Phil led the group to the War room. All off the men in armor saluted in prince before going back to work.
Phil, Poppy, Ness and Lexi walked into a metallic room with a table showing a map. "Alright. So what's the plan, Phil? I'm tired and need some sleep." As if on cue, Poppy yawned and stretched.
"Lexi, if you would?" Phil gestured towards the table. Getting the hint, she placed the holographic map in the center. It quickly sprang to life with a map of the world with 6 red blips and 1 blue blip.
"Shouldn't Jace be here for this?" Poppy asked. She didn't like the feel of this room. It kept her on edge, and not in a good way.
"After that little panic attack he had earlier? I don't think so." Phil rejected.
"From what I've seen, his sanctuary was actually not too far from Zane's sanctuary." Lexi pointed of a little off the coast of Japan. "It completely disappeared off the face of the map. So I was wondering if we should wait out until it appears again." Lexi crossed her arms in exasperation.
Ness thought about it for a moment. Those two were enough of a wild card as they were. Jace may be a nice guy on the outside, but Ness could sense something was really wrong with him. And Janet…he couldn't shake this feeling about her; something didn't exactly feel right about her. He looked up at his teammates, who were waiting for a response. He hated to admit it but Phil was right: they had to keep going.
"The twins are strong enough already. I think they can do without it for a while longer.* For now, let's just focus on getting to Zane's sanctuary." Ness decide, setting his full focus onto the map.
Phil nodded in agreement, then turned his head to Poppy. "Sabrina, if you would follow me."
-Symphony of the Eight-
Leon just stood there left alone as the guard stood quietly at the side. He shrugged as he looked to the guard. "Yo bro, there a place around here a guy could let off some steam?" The guard nodded and headed further down the hall.
The place was huge to say the least. They passed by a dining hall and what looked to be a door to a storage unit. The guard entered a large 60 meter room filled with weights, punching bags, and a large sparing mat. The room was completely empty.
The guard stopped after a couple of steps inside. "This is one of the training facilities that we have at our disposal. Feel free to use it as you wish." He performed an immediate 180 after his brief explanation.
Leon watched as the guard walked off, then turned his attention to a nearby punching bag. It looked used, but in good enough condition. Walking inside, he stripped off his coat and weapons, setting them aside to a nearby bench.
He put up his hands and struck it several times.
'Hmm... interesting.' A voice suddenly mused.
Leon looked around. The voice was quiet, but it echoed.
'Don't be alarmed. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm just observing.' The voice sounded kind enough, but he wasn't convinced.
"Well whoever you are, you should start making sense!"
The voice went silent. Leon was about to go back to what he was doing until it came again.
'Well, guy, I admire your fortitude. I was afraid that if I contacted you, you'd go into a psychotic episode.' The voice clearly sounded impressed.
"I'll ask again. Who are you?"
More silence.
'Hmm. Your mind is strong... interesting. I will contact you again.' The voice finished, completely tuning out.
Leon looked up into the sky in confusion as the voice's presence disappeared. "Wait, what?" He questioned to no one.
"Hey."
Leon sharply turned around seeing Janet leaning against the doorway.
"Who were you talking to, crazy?" She asked, walking up to the demon.
"Well, there was this voice..."
"Voices in your head? That's more of Jace's department." Leon raised a brow, but didn't question.
"You do seem stressed though... Need a little help?" She smiled looking up to him.
Blushing, he turned away from her. "What do you mean by that?"
Janet rolled her eyes then punched him hard in the arm.
"I meant a spar you, perv."
Leon was hesitant, giving Janet a once over.
She was strong. From what he's seen, her power is super strength. That's all he knew, but he could get around that with technique.
"Alright, I don't see why not."
The two walked to a nearby mat, removing their shoes before going on.
"Alright. One rule is: no powers, got it?" Janet ordered sternly.
"Yeah, yeah." He waved off.
"Alright then. Come at me at any time." She bounced a few times before putting her hands up.
Leon skeptically raised his brow.
He slowly went up to her. She didn't move an inch and never took her eyes off of him.
She was actually serious.
Leon put his hands up throwing a quick jab. It was however, quickly swayed away. He threw another gaining the same results.
He threw a hook but Janet ducked. She threw an uppercut to his jaw, sending him back a foot a two, but he was quick to recover.
He sent a round-house kick that she blocked with her forearm.
He went again, going for a quick jab that connected to the side of her face. He threw another punch which she caught.
