Epic fail at updating soon. -.- Thankfully, summer break starts tomorrow. Misfits should be on their way more frequently then!
Disclaimer: You know the drill.
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Master Ansem was sitting in his office, stroking his beard in a very serious manner. His pondering time had finally arrived; a time to consider the many scientific wonders that were, are, and will be created and discovered in the future – by him, of course. Soon, he would be adding to that list, thanks to the arrival of the supernatural misfits in his possession. They could very well be the keys to unlocking a whole new realm of science, particularly in the genetics branch.
Ah, yes; the three of them truly were wonderful, weren't they?
The wise scientist arose from his office chair and began to pace the carpeted floors of his workplace. His amber eyes studied the many diagrams and sketches attached to the walls: one regarding the physics of flight and oxygen level control, another displaying the chemical makeup of flowers, and many more of the sorts.
Suddenly, one particular diagram pinned to the wall caught his eye. It didn't appear to be important at a glance, for it was lazily scribbled in pencil on a scrap sheet of paper. It was, in fact, the contents of the paper that alarmed Ansem.
The said man glanced suspiciously from side to side, as if someone may have been watching him in his windowless secret office. Then he tore the paper right off the pin, ripped it to bits, and then began throwing it bit by bit into the trash.
"Ansem, you have guests," came a curt voice from the intercom. Ansem inhaled sharply, startled by the sudden noise. After he had calmed down, he said slowly, "Tell them that I am on my way." He whipped around and started walking in the opposite direction of the trash, the tail of his favorite red scarf flowing behind him.
Inside of the trash, a crumpled-up piece of paper slowly unfurled to reveal the image of a heart.
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"You!" Arlene yelled at the arrivals as soon as she put the intercom speaker down. Rather, she yelled at one particular fire nymph who was now slowly backing away from the furious storm spirit. The once-weary Sora, Riku, and Kairi were now alert and pretty frightened themselves. They slowly inched towards the wall, hoping that it was out of Arlene's blast range. From what they had heard Myde say earlier, the trio did not want to get hit by that lightning.
"Oh, uh, Arlene!" Lea exclaimed. "I didn't know you, uh, had a job now." He chuckled nervously, still slowly inching to the doorway.
"I do, no thanks to you!" the storm nymph growled in reply. Electricity slowly began moving towards her blonde antennae. "If it weren't for you and your dirty mind, I'd –"
"Ahem-hem."
At the bottom of the staircase stood Ansem, his arms crossed over his chest. Although he wore a very serious expression, a faint spark of amusement danced in his eyes.
"Excuse me for interrupting your squabble, but I'd prefer my lobby stay intact for a couple more years at least," Ansem told the two of them. "I do not need to deal with a burning building at the moment."
He was right: the building would probably burst into flames soon. Arlene's electricity was at the point where one could feel the electrons in the air, while Lea's body began steaming for a quick self-defense. Sora and Riku weren't quite sure why they were still alive through the heavy heat filling the atmosphere the two nymphs had produced.
"You heard the man, Arly!" Lea said triumphantly, exhaling with relief. Arlene opened her mouth to speak, but Lea cut her off with a "see yah around!" before bursting into flames.
A silence ensued, broken only when Arlene began muttering, "How dare he call me that?" and angrily slamming away at her keyboard. Finally, once Sora let out an unintentionally large yawn, Master Ansem gestured for the tired teenagers to follow him to the elevator just up the spiral staircase.
"Who was that?" Ansem asked as they made their way up the stairs.
Riku was the one to answer the scientist. "That was an acquaintance of Myde, named Lea. According to him, Myde got into some sort of accident."
The scientist shook his head in disbelief. That faery was incredibly accident-prone, wasn't he?
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Kairi's feet hurt.
It wasn't just the typical dull ache one gets in their feet after a hefty workout. Oh no; it was more like the feeling you get when you're dancing on top of hot coals with tiny brownies jamming their rigged hammers into every inch of your feet.
