Guardians' Tales
Chapter VII: Beware The Shadows
Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar
Cycle: June 24, 2548
Time: 24:32 Galactic Standard Time, 15:15 Resident Time
Star Cluster: HUB
Planet: Resident
Location: SOLDIER Institute, Main Gym
Roxas' POV
Cybermen, Heartless, and Vashta Nerada. What is wrong with this school?!
For reference, we had met up with the rest of the team soon after they arrived at the rendezvous and Isaac dropped the massive bombshell on all of us about the Vashta Nerada. Right now, we are on the seventh floor, Isaac and Shin went to the ninth floor in order to inspect a wider area of the city to discern a better point of approach. The sun was still setting so we had an amount of light to keep the Vashta Nerada at bay.
"How are we supposed to reach the Tower if two-thirds of the things that are trying to kill us can camouflage themselves as shadows?" Sora asked. He was sitting on a broken chair next to his sister, who was still searching the city with her binoculars along with Naminé and Riku. Terra was just meditating and Kairi was observing the streets below.
"You got me." Riku replied. You could hear the disinterest in his tone. I think he had already given up on trying to pass this exam. I don't blame him. The Heartless are one thing, the Vashta Nerada are a whole other league of difficulty that did not need to be put into this exam.
"I'm sure we can handle a few Cybermen if we're careful. The Heartless are simple enough as long as you don't get surrounded." Naminé added, trying to theorize a way to get to the Tower.
"The Vashta Nerada will have us reduced to bone before we so much as cross the street." Riku rebuked. "Not to mention the sun is setting. The moment it goes down, we won't stand a chance."
"Always the optimist, eh Riku." Isaac replied. He and Shin had apparently finished searching the city.
"I'm just being realistic." Riku replied with a suave, if somewhat irritated, look. "We can't reach the artifact before the other team does. We can't even get to the Tower before we're eaten alive."
"The Vashta Nerada are our biggest obstacle."
"Not to mention the sun is going down." Shin added.
"But luck is on our side." Isaac replied with a raised finger. He moved toward the window, eyed the setting sun, and pointed somewhere into the distance. "Look. We have a full moon tonight."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Riku replied skeptically.
"Vashta Nerada have a hard time moving in any form of light, even pale light. The moon gives off a pale light that we can use to detect the movement of shadows in the street. As long as we have vigilant people in the front and rear of the group, we should be fine." Isaac pulled his sunglasses off, a single disc covering his ear with the microphone still attached, and sent an electrical shock into them.
"And who will be our lookouts?"
"Me for one, since I can see which shadows are heartless and which shadows are packs of Vashta Nerada..." He moved over to Terra and handed her his sunglasses. "And Terra since she has the strongest magic out of all of us. Between the two of us, we can keep the Vashta Nerada off for a time. At least until we get to the Tower."
"Okay, okay." Riku replied, getting ready to make a counter point. "Say we do attempt to get to the Tower and the moon somehow keeps the Vashta Nerada at bay. What about the Heartless? They are known to move fast and attack in swarms."
"More than likely, the Heartless will be hunting the Vashta Nerada. Now Terra. I am going to hold up both my hands. I want you to put on my sunglasses and tell me when one of my hands changes to red and when the other turns a dark shade of purple."
"Okay." Terra put the glasses on and Isaac made his left hand spark. "It's red." Terra told him.
"Good. That is the basic color of a creature that operates purely on the instinct to feed and never stops doing so. This will mark a Vashta Nerada swarm. Now look at my right arm."
"It's dark purple." Terra told him. "That shows when a Heartless is nearby, right?"
"Yes. A being of pure darkness will emit this aura. It essentially means, that there is no possible way to turn it towards the light. These are the only colors that will show on those glasses for you."
"Is this how your Aura Gaze works?" Terra asked.
"Yes, though in a more complicated fashion. I just dumbed it down to keep things simple."
"I'm still not sure this plan will work." Riku replied again.
"The only thing we have to worry about is the Cybermen." Shin replied. "As long as you, Sora, Roxas, and Kairi keep the Cybermen at bay and Xion, Naminé, and I handle the Heartless and let Isaac and Terra deal with the Vashta Nerada, we should be just fine."
"I think you guys are forgetting something." Kairi replied. "We still have no idea what we are looking for."
"Neither does the other team." Isaac replied with his arms crossed.
"That still doesn't help us in any way, shape, or form." Kairi shot back.
"And we're not going to figure it out just standing around here."
"And how do you suppose we get there? The only entrance I can see involves us going right through the center of those Cybermen." Riku argued again.
"We could go up the middle." Xion suggested.
"That would be suicide." Riku shot back.
"Actually…" Sora added in. "I think we can manage."
I rose to my feet and went to see what Sora was looking at, retrieving my binoculars and zooming in as far as I needed. "That's interesting." I said as I saw the Cybermen moving away from the Tower. "It looks like the Cybermen are going on patrol."
"Patrol?" Shin asked and moved over to us. "You mean they aren't trying to enter the Tower?"
"It looks like it." From the initial eight Cybermen that we had previously seen, a grand total of twelve more showed up, putting their numbers at twenty. "They're pairing off into twos and are marching away from the Tower."
"I don't think they are going on patrol." I heard Kairi tell us from behind. We turned to see that the flood lights were beginning to flicker.
"Shin, can you do me a favor?" I heard Isaac groan.
"What would that be?"
