Disclaimer: I don't own KH or Guardians of Ga'hoole. They belong to their respective owners. Tempest and other original characters belong to me.
Chapter 12
Bleak Presents
The sky was grey, the sea, greyer. It seemed as if the clouds could rain any minute from now, unleashing their sorrow unto the earth. The mood of the band? Cold and quiet, like a piece of rock. Not very appealing. Until that is, an avalanche occurs. Then it turns from unappealing to a thing to fear.
"Hey, I've got another one. What do you call an owl magician?" Digger asked. Gylfie didn't answer as she was too busy watching the stars.
Tempest was half asleep. Twilight was singing, which basically everyone ignored. And Soren. Soren was pretty intent on looking for the tree.
"Hey, did anyone hear me? I don't like being ignored."
"Hmmm, I don't know," Tempest answered, only being half there.
"Hoooo-dini! It's great isn't it?" Digger exclaimed, "you see, this joke comes from the great mage Hoodini, who was a great-"
Tempest tuned out the rest of the explanation, instead staring down at the grey waters below. Shadowy silhouettes swam below them, sometimes flashes of light could be seen.
"Gylfie?" Soren turned to look, "What's that up ahead?"
Tempest looked up, seeing a huge wall of mist in the way. Heartless surrounded it, attempting to enter into what was beyond it only to disintegrate upon impact.
"Slow down!" He said, suddenly awake. All of some stopped and hovered in place. Taking a minute to scan, he grunted. "I can't take down that many on my own… Listen! I want you all to dive under the Heartless and into the mist."
"What? I'm not leaving you here!" Soren immediately retorted.
"Honestly, I hoped you would be more compliant then humans…" Tempest mumbled, "I'll be fine. I want to try something out is all."
"Are you sure? We've never seen you take on so many though…" Gylfie queried.
"I say we should trust him," Twilight stated, "He knows more about this 'Heartless' enemies more then we do."
"Is that really your only reason?" Digger questioned.
"Nope!" Twilight replied, "I will be able to write a great opera about his success! If he wins, that is."
"'If'?" Tempest snorted, "Some real faith you've got in me…"
"Stay safe," Soren said before diving down to sea level, everyone else following him.
"You too," Tempest prayed.
He summoned his Keyblade in its regular form just as Soren and the group disappeared into the mist with a few Heartless. With some difficulty, he managed to unlatch the keychain on the end and attach a new one he had gotten.
The effect was immediate, the normal steel grey and burnt umber colour peeling away and being replaced with something else. The finished transformation left it completely unrecognizable.
It looked like part of Annabeth's blade had melded into the Keyblade's hilt, handle and shaft. The guard was composed of organic looking material, somewhere between a vine and bark. The middle of the shaft looked like the surface of an ocean with white foam on the edge with the teeth, which was shaped like a peaking wave. A gem was inlaid in the middle of its hilt, glowing a soft blue.
"Cool…"
Waste no more time, Tempest pointed the tip of the blade down at the water. The nagging at the back of his mind started, pushing him to will the water to rise. He did so, and the roar of a building wave thundered out from behind him.
That caught the Heartless' attention, a thousand heads or head-like appendages swivelled around in response, yellow eyes flashing in the dark.
"Take this, ass-hats!" Tempest exclaimed excitedly, a grin painted on his face, pretty sure that his friends were far enough away not to be caught in the mana powered sea tsunami. The wave parted around Tempest and rolled all the approaching Heartless into its curling wave. As soon as he released the wave, it crushed all the creatures in its mana-infused water.
"Well… that just drained all my mana," Tempest panted. He looked at the keyblade, the gem had stopped glowing and looked like it was on the verge of shattering. "Guess I won't be using that again."
He dismissed the blade and dove after his companions. He was starting to enjoy their company, even if Twilight's singing was absolutely atrocious.
_|-w-|_
"We're lost!" Gylfie shouted, fighting against the frosty winds, "I can't find my bearings!"
"We have to find the island!" Twilight shouted.
"We're in the mist. The tree must be on the other side!" Soren encouraged, "I can feel it in my gizzard!"
