Warning: There is nudity in this chapter. Nothing nasty happens though, so the T rating is maintained. I hope this is alright. I've read other T-rated fanfics with nudity in them and as long as I don't say certain words, I should be fine. Right?

Uprising in the West Wing

"Behold, the alternative!" Bellowed the captain as he brushed away the top layer of ice on the sphere. Everything Vik had seen earlier that day paled in comparison to what he was looking at now. Behind the barrier of glass was a human girl about the same age as Vik. She had peach-white skin and light pink lips. Her long, raven-black hair flowed serenely in the water surrounding her. These details, however, went unnoticed. The only thing Vik could concentrate on was her face and the fact the girl was completely naked. Common courtesy begged him to turn away, but he couldn't take his eyes off of her. "She's beautiful..." He said, dazed.

"Yeah, I admit she's pretty cute." Said Nicholas, laying his hand softly on the glass. "We only keep her in here for two reasons. To preserve her and because she's too much of a distraction."

"I can see what you mean." Vik muttered under his breath.

"Pardon?"

"N-nothing!" He said, cleansing his mind of impure thoughts. "Is she...dea..." Vik couldn't make himself finish the sentence.

"No." The captain said to Vik's relief, "In fact, She hasn't even been born yet."

Vik's mind snapped back into focus and he tore his gaze from the beauty to the captain. "Not born yet? What do you mean?"

"Just look at her stomach."

Vik's eyes slowly inched downwards, making sure they don't stray too far south. When he got just the right view he saw it: an Umbilical Cord running from the inside surface of the sphere was still connected to her naval. "What happened to her?" He asked breathlessly.

"We're not entirely sure." Said Nicholas, reaching back to scratch his head. "My guess is that she was born this way. We found her about 15 years ago near the ruins of the old capital's palace. She was just a human fetus at the time, suspended in a sphere no bigger than a marble. When we brought her in to study, we found she was still alive. And growing. After a period of nine months, she had developed into a healthy baby. We have no idea how she stays alive without the required nutrients, but she manages. And what's even stranger is that the container seems to grow with her."

"But she's...human. How is she an alternative powersource?"

Nicholas shook his head slowly as he brought the lid back down. "She's not human. Not completely, at least. She may not look so special but believe me, she is. You see, when we were studying her, we recorded large amounts of magical energies. They come in random surges but they match the energy we found in the gun-barrel of Ultima."

"So what are you trying to say? Is she a totema, too?"

"We're unsure of their relation, but we do have a few theories. She could be the totema's spirit reincarnated. Or maybe its 'daughter'. But if you ask me, I think she's-" Captain Nicholas's theory was cut off when a large bell suddenly went off. Chemically-treated fluorescent lights in the ceiling started blinking on and off, bathing the room in a soft blue light.

Vik looked around, torn between feelings of panic and confusion. "What's going on? Is there fire or something?"

Nick stared at the flashing blue lights as if it were the face of death. "No...it's a level 4...the monsters have escaped!"

---

The monsters proceeded down the hallway, pushing past tourists and security whenever present. The flans led the way, followed by the lamias, the dragons, and finally the bombs. Seated on the back of an Icedrake was the dark-clad Nu Mou. While crowds of people ran from the starving horde, the few unlucky enough to fall behind were inevitably trampled. Guards fired several rounds of bullets but they barely ever made it past the front row. What they did hit, the flans, were not hurt at all. The bullets bounced harmlessly off the beast's gelatinous skin, succeeding only at annoying them. "She's close..." The Nu Mou mumbled as the Jellies swallowed up the guards who 'stood their ground', "I can smell her. That way!" A Icedrake pushed to the front of the line, kicked down a door the Nu Mou was pointing at and the horde proceeded down a white-washed hallway.

---

Nicholas threw open the doors of a display case and removed a katana with a four foot blade. "Grab whatever you can find that resembles a weapon." He said to Vik as he shut the cabinet doors. Before the glass doors could fully close, a small handgun caught Vik's eye. It was bright blue with a wooden handle and a golden vine design on the barrel. "Why didn't he take it?" He thought as he dug around for something to defend himself with. His best option was a worn out sledgehammer he found buried under a pile of wood planks and sheet metal. Taking a deep breath, he picked up the hammer and joined Captain Nicholas by the the door. "So...what makes you so...sure those things are...coming here?" Vik's voice was a bit strained from the weight of the hammer.