"If we ever meet a guy called Murphy, remind to lobotomize the son of a bitch." Grim.
Kairi's POV
We made our way down the street towards the Tower, a slow process, but we had to be wary of shadows. Isaac was in the lead with his Aura Gaze activated and Terra in the back wearing his sunglasses. Shin and I were in line behind him. Sora, Roxas, Naminé, and Riku were in the center with Xion next to Terra. We had to be as careful as we could not to be spotted by the patrolling Cybermen at any moment. I must admit, between Shin and Isaac, we have a pretty good team of strategists.
"Can you see anything, Isaac?" Riku asked in a slightly above average whisper.
"A few Heartless, but luckily they haven't noticed us." Isaac replied.
"Can you tell what kind of Heartless they were?" I asked out of curiosity. I would like to know what I'm dealing with.
"That can be tricky." He replied cryptically. "I have a hard time distinguishing Heartless from other beings of darkness. The difference between a heartless is that they run purely off of instinct and follow only the strongest of dark wielders. Telling the difference between different types of Heartless is something that even I cannot discern."
"Great." I sarcastically replied. "What good is that Aura Gaze of yours if it can't discern between Heartless?"
"Maybe detecting when Vashta Nerada are around?" Point taken. "At any rate, heartless are only dangerous in large hordes. Most of the time they never attack in big hordes of the tougher Heartless outside of worlds that are completely covered in darkness. Like what happened to that one world of yours a few centuries back. What was it called again? Began with a T."
"Traverse?"
"That's the one."
"That was the world that got overrun by Heartless and was completely eradicated wasn't it?" Sora asked from behind us.
"According to the history books." Naminé began to explain in her infinite knowledge of history. "The planet Traverse was the first world to be completely lost during the Heartless swarm at the high point of the Fallout wars. Its capital, Traverse Town, was somehow left unscathed by the disaster and was subsequently engulfed in a plume of darkness."
"We've been dealing with increasing amounts of Heartless ever since." Roxas added. "All we know so far is that they feed on the hearts of people to survive. No one really knows why. The remarkable thing is that they are the only creatures that can actively prey on Vashta Nerada, though no one knows if it is for nourishment, or just because they are darkness in the form of shadow as opposed to Vashta Nerada which have been proven to be organic since they hatch from microscopic eggs."
"Either way, they are dangerous. Hence why me and Terra are at either end of the formation since we can keep the shadows at a distance."
"And we keep the Cybermen at bay." I replied. I wonder how the other team was holding up with all of this going on.
"Assuming that they don't out number us." Shin replied.
"Always the optimist." I replied.
"Wait!" Isaac held out his hand and crouched low to the ground. "Get down."
I was about to ask what he telling us to avoid when I heard the sound of heavy hydraulics from around the corner.
"It'll spot us at this rate." Riku told us.
"Isaac, how does that alley look?" Shin asked. There was an alley to our right that would allow us to cut through to the other side and avoid detection by the Cybermen.
Isaac turned his head and focused his gaze on the dark corridor. "There are Vashta Nerada halfway through the alley. I don't think we can make it without getting picked apart." Great. Is there any good news today?
"Can we make it to that door?" Shin asked again, an understandably confused look appeared on Isaac's face soon afterward.
Door? What door? I looked at the alley way and saw an entrance in the building to the left, in the direction we were moving. I saw a sly smirk form on Isaac's lips. "Good eye, Shin. Terra, come here." He looked to us with a stern stare. "Me and Terra will go down the alley and make sure the Vashta Nerada don't move. Follow closely." Terra made her way to the front and we proceeded down the corridor. Isaac stopped just before the thick patch of shadows right next to the door and let his body arc with electricity and forced the shadows to recede.
We rushed into the door, the room in much better condition than the rendezvous point, only a couple of destroyed cubicles and shattered pieces of glass. Terra and Isaac followed through the door and closed it shut, Isaac used his powers to weld the edges of the door to prevent anything from following us.
"Get down." I whispered. "We can use the cubicles as cover." Isaac came up next to me. "Do you see anything?"
Isaac slowly peeked his head around the corner and examined the area in front, next to, behind, and above us. "We're clear." He whispered back. "I'll take a look up ahead. Find a safe way to the Tower."
"I'll keep watch for Shadow Beasts behind us." Terra replied and went to crouch in the middle of the group.
"I'll be back soon." Isaac was about to leave when…
"Mind if I come with?" Xion asked.
"I'm not sure…"
"You'll need help if you get surrounded by Vashta Nerada, Heartless, and Cybermen." That was a valid point.
"Alright. Just keep close." Then off they went to the other side of the building, disappearing into the shadows.
"This is getting crazy." Roxas breathed out. He was sitting against a cubicle.
"How can Isaac be so optimistic about this?" Riku replied. "You'd think he has no sense of fear."
"Or maybe he simply doesn't care for his own life." Shin added. "Then again, that is courage in a nut shell."
"Has there been any sign of organics?" We tensed up when we heard the distorted synthesized sound of a Cybermen.
"Nothing in sector C." I peeked around the corner to see that they were outside the window less than ten meters from us. "Perimeter scans show that they entered through sector E, near the west end of the city."
"Does it mean us?" Naminé asked Roxas.
"But we entered through the southeast end of the city." Roxas told us.
"Then could it be the other team?"
"Has to be." Riku added. "I doubt a machine would use none specific adjectives."