"Your gizzard?" Digger asked, flapping vigorously in the winds, "Does anyone else have any more solid information about how much further it is?"
Tempest had his armour on, letting him escape the harsh winds and biting frost of the mists. It made him feel guilty wearing it, having to see the group in such pain, but it was this or losing them completely to the fog.
"Digger, why are you flying like that?" Twilight questioned.
"Like what?" The owl queried, "You know how I fly."
"It's not that!"
"Digger!" Gylfie had taken a look at his wings, seeing them frosted over and glistening white. "Your wings!"
"I think…" He turned his head to look at them before looking forwards with a blank expression on his face. "Goodbye." With a tilt of his head and the slowing of his wingbeats, Digger dropped out of the sky.
"Digger!" Tempest and Soren made the decision to dive after him, leaving the rest in the thick mist. Digger's body had disappeared from sight, buried in the fog.
"Digger!" Tempest could still hear the others as they howled his name, the strain of their voices digging deep into his heart.
Soon, the roaring, frothing water was louder than the whistling wind, and as the angry waves appeared, a sense of dread made its den in the pit of his stomach. It seemed both of them were a tad too slow.
'Hahaha...suspense? What suspense?'
The dread washed away almost immediately when he closed his eyes as he spotted twin hearts, floating inside a wave tunnel. Tempest let go of his breath as they exited the tunnel, Digger laying in the silvery, gold talons of a snowy white owl, her jewel-encrusted helmet crown glinting in the dim, misty light. Words really didn't describe the amount of detail that single item had.
Soren looked shocked and smitten at the sight of the owl as if a living legend was standing, or in this case flying, right in from of him.
"Can you fly with me?" She asked, voice carrying over the howling wind and water.
"There...There are more of us," Soren replied, still looking a little overwhelmed.
"Yes," She said simply with a nod, "We know."
_|-w-|_
Tempest was out of his element, the shadows and hidden places. Standing out here in this wide, bright, open room wasn't doing much good for his nerves and the trial-like setting wasn't helping either.
"I'm concerned about his fleck material of which they speak," The owl that smelt of soot and ash said, "It could be a weapon! Could be a new shield or armour…"
"Having examined them, Your Majesty, two of the three show signs of harsh living conditions and the other, signs of extreme and rigorous training." The snowy owl stated, sitting beside her mate.
'Uh… I do that on a daily basis already…' Tempest thought, looking at the crowd leaning on the railings.
"It beggars belief to think that these brave owlets would fly here by themselves to spin a fairy tale," A brown owl said, turning to a chuckling great grey owl, "Does my Lord Allomere feel otherwise?"
Tempest narrowed his eyes at the owl in question. Whatever lingered on his feathers didn't seem like darkness, or maybe it was and he was just really tired from all that flying.
'That's right,' He groaned, 'I still have to deal with my depleted mana… and I don't even have a single Elixir on me.'
"Oh, good Glaux. Boron, Your Majesty, if I understand you correctly, Metal Beak is not a myth. He's building a slave army of moon-blinked owlets and is planning to conquer the world was magic pellet debris," Allomere said, strutting around in an exaggeration to show off how unbelievably their story was.
"Less moon-blinked army and more darkness driven…" Tempest muttered, dejectedly.
"Without intending any disrespect, and particularly to my little friends who have been through so much, such a story simply stretches plausibility too far," Allomere continued. A scruffy, old owl started laughing softly. With a quirked brow, Allomere added on. "Does that notion strike Ezylryb as amusing?"
'He should wash...and is his whole right foot miss!?'
"What a cheek!" Ezylryb scoffed, hopping off his padded branch and onto the wooden floor, "What's amusing to me is that you would cover yourself by besmirching these fliers."
"Perhaps my good fellow Ezylryb wishes us to race back to war," Allomere said, mocking the screech owl.
"No, no,"
"Perhaps he'd write a poem about it from his hollow, while the rest of us…" He thinks about it, "Well, while the rest of us had our talons deformed too."
"Uh, huh…"
"But I say caution when the losses could be so many."