"I'm not." Nick growled, "It's just a feeling. But going with my gut got me where I am today so I must be doing something right." There was a sudden thump on the door and a huge dent appeared in the middle. "See, I'm never wrong." He pushed the blade out with his thumb and threw back the sheath. This isn't going to be easy but whatever happens, don't let them near the safe."

Another dent appeared on the heavy metal doors. Vik gulped loudly and raised the hammer to his shoulder. "I bet you wish you stayed with the group." His brain nagged. "No way!" he whispered back, "Besides, who said the monsters didn't get to them already?" A third thump was heard, this time the doors split open. Ten clawed fingers shoved themselves between the rift and forced the doors open, crushing them like tin cans. Smaller monsters hurried through them as impatient flans attacked the surrounding wall outside, weakening the edges with fire and acid until it crumbled onto the ground.

The monsters wasted no time with senseless pushing and quickly piled into the room, encircling Vik and Nicholas within seconds. They had the upperhand, outnumbering the two humans a hundredfold. But surrounding them was as far as they went. There was the occasional growl and hiss, but not one of them made the first move. "Why aren't they attacking?" Vik whispered.

"Because they're awaiting orders." The captain stared straight at the doors, watching the last of the monsters pour in. Many now were shaking with anticipation, drooling over the sight of fresh meat. "When I give the signal, you take the ones on the right. I'll take the left."

"That's not much of a strategy." Said an unknown voice. The two of them looked up and saw a Nu Mou wrapped in a black cloak. He arrived last, along with the Icedrake he was riding on. "But even if you had one, the odds are still against you."

Nicholas glared at the stranger. "I'm guessing you're the one behind this."

"Brilliant deduction!" The Nu Mou exclaimed indifferently. From beneath his hood, he smiled with yellow teeth. "Oh, where are my manners. I haven't introduced myself yet!" He lowered his hood. He looked like what a normal Nu Mou would look like; short, chubby, and resembling a mule. His long, floppy ears were tossed behind his shoulders and were held in place by some heavy earrings. His most distinctive feature was that he was missing his right eye. In its place was a glass sphere with a shard of ruby pressed into the middle of it, so it resembled a cat's eye. "I am Amphion the beastmaster. I'd love to stay and chat but I have business. So if you would please..."

"You will come no closer!" Snarled Nicholas, raising the sword to a battle stance.

"Why must you heroes always insist on doing it the hard way." Amphion said with a hint of sarcasm. "Look around you at the opposing odds. If you were to step aside, I would gladly overlook you. Provoke me and I'll crush your skull. Either way, I get what I came for but one option allows you to keep your life. Which sounds like a better deal?"

Feeling that words were too valuable to waste on the Nu Mou, Nick responded to the question with body language. He glared at him through the corner of his eye and spat. Then he sliced the head off a Lamia. Amphion sighed. "Oh well, kill them." And with a snap of his fingers, the beasts leapt forward.

"Now!" The captain shouted. He dashed forward and slashed a wyrm in mid-jump. Having no prior battle experience, Vik just swung the hammer blindly. He managed to strike a bomb in the side, sending it reeling backwards. "Hey, that wasn't so hard..." Spoken too soon, unfortuneately. He tried to lift it back up to strike again but when he did, the hammer's head broke right off the stick and flew backwards. The monsters watched dumbfounded as the heavy piece of metal struck Captain Nicholas right in the back of the head, knocking him out.

The whole room was silent as the creatures began to realize what happened. Amphion was first, bursting into laughter a full minute before the others. "You're hopeless!" He said to him weakly before turning to the monsters. "Finish him quickly."

"Oh, shit..." Vik said, as the monsters now turned their attention to him. "No wonder this thing was in the trash pile." He thought, raising the wooden stick defensively. "Stay back! You've all seen what I can do..." The words seemed more encouraging than intimidating but minds don't always work well under stress. The monsters began to advance on Vik when one of the flan's cheeks swelled. It drew it's head back and sent a glob of yellow slime at Vik. It caught him right in the face, knocking him off his feet. A Wyrm approached to finish him off but the sound of a bell made him stop. "Don't waste your time on him! He's obviously of no threat to us." Shouted the Nu Mou, "Start searching this place. I know it's here somewhere."

The monsters quickly disbanded and started tearing the inside of the hanger apart. When Vik realized he wasn't trampled or disemboweled, he opened his eyes and pulled himself up. He wiped away the remains of the yellow slime from his eyes and scanned the room. He looked past the upturned boxes and the fallen bookshelves to a certain corner of the room. There, standing in front of the cube that held "the alternative", was Amphion.