"You know, you shouldn't throw an attack like that. An enemy may be able to see through it and use it against you." She demonstrated as she twisted his arm behind his back before releasing him.
"Now then, try again." Leon's eyebrow twitched at the younger girl's cocky smirk.
"I knew that already. This time, I won't hold back." Leon ran straight at her with a flying kick. She sidestepped, but Leon regained his footing and quickly used his momentum to spin around into a round house kick connected to her side. She skidded back a few feet as she winced. However, her smirk never left her face.
"That was good, but not as good as I thought. Come on, you can do better."
Leon came forward with an elbow. Janet ducked and spun with a sweep kick making Leon fall on his rump.
Leon growled as he quickly got himself up. "I can already tell you've had some training. I've got to say, I'm impressed."
Leon jumped in the air as his hand turned into a gauntlet landing its mark to Janet's face.
Leon's anger subsided for a moment as he saw what he had done. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that!"
She walked up to him, tears flowing down her eyes. She pointed her finger and poked the center of his chest. Leon felt his body go numb as he just fell to the floor.
Janet sat down victoriously on his chest, laughing hard.
"You need to control that little temper of yours. Reminds me a lot of myself before I met Jace again." She started to reminisce looking off.
"What did you do?"
"Pressure points, my master taught me."
"Ok ok, I don't get it. What exactly do you mean when you say that?" He was getting tired of her games. He felt his body's senses return. He pushed her off, making her land on the mat as he got up.
She sighed as she got up, walking to her shoes. Leon impatiently tapped his foot waiting for an answer.
"Raychale, Jace and I aren't actually from this universe as you've already noticed."
"So that's why your powers are different then Ness and Ciens."
Janet nodded. "I am a genetic experiment meant to be a soldier. Same as my other siblings. My sister was a failure at first, and my brother wasn't even supposed to exist in the first place as my unexpected other."
"How'd you end up here?"
"Master Hand is how. He saw our talent and offered a new world for us; a new start. So this world is just as much our home as it is theirs."
"I don't understand. Who would do this to you?" Leon's anger completely changed into sympathy.
Janet shook her head. "That's all you're going to know about me."
She picked up her shoes as she started walking out the door.
"Oh, and don't mention this to Jace. He hates talking about it." Leon watched her leave as he was left with his thoughts.
-Symphony of the Eight-
Zane walked the halls of the ship whistling a tuneless song. Since he had gotten his things settled, he decided to get himself familiar with the ship. So far he had passed the Dining hall and storage room.
Janet passed him by without a single hello. She had a distraught look on her face. Not too much later, he spotted Leon sitting on a bench in the training room, looking to be thinking hard about something.
With another turn in the hall, he arrived onto the deck and into the salty night air. Most of the soldiers disbanded, but some were still marching around. This made him think of home and his soldiers.
He scanned the area until he saw a lone small figure standing at the nose of the ship.
Zane walked the long walk up the figure. It was Jace. He was serenely looking out to the ocean.
He looked past the boy watching endless ocean. "I thought you hated the ocean."
Jace glanced back and gave a faint smile. "Yeah, but as long as I don't touch it, I'm fine."
"You made quite the scene back at the plane." Zane chuckled as he stood next to his shorter teammate.
"Well I panicked I don't know...but what are you doing out here?" He asked.
"Nothing, just getting myself familiar with the ship is all."
"Hmm," Jace acknowledged as he kept looking out at the endless, dark horizon. "Hey Zane, I got a question."
Jace got up from his spot and turned. The psychic boy looked serious.
"What is it?"
"Who do you think is behind all of this? I don't know why, but I have the strangest feeling."
"And what feeling would that be?" Zane crossed his arms.
"Hey guys!" Both looked to the interruption, seeing Green waving to them. "We're about to take off!"
"Ok!" Zane called back.
Jace walked past his older comrade. "We'll talk later. I need to think."
Zane walked to Green, who watched Jace pass by.
"What was that about?" Green asked.
"Jace did bring up a good point. Who is this enemy we're facing?"
"Well, there're obviously smart enough to organize others to do their bidding. We won't know until we meet them, and destroy them." Green answered with vigor.
The ship started to move as the wind started to blow harder.
"Well, we're going to this place called Japan what do you think?" Green asked as she watched Jace leave.
