Chapter 5: The World of Unita


A loud groan sounds itself well, the owner stretching their arms out with a loud yawn. Noct scratches his head, brushing against his case of bed hair. The weird, shot spikes were a mess to really describe it.

That was right... he recently joined the Organization and was allowed a room for his usage in the Condominiums at the thirteenth floor. He looked at the side, seeing his badge and not like the decoy badge he received earlier. He was now a member of the Organization, finally accepted into it. He looked around his new room and no longer the room he shared with Vivi.

Well, it had the necessities for living; a bedroom with a two-person bed and a wardrobe and a table with a bathroom by the side... There's also a living room with a three-person couch and a wide-screen TV at the wall... a kitchen with what there has the basic needs to cook. All in all, it was just normally plain.

But guess that can't be helped; he needed to work and then he can handle the redesigns of his room.

Noct pulls himself back up with a steady groan. He needed a shower.

Feeling refreshed after that, Noct took a look at himself. Clothes, check and tidied. Hair... back to, well, that back spikiness. He wasn't even sure how it does that. Today... Today, he needed to learn more about the Organization, so that he won't remain a lost lamb in that place.

With that reminder in mind, Noct takes a good check around his room before he leaves with a lock to the door. He took the elevator down to the lobby. Along the descent, the elevator stops at floor 5...

The doors slid open, revealing a familiar young boy. "Oh, morning, Vivi." Noct greets.

"O-Oh, good morning, Mr. Noct." The boy politely greeted with a bow. "How was your room?"

"Well, it's fine to live in..." Noct said. "Not much, but it can work, I guess." Vivi walks into the elevator before it closes to descend to the first floor.

"Okay, hmm..." Vivi began as he looked up. "Since there are no missions today and Mr. Dragonblaze went off to check up on some more worlds to check for possible Dulled threats, we are free to go on standby for the time being."

"Standby, so that means... we get to pretty much do our own things." He nodded. "Fair enough. I wanted to know more about Unita since I'd be living here, and yesterday was pretty packed."

"Y-Yes, s-so...What do you think of Mr. Al?" Vivi asked. Ah, Al. He was the one Noct went with on that first mission to enlist him into the Organization... "...The large guy looks quite menacing, but he got a calm and composed voice, and, hmm..." Noct ponders. "He really is something, being an Eidolon and all..."

"Y-Yes, he's really kind and gentle." Vivi agreed. "I also went with him on my first mission here and he always calm down Mr. Quez."

"Quez?" Now, didn't that sound familiar...?

Vivi stuttered about that and was scratching his head. Well, hat, why does he always wear that hat?

"Oh, right." Vivi nodded. "He's a long time friend of Mr. Al. I don't know how long since both of them are a thousand years old now."

"A... thousand years old?" This gave him several blinks in a row.

"Oh, don't you know?" Vivi stammered. "Sorry, I forgot to mention that Eidolons live long and the longest living one was Ramuh, who's more than four thousand years old and still living."

"F... Four thousand..." Noct repeats that age. "And... I barely know anything else, just to say other than the stuff that happened in the previous days I've been in Unita..."

"Oh..." Vivi let out as the box stopped moving and a resident boards the elevator. When he entered, Noct looked at him and was shocked while Vivi looked with a confused look.

The new arrival was a tall and large dragon man. By the way Noct saw him, he felt an aura of dread and fear. It looked as if that today was the end of his life.

"...A...Ah...Ahh?" He couldn't find words to even speak out properly as he continues to gawk at this individual in a strange look.

"Today...I wonder if I can make it through this checkup. ." The dragon man dreaded, Vivi looked at him with a raised brow.

"Huh?" Vivi wondered.

"What...?" Noct looks at the dragon man. 'What... checkup?'

The elevator rang as the dragon man gulped down. He looked at his phone for the time, he was getting late. "An hour per second late..." He shivered, dashing out like as if the entire Condominiums was on fire. "I want to live!"

Noct just stared at the dragon man weirdly in confusion. Live? What? What is this guy talking about? He doesn't understand... They stepped out into the lobby after seeing that person leave.

"...I don't get this guy."

