About Kairi and Sora's ages: I do think I mentioned something about Kairi (and therefore Sora as well) being a year younger than Rikku, but here's a full explanation anyhow. The Gullwings are all the same ages that they were in the game. Yuna's 19, Paine's 19 (as I think she's the same age as Yuna…), Rikku's 17 and so Sora and Kairi are both 16. As well, I had a number of people commenting on the oddity of this world. No, I didn't create it, I'm not this insane :P This is the world of Fa'Diel, the world on which Legend of Mana takes place. Many of the characters and some of the plot ideas come from this game as well!
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The entire group of eight strangers to this world were all standing on the cobblestone path, watching the little green thing with curiosity. She skipped up to them. Her entire body was covered in leaves, arranged to make a little dress and hat. Only her face was uncovered. She had a little button nose and little blue eyes that danced. All in all, she was actually very cute.
"Hello hello, who are you?" She asked playfully. Yuna bent down so she was on the same level as the little Sproutling.
"My name's Yuna. You are the Sproutling right?" She asked. The Sproutling giggled.
"I am a Sproutling, but not the only one! There are many of us and we are all connected. I have a gift for you." She said pulling a handful of blocks out of seemingly nowhere. They were a child's building blocks, but they were all held unnaturally in place in the shape of a little village as the Sproutling handed it to Yuna. The little creature smiled at Kairi.
"When you're finished with it, it will be another charm to add to your bracelet!" She announced. "Now time to get your adventure going!" Kairi looked at her wrist. She'd tied the ribbon (with the mailbox still on it) to her wrist. She shrugged. The group of them had just been standing there, not doing anything. The Sproutling waved her hands.
"Go go go!" She said, shooing them down the path. As they walked, Baralai looked back.
"Pushy little thing, isn't she?" He observed. Paine smiled. Meanwhile, Yuna was studying the blocks. Kairi was walking next to her.
"Think it's another artifact?" Yuna asked. Kairi shrugged.
"I guess we'll just have to find out." She replied. The open grassy fields and singing birds and sunshine ended very abruptly. There seemed to just be a line where the new living planet ended and the dead one began. Kairi took the artifact from Yuna and stepped out onto the hard rocky ground. She bent over to place it on the ground and braced herself. Suddenly, she straightened up, still holding the artifact, and motioned for everyone to come over.
"We need to hold on to each other. That way, if we get thrown away again, we won't be separated." She told them. It seemed like a good idea. They all joined hands, with Kairi on one end and Baralai on the other. With the free hand, Kairi held the artifact. Suddenly, she lifted her hand high above her head and threw the blocks with all her might. It landed a distance away. They braced themselves, but when the explosion sounded, they weren't affected. Kairi blinked, slowly letting go of Sora's hand. She shielded her eyes against the remaining light from the flash that had accompanied the explosion. The force of it seemed to have abruptly ended at the border of the house's land. The cobblestone path melted into a more used dirt one, which led into a small square of a town. There was a sign at the side of the road that read "Domina". Glancing at her wrist, she grinned when she saw a little charm of a cottage made of wooden toy blocks. They approached the square, and found two people standing in the middle of it, yelling at each other. There was a boy standing near the shop, with what looked like an enormous onion on his head as a helmet. There was also a man cloaked in blue with a sand mantle standing in front of the tavern. The onion-headed boy sighed in exasperation.
"At least tell me your name!" He said, sounding rather defeated. The other man paused, and there was a long silence.
"…Elazul." He replied gruffly, turning around and disappearing into the tavern. The onion boy clenched his fists.
"The nerve of some people…" he muttered, grumbling other foul things as he walked through the back door of the shop. Rikku crossed her arms.
"What's up with them?" She asked. There was a shout from inside the tavern.
"Check it out?" Tidus asked, starting towards the door. Everyone else followed without complaint. Tidus was about to walk through the door when a very, very, VERY large rabbit walked into him. He stumbled back, muttering 'excuse me', but stopped dead when he looked up and found himself staring at a rabbit taller than he was. It was rather fat and dressed in green poncho with a sombrero on his back.
"'Scuse me!" He said in a very jolly tone. "I'm Niccolo, the world's greatest merchant!" He said, offering his hand to Tidus, who shook it, still rather surprised.
"Tidus." He answered simply. Niccolo smiled.