"Intruders could be anywhere. Check this building and report any findings." Oh no.
"Roger."
"We need to get out of here." I told the others and received a collective nod.
Xion's POV
I was following Isaac through the building, carefully ducking in and out of cubicles on our way to the opposite end of the building.
"How are we going to scout the area?" I asked as we reached the back of the building and he slowly pushed the door open, examining the surroundings of the alley that it opened into and motioning me to follow through when it was clear.
"With any luck, we can get to a rooftop to see the exact route that the Cybermen are taking."
"And how are we going to do that without getting attacked by Vashta Nerada?"
Isaac looked around for a moment. His gaze stern. He suddenly grabbed my wrist and had me duck behind a dumpster. The street lights had come on by now and the sun had set beneath the horizon, the pale glow of the moon lighting the rest of the alley. "Don't move, the Cybermen are close." Isaac was peeking around the corner of the dumpster. I'm guessing there was no Vashta Nerada or Heartless underneath it or I doubt he would've used it for cover.
I peeked around the corner of the dumpster and saw the Cybermen's foot stomp on the ground, the loud sound of hydraulics hissing and echoing down the alley. The sound began to fade as they passed the alley and then suddenly stopped. I thought I had forgotten how to breathe and was too scared to move for fear of being discovered.
"Hop on my back." Isaac suddenly whispered. "We're going up. We'll look around from atop the building. I doubt the Cybermen know how to fly yet."
"Okay…" I climbed on his back and then Isaac did something I was not expecting. He ran up the freaking wall! The shocking part? He wasn't using his electrical powers. He just hauled it up the sixty-five meter wall and landed on a flat roof top. I climbed off of his back and went to catch myself. The speed he was going to get up that wall gave me a bad case of vertigo.
"Keep away from the ledge and make sure the light is facing any object you might want to lean against. There are no Shadow Predators on this roof, but that can change." He went to the edge of the building and it was then that I realized how close we were to the Tower. We could make a dash to it from the building we were on and reach it in less than five minutes.
I looked at the plaza and noticed that it was clear of any Cybermen, but there were a lot of moving shadows, some moving faster than others and others getting engulfed or absorbed into various patches. "Looks like the Heartless are out in force." I told my cloaked dorm mate.
"And the door's locked." He replied with an annoyed look in his platinum iris.
I pulled out my binoculars and zoomed in on the door. "It looks metallic in nature. You could probably lift it with your powers."
"Is that so? I can't tell from this distance." He wasn't using his binoculars in case you were wondering.
"Yeah. It also seems to slide up into the Tower."
"Which means the heartless will be the only thing that can sneak into the Tower." He went over to the side of the building and analyzed the streets. "We look clear over here. It's a straight line to the tower." He went to the opposite end of the building peered over into the street. "The Cybermen are patrolling over here. And there are patches of Vashta Nerada littered about."
"So we go down the right side to the Tower."
"Maybe, but we still have that door to contend with." He went back to the center of the roof, motioning me towards him and we crouched in the center. "I have an idea, but I want to run it by the others at the same time." He put his finger to his ear. "Isaac and Xion here. We found a route to the Tower."
Kairi's POV
"We have a bit of a problem down here, Isaac." I replied over my headset.
"Let me guess. Cybermen." He replied with a sarcastic tone.
"One of them is scanning the building we're in right now."
"Damn." He replied over the headset. "I only saw the one on the opposite side of the street."
"Well there is one standing at the window right now." Riku added in.
"Have you found a way to the Tower?" I asked, refocusing the conversation.
"Luckily, yes." Nice! "But I'm going to need you guys to get to the door as fast as possible."
"Can do." I flicked off the headset and looked over my shoulder. "You heard the guy. Let's get to the other side, but be careful." I looked forward to see Shin peering around the corner.
"Looks like the Cybermen is rotating on a horizontal axis." Shin told us. He looked behind us and eyed Terra. "Do you see any Vashta Nerada behind or in front of us, Terra?"
The blonde looked behind us for a moment and then towards the door. "We're good."
"Okay, you go first and wait near the door. We'll go two at a time starting with Roxas and Naminé."
"I got it."
Shin looked around the cubicle again and held his hand up. His hand lingered for a moment before motioning forward. Terra moved quickly toward the door and waited at the furthest cubicle examining the area when she reached the other side, she then looked back to us and signaled that it was clear.
"Okay. Roxas, Naminé, you're up." Roxas and Nam came up next to Shin and waited for his signal. Shin waved his hand forward and they ran towards the cubicle with Terra and then out of the building into the ally.
"I see Roxas and Naminé now." Isaac called over the headset. "Get behind the dumpster and keep your eye on the alley entrance to your right."
Shin looked back to us. "Sora, Kairi. You two are up." Sora and I did the same as Roxas and Nam and waited for him to give the signal to go. When his hand motioned us to move, we did so and I managed to spare a glance at the Cybermen. He was tall, at least two meters, with a sort of antenna head dress that formed to a rectangle. Its soulless black sockets that acted as its eyes were staring at the welded door we had entered the room through. Ironically, its eyes had this smaller circle right under it that sort of cut into the main sockets like two eclipsing moons and this design choice almost made it look like it was crying.
We made our way to Terra and she waved us through. We made our way to the dumpster that Nam and Roxas were hiding behind. "I see Sora and Kairi now." I looked up to see Isaac and Xion peering over the edge, Xion waving at Sora and Sora waving back. Isaac seemed to glance around and behind him, probably to make sure they were not being surrounded by shadow beasts. "Sora, Kairi. Take a look around the corner and let me know if there is any sign of movement. Shadows or otherwise."