Needless to say, the cause of her pain was probably because she had never used her feet as much as she had today. After all, she'd only had them for just over a week.
To say that she was relieved at the sight of the elevator was an understatement. Her indigo eyes practically teared up with delight as she fell to the tiled floor, eager to relieve her burning feet. Master Ansem raised an eyebrow at her antics, but Kairi didn't care at this point. If her feet were happy, then she was happy.
"Would you three like to stop in the cafeteria?" Ansem suggested to the three of them. Kairi's heart stopped at this comment. A trip all the way to the cafeteria would surely cause her feet to fall off. "No!" her brain screamed. "Just take us to where the beds are!"
Riku shrugged, saying that he was fine either way. It appeared that he had caught his breath long ago, and was now calmly leaning against the elevator wall. Darn him and his elvish stamina; at the rate this was going, they were going to end up walking to the cafeteria!
Thankfully, Sora objected to heading to the cafeteria. "I really…just need to crash right now!" Sora explained, yawning halfway through his sentence. Kairi could've kissed him right then, but that would have been rather awkward.
Ansem nodded, and then pressed a button labeled "H" on the operation panel. The elevator gave an unsteady lurch before slowly climbing up its shaft, letting out loud creaks every so often.
"I don't use the elevator too often," Ansem told the trio after they felt their surroundings jolt unexpectedly. "I prefer to use the stairs in order to stay in shape."
Riku eyed the wall he was leaning on nervously, as if it might collapse at any minute. "Are you certain that it's safe to ride in this?" he asked Ansem.
A mysterious glint appeared in Master Ansem's tawny eyes. "I believe so," he started, "but it has been ages since I last used it. Ever since…" he trailed off suddenly, peaking the teen's curiosity.
"Ever since what?" Sora pressed eagerly.
Creeeeeaaaaak.
Master Ansem's eyes shot straight up to the ceiling, the source of the giant creaking sound. "Monstro?" he asked timidly. "Is that you?"
Creeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaak.
"I apologize for disturbing you. If you would be so kind as to not eat the elevator, I shall give you a treat later tonight."
An expression mixing that of revulsion and horror passed over the faces of the three teens. As the elevator finally pulled up to its level and the doors slid open, they practically fell over each other in an attempt to escape the moving death trap.
Behind them, Master Ansem chuckled slightly. "Children are so gullible," he mused to himself.
They found themselves standing in the middle of a long, white corridor that the elevator had spat them out at, lined with only four metal doors and large glass windows.
"Boy, that was a close one!" Sora panted.
The brief adrenaline rush each of them had just wore off, leaving them worse off than before – particularly Kairi.
"I apologize for back there, I just couldn't resist." Three heads whipped around to find Ansem wearing an amused grin. Sora and Kairi looked dumbfounded, but Riku's expression turned into a mild glare. As he was about to say something, Ansem spoke once more.
"Now then, let's show you to your room?" he suggested. "It's just the hospital you awoke in. I'm afraid we don't have any lodgings here at the laboratory."
With that, he strode to the closest steel door and began entering a code on a panel nearby. After a fingerprint and an iris scan, the large entrance swung open automatically to reveal the hospital room that the three had awoken in earlier that day. Kairi collapsed in the bed closest to the doorway, causing the pain in her legs to subside just a little. Riku and Sora, on the other hand, mustered the energy to trudge towards the beds they had awoken in (although Sora practically hurled himself into his).
"Where's Olette?" Sora asked suddenly, his voice muffled by the pillow he had collapsed into.
Ansem scratched his head thoughtfully. "She's discovered my technology center. Being the gamer she is, I'd be surprised if she made it up here at all tonight," he said lightly. "Now then, I shall leave the door cracked in case you muster the energy to head to the cafeteria. It's on the second floor in the east wing, if you forgot."
On that note, Ansem slowly backed out of the door frame and into the hallway. As he began closing the door, he uttered, "testing begins tomorrow!" before heading back down the hallway.