"Well, Tidus, I must be on my way, but if you or your friends need anything, you can find me in the market place!" With that, he walked, or actually sort of half jogged, half waddled, off down another road. Rikku nodded approvingly.
"Let's go ask him about the tree! He'll know!" She decided. Paine shook her head.
"But so might that Elazul guy. We need to talk to him too." There was a moment of silence. Suddenly, Rikku clapped her hands.
"I've got it! Painie, me and you can go to see Niccolo rabbit-man and Yunie and Kairi can talk to the grumpy guy." She suggested. Gippal cleared his throat. Rikku realized that she'd only bothered to relegate the girls. "Oh right. Gippal, you're coming with me, I've gotta keep my eye on you." She said with a grin. "The rest of the guys…" she paused, thinking. "Oh whatever, go wherever, I don't care." She decided. Gippal crossed his arms.
"And who made you the authority?" He asked. Rikku shrugged.
"I guess I did." She replied. Gippal opened his mouth to argue more with her, but she grabbed his wrist and dragged him off in the direction Niccolo had gone before he got the chance to speak. Paine followed, half smiling, with Baralai a step behind her. Yuna opened the door to the tavern and walked inside. It was empty, but that was to be expected as it was the middle of the day. There were only two people inside. One was a girl, who looked like a waitress, pushed up against one of the tables. The other was Elazul, who was standing intimidatingly over the girl.
"Where is she!" He demanded forcefully. The girl didn't answer, but it was hard to tell whether it was out of defiance or fear. Elazul growled. "Tell me!" He was almost yelling now.
"Excuse me." Yuna intervened. Elazul glared at her. Tidus glared back. Yuna didn't seem to notice. "Do you really need to yell at her?" She asked. Elazul ignored her, turning his attention back to the girl.
"You know where she is!" Elazul accused. The girl was trembling now.
"Hey!" Kairi yelled, walking towards him. "Maybe she doesn't know where this person is! And if she does, the fact that you're yelling at her isn't going to encourage her to tell you!" She told him shortly, almost scoldingly. She was standing toe to toe with him now. She was at least a full head shorter than he was, but showed no fear when he tried to stare her down.
"She knows. I can sense it." He argued. Kairi crossed her arms.
"Well, who are you looking for, anyways?" She asked after a moment.
"Pearl. She has a tendency to get lost. I'm worried. She's like a sister to me." He replied, his tone softening a little. Kairi's expression softened greatly. She knew what that was like. To have someone you care about disappear, and to have no idea where they are, or whether they're safe, or when they were going to come back.
"We'll help you find her." She offered. "That is, if you stop yelling at…" Pausing, she looked at the young waitress.
"Rachel." The girl mumbled in answer. Kairi nodded.
"If you stop yelling at Rachel." She offered. Elazul paused. Crossing his arms, he walked towards the bar, away from the two girls.
"Fine." He replied, sounding like he didn't much like the idea. Rachel was staring at the ground, staying very quiet. It was clear she was a rather shy girl, with her timid mannerisms and whispery voice.
"Thanks…" She mumbled, holding something out to Kairi. It looked like an egg of some kind, made entirely out of Jade. Elazul moved suddenly towards Kairi. Sora watched him suspiciously. He grabbed the Jade Egg out of Kairi's hands.
"This is it!" He announced, ignoring Kairi's glares.
"What's it?" Tidus asked, confused. Elazul gave the Egg back to Kairi.
"That's what I was sensing, why I knew this girl knew where Pearl was." He replied. Suddenly, he began to look like he was going to turn on Rachel again, but Kairi spoke first.
"Then let's get going. I'm sure the faster you find Pearl, the better, right?" She asked, staring towards the door and hoping she succeeded in stopping yet another confrontation between Elazul and Rachel. Indeed, Elazul followed her and the three others out of the tavern, forgetting about his intentions of yelling at Rachel again. They began to make their way towards the edge of town. Kairi was walking just behind everyone else, and Sora slowed his pace and fell into step with her.
"I don't really trust that guy." He commented. Kairi smiled sympathetically.
"I know, me neither, but we got another Artifact out of it so we're going to have to stick it out until we find Pearl." She replied. Sora nodded.
"I can't blame him for being worried." He noted. He was going to say more, but they reached the edge of town and Elazul was yelling about god-knows-what. Frustrated with him, Tidus yelled back and the two of them were about to get into a fist fight, with poor Yuna standing on the sidelines trying helplessly to calm both of them down. Kairi sighed and threw the Jade Egg. Instantly, Elazul forgot about Tidus.