"I copy." I replied and then looked to Sora. "Come on, Spikes. We have recon to do."
"Right behind you, Red." We went to the corner of the alley and looked around. I saw some shadows skittering quickly across the dimly lit pavement. "There are only shadows moving across the street."
"We're all clear here Isaac." I called over the headset.
"Good. How are you three coming along, Shin?"
"We're about to move now, Isaac." Shin replied.
Shin's POV
We were getting ready to move again. I just had to wait for the Cybermen to be looking away again. "You ready, Riku?" I asked the silverette.
"As ready as I'll ever be." He replied. I guess he's put that pessimism behind him for the moment.
"Okay, just follow me." I looked back to the Cybermen and when its head was facing the door we were heading for and its line of sight obscured, we made our move, meeting up with Terra at the other end. "Let's hurry up."
Riku and Terra exited into the alley first. I went soon after and turned to face the door when…
"Intruders sighted!" The Cybermen saw us. "All units to sector F! Prepare to upgrade!"
"Guys! We have a problem!" I exclaimed as I slammed the door shut.
Isaac's POV
Once again. SCREW. YOU. MURPHY! "Okay, don't panic!" I spoke into the headset. "Just move out of the alley and run as fast you can through the streets. There are no Vashta Nerada between you and the Tower entrance, only Heartless." I looked over the edge of the building to see the rest of the squad darting out of the alley and down the street. I turned to face Xion and she seemed to know what was going to come next as she instantly jumped on my back. "Hold on tight, Xion. This is going to get very bumpy."
"You just focus on running." She drew one of her gunblades in her left hand.
I didn't need to be told twice as I took off towards the Tower, jumping from roof top to roof top as I did. A Heartless showed up and Xion swiftly shot it down. She is one heck of a deadeye with that thing. I focused on running while she shot down more and more Heartless. When I was jumping to the next rooftop I saw that it was covered in red.
"Hang on! We have Vashta Nerada!"
"What do we do?!" She blared in my ear.
"This!" I concentrated my electrical energy into the balls of my feet, ionizing the air enough for me to make a blue platform for me to jump off of and gain some extra air time, clearing the building entirely and leaving me to land hard on the concrete of the plaza. I managed to use some residual energy to soften the landing, but my legs still stung from the fall. I looked in front of me to see that Cybermen were gathered at the center of the plaza, eight in total right in front of the Tower entrance and more arriving by the second. "Hold on!" I called to the cloaked girl and took off towards the Cybermen. I drew one of my Star Killers and readied for an insane maneuver. "Xion, jump off my back!"
"What?!" She replied with an understandable amount of confusion.
"Just do it!" I shot back quickly, not much time left till we hit the squad head on.
"Oh! Whatever!" She placed her foot on my back and vaulted high into the air in front of me, both her gunblades out as she hung over the Cybermen and began to elegantly twirl, her black cloak spread wide like the grim reaper, but her cream colored skin giving her a surprisingly mysterious tone. Couple that with the pale glow of the moon silhouetted behind her and she looked like an ice faerie…with meter long revolver gunblades.
As she twirled, she angled her body in the air, she positioned her blades so they pointed at the ground, "Haste!" She chanted and began twirling as fast as I could run. Before I could process what was happening I heard a long series of thunderous claps and bullets being discharged towards the ground and clanging against of the metal skin of the Cybermen as well as ricocheting off of the pavement, I had to dodge a few stray shots. Luckily the bullets pierced through the plating of a few Cybermen and took three of them out of commission.
The bullet discharge died down and I saw that Xion was slowly plummeting to the ground. "Oh boy." I breathed to myself and kicked it into high gear, both of my blades drown and ready to spill blood…I mean oil.
"Fire!" The Cybermen shouted and they raised their arms at me, the wrist mounted energy weapons discharging blue beams of energy at me. I dodged and weaved through them, using my Star Killer to deflect the beams back at the silver machines. The upside to having blades made of pure crystal, they reflect light superbly well.
When I reached the group of Cybermen, I began to slice at the metal men. Swinging low and cleaving one's legs off with my left blade and then pivoting on my heel and cutting its head clean off with my right. The others just continued their assault as I reflected one beam back at another Cybermen's head, burning a hole through its metal skull. I stabbed another in the chest and cleaved upward, splitting it in two. I jumped high into the air and landed behind another Cybermen quickly cleaving diagonally down its torso, my split blades carving its torso into several pieces.
I turned back to see that Xion was close to the ground and wasn't rectifying herself as more Cybermen began to show up. "Don't tell me!" I darted toward the plummeting Raven haired girl, cutting one Cybermen's leg off and literally disarming another before placing the blade back on my right hip and did a baseball slide to first as I caught Xion with one hand. "You okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine, but I think we have other issues to worry about." A blue bolt flew by my head and I immediately got back to reflecting the bolts with both blades while Xion shot next to me. "Any idea when the others are getting here?"
"Spell Blade, Thunder Blade!" The sound of Shin's chanting came to our ears and stabbed through the back of one of the Cybermen further back.
"Thundara!" Terra chanted and two of the Cybermen erupted into sparks before their heads exploded. Sora and Roxas cleaved one of the Cybermen in half. Riku stabbed at the Cybermen that I had downed earlier and cleaved the one I had disarmed in half. Kairi, being the street brawler she is, bashed in the head of the last Cybermen we could see.
