
"You still could've stayed!" Angel yelled back.
"Well, what would you have done!? Our medical bills were off the charts thanks to some unfortunate medical hiccups. We were forced to move!" Christian snapped.
Angel was shocked.
"I'm sorry... I'm still kind of stressed right now." Christian admitted.
"I'm sorry, too... I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." Angel apologized.
"I still didn't catch your name. Mind telling me what it is?" Christian asked.
"Angel. I surfaced an hour after you left." Angel explained.
"Sorry. I guess I left a bad impression." Christian said. They both laughed it off as they returned home.
"Finally, they're done!" Static said.
"Shut up, Mias. I didn't get the almighty bitch clap across the face just to hear this, okay?" Christian said.
"Call me Static. Would be easier when we're on missions." Static explained.
"IF we're on missions. I didn't agree to shit yet." Christian rebutted.
"Touche." Static said defeated.
April 28th, 2014, 10 a.m.
Prime Material Plane
Outside of Golden Leaf
Red was travelling through the woods outside Golden Leaf. It's been a while since he had a job as his employer would frequently be delayed with targets. He was looking for his sister, Rose, so he went to his father for help.
"Father, have you seen Rose anywhere?" Red asked.
"No I haven't. Perhaps she is at the usual spot outside of the forest." Arthur said.
"Thanks for the tip. I'll go look right now." Red said.
It took 15 minutes for him to reach the edge of the forest. The forest was huge, but Red was faster than the average human. He remembered that this was the spot they would go to to look at the flowers.
What he saw when he arrived... shook him to the core.
Scientists were stuffing his sister into a bag and taking her with them. He was terrified it might happen to him so he went back to his camp.
Juan arrived at Arthur's camp to speak with him.
"What are you here for?" Arthur asked. He already sensed a malicious intention, but was unsure of what it actually was.
"You have been performing less than admirable. I guess I have to rectify that." Juan said menacingly.
Red approached his father.
"Father, what's happening?" Red asked.
"Red, take these blades and run. As far as you can." Arthur replied.
"Father?" Red asked.
"This is where my story ends, Red. Yours... is just beginning." Arthur said, sending his son away.
"SUFFER!" Juan screamed.
Ten minutes later, Red was almost at the edge of the forest. Juan had set the place ablaze and his entire clan was dead except for maybe his sister. He didn't know, but he didn't have time to think it over either.
He reached the edge of the forest but continued running towards a wall. He knew that if he somehow got inside, he would be safe.
"Let me in!" Red yelled.
"Sorry, no Demi-Humans allowed. Can't help ya." one of the Towns-guard said,
"LET ME IN!" Red screamed.
"Like I said, we can't help you." the Towns-guard replied.
"Please! I'm not safe out here!" Red yelled for his life.
"I'll call someone. Please hold out until then." the Towns-guard replied a second time.
"No one's coming to save you now, boy..." Juan said.
"Please! Let me in! My life is in danger!" Red said.
"Let him in!" a female voice from the other side of the wall said.
Christian and Ari were walking towards the border. They heard commotion coming from there and they decided to check it out. They were confident, to say the least, having taken up training under the tutelage of Jack and Alice.
"Please! Let me in! My life is in danger!" they heard from the other side of the wall.
"Let him in!" Ari yelled.
"We can't do that, ma'am. We don't know if he's in real danger yet." the Towns-guard replied.
"What do you think when you hear someone pleading for his life, you racist bastard? Let him in!" Christian said.
The guard quickly opened the door and Red ran inside, with Juan following. Christian decided he was having none of that, he lunged himself at Juan.
"Lights out, asshole!" Christian said whilst kicking Juan in the neck.
Juan stumbled back into the forest, clearly looking hurt by Christian's kick.
"Welp. Guess that's over. How are you doing, my guy?" Christian asked.
"Horrible. Just watched my family die." Red explained. This struck a chord with Ari, who walked away in a hurry.
"Oh boy... Mind taking a walk with me? While we're walking you can tell me what's going on." Christian requested.
April 28th, 2014, 12 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Manhattan, New York, USA
"Are you sure about this, Marcus?" a woman asked.
"Yes. While it pains me to do this, we must send Jessica and Abigail to Max. You must take Moto and move to Brazil. I'm sorry, Lydia, but assassins aren't allowed here." Marcus said.
"You can't do that to them, Mia needs Moto now more than ever and Jessica and Abigail are 6 years old!" Lydia yelled.