"No! What are you doing?" He shouted at Kairi before starting to attempt to run off and catch it. Tidus smirked, knowing what was going to happen next. Yuna sighed, not even bothering to say anything to him. Kairi rolled her eyes and grinned at Sora, who was grinning back at her. As the Egg hit the ground, there was the explosion, as they had expected, and the effect of it ended on the town boundary. They just heard Elazul shout under the roaring of the explosion, though they couldn't see him due to the flash. A moment later, they found a pathway leading to an underground cavern, and Elazul sitting not-so-gracefully on that path, shouting colourful things. Kairi and Sora helped him to his feet, and the five of them walked into the cavern. Despite the dry, almost desert-like climate of the above ground, the cavern was damp. There were the occasional pools, which reflected light everywhere and made the inside of the cavern look green. There were un-ending passages and directions to go in, so they stood near the entrance and looked carefully down each of the pathways.
"Should we split up?" Yuna asked after a long silence.
"No." Elazul replied. "If Pearl's by herself, than Sandra's probably here after her. She's dangerous, and if we want to stand a chance against her, than we stick together."
"…who's Sandra?" Tidus asked after a moment.
"The Jewel Hunter." Elazul replied. He looked around for another moment, then started down a path. "It's this way." He said. His tone told them not to argue, so they followed him in silence. The path sloped down, deeper into the earth. It was a rather thin passage, with a low roof. Their footsteps echoed down the hallway. The small space suddenly ended, and they came into a large space with a vaulted roof and stalactites. There was a little pool towards the center. The light flickered everywhere from the mirror-like surface. It was quite breathtaking. Kairi wandered forward, looking around and approaching the pool. The flat surface began to ripple slightly, and a crab surfaced. Kairi stared at it. It was the biggest crab she'd ever seen, and she'd seen big crabs before. It looked at her, scuttling back and forth, when it suddenly reached out and snapped at her with its pincers.
"Hey!" Kairi jumped back and slashed at it, more on reaction than anything else, cutting the offending pincer clean off. The crab scuttled around a moment, and then disappeared back into the water. Kairi looked at Elazul for an explanation.
"There are monsters down here, but nothing too dangerous." He answered. She glared at him.
"It would have been nice if you'd warned me about them before a crab tried to eat me." She told him coldly.
"It would have been nice if you'd warned me that the Egg would explode before I was caught in it." He answered, his tone even colder than hers. Sora crossed his arms.
"Remind me again, why are we helping you?" He asked, sounding fairly angered. Elazul shrugged.
"Because you're artifact hunters and Pearl has two that you want." He answered coolly. They fell silent, following Elazul quietly but by no means unreluctantly. They wandered through further passages, and Yuna began to find herself wondering how Elazul had any idea where he was going. She had stopped looking where she was going, and almost walked into Sora when he stopped suddenly. Tidus, who apparently had also not been paying attention, walked into her, knocking her into Sora and Kairi. They caught themselves. It was Elazul who had stopped so suddenly, making everyone else pull to a halt and run into each other behind him. He was standing in an arching 'doorway', only just big enough to allow him through. Sora, Kairi, Yuna and Tidus were all straining to see what he had narrowed his eyes at, but were unable to.
"What? What is it?" Sora finally asked in exasperation. Elazul stepped into the room, allowing them to come into the huge cavern behind him. There was a woman standing in the center of the room, inspecting her fingernails. She spoke without even bothering to look up.
"I was expecting you a bit sooner, Knight of the Lapis Lazuli." She commented haughtily. Elazul glared at her.
"Sandra. Where's Pearl?" He asked, his tone deadly. Sandra smiled cruelly.
"Your dear Pearl? Oh she's fine. Just through there." She pointed to a small opening in the cavern wall, leading into another cavern. Her eyes met Elazul's and she crossed her arms. "She's just having a little visit with Du'Inke." She added. With that, she seemed to disappear into thin air. Elazul walked over to the place she had been standing and looked wildly around.
"Damn you, Sandra!" He shouted, frustrated. There was a crash coming from the next cave, and Elazul was instantly running towards it, followed closely by the others. Bursting into the next room, they found an enormous half-cat, half-ape like thing carrying a hammer. Kairi was the first to react, sending her disk flying at it. More out of sheer luck than anything else, Du'Inke moved just so the disk ended up embedding itself in the enormous hammer. Kairi frowned, glancing at Sora.
