"Neophytes, I hope you are ready to begin earning your keep." Saix was saying over the heads of the collected Organization XIII—all 28 of them.
"Earn what keep? They brought us here 'cause they were short-handed.." Axbrem muttered to Xavier, who was standing beside her. Xavier nodded and pointedly rolled her eyes in Saix's direction.
Lucky for them, Saix hadn't heard or noticed, as he was dealing with a very unenthusiastic Leixym and Demyx.
"Aw, what? We have to work now?" Leixym asked incredulously.
"We have to work too?" Demyx demanded, "I thought we could have a break!"
"You've had a 'break' for the past two weeks, IX!" Saix exclaimed, "It will not kill you to do a simple recon mission."
"Recon's for suckers," Xigbar snorted, "you're getting the easy-off, Dem."
"No I'm not!" Demyx exclaimed, "Recon's dangerous! I could get hurt, or attacked, or bored, and..."
"Oh shut up!" Xigbar snarled.
"Enough!" Xemnas, who had been listening to the argument with a dwindling patience, commanded. Everyone fell silent. "Do your work and I'll hear no further complaints. Or else." he added warningly.
"Ooh, the big 'or else'. Best run and hide, Ly, you don't want to get hit with the big 'or else'." Knexedy snickered, none too quietly.
Saix shot her a glare that warned 'Shut up or I'll eat you' and turned back to handing out mission papers. Knexedy smirked unashamedly at his turned back, and Vexen could only stare in surprise at the utter lack of disrespect radiating from his protege.
Saix passed out the papers to the paired members, keeping two sets to himself. He watched the neophytes' expressions of disbelief, excitement, and maybe a little bit of resentment, before they were all shepherded out of the Grey Area by their mentors. Soon only he, Anix, Xemnas, and Kyrox were left in the Area.
"Superior, number XVII, your mission." Saix said respectfully as he gave them their papers.
Kyrox nodded and Xemnas gave a curt word of thanks before the both of them had disappeared into the darkness of a corridor.
"And that just leaves you and I." the second-in-command said to Anix.
Anix nodded and accepted his copy of their mission assignment.
"Shall we be going, then?" the black-haired Nobody asked.
Axel and Axbrem walked from the darkness into the tranquil Twilight Town. Axbrem immediately started taking in the sights while Axel scanned their mission assignment thoughtfully.
"There's a giant Heartless somewhere here—see anything?" he asked of her.
"Nope. So, is it identified or what?" Axbrem questioned.
"No, we have a UFH on our hands." Axel grinned.
Axbrem looked at him strangely, so he explained, "Unidentified Flying Heartless."
"Oh, why didn't you just say so?" Axbrem asked, irritated.
"I like messing with people." Axel said simply, "Now enough goofing off; we can do that later. Let's find us a Heartless."
The two set off into the town, their weapons out and on their guard. After all, flying Heartless had a certain advantage over grounded Nobodies like them.
Leixym and Demyx fell from the dark corridor into the water-loving, musical world of Atlantica—the perfect place to goof off.
"I love Atlantica! Music, mermaids, shells, and everything's all ocean-y! I love this place!" Demyx exclaimed as he spun around to get a good look at his sea-green fish tail.
"I know, right? I just love the ocean! And getting to live in it? Best place ever!" answered Leixym as she spun around and around, showing off her electric blue tail fin.
"And to make it even better: we're only doing recon! It's like a vacation!" Demyx proclaimed, flipping his tail and jetting away, leaving behind a rising trail of bubbles.
"Hey, wait up!" Leixym called after him. She flipped her tail awkwardly before dog-paddling after him, not quite accustomed to swimming completely submerged underwater, "How the heck do you steer this thing?!"
"Just swim!" Demyx was out of sight now, but the salty water carried his voice for amazingly long distances.
Relaxing, Leixym trod water for a moment to get her bearings before flicking out after Demyx, swimming deeper and deeper into the strange aquatic world.
Xaldin and Amenxtthe appeared from the darkness in the Courtyard of Beast's Castle. Belxeo flew out after them and alighted on Amenxtthe's shoulder, cocking his head as if listening to Xaldin speak.
"I am sent here often. The lord of this Castle, the Beast, is a creature of great intrigue." Xaldin said.