"But our employers force us to do this. We don't have any other choice. I'm gonna miss you..." Marcus explained.
"Fine... Promise me you'll take good care of Mia." Lydia said.
"I will." Marcus responded.
Lydia took the kids and dropped Jessica and Abigail off at her sister's place. She and Moto moved to Rio de Janeiro where they continued their jobs as assassins.
April 28th, 2014, 9 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Golden Leaf Residential District
"Are you sure she's okay?" Red asked.
"Of course I'm sure. She has problems, sure, but these things get resolved because she talks with people like us. Really, we are the only people she's opened up to." Christian explained.
"Well... Let's hope you're right." Red doubted.
"Sorry I took so long, guys... It's been a little harsh since Red came into town." Ari explained.
"Hey!" Red yelled.
"Sorry if you took offense to thaaaaa..." Ari said blacking out.
Red looked concerned while Christian did not.
"Is she okay?" Red asked.
"Give it a minute. She'll recover soon." Christian explained.
April 28th, 2014, 9 p.m.
Prime Marerial Plane
Ari's Mindscape
Ari woke up inside her own mind. She was clearly annoyed when she was face to face with Ventus and Angel.
"Whose idea was it to pull me inside my own mind while I was talking!?" Ari scolded.
"Yeesh... He's in trouble." Ventus said. Angel simply chuckled. All of them looked to a ball of light. It formed into a 15 year old boy with blonde hair and yellow eyes.
"Uh... Hi. I'm David." David said nervously. Ari just glared daggers.
"If you want to speak to them, you may. we have to talk when you're asleep and here in general." Ari said.
April 28th, 2014, 9.30 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Golden Leaf Residential District
David awoke before a concerned Red and a relatively chill Christian.
"Sorry about that, guys." David said, trying to mask his identity.
"It's handy that you guys have different personalities, otherwise I could never tell you apart. Who are you?" Christian said.
"I'm David. I take it you've seen this before." David said. Red looked confused.
"This guy has DID. considering you look pretty academic I don't think I need to explain this to you." Christian explained.
"Oh... WHAT!?" Red yelled.
"Oh god... He's gone through too much today. He can move in with me and calm down." Christian offered.
"What happened to him, anyway?" David asked.
"Dude ran from his home that was set on fire, along with his entire clan, EXCEPT for his sister who got taken away by some asshole scientists." Christian explained.
"Yeesh, dude. I feel for you." David said. Red just looked defeated by everything that happened today.
"How about we continue this tomorrow?" Christian said, practically dragging Red along with him.
"That's a good idea." David answered.
April 29th, 2014, 10 a.m.
Prime Material Plane
Golden Leaf Shopping District
"Remind me again why we're shopping?" Christian asked.
"I'm looking for parts to make stuff. I want to create something that will benefit the world." Red said.
"Great aspirations, much? How about some help?" David asked in return.
"I appreciate it. You never know how taxing a project can be." Red answered.
They had already bought a lot of parts in bulk, like screws and metal plates. Red was going to make something awesome, and he had the money to do it. He found out that his father, despite not wanting to do anything with the human world, opened a bank account for him and his sister. Upon his death, Red and Rose became close to millionaires because of their fathers savings.
"So.. what are yo going to make?" Christian asked.
"I was thinking of the world's first hoverbike." Red answered.
"Cool. Can I give some design tips?" Christian asked.
"Sure. What did you have in mind?" Red asked.
"Ever heard of the Metal Booster?" Christian asked in return.
"Yes, I have. Say no more." Red answered.
Upon return Red immediately went to work on the hoverbike. Once he got the upper chassis done he began working on the electrics. He had trouble with how it should get in the air. His idea for a hoverbike is a bike without any wheels. So he asked Ari and Christian for help. He managed to get it working using small wind turbines connected to a button. He finished the hoverbike in the middle of the night.
April 30th, 2014, 11 a.m.
Prime Material Plane
Golden Leaf Residential District
"Dude... why did you make so much noise during the night?" Christian asked.
"I finished the hoverbike at 12 a.m., so I guess that's why." Red asnwer.
"Oh, sweet. Can I see it?" Christian asked.
"Sure. Come with me." Red answered.
Red took him to his garage where the newly made hoverbike stood.
"I installed a cargo bay that can hold over 1000 people at once without slowing down. It can go in the sky and on any surface." Red explained.