"Just my luck." She muttered. Sora grinned.
"Hey, Shinra gave you extras for a reason, right?" He answered, ducking out of the way of a swing from the beast. Kairi saw an opening, and ran as fast as she could, sliding between the things legs and ending up behind it. It hadn't noticed, so she grabbed its tail, using her claws to latch herself on to it and bracing herself for quite the ride. Roaring, Du'Inke whipped its tail around, flailing it all over the place in an attempt to knock Kairi off, though it seemed it only succeeded in getting her to dig her claws in deeper to keep from falling. Once she got the chance, she let go, grabbed onto its upper arm and scrambled onto its shoulder. Meanwhile, Yuna had been taking shots at the tail in an attempt to get Du'Inke to stop trying to send Kairi flying. Tidus and Sora rushed at it, each one cutting into one of its legs. Du'Inke collapsed to its knees. It growled and threw its hammer upward. The hammer connected with the roof, sending a storm of stalactites raining down on them. Kairi cowered on Du'Inke's shoulder, with nowhere to find cover from the falling stone. Tidus and Sora were both relatively sheltered. Sora stepped out of his shelter from beneath the huge figure of the monster and swung himself up to where Kairi was. Yuna had found shelter near one of the walls. Tidus stayed in the shelter of Du'Inke, still hacking away at the beast. Elazul jumped in next to him, picking up where Sora left off after he went to help Kairi. Sora crouched next to Kairi, holding his hands over his head in a feeble attempt to keep from behind crushed. Kairi's claws were caught in the mess of fur. With a quick tug, she freed herself. Sora drove his Keyblade into the monster. Grabbing Kairi's hand and dodging the falling rock, he realized that Du'Inke was dead and falling forward. It was going to take them with it.
"Come on!" He shouted over the crashing of the stone and jumped down the creature's back, pulling Kairi with him. They landed and rolled, unable to do anything but hope that they wouldn't be hit. Pressed against the walls and holding each other tight, they shut their eyes, bracing for a falling stone, and waited for the dust to clear. The rumbling and the crashing stopped. Kairi opened her eyes and found herself lying flat on top of Sora. She grinned sheepishly at him, and kissed him quickly, though the kiss lasted for quite a bit longer than either of them had anticipated. Rolling off Sora, Kairi began to blush when she saw Tidus and Yuna laughing at them, and Elazul giving them a funny look. Elazul's expression changed completely when something on his chest shimmered. Another shimmer from inside an enclosure of rock caught Yuna's eye and she looked over to see a young woman walking towards them. Elazul walked over to her. She seemed very shy and she stared off into space, smiling slightly.
"Elazul…it seems I've gotten a bit lost again…" She said, her voice sounding distant. Elazul scowled.
"Pearl! You have to stop wandering off like that! You can't keep getting lost!" He told her angrily. Kairi frowned.
"Do you treat all women like this, or just Rachel and Pearl?" She asked shortly. Elazul glared at her.
"It doesn't concern you." He replied. Kairi crossed her arms.
"Well I'm concerned, so stop yelling at her." She ordered.
"I'm not yelling at her." Elazul replied, sounding rather frustrated.
"Well, you certainly seem a bit overly angry with her." Yuna noted.
"Of course I'm angry! She got herself lost again!"
"How about saying something like 'I'm glad to see you safe' or something like that?" Kairi suggested, rather frustrated herself. All the while, Pearl was watching Kairi, Sora, Yuna and Tidus with interest.
"Did they help you find me?" She asked rather suddenly.
"…yes." Elazul said after a moment. Pearl smiled shyly and walked up to Kairi.
"Thank you." She said, holding something out in her hand. Kairi took it. It was a Stone Eye, and an artifact. Pearl smiled and was about to walk back over to Elazul when she stopped herself. "This too." She murmured, blushing a little as she held out the Firefly Lamp. With that, she walked over to Elazul.
"Let's go." He ordered, leading her out. They watched the pair go. After a moment, Yuna sighed.
"He was rude." She noted. Tidus nodded.
"That's putting it much too politely." He agreed. Kairi shrugged.
"Well, Pearl's alright, so let's get out of here, maybe see what Rikku and them are up to."