Sclartaran Productions Presents
A Talanane Creation
Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight
Episode XI: Attack on Zelan, the War Begins
Standard Disclaimer
The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc, the Phantasy Star Series by SEGA Inc, and Sailor Moon, originally created by Naoko Takeuchi.
Deep in space, between the planets of the Algo Star System floated a large complex space station, all gleaming metal with occasional bits of transparent material marking the view ports. A small distance away, in astronomical terms, a much smaller metal structure approached, maneuvering and decelerating for a docking. Aboard that vessel were three beings, one Human, one Android, and one Cat., sitting at various stations on the ship's bridge either operating the systems or waiting for the docking to be complete.
"That Master Urawa, is Zelan Station" the Android Wren stated, indicating the large structure their ship was approaching.
The young Esper simply nodded, as he knew from his lessons and the studying he had done while on board what Zelan was and it's basic function.
"Wow!" K'Panth said, the tone of the word making him sound very much like the Musk Cat he was.
"It is, isn't it 'Panth.'" Ryo commented. "The only space station I knew of, at least while I was still living on Earth, was some old rickety Russian affair made up out of connected sections, like tin cans."
"Tin cans?" the Musk Cat asked.
"You know, closed metal cylinders containing preserved food, like Tuna for instance?"
"Huh, no, I don't." K'Panth answered. "And what's Tuna?"
Ryo shook his head. "That's right, you wouldn't know, since your 'people' don't use cans." He then started to laugh a little, although he tried to control himself.
"Meow-hiss!" the Musk Cat retorted, "What is so funny?"
"I'm sorry, hah hah! It's just that I was imagining one of your people trying to use a can opener."
"Hiss hiss! I still don't see what's so funny about 'cans' and 'can openers'."
"I said I was sorry K'Panth, for laughing at you. I will explain all that I know about cans and canning later, after we've docked, all right?"
K'Panth's tail was twitching as he said "All right, but remember it's a promise!"
Thirty six minutes later, the Landale docked, and right away K'Panth looked toward Ryo, his eyes demanding that explanation. Ryo, seeing that his friend would not wait any longer, thought for a moment and then began.
"All right, in order to understand what cans are and the canning process, you first must know what germs are, do you?"
"Germs?" the Musk Cat asked. Then realizing what the young Esper meant he said "Oh yes! Someone once told me that they're something like very small animals that can get into someone's body and make him/her sick."
"Okay then. Then what happens when you leave food sitting out too long?"
"It rots." K'Panth replied.
"Right" Ryo answered back. "And food rots because the spores of certain microorganisms, germs if you will, settle out of the air and start to grow. Many of these also produce poisons while they grow, and that is what can make you sick."
K'Panth nodded, indicating that Ryo should go on. The young man then went on to explain the concept of the can and the role of heat in cooking and sterilizing the food within. "You must be sure to heat the can long enough to kill all of the germs, because if not, there are some kinds, known as anaerobic bacteria, which can grow inside a sealed can without needing air. One of the worst of these is the bacteria whose poison causes botulism."
"If it's so dangerous, why do your people do it?"
"Oh, you don't have to worry too much about it. Most commercial canned goods are safe. After all, I've eaten them many times in my old life, and I'm still here."
K'Panth wasn't totally convinced, but nodded, seeing the truth in Ryo's statement.
Elsewhere, on a much older spacecraft's bridge, an apparently aged man dressed in equally ancient, evil looking armor, stared out of the cracked forward viewing port, which just happened to look out in the relative direction of Zelan Station. If anyone else had been in the room, they would have noticed a slight shuddering as of nervousness and anticipation.
"Soon, very soon I will have my retribution, retribution for those times that either Lutz or his proxies have stopped me. Soon once again all of Algo will tremble under my hand!"
As soon as he had finished his tirade, a low beeping sound issued from one of the recently repaired consoles. He turned toward the console and activated it with one armor gloved hand. As he did so, a woman's voice issued from the speakers.
"Lord Lassic, the 'subject' has been located and apprehended."
"That is very good. Take her to the gate room immediately upon her arrival!"
"Yes my lord!" the woman replied. "Shall we initiate the next phase?"
"Yes, you can do that" Lassic replied, then switched off the circuit.
Meanwhile, Ryo had finally finished explaining cans to K'Panth, and the two of them had debarked from the ship and were in one of the main corridors of the space station, where some ingenious entrepreneurs had set up kiosks selling various sundry items. As in many such cases, much of what was for sale was in one word, junk. Ordinarily he would not have paid much attention to the salespeople, but this time something made him stop at one offering 'Authentic Historical Reproductions' from the time of Queen Alis. One item in particular, ironically packed in flat, rectangular, blue and white painted cans.
"K'Panth, look at this."
"Meow, yes?"
"There, on that shelf there. Those are cans."
The Musk Cat went over and stood on his hind feet, leaning his forefeet against the metal of the counter front for balance. "Meow, I can't see."
"If I may?" Ryo asked, indication that he wished to pick him up.
As K'Panth didn't say anything, the young Esper reached down and hoisted his friend up and onto his shoulders. With a free hand he pointed. "See, on the second shelf toward the left. Those are the kind of cans that my people preserve sardines in."
"Huh?"