"Why is he called the Beast? He's not an actual beast, is he?" Amen asked as they moved towards the secret entrance on the wall beside the grand front door.
"He is. From what I have gathered, a sorceress laid a curse on the inhabitants of this Castle, and so transformed the Beast into what he is today: a monster." answered Xaldin as the door opened and they stepped through.
"So...are we here to collect more information on the beast?" Amenxtthe questioned.
"Actually, no. We are here to test your prowess in battle; we are hunting a Bully Dog."
"Oh, okay. The assignment said we could find that in the ballroom, right?"
"Correct."
"Ah Wonderland," Luxord sighed as he and Cavex dropped out of their portal, "what a queer, alien place."
He looked sideways at Cavex, waiting for a reply. When none came, he commented, "My, my, you don't talk much, do you?"
Cavex shook her head, "I have nothing to say."
Luxord sighed.
"Fair enough. Our mission is to rid this place of those pesky Pink Concertos, that means we have to search the Lotus Forest. With any luck, we won't meet that insufferable Cheshire Cat along the way." the Gambler said.
Cavex just looked at him and followed after as he disappeared into the Queen's Court, looking to take the hole in the hedge to the Forest.
"WOW!"
Vexen flinched at Knexedy's sudden outburst. The girl was such a pain some times...
"This world is so cool! Look at that? What IS that?" Knexedy asked, pointing to an eerie looking fountain that spewed green water.
Of all the worlds, Vexen thought, why on earth would they send us to Halloween Town? The one world in the universe with the highest population of spiders?
"Knexedy, that's just a fountain." the scientist sighed, rubbing his temples with his knuckles.
"It can't be, fountains don't have green—OH MY GOD SPIDER!"
Knexedy screamed as a spider appeared on the top of the fountain. Needless to say, she blew up—literally.
"KNEXEDY!" Vexen shouted as he pulled his shield out of the darkness and covered himself with it, just barely escaping being burned to a crisp by the fiery explosion caused by the girl.
The spider burned in the inferno, and eventually, Knexedy calmed down enough to stop blowing things up. When he was sure it was safe, Vexen lowered his shield warily and set off into the Town, wanting to escape the scene before the townsfolk appeared and started asking uncomfortable questions.
"Now that that is over, please, let's just finish this mission." Vexen sighed.
"Okay. What's the mission?" Knexedy asked, now sufficiently recovered.
Vexen took another look at the mission assignment and cursed his existence.
"...kill a giant spider Heartless."
Marluxia and Xavier appeared from their own dark corridor into the world of Agrabah.
"Why send us here? Isn't Axel or Lexaeus the more logical choice?" Marluxia muttered.
"It's too hot." Xavier whined.
"What do you want me to do about it? Pull up your hood, for Kingdom Hearts' sake." Marluxia sighed as they set off.
"That'll only make me hotter! And plus: this place is so dusty! It's gross!" Xavier complained.
"Well, let's finish this mission and we can go back home."
"Fine...what is the mission, hair stylist?"
Marluxia twitched at his most despised nickname ever created.
"Kill a Clay Armor." he replied, with somewhat strained patience.
"M'kay, hair stylist." Xavier smiled.
"Xavier, stop calling me a hair stylist; I'm a gardener, for the last time!" Marluxia said in exasperation.
"Aw, but you're so fun to call a hair stylist, Marly!" Xavier exclaimed, "You get so mad and it's so fun!"
"Well, knock it off." the Assassin muttered.
Xavier sighed, putting on a mock-pout.
"Fine, I'll stop calling you a hair stylist." she said.
"Thank you." Marluxia breathed.
"So where do we find our Heartless, girl-hair?"
Xemnas, Kyrox, and Saix appeared behind Anix in their world, where they were supposed to work together to curb the unhealthy spike in Heartless. The two Superiors hoped they could rub off on their apprentices to make them as powerful and commanding as they were.
"...I know this place." Anix murmured thoughtfully, "It's my home world. The Valley of the Forge."
"...I was unaware of that." Saix said, "But we are here to downsize the alarming Heartless population here. I expect you to focus and not be sidetracked by nostalgia."
Anix merely replied, "Of course."
The four Nobodies were distracted from the conversation by the sudden appearance of the Heartless. The creatures came in droves; they dropped out of the darkness like no one's business, and before anyone could react ten of the beings had Anix pinned down, his scimitar, pulled from its sheath, spun away and vanished into the darkness.