"Oh, shit. Well, I know what I'm doing." Christian said.
"Well then. Consider it yours." Red said.
"Aw, thanks man. Wait... this means I have to take a driver's test in order to drive on this sucker." Christian cringed. He dreaded that protocol, but he had to if he wanted to drive this thing.
"Good luck, Christian. You're gonna need it." Red said with a smile on his face. He was glad he didn't have to do it.
December 5th, 2015, 7 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Golden Leaf Residential District
It's been a good year and a half or so. Christian got his liscense for his new hoverbike, so he took it for a ride across the country. Red and Ari were chilling most of the time and Jack and Alice commanded missions from home to better look after Ari, since they suspected something was wrong. They were getting ready for the holidays and Ari asked Red and Christian to attend as well.
"Thanks for coming, guys." Ari said.
"Wouldn't miss this for the world, Ari." Christian said.
"I heard you had a little sister, Christian?" Jack asked.
"When did you hear this? You know what, let's never speak about this again, shall we?" Christian said as he brushed Jack off.
"Either way, we're glad you're here. This month is always a bit barren." Alice explained.
Jack was called to the wall. He decided to take the kids to the place to check out what's going on. No one expected what they would be seeing.
"Hello, Jack. I see life has been graceful to you." Juan said.
"Get out." Jack said.
"But I didn't even get to say hi to-" Juan protested.
"GET OUT!" Jack snapped. He summoned his chakrams and threw them at Juan.
"Guess it's our turn..." Christian said, unsheathing his Great Sword.
"True. Let's just keep this between the three of us." Red said, brandishing his father's knives.
Ari stood there in fear. She knew she had some connection to Juan, but she couldn't remember what. She was panicking. She kept trying hard to remember, but she couldn't for the life of her. Christian and Red knew what was up and got her up to escape.
"You two aren't fighting?" Jack asked.
"You'd rather your daughter was dead?" Christian retorded.
"Go do what you have to. I'm not risking this family we built." Alice said. She threw a set of knives at Juan's neck, immediately injuring him, forcing him to leave.
Christian brought Red and Ari to his house and went to the garage.
"Where are you going?" Red asked.
"I'm going to take a risk with this new hoverbike. I got my license plus you showed me how to fix/perform maintenance on it, so I'm running him over." Christian explained.
"You better know what you're doing." Red said.
Juan was busy dealing with Jack and Alice to notice Christian, Red and Ari running away. He pulled the throwing knives out of his neck and caught a chakram in mid-air. He threw them back at Jack and Alice as he saw something fly towards him.
"What is that?" Juan asked.
"Something surprising, I'll give you that." Jack responded.
Christian zipped by the two hunters and tackled Juan with his hoverbike. He decided to fly upwards 100 meters until going back down.
Once Christian was on the ground he transported Jack and Alice into the cargo bay, which he learned was the tiniest pocket dimension.
"Why did you do that!? He could die!" Jack asked.
"Don't worry about it. As much as I hate to admit it, dude's tough. He survived a kick that would've killed him in less than a day." Christian explained.
"He's right. Juan's too tough for all of us to deal with right now. We need to do something about that and fast." Alice agreed.
Christian soon arrived at his house and parked his hoverbike in his garage.
"Attention everyone, this is your captain speaking, we have arrived at my garage, so get out of that pocket dimension so I can perform maintenance." Christian said.
"We'll take Ari home with us, too." Jack said.
"I'm afraid we can't do that, Jack." Red said.
"Why not?" Alice asked.
"In these past few days, you focused more on your job than her. It's natural she comes to see us as pillars to lean on when shit gets too hard." Christian said.
"I get it. If she wants to stay with you, she can return to us tomorrow." Alice said. Jack wanted to protest, but Alice took him by the trenchcoat and started walking away from the garage.
"Thanks for letting me stay over guys. I appreciate it." Ari said.
"No problem. We're here for you when your parents aren't." Christian said. Ari had a soft smile on her face before spacing out again.
"Oh boy... Here we go again. God, I hope this is the last time..." Red said, with Christian nodding in agreement.
December 5th, 2015, 8 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Ari's Mind
"Okay... I sincerely hope this is the last time you guys pull me out of conversation for this." Ari said with an annoyed tone in her voice.
"We can't really blame anyone here. It's just that someone really wants to meet you." Ventus explained.
"Who might that be?" Ari asked. She saw an orb of light that quickly formed into the form of a five-year-old child with yellow-ish taupe hair.
