Author's Note- … -tosses away controller- Well, I just wasted about an hour and a half of my life. They really need to learn the art of save point placement in the FullMetal Alchemist game.. -.-;; Which reminds me, I do actually intend to put in a few anime worlds. Plain old Disney worlds I've come to find are difficult enough to work with (surprisingly enough), so a couple of animes will probably find its way into the fanfic at some point. I do know that FMA is gonna be in there, and actually, quite soon. About the lateness…sorry about that, I know the author's status said the 7th, but I forgot and thought it was the 9th…Eh, oh well. This chappie is extra long, anyway. And it's still late… I passed my exams! Woot! –grin- And I passed all my classes! Yay! Now, one more quarter and I've got summer break. Anyways, enough of my rambling. Here's the chappie!
Hyotoko yawned and looked around the First District. It was still dark. Kiyoshi must have been right. "Always night, huh? How do people live here without being depressed? They would have to be chemically imbalanced…" he muttered.
Tifa glanced over at him. "Hm?"
Hyotoko rolled his eyes. "Nothing…" he muttered. He looked around again. "So where's this gummi ship I keep hearing about?" he asked. All of this rambling about myth and magic was annoying and tiresome. He was anxious to get his hands on some technology. Science was his field, not magic. In his opinion, the supernatural was only meant to be there to be disproved.
"Be patient-you'll see in a few minutes," Tifa sighed. "Honestly, I don't see why you're having to come with us. It's like dragging along a little kid."
"I could say the same thing. You guys are the ones getting all worked up over little faerie tales," Hyotoko shot back.
"And we're worried about those 'faerie tales' because of the Non-Existent; whom, if I recall correctly, you work for. Therefore, if they are the cause of all of this, then wouldn't they be something along the lines of a cult?"
Hyotoko blinked. He had never thought of things like that before. He considered it, then shook his head. "Nah," he said. "Cults are religiously based, or something along those lines. The Non-Existent is not. At the very most, it is just an organization or a society, nothing more. Nice try, though."
Tifa sighed in exasperation. "I thought you were a scientist! Scientists are supposed to be open-minded, aren't they?.!"
"Yes, and they also analyze the facts. The known Non-Existent only form a small group that is willing to accept anyone no matter their age, beliefs, or interests. If you have a problem, they'll help you out. It's a loose, motley group of misfits with different interests entirely. Kind of like this one," Hyotoko explained knowingly.
Tifa frowned. "No… We do have a common goal. Two, in fact. We're looking for our friends and we're trying to stop the darkness. We're helping one another, looking out for each other. We give each other hope so we can achieve our goals. That's what friends do for each other," she said. "Don't you know?"
Hyotoko frowned and looked away. "I don't know what to believe anymore. But from what I've learned from personal experience, what you preach are merely the beliefs of the ignorant. Sure, friends will help each other on occasion. But when fear or other interests complicate that, they'll submit to human nature and abandon them. That is the real truth about friendship."
Tifa shook her head incredulously. "Listen to yourself. Do you have any idea how warped your logic sounds? You don't question that idea at all? They must have you really brainwashed. Kiyoshi risked a lot when he asked if you could come along. And besides, you're risking a lot to help Sakura, aren't you?"
"No one else will…" Hyotoko gruffed, reluctant to admit that she had made a good point.
"You're wrong about that. Kiyoshi wants to help her, and I don't know Taro, but I'm sure he does, too."
"But will they actually do it? That's a factor you're forget-"
"Hey guys! Sorry we took so long," Kairi called, walking over as Kiyoshi trailed behind her.
Tifa rolled her eyes. "Took ya long enough," she said.
"We were saying our goodbyes and getting some more stuff we might be needing from the others. Leon gave us some munny, Yuffie gave us some potions, Cloud gave us some ethers, and Aerith taught Kiyoshi and I the basic cure spell," Kairi explained.
Kiyoshi nodded. "Yeah. Now I know a new spell," he said cheerfully. Hyotoko rolled his eyes.
"Anything Cid gave us?" Tifa asked.
Kairi rolled her eyes. "Just a big lecture about us kids flying a gummi ship. He tried to push a manual on us, despite the fact that there's already one in the glove compartment. He should probably be finding the one he gave us in about ten minutes on the mail box," she said. Tifa laughed and Kiyoshi smiled. Hyotoko smirked.
"No problem. I can hotwire a car and I can build a decent computer. A spaceship should be hardly a problem," he said as they started towards the large doors that led out of town.
Tifa rolled her eyes. "Great, a techie. Well, at least we have someone to fix the gummi ship when it breaks, right?" she teased.
Hyotoko raised an eyebrow. "When? I think you mean if. I'm certainly not going to try to break it."