"Anix!" Kyrox shouted. His own weapon appeared and the teen launched himself at his endangered friend, the two heads of his scythe cutting through the ranks of the advancing Heartless.
Xemnas and Saix stood in the background, looking on with interest. Neither made a move to aid their proteges.
"Aren't you gonna help?!" Anix shouted at Saix when Kyrox dislodged the last Heartless from him. The green-eyed teen summoned his scimitar (which was called a Sonic Blade) and lashed out at the Heartless that was silently advancing upon Kyrox.
"Actually, no. We were curious to see your current combat abilities, and we would hate to interfere.." Saix said.
"Anix, get down!" Kyrox shouted suddenly, sending blue flames into the sky as a huge shadow swooped by overhead, "Avalanche!"
Roxas walked out of the darkness onto a calm, sandy beach, Axille clinging tight to his hand. The small girl looked around wide-eyed, taking in as much of the beautiful scenery as she could.
"Axille, these are the Destiny Isles. We're here to see how well you can handle Pureblood Heartless, like Shadows and Neoshadows." Roxas told her.
"Shadows? Aren't they those bug things?" Axille asked him.
Roxas laughed at her blunt (though admittedly accurate) description of the smaller grade Heartless.
"Yeah. 'Those bug things' pretty much sums them up." he said.
Axille tilted her head and put on a serious face.
"But Roxy, those are so small! Why can't I fight the big Heartless like you and everyone else does?" she asked him.
Roxas huffed and ruffled the kid's hair affectionately.
"'Cause you're too small, Axille." he said.
Axille pouted. "Nuh-uh."
Roxas snickered and swept the eight-year-old up into his arms. "Uh-huh." he teased.
Axille glared at him (it was rather cute, actually) so the blonde set her down.
"Grazie." she said, in a weird accent. Roxas looked at her strangely.
"What?"
"Huh? I said 'thank you'." Axille said.
"You sure?" Roxas asked, uncertain.
"Yes...?" Axille said, her voice gaining pitch as she drew out the word.
"Never mind, never mind. Wait, look, a Heartless! Take out your weapon and think about what you've been learning." Roxas said, spying a Shadow.
Axille did as she was told, pulling her Makhaira from the darkness and advancing upon the Heartless, Roxas' encouragement sounding in the background.
Larxene and Xiyak came out of their portal into the grand entrance place for the Olympus Coliseum.
"'Kay, Zeeyak, or Neeyak, or Kayak, whatever you're called, let's get this over with." the Nymph said irritably.
"It's Xiyak. As in Shee-Ack. Or Shy-Ack, whichever." the teen replied, somewhat irritated herself. Two weeks stuck with Larxene made you short-tempered and irritable—it can't be helped.
"Whatever. Let's just finish this recon mission so we can get out of here." Larxene snarled.
The two Nobodies split up and began to investigate the Coliseum, taking down notes of every unusual thing or blemish in the normally pristine walls of the arena.
"Hey, Larxene, come here." Xiyak said after ten minutes of restless searching.
Larxene came and glowered at the younger woman with an annoyed, "What?"
"New contest." Xiyak explained, jerking her head towards a poster that had been hung up over the leaderboard, "'All rookies allowed to enter.' 'Huge munny prize.' Think we ought to try?"
Larxene looked mortified.
"NO!" she screeched. She was about to say something else when they heard the unmistakable voice of Hercules coming out of the Arena.
"...I don't know, Phil, this new Cup might not be such a good idea." they heard Herc say.
"Aw, come on, hero." the somewhat higher voice of Philoctetes said, "It'll be fine."
Xiyak stared as Hercules and Phil appeared and caught sight of her. There was a moment of confused silence when Xiyak noticed Larxene had ditched her.
Forget you, Larx, she thought venomously.
"Well hello! Are you here to train for the new Zeus' Cup?" Hercules asked her.
"Er..." Xiyak was stuck for an answer.
"Great!" Hercules said. "Phil can show you around and get your started. What do you say, Phil?"
Phil agreed, and mentally Xiyak cursed the small satyr man.
I officially hate Olympus.
"We've just got a collecting Hearts mission here. Let's do it and get it done, Darx." Xigbar said to his brown-eyed companion.
"M'kay, Xig." Darxet said in response.