"Me too." Vivi nodded. "Mr. Locke told me not to look at it because I am too young to see and hear it, they always say."

Young... Oh, that's right. Vivi's nine years old... But... what exactly are they trying to prevent him from seeing?

Noct looked at his schedule, right, he got an eight hour fasting so he could go to the clinic and have his blood tested. He looked at Vivi, maybe he knew where the Doctor Quack-Quack Clinic was...What!? What's with that name?

He looked at the clinic's name again. "...Vivi? Am I seeing things, or is there a place called Doctor Quack-Quack Clinic?" The youth asks.

Vivi looked at him and tilted his hat shyly. "You're not seeing things, that's the name of the clinic." He clarified. "It's run by a Porygon-Z, Mr. Glitch Atad. Um, checked your Pokèdex."

Porygon-Z? Noct checked his Pokèdex and there... "...I'll be visiting the clinic of a wacko?" Noct bluntly says, looking at the entry which states there is instability in Porygon-Z's behaviour upon evolution.

Vivi nodded as he tilted his hat again. "Y-Yes, he may look weird but he's a competent doctor." Vivi said shyly. "I hope he won't bother you."

The youth looked at him for a while before looking back at Porygon-Z's picture displayed in there.

"...You are sure about that... right?" Noct was really, really... uncertain about this. Vivi nodded and looked at a direction. "They told me to not enter the building so I will stay outside and wait."

"...Ah..." Noct blinks rapidly, and looked back at the image and back at the entries of the Pokédex about Porygon-Z. "...I'd better make it out of this..."


Some crumpling of aluminium wrapping could be heard as a hand took out lots of chips from the bag and stuffed into his mouth. He was playing some kind of game on the console and then the character he was controlling died. The tactics he made was too risky and lost when it failed, causing him to groan.

"Ah, come on!" The gamer throws his hands in the air before those limbs plopped onto the soft cushions rather pathetically.

This gamer is known as a Gallade to many, though his current appearance... it's safe to say that the gullible would be quick to say that is a new species.

For it seemed he was out of shape because of being a couch potato for some time now that he got a beer belly for the lack of exercise and his bone rickety for the lack of vitamin D. He only wore a white t-shirt and green boxers.

He gulps down a can of soda, the gassy liquid splashing around his mouth. All of a sudden, a great ray of light emerged from an opening door, the light causing him to hiss and cover his body to look at the new arrival, dropping the can with a clunking sound.

The new arrival was known as a Swampert and he looked at the Gallade with a frown. The Swampert wore a cyan tank top under a blue jacket with holes to have the ovals of his limbs poke out and a pair of dark blue pants. He wore a pair of orange shoes with black accents.

"Rutem, what are you doing...?" The Gallade hisses in laziness while doing much to shield his eyes against the light.

"Here again, Egon?" Rutem complained, seeing his brother flinch from the light. "You've been here for three months now and not doing any work from the Organization. You know your bill and rent are overdue now, right? I can't pay your bills every now and then, I have a girlfriend now."

Egon groans and lies his head onto the side of the couch. Then he lifts his head and shakes it rapidly. "You, what? When did you-?"

Rutem threw some jacket and shoes at Egon's face. He looked at him with a bright smile...Which hid some deadly aura behind it.

"You forgot Lenna?" Rutem laughed sweetly. "You met her just last week and we've been dating for a year now."

Egon grabbed the articles of clothing off his face, hanging them in front of his eyes. "Why did you throw these to me?" He asks.

"How about you spend time with our new brother-in-law?" Rutem requested. "You know him, correct?"

Egon started to think... Brother-in-law, brother-in-law... wasn't it that fat snowman with bushy brows? "You mean, Fatto?"

Rutem did a chop on Egon's head while smiling. "Arubo." Rutem corrected sternly. "Remember?"

"Aaaah..." Egon whines while holding onto his head. Gods, that hurt a lot! "Aru... Arubo..." He lifts his head up to look at Rutem. "Isn't that Sis's... what do you call it?"

"Fiancée, she's about to get married next year, remember?"

"...She is?!"

"Yes, that's why he's our brother-in-law."