"Well I know the language. It's similar to my home. However, I've never actually been there. Besides, it can't be as colorful as Vegas were, right?" He asked, hopeful, though he was wondering what the city and the sanctuary would look like already.
"Yeah, you're probably right." She giggled.
-Symphony of the Eight-
The darkness of the room would be almost insufferable to those not used to it. It was so dark that one could not see their hand in front of their face. The only light source was a pair of red eyes glowing in the darkness.
It looked to have no trouble identifying the person in front of it. A girl with brown curly hair was bowing to her 'master'. She hated bowing, but she hated this person even more.
The dark figure's eyes glowed a brighter red, and even through the dark, the girl could tell her 'master' was uninterested. "Tsukuyomi has fallen."
"What?!" She yelled in surprise. "But she's unbeatable!" She couldn't believe it. The demon was defeated by a bunch of idiots.
The figure got up from its seat and walked past her without looking back. "It was to be expected, but they will fall eventually, by your hand. Do not fail me."
The girl rose from her kneeled position catching her 'master' leave the room.
"Damn it Tsuki. You said you could handle it. Now look at what happened. How strong are they to be able to take you down?" She took same exit. She walked out into a large, dark, marble hallway. Its cathedral-like setting was unnerving even for her. And the low temperature didn't help much either.
She quickly walked through the dark halls, passing several of the alien-like guards turning the corners of the immensely large hall.
"I heard what happened. It's a shame really." The brunette looked to her right to see a white-haired boy leaning against the wall.
"Who are you?" She hated new people and this guy gave off the weirdest vibe.
"Alexander's my name."
She looked over the formally dressed boy.
'A monocle, really? This guy screams evil.' She thought skeptically.
"Humph. Well whatever, I have a few heroes to kill." She started to walk away.
"Were it so easy…" Alexander warned.
She stopped and turned her head to the white-haired boy.
"My own brother is part of that group. And if he is as I remember, you stand no chance."
She rolled her eyes as she continued walking to the end of the hallway through two double doors.
The room was large and filled with more of the alien looking guards. In the middle of the room was a pad, with several of the alien guards surrounding it.
"The Master has ordered us to accompany you on your mission." The guard looked down at the girl, keeping its slender, handless arms on its hips.
She didn't reply, heading straight to the glass pad. The guards surrounded her in a shield-like formation.
The aliens tapped several buttons on the control panel. A female computer voice sounded through a useable intercom. "New destination established: Tokyo, Japan. Teleportation is now commencing."
-Symphony of the Eight-
"Alright guys. We should be there in a few hours." Poppy yelled from the intercom.
"Why not go on full throttle we'd get there sooner." Phil asked, losing his patience and taping his foot.
"This 'flying' ship might catch some unwanted attention. So I think we could land on Mount Fuji and go down from there."
"Are you kidding?! That'd take forever! Not to mention, I hate the cold!" Jace protested looking through the window of the helm.
"Well, smart ass, you got any better ideas?" Poppy asked.
Jace looked up to the taller woman and grinned.
-5 Minutes later-
A storm was passing over fields several miles outside Tokyo, perfect for what he had in mind.
"You know, this is a terrible idea!" Poppy yelled over the harsh winds, clutching her travel pack.
"Zane, you ready?!" Jace yelled over the winds.
"No!" Zane screamed back as he looked down.
Janet cringed as she attached herself onto Phil. She looked down the massive drop, horrified.
"Hey Janet, you look scared! Afraid of heights or something?!" Cien smugly asked.
Janet gave her rival a dirty look. "Janet, get off me!" Phil tried prying the girl off in a similar fashion she did her brother.
"Okay. Everyone on the count of three, we grab onto Zane's back when he turns into a dragon and presto! We're in Japan!" He yelled above the clapping thunder.
Ness gulped as he looked to his frightened teammates.
"Ok Zane, let's go on three! One!"
Everyone held hands as Zane nervously looked over the edge.
"Two…" Everyone held their hands tightly. Zane got closer to the edge and squeezed the crystal nervously. "Three!"
Zane closed his eyes and jumped off the ship. The group ran after him and jumped as well. Janet started to cry as she screamed, flailing everywhere. "I hate you Jace! I hate you!"
Her complaints were cut short by a sudden impact. Under them, Zane's dragon form caught them on his back. Everyone was sprawled across the prince's scales as they descended from the thunderous clouds over a grassy field.
"Hold on!" Zane stretched his wings further as they slowly descended. In seconds, Zane landed on all fours with the thunder masking his impact. He quickly transformed, completely out of breath.