He looked around. "Where are we, anyways?"
"Port Royal. Stay close, kid, lots of pickpockets and drunkards here." Xigbar replied as the two set off into the town.
Darxet smirked.
"Bet you feel right at home here, don't you, Xigbar?"
This earned him a vicious slap on the head from a very PO'd Freeshooter.
"One more crack like that and I'm gonna make you wish the Heartless finished you off." the pony-tailed elder threatened.
"'Kay. Get the hearts. Get it done. Get home." Darxet smiled.
Xigbar sighed. This was going to be an eventful partnership.
Lexaeus and Xion sat back in the relatively quiet Traverse Town. Their mission had been, to say the least, unusual. Have Syaxsal and Xylle interact more with each other.
With no Heartless to kill, and no recon to be done, the four Nobodies were just relaxing for the time being. It had taken Syaxsal a bit of coaxing, but she was now talking rather comfortably with the normally stone-faced Xylle.
"I've been blind ever since I was younger...the rest of the chemical burns have been healed but...the damage to my sight was done." Syaxsal explained shyly. She touched the white blindfold she always wore somewhat self-consciously. Xylle noticed this and placed her hand on top of Syaxsal's gently easing it down. The gesture was made slightly awkward due to the fact Xylle didn't really interact with others, but the intent was still good.
"...Don't worry about it." Xylle said, "It's...well, it's...it's who you are."
Syaxsal's expression changed from worried to comforted in a moment. She rubbed a hand along the length of the white cotton fold and went quiet for a while. Xylle did likewise. Silence passed through the course of five minutes as everyone looked separate ways, slightly unsure of what to do now.
"...Mission accomplished?" Xion asked Lexaeus uncertainly.
"I guess so." the huge man replied. "Though honestly, I don't know."
Zexion and Xisel sat on top of the clock tower in London, England, Neverland. Their mission had been simplicity itself: steal the cursed treasure of the Jolly Roger for examination. Xisel and her puppets created the perfect distraction for Zexion to go in and grab the gold, as Hook was so hopelessly intrigued by 'magic talking puppets'.
Inwardly, Zexion scoffed. Some pirate captain. That man was a complete idiot.
"S-So...what now, master Zexion?" Xisel asked him timidly.
Zexion sighed. There were many things he didn't understand about his protege, one of them being her talking puppets, but the thing he didn't understand the most was her insistence in calling everyone above her "Master." She only really needed to call Xemnas that. It made conversation between the two partners if Xisel constantly used that word of high honor and respect on him.
"Xisel, please just call me Zexion. I don't particularly like honor titles." the illusionist said.
"Oh...I-I'm sorry M—Zexion." Xisel said, turning away.
Silence passed for a few minutes until Zexion noticed Xisel was adjusting the hair on her female doll, Alice.
"Why do you use your ventriloquism on the others yet talk so easily with me?" he asked, utterly curious.
"T-The others...t-they don't...don't...it's just e-easier to t-talk to you..." Xisel said. Zexion noticed how flustered this seemed to make her, so he decided not to press the issue.
"Well, I believe we've spent enough time here." he said after another seven minutes of awkward silence. "Come, let's RTC."
"Is that the last of them?" a very annoyed Luxord asked a certain creepy purple cat.
"It may be, but it may not be. I don't know, but maybe I do..." the Cheshire cat said cryptically. It faded, leaving behind its trademark grin.
"There are only four Concertos that appear per visit here, according to the mission notes. We just killed the last one. So we're done." Cavex said. She had, as well, been annoyed beyond belief by the mysterious Cat, and just wanted to go home.
Luxord looked at her in surprise.
"That was the longest thing you've ever said." he commented as they walked back to the portal.
"Yes, well," Cavex sighed, "that Cat is such a pain sometimes."
Luxord chuckled.
"Yes, that's why I hate this world so much. That annoying Cheshire Cat."
"Oh Kingdom Hearts, concert!" Demyx exclaimed.
He and Leixym had arrived in the city just in time for the fish-orchestra to start playing. Demyx floated, entranced, as the beautiful red-haired mermaid Ariel swam out to the stage. Leixym rolled her eyes, then shot an unseen glare at Ariel.
As Demyx got lost in his crazy dreams about getting up onto the stage and dancing with Ariel, Leixym looked around and saw a souvenir shack.