They came up to us and made a perimeter. "You alright?" Terra asked.
"Yeah, just a few scrapes." I replied.
"That's good." She replied. "We have Heartless coming towards us right now. Can you get the door opened?"
I turned around to face the large metal door. "Watch me." I erupted into bolts of lightning and struck at the door, charging it full of energy as I began to lift it. The thing barely moving an inch. "This is going to take some time. Cover me!"
Sora's POV
Things can never be simple. I'm starting to see why Isaac has a thing against Murphy's Law.
I struck at a Shadow coming towards us, the lowest level of Heartless from what the others have told me and I can see why as there were a lot of them. The Shadows were black as night and had piercing yellow eyes that trailed in the darkness with two floppy antennae on its head with matching hands and feet. The things just twitched randomly, as if confused as to what it was doing, but at the same time perfectly content with trying to maul us to death. I slashed and stabbed at the monsters, the creatures turning into clouds of black smoke. I occasionally jumped back to avoid the occasional swipe at my legs and head.
Roxas seemed to have an easier time as he simply slashed away with both blades, blocking with one and countering with another. Out of all of us, Naminé was the one that scared me most as she was twirling that scythe around like she was a flag twirling grim reaper. It was so elegant, but at the same time it was frightening seeing just flashes of silver light that was followed by puffs of black smoke.
"Soldiers!" Shin shouted. I didn't know what he meant until another shadow rose from the ground. They were a dark shade of blue-purple with a black heart on its chest split into four segments with jagged red lining with indigo coloring from its disproportionate knees down to the black shoes with silver bands around the ankles and wrists with red clawed finger tips. A silver elongated ovular helmet on its head that resembled a mouth as they had teeth-like spikes along the opening that clamp down on the black head of the creature to occasionally conceal its glowing yellow eyes whenever it bobbed around like a toddler on sugar. There was another variant that was beige brown with yellow at the shins and a golden helmet instead of silver.
The things weren't hard to fight as they clanked around like tin pots being thrown in a metal sink. I sliced behind me as one tried to jump on my head and claw at my face. Shin's Thunder Blade was doing a number on them as their helmets seemed to conduct the electrical current between them. Kairi was having the time of her life as she brutally beat the monsters into black clouds with little effort and an almost childlike joy in her expression.
"How are we coming on the door, Isaac?!" Riku exclaimed, punching a Shadow in the face and cleaving a Soldier in half.
"Almost…there!" I turned to see that the door was half opened and Isaac was bleeding at the nose. "If you got…any…WD-Forty…this would go…much faster!"
"That is wide enough for us to squeeze under!" Shin called and moved next to the door. "Xion, Terra, cover us." He went under the metal door and we slowly followed suit as the Heartless began to close in.
"There are Vashta Nerada coming!" Terra exclaimed. Riku and Naminé had made it under the metal door while Roxas, Kairi, and I swatted away Heartless and then I saw the slow moving shadows coming towards us.
"There they are! Hurry up and get under!" Xion exclaimed. Kairi and Roxas ducked under the metal door.
"Okay, you two next, I'll buy us some more time. Firaga!" Terra shouted and a large red ball of flame shot forth at the slow moving shadows as me and Xion ducked under the metal door. Followed soon after by Terra and Isaac, whose body no longer radiated with electricity, and the door began to fall, but was stopped by a horde of Soldier Heartless.
"They'll let the Vashta Nerada in!" Roxas exclaimed.
"Like Hell they will!" Isaac exclaimed and grabbed one of his blades, charging it full of black lightning that bounded between the two blades and extended up in a beam of black energy, like a black Lightsaber. "Lightning Wave!" Isaac boomed and swung the blade, a large arc of black energy surging forward and decimating the Heartless instantly and making the metal door fall to the ground. "Good luck getting through that, ya bastards." He turned to us and then examined the room we were in. "I hope you don't mind stairs." He told us and I looked up for the first time.
The inside of the Tower, while spacious, had a number of stairs made out of stone, some crumbled and dangerous, that led to the upper levels of the Tower. The Tower itself was rather old. It still looked nice on the inside, but it looked incredibly old and foreboding.
"At least it ain't Cybermen." Xion replied.
Squall's POV
Sora and Xi are doing very well, if only because they have competent squad mates.
"Way to go, Riku!" The Raven head named Zack exclaimed next to me.
"Can you tone it down, Zack?" The man in black named Cloud replied to the hyperactive guy. These are just two of my ten dorm mates, one of which was absent.
"Don't act like you're not proud of Roxas, Cloud." The Raven head replied, putting the blonde in a friendly head lock. "He's come a long way after those triplets got to him."
"You shouldn't be such a grouch, Cloud." The brunette in pink replied. "Can't you show, at least a little emotion?"
"Maybe."
"That squad is very resilient." The white haired guy that was sitting with us suddenly said.
"What was that, Raiden?" The brunette spoke up, not Aerith, but Terra, the guy in brown. I bet you can't guess what element his magic is.
"That group has some great strategists and work surprisingly well together." Raiden was here on business from a private party and was looking for candidates for a mission. He would have picked our team, if not for the fact that the school requires field deployment of underclassmen. Something they apparently added this year, since enrollment is surprisingly down.