"Yeah. Hyotoko only takes things apart on boring summer days. And the occasional winter day and rainy day. Right, Hyotoko?" Kiyoshi laughed.
Hyotoko shrugged. "So I like to see how things tick. That's not unusual. And besides, in any case, I always put it back together when I'm through," he said.
"Yeah. Except that one time you and Taro somehow managed to take apart everyone's shoes…" Kiyoshi said, sweatdropping.
"Heh. Gimme a break. Taro was only seven and I was only four…" Hyotoko chuckled.
"Yeah, but you guys couldn't put them back together. Remember? You guys got into so much trouble. Uncle Saitou and my dad and your dad couldn't put them back together. Finally it had to be up to Uncle Ken to fix them, since he seemed to be the only one that knew how," Kiyoshi reminded.
"Yeah. And until they were all fixed, everyone was walking around Tokyo in socks or barefoot," Hyotoko laughed.
"Note to self: hide all shoes if not wearing them…" Tifa muttered. The others glanced over, then allbegan laughing. It felt good to laugh again, even if the situation wasn't at its best.
When they arrived at the large field, they approached the small, colorful gummi ship. Hyotoko raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure this little thing can manage to take the four of us up into space?"
"Sure it will! Gummi ships have powerful engines," Kairi assured.
"..If you say so…" Hyotoko said doubtfully, looking for the 'open' button for the door. Kairi grinned as she came up behind him and pressed the button beside the door. The door slowly opened, sliding up. Hyotoko blinked, then glanced back at her. "..Thanks."
"Anytime," Kairi replied, following him and the others inside. Hyotoko sat down in the pilot's seat and surveyed the control panel. The others walked over and sat down on one of the three cots in the back.
"Now let's see…" Hyotoko muttered. After a few more minutes of study, he reached up and flipped a few switches.
"Think he can figure out how to start this thing without taking it apart?" Tifa muttered to the others.
"If it's not too much different from the technology back home," Kiyoshi replied.
"Well, I think he's doing it all right so far…" Kairi said, blinking.
Hyotoko paused, studying the lower panel again, then nodded and pressed a few buttons. The lights suddenly flipped on as the engine began to hum to life.
"Heheh. Told ya I could work this thing," Hyotoko said, grinning and glancing back at them.
"Good job!" Tifa said. "But I'm still putting on my seat belt," she started as she stood up, moved over into a chair, and reached over to grab her seatbelt.
Hyotoko rolled his eyes and glanced back at the windshield to watch the ship begin to lift off from the ground. "Well, you guys should have done that in the first place," he said. Then, as an afterthought, he buckled his own seatbelt.
Kairi sighed and smiled, shaking her head as she got up to get into a chair. Hyotoko did somewhat remind her of Riku: confident, independent, somewhat mature…
She just hoped he wouldn't follow down the same path.
"Nobody's been down here for awhile, it seems…" Yukiro stated, looking around the dark, dank cave.
"Hoohoo, correct. Until now, there has not really been much need," Bugenhagen replied.
Yukiro flinched as several creatures flew out and at them from behind a nearby rock. They were dark blue with bat wings that were veined with yellow. There was hardly a body-mainly just a large purple eyeball in the center. But two long, yellow tentacles with sharp tips bearing a Heartless symbol on each were hanging from the eye, so they were definitely harmful.
Yukiro formed his staff while Vincent and Barret raised their guns. "And now that there is a need, it's too dangerous for you or any villager to come down here, am I right?" Yukiro asked.
Bugenhagen nodded. "That is also correct," he replied.
The three fighters destroyed the Heartless while Red XIII walked protectively along beside Bugenhagen, Riku following behind the old man. "Careful where you aim. We wouldn't want a cave-in," Red XIII warned.
"Easy for you to say; you have a flaming tail. But for us humans, it's kinda hard to do that when we can barely see. It's so damn dark in here," Barret grumbled. Red XIII rolled his eyes.
"Let me shoot the Heartless. I'm a White Knight; I can see their auras," Vincent said.
"No way. How do you see a dark aura against a dark background?" Barret argued.
"When you see things in shades of gray," Riku muttered. "Not that I would know…"
"Besides, for all I know, you could be nothing but a damn rookie," Barret continued.
Vincent turned his head slightly, just enough to glance over at Barret through the corner of his eye. "True," he said, unphased. "For all you know, I could be merely an amateur."
A gunshot rang out through the cave and a 'thud' followed. Barret looked down at the twitching Heartless that had fallen next to him, paused, then stepped on it. "…Lucky shot…" he grumbled.
"Perhaps," Vincent said. He glanced over at Yukiro. "Let's see if your training has paid off. What do you see?"