What the hell? How do they do this? She wondered vaguely before swimming over. She had officially mastered underwater swimming, and made the journey to the shack with ease and grace. The unfortunate kind that attracted those stupid sea-boys...
"Amen, get behind it!" Xaldin shouted at the blue-haired teen. His lances were whirling around him in an arc, preparing the final attack on the Bully-Dog.
Amenxtthe swiftly took up position behind the Heartless, her sapphire-topped staff held at the ready.
Suddenly, Xaldin unleashed a blast of wind strong enough to rattle the ballroom straight down to its tile, blowing the Heartless backwards into Amenxtthe.
Thinking fast, the teen jumped an unnatural height and stabbed the pointed base of her weapon through the creature's head, sending it into the quiet reaches of oblivion.
Belxeo flew down from his position above the scene and perched on Amenxtthe's shoulder, staring intently at the spot where the Dog had been a moment before.
"Well done, Amenxtthe. Not bad for your first field mission." Xaldin said.
Amenxtthe looked up with a tired smile.
"First's always the hardest...can we RTC now?" she asked.
"Of course." the Lancer said. He lifted his hand and opened a portal, back to the Castle. The three went through, leaving behind the strains of a first mission in the ballroom of the Beast's Castle.
"There you go, Axille! Awesome job!" Roxas cheered as the girl he had been teaching took out another Neoshadow.
Axille dropped to the ground again, looking around for the next enemy. She saw it out of the corner of her eye; a Shadow was coming out of the ground.
She turned and brought her mask down on the advancing creature, killing it in an instant.
She held her shoulders tensely as she waited with strained nerves. They had been fighting for four hours, and the exertion was murder on the girl's frail limbs and small body.
Roxas laughed.
"It's alright, Axille. You got them all. Nice work." he said.
He crouched down next to Axille, who had by now returned her mask to the darkness.
"What do you want to do now?" he asked her.
Axille gave him a long, serious look, and replied, "I want to go home."
Roxas patted her shoulder and got up, taking her small hand in his as they approached the dark corridor.
"Then your wish is my command." the blond keybearer said.
Knexedy was screaming her head off and running in circles, trying to go anywhere, anywhere, but towards the giant spider Heartless that was trying to eat her alive. Explosions were popping up all over the place, and it was all Vexen could do to not get singed. However, the scientist was getting annoyed.
"Knexedy, just aim an explosion towards it and kill it already!" he shouted at her. Knexedy didn't listen.
She just continued running, oblivious to the fact Vexen was fast becoming the spider's priority. The Academic, deciding he was on his own, started beating the spider upside the grotesque head with his shield. This only succeeded in making it even angrier, and Vexen soon found himself being pointed towards a mouth full of black teeth and a...tongue of some sort.
Rigid with fear, Vexen shot a last shout of utter impatience at his hopeless protege.
"CURSE YOU AND YOUR USELESS FEAR OF SPIDERS!"
Knexedy, upon hearing the "spiders," screamed even louder and the mother of all explosions started up, right underneath their target.
In a rain of fire, smoke, ashes, and disgusting spider insides, Vexen was blown clear and landed on top of a tombstone. He lay there, breathing hard, trying to recover from the fact he had quite nearly been eaten alive. No wonder Knexedy didn't like spiders...
"Vexen! I did it! I did it! I killed the spider!" the girl exclaimed.
"Yes, Yes, you did. Thank you..?" Vexen said. He looked ready to say more, until something from the hurricane of spider parts landed on top of his head. He twitched in repulsion and lifted it gingerly off of his head, and identified it as a piece of the spider's tongue-like muscle. Whatever it was, Vexen just fell off of the grave in a dead faint.
Knexedy shook her head. Something glittery caught her eye and she walked over.
"Ooh, cool!" she exclaimed. It was one of the spider's smaller, poison-dripping fangs. She tore off a piece of her sleeve and carefully wrapped the leather around the fang. When it was secured, she went back to get Vexen, and ended up dragging her mentor through a dark portal to the castle.
"Geez, and I'm the spaz?" she asked his unconscious form, "At least I don't freak out when a spider tongue falls on my head."
Had Vexen been awake, Knexedy would have been slapped silly.
Xigbar and Darxet fled through the streets of Port Royal, a very angry mob on their heels.