A peaceful silence filled the room as the teens relaxed in the hospital wing, broken only by the faint breathing of the fey. The only light in the room came from the dim ceiling lights lining the hallway, which was mainly blocked by the tinted windows of the hospital room.
"I'm not that tired anymore," Sora stated, breaking the silence of the room.
"To be honest, I'm not that tired now as well," Riku admitted.
In the bed by the door, Kairi snorted. "Speak for yourself; I haven't felt this tired in ages!" she exclaimed. She paused for a moment before saying in a more serious voice, "Hey, this is the first time we've had a chance to actually, you know, get to know each other."
Across the room, someone's bed sheets rustled. "Get to know each other?" Sora finally asked.
"Yeah," Kairi said. "I mean, we've been running around through all these crazy situations, but we don't really know much about each other. I just figured that since we're gonna be stuck in the same boat for a while, we may as well get to know each other better."
Riku and Sora chuckled a little at Kairi's suggestion, which caused the mermaid to frown in the darkness. "What's so funny?" she asked in a confused tone.
"That's such a girly thing to say, Kairi!" Riku pointed out with smirk, which, luckily, she couldn't see at the moment. "However, if it would humor you, I guess we could go in a circle and tell a little bit about ourselves."
Kairi's cheeks flushed pink in the darkness. Ugh, boys were so…what was the word? Unempathetic? Apathetic? Yes, that last word was the one she was looking for: apathetic. "I just meant that, like, we should—I mean, like—not like – ugh!" Kairi attempted to form a complete thought, but she was too flustered to even speak straight.
"Jeez, calm down already; I'll go first, if you want," Riku placated her mockingly. "I'm Riku of Locked Hearts. I am sixteen as of today, as well as a citizen of the Northern Elven Forest. Sora, why don't you go next?"
Riku was met with silence. "Sora?"
Finally, the brunet spoke. "Sorry, I was just getting over the shock of hearing you speak more than a few fancy words."
The elf snorted at Sora's comment. Of course, the most extroverted one among them would be the one to point that out. "I prefer to not to spill all of my sarcastic thoughts out to people I am not familiar with," Riku explained simply.
For some reason, this statement seemed to excite Kairi. This was some sort of progress to her "getting to know each other better" plan! "Does that mean you're considering us familiar people?" she asked Riku.
"You say that as if it's a good thing," Sora remarked with a shudder. "I know several sarcastic people, and, boy, are they jerks sometimes."
"Hey, sarcastic people aren't necessarily jerks!" Kairi protested. "My sister can be very sarcastic, but under all that is a very kind person. Some people just use sarcasm to hide their softer side."
An amused grin appeared on Riku's face, although it was hidden in the darkness. Sora, on the other hand, snorted at Kairi's statement. "Sure, their 'softer side,'" he said slowly, making quotation marks in the air.
"Oh, you guys are hopeless!" Kairi exclaimed exasperatedly.
Sora chuckled at the redhead. Even Riku was amused by Kairi's frustration, although he didn't demonstrate it. Once the amusement died down, Sora – ever the distracted one – found a new topic to discuss. "Heya, Riku?" he asked the silverette. "How did you know Wakka?"
In reply, Riku shrugged. "I met him when he was dragged to our forest from your islands," he said simply. "He was extremely casual and lazy from his time there, and I made several remarks about his attitude. That somehow gave him the idea that we were friends. There isn't much else to the story other than that."
"Oh, I get it!" Sora suddenly exclaimed. "Wakka took you to visit the islands to lighten you up, I bet."
Riku shook his head. "No, it wasn't anything like that at all," he told the faery.
"Then why did you randomly come to the islands?" Sora pressed.
The silver-haired teen stared at the ceiling with his opalescent eyes. Why had they come to the islands? Heck, why had Wakka brought him to the islands after…that? Had it been a spur-of-the-moment decision, a last resort? Why had Wakka been with him in the first place? Was it that mysterious thing called 'friendship'?