"...Ohh..." Egon responds with a blank tone.

Before he knew it, Rutem already groomed and dressed him up. He realized that he was already clean and the stench he had earlier was gone. Thinking about those made him forget about the reality around him. He was sprayed by some cologne. "Oogh, acgh!"

"Now you can spend some time with him." Rutem grabbed him by the collar and dropped him out of his apartment. Egon fell on the floor. "I'll clean your apartment while you're gone." The door was slammed shut afterward. Egon walked over and tried to open it, but it didn't. He tried using keys, it didn't work either. Agh, a seal... He can't get in right now and seems that his brother is adamant about making him go out.

He got up and went down from the apartment's elevator to the first floor. He then looked around for where Arubo lived.

"Hmnn..." Egon finds out that his belongings were also placed inside his pockets and takes out his phone. He clicked onto a navigation app.

From there, he typed in the residence of Organization member...

...

...

...Uh... He forgot the name and where he lived...

He puts the phone back into his pocket, going for the only way now: first-hand searching.

He walked around the residential area of his apartment, looking around for the place where his future brother-in-law lived.

"Where is he...? Hello?" He looks around in a completely lost fashion.

Several people stared at him before going about their own business. He looked around some more, causing several scenes around him.

"Where is he?"

"Fat Man?"

"White furred guy, very fat..."

He groaned, none of the Pokémon he'd passed didn't fit the description. Of course, some of the Abomasnows stared at him weirdly and none of them fit the other description of being fit and muscular.

"He can't be, like, at the other side of the city... can he?" Egon continues walking until he bumps into something... soft.

He looked up and saw something.

Fat? Check. White-furred guy? Check. Fit? Check. Muscular? Check.

"Oh, it's great to see you, Fatso! That belly over there is still plump, isn't it?" He pats the belly of the Abomasnow in front of him, causing the flabby flesh to jiggle about. "You got all that fat aro-"

He was silenced immediately.

By a sudden blast of arctic winds.


The two made their way to the clinic and true as to what Vivi told him, it was Doctor Quack-Quack Clinic. As they made their way with Vivi finding a bench to sit and wait for him, the dragon man from earlier went out of the clinic and when Noct looked at his expression...

He was staring at a rather stiff expression, pupils trembling rapidly... Heck, he was walking in such a stiff manner! Just what did that wacky duck even do to him!? He looked at Vivi, he was reading a booklet now so he didn't see the dragon man exiting the building and going on for his job.

Noct gulped, looking at the departing dragon man and back at the clinic... This is what they call competent!?

At any case, he needed to go in for his checkup.

Entering the clinic greets him with a blast of chilling air thanks to the air conditioning of the building. Noct looked about the silly white walls, like a plain sight of neutrality. He headed over to the counter, which the receptionist confirmed his information and asked him to wait until his name is called out.

He looked at the patient beside him. This patient was trembling a lot, drumming his fingers together, mumbling something about not wanting to be examined by this doctor...

Noct looked more about him, realizing that he was a dragon.

What was this guy's problem? Why doesn't he want to be examined by that doctor? Though, that does start to rail him back into thinking that this Glitch will be a nutcase. Oh, if only apples would keep doctors away...

"Fran Veildert!" The receptionist called.

The one with the called name jolts, fear being drawn into his very being. His eyes dart around nervously...

"Come on, he's waiting for you." She reminded.

"O-O-Okay..." A loud gulp before he stands up and heads into the office. All was silent as Fran entered the office. Noct was about to relax when...

A shriek rang from the office.

"What the-!?" Noct fumbled onto his seat and presses his hands onto his knees, looking at the office.

He heard that monotonous and nutjob "Oho~" and "Ho~" in a rather excited manner together with Fran's shrieks. He found himself hearing those sounds of dull excitement and fearful cries for a straight hour before it ceased.

The door slides open and Fran comes out, his face completely pale, weakly walking out in a stiff manner. Just like... that dragon whom he saw way earlier.

"Noctis Xer!" The receptionist called.

He jolts. 'I have every reason now to be scared of doctors!' Noct thinks, and he involuntarily stands. What will this doctor do to him!?