"Excuse me... But may I have my turn to walk around and do stuff?" the child said.
"Why don't you tell me your name first?" Ari asked.
"She's very shy. Her name is Riku." David explained. Riku nodded.
"It's okay Riku. You can take control for today. My friends are in the same room as you, so if you feel scared opening up to them, you can write down your name. I'm sure they will understand why." Ari explained.
December 5th, 2015, 8:05 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Christian's House
Riku slowly woke up as Christian and Red stared her in the face. She immediately got defensive.
"Whoa there. We're not gonna hurt you." Red said.
"Don't worry about us hurting you. How about you tell us your name?" Christian asked.
Riku didn't trust them. She just woke up and these men were already staring at her. She decided to follow Ari's advice and she wrote down her name on a piece of paper.
"Riku, huh? Well, I'm Christian and this is Red." Christian explained.
"Hello..." Riku said. Her voice sounded so sweet and innocent, that Christian couldn't help but hug her. Riku was distraught by this action at first, but she quickly calmed down due to his brotherly nature.
"Dude, what are you doing?" Red asked.
"Sorry, this new brotherly instinct is kicking in." Christian explained.
"You have a little sister?" Riku asked.
"I do. And due to privacy reasons I refuse to elaborate further." Christian said. All three burst into laughter.
December 6th, 8 a.m.
Prime Material Plane
Christian's House
Ari woke up sleeping on Christian couch. Suspiciously close to Christian even. She jumped up the moment she could observe her surroundings. Red was already awake.
"Good morning, sunshine! Had a good night?" Red asked teasingly.
"Oh, shut up! I don't even know what Riku did, but it was surprising to say the least." Ari answered.
Christian woke up during the conversation.
"Good morning." Christian said.
"Hey." Ari responded.
"She's wondering what Riku did when we went to sleep." Red said.
"Oh, that's easy. She wrapped me in a tight hug and fell asleep immediately. Pro tip, you should control your strength when you sleep, because I couldn't move an inch." Christian explained to Ari. She blushed a little bit, much to Red's amusement.
"Oh, you're never going to let us hear the end of this, are you?" Christian asked.
"Hell yeah." Red answered with a conniving smirk on his face.
Red finished his breakfast and went on his way.
"Where are you going?" Christian asked.
"Static saw your hoverbike, so he wanted to discuss things with me." Red explained.
"Make sure we don't witness anything we can use against you!" Ari said.
"Will do!" Red said, already dying from laughter.
"Well then... I take it you and Riku get along well?" Ari asked.
"I think she sees me as a brother figure. My instincts kicked in and hugged her upon seeing her discomfort." Christian explained.
"Well, good job with that. Riku asked me if you two could hang out again before I woke up." Ari said.
"I'd love that, actually. she didn't really tell me that much." Christian responded.
Red was walking trough the streets with Static.
"So you made that hoverbike, right?" Static asked.
"That I did. Quite the technological marvel, huh?" Red asked.
"Sure is. I wondered if you could make me a car with similar functions, but more... me." Static explained.
"Sure. I assume there's no need to make connections to your job?" Red asked.
"No, the driver already does that. Just make sure that the hunter side gets representation." Static said.
"Any antigravity shit or something?" Red asked.
"Sure, why not? If anything, I don't want my technological marvel to be entirely different from Christian's." Static explained.
"Thanks for this info. Come back in... let's say, three to four months. I got an info broker job to maintain, so I can use that money to buy parts for your car." Red explained.
"How's that job going? Did you get any sort of info?" Static asked.
"So far only bits and pieces. I have yet to encounter some big thing that'll change the world for the better." Red explained.
"Good luck with that." Static asked, preparing to leave.
"You too. You got a comedy routine in 20 minutes, right?" Red asked. Static nodded as he walked away.
"Okay... Now to get busy." Red said to himself.
March 30th, 2016, 2 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
Red was walking through Shibuya. He had explained to Christian and Ari that after New Years he was going all over the world to search for more bits and pieces to make a case out of. He came across a woman with light-blue hair in a schoolgirl outfit.
"Excuse me, miss? Have you heard or seen some weird things?" Red asked.
"Anata wa dare?" the woman asked.
"Okay... My name is Red. Do you speak English?" Red asked in return.
"Hai... I'm Yuki Zandatsu." Yuki answered.
"Alright, then. This makes talking easier." Red said.