"It better not be a suicide mission." I added. From the way the guy dressed, I got the feeling that whatever work they would have my cousins' team do, would be next to impossible. In case you were wondering, he wore gry and black light armor.
He just looked at me and smirked. "That's why I said they looked capable."
"What exactly is this mission?" Zack asked.
"To put it simply, they will be helping a rebel faction within a city called, Haven City. The details will be forwarded once a team has been picked."
"I'm sure we'll have to go with them, since we're their RAs." Aqua added.
"Of course. Only if they prove to be worth the effort."
"I'm not really sure I want them to pass now." I added. "They were barely able to get pass the entrance exam. I doubt they can handle an actual mission."
"They'll be fine, Leon." Zack attempted to reassure me. "Looks like they're getting to the main event."
I looked back to the large plethora of holographic screens to see that Sora and Xion's group were half way up the Tower now. "I wonder about the other group?" I looked to the screen next to it to see that they were entering the Tower from another entrance.
"Looks like it's going to be a mad dash." Terra replied. "I wonder how Terra will handle the administrator Father got for this one."
Sora's POV
This staircase goes on forever! We must have ascended, like, six hundred meters into the air with no break because, apparentl, Kairi, Isaac, and Terra are just fine walking ridiculous distances! Terra can fly for Goddess' sake!
"We're almost there." Isaac told us as we reached a platform half way up the Tower, he had his sunglasses on again after we reached the Tower. How could I tell we were half way up? I couldn't, but we might as well be!
When we reached the platform we were greeted with…nothing. No stairs, no artifact, no nothing. "Well this is great." I stated as we moved to the center of the platform. "We get here and there is nothing?"
"Maybe we missed something." Terra replied. "It could've been down stairs."
"I really hope not. Back tracking is not something I'm good at." Kairi added.
"What do we have here?" Isaac said aloud. He was at a pedestal in the center of the room.
I walked next to him and examined the lettering. Just a bunch of circles and glyphs that resembled constellations. Shin came up next to us and examined the pedestal as well. "What in the worlds is this?" Shin asked. Soon everyone was gathered around the pedestal and no one seemed to know what it said.
"In order to advance, you must find the artifact and take a chance." Isaac told us to our astonishment. "I wonder why they would write this in ancient Gallifrey."
"You can read Gallifrey?" Terra asked in astonishment.
"I had a great teacher when I was younger." He replied with a hint of bewilderment. "Had an odd obsession with Jelly babies."
"So where do we find the artifact?" Roxas asked.
"We have to find it in order to get out of here." Terra added.
"Why don't we ask the woman that's been staring at us while we stood around reading?" What?
"So you noticed." A sultry female tone called from above us. "I'd expect no less from a man who can see Vashta Nerada." She lowered herself down on a metal cable and revealed herself, and she was at least three centimeters taller than Tifa. Let me tell you, I thought Kairi had red hair? I'll give Kairi this, at least her hair looks like ruby tresses. This woman's neck length hair looked like a rose, a bloody rose. She had silver rings on the sides of her head, her hair curled around them. The rings themselves had black straps that dangled from the end. Her skin was pale as the moon behind her with bright, voluptuous red lips that resembled cherries. Her emerald green eyes glowing in the dark.
She was decked out in tight black leather pants that tied in the front with a black string and had red along the inner trim of her thigh. Her tank top, which showed off her mid-drift and cleavage, was full black with various patches of red trim with two red straps on the front, a silver chain around her neck that held a red medallion with a yin yang symbol on it. She also had black leather fingerless gloves that extended up to her shoulder with red trim along it. He shoes, well they were black leather as well…with daggers for heels?! That must be one heck of a kick she has. On her hips were a pair of pistols and her arms…she had arms blades that extended up past her head when her arms were at a relaxed position.
"Wait… I know you." Xion piped up, the excitement rising in her tone. "You're Rayne! The Blood Rayne the Demon Hunter!" We are so screwed. Rayne's the reason why Xion got interested in gunblades and fighting. "Oh my Goddess! I am such a big fan!"
"Now really isn't the time to go fan girl, Xion!" I reprimanded her.
"Don't be such a poor sport." Rayne replied with a teasing tone. "Let the girl have her fun. I know I will."
"I'm guessing you are standing between us and the artifact." Shin interjected, cutting right to the chase.
"Perspective, aren't you?" Rayne chided again and slowly walked over to us in a very adult rated fashion. "Tell ya what. If you can get the artifact from me and my 'pets'…" She added in air quotes. "Then I'll let you advance to the top floor." She retrieved a pistol and started firing at us out of nowhere!
Let's try something a little different. Cue Sanguine Nightmare. Blood Rayne Betrayal.
We dodged out of the way of bullets. Isaac rushed at the woman and began swinging his blades at her. She responded by flicking her arm blades and parrying his strike and pointing a gun right in his face. He ducked the attack and attempted to stab at her with his free hand.
"You have some experience with Arm Blade combat." She teased as she attempted a kick with her bladed heel. Isaac jumped back and threw one of his split blades at the woman. The winged chain wrapped around his arms and began twirling it to keep the woman on her toes.
"I had a friend who loved using them." Isaac replied, whipping his blade back and spinning it like a wind mill to deflect the bullets.
"They have good taste."
"Water!" Kairi chanted and punched at the woman with her water covered clawed gauntlets. Rayne simply twirled around, deflecting Kairi's clawed gauntlets and rolling over Kairi's back, bringing her arm blade up to Kairi's throat.