He knew that there was only one way and it was forward. Swallowing, he entered the office. In there, he sees... some strange floating combination of oval things? Wait, this was called... a Porygon-Z, right? The Porygon-Z was looking at a tablet with closed eyes...Wait, were those eyes closed? But those eyes in a singular line...

Why did he feel some sort of... dread?

The Porygon-Z looked at him.

"Uh..."

Some silence...

"Ho?" Came as the Porygon-Z's response. "...Hmm..." He realized that this was his next patient. "Ooh... Noctis Xer..."

"...Yeah."

His eyes returned to normal and looked around him, scanning his body around.

"Oh, hmm...Checkup."

After ten minutes...

"...Okay, nothing out of the ordinary..." Glitch types onto a keyboard...

Done already?

Noct scratched his head. 'What's up with this doctor?'

Glitch then swayed his arms around as the receptionist called another patient. Like Fran, he also jolted. When Noct went out, he saw that the next patient was also a male dragon but is much more hunkish.

...As he exited and closed the door behind him...

He jolts from hearing those excited sounds... and the screech from the dragon from earlier. "...Weirdo."

Noct walked out of the clinic. That really was one very, strange, duck. One crazed, freaky duck. He looked over and spotted Locke talking with Vivi. Upon exiting, Vivi saw him and perked up.

"Oh, Mr. Noct!" He cried, getting up. "Are you okay?"

"I... am alright." Noct said. "It... wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be..."

"Guess you personally met Glitch, then." Locke comments.

Vivi looked. "Is there something I should know?" He asked, causing the older men to jolt back and shake their heads.

"...Nothing!" Noct said.

"Nope, nothing at all, Vi!" Locke answered.

"Oh, okay." Vivi sighed.

Noct looked was what as next on the list before seeing a block of ice slide by. Everyone seemed to be minding their own business but Noct thought that he saw someone inside that block of ice.

"...Was that... someone in there?" He asks.

"Huh? I don't know... it must be that Gallade?" Vivi wondered. "I never seen him that much in missions."

"Oh, him?" Locke said. "And from the ice, that would mean..."

"Hm...The Time Maiden's youngest brother?" Vivi guessed as Noct looked at them.

"Got that right, Vi." Locke answered with a hand on his waist. "That'd be Egon Earthbound." He turned to Noct. "Let's just coin that no one really trusts him to do missions that involve stealth or slipping into enemy territory... Pretty much anything in general that doesn't include Dulled extermination."

Noct remembered hearing from Al that the first Dulled he defeated, called a Roount... it apparently was able to harm a Gallade quite bad. Was this frozen dude the same one?

But that doesn't really answer why everyone isn't bothered by a frozen guy sliding through the city. Then again, they weren't even affected by citywide blackouts. The way they live their life in Unita...

The unnatural... is basically natural to them...

"How about we check out Akademia?" Vivi suggested.

"Akademia?" Noct asks.

"Oh, good thinking, Vi." Locke said. "Noct would definitely have to look in Akademia."

Noct looked at them.

"Akademia?" He asks again.

"It's a place where people learn how to fight and use magic." Vivi explained. "It can help you find more stuff about the history and cultures in Unita."

"Come on, let's lead the way for him. The fastest way to get there would be the monorail." Locke motions Noct to follow him and Vivi towards their next destination.


Noct looked out of the monorails over Unita... "The city is really, the entire place is really huge..." Noct remarks with the landscape of buildings in about every part of land. "I didn't really think it'd be that big..."

"Over here, Mr. Noct." Vivi motioned to the seat beside him.

Noct walked over and sat down onto the seat. He continues to look at how the buildings kept appearing as rising and falling images of differing heights.

He looked onward. "What... is that...?"

"Oh, you've seen Akademia." Locke answers.

Eyes laid on the wide building with several floors that was coming closer with the speed of the monorail. There was a large courtyard right at the front of this building with a fountain in the middle of the paved stone pathways.

Vivi went out and looked at the pavement around him. Just as he remembered them and he smiled at this. He looked around some more and spotted the large library. "If I may, can I go to the Grand Library again?" Vivi timidly asked.