"You idiot!" Darxet snarled as the two took shelter behind a crate, "I told you that old lady wasn't a Heartless!"
"Well I didn't know!" Xigbar shot back, "She's wearing black, doesn't carry a weapon, and has a misshapen head, she's a Heartless."
"That was a hat, smart guy!" Darxet said.
"Alright! Alright! I was wrong! You were right and I was wrong! Let's just RTC and worry about my one-sided blindness issues later." Xigbar sighed.
He summoned a portal and the two went through it, discouraged by their failed mission.
"Superior's gonna kill us." Darxet said in a melancholy tone.
Xigbar sighed sympathetically and laid a hand on his shoulder, "No he won't. He has that whole 'no killing the neophytes' policy and all. You'll probably just get chores or something."
Darxet groaned. "Fun."
The darkness swallowed the two up, and the portal disappeared. No Nobodies there.
"Phil! Enough!" Xiyak shouted after three hours of relentless training underneath the persistent satyr.
"C'mon kid! Just break these pots!" Phil exclaimed.
"No! I've got to go home!" Xiyak replied, putting away her weapon.
"Ah, fine. Just make sure you get back soon, we ain't nearly close to done." Phil said.
"Fine..." Xiyak sighed.
As she turned to leave, Phil suddenly grabbed her wrist and she turned back.
"What?" she asked.
Phil's face was serious as he said, "Kid, two words of advice for ya."
Xiyak rolled her eyes. Here we go.
"Eat."
1
"Sleep."
2
"Train."
3. Get a math book, genius.
"You got that? Phil asked her.
Xiyak nodded.
"Yeah, I got it."
"Good." the weird man said. Then he turned and ran back into the arena.
Xiyak looked around to see Larxene holding her sides and laughing.
"I hate you so much." Xiyak snarled.
"Whatever. I got what we needed while you and the satyr trained. Let's just RTC." Larxene smirked.
They went through the portal together, Xiyak giving Larxene a playful but hard punch in the arm as the Grey Area materialized around them and they left the corridor.
Axbrem was getting annoyed fast.
"HOLD STILL, ALREADY!" she shouted at Axel, who had three sharp quills stuck in his side from the feathery—and prickly—Heartless that had escaped.
"Fine." the Flurry sighed, "Just be careful when you—OW OUCH! Easy!"
"Oh, man up." Axbrem hissed as she took a hold on the quill again and tried to extricate it from her partner's side.
"OW!" Axel shouted as he felt his skin being tugged and blood being lost.. "Okay, that's—OW!—enough! We'll just have to get Vexen to fix it."
"And the mission?" Axbrem asked, retreating.
Axel sighed.
"Failure."
Axbrem's lip curled in dissatisfaction.
"Fantastic." she said, her voice simply dripping with sarcasm.
As the two went through their portal, Axel raised a question with Axbrem; a question completely out of nowhere.
"Kyrox and Anix had a mission with Xemnas and Saix, right?"
Axbrem looked at him strangely.
"Yeah?"
"How do you think they're doing?"
"Who?"
"Kyrox and Anix."
"Oh, uh...I don't know. Hope they're okay, though."
The dark portal swallowed the two Nobodies up, their heads now filled with anxieties over their friends.
The Avalanche Heartless flew by overhead, giving a loud shriek of irritation as it once again missed its targets by mere inches.
Anix ducked as it came at him again, and he rolled on the ground until he bumped into Kyrox, who was taking a very brief reprieve in the shadow of the hill they had been fighting on. Xemnas and Saix had long since left them there, convinced they wouldn't need any assistance.
"I'm out of potions." the Superior's apprentice said, "You got any?"
Anix checked.
"No, sorry man. That thing's going to kill us."
"Wait...I had an idea. It's crazy. It's stupid. But it might work..." Kyrox said.
Anix's eyes widened.
"You sure? You never go to crazy and stupid."
"We don't have a choice."
"True. So, the idea?"
Kyrox bent over and whispered it hastily into Anix's ear. Anix's eyes lit up as Kyrox pulled away.
"You're right. That is crazy and stupid. Let's try it." the former Valley of the Forge resident said.
They waited as the Avalanche made another vain dive towards them, then when it had passed, Anix rolled out of the hill's way and stuck his arms into the air, waving them around like a maniac.