"I would never counsel rushing blindly into war, but for a cause such as the one the boy described, for a violation of peace so blatant," Ezylryb spun around and looked Allomere in the eyes, "Of course I'd fight! What other courses to take? And if you think I'm a coward, or I'd simply urge others on, I'll fight you right now!"
Before a real fight could break out, the king of this tree, Boron, stamped his wood mallet, stick...thing on the stone he was sitting above.
"Order,"
'This really is like a trial…'
"Boron, you can judge the winner," The withered screech huffed, hopping back onto his branch.
"Mildly, owls. We are trying to seek the truth here,"
'Defiantly a trial,'
"The truth?" Soren cut in, sounding slightly annoyed but still in awe, "I told you the truth. The Pure Ones exist. They've kidnapped me and dozens of owlets from our hollows. They want to enslave all that aren't Tytos, and even if they were Tytos they would still possess them. They want to rule the entire world without pity," He took a deep breath, likely to calm himself, "Yes, the only proof we have are words. But words were the only proof I ever had that any of you were real."
Soren looked at all the owls sitting on their branches of power, making sure that his words reached their ears.
"And still, I believed."
The crowd outside was silent. The court wasn't bickering anymore.
"And you would argue with that?" Ezylryb turned to look at the king, breaking the silence.
"I will not argue with it," The king stated.
"Your Majesty, my search and rescue chaw is scheduled to leave on a routine survey on the next full moon," Allomere said, bowing slightly.
"No."
"Perhaps we could-"
"You shall leave immediately," Boron told the Lord sternly, "Take your best owls with you, Allomere. And be thorough."
He stamped his mallet thing onto the stone.
"Dismissed."
Allomere left swiftly, two other owls joining him in the hallway as he left. The others flew out the bottom entrance that led out into the open.
Tempest, Soren and Gylfie left on their own, out the main exit and onto another portion of the Great Tree. The map to this place was excruciatingly difficult to understand, being that this whole structure was made mostly from an organic shape.
"Wow," Soren looked visibly shaken or relieved. Tempest didn't know which, so he just assumed it was both. A logical assumption, no?
"We did it...Soren, Tempest," Gylfie breathed, "We really did it…"
"Mmmm, yeah we sure did," Tempest hummed, glad to be out of that room.
"We really did it," Soren looked up at the bare sky, "I just hope Allomere finds the owlets."
"That would be good," Tempest agreed.
"Oh, to be a young owl with a taste for adventure…" Ezylryb said, startling the group of three by hopping out of a room behind them, "Arriving at the Tree for the first time. Well done, holding your own out in there. Some nice strong gizzards. The Tree always needs them."
With that, he leaped off the rim of the doorway and into the rising sun, disappearing right after that encounter.
"He's one strange owl," Soren said, a little bewildered.
"You can say that again," Tempest wasn't fazed at all.
"I think he might be missing a few talons," Gylfie stated, being the observant one in the group.
"And a good bath too," A new owl appeared, huffing those words, "Gross old owl. You'll want to stay out of his chaw if you ask me."
"Chaw?"
"I'll tell you on to the way to dinner," She scoffed, "You're already late."
"If we're late," Tempest reasoned, "Doesn't that make you late too?"
"Most owls don't like wiseasses. It'd be best to shut your beak if you don't want to make enemies here," She shot him a look. He waved it off.
They followed them down the truck and into a flat area with tables and foodstuffs all around. Tempest could smell the bugs and rats, which didn't sit well with anything really. The last time he had food from his world, it ended up on the ground.
"Look out! Coming through!" An owl pushed through the crowds.
"Now, the Matron's instructed me to give you lot a rundown on the way we do things here," Their unnamed guide explained, "During your basic training-"
"Wait, wait, wait," Soren slowed down, "Basic training?"
Tempest snorted, not out of anger, but an annoyance. He already knew how much of a pain in the ass Chris' Master's Exam was, second-hand experience, though he didn't voice his opinion.
"It takes years of training to become one," She huffed, "Only our absolute best are chosen to be-"
"Wait, who are you?" Gylfie asked. Tempest silently wanted to ask too, but it was already said.