"Sure thing." Locke replies with a nod.

Vivi nodded and left the group to make his way to the Grand Library. Noct watched him go and looked around the different facilities of Akademia. It was surprisingly big and he wondered about what to do here.

"There're so much stuff about in this place..." The black-haired remarks.

"Well, you can get a closer look." Locke responds.

He looked around and saw several students going around and doing several things teenagers do in school. It looked like any other school but some students were non-humans. To be honest, he mistook some non-human students as adults for they appear older and larger compared to them. Maybe he needed to learn more to know how old a non-human species looked like.

"So..." Noct began, turning to all of the students around him.

"Oh, they're cadets." Locke tells him. "As you can see... we've plenty of humans, non-humans... you get the gist of things here."

Cadets, they may be young but they look promising. As he watched them, several cadets ran around excitedly, he heard someone say something.

"Hurry! The Elites of Unita are back!"

"Can't wait to see them!"

He looked and spotted a group of cadets walking down the corridor as several cadets cheered when they saw them. Locke sighed, these guys only get praise from in here but not outside. Noct looked at them. They wore the same mantles but one of them wore a different coloured mantle. Furthermore, this boy was younger than the rest of them.

He looks and blinks at the boy in the red mantle: he didn't see any of the other cadets donning a red mantle.

A unique one while the rest of the Elites wore blue ones. This kid must be special.

Locke noticed his attention to the boy with the red mantle. "That one's from Class Zero."

Class Zero? What did he mean Class Zero? How about the rest of them?

"Oh, I need to talk about Classes, too." Locke scratches his head. "Each and every Class here in Akademia specialize in a certain field. The ones in light blue are known to be the strongest group of trained cadets... Oh, Vi's actually part of Class Third, a Class that excels in black magic."

"Wait, Vivi was or is a cadet?"

"Well, he is continuing his studies there... But anyhow... Class Zero... it's quite special, other than the supreme abilities of expertise. Ace here is the only member of Class Zero." Wait...Only him?

"Did you just say..."

A nod.

He looked back at the boy named Ace, a mature and cool look on his appearance...

Hm, someone this age and looking like that. He's something...He looked at one of the taller members of the group and spotted that some were quite terrified of the tallest of them. Was that a mudfish? A humanoid mudfish?

"That'd be a Swampert." Locke soon followed his line of sight. Huh? Noct took out his Pokédex and scanned him while reading it.

"...Swampert..." He mumbled. Able to lift a boulder that lifts to a ton. Maybe more? Keen vision to see even through murky waters... They are able to predict storms with their fins... These abilities are handy in several things. Huh, this one seemed pretty powerful too. Though his appearance frighten them. "Hmm..."

"Ah, don't worry about his looks. He may look thuggish, but he's not."

Huh? He turned to Locke, did he know about this Swampert?

"His name is Rutem Earthbound." Locke says. "He's already a seasoned combatant with dual swords with chains attached at the hilts and, well, depending on the mission, he can speed through it in about thirty seconds in minimal timing."

He was shocked, he's that powerful? No, this means that all of these Elites and Ace are just that powerful. No wonder everyone looked up to them.

"I...Incredible..." Noct looked back at the Elites of Unita.

They were making their way back to the buildings to where they live or about to report on something. The crowd then dispersed after they left as Locke urged him to look around.

Noct looked around the corridors and a viewing window to check the classes going on. He took a look, seeing many students already seated behind desks while one smartly-dressed person was at the other end, speaking to them.

He looked at this as a familiar boy went near him while he was so focused on observing the students that he didn't see him.

"You must be new here."

"Hm? Whoah!"

He looked as saw that Ace stood beside him with his arms folded over his chest. His mantle danced with the wind as he looked over Noct.

"Hey, Ace." Locke said.

"It's good to see you there, Locke." Ace answers. "...And this man..."

"Yep. The new guy of the Organization, meet Noct."

Ace nodded and looked at Noct before bowing.

"It's nice to meet you. Ace Dilw, I'm from Class Zero." He tells Noct.

Noct was surprised at this. This boy was still a teenager yet he could feel how calm and mature he sounded when he spoke. Maybe a boy wouldn't match him for he was like a young man.

