Quick note: I'm getting people asking me who the Zoners are. The answer for now is this: I'm not telling. That'd be spoiling some of the story. I'm sure that some of you already have some of them figured out, but please don't ask me who they are; I'm not going to spoil my own story. HOWEVER. Their "true names" and such WILL be revealed, like in chapter 14 (or 13 if you don't want to count the prologue), and other things about each of them are revealed as the story goes along. So please, don't ask, because I'm not going to spoil the story for you.
In response to one of my reviewers, I regret to say that I may not be able to fit Rhino into this fic. Do not fear, however, as that is not set in stone and may change. If he doesn't make an appearance, there will at least be a reference to him.
Concerning Kite, I have to agree with several of you. The name does remind me of .hack XD! That's not how I chose his name, though. It was a seriously huge coincidence.
I also just noticed that I have over 100 reviews. O.O Have I ever mentioned how utterly awesome you guys are?
Before we begin, quick shout out to two of my reviewers, one of which is going to Japan and another whom is going to be in a performance tomorrow. Good luck to both of you! n.n!
Chasing The Truth
By FlikFreak
Chapter Fifteen: Swimming Lessons
"Geez, he sleeps like a log…wake up, Neku. Time to go."
Neku cracked one eye open to see Roxas staring back at him. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up, peering at the other beds to make sure everyone else was still asleep. Then, standing quietly, he made his way out the door, Roxas following, and closed it behind him.
Sora was standing at the control panel, peering out the window at a small world. There was a large, golden castle to be seen, but other than that the entire world was encased in a craggy skeleton of what appeared to be stone, with the entirety of it filled with nothing but water.
"That does seem like the place," Neku commented.
"Yep," Sora replied. "That's where we're going."
"But it's nothing but water," Neku protested quietly. "How are we going to find the shoalweed? We can't swim that deep."
Roxas grinned as he began to vanish back within Sora. "You won't need to worry about that, Neku."
Once Roxas had vanished completely, Sora hit a few buttons on the control panel and the familiar portal appeared before him. "Okay," he began, taking Neku by the wrist. "We're going to have to step through at the same time for this place. It's a bit complicated and I can't explain why, but you'll have to trust me for now."
Not like I have any other choice, Neku decided, swallowing hard and entering the portal of light. As the radiance surged around him, he felt the air rapidly grow damp and heavy.
Scan complete, Mr. Highwind. I'm afraid that I couldn't pick up very much, though.
"That's fine," Cid replied. "If you could lemme know what you've got, that'll do for now."
Certainly. I'll transfer the data.
Freya tapped her foot. "Still haven't found anything?"
Cid gave a low grunt before replying. "With any luck, this scan will have at least a smidgen of somethin' good. Any news on your end?"
Zidane entered, his fists clenched and his eyes narrowed. The angry expression was uncharacteristic on him. "Nothing from the cavern other than heartless, heartless and more heartless. Something's fishy, though…I think the Zoners are up to something."
"They're always up to something, Zidane," Freya said with a slight groan.
"I mean they're planning something big," the genome corrected himself. "Shantotto came back earlier and said 'major events on the way, be prepared or die.' Or at least something along those lines…"
Data transfer complete, Mr. Highwind. You may want to take a look at this.
He did. Cid squinted and flipped through a few screens before his eyes suddenly widened considerably. His cigarette fell clean out of his mouth. "You've gatta be kidding me…"
"What's wrong?" Freya asked.
Cid spun on his heels. "Get Leon in here. Now. We've found something, alright."
The sound of water rushing in his ears was the first thing Neku heard, quickly accompanied by a flurry of bubbles. Several fish sped away, and a number of seaweed plants waved idly. The early morning sunlight filtered from above and danced on the ocean floor, creating a calming reflection on the smooth sand.
Realizing that he was underwater, Neku gagged, clutching his throat momentarily before holding his breath and kicking for the surface of the water. In doing so, he felt that his legs weren't responding properly and the panic only strengthened. Desperate to reach air, Neku wheeled his arms and pushed for the surface, somehow making it up just before his lungs began to burn from lack of oxygen. He gasped for air and clung to a nearby rock, panting and allowing the panic to fade.
Neku looked around for any sign of a city. There was none; only water to be seen everywhere around him. A few rocks jutted upward every now and then, but no real shoreline was to be seen. Where had Sora taken him, and what gave him the big idea to drop him off twenty feet below the surface?!
"Hey, I thought you said you could swim."
Startled, Neku nearly slipped off of the rock he had clung to. Propped up via elbows on the other side was Sora, grinning in what appeared to be amusement. Neku noted that his gloves – as well as his shirt and jacket – were gone. It was understandable; he wouldn't want them to get wet. He scowled, however, at the brunette's comment. "Yeah, that was when my legs actually worked."
Sora chuckled. "Actually, Neku…"
"What?"
"You don't have legs anymore."
It took a few moments for the words to sink in. At first Neku believed that Sora meant his legs had been removed, but he still felt them, so that couldn't be right. He blinked. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"
Shrugging, Sora slunk off the rock. "Fine. I can show you if you're that curious. Wait here." With that, he sunk in the water.
At first, Neku was worried about his friend, and pulled himself up further on the rock he had chosen. There were several bubbles rising to the surface and he bit his lip. If Sora was going to show him something, why did he need to go underwater?
After several long moments, Sora shot out of the water's surface like a bullet, twisting in the air. Sora looked rather the same as he had earlier, with one major difference: rather than legs, he had a long, blue, dolphin-esque tail.
What the… When the realization sunk in, Neku twisted around to look at where his legs would have been, instead finding that they had been replaced by a slender tail similar to an orca, tinted in dual shades of violet. …HELL?!