"Are you going to keep interrupting me?"
"Technically it was only once…"
"Now, if, however unlikely, you do have talent, you'll be tapped, or selected, for a specialized chaw, or squadron.
'Finally, somebody who speaks English and not in slang…'
"There's navigation, healing, search and rescue, blacksmithing, weather interpretation, collaring. I expect to be placed in the navigation chaw myself." She scanned over them again, smiling when she looked over Soren, "Name's Otulissa, by the way."
"I-I'm Soren," He said, flustered. Otulissa just rolled her eyes before pushing back a leave curtain.
"I believe your friends are in there."
Tempest put a foot into space, seeing Digger with his face in a bowl of bugs and Twilight still with his lute.
"Digger!" Gylfie quickly bounced over to the table, "Hi!"
"How's the food, Digger?" Soren was calmer in his approach, walking over instead of hopping.
Said owl lifted his face from the bowl, his mouth stuffed with green, pulp, most likely still live caterpillars and said something incoherently.
"He said 'good', but he thinks it'll go better with a little music~" Twilight smirked, pulling out his lute from under his wing. Before he could start singing, however, Digger spat his bugs all over the owl.
"What!?"
"Oh, disgusting," Twilight said, shaking all the spit covered bugs off of him. "I've lived with you for ten moons, and this is what I get a reward."
"Hmmm," Tempest was more interested in the guitar like instrument stashed in the corner of the room. He picked it up the thing and hopped over to the table.
"Wait," Digger tilted his head, "You play too? I hope it's not as bad as Twilight's…"
"Eh, never played one of these before," Tempest shrugged, taking an experimental strum of the strings, "Only basics."
"Well, you do that," Digger then shoved his face back into the bowl.
Start To the Sky by Owl City
Shipwreck in a sea of faces,
There's a dreamy world up there.
Dear friends in higher places,
Carry me away from here.
Travel light, let the sun eclipse you,
'Cuz your flight is about to leave.
And there's more to this brave adventure
Than you'd ever believe~
Birds eye view~, awake the stars 'cuz they're all around you
Wide eyes will anyways brighten the blue
Chase your dreams, and remember me sweet bravery 'cuz
After all, these wings will take you, up… so… high
So bid the forest floor goodbye as you race the wind
And take to the sky~
You take to the sky~
On the heels of war and wonder
There's a storm world up there-re
You can't whisper above the thunder
But you can fly-y anywhere
Purple burst of paper birds
This picture paints a thousand words
So take a breath of myth and mystery
And don't look back~
Birds eye view~, awake the stars 'cuz they're all around you
Wide eyes will anyways brighten the blue
Chase your dreams, and remember me sweet bravery 'cuz
After all, these wings will take you, up… so… high
So bid the forest floor goodbye as you race the wind
And take to the sky~
There's a realm above the trees
Where the lost finally found
Touch your feathers to the bree-e-ze
And leave the ground~
Birds eye view~, awake the stars 'cuz they're all around you
Wide eyes will anyways brighten the blue
Chase your dreams, and remember me sweet bravery 'cuz
After all, these wings will take you, up… so… high
So bid the forest floor goodbye as you race the wind
A-and take to the sky~
(You take to the sky)
(You take to the sky)
_|-w-|_
The six of them were filed into a room that resembled a classroom. Tempest vaguely knew what they looked like, the main school in Twilight Town was on the other side, which was a long ways away from his home. He did pass by it once or twice to catch a glimpse of the Struggle Tournament, but he had stopped using that path after some gang took it over. Assholes, all of them.
"We usually don't do this for new arrivals, but seeing it's the middle of the year and all available mentors are teaching, we will make this an exception," Boron was standing next to a sheet of grey slate stone. Drawn upon it was eight circles arranged in the shape of another circle.
"As Otulissa explained to you, here at the Tree, every owl trains in different skills we call 'Chaws'," Born picked up a piece of chalk and drew in one of the circles. "You'll study tracking," He drew a bird's footprint, "navigating," a circle and a tusk, "combat," a three-pronged whirlwind.