Ace puts a hand under his chin. "...That's right, I should visit the Delivery Centre to send an order." He said.

"The Delivery Centre?" Noct asks.

"...Yes. There are several workers who travel around the city to deliver packages from a company." Ace answers.

Okay, delivery... Noct pondered... a name began to ring to him... "...Quetzalcoatl...?"

"...Fortunately, or unfortunately, no one knows as to why most of his deliveries are ruined, which are followed by-"

All of the lights went out.

"...A blackout?"

"...Yes."


They headed out of Akademia and arrived at the Unita Delivery Centre. How the inhabitants can recover so quickly from these sudden blackouts was frightening to say.

"Squawk! I can't take this!"

There was a large pale yellow-feathered bird at some distance away, stomping his talons onto the floor and releasing some currents of electricity. His yellow eyes showed plenty of anger or rather, irritation in them, his beak gritting to the point that he could make grinding sounds. He had a magnificent tail which spreads into several ends and the crest of yellow feathers ontop of his head swung forward and backwards.

"Al?" Noct looked at the giant beside the fuming avian.

"Wonder what smashed the Angry Bird's delivery this time..." Locke comments.

"Oh, you two are here." The giant looked back at them as he bows in apology. "You see, my friend was trying to deliver an imported vase of a foreign land when two cadets came a broke it just as he was about to enter the room. Quez, please calm down."

That bird, Quez, started to take big and heaving breaths, some sparks coming out with each deep breath. He started to do it less, the electricity coming out of him soon comes to a stop and he looks well...

Then he screeched out one 'colourful' word that couldn't even be described at all before looking well. Guess he calmed down now...

"Now, I am okay..." Quez speaks out.

"So... this Quez... he's the one who causes the blackouts?" Noct wonders.

"Do you think I did those on purpose!?" The avian screeches back at him.

"I just... I just asked a question."

Just as Quez was about to do it again, Al comforted him again with a pat at the back. He heaved in breaths as Al did his best to calm him down. Noct could see some sparks hitting Al but he didn't show any signs of flinching.

"Careful, Quez got a volatile temper." Locke whispers to Noct.

"...Okay, got that in mind..."

The large avian Eidolon took in deep breaths before he is back to a calm state once again. "...I... am alright now. For sure..."

"Alright, I'll pay for the bills the vase would cost and you two, please be careful next time." He scolded the two cadets responsible for the damage.

They nodded and scratched their heads, apologising to Quez about it. They then headed off afterward.

Noct looked. "Whoah, Al..." Noct said. He looked at Quez and him. "So... a full introduction of him is..."

"Oh, sorry." He looked at Quez. "Want to do the honors?"

"Yeah." Quez turned to Noct. "My name is Quetzalcoatl Guarorce. Some call me the Eidolon of Storms, and I'm part of Unita Delivery Service to deliver packages to customers here and there."

"He is a good friend of mine for years." Al added. "We know each other for so long and I help him calm down if he were to get agitated."

"...Yeah." Quez nods slowly.

"Thus, the Angry Bird nickname that he was also called sometimes." Locke once again whispers.

As soon as he spoke that, Quez's phone rang and the familiar tone of the game, Angry Birds, could be heard.

"You still kept that ringtone?" Al asked.

The bird stares at him blankly before he picks up the call. "What? What is it?"

There was silence before Quez breathed heavily and rapidly again. Noct looked for a while as Al tried to calm him down. The others knows what happened: must be the cut of his salary again for always failing to deliver things properly and with destroyed goods.

'Poor Quez, again.' Locke says mentally.

Noct looked as Quez put the phone away while Al calmed him down. It took a few moments and Quez let out a sigh as he calmed down. The electricity stopped discharging with his calming, no longer a sudden blackout shall occur again. Well, seemed like Al got it mostly in control. Though he could see that Al took a bit of fizzles around him. 'Is Al doing okay with this? Handling all that electricity...'

"Hm, here it is." Al took out some heaps of cash. "This is to pay your month's rent."

He looked at his bills. Some silence passed.

"How much was it again?" Al asked.

More silence. Quez begins to shake.