"You know, I'm still trying to figure that out," Riku admitted.
Sora scratched his head absentmindedly, pondering Riku's statement. "Well, why don't you just ask Wakka when we get back to the islands?" he finally suggested.
Riku stared at the faery. He always went for the most straightforward answer, didn't he? "That's a pretty simple-minded answer," Riku remarked.
"Y'know, you shouldn't think so hard about things when the answer's easy to get!" Sora responded brightly, his grin visible in the dim light.
"Besides," Kairi said, speaking up for the first time in a while, "how long do you think it'll be before we even get back to the islands?"
"Right after all this testing stuff is done," Sora stated confidently. "After all, we owe Ansem for saving our butts and all"—he paused for a minute—"I hope he's done the day after tomorrow, 'cause that's gonna be my fifteenth birthday. We can have a big party, play blitzball, eat paopu cake…and then, I'll bloom!"
Kairi couldn't help but smile at his childish confidence. For some reason, the words of Master Yen Sid began echoing in her mind: "You are a symbol of light and childlike innocence. You brighten the lives of those around you, and will fight at all costs for the right thing."
Riku, however, wasn't so certain that those events would come to pass. Somewhere, deep down in his heart, he had a feeling that both Yen Sid's prophecy business and Ansem's scientific research were, in fact, going to lead them much farther from the islands.
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The sun was setting in Radiant Garden, casting its faded orange rays across the clear skies. It was a beautiful sight, as everything was in this peaceful town. During this time, Scrooge McDuck was wrapping up his ice cream stand with his three fey helpers. Naminé was working with Xion to fill the cooler with uneaten ice cream and load it onto the mobile kiosk, while Repliku was taking down the sign advertising the pricing. Although it was only their second time performing this task, the fey were starting to get the hang of it. In fact, it was something they rather enjoyed doing – although they weren't sure why.
Perhaps it was because they were creating their own memories. Naminé and Repliku were loaded with a lifetime of memories that were not theirs to claim, while Xion had none at all.
"Repliku?" a voice called to the absentminded elf. He turned to see none other than the friendly old duck, Mr. McDuck himself. He had just finished storing the signs in a cabinet on the stand, and was now standing patiently by the front of the wooden kiosk.
"We haven't got all day, you know! Give me a hand in pulling this cart, would you?" Mr. McDuck said lightly, gesturing to his stand. Repliku muttered an apology before hurrying over and grasping the handles on the front of it, causing the wheels on the back to creak slightly. As soon as Repliku had a good grip on the kiosk, Mr. McDuck gestured for the three to follow him out of the pavilion. Naminé and Xion brought up the rear, cash box in tow.
"You three are perhaps the quietest young 'uns I've ever met," Scrooge said as they headed down the street. "Not that I'm complaining too much, but it really is okay for you guys to talk around me." He chuckled at the last part of his statement.
This was a situation that neither of the talking teens knew how to respond to. Not even the memories they had could aid them in forming a response; it was the curse of having the memories of more talkative fey and an elf. Repliku and Naminé glanced at each other. One of them had to come up with a response of their own – but how?
"I'm sorry," the two finally said in unison. It was simple and polite enough; surely it was a good response.
Well, it must not have been as good a response as they thought. As soon as they said it, a panicked expression fell on the duck's face. "Oh, no no no; there's nothing to be sorry for!" he said hurriedly, waving his wings for emphasis. "Do I really make you three so uncomfortable?"
It appeared as if their comment had done more harm than good. Perhaps they had better work on their conversational skills without relying on Sora, Riku, and Kairi's memories.