Kairi blocked the strike with her other clawed gauntlet and spun around, throwing the blade to side and jabbing with her free hand. "A little advise, darling." Rayne began to taunt. "If you're going to strike me from behind, don't use spells." Rayne kicked in retaliation to Kairi's jab, knocking her arm to the side and placed her gun at Kairi's head. "Bladed gauntlets would do just fine."
The sound of Xion's gunblades discharging at the red head resounded through the Tower. Rayne dodged out of way and turned her blades on to my Raven haired sister who was already at Rayne's throat. Their blades clashed and sparks flew. I charged in to help my sister out. "Not bad." Rayne told my sister and fired her gun at me while I ran at them. I barely dodged the shots and connected with Rayne's second arm blade. "I think someone deserves an autographed photo after this."
"Nothing would make me happier." Xion replied as she knocked Rayne's blade to the side and began swung at the tall woman. Xion always was one for pirouettes, preferring to keep moving and strike quickly. I could tell that Rayne was having a hard time keeping up with Xion and her long cloak, the cloak itself throwing the woman off. I attacked along with her. I may not be as elegant as my sister, but I still have style and speed. I slashed and spun, stabbed and kicked at the woman. I finished up with a dash at the woman, holding my blade to the side to cut the woman in two. Xion tried to keep her pace up by spinning and shooting at the red head woman.
"Not bad." Rayne mused. "But I think it's time I stopped playing around." She kicked me in the face before my blade could connect with her mid-drift and leapt over me. Firing her gun at Xion, who dodged to the side, luckily, and darted away. Shooting behind her as she did.
"Spell blade, Fire blade!" Shin called from the other side of the room and rushed the leather clad woman, with Riku in tow.
"You kids really need to learn to cast spells without the incantations." Shin sliced at the leather clad woman. Rayne blocked the strike only to have Riku jump over Shin and attempt a downwards stab at her. "Not bad." She repelled Shin's blade and back flipped away from Riku's attack. She flung a grappling chain at Riku, the chain wrapping around his neck and pulled him towards her. "You are quite the looker. Too bad your form is sloppy." Riku stabbed at Rayne, only to have her grab his wrist. "If you're going to use a taunting style. Maybe you should be a little less pessimistic and a little more confident. Do like your dual wielding chain blade friend and wing it."
"I told you winging it was a legitimate strategy!" Isaac bellowed and flung his blades at the red head. She leapt over and used Riku as a shield. Isaac instantly retracted his blades with a yank of his arm, just before it pierced Riku's torso. "Until she uses my squad mate as a meat shield. Then it becomes a liability."
"Not helping, Isaac!" Riku shouted.
"Spell Gun, Blizzard Bullet!" Xion fired her gunblades again, shards of ice flying towards the leather clad woman.
Rayne turned around in an attempt to use Riku as a shield, but was a second too late as she was hit in the leg, freezing her in place. Riku used the chance to elbow Rayne in the stomach and free himself from the chain around his neck. He promptly slashed at the red head, only to have his blade blocked and another gun shoved in his face. Riku jumped to the side and Rayne quickly ducked below a swipe from Naminé's scythe. Rayne punched the block of ice and shattered it instantly, allowing to her dodge the downward slash of Naminé's scythe, the blade lodging into the stone floor.
Naminé retracted the scythe before Rayne had a chance to strike back. Naminé twirled and swung her scythe like a baton at a rehearsed flag twirling concert. Rayne matched the strikes blow for blow with the same elegance that contradicted her looks. Sparks flew as the silver blades collided. Roxas and Shin took the chance to strike at the red head woman themselves. Xion added her contribution to the mix by firing off her gunblades whenever she had an opening.
The spectacle was something to behold, but for all the wrong reasons. Rayne not only managed to block and parry Naminé's movements, she also managed to dodge Xion's barrage of bullets and parry Shin and Roxas' blades with little effort.
"You guys sure know how to treat a lady." Rayne calmly taunted us. "It's only fair the Hostess shows the same courtesy to her guests."
Rayne stomped hard on the stone flooring, her bladed heel giving her extra stability for her to repulse Naminé's scythe and sending her momentum back on the long weapon and making the white clad girl stumble backwards. She slammed her other heel into one of Roxas' swinging blades and jammed it into the floor. She blocked Shin's fire blade and spun on her heel holding Roxas' sword, bringing her other foot around and kicking Roxas in the face and throwing him into Shin. Rayne threw her grapple chain at Xion and tied it around her wrist. She flung Xion into a nearby wall and started shooting at a charging Kairi, the bullets striking dangerously close to Kairi's legs and face, slowing her movement.
"Looks like I win." Rayne taunted, but was caught off guard by a black chain wrapping around her waist.
"I wouldn't count on it!" Isaac shouted, he had wrapped his chain around Rayne's exposed stomach and pulled on it, yanking Rayne off of her feet and flinging her into the Tower walls and dragging her along it for a second and a half. He pulled her away from the wall briefly and built up speed as he unwrapped the chain and sent her flying into the far side of the room. The wall crumbling from the impact and falling the six meters to the platform with her. "How'd ya like that?!" Isaac shouted.
Rayne slowly got up from the wall, the dust falling off of her. When she looked up, I saw that any scar that should've been left on her face had healed or was in the process of healing. Her emerald green eyes staring angrily back at all of us. "I don't like it at all, kid." All form of teasing in her tone was gone. "Since you guys are so eager to die, how about you meet my pets?!" She jumped back up to one of the gargoyle statues on the wall and whistled.