"Tear it open." ordered the beastmaster. The icedrake grunted and walked up to the cube.

"No!" In a flash, Vik was across the room, clinging onto the dragon's arm.

"Such an annoying persistence." The Nu Mou muttered. He snapped his fingers at the Icedrake. It responded immediately, grabbing Vik around the waist with his free hand and throwing him across the room, sending him right into the display case. He smashed into the front legs, causing the case to tip over onto his back. Shards of glass rained down over Vik's head along with the case's respective items. "Now that that's taken care of, go back to what you were doing." The Wyrm grunted and tore the top right off the cube, rendering years of programming and designing it a waste of time and effort. "Ah, there she is..." Amphion said, running his hands along the glass. "The master will be quite pleased. Now hurry up and bring it along." The dragon nodded and hoisted the sphere onto his back. The Nu Mou whistled for the other monster's attention. "We got what we came for. Let's go." The monsters stopped whatever they were doing and joined Amphion in the center of the hanger.

"Stop right there!" Came a voice from behind. Growling, Amphion turned around and found it was, as expected, Vik. His entire body was covered in scrapes and bruises. Shards of broken glass were sticking out of his back and shoulders. In his hand, he held the antique handgun he saw in the display case earlier, angling it to eye level. "You just don't know when to quit, don't you?" The beastmaster said, raising the glass bell.

"I said don't move!" Shouted Vik, pulling back the gun's hammer (I think it's called cocking but the word rubs me the wrong way shudder).

"Just what do you think you're doing? That's a moogle gun! You shouldn't even be able to hold it, much less fire it."

Vik had no idea what the Nu Mou was talking about. The gun fit his hands perfectly. At least, it fit the way a normal handgun would. The gun was steady and his grip was fine, he had no idea why couldn't fire it. However, the beastmaster chose to ignore Vik's warning as he began to ring the bell. "Stop it now!" Vik yelled, his hand shaking with rage. But he didn't stop. His hand continued to ring the bell as his other hand position itself to snap. The monsters turned to face the gun-weilding human and snarled. "I told you to stop!" He felt his index finger tighten around the trigger, pulling it all the way back. Click

It all happened so fast. The hammer swung forward, striking the back of the shell. The resulting kinetic energy ignited the gun-powder, sending the 45 gram bullet spiraling through the barrel. Vik had fired it alright--too bad he had a lousy shot. His intentional aim was between the Icewyrm's eyes. The bullet's actual course was a few inches off, heading straight for the glass sphere. To Vik and Amphion, it was all happening in slow-motion. As the bullet made contact, it managed to drill in about a quarter of a centimeter before all hell broke loose. The sphere exploded, sending a wave of glass and holy light at the unprepared the monsters, hitting them like a train at 50 miles per hour. Amphion was pushed onto the ground, roaring in pain alongside the doomed monsters. Twenty feet from the destruction, Vik was well out of harms way but he shielded his eyes from the blinding glare.

It lasted only a few seconds and left almost as quickly as it came. As Vik's vision began to clear up and the room came into focus, he was awestruck by the result of the blast. Knocked out monster relics were scattered on the ground. Evidence that the sphere was ever there could not be found, along witht the Nu Mou and the Icedrake. The cries of pain he heard earlier led Vik to believe the two had completely disintegrated. "Captain Acheron?" He called out. "Are you alright?"

"Who are you calling to?" Asked the flan corpse next to him. Vik jumped back in surprise, pointing the unloaded gun to the seemingly lifeless blob. But as he looked closer, he saw a foot-tall figure trying to wiggle its way out. The flan's mouth fell open and a sticky, disgruntled moogle pulled himself out. "Kili!" Vik exclaimed, dropping the gun immediately. "How did you get here?"

"That giant pudding cup swallowed me." The moogle said, peeling away bits of slime from his bleached uniform. "Good thing jelly boy doesn't like to chew. So who were you calling out to, kupo?"

"Captain Nicholas. Can you help me look for him?"

"Does he have red hair and a snake tattoo?"

"Yes. How'd you know that?"

"He's over there." Kili pointed at a small pile of bombshells. Captain Nicholas laid half buried under it. Vik and Kili quickly rushed over to it and pulled him out. After about five minutes of prodding and kicking, he began to come through.