"Quez, please. I am here to help you."

"...80,000. Including. All of the blackouts."

Al nodded and stroked his back to comfort him.

"...So... Sorry about... all this..."

Al shook his head and he would had made a smile if his face had any facial muscles and not always having a stern and menacing face all the time.

"No need to apologize." He comforted. "I am your friend, I won't let you suffer."

Quez took time to breathe again, to relax himself.

Noct looked at the gentleness Al had. He had such an aura, 'betraying' that towering and domineering appearance. It's really something to behold...

Quez then breathed and looked back at Al. Then the ice block cube made its way there and it shattered to bits, the one inside falling to his rear and shivering. He rubbed his head and looked at Al ."Hey there, Ancient Ca-" he started before he was met with a gigantic punch to the face. Noct looked as he disappeared into the sky with a twinkle.

"...And... he's gone." Noct comments. 'But, seriously... he was still frozen all the way until now?'

Al sighed before looking at Locke. "Did he call you by name?"

"...Nope. Still... Thief." The last word was detected with ire.

Noct stared, what were they talking about?

"...Earthbound never learns." Al sighed.

"...Yeah, he's really making his family... really questioned for their abilities with a 'dark horse' in their family..." Locke comments.

"Family..." Noct starts to say.

"They are a clan who could see the future and the balance of the land and sea." Al explains. "They could tell the future but that ability is limited to them. They lead the Temporal Temple and make it so that the timeline is stable."

"They... do these sort of things?" Noct asks again, wondering about them even more.

"Yes but like what I said, they don't know when that will come but help you prepare when it does." Al added. "They aren't Gods, but they could help with little they could do."

"Oh..."

Locke wondered about something while Ace went to Quez and asked about the thing he was asking to be delivered. Quez nodded and showed him something as he nodded with his thanks and took the item.

"Alright, that's one job handled today..." Quez said. He fixes up some sticking feathers from his plumage.

"Indeed." Al smiled despite his fixed face.

"Yeah..." Quez's beak formed a smile of his own.

Noct then looked around some more as Ace looked onward with new Cadets entering the room. He nodded while Noct curiously went ahead and watched them. He looked around until he saw a large bird fly down. He looked up as the wings of the giant bird blew them back.

"Whoah... what the...?" He stares in awe at this colossal bird...

The colossal bird had a head that appeared like a knight's helmet and his entire metallic body was lustrous black. Below his beak was an impressive beard which long enough to cover his chest. He looked at the black eyes with red irises and they reflect years if experience yet felt a gentle aura from that. He was garbed in a deep black coat with pale silver outlines while fastened with several white belts and something on his back which appears to be some mantle.

The bird touched down and looked down at the recruits. He then went to the microphine and spoke his welcoming speech.

Noct looked at him as he spoke with his deep baritone voice. His voice didn't betray his appearance and he spoke with such experience and maturity. This bird was indeed a veteran of Organization. After a long while, he finished his speech and looked onward.

He spotted Stella going to him once everyone left.

"Oh, hey, Stella." He says to her. "So... who was that large bird? He is so, really..."

Stella looked at the bird he was talking about and turned back to him. She knew that he would fall in awe from that Commander.

"Oh, that is Commander Gardious Galecita." She replies.

"Gardi-what?"

"Gardious. Galecita." She turned to look back at him. "Well, you barely had many days to adjust here, so you wouldn't have known so quickly. The Commander's a seasoned combat veteran."

He nodded, his appearance and voice didn't betray anything of his skills.

"Yeah..." Noct agrees. "I did feel some strong air around him."

They watched him spread his wings and flew away.

"He... really is an amazing person, isn't he..."

"Indeed, Gardious Galecita is one of a kind." Al agreed. "He and his old friends were as close as any."

"Ah..." Noct nods slowly in response. ...Old... wouldn't that mean...

He looked at his companions. They seemed to nod at that, he was old but still a combatant.

That... was impressive. No, wait. Al is over 1,000 years old.

However, Gardious was not an Eidolon. He was a...Noct checked his Pokédex. Corviknight... "...Whoah... His species' that incredible..."