The ground started to rumble as a large purple shadow formed up from the floor. It was a large purple Heartless that had, what looked like, a rook for a torso and its arms, legs, and head were not connected to its body as they simply floated and flipped in mid-air. At the things feet were many Shadows and Soldiers.
"A Guard Armor. We know where the Heartless are coming from, at least." Shin commented.
"They're just grunts." Kairi stated. "Let's just bash them like we did earlier!" She rushed in and I saw Rayne smiling sadistically.
"Go ahead, Red. Make my day." She was smiling way too creepily for those to be ordinary Heartless.
"Isaac!" I called. "Is there anything strange about those Heartless?"
That earned a few strange stares from everyone, but Isaac humored me and stared the Heartless down with his Aura Gaze and I saw him go wide-eyed behind his shades. He immediately flung his chain around Kairi's waist and yanked her back towards us. "What gives, Isaac?" Kairi questioned with visible annoyance in her tone.
"That can't be right." Isaac told us. "Those Shadows are covered in Vashta Nerada!" That's what I was afraid of.
"That's impossible!" Riku rebuked.
"Heartless absorb Vashta Nerada hordes." Terra added. "How can Heartless be covered in them?"
"Good question, Kid." Rayne replied. "We don't know ourselves. We have recently discovered patches of Heartless coexisting with Vashta Nerada. Do you think you beat them and find the artifact without dying?" She gave a low chuckle that chilled my spine.
"You're crazy!" Roxas shouted.
"I'm just testing you." Rayne replied, still chuckling.
"How do we deal with them?" Roxas asked.
"Figure it out! That's what school is for after all." Rayne taunted us again, her teasing mood returning.
The Heartless rushed us, the Guard Armor slowly walked toward us. As it stepped, more and more Heartless surfaced underneath its blocky black foot.
"Isaac. How many Heartless have Vashta Nerada on them?" Shin asked the cloaked teen.
"Only the Shadows, the Soldiers are fair game." Isaac replied, flinging his blades at the approaching horde.
"Firaga!" Terra chanted and burned a horde of Heartless with Xion next to her. The rest of us we holding off the Soldiers since none of us melee fighters wanted to contend with Vashta Nerada covered Heartless.
I noted how Shin kept the Soldiers at bay and simultaneously kept his eye on the Guard Armor. Eyeing its feet specifically. "That's it!" Shin exclaimed and jumped over to Isaac and Kairi. "It looks like the Heartless are spawning every time the Guard Armor's feet touch the ground."
"If we destroy the feet that should stop the Heartless from spawning." Kairi replied and took off toward the Guard Armor.
"That should relieve us of Vashta Nerada in that case." Isaac followed suit.
"Terra, you and Xion take care of the Heartless. The rest of us will deal with the Soldiers."
I did as told and focused on fighting the Soldiers with the other melee fighters. Terra fired her arrows at the Shadows to keep them at a distance, using her levitation to give her the best vantage point, all the while dodging shots from Rayne as she fired down at us. I guess she didn't want to get involved with Vashta Nerada infested Heartless. Xion aided Terra by making use of her Haste spell to turn her gunblades into SMGs and keep the Shadows at bay.
I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Kairi and Isaac were handling the Guard Armor quite well. "Shoryuken!" Kairi exclaimed and clawed into the Guard Armor's torso, knocking it off balance. Isaac had stabbed both his blades into the Guard Armor's right foot and pulled it up as it was stumbling, making it fall on its back and making its limbs scatter from the main body. "I'll take the left foot, Isaac!"
"Then leave the right to me!" I saw Isaac jump up into the air and I saw his arm radiate with that same darkness from the magic lesson, his fingers changing from flesh to solid claws. "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" Isaac roared and slashed at its foot, turning the foot into little slabs of shadow that evaporated instantly.
Kairi rushed in for the final leg only to be stopped by Rayne's firing. "Not so fast, kid."
"Stop getting in my way!" Kairi dodged and weaved as best she could through the onslaught of bullets. "Water!" She chanted again and her claws were enclosed in water. She jumped into the air one last time, spinning to avoid getting shot, and stabbed her fist into the Guard Armor's remaining foot before it could fully rise.
The Guard Armor shook its remaining foot and flung Kairi in the air, towards a pile of Shadows. Terra flew over and caught Kairi before she was reduced to bone by the Shadows. "Let's end this!" Kairi raised her and opened it, the Guard Armor's foot expanded and filled with water until it exploded into water and black clouds.
"And there goes the Shadows." Riku stated. "Let's finish up and deal with the Guard Armor." The Heartless were easy to deal with, the Guard Armor occasionally swiping at us with its clawed hands.
"Looks like that was little challenge for you guys." Rayne teased again. "Why don't we turn up the heat, Guard Armor?!" The floating torso lifted higher into the air and aimed the large end of the rook shaped torso directly at us. The end began to glow with a blue orb that progressively got larger and larger and expanded a few centimeters past the four meter wide opening.
"I do not like where this is going." Roxas breathed out.
The Guard Armor shot the ball of energy at us. We dodged out of the way and ball detonated behind us, a large hole opening up in platform and showing a steep vertical drop down the Tower.
"Let's get this party started!" Rayne exclaimed and jumped back towards us. This is going to be a long fight.