"Ow...what happened?" The captain said as his eyes adjusted to the light. "I remember something striking me in the back of the head and everything else is a blank."

"One of the monsters did it!" Vik said quickly. The captain suddenly remembered the situation and sat up.

"The monsters! I remember now! Where are they? Were we captured?" He caught sight of the scenery of the hanger and his jaw fell open. "What the hell happened?"

Vik seemed to cringe at the question. "Well...you see" He said weakly, "I sort of...shot the alternative."

"YOU DID WHAT!" Captain Nicholas shot to his feet and scanned the room. "The girl. Where is she?"

A soft moan was heard and all three of them turned their attention to its direction. Kneeling in the center of the room, just a few feet from Vik and Kili was a raven-haired girl; the exact same girl Vik saw in the sphere. She was shivering, still wet from whatever she was suspended in earlier. The only thing different about her now was she had no Umbilical Cord, most likely having been dissolved during the blast. In place of it, a clean belly button was visible. However, they weren't staring at the bellybutton.

---

The girl gazed around the room, confused. Without a second of effort, her mind began churning out questions in a language that was all too familiar to her. 'What am I doing here?', 'Where am I?'; all were good questions but as they reached out for answers, they found nothing. The girl's gaze suddenly locked onto the three men; men who were staring at something. She followed their eyes back to her own body and found herself completely nude. Acting on pure instincts, her embarrassment quickly turned to rage for she took hold of a large metal wrench on the floor and hurled it in their direction. It struck the moogle right in the forehead. "What the hell do you think you're looking at!" She shouted, one arm trying to conceal herself while the other brandished a broken PVC pipe.

"Kuuupoooo!" Groaned Kili, rubbing his forehead. Vik immediately covered his eyes and turned away, hoping not to get hit. Only Nicholas did what any sensible gentleman would do. He offered the lady his jacket.

---

"This is bad." Said the captain. Him, Vik, and Kili were sitting around a coffee table in his office after receiving proper medical treatment. Vik had to withstand the pain of removing 16 glass shards of various sizes from his back. Kili was given a chemical bath to wash off any digestive acids. Both their uniforms have been burned for exposure to unknown substances (the slime). They were both wearing company jogging suits. Luckily, Nicholas was dismissed with only a mild concussion and was wearing the same clothes minus the jacket. He held an ice pack against a bump the size of an egg on his head. The girl sat outside in the waiting room with a blanket around her. Captain Nick's jacket was about 3 sizes bigger than her, so it did well in covering her.

"How bad can it be?" Kili asked brightlyi.

"Are you kidding? Over 100 monsters were just busted out of their cages and are now running around freely. The public is not going to take this well and I'm not even going to think how the palace would react."

"But we defeated them all. And then those men in white suits came in and cleared them out."

"We counted the corpses. There were only 38 of them. That means 136 of them escaped."

"At least they didn't get what they came for." Vik said, jerking his head in the direction of the waiting room. "Who were they anyways?"

"I'm not so sure myself." Said Nicholas, lowering the ice pack. "I'll stop by the pub tonight to see if there are any rumors about them. But right now, we've got a bigger problem to worry about."

Kili and Vik nodded in agreement. "So what do we do with her?" Asked the moogle. "I'm guessing we can't keep her here. Those black-hoods are bound to come back for her, kupo."

"They're not what I'm worried about." The captain said, "After today's events, this place is going to be the main target of the media. Not only will there be nonstop news coverage, government agents are going to run daily checks on this place. If the girl stays here, she will be found."

Vik gave Nicholas a look of confusion. "I thought you were the government."

"It's true that we work for them but we were given the option to keep projects secret as long as they pose no real threat. Now that we can see what she can do, there's no way we can keep her here."

"So should we kill her, kupo?" The captain and Vik both turned to the moogle, glaring at him for his comment. "I was only kidding." Kili said immediately.

"Just forget it." The captain said sternly. "We'll have to find some place for her to stay until the heat dies down around here. By that time, we would have straightened everything out and have proper lodgings set up for her. But it might take a few months."

What Vik said next went against all of his common knowledge. "I can take her to my house if you want." He blurted out.

"Thanks! I knew I could count on you buddy!" The captain said almost immediately. And before Vik could change his mind, he dashed out of the room and went to talk to the girl.