Everyone landed into the muddy water around him below. Jace cheered, jumping up from the mud and whipping it off from his face. Zane clutched his head as he pocketed the gem. "See, I told you we would be alright!" Everyone got up from their dazed states, covered completely in mud.
Ness grumbled in response as he whipped mud off himself. Janet wiped the mud from her face and marched up to her brother, punching him in the nose.
"Someone scared of a little fall?" Cien smiled as she mocked her rival. Janet blushed but continued to stomp at the younger twin.
"God this sucks ass! My favorite jackets covered in mud!" The aviator took off her jacket, flapping the mud off. Cien rolled her eyes as she whipped mud off her hat and clothes while Green and Phil helped Zane stay on his feet.
Lexi looked around, taking out the map. Its projection showed the group and the red dot very far away from them.
"Great. Well, looks like we've got a long while before we get to the sanctuary." Lexi said, annoyed.
Jace squeezed out of his sisters choke hold and slid in front of the group. "How was all of this automatically my fault?!"
"Shut up, Jace." Poppy flat lined. Jace huffed as he marched towards the illuminated city on the horizon.
"Well, we better get going now, before this storm gets too out of hand." Ness followed Jace's lead.
Everyone walked at the side of the busy highway towards the direction of the city. The rain had completely washed away all the mud from them, but it completely soaked their clothes.
Poppy remained dry however, keeping her jacket over her body. "This completely sucks! I hate rain!" She complained.
"But you sound like you're from England." Cien pointed out.
"Shut up! I know the irony!"
"Well whatever. Since we're in Japan, does anybody know how to speak Japanese?"
Zane and the twins raised their hands.
"Well, in that case, you guys are going to get us a place to stay when we get to the city." Ness decided.
"Why didn't we land in Japan and just go straight to the sanctuary again?" Phil growled, getting frustrated.
"Because we don't want to cause any unneeded suspicion to ourselves." He rebutted.
"Yep. Kids traveling around alone sure isn't suspicious at all." Leon joked. Several of the kids laughed.
"Yeah. How come no one really questioned it back in Eagleland?" Zane thought aloud.
"I never really thought of that before, actually; must have gotten lucky back in my old adventure."
The group walked the several miles into the edge of Tokyo. "It's about time we got here. I'm in need of a serious change of clothes." Janet complained as the rain finally stopped.
A figure looked at them from afar, upside down from a light post. It was a girl. Zane looked up to see her red eyes looking down on them.
"Guys, looks like we have company." Zane called as he pointed to the dark, red-eyed figure hanging from the light poll.
"Konbanwa." The figure greeted as it landed in front of them; a girl of Asian descent with a large red bow on her brown and short-cut hair, her black gloves went up to her elbow, white tank top, red bow with long, loose ribbons on her head, black-red shorts and thick thighs, black-pointed-heeled shoe boots.
"Great. Again with the weird girl. Is this going to be a pattern?" Zane complained. The group got ready as the girl landed in front of them.
The girl however, didn't approach but just simply bowed. "My name is Liza Akane. I am not your enemy."
Everyone still kept an untrusting look on their faces. However, Cien's mind wandered to what the stone in her sanctuary said. 'Look though thine enemies' deception with thy mind.'
She closed her eyes and completely focused on the girl. She could feel an overwhelming familiarity coming from her mind. She dug deeper and was met with a euphoric feeling of truth, but why help them?
Almost immediately afterwards, she was feeling her link disintegrate and she could no longer sense Liza's mind. She opened her eyes, feeling a slight headache but ignored it.
"She's telling the truth." Cien spoke up. Ness turned to her questioningly.
"How do you know that?" Ness still looked at the girl, untrusting. "Why do you want to help us?"
Liza's eye twitched. "I was sent here and I was told not to tell you where I came from. I am supposed to lead you to the sanctuary." Her voice clearly sounded like it was holding something back.
"Now it's important that we leave. Come on." Liza turned around and started to walk towards the shining city of Tokyo.
Sorry that took so long, with the end of senior year and a bunch of college stuff happening I hardly have time. :/ But I got it out now! And am currently working on the new chapter of this fic!
Oh quick question to everyone. When you read this do you think of a video game, anime or something else? Tell me anything that may interest you I would like to know. Oh and I will be having less Authors Notes from here on but PM me if you have a questions or you just want to talk.