Yukiro glanced at some of the remaining Heartless that crept around in the shadows. "Large eyes-the power of paralysis. Sharp tentacles-no doubt poison. It would be unwise to look at these Heartless directly."
"Not bad," Vincent said. "She taught you well."
Yukiro didn't respond. The group crossed the threshold into a room that contrasted greatly to the last. Magma pooled around an almost-set path, somewhat lighting up the darkness and warming the room.
Bugenhagen looked up at Riku. "Step carefully. Stray off the path and you'll burn up in magma."
"Just stay in the center of the path and I'll follow," Riku instructed.
"Hoohoo, of course," Bugenhagen replied.
"Are we close?" Yukiro asked.
"Somewhat. I'd say we were about halfway there."
Yukiro nodded, then hesitated and glanced over his shoulder as he thought he caught the sight of movement within his peripheral vision. Nothing. But just in case…
"Despite the change of atmosphere, we should all continue to keep and eye out for Heartless, old and new," he reminded.
"As usual…" Riku said.
"What do you think we've been doin?" Barret seconded.
"…Just don't want anybody letting their guard down, that's all," Yukiro explained.
"Hoohoo, almost there," Bugenhagen announced, coming to an opening that led into a new cavern. This one was without the magma-just stalactites and stalagmites…and a door…
"Is the keyhole just beyond that door?" Vincent asked.
The old man nodded. "Yes," he replied, starting over towards the door.
"Wait!" Riku exclaimed. Bugenhagen stopped and turned to glance at him. "…Does anyone else hear that?" Riku asked.
Everyone grew silent and listened for a few moments, none of them daring to even move.
Barret broke the silence, starting to say, "…Dammit! I ain't hearin noth-"
"Wait! …I hear it, too…" Red XIII interrupted, ears perked up in alert.
That silenced everyone again. There was a long pause, then suddenly…
Scritch scritch scritch!
The sounds of claws on stone…
"…Hear it now…?" Riku asked quietly.
"Yeah, from above…" Yukiro agreed with a nod. He looked around at everyone as he grabbed his bladed staff and began to give orders quietly.
"Red XIII, Barret, I trust you two can take care of Riku and Bugenhagen. Vincent and I can fight directly whatever comes to fight us," he said.
"Hey! I can fight, too!" Riku argued.
"You're not fighting any major battles any time soon," Yukiro shot back. "You're still weak from blood loss. You would just get in our way."
"I'm fine," Riku bickered. Yeah. He wished he was feeling fine. But to tell the truth, just the walk up there had just about worn him out.
Scritch scritch- Crash!
The group looked over at the rising dust cloud behind Bugenhagen. Two blood-red eyes glowed, piercing through the dust. As it cleared, they could see that it was as big as they had expected, maybe bigger, standing at about twelve feet tall on its hind legs. It seemed to have a skin of thick glass, maybe crystal, displaying what looked like a thick, black liquid, like swirling darkness inside.
However, its claws seemed made of bone, and it had a long reptilian tail, striped with silver scales and dark gray fur. A thick mane of silver circled its neck, and its nose was somewhat long and pointed straight out, opening up like a horn at the end, oddly hollow. The teeth were sharp, as were the two ox-like horns atop its head, seemingly made of obsidian. Two black, bat-like wings extended from its back, but considering how impossible it would be to use them (not only because of the fact that there would…should…be no way that bat wings could be able to lift something that massive off the ground, but also because the cavern was somewhat small compared to the beast, preventing flight) they couldn't fathom the slightest idea of why. Finally, adorning its chest was a large Heartless symbol, as were two smaller ones, one on each clawed hand with stretching fingers.
The Heartless monster growled a low growl, baring its sharp teeth and eyeing the group. "It looks intimidating, but c'mon. Glass skin? Breaking it is going to be easy," Barret commented.
"I have doubts it is just innocent glass," Vincent said, taking out his gun.
"I agree. Barret, Red XIII, take Bugenhagen and Riku and fall back. For now, just be sure to hold a strong defense," Yukiro said. With that, he charged at the monster.
Author's Note- Making monsters ish fun.. -grin- Thank goodness for that three and a half day break from school. Now my brain isn't so dead… I've been reading DNAngel! …Where I have noticed a stunning resemblance between Daisuke and Sora… -sweatdrops- I see an upcoming crossover looming on the horizon (aka impending doom, heheheh)… But until then, like I said, I'm thinking of putting some animes in here, too. I'm still up for suggestions with both animes and Disney worlds. Oh, and yeah, I'll expand more on what happened to Tam eventually. Thank you for the reviews, Doghouse and Demonsurfer. Reviews are my fuel! …As well as my imagination, heheh. –smiles and sweatdrops- So I'll try my best to get the next chapter up in the time that my author's status says, which will hopefully be soon. Please review. Ja ne!