"To answer your first question, I haven't seen anything weird yet, no." Yuki explained.
"Bummer. I was searching for clues about a mass disappearance. According to other people I've met all over the world, people have been disappearing since 2004. So really I've been keeping track of this phenomenon before it gets out of hand." Red said.
"Do you have a number I can call if I experience this?" Yuki asked.
"I happen to have that, yes. Here you go." Red said, handing her his business card.
"Arigato, Red-kun." Yuki said.
"I think you say mondainashi to this, right?" Red asked. Yuki giggled at his attempt to speak Japanese.
April 2nd, 2016, 12 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Christian's Garage
Red and Christian were busy tinkering on their vehicles. Red needed to replicate his cargo pocket dimension technology and for that almost half of Christian's hoverbike needed to be disassembled to start creating the tech. Static came by to check up on them.
"What are you guys doing?" Static asked.
"Recreating cargo bay pocket dimension tech for your car." Christian answered.
"Why are you disassembling your hoverbike?" Static asked.
"This guy forgot to create a spare for future replication, so he's doing it now." Christian explained.
"I thought you'd be smarter than that." Static said to Red.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I just forgot something because I was busy. Thanks for letting me borrow your bike for my trip to Japan, by the way." Red said.
"No sweat, dude." Christian responded.
"So, how's it coming along?" Static asked.
"Pretty good. I need to calibrate this tech before I implement it into your car. Once I'm done with that I will deliver it to you and explain how it works." Red answered.
"So... Christian, if it's almost done, you must be fixing your bike, right?" Static asked.
"Yes, although there isn't a manual, so I don't actually know how to reattach stuff. But I have Red to ask for this stuff. I'm almost done because of me repeatedly asking where this part goes." Christian explained.
"Ah, right. I gotta go, but I'll see you guys later." Static said before walking away.
"No word about this situation to ANYONE else. Got it?" Red asked.
"Heh. No. That was your fault for teasing me and Ari." Christian laughed.
April 11th, 2016, 7 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
A random dance club in Shibuya
Yuki was prepared to go on stage. She was nervous to do something like this, but she needed her voice to get her a singing job. She loved singing as a child, so she knew that when her parents were gone when she came home, this was the kind of job she would take.
"I can do this." Yuki said to herself.
As her name was called, she ran onto the stage and began singing. Immediately the people inside loved her voice. She sounded relatable to kids and teenagers because she was at the age where her future was undecided, but she also sounded relatable to adults because they felt that she took on an immense duty on herself which she shouldn't be able to do.
After her performance, a man approached her.
"Who are you, sir?" Yuki asked.
"My name is Kuro Miazaki." The man said.
"My name is Yuki Zandatsu, sir Miazaki." Yuki responded.
"I would like to offer you a job as an idol." Miazaki explained. Yuki immediately took the job, as she needed a job to provide for her brother.
"What does the job entail?" Yuki asked.
"You will be the lead artist in a group of idols. And for convenience, you will be living together here in Shibuya." Miazaki explained.
"Excuse me, sir, but right now my brother is my only relative and he's only seven years old. Can he live with me?" Yuki asked.
"Of course. I'll let the others know of your decision." Miazaki responded. He was contemplating how he would manage that.
"If it's no problem with you, the others could stay at my house." Yuki said.
Bingo. Yuki just gave Miazaki a perfect exploit.
"You got it. I'll inform the others." Miazaki said.
Later that day, three women showed up to her house. Yuki's younger brother opened the door.
"Hello, young man, does miss Zandatsu live here?" one of the women said.
"You must mean my older sister?" the boy asked. All three women nodded.
"Yuki-neesan! You have visitors!" the young boy yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Arigato, Hiroto-kun. Come in, ladies." Yuki said.
The women sat in the living room while Yuki brought Hiroto to bed. When she came back, she began talking.
"So... what are your names? And how old are you?" Yuki asked.
"My name is Sae Sawano. I'm 18 years old. The woman to my left is 20-year-old Minako Fukuma and the woman to my right is 17-year-old Sawako Narisawa." Sae introduced.
"I'm Yuki Zandatsu, 16 years old." Yuki introduced.
"What led you to accepting this job?" Minako asked.
"I needed to provide for myself and my little brother." Yuki explained.
"You too, huh?" Sawako asked.
"The same thing happened with you?" Yuki asked in bewilderment.