"Hey ugly! Down here!" the normally unfazed teenager exclaimed. This, obviously, attracted the Heartless' attention and Anix backed up as it prepared for another dive. Quite possible, the dive that would kill him.
Kyrox if you kill me over this brain-dead plan, I'm killing you in the afterlife. Again., he vowed.
The Heartless dived. In a flash, Anix had his scimitar, the Sonic Blade, out and he summoned his element about him. Kyrox had taken up position on the other side of the hill, his Prometheus scythe out and ready.
Anix watched the Avalanche descend faster and faster, its screeching was in his head now, colliding with the sound-waves that had become pent up within the teen's own person. The overload of sound was becoming unbearable. He was sure he would explode if he didn't release it all soon...
"Now, Anix, now!" he heard the shout.
He pointed the Sonic Blade at the Avalanche and released the noise that had built up inside.
Needless to say, it had the effect of a full-blown sonicboom. The giant flying Heartless fell backwards and was even dazed so much it fell out of the sky, straight towards Kyrox.
Kyrox shot a hissing stream of blue fire at the falling enemy and the Avalanche gave a last scream as it was engulfed in raging fire. It disappeared, and a large heart escalated into the sky. Despite his usually calm nature, Kyrox cheered.
"Anix! Anix, it's gone! We did it!" he said excitedly. He looked over and the smile instantly faded from his face.
He ran over to where his friend was now kneeling on the ground, holding his hands to his head—more specifically, his ears.
"Anix?" Kyrox asked. Anix flinched and pressed his hands down further, shaking his head. Kyrox was terrified when he saw a droplet of red liquid squeeze out from between the gaps in his friend's fingers.
"Anix..." he whispered, "Don't worry. I'll get you home. Just hold on, Anix."
Without waiting another moment, Kyrox opened a dark portal in the ground beneath them, too worried about what might happen if he risked moving Anix in this state.
"Hold on, Anix."
"...the Clay Armor sucked. I was expecting something more fun." Xavier was complaining to Leixym and Axbrem about how disappointing her mission had been.
"You think your mission was annoying? Demyx went all ga-ga over that Ariel princess from Atlantica when she got up and started singing and dancing and making a fool of herself in front of the entire undersea. Then these annoying dudes swam up and tried to ask me to dance." Leixym said.
"What'd you do?" Axbrem questioned.
Leixym smiled and held up fourteen shark's-tooth necklaces, "I slapped them and made them buy me these necklaces. Lookit! There's one for everyone!"
"Aw, sweet, thanks!" the gathered neophytes exclaimed as Leixym started passing them out.
She frowned at the two necklaces left in her hand.
"Hey wait a minute...where're Kyrox and Anix?" she asked.
"I need a medic! Someone, a medic!" a hoarse voice called into the Area. Everyone was startled when a dark portal appeared and Kyrox fell out, pulling with him an unconscious Anix.
"Vexen! Knexedy! Cavex! Someone, get someone!" Kyrox said again.
"What happened to Nixy and Ky-ky?" Axille asked, using the nicknames she had fashioned for her two older friends.
"Nixy was hurt bad on a mission, Axille." Kyrox said quickly. He looked up as Cavex appeared with Vexen.
"Move over." the Academic said. He crouched down beside the teenager and beckoned Cavex over.
"Cavex, try it." he said.
Cavex nodded and pulled up her sleeve. Everyone present stared at the device attached to her wrist. For there, around her arm, was a metal gauntlet that read in engraved lettering: Life Code X. She pressed a button on it and a small blue vial popped out of a small hole in the base.
She uncorked the vial and held it to Anix's mouth. It went down his throat relatively easily, but he didn't stir.
"Cavex...?" Xiyak asked her, "What was that?"
"Life Code X-176." Cavex explained, "It's supposed to clear out injuries and maladies caused by sound or sound injury. I figured that was what was wrong, because his ears were bleeding and Kyrox was talking so quietly. And also, Anix's element is sound. So I put it all together and figured out the immediate problem."
"Is it going to work?" Kyrox asked her anxiously.
"It should. It depends on how bad the damage was." Cavex murmured. She sat back and watched Anix's still unmoving form.
Amenxtthe sat down beside Cavex, voicing the question everyone was dying to ask.
"What now?"
Cavex looked at her for a long time and sighed.
"We wait."