"Another fish from my home world, but they don't grow nearly as large at tuna."
"Oh!" K'Panth replied.
The shopkeeper overhearing their conversation, interrupted. "Excuse me sirs. If you like, I could just tell you about the product."
Both Ryo and K'Panth turned toward the kiosk. Ryo apologized for the scene that had occurred, bowing. "I'm so sorry about this, and yes, we would like that."
The young man tending the booth reached up and took hold of one of the aforementioned containers. "Well then, this here is none other than the historical travel ration Perymolate, once used by travelers on all three worlds. As such, it has a high nutritional value. In fact, it was also used at a treatment for starvation."
Ryo, suddenly remembering something from his history lessons, broke in at that time. "Oh, I've heard of it. I just didn't know that anyone still made it."
"Well sir, I don't know where the boss gets this stuff. All I'm supposed to do is sell it. Speaking of which, I don't suppose you would like one?"
Ryo was about to refuse, but then he had a sudden vision flash before his eyes of the body of what could have been a young man close to his own age. He couldn't tell because the body was in an extremely emaciated condition. Then another vision came, this time of the night sky, where the stars seemed to be going out one by one.
Shaking his head, the young Esper said. "Yes, I would like ten of them."
"Ten!" the shopkeeper gasped.
"Yes, we may be going on a trip soon, so we may need it."
With that, Ryo walked up to the counter and the transaction took place. He also purchased ten cans of a travel drink that the merchant told him traditionally went with the Perymolate. Ryo had just stashed the food and drink in his travel bag when suddenly a claxon started ringing nearby.
"Intruder Alert, Intruder Alert! Unidentified creatures have infiltrated the residential section!" Then sounds of a struggle came through the open mike, continuing for several seconds then there was a scream. "No, please no, ahhh!" Then only the sounds of milling creatures could be heard.
Then there was a woowoo sound nearby and Ryo sensed the energy of something similar to a Ryuka technique coming from the same direction. He and K'Panth turned in that direction and saw a number of short dark creatures of a rough humanoid shape, with glowing yellow eyes. They bore a marking of a black broken heart in a circle, crossed out. Furthermore, all of them had small metallic objects on their foreheads, each with flashing lights like jewels on them. As they observed, some of them began to close in on them.
"Meowhiss!" the Musk cat said as his hackles rose.
"It's starting!" Ryo said as he took his Esper's staff out of his cloak. K'Panth took up a position beside him, fangs and claws bared, while the merchant at the stall just hid behind the counter. One of the Shadows charged, and was quickly deflected by a smack of Ryo's staff. K'Panth slashed at another. Neither of the creatures seemed to take any damage. Seeing that was the case, Ryo tried one of his techniques.
"Zan!" the Esper shouted in an effort to push the creatures back and gain time. The whirlwind technique had the desired effect, and this time the monsters took some damage. K'Panth followed up with a flying leap at the nearest creature, knocking it back a little bouncing off, flipping, and landing in front of it.
Before the Shadows could regroup for another assault, Ryo used the defensive technique 'Deban' to reduce the amount of damage the creatures' attacks could do to them. K'Panth assaulted the one in front of him with a Claw Slash Special, which also seemed to hurt it.
Nearby, the whining sound of laser rifles could be heard as a group of security personnel tried to enter the concourse. Not all that successfully, as their weapons had no effect. Very quickly the creatures overwhelmed all but two of them, one man and one woman, who were wielding sword and boomerang respectively, and were like K'Panth, using special attacks.
"Hey Chief!" the woman said. "What kind of Biomonsters are these?"
"I don't know Lieutenant! Only that our people are being overwhelmed!" He then shouted an order "We have to fall back!"
"Chief, Help!" a voice to their left shouted out. The Captain didn't have time do so, since he and the Lieutenant were busy defending themselves.
"NO!" the besieged security officer to the left screamed. The creatures now covered him, and one of them extended a clawed hand toward his chest, then inside of it. The guard screamed as the creature pulled its hand out, bringing with it a shining pink star shaped crystal. A moment later the man convulsed, his body writhing. Then he started to change, his body contorting and actually shrinking. He lost his individual features, his skin darkening to black, and his eyes turned yellow. When the process was finished, he could not be distinguished from any of the creatures that had attacked him. He was one of them! Meanwhile, the crystal that one creature had extracted from the guard had floated up over the milling creatures and with a pop, disappeared who knows where.
Ryo and K'Panth heard the screaming, but were too besieged themselves to turn to look. However Ryo did see the flash of the disappearing crystal out of the corner of his eye. Momentarily he had a vision of a young girl with short blue-black hair dressed in a uniform resembling the sailor costume often worn by girls in Japanese schools, but with a shorter skirt. She was impaled upon a spear of ice and the body of a green insectoid creature was beside her. He didn't know, or is that remember who she was, but the flashback awakened something in his heart. He shouted out "No, not again!" and a light, like a pulsing energy field began radiating out from his body, spreading out into the surrounding area.
Next time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: A Memorial Interrupted.
Author's Note: Yes I know that the heart crystals in Kingdom Hearts are actually heart-shaped. However, since I am also using characters from Sailor Moon, I decided to depict those from the third season of the Anime series, which were spiky.
Cordially Yours: Talanane.