Stella nodded. "And, as to expect, his skills are top-notch." She tells Noct.

"Hm, Dragonblaze won't be here so you won't be taking any Infiltration Classes today." Al told Ace.

"I understand." Ace nods. "I'll hone on my other techniques, then."

Locke looked at Al, wondering what was keeping that Dragonblaze busy. He hadn't seen Dragonblaze in days and there were no reported Dulled activities today. What was keeping him busy?

"You think we should just check on him, Al?" Locke asks.

"Not really." Al disagrees. "He's a busy mon and he texted me that he wanted more time with his daughter and wife. You know how long he wasn't able to do that because of his job."

"Oh, huh. That's right..." Locke nods. "His sort of job to check around outside doesn't really keep him in here..."

"Indeed, he deserves a break for the risks he takes." Al agreed.

Stella folded her arms while Noct looked at her. She looked deep in thought.

"Hm? Stella? What is it?" He asks her.

She looked at Noct and shook her head. She then smiled. "Oh, it's nothing." She said to him. Noct scratched his head, what was she thinking about? Maybe it wasn't serious but what Stella was actually thinking about was-

They heard a loud moan.

"M-Master!" A youth screamed.

"What was that?" Noct wondered. He turned to the direction of the voices.

Ace looked at the way to the courtyard where cadets train their skills in combat.

"Machina?" Ace begins to walks over to the courtyard.

A boy with curly black hair who was about Ace's age with an indigo blue mantle looked at him with a worried look. Over to the side, an old man wielding two swords was slouching, it seemed that he was trying to fix his back. He moaned in pain as he pushed it back, trying to angle his spine.

"Oh, Ace!" He called out. "We were just training when Master broke his back. It's kind of worrying."

Noct looked at the old man as he pushed his back. They heard an audible crack as he moaned, causing everyone to flinch.

"M-Master?" Machina asked.

"Ooh, I'm alright now..." The white-haired elderly gets up with a groan. "See? Everything's alright now, Machina."

"Okay." Machina nodded with a smile. "How did I do?"

"You're getting better now. Hmm... maybe when you catch a weapon by your rapiers, you can maneuver with a twist of your body in mid-air..." The elder tells Machina.

"Alright, Master. I'll try to do it." Machina nodded while Noct looked at Ace.

"Who's that?" He asks.

"Oh, the one with black hair is Machina Kunagiri. He's also a cadet and currently in Class Second." He then turns to the elder man. "And as for him, he's Galuf Halm Baldesion. Though wise beyond his age, he's still spry and ready for action whenever the time comes. But please, do not speak of age around him."

"...Oh." Noct answered. 'Just like Al...'

Noct was deep in thought while he looked around some more, before spotting a girl making her way to them with books around her.

"Stella-san!" She called out.

"Oh, I'll be there." Stella hurries over to the girl. Noct looked and when he looked closely...Was that a female Makoto?

"Huh? Wait, what?" He was very, very, confused.

Locke looked at him, nodding as to why he wondered about how the girl looked.

"Oh, you haven't met her. Her name's... well, Makoto Yuki." He flicks his fingers a few times. "Of course, it gets confusing to just say one of them and they both respond, so we call her Mako-chan. Just remember: blue, Makoto. Auburn, Mako-chan."

Noct looked at him. How is it possible for another Makoto, let alone an exact opposite of him, to exist?

"You see... it's just rather complicated to explain, but they're from alternate realities."

Alternate realities? Noct decided to hear some more. Locke nodded and began to explain.

"It goes like this... that world A has person A. But also, world A can have person B, but person A and person B will never meet under normal circumstances because person A is person B and person B is person A..."

Noct nodded about this and...will it be possible that he'll meet a counterpart of himself? He wondered about the possibilities of having to meet his own counterpart. Would it be possible?

He looked at the city some more. There, he could see the Gallade Al punched to next week falling into the city's buildings. Seemed that was also normal.

Guess... he will need to adjust to these hectic happenings for himself. Like how everyone here does.

A crazy and wide world of Unita...And other worlds he'll be able to visit soon.

...Well, he'd be adjusted to it... For now, he should be used to the chaos around him.