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Meanwhile, the scenery in Yen Sid's abandoned kingdom didn't appear to be quite as beautiful as Radiant Garden. An overcast sky cast a large shadow over the demolished remains of the warlock's former tower, which was slowly being eaten away by the roots of the trees in the ominous-looking forest. The forest itself appeared to have gained a mind of its own, going wild with the creation of new trees and the incredible growth of less-than-beautiful plants. A hazy fog had settled over the entire expanse, completing the sinister scene. It was difficult to believe that this had once been a paradise for the misfits of the worlds.
In the midst of the tower rubble was the famous warlock himself, sprawled across a large chunk of tower. Groaning in pain, he pulled himself up into a sitting position and rubbed his head. What had just happened? He examined his surroundings, searching for clues as to what on earth could have knocked him out.
He was not expecting to see a shadowy creature sitting at his feet, staring at him with its unblinking eyes. It was a strange little being, standing at a mere three feet tall, from its feet to the tops of its thin antennae. Its body appeared to be composed of a slightly pudgy torso with next to no legs at all. Its arms were long in comparison, with curled claws where a human would have fingers. It vaguely reminded him of the gremlins he had summoned to ruin Even's project. Nevertheless, its mere presence startled the wizard. How on earth had such a thing gotten here?
"I see you've awoken," observed a familiar voice. Yen Sid looked down to see none other than his crystal ball sitting by him, the smoke inside of it a faded yellow color.
"What happened?" Yen Sid questioned the ball suspiciously.
It chuckled in response. "I bestowed my gift upon you, of course. Is that not obvious by the presence of that creature?"
Yen Sid's eyes shifted back to the little creature before him. Despite its unnerving yellow eyes, it appeared to be relatively harmless (not to mention useless). However, there had to be more to this creature than met the eye if it had knocked him out.
"I see," Yen Sid said contemplatively, stroking his silvery beard. "How did such a small creature manage to render me unconscious?"
"It didn't," the crystal ball replied. "It was your summoning of the Heartless that caused you to lose consciousness. Have no worries; you'll adjust quickly to summoning them."
Them?
There were more of them?
He could summon multiples of these little 'Heartless'?
"Why yes, their numbers are practically limitless. You may summon as many as you wish with my gift. Although they may not seem very useful, they are perfect servants for your needs; your wish is their command," the crystal ball explained, reading Yen Sid's thoughts.
He had a limitless army of subservient creatures? This was almost too good to be true. Surely there must have been a catch to this gift. He mentioned this to the crystal ball, whose color shifted to a more golden color.
"You are very wise, Yen Sid," it responded hesitantly. "The downside is that I am only able to bestow upon you with these small, mindless versions of Heartless. If you wish for stronger ones, you must seek them out."
Yen Sid nodded slowly. Now he understood the gift – both the positive and negative sides of it – and now he could safely test its power. Why did he still have an uneasy feeling then?
Finally, Yen Sid decided to ignore his illogical unease and experiment with his new power. "Go, search for any valuables that survived the rubble," he ordered the Heartless. Its antennae twitched, and then it scurried off into the rubble. After a few minutes it came back with a large spell book. There was something glowing inside of it, and the Heartless appeared to be trying to claw through the large book to the glowing object. Curious, Yen Sid slowly slid of off the tower fragment he had been sitting on and took the book from the Heartless's grasp. When he opened the book, the warlock saw something he hadn't been expecting.
It was a sliver of heart, most likely left behind from when he attempted to use Sora, Riku, and Kairi's in order to form his own Keyblade once more. The tiny fragment pulsed with a radiant golden light, despite its size; truly, it was part of one of their hearts.
"It's…beautiful!" Yen Sid said, awed by its presence.
"Truly, it is wonderful. Imagine what you could create with that," the crystal ball agreed. "It would be wise to save such an item for a later time. In the meanwhile, let us seek out the more useful versions of these creatures."
Yen Sid shook his head. "Building an army can wait," he told the crystal ball. "I have an idea for this little heart fragment.
Ah, yes; two could play that game, Ansem.
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I'm sorry if I'm ruining Yen Sid for anyone. D:
Reviews are appreciated!