"But maybe you're a blacksmith," He drew an anvil outside the circles. "They supply all the other chaws with tools, weapons and armour. Repairs are also conducted by them."
"Colliering is one of the more dangerous and one of the only Chaws to overlap," A sun-like emblem, "It requires it's owls to be in the Weather Interpretation Chaw as well, for the same skills are carried over."
Some more explanations were thrown at them, like some basic history and law in the Tree.
"You will be tested on all of them, to test your capabilities and such," Boron put the chalk down just as other owl entered the room. "I believe the first one is starting."
'This was an unnecessary lore dump….whatever.'
_|-w-|_
Entry #22
We're back at the True Core World, or I have dubbed it, TCW, because its easier on my hands.
As for why we're here...I don't actually know. Xehanort seems to have contacts here, but I don't see a point in having some contacts here. Nothing special happens, just people, people and more people. The only thing entertaining me at this point is music and random memes that seem to pop up once in a while. I should really get new hobbies or just find a big enough space to train…
Saki's Letters #10
Dear Chris,
Master Yen sid visited today. An old guy with a wizard hat, a fluffy beard and a blue robe. He brought a mouse/king (i really don't know) with him. Kage kind of had to restrain me from flipping out. (it was a mouse, Mickey smelled like one ok?) Kage learned Aero (Oreos mmm) on that day while holding me back. I think he got tired of pinning me to the ground. Not my fault, Mickey just has to be less mouse smelly.
Saki
_|-w-|_
"You were amazing during that session," Soren praised Tempest, who was passing the blunt baton to Twilight, "I didn't know owls could fight like that. I always assumed that we fought with only our talons."
"Well, there was some notion in the library that some Guardians throw hot coals that their enemies," He replied, humming thoughtfully, "They must have pretty good aim."
His as a bit jealous of that ability, as even after all that training, he was still crap at aiming. Any shot he got on a Heartless was just plain lucky. Then again, had he landing any shots since leaving Twilight Town?
"Digger's phenomenal at tracking and searching," Gylfie said, a self-depriving, "Twilight's just a great fighter."
"You're good at navigation, Gylfie, " Soren said, "You're the one that got us here. We never would've made it without you."
"He isn't wrong," Tempest grinned, "You're the only one that understood the stars. If not for you, we would've flown outside them countless times."
"I-I'm not that good," She deflected.
"Learn to like yourself a bit," Tempest said, "It'll do you some good."
'Unlike me…'
"Come back! I wasn't prepared!"
"Looks like Twilight is getting his ass kicked. Looks like he's not as good as you thought,"
"That's not very nice, Tempest,"
"Mmmm, nice, no, but true, yes,"
_|-w-|_
"And yet they still call this place safe," Tempest huffed, flying in the center of the lagoon. It was midday and the sun was shining high in the sky. No one else was awake except the guards who worked in shifts. But even they weren't that observant.
He struck down another Aerial Knocker, only to get hit from behind from another one.
"Gah!" Tempest recovered and spun around to strike it, catching it in the head and letting the momentum force it downwards.
"Gotcha!" He landed on the one under him and vaulted off, casting Fira at the nearest Heartless.
Soon, after a little more hitting, Tempest managed to get rid of all of them. He himself had gotten quite a beating, those Aerial Knockers really hurt when they got you in the right spot, but they were otherwise no problem.
After landing on a branch to catch his breath, he took a minute to admire the scenery. Without the Heartless flying around, it felt safe again, the heavy darkness in the air gone without a trace it had been here at all.
'I wonder if Reverant was like this before it fell to darkness and all,' He looked down at the sparkling, clear blue waters below, 'Was it like this but larger? Or was it something else entirely? Full of light and life, and bustling with activity.'
A/N: So, this is a thing. Tempest is... doing things. Ok, I don't know where this is going anymore and I dropped my worldbuilding facts somewhere and now I can't find them. Shoot. Damnit, looks like I'm going to go look for a needle in the fricking mile wide haystack.
~Storm