Curriculum 06: Race Against Time

"Then... it is time..." she said as she stood up, holding her hand out to him, while clutched in her other was the pendant still glowing bright. "For this to work, you must clear all doubt from you mind and believe in your strength." her voice had changed it's tone, it was now stern and ideal in the way she presented the statement. Her wings opened a bit, though they were generated purely from an unknown EX reaction, they appeared real.

The ship was on it's last defenses, it could not hold out. The Giseisha were numerous and the Goddess' had not even arrived yet. What could these two individuals do without the use of a Goddess? Only time could answer the question.

'This is going to work, I just know it is!' Rusai thought as he extended his hand and grasped Arie's. It was like a beautiful spectacle of radiance, like a beacon of hope. Rusai closed his eyes, seemingly deep in thought once again. The expression on his face was one of severe concern for everyone on the ship and for the great obstacles that lay ahead of them.

"Then I will lend you my wings." she whispered as she let go of his hand and held out the shining pendant. "Once you accept this power, we will be able to stop them together. But only if you truly can control it." No longer was she afraid that her secret might be revealed to the crew or other candidates, for it was the only thing that could save them right now. Her ability was still unknown, even to her, but she had to risk it in order to save so many. Everyone was depending on them. 'Will you accept the mark of the fallen angel, Rusai..?' she thought as the pendant glowed.

Time was ticking away as Rusai stared at the pendant being offered to him. He had no choice, this couldn't end like this. 'No innocent lives should be lost to the Giseisha...I made a promise, that I was gonna stay by her side forever and always, and I intend to keep that promise!' Rusai thought as he gently laid his hand on the pendant, not afraid of what was to come in their uncertain future. This was their last stand, their last chance, their only hope for survival...

Arie closed her eyes as she placed her hand over his and pressed it down on the pendant. The light from the pendant shone bright and brighter as it began to fuse with Rusai, Arie imagined the pain he was feeling at the moment to be intense but she could no longer afford to hesitate in her actions. The light kept growing and growing until finally, it dispersed all together as the pendant's energy was now transferred to him.

"It's done..." she said softly as she moved her hands from his and waited for him to deal with the power she had endowed. A wave of pain wracked Rusai's body the instant the pendant began to shine.

"Argh..." Rusai muttered, the pain was so intense, but he was determined to make it through this. After what seemed like an eternity, the pain subsided into a small throb coming from his hand. Rusai, who had kept his eyes squeezed shut for most of the time, opened them to see that the pendant had become fused to his hand. "What happened to me?" Rusai asked in pure wonderment, staring at his hand, totally forgetting about the pain.

"My pendant represents what sustains the energies of ability. It fuses with the user and enables them to use my abilities along with powering those that the user has. Really, it boosts the abilities and limits of one's EX." she answered him, happy to see that the pain had ended. "I'm afraid from here on out I have no thoughts as to how to save the ship..." she said as she turned to face the Giseisha. "Rusai, I know that you have an EX within you, it's our only hope right now. You have to awaken it somehow." came her troubled voice as she looked at him once more. Rusai nodded in an understanding way, although he wasn't quite sure how to awaken his EX, or what his EX actually did. He gazed deep into Arie's eyes once more and smiled.

"I'll come back to you." Rusai whispered. "Whatever happens, I'll come back to you..." Rusai then held Arie in a quick embrace, then turned to leave, spreading his newly formed wings and dashing out of the hallway they were standing in.

Arie stood there now, as her wings began to fade away and then abruptly return. Her legs soon gave way as she fell to the floor. Her breathing grew heavier with each moment.

"I'm sorry, Rusai..." she whispered to herself. "I never told you why they called it my... 'condition'..." Taking a deep breath, she grabbed onto the railing as another shockwave came through the area. Her vision was blurring again but she knew she had to get back up. From above her, she could her a cracking noise. Gasping she immediately turned to face the window. The force from the last shockwave had penetrated the glass and Arie didn't have enough strength to get out of the room.

'There's only one hope left for me and these people now...' she thought to herself as her eyes began to cloud. 'If only the Goddess' could get here in time...' With that, her wings vanished as she laid back onto the rails and rest.

Rusai was dashing through the deserted corridors and was in the middle of prying open a door when he heard footsteps echoing in the empty hall. Rusai realized that if anyone saw him like this, well, he'd have a lot of explain he'd have to do that he'd probably didn't want to do. 'Damn!' he thought, 'Of all the things that could have happened...' He had to do something before he was found out. Glancing around, he saw a door on his right and quickly proceeded to trying to pry it open. As the footsteps got louder, Rusai pried harder until the door finally opened causing him to tumble into the room right before the person walked by. Rusai let out a breath of relief and continued on his way, this time being more cautious about others. He finally reached the hallway that led off of the ship.

'Alright, here I go...' Rusai thought as he walked into the ship's docking bay. He locked the door and was glad that no one was in here but him. He stared reluctantly at the lever that opened the gates, and slowly, with his hands trembling all the way, grabbed the lever and pulled down on it. The force of being sucked out into space was a little more forceful than Rusai had thought it would be. At first Rusai was freaking out, thinking that he wouldn't able to breathe in the airless space, but after a couple moments of floundering around, he realized that he was just fine. 'That's one amazing EX...' Rusai thought. That was until one Giseisha took notice of him and dashed for him. Rusai let out a yelp of panic and flew out of the way just in time to see the angry Giseisha heading right back for him. 'What am I gonna do about this!' Rusai thought, while trying to keep away from the Giseisha.