Sora, whom had resurfaced, smirked. "How else did you expect to get to the bottom of the ocean?"
Had Neku's jaw not still been attached to his skull it would have fallen to the ground. "You know, after everything else I've seen, I really should have expected something like this, but…geez." He shook his head, finally tearing his gaze away from his new appendage. "How often to you do this, Sora?"
The brunette shrugged. "I've been to Atlantica several times, so I know my way around and such, but it's not something I do on a normal basis if you get what I mean."
"Lead the way, then," Neku said, shrugging and working his way off of his perch. After plummeting into the water, he took an experimental breath. Weird. It's just like breathing air. He began to attempt to swim, but quickly found himself sinking head-first. He crossed his arms. This has got to be a huge blow to my dignity right here.
Sora chuckled. "Looks like you could use a few swimming lessons."
Neku rolled his eyes. "You think?"
After about five minutes and several non-collision-induced headaches, Neku finally got the hang of having a tail instead of legs. Surprisingly, it wasn't that difficult once he knew what he was doing wrong, and since they were high enough to avoid the coral they didn't risk any major crashes or dangers. Eventually, however, their search had to begin and Sora led him downward into the deeper parts of the sea.
It was then that a thought occurred to Neku. "Do we even know what Shoalweed looks like?"
"Absolutely not," Sora replied. "That's why we're going to ask the locals."
"You know anyone around here?"
"A few people, yeah. One of 'em is a bit shy, but he recognizes me, so we shouldn't have any problems unless we run into a shark or something."
Neku swallowed. "This place has sharks…?"
Sora shrugged. "Yeah. I ran into one once, but he didn't bother me after I got through with him."
Gee, he's got all the bases covered. What's next, the old sea witch that plagued a kingdom of merpeople was taken care of by him, too?
They made their way past an undersea gorge and toward a small cavern, its entrance blocked by a boulder. Sora grabbed onto one side of the rock and powered his fins, managing to open up the small cave. Neku followed when Sora waved him in, gawking when he saw what was within the cave.
It was more of a grotto than anything. At the very top, there was a small opening where the light filtered through, and littering the natural shelves of the column-like cave were various familiar objects: silverware, a music box, an old-fashioned globe, a pair of glasses, and other odds and ends. There was even an old smoking pipe on one shelf. "What is this place?" Neku asked, glancing warily at an old, half-burned candle.
"Ariel's grotto," Sora explained, swimming upward a bit. "She used to collect all sorts of stuff and store it in here. I thought I'd at least find someone-"
"Sora?"
The voice was quiet and timid. Neku looked for the source of the voice, but only saw a small, chubby, blue-and-yellow fish peeking at them from the entrance of the cave. He was about to look around more when he decided that the voice probably belonged to the said fish. Knowing how the other worlds were, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.
Sora swam over. "Hey, Flounder. What're you doing here?"
Yep, thought so.
Flounder swam forward timidly. "Well, nothing really. I saw someone swimming in here and I thought I might see who it was…who's this?"
"Name's Neku," Neku said, crossing his arms. "I'm a, uh…friend of Sora's. We're here looking for something."
The fish quirked an eyebrow curiously. "Whacha lookin' for?"
"Something called Shoalweed," Sora said. "Ever heard of it?"
Flounder looked away for a moment, eyes narrowed in thought, before replying. "I've heard of it…but it's kind of rare, even around here. There was some growing around the old sunken ship, but if not I bet Ursula probably had some."
"I should have thought of that," Sora muttered. "You know what it looks like?"
"Well…"
Beat wiped the sleep out of his eye. He had fallen asleep at Rhyme's bedside for that night, refusing to leave her. Rhyme, however, remained in her coma. Her breathing was slow and silent, but she was fine otherwise. Bolt blinked a few times, waking up at roughly the same time as Beat, and sat up, yawning widely. Beat grinned, patting the little dog on the head.
"Good morning, Beat," Aerith said calmly.
"Mornin'," Beat replied wearily. "Sora and the others back yet?"
Aerith shook her head. "No, but they should be back sometime today if all goes well. Were you sleeping next to Rhyme again?"
"Yeah," Beat muttered, returning his attention to his sister.
Bolt, dismayed that his petting session had ended, hopped off of the bed and stretched his legs, shaking himself fully awake afterward. He then proceeded to sit quietly next to Beat, flopping one ear to the side and staring at the boy with wide eyes. Aerith noticed this quickly and chuckled. "Looks like Bolt's taken a liking to you."
Smiling slightly, Beat have in and stroked the dog's back. "My dad never let us have any pets, yo," he explained. "But Rhyme always liked dogs."
"I bet Bolt would be more than happy to play with her when she wakes up," Aerith said.
Someone knocked on the door. Aerith placed down a small basket she had been carrying and opened the door cautiously. "Yuffie? What is it?"
"Where's Leon?"
Aerith blinked. "I think he went down to the market. Why?"
"Cid found something," Yuffie replied, nearly out of breath. "Something huge. We're still not sure why they want Neku, but I think we finally know what the Zoners want from Ansem's computer…"
Oh, if only you knew, Yuffie... XD
Describing a tail is a hard thing to do. Neku's entrance was even harder. Pretty awkward chapter...the next one is going to have some action, just so you know.
Characters met:
Flounder (Kingdom Hearts/The Little Mermaid)
Zoners:
The Deceptive Evoker, Meyxours (Chasing The Truth/???)
The Elegant Reaper, Jaxuk (Chasing The Truth/???)
The Fallen Prince, Zarxilt (Chasing The Truth/???)
The Ruthless Emperor, Naxeyv (Chasing The Truth/???)