"Yeah, pretty much. Our parents and/or loved ones disappeared in front of our eyes." Sae explained. Yuki was shocked. What none of them knew what that Hiroto was watching the conversation happen from the stairs, since he had a nightmare. Yuki saw him standing on the stairs.
"Did you have that nightmare again, Hiroto?" Yuki asked. Her brother silently nodded before shedding a tear and tackling her in a hug.
"It's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be fine. I'm not going anywhere." Yuki said.
"You really care for him do you?" Sae asked.
"Yeah. He's the only relative I have left. I found that my parents disappeared when I got home 12 days ago." Yuki explained.
The three women were shocked to hear this. One by one they all proceeded to hug Yuki and Hiroto.
"Thank you..." Hiroto said in between his sniffles.
"All four of us will take care of each other and for Yuki's little brother. Deal?" Minako proposed.
"Deal. We all need some stability." Yuki said with Sae and Sawako agreeing.
The next day, Hiroto was walking home when Miazaki came across him.
"What do you want, child?" he asked.
"My sister said not to talk to strangers, sir. Good day to you." Hiroto said as he continued walking. He noticed Miazaki was chasing him.
Hiroto was not the only person to notice however.
"What are you going to do with Hiroto?" Minako asked.
"You don't have to know, Fukuma." Miazaki answered.
"I think I do have to know, since this gentleman here is kind of like a brother to me." Minako demanded. Miazaki just walked away in anger. Hiroto looked around and saw dark wisps leave the man's body.
"Guess what? Manager Miazaki was on Hiroto's tail when he was walking home from school. Didn't even give me a reason why." Minako explained.
"Are you okay, Hiroto?" Sae asked.
"Yes I am, miss Sawano. I followed my sisters advice and walked away." Hiroto said proudly.
Yuki and Sawako watched this conversation happen. They saw Hiroto enter from the backyard like he saw something from his nightmares. He explained he saw darkness flowing off of Miazaki. None of them were sure of what to think about this. They just hoped none of them would change that much.
"Hey. You two okay?" Minako asked.
"Yeah. Just stressed out by what Hiroto told us. He is brave, but I don't want anything to happen to him." Yuki explained.
"Well, he's smart. He can look out for himself when we're practicing. I'm starting to teach him guitar and he's getting really good." Sawako explained.
This seemed to put Yuki at ease. One thing she forgot to ask was what her job would be.
"One question. What is my job?" Yuki asked.
"Well... Miazaki says we're a group, but mostly we do different things. Minako is an excellent rapper, Sae is a DJ at some clubs and I play the guitar." Sawako explained.
"And I'm the songstress, then." Yuki theorized.
"Because we do vastly different things, we don't have a group name." Sae explained.
"Well... In my opinion, we don't need it." Yuki said.
May 1st, 2016, 3 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Static's House
Red drove Static's new car down the street to his home. Static himself was just straight chilling on his porch when he saw Red approaching.
"Sup, dude?" Static asked.
"Here's your car. Your car has an anti gravity mode that locks you to any surface with electromagnetic currents. It has a cargo bay pocket dimension that can hold a 1000 people. And by that extent, a buck load of stuff. Because it runs on pure electricity and can run out of battery pretty fast if you use your vehicle to attack from all angles, you can choose which side to fire electric bolts from and this has a recharge of about a minute." Red explained.
Static looked at the car and it looked like a car from a video game he played before. It looked like the car of Guilty Gear's Happy Chaos, but with a rig around the car that seemed to function like a rail-gun. Red pushed a button and the tires pushed up while sparks came from the bottom of the car. That must be the anti gravity mode.
"Thanks for the car. I'll be sure to take good care of it." Static said.
"You better. I'll send you a manual to perform maintenance later." Red responded.
June 30th, 2018, 11 p.m.
Prime Material Plane
Ancient Temple
Juan was standing in the central chamber of the temple. He was being called by Xehanort to discuss the change of pace.
"The forces you requested have been sent five years ago. I don't know what takes them that long..." Xehanort said.
Juan opened the timeline map and saw that the threat had been sent to his earth, yes, but 1000 years later.
"Well... chaos is a given here..." Juan said as he smiled.
Episode End
So... Sorry for the feels. This chapter is also full of content, so I apologize for the long read. I also have at least one sequence in this chapter that may seem a little sus, but it's fine. It's not something that would make this story too mature or something. If you have something to say about that, you can message me after you've read the entire chapter.