The realization of what just happened hit Vik like a train. He was set up! That sly bastard of a captain manipulated him with every word! Vik would have strangled him if Kili hadn't held him back. "Kupo! You owe him one for hitting him in the back of the head with the sledgehammer."

"How did you know about that?"

"I got a front row seat for it while I was trapped in the flan."

Vik flopped back down on the sofa and sighed. He knew he was in the captain's debt but he was still ticked off.

"Hey, look at the bright side, kupo." Said Kili, clapping his hand on Vik's shoulder. "You get to spend every night for a month with an extremely hot girl!"

The office door swung open and Nicholas marched inside. "Ok. I had a little chat with her and she agreed to follow you home. Now you better get back to the entrance. The building will be out of lockdown in a few minutes and I have a feeling your class wouldn't want to hang around much longer. Just turn left at the end of the hallway and continue to go straight."

Vik and Kili nodded before walking out of the room. "If you have any questions or problems, you can visit me any time!" He called after the two teens. When the door closed behind them, Nicholas caught sight of something on the table. It was the antique handgun Vik was holding earlier. "He shot the alternative..." The captain repeated as he lifted up the gun and tried to aim it. It didn't work at all. Since it was designed for moogles, the trigger was too close to the handle. No matter which way Nick tried to hold it, the barrel always pointed in a downwards angle. Even if his fingers could reach the trigger, discharging it would have caused the gun to fly right out of his hands since he couldn't grip it correctly. "He's a strange one alright." He said, laying the gun back on the table. "I sense big things in store for him." His hand reached back and touched the bump on his head. "Let's just hope he doesn't kill anybody when they come around."

---

The waiting room was about seven doors down from the captain's office. The girl was sitting on a squashy yellow bench, swinging her legs impatiently. "Are you Vik?" She asked as the two teens entered. The human male nodded. "And Kili?" The moogle did the same.

After a moment of silence, Vik finally spoke up. "I'm guessing Captain Nicholas already had a talk with you?" The girl nodded. "What exactly did he tell you."

The girl scowled as if Vik had asked her something personal. "He said that you would be my new guardian and would accompany me everywhere. He told me I had to stay with you until he could figure out what to do with me. Kind of sounds like what you'd do with an abandoned puppy..."

Vik was a bit surprised. For someone who had never experienced the world first hand, the girl spoke their language fluently with mature vocabulary. "So what are you going to do."

The girl let out a sigh of defeat. She was totally against following a complete stranger home, but she really had no other choice. "I guess I'll have to do what he says. He made it seem like I would be unsafe here at the time being and since I have no idea where I am, I don't have any other place to go."

"Really? No friends or family members?" It was a stupid question, since he knew she had been living in a glass bubble for all of her life.

The girl shook her head. "None that I know of."

Kili motioned for Vik to come into whisper range. "You think it's amnesia?"

"Maybe. I didn't think she had anything to forget but she does know enough to speak." They both looked back up at the bench and found it empty. "Hey! Where'd she..."

"Over here." A voice spoke from behind them. The two of them wheeled around and found her pushing her hands against the door. "So do any of you know how to use this thing?"

Vik and Kili shared a frustrated glance. "You have to turn the handle, kupo."

"Oh..." The girl complied, throwing the door open and immediately ducking her head into it to hide her blush. "So are you coming or what?"

Knowing that the girl would most likely get lost when aloud out by herself, the two reluctantly followed her down the hall. They walked behind her; one: so they could make sure she didn't run away and two: because whenever they got a step closer, she ran ahead two more. "By the way, do you at least have a name?" Kili asked as they turned the corner. "We can't keep calling you 'girl' all the time."

The girl only shrugged. "I don't have a name so call me whatever you want."

"You're walking too fast, Whateveryouw-OW!" Vik stomped on his foot before he could complete the bad joke.

"How about 'Saria'?" Vik asked, saying the first name that popped up in his head. As the words left his mouth, the girl suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Vik and Kili looked at her questionably. "Is something wrong?"

There was something strange about that name. To Saria, it seemed almost familiar. Like a lullaby someone whispered in her ear every night when she slept. "No, I'm alright." She said finally. "You can call me that if you want. I'm not going to stop you." She started walking again, this time faster.

"Where did you get that name, kupo?" Kili asked as he and Vik ran to keep up with Saria.

"I..." Vik paused to think about the situation. He really couldn't explain where he heard the name. Kili wasn't going to believe that he heard it in a dream. Even Vik didn't believe that. "...don't know." He said truthfully.